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+Project Gutenberg's The Infidel, Vol. I., by Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+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: The Infidel, Vol. I.
+       or, the Fall of Mexico
+
+Author: Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+Release Date: December 1, 2010 [EBook #34529]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFIDEL, VOL. I. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
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+
+
+
+                              THE INFIDEL;
+
+                         OR, THE FALL OF MEXICO.
+
+                               A ROMANCE.
+
+                       BY THE AUTHOR OF "CALAVAR."
+
+
+    SECOND EDITION.
+
+    IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+    VOL. I.
+
+    Philadelphia:
+    CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD.
+    1835.
+
+    Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year
+    1835, by CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD, in the Clerk's Office
+    of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
+
+    PHILADELPHIA
+
+    C. SHERMAN & CO. PRINTERS, NO. 19 ST. JAMES STREET.
+
+    --Un esforcado soldado, que se dezia _Lerma_--Se fue entre los Indios
+    como aburrido de temor del mismo Cortes, a quien avia ayudado a salvar
+    la vida, por ciertas cosas de enojo que Cortes contra čl tuvo, que
+    aqui no declaro por su honor: nunca mas supimos del vivo, ni muerto,
+    mala suspecha tuvimos.
+
+    BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO--_Hist. Verd de la Conquista_.
+
+    No hay mal que por bien no venga,
+    Dicen adagios vulgares.
+
+    CALPERON--_La Dama Duende_.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE INFIDEL.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+The traveller, who wanders at the present day along the northern and
+eastern borders of the Lake of Tezcuco, searches in vain for those
+monuments of aboriginal grandeur, which surrounded it in the age of
+Montezuma. The lake itself, which not so much from the saltness of its
+flood as from the vastness of its expanse, was called by Cortes the Sea
+of Anahuac, is no longer worthy of the name. The labours of that unhappy
+race of men, whose bondage the famous Conquistador cemented in the blood
+of their forefathers, have conducted, through the bowels of a mountain,
+the waters of its great tributaries, the pools of San Cristobal and
+Zumpango; and these, rushing down the channel of the Tula, or river of
+Montezuma, and mingled with the surges of the great Gulf, support fleets
+of modern argosies, instead of piraguas and chinampas, and expend upon
+foundering ships-of-war the wrath, which, in their ancient beds, was
+wasted upon reeds and bulrushes. With the waters, which rippled through
+their streets, have vanished the numberless towns and cities, that once
+beautified the margin of the Alpine sea; the towers have fallen, the
+lofty pyramids melted into earth or air, and the palaces and tombs of
+kings will be looked for in vain, under tangled copses of thistle and
+prickly-pear.
+
+The royal city of Tezcuco is now, though the capital of a republican
+state, a mean and insignificant village. It was originally the
+metropolis of a kingdom once more ancient and powerful than that of
+Mexico; and which, when it had shared the fate of all others within the
+bounds of Anahuac, and acknowledged the sway of the Island Kings, still
+preserved the reputed, and perhaps the real possession of superior
+civilization. Its princes, in becoming the feudatories, became also the
+electors, of Mexico; and thus added dignity to an independence which was
+only nominal. The polished character of these barbarous chieftains, as
+the world has been taught to esteem them, may be better understood, when
+we know, that they sowed the roadside with corn for the sustenance of
+travellers, and the protection of husbandmen, built hospitals and
+observatories, endowed colleges and formed associations of literature
+and science, in which, to compare small things with great, as in the
+learned societies of modern Europe and America, encouragement was given
+to the study of history, poetry, music, painting, astronomy, and natural
+magic. The various mechanical trades were divided into corporate bodies,
+and assigned, each, to some particular quarter of the city; courts and
+councils were regularly established, and the laws which they dispensed,
+digested into uniform and written codes, some of which are still
+preserved. The kings of Tezcuco themselves mingled in the generous
+rivalries which they fomented: there are still in existence,--at least,
+in the form of translation,--several of the odes of Nezahualcojotl, a
+royal Tezcucan poet; and his hymns to the Creator, composed half a
+century before the advent of the Spaniards, were admired and chanted by
+the Conquerors, until devoted by misjudging and fanatical missionaries
+to the flames which consumed the written histories and laws of the
+kingdom, as well as the idolatrous rituals of the priests, with which
+last the others were unfortunately confounded.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: These poems, we presume, were handed down _orally_. We know
+not how far the picture-writing of the Mexicans (the art of interpreting
+which appears to be now lost,) was capable of conveying any such
+thoughts as could not be represented by an absolute _portrait_. No
+system of writing that is not essentially _phonetic_ or _dialectical_,
+(i. e. representative of sounds, or of language,) can be made to express
+abstract ideas, which may be defined to be such as admit of no
+ideographic or metaphoric representation. If they could, mankind might,
+at once, enjoy the benefits of the _universal language_, (or, to speak
+strictly, a substitute for it; for it would convey ideas not words,)
+which Leibnitz dreamed of, and Bishop Wilkins, and many others after
+him, so vainly attempted to construct.
+
+When, therefore, we relate any very curious and marvellous matters,
+appertaining to Mexican _literature_, though we speak upon the authority
+of historians, we invite the reader to receive our accounts with some
+grains of allowance. With the exception of a few arbitrary symbols,
+expressive of numerals, and a few other objects of constant recurrence,
+the picture-writing of Mexico spoke in ideas, not words; and it may
+therefore be assumed, that it could express nothing that did not, or by
+a stretch of ingenuity, could not be made to, address and explain itself
+to the eye.]
+
+A few ruins--a cluster of dilapidated houses--a galloping Creole on his
+high Spanish saddle, with glittering _manga_ and rattling
+_anquera_,--and, now and then, an Indian skulking moodily along, in his
+squalid _serape_,[2]--are all that remain of Tezcuco.
+
+[Footnote 2: The Manga and Serape are Mexican cloaks worn
+scapulary-wise, the one of richly embroidered cloth, the other of
+blanket, or some such coarse material. The Anquera is a leather housing,
+embossed and gilt, with a jingling fringe of brass or silver ornaments.]
+
+In the spring of 1521, the year that followed the flight of the
+Spaniards from Mexico, the city of the Acolhuacanese presented all its
+grandeur of aspect, and, to the eye, looked full as royal and
+imperishable as in the best days of its freedom. But the molewarp was
+digging at its foundations; and the cloud which had ravaged the Mexican
+valley, and then passed away into the east, where it lay for a time
+still and small, 'like to a man's hand,' had again crept over the
+mountain barriers to its gates, and was now brooding among its
+sanctuaries. A group of Christian men sat under a cypress-tree, without
+the walls, regarding the great pyramid, on whose lofty terrace,
+overshadowing the surrounding edifices, floated a crimson banner of
+velvet and gold, on which, besides the royal arms of Spain, was
+emblazoned, as on the Labarum of the Constantines, a white cross, with
+the legend, imitated from that famous standard of fanaticism, _In hoc
+signo vincemus_. If other proof had been wanting of the return of the
+Spaniards to the scene of their discomfiture, their presence in Tezcuco,
+and their unchangeable resolution to complete the work of conquest so
+disastrously begun, it might have been traced abundantly in the strange
+spectacle, which, equally with the desecrated temple, divided the
+attention of the group of Castilians at the cypress-tree. They sat on a
+little swell of earth,--a natural mound which jutted into the lake,
+whose waters, agitated by a western breeze, dashed in musical breakers
+at its base; while the rustling of the leaves above, mingled with these
+sounds of waves, a tone that was both melancholy and harmonious. The
+beautiful prospect of Tezcuco, rising beyond fertile meadows in the
+livery of spring, flanked, on the right hand, by a sheet of dark and
+glossy water,--with white towers, turrets, and temple-tops, painted, as
+it seemed, on a background of mountains of the purest azure, was enough
+of itself to engross the admiration of a looker-on, had there not been
+presented, hard by, a scene still more singular and romantic.
+
+A train of warriors, artificers and labourers, the latter bending under
+such burthens as had never before descended to the verge of Tezcuco, was
+seen passing, at a little distance, towards the city, into which, as was
+denoted by a sudden explosion of artillery and the blast of trumpets on
+the top of the pyramid, the leaders were just entering, while the rear
+of the procession, extending for miles, and winding like some mighty
+snake, over hill and meadow, was lost among distant forests.
+
+The martial salutation from the town was answered by the whole train
+with a yell, filling the air, and causing the distant hills and lakes to
+tremble with the reverberation. In this, the ear might detect, besides
+the war-cry of Indians, "Tlascala, Tlascala!" the not less piercing
+shouts of Spaniards, "In the name of God and Santiago!" as well as the
+flourish of bugles, scattered at intervals among the train. If the broad
+Sea of Anahuac trembled at the sound, it was with good reason; for the
+clamour of triumph indicated the approach of those unknown naval
+engines, which were to plough its undefiled bosom, and convert every
+billow into the vassal of the stranger. On the shoulders of eight
+thousand Tlascalans, were borne the materials for the construction of
+thirteen brigantines, with which the unconquerable Spaniard, capable of
+every expedient, meditated the complete investment and the certain
+reduction of Tenochtitlan. The iron, the sails, and cordage of that
+fleet which he had caused to be broken up and sunk in the harbour of
+Vera Cruz, were added to planks, spars, and timbers from the sierras of
+Tlascala, and to pitch and rosin from the _pinales_, or pine-forests, of
+Huexotzinco,--a gloomy and broken desert, notorious, in the present day,
+as the haunt of bandits, the most brutal and merciless in the world.
+
+The brawny carriers of these massive materials were protected, on the
+front and in the rear, by legions of their countrymen, armed, after
+their wild and romantic way, and clad in tunics of cotton or maguey
+cloth, with tiaras of feathers; who passed by in successive bodies of
+spearmen, archers, slingers, and swordsmen, arranged and divided in the
+manner of their Christian confederates. Besides these guards of front
+and rear, of whom the historian Herrera asserts, there were 180,000,
+while even the modest Clavigero computes their numbers at full one-sixth
+of this vast host, there were on either flank, bodies of picked
+warriors, marching in company with small bands of Spaniards, and
+personally led by distinguished Christian cavaliers. A military man may
+form a juster estimate of the numbers of the train, by being told, that
+it formed a line more than six miles in length, the whole marching
+compactly, and in strict order, so as to be best able to resist an
+attack of enemies.
+
+The Spaniards under the cypress-tree, surveyed this striking spectacle
+with interest, but not with the grave wonder and absorbing admiration of
+men unfamiliar with such scenes. On the contrary, it was evident, from
+the tone of the remarks with which they wiled away the time of
+observation, (for it was many a long hour before the last of the train
+drew in sight,) that they were of that levity of spirit, or in that
+wantonness of mood, which can find matter for ridicule in the most
+serious of occurrences. Thus, they beheld, or fancied they beheld,
+somewhat that was diverting in the persons, or motions, of the stern and
+warlike Tlascalans, and especially in the zealous eagerness with which
+these barbarians strove to imitate the bearing and gait, as well as the
+evolutions, of their disciplined associates. Nay, their raillery was
+extended even to the Spanish portion of the train; and, sometimes, when
+a comrade passed by, if near enough to be made sensible of the jest, he
+was saluted with some such outpouring of wit, as put to the proof either
+his gravity or his patience.
+
+These happy individuals, to whom we desire to introduce the reader, were
+five in number, and, with a single exception, though betraying none of
+the submissiveness of inferior personages, were evidently of no very
+exalted rank in the Christian army. Their attire was plain, and
+consisted, for the most part, of the cumbrous escaupil, or
+cotton-armour, over which, in the case of one or two, at least, were
+buckled a few plates of iron. Most of them had on their heads, helmets,
+or rather caps, of the same flimsy material, sometimes so thickly padded
+as to assume the bulk, as well as the appearance of rude turbans; all
+wore swords, and two had crossbows hanging at their backs. No
+distinction of station could have been inferred from their manner of
+discoursing one with another; and it was only by the morion of bright
+steel, richly inlaid with gold, on the head of one, and the polished
+hauberk on his chest, worn more for display than for any present
+service, that the wearer would have been recognized as of a grade
+superior to that of his companions. He was a tall and athletic cavalier,
+with a long chin, and cheeks broad and bony; and a singular and rather
+unpleasing expression was added to his countenance by eyes
+disproportionably small, though exceedingly black, keen, and resolute. A
+small, sharply peaked beard,--mustaches so thin, long, and straight,
+that they looked rather like the drooping locks of a woman than the
+favourites of a vain gallant,--a narrow but lofty forehead, on either
+side of which, divided and smoothed with effeminate care, fell masses of
+straight black hair, touched, yet almost invisibly, with the traces of
+matured manhood,--a small mouth,--a prominent nose,--and a complexion
+exceedingly dark, yet rather of the hue of iron than mahogany, completed
+a visage which a stranger would not have hesitated to attribute to a man
+of decided character, but without daring to determine whether that was
+of good or evil.
+
+The individual who would have been the second to attract the notice of a
+wayfarer, owed this distinction rather to his personal deformity than to
+any other very striking characteristic. He was a hunchback, with much of
+the saturnine and sour expression which distinguishes the countenances
+of the deformed, and yet of a spirit so much belied by his looks, that
+he heard, recognized, and constantly replied to, without anger, the
+nickname of _Corcobado_, or the humpbacked, to which his misfortune
+exposed him. The most observable peculiarity in his countenance, was the
+uncommon length of his nose, which so far intruded upon the lower part
+of his visage, as to give this a look of age, which was contradicted,
+not only by other features, but by the prodigious muscularity of his
+shoulders and arms. It must be confessed, however, that his lower
+extremities were entirely unworthy to compare with the upper, being both
+so short and thin, that when he stood upon his feet, his arms crossed
+behind,--which was their ordinary position,--with the stout iron plates
+protruding from both back and breast, he looked rather like a bundle of
+armour and garments, exposed to the air and supported above the earth on
+two broken pikestaves or javelins, than a living and human creature.
+
+The next individual was a man of good stature, who would have been
+considered, notwithstanding his grey hairs, the strongest man in the
+company, had it not been for his general emaciation and an expression of
+suffering on a countenance over which disease, contracted among the hot
+and humid swamps of the coast, had cast the sickliest hues of jaundice.
+Indeed, this discolouration, on a visage naturally none of the fairest,
+was of so deep a tint, that it had gained for the invalid, as well as
+for a whole ship's crew of his companions, the significant title of _Ojo
+Verde_, or the Green Eye. And here we may as well observe, that, in the
+army of Cortes, the wit which shows itself in the invention of such
+distinctions, was so prevalent, that there was scarce a man, from the
+general down to his groom or scullion, who had not been honoured by at
+least _one_ sobriquet.
+
+The fourth personage was a man of indifferent figure, remarkable for
+little save the marvellous sweetness of his eyes, which were set among
+features exceedingly sharp and harsh, and the volubility of his tongue.
+
+The fifth sat apart from the others, a little down the slope of the
+hillock, with tablets in his hands, yet so plunged in abstraction, or so
+much wrapped up in the contemplation of the dark lake, the little
+piraguas dancing over its billows, and the far-distant turrets of the
+infidel city, that he seemed to have forgotten, not only the presence of
+his companions, and the passing procession, but the purpose for which he
+had drawn forth his writing implements.
+
+The sound of the cannon, as we have said, was immediately responded to
+by the shouts of the train; which, commencing at the gates of the city,
+were continued and prolonged by the various bodies that composed the
+huge and moving mass, until they died away in the distance, like peals
+of rolling thunder. At the same time, the Indians struck their tabours,
+and sounded their conches and cane-flutes, in rivalry with the Spanish
+buglers; and a din was made, which, for a time, put a stop to the
+conversation of the four Castilians. It also startled the solitary man
+from his meditations, but only for an instant. He rose, turned his eye
+listlessly towards the procession, and then again resuming his seat, he
+was presently sunk in as profound abstraction as before.
+
+In the meanwhile, the cavalier of the helmet had bent his gaze upon the
+pyramid, from the top of which the cannon-smoke was driving slowly away
+like a cloud, and revealing the proud banner, which it had for a moment
+enveloped. He could see, even at this distance, that the two stone
+turrets,--the idol-chambers,--on the summit, were crowned with crosses,
+and that the flag-staff,--a tall cedar, that might have made a mast for
+an admiral's ship,--was surrounded by a tent, or rather pavilion, of
+native white cloth, broadly striped with crimson, which glittered
+brilliantly at its foot. As he looked he stroked his beard, and
+muttered, addressing himself to the hunchback,
+
+"Harkee, Najara, man! give me the benefit of thy thoughts, and care not
+if they come out like crab-apples. What thinkest thou of Cortes now? Is
+there not something over-stately and very regal-like in the present
+condition of his temper?"
+
+"Why dost thou ask that of _me_, when thou hast Villafana at thy elbow?"
+replied the hunchback, with a voice worthy the acerbity of his aspect:
+"if thou wilt have dirty water, get thee to the ditch."
+
+"You call me _Gruņidor_, and grumbler I am," said he of the sweet eyes,
+with a laugh. "I grumble when I am in the humour; and I care not who
+knows it. Am I a ditch, old sinner? I'faith, I must be, when I have such
+ill weeds as thyself growing about me. Wilt thou have _my_ thoughts,
+seņor Guzman, on this subject? I can speak them."
+
+"Be quick, then," said the cavalier; "for Corcobado is digesting an
+answer to thy fling, which will leave thee speechless."
+
+"Pho, I will bandy mudballs with him at any moment," said Villafana: "I
+care not for the buffets of a friend. As for the noble seņor, the
+Captain General, what you say is true. The king's letter hath set him
+mad. While the Bishop of Burgos was still in power, and his enemy, he
+was e'en a good companion,--a comrade, and no master. Demonios! 'twas a
+better thing for us, when his authority rested on our good-will, and no
+royal patent."
+
+"Ay," said Guzman; "when we were but rebels and exiles, denounced by the
+governor, cursed by the priest, and outlawed by the king, Cortes was the
+most moderate, humble, and loving rogue of us all. I do think, he is
+somewhat altered."
+
+"Oh, seņor, there is no such bond for our friendship as a consciousness
+of dependence upon those who love us; and nothing so efficacious in
+cooling us to friends, as the discovery that we can do without them. His
+authority is no longer our gift; the bishop has fallen; the king has
+acknowledged his claims, and sent him, besides a fair, lawful commission
+and goodly reinforcements both of men and arms, a letter of commendation
+written with his own royal hands. May his majesty live a thousand years!
+but would to heaven his letter were at the bottom of the sea. It has
+brought us a hard master. Can your favour solve me the riddle of the
+king's change? What argument has so operated on his mind, that he now
+does honour to a man he once condemned as a traitor, and advances him
+into such power as leaves him independent even of the Governor of the
+Islands?"
+
+"The very same argument," replied Guzman, "which has turned thee--a
+friend of Velasquez--into the most devoted, though grumbling adherent of
+our Captain--_interest_, sirrah, interest. It is manifest, that this
+empire was made to be won; and equally apparent, that the man who could
+half subdue it, though trammelled and opposed by all the arts and power
+of Velasquez, was the fittest to conclude the good work; and what was no
+less persuasive, it was plain, our valiant Don was fully determined to
+do the work himself, without much questioning whether the king would or
+not."
+
+"Why, by heaven!" cried Villafana, "you make out the general to be a
+traitor, indeed!"
+
+"Ay;--for, in certain cases, there is virtue in treason."
+
+"Hark now to Villafana!" cried the hunchback, abruptly: "he will thank
+you for the maxim, as if 'twere a mass for his soul."
+
+"_I_, curmudgeon?" exclaimed the grumbler. "There were a virtue in it,
+could it bring such fellows as thyself to the block. What I aver, is,
+that the king's honours have spoiled our general. By'r lady, I see not
+what good can come of sending us a Royal Treasurer, Franciscan friars
+with bulls of St. Peter, and Lady Abbesses to build up nunneries, unless
+to make up more state for our leader."
+
+"Then art thou more thick-pated than I thought thee," replied the
+cavalier. "The bulls will make us somewhat stronger of heart, and
+therefore better gatherers of gold in a land where gold is not to be had
+without fighting. La Monjonaza will sanctify our efforts, by converting
+the women; and the king's Treasurer will see that we do not cheat the
+king, after we have got our rewards, as, it is rumoured, we have done
+somewhat already."
+
+"Santos! I know what thou art pointing at, Don Francisco," said
+Villafana, significantly. "The four hundred thousand crowns that have
+vanished out of the treasury, hah! This is a matter that has stained the
+General's honour for ever. And as for La Monjonaza, thou knowest there
+are dark thoughts about her."
+
+"Have a care," said Don Francisco. "We are friends, and friends may
+speak their minds: but I cannot hear thee abuse Don Hernan."
+
+"Hast thou never been as free thyself?" cried Villafana, with a laugh,
+which mingled a careless derision with good-humour. "Come, now,--confess
+thou wert pleased to be appointed Grand Guardian and Chamberlain,--or,
+if thou wilt, Grand Vizier,--to his god-son, the young king of Tezcuco;
+and that, since he gave thee Lerma's horse, thou hast been better
+mounted than any other cavalier in the army."
+
+"Thou art an ass. Cortes has ever been my friend; and when I have
+complained, as I have sometimes done, it was only like a good house-dog,
+who howls in the night-watches, because he has nothing better to amuse
+him. But hold,--look! the carriers are passed. The rear-guard
+approaches. Now is my friend Sandoval yonder, betwixt the two Tlascalan
+chiefs, glorified in his imagination. 'Slid! he would have had me
+exchange my brown Bobadil for his raw-boned Motacila!--Come, Najara, rub
+up thy wit; fling me some sweet word into the teeth of the Tlascalan
+generals. Dost thou perceive with what solemn visages they approach us?"
+
+"I perceive," said Najara, "that Xicotencal is in no mood for jesting.
+It is said, he comes to join us with his power reluctantly. Dost thou
+see how he stalks by himself, frowning? A maravedi to a ducat, he would
+sooner take us by the throat than the hand!"
+
+"Why then, be quick, show him thy scorn in a fillip."
+
+"Hast thou forgotten it has been decreed a matter for the bastinado, to
+abuse an ally?"
+
+"Ay!" cried Villafana, "there is another fruit of a king's patent. One
+may neither laugh nor scold, gamble nor play truant, but straight he is
+told of a decree. Faith, when Cortes was our plain Captain, it was
+another matter: if there was aught to be done or not to do, it was then,
+in simple phrase, 'I commend to your favours,' or, 'I beg of your
+friendships, do me this thing,' or, 'do it not,' as was needful. But now
+the Captain-General deals only in decrees or proclamations, wherein we
+have commands for exhortations, prohibitions in place of dissuasions,
+and, withal, a plentiful garnishing of stocks and dungeons, whips and
+halters, all in the king's name. By Santiago! there is too much state in
+this."
+
+"Pho! thou art an Alguazil; why shouldst thou care?" said the Cavalier.
+"The decrees are wholesome, the restrictions wise. It is right, we
+should not displease the Republicans: they are our best friends,--very
+quick and jealous too; and we were but a scotched snake without them."
+
+"If they fight our battles," said Villafana, "they divide our spoil. In
+my mind, that black-faced Xicotencal is a villain and traitor."
+
+"Thy judgment is better, in such matters, than another's," said the
+hunchback.
+
+"Right!" cried Guzman; "the Alguazil will be presently in his own
+stocks, if thou dost heat him into a quarrel. We are not forbidden to
+abuse one another. Let the red jackalls pass by unnoticed; we have mirth
+enough among ourselves,--we will worry our Immortality. Look, Najara,
+man; dost thou not see in what perplexity of cogitation he is
+involved,--yonder dull Bernal? Rouse him with a quip, now; pierce him
+with a jest. Come, stir; rub thy nose, make thy wit as sharp as a goad,
+and prick the ox out of his slumber."
+
+"Ay, good Corcobado," cried Villafana, turning from the procession, and
+mischievously eyeing their solitary and abstracted companion, "fling out
+the legs of thy understanding, like a rough horse, and see if thou canst
+not strike fire out of his flinty brain. All the scratching in the world
+will not do it."
+
+"Now, were you not both besotted, and bent upon self-destruction," said
+the deformed, regarding the pair with a commiserating sneer, "you would
+not ask me to disturb our Immortality; who is, at this moment,
+meditating by what possible stretch of benevolence he can hand your
+names down to posterity; a thing, which if _he_ do not effect, you may
+be sure, nobody else will. Seņor Guzman, 'twas but a half-hour since,
+that he asked me, if I could, upon mine own knowledge, acquaint him with
+any act of thine worthy of commemoration."
+
+"Ay, indeed!" said the cavalier, laughing; "was Bernal of this mind,
+then? He asked thee this question? By my faith, have I not killed as
+many Indians as another? Have I not encountered as many risks, and
+endured as many knocks? Out upon the misbelieving caitiff! he asked thee
+this question? Thy reply now? pr'ythee, thy learned answer to this
+foolish interrogatory? What saidst thou, now, in good truth?"
+
+"In good truth, then," replied Najara, with a sour gravity, "I told him,
+I had it, upon excellent authority, though I believed it not myself,
+that thou wert a cavalier, equal to any, in the virtues of a
+soldier,--bold, quick, and resolute,--cool and fiery,--a lover of peril,
+a relisher of blood; one that had won more gold than he could pocket,
+more slaves than he could make marketable, and more renown than he cared
+to boast of; a prudent captain, yet a better follower, because of the
+ardour of his temper, which was, indeed, upon occasion, so hot, that,
+sometimes, it was feared, he might take Cortes by the beard, for being
+too faint-hearted."
+
+"Oh, thou rogue, thou merry thing of vinegar, thou hast belied me!"
+cried Guzman; "thou knowest, I would sooner eat my arms,--lance,
+buckler, and all,--than lift my hand against the General: I would, by my
+troth, for I love him. But come, now,--thou saidst all this, upon good
+authority? You jest, you rogue,--we are all jealous and envious. We have
+good words from none but Cortes.--What authority?"
+
+"Marry, upon that of thine own lips," replied the hunchback; "for I know
+not who else could have invented so liberally."
+
+"Out!" cried the cavalier, somewhat intemperately; "you presume--"
+
+"Ha! ha! a truce, a truce, Don Francisco!" exclaimed Villafana; "a fair
+hit--no quarrelling; for captain though thou be, thou knowest I am sworn
+Alguazil, as well as head-turnkey, chief executioner, and the Lord knows
+what beside. No wrath among friends--A very justifiable, fair hit!
+Najara must have his ways. Thou wilt see, by and by, how he will lay
+_me_ by the ears. Come, Corcobado, begin.--He who plays with colts, must
+look to be kicked.--Come now, be sharp, fear not; I am a dog, and love
+thee all the better for cudgelling."
+
+"I know thou art, and I know thou dost," said Najara; "for I remember,
+that ever since Don Hernan had thee scourged, for abusing the Tlascalan
+woman, thou hast been a more loving hound than any other of the
+Velasquez faction."
+
+"Fuego de dios! Pho,--Good! Ha! ha! very good!" exclaimed Villafana,
+laughing, though somewhat disconcerted. "I confess the beating; but then
+I have a back to endure it--Hah! A Roland for an Oliver, a kick for a
+buffet! Thou liest, though, as to the cause: 'twas for taking the old
+senator they call Maxiscatzin by the beard, when he had given me the
+first sop of the Maguey-liquor. I was drunk, sirrah, broke rules,
+disobeyed orders, and so deserved my guerdon. Wilt thou be satisfied? By
+this hand, I grumble not. I should trounce thee for the like
+misdemeanour,--that is, if I could find whereon to lay my scourge. Aha!
+wilt thou pull noses with me? Come, what saidst thou of me to Bernal? I
+bear thee no malice, man;--no, no more than the general.--Drunk indeed?
+He should have struck my head off!"
+
+"I told him," said Najara, "that thou wert, in some sense, worthy to be
+chronicled."
+
+"Many thanks for that," said Villafana, "were it only on account of the
+beating."
+
+"For though thou wert as naturally given to grovelling as a football,
+yet wouldst thou as certainly mount, at every kick, as that same bag of
+wind."
+
+"Bravo! bravo!" cried the Alguazil, with a roar of delight, in which he
+was joined by Guzman; "thou art as witty and unsavoury as ever, and thou
+dingest me about the ears as with a pine-tree. What else, cielo mio?
+what else saidst thou to Bernal?"
+
+"Simply, that thou hadst more boldness than would be thought of thee,
+more dreams than would be reckoned of thy dull brain, and such skill at
+rising, notwithstanding the clog of thy folly, that it was manifest thou
+wouldst not be content, till thy feet were two fathoms from the earth,
+and thy crown as near to the oak-bough as the rope would."
+
+"Oh, fu! fy!" said Villafana, "hast thou no better trope for hanging?
+Have you done? Am I despatched? Get thee to better game, then; and see
+thou art more metaphoric. Hast thou no verjuice for our good friend
+here, Camarga?"
+
+The individual thus alluded to, though giving his attention to the
+conversation, had maintained a profound and unsympathetic silence during
+all. He stood leaning against the tree, folding over his breast, and
+even wrapping about his chin, the long cloak of striped cotton
+cloth--the product of the country,--the bright and gaudy colours of
+which contrasted unnaturally with the sickly hue of his visage.
+Throughout all, when not particularly noticed, his countenance wore an
+expression of as much mental as bodily pain; but when thus accosted by
+Villafana, it changed at once, and in a remarkable degree, from gloom to
+good-humour, and even to apparent gayety. It is true, that, at the
+moment when his name was pronounced, he started quickly with a sort of
+nervous agitation; and a sudden rush of blood into his face, mingling
+with its bilious stain, covered it with the swarthiest purple: but this
+immediately passed away--perhaps before any of his comrades had noted
+it.
+
+"I cry you mercy, seņor Villafana," he said; "I am as unworthy to be
+made the butt of wit as the subject of history. My ambition runs not
+beyond my conscience; the month that I have spent in this land,--and it
+is scarce a month,--has been wasted in disease and idleness. A year
+hence, I shall be more worthy your consideration. But tell me, good
+friends, is it true, as you say, that yonder worthy soldier hath been
+appointed the historian of your brave exploits? By mine honour, his head
+seems to me better fitted to receive blows than to remember them, and
+his hand to repay them rather than to record."
+
+"He is, truly," said Villafana, "our Immortality, as we call him, or our
+Historian, as he denominates himself. As to his appointment, it comes of
+his own will, and not of our grace; but we quarrel not with his humours.
+He conceives himself called to be our chronicler. Who cares? He can do
+no harm. I am told, he doth greatly abuse Cortes, especially in the
+matter of the slaves, and the gold we fetched from Mexico in the Flight.
+By'r lady, I have heard some sharp things said about that."
+
+"You said them yourself," muttered Najara. "It is well you are in
+favour."
+
+"Ay, by my troth," cried Guzman; "_Cuidado_, Villafana! Don Hernan will
+be angry. Good luck to you! You are the lion's small dog: seize not his
+majesty by the nose."
+
+"Pho, friends! here's a coil," said the Alguazil, stoutly: "Don Hernan
+knows me: I will say what I think. I have maintained to his face, that
+there was foul work with the gold, and that we have been cheated
+of our shares; I have told him what ill work was made of both
+Repartimientos,--the partition of the slaves,--at Segura-de-la-Frontera,
+and here at Tezcuco,--scurvy, knavish work, seņores: One may fetch
+angels to the brand, but, ay de mi! the iron turns them into beldames!"
+
+"Ay, there is some truth in that," said Guzman, a little thoughtfully.
+"No man honours Don Hernan more than myself; and yet did he suffer me to
+be choused out of the princess I fetched from Iztapalapan."
+
+"Ay, the whole army witnessed it, and there was not a man who did not
+cry shame on you for taking it so--"
+
+"Good-humouredly," interrupted the cavalier. "Rub me as thou wilt for a
+jest, Villafana; but touch me not in soberness."
+
+"Pshaw! can I not abuse thee as a friend, without the apology of a grin?
+Thou hadst been used basely, had not Cortes made up the loss with
+Lerma's horse. I have heard thee complain as much as another; and even
+now, thou art as bitter as any against this mad scheme of the ships.
+Demonios! our general will have us rot in the lake, like our friends of
+the Noche Triste!"
+
+"Thou errest," said the cavalier, gravely. "I have changed my mind, on
+this subject: I perceive we shall conquer this city."
+
+"Wilt thou be sworn to that?" exclaimed the Alguazil, earnestly. "I tell
+thee, as a friend, we are all mad, and we are deluded to death. If we
+launch the brigantines, we are but gods' meat--food for idols and
+cannibals. We were fools to come from Tlascala. Would to Heaven we had
+departed with Duero! We are toiled on to our fate, to make Cortes
+famous: he will win his renown out of our corses. What sayst thou,
+Najara, mi Corcobado, mi Hacedor de Tropos?"
+
+"Even that the will-o-th'-wisps, the Ignes-fatui, rising out of our
+decaying bodies, will forsake each honest man's corse, to gather,
+glory-wise, about the head of our leader.--Is that to thy liking?"
+
+"Marvellously! Thy wit explains and gives tongue to my thoughts. Thou
+seest things clearly--I am glad thou art of my way of thinking. This is
+our destiny, if we continue our insane enterprise."
+
+"A pest upon thee, clod!" cried the Hunchback; "I did but supply thee a
+simile, in pity of thine own barrenness. _I_ of thy way of thinking?
+Dost imagine I will hang with thee? _I_ see things clearly? Marry, I do.
+Give tongue to thy thoughts? Ratsbane!"
+
+As Najara spoke, he bent his sour and piercing looks on the Alguazil;
+who, much to the surprise of Camarga, grew pale, and snatched at his
+dagger, in an ecstasy of rage, greatly disproportioned to the offence,
+if such there could be in what seemed idle and unmeaning sarcasms. The
+wrath of Villafana, however, was checked by the mirth of the cavalier,
+Don Francisco, who exclaimed with the triumph of retaliation,
+
+"A fair knock, by St. Dominic! Art thou laid by the heels, now? Sirrah
+Alguazil, if thou showest but an inch more of thy dudgeon, I will have
+thee in thine own stocks,--ay, faith, and on thine own block, into the
+bargain. Forgettest thou the decree? Death, man, very mortal death to
+any one who draws weapon upon a christian comrade: thy hidalgo blood,
+(if thou hast any, as thou art ever boasting,) will not save thee. Pho!
+thou art notoriously known to be a plotter. Why shouldst thou be angry?"
+
+"_Hombre!_ I am not angry _now_: but, methinks, Corcobado hath the art
+of inflaming whatever is combustible in man's body. A good friend were
+he for a poor man, in the winter. Why, thou bitter, misjudging,
+remorseless, male-shrew, here is my hand, in token I will not maul thee.
+Why dost thou ever persecute me with thy hints? By and by, men will come
+to believe thou art in earnest. _What_ dost thou see, that I care not to
+have exposed? I am a plotter? I grant ye; so Cortes hath called me to my
+face a dozen times, or more. I am a grumbler? So he avers, and so I
+allow. I must speak what I think; ay, and I must growl, too. All this is
+apparent, but it harms me not with the general: he scolds me very oft;
+but who stands better in his favour?"
+
+"Thou takest the matter too seriously," said Guzman. "Hast thou no
+suspicion that thy self-commendations are tedious?"
+
+"In such case, hadst thou ever any thyself?" demanded the unrelenting
+Najara. "Pray, let him go on. Let him draw his dagger, if he will, too.
+What care I? I have a better fence than the decree."
+
+"Pshaw, man," said Villafana, "why dost thou take a frown so bitterly? I
+will not quarrel with thee. But I would thou couldst be reasonable in
+thy fillips: call me a knave openly, if thou wilt; thy insinuations have
+the air of seriousness. But come; you have robbed the seņor Camarga of
+his diversion with Bernal. Lo you now, if our wrangling have disturbed
+him a jot! He sits there, like an old horse of a summer's day, patient
+and uncomplaining; and, all the time, there are gadfly thoughts
+persecuting his imagination."
+
+"Methinks, seņores," said Camarga, "you should be curious to know in
+what manner the good man records your actions. For my part, I should be
+well content to be made better acquainted with them; especially with
+those later exploits, since the retreat from Mexico, of which I have
+heard only confused and contradictory accounts. Will he suffer us to
+examine his chronicles?"
+
+"Suffer us!" cried Guzman; "if you do but give him a grain of
+encouragement, never believe me but he will requite you with pounds of
+his stupidity. What, have you any curiosity?--Harkee, Bernal, man!--You
+shall see how I will rouse him,--Bernal Diaz! Historian! Immortality!
+what ho, seņor Del Castillo! Are you asleep? Zounds, sirrah, here are
+three or four dull fellows, who, for lack of better amusement, are
+willing to listen to your history."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+At these words, the worthy thus appealed to, woke from his revery, and
+staring a moment in some little perplexity at his companions, took up a
+long copper-headed spear, which rested on the ground at his side, and
+advanced towards them. Viewed at a little distance, the gravity of his
+countenance gave him an appearance of age, which vanished on a nearer
+inspection. In reality, if his own recorded account can be believed,
+(and heaven forbid we should attach any doubt to the representations of
+our excellent prototype,) he did not number above twenty-six or
+twenty-seven years, and was thus, as he chose to call himself, 'a
+stripling.' Young as he was, however, there was not a man in the army of
+Cortes who had seen more, or more varied service than Bernal Diaz del
+Castillo. His exploits in the New World had commenced seven years
+before, among the burning and pestilential fens of Nombre de Dios,--a
+place made still more odious to an aspiring youth by the ferocious
+dissensions of its inhabitants, and that bloodthirsty jealousy of its
+ruler, which had rewarded with the block the man[3] who disclosed to
+Spain the broad expanse of the Pacific, and led his subaltern, Pizarro,
+to the shores of Peru. With the two adventurers, Cordova and Grijalva,
+who had preceded Cortes in the attempt upon the lands of Montezuma,
+(discovered by the first,) Bernal Diaz shared the wounds and
+misadventures of both expeditions; and he was among the first to join
+the standard of Don Hernan, in the third and most successful of the
+Spanish descents.
+
+[Footnote 3: Vasco Nuņez de Balboa.]
+
+The hardships he had endured, the constant and unmitigated suffering to
+which he had been exposed for seven years, had given him much of the
+weatherbeaten look of a veteran, which, added to the sombre gravity of
+his visage, caused him to present, at the first sight, the appearance of
+a man of forty years or more. His garments were of a dusky red cloth,
+padded into escaupil, with back and breast-pieces of iron, over which
+was a long cloak of a chocolate colour, well embroidered, and, though
+much worn and tarnished, obviously a holiday suit. To these were added a
+black velvet hat, ornamented with three flamingo feathers, striking up
+like the points of a trident, with the medal of a saint, rudely wrought
+in gold, hanging beneath them. His person was brawny, his face full and
+inexpressive; his dull grey eyes indicated nothing but simplicity and
+absence of mind, or rather inattentiveness; and it required the presence
+of many scars of several wounds on his countenance, to convince a
+stranger that Bernal actually possessed the fortitude to encounter such
+badges of honour.
+
+He approached the group with a heavy and indolent tread, bearing in his
+hand a bundle of leaves of maguey paper, such as served the purposes of
+the native painters and chroniclers of Anahuac, and with which he was
+fain to supply the want of a better material.
+
+"Dost thou hear, seņor Inmortalidad?" cried Don Francisco de Guzman, as
+the martial annalist took his seat serenely among the Castilians; "art
+thou deaf, dumb, or still wrapt in thy seventh heaven, that thou
+answerest not a word to my salutations? Zounds, man, I will not ask thee
+a second time."
+
+"What is your will?" said Bernal Diaz, "what will you have of me,
+seņores?" he repeated, surveying each member of the group, one after the
+other. "I did think that this being a day of license and rejoicing to so
+many of us, I might have an opportunity, not often in my power, of
+putting down some things in my journal which it will be well to do,
+before setting out on the circuit of the lake, wherein there may happen
+some passages to drive from my memory those which are not yet recorded.
+But, by my faith, you have talked loud and much, and so disturbed my
+mind, that I have entirely lost some things I intended to say. I would
+to heaven you would find some other place to your liking, and leave me
+alone for a few hours."
+
+"Why, thou infidel!" said Guzman, "if thou likest not our company, why
+dost thou not leave it? Dost thou forget thou hast the power of
+locomotion? Wilt thou wait for us to depart before thou bethinkest thee
+of thine own legs? By'r lady! thou art not yet in thy senses!"
+
+"By my faith, so I can!" said the historian, abruptly, as if the idea
+had just entered his mind: "I will go down to the lake shore, where the
+sound of the waves will drown your voices. There is something
+encouraging to contemplation in the dashing of water; but as for men's
+voices, I could never think well, when they were within hearing. I beg
+your pardon, all, seņores: I will go down."
+
+"What! when here are four fools, who are in the humour of listening to
+thee for some seven minutes, or so? ay, man, to thy crazy chronicles!
+When wilt thou expect such another audience? Lo you, the seņor Camarga
+has desired to be made acquainted with your learned lucubrations. Come,
+stir; open thy lips, exalt thyself, while thou art alive; for after
+death, there is no saying how short a time thou wilt sleep in cobwebs."
+
+"You jeer me, seņor Guzman; you laugh at me, gentlemen," said the
+soldier, gravely; "and thereby you do yourselves, as well as me, much
+wrong. Is it so great a thing for a soldier to write a history? The
+valiant Julius Cæsar of Rome recorded, with his own hand, his great
+actions in France, Britain, and our own Castile, as I know full well;
+for when I was a boy at school, I saw the very book; and sorry I am that
+the poverty of my parents denied me such instruction, as might have
+enabled me to read it. Then, there was Josephus, the Jewish Captain, who
+wrote a history of the fall of Jerusalem, as I have heard from a learned
+priest. Besides, there were many Greek soldiers, who did the same thing,
+as I have been told; but I never knew much concerning them."
+
+"And hast thou the vanity to talk of Julius Cæsar?" cried Guzman,
+laughing.
+
+"Why not?" said the soldier, stoutly; "I have fought almost as many
+battles, and I warrant me, my heart is as strong; and were it my fate to
+be a general and commander, instead of a poor soldier of fortune in the
+ranks, I could myself, as well as another, lead you through these
+mischievous Mexicans; who, I will be sworn, are much more valiant
+heathens than ever Cæsar found among the French. As far as he was a
+soldier, then, I boast to be as good a man as he; ay, by mine honour,
+and better too! for I am a Christian man, whereas he was a poor
+benighted infidel. As for my history, I will not make bold to compare it
+in excellence with his; for it has been told me, that Cæsar was a
+scholar, and possessed of the graces and elegancies of style; whereas, I
+have myself none of these graces, being ignorant of both Latin and
+Greek, and knowing nothing of any tongues, except the Castilian, and
+some smattering of this Indian jargon, which I have picked up with much
+pains, and, as I may say, at the expense of more beating than one gets
+from the schoolmaster. Nevertheless, I flatter myself, that what I write
+will be good, because it will be true; for this which I am writing, is
+not a history of distant nations or of past events, nor is it composed
+of vain reveries and conjectures, such as fill the pages of one who
+writes of former ages. I relate those things of which I am an
+eye-witness, and not idle reports and hearsay. Truth is sacred and very
+valuable. In future days, when men come to make histories of our acts in
+this land, their histories will be good, because they will draw them
+from me, and not from those vain historiographers who stay at home, and
+write down all the lies that people at a distance may say of us. This is
+a good thing, and will make my book, when finished, a treasury to men;
+but what is better, and what should make it noticeable to yourselves, it
+will not, like other histories, say, 'The great hero Cortes did this,'
+and 'the mighty commander did that,' giving all the glory to one man
+alone; but it will record our achievements in such a way as to show who
+performed them, relating that 'this thing was done by the Seņor Don
+Francisco de Guzman, and this by the valiant soldier Najara, and this by
+myself, Bernal Diaz del Castillo,' and so on, each of us according to
+our acts."[4]
+
+[Footnote 4: The historical reader will find that the worthy Bernal has
+incorporated many of these judicious sentiments in the work he was then
+composing, and some almost word for word.]
+
+"What the worthy Del Castillo says, is just," said Camarga; "and whether
+his history be elegant or unpolished, he should be encouraged to
+continue it. For my own part, I shall be glad when I have performed
+anything worthy to be preserved, to know, we have with us a man who will
+see that the credit of the act is not bestowed upon another. And, in
+this frame of mind, I will stand much indebted to the good seņor, if he
+will permit me at once, to be made acquainted with the true relation of
+certain events, with which I am not yet familiar."
+
+"What will you have?" said Bernal Diaz, much gratified by this proof of
+approbation. "You shall hear the truth, and no vain fabrication; for I
+call heaven to witness, and I say Amen to it, that I have related
+nothing which, being an eye-witness, I do not _know_ to be true; or
+which, having the testimony of many others, actors and lookers-on, to
+the same, I have not good reason to believe, is true. What, then, will
+you have, seņor Camarga? Is there any particular battle you choose to be
+informed of? Perhaps, I had better begin with the first chapter, which I
+have here, written out in full, and which--"
+
+"Fire!" cried Guzman, starting up, "will you drive us away? Zounds! do
+you think we will swallow all?"
+
+"Read that chapter," said Najara, "in which you celebrate the exploits
+of the seņor Guzman."
+
+"I have not," said Diaz, with much simplicity, "I have not yet had
+occasion to come to Don Francisco."
+
+"Hear!" cried Villafana, clapping his hands with admiration, in which
+the cavalier, after looking a little indignant, thought fit to join.
+
+"Unless indeed," continued the historian, "I should have resolved to
+relate the quarrel betwixt his favour, and the young cornet Lerma, (whom
+may heaven take to its rest; for there were some good things in the
+young man.) But as to this feud, I thought it better for the honour of
+both, as well as of another, whom I do not desire to mention with
+dispraise, that the matter should be forgotten."
+
+"Put it down, if thou wilt," said Guzman, with a stern aspect. "What I
+have done, I have done; and I shame not to have it spoken. If I did not
+kill the youth, never believe me if it was not out of pity for his
+years; and out of regard to Cortes, with whom he was a favourite."
+
+At these words, which were delivered with the greatest gravity, the
+historian raised his eyes to Don Francisco, and regarded him, for a
+moment, with surprise. Then shaking his head, and muttering the word
+'favourite,' with a voice of incredulity, and even wonder, he held his
+peace, with the air of one who locks up in his breast a mystery, which
+he has been on the point of imprudently revealing.
+
+"A favourite--I repeat the word," exclaimed Don Francisco, with angry
+emphasis; "a favourite, at least, until his folly and baseness were made
+apparent to Cortes, and so brought him to disgrace."
+
+"Strong words, Don Francisco!" said Villafana, with a bold tone of
+rebuke; "and somewhat _too_ strong to be spoken of a dead enemy. And
+besides, without referring to your share in the matter, there are those
+in this army, who have other thoughts in relation to the lad. It has
+been whispered,--and the honour of Cortes has suffered thereby,--it has
+been whispered----"
+
+"By Villafana," exclaimed the hunchback, abruptly and sharply; "by
+thyself, certainly, Sir Alguazil, if there be anything in it against the
+credit of the general."
+
+"Pshaw! wilt thou buffet me again?" cried Villafana, springing up and
+stamping on the earth, though not in anger. "Dost thou know now what
+thou art like?"
+
+"Like a thorn in the foot, which, the more you stamp, the more it will
+hurt."
+
+"Rather like a stupid ball tied to my leg," said the Alguazil, "which,
+without any merit of its own, serves but the dead-weight purpose of
+giving me a jerk, turn whichsoever way I will."
+
+"Right!" cried Najara, with a sneer; "you have clapped the ball to the
+right leg. We do not so shot honest men."
+
+"Gentlemen, with your leave," said Camarga, willing to divert the storm,
+which it seemed Najara's delight to provoke in the breast of the
+Alguazil, "with your leave, seņores, I must not be robbed of my
+curiosity. It was my purpose to ask the seņor del Castillo to read me
+such portions of his journal as treated, first, of occurrences that
+happened after the Noche Triste, and battle of Otumba, and then of the
+history and fate of this very young man, whose name is so efficacious in
+laying you by the ears. But as I perceive the latter subject is hateful
+to you all,--." Here he turned his eyes on Guzman.
+
+"You are deceived," said Don Francisco, drily. "I bear the young man no
+malice: the wolf and the dog may roll over carcasses--I have no anger
+for bones. He slandered me: being no longer alive, I forgive him. Ask
+Bernal what you will, and let him answer what he will: I swear by my
+troth, I care not."
+
+"What needs that we should look into noisome caves, when we have green,
+wholesome lawns before us?" said Bernal Diaz, hesitating; for, at that
+moment, the eyes of all except Guzman, were fastened eagerly on his own.
+"I could speak of the quarrel, to be sure, between his favour Don
+Francisco and the young colour-bearer; for though, as I said, and for
+the reasons stated, I have not put it down in my history, yet do I
+remember it very well. But, should I get thus far, I should even persist
+with the whole story; for, I know not how it is, I never begin a
+relation, and get well advanced in the same, but I am loath to leave it,
+till I have recounted all."
+
+"Ay, I'll be sworn, thou art," said Villafana: "thy stories are much
+like to a crane's neck; 'tis but a head and bill at first, and an ell or
+two of nothing stretched out after."
+
+"Nor am I able," said the worthy Bernal, without stopping to digest the
+simile, "to read a full account of those actions the seņor Camarga
+speaks of, which took place subsequently to our flight from Mexico and
+our great victory on the plains of Otumba, for the good reason that I
+have not yet composed them; the failure of which is, in a great measure,
+the consequence of your loud talking just now, whilst I was addressing
+my mind to the same. But, if you will have a verbal relation, seņor
+Camarga, I will do my best to pleasure you, and that right briefly, and
+in true words; for I defy any man to detect falsehood or exaggeration in
+what I write."
+
+"Ay, by'r lady!" cried Guzman, who had recovered his good-humour, and
+now laughed heartily,--"in what you _write_, honest Bernal; but in what
+you say, you are not so infallible."
+
+"You would not let me finish what I was about to say," murmured the
+historian.
+
+"No, faith; you would make a day's work of it; whereas I, who am no
+wire-drawer of conceits, can despatch the whole thing in a minute. Do
+you not see? the rear of the procession is in sight: in half an hour we
+shall be summoned into camp. Be content then, scribbler; I quote thy
+words, which should be honour enough: 'I defy any man to discover
+falsehood or exaggeration in what I say.' Know then, seņor
+Camarga--after our victory at Otumba, nine months since, we retreated to
+Tlascala, four hundred and fifty in number, at which city we rested five
+months, curing our wounds, recruiting our forces, and preparing to
+resume the war. During this time, the only remarkable incidents
+were,--first--the meeting of those goodly knaves who had come with
+Narvaez, sworn faith to Cortes, looked at Mexico, and now, being
+satisfied with blows and honour, demanded to be sent back to Cuba, to
+the great injury and almost destruction of all our hopes. Among the
+foremost of these turbulent fellows, was our friend here, Villafana;
+who, although he came not with Narvaez, but was sent soon after us by
+Velasquez, was ever found consorting with the disaffected, until his
+good saint, in some dream of the gallows, brought better thoughts into
+his mind, and converted him from an open enemy into a doubtful friend.
+Peace, Villafana! I am now playing the historian, and must therefore
+tell what I believe to be the truth."
+
+At these words, Villafana, who had opened his mouth to speak, checked
+the impulse, nodded, laughed, and composed himself to silence.
+
+"The defection of these men," resumed the cavalier, "and the reduction
+of our numbers that followed, (for we were e'en forced to discharge the
+more importunate of them,) were requited to us by happy reinforcements
+of men, horses, and arms; some of them sent by the foolish Velasquez--"
+
+"Seņor Guzman," said Bernal Diaz, "the Governor Velasquez is my
+relation. My father was an hidalgo, and his wife, my mother--"
+
+"Oh, I forgot!" said Guzman, nodding to the historian:--"Some sent by
+the _sagacious_ Velasquez to his captain, Narvaez, who was in chains at
+Villa Rica; some by De Garay, Adelantado of Jamaica, to rob us of our
+northern province, Panuco,--and it is supposed that thou, seņor Camarga,
+with thy crew of sick men, though thou comest so late, and apparently of
+thine own good will, wert equipt by the same inconsiderate commander;
+and some by the merchants of the Canaries and of Seville, to be
+exchanged for our superfluous spoils, which were not then gathered;--no,
+by'r lady, nor yet, either. In fine, we became strong enough, by these
+means, to recruit our forces among the natives of the land; which we
+did, by attacking divers provinces in the neighbourhood of Tlascala, and
+compelling their warriors to join our standard, along with the
+Tlascalans, who were willing enough,--all save their generalissimo,
+Xicotencal. Thus, then, with no mean force of Spaniards, and with
+several armies of Indian confederates, we came, 'tis now more than three
+months since, to yonder city, Tezcuco, and raised to the throne, (in
+place of his brother, who fled to Mexico,) a king of our own choosing;
+of whom I have the honour to be chief counsellor and minister, that is
+to say, guardian, regent, sponsor, or master, as you may think fit to
+esteem me. Here, it has been our good fortune to receive other and
+stronger reinforcements, and, as Villafana said, from the king's own
+royal bounty, with commissions and orders, priests and crown-officers,
+and so on; which circumstances have caused our army to be reorganized,
+the whole reduced to a stricter discipline, and civil officers to be
+appointed, for the better enforcing of martial law. Here, too, we have
+been preparing for the siege and blockade of yonder accursed metropolis,
+by bringing ships, (they are on the shoulders of these crawling pagans,)
+to give us the command of the lake; and by attacking and destroying the
+neighbouring towns, so as to secure possession of the shores. In the
+meanwhile, the young cub of an Emperor, Guatimozin, who has succeeded
+Cuitlahuatzin, the successor of Montezuma, has been equally busy in
+concentrating the warriors of all his faithful provinces in the island,
+and providing vast stores of corn and meat, for their subsistence,--as
+resolute to resist as we are to assail. The materials for our vessels
+being arrived, it is now known, that the time of constructing and
+lanching them, will be devoted to an expedition, led by Cortes himself;
+in which we will make the circuit of the whole lake, destroying the
+rebellious cities on the main, and driving to the island all who may
+think fit to resist. When they are thus caged, we shall have them like
+pigeons in a net; and good plucking there will be in store for
+all.--This is my history, and methinks it should satisfy you."
+
+"It wants nothing to be complete save the episode of the Cornet Lerma,"
+said Villafana, with a malicious grin; "and, in requital for the good
+turn you have done me, when speaking of the mutiny Tlascala, I will
+relate it,--ay, by St. James, I will! frown and storm as you may. The
+seņor Camarga has avowed his curiosity in the matter. Our dull Bernal,
+who is so frequent at boasting he tells naught but truth, has confessed
+that he dares not tell _all_ the truth; which, I think, will be somewhat
+of a qualification to the belief of his future admirers. Najara, here,
+will say naught of any one but myself, and that with a crusty and bitter
+obstinacy,--wherein he seems to me to resemble a silly ox, who rubs his
+stupid head against a tree, much less to the prejudice of the bark than
+his skin. And as for thyself, seņor Don Francisco, thou hast but thine
+own fashion of telling the story. But I told thee before, there are
+those in the army who have another way of thinking; and I am one--I will
+not boggle at a truth, like Diaz, because it is somewhat discreditable
+to Cortes, or to a chief officer."
+
+"Speak then," said Guzman, gravely; "I have said already I care not. I
+know full well how your knavish companions belie me. I say again, I care
+not. What you aver as your own belief, I will make free to hold in
+consideration: for the reported imputations of others, I release you
+from responsibility."
+
+"Oh, I speak not on my own knowledge, nor of my own personal belief,"
+said Villafana, "and therefore, (but more especially in consequence of
+the decree, seņor, the decree!--we will not forget the decree,) I shall
+fear neither dagger nor black looks. You called Lerma a 'favourite' of
+the general: pho! even Bernal smiled at that!"
+
+"What I have said in that matter," replied Guzman, with composure, "I
+will condescend to support with argument. The young man was received
+into the household of Cortes, while Cortes was yet a planter of
+Santiago: he picked him up, heaven knows where, how, or why, a poor,
+vagabond boy. It is notorious to all, that, in those days, Don Hernan
+employed him less as a servant than as a son, or younger brother, and as
+such, bestowed upon him affection and confidence, as well as the truest
+protection. Thou knowest, and if thou art not an infidel altogether,
+thou wilt allow, that the sword-cut on the general's left hand was
+obtained in a duel which he fought with a man, ('twas the seņor
+Bocasucia,) who had thrown some sarcasm on the youth's birth, and then
+ran him through the body, when he sought for satisfaction."
+
+"I allow all this," said Villafana; "I confess the youth was an ass, to
+match his boy's blade against the weapon of the best swordsman in the
+island; and I agree that it was both noble and truly affectionate in
+Cortes, to take up the quarrel, and so baste the bones of Bocasucia,
+that he will remember the correction to his dying day. I allow all this;
+and I add to it the greater proof of Don Hernan's love for the youth,
+that when Velasquez granted him his commission to subdue these lands, (I
+would the sea had swallowed them, some good ten years since!) the
+captain did forthwith entrust to the boy the honourable and
+distinguished duty of recruiting soldiers for him, in Espaņola, in which
+island he was born."
+
+"Ay," quoth Guzman, dryly, "and one may find cause for the general's
+anger, in the diligence with which the urchin prosecuted his task, and
+the success that crowned it."
+
+"By my faith," said Bernal Diaz, unable any longer to restrain his
+desire to take part in a discussion of such historical moment, "the
+young man sped well; and that he came to us empty-handed was no cause of
+Don Hernan's displeasure, as I have heard Don Hernan say. It was, in the
+first place, our haste to embark, when we discovered that the governor
+was about to revoke our captain's commission, that caused Lerma to be
+left behind us; and, secondly, it was the governor's own act, that Lerma
+was not permitted to follow us, with the forces he had raised and
+brought as far as Santiago. It is well known, that these men were
+arrested on their course, and disbanded by Velasquez,--for some of them
+came afterwards with Narvaez, and have so reported. The youth was thrown
+into prison, too, where he fell sick,--for he had never entirely
+recovered from the effects of his wound,--and it required all the
+exertions of Doņa Catalina, our leader's wife, backed by those of her
+friends, to procure his release. His fidelity was afterwards shown in
+his escape from Cuba, which was truly wonderful, both in boldness of
+conception and success of accomplishment."
+
+"His fidelity truly, and his folly, too," said Villafana; "for, I think,
+no one but a confirmed madman could have projected and undertaken a
+voyage across the gulf, in an open _fusta_,[5] (by'r lady! I have heard
+'twas nothing better than a piragua,) with a few beggarly Indian
+fishermen for his crew. But this he did, mad or not; and if Cortes were
+angry, he took but an ill way to punish, since he gave him a horse and
+standard, and kept him, for a long time, near to his own person. His
+favourite for a time, I grant you he may have been, having heard it so
+related; but when I myself came to the land, there were others much
+better beloved."
+
+[Footnote 5: _Fusta_--a sort of galley, very small and open, with lateen
+sails.]
+
+"If I am not mistaken," said Don Francisco, "he was in favour at that
+time; and I have heard it affirmed it was some news of thy bringing, or
+some good counsel of thy speaking, which first opened the eyes of
+Cortes."
+
+"_I_, indeed!--_my_ news, and _my_ counsel!" cried Villafana, with a
+grin. "I was more like, at that period, to get to the bastinado than the
+ears of Don Hernan. I, indeed!--I loved not the young man, I confess;
+and who did? He had even the fate of a fallen minion; all spoke of him
+with dispraise,--all hated him, or seemed to hate him, save only the
+Tlascalan chief, Xicotencal, who loved him out of opposition; and I
+remember a saying of this very crabbed Corcobado, here, on the subject,
+namely, that a hedgehog was the best fellow for a viper."
+
+"Ay, by my faith," said Najara; "yet I meant not Xicotencal for the
+animal, but a worthy Christian cavalier; who was, at that time, rolling
+the snake out of his dwelling." As Najara spoke, he fixed his eyes on
+Guzman.
+
+"I understand thee, toad," said the latter, indifferently. "It was
+natural, the young man should be somewhat jealous. But this leads us
+from the story. If it be needful to find a reason for Don Hernan's
+change, I can myself give a thousand. In the first place, mere human
+fickleness might be enough, for no man is master of his affections. It
+might be enough too, to know, that the youth was no longer the gay and
+good-humoured lad he had been described, but a sour, gloomy, and peevish
+fool, exceedingly disagreeable and quarrelsome; and, perhaps, it might
+be more than enough, to remind you, that, as was currently believed,
+this change of temper was the consequence of certain villanous acts,
+committed after our departure, and which were thought to furnish a
+better and more probable reason for the voyage in the fusta than any
+particular zeal he had in the cause of Cortes. If this be not enough,"
+continued the cavalier, looking round him with the air of one who feels
+that his arguments are conclusive, "then I have but to mention what you
+seem to have forgotten,--to wit, that this petulant and meddlesome boy
+did presume to make opposition to, and very arrogantly censure, certain
+actions of the general; and, in particular, the seizure and imprisonment
+of king Montezuma, and the burning alive of the Cholulan prisoners, as
+well as the seventeen warriors, who had fought the battle with
+Escalante, at Vera Cruz."--In the last of these instances, Don Francisco
+made reference to the barbarous and most unjust punishment of
+Quauhpopoco,--the military governor of a Mexican province near to Vera
+Cruz,--and of his chief officers, who had presumed to resist with arms,
+and with fatal success, the Spanish commandant of the coast, in an
+unjustifiable attack.
+
+"All this is true," said Villafana, "and it is all superfluous. What I
+desired to establish was, that Lerma was no favourite, when sent on the
+expedition, as would have been inferred from your words. I come now,
+seņor Camarga, to speak of that occurrence in relation to this boy, Juan
+Lerma, (I call him a boy, for, at that time, he was not thought to
+exceed nineteen years of age,) which, as Bernal Diaz says, touches the
+honour of Don Hernan, and which, others think, bears as heavily upon
+that of Don Francisco. The seņores must answer for themselves: I only
+give what is one version of the story."
+
+"And, I warrant thee, it is the worst," said Najara. "Thou hast very
+much the appetite of a gallinaza, who chooses her meat according to the
+roughness of the savour."
+
+"Among the daughters of the captive Montezuma," said Villafana, nodding
+to the hunchback, in testimony of approbation, "was one, the youngest of
+all, and, in truth, the prettiest, as I have heard, for I never beheld
+her, who was called Cillahula,--"
+
+"_Zelahualla_," said Bernal Diaz. "It is a word that signifies--"
+
+"It signifies nothing, so long as you give it not the proper accent,"
+said Guzman, with infinite composure. "Her true name was Citlaltihuatl;
+or, at least, it was by that the Mexicans designated her; for they of
+the royal family have, ordinarily, a popular title, in addition to that
+used at court. The name may be interpreted the Maiden of the Star, or
+the Celestial Lady; for so much is expressed by the two words of which
+it is compounded."
+
+"I maintain," said Bernal Diaz, stoutly, "that the word Zelahualla is
+more agreeable of pronunciation, as well as much more universal in the
+army."
+
+"I grant you that," said Guzman. "Nor is the corruption so great as that
+of many names you have recorded in your journal: but I leave these
+things to be examined by your admirers hereafter. We will call the
+princess, then, Zelahualla; that being the better and more common
+title.--And now, Villafana, man, get thee on, in God's name; and start
+not, seņor Camarga, at the damnable inventions of slander, which will
+now be told you."
+
+"Pho!" said the Alguazil, "I will not abuse thee half so much as the
+General. Know, seņor Camarga, that there arose, between the young fool
+Lerma and the excellent cavalier Don Francisco de Guzman, a quarrel,
+very hot and deadly, concerning this same silly daughter of Montezuma;
+with whom Don Francisco chose to be somewhat rougher and more
+tyrannical, in displaying his affection, than was proper towards a
+king's daughter and a captive."
+
+"Dost thou speak this upon thine own personal averment?" demanded Don
+Francisco, with a countenance unchanged, but with a voice
+preternaturally subdued.
+
+"No, faith," said Villafana, hastily, and with an air that looked like
+alarm; "I repeat the innuendoes of others, which may be slanders or
+not,--I know not. But it is certain, the young man so charged thee to
+Cortes; affirming that, but for his interference, the villany
+meditated--But, pho! thou growest angry! So much, certainly, he brought
+against thee?"
+
+"He did," replied Guzman, smiling as if in derision; "and I know not how
+any could have been induced to believe him, except that man,--each
+man,--being naturally a rogue himself, doth rather delight to entertain
+those aspersions which bring down his neighbour to his own level, than
+the commendations which acquaint him with a superior. He did!--He was a
+fool! I can explain this thing to your satisfaction."
+
+"Basta! it does not need," replied Villafana. "The rear-guard is
+passing,--there is a stir on the temple-top, and presently we shall hear
+the trumpet, which, like a curfew-bell, will command us to put out the
+fires of our fancy and the lights of our wit, on pain of having them,
+somewhat of a sudden, whipped out with switches. I must tell mine own
+story; the seņor Camarga looks a little impatient. The end of this
+quarrel," continued the Alguazil, "was a duel; in which neither of the
+rivals in love and the general's favour, came to much hurt; since they
+were speedily seized upon and introduced to the Calabozo, for fighting
+against the express orders of the general. Then, being released, they
+were separated,--our excellent friend Don Francisco being sent on some
+duty to Tlascala, and the boy Juan to--heaven."
+
+"Saints!" exclaimed Camarga; "he was not executed?"
+
+"Not on the block or the gallows, to be sure," said Villafana; "but in a
+manner quite as effectual. He was sent on some fool's errand of
+discovery, or exploration, to the South Sea, which, it was told us,
+washed the distant borders of this mighty empire;--his companions, two
+unlucky dogs of La Mancha, and one Leonese of Medina-del-Campo,--"
+
+"Ay," said Bernal Diaz, with a groan,--"Gaspar Olea; he was my beloved
+friend and townsman, and--" But Villafana was in no humour to be
+interrupted:
+
+"All three, like himself, out of favour," he continued. "Besides these,
+the young man had with him a band of knavish infidels, from the western
+province Matlatzinco; and his guide and counsellor was an old chief of
+the Ottomies--a half-savage, (they called him _Ocelotl_ or _Ocelotzin_,
+that is, the Tiger,) who had been domesticated among Montezuma's other
+wild beasts. Now, seņor, you may make your own conclusions, or you may
+take those of men who are true friends of Cortes, and yet will speak
+their mind. It was said, at the time, that the young man was sent to his
+death; for the western tribes are fierce and barbarous; it was an easy
+way to get rid of him--and so it has been proved. This happened fourteen
+months ago: neither the young man, nor any of his companions, were ever
+heard of more. The thing was understood, and it was called a cruel and
+unchristian act."
+
+"Thou doest a foul wrong to Cortes, to say so," exclaimed Don Francisco,
+"imputing to him such sinister and perfidious motives. Such expeditions
+were at that time common; for we were then at peace, and each explorer
+was furnished by Montezuma with some royal officer by way of
+safe-conduct. Did not Don Hernan send his cousin, the young Pizarro, to
+explore the gold-lands of Guaztepec, at that very time? Were not others
+sent to search for mines, in the southern and northern provinces? I
+affirm, that this expedition of Lerma, fatal though it has proved, was
+not thought more, or _much_ more dangerous than Pizarro's:--thou
+knowest, Pizarro lost three of his men.--Moreover, thou doest the
+general an equal wrong, in the matter of the three Spaniards, that went
+with Lerma. Olea, at least,--Gaspar Olea, the Barba-Roxa--was
+notoriously a favourite and trusted soldier, and was sent with the
+youth, as being the fittest man who could be spared, to aid his
+inexperience."
+
+"The history is finished," said Villafana, rising; "the trumpet
+flourishes; and, like hounds at the horn of the hunter, we must e'en get
+us to the general, and add our howls to the yells of these curs of
+Tlascala. The history is finished; and I have only to add, by way of
+annotation, that the hatred you bore the youth, (I have heard some say,
+he had the better in the duel!) will supply you good reasons for
+defending his punishment."
+
+"I say to you again," cried Guzman, "I have forgiven the youth, and I
+hate him not."
+
+"Oh! the brown horse, Bobadil, that was sent to him from Santo Domingo,
+a month since, and given to your own excellent favour, as to his proper
+heir, is a good peace-maker!"
+
+"Thou art a fool," said Don Francisco; "I lament his death as much as
+another.----"
+
+"Have masses then said for his soul, for, by heaven and St. John, his
+spirit is among us!"
+
+These words, pronounced by the hunchback, Najara, suddenly, and with a
+voice of extreme alarm, caused the cavalier, who, with Villafana and
+Camarga, had already begun to walk towards the city, to turn round; when
+he instantly beheld, and with similar agitation, the apparition which
+had drawn forth the exclamation of the deformed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+As the Castilians followed the eyes of Najara, they beheld, approaching
+them from behind, three men, in whom, but for the direction given to
+their thoughts by the exclamation, they would have seen nothing but the
+persons of Indians, belonging to some tribe more wild and savage than
+any which inhabited the valley. Their garments were coarse and singular;
+their gait--at least, the gait of two of them,--not unlike to that of
+barbarians; and the look of wonder with which they surveyed the long
+train of the rear-guard, in which the high penachos, or plumes, and the
+copper-headed spears of Tlascalan chiefs, shone among the iron casques
+of Spanish cavaliers, was similar to the childish admiration of natives,
+unused to such a spectacle. Their dark countenances and long hair, their
+vestments and arms, were all of an Aztec character; yet a second and
+more scrutinizing glance made it apparent, that one, at least, if not
+two of them, was of another and nobler race.
+
+The foremost, or leader, of the little band, was undoubtedly a savage;
+as was seen by the depressed forehead, the high cheek-bones, the eye of
+a peculiar form, and the skin of even uncommon swarthiness, which
+distinguished him from his companions. His stature was short, almost
+dwarfish; his toes were turned inwards; and as he moved along with a
+shuffling gait, with advanced chest, and head still more protruded, his
+long locks, grizzled as with extreme age, fell from either side of his
+face, like patches of gray moss from the bough of a tree, and almost
+swept the ground. A coarse cloth was wrapped round his loins; another of
+a square shape,--its opposite corners tied round his neck,--hung like a
+mantle, or rather a shawl, from his shoulders, over which were also
+strapped a bow and quiver of arrows; and a thick mat of cane-work was
+secured by thongs to his left arm, in the manner of a buckler, and swung
+at his side, or was laid upon his breast, as suited his mood or
+convenience. In other respects, he was naked,--though not without the
+native battle-axe of obsidian. This weapon consisted of a rod, or
+bludgeon, of heavy wood, (it was sometimes of copper,) at the extremity
+of which, and on either side, were fastened six or seven broad blades,
+or flakes, of volcanic glass, standing a little apart from each other.
+Its native name, _maquahuitl_, was speedily corrupted by the Spaniards
+into _macana_,--a name that is applied, in Castile, to a sabre of lath;
+and which, being more practicable to civilized organs of speech than the
+original title, is worthy of being preserved. The appearance of this
+aged warrior presented none of the infirmities of years. His stooping
+carriage was rather the result of habit than feebleness; his step was
+quick and firm, though ungainly; and his eye rolled with the piercing
+vivacity of youth over the scene, which occupied so much of the
+attention of his followers.
+
+Of these, that one whom the Castilians at the cypress-tree hesitated,
+for a moment, whether to esteem an Indian or a Christian man, was of a
+figure more remarkable for sturdiness than elegance. The roll of cloth
+round his body extended from his waist, where it was secured by a
+leathern girdle, to his knees. The mantle about his shoulders was more
+capacious than his fellow's, but it left his brawny chest in part
+exposed, and thereby revealed a skin fairer than belonged to the natives
+of Anahuac. His hair, though very long, was of a reddish-brown colour,
+and waving rather than straight; and a rough beard of a ruddy hue,
+though so short that its growth seemed to have been permitted for not
+more than the space of a week, was another phenomenon not to be looked
+for in a barbarian. But the indications of civilized origin offered by
+these characteristics, were set at naught by the step and bearing of the
+stranger, which were to the full as wild and peculiar as those of his
+more ancient companion; like whom, he carried a buckler and macana,
+though without the bow and quiver. His eye rolled with a like wildness;
+but his features were European; and instead of being entirely barefoot,
+like the senior, his feet were defended by stout sandals of untanned
+skin.
+
+The third, and by far the most remarkable of all, was he who had first
+caught the eye of Najara, and upon whom was now concentrated the gaze of
+the whole party. A figure of the most majestic height, and noble
+proportions, though, at the present moment, greatly wasted, was rather
+set off to advantage than concealed by a costume as spare and primitive
+as that of the red-bearded man. His skin was much tawnier than his
+companion's; indeed, it was of the darkest hue known among the southern
+provinces of Spain and Portugal, where the blood of Europe has mingled
+harmoniously with the life-tides of Africa. His lofty stature was more
+obvious, perhaps, since he adopted not the bearing or gait of the
+others, but moved along erect, with a graceful demeanour, and a step of
+natural ease and dignity. He had but one characteristic of a Mexican;
+and that was the long hair, straight, and of an intense blackness, that
+fell from his temples to his breast, with much of a wild and savage
+profusion, concealing, in part, a cheek of the finest contour, though
+somewhat hollowed by hardship, and, perhaps, suffering. The puffs of
+wind, blowing aside this sable curtain, disclosed an elevated forehead,
+crowning a visage in which every feature was of the mould of Castile,
+and after the happiest model of that order of beauty, each being
+sculptured with a touch that preserved delicacy, even while giving
+boldness. His age would have been a question wherewith to puzzle a
+physiognomist: there was much in the smoothness of his brow, and the
+unaltered freshness of a mouth, over which was sprouting a mustache,
+short and bushy, as if as lately submitted to the tonsure as the beard
+of his companion, that spoke of youth just verging into maturity; while,
+on the other hand, the complete developement of his frame, and the
+seriousness of his countenance, would have conveyed the impression of an
+age many years farther advanced. This seriousness of expression was,
+indeed, more than mere gravity; it indicated a melancholy, or even
+sadness, which, though of a gentle cast, was become a settled and
+permanent characteristic.
+
+As he approached, his eyes were, like his companions', fixed with
+curiosity upon the long and dense body of Tlascalans, from whom they
+were only withdrawn, when the exclamation of Najara attracted them
+suddenly to the group at the cypress. The confusion of these personages
+was so manifest, and they handled their arms with an air so indicative
+of hostility, that the old warrior and the red-bearded man came to an
+instant halt, and looked, as if for instructions, to their taller and
+more noble-visaged companion. He instantly stepped before them, and
+waving his hand to Najara, who was hastily fitting a bolt to his
+crossbow, and to the historian, who presented his partisan with greater
+alacrity of decision than would have been anticipated from his sluggish
+appearance, cried aloud,
+
+"Hold, friends! We are not enemies, but Christians and Castilians."
+
+"Art thou Juan Lerma? and art thou truly alive? or do I look upon thy
+phantom?" cried the hunchback, with an agitated voice.
+
+"Out, fool! we are good living men," exclaimed the red-bearded man,
+angrily; "and with flesh enough upon our bones, to cudgel thee into
+better manners, I trow. Is this the way you receive old friends,
+returning from bondage among infidels? What, Bernal Diaz, thou ass! dost
+thou not know Gaspar Olea, thine old townsman of Medina-del-Campo, thy
+brother-in-arms and sworn friend? nor yet the seņor Don Juan Lerma, my
+captain and friend in trouble? nor Ocelotzin, the old Ottomi rascal, our
+guide here?"
+
+"Ay, oho! old rascal, old friend; all friends, all rascals," cried the
+Indian, looking affectionately towards the Castilians, who still stood
+in doubt, and using the few Spanish words with which he was familiar;
+"good friends, good rascals,--Castellanos, Cristianos;--friends,
+rascals."
+
+While the rest were hesitating, the cavalier Don Francisco de Guzman
+suddenly stepped out from among them, and, advancing towards the young
+man Lerma, with a smiling countenance and extended hand, said,
+
+"Though I am not thought to be the most loving of thy friends, I will be
+the first to bid thee welcome, seņor Lerma, in token that old feuds do
+not mar the satisfaction with which I behold a Christian man rescued so
+happily, and as it appears to me, so marvellously, from the grave."
+
+The emotions and changes of countenance with which the young man heard
+these words, were various and strongly marked. At the first tones of
+Guzman, he started back, as if a serpent had suddenly crossed his path,
+and grew pale, while his eyes flashed a ferocious and deadly fire. At
+the next, the blood rushed over his visage, and throbbed with a visible
+violence in the vessels of his temples; while he half raised the macana,
+which he carried, in lieu of a better weapon, as if to cleave the
+speaker to the earth. The next instant, the angry suffusion departed,
+his brows relaxed their severity, the deep melancholy gathered again in
+his eyes, and he surveyed the cavalier with a patient and grave
+placidity, until the latter had finished his salutation. Then, bending
+his head, and folding his hands upon his breast, he replied, mildly, and
+without a shadow of anger,
+
+"I have, as thou sayest, returned from the grave, in the sight of which
+I strove, as a Christian should, to make my peace with man as well as
+with heaven. I have done so; I am at peace with all; I am at peace with
+_thee_--But I cannot give thee my hand."
+
+The cavalier Don Francisco received this rejection of his good-will with
+no sign of dissatisfaction, that was distinguishable by others, beyond a
+smile or sneer; but inclining his head towards Lerma, he muttered in his
+ear--
+
+"The strife is unequal; but I accept thy defiance. Thou art but a
+broken-legged wolf, and wilt fight a fatted tiger--I am content."
+
+So saying, or rather whispering, for his words were only caught by the
+ears of Juan, the cavalier turned upon his heel, and without
+condescending to exhibit his mortification in the vain air of pride and
+scorn, assumed by ordinary men on such occasions, he began to walk
+towards the city. He was presently followed by the seņor Camarga; who,
+having fastened upon Juan, for a few moments, a look of intense
+curiosity, flung, when he had satisfied himself, his cloak over the
+lower part of his visage, and thus departed.
+
+"You give me but a cold welcome, good friends," said Juan, looking after
+the retreating man with a sigh. "Will no one else in this company offer
+his hand to one who burns with joy at the sight of Christian faces?"
+
+"When thou art better acquainted with the bounty of the compliment,
+doubtless, but no sooner," said the hunchback, who had surveyed the
+youth with an interest which was belied by his present scorn. "A good
+day to you, seņor Juan Lerma, and God keep you well. There is a good
+path over the mountains, northward, by the way of Otumba. If you like
+not the company of heathens, there are fair maids enow in Cuba."
+
+With these hints, which the young man listened to with a disturbed
+aspect, and which the hunchback accompanied with sour and contemptuous
+looks, he turned away, and began to hobble after his companions.
+
+"Now God be our stay!" exclaimed Juan, with some emotion, "there is not
+a man who has a tear for our sorrows, or a smile for our joy. It were
+better we had perished, Gaspar!"
+
+"_I_ am not ashamed to give thee my hand," said Bernal Diaz, shaking off
+his amazement, and advancing, "though I know not how far thou art
+deserving of such countenance. But I must first claim to embrace my old
+friend and brother, Gaspar; whom, by my faith, I can scarce believe that
+I see living before me! How didst thou thus learn to turn thy toes in,
+Gaspar?"
+
+"Away, thou dog-eared, ill-blooded block!" cried the red-bearded Gaspar,
+who had watched the turn of proceedings with indignation, and now poured
+forth his accumulated wrath upon the worthy historian. "Ashamed!--_thou_
+ashamed!--_thy_ countenance!--deserving of _thy_ countenance, thou
+ill-mannered, bog-brained churl and ass! Thou wilt give the young seņor
+thy hand! If thou dost but lift it, I will smite it off with my
+battle-axe. Curmudgeon! _I_ thy friend and brother?--I discard thee and
+forswear thee; I do, marry--"
+
+"Peace, Gaspar," said Lerma, mildly; "quarrel not with thy friend on my
+account; thou hast no offence on thine own. It is plain, there is but
+cold cheer in store for me: make none for thyself."
+
+"Oh, seņor!" said Gaspar, sharply, for his anger was waxing hot and
+unrespective, "I am no servant, no grinning lackey, to be told, 'do me
+this,' and 'do me that,' by your excellent favour; no, by your leave,
+no;--I am your soldier, not your foot-man. I will quarrel when I like,
+and I will not be chidden. I am your soldier, seņor, your soldier--"
+
+"My friend, I think," said the young man; "though thou dost now afflict
+me more than those who seem my enemies."
+
+"Afflict!--enemies!--_I_ afflict!" cried Gaspar, fiercely; "I quarrel
+with your enemies!--ay, _ā outrance_, as the Frenchmen, say. I have
+fought them in Italy. Fuego! enemies!--call this knave by the name, and
+if I do not smite him to the chine, townsman though he be--"
+
+"Peace, Gaspar, if thou art my friend, as, I trust this good Bernal
+is,--"
+
+"Go to," said Bernal Diaz, in high dudgeon, addressing himself to
+Gaspar, "thou art turned heathen, or thou wouldst not so abuse me. I
+care for you not; I have nothing to do with you, nor with any of your
+companions. By and by you will repent. God be with you, and make you
+wiser."
+
+With these words, the historian followed the example of the others, and
+was straightway stalking, with impetuous strides, towards Tezcuco.
+
+"Now art you not ashamed, Gaspar, to have given way to this boy's wrath?
+Wilt thou be womanish, too?"
+
+"Ay," said Gaspar, shaking his head with the fury of a mastiff, rending
+some meaner animal, and thus dashing away certain tears of rage or
+mortification, that were starting in his eyes: "it doth make a woman of
+me, to think we have escaped from dangers such as were never dreamed of
+by these false traitors,--from infidel prisons and heathen maws, and
+come, at last, among Christian men, whom I could have hugged, every ill
+loon of them all; and not one to stretch forth his hand, and say God
+bless me! You were right, seņor; it were better to have remained slaves
+with the King of the Humming-bird Valley, than to have left him for such
+hangdog welcome."
+
+"Thou wouldst have had nothing to complain of, hadst thou bridled thy
+impatient temper. These men meant not to provoke _thee_."
+
+"Bad friends, bad rascals!" said the Ottomi, who, during these several
+passages, had been staring from one Christian to another in unconcealed
+amazement: "bad friends! no good rascals!" he muttered in Spanish; then
+instantly changing to Mexican, which though not his native tongue, was
+more familiar to him, and was besides well understood by Juan, he
+continued,
+
+"Itzquauhtzin, the Great Eagle," (for thus he chose to designate the
+youth,) "has settled upon the hill of kites. Where are his wings?
+Malintzin is angry; he sends his young men to frown. Here is another: he
+laughs with his eyes.--Ocelotzin is an old tiger,--Techeechee is a dog
+without voice; but the _itzli_[6] is sharp in his hand. Shall he
+strike?"
+
+[Footnote 6: _Itzli_, the obsidian or volcanic glass.]
+
+The wild eyes of the barbarian (for the Ottomies, or mountain Indians,
+were the true savages of Anahuac,) were bent with the subtle and
+malignant keenness of the tiger whose name he bore, upon the Alguazil,
+Villafana, who, standing a little aside, and for a time unseen, had
+watched the salutations, and, finally, the departure of his companions,
+without himself saying a word. He now stepped forward, disregarding the
+evil looks of the Indian, as well as those of Gaspar, whose feelings of
+mortification were thirsting for some legitimate object whereon to
+expend their fury: and stretching forth his hand in the most friendly
+manner, said to Juan,
+
+"How now, seņor? drive this old cut-throat dog away.--I claim to be an
+old acquaintance, and, at this moment, not a cold one. The foxes being
+gone, the goose may stretch her neck.--Here am I, one man at least,
+heartily glad to find you coming alive from the trap, and not afraid to
+say so.--Does your favour forget me? Methinks you have the gift of
+rejecting the hands that are offered, howsoever you may covet those that
+are withheld."
+
+"You do me wrong--I remember you well," said Juan, taking the hand, from
+which he had first recoiled with a visible reluctance: "I thank you for
+your kindness. Yes, I remember you," he repeated, with extreme sadness:
+"Would I did _not_."
+
+"Come, seņor Gaspar," continued the Alguazil, turning to Olea. "You and
+I were never such friends as true men should be; but, notwithstanding, I
+give you my true welcome and most Christian congratulations."
+
+"I ever thought you a knave," said Gaspar, clutching Villafana's hand,
+with a sort of sulky thankfulness, "being but an eternal grumbler and
+reviler at the general. But I see you are more of a Christian and man
+than any other villain of them all. Fire and blood! why do they treat us
+thus?"
+
+"Oh, you shall soon know. But how now, seņor Lerma, what is your will?
+Will you walk with me to the city? We have royal commanders now: 'tis a
+matter for the stocks, and, sometimes, the strappado, to loiter beyond
+the lines, after the trumpet's call. Will you walk to Tezcuco? or do you
+choose rather to betake you to the hills, as Najara advised you? Cortes
+is another man now, seņor, and somewhat dangerous, as you may have
+inferred from the bearing of his favourites. If you would be wise, go
+not near him. It is not too late."
+
+"Seņor Villafana," said Juan, "what I have seen and heard has filled me
+with trouble; for, like Gaspar, I looked for such reception as might be
+expected by men returning from among heathen oppressors, to Christian
+associates and old friends. I know not well what has happened during the
+fourteen months of my absence from the army, save what was darkly spoken
+to me by a certain king, in whose hands I have remained, with my
+companions, many months in captivity. He gave me to believe that my
+countrymen had all fallen in a war with Montezuma, whom I left in peace,
+and in strong, though undeserved, bonds. I perceive that I have been
+cajoled: I rejoice that you are living men; but I know not why I should
+fear to join myself again among you. I claim to be conducted to your
+general."
+
+"It shall be as you choose; but, seņor, you are no longer in favour. As
+for Gaspar and the Indian, it will be well enough with them: a good
+soldier like Gaspar is worth something more than hanging; and such a
+knave as this old savage can be put to good use. Seņor, shall I speak a
+word with you? Bid the two advance: I have somewhat to say to you in
+private."
+
+The young man regarded the Alguazil with an anxious countenance; and
+then, desiring his companions to lead the way towards Tezcuco, followed,
+at a little distance, with Villafana.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+For a few moments, the two walked together in silence, and at a slow
+pace, until the others were beyond earshot; when Villafana, suddenly
+stopping and casting his eyes upon Juan, said, with but little ceremony,
+
+"Seņor Juan Lerma, I am your friend; and by St. Peter, who was once a
+false one, you need one that is both plain and true. Does your memory
+tax you with the commission of any act deserving death?"
+
+To this abrupt demand, the young man answered, with an agitated voice,
+but without a moment's hesitation,
+
+"It does. Thou knowest full well, and perhaps all others know, now, that
+I have shed the blood of my friend, the son of my oldest and truest
+benefactor."
+
+"Pho!" cried Villafana, hastily; "I meant not _that_. Your friend,
+indeed? Come, you grieve too much for this. At the worst, it was the
+mishap of a duel,--a fair duel; and, I am a witness, it was, in a
+manner, forced upon you. You should not think of this: there are but few
+who know of it, and none blame you. What I meant to ask, was this--are
+you conscious of any crime worthy of death at the hands of Cortes?"
+
+"I am not," said Lerma, firmly, though very sadly; "no, by mine honour,
+no! I am conscious, and it is a thing long since known to all, that I
+have entirely lost the favour with which he was used to befriend me.
+Nay, this was apparent to me, before I was sent from his presence. I
+hoped that in the long period of my exile, something might occur to show
+him his anger was unjust; and, with this hope, I looked this day, to end
+my wanderings joyfully. I am deceived; everything goes to prove, that
+neither my long sufferings, (and they were both long and many,) nor my
+supposed death have made my appeal of innocence. But I will satisfy him
+of this: I will demand to know my crime. If it be indeed, as I think,
+the death of Hilario--"
+
+"Pho! be wise. He counts not this against thee,--he has been himself a
+duellist. Say nothing of Hilario, neither; no, by the mass! nor be thou
+so mad as to question him of his anger. Thou art very sure, then--I must
+be free with thee, even to the dulness of repetition:--thou art very
+sure, thou hast done nothing to deserve death at his hands?"
+
+"I call heaven to witness," said Juan, "that, save this unhappy
+mischance in the matter of Hilario, which is itself deserving of death,
+I am ignorant of aught that should bring me under his displeasure."
+
+"Enough," said Villafana: "But I would thou shouldst never more speak of
+Hilario. He is dead, heaven rest his soul! He was a knave too; peace,
+then, to his bones!--I am satisfied, thou hast done naught to Cortes,
+deserving death at his hand. I have but one more question to ask
+you:--Has Cortes done nothing to deserve death at thine?"
+
+"Good heavens! what do you mean?" cried Juan, starting as much at the
+sinister tones as the surprising question of the Alguazil.
+
+"Do you ask me? what, _you_?" said Villafana, "Come, I am your friend."
+
+As the Alguazil pronounced these words, with an insinuating frankness
+and earnestness, he threw into his countenance an expression that seemed
+meant to invite the confidence of the young man, and encourage him to
+expose the mystery of his breast, by laying bare the secrets of his own.
+It was a transfiguration: the mean person was unchanged,--the
+insignificant features did not alter their proportions,--but the smile
+that had contorted them, was turned into a sneer of fiendish malignancy,
+and the peculiar sweetness that characterized his eyes, was lost in a
+sudden glare of passion, so demoniacal, that it seemed as if the flames
+of hell were blazing in their sockets. It was the look of but an
+instant: it made Juan recoil with terror: but before he could express a
+word of this feeling, of curiosity, or of suspicion, it had vanished.
+The Alguazil touched his arm, and said quickly, though without any
+peculiar emphasis,
+
+"Judge for yourself: Heaven forbid I should breed ill-will where there
+is none, or plant thorns in my friend's flower-garden. Judge for
+yourself, seņor: if, being innocent of all crime, Cortes has yet doomed
+you, basely and perfidiously, to death,--"
+
+"To death!" exclaimed Juan, with a voice that reached the ears of his
+late companions, and brought them to a sudden stand; "Heaven be my help!
+and do I come back but to die?"
+
+"You went forth but to die!" said Villafana; "and, you may judge, with
+what justice. Come, seņor,--the thing is said in a moment. The
+expedition was designed for your death-warrant."
+
+"Villain!" exclaimed Juan; "dare you impute this horrible treachery to
+Cortes?"
+
+"Not,--no, not, if it appear at all doubtful to your own excellent
+penetration," replied the Alguazil, with a laugh. "I do but repeat you
+the belief of some half the army--had it been but before the Noche
+Triste, I might have said, _all_: but, in truth, we are now, more than
+half of us, new men, who know but little of the matter."
+
+"Does any one charge this upon the general?" said Juan, with a look of
+horror.
+
+"Ay,--if you call them not 'villains,'" replied the soldier.
+
+"I will know the truth," said Juan. "I will find who has belied me."
+
+"You will find that of any one but Don Hernan. Seņor Don Juan, I pity
+you. You have returned at an evil moment; your presence will chill old
+friends, and sharpen ancient enemies."
+
+"If he seek my life, it is his: but, by heaven, the man who has wronged
+me,--"
+
+"Get thy horse and arms first. Wilt thou be wise? Thou shalt have
+friends to back thee. Listen: A month since, there came for thee, in a
+ship from the islands, two very noble horses, and a suit of goodly
+armour, sent, as was said, by some benevolent friend, whom thou mayst be
+quicker at remembering than myself."
+
+"Sent by heaven, I think," said Lerma, "for I know not what earthly
+friend would so supply my necessities."
+
+"Oh, then," said Villafana, "the rumour is, they were sent thee by the
+lady Catalina, our general's wife."
+
+"May heaven bless her!" exclaimed Juan; "for she is mine only friend:
+and this bounty I have not deserved."
+
+"In this matter," said Villafana, dryly, "she will prove rather thine
+enemy; that is, if thou art resolute to demand the restoration of her
+gifts."
+
+"The restoration!"
+
+"In good truth, they were distributed among thine heirs; the horse
+Bobadil, thought by many to be the best in the army, falling to the
+share of thy good friend Guzman."
+
+"To Guzman?" cried Juan, angrily. "Could they find no better friend to
+give him to? I will have him back again; yea, by St. Juan, he shall ride
+no steed of mine!"
+
+"Right!" exclaimed Villafana; "for if thou hast an enemy, he is the man.
+Thou didst well, to refuse his hand. He offered it not in love, but in
+treachery. Thou wilt ask Cortes for thy maligner? It needs not: remember
+Don Francisco."
+
+"I will do so," said Juan, with a sigh. "I thought, in my captivity,
+when I despaired of ever more looking upon a Christian face, that I had
+forgiven my enemies. I deceived myself,--I hate Don Francisco. I will
+proclaim him before the whole army, if he refuse to do me reparation."
+
+"I tell thee, thou shalt have friends," said the Alguazil, with an
+insinuating voice, "to back thee in this matter, as well as in all
+others wherein thou hast been wronged. But thou must be ruled. Speak not
+to Cortes in complaint: he will do thee no justice. Send no defiance of
+battle to Guzman, for this has been proclaimed a sin against God and the
+king, to be punished with loss of arms, degradation, and whipping with
+rods,--sometimes with the loss of the right hand. You stare! Oh, seņor
+Juan Lerma, you will find we have a master now,--a master by the king's
+patent,--who makes his own laws, beats and dishonours, and gives us to
+the gallows, when the fit moves him, without any necessity of cozening
+us to death in expeditions to the gold mines, or the South Seas."
+
+"Seņor Villafana," said Juan, firmly, "I do not believe that, in this
+thing, Cortes designed me any wrong; nor will I permit myself to think
+of it any more. You seem to have something to say to me. Gaspar and the
+Indian are beyond hearing. If you will advise me as a friend, in what
+manner I shall conduct myself in this difficult conjuncture, I will
+listen to you with gratitude; and with thanks more hearty still, if you
+make me acquainted with a way to redeem my honour and faith in the eyes
+of the general."
+
+"I have but two things to counsel you: Make your report of adventures,
+good and bad, to the general, without words of complaint or suspicion;
+and, this done, demand of him, and care not how boldly, the restoration
+of your horses and armour."
+
+"If they be the gifts of his lady," said Juan, with hesitation,
+"methinks, it will not become me to press this demand on him; but rather
+to leave it to his own honour and generosity."
+
+The Alguazil gave the youth a piercing look; but seeing in his visage no
+embarrassment beyond that of a man who is debating a question of mere
+delicacy, replied, coolly,--
+
+"Ask him, then. It is not certainly known that these horses came from
+Doņa Catalina; and, perhaps, they do not. Yet it will be but courteous
+in thee to say, thou hast been so informed, and that thou dost so
+believe. Get thy horses, by all means: but again I say to thee, do
+nothing to incense the general. If he provoke thee, show not thy
+displeasure; at least, show it not now. I will give thee more reasons
+for what I counsel, as we walk through the city."
+
+By this time the speakers had reached the gates of the city, where
+Gaspar and the Ottomi stood in waiting for them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The walls of Mexico were the foaming surges of her lake. The cities on
+the shore, when much exposed by defencelessness of site, great wealth of
+inhabitants, or other causes, to the attacks of enemies, were surrounded
+by walls, commonly of earth, though sometimes, as in the case of
+Tezcuco, of stone. These were, ordinarily, of no great height or
+strength, but sufficient, when well manned, to repel the assaults of the
+slingers and archers of America.
+
+The external fortifications of Tezcuco were, as became the ancient rival
+of Tenochtitlan, of a more imposing order. The walls were thick and
+high, with embattled parapets, and deep ditches at the base. The gates
+were protected in the manner common to the land, by the overlapping, so
+to speak, of the opposite walls; that is, being made, as they approached
+each other, to change from their straight, to a circular course, the one
+traversing upon a greater radius than the other, they thus swept by and
+_round_ each other, in parallel curves, leaving a long and narrow
+passage between them, commanded not only by the walls themselves, but by
+strong stone turrets, built on their extremities.
+
+Besides these defences, there was erected within the walls, and directly
+opposed to each entrance, a small pyramid, elevated fifteen or twenty
+feet above the walls, and crowned with little sanctuaries,--thus serving
+a religious as well as a military purpose. In the one sense, these
+structures might be considered Chapels of Ease to the greater temples of
+the quarters in which they stood; in the other, they were not unlike the
+cavaliers, or commanding mounds, of European fortification, from the
+tops and sides of which the besieger could be annoyed, whilst without
+the walls, and arrested on his course, when within.
+
+Thus, then, there were ready to his hands, fortifications, of which the
+Spanish commander, now the Captain-General of New Spain, as the
+unsubdued Mexico was already called, was not slow to reap the full
+advantage. A strong guard of Castilian soldiers was posted before each
+gate; a native watchman sat on each turret; and a line of Tlascalan
+sentries, stepping proudly along in their places of trust, occupied the
+lofty terrace of the walls.
+
+The edifices disclosed to Juan, when he had, with his companions, passed
+through the staring warders into the town, were similar to those of
+Mexico,--of stone, and low, though often adorned with turrets. In all
+cases, the roofs were terraced, and covered with shrubs and flowers; and
+the passion of the citizens for such delightful embellishments, had
+converted many a spacious square into gardens, wherein fluttered and
+warbled birds of a thousand hues and voices.
+
+Over these open spaces were seen, in different quarters, the tops of
+high pyramids and towers, scattered about the town in vast and
+picturesque profusion.
+
+The roaring sound of life that pervades a great city, even when
+unassisted by the thundering din of wheeled carriages, gave proof enough
+of the dense multitudes that inhabited Tezcuco. The eye detected the
+evidences of a population still more astonishing, in the myriads of
+tawny bodies that crowded the streets, the gardens, the temple squares,
+and the housetops, many of whom seemed to have no other habitation. In
+fact, the introduction of the many thousands who composed the train, or,
+as it was called, the Army of the Brigantines, added to the hosts of
+other warriors previously collected by Cortes, and the presence of the
+original inhabitants, gave to Tezcuco that appearance of an
+over-crowded, suffocating vitality, which is presented by the modern
+Babylons of France and Great Britain. The murmur of voices, the
+pattering of feet, the rustling of garments, with the sounds of
+instruments wielded by artisans, both native and Christian, made,
+together, a din that seemed like the roar of a tempest to the ears of
+one, who, like Lerma, had just escaped from the mute hills and the
+silent forests of the desert. At a distance--beheld from the
+cypress-tree,--the view of Tezcuco seemed to embrace a scene made up of
+tranquillity and repose. The same thing is true of all other cities; and
+the same thing may be said of human life, when we sit aloof and
+contemplate the bright pageant, in which we take no part. If we advance
+and mingle with it, the picture is turned to life, the peace to tumult,
+and we lose all the charms of the prospect in the distractions of
+participation.
+
+As Juan, conducted by the Alguazil, made his way through the torrents of
+bodies which poured through every street, and became more accustomed to
+move among them, the excitement gradually subsided in his breast, the
+colour faded from his cheeks; and, by the time he had reached the end of
+his journey, there remained no expression on his visage beyond that of
+its usual and characteristic sadness. This was deepened, perhaps, by the
+scene around him; for it is the virtue of melancholy, where it exists as
+a temperament, or has become a settled trait, to be increased by the
+excitements of a city or crowd. Perhaps it was darkened also by the
+reflection, as he raised his eyes to the vast palace in which Cortes had
+established his head-quarters, that among all its crowds,--the military
+guards at the door, and the lounging courtiers within,--there was not a
+single friend waiting to rejoice over his return.
+
+The house of Nezahualcojotl, who has been already mentioned as the most
+famous and refined of the Tezcucan kings, possessed but little to
+distinguish it from the edifices of nobles around, except its greatness
+of extent. It was a pile or cluster of many houses built of vast blocks
+of basalt, well cut and polished, surrounding divers courts and
+gardens,--what might be termed the wings consisting of but a basement
+story, which was relieved from monotony by the presence of towers and
+battlements, and the sculptured effigies of animals and serpents on the
+walls, and particularly around the narrow loops which served for
+windows. The centre, or principal portion, had an additional story,
+loftier towers, and more imposing sculptures. The windows were carved of
+stone, so as to resemble the yawning mouths of beasts of prey; the
+battlements were crouching tigers; and the pillars of the great door
+were palm-trees, round the trunks of which twined two immense serpents,
+whose necks met at the lintel, among the interlocking branches, and
+embraced and supported a huge tablet, on which was engraven the Aztec
+calendar, according to the singular and yet just system of the ancient
+native astronomers.--Sixty years _after_ this period, the sages of
+Europe discovered and adopted a mode of adjusting the civil to the
+astronomical time, so as to avoid, for the future, the confusion--the
+utter disjointing of seasons--which had been the consequence of the
+Julian computation. At this very moment, the barbarians of America were
+in possession of a system, which enabled them to anticipate, and rectify
+by proper intercalations, the disorders not only of years, but of
+cycles,--and how much _earlier_, the wisdom of civilization has not yet
+divined.
+
+On the whole, there was something not less impressive than peculiar in
+the appearance of an edifice which had sheltered a long line of
+Autochthonous monarchs; and as Juan passed from the square, in front of
+the artillery that commanded it, under the folds of the mighty serpents
+at the door, and into the sombre shadows of the interior, he was struck
+with a feeling of awe, which was not immediately removed even by the
+more stirring emotions of the instant.
+
+The hall, or rather vestibule, in which he now found himself, was
+distinguished, rather than animated, by the presence of many Spaniards
+of high and low degree, some clustered together in groups, some stalking
+to and fro in haughty solitude, while others bustled about with an air
+of importance and authority; but all, as Lerma quickly observed,
+preserving a decorous silence,--conversing in whispers, and moving with
+a cautious tread, as if in the ante-room of a king, instead of the hall
+of a soldier-of-fortune like themselves.
+
+A few of them bent their eyes upon the strangers, and stepped forward to
+survey their savage equipments. The keen glances which they cast towards
+him, the hurried and somewhat sonorous exclamations with which they
+pointed him out to one another, but more than all, the presence of
+Najara, of Bernal Diaz, and of the stranger Camarga, among them,
+convinced Juan that he was recognized. But with this conviction came
+also the sickening consciousness that not one had a smile of
+satisfaction to bestow upon him in the way of welcome. He remembered the
+faces of many; and, once or twice, he raised his hand, and half stepped
+forward, to meet some one or other who seemed disposed to salute him. He
+was deceived; those who came nighest, were only the most curious. They
+nodded their heads familiarly to Villafana; a few returned the advances
+of Lerma with solemn and reverential bows; but none raised up their
+heads to meet the exile's advances.
+
+"The curse of ingratitude follow you all, cold knaves!" muttered Gaspar
+between his teeth. The eyes of the Ottomi twinkled upon the groups, with
+a mixture of wonder and malignant wrath. Juan smothered his sighs, and
+strode onwards.
+
+He stopped suddenly at a door, wreathed, like the outer, with snakes,
+though carved of wood, over which hung curtains of some dark and heavy
+texture, and behind which, as it seemed to him, from the murmuring of
+voices, was the apartment in which the Captain-General gave audience to
+his followers and the allied tribes of Mexico, who made up what may be
+called, as it seemed to be considered, his court. Here Juan paused, and
+turning to the Alguazil, said, calmly, and with a low voice,
+
+"From what I have seen and now see, I perceive, it will not be fitting I
+should approach the general--especially in these weeds, which can scarce
+extenuate the coldness of my old companions,--without the ceremony of an
+announcement and expressed permission."
+
+"Fear not," whispered Villafana, with a grim smile: "thy friend
+Francisco will have done thee this good turn. Remember--offend him not
+now: but, still, lay claim to the horses."
+
+As he spoke, the Alguazil, pushed aside the curtain, and, in a moment
+more, the youth was in the presence of Cortes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+The apartment into which Juan now found himself introduced, was very
+spacious; and, indeed, had the height of the ceiling corresponded in
+proportion with the length and breadth, would have been esteemed vast.
+Without being so low as to be decidedly mean, it was yet depressed
+enough to show how little the principles of taste had extended among the
+natives, to the art of architecture; or, what is equally probable, how
+wisely provision was made against the earthquakes and other convulsions,
+so naturally to be expected in a land of volcanoes.
+
+The huge rafters of cedar, carved into strange and emblematic
+arabesques, were supported, at intervals, by a double row of pillars of
+the most grotesque shapes. On the walls were hung arras, on which were
+painted rude scenes of battle and of sacrifice, with hieroglyphic
+records of history, as well as choice maxims of virtue and policy,
+selected from the compositions of that king, who had finished, and given
+name to the habitation, long since founded by his ancestors. It was
+lighted in a manner equally rare and magnificent. A considerable space
+in the further or western wall, from which the tapestry was drawn aside,
+was occupied by stone mullions of strange forms, between which were
+fixed large translucent blocks of alabaster, such as we now behold in
+the church windows of Puebla de los Angelos. Upon these were painted
+many incomprehensible figures, which would have deformed the beauty of
+the stone, but for the brilliancy and delicacy of their hues. As it was,
+the strong glare of the evening sun, falling upon this transparent wall,
+came through it, with the mellow lustre and harmonious tints of a
+harvest-moon, shedding a soft but sufficient light over the whole
+apartment, making what was harsh tender, and what was lovely almost
+divine.[7]
+
+[Footnote 7: Windows of this rich material were discovered in a Roman
+villa at Pompeii. The effect of a lamp in an alabaster vase will be
+familiar to the reader.]
+
+On the left hand, were several narrow doors, opening upon a garden,
+which was seen, sometimes, when the breeze stirred aside the curtains
+that defended them; on the right, were others leading to certain
+chambers, and carefully protected by a similar drapery.
+
+The floor of this hall of audience was covered with mats stained with
+various colours.
+
+At the farther extremity of the apartment stood a group of Spanish
+cavaliers, surrounding a platform of slight elevation, on which,
+sumptuously dressed, and leaning upon a _camoncillo_, or chair of state,
+stood Hernan Cortes. At his right hand, sitting and supported by two
+gallant cavaliers, was his royal god-son, Ixtlilxochitl, now Don Hernan
+Cortes, the king of Tezcuco;--a young man of mild aspect; at whose feet
+sat his younger and more manly brother, Suchel, from whom was afterwards
+derived one of the noble families of New Spain. On the left of the
+general, were two Indians of a far nobler presence, and known by the
+singular loftiness of their plumes, if not by the commanding sternness
+of their visages, to be Tlascalans of high degree. They were, in fact,
+the military chieftains Xicotencatl and Chichimecatl, men of renown not
+only among their tribes, but the Spaniards. Behind each stood his page,
+or esquire, bearing the great shield of ceremony, whereon were
+emblazoned, in native heraldic devices, the various exploits of his
+master.
+
+Besides these distinguished barbarians, there were others of note among
+the cavaliers, at the side of the platform.
+
+All these several details of a spectacle both romantic and imposing,
+were seen by Juan at a single glance; for, almost at the moment of his
+entrance, a movement was made among those who stood on the left of the
+platform, in the direction of the great Conquistador, as if they desired
+to catch something that instant falling from his lips. As they left the
+view thus open, Juan saw that Cortes, instead of speaking, was bending
+his head and listening with eager interest to the seņor Guzman, who had
+ascended the platform, and was now whispering in his ear. At the same
+moment, a prodigiously large dog, with shaggy coat, hanging lips, and
+ferocious eyes, roused by the motion of the general, at whose feet he
+had been sleeping, raised his head, and stared with the majestic gravity
+of a lion, upon the speaker and his master.
+
+There was something in the interested and agitated eagerness with which
+the Captain-General drank in the words of Guzman, that went to the heart
+of Lerma. He doubted not, that Don Francisco was, at that moment,
+speaking of _him_,--of _his_ return to the society of Christians, and to
+the arms of his benefactor,--for such had Cortes once been to him; and
+he read in the varying play of Don Hernan's features, nothing but
+refutation of the malign charges of Villafana, and full proof that the
+general was not indifferent to the friend of former years.
+
+As these thoughts entered his mind, he rushed forward, under their
+impulse, with clasped hands, and with an exclamation that brought the
+looks of all instantly upon him. The huge dog raised himself half up
+from the platform, and uttered a savage growl. He advanced yet another
+step, and the ferocious beast, with a roar that filled the whole
+chamber, dashed furiously from the platform, as against an enemy not to
+be doubted. The young man paused, but not at the opposition of the
+animal: he had, that moment, caught the eye of Don Hernan, and his heart
+failed as he beheld the frown of rage, and, as it seemed to him, hate,
+with which he was regarded.
+
+"Down, Befo!" cried Cortes, with a voice of thunder.
+
+But Befo, who had leaped forward with such ferocious determination, had,
+that instant, stopped before Juan, whom he now eyed with a look of
+wonder and recognition. Then, suddenly fetching such a yelp of joy as
+would have better become the playmate-cur of a child, than the grim
+bloodhound of a soldier, he raised up his vast body, flung his paws upon
+Juan's breast, and strove, evidently, to throw them round his body, in
+the mode of human embrace, whining all the time with the most expressive
+delight.
+
+"Down, Befo! Thick-lips! thou cub of a false wolf!" repeated the
+general, irefully, yet with an expression that would have suited better,
+had he been commanding him to tear the youth to pieces; "Down, fool,
+down! I will stick thee with my rapier."
+
+As he spoke, he half drew his sword from the scabbard.
+
+"Harm him not,--call him not away," cried Juan, with a thick voice; "for
+by heaven and St. Mary, he is all, of a troop of Christian men, once my
+friends, who have any joy to see an old companion return from bonds and
+the grave!"
+
+As the young man spoke, he flung his arms round the neck of the faithful
+beast, and bending his head upon Befo's face, gave way to a passion of
+tears.
+
+"The shame of foul knaves and false companions be on you all!" cried the
+flaming Gaspar, without a whit regarding the presence in which he spake.
+His wrath was cut short, before it had been noticed by any but the
+Ottomi, who stood gaping, at a distance, with looks of visible alarm,
+first excited by the appearance of the dog.
+
+Among most of the cavaliers now present, Juan had been once well known;
+and however their affections might be chilled and their respect
+destroyed, by untoward circumstances, there was something so painfully
+reproachful in the spectacle of his tears, that a strong impression was
+immediately produced among them. All seemed, at once, to remember, that
+he had been once esteemed, notwithstanding his youth, of a bold heart
+and manly bearing; and all seemed to remember also, that fourteen
+months' suffering among unknown pagans, was worthy of some little
+commiseration.
+
+But there was one present of more fiery feelings and determination more
+hasty than any of the Christians. The elder and taller of the Tlascalan
+chiefs, distinguished as much by a haughty and darkly frowning visage as
+by an Herculean frame, stepped down from the platform, and laid his hand
+upon Juan's shoulder; in which position he stood, without speaking a
+word, but expressing in his countenance the spirit of one who avowed
+himself a patron and champion. The tall plume rustled like a waving
+palm, as he raised up his head, and the look that he cast upon Cortes,
+seemed to mingle defiance with disdain. But this hostile expression was
+perhaps concealed by the approach of a cavalier of gallant appearance,
+who stepped suddenly from the throng, and snatching up Juan's left hand
+from the dog's neck, cried with hasty good-will,
+
+"Santiago! (and the devil take all of us that have no better hearts than
+a cur or a wild Indian!) I know no reason, certainly, why thou shouldst
+be treated like a dog. God be with thee, Juan Lerma! I am glad thou art
+alive; God bless thee: and so hold up thy head. If thou hast no better
+raiment, I will give thee my fustian breeches and liver-coloured mantle,
+as well as a good sword of iron, which I have to spare."
+
+This quick-spoken and benevolent cavalier was no less a man than the
+gallant Don Pedro de Alvarado, at this time called, almost universally,
+in memory of his famous leap over the ditch of Tacuba, in the Night of
+Sorrow, the _Capitan del Salto_. He gave place to another of still
+greater renown, who would have been perhaps the first to extend his
+hand, had he been as hasty of resolution as his more mercurial comrade.
+This was the good cavalier Don Gonzalo de Sandoval, better esteemed for
+his skill in arms than any peculiar elegance of conversation.
+
+"Juan Lerma," said he, "I am not sorry thou art alive and well; and if
+thou wilt make any use of the same, to put thee into more Christian
+bravery, I will pray thee to take my gold chain, as well as six good
+cotton shirts, which an Indian woman made me."
+
+To these friendly salutations and bountiful offers, as well as the
+advances of other cavaliers who now bustled around him, Juan replied
+with a manner more expressive of indignation than gratitude. He was
+ashamed of having exposed his weakness, and sensible that it was this
+alone which had obtained him a charitable notice. He raised his head
+proudly, as one who would not accept such compelled kindness, pushed
+Befo to the floor, though still keeping a hand upon his neck,
+acknowledged the presence of Xicotencal with a word, and turned towards
+Cortes a countenance now quite composed, though not without a touch of
+sorrowful resentment.
+
+The emotion which had produced such an impression among the cavaliers,
+was not without its effect even upon the Captain-General. His features
+relaxed their angry severity, he stepped forwards; and when Juan lifted
+up his eyes, he beheld a hand extended towards him, and heard the voice
+of Cortes say, in tones of concession, though of embarrassment,
+
+"God be with you--you do us wrong in this matter: as a Christian man
+escaped from bondage, we are not unrejoiced to see you: as a soldier
+returning from a delayed duty, we will declare our thoughts of you
+anon."
+
+There was nothing very gracious either in the words or tones of the
+speaker; but they were unexpected. They swept away the proud and angry
+resolutions of Juan, and restored to him the warm feelings of affection
+and gratitude, with which he had ever been accustomed to regard the
+general. He seized the proffered hand, pressed it to his lips, and
+seemed about to throw himself at Don Hernan's feet, when suddenly a
+noise was heard at a curtained door hard by, accompanied by what seemed
+the smothered shriek of a woman. At this sound the young man started up,
+with a look of fear, and yielded up the hand which was abruptly snatched
+from his own. He gazed round him and plainly beheld the thick cloth
+before the nearest passage, shaking, as if disturbed by the recent
+passage of some one,--but nothing else. He perceived no new countenance
+added to those of the many in audience, which were directed upon his
+own, with an universal stare of wonder. His attention was recalled by
+the voice of Cortes. He turned; the general was seated; a stern and iron
+gravity had taken the place of relenting feeling on his visage; and it
+was evident to the unfortunate Juan, that the hour of reconciliation had
+passed away, and for ever. The cavaliers retreated,--the Tlascalan and
+the dog were all that remained by his side; and, as if to make his
+disgrace both undeniable and intolerable, the seņor Guzman maintained,
+throughout the whole scene, his post at the general's side, confronted
+face to face with his fallen rival.
+
+"We are ready to hear thee, Juan Lerma," said the Captain-General, with
+a voice at once cold and commanding: "you went hence, to explore the
+lands of the west, and the sea that rolls among them. We argue much
+success, and great discoveries, from the time devoted to these purposes,
+and from the discretion you evinced in pursuing them for a whole year
+and more, rather than by returning with your forces, to share in the
+dangerous fights of Mexico. What have you to say? You had some good
+followers, both Christian and unconverted.--Stand thou aloof, Gaspar
+Olea! I will presently speak with thee.--Hast thou brought none back
+with thee but the Barba-Roxa,--Gaspar of the Red Beard?"
+
+There was not a word in this address which did not sting the young man
+to the heart; and the insulting insinuation which a portion of it
+conveyed, was uttered in a tone of the most cutting sarcasm. He
+trembled, reddened, clenched his hand in the shaggy coat of Befo,--who
+still, though beckoned by Cortes, refused to leave the exile,--until the
+animal whined with pain. Then, smothering his emotions, like one who
+perceives that he is wronged, and, knowing that complaint will be
+unavailing, is resolute to suffer with fortitude, he elevated his lofty
+figure with tranquil dignity, looked upon Cortes with an aspect no
+longer reproachful, and replied,
+
+"Besides Gaspar, who is worthy of your excellency's confidence and
+thanks, no one returns with me save the Ottomi, Ocelotzin,--the Tiger; a
+man to whom should be accorded the praise of having saved the life of
+Gaspar, which is valuable to your excellency, and my own,--which is
+worthless."
+
+As he spoke, he pointed to the ancient barbarian, who stepped forward
+with the same affectionate smiles and grimaces which he had bestowed
+upon the party at the cypress-tree, and with many uncouth gestures of
+reverence, saying, in imperfect Castilian, after he had touched the
+floor with his hand, and then kissed it,
+
+"Ottomi I,--good friend, good rascal; but Ocelotzin no more.
+I am Techeechee,[8] the Silent Dog,--the little dog without
+voice,--Techeechee!"
+
+[Footnote 8: _Techichi_--a native animal of the dog kind, which does not
+bark. It was domesticated.]
+
+As he spoke, he cast his eyes, with less of love than admiring fear,
+upon the gigantic beast, whose voice was to him, as well as to his
+countrymen, more terrible than the yell of the mountain tiger.
+
+"I remember thee, good fellow," said the Captain-General.
+
+Then, without bestowing any further present notice on him, he turned
+again to Juan, speaking with the same cold and magisterial tones:
+
+"And where, then, are the two Christians of La Mancha, and the seventy
+warriors of Matlatzinco, who composed your party? the arms you carried?
+and the four good horses entrusted to your charge?"
+
+"Your excellency shall hear," said Juan, calmly: "The two Manchegos were
+ill inclined to the expedition; and therein were my followers but
+unfortunately selected."
+
+"They were mutineers!" cried Gaspar, whose anger was not mollified by
+being made a witness to the ill fate of his young captain: "they were
+mutineers; and so the devil has them."
+
+"Hah!" exclaimed Cortes, starting up, with what seemed angry joy: "didst
+thou dare arrogate the privileges of a judge, and condemn a Christian
+man to death?"
+
+"I am guiltless of such presumption," said Juan. "To their
+dissatisfaction, to their disobedience,--nay, to their frequent threats,
+and open disregard of the commands your excellency had yourself imposed
+upon us, not to provoke the Indians among whom we might be
+journeying,--I adjudged no punishment but the assurance that your
+excellency should certainly be made acquainted with their acts. With
+much persuasion, I prevailed upon them to follow me, until we had
+reached the sea, which it was your excellency's command I should first
+examine."
+
+"Ay!" said Cortes, again starting up, but with an air of exultation;
+"thou hast found it then? and a port that may give shelter to ships of
+burthen?"
+
+"Not one port only, but many," said Juan, with a faltering voice,
+mistaking the satisfaction of the leader for approbation. "In a space of
+seventy leagues, (for so much of the coast was I able to survey,) there
+are many harbours, exceedingly spacious, deep and secure; and some of
+such excellence, that I question whether the world contains any others
+to equal them. Near to some, there is much good ship timber, as well as
+lands amazingly fertile and beautiful."
+
+"This is well," said the Captain-General, coldly. "Thou hast well
+devoted a year of time to the examination of seventy leagues of coast."
+
+"Had that been the only subject of your excellency's orders," said
+Lerma, "you should have had no cause for dissatisfaction. This
+accomplished, it became me, as your excellency had commanded, to explore
+those gold lands to the northwest, and discover that kingdom of
+Huitzitzila, as it was erroneously called by Montezuma, which bordered
+upon his dominions, and had ever maintained its independence by force of
+arms."
+
+At these words, many of the cavaliers looked surprised, as if made
+acquainted with this article of Juan's instructions for the first time,
+and some exchanged meaning glances, which were not lost on Cortes. He
+frowned, and hastily exclaimed,
+
+"You are wrong; I _commanded_ you not. That kingdom being at enmity with
+Mexico, it was not fit your lives should be endangered, by rashly
+adventuring within its confines. You were advised, if you should find we
+had been deceived in the character of those infidels of Huitzitzila, to
+make yourself acquainted with them and their country: but this was left
+to your discretion."
+
+"It is true," said Juan mildly, "your excellency did so advise me; and
+the fault which I committed was in thinking that I should best please
+you, by penetrating to that land, without much thought of difficulty or
+danger. In this, as in other things, as Gaspar will be my witness, I was
+opposed by those unhappy Manchegos; who deserted from me in the night,
+carrying with them, (to replace a horse which they had lost in a river,)
+the charger which your excellency had given to me for my own riding,--as
+well as their arquebuses,--which was still more unfortunate; for
+Gaspar's piece had been broken by a fall, and we were thus left without
+firearms, with but one horse, and no better weapon to procure us food,
+than mine own crossbow, and the arrows of the Matlatzincos."
+
+"Now, by my conscience," said Cortes, "I know not which the more to
+admire,--the good vigilance that allowed these knaves to escape, or the
+rash-brained folly which led you to continue the expedition without
+them!"
+
+The sarcasm produced no change in Juan's visage. He seemed to have made
+up his mind not only to endure injustice, but to expect it.
+
+"Their desertion was neither unforeseen nor unopposed," he answered. "It
+is my grief to say, that they forgot the obligations both of discipline
+and Christianity, and desperately fired upon Gaspar and myself; whereby
+they killed our remaining horse, and wounded myself in the side."
+
+"And where then were thy knavish Indians, that thou didst not slay the
+false traitors on the spot?" cried Cortes, with an indignation, which,
+this time, had the right direction.
+
+The answer to this added but another item of mischance to the young
+man's story. The arts of the Manchegos had spread disaffection among his
+Indian followers, many of whom had deserted with them. Following after
+the mutineers, he was, shortly after, abandoned by the rest; and then
+his little party, consisting only of Gaspar and the Ottomi, was
+attacked, by hostile tribes, driven back upon the path, and finally
+forced to take refuge in the dominions of that native monarch, whose
+reputed grandeur and wealth had so long since excited the curiosity of
+Don Hernan.
+
+The relation of Lerma, though of such thrilling interest that it
+absorbed the attention of all present, and even so wrought upon the mind
+of Cortes, that he gradually discharged the severity of his countenance,
+and even at last ceased altogether to interrupt it with sarcasm or
+commentary of any kind, has too little, or at least too indirect a
+connexion with the present history, to require it to be given in the
+exile's words, or at any length. With the main facts,--his long
+captivity and final escape,--the reader is already acquainted; and it is
+not perhaps necessary to add more than that the kingdom of which so much
+has been said, was that of Mechoacan, and that its capital Tzintzontzan,
+(the Place of Hummingbirds,) corrupted by the Mexicans into Huitzitzila,
+lies yet, though dwindled into the meanest of villages, upon the
+beautiful lake Pascuaro. Juan knew nothing of the fate of the Manchegos.
+By a comparison of dates, it was discovered that the sudden outbreaking
+of hostilities, which had driven him into this remote land, had followed
+almost immediately upon the tumults In Mexico, which had resulted in the
+death of Montezuma and the expulsion of the Spaniards; and it was not
+doubted, that the mutineers had met a miserable and speedy death. With
+the account of lands of unexampled beauty and fertility, of rivers of
+gold and hills of silver, we have nothing to do, except to remark that
+it determined the fate of Mechoacan as certainly as if the order had
+been uttered for its immediate subjugation. The whole account might have
+been omitted, except that it was necessary, as the means of explaining
+some of the feelings with which the young Lerma was regarded by the
+general and his chief followers.
+
+There is no eloquence so persuasive as that of distress, uttered without
+complaint; and no story of hardship and peril fails of exciting
+sympathy, when recounted with truth and modesty. Accordingly, the
+narrative of the exile produced among the cavaliers a powerful
+impression in his favour, which was heightened into admiration by the
+consciousness that nothing but the greatest constancy of purpose, and
+mental resources beyond those of ordinary men, could have conducted him
+through his long and perilous enterprise. Many of those, who seemed to
+remember with most interest the breach between the general and one who
+had been formerly considered almost his adopted son, kept their eyes
+curiously bent on Cortes; and they did not doubt, from the changes of
+his countenance, that his better feelings were deeply engaged, and would
+perhaps restore the young man to the confidence and affection which all
+knew he had lost. This belief became universal, when, at the close of
+the story, the Captain-General arose, and addressing the throng, said,
+
+"Cavaliers and friends, we will free all present from the tedium of this
+audience, saving only the gentlemen of the Secret Counsel, and these our
+returned friends.--Nay, by my faith, Gaspar of the Red Beard, thou mayst
+depart likewise, to speak thy adventures to thine old friends, which
+thou art doubtless itching to do; or, if thou likest that better, get
+thee to Antonio de Quinones, our Master of the Armory, and choose
+thyself a good sword, buckler and breastplate. Thou art a true soldier,
+and, by and by, I have somewhat to say to thee.--The knave has the gait
+of an infidel!"
+
+At this signal for breaking up the audience, which was pronounced with
+the grave and easy authoritativeness of one long accustomed to command,
+the individuals present, Christian and heathen, princes, chieftains, and
+cavaliers, took their departure, leaving behind them Sandoval, Alvarado,
+and a few other officers of high standing.
+
+As Juan stood, embarrassed between hope and doubt, the seņor Guzman
+descended from the platform, and, passing him, said with a low voice and
+a derisive smile,
+
+"You mount, seņor, and Bobadil neighs for you! It is better--the war is
+equal."
+
+So saying, he passed on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+"Seņor Juan Lerma," said Cortes, when the last of the assemblage had
+reluctantly departed:--He had descended from the platform, and spoke
+with a voice, which, if not decidedly friendly, was, at least, free from
+every trace of sternness:--"Seņor Juan Lerma, I have to say, that for
+the result of your enterprise, however it has been attended by calamity,
+you deserve both thanks and honours; and it will rest upon your own
+determination whether you shall obtain them or not. Some things there
+are, growing out of this affair, of which it becomes me to speak; and
+thereby I shall give you an opportunity to remove certain stains not yet
+washed from your good name; and after that, to take off others that are
+thought to attach to mine. Hast thou not heard of those fierce and fatal
+wars, that broke out in Mexico shortly after thy departure."
+
+"I have," said Juan; "the king's spies brought the news to Tzintzontzan;
+and they were not only lamentable to hear, but they caused us to be cast
+into cages, and devoted, as we feared, to die the death of sacrifice:
+For know, seņor, the sanguinary Mexitli is the god of all this land."
+
+"And hadst thou no suspicion, before departing, that these wars were
+brewing, and threatening us with destruction? Thou wert somewhat quicker
+in catching the heathen tongue than others, and wert not without
+counsellors and friends even among the household of Montezuma."
+
+To this demand, the young man, though embarrassed by the innuendo that
+followed it, did not hesitate to answer:
+
+"I had such suspicions, and I made them known to your excellency."
+
+"You did indeed," said Cortes, musingly; "and I derided them, being
+somewhat heated at the time: but counsel to an irritated temper is even
+sharper than salt on a wounded skin.--This knowledge, seņor," he went
+on, "some will impute to thee as good reason why thou shouldst loiter
+fourteen months in the wilderness, to avoid sharing in our perils, which
+were somewhat more horrible than have ever before beset Christian men."
+
+"This," said Juan, firmly, and a little dryly, for there was something
+in the tone of the speaker, which, though he knew not why, impressed him
+unpleasantly,--"this is to make me a coward, which your excellency will
+not believe me to be."
+
+"By my conscience, no!" said Cortes, with emphasis. "Without much
+thought of this present expedition of which we speak, there is no man
+will accuse thee of fear, who has heard of thy voyage in the fusta. By
+my conscience, a most mad piece of daring!" he continued as if in
+admiration, although it was observable, that, while he spoke, his
+countenance darkened, as though there were some disagreeable thought
+associated with the recollection. "No," he went on, "there will be more
+said of anger and ambition than of terror. Thou knowest, we have envy
+and detraction about us, that spare none. I can hear, already, how
+Villafana and other knaves of his peevish, malicious temper, will speak
+of thee.--They will speak of thy causes for resentment, of the promised
+favour of the plotting king, a principality among the lakes, with the
+hope of loftier succession, and the hand of the princely Maiden of the
+Star,----"
+
+"And this," cried Juan, interrupting the general, "this is to make me a
+traitor and apostate! Seņor, I doubt not that the seņor Guzman is at the
+bottom of all this slander: and I therefore claim to defie,--"
+
+"Peace! wilt thou put thyself in opposition again? If thou dost but
+raise thy hand in wrath, save against an infidel enemy, thou wert better
+never to have been born!"
+
+The sudden sternness with which these words were uttered, checked the
+impetuosity of the youth, and filled him again with anxious forebodings.
+The general, instantly resuming the milder tones with which he had
+spoken before, continued,
+
+"So much will be said of _thee_. Before I offer thee my hand, in token
+that I desire to forget everything of the past, but that I once truly
+loved thee, and before I propose to thee a new and honourable
+duty,--hear,--not what will be, but what has been said of _myself_, in
+relation to thine expedition and to thee."
+
+Here the general paused a moment, eyeing the youth intently, as if to
+read his most secret thoughts; then continuing, he said, with the utmost
+gravity,
+
+"It has been said of me, seņor Juan Lerma, that I sent thee upon thy
+enterprise of the South Seas, in the malicious thought that the blow of
+savages might execute the sentence of vengeance I cared not to commit to
+a Christian assassin. What thinkest thou of this?"
+
+"Even that it is the blackest and insanest of slanders; and that it
+shows me, I have little cause to marvel at my own loss of credit, when I
+find that malice can aim even at your excellency's. Whatever may have
+been your anger, I never believed your excellency would conceal it, much
+less expend it, in secret vengeance upon a feeble wretch like myself."
+
+"Thou hast but little worldly knowledge," said the Captain-General, half
+smiling, "or thou wouldst know, that revenge is of a reptile's nature,
+crawling rather in secret among dark thickets than openly over sunny
+plains, and none the less venomous, that it can lie half a year torpid.
+Neither put thou much trust in innocent looks; which, to a shrewd eye,
+are like sea-water,--the smoother they lie, the deeper can they be
+looked into."
+
+Having pronounced these metaphorical maxims with much gravity, his eye
+all the time bent on the youth, Cortes paused for a moment, as if for a
+reply; when, receiving none, for, in truth, Juan, not well comprehending
+them, knew not what to answer, he continued,
+
+"Let us understand one another. There has been strife between
+us,--strife and ill-will. I have perhaps done you injustice: I thought I
+had cause. By my conscience, young man, I once loved you very well--I
+have been sorry for you."
+
+"I have deserved your displeasure," said Juan, hurriedly, moved by the
+earnestness with which the general spoke; "but, I hope, not beyond
+forgiveness."
+
+"Surely not, surely not," said Cortes; "but what I may forget as thy
+friend, I am still bound to consider as thy general. I am now the king's
+officer, and it becomes me, forgetting all private feelings, to know no
+friends but those who approve themselves true and valuable servants of
+his majesty. In this character, I must remember some of thy past acts
+with disfavour; but in both, it is not improper I should desire thou
+shouldst have opportunity fully to retrieve thy good name, and, in spite
+of envy and detraction, to deserve such friendship as I have shown thee
+in former years."
+
+The exile pondered a moment over the words of the general, in more
+indecision than before. They spoke of friendship and kindness, and
+seemed to offer an apology for severity that was rather official than
+personal; and yet, in this apology, was a degree of reproach, of which
+it appeared Cortes's resolution to keep him always sensible.
+Nevertheless, this very tone of complaint served to soothe the little
+exasperation of feelings which had remained in Juan's breast, while
+smarting under a sense of wrong and injustice. Anger both irritates and
+hardens the heart; reproach softens, while it distresses. It seemed
+obvious to Juan, that Cortes, while apprizing him that a full
+reconciliation had not yet taken place, was willing, nay anxious, that
+it should. He answered therefore with the greatest fervour,
+
+"If your excellency will but show me in what manner I may regain your
+favour--at least your belief that I have not wantonly rejected it--I
+call heaven to witness, I will remember it as such an act of kindness as
+that which _this_ must ever keep me in memory of."
+
+As he spoke, he touched with his finger a rapier-scar on his right
+breast, which the narrowness and peculiar fashion of his mantle scarcely
+enabled him to conceal, even when so disposed.
+
+At this sight, Cortes seemed disordered, if not offended, saying after
+striding to and fro for an instant,
+
+"Let these follies be forgotten! Bury the past, and think only of the
+future. It is true, I avenged thy wrong--It gives me no pleasure to
+remember it.--Did I think this, when I made thee my son,--fed thee at my
+board, lodged thee on my couch, advanced thee, honoured thee, fought thy
+battles? did I think _this_? Pho! Juan Lerma, thou hast not repaid me
+well!"
+
+"Seņor!" said Juan, surprised and confounded by the sudden and
+reproachful bitterness of these words; "when I presumed to speak to you
+in opposition to your measures, it was with the boldness--the folly--of
+affection, jealous for your excellency's--your excellency's--"
+
+"Honour!" said Cortes, sharply. "Let us speak of this no more. To
+business, seņor, to business. Leave mine honour to mine own keeping:
+thou wilt find, I have it even in my thoughts. To business, to business.
+What say ye, Councillors?--Wilt thou truly steal my dog from me? If you
+rob me of naught else, it is no matter.--What say you, seņor Capitan Del
+Salto? what say you, Sandoval? Is this young man fit to be entrusted
+with a captain's command? He was a good Cornet.--Can we confide to him a
+duty of danger and trust? His pilgrimage to the Hummingbird-land,
+methinks, was well conducted. What say you? I have a goodly thought for
+him--But I will abide your better judgment."
+
+"By St. James," said Alvarado, "there is no braver lad in the army; and
+were he but of clear hidalgo lineage, I should say, give him a command
+with the best. But here is my thought: he is a good sailor, especially
+in piraguas and galleys: give him a brigantine. I will crave to have him
+in the squadron attached to mine own division."
+
+"In my mind," said Sandoval, "he is good for the land service. It is
+needful we revenge the death of Salcedo and his eighty loons, who
+suffered themselves to be killed before Tochtepec. Lerma has the love of
+the dog Xicotencal, who loves nobody else. He can follow the young
+seņor, with some twenty thousand or so of his bare-legs; and they can
+take the town among them."
+
+"A good thought," said Cortes, "a good thought: for this is a command
+which, nobody coveting, there will be none to envy. What sayst thou,
+seņor Lerma? wilt thou adventure upon a deed thought to be both
+dangerous and desperate? Choose for thyself: I will compel thee to
+nothing. I tell thee the truth.--No captain seeks after this employment,
+and three have refused, except upon condition that I give them, besides
+as many Indians as they can raise, three hundred picked Spaniards. Thou
+canst not look for more than twenty, with some five or six horsemen."
+
+The eyes of the exile sparkled.
+
+"Your excellency honours me."
+
+"Never think so; deceive not thyself," said Cortes, with apparent
+frankness. "The enterprise is dangerous, nay, as I have said, desperate;
+and by my conscience, it will be said of it, as of the South Sea
+journey, that it is devised for thy ruin.--If I honour thee, I must
+suffer thereby: no evil can happen to thee, that will not be maliciously
+imputed to wicked and premeditated design. By my conscience, there are
+many who think me but a hangman in disguise!"
+
+"I hope your excellency will not think of these things," said Juan,
+fervently. "I will do battle with any one who presumes--"
+
+"Peace: have I not told thee already that the duel is forbidden under
+heavy penalties? I swear to thee, they shall be enforced, in all cases
+of disobedience, were it upon my own brother.--I tell thee again, I can
+advance thee to no service which will not make me the mark of slander.
+There are fools about us, who, I know not why, have tortured anger into
+hatred, and will now interpret good-will into malignant treachery. But I
+care not for this: the tall tree catches the bolts that pass by the
+underwood,--the rock that rises above the sea, is lashed by breakers,
+while the grovellers at the bottom lie in tranquillity. It is thus with
+the condition of man;--peace abides with the lowly, envy shoots arrows
+at the high. Think of this, think of this, Juan Lerma, when thou hearest
+me maligned."
+
+"I shall not need," said Juan. "The more dangerous the duty, the more
+must I thank your excellency for your confidence. I beseech, therefore,
+that I may be permitted to undertake this present enterprise."
+
+"Wilt thou march them on foot, and with no better arms than thy Indian
+battle-axe and buckler?" demanded the general, gravely.
+
+"I have heard," said Juan, with hesitation, "that your excellency has in
+charge certain horses and arms, which of right are mine, as being the
+gifts of a bountiful friend."
+
+"It is even so," said Cortes, "and the restoration of them, which thou
+canst justly claim, will cause some heart-burnings. I must crave your
+pardon for having presumed to bestow them away, as though they had been
+mine own property."
+
+"Under your favour," said Juan, "considering that they were the gifts of
+your excellency's ever honoured and beloved lady--"
+
+"Ha!" cried Cortes, with a darkening visage, "what fiend possessed thee
+with this impertinent conceit?"
+
+"I beg your excellency's pardon for my presumption," said Juan, "which
+was indeed caused no more by rumour than by a belief that there was no
+other being in the world, who could thus far have befriended me."
+
+"Why then," said Cortes, "if thou knowest not the donor, it is the more
+remarkable; for nobody else does. Very strange! Two horses, the worst of
+which is worth full nine hundred crowns, and Bobadil almost
+priceless;--a suit of armour so well chosen to thy stature, that never a
+man of us all but is as loose in the cuirass as a shrivelled walnut in
+the shell,--all very positively sent to _thee_ from Santiago,--for thee,
+seņor, and for nobody else!"
+
+"They are saint's gifts," said Alvarado, devoutly: "the young man has
+suffered much, and has found favour with heaven."
+
+"Seņor," said Juan, mildly, "you are jesting with me. I will hope, by
+and by, to discover this benevolent patron. What I have to say now, is
+that my wants will be content with but one of the horses; the return of
+which will cause your excellency no trouble,--the same being in the
+hands of the seņor Guzman, who has already signified his intention to
+restore him."
+
+"Ha! has he so, indeed? Why thy very enemies have become thy friends!"
+
+"As for the armour, seņor," continued the youth, without thinking fit to
+notice the latter exclamation, "I will make no claim to it, if you have
+bestowed it away. A simple morion and breastplate,--or indeed a good cap
+and doublet of escaupil, if iron be scarce,--will content me, provided I
+have but a good sword and steed."
+
+"Thou shalt have both," said Cortes, "and the plate-mail also; which
+being somewhat too gigantic for any cavalier, and too good for a common
+soldier, I have preserved, thinking some day to bestow it upon the
+Tlascalan Xicotencal.--Thou art not loath to undertake this business? I
+will give thee a day to think of it."
+
+"Not an hour, seņor," said Juan, ardently. "Give me but time to exchange
+these heathen weeds and sandals for good armour and a warhorse, and I
+will depart instantly, with whatsoever force you may think fit to
+entrust to me."
+
+"Art thou really, then, so hot after danger?"
+
+"God is my protection," said Juan; "I thank heaven, that this duty _is_
+the most dangerous your excellency could charge me with: it is, for that
+reason, the most honourable."
+
+"Sayst thou so?" cried the Captain-General, quickly. "There is _one_
+duty, at least, I could impose upon thee, which thou wouldst not be so
+hasty to accept? No, faith; for the very name of it has caused the
+boldest soldier in the army to turn pale.--Get thee to the armory; rest
+and refresh thyself: to-morrow thou shalt to Tochtepec."
+
+"Seņor, for your love I will do what others will not: I have years of
+benefaction to repay. I claim to be appointed to that task which is so
+dreadful to others."
+
+"By my conscience, no," said Don Hernan: "_this_ would be sending thee
+to execution indeed. And yet I know none so well fitted as thyself: Thou
+art fearless, cunning, discreet,--at least thou canst be so; and thou
+art a master of the barbarous language, I think?"
+
+"Your excellency once commended the success with which I laboured to
+acquire it: my year's wanderings in the west have made it familiar to me
+almost as the tongue of Castile."
+
+"It is a good endowment," said Cortes. "What thinkest thou of an
+embassage to Tenochtitlan?"
+
+As he spoke, pronouncing each word with deliberate emphasis, he bent his
+eyes searchingly on Juan, and a smile crept over his features, as he
+perceived the young man lose colour and start.
+
+"The man that would do me _that_ duty," he continued, gravely, "would
+indeed deserve well, not only of myself, but of his majesty, the king of
+Spain. But think not I mean to overtask thee,--or that I seriously
+designed to try thee with this rack of probation.--There are bounds to
+the courage of us all."
+
+"Your excellency mistakes me," said Juan, dispelling all emotion with a
+single effort, and speaking with a voice as firm as it was serious: "if
+there be but one good can come of such an embassy--"
+
+"There might be _many_," said the general, "not the least of which would
+be the conquest of the city, and thereby of the whole land, without the
+loss of Christian lives. Could I but find speech with the prince
+Guatimozin, I have that which will move him to peaceful submission. But
+this is impossible."
+
+"Again your excellency is deceived," said Juan, with the composure of
+one who has taken his resolution. "I will do your bidding,--I will carry
+your message to Mexico."
+
+"Pho! I did but jest with thee. Three Indian envoys have I sent already:
+the infidel slew them all."
+
+"And cannot your excellency answer why? Your envoys were Indians,--your
+excellency's allies, but his subjects, who, in the act of alliance, had
+committed the crimes of treason and rebellion; for which he punished
+them with death, as seemed to him right and just. A Spanish ambassador
+would be received with greater respect, and perhaps dismissed without
+injury. I will not, with a boastful vanity, proclaim that I fear
+nothing; but such fears as I have, are not enough to deter me; and again
+I say, I will do your bidding."
+
+"My bidding!" cried Cortes; "I bid thee not; heaven forfend I should bid
+thee any such thing. But if thou really thinkest the danger is not
+great,--if thou art so persuaded--" He paused; his eyes sparkled; he
+strode to and fro in disorder. Then suddenly halting, he exclaimed, with
+a faint laugh, "No, by my conscience! no, by heaven! no, by St. James of
+Compostella! thou art the bravest fool of all, but thou shalt not die
+the death of a dog! I will not catch thee with tiger-traps!"
+
+To these extraordinary expressions, Juan answered with emotion, but
+still with unvarying resolution,
+
+"I wait your excellency's orders. I fear not death; I am alone in the
+world;--father or mother, brother or sister, kinsman or friend, there is
+not one to lament me, should I come to disaster. If I live, I will, as
+your excellency has said, have saved the effusion of Christian blood; if
+I die, heaven will remember the motive, and none will miss me.--I will
+go to Tenochtitlan."
+
+"Thou art a fool," said Alvarado. "Seņor Captain-General, this embassy
+may not be; I protest against it. The world will cry shame on us."
+
+"I do oppose the same," said Sandoval, "as being the wilful throwing
+away of a Christian life."
+
+The other cavaliers present were about to add their voices against the
+measure, when Cortes cut them short by saying, sternly,
+
+"Are ye all mad, seņores? Think ye, this thing was said seriously? I did
+but try the young man's mettle, and I do think he hath somewhat less of
+gaingiving about him, as well as much more folly, than any one here
+present. I must get me an ambassador; but, Juan Lerma, thou art not the
+man."
+
+"To my thought," said Sandoval, "this old Indian, Ocelotzin, will be a
+much safer emissary."
+
+Apparently the Ottomi, who had listened throughout the whole conference
+with great attention, and who understood just enough of it to know the
+course that affairs were taking, did not at all relish the suggestion of
+Sandoval. He started, flung the gray curtain of hair from his visage,
+and began to pour forth a torrent of such objurgations and remonstrances
+as he could find Spanish to express:
+
+"I am not Ocelotzin, the Tiger," he exclaimed; "very weak and old I
+am,--no claw, no tooth, no roar."--And here the barbarian, by way of
+confirming his speech, set up a yell, so wild, shrill, and hideous, that
+the cavaliers started back, catching at their swords in alarm, and two
+or three soldiers from the ante-room rushed in, as if apprehending some
+act of treason. But the dog Befo, who had hitherto maintained his post
+at the feet of Lerma, now rubbing against his knees, now rearing against
+his breast, and sometimes, when pushed down and too long neglected,
+expressing his impatience or affection, by extending his vast jaws, as
+if to swallow the hand that repelled him,--the dog Befo heard the cry of
+the savage with such indignation as he would have bestowed upon the howl
+of a rival. He replied with a lion-like growl, and stalking up to the
+Ottomi, he stood watching him, ever and anon writhing his lips so as to
+disclose his huge fangs, and seemed waiting the signal to attack,
+greatly to the terror of the orator.
+
+A wave of the general's hand dismissed the intruding soldiers from the
+apartment; and at the voice of Lerma, the dog returned to him.
+
+"I am Techeechee," said the orator, resuming his discourse, but with
+tones greatly subdued; "I am Techeechee, the Silent Dog,--the Silent Dog
+I am; Techeechee, the Silent Dog,--the Silent Dog I am.--Techeechee."--
+
+All this time, he kept his eyes fixed upon Befo as if dreading an
+assault; and, in fact, his solicitude had somewhat overpowered his mind,
+so that he continued for some moments to reiterate the above phrases,
+without any seeming consciousness of their absurdity. At last, he fell
+into his vernacular language, and this happily releasing him from his
+trammels, he poured forth, with amazing volubility, a string of sounds,
+so harsh, guttural, inarticulate, and unearthly, that they seemed rather
+the basso chatterings of an ape than the meaning accents of a human
+being.
+
+"What says the knave?" cried Cortes.
+
+"He says," replied Juan, "that he is the little dumb dog of the hills,
+and will harm nobody; that Montezuma was a big dog, like Befo, (wherein
+he lies,) and that Guatimozin the prince is bigger still, and will eat
+him,--which is to be understood figuratively. He says, he is the Little
+Dog, and therefore not fit to be an ambassador; but--Ha! what sayst
+thou, Techeechee?"--
+
+The young man spoke to the Ottomi in his own tongue, and receiving an
+answer, turned immediately to Cortes, saying,
+
+"It becomes me to inform your excellency of his words; for savage though
+he be, this old man I have ever found to be marvellously shrewd, as well
+as faithful. It is his opinion, that the prince Guatimozin would not
+injure _me_, if I went on the embassy; wherefore, I beg your excellency
+to reconsider your resolution. He says, too, he will go with me."
+
+"Your destiny, seņor, is to the rebellious and bloody town Tochtepec,"
+replied the general, quickly and decidedly.
+
+"He adds," continued Juan, "that he is Techeechee and no ambassador; but
+that he is cousin to Quimichin, the Ground Rat, and that he will be your
+spy,--for _quimichin_ is the word by which they express a spy throughout
+the whole land."
+
+"I am Techeechee; I will be Quimichin," said the Indian, as if to
+confirm the words of Juan, and twisting his withered features into a
+smile, that was meant to express both cunning and affection.
+
+"Dost thou think him faithful?" said Cortes. "I will find service for
+him. But go, amigo! I have kept thee till thou art as faint and weary as
+myself. Get thee to Quinones, and the armory. Make thy preparations and
+take thy rest. I will see thee on the morrow--perhaps to-night, and
+acquaint thee with thy force and instructions. God be with you--Nay,
+heed not the dog--Adieu, seņores--He has much of your own fidelity, roam
+he never so much. Take him with you."
+
+When the last of the cavaliers had departed from the chamber, the
+Captain-General, stepped upon the platform, and throwing himself into
+the chair of state, sat or reclined thereon, with the air of one worn
+out by exertion of mind and body, and on the eve of sinking into a
+swoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+According to the apologue, every man carries on his back a satchel, in
+which are deposited his infirmities and vices, and which, though thus
+concealed from his own eyes, lies very invitingly open to the inspection
+of his friends. Not satisfied with this exposure of foibles, there are
+some good-natured moralists, who would dive deeper into the secrets of
+their neighbours, and who lament, with the old heathen metaphysician,
+that heaven had not clapped windows into their breasts, so that they
+might detect even the iniquity of thoughts. This regret may be avoided
+by all who are willing to satisfy curiosity at their own expense; for
+heaven has fitted most bosoms with private loopholes, through which each
+man may survey at his leisure the workings of his own spirit. A peep
+through the secret casement will disclose something startling, if not
+humbling, to many, who, in the vanity of good works, are disposed to
+uplift themselves above their fellows;--such, perhaps, as rational
+principles, and even kindly feelings, taking their hue from 'that
+smooth-faced gentleman,'--that biassing spirit which is more
+comprehensively expressed in Shakespeare's phrase of _Commodity_ than in
+the more familiar one of Interest; for it is true of us all, that
+virtues are sometimes nothing but passions in disguise, and that reason
+has a marvellous facility in acquiring the tones of worldly-wisdom. If
+the mere grovelling villain,--the robber, assassin, or slayer of man's
+peace,--can find some such spectacle near to his heart as the surgeon's
+knife exposes in the breast of a cankered corse, what may _he_ detect,
+whose sublimer villany has led, or is leading him, to distinction, upon
+a highway paved with the miseries of mankind? Methinks, the breast of
+the ambitious man is a labyrinth of some such caverns as perforate the
+bowels of a volcano, in whose depths are lost all the petty details of
+crime, committed, or meditated,--in which there is no light but that
+which bubbles up from the lava of the vast passion,--and in which there
+is even no grandeur, that has not arisen from convulsions the most
+disorganizing and unnatural. Such a heart is, at least to the limited
+ken of others, a chaos,--but a chaos from which he who imbosoms it, and
+who alone can understand it, calls up,--less like a god than a
+demon,--the evil elements, which create the lurid sphere his greatness.
+
+In the bosom of the Conquistador there was a corner, into which the
+blaze of ambition had not yet penetrated, and where the common passions
+of our nature were left to rage and struggle as in the heart of a meaner
+mortal. As he looked therein, he gave himself up to thoughts which
+devoured him, while his countenance betrayed, for a time at least,
+nothing beyond such lassitude and faintness as may have characterized
+the Spartan boy, while bleeding under the fangs of the beast he
+concealed in his bosom.
+
+As he sat brooding in this apparently calm, yet deeply suffering
+lethargy, there glided into the apartment, from one of the curtained
+doors on the right hand, a figure, which, seen for the first time and in
+the dusky twilight already darkening around, might, to superstitious
+eyes, have seemed an apparition,--it was so strange, so fair, so
+majestic, and so mournful. It presented a stature taller than belongs to
+the beauty of woman, yet not inconsistent with the conception of a
+divinity; and to this a singular dignity was given by flowing and
+voluminous robes of a grayish texture, which, both in hue and fashion,
+bore an air of monastic simplicity, without precisely resembling those
+of any one order. A sort of hood, or veil, drawn a little aside and
+resting upon the brow, gave to view a female countenance of wonderful
+loveliness, and not without a share of that commanding dignity, which
+distinguished her figure. Her hair, shorn, or perhaps bound behind by a
+fillet, and thus almost altogether concealed by the hood, gave yet to
+the gaze two long locks, broad and black, which, falling over either
+cheek, were lost among the folds of the veil which her right hand held
+upon her bosom. A complexion dark, yet not tawny,--a chin and nostrils
+carved like the most exquisite statuary,--lips of dusky crimson,--a brow
+of marble, and an eye of midnight, made up a countenance both beautiful
+and characteristic, yet contradictory in the expression of its several
+parts, and sometimes even in the expression of the same features. Thus,
+the first impression made upon a spectator by the whole visage, was such
+as could only be effected by extreme gentleness of disposition; while
+the second, he scarce knew why, spoke of energy and decision, none the
+less striking for being concealed under a mask so captivating. Thus,
+also, the eyes, very large and set widely apart, conveyed, on ordinary
+occasions, the idea of a spirit passive, melancholy, and inanimate;
+though the slightest depression of the brow, the smallest motion of the
+lid, transformed them at once into the brightest torches of passion. If
+one could conceive the spirit of a Philomela--a compound of sweet
+tenderness and still sweeter melancholy--dashed with the fire of a
+Penthesilea, he might conjure up to his mind's eye a correct
+representation of the mysterious being, (alluded to by Villafana, under
+the name of La Monjonaza, or the Nun, the word being a sort of cant
+augmentative of _Monja_, a nun,) whom an extraordinary destiny had
+thrown among the warlike invaders of Mexico.
+
+As she passed from the thick curtain and advanced towards the platform,
+on which sat the moody general, her visage presented none of its
+ordinary mildness; on the contrary, her brows were knit together, her
+lip retracted, and the look with which she regarded him whom all others
+were learning to fear, was bold, stern, and even fiercely hostile.
+
+The rustling of the curtain, the light sound of her footstep, the bright
+glance of her eye, when she paused before him, all alike failed to make
+an impression on the general's senses. She perceived that he was in a
+waking dream, absorbingly profound and painful, and she stood in
+silence, from disdainful pride, or perhaps with a woman's curiosity,
+endeavouring to trace the workings of his spirit from the revelations of
+his countenance, which, by this time, had changed from a stony
+inexpressiveness to agitation and distortion. At this moment, the head
+of the Conqueror was bent forwards, and his eyes directed upon the
+floor; but she saw enough in the writhing features, and the forehead
+almost impurpled with blood, to know that the passions then convulsing
+his bosom, were dark and deadly.
+
+At this sight, the frown gradually passed away from her own visage, and
+she stood regarding him for the space of several minutes, with a calm
+and melancholy intentness. Then, perceiving that his lips, though moving
+as if in speech, gave out no articulate sound, she exclaimed, with a
+voice that thrilled to his soul, though subdued to the lowest accents,
+
+"Arise, assassin! It is _not_ just, it is _not_ expedient; and he shall
+NOT perish!"
+
+It seemed as if she had read his heart. He started up, surprised and
+confounded; and his first act was to cross himself, as if to exorcise a
+fiend, conjured up by the mere spell of evil thoughts. He even gave
+voice to two or three interjections of alarm, before perceiving that the
+rebuke came only from lips of earth.
+
+"Hah! hah! Santa Maria! Santos y Angeles! hah!--Ho! ho! Infeliz!
+Magdalena! fair conqueror of hearts! bright converter of souls that
+shalt be! is it thou, _Monja mia Santisima_? most devout saint of the
+veil?" he cried, recovering his self-possession, and banishing every
+trace of passion with astonishing address. "By thy bright eyes of
+heaven,--and thanks be thine for the good deed,--thou hast waked me from
+a dream of night-mare, a most horrible vision. These naps o' the
+afternoon are but provokers of Incubus,--ay, and Succuba into the
+bargain. I thank thee, bright Infeliz: it is better to be waked by thy
+voice, than by sweet music!"
+
+"And dost thou think," said the lady, with a voice whose deep but not
+unfeminine tones suited so well with the mournfulness of her
+emphasis,--"dost thou think, I see not, this moment, into thy bosom?
+Visions and sleep! Speak of visions to thy dull conquerors: they who
+dream of immortal renown, can best appreciate a vision of bloodshed.
+Speak of sleep to thy duller victims: the stupid wretches who slumber
+with the chain at their necks, may well believe that the enslaver has
+also his seasons of repose. But talk not of these to _me_, who look upon
+thee neither with the eyes of follower nor of foe. Thou canst not sleep,
+thou dost not dream: thy head is too full of fame, thy foot too deep in
+blood, thy heart too black with evil thoughts--No, nevermore canst thou
+sleep, nevermore, nevermore!"
+
+The last words were uttered with a cadence so extremely melancholy, and
+with a manner so much like that of one who apostrophizes self, that a
+stranger overhearing them, and marking the look and gesture--the
+upturned eye and the folding of arms on the breast--would have naturally
+supposed they referred rather to herself than to another. This was,
+indeed, a suspicion, entertained, in part, by Cortes, who, somewhat
+confounded by the calm decision with which she rejected a deceitful
+attempt to explain expressions of countenance so ominous as those he had
+displayed, now recovered himself, and said, with an air of grave
+sympathy, in which earnestness could not conceal a vein of sarcasm and
+bagatelle, that were parts of his nature,
+
+"Fair Infeliz, the Unhappy, (since by this lugubrious epithet you choose
+to be called,) it is now some two months since you dropped among us from
+the clouds, the fairest, shrewdest and strangest, as well as the most
+broken-hearted, and self-accusing of all the angels that have fallen
+from paradise. For mine own part, however fervently I may thank heaven
+for sending me such a minister, I have not yet got over my amazement at
+your presence; which I indeed regard with much the same wonder wherewith
+I should behold the sun of heaven take up his quarters at my tent-door."
+
+"In this particular," said the lady, with the utmost tranquillity, "you
+should have been satisfied, (had it accorded with your nature to believe
+any solution of a problem, that was not suggested by your own
+imagination,) that the deceptions of others, and no will of my own,
+brought me from Santiago to Mexico, in a ship which should have carried
+me to Jamaica.--Your allies do not fit out vessels openly for this land,
+under the eye of Velasquez.--But why ask you me this? Hast thou no
+better device to lure me from my purpose? I came, not to speak of
+myself, but of others. Thou couldst have played the lapwing more subtly,
+hadst thou dwelt upon the whispers, the nods, the smiles of contempt and
+the words of scorn, that heralded a compelled coming, find which requite
+an inevitable stay. But learn, if thou hast not yet learned it, that
+these things are felt more than they are feared, and that she who has
+not deserved it, may sometimes have the courage to endure even a
+degrading misconstruction. Why hast thou not insinuated _this_?"
+continued the singular being, with a voice that betrayed more feeling
+than her pride confessed: "this would have drowned every other thought
+in a true woman; for to woman, good name and fame are more than
+life-blood,--yes, more than life!--I save thee, however, the trouble; I
+am reminded of my condition,--a woman alone in thy camp, alone in thy
+hands;--and yet I return to my purpose, which concerns not myself, but
+another. Wilt thou have me speak further of myself? If it last till the
+midnight, be sure I will yet speak of that which I have in view."
+
+"Of thyself, then, beauteous Infeliz," said Cortes, admiringly; "for I
+vow to heaven, thou art the marvel of womankind, whom I desire to
+understand even more than to adore. Sit thou upon my barbarian throne,
+and I will fling me at thy feet, in token that I acknowledge thy
+supremacy in wit, wisdom, subtle observation, determination, and all
+other virtues that can grace woman,--ay, or man either; for I swear by
+my conscience, I think thou art valiant also, fearing nothing that walks
+under heaven or above the abyss. To the throne then, as queen of my
+mystery."
+
+"I will answer thee where I stand," said Infeliz, calmly disengaging the
+hand which the Conquistador had taken to lead her to the platform; "and
+think not, this gallant folly will make me a whit quicker of
+apprehension, or reply. Make thy demands, and gain thereby what time
+thou wilt to answer mine; for this is thy purpose."
+
+"Well then," said the Captain-General, with a look of not less respect
+than curiosity, "make me acquainted with this. Wherefore, as thy coming
+hither was so much against thy will, hast thou not once demanded to be
+taken back to the islands?"
+
+"Because it is not yet my will to be discharged from your presence,"
+replied the lady, calmly.
+
+"Be thou of this mind for ever," said the general, with an air of
+sincerity. "Now let me know, I pray you, why it is that I am somewhat
+more forward in confiding to thy scrutiny my secret thoughts than to the
+best and wisest of my bold cavaliers?"
+
+"Because thou knowest I neither love thee nor hate thee; because I lose
+not good-will by asking honours and spoils, nor by boasting of services
+and ability; but chiefly am I troubled with your confidence, because I
+am the only one who lists not to have it."
+
+"By my faith, thou art very right, especially in the last reason of
+all," said Cortes, with a laugh; "for secrets are like gnats and
+musket-bullets, they ever crowd thickest after those who strive most to
+avoid them.--Tell me now, fair and most provoking Infeliz, why, when I
+have flung thee open the whole book of my confidence, thou givest me not
+a single chapter of thine?"
+
+"Because it extends not beyond that single chapter," replied La
+Monjonaza, patiently, "hath neither beginning nor end, and is, beside,
+in a language which thou canst not understand."
+
+"Pho, you put me off with nothing," said Don Hernan, again taking the
+hand of his remarkable guest. "I have but one more question to ask you.
+Why is it, (and I pray you to forgive me the question,) that, with the
+consciousness that your situation in this mad land and knavish army,
+exposes you not only to degrading suspicion, but even to absolute
+personal danger, you betray no apprehension of the wild reprobates among
+whom you are placed? that you show no dread even of me?"
+
+"Because," said the maiden, removing her right hand, which she had, up
+to this moment, preserved upon her breast, and drawing aside the thick
+folds of veil and mantle,--"because, for the wretch who fears not the
+woman's arms of modesty and helplessness, I bear with me a weapon which
+will secure his respect."
+
+And as she spoke, the eye of Don Hernan fell upon a naked and glittering
+poniard thrust through her girdle, and worn as if it had long formed a
+part of the habit.
+
+There was something inexpressibly impressive in the calm and simple
+dignity with which, in the very gesture that pointed out a protection so
+insufficient, she acknowledged a weakness, in all other respects,
+unfriended. Cortes, in the multitude of his base and graspingly selfish
+attributes, was not without some traits of a more generous character;
+and especially admiring a courage so self-relying, so unaffectedly real,
+and perhaps so much akin to his own, he had enough of the old leaven of
+chivalric feeling, to understand and appreciate the claims of the sex to
+his compassion and protection. That he had other reasons for treating La
+Monjonaza with respect, cannot be denied.
+
+"Give me thy hand, Magdalena," he said, with an action and voice rather
+indicating the familiarity of a patron than that of a presumptuous
+suitor: "Thou art right; thou art a creature after mine own heart; and I
+swear to thee, I will do thee no wrong, nor suffer it to be done thee by
+another. Heed not what may be said of thee; my dogs would bay an angel,
+should one condescend to pay them a visit. Thy cloister-like garments
+are not amiss;--there be more that venerate than malign thee, for this
+reason; and, thank heaven, the padre Olmedo finds no sin in thy wearing
+them. Wilt thou be seated? There is peace between us; let there be
+confidence. What hast thou to ask of me, Magdalena? Thy revenge is at
+hand."
+
+The maiden returned the scrutinizing look of the general with one which,
+if not so piercing, was at least quite as steady:
+
+"Your excellency has thrice called me, who call myself Infeliz, by a
+name not authorized by any revealments of mine," she said: "you speak
+also of revenge,--of _my_ revenge!--Yes," she muttered, with a quivering
+lip; "this is a thing to be thought of, not spoken."
+
+She paused a moment, and Cortes, casting a quick eye round the
+apartment, said, in a voice confidentially low and insinuating,
+
+"I would the story had come from yourself. But it matters not,--I have
+it; and disguise is no longer availing. You lose nothing by the change,
+for I see, thy spirit hath the elements of mine own. Ah! water in the
+desert! the first kiss of a lover! breath to the suffocating!--such is
+revenge to the soul of the mighty!--I know thee, thy history and thy
+purpose.--I have dandled the boy Hilario upon my knee!"
+
+The strong and meaning stress laid upon the last abrupt words, only
+served to drive the colour from the maiden's cheeks and lips. In all
+other respects, she remained calm and collected, and replied gravely,--
+
+"The tale comes from the Alguazil Villafana--"
+
+"Hah!" said Cortes, in surprise; "how knowest thou that?"
+
+"Because there is no other,--no other, save _one_, who will not speak
+it,--in all this land, who knows so much of me; and because, were there
+twenty, the man whom heaven has cursed with the industrious treachery of
+a spider, and the rage to entangle all things in his flimsy web, would
+be the first to betray me."
+
+"Thou sayst the truth of Villafana," said Cortes, with a laugh of
+peculiar exultation. "In spirit and intention, he is the insect you have
+named; but yet he spins his web, less like the spider, with the chance
+of destroying, than the silken-caterpillar, that toils for his master,
+who will smother him in his work, as soon as it is perfected. Ay, thy
+penetration is clear, thy conception just; the knave is, in all things,
+a traitor,--a double, a triple,--a centupled traitor!"
+
+"And you both spare him, and give him the means of multiplying his
+dangerous villanies?"
+
+"I do, by my conscience!" said Cortes, vivaciously. "There is a charm in
+it, and no little policy. Dost thou think this little fly can deceive?
+can deceive _me_?--Wert thou a man, thou wouldst know, that even above
+the triumph of vengeance, is the joy of him who watches the nets that
+his foe is spreading, and, as he watches, fastens them softly down upon
+the ensnarer."
+
+"And is the insect worthy to be toiled by the lion?"
+
+"Ay,--when the lion is a _man_!--This is my diversion; it is also my
+profit. I would not for a thousand crowns, any harm should come to so
+serviceable a tool: a better decoy never circled the disaffected about
+him. He is the touchstone that reveals me the metal of the
+doubtful,--the diamond that cuts me the adamant of malignancy. I look
+through him, as through the philosopher's glass, and behold the million
+things of corruption that swarm in the hearts of the curs beneath
+him.--By heaven! it joys me, that I have one to whom I can speak these
+secret blisses. Thou art my vizier, my very familiar. Know then, that
+this very night, the dog meditates a treachery, with which I will be
+acquainted, and yet seem unacquainted. By my conscience, it delights me
+to tell thee, with what exquisite industry the poor knave works me a
+good, while foolishly believing he is doing me an ill. Dost thou not
+remember that I have told thee, how much it concerns me to procure some
+trusty envoy, to go between me and the young infidel, Guatimozin of
+Tenochtitlan?"
+
+"I am familiar with your wishes."
+
+"Learn then, that, this night, Villafana himself procures me the
+emissary I have myself sought after in vain,--a Mexican noble of high
+rank.--I could kiss the dog for his knavery!"
+
+"And wherefore does he this?"
+
+"Faith, in the amiable wish to reconcile some of the jarring elements of
+his conspiracy; to wit, the Tlascalans and Mexicans; the latter of whom,
+this night, will, with his good help, show the black-cheeked Xicotencal
+the advantages to be gained by uniting with his mighty and royal enemy
+of Mexico, to secure the destruction of my insignificant self. Ha! ha!
+Is not the thought absurdly delightful! Ah, Villafana! Villafana! I have
+no such merry conceited good-fellow as thou!"
+
+La Monjonaza beheld the exultation, and listened to the mirthful laugh
+of the Conqueror with much interest, and not a little surprise. It did
+indeed seem extraordinary, that he should be so heartily diverted by the
+audacity of a villany that aimed at his downfall, and perhaps his life.
+But this very merriment indicated how many majestic fathoms he felt
+himself elevated above the reach of any arts of human malevolence or
+opposition. It was as if the eagle, flapping his wings among
+thunder-clouds, shrieked with contempt at schoolboys shooting up
+birdbolts from the village-green.--It gave a clew to a characteristic
+which Infeliz was not slow to unravel. A deep sigh from her lips
+recalled the general from his diversion.
+
+"Thou sighest, Magdalena?" he cried.
+
+"It was for thee," she answered: "I sighed, indeed, to think how much
+and how truly _thou_, thus elevated by a touch of divinity above the
+children of men, dost yet resemble this miserable, grovelling, befooled
+Villafana!"
+
+"What, I? Resemble him? resemble Villafana?"
+
+"Deny it, if thou canst," said the maiden, with rebuking severity; "and
+if thou canst not, then humble thyself, and confess the base similitude.
+Thou differest from him but in this,--that, whereas, in one quality,
+thou art uplifted miles above his head, thou art, in another, sunk even
+leagues _below_ him.--Thou frownest? Hast thou discovered that anger
+adds aught to the state of dignity? Thou dost, this moment, even with
+the crawling venom of Villafana, with a rage still more abased, seek a
+life thou hast not courage openly to destroy."
+
+"Santiago!" cried Cortes, in a heat; "by St. Peter, you are over-bitter.
+But pho, I will not be angry with thee. Dost thou think me this coward
+thing?"
+
+"Hast thou not doomed the young man, Juan Lerma, a second time, to
+death?" cried La Monjonaza, with an eye that trembled not a moment in
+the gaze of the Captain-General; "and was it not with the embrace of a
+Judas? Oh, seņor!" she continued, firmly, "say not that Villafana is
+either base or craven. _He_ strikes at the strong man, who sits armed
+and with his eyes open: but thou, oh _thou_,--thou art content to aim at
+the breast of the friendless and naked sleeper!--Judge between thyself
+and Villafana."
+
+It is impossible to express the mingled effects of shame and rage, that
+disfigured the visage and convulsed the frame of the Captain-General, at
+this powerful and altogether unexpected rebuke. He smote his brow, he
+took two or three hasty steps over the floor; when, at last, a thought
+striking him, he rushed back to the chider, snatched up her hand, and
+said, with an attempt at laughter, painfully contrasted with his working
+and even agonized visage,
+
+"Dost thou quarrel with me for fighting thy battles? Oh, by St. James,
+it is better to draw sword _on_ a friend than _for_ him: ingratitude
+always comes of it. Had I thought this of old, I had been a happier man,
+and thou never hadst mourned the death of Hilario;--no, by'r lady,
+Hilario had been a living man, and thou happy with him in the island!"
+
+As he hurried over these words, the diversion they gave to his thoughts,
+enabled him rapidly to recover his self-command, in which, as in affairs
+of less personal consequence, he always exhibited wonderful power. This
+accomplished, he continued, with an earnest voice,
+
+"Concealment is now useless: the time waxes, when I must think of other
+things: let us shrive one another even as two friars, and deceive one
+another no further than they. Methinks, what I do is for thy especial
+satisfaction.--An ill loon I am, to do so much for one who so bitterly
+censures me!--Who thou art, and what thou art, I know not: thou wert an
+angel, couldst thou give over chiding. The young Hilario del Milagro was
+the son of mine old friend Antonio:--a very noble boy,--I remember him
+well.--By heaven, thy hand is turned to ice! Art thou ill?"
+
+"Do I look so?" said the maiden, with a faint laugh. Her face had of a
+sudden become very pale, yet she spoke firmly, though not without a
+visible effort. "I listen to thy confession."
+
+"To mine! By my troth, I am confessing _thy_ sins and sorrows, and not
+mine. Well, Magdalena," he continued, "thy emotion is not amiss: it is
+not every maiden can think calmly of the death of her lover, knowing
+that his slayer is nigh.--I knew Hilario, when a boy,--ay, good faith,
+and Juan Lerma, too, his playmate and foster-brother, or his young page
+and varlet, I know not which. It was on Antonio's recommendation, that I
+afterwards took this foundling knave to my bosom, and made him--no, not
+what he _is_! for this is a thing of his own making. I sent him to
+Espaņola to recruit: he loitered,--he returned to the house of
+Milagro--Shall I say more? Hilario, his brother, the son of his best
+friend and patron, was the betrothed husband of Magdalena; and him did
+the wolf-cub slay. Wo betide me! for it was I that taught him the use of
+his weapon.--Is not this enough? Accident hath brought thee to Mexico;
+thou seest the killer of thy lover; and, like a true daughter of Spain,
+thy heart is full of vengeance.--Is not this true? Disguise thy wrath in
+wild sarcasm no longer. Were he the king's son, he should----Pho! recall
+thy words: Is it not 'just?' is it not 'expedient?'"
+
+To these sinister demands, Magdalena replied with astonishing composure:
+
+"All this is well. Shrive now thyself--Hast _thou_ any cause,
+personally, to desire his death?"
+
+"Millions!" replied the general, grinding his teeth; "millions,
+millions! to which the death of Hilario, wringing at thy breast, is but
+as a gnat-bite to the sting of adders.--Millions, millions!"
+
+"Give him then to death," said Magdalena, with a voice so grave and
+passionless, that it instantly surprised the Conquistador out of his
+fury; "give him to death,--but let it be in _thy_ name, not _mine_."
+
+"Art thou wholly inexplicable?" he cried. "I read thee by the alphabet
+of human passions, and I make thee not out,--no, not so much as a word.
+Thy flesh warms and chills, thine eye swims and flashes, thy brow bends,
+thy lip curls, thy breast heaves, thy frame trembles; and yet art thou
+more than mortal, or less. When shall I understand thee?"
+
+"When thou canst look to heaven, and say, 'I have done no wrong'--No,
+no! not to heaven; for what child of earth can look thitherward, and
+unveil the actions of life?--When thou canst lay thy hand upon thy
+bosom, and appealing, not to divine justice, but to that of human
+reason, say, 'What I do is just:'--in other words, _never_. You are
+surprised: you bade me repeat my words: I do:--'It is _not_ just, it is
+_not_ expedient, and Juan Lerma shall _not_ die!'"
+
+"Now by my conscience!" said Cortes, "this is the true dog-star madness!
+Wert thou not behind the curtain, and didst thou not shriek at sight of
+him? Mystery that thou art, unveil thyself--Wherefore tarriest thou in
+this land, suspected, scorned, degraded, if not to have vengeance on
+him? Wherefore, I say, wherefore?"
+
+"To _save_ him," replied the lady, boldly,--"to save him from the fury
+that has brought thee to the level of the Alguazil. Else had I long
+since returned to the islands. Revoke therefore thy commission, and, in
+any way thou wilt, so that it carry with it neither secret malice nor
+open insult, contrive to discharge him from thy service. His life is
+charmed--it is in my keeping."
+
+"Oho!" said the Captain-General, surveying La Monjonaza with an exulting
+sneer; "sits the wind in that quarter? And thou art but a woman after
+all! Now was I but a fool, I trow, not to bethink me how the wife of
+Uriah forgot the death of her husband, when she saw a path open to the
+arms of his murderer. Is it so indeed? Thou hast fallen from admiration
+to pity."
+
+"She who withstands evil thoughts and maligning words, will not weep
+even at the contempt of commiseration," said Magdalena, with a sigh.
+
+"Villafana has then deceived me,--or rather, poor fool, has deceived
+himself, as is more natural," said Cortes, with a malicious grin. "Never
+believe me, but thou shalt rule me in this matter, as in others. Juan
+Lerma shall thank thee for his life, even for the sake of the Maid of
+Mexico,--thy brown rival, Zelahualla."
+
+As he spoke thus, he watched closely the effect of his words on
+Magdalena, and beheld a sudden fire light up in her eyes, succeeded by
+such paleness as had always covered her visage, when he referred to the
+death of Hilario. Nevertheless, she did not avert her glance, nor
+exhibit any other manifestation of feeling, except that she replied not
+a single word.
+
+"It is the truth that I tell thee," he muttered in a low voice, taking
+up, as if in compassion, her hand, which was yielded passively, and was
+again cold and dewy; "she is very lovely,--very,--and a king's daughter.
+He fought for her love with Guzman. So, perhaps, he fought Hilario for
+thine. By my conscience! he makes love over blood-thirstily! When I
+spoke to him of Zelahualla,--nay, I mentioned not her name; I spoke only
+of his friends in the palace of Mexico--yet the colour flushed over his
+cheeks. Nevertheless, thou shalt rule me; thou shalt have time for
+consideration: the expedition to Tochtepec can be delayed. Dost thou
+think he would have consented to be mine envoy to Tenochtitlan, but for
+the hope of seeing his princess? I could tell thee another thing--(there
+are more rivals than one)--but it matters not,--it matters not! Thou
+wilt not be content with--pity!--Arouse thee, and speak.--Art thou
+marble?"
+
+At this moment, and while it seemed indeed that the unhappy Monjonaza,
+notwithstanding that her countenance was still inexpressively placid,
+had been turned to stone, the curtain of the great door, or principal
+entrance, was drawn aside, and the cavalier Don Francisco de Guzman
+strode hastily into the apartment. The sound of his footsteps, more than
+the warning gesture of Cortes, recalled her to her senses. She raised
+her hand to her brow, and the long hood falling over her countenance,
+she turned to depart through the door by which she had entered. The
+evening was already closing fast, and the shadowy obscurity of the
+chamber perhaps concealed her from the eyes of the intruder.
+Nevertheless, Cortes perceived, as she glided away, that her step was
+altered and tottering, and that her hands fumbled for a moment at the
+door curtain, as if she knew not how to remove it. It yielded, however,
+at last, and she vanished from his eyes.
+
+"Poor fool," he muttered, with a feeling divided between scorn, anger,
+and pity, "thou hast discovered to me the broken postern of thy spirit:
+the walls are strong, but the citadel is in ruins. This is somewhat
+marvellous,--I will know more of it. It is a new and another thing to be
+remembered.--Come, amigo: it is over dark here for thy business. We will
+walk in the open air."
+
+So saying, he took Guzman's arm, and departed from the chamber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+Some two hours or more after he had been discharged from the presence of
+the Captain-General, Juan Lerma sat musing in one of the many hundred
+chambers which composed the vast extent of the palace of Nezahualcojotl,
+a different being from that the reader beheld him returning from exile.
+The coarse _tilmaltli_, or native cloak, and the barbarous tunic, had
+been exchanged for raiment of a better material and fashion, a part of
+which,--the _bragas_ and _xaqueta_, at least--were from the wardrobe of
+the general, while modesty, or reluctance to accept any further of such
+assistance than was absolutely necessary, had induced him to substitute
+for the plain but costly _capa_, or mantle, of velvet, the long surcoat
+of black cloth, very richly embroidered, which had, as he was told,
+accompanied the suit of armour, sent by his unknown friend. This
+valuable and well-timed gift lay upon a platform beside his matted and
+canopied couch, shining brilliantly in the light which a waxen candle
+diffused throughout the apartment. He sat upon a native stool, carved of
+a solid block of wood, and his fine countenance and majestic figure,
+besides the advantages they received from becoming garments, appeared
+even of a more elevated beauty, when seen by this solitary ray.
+
+His only companion was the dog Befo, whose shaggy coat, yet gleaming
+with moisture, betrayed that he had shared with the young man his
+evening bath in the lake. The attachment of this beast was much more
+natural than remarkable. Five years before, when Juan was but a boy in
+Santo Domingo, Befo had been his playmate and companion;--had followed
+him to Cuba, when the youth began to weary of dependence, and long for a
+life of activity and distinction; and was finally presented by the
+grateful adventurer to Cortes, as the only gift in his power to bestow;
+for, at that time, saving his youth, health, and good spirits, Befo made
+up the sum of his worldly possessions. In the change of masters,
+however, Befo did not trouble himself to acquiesce; nor did he perceive
+any necessity, while treating Cortes with all surly good-will and
+respect, to abate a jot of his love for the hand which had first
+sustained and caressed him. The dog is the only animal that shows
+disinclination to be transferred from one master to another. The horse
+cares not, the ox submits, and man makes no opposition. The dog has a
+will of his own, and acknowledges no change of servitude, until
+conscious of a change of affection.
+
+The stirring and harassing events of the day, though they had exhausted
+the spirit of the youth, had yet brought with exhaustion that nervous
+irritableness which drives away slumber from the eyes of the over-weary.
+Twice or thrice, Juan had flung himself on the couch to repose, but in
+vain; and as he now sat questioning himself how far the substitution of
+soft mats and robes for a bed of earth, might account for his inability
+to sleep, he began to revolve in his mind, for the twentieth time, his
+change of fortunes, and wonder at the inauspicious, and, as it seemed to
+him, unnatural sadness, which oppressed his spirits.
+
+"I have been restored," he muttered, half aloud,--and, as he spoke,
+Befo, roused by the accents from the floor, thrust his rough head over
+his knees, to testify his attention,--"I have been restored to favour,
+and, in great part, to the friendship of the General.--Thou whinest,
+Befo! I would I could read the heart of a man as clearly as thine.--Yet
+has he not distinguished me with a high command,--a captain's? I trow,
+it is not every one who can so soon step into this dignity, especially
+when without the recommendation of birth, as Alvarado hinted.--I will
+show this proud cavalier, that God does not confine all merit to
+hidalgos' sons. If he give me but a capable force--Twenty foot and six
+horse?--'tis but a weak array for a field where eighty men have
+perished. Yet I care not: if I have but Xicotencal to back me, with some
+two or three _xiquipils_[9] of his Tlascalans, it will be enough. If I
+fall,--perhaps _that_ will be better: I am too faint-hearted for these
+wars. Villafana says, that he brands the prisoners too, and sells them
+for slaves. This is surely unjust--He was another man at Cuba."
+
+[Footnote 9: _Xiquipil_--a military division of natives, consisting of
+eight thousand men.]
+
+At this moment, the dog raised his head and growled, and Juan heard
+steps approaching through the long passage, that ran by his door. Here
+they stopped, and Befo continuing to give utterance to his displeasure,
+the voice of Villafana whispered through the curtain,
+
+"Put thy hand on the beast's neck, or box him o' the ears--He is no
+friend of mine."
+
+"Enter," said Juan, "if thou art seeking me. He will do thee no harm."
+
+"Ay, marry," said Villafana, coming in; "for at the worst, and when
+other things fail, I will stop him with my dudgeon, be he Cortes's,
+thine, or any one's else. It stirs my choler to be growled at by so base
+a thing as a dog."
+
+"Put up thy weapon, nevertheless," said Juan, observing that Villafana
+had a poniard in his hand; "thou seest, the dog is quiet. In this he
+pays me the compliment of supposing I can protect myself. What is thy
+will with me, Villafana?"
+
+"First," said the Alguazil, with a laugh, "to give thee my
+congratulations touching thy sudden rise from the abyss, and thy
+meditated flight heaven-ward. And, secondly," he continued, when Juan
+had nodded his thanks, "to ask, in the way of friendship, from how high
+a cliff thou canst tumble headlong, without danger of breaking thy
+neck?"
+
+"This is but a silly question, friendly though it may be," replied Juan.
+
+"Oh, seņor," said Villafana, "you must remember, the first night we
+slept with the army, at the base of El Volcan, the mighty Popocatepetl,
+how much we admired the great stones, that the devils therein flung up
+against the stars! You nod again: good luck to your recollections! Did
+you observe any one of those ignited masses stick against the vault, and
+there hang among the luminaries?"
+
+"Surely not," said Juan; "those that fell not immediately back into the
+crater, rolled down among the snows on the mountain-side, and were there
+extinguished."
+
+"Very well, seņor--When you are mounted, you can remember the
+fire-stones, and make your choice whether to tumble back into the fire
+of wrath, that now sends you upward, or to quench yourself for ever in
+the frozen bed of degradation.--You go to Tochtepec?"
+
+"I do," said Juan, somewhat angrily; "and I warn thee, thy malicious
+metaphors will not make me less grateful for the kindness that sends
+me."
+
+"God rest you--it were better you had accepted the embassy to
+Guatimozin."
+
+"Hah!" said Juan, "how knowest thou of this? It was spoken only in
+secret council?"
+
+"Oh," said Villafana, with a second laugh, "if thou wilt but scratch on
+one end of a long log, be sure I will hear it at the other. There is
+something more in the world than magic."
+
+He spoke with marked exultation; indeed Juan had already observed that
+his carriage was freer and bolder than common, and that he bore himself
+like a man who cares not wholly to conceal a triumph of spirit, which he
+thinks it not needful altogether to divulge.
+
+"Harkee, seņor Don Juan," he went on, abruptly and inquisitively, "thou
+art good friends with Xicotencal?"
+
+"So far as a Christian man can be with one, who, though a very noble
+being, is yet a misbeliever."
+
+"And thou wert sworn friends, at Mexico, with the young prince,
+Guatimozin?"
+
+"Not so," said Juan: "the young man kept aloof from us all, being of the
+hostile party; and there was scarce one of us who had ever seen his
+face. I must confess, however, if I can believe Techeechee, that my
+preservation in the expedition was owing to his good act; for Techeechee
+avers, that it was through Guatimozin's good will that he was sent with
+me, to secure me from the death which was designed for all the rest of
+the party."
+
+"Designed? dost thou allow it then?" cried the Alguazil, quickly.
+
+"Ay," replied Juan, dryly; "designed by the Mexican lords, but not by
+Christian leaders."
+
+"And art thou not sorry thou wert not despatched to him as envoy?"
+
+"Why need we talk of this?" said Juan, hesitating. "Guatimozin the king,
+may be different from Guatimozin the prince."
+
+"He is not _yet_ the king," said Villafana. "He will not be crowned till
+the day of the great war-festival, and not then, unless he can furnish a
+Spaniard for the sacrifice. I'faith, he loves not the blood of his red
+neighbours."
+
+"Villafana," said Juan, struck with certain uneasy suspicions, "thou
+seemest better acquainted with these things than becomes a true follower
+of Don Hernan."
+
+"Not a whit, not a whit," cried the Alguazil, hastily: "this is but the
+common talk,--the common talk, seņor; and I am but a fool to indulge in
+it, to the prejudice of other business more urgent. Come, seņor,--will
+you walk in the garden? There is a friend to speak with you."
+
+"What friend?" said Juan.--"Villafana, I half suspect you are engaged in
+some foul work. I will have naught to do with it."
+
+"Lo you now," said the Alguazil, impatiently; "this is wild work. Do you
+think I will assassinate you? Ho! this is a thing thy best friend would
+entrust to another. Come, seņor;--you have your rapier,--you can take
+your casque, too, if you have any fear. It is a friend, who has that to
+say which it concerns your life to know. You know not your danger. God
+be with you, and your blood be upon your own head! If you refuse, you
+will not repent you:--no, faith--you will not have time left for
+lamentation.--Farewell, seņor,--"
+
+"Stay, Villafana," exclaimed Juan, much disturbed: "Friend or foe,--it
+is not that which stays me, but the fear of being entrapped into
+something more to be dreaded than death. Thou art a schemer; it is thy
+nature: I will have nothing to do with thy plots, or with those who--"
+
+"Pho! this concerns thyself alone, not me. My only plot is to help one
+who desires to drag thee out of the fire thou art so bent to burn in. I
+take you to your friend, and depart: I have other things to occupy me. I
+am but a messenger. Will you go? I must give you a token then.--You have
+not forgotten Hilario?"
+
+At these words, muttered under breath, Juan started and turned pale,
+exclaiming, "Saints and angels! and heaven forbid! Mine ears did not
+then deceive me? Oh wo to us all! Alas for thine ill news! Have I not
+pain enough of mine own?"
+
+As he spoke, with a trembling voice, Villafana handed him his cap and
+sword, saying, as he put into his hand the latter, which was a light
+rapier,
+
+"A good blade! and has hung at Don Hernan's girdle.--Leave the dog
+behind: he will but set up his cursed growling, and so bring upon you
+some one who may not relish the meeting."
+
+"It is true, then?" cried Juan, with tones and aspect of the greatest
+distress: "So fair, so young, so noble, so fallen!"
+
+"Back, cur! thick-lips! Befo!" cried the Alguazil, as the two left the
+chamber.--"He grumbles at me, as if to say _Ehem_, with disdain. Command
+him thyself: he is a superfluous companion."
+
+The young man waved his hand to Befo; at which signal Befo threw himself
+upon his haunches, looking after Juan till he beheld him issue from the
+long passage into the open air. Then rising, with the air of a servant
+who understands his duty much better even than his master, he followed
+slowly after the pair into the garden.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+The royal garden of Tezcuco was an extensive piece of ground, fenced, on
+three sides, by the palace and its dependencies, and bounded on the
+fourth, by the waters of the lake, from which it was divided by a low
+wall, long since broken down by the Conquerors, by certain shadowy
+buildings, and by clumps of noble cypresses and other trees. The moon,
+not yet near her full, shone westward of the meridian, in a sky
+intensely azure and almost cloudless; and her beams could be traced,
+through the wall of cypresses, glittering and dancing on the light
+waves, as they rippled up merrily to the night-breeze. What taste was
+displayed in the plan and cultivation of the garden, could not be
+determined, at this hour, and in this insufficient, though beautiful,
+light. One could behold, indeed, obscurely, flower-beds and shrubberies,
+winding alleys and hanging groves, little still pools and even, here and
+there, a jetting fountain, scattered about in a manner which the
+imagination might believe was designed and judicious; but it seemed, at
+night, rather a wilderness, in which the nostrils had greater reason to
+be gratified than the eyes. A thousand odours fell from the trees, a
+thousand scents rose from the flowers, as the heads of the one and the
+petals of the other were shaken by the flitting gusts. It was a scene
+calculated at least to soothe exasperated feelings, and induce sentiment
+and melancholy in the breast of the contemplative.
+
+To Juan's temperament, it would have been, at any other moment,
+saddening enough; but his thoughts were, at present, far too much, and
+far too painfully, engaged, to permit any to be wasted upon it.
+
+As he followed hastily at the heels of the Alguazil, he made one or two
+agitated attempts to draw from him some further tokens to remove or
+confirm his boding suspicions; but the Alguazil had on the sudden grown
+very cautiously or very maliciously silent, and answered only by
+pressing his finger on his lips, eyeing the youth significantly, and
+hurrying him more rapidly along.
+
+He led him to a spot, almost in the centre of the garden, where a little
+oval-shaped pool lay embosomed among schinus-trees, whose long weeping
+branches, stirred by the wind, swept gracefully over and in the water,
+which was only agitated, when thus disturbed by the motion of a bough,
+or by the plunge of the fragrant berries, the harvest of a former year,
+which dropped at intervals from the cluster. A single moonbeam found its
+way into this solitary inclosure, falling upon a limited portion of a
+path which seemed to surround the pool. In other respects, all was dark
+and invisible, and not a ray could be seen on the water, save when the
+spectator, peering over the brink, beheld some faint star of the zenith
+glimmering down among the shadowy depths.
+
+Upon this path, and in this moonbeam, the Alguazil paused, and pointing
+hastily to a nook--the darkest of all where all were dark,--Juan
+perceived obscurely what seemed a moving figure. The next moment,
+Villafana passed among the boughs, retracing his steps, and strode again
+into the moonlight. As he stood an instant shaking the dew-drops from
+his cloak, he beheld a dark object approaching slowly on the path. It
+was the faithful Befo, who, with his head to the ground, and his tail
+draggling in the grass, as if sensible of having committed a breach of
+discipline, yet crawled along after his master, under the irresistible
+instinct of fidelity.
+
+"This is ill thought on, and may be unlucky," muttered Villafana, with a
+subdued voice. "Here, Befo! you rascal! come with me, and you shall have
+a bone.--Ay, thou ill devil!" he continued, in the same whispered tones,
+as Befo, without stirring to the right or the left, and merely showing
+his teeth, when the Alguazil seemed disposed to check him with his hand,
+passed on towards the grove,--"go thy ways, and growl as thou wilt: thou
+art the only thing in the land incorruptible. But thou wilt be
+acquainted with my dagger yet, if thou hast no better appetite for my
+dinner."
+
+He resumed his path. He had not taken a dozen steps, before he became
+sensible of the approach of another intruder: but this time the intruder
+was human. There was something in the fashion and sweep of the garments,
+which, even at a distance, apprized him of the character of the comer.
+
+"The devil take these prying priests, monks, friars, and all!" he
+muttered irreverently betwixt his teeth.--"Holy father,----Hah! by the
+mass, is it thou, Camarga! my brother of all orders, monkish, mendicant,
+martial, and so on? Thy masking goes the wrong way: I told thee to meet
+me at the prison. 'Tis my palace, man; and the princes are in
+waiting.--Come, these damp mazes are ill for thy years and diseased
+liver. We will walk together."
+
+"Seņor Gruņidor, as they call you," said Camarga, flinging back the
+white cowl, and revealing his sallow features in the moonshine, "seņor
+Alguazil, carcelero, rogue, conspirator, devil, and what-not, how I came
+to be so deep among your damnable devices, in the short month I have
+been in this land, I know not, except that I have, like thyself, a
+greater aptitude to be groping among caverns than journeying on kings'
+highways. But know, sirrah, that besides _thy_ subtleties, I have some
+whimseys of my own; to which, when the wind stirs them, yours must give
+place, were they ten thousand times more magnificent than your wit
+strives to make them appear. Begone, therefore; get thee to thy scurvy
+Tlascalan, whom thou art training to the gallows; to thy Mexican
+Magnifico, who is an ass to trust his neck to thy keeping; and to what
+vagabond Christians will give thee their countenance, who are e'en
+greater fools than thyself, and the Indians together. Get thee away: I
+have business of mine own; and I will come to you when it is despatched,
+or I will _not_ come,--just as the imp urges me. So away with you, and
+leave me to myself."
+
+"Under your favour, no," said Villafana, apparently too well acquainted
+with the man to be much surprised at a tone and manner so unlike to
+those which Camarga had used at the cypress-tree: "I must e'en have your
+saintly cowl and leaden cross, to swear the two infidels together:
+otherwise there is no trusting them.--They have much superstitious
+reverence for our priests and ceremonies. Come, seņor; I tell thee, the
+Mexican will make our fortunes."
+
+"Thine, rogue, _thine_!" said the disguised Camarga, impatiently: "Why
+talkest thou to me in this stupid wise? I am an older villain than
+thou.--I have a fancy for this lad of the Anakim, this thick-witted,
+turtle-brained young Magog. Thou makest a mystery of him, too. 'Slid! I
+will penetrate it; for I have a use to make of him, as well as thou."
+
+"Demonios!" said Villafana; "are you seeking Juan Lerma?"
+
+"Ay, marry. I dogged thee hitherward, I saw thee hide him in the bush,
+and by St. Dominic, (who will fry my soul to cinders, for defiling his
+garments--_peccavi_!) I will know what's i' the wind betwixt you, ere I
+stir a step further in your counsels. Dost thou think I will be thine
+accomplice, and have anything hidden from me? Thou swearest, he is to be
+murdered to-morrow, too. There is no time to be lost."
+
+"Thou art mad," said Villafana: "he is engaged on our business. I make
+no mystery; I will tell you all. It is well I met thee. He has
+company,--a good sword,--and would think no more of lunging through thy
+holy lion's skin, if he caught thee eavesdropping--"
+
+"Hark! dost thou not hear tuck and corselet?" said Camarga, smiling
+grimly, and rattling the hilt of a sword against his concealed armour.
+"I must know his companion too. I tell thee, I will have all thy
+secrets, or I drop thee, perhaps denounce thee."
+
+"Thou shalt have them," said Villafana, gradually drawing him further
+from the pool. "His companion is La Monjonaza."
+
+"Ha! sits the wind there? I must have a peep at her: they say, she is
+lovely as a goddess."
+
+"Thou wilt incense her," said Villafana, emphatically. "By heaven, thou
+knowest not the temper of this woman, which is deadly. Leave the two
+cooing fools to themselves. Our fortunes,--nay, faith, our lives, depend
+upon them. La Monjonaza is deep in our secrets,--"
+
+"Knave!" muttered the pretended friar, in a low but furious voice, "hast
+thou trusted my life in the keeping of a woman?"
+
+"Pho, she is an older conspirator than thou; a wiser, too, for she can
+keep her temper. Out of her love for the young man, we draw our truest
+safety and quickest success."
+
+"Her love! oh fu! and is she of this corrupt fickleness, that she will
+have two lovers in one hour? But it is the way with these creatures!"
+
+"They are old lovers, very old lovers, seņor," said Villafana,
+endeavouring, as he spoke, but in vain, to quicken the steps of Camarga.
+"You shall hear the story.--Juan Lerma's father was some low, poor, base
+fellow, killed in some tumult at Isabela. The old hidalgo, Antonio del
+Milagro, took the boy out of charity, first as a servant--"
+
+"A servant? Dios mio!--Is he of no better beginning?"
+
+"Not a jot; but the old fellow liked him, and, in the end, treated him
+full as well as his own son,--a knavish lad, called Hilario, some two or
+three years older than Juan."
+
+"Slife!" said Camarga, "tell me no granddam's tale, with all tedious
+particulars. How came the youth into the hands of Cortes?"
+
+"Even by setting out to seek his fortune, somewhat early, and getting to
+Santiago, where Cortes took him into keeping. You heard us say, that Don
+Hernan, when he received his commission from Velasquez, sent Juan back
+to his native island, to recruit forces. It was natural he should visit
+his old friends at Isabela. It was here he met with, and quarrelled
+about, Magdalena--"
+
+"Magdalena!" said Camarga, with surprise. "You swore her name was
+Infeliz!"
+
+"Ay; but the true one is Magdalena. When she came from Spain--"
+
+"From Spain!" cried Camarga, starting: "is she not an islander?"
+
+"Pho! didst thou ever see a creature of her beauty, born out of
+Andalusia?"
+
+"I have not seen her--but I will,--yes, by all the saints of heaven, I
+will,--I must.--How came she to the island?"
+
+"Oh, a-horseback, I think," said Villafana; "for the ship was never seen
+at Isabela: never question about that. The two young dogs, Hilario and
+Juan, found her somewhere, brought her to old Milagro, and, Juan being
+more favoured and better beloved than Hilario, who, to say truth, was
+both ugly and vicious, they fought about her, and Hilario was killed.
+Thus, Juan was left the master of the beauty; but being tired of her, or
+afraid of old Milagro's vengeance, or perhaps both, he fled again to
+Cuba, and thence as you heard, came to Mexico in a fusta. What brought
+Magdalena after him I know not, unless 'twas mad, raging love; yes,
+faith, that's the cause; for she cares not half so much for Don Hernan.
+But they did say, at Isabela, she had a better cause; for the ship, it
+was well known--"
+
+"Fool of all fools!" said Camarga, with a strange and unnatural laugh,
+"didst thou not say the ship was never seen at Isabela?"
+
+"Ay, truly; but it was seen on the rocks at the Point of Alonso, not
+many leagues distant," replied Villafana; and then added, "I would thou
+couldst be more choice of thine epithets of endearment. These 'knaves,'
+'rogues,' and 'fools,' do well enough among friends; but one may season
+discourse too strongly with them, even for the roughest appetite.--The
+ship was a wreck: there was said to be foul work about it; but that's
+neither here nor there. The girl was brought ashore by the young men,
+Juan being good in the management of a skiff,--indeed, a notoriously
+skilful and fearless sailor. What was said of Magdalena, was this,"
+continued the Alguazil, with a low, confidential voice: "It was
+discovered, or at least conjectured, that the ship was no other than the
+Santa Anonciacion, a vessel sent from Seville with a bevy of
+nuns,--faith, some worshippers of thine own good St. Dominic,--who were
+to found a convent at the Havana. It was whispered, that the fair
+Magdalena was even one of the number, and therefore--But the thing must
+be plain! To be a nun, and to love young fellows _par amours_--this is a
+matter for the Inquisition. But thanks be to God, we have no good
+Brothers in Mexico!--I will tell thee more, as we walk, and show thee,
+if thou hast not the wit to see it, how much it concerns us to have a
+friend like La Monjonaza."
+
+"I have heard enough," said Camarga, with tones deep and hoarse;
+"enough, and more than enough. And this woman was, _then_, the leman of
+Juan Lerma, and, now, the creature of Cortes!"--Here he muttered
+something to himself. Then, speaking with an audible voice, he said,
+
+"Get thee to thy den, and look to thyself: there is danger afloat, and
+full enough to excuse me from meddling with thee to-night. There is a
+force of men concealed near to the prison, and commanded by Guzman. Ask
+no questions--look to thyself: thou art suspected."
+
+At these words, Villafana became greatly alarmed, and exchanging but a
+few words more with Camarga, hastily departed. He was no sooner gone,
+than Camarga, yielding to an emotion he had long suppressed, fell upon
+his knees and uttered wild prayers, mingled with groans and
+maledictions, all the while beating his breast and brows. Then rising
+and whipping out his sword, as if to execute some deadly purpose of
+vengeance, he strode towards the pool.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+No sooner had the Alguazil departed from the enclosure, than the figure
+which Juan had beheld obscurely among the shadows, stepped slowly into
+the moonshine, looking like a phantom, because so closely shrouded from
+head to foot that nothing was seen but the similitude of a human being,
+wrapped, as it might be imagined, in a gray winding-sheet. The thick
+hood and veil concealed her countenance, and even her hands were hidden
+among the folds.
+
+It seemed, for a moment, as if she were about to speak, for low murmurs
+came inarticulately from the veil. As for Juan himself, he was kept
+silent by the most painful agitation. At last, and when it appeared as
+if the unhappy being was conscious that no other mode of revealment was
+in her power, she raised her hand to her head, and the next moment, the
+hood falling back, the moonbeams fell upon the exposed visage of La
+Monjonaza. It was exceedingly, indeed deadly, pale; and the gleaming of
+her dewy forehead indicated how feebly even her powerful strength of
+mind contended with a sense of humiliation. She made an effort to
+elevate her head, to compose her features into womanly dignity, but all
+in vain; her hands sought each other, and were clasped together upon her
+breast, her lips quivered, her head fell, and her eyes, after one wild,
+brief, and supplicating glance, were cast upon the earth.
+
+"Alas, Magdalena!" exclaimed Juan, with tones of the deepest feeling,
+"do I see you here, do I see you _thus_?"
+
+At these words she raised her head, with a sudden and convulsive start,
+as if the imputation they conveyed had stung her to the soul; and as she
+bent her eyes upon Juan, though they were filled with tears, yet they
+flashed with what seemed a noble indignation. But this was soon changed
+to a milder and sadder expression, and the flush which had accompanied
+it, was quickly replaced by her former paleness.
+
+"Thou dost indeed see me here," she replied, summoning her resolution,
+and speaking firmly, "and thou seest me thus,--degraded, not in thine
+imagination only, but in the suspicions of all, down to the level of
+scorn. Yes," she continued, bitterly, "and while thou pitiest me for a
+shame endured only for thyself,--endured only that I may requite thee
+with life for life,--thou art sorry thy hand ever snatched me from the
+billows. Speak, Juan Lerma, is it not so?"
+
+"It had been better, Magdalena," said the youth, reproachfully, "for,
+besides that the act caused me to be stained with blood, it afflicts me
+with a curse still more heavy. I do not mourn the death of Hilario, as I
+mourn the downfall of one whom I once esteemed almost a seraph."
+
+"Villain that he was!" cried Magdalena, with vindictive impetuosity,
+"mean and malignant in life and in death! who, with a lie, living,
+destroyed the peace and the fame of the friendless, and died with a lie,
+that both might remain blighted for ever! O wretch! O wretch! there is
+no punishment for him among the fiends, for he was of their nature. And
+thou mournest his death, too! Thou cursest the hand that avenged the
+wrong of a feeble woman!"
+
+"I lament that I slew the son of my benefactor," said Juan, with a deep
+sigh; and then added with one still deeper, "but, sinner that I am, I
+rejoice while looking on thee, in the fierce thought, that I killed the
+destroyer of innocence."
+
+"The destroyer of innocence indeed," replied Magdalena, with a voice
+broken and suffocating. "Yes, innocence!" she exclaimed more wildly, "or
+at least, the _fame_ of innocence! for innocence herself he could not
+harm. No, by heaven! oh, no! for what I came from the sea, that I am
+_now_; yes, now, I tell thee, now! and if thou darest give tongue to
+aught else, if thou darest think--Oh heaven! this is more than I can
+bear! Say, Juan Lerma! say! dost _thou_, too, believe me the thing I am
+called? the base, the fallen, the degraded?"
+
+"Alas, Magdalena," replied Juan, to the wild demand: "with his dying
+lips, Hilario----"
+
+"With his dying lips, he perjured his soul for ever!" exclaimed
+Magdalena, "for ever, for ever!" she went on, with inexpressible energy
+and fury; "and may the curse of a broken-hearted woman, destroyed by his
+defaming malice, cling to him as long, scorching him with fresh
+torments, even when fiends grow relentful and forbearing. Mountains of
+fire requite the coals he has thrown upon my bosom! May God never
+forgive him! no, never! never!"
+
+"This is horrid!" said Juan. "Revoke thy malediction: it is impiety.
+Alas, alas!" he continued, moved with compassion, as the singular being,
+passing at once from a sibyl-like rage to the deepest and most feminine
+abasement of grief, wrung her hands, and sobbed aloud and bitterly;
+"Would indeed that thou hadst perished with the others!"
+
+"Would that I had!" said Magdalena, more calmly; "but thou hadst then
+been left to a malice like that which has slain me.--No, not like that;
+for it is content with thy _life_!--I would ask thee more of myself,"
+she went on, more composedly, after a little pause, "but it needs not.
+If I can show thee thou wrongest me concerning Hilario, canst thou not
+believe I may be even _here_ without stain? Well, I care not; one day,
+thou wilt know thou hast wronged me. But let the shame rest upon me now;
+for it needs I should think, not of myself, but of thee. Listen to me,
+Juan Lerma; for fallen or not, yet am I thine only friend among a
+thousand enemies. Give up thy service, thy hopes of fame and fortune in
+this land, and leave it. Leave Mexico, return to the islands. Thou hast
+marvellously escaped a death, subtly and cruelly designed; and now thou
+art destined to an end as vengeful, and perhaps even more inevitable.
+Yet there is one way of escape, and there is one moment to take
+advantage of it. Leave Mexico: Cortes is thy foe.--Leave Mexico."
+
+"These are but wild words, Magdalena," said Juan, with a troubled voice.
+"I would do much to remove _thee_ from a situation, the thought whereof
+is bitterer to me than my own misfortunes."
+
+"Wouldst thou?" said Magdalena, eagerly. "Go then, and I go likewise; go
+then, and know that thy departure not only releases me from a situation
+of disgrace, but enables me to make clear a reputation which thou--yes,
+_thou_,--believest to be sullied and lost. I am not what I seem--Saints
+of heaven, that I should have to say it! But by the grave of my mother,
+I swear, Juan Lerma, thou doest me as deep a wrong as others. Leave this
+land, and thou shalt see that the fame of an angel is not purer than
+mine own scorned name,--no, by heaven, no freer from a deserved shame.
+Thou shakest thy head!--I could kill thee, Juan Lerma, I could kill
+thee!"--she went on, with a strange mingling of fierce resentment and
+beseeching grief; "I could kill thee, for I have not deserved this of
+thee!" Then, changing her tone, and clasping her hands submissively, she
+said, "But think not of me, or rather continue to think me unworthy of
+aught but pity: think not, above all, that what I do is with any
+reference to myself. No, heaven is my witness, I claim of thee neither
+affection nor respect; I am content to be mistaken, to be despised. All
+this I can endure, and will, uncomplaining,--so that I can rescue thee
+from the danger in which thou art placed. Leave this land: Don Hernan
+deceives thee; he hates thee, and thirsts after thy blood. He has
+confessed it!"
+
+"God be my help!" said Juan, despairingly; "my life is in his hands. If
+this be true--"
+
+"If it be true!" repeated Magdalena: "It is known to all but thyself."
+
+"It is _not_ true!" exclaimed the young man, vehemently: "I have done
+him no wrong, and he is not the detestable being you would make him. If
+he be, I owe him a life--let him have it; it is in his hands."
+
+"Leave Mexico," reiterated Magdalena. "If thou goest to Tochtepec, thou
+art lost. I have it in my power to aid,--nay, to secure thy escape. Say,
+therefore, thou wilt consent, say thou wilt leave Mexico!"
+
+"It cannot be," said Juan, with a sad and sullen resolution: "I will
+await my fate in Mexico!"
+
+"And wilt thou stand, like the fat ox, till the noose is cast upon thy
+neck? till thou art butchered?"
+
+"My life is nothing--I live not for myself; the redemption of others
+depends upon my acts. I have a duty that speaks more urgently than fear.
+My lot is cast in Mexico; I cannot leave it."
+
+As he spoke, with a firm voice, he bent his looks expressively on his
+companion. Her eyes flashed fire, and they shone from her pale face like
+living coals:
+
+"Sayst thou this to me?" she exclaimed, her voice trembling with fury,
+"sayst thou this to me?" Then advancing a step, and laying her hand upon
+his arm, she continued, her accents sinking almost into whispers, they
+were so subdued, or so feeble, "Lay not upon thy soul a sin greater than
+stains it already. Leave Mexico; resolve or die: leave Mexico, or
+perish!--Oh, thou art guiltier than thou thinkest! Thou hast cursed
+Hilario for my fall: curse thyself,--not Hilario, but thyself; for but
+for thee, but for thee, I had been happy! yes, happy, happy!"
+
+To these words, Juan, though greatly compassionating the distress of the
+speaker, would have replied with remonstrance; but she gave him no
+opportunity. She continued to repeat over and over again, with a kind of
+hysterical pertinacity, the words 'Leave Mexico! leave Mexico!' so that
+Juan was not only prevented replying, but confounded. He was relieved
+from embarrassment by a sudden growl, coming from the bushes at his
+side. La Monjonaza started at the sound, and in the moment of silence
+that succeeded, both could distinguish the steps of a man rapidly
+approaching the pool. At the same instant, another growl was heard, and
+Befo, issuing from the leafy covert, took a stand by his master's side,
+as if to defend him from an enemy. The veil of Magdalena fell over her
+visage; she paused but to whisper, in tones of such energy that they
+thrilled him to the soul, 'Leave Mexico, or die!' and then instantly
+vanished among the boughs. It was too late for Juan to follow her: he
+had scarce time to lay his hand upon Befo's neck and moderate his
+ferocity, before his eyes were struck with the strange spectacle of a
+tall man, in the garb of a Dominican friar, his face pale as death, his
+hand holding a naked sword, who strode into the inclosure and upon that
+part of the path which was illuminated by the moonbeams. No sooner had
+he cast his eyes upon Juan than he exclaimed, "Die, wretch!" and made a
+pass at him with his weapon. Had the lunge been skilfully made, it must
+have proved fatal; for though Juan still held the sheathless rapier he
+had brought from his chamber, he was so much surprised at the suddenness
+of the apparition, that his attempt to ward it could not have succeeded
+against a good fencer. A better protection was given by the faithful
+Befo, who, darting from Juan's hand, against the assailant's breast,
+attacked him with a shock so violent, that, in an instant, the seņor
+Camarga (for it was he who played this insane part) lay rolling upon his
+back, his grizzled locks streaming in the pool.
+
+"In the name of heaven, what dost thou mean, and who art thou, impostor
+and assassin!" cried Juan, pulling off the dog, and helping Camarga to
+his feet. "Thou art mad, I think!"
+
+There was something in the man's countenance, as well as in the
+murderous attempt, to confirm the idea; for Camarga's agitation was
+singular and extreme, and he seemed unable to answer a word.
+
+"Who art thou?" continued Juan angrily, impressed with the certainty
+that he had seen the face of the assailant before, yet without knowing
+when or where. "Confess thyself straight, or I will have thee to the
+Alguazil, and see the friar's frock scourged from thy base body!"
+
+However eager and foreboding the young man's curiosity, it was doomed to
+be disappointed by a new interruption. While he yet spoke, he was
+alarmed by a sudden discharge of firearms, followed by shrieks and
+cries, at the bottom of the garden; and presently the whole solitude was
+transformed into a scene of tumult and uproar. Lights were seen flashing
+among the trees, and men were heard running confusedly to and fro,
+calling to one another.
+
+The last word had hardly parted from his lips, before the boughs crashed
+on the opposite side of the pool, and a new actor was suddenly added to
+the scene.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+As the bushes parted, a tall figure sprang into the path, and running
+round the pool, would instantly have been at the side of the two
+Castilians, who were yet unobserved, had it not been that Befo, his
+ferocity greatly whetted by his former encounter, darted forward as at
+first, with a sudden roar, with equal violence, and with similar
+success. As the stranger fell to the earth under an attack so impetuous
+and unexpected, he uttered an exclamation in which Juan recognized the
+language of Mexico. He ran forwards, guided by the growls of the beast
+and the stifled cries of the man, (for the spot on which the two
+contended was covered with impenetrable gloom,) and, by accident, caught
+the stranger's arm, and felt that it wielded a heavy macana, now
+uplifted against the animal. As his other hand was stretched forward,
+again to remove the victorious Befo from a fallen antagonist, it fell
+upon the naked breast of a barbarian.--In a moment more, he had torn the
+dog away, and dragged the savage into the moonshine, where he had left
+Camarga standing, but where Camarga stood no longer. He had fled away in
+the confusion, unobserved, and now almost forgotten.
+
+Here Juan released the captive from his powerful grasp, for his rapier
+was in his hand, and the macana of the Mexican he had already cast into
+the pool; and thus standing, confiding as much in the aid of Befo as in
+the menacing attitude of his weapon, he began to address his prisoner.
+
+"What art thou?" he demanded, in the tongue which, as he had boasted,
+was almost as familiar to him as the language of Spain: "What art thou?
+and what dost thou here?"
+
+Instead of answering, the Mexican, gazing over his conqueror's shoulder,
+seemed to survey, with looks of admiration and alarm, some spectacle
+behind his back. Juan cast his eye in the direction thus indicated, and
+beheld the visage of Magdalena, recalled by the tumult, gleaming hard
+by. In an instant more, she had vanished, and he turned again to the
+captive, who, when the vision, to him so inexplicable, had faded away,
+now directed his attention to an object equally surprising and much more
+formidable in his estimation than even the redoubtable Juan. As he
+rolled his eyes, in mingled wonder, trepidation, and anger, on the huge
+Befo, who now stood regarding him, writhing his lips and showing his
+tusks, in the manner with which he was wont so expressively to intimate
+his readiness to obey any signal of attack, Juan had full leisure to
+observe that the Indian was a young man not above twenty-three or
+twenty-four years old, of good and manly stature, and limbs nobly
+proportioned. His only garments were a tunic and mantle of some
+dark-coloured stuff, but little ornamented, the former extending from
+the waist to the knees, the latter, knotted, as usual, about his throat,
+but so disordered and torn by the teeth of the dog, as to leave the
+upper part of his body nearly naked. His only defensive armour was a
+little round buckler of the skin of the _danta_ or tapir, not exceeding
+fourteen inches in diameter, strapped to his left arm. The loss of the
+macana had left him without any offensive weapon. As he raised his head
+at the second salutation of his capturer, he flung back the long masses
+of black hair from his forehead, and displayed a visage, as well, at
+least, as it could be seen in the moonlight, not unworthy his manly
+person.
+
+"Olin, the tongue of the Teuctli, is a prisoner."
+
+As he pronounced these words, in his own language, signifying that he
+was an orator of his high class, and that he confessed himself a
+captive, he touched the earth with his hand and kissed it, in token of
+submission. The tones of his voice caused Juan to start.
+
+He dropped his sword-point, advanced nearer to him, and perused his
+features with intense curiosity. His gaze was returned with a look of
+equal surprise, which betrayed a touch of fear; for the Mexican at once
+exclaimed, withdrawing a step backward,
+
+"The Great Eagle fell among the archers of Matlatzinco!"
+
+"The king is not wise--Guatimozin is in the hands of Cortes!" said Juan,
+with deep earnestness.
+
+"Olin is the orator--the king is wise," replied the Indian, hastily.
+
+"It is in vain," said Juan. "Thou art Guatimozin! and a captive, too,
+ere a blow has been struck, in the camp of thy foeman! Is this an end
+for the king of Mexico?"
+
+"Quauhtimozin can die: there are other kings for the free warriors of
+Tenochtitlan," replied the young monarch, boldly and haughtily, avowing
+his name,--which is here given in its original and genuine harshness,
+that the reader may be made acquainted with it; though it is not
+intended to substitute it for its more agreeable and familiar
+corruption: "Guatimozin is a prisoner," he continued, with a firm voice
+and lofty demeanour, "but the king of Mexico is free.--When did the
+Great Eagle become the foe of Guatimozin?"
+
+"I am not thy foe," replied Juan, "but thy friend; so far, at least, as
+it becomes a Christian and Spaniard to be. I lament to see thee in this
+place--I am not thy foe."
+
+"Raise then thy weapon," said the prince, dropping his haughty manner
+and ceremonious style, and speaking, as he laid his hand on Juan's arm,
+with fierce emotion; "strike me through the neck, and cast my body into
+the pool.--It is not fit that Guatimozin should wear the bonds of
+Montezuma!"
+
+It must not be supposed that this conversation took place in quiet.
+During the whole time, on the contrary, the garden continued to resound
+with the voices of men running from copse to copse, from alley to alley,
+sometimes drawing nigh, and, at other moments, appearing to be removed
+to the furthest limits of the grounds. At the moment when the Mexican
+made his abrupt and insane appeal to the friendship of his capturer, a
+party of Spaniards rushed by at so short a distance and with so much
+clamour, that he had good reason to conceive himself almost already in
+their hands. They passed by, however, and with them fled a portion of
+Juan's embarrassment. As soon as he perceived they were beyond hearing,
+he replied:
+
+"This were to be thy foe indeed. But, oh, unwise and imprudent! what
+tempted thee to this mad confidence?"
+
+"The craft of Malintzin," replied the Mexican, making use of a name
+which his people had long since attached to Cortes,--"the craft of
+Malintzin, who ensnares his foe like the wild Ottomi, hidden among the
+reeds;--he scatters the sweet berry on the lake, and steals upon the
+feeding sheldrake; so steals Malintzin. He sends words of peace to the
+foe afar; when the foe is asleep, Malintzin is a tiger!"
+
+"And thou hast been deceived by these perfidious and unworthy arts?"
+said Juan, the innuendoes of Villafana and the monitions of Magdalena,
+recurring to his mind with painful force.
+
+"Deceived and trapped!" replied the infidel, with fierce indignation;
+"cajoled by lies, circumvented by treachery, seduced and betrayed!--Is
+the Great Eagle like Malintzin?" As he spoke thus, sinking his voice,
+which was indeed all the time cautiously subdued, he again laid his hand
+on the young Christian's arm, and continued,
+
+"Art thou such a man, and dost thou desire the blood of thy friend? What
+shall be said to the little _Centzontli_, the mocking-bird? The little
+Centzontli sang the song to Guatimozin, 'Let not the Great Eagle die in
+the trap!' What sings she now? Does the Great Eagle listen to the little
+Centzontli?"
+
+"He does," replied Juan, on whom these metaphors, however mysterious
+they may seem to the reader, produced a strong impression. "Thou art
+_my_ prisoner, not Don Hernan's; and it rests with me to liberate or to
+bind, not with him. Answer me, therefore, truly; for if thou hast been
+trained by treachery into this present danger, coming with thoughts of
+peace and composition, and not with an army, to surprise and slay, thou
+shalt be made free, even though the act cost me my life."
+
+"I come in peace: does the leader of an army walk bareheaded and naked?
+My canoe lies hid among the reeds: my warriors are asleep on the island.
+The Christian sent for a lord of the city, to give his hand to the angry
+men of Tlascala. Guatimozin is not the king, but he brought them the
+hand of the king.--It was the lie of Malintzin! I am betrayed!"
+
+"If I suffer thee to depart," said Juan, anxiously, "canst thou make
+good thy escape?"
+
+"Is not Guatimozin a soldier?" replied the Mexican, with a gleaming eye.
+"Give me a sword, and hold fast the Christian tiger."--
+
+"Hark!--peace!" whispered Juan, drawing the prisoner suddenly among the
+boughs: "we are beset. Hist, Befo, hist!"
+
+With a degree of uneasiness, which approached almost to fear, when he
+found that Befo, instead of following him into his concealment, remained
+out upon the illuminated path, where he attracted notice, while
+expressing fidelity, by setting up an audible growl, Juan heard a man
+crash through the boughs on the further side of the pool, all the while
+calling loudly and cheerily to his companions.
+
+"Hither, knaves!" he cried; "the fox is in cover! Hither! quick,
+hither!"
+
+It was the voice of Guzman. He had caught the growl of the dog, and
+responded with a shout of triumph, as he ran forward, closely followed
+by three or four soldiers armed with spears;
+
+"The bloodhound for ever! he has the fox in his mouth, I know by his
+growling!--Hah, Befo, fool?" he continued, when he had reached the
+animal; "art thou baying the moon then?--Pass on, pass on: no Indian
+passes scotfree by Befo at midnight--Pass on, pass on!"
+
+In a moment more, the nook was left to its solitude, and Juan
+reappeared, with the prince. The sight and voice of Guzman had stirred
+up his wrath, and he took his measures with a quicker and sterner
+resolution.
+
+"He protects and loves this man, who is a villain," he muttered through
+his teeth. "There is nothing else left. Follow me prince: if we are
+seen, thy fate is not more certain than mine--Follow me in silence."
+
+The garden was still alive with men; they could be seen running about in
+different directions, though the greatest numbers seemed to be collected
+at the bottom, near to the lake side. It was not from this circumstance,
+however, so much as from his ignorance of every portion of the grounds
+except that by which he had approached the pool, that he bent his steps
+towards the wing of the palace he had so lately left. He advanced
+cautiously, taking advantage of every clump of trees, which could afford
+concealment from any passing group; and once or twice, to allay
+suspicion, adding his voice to those of the others, as if engaged in the
+same duty; in which latter stratagem he was ably seconded by the
+unconscious Befo, whose bark, excited by the shout of his master, was a
+sufficient warrant to all within hearing, of the friendly character of
+the party.
+
+Thus assisted by the undesigned help of the dog, and by the imitative
+caution of the Mexican, he succeeded in reaching the wing of the palace,
+and the passage that led to his chamber, which was illumined by torches
+of resinous wood. A door, leading to the open square that surrounded the
+palace, opened opposite to that by which he entered from the garden. It
+was his intention, if possible, to pass through this into the city, not
+doubting that it would be easy to conceal the fugitive among the
+thousand barbarians of his own colour and appearance, who yet thronged
+the streets; after which, it would not perhaps be impracticable to find
+some way to discharge him from the gates. But, unfortunately, as he
+pressed towards it, he found the outer door beset by armed men,
+thronging tumultuously in, as if to join their comrades in the garden.
+There was nothing left him, then, but to seek his apartment, as hastily
+as he could, and there conceal the Mexican until the heat of pursuit was
+over. A motion of his hand apprized the fugitive of his change of
+purpose, and Guatimozin, darting quickly forward, was already stealing
+into the chamber, when a harsh voice suddenly bawled behind,
+
+"Mutiny and miracles! here runs the rat with the viper! Treason,
+treason!"
+
+It was the hunchback Najara, whose quick eye detected the vanishing
+hair, and who now ran forward in pursuit, followed by a confused throng
+of soldiers, from among whom suddenly darted the cavalier Don Francisco
+de Guzman.
+
+Juan had reached the door. The cry of Najara assured him that he was
+discovered; and conscious that his act of generosity was, or of right
+ought to be, considered little better than sheer treason, the varied
+passions of hope, grief, indignation and wrath, which had been, the
+whole evening, chasing one another through his bosom, gave place at once
+to the single feeling of despair. He felt that he was now lost.
+
+At this very moment, while his brain was confused, and his heart dying
+within him, a laugh sounded in his ear, and he heard, even above the
+clamorous shouts of the soldiers, the voice of Guzman, exclaiming,
+
+"What think'st thou _now_, seņor? Art thou conquered?--Stand! I arrest
+thee."
+
+He turned; the cavalier was within reach of his arm, and the malignant
+sneer was yet writhing over his visage. The words of scorn, the look of
+exultation, were intolerable; the rapier was already naked in his hand,
+and almost before he was himself aware of the act, it was aimed, with a
+deadly lunge, at Don Francisco's throat.
+
+"The deed has slain thee!" cried Guzman, leaping backwards, so as to
+avoid a thrust too fiercely sudden to be parried, and then again rushing
+forward, before he could be supported by the soldiers, who had also
+recoiled at this show of resistance; "the act has slain thee; and so
+take the fate thou art seeking!"
+
+As he spoke, he advanced his weapon, which was before unsheathed,
+against an adversary, whom the recollection of a thousand wrongs had
+inflamed to frenzy, but who could scarcely be supposed to have retained,
+during a year of servitude and suffering, the skill in arms, which once
+made him an equal antagonist. Nevertheless, Guzman's pass was turned
+aside, and returned with such interest, that, had the field been fair
+and unincumbered, it is questionable how long he might have lived to
+repeat it. As it was, the combat was cut short by the interposition of
+the bloodhound, who, whining, at first, as if unwilling to attack a
+cavalier so long and so well known as Don Francisco, and yet unable to
+remain neuter, at last added his fierce yell to the clash of the
+weapons, and decided the battle by springing against Guzman's breast. It
+was perhaps fortunate for the cavalier that he did. He had a breastplate
+on; and, for this reason, Juan aimed the few blows that were made, full
+at his throat, with the fatal determination of one, who, hopeless of
+life himself, had sworn a vow to his soul that his enemy should die. It
+was but the third thrust he had made, (they had scarce occupied so many
+seconds,) and it was directed with such irresistible skill and violence,
+that the point of the weapon was already gliding through Guzman's beard
+and razing his skin, when the weight of Befo's assault, for the third
+time successful, hurled him from his feet, and thus saved his life, at
+the expense of a severe gash made through his right cheek and ear.
+
+The whole of this encounter, from the first attack to the fall of
+Guzman, had not occupied the space of twenty seconds; and Don Francisco
+was at the mercy of his rival, before even the rapid Najara could
+advance a spear to protect him. It was not improbable that Juan would
+have taken a deadly advantage of the mishap, for, as he had declared, in
+a cooler moment, he hated Don Francisco, and his blood was now boiling.
+If such, however, was his purpose, he was prevented putting it into
+execution by another one of those opposing accidents, which seemed this
+night, to pursue him with such unrelenting rigour.
+
+Before he could advance a single step, a cavalier, bareheaded and
+unarmed, save that he flourished a naked sword, sprang from the throng
+of soldiers, followed by the seņor Camarga, now without his masking
+habit, the latter of whom cried with fierce emphasis, all the time,
+"Kill him! cut him down! kill him!" until the soldiers caught up the
+cry, and the whole passage echoed with their furious exclamations. These
+served but the end of still further exasperating the choler of the young
+man, thus beset as it seemed by the tyranny of numbers; and seeing the
+bareheaded cavalier advancing against him, and already betwixt him and
+his fallen rival, he turned upon him with fresh fury.
+
+"Hah!" cried the new antagonist, when Juan's weapon clashed against his
+own; "traitor! dost thou provoke thy fate?"
+
+The words were not out of his lips, before Juan perceived that he had
+raised his rapier against the bosom of Cortes. He beheld, in the
+countenance which he had once loved, the scowl of an evil spirit, and
+the fire flashing from the general's eyes, was no longer to be mistaken
+for aught but the revelation of the deadliest hatred. He flung down his
+sword, resisting no longer, and the next instant would have been run
+through the body, but that Befo, fearing to attack, and yet unable to
+resist the impulse of fidelity, sprang up, with a howl, and seized the
+weapon with his teeth. Before Cortes could disengage it, and again turn
+it upon the unfortunate youth, the Mexican fugitive glided from the
+apartment, threw himself before the latter, and taking the point of the
+weapon in his hand, placed it against his own naked breast. Then bowing
+his head submissively, he stood in tranquillity, expecting his death.
+
+At his sudden appearance, the soldiers set up a shout, and Cortes was
+sufficiently diverted from his bloody purpose, to smooth his frowning
+brow into an air of official sternness.
+
+"Olin is the prisoner of the Teuctli," murmured the captive, in words
+scarce understood by any one present, except Juan.
+
+"Where bide mine Alguazils?" demanded the Captain-General, without
+condescending to notice the Mexican any further than merely by removing
+the rapier from his grasp. "Hah, Guzman! thou art hurt, art thou? By
+heaven,"--But he checked the oath, when he observed that Guzman, already
+on his feet, notwithstanding the frightful appearance that was given him
+by the blood running down his cheek and neck, and drippling slowly from
+his beard, replied to the exclamation with a smile of peculiar coolness:
+"Get thee to a surgeon. Where bide the Alguazils? Is there no officer to
+rid me of a traitor?"
+
+"Seņor General," said Juan, sullenly, "I am no traitor--"
+
+He was interrupted by the appearance of two men, carrying batons, who
+bustled from among the crowd, and laid hands upon him. The readiest and
+the most officious was Villafana, who concealed a vast deal of agitation
+under an air of extravagant zeal.
+
+"Ha, Villafana! art thou found at last?" cried Don Hernan, with apparent
+anger. "Hast thou no better care of thy ward on the water-side, but that
+spies may come stealing into my garden?"
+
+"May it please your excellency," said Villafana, recovering his wit, "I
+was neither gambling nor asleep; but--'Slid, this is a pretty piece of
+villany! Oho, seņor mutineer, this is hanging-work?--Speak not a word,
+as you love life."--This was spoken apart into Juan's ear.--"What is
+your excellency's will, touching the prisoner?"
+
+"Have him to prison, and see that he escape not."
+
+These words were pronounced with a coolness and gravity that amazed all
+who had witnessed the rage, which, but a moment before, had shaken the
+frame of the Captain-General. "And you, ye idle fellows," he continued,
+addressing the soldiers, "get you to your quarters, to your watch, or to
+your beds. Begone.--Why loiter ye, Villafana? Conduct away the
+prisoner."
+
+Juan raised his eyes once more to the general, and seemed as if he would
+have spoken; but, confused and bewildered by the extraordinary
+termination of the drama of the day, chilled by frowns, oppressed by a
+consciousness of having provoked his fate, his head sunk in a deep
+dejection on his breast, and he suffered himself to be led silently
+away.
+
+A gleam of light, such as flares up at night from a decaying brand, just
+lost in ashes, sprang up in the leader's eyes, as they followed the
+steps of the unhappy youth, until, passing from that door, which he had
+so vainly sought to gain with the Mexican, he vanished from sight. Its
+lustre was hidden from all but the captive, who, maintaining throughout
+the whole scene, the self-possession, characteristic of all the American
+race, from the pygmies of the Frozen Sea to the giants of Patagonia, did
+not lose the opportunity thus afforded, of diving into the thoughts of
+the Invader.
+
+As soon as Juan Lerma had departed, with the mass of the soldiers,
+Cortes turned to the Mexican, and with a mild countenance, and a gentle
+voice, which were designed to convey the proper interpretation of his
+Castilian speech, said,
+
+"Let my young friend, the Tlatoani, be at peace, and fear not; no harm
+is designed him."
+
+Then, making a signal to those who remained, to lead the captive after
+him, he passed into the garden, and thence, by a private entrance, into
+the hall of audience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+It has been already mentioned, that the person of Guatimozin was
+familiar to few, or none, of the Spaniards. Intensely and consistently
+hostile to the invaders, from the first moment of their appearance in
+the Valley, he had ever kept aloof from them, and was one of the few
+princes of Mexico, whom neither force nor stratagem could reduce to
+thraldom. His youth, indeed,--his want of authority, (for though of the
+loftiest birth and the highest military fame, he enjoyed, at first, no
+independent command or government,) and, hence, his apparent
+insignificance,--had made the possession of his person of no great
+consequence; and it was not until he was seen leading the incensed
+citizens up against the guns of the garrison, and directing the assault
+which terminated in the life of Montezuma, that he began to be
+considered an enemy worthy to be feared. Even then, however, he was but
+one among the warlike followers of Cuitlahuatzin,--the successor of
+Montezuma,--and on the famous battle-field of Otumba, he fought only as
+a second in command. But from that time until the present moment, his
+name was constantly before the Spaniards, first as the king of
+Iztapalapan, then as a leader among those royal warriors, sent forth by
+Cuitlahuatzin, now to annoy the Spaniards, even among their fortresses
+on the borders of Tlascala, and now to chastise those rebellious tribes
+which were daily acknowledging allegiance to the Spaniard, and preparing
+to march with him against Tenochtitlan.
+
+The death of Cuitlahuatzin had suddenly exposed him to view as the
+probable successor to the imperial dignity; and the act of the royal
+electors, (the kings of Mexico were chosen by the crowned vassals of the
+empire,) in bestowing the mantle and sceptre, had left nothing to be
+done to confirm his authority, save a solemn inauguration on the day of
+an august religious and national festival.
+
+He had thus assumed the attitude which Montezuma had once preserved in
+the eyes of the Conquistador; and it was as much the policy of Cortes to
+attempt the acts of delusion with him, as it had been with his
+predecessor. The craftier and haughtier Guatimozin had, however,
+rejected his overtures with disdain; and, justly appreciating the
+character and designs of his enemy, he prepared for war as the only
+alternative of slavery. He had already concentrated in his city, and in
+the neighbouring towns, the whole martial force of the tribes yet
+valiant and faithful; he had laboured, with an address that was not
+always ineffectual, to regain the false and rebellious; and, rising
+above the weakness of national resentments, he had even striven to unite
+his hereditary foes in a league of resistance against the stranger, who,
+whether frowning or smiling, whether courting with friendship, or
+subduing with arms, was yet, and equally, the enemy of all.
+
+Enough has been said to explain the purpose for which he so rashly threw
+himself into the power of the Conqueror. The certain assurance of
+disaffection in the invader's camp, not only among the allies, but among
+the Spaniards themselves, was enough to fire his heart with the desire
+of employing against Don Hernan a weapon which his foe had used so
+fatally against him; and, besides, the opportunity of detaching the
+Tlascalans from the Spanish interest, was too captivating to be
+rejected. These were advantages to be investigated and promoted by
+himself, rather than by agents; and, confiding in his enemies' ignorance
+of his person, in his cunning, and in the interested fidelity of
+traitors, who had already grasped at bribes, and were eager to be better
+acquainted with his bounty, he did not scruple to direct his midnight
+skiff among the reeds on the lakeside, and, in the guise of a mere
+noble, trust himself alone in their power.
+
+If the reader desire to know what could induce any of the followers of
+Cortes to treat thus perfidiously with the infidel enemy whose wealth
+was promised as the certain guerdon of war, he may be answered almost in
+a word. The _dangers_ of the war were manifold and obvious to all, and
+the horrors of the five days' battles in the streets of Mexico, and more
+than all, the calamities of the midnight retreat, had given such a
+foretaste of what might be expected from a prosecution of the campaign,
+that full half the army looked forward to it with equal terror and
+repugnance. A majority of those who survived the Noche Triste, were
+followers of the unfortunate Narvaez, and some of them yet friendly to
+the deceived Velasquez. They remained with Cortes upon compulsion, and
+they hated him not only for their inability to return to their peaceable
+farms among the islands, for past calamities, and coming misfortunes,
+but for the superior favours showered so liberally, and indeed so
+naturally, upon those who had been his original, and were yet his
+faithful, adherents. In a word, they regarded the reduction of the
+Mexican empire as hopeless, and their own fate, if they remained, as
+already written in characters of blood. The bolder scowled and
+complained, the feeble and the crafty dissembled, but evil thoughts and
+fierce resolutions were common to all. They burned to be released from
+what was to them intolerable bondage, and the means were not to be
+questioned, even though they might involve connivance and collusion with
+the foe. But such collusion was by no means known, nor even suspected,
+by any save the few desperadoes who had risen to the bad eminence of
+leaders. Even Villafana was ignorant of the true character of his guest,
+and esteemed him to be only what he represented himself,--Olin, the
+young noble, an orator, counsellor, and confidential agent of
+Guatimozin. It was not possible for the Captain-General to regard him in
+any other light.
+
+Whatever may have been the young monarch's thoughts, his secret
+misgivings and self-reproaches, as he strode, closely environed by
+cavaliers, into the great hall, now dimly lighted by tapers of vegetable
+wax and torches of fragrant wood, they were exposed by no agitation of
+countenance or hesitation of step; and when Cortes ascended the platform
+to his seat, and turned his penetrating eye upon him, he preserved an
+air of the most fearless tranquillity. For the space of several moments,
+the general regarded him in silence; then commanding all to leave the
+apartment, excepting Sandoval, Alvarado, and another cavalier who
+officiated as interpreter, he said to Alvarado, with a mild voice, very
+strangely contrasted with the rudeness of his words,
+
+"Look into the face of this heathen dog, and tell me if thou knowest
+him."
+
+Alvarado had been, as the historical reader is aware, left in Mexico,
+the jailer of Montezuma and the warden of the city, during the absence
+of Cortes, when he marched against Narvaez. It was supposed, therefore,
+that Don Pedro was better acquainted with the persons of the principal
+nobles than any other cavalier. He examined the captive curiously, and
+at last said, shaking his head,
+
+"Methinks his visage is not unknown; and yet I wot not to whom it
+belongs. The knave is but a boy. If he be a noble, never trust me but he
+is one of Guatimozin's making, and therefore not yet of consequence."
+
+At the sound of his own name, the only word distinguishable by the
+prisoner, Alvarado observed that his brow contracted a little. But this
+awoke no suspicion.
+
+"Demand of him," said Cortes to the interpreter, "his name, and the
+purpose of his coming to Tezcuco?"
+
+When this was explained to the Mexican, his brow contracted still
+further, but rather with inquisitiveness than embarrassment:
+
+"I am Olin-pilli," (that is, Olin the Lord, or Lord Olin,) he replied,
+"the speaker of wise things to the king, and the mouth of nobles."
+
+He then paused, as if to examine with what degree of belief he was
+listened to; and being satisfied, from the countenance of Don Hernan,
+that he was really unknown, he continued, with a more confident tone,
+
+"And I come to the Lord of the East, the Son of the God of Air, to hear
+the words of his children. Did not the Teuctli send for me?"
+
+"Not I," replied the Captain-General, sternly. "Speaker of wise things,
+I look into thy heart, and I see thy falsehood. Thou art a spy,--a
+_quimichin_,--sent by Guatimozin the king, to speak dark things to the
+men of Tlascala."
+
+The captive, though somewhat disconcerted, maintained a fearless
+countenance:
+
+"The Teuctli is the son of the gods, and knows everything," he answered.
+
+"And charged also," continued Cortes, "to whisper in the ears of fools,
+who send good words to the king, that the king may enrich them with
+gold. Is not this true, Sir Quimichin?"
+
+"Is not Malintzin the Son of Quetzalcoatl, the White God with a beard,
+who proclaimed from the Hill of Shouting[10] and from the Speaking
+Mountain,[11] the coming of his offspring? and shall Olin know more
+things than Malintzin? Guatimozin thinks, that the Spaniard should not
+slay his people."
+
+[Footnote 10: _Tzatzitepec_, a mountain near Tula.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Catcitepetl_, a volcano.]
+
+"Wherefore, then, sent he not thee to _me_?" demanded the
+Captain-General. "I will listen to his words. It was not wise to send
+his ambassador to the soldier, when the general sat by, in his
+tent.--Hearken to me, friend Olin," he continued, with gravity: "Hadst
+thou brought his discourse to me, thou hadst then been listened to with
+honour, and dismissed in peace. Art thou a soldier?"
+
+"Olin is a counsellor," replied the Mexican, proudly; "but he has bled
+in battle."
+
+"And is not Guatimozin a warrior?"
+
+"He is the king of the House of Darts, and he has struck his foe."
+
+"When the lurking Ottomi is found skulking in his camp; when the angry
+Tlascalan creeps up to his fort; what does Guatimozin then with the
+prisoner? what says he to the Ottomi? what wills he with the Tlascalan?"
+
+"He binds them to the stone, and they die like the dogs of the altar!"
+replied the barbarian, with a fierce utterance.
+
+"Thou hast spoken thine own doom," replied Cortes, sternly; "only that,
+instead of perishing according to thy damnable customs, a sacrifice to
+spirits accurst, thou shalt have such death as we give to the dogs of
+Castile. Thou hast crept into my camp, like the spying Ottomi; thou
+comest with sword and shield, like the bravo of Tlascala; and thou hast
+addressed thyself to traitors and conspirators, to make them mine
+enemies. Why then should I not hang thee upon a tree? or why," he
+continued, with an elevated voice, descending from the platform, and,
+with a single motion, unsheathing his rapier and aiming it against the
+captive's breast--"why should I not kill thee, thou cur! upon the spot?"
+
+"I am a Mexican!" replied the young king, rather opposing his body to
+the expected thrust than seeking to avoid it; "I look upon my death, and
+I spit upon thee, Spaniard!"
+
+"Hah!" cried Cortes, whose desire was to intimidate, not to slay, and
+who could not but admire the fearless air of defiance, so boldly assumed
+by the captive, "thou hast either a true heart, or a penetrating
+eye.--Fear not; thy life is in my hands, but I design thee no wrong:
+death were but a just punishment for thy villany, yet I mean not to
+enforce it. What wilt thou do, if I discharge thee unharmed?"
+
+"I will know," said the barbarian, with a look of surprise, as soon as
+this was interpreted, "that Malintzin is not always hungry for blood; or
+rather, I will ask of my thoughts, what mischief to Mexico is meditated
+in the act of mercy."
+
+"A shrewd knave, i'faith, a shrewd knave!" cried Cortes, admiringly: "by
+my conscience, this fellow hath somewhat the wit of a Christian
+politician.--Infidel," he continued, "hearken to what I say. I desire to
+speak the words of peace with my young brother Guatimozin. Wherefore
+will he not listen to me?"
+
+"Because his ears are open to the groans of his children," replied the
+Mexican, promptly. "When Malintzin smiles, the brand hisses on the flesh
+of the prisoner; when he talks of peace, the great warhorse paws the
+breast of the dead. Let this thing be not, let his insurgent subjects be
+sent to their villages, and Guatimozin will listen to the Teuctli."
+
+"He has slain my ambassadors," said Cortes.
+
+"Shall the slave say to his master, 'I am the bondman of another,' and
+laugh in the king's face? Let Malintzin send a Christian to Guatimozin.
+I will row him in my skiff, and he shall return unharmed."
+
+"What thinkest thou of _this_? I will send him such an envoy, and thou
+shalt remain a hostage in his place. What will be said to him by the
+king of Mexico?"
+
+"This," replied the captive, without a moment's hesitation: "The
+Christian is in Mexico, and Olin-pilli in the prisons of Malintzin: let
+the Christian therefore die."
+
+"Ay, by my conscience, he speaks well," said Cortes. "But were
+friendship offered, and twenty thousand hostages left behind, I should
+like to know what Spaniard of us all would perform the pilgrimage? There
+is but _one_.--But that is naught. By heaven and St. John, we will think
+of other things! we will think of other things!--Is it not death by the
+decree?"
+
+"Seņor!" cried Alvarado in surprise. Cortes started.--In the moment of
+entranced thought, he had stridden away from the group to some distance,
+and, he now perceived, they were gazing at him with wonder.
+
+"We will entrust this thing to him, then, as I said," he cried,
+hurriedly, "and he shall return with the misbeliever's answer. We have
+no other choice. What think ye of it, my masters?"
+
+"Of _what_?" said Alvarado, bluntly: "You have said nothing. By'r lady,
+and with reverence to your excellency, you are dreaming!"
+
+"Pho!" cried the Captain-General, "did I not speak it? Our thoughts
+sometimes sound in our ears, like words. This is the philosophy of the
+marvel: Hast thou never, when thine eyes were shut, yet beheld in them
+the objects of which thou wert thinking? If thou couldst think music,
+never believe me but thou wouldst also hear it.--This, then, is the
+thought which I forgot to utter: I will give this dog his freedom, and,
+for lack of a better, make him my envoy to Guatimozin. If he return, it
+will be well; if not, we are left where we were; and we can hang him
+hereafter."
+
+"Let us first know," said Sandoval, coolly, "by what sort of charm he
+prevailed on this mad young man, Juan Lerma, to peril limb and life for
+him, and, what is more, honour too."
+
+"Ay, by my conscience!" said Cortes, hurriedly; "this thing I had
+forgotten.--He shall die the death! Connive with a spy? conceal him from
+the pursuers? draw sword upon a cavalier? strike at an officer's life?
+Were he mine own brother, he should abide his doom. Who will say I wrong
+him _now_?--Hah! what says the dog? How came this thing to pass?"
+
+While Cortes was yet pursuing the subject nearest to his heart, half
+soliloquizing, the question was asked and answered; and the reply, to
+Guatimozin's great relief, was received with unexpected belief.
+
+"He was caught by the bloodhound; (An excellent dog, that Befo!)" said
+Alvarado; "and making his moan to Lerma, (whom heaven take to its rest!
+for I know not how he can be so brave, and yet an ass,) the young fool
+fell to his old tricks. When did an Indian ever ask him for pity in
+vain?--This is his story; it is too natural to be false; yet, Indians
+are great liars.--But you said something of making this cur your envoy?"
+
+"Ay," replied Cortes: "What sayst thou, Olin, speaker of wise things!
+wilt thou bear my thoughts to thy master Guatimozin?"
+
+"The lord of Tenochtitlan shall hear them," said Guatimozin, his eyes
+gleaming with expectation.
+
+"And thou wilt return to me with his answer? Swear this upon the cross
+of my sword; ay, and swear it by thy diabolical gods also."
+
+"Guatimozin shall send back to Malintzin a noble Mexican; or, otherwise,
+Olin will return. How shall the Mexican noble know that the Teuctli will
+not take his life?"
+
+"Does that deter you?" said Cortes: "I swear by the cross which I
+worship, that, come thou or another, or come Guatimozin himself,
+provided he come to me in peace, and with the king's message, he shall
+depart in safety, with good-will and with favours such as this."
+
+As he spoke, he took from his own neck, and flung round the Mexican's, a
+chain of beads, which were neither of diamond, sapphire, nor ruby, but
+sufficiently resembling each and all, to gratify the vanity of a
+barbarian. The young king smiled--but it was at the thought of freedom.
+
+"Thou shalt have more such, and richer," said Cortes, misconceiving his
+joy. "Why is not Olin the friend of Malintzin?"
+
+"Malintzin is a great prince," said the prisoner, softly.
+
+"Is Olin content to be the slave of Guatimozin?" pursued the
+Captain-General, insidiously. "Will Olin do Malintzin's bidding, and be
+the king of Chalco?"
+
+"Shall Olin slay Guatimozin?" cried the prisoner, with a gleam of subtle
+intelligence, and so abruptly, that Cortes was startled.
+
+"Hah! by my conscience!" he cried, "I understand thee: thou art even
+more knave than I thought thee.--Kill the king indeed? By no means; harm
+not a hair of his head: we will have no assassination. It is better this
+young boy should be king than another.--This is a very proper knave.
+Gentlemen, by your leave, I will bid you good-night: I will see the dog
+to the water-side. Antonio, do thou walk with us, and explain between
+us.--A very excellent shrewd villain."
+
+So saying, the Captain-General turned to the door by which he had lately
+entered, and taking the prisoner's arm, in the most familiar and
+friendly manner, he stepped forthwith into the garden. The Mexican's
+flesh crept, when it came in contact with that of the Spaniard; but
+this, the Spaniard doubted not, was the tribute of awe to his greatness.
+His voice became yet blander, as, walking onwards towards the lake, he
+poured into Guatimozin's ear his wishes and instructions.
+
+As they passed by the little pool and its dark enclosure of
+schinus-trees, the infidel looked towards it anxiously and lingeringly,
+as if hoping to behold once more the pale and beautiful countenance
+which had shone upon it.--It lay in deep silence and solitude.
+
+A few moments after, the Mexican had passed through the broken wall, and
+by the sentries who guarded it, receiving the last instructions of the
+invader. The next instant he was alone, stalking towards a little green
+point, where a fringe of reeds and water-lilies shook in the diminutive
+surges. He cast his eye backward to the two cavaliers, and beheld them
+pass into the garden. Then, taking the chain of beads from his neck, and
+rending it with foot and hand, he cast the broken jewels into the lake.
+A moment after, his light skiff shot from its concealment, and the sound
+of his paddle startled the droning wild-fowl from their slumbers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+When Ovid describes the memorable encounter between Perseus and the
+great sea-monster of Ethiopia, he is at the pains to narrate with what
+fury the creature _snapped at the shadow_ of the flying hero,--a
+circumstance of trivial importance in itself, though both striking and
+characteristic; nay, he even relates how the warrior, at the first sight
+of the fair Andromeda, chained to the rock, and waiting to be devoured,
+was so moved with admiration that he forgot, for an instant, to flap his
+wings,--another detail of more fitness than moment. Thus stooping to the
+consideration of trifles, the poet does not scruple entirely to pass by
+matters of the most palpable consequence. He disdains, for example, to
+tell us even whether the monster _died_ or not in the encounter, leaving
+that to be inferred; and, in like manner, he scorns even to answer the
+question that might have been anticipated, namely, _why_ Perseus, like a
+sensible soldier, did not whip out his gorgon's head, instead of his
+'crooked sword,' and, by turning the beast into stone, save himself the
+trouble of despatching him with his steel.
+
+The writer of historical works, like the present, must claim the
+privilege of the poet, and be allowed, while expatiating on events of
+interest so inferior that they have been almost rejected by his
+predecessors, to leave many others of manifest importance to be
+supplied, not indeed by the imagination, but by the learning of the
+reader. Our only desire is to follow the adventures of two individuals,
+so obscure and so unfortunate, that the worthy and somewhat
+over-conscientious Bernal Diaz del Castillo has despatched the whole
+history of the first in the few vague fragments which we have prefixed
+to the story; while he has scrupulously abstained from saying a single
+word of the second.
+
+If the reader will turn to the pages of this conscientious historian, of
+De Solis, or of Clavigero, he will be made acquainted with the stirring
+exploits of the eight or nine weeks that followed after the arrest of
+Juan Lerma. In this time, the Captain-General, at the head of all the
+Spaniards, save those who were left in garrison at Tezcuco, and the few
+sailors and shipwrights who remained in the dock-yards, to preside over
+Indian artificers, compelled to work at the brigantines--in this time,
+we say, and at the head of this force, assisted by many thousand
+Tlascalans, Cortes commenced and completed the circuit of the whole
+valley, storming and burning cities and towns without number, resisted
+valiantly in all that were not disaffected, and sometimes, as at the
+city of Tacuba, repulsed with great loss and no little dishonour. The
+whole campaign abounds with singular and exciting incidents, of which,
+however, it does not suit our purpose to mention any but one, and that
+almost in a word. At the city of Xochimilco, or the Garden of Flowers,
+(for this is the signification of the word,) where the resistance was
+sanguinary and noble, though, in the end, ineffectual, Cortes was
+wounded, surrounded, struck down from his horse, which was killed, and
+he himself, for a moment, a prisoner; and he owed his life and liberty
+only to the extraordinary valour of Gaspar Olea of the Red Beard, who,
+with the help of a few resolute Tlascalans, succeeded in bringing him
+off. The aid thus rendered by Olea was the more remarkable, since, from
+the moment of Juan's arrest, he had become sullen, morose, and was
+sometimes even charged to be mutinous. In this last imputation, however,
+as far as it implied any treasonable thoughts or practices, the rude
+Gaspar was wronged. His dissatisfaction was caused solely by the fall
+and anticipated fate of his young captain. The heinousness of Juan's
+crime--the drawing his sword upon an officer in the execution of his
+duty, as Guzman had been, and, worse yet, the aiming of that at the
+breast of the General--had left it, apparently, impossible to be
+forgiven. It was universally expected that Juan would expiate the crime
+with his life; and the only wonder was, that he had not been immediately
+tried, condemned, and executed. His destiny was therefore anticipated
+with more curiosity than doubt, and apparently with less pity than
+either. Gaspar did not attempt to deny Juan's guilt; but when he
+remembered the sufferings and perils they had shared together, his heart
+burned with fury, to think how soon the brave and well-beloved youth
+should die the death of a caitiff. His dissatisfaction expended itself
+in anger towards the Captain-General; and hence the surprise of his
+comrades at his act of daring and generosity. But Gaspar had his own
+ends in view, when he saved the life of Cortes.
+
+It was now many weeks since his arrest, and Juan yet lay in
+imprisonment, ignorant not so much of his fate, as of the causes which
+delayed it. On the fourth day of his captivity, he was apprized, by the
+sound of trumpets and artillery, the cries of men, and the neighing of
+horses, and, in general, by the prodigious bustle which accompanies the
+setting-out of an army from a populous city, that some enterprise was
+meditated and begun; but of its character he was kept wholly ignorant.
+The custody of his person seemed to be committed to Villafana and the
+hunchback Najara, conjointly; but it was observable, that, although
+Najara frequently entered his den alone, Villafana never made his
+appearance without being accompanied by the Corcobado.
+
+From Najara he gained not a word of intelligence, the hunchback ever
+replying to his questions with scowls, or with pithy sarcasms in
+allusion to the crimes of treason and mutiny. From Villafana, attended,
+and, as it seemed to Juan, watched, by the jealous Najara, he obtained
+nothing but unmeaning nods of the head, and sometimes looks, too
+significant to be doubted, and yet too oraculous to be understood.
+
+After the first fortnight, Villafana failed to visit him altogether, and
+he saw not the face of a human being, except once each morning, when
+Najara was accustomed to make his appearance, followed by an Indian
+slave, bearing food and a jar of water. With this latter being, a
+decrepit old man, on whose naked shoulder was imprinted the horrible
+letter G, (for _guerra_, indicating that he was a prisoner of war,--in
+other words, a branded bondman,) he endeavoured to speak, using all the
+native dialects with which he was acquainted; but, though Najara made no
+offer to prevent such conversation, the barbarian replied only by
+touching his ear and then his breast, signifying thereby that, though he
+heard the words, he did not understand them. Though Najara permitted
+these little attempts at speech, with contemptuous indifference, Juan
+perceived that he ever kept his eyes fastened upon the Indian, as if to
+prevent any effort at communication of another sort. Thus, if any
+benevolent friend had endeavoured to convey a message by letter or
+otherwise, it was apparent that Najara took the best steps to insure its
+miscarriage.
+
+Foiled thus in every attempt to exchange thoughts with a fellow-being,
+and reduced to commune only with his own, the unhappy prisoner ceased,
+at last, to make any effort; and, yielding gradually to a despair that
+was not the less consuming for being entirely without complaint, he
+began, in the end, to be indifferent even to the coming and presence of
+his jailer, neither rising to meet him, nor even lifting his eyes from
+the floor, on which they were fixed with a lethargic dejection.
+
+He became also indifferent to his food; and once, when Najara entered,
+he perceived that the water-jar, the dish of _tortillas_, or
+maize-cakes, the savoury wild-fowl, and the fragrant _chocolatl_, (for
+in regard to food, he was liberally supplied,) stood upon the little
+table, where they had been placed the day before, untasted and even
+untouched. He cast his eyes upon the youth, and, for the first time,
+began to feel a sentiment of pity for his condition. Indeed, the noble
+figure of the young man was beginning to waste away; his cheeks were
+hollow, his neglected beard was springing uncouthly over his lips, and
+his sunken eyes drooped upon the earth, as if never more to gleam with
+the light of hope and pleasure. The hunchback hesitated for a moment,
+and then growled out a few words,--the first he had uttered for a week.
+But these, though commiseration prompted them, he succeeded in making
+expressive only of scorn or anger.
+
+"Hark you, seņor Juan Lerma," he said, "do you mean to starve?"
+
+At the sound of his voice, so unusual and so unexpected, the young man
+raised his eyes, but with a vague, wo-begone look, and answered nothing.
+
+"I say, seņor," continued Najara, somewhat more blandly, "is it your
+will to die by starvation rather than in any other way?"
+
+"Ah, Najara! is it thou?" said Juan, rising feebly, or indolently, to
+his feet. "Heaven give you a good-morrow."
+
+"Pshaw!" returned the jailer, gruffly; "pray me no such prayers: keep
+them for yourself. I ask you, if it be your purpose to starve yourself
+to death, out of a mere unsoldierly fear of hanging?"
+
+"Thou hast not said so much to me, I know not when," replied the youth,
+not with any intention of shuffling off the question, but speaking of
+what was uppermost in his mind. His voice was very mild, and Najara, by
+no means without his weaker points, felt it as a reproach.
+
+"I care not," he replied, "if I answer you any two or three questions,
+that may be nearest to your heart. But first give me to know, wherefore
+you have eaten nothing? Are you sick?"
+
+"Surely I am, at heart; but, bodily, I am well."
+
+"And you are not resolute to die of hunger, before the
+judgment-day?--Pho, if you have that spirit, perhaps it were better. But
+it is a death of great torment.--Yet, why should one be afraid of the
+shame? 'Tis nothing, when we are dead."
+
+"Is this thy fear then?" said Juan, patiently. "It is not permitted us
+to commit suicide in any form. I will eat, to satisfy thee; but food is
+bitter in prison."
+
+"What a pity," muttered Najara, as Juan ate a morsel of food, "that
+heaven should give thee such a goodly and godlike body, and such a brave
+soul, (for, o' my life, I believe thou art entirely without fear,) and
+yet make thee a madman and traitor!"
+
+"A traitor!" said Juan, without taking any offence, for, indeed, he
+seemed to have been robbed of all the fire of his spirit. "It is not
+possible anybody can believe me a traitor."
+
+"Pho! did I not, with mine own eyes, see thee lunge at Cortes? It is
+base of thee to deny it."
+
+"I do not deny it," said Juan; adding, vehemently, "but I call heaven to
+witness, I saw not his face, and knew him not. He may persecute me to
+death, as I believe he is doing. Yet could I do him no wrong; no, I
+_think_, I could not.--But it is bitter, to feel we are trampled on!"
+
+"Well, seņor, it is better you should be in a passion than a trance. But
+be not utterly without hope. If you can truly make it appear you knew
+not the general, it is thought by one or two, you may be pardoned. I
+have talked with Guzman; and I think he may be brought to forgive and
+even intercede for you."
+
+"I will neither receive _his_ forgiveness nor his intercession," said
+Juan, frowning. "And I wonder you mention to me his detested name."
+
+"Oh, seņor!" said Najara, sharply, "you may choose your own friends, and
+hunt them again among heathen Indians.--That you should sell your life
+for this dog of a noble!--Fare you well, seņor, fare you well."
+
+"Stay, Najara," said Juan, following him towards the door: "you said you
+would answer me such questions as were nearest my heart. Give not over
+the kindly thought. There are many things, which if I knew, my lot would
+not be so hard, my dungeon not so killing to my spirit. The army is
+gone--is Mexico invested?"
+
+"Not so," replied the hunchback; "it has a month or two's grace
+yet.--The troops have marched against the shore-towns.--But for this mad
+fit, thou mightst have been with them, or making thyself famous at
+Tochtepec!"
+
+Juan sighed heavily.
+
+"And the Indian, of whom you spoke,--the young noble,--Olin the orator,"
+he demanded, at first, not without hesitation.
+
+"Oh, the cur," replied Najara; "I think Cortes was even as mad as
+thyself, touching the knave. But wit is like a river, sometimes too
+full, washing away its own banks--it may be said to drown itself.--He
+made the dog his ambassador, swore him to return faithfully from
+Guatimozin, and waited three days for him in vain. Such rogues are like
+arrows,--good weapons, when you have the cast of them, but not to be
+expected in hand again, unless shot back by a foeman."
+
+It was fortunate, perhaps, that Najara had relaxed so far from his
+austerity as to resume the vein of metaphor common to his softer
+moments. Had he been as observant as usual, he must have been struck
+with suspicion at the sudden gleam of satisfaction, with which Juan
+heard the good fortune of the Mexican. But he marked it not.
+
+"Tell me now," said Juan, "how thou comest to be my jailer; and why it
+is that Villafana seems to have given up his trust to thee?"
+
+At this question, Najara's good-humour immediately vanished, and he
+replied, sourly,
+
+"Oh, content you, you shall be in good keeping."
+
+"I doubt it not," said Juan, calmly. "But Villafana is, or methinks he
+is, more friendly to me than you. I did but desire to know what changes
+had taken place in the government of the city, from the watchman up to
+the commandant, since my imprisonment."
+
+"Ay, indeed!" replied Najara, grimly: "such changes, that hadst thou
+fifty friends waiting to aid thee, thou shouldst be caught, before
+getting twenty steps from the door. Know then, that I am made Alguazil,
+as well as Villafana; and what is more, I am captain of the prison. The
+Alcalde is Antonio de Quinones, master of the armory; and the Corregidor
+of the city is thy good friend Guzman,--an honour thou gavest him, by
+hacking his face so freely, and so leaving him in the hospital."
+
+"You speak to me in sarcasm," said Juan, mildly: "I have not deserved
+it. And methinks you should be more generous of temper, than to oppress
+with words of insult, a fallen and helpless man.--Well, heed it not--I
+forgive you. I have but one more question to ask you.--The lady,--this
+lady, La Monjonaza--"
+
+"Ay!" cried Najara, with singular bitterness, "I have heard of that too.
+You were seen talking with her in the garden. You will play chamberer
+with Cortes! ay, and rival too! Pho, canst thou not be at peace? Meddle
+with the general's fancy. Why that were enough to hang thee. I had some
+soft thoughts of thee; but everything shows thou art unworthy. Farewell;
+think of these things no more; but repent and make your peace with
+heaven."
+
+So saying, the hunchback flung out of the room, and securing the thick
+door of plank, Juan was again left to his meditations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+Then followed another period of silence and dejection, in which the
+prisoner wasted away as much in body as in spirit, becoming so
+listlessly indifferent to everything, that he no longer betrayed any
+desire to draw Najara into conversation, nor even to meet the advances
+which his jailer now often made. The thought of escaping from
+confinement, perhaps, never entered his mind; for, had he been even less
+resigned to his fate, the strict watch kept over him, and the condition
+of his prison, added to his apparent friendlessness, must have been
+enough to banish all such thoughts. His chamber was neither dark nor
+damp, but made strong by its bulky door, barred on the outside, and by
+windows, high above the floor, so very narrow that no human being could
+hope to pass through them.
+
+Narrow as they were, however, it was the jailer's custom to examine them
+very closely each morning; a degree of vigilance that Juan had, in the
+earlier days of captivity, remarked with some surprise. He became
+acquainted with Najara's object at last. One morning, he was roused out
+of his stupefaction by a harsh exclamation from his jailer, and looking
+up, he beheld him take from the floor, immediately under one of the
+loopholes, what seemed a slip of paper, tied to a little stick, which
+appeared, some time during the night, to have been thus thrust into the
+prison. What were its contents he never could divine; for Najara had no
+sooner cast his eyes over it, than mingling a laugh of satisfaction at
+its miscarriage with some natural compassion for the profound
+wretchedness which had sealed the ears and eyes of the prisoner, he
+immediately departed with the prize.
+
+From this time, Juan became more vigilant and wary; but the following
+night, he was admonished, by the clank of armour and the occasional
+sound of voices without, that sentinels were now stationed under the
+windows, thus precluding all hope of friendly communication from that
+quarter.
+
+Before he had again entirely relapsed into his listless gloom, he began
+to have a vague consciousness that the Indian slave, who accompanied
+Najara, was becoming more officious than of old, in setting his meals
+before him, and particularly in placing the jar of water at his side,
+instead of depositing it on his table, as he had done before. His
+suspicion was confirmed, when, one morning, as Najara was making his
+wonted survey of the windows, the slave gave him a quick, impatient
+look, and shaking the jar as he set it down, made him sensible, by a
+rattling sound within it, that there was something besides the innocent
+element concealed at the bottom. As soon as Najara had departed, he made
+an examination of the mystery, and drew forth, with some astonishment, a
+plate of transparent obsidian, on which had been scratched by some hard
+instrument or precious stone, a few words which he was soon able to
+decypher. "If thou wilt leave Mexico, and live, take the stone from the
+pitcher."
+
+He strode about the apartment for a moment in disorder; then, crushing
+the glassy temptation under his heel, and returning the fragments to the
+jar, he sat down again to brood over his despair.--The next morning the
+pitcher contained nothing but water.
+
+Thus, then, the time passed away, in the ordinary listlessness of
+confinement,--the dull and sleepy torture of solitude; until Najara,
+waxing more compassionate as his prisoner grew more obviously
+indifferent to light, to food, and to speech, bethought him of a mode of
+indulgence from which no danger could be apprehended, and accordingly
+introduced the dog Befo into the apartment.
+
+The loud yells of joy with which Befo beheld his young master, recalled
+Juan from his lethargy; and Najara was touched still further with
+compunction at the sight of the animal's transports.
+
+"He has been whining every day at the prison gate," he muttered; "and
+doubtless he would have whined full as much, though he were to be let in
+only to be beaten. Such a fond fool is this young Juan himself: he
+returns to his master, though he knows the scourge is ready. It were
+better he had taken my advice, and passed to the sea by Otumba: He
+should have known Cortes would never forgive him."
+
+The presence of this faithful animal, if it did not recall Juan's
+spirits, at least preserved him from sinking further into stupefaction;
+and nothing gave him more evident delight, than when, each morning,
+having prevailed upon Najara to lead his dumb companion into the air for
+exercise, he could hear Befo, in the joy of a liberty which he did not
+share, dashing frantically through the garden, now coursing by the
+water-side, now prancing by the palace, and, all the time, yelping and
+barking with the most clamorous delight. From these daily sorties the
+dog was used to return, with fresh spirits and increased attachment, to
+share, for the remainder of the day, the confinement of his master, upon
+whom, at his entrance, he jumped and fawned almost as boisterously as
+when enjoying his sports in the garden.
+
+One day, however, he returned with a much graver aspect than usual, and
+stalking up to where Juan sat, he stood, wagging his tail, and gazing up
+with a look exceedingly knowing and significant. Somewhat surprised at
+this, and finding that Befo refused, even when invited, to begin his
+usual rough expressions of friendship, he took him by the leathern
+collar, by which the servants of Cortes had been wont to secure him at
+night, and pulled him towards him. The motion of the collar released a
+little packet, that had been carefully secured beneath it, and which now
+fell upon Juan's knee. As soon as the sagacious animal perceived that he
+had accomplished a task, not often committed to such a messenger, he
+returned to his usual demonstrations of satisfaction; and, for a moment,
+Juan was unable to examine the singular missive. When Befo became
+composed, he opened it, and read, with no little agitation, the
+following words: "Not for _me_, but for thyself.--There is but a day
+more to choose. Leave Mexico, and shed not thine own blood: make not thy
+friends curse thee.--Return but a fragment of the paper, or tie but a
+hair round the collar,--and thou shalt be saved.--Not for _me_, but for
+_thyself_."
+
+The morning came, and Juan, taking the paper from his bosom, tore it to
+pieces. When Najara offered as usual to liberate the dog, he perceived
+that Juan held him fast by the collar.
+
+"How now, seņor, shall the dog play?"
+
+"It is cruel to rob him of his hour's liberty," said Juan, with a
+subdued voice; "but, this day, suffer him to remain with me."
+
+"Well, seņor, as you will," said Najara; "but I would you had some
+better friend,--at least, some one who could counsel you. There are
+runners arrived from the northern towns; and, at midday, Cortes will
+march into the city."
+
+"The better reason, then, that I should have this friend, who have no
+other," said Juan, calmly.
+
+"Harkee, seņor," said Najara, with a sort of petulant sympathy, "if you
+would but curse yourself and your foes, or bemoan your fate a little, I
+should like it better than this stupid, womanish resignation.--Hark
+ye,--I care not if I tell you: I thought you had come athwart the
+fancies of Don Hernan, in the matter of the Doņa, not that Don Hernan
+had wronged your own: I knew not that there was any old love between
+you."
+
+"What art thou speaking of, Najara?" said Juan, with a hasty and
+troubled voice.
+
+"This does, in some sense, weaken the sin of drawing sword upon him,"
+continued the hunchback, "for no man loves to be robbed of his
+mistress.--Well,--the seņora is sorry for you.--She thought to bribe me
+to let her speak with you.--Bribe me!--And yet I pitied her, for she was
+sorely distressed."
+
+"For God's sake," exclaimed Juan, in extreme suffering, "speak me not a
+word of her; let me not hear her name."
+
+"Well, be not cast down; she has much power with the general, and,
+doubtless, she will plead for you. Well, fare you well.--I did think to
+let Cortes know of her acts: but that might harden him against you still
+more.--Why should I waste thought upon him," muttered the deformed as he
+passed from the prison. "It is hard, or it seems hard, that heaven
+should give up a frame so beauteous and majestical, to be marred by the
+hangman's axe or rope, and leave a deformed lump like me, to scare
+little Indian girls and boys, and to be jibed at by all the craven loons
+of the army. But this is naught: if I am crooked, I am neither fool,
+traitor, nor coward, as most others are, in one degree or other, and
+sometimes in all."
+
+As Najara had foretold, the army returned to Tezcuco about noon, as was
+made evident to Juan, by the sound of trumpets and cannon, and other
+warlike noises of rejoicing; which, continuing to fill the city for many
+hours, came to his ears like the tumult of a distant storm, and began to
+die away, only when the last twinkle of sunset, shooting through his
+narrow windows, had faded from the opposite wall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+It was now midnight. Audience after audience, and council after council,
+in the great hall of the palace, had shown how rapidly were approaching
+to a climax the involved events and schemes, which had for their object
+the overthrow of the Indian empire, as well as some that looked to an
+end equally dark, though of less public import. The Captain-General had
+despatched several audiences entirely of a private nature, and hoped to
+be relieved of his toil, while discharging from his presence an
+individual already known to the reader as Gaspar of the Red Beard.
+Whatever might have been the subject of the conference, its conclusion
+was unsatisfactory to both parties; for Olea departed with a visage both
+sullen and vindictive, while Cortes strode to and fro, evidently
+affected by vexation and anger.
+
+As Olea, who had long since got rid of the 'infidel gait,' which had
+drawn a remark from Cortes, and which, doubtless assumed to assist his
+disguise, only adhered to him through habit,--as he vanished through the
+great door, another character made his appearance, entering by one of
+those doors which opened from the garden. It was the seņor Camarga; who,
+from the friar's habit, again flung over his armour, seemed to have been
+engaged, a second time, in his maskings.
+
+"What news, seņor? what news hast thou?" demanded Cortes, in a low
+voice, making a sign to the visitor to imitate his cautiousness. "Hast
+thou gathered aught of my dog Villafana? By my conscience, we are at a
+fault; the fox is scared into virtue: Najara hath seen no ill in him,
+Guzman avers he hath detected no sign of guilt, and not a spy is there
+of all, who does not swear that his fright in the matter of Olin, (that
+knave, too, cajoled me!) has reduced him into submission and honesty.
+Hast thou found nothing?"
+
+"Nothing to be thought of, perhaps," replied Camarga. "Villafana is
+either returned to his allegiance, as your excellency hints, or he is
+too deep in distrust, to confer with me any further. He swears, if one
+could believe him, that he has thought better of his schemes, and is now
+resolved that they were foolish and unjust,--and therefore that he has
+ended them."
+
+"He lies, the rogue!" said Cortes; "you have pursued him too
+closely.--It was an ill thought to league Najara with him.--These things
+have made him suspicious, not penitent. I have taken the hunchback away,
+restored Villafana to his prisonward, and, in short, taken all means to
+seduce him into security. You will see the cloven foot again, and that
+right shortly."
+
+"Perhaps what I have to say will make your excellency believe it is
+displayed already. He has admitted one to speak with the prisoner--"
+
+"Hah!" cried Cortes,--"a file of spearsmen!--But no; it matters not.
+There is no fear of escape; and this were too aimless an explosion. Know
+you the person he has admitted?"
+
+"I do not," said Camarga; "but from the glance of the garment, methought
+'twas some such godly brother as myself. And yet 'twas a taller man than
+Olmedo."
+
+"By my conscience," said Cortes, quickly, "methinks I can divine the
+mystery: but of that anon. Hark thee, friend Camarga, dost thou still
+burn for this wretched man's life? I tell thee, there is much
+intercession made for him. It was but a moment since that the
+Barba-Roxa,--a good soldier, i'faith,--made certain fierce moans for
+him, mingled with divers mutinous reproaches. I vow to heaven, I could
+have struck the knave dead, but that he saved my life at Xochimilco."
+
+"I have heard that Juan Lerma did the same thing, on the plains of
+Tlascala," replied Camarga, dryly.
+
+"Thou art deceived!" exclaimed Don Hernan, with a sudden shudder. "The
+attempt, I grant you, the attempt be made; but I needed no help. Yet do
+I remember the act; and, by heaven, I would I might forgive him,--I
+would I might! I would I might! for the thought of judging him to death,
+is like a wolf in my bosom. Once I loved him as my son,--yes, as my very
+son," he repeated, with extraordinary agitation; "and when he played
+with my little children, I swear, I looked upon him but as their elder
+brother. What will men say of the act, since they cannot know the
+cause?"
+
+Apparently Camarga looked upon this burst of relenting feeling, (for
+such it really was,) with too much dissatisfaction and alarm, to notice
+the allusion to a cause differing from any with which he was acquainted.
+He exclaimed, hastily, and with a darkening visage,
+
+"If open mutiny and resistance be not excuse enough, have I not spoken
+an argument that should steel thy heart for ever? Shall I utter it
+again? I swear to thee then, that this miserable creature,
+Magdalena,--this wretch that even thou wouldst have made the slave of
+thy pleasures, and thereby added upon thy soul a sin never to be
+forgiven,--no, never!--is a true NUN,--forsworn, lost, condemned! Wilt
+thou refuse to punish the author of a horrible impiety? Would that I had
+strangled her, when an infant, though with mine own hand!--Thou talkest
+of a wolf in thy bosom; couldst thou feel one fang of the agony, that
+this act of horror has planted in mine, thou wouldst deem thyself happy.
+Let the wretch die: ask not for further cause; think not of any."
+
+"The cause is, indeed, enough," said Cortes, crossing himself with
+dread, "to ensure not death only, but a death at the stake of fire; and
+I am not one to think the punishment should be made easy. I could tell
+thee a story of the end of broken vows, and the vengeance of God upon
+the robber of convents; but it needs not.--Sleep in thy grave, poor
+wretch! and be forgotten." He muttered a few words to himself, and then
+banishing, with an effort, what seemed a mournful recollection, he
+resumed,--"Tell me but one thing, Camarga, and I am satisfied. The cause
+is enough, (though this is a crime to be judged by ecclesiastics,) to
+ensure the young man's fate; but it is _not_ enough to explain the
+rancour of thy hatred. Speak me the truth--Is this unhappy creature
+child of thine?"
+
+"Think so, if thou wilt," said Camarga, with a lip ashy and quivering,
+"but ask not, ask not now. Give the young man to the block, and commit
+the girl into my hands, with the means of leaving this land; then, if
+thou hast the courage to listen, thou shalt hear a story that will
+freeze thy blood.--Is he not guilty of this thing?"
+
+"Is he not guilty of more?" muttered the Captain-General. "It is enough;
+thou hast steeled my heart. I leave him in the hands of the Alcaldes and
+De Olid, who have no such faintness of heart as confounds mine. Fare
+thee well, seņor: I know thee better, and I like thee well. Turn not
+thine eye from Villafana."
+
+Thus, mingling the suggestions of a native policy with passions not the
+less constitutional, Cortes dismissed his disguised visitant. The
+curtain of the great door had scarce concealed the retreating Camarga,
+before he heard a footstep behind; and looking round, he beheld the
+figure of La Monjonaza steal in from the garden, and cross the
+apartment.
+
+"What sayst thou _now_, Magdalena?" he cried, striding up to her, and
+viewing with interest a countenance sternly composed, yet bearing the
+traces of recent and deep passions. "Thou shouldst have told me of
+this.--Yet what sayst thou now?"
+
+"Nothing," replied the maiden, calmly, but with tones deeper than
+usual,--"Nothing.--Do thy work."
+
+With these brief and mystic expressions, she passed among the secret
+chambers; and the Captain-General, stalking into the garden, until the
+chill breezes from the lake had cooled his feverish temples, betook
+himself, at last, to his couch, to subdue, in slumber, imaginary
+empires, and contend with visionary foes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The day after the Feast of the Holy Ghost, or Whitsunday, early in May,
+1521, opened upon the valley of Mexico with clouds and vapours, which,
+sweeping over the broad lake, collected and lingered, with boding fury,
+around the island city, discharging thunder and lightning, while the
+sunbeams shone clear and uninterrupted over Tezcuco, and the rich
+savannas which surrounded it. It was the morning of a novel and
+impressive ceremony. A rivulet, deepened by the labours of many thousand
+Indians, into a navigable canal, and bordered for the space of half a
+league on either side, by narrow meadows, separated the city from
+another scarce inferior in magnitude, but which yet seemed only a
+suburb. The whole space thus extending between the two cities, from the
+lake, as far as the eye could see, was blackened by the bodies of Indian
+warriors, armed and decorated as if for battle, while the housetops in
+the cities were equally thronged with multitudes of aged men and women
+and children. A narrow space was left vacant on each bank of the canal,
+from which the feathered barbarians, two hundred thousand in number,
+were separated by the Spanish army, drawn up in extended lines on either
+bank, the companies of footmen alternating with little squadrons of
+mounted cavaliers, from whose spears waved bright pennons.
+
+As they stood thus, in gallant array, a flourish of trumpets drew their
+eyes up the stream, and they could behold over the housetops, winding
+with the sinuosities of the canal, a line of masts and of sails half let
+loose to the breeze, advancing slowly towards the lake, drawn, as it
+presently appeared, by double rows of natives, gayly apparelled, who
+occupied the space on the banks left vacant by the military.
+
+As they approached nigh and more nigh, it was seen that each vessel bore
+no little resemblance to some of those light and open brigantines which
+have been, from time immemorial, the chosen delights of Mediterranean
+pirates, and the scourge of the sea from Barbary to the Greek Islands.
+Each carried twenty-five men, twelve of whom were rowers, the others
+musketeers, crossbowmen, cannoniers, (for a falconet frowned over the
+prow of each,) and sailors. Besides a multitude of little pennons with
+which they were covered, two great banners waved over each, the one
+bearing the royal arms of Spain, the other being the private standard
+which had been assigned, along with an appropriate name and a solemn
+benediction, by a priest, at the dock-yard, after the celebration of the
+mass of the Holy Ghost; for with such ceremonies of religion and pomp,
+the fatal galleys were committed, that morning, to their proper element.
+
+One by one they passed into the lake, and ranged in a line before the
+mouth of the little river, fourteen in number. At this point, the
+mummeries of celebration were concluded by another and final
+benediction, pronounced from the shore; which was succeeded by a
+combined uproar of artillery, trumpets, and human voices, more loud and
+tumultuous than any which had yet shaken the borders of Tezcuco.
+
+When the smoke of the cannon had cleared away, the brigantines were seen
+parting and flitting along in different courses, like a flock of
+wild-fowl, frightened and separated by the explosion. Their evolutions
+should be rather likened to the gambols of vultures, escaped from some
+dreary confinement, and now fluttering their wings in the joy of
+liberation, and the expectation of prey. Castilian navigators were at
+last launched upon the sea of Anahuac, and they seemed resolved at once
+to confirm their dominion, by ploughing through each rolling surge, and
+penetrating to every bay and creek. As they divided thus, some standing
+out into the lake, and others darting along the shores, the admiring and
+shouting spectators began to observe and point out to one another
+certain pillars of smoke, rising one after the other, from the hills and
+headlands; by which was conveyed from town to town the intelligence of
+an event long since expected by the watchful infidels.
+
+Another spectacle, however, soon withdrew the eyes of the lookers on
+from these signal fires. From the bank of vapours which still concealed
+the towers of Tenochtitlan, they beheld an Indian piragua, or gondola,
+of some magnitude, and no little splendour, come paddling into view,
+followed by three canoes of much lighter and plainer structure. An
+awning of brilliant cloths, running from stem to stern over the piragua,
+overshadowed and almost hid the rowers.
+
+It was no sooner perceived from the fleet, than three or four
+brigantines gave chase, as after an undoubted enemy and legal prize.
+Still, its voyagers advanced on their course, fearlessly, and to all
+appearance disregardful of the commands of the captains to heave-to,
+even although one call was accompanied by a musket shot, discharged
+across their bows. Its director undoubtedly confided in his pacific
+character, indicated, according to the customs of Anahuac, by a little
+net of gold, mingled with white feathers, tied to the head of a spear,
+and displayed high above the awning.
+
+"Well done for the dog, Techeechee!" muttered Cortes into the ear of an
+hidalgo, of stern appearance, mounted like himself and at his side;
+"Well done for Techeechee, the Silent Dog! he is worth twenty such
+hounds as Olin-pilli. He has brought me an embassy. By my conscience, it
+comes over late though, and I know not what good can spring of it, at
+this hour.--These fools of the brigantines are over-officious!--'Tis a
+confident knave; see, he steers for the palace garden! I must ride
+thither.--Hark thee, De Olid," he continued, still addressing the grim
+cavalier, but aloud, as if willing that all should hear: "let this thing
+be despatched: Thou wilt make, at the worst, a just judge. In this
+trial, it becomes neither my feelings, nor perhaps my honour, that I
+should myself sit in judgment. The chief Alcaldes will give thee their
+aid. Judge not in anger, but with justice; bring it not against the
+young man that he turned his sword upon me--And yet I see not how thou
+canst avoid it: nevertheless, if thou canst do so, let it be done. There
+is enough else to condemn him. His life is in thine hands: be just; and
+yet be not too rigid. If thou canst, by any justifiable leniency, admit
+him to mercy, do so. Yes, be merciful, if thou canst,--be merciful."
+
+With these instructions, which were pronounced not without discomposure,
+Cortes put spurs to his steed, and rode into the city and to the palace,
+followed by some half dozen cavaliers.
+
+He had scarcely assumed the state with which he thought fit to overawe
+the envoys of the different barbaric tribes, whom the fame of his power
+and greatness was daily bringing to his court, before an officer entered
+the audience-chamber from the garden, and acquainted him that
+ambassadors from Tenochtitlan humbly craved to be admitted to his
+presence.
+
+"Let them be taken round to the front, that the dogs may look upon the
+artillery," said the Captain-General; and perhaps added in his thoughts,
+"that they may creep up to my footstool, taking in my greatness from
+afar, until their humility dwindles into submissiveness."
+
+Presently the curtain of the great door was pushed aside, and the
+Mexicans entered, preceded and followed by armed men; the old Ottomi
+being in advance of all. They were twelve in number, the chief or
+principal being a man of lofty stature and manly years, wholly differing
+from the orator Olin, for whom Cortes looked in vain among the others.
+To indicate the high rank of the ambassador, two attendants sustained
+over his head, on little rods, a gay canopy or penthouse of feathers.
+His green mantle (for that was the colour worn by an ambassador,) was of
+the richest material, the border being wrought into scroll-work with
+little studs of solid gold. His buskins, for such they might be called,
+were of crimson leather, and a crimson fillet was wound round his hair,
+which was, otherwise, almost covered with little tufts or tassels of
+cotton-down of the same hue. Each of these singular decorations was the
+evidence and distinguishing badge of some valiant exploit in battle; and
+it was therefore manifest to all in the slightest degree acquainted with
+the customs of Anahuac, even at the first sight, that the barbarian was
+a man of renown among the Mexicans. A cluster of rattling grains of
+gold, suspended to his nostrils, indicated that he belonged to the order
+of Teuctli,--a race of nobles inferior only to the _Tlamantli_, or
+vassal-kings; and the red fillets showed that he was a Prince of the
+House of Darts, the highest of the several chivalric branches into which
+this order was divided, the two next appertaining to the House of Eagles
+and the House of Tigers.--In introducing these barbaric terms, we have
+no desire to inflict upon the reader a dissertation on Aztec chivalry,
+but simply to make him aware, that these singular infidels were, in
+their way, nearly as well provided with the vanities of knighthood and
+nobility as some of the European nations in the Middle Ages.
+
+The general appearance of the ambassador was commanding; his features
+were bold and harsh, yet manly,--his forehead expanded, though inclined,
+and furrowed as with the frowns of battle,--and his eye had a touch of
+wildness and ferocity, at variance with his modest bearing while
+advancing towards the Captain-General, and still more strongly
+contrasted with that melancholy sweetness of mouth, which seems to be a
+characteristic of all the children of America.--Perhaps it is _fitly_
+characteristic, since the proclivity of their fate is equally mournful,
+throughout all the continent. He bore in his hand the gold net and white
+plume, hanging to a headless spear, which had been displayed and
+distinguished afar in the piragua,--as well as a golden arrow,--both
+being the emblems of a Mexican envoy. He was entirely without arms, as
+were all the rest.
+
+Behind the canopy-bearers came three old men, with tablets of dressed
+skin, or maguey paper, in their hands, known, at once, to be
+writers,--secretaries or annalists,--who accompanied ambassadors, and
+other high officers, in expeditions of importance, to record their
+actions and preserve the proofs of treaties.
+
+After these followed six _Tlamémé_, or common carriers, bearing
+presents, which, with Mexicans of that day, as with Orientals of this,
+made no small share of the matériel of diplomacy.
+
+As this train was led forward up to the chair of state, Cortes fixed his
+eye with a smile of approbation on the Ottomi, but did not think fit to
+honour him with any further evidence of thankfulness. He had other
+matters to fill his thoughts; for, at the first glance, he recognized in
+the ambassador a noble, famous even in the days of Montezuma, for skill,
+audacity, and unconquerable aversion to the strangers, and who, under
+the ominous title of Masquaza-teuctli,[12] or the Lord of Death, was
+known to have commanded bodies of reinforcement, sent to several
+different shore-towns, to oppose the arms of Cortes in the late
+campaign. In especial, he was known to have devised the plan of cutting
+the dikes of Iztapalapan, after decoying the Spaniards into that city,
+where they escaped drowning almost by a miracle; it was equally certain
+that he had commanded the multitudes of warriors, who, scarce ten days
+since, had repulsed the Spaniards from Tacuba with considerable loss;
+and he was even supposed to have been present in the sack of Xochimilco,
+where Cortes had been in such imminent peril. The appearance of this man
+was doubly disagreeable, as being heartily detested himself, and as
+showing the temper of Guatimozin's mind, who chose to send an envoy so
+little inclined to composition. A murmur of dissatisfaction arose among
+the Spaniards present, as soon as they were made aware of the
+ambassador's character; and if looks could have destroyed, it is certain
+the Lord of Death would have passed to the world of shades, before
+speaking a word of his embassy.
+
+[Footnote 12: The name is corrupted, as are all those handed down by the
+early historians. The suffixes, _pilli_ and _teuctli_, indicate the
+title, and are therefore not a part of the name. We translate both
+_lord_; though it would be more germain to the matter, however ludicrous
+it might seem, to say at once Duke Death and Earl Olin.]
+
+Without, however, seeming to regard these boding glances any more than
+he had done the hostile opposition of the brigantines, he began without
+delay the usual native forms of salutation. But before he could pass to
+those rhetorical and reverential flourishes of compliment, which
+constituted the exordium of an ambassador's speech, he was interrupted
+by Cortes, whose words were interpreted by the same cavalier who had
+officiated before, in the interview with Olin.
+
+"Masquaza-teuctli, Lord of Death!" said the Captain-General, sternly,
+"what dost thou here in Tezcuco?"
+
+The infidel looked up with surprise, and having eyed the Spaniard a
+moment, replied with another question, which was only remarkable as
+indicating the composure of the speaker, and as giving utterance to
+tones exceedingly soft and pleasant:
+
+"Was Olin deceived, and did Techeechee lie?" he said. "I bring the words
+of Guatimozin to Malintzin, son of Quetzalcoatl, and Lord of the Big
+Canoes with legs of crocodiles and wings of pelicans."
+
+"Art thou not stained with the blood of Castilians?" rejoined Cortes,
+but little pleased with the frank and unawed bearing of the envoy. "This
+thing is ill of Guatimozin: why does he send me an enemy from
+Tenochtitlan?"
+
+The Lord of Death replied with what seemed a lurking smile, if such
+could be traced in a peculiar and slight motion of lips, always sedate,
+if not always melancholy;
+
+"Has the Teuctli a _friend_ in Tenochtitlan?--Let Malintzin speak his
+name: I will return.--My little children are yet awkward with the bow
+and arrow."
+
+"Hark to the hound!" exclaimed the Captain-General, struck more by the
+hint conveyed by the last words than by the sarcasm so gently expressed
+in the first: "He would have me believe the very boys of Mexico are
+training to resist us! and that he thinks it better honour to encourage
+the young cubs to malice, than to speak to me for terms of
+peace.--Hearken, infidel: you spoke of the young man Olin. Why returned
+not he to Tezcuco?"
+
+"Malintzin was in a hurry for the blood of Iztapalapan: the king saw the
+glitter of spears on the lakeside, and said to his servant, 'Go not to
+Tezcuco with gold and sweet words, but to Iztapalapan with axes and
+spears.'--"
+
+"Ay, marry; but Olin, what of Olin-pilli?--I warrant me, the knavish
+king discovered the craft of the knavish noble, and so killed him?--I
+was a fool to give him the beads.--What sayst thou, infidel! what has
+become of the Speaker of Wise Things? I sent him to Guatimozin for an
+envoy; and, lo you, this old savage, the Silent Dog, has brought me what
+Olin could not, or did not. Is Olin living?"
+
+"How shall I answer? Ipalnemoani[13] is the maker of life; it is the
+king who takes it. Olin-pilli is forgotten."
+
+[Footnote 13: One of the titles of the Supreme God, (_Teotl_,) who was
+not worshipped directly, but through the medium of his agents, the
+inferior divinities.]
+
+"Ay then, let him sleep; and to thy work, infidel, to thy work. Will
+Guatimozin have peace? He is somewhat late of decision; but the great
+monarch of Spain, who sends me to speak with him, and to enforce the
+vassalage acknowledged by Montezuma, is merciful. Speak, then, and
+quickly. My ships are on the lake, my soldiers are thicker than the
+reeds on its banks, and fiercer than its waters, when the torrents rush
+down from the mountains. Will he have the blood of his people flow
+through the streets, as the waters of an inundation, when the dikes are
+broken? Speak then, Lord of Death; will Guatimozin acknowledge himself
+the king's vassal, pay tribute, and govern his empire in peace?"
+
+"Hear the words of Guatimozin," said the ambassador, beckoning to the
+Tlamémé to open their packs: "The king sends you the history of his
+land,"--taking up, from among many books, which made the contents of the
+first bundle, a volume of hieroglyphics, and displaying its pictured
+pages: "He has searched for the time when the king of Castile was the
+lord of his people; but it is not written. How then shall he kiss the
+earth before the Teuctli? He has sought to find to what race, besides
+the race of heaven, the men of Mexico have paid tribute: It is not
+written,--except this,--that once, when his fathers were poor and few,
+the men of Cojohuacan called on them for tribute, and they paid it in
+the skulls of their foes. The men of Castile call for tribute:
+Guatimozin sends them such tribute as his fathers paid; here it
+is--twelve skulls of the dogs of Chalco, taken in the act of rebellion."
+And as he spoke, the grinning orbs rolled under his foot against the
+platform.
+
+"Hah!" cried Cortes, starting up, with as much admiration as wrath, for
+he was keenly alive to every burst of audacious and heroic daring, "is
+not this a merlin of a royal stock, that will try buffets with an eagle?
+But, pho! the young man is besotted."
+
+"Hear, further, the words of Guatimozin," continued the envoy, taking
+from the third bundle two more books, and displaying them, as he had
+done the first: "the king remembers that the wild Ottomies came down
+from their hills, saying that they were foolish and pitiful, because
+Ipalnemoani had kept them in darkness, so that they robbed one another,
+and were blasphemers against heaven. The king gave them religion and
+laws; and, behold, those that live upon the skirts of the valley, are
+become wise and happy. The king says, 'Have not the Spaniards come like
+the Ottomies? and are they not very ignorant and miserable?' These are
+the king's words to Malintzin: 'Take this book, and learn how to worship
+the gods: religion is a good thing, and will make you happy. Take this
+book also, and understand the laws of men: justice is a good thing, and
+will make you happy."
+
+It would be difficult to express the varied feelings of wonder, anger,
+scorn, and merriment, with which the Spaniards hearkened to this
+extraordinary exhortation. Some stared, some frowned, some smiled, and a
+few laughed outright; but all immediately betook themselves to looks of
+sympathetic anger, when Cortes, again rising, stamped upon the platform,
+crying with a fierceness that was in part unassumed,
+
+"Knave of a heathen and savage, dost thou pass this scorn upon the
+religion of Christ? this slight upon the laws of Castile? this slur upon
+religious and civilized men? Look upon this cross, and say to
+Guatimozin, that not a Spaniard shall leave his valley, till every slave
+that acknowledges his sway, has knelt before it, and, abjuring the
+fiendish idolatry of Mexitli, has sworn with a kiss, to worship naught
+else. Look, too, upon this sword, and say to thine insolent prince, that
+it shall not cease to strike and slay, until his whole people have
+acknowledged it to be the abrogator of the old, and the teacher of a new
+law, such as his brutish sages never dreamed of. In one word, give him
+to know, that my purpose in his land, is to bestow upon it the cross of
+heaven and the laws of Spain; and these I will bestow,--both,--so help
+me the sword which I grasp, and the cross that I worship!"
+
+A murmur of satisfaction and responsive resolution passed through the
+assemblage, which had been considerably increased by the appearance of
+such officers, returning from the lakeside, as were privileged to enter
+the presence on such an occasion. But the stern voice of the
+Captain-General produced no effect on the Mexicans, except, indeed, that
+one of the three writers who had been all the time busily engaged, as
+they squatted upon the floor, recording the speeches, in their
+inexplicable manner, raised his eyes, when the Christian's voice was at
+the highest, and eyed him askant for a minute or two. The Lord of Death
+kept his glance firmly fixed on the aspect of the general, while
+listening to the interpretation of his angry vows. Then, when Cortes had
+concluded, he turned to the fourth pack, and resumed his discourse, as
+if it were no part of his duty to reply to anything not immediately
+touching his instructions.
+
+"Hear, further, the words of Guatimozin," he said, pointing to an ear of
+maize, a bundle of cacao-berries, a cluster of bananas, and divers other
+fruits, as well as nuts and esculent roots, which appeared in the pack:
+"Thus says the king of Mexico:--Is Castile a naked rock, where the food
+of man grows not? Malintzin said to Montezuma, 'The land is like other
+lands, with earth over the flint-stone, and with rivers to make it
+fertile; soil comes down from the mountains, and heaven sends frequent
+rains.' Look at Mexico: the sun parches it, till it becomes like sand,
+half the year; the other half, the sky turns to water, and drowns the
+gardens and corn-fields. But is man a dog, that he should howl when he
+is hungry, and run abroad for food? God gave these good things to the
+king; the king gives them to the Spaniard. Let him throw them upon the
+earth, and sit hard by in patience, while the rain drops upon them; and,
+by and by, he will have food for himself and his children: he will not
+be hungry, and run forth, like a dog, to strange lands, seeking for
+food.--Hear, further, the words of the king," continued the grave
+barbarian, observing the impatience of Cortes, and turning his anger
+into admiration, by suddenly displaying the contents of the fifth pack,
+which consisted of divers ornaments and jewels of gold, with a huge
+plate of extraordinary value, representing the sun: "Is there no yellow
+dirt in Castile, to make playthings for the women and children? Thus
+says the king: 'Let Malintzin take these things to his women and
+children; and, lest they should, by and by, cry for more, let him send a
+ship to Guatimozin, at the end of the _Tlalpilli_,[14] and more shall be
+given him. Thus it shall be while Guatimozin lives; and thus it shall be
+hereafter, if the king wills,--for what is Guatimozin, that he should
+make a law for his successors?"
+
+[Footnote 14: _Tlalpilli_--the quarter-cycle, or epoch of 13 years.]
+
+The admiration with which the Captain-General surveyed the gorgeous
+present, greatly moderated his disgust at the mode of making it. He
+stepped down from the platform, and taking the massive disk into his
+hands, gloated over its almost insupportable weight and dazzling
+splendour, with the relish of one who seemed never to have felt any
+passion less sordid than that of avarice. While thus engaged, ruddy at
+once with delight and with the effort of sustaining such a precious
+burthen, a paper was put into his hand, or rather held out for him to
+receive, while a voice murmured in his ear,
+
+"The award of the judges, sent to your excellency for confirmation."
+
+The golden luminary fell, with a heavy clang, upon the floor, the flush
+fled from his cheeks, and the look with which he turned to the untimely
+and ill-omened messenger, Villafana, was even more ghastly with affright
+than that which distinguished the aspect of the Alguazil.
+
+"If your excellency thinks of mercy," continued the Alguazil, in the
+same low and hurried voice,--"it is not yet too late. They have him on
+the square, and are confessing him.--He has but a dog's life, and a
+gnat's death, who puts them in the hands of De Olid."--
+
+Cortes cast his eye upon the paper, and beheld, besides the date, a
+preamble of two lines, and the signatures of the judges, the following
+brief and pithy sentences:
+
+     "Concealing a spy and fugitive from justice--Guilty.
+
+     "Drawing sword upon a Christian--Guilty.
+
+     "Resisting with arms an officer in the execution of his
+     duty--Guilty.
+
+     "Sentence--To be beheaded, his right hand struck off and nailed
+     to the prison-door.--To take effect in half an hour.
+
+     "In the name of God and the king.
+
+     "DE OLID,
+
+     "MARIN,
+
+     "DE IRCIO."
+
+"Butchers!" cried Cortes, with accents of unspeakable horror. "What ho,
+a pen! a pen, knave! a pen!"
+
+The agitation and violence of his voice surprised even the stoical
+Mexicans; and the writers looking up, he became suddenly aware that the
+implements with which they practised their rude art, would answer all
+his purpose. Darting forward, he snatched from the hand of the nearest,
+one of the many reeds which he held. The barbarian, although apparently
+the oldest and most infirm of the three, mistaking the purpose of the
+assault, started to his feet with a vivacity of effort, which, at any
+other moment, would have drawn a sharp look of suspicion from the
+Captain-General. But his thoughts were too much excited to be diverted
+by any such seeming inconsistency.
+
+It happened, by a natural accident, (for each reed was appropriated to
+its peculiar colour,) that that which Cortes had seized contained a dark
+crimson ink. Still, natural as the circumstance was, it had no sooner
+touched the paper than he shuddered, and muttering 'Blood! blood!'
+seemed as if he would have cast it away. But recovering himself in an
+instant, with a faint and forced laugh, he subscribed the few words,
+
+     "Confirmed.--Respite for twenty-four hours.
+
+     "CORTES."
+
+and putting the paper into Villafana's hands, he dismissed him with the
+hurried charge,
+
+"Away--see to it."
+
+He then flung the reed back to the writer who had already resumed his
+squatting attitude, and reascended the platform.
+
+On those who surmised the cause of this sudden interruption, the
+agitation of Don Hernan had the good effect of banishing from their
+minds any lingering suspicions of his entertaining personal ill-will
+towards the unfortunate Lerma. All went to show that he was shocked at
+the young man's fate, and the necessity of ministering to it, even in
+the simple act of confirming a judgment, awarded by others; but,
+unhappily, the same feeling that exonerated the judge, still further
+increased the odium attached to the criminal. How great, they thought,
+must be the guilt of him whom it causes Cortes so much suffering to
+condemn.--But the Captain-General, recovering himself, gave them little
+time for such speculations.
+
+"Well, infidel, thou speakest well," he cried, his voice becoming firmer
+with each syllable; "What hidest thou in the sixth bundle?--or rather,
+what if I should accept thy master's niggardly offer, and depart with
+these baubles for women and children, as thou hast rightly called them?"
+
+"Hear the words of Guatimozin," replied the ambassador, with a careless
+emphasis, as if properly understanding the futility of the proposal,
+and, indeed, with a look of scorn, as if learning to despise one capable
+of Don Hernan's late weakness: "If Malintzin depart with the fifth pack,
+cast the sixth into the lake, and tell him, that, in its place, he shall
+have sent after him to the seaside, a thousand sacks of robes and four
+thousand sacks of corn, to clothe and feed his people as they sail over
+the endless sea. Say to him besides--"
+
+"Pho," interrupted Cortes, "have done with this mummery, and get thee to
+the sixth sack, which I am impatient to examine. What hast thou there?"
+
+"The riches which are more precious to Mexico than the trinkets of her
+children," replied the stately barbarian; and, as he spoke, he rolled
+upon the floor, arrowheads and spearpoints of bright copper, sharp
+blades of itzli and heavy maces of flint, which made up the contents of
+the last bundle: "Hear the words of Guatimozin," he continued, with a
+dignity of bearing that might have become a Spartan envoy in the camp of
+the Persian; "thus says the king: 'What is the Lord of Castile, that
+Guatimozin should call him master? what is Malintzin, that Guatimozin
+should make him his friend? The Teuctli burns my cities, murders my
+children, and spits in the face of my gods. His religion is murder, his
+law robbery: he is strong, yet very unjust; he is wise, yet he makes men
+mad. Guatimozin has called together the chiefs and the planters of corn,
+the wise men and the foolish, the strong and the feeble, the old men,
+the women and the children. He has spoken to them, and they have
+replied: 'Is not the sword better than the whip? is not the arrow softer
+than the brand? is not the fagot of fire pleasanter than the chain of
+captivity? is not death sweeter than slavery?' Thus says the old
+man,--'I am old; wherefore, then, should I be a slave for a day?' Thus
+says the little infant,--'I am a little child; why should I be a slave
+for many years?' This, then, is the word of the whole people; it is
+Guatimozin who speaks it: 'If the gods desert me, what have I to yield
+but life? if they help me, as they have helped my fathers, what have I
+to do, but to drive away my foe? Let Malintzin look at my weapons, and
+put two plates of the black-copper of Castile on his bosom, for I am
+very strong in my sorrow, and I will strike very hard. Let Malintzin
+fear: the rebels of Tezcuco and Cholula, the traitors of Chalco and
+Otumba, are but straws to help him: can they look in the face of a
+Mexican? Let Malintzin fear: is he stronger than when he fled from
+Tenochtitlan, in the month of Mourning?[15] has not Mexico more fighting
+men than when the horn of the gods sounded at midnight, and the Teuctli
+sat on the stone and wept?--on the stone of Tacuba, by the water-side,
+when the morning came, and his people slept in the ditches? If Malintzin
+will fight, so will Guatimozin.' These are the words of the king; these
+are the words of the people: they are said. The gods behold us."
+
+[Footnote 15: Embracing a portion respectively of June and July, and
+devoted to austere and penitential preparation for a coming festival.]
+
+So spake the bold savage; and as if to show that even the basest and
+feeblest shared his courage, and sanctioned his defiance, the very
+Tlamémé looked around them with a show of spirit, and the three old men
+expressed their satisfaction with audible murmurs.
+
+The Spaniards were surprised at the fearless tones of the Lord of Death,
+and not a few were impressed with alarm as well as anger, when he
+referred so unceremoniously to the events of the fatal Noche Triste. As
+for Cortes himself, though the frown with which he listened to the whole
+oration, had become darker and darker as the warrior-noble proceeded,
+yet, apparently, he had become sensible, both from the tenor of the
+discourse and the resolute bearing of the speaker, that it should be
+answered with gravity rather than anger. Hence, when he came to reply,
+it was in terms briefly impressive and solemn:
+
+"My young brother Guatimozin is unwise, and he is digging the grave of
+his whole people. He has evil counsellors about him. I have somewhat to
+say to him; and, to-morrow, you shall be sent back with an answer, which
+will perhaps dispel his foolish dream of resistance."--He observed that
+the Lord of Death looked displeased and even alarmed, when the
+interpreter made him sensible that he was to be detained until the
+morrow. "Be not alarmed," he continued, sternly: "when didst thou ever
+hear of a Christian aping the treachery of thy native princes, and doing
+wrong to an ambassador? I tell thee, fellow, infidel though thou be, I
+will do thee honour, in respect of thy young master. To-morrow thou
+shalt eat at my board, for it is a day of banqueting; and to-morrow,
+also, shalt thou be made acquainted with my answer to the king's
+message, which it is not possible I should speak to-day. Rest you then
+content.--Hark thee, Villafana," (for the Alguazil had returned,) "have
+thou charge of this bitter-tongued knave and his dumb companions.
+Entreat them well, but see that they neither escape nor communicate with
+anyone in this army, Christian or misbeliever. And look well to thy
+prison too.--This knave, Techeechee,--bring him to me when thou changest
+guards at the prison."
+
+Then, breaking up the audience, he remained for a time in conference
+with a few of the chief officers, debating subjects of great importance,
+but which would be of no interest to the readers of this history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+Some two hours after nightfall, as the unhappy Lerma lay in darkness and
+solitude, (for Befo was no longer permitted to be his companion,) the
+door of the prison opened, and the Alguazil, Villafana, entered, bearing
+a lantern, which emitted just sufficient light to allow his features to
+be distinguished, together with what seemed a flask of wine--a luxury
+now to be occasionally obtained, since vessels arrived not unfrequently
+from the islands.
+
+"How now, what cheer, seņor?" he exclaimed, setting down the flask upon
+the table, and turning the light full upon Juan's face; "are you saying
+your prayers? Here's that shall give you better comfort,--something from
+the vineyards of Xeres de la Frontera,--stout Sherry, that shall make
+your heart bounce, were it broken twice over.--Come, faith, it will make
+you merry."
+
+"I shall never be merry more," said Juan; "and why should I? It is
+better I should not. I thank you for your good-will, Villafana; but I
+would that, instead of this wine, if it be not contrary to your duty,
+you would fetch me the good father Olmedo, to finish the confession,
+begun upon the block, and so abruptly interrupted, this morning."
+
+"Pho, be not in such a hurry: you have time enough. The priest is busy,
+and knowing he must shrive you to-morrow, he will be ill inclined to
+trouble himself superfluously to-night. Come, sit up, drink, laugh, and
+curse thy foes. Come, now,--a merry God's blessing! may you live a
+thousand years!--Dzoog! bah! dzoog!--Now could I fight seven tigers!"
+
+"It is better thou shouldst drink it than I," said Juan, observing the
+strong and somewhat fantastic gestures with which the Alguazil expressed
+his approbation, after having taken a hearty draught of the liquor; "yet
+bethink thee, Villafana,--"
+
+"'Slid!" interrupted the jailer, "bethink thyself! and bethink thee that
+this will make thee a good fellow of a warhorse mettle, whereas, now,
+thou art but a sick lambkin. What makes a beggar a king, hah? a tailor's
+'prentice a Cid Ruy Diaz of Castile,--a doughty Campeador? Pho, there is
+more of this, and to-morrow it will flow: Dost thou not know, Don
+Demonios, our king, has invited us to a banquet to-morrow? Thou shalt
+hear this banquet spoken of for a thousand years. Ah, the good ship! the
+good ship! there is a better thing she brings us than wine.--But that is
+neither here nor there. Why dost thou not drink?"
+
+"Am I not condemned to death for the infraction of a decree?" said Juan,
+somewhat sternly, for he thought he perceived in Villafana's levity a
+symptom of undue excitement; "and dost thou not remember that there is a
+decree also against drunkenness? Thou hast suffered somewhat from this
+already."
+
+"Dost thou suppose there is a hell?" said Villafana, with some such look
+as that which had appalled Juan, when he walked with him over the
+meadows beyond the city: "For, if thou dost, know then, that I make my
+promise to the infernal fiend, to broil with him seven times seven
+thousand years, if I do not, with a stab for every lash, make up my
+reckoning with the man who degraded me! _Ojala_ and Amen!--So now,
+there's enough to keep thee quiet.--Hast thou any gall any where but in
+thy liver?"
+
+"Thou art besotted, or insane, I think," said Juan, angrily. "I am a
+dying man: begone, and suffer me to make my peace with heaven."
+
+"Come, you think I am drunk," said Villafana, somewhat more rationally:
+"I grant you; but it is with a stuff stronger than strong drink;--ay,
+faith, for, to-morrow, I see my way to heaven!--Answer me, truly: have
+you no thirst for vengeance on those who have brought you to this
+pass?--You see I am sober, hah? One would not die like a sheep.--You may
+play the wolf yet. What if you had an opportunity--"
+
+"Tempt me not, knave," said Juan, turning away his face--"Avoid thee,
+Satan!"
+
+"What if I should knock open thy doors, and put a sword into thy hand?"
+said Villafana, bending over, so as to whisper into his ear; "what
+wouldst thou do with it?"
+
+"Break it," replied the prisoner, wrapping his mantle about his head, as
+if to shut out all further temptation.
+
+"Thou art a fool," said the Alguazil, with a growl, and left the
+apartment.
+
+Juan heard his retreating steps, followed by the clanking of the chain,
+which, with a strong padlock, on the outside, secured the door of the
+prison; yet he neither raised his head, nor removed the mantle from his
+face, but endeavoured to drive from his heart the thoughts of passion,
+excited by the words of the tempter. From this gloomy task he was roused
+by a soft voice, murmuring, as it seemed to him from the air, for he was
+not aware of the presence of any human being in the apartment,--
+
+"Does the Great Eagle fear the face of his friend?"
+
+He started to his feet, and beheld in the light of the lantern, which
+Villafana had left on the table, the figure of an ancient Indian,
+standing hard by.
+
+"Techeechee!" he exclaimed--"But no; thy speech is pure, thy tongue is
+another's. Who art thou, gray-head of Mexico?"
+
+"To-day, Cojotl, the cunning fox of scribes,--yesterday, Olin, the
+tongue of nobles,--but before, and hereafter, Guatimozin, the friend of
+the Great Eagle," replied the Indian, and as he spoke, he exchanged the
+decrepit stoop of age for the lofty demeanour of youth, and parted the
+gray locks which had hitherto almost concealed his countenance.
+
+"Rash prince," said Juan, "will you yet wear the chains of Montezuma?
+Why dost thou again entrust thyself among Spaniards?"
+
+"How came the Great Eagle into the place of Guatimozin?" demanded the
+young Mexican, expressively: "Shall he die for Guatimozin, and
+Guatimozin stand afar off?"
+
+"Alas, prince," said Juan, "thy friendship is noble, but can do me no
+good. Leave this place, where thou art in great danger, and think of me
+no more. I am beyond the reach of help. Think of thyself,--of thy
+people, (for, surely, it is thy duty to protect them,) and depart while
+thou canst."
+
+"And what am I, that I should do this thing?" said Guatimozin. "Listen
+to me, son of the day-spring: the children of Spain are wolves and
+reptiles; the iztli is sharp for them, and it must not spare. But thou,
+the young Eagle, shalt remain the friend of Guatimozin. Has not
+Malintzin eaten of thy blood? is he not like the big tiger that takes by
+the throat? and who shall draw him away? Canst thou remain, and smile on
+another sunset? I bring thee liberty."
+
+"How!" said Juan; "is Villafana this traitor, that he will permit me to
+escape?"
+
+"He is a rat with two faces," said the prince, significantly; "he fears
+the wrath of Malintzin; he loves gold, but he says thou shalt not go
+till to-morrow, and to-morrow thou wilt be in Mictlan, the world of
+caves. But Guatimozin can do what the traitor Christian will not. The
+Eagle is very brave: he shall kill his foe."
+
+As Guatimozin spoke, he drew from his cloak a Spanish dagger, long,
+sharp and exceedingly bright,--a relic of the spoils won from the
+invaders in the Night of Sorrow,--and offered it to the prisoner,
+adding,
+
+"When I depart, a soldier will fasten the door. If thou art
+strong-hearted, thou canst rush by, dealing him a blow. At the water's
+edge, by the broken wall, thou wilt find a friend with a canoe; it is
+Techeechee. Is not Tenochtitlan hard by? Guatimozin, the king of Mexico,
+will make his friend welcome."
+
+"Prince," said Juan, sadly, "this thing cannot be. Why should I strike
+down the poor sentinel? He has done me no wrong. What would become of
+thee? Thou couldst not escape. What would become of Villafana, who,
+knave though he be, has yet done much to serve me? And what, to
+conclude, would become of _me_, escaping from Christians, to take refuge
+among thy unbelieving people? I can die, prince, but I can be neither
+renegade nor apostate."
+
+"Is there nothing in Tenochtitlan, that dwells in the thoughts of the
+captive? I will be very good to thee; and thou shalt drink the blood of
+thy foe."
+
+"Prince," said Juan, firmly, "thine eye cannot search the soul of a
+Christian. Malintzin has done me a great wrong, yet would I not harm a
+hair of his head; no, heaven is my witness! I can forgive him even my
+death, however unjust and cruel."
+
+"It is a dove of Cholula that speaks in the voice of my friend," said
+the infidel, struck with as much disdain as surprise at the want of
+spirit, which his barbarous code of honour discovered in a lack of
+vindictiveness: "Is a man a worm that he should be trampled on?"
+
+"No," said Juan, bitterly,--for he could not resist his feelings of
+indignation, when he suffered himself to consider his degradation in
+this light. "Had I resisted him in his first anger, had I resented his
+first injustice, had I provoked him by any complaint, then might I think
+of his course with submission. But I have not; I have been, indeed, as
+thou sayest, a worm, at all times helpless, at all times unresisting.
+Others have complained, some have defied him, but they passed
+unpunished. I, who have yielded, like a woman, escape not: I creep from
+the path of his anger, but his foot follows me,--turn which way I will,
+it crushes me. Even Befo will show his teeth sometimes--I have seen him
+growl when Cortes struck him--and by mine honour, I think he struck him,
+because he was once mine!"
+
+How far, by indulging such thoughts, he might have wrought himself into
+the very spirit which Guatimozin was surprised to find absent, we will
+not venture to say. He was interrupted by the sudden re-entrance of
+Villafana, who immediately exclaimed,
+
+"Will you have my brother Najara diving in upon you? Pho, you talk too
+loud: 'tis well you were gabbling in Mexican. Hark ye, Olin, you knave,
+get you gone! to your den, sirrah!--Pray, seņor Juan, tell this rascal,
+in his own gibberish, that he cannot remain a moment longer from his
+lock-up, without being discovered.--Come, fellow, come: you shall have
+more talk to-morrow."
+
+So saying, the Alguazil conducted the Mexican away. A few moments after,
+he returned alone. Juan, still disordered and brooding over his wrongs,
+paced to and fro over the narrow limits of his cell. His agitation
+Increased with each step, and, at last, finding that Villafana did not
+speak, he exclaimed,
+
+"Come, Villafana,--I know what thou wilt say,--am I not used dog-like?
+He disdained even to sit upon the trial, to ask me what I had to urge in
+excuse of my folly; but left this to judges, who were content to ask
+'Didst thou this?' and 'Didst thou that?' without permitting me a word
+of defence. Surely, I had much provocation in the matter of Guzman; and
+as for the decree, it should have been remembered, that I was come into
+the camp too short a time to have made it as fast in my mind as others,
+who had heard it daily proclaimed for months. I must die for this!--die
+like a hunted assassin!--my hand stuck against the prison-door, my body
+given, perhaps, to fatten the lean hogs that will fatten my judges! Oh,
+by heaven, this is intolerable to think on!"
+
+"Thou wilt believe, now, that thou wert sent to the South Sea for no
+good?"
+
+"Ay, I will believe anything," said Juan, in increasing excitement. "And
+_this_ too! scarce an hour returned from my sufferings, endured for
+him,--endured to regain his good-will! Ay, and before I had done
+speaking, he would have sent me to Mexico, to be sacrificed
+there!--before I had eaten and drunk! before I had rested my wearied
+body, before I had recruited my exhausted strength!--Tell me, Villafana!
+was it not by his design I was entrapped into giving shelter to--But,
+no! that could not be; in that, at least, he must be innocent. But, in
+the rest, it is oppression, grinding, intolerable oppression!"
+
+"Well, I marvel he did not let thee off with a scourging," said
+Villafana, swallowing another draught from the neglected flask. "Come,
+drink, and we will discourse together."
+
+"A scourging!" said Juan, seizing the Alguazil's arm with a grasp which
+showed that imprisonment and sorrow had not altogether robbed him of
+strength; "dare you talk to me of scourging?"
+
+"Ay, marry," said Villafana, whose object seemed to be to excite the
+slumbering fury of the young man, and who now, in the effect of a word
+used for another purpose, discovered a point on which his equanimity was
+not impregnable; "ay, faith; for the whole army cries out upon his
+barbarity, saying that he is murdering you; so that he already talks of
+letting you off with a scourging.--He was as good with me."
+
+"By the saints of heaven!" cried Juan, snatching up the dagger which
+Guatimozin had left, and striking it into the table with a fury which
+split the plank in twain, "were it his own, I would drive this steel
+into the breast of the man that designed me such dishonour. Scourge me!
+Thanks be to heaven, that sends this weapon!"
+
+"Oho, seņor!" said Villafana, with counterfeited indignation, "you will
+resist, will you! Hah! and you have a dagger, too! Come, seņor, give it
+up."
+
+"Fool," said the prisoner, "thy bitter words have unchained me at last,
+and driven me to desperation. I will not yield this weapon but with my
+life. Wo betide him that comes to me with a scourge, were it Don Hernan
+himself!"
+
+"You will resist him then?--Why now you are a man again! Sit down; fear
+not: you shall have a better weapon. Come, let us drink a little: 'tis a
+raw night, and rainy. Here's success to our vengeance--a quart of blood
+apiece! Methinks, you are more wronged than myself--Therefore, you shall
+strike the first blow. I give you this privilege, out of friendship. The
+second is mine."
+
+While Villafana held forth in these extraordinary terms, Juan, shocked
+into composure, became aware that the wine, which the Alguazil plied
+with characteristic infatuation, had already made serious inroads upon
+his brain. He ogled and smiled, with a stupid contortion of countenance,
+which was meant to be significant; his articulation was impeded, and his
+expressions coarser than usual; and without being positively drunk, he
+was reduced to that condition in which the natural propensities get the
+better of all artificial qualities. Hence, he became fierce and
+bloody-minded, without displaying any of the subtle cautiousness and
+cunning inquisitiveness, that were common to him in his sober hours. It
+was for this reason that he proceeded to unfold the secrets of his
+breast, without being in any degree abashed by the looks of horror, with
+which Juan heard him.
+
+"Know then, brother Juan," said he, "that thou shalt lap the blood of
+Don Demonios to-morrow morning, at the banquet-table; and afterwards
+hang up Guzman with thine own hands. Thou art too white-livered, or thou
+shouldst have known of the matter earlier. Also, thou shalt have thy
+fair nun again, as before:--that is, upon condition she likes thee
+better than me; which may be, or may not, for who can tell whether the
+star will shoot into the marsh, or fall upon the mountain?--Bah! it is a
+pity I brought thee not another flagon. Busta! I will drink no more; for
+this is no time to be thick-witted.--Know then, _Juanito querido_, we
+have brought our conspiracy to a head; and out of the nine hundred
+Christians in this town there are two hundred and forty sworn on dirk,
+buckler, and crucifix, to our whole game,--three hundred, who will wink
+and stand by, till the play is over,--three hundred who will swear faith
+to the devil himself, when Don Demonios lies hid in his pocket,--and as
+for the rest, why we must e'en have some hanging and stabbing."
+
+"In heaven's name," said Juan, "what dost thou mean? Art thou really
+mad? Bethink thee what thou art saying!"
+
+"Hah!" cried Villafana, "wilt thou skulk backwards, after all? Dost thou
+pretend to oppose us? We had some thoughts of making thee one of the
+three chief captains. This Olea stands to; for he swears thou art the
+best leader in the camp."
+
+"Is Gaspar sworn among you?" said Juan, with a faint voice, his
+detestation of the bloody scheme arousing him to the necessity of
+sifting it to the bottom--for he forgot his captivity, and thought only
+of arresting the progress of a treason so fearful.
+
+"Ay," returned the Alguazil; "and better men than he. Come, clap thy
+name to the paper, and I swear thou shalt have a command among us,
+though I should kill thy rival-candidate Gil Gonzales, with my own hand.
+Dost thou not know these fellows? We have hidalgos among us."
+
+As he spoke, he pulled from his bosom a paper, on which Juan read with
+affright the names of several men of rank, mingled with those of common
+soldiers, with many of which he was familiar. His first thought was to
+secure this dreadful list, and calling to the guards about the prison,
+arrest the Alguazil upon the spot. A moment's consideration determined
+him to take further advantage of the communicativeness of the traitor,
+until made acquainted with all the details of the conspiracy. He bridled
+his anger, therefore, and concealing his horror under an appearance of
+doubt and hesitation, to which his trembling agitation gave no little
+force, he said,
+
+"How is this? Are these names good and true?"--
+
+"See you not Barba Roxa's sign-manual, near the bottom of the list? He
+subscribed it last night. He draws the figure of a knife well, as one
+who knows how to use it. But as for thee, _niņo mio_, thou art able to
+write thy signature in full."
+
+"Stay," cried Juan. "What are you to do? You spoke of a banquet, and the
+morning. Assassination, hah?"
+
+"Did I not tell thee before? Look," said the Alguazil, with a harsh
+laugh, displaying a letter, well secured with wax and fillet, on which
+was written the name of the Captain-General. "Know, that this letter,
+written carefully on the outside, by mine own hand, (for there is
+nothing within,) comes from the seņor's sire, old Don Martin, whom the
+devil take to his rest, for fathering so ill-tempered a son. This
+letter, thou must know," he went on with a chuckle of self-approving
+craft, "came in the ship of Seville that brought this good wine, and
+was, by an evil accident, detained on the way. Know, sirrah, and this is
+my device: The general hath forgotten to invite me to his feast
+to-morrow, in honour of his saint-day, or some other thing--_Quien
+sabe?_ It is very rude. But he has invited all my caballeros on this
+paper, and some four score soldiers, who are down likewise. The rest
+will take their ease in the vestibule, and on the square, to be ready.
+What do I then? Marry, this: I break in upon the revel with the letter
+in my hand, and a dagger in my sleeve; the others crowd round with
+congratulations, and I strike him under the ribs--Pho! I forgot; thou
+canst not have the _first_ blow, as I promised thee; but thou shalt
+follow, cloaked up to the eyes, and be free to take the second.--What
+dost thou think of my plot, hah, dear devil? Hah!--"
+
+"That it is the most damnable and dastardly ever devised by villain, and
+shall bring thee to a villain's death. Rogue! didst thou think thou
+couldst tell this to _me_, and live? I have thy treason in my hand, and
+will use it as it becomes an honourable man and Christian. What ho,
+guards! treason, treason!"
+
+Greatly astounded as Villafana was by this unexpected defection, the
+shock served rather to sober than affright him. He gave the prisoner a
+look of unspeakable malice, and whipping out his sword and calling for
+help as clamorously as Juan, he assaulted him with the utmost fury. At
+the same time, five or six of the guardsmen rushed in, and to Juan's
+utter dismay, instead of aiding him to secure the Alguazil, rushed upon
+him, some with their spears, to transfix him against the wall, while
+others, springing behind him, secured him in their arms, and hurled him
+upon the floor. In an instant, he had lost both the fatal list and the
+dagger of Guatimozin, and was at the mercy of Villafana, who knelt upon
+his breast, and shortened his sword, to despatch him with a thrust. But
+at the very moment when he had given up all hope, and was commending his
+soul to his Maker, the savage and exulting laugh with which the Alguazil
+aimed at his throat, was changed to an exclamation of alarm and pain. Up
+started the assassin, and Juan, springing also to his feet, he beheld,
+with surprise, the figure of La Monjonaza standing betwixt him and the
+assailants. The gray mantle had fallen from her head and shoulders,
+revealing a form of the finest symmetry, and a countenance convulsed
+into beauty, such as might have become a warring Bellona; to whom she
+might have been well compared, only that in place of the whip and torch
+which a moralizing mythology has put into the hands of the goddess, she
+held an emblem equally expressive, in a short dagger, gleaming with
+blood from the shoulder of Villafana.
+
+"Villain!" she cried, after looking as if she would have repeated the
+blow, "art thou not yet requited? Begone!"
+
+And the discomfited traitor, scowling and pointing at the blood
+trickling from his arm, and yet obviously quailing before her stern
+frown, left the prison, followed by the guards, who seemed even more
+terrified than himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+Juan stood, for a moment, confounded in the presence of his preserver;
+and Magdalena, gradually exchanging her fierce expression for one more
+becoming her sex, appeared at last, as he had seen her before, pale,
+saddened, and subdued. As she sank into this softened temper, her eye
+fell upon the crimsoned blade; and it was curious to see with what
+feminine horror, disgust, and shame, she cast it from her, and to
+contrast this display of undissembled feelings with her late Amazonian
+bearing and act.
+
+"Magdalena," said Juan, a thousand emotions at once contending in his
+bosom, "you have saved my life. Haste now and protect that of Cortes:
+for, be it dear to thee or not, yet it is not fitting he should be left
+to the knife of an assassin. Acquaint him from me--Nay, bear it not from
+_me_; for I will not seem as if I sought to purchase my life with the
+confession--Acquaint him that a dreadful conspiracy, headed by the knave
+Villafana, is about to burst upon his head. If he seizes not the traitor
+to-night, let him beware who approaches the banquet to-morrow. Above
+all, let him be on his guard against any one who affects to bring
+letters from his father. Haste, maiden, haste! for perhaps Villafana,
+wrought upon by his fears, may discharge his train of horrors this very
+night."
+
+"Dost thou thus seek to preserve him who has so basely compassed thine
+own life?" said Magdalena, less with surprise than sorrowing admiration.
+"Think not of Cortes, but of thyself: thou hast not many hours for
+thought."
+
+"Alas, Magdalena," said Juan, impatiently, "you do not believe me. I
+swear to you, that what I say is true: Villafana is a traitor, and is
+now on the point of assassinating the Captain-General."
+
+"If he were about assassinating thee, and the Captain-General knew it,
+what aid wouldst thou expect from the Captain-General?" rejoined La
+Monjonaza.
+
+"Maiden!" said Juan, frowning severely, "in this coldness of purpose,
+now that thou art acquainted with the act, thou art conniving at
+murder!"
+
+Apparently this reproof touched Magdalena to the quick. She started,
+shuddered, and turned as if to leave the prison; but changing her
+purpose, stepping up to the light, and assuming a boldness which she did
+not feel, she falteringly asked,
+
+"Is there no case, in which such connivance might be excusable? But a
+moment since," (and here she bent her head upon her bosom,) "I was about
+to _commit_ murder--Had I slain Villafana, wouldst thou then have
+thought the act criminal?"
+
+"Surely not, surely not," said Juan; "for, in this case, thou wert
+arresting the blow of a cut-throat, to kill whom in the act, were but
+sheer justice, and according to law. And yet I would that the blow had
+been struck by another. It is not seemly for a woman to carry a dagger,
+and still more improper that she should use it."
+
+"What if she be attacked by a villain, and no helper nigh?" demanded the
+forlorn girl. "Heaven has given me no protector--My father, my brother,
+and my friend--they all lie in this little steel;" and as she picked up
+the weapon from the floor, as if no longer ashamed to bear it, a ghastly
+smile beamed from her visage, like the flash of a Medusa amid the foam
+of a midnight billow.
+
+"Speak no more of Cortes," she continued, observing that Juan was about
+to resume the subject of the conspiracy; "he is far better able to
+protect himself than thou. Were there twenty poniards in Villafana's
+hand, and were his arm as extended as his malice, yet could he not reach
+even to the heel of Don Hernan. His fate is written,--yes, more
+inevitably than thine; for thou hast yet one hope of deliverance, and
+Villafana has none.--Listen to me, Juan Lerma; it is perhaps the last
+time on earth that I shall speak to thee. If thou reject mine offer this
+night, I call heaven to witness that I will leave thee to thy fate."
+
+"Magdalena," said Juan, firmly, "we have spoken of this before. God
+protect thee, for there is a wall of adamant between us."
+
+"Be it so," said the lady; "and let it be higher than thy wishes, deeper
+than thy scorn, so thou wilt leave this land, and return to it no more."
+
+"On the morrow, Magdalena, I die," said Lerma, with unabated resolution.
+"Hear then the counsel of a dying man, who can yet call himself your
+friend. Do what you have recommended to me: leave this land, and, in the
+gloom of a cloister, expiate--"
+
+"Yet again?" exclaimed the maiden, with an eye of fire. "This is to
+distract me! Oh, if thou knew how unjustly thou hast planted daggers in
+my bosom--daggers to which this thing of steel is but as the thorn of a
+rosebud--thou wouldst kill thyself, rather than speak them again! But it
+matters not: whether thou livest or diest, still must thou know that I
+am wronged.--Listen to me--I will speak of Hilario.--"
+
+"Let it not be so," said Juan; and then solemnly added, "Learn that,
+yesternight, the wretched Villafana, who, by some magical science, seems
+acquainted with the secrets of all in this camp, gave me to know what I
+did not before dream. Magdalena, when I plucked thee from the wreck, I
+dreamed, for a moment, that I loved thee--" The maiden trembled from
+head to foot, and Juan was himself greatly agitated; "I beheld one, in
+whom, from the act of giving her a life, I might fancy a tie, such as
+did not exist between me and any other human being, from the time of the
+death of my poor father up to that happy hour. But had that affection
+ripened even into such as Hilario avowed,"--(Here Magdalena waved her
+hand impatiently;) "nay, had I plighted with thee faith and troth, and
+did we stand this moment before the altar, my passion would be at once
+changed to awe and horror, to know that I was wedding the spouse of
+Heaven. Magdalena, a life of penitence can scarcely remove the sin of
+broken vows!"'
+
+"Say not this," exclaimed the unhappy Magdalena, vehemently: "What knew
+I of earth or heaven, when, imprisoned in a cell from childhood upwards,
+I gave up the one for the other? Heaven broke the oath which oppressors
+exacted; else, wherefore was I saved of all the sisters, and thrown upon
+a land where cloisters were unknown? For these vows could I have
+procured a dispensation. Hast thou never heard of such being dissolved?"
+
+"Surely I have," said Juan, mildly, desiring to allay the agitation of
+his visitor: "It was told to me, by Villafana, that the seņor Camarga
+(an insane man, who made an attempt on my life,) was once a monk of St.
+Dominic and an Inquisitor, and permitted to revoke his vows for some
+worldly purpose, I know not what; and I have heard it also said, that
+the sister of Don Hernan was allowed to leave a nunnery, to wed some
+great nobleman of Andalusia."
+
+"It is enough," said Magdalena, calmly, "the vow was suspended, not
+broken; it will be resumed, when the purpose for which I now live, is
+accomplished, and would have been before, but for the accident which
+brought me to this land.--Juan Lerma, I will not ask thee why thou
+refusest life at my hands: but it is offered thee by one wronged and
+defamed, not degraded. If thou live, it is well thou shouldst know the
+truth, and remember me without contempt; if thou die, the grave shall
+not cover thee in ignorance. Hilario--Start not, frown not, tremble not,
+for the truth must be spoken--Hilario abused thy belief, that he might
+break my heart, and perhaps, also, thine; for he hated me, because I
+repelled his love with contempt, and thee, because he knew--because he
+suspected,--that thou wert the cause. You fought; he fell,--and, with
+what seemed his dying lips, (for, even in death, his spite was not
+diminished,) repeated the demoniacal falsehood; boasting of the
+degradation of one whose only shame was that she did not requite his
+presumption with a dagger!"
+
+Again the figure of the unhappy girl was elevated by passion into the
+port of a destroying deity. But she perceived that Juan was shocked by a
+display of fire so unwomanly and, indeed, so fearful; and this instantly
+transformed her into another being:
+
+"This too, _this_ too," she cried, shedding tears of humiliation, "this,
+too, is a consequence of his malice, for it has converted me into the
+thing I am not,--into what seems a fury or a demon. Dost thou believe I
+am--dost thou believe I _was_ a creature formed of passions, that should
+belong only to men? No! oh heaven, oh no! it is the madness that comes
+from the viper's tooth. Stung, vilified, robbed of respect and
+happiness, how even can a woman sit down in peace, unless she can die?
+unless she can die? She will have her vengeance, believe it; and well is
+it for her, when it is won by the hands of a brother or sire.--Yet,
+believe this, if thou wilt, for I am not what I was; believe
+aught,--anything, save the lies of Hilario. With his dying lips he
+defamed me--with his dying hand he revoked the slander, and avowed
+himself a villain. Behold the refutation of calumny."
+
+As she spoke, she drew from her bosom, with a trembling grasp, and put
+into Juan's, a scrap of paper, on which he read, with extreme surprise,
+the following words, traced with a hand feeble and agitated, yet well
+known to him,--
+
+     "What I have said of Magdalena del Naufragio," (or Magdalena of
+     the Wreck, for by this name she was known at Isabela,) "is
+     false. In malice and folly I have laid perjury on my soul; and,
+     as I now speak the truth, I pray heaven to forgive me.--Amen.
+
+     "ANTONIO DEL MILAGRO."
+
+"Good heaven!" said Juan, "is it possible Antonio could commit this
+dastardly crime? Alas, Magdalena, I _have_ done you a grievous wrong,
+and I beseech you, pardon me.--This thing was not only wicked, but
+marvellous. The paper is stained with blood--The saints acquit me of his
+death, for it was I who shed it! I am glad he died penitent--What
+brought him to this justice? I held my dagger to his throat, yet he
+cried, with a devilish malice and courage, 'Strike, for--' But I will
+not repeat his sinful and exulting falsehoods.--Alas, that his blood
+should be upon my soul! the blood of his father's son!"
+
+Magdalena surveyed the self-accusing looks of the prisoner, with much
+emotion; and twice or thrice she opened her lips, to give him comfort,
+or to continue her dark and singular story, and yet failed, as many
+times, to speak. At last, she clasped her hands upon her bosom, as if,
+by an effort of physical strength, to give support and resolution to her
+heart, and said, with low and interrupted accents,
+
+"Lament no more for a sin thou hast not committed. Thou wert
+deceived--Hilario died not by thy hands."
+
+"Hah!" exclaimed Juan, "dost thou tell me the truth? Is Hilario yet
+living? God be thanked! God be thanked! for I am not a murderer!"
+
+He fell upon his knees, and looking up to heaven with joy, beheld not
+the grief and trepidation with which his companion surveyed his
+raptures.
+
+"I told thee, not that he lived, but that thou didst not slay him," said
+the nun, with an effort.--"Had my father come to my side, and looked
+upon this paper, after hearing the story of Hilario's baseness, what
+think you he should have done?"
+
+"Killed him, I must allow," said Juan, rising to his feet; "for even his
+deep penitence could scarcely be permitted to stand as the sole penalty
+of such an offence.--Alas, Magdalena, my mind is beset with sore
+misgivings. How was that paper obtained? How did Hilario die? Thou
+growest pale! Heaven shield me! didst thou, didst _thou_--?"
+
+He paused with terror. The maiden replied instantly, and almost with
+firmness:
+
+"Hear the truth, even to the last syllable; for even _thy_ good opinion
+I will not purchase by subterfuge. To Villafana,--a wretch, whose
+manifold villanies thou couldst not dream, (for know, that, being a
+sailor in the ship that bore the unlucky sisters, he devised and
+accomplished its destruction, that he might impiously obtain the holy
+vessels of silver and gold--Ay, it was Villafana, and not the tempest,
+that drove us upon the rocks of Alonso--) to Villafana, from whom I
+learned the cause of the duel and of thy flight, I committed the charge
+of obtaining this recantation.--Was this wrong?" she exclaimed, giving
+way to affright, for Juan's looks of horror could not be mistaken: "they
+were two fiends together,--the villain struck the villain,--the--"
+
+"Murderess! murderess!" cried Juan aloud, recoiling from her.
+
+A ghastly smile passed over her countenance, and it grew into a faint
+laugh, which, to Juan's mistaken eye, (for he thought it the merriment
+of satisfaction or indifference,) seemed unnatural and dreadful, while
+she replied, her voice hysterically belying her feelings, as much as did
+her countenance,
+
+"Thou dost not think I employed him to do murder? I appeal to heaven, I
+did not dream he would do aught but compel the recantation from the
+wounded man.--What! bid him kill one so defenceless! Had he been strong
+and well armed, then perhaps, indeed,--then perhaps, I might have
+thought it. I sought but for the paper; the rest was the deed of
+Villafana."
+
+"Oh heaven! oh holy heaven!" cried Juan; "speak not another word: rather
+let me die than hear more. Away! avaunt! thou art not a woman, but a
+fiend! and all is now as it was, and worse.--What, blood-stained!
+blood-stained!"--
+
+Magdalena strode towards him, striving to speak, but could only utter
+the words, 'Injustice! injustice!' mingled with the charge, 'Leave
+Mexico,' that still made a part of her perturbed thoughts. Had not Juan
+been entirely overwhelmed by his horror, he must have observed, that her
+mind was, at this moment, convulsed beyond the degree of any former
+agitation; that she was, in fact, in a condition both alarming and
+pitiable. Her countenance was most deathlike, her accents wholly
+unnatural, and there was something of delirium or idiotcy in the manner
+with which, while still muttering the broken reproof, 'Injustice,' and
+the charge, 'Leave Mexico,' she, all the while, extended the
+blood-stained paper, as if entreating him again to receive and peruse
+it.
+
+As it was, he gave utterance to his horror in the words,--
+
+"Miserable woman! the denial forced from the lips of the murdered man,
+is of a piece with the spirit that compelled it--False, false, all!"
+
+At these words, the paper dropped from her hands, another vacant smile
+distorted her visage, and she turned to depart; but before she had taken
+two steps, she tottered, and fell to the floor, with a dreadful scream,
+that instantly brought the guards into the prison.
+
+The absorbing nature of their conversation had, for the last two or
+three moments, rendered both incapable of observing that some scene of
+altercation had suddenly arisen at the dungeon door. High voices might
+be heard, as of one alternately entreating and demanding admittance,
+which was gruffly denied by others. The shriek of Magdalena, ringing in
+their ears like a cry of death, brought the contention to an end; and
+all rushing in together, they beheld Juan endeavouring to raise the
+figure of his unhappy and lifeless guest from the floor.
+
+"_Dios mio! y peccavi!_ I will kill him where he stands," exclaimed one,
+rushing forward.
+
+"Not so fast, seņor Camarga," cried the hunchback, who was at the head
+of all, snatching the weapon from the hands of this individual, who
+seemed peculiarly to thirst for the blood of the young islander. "Here's
+work for the bastinado! Where's Villafana, ye treacherous dogs, that let
+women into the prison? He shall pay for it.--Harkee, seņor Camarga; if
+you have any interest in this fair lady, you may help bear her to the
+palace. Poor fool! these women love as arquebuses shoot: if you make
+them any obstruction, they burst in your hands--and this is truer still
+of a musket, if you thrust it into the earth. In mine own opinion, the
+young hound has scorned her."
+
+While Najara gave vent to these growling observations, Magdalena was
+carried out of the prison. The hunchback had reached the door, before
+Juan, in the confusion of the moment, thought of calling him back, to
+impart to him the secret of the treachery. But Najara replied only with
+a malediction, and departed with the lantern; so that Juan was again
+left to night and solitude.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+Meanwhile, a scene of still more tragical character was on the point of
+being represented within the walls of the palace.
+
+It was a tempestuous night. The clouds, which had all day enveloped the
+pagan metropolis, were, at last, gathered over Tezcuco. The wind blew in
+gusts, with frequent rain; and as the distant thunderbolts rolled with a
+rumbling cadence over Mexico, vast sheets of lightning shot up in the
+west, illuminating sky, lake, and mountain, with a cadaverous glare.
+
+Some five or six of the principal cavaliers were assembled with Cortes,
+in the great Hall of Audience, engaged in earnest and anxious debate. It
+happened, by accident, that the huge curtain, which, at night, was
+usually drawn over the window of alabaster, had been, this evening,
+neglected by the attendants; so that it remained, drooping in gigantic
+festoons from the great beam, carved into a serpent's head, which held
+it at the top, down to the lesser ornaments that supported it on the
+sides, of the casement. The strong cords, by which it could be dragged
+into its place, hung over the central beam, flapping occasionally
+against the alabaster wall, as the gust, puffing in through the great
+door, whirled the smoke and flame of the lamps and torches, from the
+walls and pillars, to which they were attached.
+
+Thus, though the alabaster slabs were too thick to transmit any ordinary
+ray, the brighter flashes of lightning made their way through, and
+added, at times, a ghastly glare to the light of the lamps; in which the
+countenances of the cavaliers, perturbed as they were, assumed such an
+unnatural hue as might have beseemed the ghosts of dead heroes, rising
+to earth, to meddle again in the sport of slaughter.
+
+The visage of the Captain-General betrayed greater anxiety, mingled with
+sterner wrath, than appeared on any other; and when he spoke, it was in
+accents brief and low, and exceedingly emphatic.
+
+"I tell you, cavaliers," he cried, "the mystery that shrouds this
+treason is more frightful than the treason itself. We are at fault,
+seņores, we are at fault. We behold enough to show us that the devils
+are at work about us, but not to discover in what mode they are toiling.
+It is clear enough that Villafana is a dog, and one day he shall hang;
+but I know not, in what manner, nor at what time, he will bite. This is
+certain: he has suffered one of the Mexicans to leave his cell, and
+communicate with Xicotencal: it is certain, also, that this cur of
+Tlascala will leave the camp before day-dawn; and how many of his
+warriors will follow after him, that I leave you to conjecture. This I
+have from a true mouth. He is incensed, first, on account of Juan Lerma;
+and, secondly, I doubt not, the Mexican has made the most of his
+growling temper and present discontent. What sayst thou, Sandoval? What
+hinders thee to lie in wait, and, following at his heels, so do with
+him, that his Tlascalans who desert afterwards, may be frightened on the
+path, and so return to us? There are good trees on the wayside!"
+
+"Ay," replied Don Gonzalo, grimly, "when there is any executioner's work
+towards, I am sure to play jack-ketch. I am loath to deal with a man
+that hath been so valiant; but if he be a traitor, it is right he should
+die. What if I give him the bastinado, Turk-wise? Methinks that would
+bring him into a sounder temper."
+
+"It would but inflame the choler of his proud people," said the shrewder
+general; "whereas his sudden death, dealt upon him in the act of
+desertion, will strike them with fear. Take thou a rope with thee, my
+son, and fear not to use it."
+
+The young cavalier nodded assent; and the general went on:
+
+"Concerning the ambassadors, thus secretly treating with a traitor,
+methinks they have forfeited all claim to protection?"
+
+"Ay," said Alvarado; "and the bastinado, of which Sandoval spake, may
+serve the good purpose of opening their lips, and thereby revealing, not
+only the depth of the Tlascalan defection, but the length to which
+Villafana and his curs have gone with them. Let us send for them, and
+try the experiment. Or stay--here are cords enough on the curtain. One
+of these, twisted round the brow with a sword-hilt, I have known to
+bring out a man's tongue as far as his eyes."
+
+The cavaliers turned to the window; and the bitter smile of the
+Captain-General was made deathlike, by a flash, brighter than usual,
+shooting through the wall.
+
+"A good thought," he said; "but we will not be precipitate. We have them
+secured; and however Villafana may permit them to speak with others, he
+is somewhat too wise to set them free. We will have this thing
+considered in the morning."
+
+At this moment, Don Francisco de Guzman made his appearance in the
+chamber, his visage disfigured by a black patch, and somewhat pale. But
+this, as it was soon discovered, was caused rather by care than
+sickness.
+
+"Seņor," he exclaimed, "I have been to seek the ambassadors--They have
+escaped!"
+
+"Escaped!" echoed Cortes. "Thou art beside thyself! And the villain
+Alguazil, has he fled with them? I will tear his flesh with pincers!
+What! release the infidels, under my eye?"
+
+"So please you," said Guzman, "this, I think, was no resolved treachery,
+but an effect of infatuation. The wine that came to us to-day, was too
+strong for the watchmen: where they got it, I know not; but I found them
+sound asleep at the open door."
+
+"They shall be scourged, till they drop more blood than they have drunk
+wine," said Don Hernan, furiously. "And the prison-guards also? Hah? The
+prisoner has escaped?"
+
+"Not so," said the cavalier: "all's well there, save--"
+
+"And Villafana? Speak me the word--Has he fled?"
+
+"Seņor mio, no: he is in the prison, carousing with Juan Lerma, as the
+guards say. I heard his voice through the door."
+
+"Carousing? does Juan Lerma take his death so merrily? By'r lady, devil
+as he is, it is a sin to slay him!"
+
+"As to the prisoner," said Guzman, "I know not whether he be merry or
+not; but I myself (for I had mine ear to the door,) heard Villafana
+smack his lips, and vow he 'would drink no more, this being no time to
+be thick-witted.' But every one knows Villafana: his bibbing once
+brought him to the strappado."
+
+"Ay; and it shall bring him to the gallows.--It is the fate of the
+can-clinker--all spoken in three words--drunk, whipped, and
+gibbeted!--Didst thou worm naught from the guards? They were of his own
+appointing."
+
+"Not a syllable," replied Guzman: "I do believe they have been too much
+frightened, and are now penitent men."
+
+"It may be," said Cortes, "it may be; but I would I could look into the
+dreams of Villafana. If I punish him for the flight of the ambassadors,
+it may be that I disperse an imposthume before it comes to a head; or it
+may prove, that I drive the matter into the more vital organs of this
+body politic, till all be corrupted and consumed. What say ye to a
+little torture inflicted on Villafana himself? Yet he is a bold dog, and
+may not speak. They say he winced not under the lash. I swear to you, my
+friends, I am in a strait."
+
+While Cortes thus admitted the difficulty in which he felt himself
+pressed, and the cavaliers were divided in their counsels, they
+perceived a common soldier intrude himself into the chamber, and boldly
+approach them.
+
+"Hah!" cried Alvarado, ever hot of temper, "who art thou, Sir
+Gallows-bird, that bringest thy knave's pate among cavaliers in
+council?"
+
+"Hold! touch him not; 'tis the Barba-Roxa!" exclaimed Don Hernan. "What
+impertinence is this, sirrah? Who bade thee hitherward?"
+
+"God and my good saint," said Gaspar, flinging himself on his knees, and
+adding, with the greatest impetuosity, "Pardon, seņor! pardon for two
+unhappy men! Or if that cannot be, why pardon then for _one_; and I care
+not how soon you hang up the others."
+
+"What means the fool? Art thou distracted?"
+
+"Seņor!" cried the soldier, wringing his hands, "I am a knave and
+traitor. Grant me the life of Juan Lerma, who meant you no wrong, and I
+will give you, for the rope and sword, two hundred and forty such
+traitors as the world never saw, and myself among them; for I have
+signed my name with knife and arrow, and sworn myself to brotherhood,
+under the pains of hell, which I care not how soon may came upon me."
+
+"Let some one of you look to the door," said Cortes, quickly: "and see
+that the sentinels keep their eyes open.--How now, Gaspar! what is this
+thou sayst? Art thou indeed a villain? I should have struck on the mouth
+any soldier that had said it of thee."
+
+"I am what I said," replied Gaspar; "your excellency refused to listen
+to me, when I pleaded for Juan Lerma; and I was incensed. I said to
+myself, seņor, 'I have saved your life, and yet you deny me the life of
+my friend, who, in ignorance, broke a decree, yet knew no malice.'
+Besides, seņor, you called me a dog,--'an officious, presuming dog;'
+whereas I was not a dog _then_, but _now_. Well, seņor, while I was in a
+passion, the devil came to me, and tempted me, and I signed my name to
+my perdition."
+
+"What!" said Alvarado, recoiling with devout horror, "hast thou really
+signed over thy soul to Satan? We will burn thee, thou devil's penitent,
+in a hot fire!"
+
+"Speak on," said Cortes. "What meanest thou by this mummery? What devil
+is this? for, though Satan be walking now among us, yet, I think, it
+could not be he."
+
+"It was Villafana," replied Gaspar; "and heaven pardon me, for I think
+it must be Apollyon in his likeness!"
+
+At this communication, the cavaliers all stared at one another, and
+Cortes exclaimed,
+
+"Two hundred and forty men! What! are there so many knaves of his
+party?"
+
+"Ay, and many more, who will help, but will not put down their names
+upon paper," replied Gaspar. "But your excellency says nothing of Juan
+Lerma. If you will pardon him, your excellency shall hear all."
+
+"How, sirrah!" cried Cortes, sternly, "Do you avow yourself a sworn
+traitor, and yet dictate to me terms of mercy? Speak, or you shall have
+that to your brows, which will bring out words with screams."
+
+Gaspar sprang to his feet,--boldly, fearlessly, and even insolently,
+returning the look of the Captain-General:
+
+"Your excellency has no heart, and I have," he cried. "Do your will upon
+us both; and reckon my death to your conscience, as you do that of Juan
+Lerma. You shall not have a word more. Here are my arms.--What cavalier
+will demean himself to tie them? I will meet your excellency at the
+judgment-seat."
+
+"Thou art but a fool," said Cortes, moderating his anger,--or, at least,
+mollifying the severity of his accents; for his countenance yet gleamed
+with wrath. "Thou knowest, that, having saved my life at Xochimilco, I
+can, in no case, take thine."
+
+"But I leave that to the laws, without asking any mercy," said the Red
+Beard, obstinately: "I ask the life of Juan Lerma, condemned without
+law."
+
+"Dost thou impugn my justice, fellow?" cried the ferocious De Olid. "I
+swear to thee, when thou art brought to be judged, I will give thee a
+double quantity, for this very reason."
+
+While the cavalier gave utterance to so excellent a proof of his equity,
+Alvarado, with whom Gaspar had been a favourite, whispered in his ear,
+
+"Speak out, and fear not. It stands not with the captain's honour to
+barter men's lives for knave's confessions; yet he shall pardon the
+young man, thy friend, as I am thy guarantee."
+
+"What say ye, cavaliers?" cried Cortes: "does it become me, to remit a
+sentence of death, at such mutinous intercession?"
+
+Before any of the officers could reply, Gaspar, confiding in the promise
+of Alvarado, threw himself again at the general's feet, crying,
+
+"Seņor, I am not a mutineer, but a penitent. I am mad to think that
+one,--so good a friend, so valiant a soldier, so true a follower, (for
+there is no falsehood in Juan Lerma,) should die for a small
+matter,--saving Don Francisco's presence,--when there are so many rogues
+about us, that go unpunished. But I leave him to your excellency's
+mercy, trusting that your excellency will reconsider the judgment, and
+release him. Therefore I will speak, in this trust; and I pray heaven to
+remember the act, be it merciful or be it cruel.--This is what I have to
+say: In my passion, I betook me to Villafana; who, promising to save
+Lerma's life, I signed with him; though the first act of guilt was to
+take your excellency's life. Holy mother of heaven! pardon me; but I was
+very much incensed. Well, seņor, I found on the paper the names of two
+hundred and forty men, and I will tell you such as I remember; but if
+you will send to the prison, and suddenly seize the Alguazil, you will
+find the list in his bosom.--"
+
+"Quinones, see thou to this," said Cortes, turning to the master of the
+armory, who made one of the council. "Take with thee none but hidalgos,
+and be sudden, making no noise and shedding no blood--Yet stay: this
+will not do, neither. Hark thee, Gaspar, man, when shall this precious
+earthquake rumble into the upper air?"
+
+"To-morrow," replied the soldier; and then, to the horror and
+astonishment of all present, he divulged the whole scheme of
+assassination, as Villafana had himself spoken it in the prison.
+
+"With a letter from my father, too!" cried Cortes, apparently more
+struck with the heartless barbarity of the stratagem, than with anything
+else in Gaspar's communication: "This is indeed the Judas-kiss,
+the--Faugh! these were the words of Magdalena!"
+
+While he muttered these words to himself, he was roused by a sudden
+voice at the great door, and heard distinctly the unexpected voice of
+Villafana, saying, as he wrangled with the guards,
+
+"Oh, 'slid, you take upon you too much. I come at the order of the
+general."
+
+"Admit Villafana," said Cortes, in tones that penetrated loudly to the
+farthest limits of the room, for the cavaliers were stricken into a
+boding silence at the accents of the Alguazil: "Admit my trusty
+Villafana." And Villafana entered.
+
+He was evidently flushed with wine, and it was for that reason,
+doubtless, that he did not seem to observe the presence of his forsworn
+associate, nor the suspicious act of two cavaliers, who stole from the
+group, and took possession of the door by which he had entered. He
+approached with a reckless and confident, though somewhat stupid, air,
+exclaiming, after divers humble scrapes and salaams,
+
+"I come at your excellency's bidding, according to appointment. This was
+the hour, please your excellency--But 'tis a scurvy night, with much
+thunder and lightning."
+
+"Ay, truly," said Cortes, with a mild voice, while all the rest stood in
+the silence of death; "but, being so observant, Villafana, how comes it
+you have not remarked that you are here without the Indian Techeechee,
+whom I commanded you to bring hither at this hour?"
+
+"Seņor," said the Alguazil, a little confused, "that old Ottomi is a sly
+dog, and, I doubt me, not over-honest."
+
+"I doubt me so, too," said Cortes, in the same encouraging tones; "yet,
+honest or false, sly or simple, methinks thou shouldst not have suffered
+him to escape."
+
+"Escape! what, Techeechee escape!" cried Villafana with unaffected
+surprise: "Ho, no! I did but give the gray infidel a sop of wine, and
+straightway he hid himself in a corner, to sleep off his drunkenness.
+And,--and,--" continued he, with instinctive though clumsy
+cunning,--"and I thought it would be unbeseemly to bring him to your
+excellency, in that condition. I beg your excellency's pardon for making
+him acquainted with such Christian liquor; but it was out of pity,
+together with some little hope of converting him to the faith; and,
+besides, I knew not his head was so weak. I will fetch him to your
+excellency in the morning."
+
+"Why, this is well," said the Captain-General, with such insinuating
+gentleness as characterizes the snake, when closing softly on his prey;
+"and I doubt not thou canst give me as good an account of the
+ambassadors. It is said to me, that they also have escaped."
+
+"Good God!" cried Villafana, startled not only out of his confidence,
+but, in great measure, out of his intoxication, by such an announcement;
+"the ambassadors escaped? It cannot be!"
+
+"Pho, they have hurt thee more than I thought,--even to the point of
+destroying thy memory," rejoined the Captain-General, with the
+blandishment of a smile. "There is blood upon thy shoulder: I doubt not,
+thou wert severely hurt, while attempting to prevent their flight. No
+one ever questioned the courage of Villafana."
+
+"Yes, seņor, yes--no--yes; that is,--I mean to say--Saints of
+heaven!"--And here the Alguazil paused, completely sobered,--that is,
+restored to his senses, but not to his wits; for he perceived himself in
+a difficulty, and his invention pointed out no means of escape. He
+rolled his eyes, haggard at once with debauch and alarm, over the
+cavaliers, and, though the lofty figure of Alvarado concealed Gaspar
+from his view, he beheld enough in the extraordinary sedateness of all
+present, to fill him with the most racking suspicions. He turned again
+to Cortes, and commanding his fears as much as he could, went on, with
+an appearance of boldness,
+
+"Alas, noble seņor, if the ambassadors _be_ escaped, I am a lost
+man,--for I trusted too much to the vigilance of others, and I should
+not have done so. Alas, seņor," he continued with more energy, as his
+mind began to work more clearly, "I have committed a great offence in
+this negligence; but I vow to heaven, it was owing to my fears of Juan
+Lerma, who made many efforts to escape, and had strong friends to help
+him. Your excellency may see the necessity I was under, to give all my
+thoughts to him; for, some one having furnished him with a dagger, he
+foully attacked me, not on my guard, giving me this wound; and had it
+not been for the sudden rushing in of the guard, I should certainly have
+been killed."
+
+Thus spoke the Alguazil, with returning craft, mingling together fiction
+and fact with an address which astonished even himself:
+
+"Yes, seņor," he continued, satisfied with the strength of his argument,
+and now elated with a prospect of providing against the effects of his
+imprudent disclosures in the prison; "yes, seņor, and the young man,
+besides thus wounding me, swore he would have me hanged for a
+conspiracy; stating roundly, as the guards will witness, (I am certain
+that Esteban, the Left-Handed, heard him,) that, being a notorious
+grumbler, any such fiction would be believed of me. As if this would
+make me a conspirator! whereas, your excellency knows, according to the
+proverb, Barking dogs are no biters." And the audacious ruffian,
+relapsing into security, attested his innocence by a gentle laugh and
+the sweetest of his smiles.
+
+"Again I say, thou speakest well," said Cortes, carelessly descending
+from the platform, on which he had mounted at the approach of Villafana.
+"Thine arguments have even satisfied me of the folly of certain charges,
+brought against thee by this mad fellow, here, at thy elbow."
+
+As he spoke, Alvarado, taking his instructions rather from a
+consentaneous feeling of propriety than from any hint of Don Hernan's,
+moved aside, and Villafana's eyes fell upon the figure of Gaspar.
+
+"Think of it, good fellow," said Cortes, laying his hand upon
+Villafana's shoulder, as if to support himself a little; "the things he
+said of thee are innumerable, and excessively preposterous. He averred,
+for instance, that thou wert peevishly offended, because I had not
+invited thy presence to the festivities of the morning banquet, and wert
+resolved to come, whether I would or not, and that with a letter from my
+father in one hand, and a dagger in the other. Eh! is not this
+outrageous? He said, besides,--But, o' my life, thou hast bled too much
+from this wound! Juan Lerma strikes deep, when the fit is on him. I hope
+thou art not faint, man!"
+
+To these benevolent expressions, the Alguazil replied by turning upon
+the general a countenance so bloodless, and an eye filled with such
+ecstacy of despair, (for if the poniards of all had been at his throat,
+he could not have been more perfectly apprized of his coming fate,) that
+Cortes must have been struck with some feeling of commiseration, had not
+his nature been somewhat akin to that of a cat, which delights less to
+kill than to sport with the agonies of a dying victim. As it was, he
+continued to torment the abandoned wretch, by adding, pleasantly,
+
+"And what thinkest thou of this, too, my Villafana? Two hundred and
+forty conspirators, to rush in when the blow was struck!--doubtless to
+carve their dinners from the ribs of my cavaliers!--Ah, Villafana,
+Villafana! thou shouldst have a care of thy friends. Our enemies are
+harmless, but our friends are always dangerous.--What dost thou say to
+all this, Villafana?--Knave! hadst thou twenty daggers in thy jerkin,
+thou wert still but an unfanged reptile!"
+
+While he spoke, in this jestful mood, he was sensible that Villafana,
+(doubtless with an instinctive motion, of which he was himself
+unconscious, being apparently turned to stone,) was stealing his hand up
+towards his bosom, as if to grasp a weapon. The moment the member had
+reached the opening of his garment, Cortes caught him by the throat, and
+giving utterance to his last words with a voice of thunder, and
+employing a strength irresistible by such a man as Villafana, he hurled
+him to the floor, at the same instant placing his foot on his throat.
+Then stooping down, and thrusting his hand into the traitor's bosom, he
+plucked out, at a single grasp, a poniard, a letter, and the fatal list
+of conspirators. He pushed the first aside, read the superscription of
+the second with a laugh, and casting his eye upon the third, devoured
+its contents with an avidity that left him unconscious of the murmurs of
+the fierce cavaliers, and the groans of the wretched Alguazil,
+strangling under his foot.
+
+"What, seņor! will you rob the gallows of its prey?" cried Alvarado,
+pointing his sword at the prostrate traitor, as, indeed, did all the
+rest, (having drawn them at the moment when Cortes seized him by the
+throat:) "His crime is manifest to all: what need of trial? Every man
+his steel through the dog!"
+
+"Hold!" cried the Captain-General; "this were a death for an hidalgo.
+Up, cur! up, and meet thy fate! Up!" And he spurned the wretch with his
+foot.
+
+The Alguazil rose up, his face black with blood, which, not perfectly
+dispersing even at release from strangulation, remained in leopard-like
+blotches over his visage, ghastfully contrasted with the ashy hues that
+gathered between them. As he rose, his arms were seized by two or three
+cavaliers; and Sandoval, as quick in action as he was sluggish in
+speech, snatching the rich sword-sash of samite from his own shoulders,
+instantly secured them behind his back.
+
+"For the love of God, seņores!" cried Villafana, finding speech at last,
+"what do you mean? what do you design? You will not kill an innocent
+man? Will you judge me at the charge of a liar? Gaspar is my sworn foe.
+I will make all clear.--Seņor, I have been drinking, and my mind is
+confused: take me not at this disadvantage. Oh, for God's sake, what do
+you mean?--The list? what, the list? 'Tis for a merry-making--a
+rejoicing for my birthday. I will explain all to your excellencies.--I
+am an innocent man.--Gaspar is a forsworn caitiff--a caitiff, seņores, a
+caitiff!--I claim trial by the civil judges."--
+
+"Gag him," cried one.
+
+"Strike him on the mouth," said another. And Villafana, gasping for
+breath, uttered, for a moment, nothing but inarticulate murmurs.
+
+"De Olid, Marin, De Ircio," cried Cortes, rapidly, and with
+inexpressible decision, "ye are judges of life and death; Sandoval and
+Alvarado, by right of office, ye can sit in judgment; Quinones, Guzman,
+and the rest, I make you, in the king's name, special associates of the
+others.--Why, here is a court, not martial, but civil; and the dog shall
+have judgment to his content! He stands charged of treason.--Guilty,
+seņores? or not guilty?"
+
+"Guilty!" cried all with one voice: and De Olid added, "Let us take him
+into the garden, and hang him to the cedar-tree."
+
+"To the window," said Cortes, pointing with his sword to the stout
+cords, hanging so invitingly from the serpent's-head; and in an instant
+the victim was dragged upon the platform.
+
+Up to this moment, his fears had been uttered rather in vehement
+complaints than in outcries; but now, when he perceived that he was
+condemned by a mockery of trial, doomed without the respite of a
+minute's space to pray, the rope dangling before his eyes, and already
+in the hands of a cavalier, who was bending it into a noose, he uttered
+a piercing scream, and endeavoured to throw himself on his knees.
+
+"Mercy!" he cried, "mercy! mercy! I will confess--I can save all your
+lives--Mercy! mercy!"
+
+Of all the sights of horror and disgust, villany, transformed at the
+death-hour, into its natural character and original of cowardice, is
+among the most appalling. Villafana was as brave as a ruffian could be;
+but when imagination is linked in the same spirit with vice, courage
+expires almost at the same moment with hope. With a weapon in his hand,
+and that at liberty, Villafana, perhaps, would have manifested all the
+valour in which despair perceives the only hope, and died like a man. As
+it was, bound and grasped in the arms of strong men, entirely helpless
+and equally without hope, his death staring him in the face, he gave
+himself up at once to unmanly fears, and wept, screamed, and prayed,
+until the guards, at watch in the vestibule, sank upon their knees and
+conned over their beads, to divert their senses from cries so agonized
+and so horrible.
+
+As he strove to prostrate himself before his inexorable judges, he was
+pulled up by the cavaliers, and among others by Don Francisco de Guzman,
+whose countenance he recognized.
+
+"Save me, Guzman! save me!" he cried; "for thou wert once of the
+party--Save me!"
+
+"Peace, wolf--"
+
+"Mercy! mercy! noble seņor!" he continued, turning to Cortes: "I am but
+one of many. Guzman is as false as I; I charge him with treason: he has
+abused your excellency's ear!--Listen, seņores, and spare me my life:
+give me a day--give me but to-night, to pray and confess, and you shall
+have all. There are cavaliers among us--Mercy, for the love of
+heaven!--Camarga, the Dominican,--Don Palmerino de Castro,--Muertazo of
+Toledo, Carabo of Seville,--Artiaga, Santa-Rosa, Bravo, Aljaraz, and an
+hundred more--"
+
+"Peace, lying villain!" cried the Captain-General--"What ho, the rope!
+quick, the rope!"
+
+"A moment to repent! a moment to repent!" shrieked the victim,
+struggling so violently to bring his hands before him, as if to clasp
+them in prayer, that the silken band crackled behind him, and his hands
+turned black with congested blood; "a moment to repent! for I am a
+sinner. What! would you condemn my soul, too? Saints, hear me! angels,
+plead for me! A priest, for the love of heaven! I killed Artiaga of
+Cadiz; I scuttled the ship at Alonso, drowned the nuns, and stole the
+church-plate--Call Magdalena--Where's Magdalena?--You are murdering me!
+Mercy! mercy! I killed Hilario, too--I poniarded him in the old wounds,
+inflicted by Juan Lerma--I have much to repent--A priest, for the love
+of God! A priest, oh, a priest!"
+
+Thus raved the villain, stained with a thousand crimes; and if aught had
+been wanting to steel the hearts of his executioners, enough was
+divulged in the unavailing abandonment with which he accused himself of
+misdeeds, so many and so atrocious. While his neck was yet free from the
+rope, he struggled violently, but without any attempt to do a mischief
+to his unrelenting murderers; his resistance was, indeed, like that of a
+cur, under the chastisement of a cruel and brutal master, which howls
+and contends, and yet fears to employ its fangs against the tyrant. But
+when he found, at last, that the cavaliers were actually putting the
+hasty halter about his neck, his struggles were not greater to escape
+than to inflict injury. He shook and tossed his head in distraction, and
+Don Francisco de Guzman, endeavouring to seize him by the beard, he
+caught the hand of the cavalier betwixt his teeth, and held it with the
+gripe of a tiger.
+
+"Hell confound thee, wolf!" cried Guzman, groaning with pain, and
+striking him over the face with the hilt of his sword, but in vain:
+"Help me, cavaliers, or he will have my hand off!--Villain, unlock thy
+teeth.--"
+
+"Stand aside--This will unloose thee," said one, thrusting his rapier
+into the thigh of the vindictive wretch; who no sooner felt the cold
+steel penetrate his flesh, than he opened his mouth to utter a yell.
+"Whip him up _now_.--So much for traitors!"
+
+It was the last scream of the assassin. His lips uttered one more cry to
+heaven; the name of Magdalena was cut short, as the noose closed upon
+his throat, and ended in a hoarse, rattling, gulphing whine, that did
+not itself prevail beyond the space of a second. As he shot up to the
+top of the window, an intense glare of lightning flashed through the
+alabaster, and his figure, traced upon that lustrous and ghastly medium,
+was seen dangling and writhing in the death-agony. The next moment, the
+huge curtain was drawn over the dreadful spectacle: but those who paused
+a moment, to look back, could behold the convulsions of the dying
+miscreant giving motion, and sometimes protrusion, to the dark folds of
+the drapery.--When all was silent, in the darkness of the night, the
+watchmen in the vestibule could yet hear the pattering of blood-drops
+falling from his mangled limb, upon the sonorous wood of the platform.
+
+But there were other scenes now occurring, which, for a time, drove from
+their thoughts the memory of Villafana.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+The scene of death in which they were engaged, had so employed the
+thoughts of the cavaliers, that they were, for a time, insensible to
+many tumultuous noises in the city, which, beginning at the moment when
+the struggles and outcries of Villafana were fiercest and loudest,
+increased every instant, until all was uproar.
+
+At first, as they rushed in disorder to the doors, they thought the din
+was caused by a renewal of the storm, or rather the sudden outbursting
+of a tornado; which, overwhelming the houses of some of the poorer
+citizens, and burying them among the ruins, might account for the
+screams and yells, that were mingled with other noises. But they soon
+exchanged this fear for one more stirring, when, as they rushed into the
+air, they heard an alarum ringing from the chapel-bell on the top of the
+pyramid, drums beating to arms, arquebuses firing in several different
+quarters, and were made sensible that a conflict was raging in the town.
+
+"Dios!" cried one; "the conspirators are upon us! Let us back to the
+hall and defend ourselves!"
+
+"My life upon it," said Gaspar, "the conspirators will not stir till
+Villafana opens his lips to them.--Heaven rest his soul!--Hark! these
+are the yells of Indians."
+
+"On, friends!" exclaimed Cortes, perceiving the garden full of soldiers,
+rushing from various parts of the palace, as if to seek the fray. "This
+is Tlascalan work--a knavery of Xicotencal. Hah! hark! see! 'tis an
+assault upon the prison! Ho, Castilians! ho, Christians! cavaliers and
+soldiers, to arms! haste, to arms!"
+
+While the soldiers, collecting together at the well-known voice of the
+Captain-General, began to rush with him towards the prison, over which,
+besides hearing the shouting of the watchmen at the doors, they beheld
+three blazing arrows shot up into the air, their alarm was directed to
+another quarter, by a violent cannonade from the squadron, moored yet at
+the entrance of the little river; and looking that way, they perceived
+to their astonishment and fear, no less than four of the brigantines
+suddenly enveloped in flames.
+
+"Guzman and Quinones!" cried Cortes, with instant determination, "to the
+prison, with what force ye can pick up on the way. Shoot all fugitives,
+as well as all assailants. The rest follow me to the river; for I would
+mine arms should be burned, rather than my vessels."
+
+By this time, all the Spaniards who were capable of bearing arms, were
+in the open air, and following not less the shouts of Cortes than the
+crash of the falconets, ran hastily towards the fleet, which, it was now
+evident, was furiously beset by multitudes of Indians in canoes. The
+flash of the explosions and the flames bursting ruddily out from sails
+and cordage, revealed them clustering with impetuosity around the
+devoted vessels, whose crews, it was equally apparent, were making a
+gallant resistance. In this light, the houses bordering upon the water
+were seen covered with citizens, looking on with a tranquillity, which
+showed that their share in the unexpected hostilities, if indeed they
+had any, was entirely passive. A more agreeable sight was disclosed to
+Cortes, as he ran onwards, in the appearance of many thousand
+Tlascalans, rushing down the narrow meadows which bordered the canal,
+with such alacrity of speed and such furious cries of 'Tlascala!' and
+'Castilla!' as convinced him of their fidelity and affection.
+
+"It is a Mexican device, after all," he muttered; "a plan of the
+ambassadors. Well done for thee, Villafana!--Bold varlets, these! What!
+down with your demi-culverins and sakers, Orozca! Where is my good
+cannonier, Juan Catalan? We will aid the vessels from the shore."
+
+The mariners, however hotly engaged, replied to the cries of their
+friends with shouts of courage; and redoubling their exertions, they
+succeeded not only in repelling the assailants, whose obvious aim was to
+fire the whole fleet, from those ships not yet ignited, but even in
+extinguishing the flames in the less fortunate four. In this, they were
+doubtless materially assisted by the condition of the planks and
+timbers, which being of green wood, the flames would perhaps have
+confined their ravages to the more combustible sails and cordage, and
+soon expired for want of fuel. They weighed anchor also, and taking
+advantage of the gusts which still blew over the lake, six of the
+largest and strongest set sail, and boldly plunged among the canoes,
+overturning and sinking many, while the others, receiving assistance
+from the shore, betook themselves to the little harbour, dragging with
+them their disabled consorts.
+
+In this manner, it soon became evident that the danger in this quarter
+was over; and Cortes, directing that the position of the brigantines
+should be strengthened by a temporary battery at the mouth of the river,
+returned to inspect the condition of the city in the neighbourhood of
+the palace.
+
+The sounds of contention were over; and one passing through the garden,
+and listening to the moaning of the winds through the trees, could
+scarce have believed that half an hour before it had been a scene of
+such warlike bustle. The bell rang no longer, the drums, trumpets, and
+arquebuses were silent, and the sentinels paced to and fro at their
+stations, as if nothing unusual had happened. The only sounds indeed
+that now vexed the calm of the night, were the occasional explosion of a
+falconet from some brigantine, afar among the shadows of the lake, still
+pursuing the retreating canoes. The attack was perhaps unpremeditated;
+or, perhaps, its only object was to taunt and defy. At all events, it
+was now over; and in less than an hour from the time of the first alarm,
+the cry of all's-well could be heard through the different quarters of
+the city.
+
+Before this satisfactory conclusion of an evening so eventful, the
+Captain-General was doomed to have his equanimity put to the proof by a
+new trial. A double line of guards surrounded the prison, and Guzman,
+Quinones, and Gaspar Olea were among them, the last wringing his hands,
+and bewailing; but the prison-door was open, a thin smoke issued from
+it, and he could see, at a glance, that the only persons in the
+apartment were a few soldiers, dashing water over its partly consumed
+floor. Under the very threshold lay the bodies of two soldiers,
+fearfully mangled; another was writhing, gasping, and dying in the arms
+of his comrades; and a fourth, severely wounded, was narrating to
+Quinones the particulars of an assault, made, as he averred, by ten
+thousand devils, or Mexicans, who sprang suddenly out of the earth,
+killed or dispersed the whole guard, carried off the prisoner, or burned
+him, he knew not which, (for he lay upon the ground, counterfeiting
+death,) and then, setting fire to the building, vanished quite as
+suddenly as they came.
+
+"Were these men Mexicans or Tlascalans?" demanded Cortes, without
+betraying any sign of feeling.
+
+The soldier started at the sound of his leader's voice, and hastily
+replied,
+
+"In good faith, seņor, I know not, for I was somewhat overcome with
+fear."
+
+"And with wine, sirrah!" exclaimed the General. "But it matters
+not--thou art too stupid to answer now. Have this fellow into the den,
+Quinones, and let him be brought to me to-morrow.--Seņor Don Francisco,
+we will walk to the palace."
+
+He put his arm into Guzman's, and dragging him to a little distance,
+where no beam of torch or cresset illuminated his visage, exclaimed,
+eagerly,
+
+"Tell me the truth, Francisco:--has he perished by fire in the prison,
+or has he escaped me?"
+
+"Seņor," replied Guzman, "his star, or his devil, has helped him."
+
+"Why then the fiends seize thee, and all false friends, who plague me!"
+cried Cortes, giving way to passion. "Is it thus I am to be cheated?"
+
+"Seņor," said Guzman, moderately, but without fear; "I have mine own
+cause of distress, for my hand is horribly mangled, and I have heard
+that the bite of a dying man causes mortification. So, with this pain of
+body and mind, I may not speak good counsel or good defence.--When I
+reached the prison, it was empty and on fire. Had not your excellency
+interfered with the execution this day--"
+
+"Ay, there again!" muttered the Captain-General; "mine own hand is made
+to befool me; it pulls out of the pit faster than my foot tramples in.
+Hark thee, Guzman, dost thou not think this young man is protected by
+some special providence?"
+
+"I, seņor?"
+
+"Why, look you, what could have carried him through the tribes of the
+West, to the South Sea, and back again?--(a device of thy scheming,
+too!) And, didst thou not see, I was about to run him through, in the
+very act of mutinous resistance, when a brute and insensate dog seized
+my sword-blade in his mouth? And now, for the third time, what but his
+angel could have brought to his prison-door yonder infidels of
+Mexico--his only friends, I think?"
+
+"Let your excellency question if this circumstance will not, without
+removing him from punishment, give a still stronger excuse for it? The
+scribe visited him in the dungeon; a paction with the enemy, sealed by
+the act of flight with them to their stronghold, has confirmed him
+thrice over a traitor."
+
+"Ay, by heaven! it is true!" said Cortes, smiting his hands together;
+"and, by and by, I will take him out of his hiding-place, and crown the
+day of victory with a double triumph!"
+
+"And who can affirm," quoth Don Francisco, "that the misbelievers have
+not taken him for a sacrifice? It is said, the coronation of Guatimozin
+is deferred only until he can provide a Castilian victim to do honour to
+the ceremony. By my faith, seņor, there is a pleasant twitch in my
+cheek,--ay, in the scar of the rapier-wound--at the very thought of this
+retribution!"
+
+"Now, by heaven," said Cortes, with an altered voice, "villain as he is,
+I cannot rejoice that such a dismal fate should befall him. Death,
+indeed, but not a death of horror! Dost thou think this, then, can be
+his doom? Alas, poor youth! had he but some one to lament him or to
+avenge, I were better satisfied with what I have done. I swear to thee,
+Francisco, we are e'en as base knaves as himself; for we have employed
+our strength--our cunning and our strength--against a creature that is
+utterly friendless. Alas, I say; for I remember me of the days of old;
+and surely I loved him once as my own soul."
+
+This outbreaking of feeling did not at all surprise Guzman, who had been
+familiar from the beginning with the ebbings and flowings of Don
+Hernan's hate, and who had several times seen him, when the destiny of
+Juan seemed already closed, affected so much that he shed tears, as he
+did at the present moment. But Guzman was acquainted with a spell which
+never failed to banish all compunction from the General's breast; and he
+did not scruple to employ it now.
+
+"It is enough!" muttered Cortes, through his clenched teeth. "Heaven and
+my conscience acquit me, and I will think of it no more."
+
+With these words, he seemed to discharge from his mind all thoughts of
+the youth so deeply detested, and addressing himself to the task of
+inspecting in person the condition of all assailable points in the city,
+betook himself at last, and at the day-dawn, to his repose.
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Infidel, Vol. I., by Robert Montgomery Bird
+
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+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Infidel, Vol. I., by Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+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: The Infidel, Vol. I.
+       or, the Fall of Mexico
+
+Author: Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+Release Date: December 1, 2010 [EBook #34529]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFIDEL, VOL. I. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>THE INFIDEL;</h1>
+
+<h2>OR, THE FALL OF MEXICO.</h2>
+
+<h3>A ROMANCE.</h3>
+
+<h2>BY THE AUTHOR OF "CALAVAR."</h2>
+
+
+<h3>SECOND EDITION.</h3>
+
+<h3>IN TWO VOLUMES.</h3>
+
+<h3>VOL. I.</h3>
+
+<h3>Philadelphia:<br />
+CAREY, LEA &amp; BLANCHARD.<br />
+1835.</h3>
+
+<h3>Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year<br />
+1835, by <span class="smcap">Carey, Lea &amp; Blanchard</span>, in the Clerk's Office<br />
+of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.</h3>
+
+<h3>PHILADELPHIA</h3>
+
+<h3>C. SHERMAN &amp; CO. PRINTERS, NO. 19 ST. JAMES STREET.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>&mdash;Un esforcado soldado, que se dezia <i>Lerma</i>&mdash;Se fue entre los Indios
+como aburrido de temor del mismo Cortes, a quien avia ayudado a salvar
+la vida, por ciertas cosas de enojo que Cortes contra čl tuvo, que
+aqui no declaro por su honor: nunca mas supimos del vivo, ni muerto,
+mala suspecha tuvimos.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bernal Diaz Del Castillo</span>&mdash;<i>Hist. Verd de la Conquista.</i></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">No hay mal que por bien no venga,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dicen adagios vulgares.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Calperon</span>&mdash;<i>La Dama Duende</i>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE INFIDEL.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The traveller, who wanders at the present day along the northern and
+eastern borders of the Lake of Tezcuco, searches in vain for those
+monuments of aboriginal grandeur, which surrounded it in the age of
+Montezuma. The lake itself, which not so much from the saltness of its
+flood as from the vastness of its expanse, was called by Cortes the Sea
+of Anahuac, is no longer worthy of the name. The labours of that unhappy
+race of men, whose bondage the famous Conquistador cemented in the blood
+of their forefathers, have conducted, through the bowels of a mountain,
+the waters of its great tributaries, the pools of San Cristobal and
+Zumpango; and these, rushing down the channel of the Tula, or river of
+Montezuma, and mingled with the surges of the great Gulf, support fleets
+of modern argosies, instead of piraguas and chinampas, and expend upon
+foundering ships-of-war the wrath, which, in their ancient beds, was
+wasted upon reeds and bulrushes. With the waters, which rippled through
+their streets, have vanished the numberless towns and cities, that once
+beautified the margin of the Alpine sea; the towers have fallen, the
+lofty pyramids melted into earth or air, and the palaces and tombs of
+kings will be looked for in vain, under tangled copses of thistle and
+prickly-pear.</p>
+
+<p>The royal city of Tezcuco is now, though the capital of a republican
+state, a mean and insignificant village. It was originally the
+metropolis of a kingdom once more ancient and powerful than that of
+Mexico; and which, when it had shared the fate of all others within the
+bounds of Anahuac, and acknowledged the sway of the Island Kings, still
+preserved the reputed, and perhaps the real possession of superior
+civilization. Its princes, in becoming the feudatories, became also the
+electors, of Mexico; and thus added dignity to an independence which was
+only nominal. The polished character of these barbarous chieftains, as
+the world has been taught to esteem them, may be better understood, when
+we know, that they sowed the roadside with corn for the sustenance of
+travellers, and the protection of husbandmen, built hospitals and
+observatories, endowed colleges and formed associations of literature
+and science, in which, to compare small things with great, as in the
+learned societies of modern Europe and America, encouragement was given
+to the study of history, poetry, music, painting, astronomy, and natural
+magic. The various mechanical trades were divided into corporate bodies,
+and assigned, each, to some particular quarter of the city; courts and
+councils were regularly established, and the laws which they dispensed,
+digested into uniform and written codes, some of which are still
+preserved. The kings of Tezcuco themselves mingled in the generous
+rivalries which they fomented: there are still in existence,&mdash;at least,
+in the form of translation,&mdash;several of the odes of Nezahualcojotl, a
+royal Tezcucan poet; and his hymns to the Creator, composed half a
+century before the advent of the Spaniards, were admired and chanted by
+the Conquerors, until devoted by misjudging and fanatical missionaries
+to the flames which consumed the written histories and laws of the
+kingdom, as well as the idolatrous rituals of the priests, with which
+last the others were unfortunately confounded.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>A few ruins&mdash;a cluster of dilapidated houses&mdash;a galloping Creole on his
+high Spanish saddle, with glittering <i>manga</i> and rattling
+<i>anquera</i>,&mdash;and, now and then, an Indian skulking moodily along, in his
+squalid <i>serape</i>,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>&mdash;are all that remain of Tezcuco.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1521, the year that followed the flight of the
+Spaniards from Mexico, the city of the Acolhuacanese presented all its
+grandeur of aspect, and, to the eye, looked full as royal and
+imperishable as in the best days of its freedom. But the molewarp was
+digging at its foundations; and the cloud which had ravaged the Mexican
+valley, and then passed away into the east, where it lay for a time
+still and small, 'like to a man's hand,' had again crept over the
+mountain barriers to its gates, and was now brooding among its
+sanctuaries. A group of Christian men sat under a cypress-tree, without
+the walls, regarding the great pyramid, on whose lofty terrace,
+overshadowing the surrounding edifices, floated a crimson banner of
+velvet and gold, on which, besides the royal arms of Spain, was
+emblazoned, as on the Labarum of the Constantines, a white cross, with
+the legend, imitated from that famous standard of fanaticism, <i>In hoc
+signo vincemus</i>. If other proof had been wanting of the return of the
+Spaniards to the scene of their discomfiture, their presence in Tezcuco,
+and their unchangeable resolution to complete the work of conquest so
+disastrously begun, it might have been traced abundantly in the strange
+spectacle, which, equally with the desecrated temple, divided the
+attention of the group of Castilians at the cypress-tree. They sat on a
+little swell of earth,&mdash;a natural mound which jutted into the lake,
+whose waters, agitated by a western breeze, dashed in musical breakers
+at its base; while the rustling of the leaves above, mingled with these
+sounds of waves, a tone that was both melancholy and harmonious. The
+beautiful prospect of Tezcuco, rising beyond fertile meadows in the
+livery of spring, flanked, on the right hand, by a sheet of dark and
+glossy water,&mdash;with white towers, turrets, and temple-tops, painted, as
+it seemed, on a background of mountains of the purest azure, was enough
+of itself to engross the admiration of a looker-on, had there not been
+presented, hard by, a scene still more singular and romantic.</p>
+
+<p>A train of warriors, artificers and labourers, the latter bending under
+such burthens as had never before descended to the verge of Tezcuco, was
+seen passing, at a little distance, towards the city, into which, as was
+denoted by a sudden explosion of artillery and the blast of trumpets on
+the top of the pyramid, the leaders were just entering, while the rear
+of the procession, extending for miles, and winding like some mighty
+snake, over hill and meadow, was lost among distant forests.</p>
+
+<p>The martial salutation from the town was answered by the whole train
+with a yell, filling the air, and causing the distant hills and lakes to
+tremble with the reverberation. In this, the ear might detect, besides
+the war-cry of Indians, "Tlascala, Tlascala!" the not less piercing
+shouts of Spaniards, "In the name of God and Santiago!" as well as the
+flourish of bugles, scattered at intervals among the train. If the broad
+Sea of Anahuac trembled at the sound, it was with good reason; for the
+clamour of triumph indicated the approach of those unknown naval
+engines, which were to plough its undefiled bosom, and convert every
+billow into the vassal of the stranger. On the shoulders of eight
+thousand Tlascalans, were borne the materials for the construction of
+thirteen brigantines, with which the unconquerable Spaniard, capable of
+every expedient, meditated the complete investment and the certain
+reduction of Tenochtitlan. The iron, the sails, and cordage of that
+fleet which he had caused to be broken up and sunk in the harbour of
+Vera Cruz, were added to planks, spars, and timbers from the sierras of
+Tlascala, and to pitch and rosin from the <i>pinales</i>, or pine-forests, of
+Huexotzinco,&mdash;a gloomy and broken desert, notorious, in the present day,
+as the haunt of bandits, the most brutal and merciless in the world.</p>
+
+<p>The brawny carriers of these massive materials were protected, on the
+front and in the rear, by legions of their countrymen, armed, after
+their wild and romantic way, and clad in tunics of cotton or maguey
+cloth, with tiaras of feathers; who passed by in successive bodies of
+spearmen, archers, slingers, and swordsmen, arranged and divided in the
+manner of their Christian confederates. Besides these guards of front
+and rear, of whom the historian Herrera asserts, there were 180,000,
+while even the modest Clavigero computes their numbers at full one-sixth
+of this vast host, there were on either flank, bodies of picked
+warriors, marching in company with small bands of Spaniards, and
+personally led by distinguished Christian cavaliers. A military man may
+form a juster estimate of the numbers of the train, by being told, that
+it formed a line more than six miles in length, the whole marching
+compactly, and in strict order, so as to be best able to resist an
+attack of enemies.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards under the cypress-tree, surveyed this striking spectacle
+with interest, but not with the grave wonder and absorbing admiration of
+men unfamiliar with such scenes. On the contrary, it was evident, from
+the tone of the remarks with which they wiled away the time of
+observation, (for it was many a long hour before the last of the train
+drew in sight,) that they were of that levity of spirit, or in that
+wantonness of mood, which can find matter for ridicule in the most
+serious of occurrences. Thus, they beheld, or fancied they beheld,
+somewhat that was diverting in the persons, or motions, of the stern and
+warlike Tlascalans, and especially in the zealous eagerness with which
+these barbarians strove to imitate the bearing and gait, as well as the
+evolutions, of their disciplined associates. Nay, their raillery was
+extended even to the Spanish portion of the train; and, sometimes, when
+a comrade passed by, if near enough to be made sensible of the jest, he
+was saluted with some such outpouring of wit, as put to the proof either
+his gravity or his patience.</p>
+
+<p>These happy individuals, to whom we desire to introduce the reader, were
+five in number, and, with a single exception, though betraying none of
+the submissiveness of inferior personages, were evidently of no very
+exalted rank in the Christian army. Their attire was plain, and
+consisted, for the most part, of the cumbrous escaupil, or
+cotton-armour, over which, in the case of one or two, at least, were
+buckled a few plates of iron. Most of them had on their heads, helmets,
+or rather caps, of the same flimsy material, sometimes so thickly padded
+as to assume the bulk, as well as the appearance of rude turbans; all
+wore swords, and two had crossbows hanging at their backs. No
+distinction of station could have been inferred from their manner of
+discoursing one with another; and it was only by the morion of bright
+steel, richly inlaid with gold, on the head of one, and the polished
+hauberk on his chest, worn more for display than for any present
+service, that the wearer would have been recognized as of a grade
+superior to that of his companions. He was a tall and athletic cavalier,
+with a long chin, and cheeks broad and bony; and a singular and rather
+unpleasing expression was added to his countenance by eyes
+disproportionably small, though exceedingly black, keen, and resolute. A
+small, sharply peaked beard,&mdash;mustaches so thin, long, and straight,
+that they looked rather like the drooping locks of a woman than the
+favourites of a vain gallant,&mdash;a narrow but lofty forehead, on either
+side of which, divided and smoothed with effeminate care, fell masses of
+straight black hair, touched, yet almost invisibly, with the traces of
+matured manhood,&mdash;a small mouth,&mdash;a prominent nose,&mdash;and a complexion
+exceedingly dark, yet rather of the hue of iron than mahogany, completed
+a visage which a stranger would not have hesitated to attribute to a man
+of decided character, but without daring to determine whether that was
+of good or evil.</p>
+
+<p>The individual who would have been the second to attract the notice of a
+wayfarer, owed this distinction rather to his personal deformity than to
+any other very striking characteristic. He was a hunchback, with much of
+the saturnine and sour expression which distinguishes the countenances
+of the deformed, and yet of a spirit so much belied by his looks, that
+he heard, recognized, and constantly replied to, without anger, the
+nickname of <i>Corcobado</i>, or the humpbacked, to which his misfortune
+exposed him. The most observable peculiarity in his countenance, was the
+uncommon length of his nose, which so far intruded upon the lower part
+of his visage, as to give this a look of age, which was contradicted,
+not only by other features, but by the prodigious muscularity of his
+shoulders and arms. It must be confessed, however, that his lower
+extremities were entirely unworthy to compare with the upper, being both
+so short and thin, that when he stood upon his feet, his arms crossed
+behind,&mdash;which was their ordinary position,&mdash;with the stout iron plates
+protruding from both back and breast, he looked rather like a bundle of
+armour and garments, exposed to the air and supported above the earth on
+two broken pikestaves or javelins, than a living and human creature.</p>
+
+<p>The next individual was a man of good stature, who would have been
+considered, notwithstanding his grey hairs, the strongest man in the
+company, had it not been for his general emaciation and an expression of
+suffering on a countenance over which disease, contracted among the hot
+and humid swamps of the coast, had cast the sickliest hues of jaundice.
+Indeed, this discolouration, on a visage naturally none of the fairest,
+was of so deep a tint, that it had gained for the invalid, as well as
+for a whole ship's crew of his companions, the significant title of <i>Ojo
+Verde</i>, or the Green Eye. And here we may as well observe, that, in the
+army of Cortes, the wit which shows itself in the invention of such
+distinctions, was so prevalent, that there was scarce a man, from the
+general down to his groom or scullion, who had not been honoured by at
+least <i>one</i> sobriquet.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth personage was a man of indifferent figure, remarkable for
+little save the marvellous sweetness of his eyes, which were set among
+features exceedingly sharp and harsh, and the volubility of his tongue.</p>
+
+<p>The fifth sat apart from the others, a little down the slope of the
+hillock, with tablets in his hands, yet so plunged in abstraction, or so
+much wrapped up in the contemplation of the dark lake, the little
+piraguas dancing over its billows, and the far-distant turrets of the
+infidel city, that he seemed to have forgotten, not only the presence of
+his companions, and the passing procession, but the purpose for which he
+had drawn forth his writing implements.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of the cannon, as we have said, was immediately responded to
+by the shouts of the train; which, commencing at the gates of the city,
+were continued and prolonged by the various bodies that composed the
+huge and moving mass, until they died away in the distance, like peals
+of rolling thunder. At the same time, the Indians struck their tabours,
+and sounded their conches and cane-flutes, in rivalry with the Spanish
+buglers; and a din was made, which, for a time, put a stop to the
+conversation of the four Castilians. It also startled the solitary man
+from his meditations, but only for an instant. He rose, turned his eye
+listlessly towards the procession, and then again resuming his seat, he
+was presently sunk in as profound abstraction as before.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the cavalier of the helmet had bent his gaze upon the
+pyramid, from the top of which the cannon-smoke was driving slowly away
+like a cloud, and revealing the proud banner, which it had for a moment
+enveloped. He could see, even at this distance, that the two stone
+turrets,&mdash;the idol-chambers,&mdash;on the summit, were crowned with crosses,
+and that the flag-staff,&mdash;a tall cedar, that might have made a mast for
+an admiral's ship,&mdash;was surrounded by a tent, or rather pavilion, of
+native white cloth, broadly striped with crimson, which glittered
+brilliantly at its foot. As he looked he stroked his beard, and
+muttered, addressing himself to the hunchback,</p>
+
+<p>"Harkee, Najara, man! give me the benefit of thy thoughts, and care not
+if they come out like crab-apples. What thinkest thou of Cortes now? Is
+there not something over-stately and very regal-like in the present
+condition of his temper?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why dost thou ask that of <i>me</i>, when thou hast Villafana at thy elbow?"
+replied the hunchback, with a voice worthy the acerbity of his aspect:
+"if thou wilt have dirty water, get thee to the ditch."</p>
+
+<p>"You call me <i>Gruņidor</i>, and grumbler I am," said he of the sweet eyes,
+with a laugh. "I grumble when I am in the humour; and I care not who
+knows it. Am I a ditch, old sinner? I'faith, I must be, when I have such
+ill weeds as thyself growing about me. Wilt thou have <i>my</i> thoughts,
+seņor Guzman, on this subject? I can speak them."</p>
+
+<p>"Be quick, then," said the cavalier; "for Corcobado is digesting an
+answer to thy fling, which will leave thee speechless."</p>
+
+<p>"Pho, I will bandy mudballs with him at any moment," said Villafana: "I
+care not for the buffets of a friend. As for the noble seņor, the
+Captain General, what you say is true. The king's letter hath set him
+mad. While the Bishop of Burgos was still in power, and his enemy, he
+was e'en a good companion,&mdash;a comrade, and no master. Demonios! 'twas a
+better thing for us, when his authority rested on our good-will, and no
+royal patent."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," said Guzman; "when we were but rebels and exiles, denounced by the
+governor, cursed by the priest, and outlawed by the king, Cortes was the
+most moderate, humble, and loving rogue of us all. I do think, he is
+somewhat altered."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, seņor, there is no such bond for our friendship as a consciousness
+of dependence upon those who love us; and nothing so efficacious in
+cooling us to friends, as the discovery that we can do without them. His
+authority is no longer our gift; the bishop has fallen; the king has
+acknowledged his claims, and sent him, besides a fair, lawful commission
+and goodly reinforcements both of men and arms, a letter of commendation
+written with his own royal hands. May his majesty live a thousand years!
+but would to heaven his letter were at the bottom of the sea. It has
+brought us a hard master. Can your favour solve me the riddle of the
+king's change? What argument has so operated on his mind, that he now
+does honour to a man he once condemned as a traitor, and advances him
+into such power as leaves him independent even of the Governor of the
+Islands?"</p>
+
+<p>"The very same argument," replied Guzman, "which has turned thee&mdash;a
+friend of Velasquez&mdash;into the most devoted, though grumbling adherent of
+our Captain&mdash;<i>interest</i>, sirrah, interest. It is manifest, that this
+empire was made to be won; and equally apparent, that the man who could
+half subdue it, though trammelled and opposed by all the arts and power
+of Velasquez, was the fittest to conclude the good work; and what was no
+less persuasive, it was plain, our valiant Don was fully determined to
+do the work himself, without much questioning whether the king would or
+not."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, by heaven!" cried Villafana, "you make out the general to be a
+traitor, indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay;&mdash;for, in certain cases, there is virtue in treason."</p>
+
+<p>"Hark now to Villafana!" cried the hunchback, abruptly: "he will thank
+you for the maxim, as if 'twere a mass for his soul."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i>, curmudgeon?" exclaimed the grumbler. "There were a virtue in it,
+could it bring such fellows as thyself to the block. What I aver, is,
+that the king's honours have spoiled our general. By'r lady, I see not
+what good can come of sending us a Royal Treasurer, Franciscan friars
+with bulls of St. Peter, and Lady Abbesses to build up nunneries, unless
+to make up more state for our leader."</p>
+
+<p>"Then art thou more thick-pated than I thought thee," replied the
+cavalier. "The bulls will make us somewhat stronger of heart, and
+therefore better gatherers of gold in a land where gold is not to be had
+without fighting. La Monjonaza will sanctify our efforts, by converting
+the women; and the king's Treasurer will see that we do not cheat the
+king, after we have got our rewards, as, it is rumoured, we have done
+somewhat already."</p>
+
+<p>"Santos! I know what thou art pointing at, Don Francisco," said
+Villafana, significantly. "The four hundred thousand crowns that have
+vanished out of the treasury, hah! This is a matter that has stained the
+General's honour for ever. And as for La Monjonaza, thou knowest there
+are dark thoughts about her."</p>
+
+<p>"Have a care," said Don Francisco. "We are friends, and friends may
+speak their minds: but I cannot hear thee abuse Don Hernan."</p>
+
+<p>"Hast thou never been as free thyself?" cried Villafana, with a laugh,
+which mingled a careless derision with good-humour. "Come, now,&mdash;confess
+thou wert pleased to be appointed Grand Guardian and Chamberlain,&mdash;or,
+if thou wilt, Grand Vizier,&mdash;to his god-son, the young king of Tezcuco;
+and that, since he gave thee Lerma's horse, thou hast been better
+mounted than any other cavalier in the army."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art an ass. Cortes has ever been my friend; and when I have
+complained, as I have sometimes done, it was only like a good house-dog,
+who howls in the night-watches, because he has nothing better to amuse
+him. But hold,&mdash;look! the carriers are passed. The rear-guard
+approaches. Now is my friend Sandoval yonder, betwixt the two Tlascalan
+chiefs, glorified in his imagination. 'Slid! he would have had me
+exchange my brown Bobadil for his raw-boned Motacila!&mdash;Come, Najara, rub
+up thy wit; fling me some sweet word into the teeth of the Tlascalan
+generals. Dost thou perceive with what solemn visages they approach us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I perceive," said Najara, "that Xicotencal is in no mood for jesting.
+It is said, he comes to join us with his power reluctantly. Dost thou
+see how he stalks by himself, frowning? A maravedi to a ducat, he would
+sooner take us by the throat than the hand!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why then, be quick, show him thy scorn in a fillip."</p>
+
+<p>"Hast thou forgotten it has been decreed a matter for the bastinado, to
+abuse an ally?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" cried Villafana, "there is another fruit of a king's patent. One
+may neither laugh nor scold, gamble nor play truant, but straight he is
+told of a decree. Faith, when Cortes was our plain Captain, it was
+another matter: if there was aught to be done or not to do, it was then,
+in simple phrase, 'I commend to your favours,' or, 'I beg of your
+friendships, do me this thing,' or, 'do it not,' as was needful. But now
+the Captain-General deals only in decrees or proclamations, wherein we
+have commands for exhortations, prohibitions in place of dissuasions,
+and, withal, a plentiful garnishing of stocks and dungeons, whips and
+halters, all in the king's name. By Santiago! there is too much state in
+this."</p>
+
+<p>"Pho! thou art an Alguazil; why shouldst thou care?" said the Cavalier.
+"The decrees are wholesome, the restrictions wise. It is right, we
+should not displease the Republicans: they are our best friends,&mdash;very
+quick and jealous too; and we were but a scotched snake without them."</p>
+
+<p>"If they fight our battles," said Villafana, "they divide our spoil. In
+my mind, that black-faced Xicotencal is a villain and traitor."</p>
+
+<p>"Thy judgment is better, in such matters, than another's," said the
+hunchback.</p>
+
+<p>"Right!" cried Guzman; "the Alguazil will be presently in his own
+stocks, if thou dost heat him into a quarrel. We are not forbidden to
+abuse one another. Let the red jackalls pass by unnoticed; we have mirth
+enough among ourselves,&mdash;we will worry our Immortality. Look, Najara,
+man; dost thou not see in what perplexity of cogitation he is
+involved,&mdash;yonder dull Bernal? Rouse him with a quip, now; pierce him
+with a jest. Come, stir; rub thy nose, make thy wit as sharp as a goad,
+and prick the ox out of his slumber."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, good Corcobado," cried Villafana, turning from the procession, and
+mischievously eyeing their solitary and abstracted companion, "fling out
+the legs of thy understanding, like a rough horse, and see if thou canst
+not strike fire out of his flinty brain. All the scratching in the world
+will not do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, were you not both besotted, and bent upon self-destruction," said
+the deformed, regarding the pair with a commiserating sneer, "you would
+not ask me to disturb our Immortality; who is, at this moment,
+meditating by what possible stretch of benevolence he can hand your
+names down to posterity; a thing, which if <i>he</i> do not effect, you may
+be sure, nobody else will. Seņor Guzman, 'twas but a half-hour since,
+that he asked me, if I could, upon mine own knowledge, acquaint him with
+any act of thine worthy of commemoration."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, indeed!" said the cavalier, laughing; "was Bernal of this mind,
+then? He asked thee this question? By my faith, have I not killed as
+many Indians as another? Have I not encountered as many risks, and
+endured as many knocks? Out upon the misbelieving caitiff! he asked thee
+this question? Thy reply now? pr'ythee, thy learned answer to this
+foolish interrogatory? What saidst thou, now, in good truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"In good truth, then," replied Najara, with a sour gravity, "I told him,
+I had it, upon excellent authority, though I believed it not myself,
+that thou wert a cavalier, equal to any, in the virtues of a
+soldier,&mdash;bold, quick, and resolute,&mdash;cool and fiery,&mdash;a lover of peril,
+a relisher of blood; one that had won more gold than he could pocket,
+more slaves than he could make marketable, and more renown than he cared
+to boast of; a prudent captain, yet a better follower, because of the
+ardour of his temper, which was, indeed, upon occasion, so hot, that,
+sometimes, it was feared, he might take Cortes by the beard, for being
+too faint-hearted."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thou rogue, thou merry thing of vinegar, thou hast belied me!"
+cried Guzman; "thou knowest, I would sooner eat my arms,&mdash;lance,
+buckler, and all,&mdash;than lift my hand against the General: I would, by my
+troth, for I love him. But come, now,&mdash;thou saidst all this, upon good
+authority? You jest, you rogue,&mdash;we are all jealous and envious. We have
+good words from none but Cortes.&mdash;What authority?"</p>
+
+<p>"Marry, upon that of thine own lips," replied the hunchback; "for I know
+not who else could have invented so liberally."</p>
+
+<p>"Out!" cried the cavalier, somewhat intemperately; "you presume&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! ha! a truce, a truce, Don Francisco!" exclaimed Villafana; "a fair
+hit&mdash;no quarrelling; for captain though thou be, thou knowest I am sworn
+Alguazil, as well as head-turnkey, chief executioner, and the Lord knows
+what beside. No wrath among friends&mdash;A very justifiable, fair hit!
+Najara must have his ways. Thou wilt see, by and by, how he will lay
+<i>me</i> by the ears. Come, Corcobado, begin.&mdash;He who plays with colts, must
+look to be kicked.&mdash;Come now, be sharp, fear not; I am a dog, and love
+thee all the better for cudgelling."</p>
+
+<p>"I know thou art, and I know thou dost," said Najara; "for I remember,
+that ever since Don Hernan had thee scourged, for abusing the Tlascalan
+woman, thou hast been a more loving hound than any other of the
+Velasquez faction."</p>
+
+<p>"Fuego de dios! Pho,&mdash;Good! Ha! ha! very good!" exclaimed Villafana,
+laughing, though somewhat disconcerted. "I confess the beating; but then
+I have a back to endure it&mdash;Hah! A Roland for an Oliver, a kick for a
+buffet! Thou liest, though, as to the cause: 'twas for taking the old
+senator they call Maxiscatzin by the beard, when he had given me the
+first sop of the Maguey-liquor. I was drunk, sirrah, broke rules,
+disobeyed orders, and so deserved my guerdon. Wilt thou be satisfied? By
+this hand, I grumble not. I should trounce thee for the like
+misdemeanour,&mdash;that is, if I could find whereon to lay my scourge. Aha!
+wilt thou pull noses with me? Come, what saidst thou of me to Bernal? I
+bear thee no malice, man;&mdash;no, no more than the general.&mdash;Drunk indeed?
+He should have struck my head off!"</p>
+
+<p>"I told him," said Najara, "that thou wert, in some sense, worthy to be
+chronicled."</p>
+
+<p>"Many thanks for that," said Villafana, "were it only on account of the
+beating."</p>
+
+<p>"For though thou wert as naturally given to grovelling as a football,
+yet wouldst thou as certainly mount, at every kick, as that same bag of
+wind."</p>
+
+<p>"Bravo! bravo!" cried the Alguazil, with a roar of delight, in which he
+was joined by Guzman; "thou art as witty and unsavoury as ever, and thou
+dingest me about the ears as with a pine-tree. What else, cielo mio?
+what else saidst thou to Bernal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Simply, that thou hadst more boldness than would be thought of thee,
+more dreams than would be reckoned of thy dull brain, and such skill at
+rising, notwithstanding the clog of thy folly, that it was manifest thou
+wouldst not be content, till thy feet were two fathoms from the earth,
+and thy crown as near to the oak-bough as the rope would."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, fu! fy!" said Villafana, "hast thou no better trope for hanging?
+Have you done? Am I despatched? Get thee to better game, then; and see
+thou art more metaphoric. Hast thou no verjuice for our good friend
+here, Camarga?"</p>
+
+<p>The individual thus alluded to, though giving his attention to the
+conversation, had maintained a profound and unsympathetic silence during
+all. He stood leaning against the tree, folding over his breast, and
+even wrapping about his chin, the long cloak of striped cotton
+cloth&mdash;the product of the country,&mdash;the bright and gaudy colours of
+which contrasted unnaturally with the sickly hue of his visage.
+Throughout all, when not particularly noticed, his countenance wore an
+expression of as much mental as bodily pain; but when thus accosted by
+Villafana, it changed at once, and in a remarkable degree, from gloom to
+good-humour, and even to apparent gayety. It is true, that, at the
+moment when his name was pronounced, he started quickly with a sort of
+nervous agitation; and a sudden rush of blood into his face, mingling
+with its bilious stain, covered it with the swarthiest purple: but this
+immediately passed away&mdash;perhaps before any of his comrades had noted
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"I cry you mercy, seņor Villafana," he said; "I am as unworthy to be
+made the butt of wit as the subject of history. My ambition runs not
+beyond my conscience; the month that I have spent in this land,&mdash;and it
+is scarce a month,&mdash;has been wasted in disease and idleness. A year
+hence, I shall be more worthy your consideration. But tell me, good
+friends, is it true, as you say, that yonder worthy soldier hath been
+appointed the historian of your brave exploits? By mine honour, his head
+seems to me better fitted to receive blows than to remember them, and
+his hand to repay them rather than to record."</p>
+
+<p>"He is, truly," said Villafana, "our Immortality, as we call him, or our
+Historian, as he denominates himself. As to his appointment, it comes of
+his own will, and not of our grace; but we quarrel not with his humours.
+He conceives himself called to be our chronicler. Who cares? He can do
+no harm. I am told, he doth greatly abuse Cortes, especially in the
+matter of the slaves, and the gold we fetched from Mexico in the Flight.
+By'r lady, I have heard some sharp things said about that."</p>
+
+<p>"You said them yourself," muttered Najara. "It is well you are in
+favour."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by my troth," cried Guzman; "<i>Cuidado</i>, Villafana! Don Hernan will
+be angry. Good luck to you! You are the lion's small dog: seize not his
+majesty by the nose."</p>
+
+<p>"Pho, friends! here's a coil," said the Alguazil, stoutly: "Don Hernan
+knows me: I will say what I think. I have maintained to his face, that
+there was foul work with the gold, and that we have been cheated
+of our shares; I have told him what ill work was made of both
+Repartimientos,&mdash;the partition of the slaves,&mdash;at Segura-de-la-Frontera,
+and here at Tezcuco,&mdash;scurvy, knavish work, seņores: One may fetch
+angels to the brand, but, ay de mi! the iron turns them into beldames!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, there is some truth in that," said Guzman, a little thoughtfully.
+"No man honours Don Hernan more than myself; and yet did he suffer me to
+be choused out of the princess I fetched from Iztapalapan."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, the whole army witnessed it, and there was not a man who did not
+cry shame on you for taking it so&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Good-humouredly," interrupted the cavalier. "Rub me as thou wilt for a
+jest, Villafana; but touch me not in soberness."</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw! can I not abuse thee as a friend, without the apology of a grin?
+Thou hadst been used basely, had not Cortes made up the loss with
+Lerma's horse. I have heard thee complain as much as another; and even
+now, thou art as bitter as any against this mad scheme of the ships.
+Demonios! our general will have us rot in the lake, like our friends of
+the Noche Triste!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou errest," said the cavalier, gravely. "I have changed my mind, on
+this subject: I perceive we shall conquer this city."</p>
+
+<p>"Wilt thou be sworn to that?" exclaimed the Alguazil, earnestly. "I tell
+thee, as a friend, we are all mad, and we are deluded to death. If we
+launch the brigantines, we are but gods' meat&mdash;food for idols and
+cannibals. We were fools to come from Tlascala. Would to Heaven we had
+departed with Duero! We are toiled on to our fate, to make Cortes
+famous: he will win his renown out of our corses. What sayst thou,
+Najara, mi Corcobado, mi Hacedor de Tropos?"</p>
+
+<p>"Even that the will-o-th'-wisps, the Ignes-fatui, rising out of our
+decaying bodies, will forsake each honest man's corse, to gather,
+glory-wise, about the head of our leader.&mdash;Is that to thy liking?"</p>
+
+<p>"Marvellously! Thy wit explains and gives tongue to my thoughts. Thou
+seest things clearly&mdash;I am glad thou art of my way of thinking. This is
+our destiny, if we continue our insane enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>"A pest upon thee, clod!" cried the Hunchback; "I did but supply thee a
+simile, in pity of thine own barrenness. <i>I</i> of thy way of thinking?
+Dost imagine I will hang with thee? <i>I</i> see things clearly? Marry, I do.
+Give tongue to thy thoughts? Ratsbane!"</p>
+
+<p>As Najara spoke, he bent his sour and piercing looks on the Alguazil;
+who, much to the surprise of Camarga, grew pale, and snatched at his
+dagger, in an ecstasy of rage, greatly disproportioned to the offence,
+if such there could be in what seemed idle and unmeaning sarcasms. The
+wrath of Villafana, however, was checked by the mirth of the cavalier,
+Don Francisco, who exclaimed with the triumph of retaliation,</p>
+
+<p>"A fair knock, by St. Dominic! Art thou laid by the heels, now? Sirrah
+Alguazil, if thou showest but an inch more of thy dudgeon, I will have
+thee in thine own stocks,&mdash;ay, faith, and on thine own block, into the
+bargain. Forgettest thou the decree? Death, man, very mortal death to
+any one who draws weapon upon a christian comrade: thy hidalgo blood,
+(if thou hast any, as thou art ever boasting,) will not save thee. Pho!
+thou art notoriously known to be a plotter. Why shouldst thou be angry?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hombre!</i> I am not angry <i>now</i>: but, methinks, Corcobado hath the art
+of inflaming whatever is combustible in man's body. A good friend were
+he for a poor man, in the winter. Why, thou bitter, misjudging,
+remorseless, male-shrew, here is my hand, in token I will not maul thee.
+Why dost thou ever persecute me with thy hints? By and by, men will come
+to believe thou art in earnest. <i>What</i> dost thou see, that I care not to
+have exposed? I am a plotter? I grant ye; so Cortes hath called me to my
+face a dozen times, or more. I am a grumbler? So he avers, and so I
+allow. I must speak what I think; ay, and I must growl, too. All this is
+apparent, but it harms me not with the general: he scolds me very oft;
+but who stands better in his favour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou takest the matter too seriously," said Guzman. "Hast thou no
+suspicion that thy self-commendations are tedious?"</p>
+
+<p>"In such case, hadst thou ever any thyself?" demanded the unrelenting
+Najara. "Pray, let him go on. Let him draw his dagger, if he will, too.
+What care I? I have a better fence than the decree."</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw, man," said Villafana, "why dost thou take a frown so bitterly? I
+will not quarrel with thee. But I would thou couldst be reasonable in
+thy fillips: call me a knave openly, if thou wilt; thy insinuations have
+the air of seriousness. But come; you have robbed the seņor Camarga of
+his diversion with Bernal. Lo you now, if our wrangling have disturbed
+him a jot! He sits there, like an old horse of a summer's day, patient
+and uncomplaining; and, all the time, there are gadfly thoughts
+persecuting his imagination."</p>
+
+<p>"Methinks, seņores," said Camarga, "you should be curious to know in
+what manner the good man records your actions. For my part, I should be
+well content to be made better acquainted with them; especially with
+those later exploits, since the retreat from Mexico, of which I have
+heard only confused and contradictory accounts. Will he suffer us to
+examine his chronicles?"</p>
+
+<p>"Suffer us!" cried Guzman; "if you do but give him a grain of
+encouragement, never believe me but he will requite you with pounds of
+his stupidity. What, have you any curiosity?&mdash;Harkee, Bernal, man!&mdash;You
+shall see how I will rouse him,&mdash;Bernal Diaz! Historian! Immortality!
+what ho, seņor Del Castillo! Are you asleep? Zounds, sirrah, here are
+three or four dull fellows, who, for lack of better amusement, are
+willing to listen to your history."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+
+<p>At these words, the worthy thus appealed to, woke from his revery, and
+staring a moment in some little perplexity at his companions, took up a
+long copper-headed spear, which rested on the ground at his side, and
+advanced towards them. Viewed at a little distance, the gravity of his
+countenance gave him an appearance of age, which vanished on a nearer
+inspection. In reality, if his own recorded account can be believed,
+(and heaven forbid we should attach any doubt to the representations of
+our excellent prototype,) he did not number above twenty-six or
+twenty-seven years, and was thus, as he chose to call himself, 'a
+stripling.' Young as he was, however, there was not a man in the army of
+Cortes who had seen more, or more varied service than Bernal Diaz del
+Castillo. His exploits in the New World had commenced seven years
+before, among the burning and pestilential fens of Nombre de Dios,&mdash;a
+place made still more odious to an aspiring youth by the ferocious
+dissensions of its inhabitants, and that bloodthirsty jealousy of its
+ruler, which had rewarded with the block the man<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> who disclosed to
+Spain the broad expanse of the Pacific, and led his subaltern, Pizarro,
+to the shores of Peru. With the two adventurers, Cordova and Grijalva,
+who had preceded Cortes in the attempt upon the lands of Montezuma,
+(discovered by the first,) Bernal Diaz shared the wounds and
+misadventures of both expeditions; and he was among the first to join
+the standard of Don Hernan, in the third and most successful of the
+Spanish descents.</p>
+
+<p>The hardships he had endured, the constant and unmitigated suffering to
+which he had been exposed for seven years, had given him much of the
+weatherbeaten look of a veteran, which, added to the sombre gravity of
+his visage, caused him to present, at the first sight, the appearance of
+a man of forty years or more. His garments were of a dusky red cloth,
+padded into escaupil, with back and breast-pieces of iron, over which
+was a long cloak of a chocolate colour, well embroidered, and, though
+much worn and tarnished, obviously a holiday suit. To these were added a
+black velvet hat, ornamented with three flamingo feathers, striking up
+like the points of a trident, with the medal of a saint, rudely wrought
+in gold, hanging beneath them. His person was brawny, his face full and
+inexpressive; his dull grey eyes indicated nothing but simplicity and
+absence of mind, or rather inattentiveness; and it required the presence
+of many scars of several wounds on his countenance, to convince a
+stranger that Bernal actually possessed the fortitude to encounter such
+badges of honour.</p>
+
+<p>He approached the group with a heavy and indolent tread, bearing in his
+hand a bundle of leaves of maguey paper, such as served the purposes of
+the native painters and chroniclers of Anahuac, and with which he was
+fain to supply the want of a better material.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou hear, seņor Inmortalidad?" cried Don Francisco de Guzman, as
+the martial annalist took his seat serenely among the Castilians; "art
+thou deaf, dumb, or still wrapt in thy seventh heaven, that thou
+answerest not a word to my salutations? Zounds, man, I will not ask thee
+a second time."</p>
+
+<p>"What is your will?" said Bernal Diaz, "what will you have of me,
+seņores?" he repeated, surveying each member of the group, one after the
+other. "I did think that this being a day of license and rejoicing to so
+many of us, I might have an opportunity, not often in my power, of
+putting down some things in my journal which it will be well to do,
+before setting out on the circuit of the lake, wherein there may happen
+some passages to drive from my memory those which are not yet recorded.
+But, by my faith, you have talked loud and much, and so disturbed my
+mind, that I have entirely lost some things I intended to say. I would
+to heaven you would find some other place to your liking, and leave me
+alone for a few hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, thou infidel!" said Guzman, "if thou likest not our company, why
+dost thou not leave it? Dost thou forget thou hast the power of
+locomotion? Wilt thou wait for us to depart before thou bethinkest thee
+of thine own legs? By'r lady! thou art not yet in thy senses!"</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith, so I can!" said the historian, abruptly, as if the idea
+had just entered his mind: "I will go down to the lake shore, where the
+sound of the waves will drown your voices. There is something
+encouraging to contemplation in the dashing of water; but as for men's
+voices, I could never think well, when they were within hearing. I beg
+your pardon, all, seņores: I will go down."</p>
+
+<p>"What! when here are four fools, who are in the humour of listening to
+thee for some seven minutes, or so? ay, man, to thy crazy chronicles!
+When wilt thou expect such another audience? Lo you, the seņor Camarga
+has desired to be made acquainted with your learned lucubrations. Come,
+stir; open thy lips, exalt thyself, while thou art alive; for after
+death, there is no saying how short a time thou wilt sleep in cobwebs."</p>
+
+<p>"You jeer me, seņor Guzman; you laugh at me, gentlemen," said the
+soldier, gravely; "and thereby you do yourselves, as well as me, much
+wrong. Is it so great a thing for a soldier to write a history? The
+valiant Julius Cæsar of Rome recorded, with his own hand, his great
+actions in France, Britain, and our own Castile, as I know full well;
+for when I was a boy at school, I saw the very book; and sorry I am that
+the poverty of my parents denied me such instruction, as might have
+enabled me to read it. Then, there was Josephus, the Jewish Captain, who
+wrote a history of the fall of Jerusalem, as I have heard from a learned
+priest. Besides, there were many Greek soldiers, who did the same thing,
+as I have been told; but I never knew much concerning them."</p>
+
+<p>"And hast thou the vanity to talk of Julius Cæsar?" cried Guzman,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" said the soldier, stoutly; "I have fought almost as many
+battles, and I warrant me, my heart is as strong; and were it my fate to
+be a general and commander, instead of a poor soldier of fortune in the
+ranks, I could myself, as well as another, lead you through these
+mischievous Mexicans; who, I will be sworn, are much more valiant
+heathens than ever Cæsar found among the French. As far as he was a
+soldier, then, I boast to be as good a man as he; ay, by mine honour,
+and better too! for I am a Christian man, whereas he was a poor
+benighted infidel. As for my history, I will not make bold to compare it
+in excellence with his; for it has been told me, that Cæsar was a
+scholar, and possessed of the graces and elegancies of style; whereas, I
+have myself none of these graces, being ignorant of both Latin and
+Greek, and knowing nothing of any tongues, except the Castilian, and
+some smattering of this Indian jargon, which I have picked up with much
+pains, and, as I may say, at the expense of more beating than one gets
+from the schoolmaster. Nevertheless, I flatter myself, that what I write
+will be good, because it will be true; for this which I am writing, is
+not a history of distant nations or of past events, nor is it composed
+of vain reveries and conjectures, such as fill the pages of one who
+writes of former ages. I relate those things of which I am an
+eye-witness, and not idle reports and hearsay. Truth is sacred and very
+valuable. In future days, when men come to make histories of our acts in
+this land, their histories will be good, because they will draw them
+from me, and not from those vain historiographers who stay at home, and
+write down all the lies that people at a distance may say of us. This is
+a good thing, and will make my book, when finished, a treasury to men;
+but what is better, and what should make it noticeable to yourselves, it
+will not, like other histories, say, 'The great hero Cortes did this,'
+and 'the mighty commander did that,' giving all the glory to one man
+alone; but it will record our achievements in such a way as to show who
+performed them, relating that 'this thing was done by the Seņor Don
+Francisco de Guzman, and this by the valiant soldier Najara, and this by
+myself, Bernal Diaz del Castillo,' and so on, each of us according to
+our acts."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>"What the worthy Del Castillo says, is just," said Camarga; "and whether
+his history be elegant or unpolished, he should be encouraged to
+continue it. For my own part, I shall be glad when I have performed
+anything worthy to be preserved, to know, we have with us a man who will
+see that the credit of the act is not bestowed upon another. And, in
+this frame of mind, I will stand much indebted to the good seņor, if he
+will permit me at once, to be made acquainted with the true relation of
+certain events, with which I am not yet familiar."</p>
+
+<p>"What will you have?" said Bernal Diaz, much gratified by this proof of
+approbation. "You shall hear the truth, and no vain fabrication; for I
+call heaven to witness, and I say Amen to it, that I have related
+nothing which, being an eye-witness, I do not <i>know</i> to be true; or
+which, having the testimony of many others, actors and lookers-on, to
+the same, I have not good reason to believe, is true. What, then, will
+you have, seņor Camarga? Is there any particular battle you choose to be
+informed of? Perhaps, I had better begin with the first chapter, which I
+have here, written out in full, and which&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Fire!" cried Guzman, starting up, "will you drive us away? Zounds! do
+you think we will swallow all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Read that chapter," said Najara, "in which you celebrate the exploits
+of the seņor Guzman."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not," said Diaz, with much simplicity, "I have not yet had
+occasion to come to Don Francisco."</p>
+
+<p>"Hear!" cried Villafana, clapping his hands with admiration, in which
+the cavalier, after looking a little indignant, thought fit to join.</p>
+
+<p>"Unless indeed," continued the historian, "I should have resolved to
+relate the quarrel betwixt his favour, and the young cornet Lerma, (whom
+may heaven take to its rest; for there were some good things in the
+young man.) But as to this feud, I thought it better for the honour of
+both, as well as of another, whom I do not desire to mention with
+dispraise, that the matter should be forgotten."</p>
+
+<p>"Put it down, if thou wilt," said Guzman, with a stern aspect. "What I
+have done, I have done; and I shame not to have it spoken. If I did not
+kill the youth, never believe me if it was not out of pity for his
+years; and out of regard to Cortes, with whom he was a favourite."</p>
+
+<p>At these words, which were delivered with the greatest gravity, the
+historian raised his eyes to Don Francisco, and regarded him, for a
+moment, with surprise. Then shaking his head, and muttering the word
+'favourite,' with a voice of incredulity, and even wonder, he held his
+peace, with the air of one who locks up in his breast a mystery, which
+he has been on the point of imprudently revealing.</p>
+
+<p>"A favourite&mdash;I repeat the word," exclaimed Don Francisco, with angry
+emphasis; "a favourite, at least, until his folly and baseness were made
+apparent to Cortes, and so brought him to disgrace."</p>
+
+<p>"Strong words, Don Francisco!" said Villafana, with a bold tone of
+rebuke; "and somewhat <i>too</i> strong to be spoken of a dead enemy. And
+besides, without referring to your share in the matter, there are those
+in this army, who have other thoughts in relation to the lad. It has
+been whispered,&mdash;and the honour of Cortes has suffered thereby,&mdash;it has
+been whispered&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"By Villafana," exclaimed the hunchback, abruptly and sharply; "by
+thyself, certainly, Sir Alguazil, if there be anything in it against the
+credit of the general."</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw! wilt thou buffet me again?" cried Villafana, springing up and
+stamping on the earth, though not in anger. "Dost thou know now what
+thou art like?"</p>
+
+<p>"Like a thorn in the foot, which, the more you stamp, the more it will
+hurt."</p>
+
+<p>"Rather like a stupid ball tied to my leg," said the Alguazil, "which,
+without any merit of its own, serves but the dead-weight purpose of
+giving me a jerk, turn whichsoever way I will."</p>
+
+<p>"Right!" cried Najara, with a sneer; "you have clapped the ball to the
+right leg. We do not so shot honest men."</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, with your leave," said Camarga, willing to divert the storm,
+which it seemed Najara's delight to provoke in the breast of the
+Alguazil, "with your leave, seņores, I must not be robbed of my
+curiosity. It was my purpose to ask the seņor del Castillo to read me
+such portions of his journal as treated, first, of occurrences that
+happened after the Noche Triste, and battle of Otumba, and then of the
+history and fate of this very young man, whose name is so efficacious in
+laying you by the ears. But as I perceive the latter subject is hateful
+to you all,&mdash;." Here he turned his eyes on Guzman.</p>
+
+<p>"You are deceived," said Don Francisco, drily. "I bear the young man no
+malice: the wolf and the dog may roll over carcasses&mdash;I have no anger
+for bones. He slandered me: being no longer alive, I forgive him. Ask
+Bernal what you will, and let him answer what he will: I swear by my
+troth, I care not."</p>
+
+<p>"What needs that we should look into noisome caves, when we have green,
+wholesome lawns before us?" said Bernal Diaz, hesitating; for, at that
+moment, the eyes of all except Guzman, were fastened eagerly on his own.
+"I could speak of the quarrel, to be sure, between his favour Don
+Francisco and the young colour-bearer; for though, as I said, and for
+the reasons stated, I have not put it down in my history, yet do I
+remember it very well. But, should I get thus far, I should even persist
+with the whole story; for, I know not how it is, I never begin a
+relation, and get well advanced in the same, but I am loath to leave it,
+till I have recounted all."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, I'll be sworn, thou art," said Villafana: "thy stories are much
+like to a crane's neck; 'tis but a head and bill at first, and an ell or
+two of nothing stretched out after."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor am I able," said the worthy Bernal, without stopping to digest the
+simile, "to read a full account of those actions the seņor Camarga
+speaks of, which took place subsequently to our flight from Mexico and
+our great victory on the plains of Otumba, for the good reason that I
+have not yet composed them; the failure of which is, in a great measure,
+the consequence of your loud talking just now, whilst I was addressing
+my mind to the same. But, if you will have a verbal relation, seņor
+Camarga, I will do my best to pleasure you, and that right briefly, and
+in true words; for I defy any man to detect falsehood or exaggeration in
+what I write."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by'r lady!" cried Guzman, who had recovered his good-humour, and
+now laughed heartily,&mdash;"in what you <i>write</i>, honest Bernal; but in what
+you say, you are not so infallible."</p>
+
+<p>"You would not let me finish what I was about to say," murmured the
+historian.</p>
+
+<p>"No, faith; you would make a day's work of it; whereas I, who am no
+wire-drawer of conceits, can despatch the whole thing in a minute. Do
+you not see? the rear of the procession is in sight: in half an hour we
+shall be summoned into camp. Be content then, scribbler; I quote thy
+words, which should be honour enough: 'I defy any man to discover
+falsehood or exaggeration in what I say.' Know then, seņor
+Camarga&mdash;after our victory at Otumba, nine months since, we retreated to
+Tlascala, four hundred and fifty in number, at which city we rested five
+months, curing our wounds, recruiting our forces, and preparing to
+resume the war. During this time, the only remarkable incidents
+were,&mdash;first&mdash;the meeting of those goodly knaves who had come with
+Narvaez, sworn faith to Cortes, looked at Mexico, and now, being
+satisfied with blows and honour, demanded to be sent back to Cuba, to
+the great injury and almost destruction of all our hopes. Among the
+foremost of these turbulent fellows, was our friend here, Villafana;
+who, although he came not with Narvaez, but was sent soon after us by
+Velasquez, was ever found consorting with the disaffected, until his
+good saint, in some dream of the gallows, brought better thoughts into
+his mind, and converted him from an open enemy into a doubtful friend.
+Peace, Villafana! I am now playing the historian, and must therefore
+tell what I believe to be the truth."</p>
+
+<p>At these words, Villafana, who had opened his mouth to speak, checked
+the impulse, nodded, laughed, and composed himself to silence.</p>
+
+<p>"The defection of these men," resumed the cavalier, "and the reduction
+of our numbers that followed, (for we were e'en forced to discharge the
+more importunate of them,) were requited to us by happy reinforcements
+of men, horses, and arms; some of them sent by the foolish Velasquez&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor Guzman," said Bernal Diaz, "the Governor Velasquez is my
+relation. My father was an hidalgo, and his wife, my mother&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I forgot!" said Guzman, nodding to the historian:&mdash;"Some sent by
+the <i>sagacious</i> Velasquez to his captain, Narvaez, who was in chains at
+Villa Rica; some by De Garay, Adelantado of Jamaica, to rob us of our
+northern province, Panuco,&mdash;and it is supposed that thou, seņor Camarga,
+with thy crew of sick men, though thou comest so late, and apparently of
+thine own good will, wert equipt by the same inconsiderate commander;
+and some by the merchants of the Canaries and of Seville, to be
+exchanged for our superfluous spoils, which were not then gathered;&mdash;no,
+by'r lady, nor yet, either. In fine, we became strong enough, by these
+means, to recruit our forces among the natives of the land; which we
+did, by attacking divers provinces in the neighbourhood of Tlascala, and
+compelling their warriors to join our standard, along with the
+Tlascalans, who were willing enough,&mdash;all save their generalissimo,
+Xicotencal. Thus, then, with no mean force of Spaniards, and with
+several armies of Indian confederates, we came, 'tis now more than three
+months since, to yonder city, Tezcuco, and raised to the throne, (in
+place of his brother, who fled to Mexico,) a king of our own choosing;
+of whom I have the honour to be chief counsellor and minister, that is
+to say, guardian, regent, sponsor, or master, as you may think fit to
+esteem me. Here, it has been our good fortune to receive other and
+stronger reinforcements, and, as Villafana said, from the king's own
+royal bounty, with commissions and orders, priests and crown-officers,
+and so on; which circumstances have caused our army to be reorganized,
+the whole reduced to a stricter discipline, and civil officers to be
+appointed, for the better enforcing of martial law. Here, too, we have
+been preparing for the siege and blockade of yonder accursed metropolis,
+by bringing ships, (they are on the shoulders of these crawling pagans,)
+to give us the command of the lake; and by attacking and destroying the
+neighbouring towns, so as to secure possession of the shores. In the
+meanwhile, the young cub of an Emperor, Guatimozin, who has succeeded
+Cuitlahuatzin, the successor of Montezuma, has been equally busy in
+concentrating the warriors of all his faithful provinces in the island,
+and providing vast stores of corn and meat, for their subsistence,&mdash;as
+resolute to resist as we are to assail. The materials for our vessels
+being arrived, it is now known, that the time of constructing and
+lanching them, will be devoted to an expedition, led by Cortes himself;
+in which we will make the circuit of the whole lake, destroying the
+rebellious cities on the main, and driving to the island all who may
+think fit to resist. When they are thus caged, we shall have them like
+pigeons in a net; and good plucking there will be in store for
+all.&mdash;This is my history, and methinks it should satisfy you."</p>
+
+<p>"It wants nothing to be complete save the episode of the Cornet Lerma,"
+said Villafana, with a malicious grin; "and, in requital for the good
+turn you have done me, when speaking of the mutiny Tlascala, I will
+relate it,&mdash;ay, by St. James, I will! frown and storm as you may. The
+seņor Camarga has avowed his curiosity in the matter. Our dull Bernal,
+who is so frequent at boasting he tells naught but truth, has confessed
+that he dares not tell <i>all</i> the truth; which, I think, will be somewhat
+of a qualification to the belief of his future admirers. Najara, here,
+will say naught of any one but myself, and that with a crusty and bitter
+obstinacy,&mdash;wherein he seems to me to resemble a silly ox, who rubs his
+stupid head against a tree, much less to the prejudice of the bark than
+his skin. And as for thyself, seņor Don Francisco, thou hast but thine
+own fashion of telling the story. But I told thee before, there are
+those in the army who have another way of thinking; and I am one&mdash;I will
+not boggle at a truth, like Diaz, because it is somewhat discreditable
+to Cortes, or to a chief officer."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak then," said Guzman, gravely; "I have said already I care not. I
+know full well how your knavish companions belie me. I say again, I care
+not. What you aver as your own belief, I will make free to hold in
+consideration: for the reported imputations of others, I release you
+from responsibility."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I speak not on my own knowledge, nor of my own personal belief,"
+said Villafana, "and therefore, (but more especially in consequence of
+the decree, seņor, the decree!&mdash;we will not forget the decree,) I shall
+fear neither dagger nor black looks. You called Lerma a 'favourite' of
+the general: pho! even Bernal smiled at that!"</p>
+
+<p>"What I have said in that matter," replied Guzman, with composure, "I
+will condescend to support with argument. The young man was received
+into the household of Cortes, while Cortes was yet a planter of
+Santiago: he picked him up, heaven knows where, how, or why, a poor,
+vagabond boy. It is notorious to all, that, in those days, Don Hernan
+employed him less as a servant than as a son, or younger brother, and as
+such, bestowed upon him affection and confidence, as well as the truest
+protection. Thou knowest, and if thou art not an infidel altogether,
+thou wilt allow, that the sword-cut on the general's left hand was
+obtained in a duel which he fought with a man, ('twas the seņor
+Bocasucia,) who had thrown some sarcasm on the youth's birth, and then
+ran him through the body, when he sought for satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>"I allow all this," said Villafana; "I confess the youth was an ass, to
+match his boy's blade against the weapon of the best swordsman in the
+island; and I agree that it was both noble and truly affectionate in
+Cortes, to take up the quarrel, and so baste the bones of Bocasucia,
+that he will remember the correction to his dying day. I allow all this;
+and I add to it the greater proof of Don Hernan's love for the youth,
+that when Velasquez granted him his commission to subdue these lands, (I
+would the sea had swallowed them, some good ten years since!) the
+captain did forthwith entrust to the boy the honourable and
+distinguished duty of recruiting soldiers for him, in Espaņola, in which
+island he was born."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," quoth Guzman, dryly, "and one may find cause for the general's
+anger, in the diligence with which the urchin prosecuted his task, and
+the success that crowned it."</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith," said Bernal Diaz, unable any longer to restrain his
+desire to take part in a discussion of such historical moment, "the
+young man sped well; and that he came to us empty-handed was no cause of
+Don Hernan's displeasure, as I have heard Don Hernan say. It was, in the
+first place, our haste to embark, when we discovered that the governor
+was about to revoke our captain's commission, that caused Lerma to be
+left behind us; and, secondly, it was the governor's own act, that Lerma
+was not permitted to follow us, with the forces he had raised and
+brought as far as Santiago. It is well known, that these men were
+arrested on their course, and disbanded by Velasquez,&mdash;for some of them
+came afterwards with Narvaez, and have so reported. The youth was thrown
+into prison, too, where he fell sick,&mdash;for he had never entirely
+recovered from the effects of his wound,&mdash;and it required all the
+exertions of Doņa Catalina, our leader's wife, backed by those of her
+friends, to procure his release. His fidelity was afterwards shown in
+his escape from Cuba, which was truly wonderful, both in boldness of
+conception and success of accomplishment."</p>
+
+<p>"His fidelity truly, and his folly, too," said Villafana; "for, I think,
+no one but a confirmed madman could have projected and undertaken a
+voyage across the gulf, in an open <i>fusta</i>,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> (by'r lady! I have heard
+'twas nothing better than a piragua,) with a few beggarly Indian
+fishermen for his crew. But this he did, mad or not; and if Cortes were
+angry, he took but an ill way to punish, since he gave him a horse and
+standard, and kept him, for a long time, near to his own person. His
+favourite for a time, I grant you he may have been, having heard it so
+related; but when I myself came to the land, there were others much
+better beloved."</p>
+
+<p>"If I am not mistaken," said Don Francisco, "he was in favour at that
+time; and I have heard it affirmed it was some news of thy bringing, or
+some good counsel of thy speaking, which first opened the eyes of
+Cortes."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i>, indeed!&mdash;<i>my</i> news, and <i>my</i> counsel!" cried Villafana, with a
+grin. "I was more like, at that period, to get to the bastinado than the
+ears of Don Hernan. I, indeed!&mdash;I loved not the young man, I confess;
+and who did? He had even the fate of a fallen minion; all spoke of him
+with dispraise,&mdash;all hated him, or seemed to hate him, save only the
+Tlascalan chief, Xicotencal, who loved him out of opposition; and I
+remember a saying of this very crabbed Corcobado, here, on the subject,
+namely, that a hedgehog was the best fellow for a viper."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by my faith," said Najara; "yet I meant not Xicotencal for the
+animal, but a worthy Christian cavalier; who was, at that time, rolling
+the snake out of his dwelling." As Najara spoke, he fixed his eyes on
+Guzman.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand thee, toad," said the latter, indifferently. "It was
+natural, the young man should be somewhat jealous. But this leads us
+from the story. If it be needful to find a reason for Don Hernan's
+change, I can myself give a thousand. In the first place, mere human
+fickleness might be enough, for no man is master of his affections. It
+might be enough too, to know, that the youth was no longer the gay and
+good-humoured lad he had been described, but a sour, gloomy, and peevish
+fool, exceedingly disagreeable and quarrelsome; and, perhaps, it might
+be more than enough, to remind you, that, as was currently believed,
+this change of temper was the consequence of certain villanous acts,
+committed after our departure, and which were thought to furnish a
+better and more probable reason for the voyage in the fusta than any
+particular zeal he had in the cause of Cortes. If this be not enough,"
+continued the cavalier, looking round him with the air of one who feels
+that his arguments are conclusive, "then I have but to mention what you
+seem to have forgotten,&mdash;to wit, that this petulant and meddlesome boy
+did presume to make opposition to, and very arrogantly censure, certain
+actions of the general; and, in particular, the seizure and imprisonment
+of king Montezuma, and the burning alive of the Cholulan prisoners, as
+well as the seventeen warriors, who had fought the battle with
+Escalante, at Vera Cruz."&mdash;In the last of these instances, Don Francisco
+made reference to the barbarous and most unjust punishment of
+Quauhpopoco,&mdash;the military governor of a Mexican province near to Vera
+Cruz,&mdash;and of his chief officers, who had presumed to resist with arms,
+and with fatal success, the Spanish commandant of the coast, in an
+unjustifiable attack.</p>
+
+<p>"All this is true," said Villafana, "and it is all superfluous. What I
+desired to establish was, that Lerma was no favourite, when sent on the
+expedition, as would have been inferred from your words. I come now,
+seņor Camarga, to speak of that occurrence in relation to this boy, Juan
+Lerma, (I call him a boy, for, at that time, he was not thought to
+exceed nineteen years of age,) which, as Bernal Diaz says, touches the
+honour of Don Hernan, and which, others think, bears as heavily upon
+that of Don Francisco. The seņores must answer for themselves: I only
+give what is one version of the story."</p>
+
+<p>"And, I warrant thee, it is the worst," said Najara. "Thou hast very
+much the appetite of a gallinaza, who chooses her meat according to the
+roughness of the savour."</p>
+
+<p>"Among the daughters of the captive Montezuma," said Villafana, nodding
+to the hunchback, in testimony of approbation, "was one, the youngest of
+all, and, in truth, the prettiest, as I have heard, for I never beheld
+her, who was called Cillahula,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Zelahualla</i>," said Bernal Diaz. "It is a word that signifies&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It signifies nothing, so long as you give it not the proper accent,"
+said Guzman, with infinite composure. "Her true name was Citlaltihuatl;
+or, at least, it was by that the Mexicans designated her; for they of
+the royal family have, ordinarily, a popular title, in addition to that
+used at court. The name may be interpreted the Maiden of the Star, or
+the Celestial Lady; for so much is expressed by the two words of which
+it is compounded."</p>
+
+<p>"I maintain," said Bernal Diaz, stoutly, "that the word Zelahualla is
+more agreeable of pronunciation, as well as much more universal in the
+army."</p>
+
+<p>"I grant you that," said Guzman. "Nor is the corruption so great as that
+of many names you have recorded in your journal: but I leave these
+things to be examined by your admirers hereafter. We will call the
+princess, then, Zelahualla; that being the better and more common
+title.&mdash;And now, Villafana, man, get thee on, in God's name; and start
+not, seņor Camarga, at the damnable inventions of slander, which will
+now be told you."</p>
+
+<p>"Pho!" said the Alguazil, "I will not abuse thee half so much as the
+General. Know, seņor Camarga, that there arose, between the young fool
+Lerma and the excellent cavalier Don Francisco de Guzman, a quarrel,
+very hot and deadly, concerning this same silly daughter of Montezuma;
+with whom Don Francisco chose to be somewhat rougher and more
+tyrannical, in displaying his affection, than was proper towards a
+king's daughter and a captive."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou speak this upon thine own personal averment?" demanded Don
+Francisco, with a countenance unchanged, but with a voice
+preternaturally subdued.</p>
+
+<p>"No, faith," said Villafana, hastily, and with an air that looked like
+alarm; "I repeat the innuendoes of others, which may be slanders or
+not,&mdash;I know not. But it is certain, the young man so charged thee to
+Cortes; affirming that, but for his interference, the villany
+meditated&mdash;But, pho! thou growest angry! So much, certainly, he brought
+against thee?"</p>
+
+<p>"He did," replied Guzman, smiling as if in derision; "and I know not how
+any could have been induced to believe him, except that man,&mdash;each
+man,&mdash;being naturally a rogue himself, doth rather delight to entertain
+those aspersions which bring down his neighbour to his own level, than
+the commendations which acquaint him with a superior. He did!&mdash;He was a
+fool! I can explain this thing to your satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>"Basta! it does not need," replied Villafana. "The rear-guard is
+passing,&mdash;there is a stir on the temple-top, and presently we shall hear
+the trumpet, which, like a curfew-bell, will command us to put out the
+fires of our fancy and the lights of our wit, on pain of having them,
+somewhat of a sudden, whipped out with switches. I must tell mine own
+story; the seņor Camarga looks a little impatient. The end of this
+quarrel," continued the Alguazil, "was a duel; in which neither of the
+rivals in love and the general's favour, came to much hurt; since they
+were speedily seized upon and introduced to the Calabozo, for fighting
+against the express orders of the general. Then, being released, they
+were separated,&mdash;our excellent friend Don Francisco being sent on some
+duty to Tlascala, and the boy Juan to&mdash;heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"Saints!" exclaimed Camarga; "he was not executed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not on the block or the gallows, to be sure," said Villafana; "but in a
+manner quite as effectual. He was sent on some fool's errand of
+discovery, or exploration, to the South Sea, which, it was told us,
+washed the distant borders of this mighty empire;&mdash;his companions, two
+unlucky dogs of La Mancha, and one Leonese of Medina-del-Campo,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," said Bernal Diaz, with a groan,&mdash;"Gaspar Olea; he was my beloved
+friend and townsman, and&mdash;" But Villafana was in no humour to be
+interrupted:</p>
+
+<p>"All three, like himself, out of favour," he continued. "Besides these,
+the young man had with him a band of knavish infidels, from the western
+province Matlatzinco; and his guide and counsellor was an old chief of
+the Ottomies&mdash;a half-savage, (they called him <i>Ocelotl</i> or <i>Ocelotzin</i>,
+that is, the Tiger,) who had been domesticated among Montezuma's other
+wild beasts. Now, seņor, you may make your own conclusions, or you may
+take those of men who are true friends of Cortes, and yet will speak
+their mind. It was said, at the time, that the young man was sent to his
+death; for the western tribes are fierce and barbarous; it was an easy
+way to get rid of him&mdash;and so it has been proved. This happened fourteen
+months ago: neither the young man, nor any of his companions, were ever
+heard of more. The thing was understood, and it was called a cruel and
+unchristian act."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou doest a foul wrong to Cortes, to say so," exclaimed Don Francisco,
+"imputing to him such sinister and perfidious motives. Such expeditions
+were at that time common; for we were then at peace, and each explorer
+was furnished by Montezuma with some royal officer by way of
+safe-conduct. Did not Don Hernan send his cousin, the young Pizarro, to
+explore the gold-lands of Guaztepec, at that very time? Were not others
+sent to search for mines, in the southern and northern provinces? I
+affirm, that this expedition of Lerma, fatal though it has proved, was
+not thought more, or <i>much</i> more dangerous than Pizarro's:&mdash;thou
+knowest, Pizarro lost three of his men.&mdash;Moreover, thou doest the
+general an equal wrong, in the matter of the three Spaniards, that went
+with Lerma. Olea, at least,&mdash;Gaspar Olea, the Barba-Roxa&mdash;was
+notoriously a favourite and trusted soldier, and was sent with the
+youth, as being the fittest man who could be spared, to aid his
+inexperience."</p>
+
+<p>"The history is finished," said Villafana, rising; "the trumpet
+flourishes; and, like hounds at the horn of the hunter, we must e'en get
+us to the general, and add our howls to the yells of these curs of
+Tlascala. The history is finished; and I have only to add, by way of
+annotation, that the hatred you bore the youth, (I have heard some say,
+he had the better in the duel!) will supply you good reasons for
+defending his punishment."</p>
+
+<p>"I say to you again," cried Guzman, "I have forgiven the youth, and I
+hate him not."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! the brown horse, Bobadil, that was sent to him from Santo Domingo,
+a month since, and given to your own excellent favour, as to his proper
+heir, is a good peace-maker!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a fool," said Don Francisco; "I lament his death as much as
+another.&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Have masses then said for his soul, for, by heaven and St. John, his
+spirit is among us!"</p>
+
+<p>These words, pronounced by the hunchback, Najara, suddenly, and with a
+voice of extreme alarm, caused the cavalier, who, with Villafana and
+Camarga, had already begun to walk towards the city, to turn round; when
+he instantly beheld, and with similar agitation, the apparition which
+had drawn forth the exclamation of the deformed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+
+<p>As the Castilians followed the eyes of Najara, they beheld, approaching
+them from behind, three men, in whom, but for the direction given to
+their thoughts by the exclamation, they would have seen nothing but the
+persons of Indians, belonging to some tribe more wild and savage than
+any which inhabited the valley. Their garments were coarse and singular;
+their gait&mdash;at least, the gait of two of them,&mdash;not unlike to that of
+barbarians; and the look of wonder with which they surveyed the long
+train of the rear-guard, in which the high penachos, or plumes, and the
+copper-headed spears of Tlascalan chiefs, shone among the iron casques
+of Spanish cavaliers, was similar to the childish admiration of natives,
+unused to such a spectacle. Their dark countenances and long hair, their
+vestments and arms, were all of an Aztec character; yet a second and
+more scrutinizing glance made it apparent, that one, at least, if not
+two of them, was of another and nobler race.</p>
+
+<p>The foremost, or leader, of the little band, was undoubtedly a savage;
+as was seen by the depressed forehead, the high cheek-bones, the eye of
+a peculiar form, and the skin of even uncommon swarthiness, which
+distinguished him from his companions. His stature was short, almost
+dwarfish; his toes were turned inwards; and as he moved along with a
+shuffling gait, with advanced chest, and head still more protruded, his
+long locks, grizzled as with extreme age, fell from either side of his
+face, like patches of gray moss from the bough of a tree, and almost
+swept the ground. A coarse cloth was wrapped round his loins; another of
+a square shape,&mdash;its opposite corners tied round his neck,&mdash;hung like a
+mantle, or rather a shawl, from his shoulders, over which were also
+strapped a bow and quiver of arrows; and a thick mat of cane-work was
+secured by thongs to his left arm, in the manner of a buckler, and swung
+at his side, or was laid upon his breast, as suited his mood or
+convenience. In other respects, he was naked,&mdash;though not without the
+native battle-axe of obsidian. This weapon consisted of a rod, or
+bludgeon, of heavy wood, (it was sometimes of copper,) at the extremity
+of which, and on either side, were fastened six or seven broad blades,
+or flakes, of volcanic glass, standing a little apart from each other.
+Its native name, <i>maquahuitl</i>, was speedily corrupted by the Spaniards
+into <i>macana</i>,&mdash;a name that is applied, in Castile, to a sabre of lath;
+and which, being more practicable to civilized organs of speech than the
+original title, is worthy of being preserved. The appearance of this
+aged warrior presented none of the infirmities of years. His stooping
+carriage was rather the result of habit than feebleness; his step was
+quick and firm, though ungainly; and his eye rolled with the piercing
+vivacity of youth over the scene, which occupied so much of the
+attention of his followers.</p>
+
+<p>Of these, that one whom the Castilians at the cypress-tree hesitated,
+for a moment, whether to esteem an Indian or a Christian man, was of a
+figure more remarkable for sturdiness than elegance. The roll of cloth
+round his body extended from his waist, where it was secured by a
+leathern girdle, to his knees. The mantle about his shoulders was more
+capacious than his fellow's, but it left his brawny chest in part
+exposed, and thereby revealed a skin fairer than belonged to the natives
+of Anahuac. His hair, though very long, was of a reddish-brown colour,
+and waving rather than straight; and a rough beard of a ruddy hue,
+though so short that its growth seemed to have been permitted for not
+more than the space of a week, was another phenomenon not to be looked
+for in a barbarian. But the indications of civilized origin offered by
+these characteristics, were set at naught by the step and bearing of the
+stranger, which were to the full as wild and peculiar as those of his
+more ancient companion; like whom, he carried a buckler and macana,
+though without the bow and quiver. His eye rolled with a like wildness;
+but his features were European; and instead of being entirely barefoot,
+like the senior, his feet were defended by stout sandals of untanned
+skin.</p>
+
+<p>The third, and by far the most remarkable of all, was he who had first
+caught the eye of Najara, and upon whom was now concentrated the gaze of
+the whole party. A figure of the most majestic height, and noble
+proportions, though, at the present moment, greatly wasted, was rather
+set off to advantage than concealed by a costume as spare and primitive
+as that of the red-bearded man. His skin was much tawnier than his
+companion's; indeed, it was of the darkest hue known among the southern
+provinces of Spain and Portugal, where the blood of Europe has mingled
+harmoniously with the life-tides of Africa. His lofty stature was more
+obvious, perhaps, since he adopted not the bearing or gait of the
+others, but moved along erect, with a graceful demeanour, and a step of
+natural ease and dignity. He had but one characteristic of a Mexican;
+and that was the long hair, straight, and of an intense blackness, that
+fell from his temples to his breast, with much of a wild and savage
+profusion, concealing, in part, a cheek of the finest contour, though
+somewhat hollowed by hardship, and, perhaps, suffering. The puffs of
+wind, blowing aside this sable curtain, disclosed an elevated forehead,
+crowning a visage in which every feature was of the mould of Castile,
+and after the happiest model of that order of beauty, each being
+sculptured with a touch that preserved delicacy, even while giving
+boldness. His age would have been a question wherewith to puzzle a
+physiognomist: there was much in the smoothness of his brow, and the
+unaltered freshness of a mouth, over which was sprouting a mustache,
+short and bushy, as if as lately submitted to the tonsure as the beard
+of his companion, that spoke of youth just verging into maturity; while,
+on the other hand, the complete developement of his frame, and the
+seriousness of his countenance, would have conveyed the impression of an
+age many years farther advanced. This seriousness of expression was,
+indeed, more than mere gravity; it indicated a melancholy, or even
+sadness, which, though of a gentle cast, was become a settled and
+permanent characteristic.</p>
+
+<p>As he approached, his eyes were, like his companions', fixed with
+curiosity upon the long and dense body of Tlascalans, from whom they
+were only withdrawn, when the exclamation of Najara attracted them
+suddenly to the group at the cypress. The confusion of these personages
+was so manifest, and they handled their arms with an air so indicative
+of hostility, that the old warrior and the red-bearded man came to an
+instant halt, and looked, as if for instructions, to their taller and
+more noble-visaged companion. He instantly stepped before them, and
+waving his hand to Najara, who was hastily fitting a bolt to his
+crossbow, and to the historian, who presented his partisan with greater
+alacrity of decision than would have been anticipated from his sluggish
+appearance, cried aloud,</p>
+
+<p>"Hold, friends! We are not enemies, but Christians and Castilians."</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou Juan Lerma? and art thou truly alive? or do I look upon thy
+phantom?" cried the hunchback, with an agitated voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Out, fool! we are good living men," exclaimed the red-bearded man,
+angrily; "and with flesh enough upon our bones, to cudgel thee into
+better manners, I trow. Is this the way you receive old friends,
+returning from bondage among infidels? What, Bernal Diaz, thou ass! dost
+thou not know Gaspar Olea, thine old townsman of Medina-del-Campo, thy
+brother-in-arms and sworn friend? nor yet the seņor Don Juan Lerma, my
+captain and friend in trouble? nor Ocelotzin, the old Ottomi rascal, our
+guide here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, oho! old rascal, old friend; all friends, all rascals," cried the
+Indian, looking affectionately towards the Castilians, who still stood
+in doubt, and using the few Spanish words with which he was familiar;
+"good friends, good rascals,&mdash;Castellanos, Cristianos;&mdash;friends,
+rascals."</p>
+
+<p>While the rest were hesitating, the cavalier Don Francisco de Guzman
+suddenly stepped out from among them, and, advancing towards the young
+man Lerma, with a smiling countenance and extended hand, said,</p>
+
+<p>"Though I am not thought to be the most loving of thy friends, I will be
+the first to bid thee welcome, seņor Lerma, in token that old feuds do
+not mar the satisfaction with which I behold a Christian man rescued so
+happily, and as it appears to me, so marvellously, from the grave."</p>
+
+<p>The emotions and changes of countenance with which the young man heard
+these words, were various and strongly marked. At the first tones of
+Guzman, he started back, as if a serpent had suddenly crossed his path,
+and grew pale, while his eyes flashed a ferocious and deadly fire. At
+the next, the blood rushed over his visage, and throbbed with a visible
+violence in the vessels of his temples; while he half raised the macana,
+which he carried, in lieu of a better weapon, as if to cleave the
+speaker to the earth. The next instant, the angry suffusion departed,
+his brows relaxed their severity, the deep melancholy gathered again in
+his eyes, and he surveyed the cavalier with a patient and grave
+placidity, until the latter had finished his salutation. Then, bending
+his head, and folding his hands upon his breast, he replied, mildly, and
+without a shadow of anger,</p>
+
+<p>"I have, as thou sayest, returned from the grave, in the sight of which
+I strove, as a Christian should, to make my peace with man as well as
+with heaven. I have done so; I am at peace with all; I am at peace with
+<i>thee</i>&mdash;But I cannot give thee my hand."</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier Don Francisco received this rejection of his good-will with
+no sign of dissatisfaction, that was distinguishable by others, beyond a
+smile or sneer; but inclining his head towards Lerma, he muttered in his
+ear&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The strife is unequal; but I accept thy defiance. Thou art but a
+broken-legged wolf, and wilt fight a fatted tiger&mdash;I am content."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, or rather whispering, for his words were only caught by the
+ears of Juan, the cavalier turned upon his heel, and without
+condescending to exhibit his mortification in the vain air of pride and
+scorn, assumed by ordinary men on such occasions, he began to walk
+towards the city. He was presently followed by the seņor Camarga; who,
+having fastened upon Juan, for a few moments, a look of intense
+curiosity, flung, when he had satisfied himself, his cloak over the
+lower part of his visage, and thus departed.</p>
+
+<p>"You give me but a cold welcome, good friends," said Juan, looking after
+the retreating man with a sigh. "Will no one else in this company offer
+his hand to one who burns with joy at the sight of Christian faces?"</p>
+
+<p>"When thou art better acquainted with the bounty of the compliment,
+doubtless, but no sooner," said the hunchback, who had surveyed the
+youth with an interest which was belied by his present scorn. "A good
+day to you, seņor Juan Lerma, and God keep you well. There is a good
+path over the mountains, northward, by the way of Otumba. If you like
+not the company of heathens, there are fair maids enow in Cuba."</p>
+
+<p>With these hints, which the young man listened to with a disturbed
+aspect, and which the hunchback accompanied with sour and contemptuous
+looks, he turned away, and began to hobble after his companions.</p>
+
+<p>"Now God be our stay!" exclaimed Juan, with some emotion, "there is not
+a man who has a tear for our sorrows, or a smile for our joy. It were
+better we had perished, Gaspar!"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> am not ashamed to give thee my hand," said Bernal Diaz, shaking off
+his amazement, and advancing, "though I know not how far thou art
+deserving of such countenance. But I must first claim to embrace my old
+friend and brother, Gaspar; whom, by my faith, I can scarce believe that
+I see living before me! How didst thou thus learn to turn thy toes in,
+Gaspar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Away, thou dog-eared, ill-blooded block!" cried the red-bearded Gaspar,
+who had watched the turn of proceedings with indignation, and now poured
+forth his accumulated wrath upon the worthy historian. "Ashamed!&mdash;<i>thou</i>
+ashamed!&mdash;<i>thy</i> countenance!&mdash;deserving of <i>thy</i> countenance, thou
+ill-mannered, bog-brained churl and ass! Thou wilt give the young seņor
+thy hand! If thou dost but lift it, I will smite it off with my
+battle-axe. Curmudgeon! <i>I</i> thy friend and brother?&mdash;I discard thee and
+forswear thee; I do, marry&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, Gaspar," said Lerma, mildly; "quarrel not with thy friend on my
+account; thou hast no offence on thine own. It is plain, there is but
+cold cheer in store for me: make none for thyself."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, seņor!" said Gaspar, sharply, for his anger was waxing hot and
+unrespective, "I am no servant, no grinning lackey, to be told, 'do me
+this,' and 'do me that,' by your excellent favour; no, by your leave,
+no;&mdash;I am your soldier, not your foot-man. I will quarrel when I like,
+and I will not be chidden. I am your soldier, seņor, your soldier&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, I think," said the young man; "though thou dost now afflict
+me more than those who seem my enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"Afflict!&mdash;enemies!&mdash;<i>I</i> afflict!" cried Gaspar, fiercely; "I quarrel
+with your enemies!&mdash;ay, <i>ā outrance</i>, as the Frenchmen, say. I have
+fought them in Italy. Fuego! enemies!&mdash;call this knave by the name, and
+if I do not smite him to the chine, townsman though he be&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, Gaspar, if thou art my friend, as, I trust this good Bernal
+is,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Go to," said Bernal Diaz, in high dudgeon, addressing himself to
+Gaspar, "thou art turned heathen, or thou wouldst not so abuse me. I
+care for you not; I have nothing to do with you, nor with any of your
+companions. By and by you will repent. God be with you, and make you
+wiser."</p>
+
+<p>With these words, the historian followed the example of the others, and
+was straightway stalking, with impetuous strides, towards Tezcuco.</p>
+
+<p>"Now art you not ashamed, Gaspar, to have given way to this boy's wrath?
+Wilt thou be womanish, too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," said Gaspar, shaking his head with the fury of a mastiff, rending
+some meaner animal, and thus dashing away certain tears of rage or
+mortification, that were starting in his eyes: "it doth make a woman of
+me, to think we have escaped from dangers such as were never dreamed of
+by these false traitors,&mdash;from infidel prisons and heathen maws, and
+come, at last, among Christian men, whom I could have hugged, every ill
+loon of them all; and not one to stretch forth his hand, and say God
+bless me! You were right, seņor; it were better to have remained slaves
+with the King of the Humming-bird Valley, than to have left him for such
+hangdog welcome."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wouldst have had nothing to complain of, hadst thou bridled thy
+impatient temper. These men meant not to provoke <i>thee</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Bad friends, bad rascals!" said the Ottomi, who, during these several
+passages, had been staring from one Christian to another in unconcealed
+amazement: "bad friends! no good rascals!" he muttered in Spanish; then
+instantly changing to Mexican, which though not his native tongue, was
+more familiar to him, and was besides well understood by Juan, he
+continued,</p>
+
+<p>"Itzquauhtzin, the Great Eagle," (for thus he chose to designate the
+youth,) "has settled upon the hill of kites. Where are his wings?
+Malintzin is angry; he sends his young men to frown. Here is another: he
+laughs with his eyes.&mdash;Ocelotzin is an old tiger,&mdash;Techeechee is a dog
+without voice; but the <i>itzli</i><a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> is sharp in his hand. Shall he
+strike?"</p>
+
+<p>The wild eyes of the barbarian (for the Ottomies, or mountain Indians,
+were the true savages of Anahuac,) were bent with the subtle and
+malignant keenness of the tiger whose name he bore, upon the Alguazil,
+Villafana, who, standing a little aside, and for a time unseen, had
+watched the salutations, and, finally, the departure of his companions,
+without himself saying a word. He now stepped forward, disregarding the
+evil looks of the Indian, as well as those of Gaspar, whose feelings of
+mortification were thirsting for some legitimate object whereon to
+expend their fury: and stretching forth his hand in the most friendly
+manner, said to Juan,</p>
+
+<p>"How now, seņor? drive this old cut-throat dog away.&mdash;I claim to be an
+old acquaintance, and, at this moment, not a cold one. The foxes being
+gone, the goose may stretch her neck.&mdash;Here am I, one man at least,
+heartily glad to find you coming alive from the trap, and not afraid to
+say so.&mdash;Does your favour forget me? Methinks you have the gift of
+rejecting the hands that are offered, howsoever you may covet those that
+are withheld."</p>
+
+<p>"You do me wrong&mdash;I remember you well," said Juan, taking the hand, from
+which he had first recoiled with a visible reluctance: "I thank you for
+your kindness. Yes, I remember you," he repeated, with extreme sadness:
+"Would I did <i>not</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, seņor Gaspar," continued the Alguazil, turning to Olea. "You and
+I were never such friends as true men should be; but, notwithstanding, I
+give you my true welcome and most Christian congratulations."</p>
+
+<p>"I ever thought you a knave," said Gaspar, clutching Villafana's hand,
+with a sort of sulky thankfulness, "being but an eternal grumbler and
+reviler at the general. But I see you are more of a Christian and man
+than any other villain of them all. Fire and blood! why do they treat us
+thus?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you shall soon know. But how now, seņor Lerma, what is your will?
+Will you walk with me to the city? We have royal commanders now: 'tis a
+matter for the stocks, and, sometimes, the strappado, to loiter beyond
+the lines, after the trumpet's call. Will you walk to Tezcuco? or do you
+choose rather to betake you to the hills, as Najara advised you? Cortes
+is another man now, seņor, and somewhat dangerous, as you may have
+inferred from the bearing of his favourites. If you would be wise, go
+not near him. It is not too late."</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor Villafana," said Juan, "what I have seen and heard has filled me
+with trouble; for, like Gaspar, I looked for such reception as might be
+expected by men returning from among heathen oppressors, to Christian
+associates and old friends. I know not well what has happened during the
+fourteen months of my absence from the army, save what was darkly spoken
+to me by a certain king, in whose hands I have remained, with my
+companions, many months in captivity. He gave me to believe that my
+countrymen had all fallen in a war with Montezuma, whom I left in peace,
+and in strong, though undeserved, bonds. I perceive that I have been
+cajoled: I rejoice that you are living men; but I know not why I should
+fear to join myself again among you. I claim to be conducted to your
+general."</p>
+
+<p>"It shall be as you choose; but, seņor, you are no longer in favour. As
+for Gaspar and the Indian, it will be well enough with them: a good
+soldier like Gaspar is worth something more than hanging; and such a
+knave as this old savage can be put to good use. Seņor, shall I speak a
+word with you? Bid the two advance: I have somewhat to say to you in
+private."</p>
+
+<p>The young man regarded the Alguazil with an anxious countenance; and
+then, desiring his companions to lead the way towards Tezcuco, followed,
+at a little distance, with Villafana.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>For a few moments, the two walked together in silence, and at a slow
+pace, until the others were beyond earshot; when Villafana, suddenly
+stopping and casting his eyes upon Juan, said, with but little ceremony,</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor Juan Lerma, I am your friend; and by St. Peter, who was once a
+false one, you need one that is both plain and true. Does your memory
+tax you with the commission of any act deserving death?"</p>
+
+<p>To this abrupt demand, the young man answered, with an agitated voice,
+but without a moment's hesitation,</p>
+
+<p>"It does. Thou knowest full well, and perhaps all others know, now, that
+I have shed the blood of my friend, the son of my oldest and truest
+benefactor."</p>
+
+<p>"Pho!" cried Villafana, hastily; "I meant not <i>that</i>. Your friend,
+indeed? Come, you grieve too much for this. At the worst, it was the
+mishap of a duel,&mdash;a fair duel; and, I am a witness, it was, in a
+manner, forced upon you. You should not think of this: there are but few
+who know of it, and none blame you. What I meant to ask, was this&mdash;are
+you conscious of any crime worthy of death at the hands of Cortes?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not," said Lerma, firmly, though very sadly; "no, by mine honour,
+no! I am conscious, and it is a thing long since known to all, that I
+have entirely lost the favour with which he was used to befriend me.
+Nay, this was apparent to me, before I was sent from his presence. I
+hoped that in the long period of my exile, something might occur to show
+him his anger was unjust; and, with this hope, I looked this day, to end
+my wanderings joyfully. I am deceived; everything goes to prove, that
+neither my long sufferings, (and they were both long and many,) nor my
+supposed death have made my appeal of innocence. But I will satisfy him
+of this: I will demand to know my crime. If it be indeed, as I think,
+the death of Hilario&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Pho! be wise. He counts not this against thee,&mdash;he has been himself a
+duellist. Say nothing of Hilario, neither; no, by the mass! nor be thou
+so mad as to question him of his anger. Thou art very sure, then&mdash;I must
+be free with thee, even to the dulness of repetition:&mdash;thou art very
+sure, thou hast done nothing to deserve death at his hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"I call heaven to witness," said Juan, "that, save this unhappy
+mischance in the matter of Hilario, which is itself deserving of death,
+I am ignorant of aught that should bring me under his displeasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Enough," said Villafana: "But I would thou shouldst never more speak of
+Hilario. He is dead, heaven rest his soul! He was a knave too; peace,
+then, to his bones!&mdash;I am satisfied, thou hast done naught to Cortes,
+deserving death at his hand. I have but one more question to ask
+you:&mdash;Has Cortes done nothing to deserve death at thine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens! what do you mean?" cried Juan, starting as much at the
+sinister tones as the surprising question of the Alguazil.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you ask me? what, <i>you</i>?" said Villafana, "Come, I am your friend."</p>
+
+<p>As the Alguazil pronounced these words, with an insinuating frankness
+and earnestness, he threw into his countenance an expression that seemed
+meant to invite the confidence of the young man, and encourage him to
+expose the mystery of his breast, by laying bare the secrets of his own.
+It was a transfiguration: the mean person was unchanged,&mdash;the
+insignificant features did not alter their proportions,&mdash;but the smile
+that had contorted them, was turned into a sneer of fiendish malignancy,
+and the peculiar sweetness that characterized his eyes, was lost in a
+sudden glare of passion, so demoniacal, that it seemed as if the flames
+of hell were blazing in their sockets. It was the look of but an
+instant: it made Juan recoil with terror: but before he could express a
+word of this feeling, of curiosity, or of suspicion, it had vanished.
+The Alguazil touched his arm, and said quickly, though without any
+peculiar emphasis,</p>
+
+<p>"Judge for yourself: Heaven forbid I should breed ill-will where there
+is none, or plant thorns in my friend's flower-garden. Judge for
+yourself, seņor: if, being innocent of all crime, Cortes has yet doomed
+you, basely and perfidiously, to death,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To death!" exclaimed Juan, with a voice that reached the ears of his
+late companions, and brought them to a sudden stand; "Heaven be my help!
+and do I come back but to die?"</p>
+
+<p>"You went forth but to die!" said Villafana; "and, you may judge, with
+what justice. Come, seņor,&mdash;the thing is said in a moment. The
+expedition was designed for your death-warrant."</p>
+
+<p>"Villain!" exclaimed Juan; "dare you impute this horrible treachery to
+Cortes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not,&mdash;no, not, if it appear at all doubtful to your own excellent
+penetration," replied the Alguazil, with a laugh. "I do but repeat you
+the belief of some half the army&mdash;had it been but before the Noche
+Triste, I might have said, <i>all</i>: but, in truth, we are now, more than
+half of us, new men, who know but little of the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Does any one charge this upon the general?" said Juan, with a look of
+horror.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay,&mdash;if you call them not 'villains,'" replied the soldier.</p>
+
+<p>"I will know the truth," said Juan. "I will find who has belied me."</p>
+
+<p>"You will find that of any one but Don Hernan. Seņor Don Juan, I pity
+you. You have returned at an evil moment; your presence will chill old
+friends, and sharpen ancient enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"If he seek my life, it is his: but, by heaven, the man who has wronged
+me,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Get thy horse and arms first. Wilt thou be wise? Thou shalt have
+friends to back thee. Listen: A month since, there came for thee, in a
+ship from the islands, two very noble horses, and a suit of goodly
+armour, sent, as was said, by some benevolent friend, whom thou mayst be
+quicker at remembering than myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Sent by heaven, I think," said Lerma, "for I know not what earthly
+friend would so supply my necessities."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, then," said Villafana, "the rumour is, they were sent thee by the
+lady Catalina, our general's wife."</p>
+
+<p>"May heaven bless her!" exclaimed Juan; "for she is mine only friend:
+and this bounty I have not deserved."</p>
+
+<p>"In this matter," said Villafana, dryly, "she will prove rather thine
+enemy; that is, if thou art resolute to demand the restoration of her
+gifts."</p>
+
+<p>"The restoration!"</p>
+
+<p>"In good truth, they were distributed among thine heirs; the horse
+Bobadil, thought by many to be the best in the army, falling to the
+share of thy good friend Guzman."</p>
+
+<p>"To Guzman?" cried Juan, angrily. "Could they find no better friend to
+give him to? I will have him back again; yea, by St. Juan, he shall ride
+no steed of mine!"</p>
+
+<p>"Right!" exclaimed Villafana; "for if thou hast an enemy, he is the man.
+Thou didst well, to refuse his hand. He offered it not in love, but in
+treachery. Thou wilt ask Cortes for thy maligner? It needs not: remember
+Don Francisco."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do so," said Juan, with a sigh. "I thought, in my captivity,
+when I despaired of ever more looking upon a Christian face, that I had
+forgiven my enemies. I deceived myself,&mdash;I hate Don Francisco. I will
+proclaim him before the whole army, if he refuse to do me reparation."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell thee, thou shalt have friends," said the Alguazil, with an
+insinuating voice, "to back thee in this matter, as well as in all
+others wherein thou hast been wronged. But thou must be ruled. Speak not
+to Cortes in complaint: he will do thee no justice. Send no defiance of
+battle to Guzman, for this has been proclaimed a sin against God and the
+king, to be punished with loss of arms, degradation, and whipping with
+rods,&mdash;sometimes with the loss of the right hand. You stare! Oh, seņor
+Juan Lerma, you will find we have a master now,&mdash;a master by the king's
+patent,&mdash;who makes his own laws, beats and dishonours, and gives us to
+the gallows, when the fit moves him, without any necessity of cozening
+us to death in expeditions to the gold mines, or the South Seas."</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor Villafana," said Juan, firmly, "I do not believe that, in this
+thing, Cortes designed me any wrong; nor will I permit myself to think
+of it any more. You seem to have something to say to me. Gaspar and the
+Indian are beyond hearing. If you will advise me as a friend, in what
+manner I shall conduct myself in this difficult conjuncture, I will
+listen to you with gratitude; and with thanks more hearty still, if you
+make me acquainted with a way to redeem my honour and faith in the eyes
+of the general."</p>
+
+<p>"I have but two things to counsel you: Make your report of adventures,
+good and bad, to the general, without words of complaint or suspicion;
+and, this done, demand of him, and care not how boldly, the restoration
+of your horses and armour."</p>
+
+<p>"If they be the gifts of his lady," said Juan, with hesitation,
+"methinks, it will not become me to press this demand on him; but rather
+to leave it to his own honour and generosity."</p>
+
+<p>The Alguazil gave the youth a piercing look; but seeing in his visage no
+embarrassment beyond that of a man who is debating a question of mere
+delicacy, replied, coolly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ask him, then. It is not certainly known that these horses came from
+Doņa Catalina; and, perhaps, they do not. Yet it will be but courteous
+in thee to say, thou hast been so informed, and that thou dost so
+believe. Get thy horses, by all means: but again I say to thee, do
+nothing to incense the general. If he provoke thee, show not thy
+displeasure; at least, show it not now. I will give thee more reasons
+for what I counsel, as we walk through the city."</p>
+
+<p>By this time the speakers had reached the gates of the city, where
+Gaspar and the Ottomi stood in waiting for them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The walls of Mexico were the foaming surges of her lake. The cities on
+the shore, when much exposed by defencelessness of site, great wealth of
+inhabitants, or other causes, to the attacks of enemies, were surrounded
+by walls, commonly of earth, though sometimes, as in the case of
+Tezcuco, of stone. These were, ordinarily, of no great height or
+strength, but sufficient, when well manned, to repel the assaults of the
+slingers and archers of America.</p>
+
+<p>The external fortifications of Tezcuco were, as became the ancient rival
+of Tenochtitlan, of a more imposing order. The walls were thick and
+high, with embattled parapets, and deep ditches at the base. The gates
+were protected in the manner common to the land, by the overlapping, so
+to speak, of the opposite walls; that is, being made, as they approached
+each other, to change from their straight, to a circular course, the one
+traversing upon a greater radius than the other, they thus swept by and
+<i>round</i> each other, in parallel curves, leaving a long and narrow
+passage between them, commanded not only by the walls themselves, but by
+strong stone turrets, built on their extremities.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these defences, there was erected within the walls, and directly
+opposed to each entrance, a small pyramid, elevated fifteen or twenty
+feet above the walls, and crowned with little sanctuaries,&mdash;thus serving
+a religious as well as a military purpose. In the one sense, these
+structures might be considered Chapels of Ease to the greater temples of
+the quarters in which they stood; in the other, they were not unlike the
+cavaliers, or commanding mounds, of European fortification, from the
+tops and sides of which the besieger could be annoyed, whilst without
+the walls, and arrested on his course, when within.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, then, there were ready to his hands, fortifications, of which the
+Spanish commander, now the Captain-General of New Spain, as the
+unsubdued Mexico was already called, was not slow to reap the full
+advantage. A strong guard of Castilian soldiers was posted before each
+gate; a native watchman sat on each turret; and a line of Tlascalan
+sentries, stepping proudly along in their places of trust, occupied the
+lofty terrace of the walls.</p>
+
+<p>The edifices disclosed to Juan, when he had, with his companions, passed
+through the staring warders into the town, were similar to those of
+Mexico,&mdash;of stone, and low, though often adorned with turrets. In all
+cases, the roofs were terraced, and covered with shrubs and flowers; and
+the passion of the citizens for such delightful embellishments, had
+converted many a spacious square into gardens, wherein fluttered and
+warbled birds of a thousand hues and voices.</p>
+
+<p>Over these open spaces were seen, in different quarters, the tops of
+high pyramids and towers, scattered about the town in vast and
+picturesque profusion.</p>
+
+<p>The roaring sound of life that pervades a great city, even when
+unassisted by the thundering din of wheeled carriages, gave proof enough
+of the dense multitudes that inhabited Tezcuco. The eye detected the
+evidences of a population still more astonishing, in the myriads of
+tawny bodies that crowded the streets, the gardens, the temple squares,
+and the housetops, many of whom seemed to have no other habitation. In
+fact, the introduction of the many thousands who composed the train, or,
+as it was called, the Army of the Brigantines, added to the hosts of
+other warriors previously collected by Cortes, and the presence of the
+original inhabitants, gave to Tezcuco that appearance of an
+over-crowded, suffocating vitality, which is presented by the modern
+Babylons of France and Great Britain. The murmur of voices, the
+pattering of feet, the rustling of garments, with the sounds of
+instruments wielded by artisans, both native and Christian, made,
+together, a din that seemed like the roar of a tempest to the ears of
+one, who, like Lerma, had just escaped from the mute hills and the
+silent forests of the desert. At a distance&mdash;beheld from the
+cypress-tree,&mdash;the view of Tezcuco seemed to embrace a scene made up of
+tranquillity and repose. The same thing is true of all other cities; and
+the same thing may be said of human life, when we sit aloof and
+contemplate the bright pageant, in which we take no part. If we advance
+and mingle with it, the picture is turned to life, the peace to tumult,
+and we lose all the charms of the prospect in the distractions of
+participation.</p>
+
+<p>As Juan, conducted by the Alguazil, made his way through the torrents of
+bodies which poured through every street, and became more accustomed to
+move among them, the excitement gradually subsided in his breast, the
+colour faded from his cheeks; and, by the time he had reached the end of
+his journey, there remained no expression on his visage beyond that of
+its usual and characteristic sadness. This was deepened, perhaps, by the
+scene around him; for it is the virtue of melancholy, where it exists as
+a temperament, or has become a settled trait, to be increased by the
+excitements of a city or crowd. Perhaps it was darkened also by the
+reflection, as he raised his eyes to the vast palace in which Cortes had
+established his head-quarters, that among all its crowds,&mdash;the military
+guards at the door, and the lounging courtiers within,&mdash;there was not a
+single friend waiting to rejoice over his return.</p>
+
+<p>The house of Nezahualcojotl, who has been already mentioned as the most
+famous and refined of the Tezcucan kings, possessed but little to
+distinguish it from the edifices of nobles around, except its greatness
+of extent. It was a pile or cluster of many houses built of vast blocks
+of basalt, well cut and polished, surrounding divers courts and
+gardens,&mdash;what might be termed the wings consisting of but a basement
+story, which was relieved from monotony by the presence of towers and
+battlements, and the sculptured effigies of animals and serpents on the
+walls, and particularly around the narrow loops which served for
+windows. The centre, or principal portion, had an additional story,
+loftier towers, and more imposing sculptures. The windows were carved of
+stone, so as to resemble the yawning mouths of beasts of prey; the
+battlements were crouching tigers; and the pillars of the great door
+were palm-trees, round the trunks of which twined two immense serpents,
+whose necks met at the lintel, among the interlocking branches, and
+embraced and supported a huge tablet, on which was engraven the Aztec
+calendar, according to the singular and yet just system of the ancient
+native astronomers.&mdash;Sixty years <i>after</i> this period, the sages of
+Europe discovered and adopted a mode of adjusting the civil to the
+astronomical time, so as to avoid, for the future, the confusion&mdash;the
+utter disjointing of seasons&mdash;which had been the consequence of the
+Julian computation. At this very moment, the barbarians of America were
+in possession of a system, which enabled them to anticipate, and rectify
+by proper intercalations, the disorders not only of years, but of
+cycles,&mdash;and how much <i>earlier</i>, the wisdom of civilization has not yet
+divined.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, there was something not less impressive than peculiar in
+the appearance of an edifice which had sheltered a long line of
+Autochthonous monarchs; and as Juan passed from the square, in front of
+the artillery that commanded it, under the folds of the mighty serpents
+at the door, and into the sombre shadows of the interior, he was struck
+with a feeling of awe, which was not immediately removed even by the
+more stirring emotions of the instant.</p>
+
+<p>The hall, or rather vestibule, in which he now found himself, was
+distinguished, rather than animated, by the presence of many Spaniards
+of high and low degree, some clustered together in groups, some stalking
+to and fro in haughty solitude, while others bustled about with an air
+of importance and authority; but all, as Lerma quickly observed,
+preserving a decorous silence,&mdash;conversing in whispers, and moving with
+a cautious tread, as if in the ante-room of a king, instead of the hall
+of a soldier-of-fortune like themselves.</p>
+
+<p>A few of them bent their eyes upon the strangers, and stepped forward to
+survey their savage equipments. The keen glances which they cast towards
+him, the hurried and somewhat sonorous exclamations with which they
+pointed him out to one another, but more than all, the presence of
+Najara, of Bernal Diaz, and of the stranger Camarga, among them,
+convinced Juan that he was recognized. But with this conviction came
+also the sickening consciousness that not one had a smile of
+satisfaction to bestow upon him in the way of welcome. He remembered the
+faces of many; and, once or twice, he raised his hand, and half stepped
+forward, to meet some one or other who seemed disposed to salute him. He
+was deceived; those who came nighest, were only the most curious. They
+nodded their heads familiarly to Villafana; a few returned the advances
+of Lerma with solemn and reverential bows; but none raised up their
+heads to meet the exile's advances.</p>
+
+<p>"The curse of ingratitude follow you all, cold knaves!" muttered Gaspar
+between his teeth. The eyes of the Ottomi twinkled upon the groups, with
+a mixture of wonder and malignant wrath. Juan smothered his sighs, and
+strode onwards.</p>
+
+<p>He stopped suddenly at a door, wreathed, like the outer, with snakes,
+though carved of wood, over which hung curtains of some dark and heavy
+texture, and behind which, as it seemed to him, from the murmuring of
+voices, was the apartment in which the Captain-General gave audience to
+his followers and the allied tribes of Mexico, who made up what may be
+called, as it seemed to be considered, his court. Here Juan paused, and
+turning to the Alguazil, said, calmly, and with a low voice,</p>
+
+<p>"From what I have seen and now see, I perceive, it will not be fitting I
+should approach the general&mdash;especially in these weeds, which can scarce
+extenuate the coldness of my old companions,&mdash;without the ceremony of an
+announcement and expressed permission."</p>
+
+<p>"Fear not," whispered Villafana, with a grim smile: "thy friend
+Francisco will have done thee this good turn. Remember&mdash;offend him not
+now: but, still, lay claim to the horses."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, the Alguazil, pushed aside the curtain, and, in a moment
+more, the youth was in the presence of Cortes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The apartment into which Juan now found himself introduced, was very
+spacious; and, indeed, had the height of the ceiling corresponded in
+proportion with the length and breadth, would have been esteemed vast.
+Without being so low as to be decidedly mean, it was yet depressed
+enough to show how little the principles of taste had extended among the
+natives, to the art of architecture; or, what is equally probable, how
+wisely provision was made against the earthquakes and other convulsions,
+so naturally to be expected in a land of volcanoes.</p>
+
+<p>The huge rafters of cedar, carved into strange and emblematic
+arabesques, were supported, at intervals, by a double row of pillars of
+the most grotesque shapes. On the walls were hung arras, on which were
+painted rude scenes of battle and of sacrifice, with hieroglyphic
+records of history, as well as choice maxims of virtue and policy,
+selected from the compositions of that king, who had finished, and given
+name to the habitation, long since founded by his ancestors. It was
+lighted in a manner equally rare and magnificent. A considerable space
+in the further or western wall, from which the tapestry was drawn aside,
+was occupied by stone mullions of strange forms, between which were
+fixed large translucent blocks of alabaster, such as we now behold in
+the church windows of Puebla de los Angelos. Upon these were painted
+many incomprehensible figures, which would have deformed the beauty of
+the stone, but for the brilliancy and delicacy of their hues. As it was,
+the strong glare of the evening sun, falling upon this transparent wall,
+came through it, with the mellow lustre and harmonious tints of a
+harvest-moon, shedding a soft but sufficient light over the whole
+apartment, making what was harsh tender, and what was lovely almost
+divine.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p>On the left hand, were several narrow doors, opening upon a garden,
+which was seen, sometimes, when the breeze stirred aside the curtains
+that defended them; on the right, were others leading to certain
+chambers, and carefully protected by a similar drapery.</p>
+
+<p>The floor of this hall of audience was covered with mats stained with
+various colours.</p>
+
+<p>At the farther extremity of the apartment stood a group of Spanish
+cavaliers, surrounding a platform of slight elevation, on which,
+sumptuously dressed, and leaning upon a <i>camoncillo</i>, or chair of state,
+stood Hernan Cortes. At his right hand, sitting and supported by two
+gallant cavaliers, was his royal god-son, Ixtlilxochitl, now Don Hernan
+Cortes, the king of Tezcuco;&mdash;a young man of mild aspect; at whose feet
+sat his younger and more manly brother, Suchel, from whom was afterwards
+derived one of the noble families of New Spain. On the left of the
+general, were two Indians of a far nobler presence, and known by the
+singular loftiness of their plumes, if not by the commanding sternness
+of their visages, to be Tlascalans of high degree. They were, in fact,
+the military chieftains Xicotencatl and Chichimecatl, men of renown not
+only among their tribes, but the Spaniards. Behind each stood his page,
+or esquire, bearing the great shield of ceremony, whereon were
+emblazoned, in native heraldic devices, the various exploits of his
+master.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these distinguished barbarians, there were others of note among
+the cavaliers, at the side of the platform.</p>
+
+<p>All these several details of a spectacle both romantic and imposing,
+were seen by Juan at a single glance; for, almost at the moment of his
+entrance, a movement was made among those who stood on the left of the
+platform, in the direction of the great Conquistador, as if they desired
+to catch something that instant falling from his lips. As they left the
+view thus open, Juan saw that Cortes, instead of speaking, was bending
+his head and listening with eager interest to the seņor Guzman, who had
+ascended the platform, and was now whispering in his ear. At the same
+moment, a prodigiously large dog, with shaggy coat, hanging lips, and
+ferocious eyes, roused by the motion of the general, at whose feet he
+had been sleeping, raised his head, and stared with the majestic gravity
+of a lion, upon the speaker and his master.</p>
+
+<p>There was something in the interested and agitated eagerness with which
+the Captain-General drank in the words of Guzman, that went to the heart
+of Lerma. He doubted not, that Don Francisco was, at that moment,
+speaking of <i>him</i>,&mdash;of <i>his</i> return to the society of Christians, and to
+the arms of his benefactor,&mdash;for such had Cortes once been to him; and
+he read in the varying play of Don Hernan's features, nothing but
+refutation of the malign charges of Villafana, and full proof that the
+general was not indifferent to the friend of former years.</p>
+
+<p>As these thoughts entered his mind, he rushed forward, under their
+impulse, with clasped hands, and with an exclamation that brought the
+looks of all instantly upon him. The huge dog raised himself half up
+from the platform, and uttered a savage growl. He advanced yet another
+step, and the ferocious beast, with a roar that filled the whole
+chamber, dashed furiously from the platform, as against an enemy not to
+be doubted. The young man paused, but not at the opposition of the
+animal: he had, that moment, caught the eye of Don Hernan, and his heart
+failed as he beheld the frown of rage, and, as it seemed to him, hate,
+with which he was regarded.</p>
+
+<p>"Down, Befo!" cried Cortes, with a voice of thunder.</p>
+
+<p>But Befo, who had leaped forward with such ferocious determination, had,
+that instant, stopped before Juan, whom he now eyed with a look of
+wonder and recognition. Then, suddenly fetching such a yelp of joy as
+would have better become the playmate-cur of a child, than the grim
+bloodhound of a soldier, he raised up his vast body, flung his paws upon
+Juan's breast, and strove, evidently, to throw them round his body, in
+the mode of human embrace, whining all the time with the most expressive
+delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Down, Befo! Thick-lips! thou cub of a false wolf!" repeated the
+general, irefully, yet with an expression that would have suited better,
+had he been commanding him to tear the youth to pieces; "Down, fool,
+down! I will stick thee with my rapier."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he half drew his sword from the scabbard.</p>
+
+<p>"Harm him not,&mdash;call him not away," cried Juan, with a thick voice; "for
+by heaven and St. Mary, he is all, of a troop of Christian men, once my
+friends, who have any joy to see an old companion return from bonds and
+the grave!"</p>
+
+<p>As the young man spoke, he flung his arms round the neck of the faithful
+beast, and bending his head upon Befo's face, gave way to a passion of
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>"The shame of foul knaves and false companions be on you all!" cried the
+flaming Gaspar, without a whit regarding the presence in which he spake.
+His wrath was cut short, before it had been noticed by any but the
+Ottomi, who stood gaping, at a distance, with looks of visible alarm,
+first excited by the appearance of the dog.</p>
+
+<p>Among most of the cavaliers now present, Juan had been once well known;
+and however their affections might be chilled and their respect
+destroyed, by untoward circumstances, there was something so painfully
+reproachful in the spectacle of his tears, that a strong impression was
+immediately produced among them. All seemed, at once, to remember, that
+he had been once esteemed, notwithstanding his youth, of a bold heart
+and manly bearing; and all seemed to remember also, that fourteen
+months' suffering among unknown pagans, was worthy of some little
+commiseration.</p>
+
+<p>But there was one present of more fiery feelings and determination more
+hasty than any of the Christians. The elder and taller of the Tlascalan
+chiefs, distinguished as much by a haughty and darkly frowning visage as
+by an Herculean frame, stepped down from the platform, and laid his hand
+upon Juan's shoulder; in which position he stood, without speaking a
+word, but expressing in his countenance the spirit of one who avowed
+himself a patron and champion. The tall plume rustled like a waving
+palm, as he raised up his head, and the look that he cast upon Cortes,
+seemed to mingle defiance with disdain. But this hostile expression was
+perhaps concealed by the approach of a cavalier of gallant appearance,
+who stepped suddenly from the throng, and snatching up Juan's left hand
+from the dog's neck, cried with hasty good-will,</p>
+
+<p>"Santiago! (and the devil take all of us that have no better hearts than
+a cur or a wild Indian!) I know no reason, certainly, why thou shouldst
+be treated like a dog. God be with thee, Juan Lerma! I am glad thou art
+alive; God bless thee: and so hold up thy head. If thou hast no better
+raiment, I will give thee my fustian breeches and liver-coloured mantle,
+as well as a good sword of iron, which I have to spare."</p>
+
+<p>This quick-spoken and benevolent cavalier was no less a man than the
+gallant Don Pedro de Alvarado, at this time called, almost universally,
+in memory of his famous leap over the ditch of Tacuba, in the Night of
+Sorrow, the <i>Capitan del Salto</i>. He gave place to another of still
+greater renown, who would have been perhaps the first to extend his
+hand, had he been as hasty of resolution as his more mercurial comrade.
+This was the good cavalier Don Gonzalo de Sandoval, better esteemed for
+his skill in arms than any peculiar elegance of conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"Juan Lerma," said he, "I am not sorry thou art alive and well; and if
+thou wilt make any use of the same, to put thee into more Christian
+bravery, I will pray thee to take my gold chain, as well as six good
+cotton shirts, which an Indian woman made me."</p>
+
+<p>To these friendly salutations and bountiful offers, as well as the
+advances of other cavaliers who now bustled around him, Juan replied
+with a manner more expressive of indignation than gratitude. He was
+ashamed of having exposed his weakness, and sensible that it was this
+alone which had obtained him a charitable notice. He raised his head
+proudly, as one who would not accept such compelled kindness, pushed
+Befo to the floor, though still keeping a hand upon his neck,
+acknowledged the presence of Xicotencal with a word, and turned towards
+Cortes a countenance now quite composed, though not without a touch of
+sorrowful resentment.</p>
+
+<p>The emotion which had produced such an impression among the cavaliers,
+was not without its effect even upon the Captain-General. His features
+relaxed their angry severity, he stepped forwards; and when Juan lifted
+up his eyes, he beheld a hand extended towards him, and heard the voice
+of Cortes say, in tones of concession, though of embarrassment,</p>
+
+<p>"God be with you&mdash;you do us wrong in this matter: as a Christian man
+escaped from bondage, we are not unrejoiced to see you: as a soldier
+returning from a delayed duty, we will declare our thoughts of you
+anon."</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing very gracious either in the words or tones of the
+speaker; but they were unexpected. They swept away the proud and angry
+resolutions of Juan, and restored to him the warm feelings of affection
+and gratitude, with which he had ever been accustomed to regard the
+general. He seized the proffered hand, pressed it to his lips, and
+seemed about to throw himself at Don Hernan's feet, when suddenly a
+noise was heard at a curtained door hard by, accompanied by what seemed
+the smothered shriek of a woman. At this sound the young man started up,
+with a look of fear, and yielded up the hand which was abruptly snatched
+from his own. He gazed round him and plainly beheld the thick cloth
+before the nearest passage, shaking, as if disturbed by the recent
+passage of some one,&mdash;but nothing else. He perceived no new countenance
+added to those of the many in audience, which were directed upon his
+own, with an universal stare of wonder. His attention was recalled by
+the voice of Cortes. He turned; the general was seated; a stern and iron
+gravity had taken the place of relenting feeling on his visage; and it
+was evident to the unfortunate Juan, that the hour of reconciliation had
+passed away, and for ever. The cavaliers retreated,&mdash;the Tlascalan and
+the dog were all that remained by his side; and, as if to make his
+disgrace both undeniable and intolerable, the seņor Guzman maintained,
+throughout the whole scene, his post at the general's side, confronted
+face to face with his fallen rival.</p>
+
+<p>"We are ready to hear thee, Juan Lerma," said the Captain-General, with
+a voice at once cold and commanding: "you went hence, to explore the
+lands of the west, and the sea that rolls among them. We argue much
+success, and great discoveries, from the time devoted to these purposes,
+and from the discretion you evinced in pursuing them for a whole year
+and more, rather than by returning with your forces, to share in the
+dangerous fights of Mexico. What have you to say? You had some good
+followers, both Christian and unconverted.&mdash;Stand thou aloof, Gaspar
+Olea! I will presently speak with thee.&mdash;Hast thou brought none back
+with thee but the Barba-Roxa,&mdash;Gaspar of the Red Beard?"</p>
+
+<p>There was not a word in this address which did not sting the young man
+to the heart; and the insulting insinuation which a portion of it
+conveyed, was uttered in a tone of the most cutting sarcasm. He
+trembled, reddened, clenched his hand in the shaggy coat of Befo,&mdash;who
+still, though beckoned by Cortes, refused to leave the exile,&mdash;until the
+animal whined with pain. Then, smothering his emotions, like one who
+perceives that he is wronged, and, knowing that complaint will be
+unavailing, is resolute to suffer with fortitude, he elevated his lofty
+figure with tranquil dignity, looked upon Cortes with an aspect no
+longer reproachful, and replied,</p>
+
+<p>"Besides Gaspar, who is worthy of your excellency's confidence and
+thanks, no one returns with me save the Ottomi, Ocelotzin,&mdash;the Tiger; a
+man to whom should be accorded the praise of having saved the life of
+Gaspar, which is valuable to your excellency, and my own,&mdash;which is
+worthless."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he pointed to the ancient barbarian, who stepped forward
+with the same affectionate smiles and grimaces which he had bestowed
+upon the party at the cypress-tree, and with many uncouth gestures of
+reverence, saying, in imperfect Castilian, after he had touched the
+floor with his hand, and then kissed it,</p>
+
+<p>"Ottomi I,&mdash;good friend, good rascal; but Ocelotzin no more.
+I am Techeechee,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> the Silent Dog,&mdash;the little dog without
+voice,&mdash;Techeechee!"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he cast his eyes, with less of love than admiring fear,
+upon the gigantic beast, whose voice was to him, as well as to his
+countrymen, more terrible than the yell of the mountain tiger.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember thee, good fellow," said the Captain-General.</p>
+
+<p>Then, without bestowing any further present notice on him, he turned
+again to Juan, speaking with the same cold and magisterial tones:</p>
+
+<p>"And where, then, are the two Christians of La Mancha, and the seventy
+warriors of Matlatzinco, who composed your party? the arms you carried?
+and the four good horses entrusted to your charge?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your excellency shall hear," said Juan, calmly: "The two Manchegos were
+ill inclined to the expedition; and therein were my followers but
+unfortunately selected."</p>
+
+<p>"They were mutineers!" cried Gaspar, whose anger was not mollified by
+being made a witness to the ill fate of his young captain: "they were
+mutineers; and so the devil has them."</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" exclaimed Cortes, starting up, with what seemed angry joy: "didst
+thou dare arrogate the privileges of a judge, and condemn a Christian
+man to death?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am guiltless of such presumption," said Juan. "To their
+dissatisfaction, to their disobedience,&mdash;nay, to their frequent threats,
+and open disregard of the commands your excellency had yourself imposed
+upon us, not to provoke the Indians among whom we might be
+journeying,&mdash;I adjudged no punishment but the assurance that your
+excellency should certainly be made acquainted with their acts. With
+much persuasion, I prevailed upon them to follow me, until we had
+reached the sea, which it was your excellency's command I should first
+examine."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" said Cortes, again starting up, but with an air of exultation;
+"thou hast found it then? and a port that may give shelter to ships of
+burthen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not one port only, but many," said Juan, with a faltering voice,
+mistaking the satisfaction of the leader for approbation. "In a space of
+seventy leagues, (for so much of the coast was I able to survey,) there
+are many harbours, exceedingly spacious, deep and secure; and some of
+such excellence, that I question whether the world contains any others
+to equal them. Near to some, there is much good ship timber, as well as
+lands amazingly fertile and beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>"This is well," said the Captain-General, coldly. "Thou hast well
+devoted a year of time to the examination of seventy leagues of coast."</p>
+
+<p>"Had that been the only subject of your excellency's orders," said
+Lerma, "you should have had no cause for dissatisfaction. This
+accomplished, it became me, as your excellency had commanded, to explore
+those gold lands to the northwest, and discover that kingdom of
+Huitzitzila, as it was erroneously called by Montezuma, which bordered
+upon his dominions, and had ever maintained its independence by force of
+arms."</p>
+
+<p>At these words, many of the cavaliers looked surprised, as if made
+acquainted with this article of Juan's instructions for the first time,
+and some exchanged meaning glances, which were not lost on Cortes. He
+frowned, and hastily exclaimed,</p>
+
+<p>"You are wrong; I <i>commanded</i> you not. That kingdom being at enmity with
+Mexico, it was not fit your lives should be endangered, by rashly
+adventuring within its confines. You were advised, if you should find we
+had been deceived in the character of those infidels of Huitzitzila, to
+make yourself acquainted with them and their country: but this was left
+to your discretion."</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," said Juan mildly, "your excellency did so advise me; and
+the fault which I committed was in thinking that I should best please
+you, by penetrating to that land, without much thought of difficulty or
+danger. In this, as in other things, as Gaspar will be my witness, I was
+opposed by those unhappy Manchegos; who deserted from me in the night,
+carrying with them, (to replace a horse which they had lost in a river,)
+the charger which your excellency had given to me for my own riding,&mdash;as
+well as their arquebuses,&mdash;which was still more unfortunate; for
+Gaspar's piece had been broken by a fall, and we were thus left without
+firearms, with but one horse, and no better weapon to procure us food,
+than mine own crossbow, and the arrows of the Matlatzincos."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, by my conscience," said Cortes, "I know not which the more to
+admire,&mdash;the good vigilance that allowed these knaves to escape, or the
+rash-brained folly which led you to continue the expedition without
+them!"</p>
+
+<p>The sarcasm produced no change in Juan's visage. He seemed to have made
+up his mind not only to endure injustice, but to expect it.</p>
+
+<p>"Their desertion was neither unforeseen nor unopposed," he answered. "It
+is my grief to say, that they forgot the obligations both of discipline
+and Christianity, and desperately fired upon Gaspar and myself; whereby
+they killed our remaining horse, and wounded myself in the side."</p>
+
+<p>"And where then were thy knavish Indians, that thou didst not slay the
+false traitors on the spot?" cried Cortes, with an indignation, which,
+this time, had the right direction.</p>
+
+<p>The answer to this added but another item of mischance to the young
+man's story. The arts of the Manchegos had spread disaffection among his
+Indian followers, many of whom had deserted with them. Following after
+the mutineers, he was, shortly after, abandoned by the rest; and then
+his little party, consisting only of Gaspar and the Ottomi, was
+attacked, by hostile tribes, driven back upon the path, and finally
+forced to take refuge in the dominions of that native monarch, whose
+reputed grandeur and wealth had so long since excited the curiosity of
+Don Hernan.</p>
+
+<p>The relation of Lerma, though of such thrilling interest that it
+absorbed the attention of all present, and even so wrought upon the mind
+of Cortes, that he gradually discharged the severity of his countenance,
+and even at last ceased altogether to interrupt it with sarcasm or
+commentary of any kind, has too little, or at least too indirect a
+connexion with the present history, to require it to be given in the
+exile's words, or at any length. With the main facts,&mdash;his long
+captivity and final escape,&mdash;the reader is already acquainted; and it is
+not perhaps necessary to add more than that the kingdom of which so much
+has been said, was that of Mechoacan, and that its capital Tzintzontzan,
+(the Place of Hummingbirds,) corrupted by the Mexicans into Huitzitzila,
+lies yet, though dwindled into the meanest of villages, upon the
+beautiful lake Pascuaro. Juan knew nothing of the fate of the Manchegos.
+By a comparison of dates, it was discovered that the sudden outbreaking
+of hostilities, which had driven him into this remote land, had followed
+almost immediately upon the tumults In Mexico, which had resulted in the
+death of Montezuma and the expulsion of the Spaniards; and it was not
+doubted, that the mutineers had met a miserable and speedy death. With
+the account of lands of unexampled beauty and fertility, of rivers of
+gold and hills of silver, we have nothing to do, except to remark that
+it determined the fate of Mechoacan as certainly as if the order had
+been uttered for its immediate subjugation. The whole account might have
+been omitted, except that it was necessary, as the means of explaining
+some of the feelings with which the young Lerma was regarded by the
+general and his chief followers.</p>
+
+<p>There is no eloquence so persuasive as that of distress, uttered without
+complaint; and no story of hardship and peril fails of exciting
+sympathy, when recounted with truth and modesty. Accordingly, the
+narrative of the exile produced among the cavaliers a powerful
+impression in his favour, which was heightened into admiration by the
+consciousness that nothing but the greatest constancy of purpose, and
+mental resources beyond those of ordinary men, could have conducted him
+through his long and perilous enterprise. Many of those, who seemed to
+remember with most interest the breach between the general and one who
+had been formerly considered almost his adopted son, kept their eyes
+curiously bent on Cortes; and they did not doubt, from the changes of
+his countenance, that his better feelings were deeply engaged, and would
+perhaps restore the young man to the confidence and affection which all
+knew he had lost. This belief became universal, when, at the close of
+the story, the Captain-General arose, and addressing the throng, said,</p>
+
+<p>"Cavaliers and friends, we will free all present from the tedium of this
+audience, saving only the gentlemen of the Secret Counsel, and these our
+returned friends.&mdash;Nay, by my faith, Gaspar of the Red Beard, thou mayst
+depart likewise, to speak thy adventures to thine old friends, which
+thou art doubtless itching to do; or, if thou likest that better, get
+thee to Antonio de Quinones, our Master of the Armory, and choose
+thyself a good sword, buckler and breastplate. Thou art a true soldier,
+and, by and by, I have somewhat to say to thee.&mdash;The knave has the gait
+of an infidel!"</p>
+
+<p>At this signal for breaking up the audience, which was pronounced with
+the grave and easy authoritativeness of one long accustomed to command,
+the individuals present, Christian and heathen, princes, chieftains, and
+cavaliers, took their departure, leaving behind them Sandoval, Alvarado,
+and a few other officers of high standing.</p>
+
+<p>As Juan stood, embarrassed between hope and doubt, the seņor Guzman
+descended from the platform, and, passing him, said with a low voice and
+a derisive smile,</p>
+
+<p>"You mount, seņor, and Bobadil neighs for you! It is better&mdash;the war is
+equal."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he passed on.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Seņor Juan Lerma," said Cortes, when the last of the assemblage had
+reluctantly departed:&mdash;He had descended from the platform, and spoke
+with a voice, which, if not decidedly friendly, was, at least, free from
+every trace of sternness:&mdash;"Seņor Juan Lerma, I have to say, that for
+the result of your enterprise, however it has been attended by calamity,
+you deserve both thanks and honours; and it will rest upon your own
+determination whether you shall obtain them or not. Some things there
+are, growing out of this affair, of which it becomes me to speak; and
+thereby I shall give you an opportunity to remove certain stains not yet
+washed from your good name; and after that, to take off others that are
+thought to attach to mine. Hast thou not heard of those fierce and fatal
+wars, that broke out in Mexico shortly after thy departure."</p>
+
+<p>"I have," said Juan; "the king's spies brought the news to Tzintzontzan;
+and they were not only lamentable to hear, but they caused us to be cast
+into cages, and devoted, as we feared, to die the death of sacrifice:
+For know, seņor, the sanguinary Mexitli is the god of all this land."</p>
+
+<p>"And hadst thou no suspicion, before departing, that these wars were
+brewing, and threatening us with destruction? Thou wert somewhat quicker
+in catching the heathen tongue than others, and wert not without
+counsellors and friends even among the household of Montezuma."</p>
+
+<p>To this demand, the young man, though embarrassed by the innuendo that
+followed it, did not hesitate to answer:</p>
+
+<p>"I had such suspicions, and I made them known to your excellency."</p>
+
+<p>"You did indeed," said Cortes, musingly; "and I derided them, being
+somewhat heated at the time: but counsel to an irritated temper is even
+sharper than salt on a wounded skin.&mdash;This knowledge, seņor," he went
+on, "some will impute to thee as good reason why thou shouldst loiter
+fourteen months in the wilderness, to avoid sharing in our perils, which
+were somewhat more horrible than have ever before beset Christian men."</p>
+
+<p>"This," said Juan, firmly, and a little dryly, for there was something
+in the tone of the speaker, which, though he knew not why, impressed him
+unpleasantly,&mdash;"this is to make me a coward, which your excellency will
+not believe me to be."</p>
+
+<p>"By my conscience, no!" said Cortes, with emphasis. "Without much
+thought of this present expedition of which we speak, there is no man
+will accuse thee of fear, who has heard of thy voyage in the fusta. By
+my conscience, a most mad piece of daring!" he continued as if in
+admiration, although it was observable, that, while he spoke, his
+countenance darkened, as though there were some disagreeable thought
+associated with the recollection. "No," he went on, "there will be more
+said of anger and ambition than of terror. Thou knowest, we have envy
+and detraction about us, that spare none. I can hear, already, how
+Villafana and other knaves of his peevish, malicious temper, will speak
+of thee.&mdash;They will speak of thy causes for resentment, of the promised
+favour of the plotting king, a principality among the lakes, with the
+hope of loftier succession, and the hand of the princely Maiden of the
+Star,&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And this," cried Juan, interrupting the general, "this is to make me a
+traitor and apostate! Seņor, I doubt not that the seņor Guzman is at the
+bottom of all this slander: and I therefore claim to defie,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Peace! wilt thou put thyself in opposition again? If thou dost but
+raise thy hand in wrath, save against an infidel enemy, thou wert better
+never to have been born!"</p>
+
+<p>The sudden sternness with which these words were uttered, checked the
+impetuosity of the youth, and filled him again with anxious forebodings.
+The general, instantly resuming the milder tones with which he had
+spoken before, continued,</p>
+
+<p>"So much will be said of <i>thee</i>. Before I offer thee my hand, in token
+that I desire to forget everything of the past, but that I once truly
+loved thee, and before I propose to thee a new and honourable
+duty,&mdash;hear,&mdash;not what will be, but what has been said of <i>myself</i>, in
+relation to thine expedition and to thee."</p>
+
+<p>Here the general paused a moment, eyeing the youth intently, as if to
+read his most secret thoughts; then continuing, he said, with the utmost
+gravity,</p>
+
+<p>"It has been said of me, seņor Juan Lerma, that I sent thee upon thy
+enterprise of the South Seas, in the malicious thought that the blow of
+savages might execute the sentence of vengeance I cared not to commit to
+a Christian assassin. What thinkest thou of this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Even that it is the blackest and insanest of slanders; and that it
+shows me, I have little cause to marvel at my own loss of credit, when I
+find that malice can aim even at your excellency's. Whatever may have
+been your anger, I never believed your excellency would conceal it, much
+less expend it, in secret vengeance upon a feeble wretch like myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast but little worldly knowledge," said the Captain-General, half
+smiling, "or thou wouldst know, that revenge is of a reptile's nature,
+crawling rather in secret among dark thickets than openly over sunny
+plains, and none the less venomous, that it can lie half a year torpid.
+Neither put thou much trust in innocent looks; which, to a shrewd eye,
+are like sea-water,&mdash;the smoother they lie, the deeper can they be
+looked into."</p>
+
+<p>Having pronounced these metaphorical maxims with much gravity, his eye
+all the time bent on the youth, Cortes paused for a moment, as if for a
+reply; when, receiving none, for, in truth, Juan, not well comprehending
+them, knew not what to answer, he continued,</p>
+
+<p>"Let us understand one another. There has been strife between
+us,&mdash;strife and ill-will. I have perhaps done you injustice: I thought I
+had cause. By my conscience, young man, I once loved you very well&mdash;I
+have been sorry for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I have deserved your displeasure," said Juan, hurriedly, moved by the
+earnestness with which the general spoke; "but, I hope, not beyond
+forgiveness."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely not, surely not," said Cortes; "but what I may forget as thy
+friend, I am still bound to consider as thy general. I am now the king's
+officer, and it becomes me, forgetting all private feelings, to know no
+friends but those who approve themselves true and valuable servants of
+his majesty. In this character, I must remember some of thy past acts
+with disfavour; but in both, it is not improper I should desire thou
+shouldst have opportunity fully to retrieve thy good name, and, in spite
+of envy and detraction, to deserve such friendship as I have shown thee
+in former years."</p>
+
+<p>The exile pondered a moment over the words of the general, in more
+indecision than before. They spoke of friendship and kindness, and
+seemed to offer an apology for severity that was rather official than
+personal; and yet, in this apology, was a degree of reproach, of which
+it appeared Cortes's resolution to keep him always sensible.
+Nevertheless, this very tone of complaint served to soothe the little
+exasperation of feelings which had remained in Juan's breast, while
+smarting under a sense of wrong and injustice. Anger both irritates and
+hardens the heart; reproach softens, while it distresses. It seemed
+obvious to Juan, that Cortes, while apprizing him that a full
+reconciliation had not yet taken place, was willing, nay anxious, that
+it should. He answered therefore with the greatest fervour,</p>
+
+<p>"If your excellency will but show me in what manner I may regain your
+favour&mdash;at least your belief that I have not wantonly rejected it&mdash;I
+call heaven to witness, I will remember it as such an act of kindness as
+that which <i>this</i> must ever keep me in memory of."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he touched with his finger a rapier-scar on his right
+breast, which the narrowness and peculiar fashion of his mantle scarcely
+enabled him to conceal, even when so disposed.</p>
+
+<p>At this sight, Cortes seemed disordered, if not offended, saying after
+striding to and fro for an instant,</p>
+
+<p>"Let these follies be forgotten! Bury the past, and think only of the
+future. It is true, I avenged thy wrong&mdash;It gives me no pleasure to
+remember it.&mdash;Did I think this, when I made thee my son,&mdash;fed thee at my
+board, lodged thee on my couch, advanced thee, honoured thee, fought thy
+battles? did I think <i>this</i>? Pho! Juan Lerma, thou hast not repaid me
+well!"</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor!" said Juan, surprised and confounded by the sudden and
+reproachful bitterness of these words; "when I presumed to speak to you
+in opposition to your measures, it was with the boldness&mdash;the folly&mdash;of
+affection, jealous for your excellency's&mdash;your excellency's&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Honour!" said Cortes, sharply. "Let us speak of this no more. To
+business, seņor, to business. Leave mine honour to mine own keeping:
+thou wilt find, I have it even in my thoughts. To business, to business.
+What say ye, Councillors?&mdash;Wilt thou truly steal my dog from me? If you
+rob me of naught else, it is no matter.&mdash;What say you, seņor Capitan Del
+Salto? what say you, Sandoval? Is this young man fit to be entrusted
+with a captain's command? He was a good Cornet.&mdash;Can we confide to him a
+duty of danger and trust? His pilgrimage to the Hummingbird-land,
+methinks, was well conducted. What say you? I have a goodly thought for
+him&mdash;But I will abide your better judgment."</p>
+
+<p>"By St. James," said Alvarado, "there is no braver lad in the army; and
+were he but of clear hidalgo lineage, I should say, give him a command
+with the best. But here is my thought: he is a good sailor, especially
+in piraguas and galleys: give him a brigantine. I will crave to have him
+in the squadron attached to mine own division."</p>
+
+<p>"In my mind," said Sandoval, "he is good for the land service. It is
+needful we revenge the death of Salcedo and his eighty loons, who
+suffered themselves to be killed before Tochtepec. Lerma has the love of
+the dog Xicotencal, who loves nobody else. He can follow the young
+seņor, with some twenty thousand or so of his bare-legs; and they can
+take the town among them."</p>
+
+<p>"A good thought," said Cortes, "a good thought: for this is a command
+which, nobody coveting, there will be none to envy. What sayst thou,
+seņor Lerma? wilt thou adventure upon a deed thought to be both
+dangerous and desperate? Choose for thyself: I will compel thee to
+nothing. I tell thee the truth.&mdash;No captain seeks after this employment,
+and three have refused, except upon condition that I give them, besides
+as many Indians as they can raise, three hundred picked Spaniards. Thou
+canst not look for more than twenty, with some five or six horsemen."</p>
+
+<p>The eyes of the exile sparkled.</p>
+
+<p>"Your excellency honours me."</p>
+
+<p>"Never think so; deceive not thyself," said Cortes, with apparent
+frankness. "The enterprise is dangerous, nay, as I have said, desperate;
+and by my conscience, it will be said of it, as of the South Sea
+journey, that it is devised for thy ruin.&mdash;If I honour thee, I must
+suffer thereby: no evil can happen to thee, that will not be maliciously
+imputed to wicked and premeditated design. By my conscience, there are
+many who think me but a hangman in disguise!"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope your excellency will not think of these things," said Juan,
+fervently. "I will do battle with any one who presumes&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Peace: have I not told thee already that the duel is forbidden under
+heavy penalties? I swear to thee, they shall be enforced, in all cases
+of disobedience, were it upon my own brother.&mdash;I tell thee again, I can
+advance thee to no service which will not make me the mark of slander.
+There are fools about us, who, I know not why, have tortured anger into
+hatred, and will now interpret good-will into malignant treachery. But I
+care not for this: the tall tree catches the bolts that pass by the
+underwood,&mdash;the rock that rises above the sea, is lashed by breakers,
+while the grovellers at the bottom lie in tranquillity. It is thus with
+the condition of man;&mdash;peace abides with the lowly, envy shoots arrows
+at the high. Think of this, think of this, Juan Lerma, when thou hearest
+me maligned."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not need," said Juan. "The more dangerous the duty, the more
+must I thank your excellency for your confidence. I beseech, therefore,
+that I may be permitted to undertake this present enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>"Wilt thou march them on foot, and with no better arms than thy Indian
+battle-axe and buckler?" demanded the general, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard," said Juan, with hesitation, "that your excellency has in
+charge certain horses and arms, which of right are mine, as being the
+gifts of a bountiful friend."</p>
+
+<p>"It is even so," said Cortes, "and the restoration of them, which thou
+canst justly claim, will cause some heart-burnings. I must crave your
+pardon for having presumed to bestow them away, as though they had been
+mine own property."</p>
+
+<p>"Under your favour," said Juan, "considering that they were the gifts of
+your excellency's ever honoured and beloved lady&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" cried Cortes, with a darkening visage, "what fiend possessed thee
+with this impertinent conceit?"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your excellency's pardon for my presumption," said Juan, "which
+was indeed caused no more by rumour than by a belief that there was no
+other being in the world, who could thus far have befriended me."</p>
+
+<p>"Why then," said Cortes, "if thou knowest not the donor, it is the more
+remarkable; for nobody else does. Very strange! Two horses, the worst of
+which is worth full nine hundred crowns, and Bobadil almost
+priceless;&mdash;a suit of armour so well chosen to thy stature, that never a
+man of us all but is as loose in the cuirass as a shrivelled walnut in
+the shell,&mdash;all very positively sent to <i>thee</i> from Santiago,&mdash;for thee,
+seņor, and for nobody else!"</p>
+
+<p>"They are saint's gifts," said Alvarado, devoutly: "the young man has
+suffered much, and has found favour with heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor," said Juan, mildly, "you are jesting with me. I will hope, by
+and by, to discover this benevolent patron. What I have to say now, is
+that my wants will be content with but one of the horses; the return of
+which will cause your excellency no trouble,&mdash;the same being in the
+hands of the seņor Guzman, who has already signified his intention to
+restore him."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! has he so, indeed? Why thy very enemies have become thy friends!"</p>
+
+<p>"As for the armour, seņor," continued the youth, without thinking fit to
+notice the latter exclamation, "I will make no claim to it, if you have
+bestowed it away. A simple morion and breastplate,&mdash;or indeed a good cap
+and doublet of escaupil, if iron be scarce,&mdash;will content me, provided I
+have but a good sword and steed."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt have both," said Cortes, "and the plate-mail also; which
+being somewhat too gigantic for any cavalier, and too good for a common
+soldier, I have preserved, thinking some day to bestow it upon the
+Tlascalan Xicotencal.&mdash;Thou art not loath to undertake this business? I
+will give thee a day to think of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Not an hour, seņor," said Juan, ardently. "Give me but time to exchange
+these heathen weeds and sandals for good armour and a warhorse, and I
+will depart instantly, with whatsoever force you may think fit to
+entrust to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou really, then, so hot after danger?"</p>
+
+<p>"God is my protection," said Juan; "I thank heaven, that this duty <i>is</i>
+the most dangerous your excellency could charge me with: it is, for that
+reason, the most honourable."</p>
+
+<p>"Sayst thou so?" cried the Captain-General, quickly. "There is <i>one</i>
+duty, at least, I could impose upon thee, which thou wouldst not be so
+hasty to accept? No, faith; for the very name of it has caused the
+boldest soldier in the army to turn pale.&mdash;Get thee to the armory; rest
+and refresh thyself: to-morrow thou shalt to Tochtepec."</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor, for your love I will do what others will not: I have years of
+benefaction to repay. I claim to be appointed to that task which is so
+dreadful to others."</p>
+
+<p>"By my conscience, no," said Don Hernan: "<i>this</i> would be sending thee
+to execution indeed. And yet I know none so well fitted as thyself: Thou
+art fearless, cunning, discreet,&mdash;at least thou canst be so; and thou
+art a master of the barbarous language, I think?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your excellency once commended the success with which I laboured to
+acquire it: my year's wanderings in the west have made it familiar to me
+almost as the tongue of Castile."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a good endowment," said Cortes. "What thinkest thou of an
+embassage to Tenochtitlan?"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, pronouncing each word with deliberate emphasis, he bent his
+eyes searchingly on Juan, and a smile crept over his features, as he
+perceived the young man lose colour and start.</p>
+
+<p>"The man that would do me <i>that</i> duty," he continued, gravely, "would
+indeed deserve well, not only of myself, but of his majesty, the king of
+Spain. But think not I mean to overtask thee,&mdash;or that I seriously
+designed to try thee with this rack of probation.&mdash;There are bounds to
+the courage of us all."</p>
+
+<p>"Your excellency mistakes me," said Juan, dispelling all emotion with a
+single effort, and speaking with a voice as firm as it was serious: "if
+there be but one good can come of such an embassy&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There might be <i>many</i>," said the general, "not the least of which would
+be the conquest of the city, and thereby of the whole land, without the
+loss of Christian lives. Could I but find speech with the prince
+Guatimozin, I have that which will move him to peaceful submission. But
+this is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"Again your excellency is deceived," said Juan, with the composure of
+one who has taken his resolution. "I will do your bidding,&mdash;I will carry
+your message to Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"Pho! I did but jest with thee. Three Indian envoys have I sent already:
+the infidel slew them all."</p>
+
+<p>"And cannot your excellency answer why? Your envoys were Indians,&mdash;your
+excellency's allies, but his subjects, who, in the act of alliance, had
+committed the crimes of treason and rebellion; for which he punished
+them with death, as seemed to him right and just. A Spanish ambassador
+would be received with greater respect, and perhaps dismissed without
+injury. I will not, with a boastful vanity, proclaim that I fear
+nothing; but such fears as I have, are not enough to deter me; and again
+I say, I will do your bidding."</p>
+
+<p>"My bidding!" cried Cortes; "I bid thee not; heaven forfend I should bid
+thee any such thing. But if thou really thinkest the danger is not
+great,&mdash;if thou art so persuaded&mdash;" He paused; his eyes sparkled; he
+strode to and fro in disorder. Then suddenly halting, he exclaimed, with
+a faint laugh, "No, by my conscience! no, by heaven! no, by St. James of
+Compostella! thou art the bravest fool of all, but thou shalt not die
+the death of a dog! I will not catch thee with tiger-traps!"</p>
+
+<p>To these extraordinary expressions, Juan answered with emotion, but
+still with unvarying resolution,</p>
+
+<p>"I wait your excellency's orders. I fear not death; I am alone in the
+world;&mdash;father or mother, brother or sister, kinsman or friend, there is
+not one to lament me, should I come to disaster. If I live, I will, as
+your excellency has said, have saved the effusion of Christian blood; if
+I die, heaven will remember the motive, and none will miss me.&mdash;I will
+go to Tenochtitlan."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a fool," said Alvarado. "Seņor Captain-General, this embassy
+may not be; I protest against it. The world will cry shame on us."</p>
+
+<p>"I do oppose the same," said Sandoval, "as being the wilful throwing
+away of a Christian life."</p>
+
+<p>The other cavaliers present were about to add their voices against the
+measure, when Cortes cut them short by saying, sternly,</p>
+
+<p>"Are ye all mad, seņores? Think ye, this thing was said seriously? I did
+but try the young man's mettle, and I do think he hath somewhat less of
+gaingiving about him, as well as much more folly, than any one here
+present. I must get me an ambassador; but, Juan Lerma, thou art not the
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"To my thought," said Sandoval, "this old Indian, Ocelotzin, will be a
+much safer emissary."</p>
+
+<p>Apparently the Ottomi, who had listened throughout the whole conference
+with great attention, and who understood just enough of it to know the
+course that affairs were taking, did not at all relish the suggestion of
+Sandoval. He started, flung the gray curtain of hair from his visage,
+and began to pour forth a torrent of such objurgations and remonstrances
+as he could find Spanish to express:</p>
+
+<p>"I am not Ocelotzin, the Tiger," he exclaimed; "very weak and old I
+am,&mdash;no claw, no tooth, no roar."&mdash;And here the barbarian, by way of
+confirming his speech, set up a yell, so wild, shrill, and hideous, that
+the cavaliers started back, catching at their swords in alarm, and two
+or three soldiers from the ante-room rushed in, as if apprehending some
+act of treason. But the dog Befo, who had hitherto maintained his post
+at the feet of Lerma, now rubbing against his knees, now rearing against
+his breast, and sometimes, when pushed down and too long neglected,
+expressing his impatience or affection, by extending his vast jaws, as
+if to swallow the hand that repelled him,&mdash;the dog Befo heard the cry of
+the savage with such indignation as he would have bestowed upon the howl
+of a rival. He replied with a lion-like growl, and stalking up to the
+Ottomi, he stood watching him, ever and anon writhing his lips so as to
+disclose his huge fangs, and seemed waiting the signal to attack,
+greatly to the terror of the orator.</p>
+
+<p>A wave of the general's hand dismissed the intruding soldiers from the
+apartment; and at the voice of Lerma, the dog returned to him.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Techeechee," said the orator, resuming his discourse, but with
+tones greatly subdued; "I am Techeechee, the Silent Dog,&mdash;the Silent Dog
+I am; Techeechee, the Silent Dog,&mdash;the Silent Dog I am.&mdash;Techeechee."&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>All this time, he kept his eyes fixed upon Befo as if dreading an
+assault; and, in fact, his solicitude had somewhat overpowered his mind,
+so that he continued for some moments to reiterate the above phrases,
+without any seeming consciousness of their absurdity. At last, he fell
+into his vernacular language, and this happily releasing him from his
+trammels, he poured forth, with amazing volubility, a string of sounds,
+so harsh, guttural, inarticulate, and unearthly, that they seemed rather
+the basso chatterings of an ape than the meaning accents of a human
+being.</p>
+
+<p>"What says the knave?" cried Cortes.</p>
+
+<p>"He says," replied Juan, "that he is the little dumb dog of the hills,
+and will harm nobody; that Montezuma was a big dog, like Befo, (wherein
+he lies,) and that Guatimozin the prince is bigger still, and will eat
+him,&mdash;which is to be understood figuratively. He says, he is the Little
+Dog, and therefore not fit to be an ambassador; but&mdash;Ha! what sayst
+thou, Techeechee?"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The young man spoke to the Ottomi in his own tongue, and receiving an
+answer, turned immediately to Cortes, saying,</p>
+
+<p>"It becomes me to inform your excellency of his words; for savage though
+he be, this old man I have ever found to be marvellously shrewd, as well
+as faithful. It is his opinion, that the prince Guatimozin would not
+injure <i>me</i>, if I went on the embassy; wherefore, I beg your excellency
+to reconsider your resolution. He says, too, he will go with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Your destiny, seņor, is to the rebellious and bloody town Tochtepec,"
+replied the general, quickly and decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>"He adds," continued Juan, "that he is Techeechee and no ambassador; but
+that he is cousin to Quimichin, the Ground Rat, and that he will be your
+spy,&mdash;for <i>quimichin</i> is the word by which they express a spy throughout
+the whole land."</p>
+
+<p>"I am Techeechee; I will be Quimichin," said the Indian, as if to
+confirm the words of Juan, and twisting his withered features into a
+smile, that was meant to express both cunning and affection.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou think him faithful?" said Cortes. "I will find service for
+him. But go, amigo! I have kept thee till thou art as faint and weary as
+myself. Get thee to Quinones, and the armory. Make thy preparations and
+take thy rest. I will see thee on the morrow&mdash;perhaps to-night, and
+acquaint thee with thy force and instructions. God be with you&mdash;Nay,
+heed not the dog&mdash;Adieu, seņores&mdash;He has much of your own fidelity, roam
+he never so much. Take him with you."</p>
+
+<p>When the last of the cavaliers had departed from the chamber, the
+Captain-General, stepped upon the platform, and throwing himself into
+the chair of state, sat or reclined thereon, with the air of one worn
+out by exertion of mind and body, and on the eve of sinking into a
+swoon.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>According to the apologue, every man carries on his back a satchel, in
+which are deposited his infirmities and vices, and which, though thus
+concealed from his own eyes, lies very invitingly open to the inspection
+of his friends. Not satisfied with this exposure of foibles, there are
+some good-natured moralists, who would dive deeper into the secrets of
+their neighbours, and who lament, with the old heathen metaphysician,
+that heaven had not clapped windows into their breasts, so that they
+might detect even the iniquity of thoughts. This regret may be avoided
+by all who are willing to satisfy curiosity at their own expense; for
+heaven has fitted most bosoms with private loopholes, through which each
+man may survey at his leisure the workings of his own spirit. A peep
+through the secret casement will disclose something startling, if not
+humbling, to many, who, in the vanity of good works, are disposed to
+uplift themselves above their fellows;&mdash;such, perhaps, as rational
+principles, and even kindly feelings, taking their hue from 'that
+smooth-faced gentleman,'&mdash;that biassing spirit which is more
+comprehensively expressed in Shakespeare's phrase of <i>Commodity</i> than in
+the more familiar one of Interest; for it is true of us all, that
+virtues are sometimes nothing but passions in disguise, and that reason
+has a marvellous facility in acquiring the tones of worldly-wisdom. If
+the mere grovelling villain,&mdash;the robber, assassin, or slayer of man's
+peace,&mdash;can find some such spectacle near to his heart as the surgeon's
+knife exposes in the breast of a cankered corse, what may <i>he</i> detect,
+whose sublimer villany has led, or is leading him, to distinction, upon
+a highway paved with the miseries of mankind? Methinks, the breast of
+the ambitious man is a labyrinth of some such caverns as perforate the
+bowels of a volcano, in whose depths are lost all the petty details of
+crime, committed, or meditated,&mdash;in which there is no light but that
+which bubbles up from the lava of the vast passion,&mdash;and in which there
+is even no grandeur, that has not arisen from convulsions the most
+disorganizing and unnatural. Such a heart is, at least to the limited
+ken of others, a chaos,&mdash;but a chaos from which he who imbosoms it, and
+who alone can understand it, calls up,&mdash;less like a god than a
+demon,&mdash;the evil elements, which create the lurid sphere his greatness.</p>
+
+<p>In the bosom of the Conquistador there was a corner, into which the
+blaze of ambition had not yet penetrated, and where the common passions
+of our nature were left to rage and struggle as in the heart of a meaner
+mortal. As he looked therein, he gave himself up to thoughts which
+devoured him, while his countenance betrayed, for a time at least,
+nothing beyond such lassitude and faintness as may have characterized
+the Spartan boy, while bleeding under the fangs of the beast he
+concealed in his bosom.</p>
+
+<p>As he sat brooding in this apparently calm, yet deeply suffering
+lethargy, there glided into the apartment, from one of the curtained
+doors on the right hand, a figure, which, seen for the first time and in
+the dusky twilight already darkening around, might, to superstitious
+eyes, have seemed an apparition,&mdash;it was so strange, so fair, so
+majestic, and so mournful. It presented a stature taller than belongs to
+the beauty of woman, yet not inconsistent with the conception of a
+divinity; and to this a singular dignity was given by flowing and
+voluminous robes of a grayish texture, which, both in hue and fashion,
+bore an air of monastic simplicity, without precisely resembling those
+of any one order. A sort of hood, or veil, drawn a little aside and
+resting upon the brow, gave to view a female countenance of wonderful
+loveliness, and not without a share of that commanding dignity, which
+distinguished her figure. Her hair, shorn, or perhaps bound behind by a
+fillet, and thus almost altogether concealed by the hood, gave yet to
+the gaze two long locks, broad and black, which, falling over either
+cheek, were lost among the folds of the veil which her right hand held
+upon her bosom. A complexion dark, yet not tawny,&mdash;a chin and nostrils
+carved like the most exquisite statuary,&mdash;lips of dusky crimson,&mdash;a brow
+of marble, and an eye of midnight, made up a countenance both beautiful
+and characteristic, yet contradictory in the expression of its several
+parts, and sometimes even in the expression of the same features. Thus,
+the first impression made upon a spectator by the whole visage, was such
+as could only be effected by extreme gentleness of disposition; while
+the second, he scarce knew why, spoke of energy and decision, none the
+less striking for being concealed under a mask so captivating. Thus,
+also, the eyes, very large and set widely apart, conveyed, on ordinary
+occasions, the idea of a spirit passive, melancholy, and inanimate;
+though the slightest depression of the brow, the smallest motion of the
+lid, transformed them at once into the brightest torches of passion. If
+one could conceive the spirit of a Philomela&mdash;a compound of sweet
+tenderness and still sweeter melancholy&mdash;dashed with the fire of a
+Penthesilea, he might conjure up to his mind's eye a correct
+representation of the mysterious being, (alluded to by Villafana, under
+the name of La Monjonaza, or the Nun, the word being a sort of cant
+augmentative of <i>Monja</i>, a nun,) whom an extraordinary destiny had
+thrown among the warlike invaders of Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>As she passed from the thick curtain and advanced towards the platform,
+on which sat the moody general, her visage presented none of its
+ordinary mildness; on the contrary, her brows were knit together, her
+lip retracted, and the look with which she regarded him whom all others
+were learning to fear, was bold, stern, and even fiercely hostile.</p>
+
+<p>The rustling of the curtain, the light sound of her footstep, the bright
+glance of her eye, when she paused before him, all alike failed to make
+an impression on the general's senses. She perceived that he was in a
+waking dream, absorbingly profound and painful, and she stood in
+silence, from disdainful pride, or perhaps with a woman's curiosity,
+endeavouring to trace the workings of his spirit from the revelations of
+his countenance, which, by this time, had changed from a stony
+inexpressiveness to agitation and distortion. At this moment, the head
+of the Conqueror was bent forwards, and his eyes directed upon the
+floor; but she saw enough in the writhing features, and the forehead
+almost impurpled with blood, to know that the passions then convulsing
+his bosom, were dark and deadly.</p>
+
+<p>At this sight, the frown gradually passed away from her own visage, and
+she stood regarding him for the space of several minutes, with a calm
+and melancholy intentness. Then, perceiving that his lips, though moving
+as if in speech, gave out no articulate sound, she exclaimed, with a
+voice that thrilled to his soul, though subdued to the lowest accents,</p>
+
+<p>"Arise, assassin! It is <i>not</i> just, it is <i>not</i> expedient; and he shall
+NOT perish!"</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as if she had read his heart. He started up, surprised and
+confounded; and his first act was to cross himself, as if to exorcise a
+fiend, conjured up by the mere spell of evil thoughts. He even gave
+voice to two or three interjections of alarm, before perceiving that the
+rebuke came only from lips of earth.</p>
+
+<p>"Hah! hah! Santa Maria! Santos y Angeles! hah!&mdash;Ho! ho! Infeliz!
+Magdalena! fair conqueror of hearts! bright converter of souls that
+shalt be! is it thou, <i>Monja mia Santisima</i>? most devout saint of the
+veil?" he cried, recovering his self-possession, and banishing every
+trace of passion with astonishing address. "By thy bright eyes of
+heaven,&mdash;and thanks be thine for the good deed,&mdash;thou hast waked me from
+a dream of night-mare, a most horrible vision. These naps o' the
+afternoon are but provokers of Incubus,&mdash;ay, and Succuba into the
+bargain. I thank thee, bright Infeliz: it is better to be waked by thy
+voice, than by sweet music!"</p>
+
+<p>"And dost thou think," said the lady, with a voice whose deep but not
+unfeminine tones suited so well with the mournfulness of her
+emphasis,&mdash;"dost thou think, I see not, this moment, into thy bosom?
+Visions and sleep! Speak of visions to thy dull conquerors: they who
+dream of immortal renown, can best appreciate a vision of bloodshed.
+Speak of sleep to thy duller victims: the stupid wretches who slumber
+with the chain at their necks, may well believe that the enslaver has
+also his seasons of repose. But talk not of these to <i>me</i>, who look upon
+thee neither with the eyes of follower nor of foe. Thou canst not sleep,
+thou dost not dream: thy head is too full of fame, thy foot too deep in
+blood, thy heart too black with evil thoughts&mdash;No, nevermore canst thou
+sleep, nevermore, nevermore!"</p>
+
+<p>The last words were uttered with a cadence so extremely melancholy, and
+with a manner so much like that of one who apostrophizes self, that a
+stranger overhearing them, and marking the look and gesture&mdash;the
+upturned eye and the folding of arms on the breast&mdash;would have naturally
+supposed they referred rather to herself than to another. This was,
+indeed, a suspicion, entertained, in part, by Cortes, who, somewhat
+confounded by the calm decision with which she rejected a deceitful
+attempt to explain expressions of countenance so ominous as those he had
+displayed, now recovered himself, and said, with an air of grave
+sympathy, in which earnestness could not conceal a vein of sarcasm and
+bagatelle, that were parts of his nature,</p>
+
+<p>"Fair Infeliz, the Unhappy, (since by this lugubrious epithet you choose
+to be called,) it is now some two months since you dropped among us from
+the clouds, the fairest, shrewdest and strangest, as well as the most
+broken-hearted, and self-accusing of all the angels that have fallen
+from paradise. For mine own part, however fervently I may thank heaven
+for sending me such a minister, I have not yet got over my amazement at
+your presence; which I indeed regard with much the same wonder wherewith
+I should behold the sun of heaven take up his quarters at my tent-door."</p>
+
+<p>"In this particular," said the lady, with the utmost tranquillity, "you
+should have been satisfied, (had it accorded with your nature to believe
+any solution of a problem, that was not suggested by your own
+imagination,) that the deceptions of others, and no will of my own,
+brought me from Santiago to Mexico, in a ship which should have carried
+me to Jamaica.&mdash;Your allies do not fit out vessels openly for this land,
+under the eye of Velasquez.&mdash;But why ask you me this? Hast thou no
+better device to lure me from my purpose? I came, not to speak of
+myself, but of others. Thou couldst have played the lapwing more subtly,
+hadst thou dwelt upon the whispers, the nods, the smiles of contempt and
+the words of scorn, that heralded a compelled coming, find which requite
+an inevitable stay. But learn, if thou hast not yet learned it, that
+these things are felt more than they are feared, and that she who has
+not deserved it, may sometimes have the courage to endure even a
+degrading misconstruction. Why hast thou not insinuated <i>this</i>?"
+continued the singular being, with a voice that betrayed more feeling
+than her pride confessed: "this would have drowned every other thought
+in a true woman; for to woman, good name and fame are more than
+life-blood,&mdash;yes, more than life!&mdash;I save thee, however, the trouble; I
+am reminded of my condition,&mdash;a woman alone in thy camp, alone in thy
+hands;&mdash;and yet I return to my purpose, which concerns not myself, but
+another. Wilt thou have me speak further of myself? If it last till the
+midnight, be sure I will yet speak of that which I have in view."</p>
+
+<p>"Of thyself, then, beauteous Infeliz," said Cortes, admiringly; "for I
+vow to heaven, thou art the marvel of womankind, whom I desire to
+understand even more than to adore. Sit thou upon my barbarian throne,
+and I will fling me at thy feet, in token that I acknowledge thy
+supremacy in wit, wisdom, subtle observation, determination, and all
+other virtues that can grace woman,&mdash;ay, or man either; for I swear by
+my conscience, I think thou art valiant also, fearing nothing that walks
+under heaven or above the abyss. To the throne then, as queen of my
+mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"I will answer thee where I stand," said Infeliz, calmly disengaging the
+hand which the Conquistador had taken to lead her to the platform; "and
+think not, this gallant folly will make me a whit quicker of
+apprehension, or reply. Make thy demands, and gain thereby what time
+thou wilt to answer mine; for this is thy purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"Well then," said the Captain-General, with a look of not less respect
+than curiosity, "make me acquainted with this. Wherefore, as thy coming
+hither was so much against thy will, hast thou not once demanded to be
+taken back to the islands?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it is not yet my will to be discharged from your presence,"
+replied the lady, calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Be thou of this mind for ever," said the general, with an air of
+sincerity. "Now let me know, I pray you, why it is that I am somewhat
+more forward in confiding to thy scrutiny my secret thoughts than to the
+best and wisest of my bold cavaliers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because thou knowest I neither love thee nor hate thee; because I lose
+not good-will by asking honours and spoils, nor by boasting of services
+and ability; but chiefly am I troubled with your confidence, because I
+am the only one who lists not to have it."</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith, thou art very right, especially in the last reason of
+all," said Cortes, with a laugh; "for secrets are like gnats and
+musket-bullets, they ever crowd thickest after those who strive most to
+avoid them.&mdash;Tell me now, fair and most provoking Infeliz, why, when I
+have flung thee open the whole book of my confidence, thou givest me not
+a single chapter of thine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it extends not beyond that single chapter," replied La
+Monjonaza, patiently, "hath neither beginning nor end, and is, beside,
+in a language which thou canst not understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Pho, you put me off with nothing," said Don Hernan, again taking the
+hand of his remarkable guest. "I have but one more question to ask you.
+Why is it, (and I pray you to forgive me the question,) that, with the
+consciousness that your situation in this mad land and knavish army,
+exposes you not only to degrading suspicion, but even to absolute
+personal danger, you betray no apprehension of the wild reprobates among
+whom you are placed? that you show no dread even of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because," said the maiden, removing her right hand, which she had, up
+to this moment, preserved upon her breast, and drawing aside the thick
+folds of veil and mantle,&mdash;"because, for the wretch who fears not the
+woman's arms of modesty and helplessness, I bear with me a weapon which
+will secure his respect."</p>
+
+<p>And as she spoke, the eye of Don Hernan fell upon a naked and glittering
+poniard thrust through her girdle, and worn as if it had long formed a
+part of the habit.</p>
+
+<p>There was something inexpressibly impressive in the calm and simple
+dignity with which, in the very gesture that pointed out a protection so
+insufficient, she acknowledged a weakness, in all other respects,
+unfriended. Cortes, in the multitude of his base and graspingly selfish
+attributes, was not without some traits of a more generous character;
+and especially admiring a courage so self-relying, so unaffectedly real,
+and perhaps so much akin to his own, he had enough of the old leaven of
+chivalric feeling, to understand and appreciate the claims of the sex to
+his compassion and protection. That he had other reasons for treating La
+Monjonaza with respect, cannot be denied.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me thy hand, Magdalena," he said, with an action and voice rather
+indicating the familiarity of a patron than that of a presumptuous
+suitor: "Thou art right; thou art a creature after mine own heart; and I
+swear to thee, I will do thee no wrong, nor suffer it to be done thee by
+another. Heed not what may be said of thee; my dogs would bay an angel,
+should one condescend to pay them a visit. Thy cloister-like garments
+are not amiss;&mdash;there be more that venerate than malign thee, for this
+reason; and, thank heaven, the padre Olmedo finds no sin in thy wearing
+them. Wilt thou be seated? There is peace between us; let there be
+confidence. What hast thou to ask of me, Magdalena? Thy revenge is at
+hand."</p>
+
+<p>The maiden returned the scrutinizing look of the general with one which,
+if not so piercing, was at least quite as steady:</p>
+
+<p>"Your excellency has thrice called me, who call myself Infeliz, by a
+name not authorized by any revealments of mine," she said: "you speak
+also of revenge,&mdash;of <i>my</i> revenge!&mdash;Yes," she muttered, with a quivering
+lip; "this is a thing to be thought of, not spoken."</p>
+
+<p>She paused a moment, and Cortes, casting a quick eye round the
+apartment, said, in a voice confidentially low and insinuating,</p>
+
+<p>"I would the story had come from yourself. But it matters not,&mdash;I have
+it; and disguise is no longer availing. You lose nothing by the change,
+for I see, thy spirit hath the elements of mine own. Ah! water in the
+desert! the first kiss of a lover! breath to the suffocating!&mdash;such is
+revenge to the soul of the mighty!&mdash;I know thee, thy history and thy
+purpose.&mdash;I have dandled the boy Hilario upon my knee!"</p>
+
+<p>The strong and meaning stress laid upon the last abrupt words, only
+served to drive the colour from the maiden's cheeks and lips. In all
+other respects, she remained calm and collected, and replied gravely,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The tale comes from the Alguazil Villafana&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" said Cortes, in surprise; "how knowest thou that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because there is no other,&mdash;no other, save <i>one</i>, who will not speak
+it,&mdash;in all this land, who knows so much of me; and because, were there
+twenty, the man whom heaven has cursed with the industrious treachery of
+a spider, and the rage to entangle all things in his flimsy web, would
+be the first to betray me."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou sayst the truth of Villafana," said Cortes, with a laugh of
+peculiar exultation. "In spirit and intention, he is the insect you have
+named; but yet he spins his web, less like the spider, with the chance
+of destroying, than the silken-caterpillar, that toils for his master,
+who will smother him in his work, as soon as it is perfected. Ay, thy
+penetration is clear, thy conception just; the knave is, in all things,
+a traitor,&mdash;a double, a triple,&mdash;a centupled traitor!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you both spare him, and give him the means of multiplying his
+dangerous villanies?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, by my conscience!" said Cortes, vivaciously. "There is a charm in
+it, and no little policy. Dost thou think this little fly can deceive?
+can deceive <i>me</i>?&mdash;Wert thou a man, thou wouldst know, that even above
+the triumph of vengeance, is the joy of him who watches the nets that
+his foe is spreading, and, as he watches, fastens them softly down upon
+the ensnarer."</p>
+
+<p>"And is the insect worthy to be toiled by the lion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay,&mdash;when the lion is a <i>man</i>!&mdash;This is my diversion; it is also my
+profit. I would not for a thousand crowns, any harm should come to so
+serviceable a tool: a better decoy never circled the disaffected about
+him. He is the touchstone that reveals me the metal of the
+doubtful,&mdash;the diamond that cuts me the adamant of malignancy. I look
+through him, as through the philosopher's glass, and behold the million
+things of corruption that swarm in the hearts of the curs beneath
+him.&mdash;By heaven! it joys me, that I have one to whom I can speak these
+secret blisses. Thou art my vizier, my very familiar. Know then, that
+this very night, the dog meditates a treachery, with which I will be
+acquainted, and yet seem unacquainted. By my conscience, it delights me
+to tell thee, with what exquisite industry the poor knave works me a
+good, while foolishly believing he is doing me an ill. Dost thou not
+remember that I have told thee, how much it concerns me to procure some
+trusty envoy, to go between me and the young infidel, Guatimozin of
+Tenochtitlan?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am familiar with your wishes."</p>
+
+<p>"Learn then, that, this night, Villafana himself procures me the
+emissary I have myself sought after in vain,&mdash;a Mexican noble of high
+rank.&mdash;I could kiss the dog for his knavery!"</p>
+
+<p>"And wherefore does he this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Faith, in the amiable wish to reconcile some of the jarring elements of
+his conspiracy; to wit, the Tlascalans and Mexicans; the latter of whom,
+this night, will, with his good help, show the black-cheeked Xicotencal
+the advantages to be gained by uniting with his mighty and royal enemy
+of Mexico, to secure the destruction of my insignificant self. Ha! ha!
+Is not the thought absurdly delightful! Ah, Villafana! Villafana! I have
+no such merry conceited good-fellow as thou!"</p>
+
+<p>La Monjonaza beheld the exultation, and listened to the mirthful laugh
+of the Conqueror with much interest, and not a little surprise. It did
+indeed seem extraordinary, that he should be so heartily diverted by the
+audacity of a villany that aimed at his downfall, and perhaps his life.
+But this very merriment indicated how many majestic fathoms he felt
+himself elevated above the reach of any arts of human malevolence or
+opposition. It was as if the eagle, flapping his wings among
+thunder-clouds, shrieked with contempt at schoolboys shooting up
+birdbolts from the village-green.&mdash;It gave a clew to a characteristic
+which Infeliz was not slow to unravel. A deep sigh from her lips
+recalled the general from his diversion.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou sighest, Magdalena?" he cried.</p>
+
+<p>"It was for thee," she answered: "I sighed, indeed, to think how much
+and how truly <i>thou</i>, thus elevated by a touch of divinity above the
+children of men, dost yet resemble this miserable, grovelling, befooled
+Villafana!"</p>
+
+<p>"What, I? Resemble him? resemble Villafana?"</p>
+
+<p>"Deny it, if thou canst," said the maiden, with rebuking severity; "and
+if thou canst not, then humble thyself, and confess the base similitude.
+Thou differest from him but in this,&mdash;that, whereas, in one quality,
+thou art uplifted miles above his head, thou art, in another, sunk even
+leagues <i>below</i> him.&mdash;Thou frownest? Hast thou discovered that anger
+adds aught to the state of dignity? Thou dost, this moment, even with
+the crawling venom of Villafana, with a rage still more abased, seek a
+life thou hast not courage openly to destroy."</p>
+
+<p>"Santiago!" cried Cortes, in a heat; "by St. Peter, you are over-bitter.
+But pho, I will not be angry with thee. Dost thou think me this coward
+thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hast thou not doomed the young man, Juan Lerma, a second time, to
+death?" cried La Monjonaza, with an eye that trembled not a moment in
+the gaze of the Captain-General; "and was it not with the embrace of a
+Judas? Oh, seņor!" she continued, firmly, "say not that Villafana is
+either base or craven. <i>He</i> strikes at the strong man, who sits armed
+and with his eyes open: but thou, oh <i>thou</i>,&mdash;thou art content to aim at
+the breast of the friendless and naked sleeper!&mdash;Judge between thyself
+and Villafana."</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to express the mingled effects of shame and rage, that
+disfigured the visage and convulsed the frame of the Captain-General, at
+this powerful and altogether unexpected rebuke. He smote his brow, he
+took two or three hasty steps over the floor; when, at last, a thought
+striking him, he rushed back to the chider, snatched up her hand, and
+said, with an attempt at laughter, painfully contrasted with his working
+and even agonized visage,</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou quarrel with me for fighting thy battles? Oh, by St. James,
+it is better to draw sword <i>on</i> a friend than <i>for</i> him: ingratitude
+always comes of it. Had I thought this of old, I had been a happier man,
+and thou never hadst mourned the death of Hilario;&mdash;no, by'r lady,
+Hilario had been a living man, and thou happy with him in the island!"</p>
+
+<p>As he hurried over these words, the diversion they gave to his thoughts,
+enabled him rapidly to recover his self-command, in which, as in affairs
+of less personal consequence, he always exhibited wonderful power. This
+accomplished, he continued, with an earnest voice,</p>
+
+<p>"Concealment is now useless: the time waxes, when I must think of other
+things: let us shrive one another even as two friars, and deceive one
+another no further than they. Methinks, what I do is for thy especial
+satisfaction.&mdash;An ill loon I am, to do so much for one who so bitterly
+censures me!&mdash;Who thou art, and what thou art, I know not: thou wert an
+angel, couldst thou give over chiding. The young Hilario del Milagro was
+the son of mine old friend Antonio:&mdash;a very noble boy,&mdash;I remember him
+well.&mdash;By heaven, thy hand is turned to ice! Art thou ill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do I look so?" said the maiden, with a faint laugh. Her face had of a
+sudden become very pale, yet she spoke firmly, though not without a
+visible effort. "I listen to thy confession."</p>
+
+<p>"To mine! By my troth, I am confessing <i>thy</i> sins and sorrows, and not
+mine. Well, Magdalena," he continued, "thy emotion is not amiss: it is
+not every maiden can think calmly of the death of her lover, knowing
+that his slayer is nigh.&mdash;I knew Hilario, when a boy,&mdash;ay, good faith,
+and Juan Lerma, too, his playmate and foster-brother, or his young page
+and varlet, I know not which. It was on Antonio's recommendation, that I
+afterwards took this foundling knave to my bosom, and made him&mdash;no, not
+what he <i>is</i>! for this is a thing of his own making. I sent him to
+Espaņola to recruit: he loitered,&mdash;he returned to the house of
+Milagro&mdash;Shall I say more? Hilario, his brother, the son of his best
+friend and patron, was the betrothed husband of Magdalena; and him did
+the wolf-cub slay. Wo betide me! for it was I that taught him the use of
+his weapon.&mdash;Is not this enough? Accident hath brought thee to Mexico;
+thou seest the killer of thy lover; and, like a true daughter of Spain,
+thy heart is full of vengeance.&mdash;Is not this true? Disguise thy wrath in
+wild sarcasm no longer. Were he the king's son, he should&mdash;&mdash;Pho! recall
+thy words: Is it not 'just?' is it not 'expedient?'"</p>
+
+<p>To these sinister demands, Magdalena replied with astonishing composure:</p>
+
+<p>"All this is well. Shrive now thyself&mdash;Hast <i>thou</i> any cause,
+personally, to desire his death?"</p>
+
+<p>"Millions!" replied the general, grinding his teeth; "millions,
+millions! to which the death of Hilario, wringing at thy breast, is but
+as a gnat-bite to the sting of adders.&mdash;Millions, millions!"</p>
+
+<p>"Give him then to death," said Magdalena, with a voice so grave and
+passionless, that it instantly surprised the Conquistador out of his
+fury; "give him to death,&mdash;but let it be in <i>thy</i> name, not <i>mine</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou wholly inexplicable?" he cried. "I read thee by the alphabet
+of human passions, and I make thee not out,&mdash;no, not so much as a word.
+Thy flesh warms and chills, thine eye swims and flashes, thy brow bends,
+thy lip curls, thy breast heaves, thy frame trembles; and yet art thou
+more than mortal, or less. When shall I understand thee?"</p>
+
+<p>"When thou canst look to heaven, and say, 'I have done no wrong'&mdash;No,
+no! not to heaven; for what child of earth can look thitherward, and
+unveil the actions of life?&mdash;When thou canst lay thy hand upon thy
+bosom, and appealing, not to divine justice, but to that of human
+reason, say, 'What I do is just:'&mdash;in other words, <i>never</i>. You are
+surprised: you bade me repeat my words: I do:&mdash;'It is <i>not</i> just, it is
+<i>not</i> expedient, and Juan Lerma shall <i>not</i> die!'"</p>
+
+<p>"Now by my conscience!" said Cortes, "this is the true dog-star madness!
+Wert thou not behind the curtain, and didst thou not shriek at sight of
+him? Mystery that thou art, unveil thyself&mdash;Wherefore tarriest thou in
+this land, suspected, scorned, degraded, if not to have vengeance on
+him? Wherefore, I say, wherefore?"</p>
+
+<p>"To <i>save</i> him," replied the lady, boldly,&mdash;"to save him from the fury
+that has brought thee to the level of the Alguazil. Else had I long
+since returned to the islands. Revoke therefore thy commission, and, in
+any way thou wilt, so that it carry with it neither secret malice nor
+open insult, contrive to discharge him from thy service. His life is
+charmed&mdash;it is in my keeping."</p>
+
+<p>"Oho!" said the Captain-General, surveying La Monjonaza with an exulting
+sneer; "sits the wind in that quarter? And thou art but a woman after
+all! Now was I but a fool, I trow, not to bethink me how the wife of
+Uriah forgot the death of her husband, when she saw a path open to the
+arms of his murderer. Is it so indeed? Thou hast fallen from admiration
+to pity."</p>
+
+<p>"She who withstands evil thoughts and maligning words, will not weep
+even at the contempt of commiseration," said Magdalena, with a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Villafana has then deceived me,&mdash;or rather, poor fool, has deceived
+himself, as is more natural," said Cortes, with a malicious grin. "Never
+believe me, but thou shalt rule me in this matter, as in others. Juan
+Lerma shall thank thee for his life, even for the sake of the Maid of
+Mexico,&mdash;thy brown rival, Zelahualla."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke thus, he watched closely the effect of his words on
+Magdalena, and beheld a sudden fire light up in her eyes, succeeded by
+such paleness as had always covered her visage, when he referred to the
+death of Hilario. Nevertheless, she did not avert her glance, nor
+exhibit any other manifestation of feeling, except that she replied not
+a single word.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the truth that I tell thee," he muttered in a low voice, taking
+up, as if in compassion, her hand, which was yielded passively, and was
+again cold and dewy; "she is very lovely,&mdash;very,&mdash;and a king's daughter.
+He fought for her love with Guzman. So, perhaps, he fought Hilario for
+thine. By my conscience! he makes love over blood-thirstily! When I
+spoke to him of Zelahualla,&mdash;nay, I mentioned not her name; I spoke only
+of his friends in the palace of Mexico&mdash;yet the colour flushed over his
+cheeks. Nevertheless, thou shalt rule me; thou shalt have time for
+consideration: the expedition to Tochtepec can be delayed. Dost thou
+think he would have consented to be mine envoy to Tenochtitlan, but for
+the hope of seeing his princess? I could tell thee another thing&mdash;(there
+are more rivals than one)&mdash;but it matters not,&mdash;it matters not! Thou
+wilt not be content with&mdash;pity!&mdash;Arouse thee, and speak.&mdash;Art thou
+marble?"</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, and while it seemed indeed that the unhappy Monjonaza,
+notwithstanding that her countenance was still inexpressively placid,
+had been turned to stone, the curtain of the great door, or principal
+entrance, was drawn aside, and the cavalier Don Francisco de Guzman
+strode hastily into the apartment. The sound of his footsteps, more than
+the warning gesture of Cortes, recalled her to her senses. She raised
+her hand to her brow, and the long hood falling over her countenance,
+she turned to depart through the door by which she had entered. The
+evening was already closing fast, and the shadowy obscurity of the
+chamber perhaps concealed her from the eyes of the intruder.
+Nevertheless, Cortes perceived, as she glided away, that her step was
+altered and tottering, and that her hands fumbled for a moment at the
+door curtain, as if she knew not how to remove it. It yielded, however,
+at last, and she vanished from his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fool," he muttered, with a feeling divided between scorn, anger,
+and pity, "thou hast discovered to me the broken postern of thy spirit:
+the walls are strong, but the citadel is in ruins. This is somewhat
+marvellous,&mdash;I will know more of it. It is a new and another thing to be
+remembered.&mdash;Come, amigo: it is over dark here for thy business. We will
+walk in the open air."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he took Guzman's arm, and departed from the chamber.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some two hours or more after he had been discharged from the presence of
+the Captain-General, Juan Lerma sat musing in one of the many hundred
+chambers which composed the vast extent of the palace of Nezahualcojotl,
+a different being from that the reader beheld him returning from exile.
+The coarse <i>tilmaltli</i>, or native cloak, and the barbarous tunic, had
+been exchanged for raiment of a better material and fashion, a part of
+which,&mdash;the <i>bragas</i> and <i>xaqueta</i>, at least&mdash;were from the wardrobe of
+the general, while modesty, or reluctance to accept any further of such
+assistance than was absolutely necessary, had induced him to substitute
+for the plain but costly <i>capa</i>, or mantle, of velvet, the long surcoat
+of black cloth, very richly embroidered, which had, as he was told,
+accompanied the suit of armour, sent by his unknown friend. This
+valuable and well-timed gift lay upon a platform beside his matted and
+canopied couch, shining brilliantly in the light which a waxen candle
+diffused throughout the apartment. He sat upon a native stool, carved of
+a solid block of wood, and his fine countenance and majestic figure,
+besides the advantages they received from becoming garments, appeared
+even of a more elevated beauty, when seen by this solitary ray.</p>
+
+<p>His only companion was the dog Befo, whose shaggy coat, yet gleaming
+with moisture, betrayed that he had shared with the young man his
+evening bath in the lake. The attachment of this beast was much more
+natural than remarkable. Five years before, when Juan was but a boy in
+Santo Domingo, Befo had been his playmate and companion;&mdash;had followed
+him to Cuba, when the youth began to weary of dependence, and long for a
+life of activity and distinction; and was finally presented by the
+grateful adventurer to Cortes, as the only gift in his power to bestow;
+for, at that time, saving his youth, health, and good spirits, Befo made
+up the sum of his worldly possessions. In the change of masters,
+however, Befo did not trouble himself to acquiesce; nor did he perceive
+any necessity, while treating Cortes with all surly good-will and
+respect, to abate a jot of his love for the hand which had first
+sustained and caressed him. The dog is the only animal that shows
+disinclination to be transferred from one master to another. The horse
+cares not, the ox submits, and man makes no opposition. The dog has a
+will of his own, and acknowledges no change of servitude, until
+conscious of a change of affection.</p>
+
+<p>The stirring and harassing events of the day, though they had exhausted
+the spirit of the youth, had yet brought with exhaustion that nervous
+irritableness which drives away slumber from the eyes of the over-weary.
+Twice or thrice, Juan had flung himself on the couch to repose, but in
+vain; and as he now sat questioning himself how far the substitution of
+soft mats and robes for a bed of earth, might account for his inability
+to sleep, he began to revolve in his mind, for the twentieth time, his
+change of fortunes, and wonder at the inauspicious, and, as it seemed to
+him, unnatural sadness, which oppressed his spirits.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been restored," he muttered, half aloud,&mdash;and, as he spoke,
+Befo, roused by the accents from the floor, thrust his rough head over
+his knees, to testify his attention,&mdash;"I have been restored to favour,
+and, in great part, to the friendship of the General.&mdash;Thou whinest,
+Befo! I would I could read the heart of a man as clearly as thine.&mdash;Yet
+has he not distinguished me with a high command,&mdash;a captain's? I trow,
+it is not every one who can so soon step into this dignity, especially
+when without the recommendation of birth, as Alvarado hinted.&mdash;I will
+show this proud cavalier, that God does not confine all merit to
+hidalgos' sons. If he give me but a capable force&mdash;Twenty foot and six
+horse?&mdash;'tis but a weak array for a field where eighty men have
+perished. Yet I care not: if I have but Xicotencal to back me, with some
+two or three <i>xiquipils</i><a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> of his Tlascalans, it will be enough. If I
+fall,&mdash;perhaps <i>that</i> will be better: I am too faint-hearted for these
+wars. Villafana says, that he brands the prisoners too, and sells them
+for slaves. This is surely unjust&mdash;He was another man at Cuba."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, the dog raised his head and growled, and Juan heard
+steps approaching through the long passage, that ran by his door. Here
+they stopped, and Befo continuing to give utterance to his displeasure,
+the voice of Villafana whispered through the curtain,</p>
+
+<p>"Put thy hand on the beast's neck, or box him o' the ears&mdash;He is no
+friend of mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Enter," said Juan, "if thou art seeking me. He will do thee no harm."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, marry," said Villafana, coming in; "for at the worst, and when
+other things fail, I will stop him with my dudgeon, be he Cortes's,
+thine, or any one's else. It stirs my choler to be growled at by so base
+a thing as a dog."</p>
+
+<p>"Put up thy weapon, nevertheless," said Juan, observing that Villafana
+had a poniard in his hand; "thou seest, the dog is quiet. In this he
+pays me the compliment of supposing I can protect myself. What is thy
+will with me, Villafana?"</p>
+
+<p>"First," said the Alguazil, with a laugh, "to give thee my
+congratulations touching thy sudden rise from the abyss, and thy
+meditated flight heaven-ward. And, secondly," he continued, when Juan
+had nodded his thanks, "to ask, in the way of friendship, from how high
+a cliff thou canst tumble headlong, without danger of breaking thy
+neck?"</p>
+
+<p>"This is but a silly question, friendly though it may be," replied Juan.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, seņor," said Villafana, "you must remember, the first night we
+slept with the army, at the base of El Volcan, the mighty Popocatepetl,
+how much we admired the great stones, that the devils therein flung up
+against the stars! You nod again: good luck to your recollections! Did
+you observe any one of those ignited masses stick against the vault, and
+there hang among the luminaries?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely not," said Juan; "those that fell not immediately back into the
+crater, rolled down among the snows on the mountain-side, and were there
+extinguished."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, seņor&mdash;When you are mounted, you can remember the
+fire-stones, and make your choice whether to tumble back into the fire
+of wrath, that now sends you upward, or to quench yourself for ever in
+the frozen bed of degradation.&mdash;You go to Tochtepec?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do," said Juan, somewhat angrily; "and I warn thee, thy malicious
+metaphors will not make me less grateful for the kindness that sends
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"God rest you&mdash;it were better you had accepted the embassy to
+Guatimozin."</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" said Juan, "how knowest thou of this? It was spoken only in
+secret council?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Villafana, with a second laugh, "if thou wilt but scratch on
+one end of a long log, be sure I will hear it at the other. There is
+something more in the world than magic."</p>
+
+<p>He spoke with marked exultation; indeed Juan had already observed that
+his carriage was freer and bolder than common, and that he bore himself
+like a man who cares not wholly to conceal a triumph of spirit, which he
+thinks it not needful altogether to divulge.</p>
+
+<p>"Harkee, seņor Don Juan," he went on, abruptly and inquisitively, "thou
+art good friends with Xicotencal?"</p>
+
+<p>"So far as a Christian man can be with one, who, though a very noble
+being, is yet a misbeliever."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou wert sworn friends, at Mexico, with the young prince,
+Guatimozin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," said Juan: "the young man kept aloof from us all, being of the
+hostile party; and there was scarce one of us who had ever seen his
+face. I must confess, however, if I can believe Techeechee, that my
+preservation in the expedition was owing to his good act; for Techeechee
+avers, that it was through Guatimozin's good will that he was sent with
+me, to secure me from the death which was designed for all the rest of
+the party."</p>
+
+<p>"Designed? dost thou allow it then?" cried the Alguazil, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," replied Juan, dryly; "designed by the Mexican lords, but not by
+Christian leaders."</p>
+
+<p>"And art thou not sorry thou wert not despatched to him as envoy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why need we talk of this?" said Juan, hesitating. "Guatimozin the king,
+may be different from Guatimozin the prince."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not <i>yet</i> the king," said Villafana. "He will not be crowned till
+the day of the great war-festival, and not then, unless he can furnish a
+Spaniard for the sacrifice. I'faith, he loves not the blood of his red
+neighbours."</p>
+
+<p>"Villafana," said Juan, struck with certain uneasy suspicions, "thou
+seemest better acquainted with these things than becomes a true follower
+of Don Hernan."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a whit, not a whit," cried the Alguazil, hastily: "this is but the
+common talk,&mdash;the common talk, seņor; and I am but a fool to indulge in
+it, to the prejudice of other business more urgent. Come, seņor,&mdash;will
+you walk in the garden? There is a friend to speak with you."</p>
+
+<p>"What friend?" said Juan.&mdash;"Villafana, I half suspect you are engaged in
+some foul work. I will have naught to do with it."</p>
+
+<p>"Lo you now," said the Alguazil, impatiently; "this is wild work. Do you
+think I will assassinate you? Ho! this is a thing thy best friend would
+entrust to another. Come, seņor;&mdash;you have your rapier,&mdash;you can take
+your casque, too, if you have any fear. It is a friend, who has that to
+say which it concerns your life to know. You know not your danger. God
+be with you, and your blood be upon your own head! If you refuse, you
+will not repent you:&mdash;no, faith&mdash;you will not have time left for
+lamentation.&mdash;Farewell, seņor,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stay, Villafana," exclaimed Juan, much disturbed: "Friend or foe,&mdash;it
+is not that which stays me, but the fear of being entrapped into
+something more to be dreaded than death. Thou art a schemer; it is thy
+nature: I will have nothing to do with thy plots, or with those who&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Pho! this concerns thyself alone, not me. My only plot is to help one
+who desires to drag thee out of the fire thou art so bent to burn in. I
+take you to your friend, and depart: I have other things to occupy me. I
+am but a messenger. Will you go? I must give you a token then.&mdash;You have
+not forgotten Hilario?"</p>
+
+<p>At these words, muttered under breath, Juan started and turned pale,
+exclaiming, "Saints and angels! and heaven forbid! Mine ears did not
+then deceive me? Oh wo to us all! Alas for thine ill news! Have I not
+pain enough of mine own?"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, with a trembling voice, Villafana handed him his cap and
+sword, saying, as he put into his hand the latter, which was a light
+rapier,</p>
+
+<p>"A good blade! and has hung at Don Hernan's girdle.&mdash;Leave the dog
+behind: he will but set up his cursed growling, and so bring upon you
+some one who may not relish the meeting."</p>
+
+<p>"It is true, then?" cried Juan, with tones and aspect of the greatest
+distress: "So fair, so young, so noble, so fallen!"</p>
+
+<p>"Back, cur! thick-lips! Befo!" cried the Alguazil, as the two left the
+chamber.&mdash;"He grumbles at me, as if to say <i>Ehem</i>, with disdain. Command
+him thyself: he is a superfluous companion."</p>
+
+<p>The young man waved his hand to Befo; at which signal Befo threw himself
+upon his haunches, looking after Juan till he beheld him issue from the
+long passage into the open air. Then rising, with the air of a servant
+who understands his duty much better even than his master, he followed
+slowly after the pair into the garden.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The royal garden of Tezcuco was an extensive piece of ground, fenced, on
+three sides, by the palace and its dependencies, and bounded on the
+fourth, by the waters of the lake, from which it was divided by a low
+wall, long since broken down by the Conquerors, by certain shadowy
+buildings, and by clumps of noble cypresses and other trees. The moon,
+not yet near her full, shone westward of the meridian, in a sky
+intensely azure and almost cloudless; and her beams could be traced,
+through the wall of cypresses, glittering and dancing on the light
+waves, as they rippled up merrily to the night-breeze. What taste was
+displayed in the plan and cultivation of the garden, could not be
+determined, at this hour, and in this insufficient, though beautiful,
+light. One could behold, indeed, obscurely, flower-beds and shrubberies,
+winding alleys and hanging groves, little still pools and even, here and
+there, a jetting fountain, scattered about in a manner which the
+imagination might believe was designed and judicious; but it seemed, at
+night, rather a wilderness, in which the nostrils had greater reason to
+be gratified than the eyes. A thousand odours fell from the trees, a
+thousand scents rose from the flowers, as the heads of the one and the
+petals of the other were shaken by the flitting gusts. It was a scene
+calculated at least to soothe exasperated feelings, and induce sentiment
+and melancholy in the breast of the contemplative.</p>
+
+<p>To Juan's temperament, it would have been, at any other moment,
+saddening enough; but his thoughts were, at present, far too much, and
+far too painfully, engaged, to permit any to be wasted upon it.</p>
+
+<p>As he followed hastily at the heels of the Alguazil, he made one or two
+agitated attempts to draw from him some further tokens to remove or
+confirm his boding suspicions; but the Alguazil had on the sudden grown
+very cautiously or very maliciously silent, and answered only by
+pressing his finger on his lips, eyeing the youth significantly, and
+hurrying him more rapidly along.</p>
+
+<p>He led him to a spot, almost in the centre of the garden, where a little
+oval-shaped pool lay embosomed among schinus-trees, whose long weeping
+branches, stirred by the wind, swept gracefully over and in the water,
+which was only agitated, when thus disturbed by the motion of a bough,
+or by the plunge of the fragrant berries, the harvest of a former year,
+which dropped at intervals from the cluster. A single moonbeam found its
+way into this solitary inclosure, falling upon a limited portion of a
+path which seemed to surround the pool. In other respects, all was dark
+and invisible, and not a ray could be seen on the water, save when the
+spectator, peering over the brink, beheld some faint star of the zenith
+glimmering down among the shadowy depths.</p>
+
+<p>Upon this path, and in this moonbeam, the Alguazil paused, and pointing
+hastily to a nook&mdash;the darkest of all where all were dark,&mdash;Juan
+perceived obscurely what seemed a moving figure. The next moment,
+Villafana passed among the boughs, retracing his steps, and strode again
+into the moonlight. As he stood an instant shaking the dew-drops from
+his cloak, he beheld a dark object approaching slowly on the path. It
+was the faithful Befo, who, with his head to the ground, and his tail
+draggling in the grass, as if sensible of having committed a breach of
+discipline, yet crawled along after his master, under the irresistible
+instinct of fidelity.</p>
+
+<p>"This is ill thought on, and may be unlucky," muttered Villafana, with a
+subdued voice. "Here, Befo! you rascal! come with me, and you shall have
+a bone.&mdash;Ay, thou ill devil!" he continued, in the same whispered tones,
+as Befo, without stirring to the right or the left, and merely showing
+his teeth, when the Alguazil seemed disposed to check him with his hand,
+passed on towards the grove,&mdash;"go thy ways, and growl as thou wilt: thou
+art the only thing in the land incorruptible. But thou wilt be
+acquainted with my dagger yet, if thou hast no better appetite for my
+dinner."</p>
+
+<p>He resumed his path. He had not taken a dozen steps, before he became
+sensible of the approach of another intruder: but this time the intruder
+was human. There was something in the fashion and sweep of the garments,
+which, even at a distance, apprized him of the character of the comer.</p>
+
+<p>"The devil take these prying priests, monks, friars, and all!" he
+muttered irreverently betwixt his teeth.&mdash;"Holy father,&mdash;&mdash;Hah! by the
+mass, is it thou, Camarga! my brother of all orders, monkish, mendicant,
+martial, and so on? Thy masking goes the wrong way: I told thee to meet
+me at the prison. 'Tis my palace, man; and the princes are in
+waiting.&mdash;Come, these damp mazes are ill for thy years and diseased
+liver. We will walk together."</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor Gruņidor, as they call you," said Camarga, flinging back the
+white cowl, and revealing his sallow features in the moonshine, "seņor
+Alguazil, carcelero, rogue, conspirator, devil, and what-not, how I came
+to be so deep among your damnable devices, in the short month I have
+been in this land, I know not, except that I have, like thyself, a
+greater aptitude to be groping among caverns than journeying on kings'
+highways. But know, sirrah, that besides <i>thy</i> subtleties, I have some
+whimseys of my own; to which, when the wind stirs them, yours must give
+place, were they ten thousand times more magnificent than your wit
+strives to make them appear. Begone, therefore; get thee to thy scurvy
+Tlascalan, whom thou art training to the gallows; to thy Mexican
+Magnifico, who is an ass to trust his neck to thy keeping; and to what
+vagabond Christians will give thee their countenance, who are e'en
+greater fools than thyself, and the Indians together. Get thee away: I
+have business of mine own; and I will come to you when it is despatched,
+or I will <i>not</i> come,&mdash;just as the imp urges me. So away with you, and
+leave me to myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Under your favour, no," said Villafana, apparently too well acquainted
+with the man to be much surprised at a tone and manner so unlike to
+those which Camarga had used at the cypress-tree: "I must e'en have your
+saintly cowl and leaden cross, to swear the two infidels together:
+otherwise there is no trusting them.&mdash;They have much superstitious
+reverence for our priests and ceremonies. Come, seņor; I tell thee, the
+Mexican will make our fortunes."</p>
+
+<p>"Thine, rogue, <i>thine</i>!" said the disguised Camarga, impatiently: "Why
+talkest thou to me in this stupid wise? I am an older villain than
+thou.&mdash;I have a fancy for this lad of the Anakim, this thick-witted,
+turtle-brained young Magog. Thou makest a mystery of him, too. 'Slid! I
+will penetrate it; for I have a use to make of him, as well as thou."</p>
+
+<p>"Demonios!" said Villafana; "are you seeking Juan Lerma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, marry. I dogged thee hitherward, I saw thee hide him in the bush,
+and by St. Dominic, (who will fry my soul to cinders, for defiling his
+garments&mdash;<i>peccavi</i>!) I will know what's i' the wind betwixt you, ere I
+stir a step further in your counsels. Dost thou think I will be thine
+accomplice, and have anything hidden from me? Thou swearest, he is to be
+murdered to-morrow, too. There is no time to be lost."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art mad," said Villafana: "he is engaged on our business. I make
+no mystery; I will tell you all. It is well I met thee. He has
+company,&mdash;a good sword,&mdash;and would think no more of lunging through thy
+holy lion's skin, if he caught thee eavesdropping&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hark! dost thou not hear tuck and corselet?" said Camarga, smiling
+grimly, and rattling the hilt of a sword against his concealed armour.
+"I must know his companion too. I tell thee, I will have all thy
+secrets, or I drop thee, perhaps denounce thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt have them," said Villafana, gradually drawing him further
+from the pool. "His companion is La Monjonaza."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! sits the wind there? I must have a peep at her: they say, she is
+lovely as a goddess."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt incense her," said Villafana, emphatically. "By heaven, thou
+knowest not the temper of this woman, which is deadly. Leave the two
+cooing fools to themselves. Our fortunes,&mdash;nay, faith, our lives, depend
+upon them. La Monjonaza is deep in our secrets,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Knave!" muttered the pretended friar, in a low but furious voice, "hast
+thou trusted my life in the keeping of a woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pho, she is an older conspirator than thou; a wiser, too, for she can
+keep her temper. Out of her love for the young man, we draw our truest
+safety and quickest success."</p>
+
+<p>"Her love! oh fu! and is she of this corrupt fickleness, that she will
+have two lovers in one hour? But it is the way with these creatures!"</p>
+
+<p>"They are old lovers, very old lovers, seņor," said Villafana,
+endeavouring, as he spoke, but in vain, to quicken the steps of Camarga.
+"You shall hear the story.&mdash;Juan Lerma's father was some low, poor, base
+fellow, killed in some tumult at Isabela. The old hidalgo, Antonio del
+Milagro, took the boy out of charity, first as a servant&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A servant? Dios mio!&mdash;Is he of no better beginning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a jot; but the old fellow liked him, and, in the end, treated him
+full as well as his own son,&mdash;a knavish lad, called Hilario, some two or
+three years older than Juan."</p>
+
+<p>"Slife!" said Camarga, "tell me no granddam's tale, with all tedious
+particulars. How came the youth into the hands of Cortes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Even by setting out to seek his fortune, somewhat early, and getting to
+Santiago, where Cortes took him into keeping. You heard us say, that Don
+Hernan, when he received his commission from Velasquez, sent Juan back
+to his native island, to recruit forces. It was natural he should visit
+his old friends at Isabela. It was here he met with, and quarrelled
+about, Magdalena&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Magdalena!" said Camarga, with surprise. "You swore her name was
+Infeliz!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay; but the true one is Magdalena. When she came from Spain&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"From Spain!" cried Camarga, starting: "is she not an islander?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pho! didst thou ever see a creature of her beauty, born out of
+Andalusia?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have not seen her&mdash;but I will,&mdash;yes, by all the saints of heaven, I
+will,&mdash;I must.&mdash;How came she to the island?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a-horseback, I think," said Villafana; "for the ship was never seen
+at Isabela: never question about that. The two young dogs, Hilario and
+Juan, found her somewhere, brought her to old Milagro, and, Juan being
+more favoured and better beloved than Hilario, who, to say truth, was
+both ugly and vicious, they fought about her, and Hilario was killed.
+Thus, Juan was left the master of the beauty; but being tired of her, or
+afraid of old Milagro's vengeance, or perhaps both, he fled again to
+Cuba, and thence as you heard, came to Mexico in a fusta. What brought
+Magdalena after him I know not, unless 'twas mad, raging love; yes,
+faith, that's the cause; for she cares not half so much for Don Hernan.
+But they did say, at Isabela, she had a better cause; for the ship, it
+was well known&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Fool of all fools!" said Camarga, with a strange and unnatural laugh,
+"didst thou not say the ship was never seen at Isabela?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, truly; but it was seen on the rocks at the Point of Alonso, not
+many leagues distant," replied Villafana; and then added, "I would thou
+couldst be more choice of thine epithets of endearment. These 'knaves,'
+'rogues,' and 'fools,' do well enough among friends; but one may season
+discourse too strongly with them, even for the roughest appetite.&mdash;The
+ship was a wreck: there was said to be foul work about it; but that's
+neither here nor there. The girl was brought ashore by the young men,
+Juan being good in the management of a skiff,&mdash;indeed, a notoriously
+skilful and fearless sailor. What was said of Magdalena, was this,"
+continued the Alguazil, with a low, confidential voice: "It was
+discovered, or at least conjectured, that the ship was no other than the
+Santa Anonciacion, a vessel sent from Seville with a bevy of
+nuns,&mdash;faith, some worshippers of thine own good St. Dominic,&mdash;who were
+to found a convent at the Havana. It was whispered, that the fair
+Magdalena was even one of the number, and therefore&mdash;But the thing must
+be plain! To be a nun, and to love young fellows <i>par amours</i>&mdash;this is a
+matter for the Inquisition. But thanks be to God, we have no good
+Brothers in Mexico!&mdash;I will tell thee more, as we walk, and show thee,
+if thou hast not the wit to see it, how much it concerns us to have a
+friend like La Monjonaza."</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard enough," said Camarga, with tones deep and hoarse;
+"enough, and more than enough. And this woman was, <i>then</i>, the leman of
+Juan Lerma, and, now, the creature of Cortes!"&mdash;Here he muttered
+something to himself. Then, speaking with an audible voice, he said,</p>
+
+<p>"Get thee to thy den, and look to thyself: there is danger afloat, and
+full enough to excuse me from meddling with thee to-night. There is a
+force of men concealed near to the prison, and commanded by Guzman. Ask
+no questions&mdash;look to thyself: thou art suspected."</p>
+
+<p>At these words, Villafana became greatly alarmed, and exchanging but a
+few words more with Camarga, hastily departed. He was no sooner gone,
+than Camarga, yielding to an emotion he had long suppressed, fell upon
+his knees and uttered wild prayers, mingled with groans and
+maledictions, all the while beating his breast and brows. Then rising
+and whipping out his sword, as if to execute some deadly purpose of
+vengeance, he strode towards the pool.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>No sooner had the Alguazil departed from the enclosure, than the figure
+which Juan had beheld obscurely among the shadows, stepped slowly into
+the moonshine, looking like a phantom, because so closely shrouded from
+head to foot that nothing was seen but the similitude of a human being,
+wrapped, as it might be imagined, in a gray winding-sheet. The thick
+hood and veil concealed her countenance, and even her hands were hidden
+among the folds.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed, for a moment, as if she were about to speak, for low murmurs
+came inarticulately from the veil. As for Juan himself, he was kept
+silent by the most painful agitation. At last, and when it appeared as
+if the unhappy being was conscious that no other mode of revealment was
+in her power, she raised her hand to her head, and the next moment, the
+hood falling back, the moonbeams fell upon the exposed visage of La
+Monjonaza. It was exceedingly, indeed deadly, pale; and the gleaming of
+her dewy forehead indicated how feebly even her powerful strength of
+mind contended with a sense of humiliation. She made an effort to
+elevate her head, to compose her features into womanly dignity, but all
+in vain; her hands sought each other, and were clasped together upon her
+breast, her lips quivered, her head fell, and her eyes, after one wild,
+brief, and supplicating glance, were cast upon the earth.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, Magdalena!" exclaimed Juan, with tones of the deepest feeling,
+"do I see you here, do I see you <i>thus</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>At these words she raised her head, with a sudden and convulsive start,
+as if the imputation they conveyed had stung her to the soul; and as she
+bent her eyes upon Juan, though they were filled with tears, yet they
+flashed with what seemed a noble indignation. But this was soon changed
+to a milder and sadder expression, and the flush which had accompanied
+it, was quickly replaced by her former paleness.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou dost indeed see me here," she replied, summoning her resolution,
+and speaking firmly, "and thou seest me thus,&mdash;degraded, not in thine
+imagination only, but in the suspicions of all, down to the level of
+scorn. Yes," she continued, bitterly, "and while thou pitiest me for a
+shame endured only for thyself,&mdash;endured only that I may requite thee
+with life for life,&mdash;thou art sorry thy hand ever snatched me from the
+billows. Speak, Juan Lerma, is it not so?"</p>
+
+<p>"It had been better, Magdalena," said the youth, reproachfully, "for,
+besides that the act caused me to be stained with blood, it afflicts me
+with a curse still more heavy. I do not mourn the death of Hilario, as I
+mourn the downfall of one whom I once esteemed almost a seraph."</p>
+
+<p>"Villain that he was!" cried Magdalena, with vindictive impetuosity,
+"mean and malignant in life and in death! who, with a lie, living,
+destroyed the peace and the fame of the friendless, and died with a lie,
+that both might remain blighted for ever! O wretch! O wretch! there is
+no punishment for him among the fiends, for he was of their nature. And
+thou mournest his death, too! Thou cursest the hand that avenged the
+wrong of a feeble woman!"</p>
+
+<p>"I lament that I slew the son of my benefactor," said Juan, with a deep
+sigh; and then added with one still deeper, "but, sinner that I am, I
+rejoice while looking on thee, in the fierce thought, that I killed the
+destroyer of innocence."</p>
+
+<p>"The destroyer of innocence indeed," replied Magdalena, with a voice
+broken and suffocating. "Yes, innocence!" she exclaimed more wildly, "or
+at least, the <i>fame</i> of innocence! for innocence herself he could not
+harm. No, by heaven! oh, no! for what I came from the sea, that I am
+<i>now</i>; yes, now, I tell thee, now! and if thou darest give tongue to
+aught else, if thou darest think&mdash;Oh heaven! this is more than I can
+bear! Say, Juan Lerma! say! dost <i>thou</i>, too, believe me the thing I am
+called? the base, the fallen, the degraded?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, Magdalena," replied Juan, to the wild demand: "with his dying
+lips, Hilario&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"With his dying lips, he perjured his soul for ever!" exclaimed
+Magdalena, "for ever, for ever!" she went on, with inexpressible energy
+and fury; "and may the curse of a broken-hearted woman, destroyed by his
+defaming malice, cling to him as long, scorching him with fresh
+torments, even when fiends grow relentful and forbearing. Mountains of
+fire requite the coals he has thrown upon my bosom! May God never
+forgive him! no, never! never!"</p>
+
+<p>"This is horrid!" said Juan. "Revoke thy malediction: it is impiety.
+Alas, alas!" he continued, moved with compassion, as the singular being,
+passing at once from a sibyl-like rage to the deepest and most feminine
+abasement of grief, wrung her hands, and sobbed aloud and bitterly;
+"Would indeed that thou hadst perished with the others!"</p>
+
+<p>"Would that I had!" said Magdalena, more calmly; "but thou hadst then
+been left to a malice like that which has slain me.&mdash;No, not like that;
+for it is content with thy <i>life</i>!&mdash;I would ask thee more of myself,"
+she went on, more composedly, after a little pause, "but it needs not.
+If I can show thee thou wrongest me concerning Hilario, canst thou not
+believe I may be even <i>here</i> without stain? Well, I care not; one day,
+thou wilt know thou hast wronged me. But let the shame rest upon me now;
+for it needs I should think, not of myself, but of thee. Listen to me,
+Juan Lerma; for fallen or not, yet am I thine only friend among a
+thousand enemies. Give up thy service, thy hopes of fame and fortune in
+this land, and leave it. Leave Mexico, return to the islands. Thou hast
+marvellously escaped a death, subtly and cruelly designed; and now thou
+art destined to an end as vengeful, and perhaps even more inevitable.
+Yet there is one way of escape, and there is one moment to take
+advantage of it. Leave Mexico: Cortes is thy foe.&mdash;Leave Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"These are but wild words, Magdalena," said Juan, with a troubled voice.
+"I would do much to remove <i>thee</i> from a situation, the thought whereof
+is bitterer to me than my own misfortunes."</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldst thou?" said Magdalena, eagerly. "Go then, and I go likewise; go
+then, and know that thy departure not only releases me from a situation
+of disgrace, but enables me to make clear a reputation which thou&mdash;yes,
+<i>thou</i>,&mdash;believest to be sullied and lost. I am not what I seem&mdash;Saints
+of heaven, that I should have to say it! But by the grave of my mother,
+I swear, Juan Lerma, thou doest me as deep a wrong as others. Leave this
+land, and thou shalt see that the fame of an angel is not purer than
+mine own scorned name,&mdash;no, by heaven, no freer from a deserved shame.
+Thou shakest thy head!&mdash;I could kill thee, Juan Lerma, I could kill
+thee!"&mdash;she went on, with a strange mingling of fierce resentment and
+beseeching grief; "I could kill thee, for I have not deserved this of
+thee!" Then, changing her tone, and clasping her hands submissively, she
+said, "But think not of me, or rather continue to think me unworthy of
+aught but pity: think not, above all, that what I do is with any
+reference to myself. No, heaven is my witness, I claim of thee neither
+affection nor respect; I am content to be mistaken, to be despised. All
+this I can endure, and will, uncomplaining,&mdash;so that I can rescue thee
+from the danger in which thou art placed. Leave this land: Don Hernan
+deceives thee; he hates thee, and thirsts after thy blood. He has
+confessed it!"</p>
+
+<p>"God be my help!" said Juan, despairingly; "my life is in his hands. If
+this be true&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"If it be true!" repeated Magdalena: "It is known to all but thyself."</p>
+
+<p>"It is <i>not</i> true!" exclaimed the young man, vehemently: "I have done
+him no wrong, and he is not the detestable being you would make him. If
+he be, I owe him a life&mdash;let him have it; it is in his hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave Mexico," reiterated Magdalena. "If thou goest to Tochtepec, thou
+art lost. I have it in my power to aid,&mdash;nay, to secure thy escape. Say,
+therefore, thou wilt consent, say thou wilt leave Mexico!"</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot be," said Juan, with a sad and sullen resolution: "I will
+await my fate in Mexico!"</p>
+
+<p>"And wilt thou stand, like the fat ox, till the noose is cast upon thy
+neck? till thou art butchered?"</p>
+
+<p>"My life is nothing&mdash;I live not for myself; the redemption of others
+depends upon my acts. I have a duty that speaks more urgently than fear.
+My lot is cast in Mexico; I cannot leave it."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, with a firm voice, he bent his looks expressively on his
+companion. Her eyes flashed fire, and they shone from her pale face like
+living coals:</p>
+
+<p>"Sayst thou this to me?" she exclaimed, her voice trembling with fury,
+"sayst thou this to me?" Then advancing a step, and laying her hand upon
+his arm, she continued, her accents sinking almost into whispers, they
+were so subdued, or so feeble, "Lay not upon thy soul a sin greater than
+stains it already. Leave Mexico; resolve or die: leave Mexico, or
+perish!&mdash;Oh, thou art guiltier than thou thinkest! Thou hast cursed
+Hilario for my fall: curse thyself,&mdash;not Hilario, but thyself; for but
+for thee, but for thee, I had been happy! yes, happy, happy!"</p>
+
+<p>To these words, Juan, though greatly compassionating the distress of the
+speaker, would have replied with remonstrance; but she gave him no
+opportunity. She continued to repeat over and over again, with a kind of
+hysterical pertinacity, the words 'Leave Mexico! leave Mexico!' so that
+Juan was not only prevented replying, but confounded. He was relieved
+from embarrassment by a sudden growl, coming from the bushes at his
+side. La Monjonaza started at the sound, and in the moment of silence
+that succeeded, both could distinguish the steps of a man rapidly
+approaching the pool. At the same instant, another growl was heard, and
+Befo, issuing from the leafy covert, took a stand by his master's side,
+as if to defend him from an enemy. The veil of Magdalena fell over her
+visage; she paused but to whisper, in tones of such energy that they
+thrilled him to the soul, 'Leave Mexico, or die!' and then instantly
+vanished among the boughs. It was too late for Juan to follow her: he
+had scarce time to lay his hand upon Befo's neck and moderate his
+ferocity, before his eyes were struck with the strange spectacle of a
+tall man, in the garb of a Dominican friar, his face pale as death, his
+hand holding a naked sword, who strode into the inclosure and upon that
+part of the path which was illuminated by the moonbeams. No sooner had
+he cast his eyes upon Juan than he exclaimed, "Die, wretch!" and made a
+pass at him with his weapon. Had the lunge been skilfully made, it must
+have proved fatal; for though Juan still held the sheathless rapier he
+had brought from his chamber, he was so much surprised at the suddenness
+of the apparition, that his attempt to ward it could not have succeeded
+against a good fencer. A better protection was given by the faithful
+Befo, who, darting from Juan's hand, against the assailant's breast,
+attacked him with a shock so violent, that, in an instant, the seņor
+Camarga (for it was he who played this insane part) lay rolling upon his
+back, his grizzled locks streaming in the pool.</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of heaven, what dost thou mean, and who art thou, impostor
+and assassin!" cried Juan, pulling off the dog, and helping Camarga to
+his feet. "Thou art mad, I think!"</p>
+
+<p>There was something in the man's countenance, as well as in the
+murderous attempt, to confirm the idea; for Camarga's agitation was
+singular and extreme, and he seemed unable to answer a word.</p>
+
+<p>"Who art thou?" continued Juan angrily, impressed with the certainty
+that he had seen the face of the assailant before, yet without knowing
+when or where. "Confess thyself straight, or I will have thee to the
+Alguazil, and see the friar's frock scourged from thy base body!"</p>
+
+<p>However eager and foreboding the young man's curiosity, it was doomed to
+be disappointed by a new interruption. While he yet spoke, he was
+alarmed by a sudden discharge of firearms, followed by shrieks and
+cries, at the bottom of the garden; and presently the whole solitude was
+transformed into a scene of tumult and uproar. Lights were seen flashing
+among the trees, and men were heard running confusedly to and fro,
+calling to one another.</p>
+
+<p>The last word had hardly parted from his lips, before the boughs crashed
+on the opposite side of the pool, and a new actor was suddenly added to
+the scene.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>As the bushes parted, a tall figure sprang into the path, and running
+round the pool, would instantly have been at the side of the two
+Castilians, who were yet unobserved, had it not been that Befo, his
+ferocity greatly whetted by his former encounter, darted forward as at
+first, with a sudden roar, with equal violence, and with similar
+success. As the stranger fell to the earth under an attack so impetuous
+and unexpected, he uttered an exclamation in which Juan recognized the
+language of Mexico. He ran forwards, guided by the growls of the beast
+and the stifled cries of the man, (for the spot on which the two
+contended was covered with impenetrable gloom,) and, by accident, caught
+the stranger's arm, and felt that it wielded a heavy macana, now
+uplifted against the animal. As his other hand was stretched forward,
+again to remove the victorious Befo from a fallen antagonist, it fell
+upon the naked breast of a barbarian.&mdash;In a moment more, he had torn the
+dog away, and dragged the savage into the moonshine, where he had left
+Camarga standing, but where Camarga stood no longer. He had fled away in
+the confusion, unobserved, and now almost forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>Here Juan released the captive from his powerful grasp, for his rapier
+was in his hand, and the macana of the Mexican he had already cast into
+the pool; and thus standing, confiding as much in the aid of Befo as in
+the menacing attitude of his weapon, he began to address his prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"What art thou?" he demanded, in the tongue which, as he had boasted,
+was almost as familiar to him as the language of Spain: "What art thou?
+and what dost thou here?"</p>
+
+<p>Instead of answering, the Mexican, gazing over his conqueror's shoulder,
+seemed to survey, with looks of admiration and alarm, some spectacle
+behind his back. Juan cast his eye in the direction thus indicated, and
+beheld the visage of Magdalena, recalled by the tumult, gleaming hard
+by. In an instant more, she had vanished, and he turned again to the
+captive, who, when the vision, to him so inexplicable, had faded away,
+now directed his attention to an object equally surprising and much more
+formidable in his estimation than even the redoubtable Juan. As he
+rolled his eyes, in mingled wonder, trepidation, and anger, on the huge
+Befo, who now stood regarding him, writhing his lips and showing his
+tusks, in the manner with which he was wont so expressively to intimate
+his readiness to obey any signal of attack, Juan had full leisure to
+observe that the Indian was a young man not above twenty-three or
+twenty-four years old, of good and manly stature, and limbs nobly
+proportioned. His only garments were a tunic and mantle of some
+dark-coloured stuff, but little ornamented, the former extending from
+the waist to the knees, the latter, knotted, as usual, about his throat,
+but so disordered and torn by the teeth of the dog, as to leave the
+upper part of his body nearly naked. His only defensive armour was a
+little round buckler of the skin of the <i>danta</i> or tapir, not exceeding
+fourteen inches in diameter, strapped to his left arm. The loss of the
+macana had left him without any offensive weapon. As he raised his head
+at the second salutation of his capturer, he flung back the long masses
+of black hair from his forehead, and displayed a visage, as well, at
+least, as it could be seen in the moonlight, not unworthy his manly
+person.</p>
+
+<p>"Olin, the tongue of the Teuctli, is a prisoner."</p>
+
+<p>As he pronounced these words, in his own language, signifying that he
+was an orator of his high class, and that he confessed himself a
+captive, he touched the earth with his hand and kissed it, in token of
+submission. The tones of his voice caused Juan to start.</p>
+
+<p>He dropped his sword-point, advanced nearer to him, and perused his
+features with intense curiosity. His gaze was returned with a look of
+equal surprise, which betrayed a touch of fear; for the Mexican at once
+exclaimed, withdrawing a step backward,</p>
+
+<p>"The Great Eagle fell among the archers of Matlatzinco!"</p>
+
+<p>"The king is not wise&mdash;Guatimozin is in the hands of Cortes!" said Juan,
+with deep earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"Olin is the orator&mdash;the king is wise," replied the Indian, hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"It is in vain," said Juan. "Thou art Guatimozin! and a captive, too,
+ere a blow has been struck, in the camp of thy foeman! Is this an end
+for the king of Mexico?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quauhtimozin can die: there are other kings for the free warriors of
+Tenochtitlan," replied the young monarch, boldly and haughtily, avowing
+his name,&mdash;which is here given in its original and genuine harshness,
+that the reader may be made acquainted with it; though it is not
+intended to substitute it for its more agreeable and familiar
+corruption: "Guatimozin is a prisoner," he continued, with a firm voice
+and lofty demeanour, "but the king of Mexico is free.&mdash;When did the
+Great Eagle become the foe of Guatimozin?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not thy foe," replied Juan, "but thy friend; so far, at least, as
+it becomes a Christian and Spaniard to be. I lament to see thee in this
+place&mdash;I am not thy foe."</p>
+
+<p>"Raise then thy weapon," said the prince, dropping his haughty manner
+and ceremonious style, and speaking, as he laid his hand on Juan's arm,
+with fierce emotion; "strike me through the neck, and cast my body into
+the pool.&mdash;It is not fit that Guatimozin should wear the bonds of
+Montezuma!"</p>
+
+<p>It must not be supposed that this conversation took place in quiet.
+During the whole time, on the contrary, the garden continued to resound
+with the voices of men running from copse to copse, from alley to alley,
+sometimes drawing nigh, and, at other moments, appearing to be removed
+to the furthest limits of the grounds. At the moment when the Mexican
+made his abrupt and insane appeal to the friendship of his capturer, a
+party of Spaniards rushed by at so short a distance and with so much
+clamour, that he had good reason to conceive himself almost already in
+their hands. They passed by, however, and with them fled a portion of
+Juan's embarrassment. As soon as he perceived they were beyond hearing,
+he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"This were to be thy foe indeed. But, oh, unwise and imprudent! what
+tempted thee to this mad confidence?"</p>
+
+<p>"The craft of Malintzin," replied the Mexican, making use of a name
+which his people had long since attached to Cortes,&mdash;"the craft of
+Malintzin, who ensnares his foe like the wild Ottomi, hidden among the
+reeds;&mdash;he scatters the sweet berry on the lake, and steals upon the
+feeding sheldrake; so steals Malintzin. He sends words of peace to the
+foe afar; when the foe is asleep, Malintzin is a tiger!"</p>
+
+<p>"And thou hast been deceived by these perfidious and unworthy arts?"
+said Juan, the innuendoes of Villafana and the monitions of Magdalena,
+recurring to his mind with painful force.</p>
+
+<p>"Deceived and trapped!" replied the infidel, with fierce indignation;
+"cajoled by lies, circumvented by treachery, seduced and betrayed!&mdash;Is
+the Great Eagle like Malintzin?" As he spoke thus, sinking his voice,
+which was indeed all the time cautiously subdued, he again laid his hand
+on the young Christian's arm, and continued,</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou such a man, and dost thou desire the blood of thy friend? What
+shall be said to the little <i>Centzontli</i>, the mocking-bird? The little
+Centzontli sang the song to Guatimozin, 'Let not the Great Eagle die in
+the trap!' What sings she now? Does the Great Eagle listen to the little
+Centzontli?"</p>
+
+<p>"He does," replied Juan, on whom these metaphors, however mysterious
+they may seem to the reader, produced a strong impression. "Thou art
+<i>my</i> prisoner, not Don Hernan's; and it rests with me to liberate or to
+bind, not with him. Answer me, therefore, truly; for if thou hast been
+trained by treachery into this present danger, coming with thoughts of
+peace and composition, and not with an army, to surprise and slay, thou
+shalt be made free, even though the act cost me my life."</p>
+
+<p>"I come in peace: does the leader of an army walk bareheaded and naked?
+My canoe lies hid among the reeds: my warriors are asleep on the island.
+The Christian sent for a lord of the city, to give his hand to the angry
+men of Tlascala. Guatimozin is not the king, but he brought them the
+hand of the king.&mdash;It was the lie of Malintzin! I am betrayed!"</p>
+
+<p>"If I suffer thee to depart," said Juan, anxiously, "canst thou make
+good thy escape?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is not Guatimozin a soldier?" replied the Mexican, with a gleaming eye.
+"Give me a sword, and hold fast the Christian tiger."&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Hark!&mdash;peace!" whispered Juan, drawing the prisoner suddenly among the
+boughs: "we are beset. Hist, Befo, hist!"</p>
+
+<p>With a degree of uneasiness, which approached almost to fear, when he
+found that Befo, instead of following him into his concealment, remained
+out upon the illuminated path, where he attracted notice, while
+expressing fidelity, by setting up an audible growl, Juan heard a man
+crash through the boughs on the further side of the pool, all the while
+calling loudly and cheerily to his companions.</p>
+
+<p>"Hither, knaves!" he cried; "the fox is in cover! Hither! quick,
+hither!"</p>
+
+<p>It was the voice of Guzman. He had caught the growl of the dog, and
+responded with a shout of triumph, as he ran forward, closely followed
+by three or four soldiers armed with spears;</p>
+
+<p>"The bloodhound for ever! he has the fox in his mouth, I know by his
+growling!&mdash;Hah, Befo, fool?" he continued, when he had reached the
+animal; "art thou baying the moon then?&mdash;Pass on, pass on: no Indian
+passes scotfree by Befo at midnight&mdash;Pass on, pass on!"</p>
+
+<p>In a moment more, the nook was left to its solitude, and Juan
+reappeared, with the prince. The sight and voice of Guzman had stirred
+up his wrath, and he took his measures with a quicker and sterner
+resolution.</p>
+
+<p>"He protects and loves this man, who is a villain," he muttered through
+his teeth. "There is nothing else left. Follow me prince: if we are
+seen, thy fate is not more certain than mine&mdash;Follow me in silence."</p>
+
+<p>The garden was still alive with men; they could be seen running about in
+different directions, though the greatest numbers seemed to be collected
+at the bottom, near to the lake side. It was not from this circumstance,
+however, so much as from his ignorance of every portion of the grounds
+except that by which he had approached the pool, that he bent his steps
+towards the wing of the palace he had so lately left. He advanced
+cautiously, taking advantage of every clump of trees, which could afford
+concealment from any passing group; and once or twice, to allay
+suspicion, adding his voice to those of the others, as if engaged in the
+same duty; in which latter stratagem he was ably seconded by the
+unconscious Befo, whose bark, excited by the shout of his master, was a
+sufficient warrant to all within hearing, of the friendly character of
+the party.</p>
+
+<p>Thus assisted by the undesigned help of the dog, and by the imitative
+caution of the Mexican, he succeeded in reaching the wing of the palace,
+and the passage that led to his chamber, which was illumined by torches
+of resinous wood. A door, leading to the open square that surrounded the
+palace, opened opposite to that by which he entered from the garden. It
+was his intention, if possible, to pass through this into the city, not
+doubting that it would be easy to conceal the fugitive among the
+thousand barbarians of his own colour and appearance, who yet thronged
+the streets; after which, it would not perhaps be impracticable to find
+some way to discharge him from the gates. But, unfortunately, as he
+pressed towards it, he found the outer door beset by armed men,
+thronging tumultuously in, as if to join their comrades in the garden.
+There was nothing left him, then, but to seek his apartment, as hastily
+as he could, and there conceal the Mexican until the heat of pursuit was
+over. A motion of his hand apprized the fugitive of his change of
+purpose, and Guatimozin, darting quickly forward, was already stealing
+into the chamber, when a harsh voice suddenly bawled behind,</p>
+
+<p>"Mutiny and miracles! here runs the rat with the viper! Treason,
+treason!"</p>
+
+<p>It was the hunchback Najara, whose quick eye detected the vanishing
+hair, and who now ran forward in pursuit, followed by a confused throng
+of soldiers, from among whom suddenly darted the cavalier Don Francisco
+de Guzman.</p>
+
+<p>Juan had reached the door. The cry of Najara assured him that he was
+discovered; and conscious that his act of generosity was, or of right
+ought to be, considered little better than sheer treason, the varied
+passions of hope, grief, indignation and wrath, which had been, the
+whole evening, chasing one another through his bosom, gave place at once
+to the single feeling of despair. He felt that he was now lost.</p>
+
+<p>At this very moment, while his brain was confused, and his heart dying
+within him, a laugh sounded in his ear, and he heard, even above the
+clamorous shouts of the soldiers, the voice of Guzman, exclaiming,</p>
+
+<p>"What think'st thou <i>now</i>, seņor? Art thou conquered?&mdash;Stand! I arrest
+thee."</p>
+
+<p>He turned; the cavalier was within reach of his arm, and the malignant
+sneer was yet writhing over his visage. The words of scorn, the look of
+exultation, were intolerable; the rapier was already naked in his hand,
+and almost before he was himself aware of the act, it was aimed, with a
+deadly lunge, at Don Francisco's throat.</p>
+
+<p>"The deed has slain thee!" cried Guzman, leaping backwards, so as to
+avoid a thrust too fiercely sudden to be parried, and then again rushing
+forward, before he could be supported by the soldiers, who had also
+recoiled at this show of resistance; "the act has slain thee; and so
+take the fate thou art seeking!"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he advanced his weapon, which was before unsheathed,
+against an adversary, whom the recollection of a thousand wrongs had
+inflamed to frenzy, but who could scarcely be supposed to have retained,
+during a year of servitude and suffering, the skill in arms, which once
+made him an equal antagonist. Nevertheless, Guzman's pass was turned
+aside, and returned with such interest, that, had the field been fair
+and unincumbered, it is questionable how long he might have lived to
+repeat it. As it was, the combat was cut short by the interposition of
+the bloodhound, who, whining, at first, as if unwilling to attack a
+cavalier so long and so well known as Don Francisco, and yet unable to
+remain neuter, at last added his fierce yell to the clash of the
+weapons, and decided the battle by springing against Guzman's breast. It
+was perhaps fortunate for the cavalier that he did. He had a breastplate
+on; and, for this reason, Juan aimed the few blows that were made, full
+at his throat, with the fatal determination of one, who, hopeless of
+life himself, had sworn a vow to his soul that his enemy should die. It
+was but the third thrust he had made, (they had scarce occupied so many
+seconds,) and it was directed with such irresistible skill and violence,
+that the point of the weapon was already gliding through Guzman's beard
+and razing his skin, when the weight of Befo's assault, for the third
+time successful, hurled him from his feet, and thus saved his life, at
+the expense of a severe gash made through his right cheek and ear.</p>
+
+<p>The whole of this encounter, from the first attack to the fall of
+Guzman, had not occupied the space of twenty seconds; and Don Francisco
+was at the mercy of his rival, before even the rapid Najara could
+advance a spear to protect him. It was not improbable that Juan would
+have taken a deadly advantage of the mishap, for, as he had declared, in
+a cooler moment, he hated Don Francisco, and his blood was now boiling.
+If such, however, was his purpose, he was prevented putting it into
+execution by another one of those opposing accidents, which seemed this
+night, to pursue him with such unrelenting rigour.</p>
+
+<p>Before he could advance a single step, a cavalier, bareheaded and
+unarmed, save that he flourished a naked sword, sprang from the throng
+of soldiers, followed by the seņor Camarga, now without his masking
+habit, the latter of whom cried with fierce emphasis, all the time,
+"Kill him! cut him down! kill him!" until the soldiers caught up the
+cry, and the whole passage echoed with their furious exclamations. These
+served but the end of still further exasperating the choler of the young
+man, thus beset as it seemed by the tyranny of numbers; and seeing the
+bareheaded cavalier advancing against him, and already betwixt him and
+his fallen rival, he turned upon him with fresh fury.</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" cried the new antagonist, when Juan's weapon clashed against his
+own; "traitor! dost thou provoke thy fate?"</p>
+
+<p>The words were not out of his lips, before Juan perceived that he had
+raised his rapier against the bosom of Cortes. He beheld, in the
+countenance which he had once loved, the scowl of an evil spirit, and
+the fire flashing from the general's eyes, was no longer to be mistaken
+for aught but the revelation of the deadliest hatred. He flung down his
+sword, resisting no longer, and the next instant would have been run
+through the body, but that Befo, fearing to attack, and yet unable to
+resist the impulse of fidelity, sprang up, with a howl, and seized the
+weapon with his teeth. Before Cortes could disengage it, and again turn
+it upon the unfortunate youth, the Mexican fugitive glided from the
+apartment, threw himself before the latter, and taking the point of the
+weapon in his hand, placed it against his own naked breast. Then bowing
+his head submissively, he stood in tranquillity, expecting his death.</p>
+
+<p>At his sudden appearance, the soldiers set up a shout, and Cortes was
+sufficiently diverted from his bloody purpose, to smooth his frowning
+brow into an air of official sternness.</p>
+
+<p>"Olin is the prisoner of the Teuctli," murmured the captive, in words
+scarce understood by any one present, except Juan.</p>
+
+<p>"Where bide mine Alguazils?" demanded the Captain-General, without
+condescending to notice the Mexican any further than merely by removing
+the rapier from his grasp. "Hah, Guzman! thou art hurt, art thou? By
+heaven,"&mdash;But he checked the oath, when he observed that Guzman, already
+on his feet, notwithstanding the frightful appearance that was given him
+by the blood running down his cheek and neck, and drippling slowly from
+his beard, replied to the exclamation with a smile of peculiar coolness:
+"Get thee to a surgeon. Where bide the Alguazils? Is there no officer to
+rid me of a traitor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor General," said Juan, sullenly, "I am no traitor&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He was interrupted by the appearance of two men, carrying batons, who
+bustled from among the crowd, and laid hands upon him. The readiest and
+the most officious was Villafana, who concealed a vast deal of agitation
+under an air of extravagant zeal.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha, Villafana! art thou found at last?" cried Don Hernan, with apparent
+anger. "Hast thou no better care of thy ward on the water-side, but that
+spies may come stealing into my garden?"</p>
+
+<p>"May it please your excellency," said Villafana, recovering his wit, "I
+was neither gambling nor asleep; but&mdash;'Slid, this is a pretty piece of
+villany! Oho, seņor mutineer, this is hanging-work?&mdash;Speak not a word,
+as you love life."&mdash;This was spoken apart into Juan's ear.&mdash;"What is
+your excellency's will, touching the prisoner?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have him to prison, and see that he escape not."</p>
+
+<p>These words were pronounced with a coolness and gravity that amazed all
+who had witnessed the rage, which, but a moment before, had shaken the
+frame of the Captain-General. "And you, ye idle fellows," he continued,
+addressing the soldiers, "get you to your quarters, to your watch, or to
+your beds. Begone.&mdash;Why loiter ye, Villafana? Conduct away the
+prisoner."</p>
+
+<p>Juan raised his eyes once more to the general, and seemed as if he would
+have spoken; but, confused and bewildered by the extraordinary
+termination of the drama of the day, chilled by frowns, oppressed by a
+consciousness of having provoked his fate, his head sunk in a deep
+dejection on his breast, and he suffered himself to be led silently
+away.</p>
+
+<p>A gleam of light, such as flares up at night from a decaying brand, just
+lost in ashes, sprang up in the leader's eyes, as they followed the
+steps of the unhappy youth, until, passing from that door, which he had
+so vainly sought to gain with the Mexican, he vanished from sight. Its
+lustre was hidden from all but the captive, who, maintaining throughout
+the whole scene, the self-possession, characteristic of all the American
+race, from the pygmies of the Frozen Sea to the giants of Patagonia, did
+not lose the opportunity thus afforded, of diving into the thoughts of
+the Invader.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Juan Lerma had departed, with the mass of the soldiers,
+Cortes turned to the Mexican, and with a mild countenance, and a gentle
+voice, which were designed to convey the proper interpretation of his
+Castilian speech, said,</p>
+
+<p>"Let my young friend, the Tlatoani, be at peace, and fear not; no harm
+is designed him."</p>
+
+<p>Then, making a signal to those who remained, to lead the captive after
+him, he passed into the garden, and thence, by a private entrance, into
+the hall of audience.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It has been already mentioned, that the person of Guatimozin was
+familiar to few, or none, of the Spaniards. Intensely and consistently
+hostile to the invaders, from the first moment of their appearance in
+the Valley, he had ever kept aloof from them, and was one of the few
+princes of Mexico, whom neither force nor stratagem could reduce to
+thraldom. His youth, indeed,&mdash;his want of authority, (for though of the
+loftiest birth and the highest military fame, he enjoyed, at first, no
+independent command or government,) and, hence, his apparent
+insignificance,&mdash;had made the possession of his person of no great
+consequence; and it was not until he was seen leading the incensed
+citizens up against the guns of the garrison, and directing the assault
+which terminated in the life of Montezuma, that he began to be
+considered an enemy worthy to be feared. Even then, however, he was but
+one among the warlike followers of Cuitlahuatzin,&mdash;the successor of
+Montezuma,&mdash;and on the famous battle-field of Otumba, he fought only as
+a second in command. But from that time until the present moment, his
+name was constantly before the Spaniards, first as the king of
+Iztapalapan, then as a leader among those royal warriors, sent forth by
+Cuitlahuatzin, now to annoy the Spaniards, even among their fortresses
+on the borders of Tlascala, and now to chastise those rebellious tribes
+which were daily acknowledging allegiance to the Spaniard, and preparing
+to march with him against Tenochtitlan.</p>
+
+<p>The death of Cuitlahuatzin had suddenly exposed him to view as the
+probable successor to the imperial dignity; and the act of the royal
+electors, (the kings of Mexico were chosen by the crowned vassals of the
+empire,) in bestowing the mantle and sceptre, had left nothing to be
+done to confirm his authority, save a solemn inauguration on the day of
+an august religious and national festival.</p>
+
+<p>He had thus assumed the attitude which Montezuma had once preserved in
+the eyes of the Conquistador; and it was as much the policy of Cortes to
+attempt the acts of delusion with him, as it had been with his
+predecessor. The craftier and haughtier Guatimozin had, however,
+rejected his overtures with disdain; and, justly appreciating the
+character and designs of his enemy, he prepared for war as the only
+alternative of slavery. He had already concentrated in his city, and in
+the neighbouring towns, the whole martial force of the tribes yet
+valiant and faithful; he had laboured, with an address that was not
+always ineffectual, to regain the false and rebellious; and, rising
+above the weakness of national resentments, he had even striven to unite
+his hereditary foes in a league of resistance against the stranger, who,
+whether frowning or smiling, whether courting with friendship, or
+subduing with arms, was yet, and equally, the enemy of all.</p>
+
+<p>Enough has been said to explain the purpose for which he so rashly threw
+himself into the power of the Conqueror. The certain assurance of
+disaffection in the invader's camp, not only among the allies, but among
+the Spaniards themselves, was enough to fire his heart with the desire
+of employing against Don Hernan a weapon which his foe had used so
+fatally against him; and, besides, the opportunity of detaching the
+Tlascalans from the Spanish interest, was too captivating to be
+rejected. These were advantages to be investigated and promoted by
+himself, rather than by agents; and, confiding in his enemies' ignorance
+of his person, in his cunning, and in the interested fidelity of
+traitors, who had already grasped at bribes, and were eager to be better
+acquainted with his bounty, he did not scruple to direct his midnight
+skiff among the reeds on the lakeside, and, in the guise of a mere
+noble, trust himself alone in their power.</p>
+
+<p>If the reader desire to know what could induce any of the followers of
+Cortes to treat thus perfidiously with the infidel enemy whose wealth
+was promised as the certain guerdon of war, he may be answered almost in
+a word. The <i>dangers</i> of the war were manifold and obvious to all, and
+the horrors of the five days' battles in the streets of Mexico, and more
+than all, the calamities of the midnight retreat, had given such a
+foretaste of what might be expected from a prosecution of the campaign,
+that full half the army looked forward to it with equal terror and
+repugnance. A majority of those who survived the Noche Triste, were
+followers of the unfortunate Narvaez, and some of them yet friendly to
+the deceived Velasquez. They remained with Cortes upon compulsion, and
+they hated him not only for their inability to return to their peaceable
+farms among the islands, for past calamities, and coming misfortunes,
+but for the superior favours showered so liberally, and indeed so
+naturally, upon those who had been his original, and were yet his
+faithful, adherents. In a word, they regarded the reduction of the
+Mexican empire as hopeless, and their own fate, if they remained, as
+already written in characters of blood. The bolder scowled and
+complained, the feeble and the crafty dissembled, but evil thoughts and
+fierce resolutions were common to all. They burned to be released from
+what was to them intolerable bondage, and the means were not to be
+questioned, even though they might involve connivance and collusion with
+the foe. But such collusion was by no means known, nor even suspected,
+by any save the few desperadoes who had risen to the bad eminence of
+leaders. Even Villafana was ignorant of the true character of his guest,
+and esteemed him to be only what he represented himself,&mdash;Olin, the
+young noble, an orator, counsellor, and confidential agent of
+Guatimozin. It was not possible for the Captain-General to regard him in
+any other light.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever may have been the young monarch's thoughts, his secret
+misgivings and self-reproaches, as he strode, closely environed by
+cavaliers, into the great hall, now dimly lighted by tapers of vegetable
+wax and torches of fragrant wood, they were exposed by no agitation of
+countenance or hesitation of step; and when Cortes ascended the platform
+to his seat, and turned his penetrating eye upon him, he preserved an
+air of the most fearless tranquillity. For the space of several moments,
+the general regarded him in silence; then commanding all to leave the
+apartment, excepting Sandoval, Alvarado, and another cavalier who
+officiated as interpreter, he said to Alvarado, with a mild voice, very
+strangely contrasted with the rudeness of his words,</p>
+
+<p>"Look into the face of this heathen dog, and tell me if thou knowest
+him."</p>
+
+<p>Alvarado had been, as the historical reader is aware, left in Mexico,
+the jailer of Montezuma and the warden of the city, during the absence
+of Cortes, when he marched against Narvaez. It was supposed, therefore,
+that Don Pedro was better acquainted with the persons of the principal
+nobles than any other cavalier. He examined the captive curiously, and
+at last said, shaking his head,</p>
+
+<p>"Methinks his visage is not unknown; and yet I wot not to whom it
+belongs. The knave is but a boy. If he be a noble, never trust me but he
+is one of Guatimozin's making, and therefore not yet of consequence."</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of his own name, the only word distinguishable by the
+prisoner, Alvarado observed that his brow contracted a little. But this
+awoke no suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>"Demand of him," said Cortes to the interpreter, "his name, and the
+purpose of his coming to Tezcuco?"</p>
+
+<p>When this was explained to the Mexican, his brow contracted still
+further, but rather with inquisitiveness than embarrassment:</p>
+
+<p>"I am Olin-pilli," (that is, Olin the Lord, or Lord Olin,) he replied,
+"the speaker of wise things to the king, and the mouth of nobles."</p>
+
+<p>He then paused, as if to examine with what degree of belief he was
+listened to; and being satisfied, from the countenance of Don Hernan,
+that he was really unknown, he continued, with a more confident tone,</p>
+
+<p>"And I come to the Lord of the East, the Son of the God of Air, to hear
+the words of his children. Did not the Teuctli send for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I," replied the Captain-General, sternly. "Speaker of wise things,
+I look into thy heart, and I see thy falsehood. Thou art a spy,&mdash;a
+<i>quimichin</i>,&mdash;sent by Guatimozin the king, to speak dark things to the
+men of Tlascala."</p>
+
+<p>The captive, though somewhat disconcerted, maintained a fearless
+countenance:</p>
+
+<p>"The Teuctli is the son of the gods, and knows everything," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>"And charged also," continued Cortes, "to whisper in the ears of fools,
+who send good words to the king, that the king may enrich them with
+gold. Is not this true, Sir Quimichin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is not Malintzin the Son of Quetzalcoatl, the White God with a beard,
+who proclaimed from the Hill of Shouting<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> and from the Speaking
+Mountain,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> the coming of his offspring? and shall Olin know more
+things than Malintzin? Guatimozin thinks, that the Spaniard should not
+slay his people."</p>
+
+<p>"Wherefore, then, sent he not thee to <i>me</i>?" demanded the
+Captain-General. "I will listen to his words. It was not wise to send
+his ambassador to the soldier, when the general sat by, in his
+tent.&mdash;Hearken to me, friend Olin," he continued, with gravity: "Hadst
+thou brought his discourse to me, thou hadst then been listened to with
+honour, and dismissed in peace. Art thou a soldier?"</p>
+
+<p>"Olin is a counsellor," replied the Mexican, proudly; "but he has bled
+in battle."</p>
+
+<p>"And is not Guatimozin a warrior?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is the king of the House of Darts, and he has struck his foe."</p>
+
+<p>"When the lurking Ottomi is found skulking in his camp; when the angry
+Tlascalan creeps up to his fort; what does Guatimozin then with the
+prisoner? what says he to the Ottomi? what wills he with the Tlascalan?"</p>
+
+<p>"He binds them to the stone, and they die like the dogs of the altar!"
+replied the barbarian, with a fierce utterance.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast spoken thine own doom," replied Cortes, sternly; "only that,
+instead of perishing according to thy damnable customs, a sacrifice to
+spirits accurst, thou shalt have such death as we give to the dogs of
+Castile. Thou hast crept into my camp, like the spying Ottomi; thou
+comest with sword and shield, like the bravo of Tlascala; and thou hast
+addressed thyself to traitors and conspirators, to make them mine
+enemies. Why then should I not hang thee upon a tree? or why," he
+continued, with an elevated voice, descending from the platform, and,
+with a single motion, unsheathing his rapier and aiming it against the
+captive's breast&mdash;"why should I not kill thee, thou cur! upon the spot?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a Mexican!" replied the young king, rather opposing his body to
+the expected thrust than seeking to avoid it; "I look upon my death, and
+I spit upon thee, Spaniard!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" cried Cortes, whose desire was to intimidate, not to slay, and
+who could not but admire the fearless air of defiance, so boldly assumed
+by the captive, "thou hast either a true heart, or a penetrating
+eye.&mdash;Fear not; thy life is in my hands, but I design thee no wrong:
+death were but a just punishment for thy villany, yet I mean not to
+enforce it. What wilt thou do, if I discharge thee unharmed?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will know," said the barbarian, with a look of surprise, as soon as
+this was interpreted, "that Malintzin is not always hungry for blood; or
+rather, I will ask of my thoughts, what mischief to Mexico is meditated
+in the act of mercy."</p>
+
+<p>"A shrewd knave, i'faith, a shrewd knave!" cried Cortes, admiringly: "by
+my conscience, this fellow hath somewhat the wit of a Christian
+politician.&mdash;Infidel," he continued, "hearken to what I say. I desire to
+speak the words of peace with my young brother Guatimozin. Wherefore
+will he not listen to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because his ears are open to the groans of his children," replied the
+Mexican, promptly. "When Malintzin smiles, the brand hisses on the flesh
+of the prisoner; when he talks of peace, the great warhorse paws the
+breast of the dead. Let this thing be not, let his insurgent subjects be
+sent to their villages, and Guatimozin will listen to the Teuctli."</p>
+
+<p>"He has slain my ambassadors," said Cortes.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall the slave say to his master, 'I am the bondman of another,' and
+laugh in the king's face? Let Malintzin send a Christian to Guatimozin.
+I will row him in my skiff, and he shall return unharmed."</p>
+
+<p>"What thinkest thou of <i>this</i>? I will send him such an envoy, and thou
+shalt remain a hostage in his place. What will be said to him by the
+king of Mexico?"</p>
+
+<p>"This," replied the captive, without a moment's hesitation: "The
+Christian is in Mexico, and Olin-pilli in the prisons of Malintzin: let
+the Christian therefore die."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by my conscience, he speaks well," said Cortes. "But were
+friendship offered, and twenty thousand hostages left behind, I should
+like to know what Spaniard of us all would perform the pilgrimage? There
+is but <i>one</i>.&mdash;But that is naught. By heaven and St. John, we will think
+of other things! we will think of other things!&mdash;Is it not death by the
+decree?"</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor!" cried Alvarado in surprise. Cortes started.&mdash;In the moment of
+entranced thought, he had stridden away from the group to some distance,
+and, he now perceived, they were gazing at him with wonder.</p>
+
+<p>"We will entrust this thing to him, then, as I said," he cried,
+hurriedly, "and he shall return with the misbeliever's answer. We have
+no other choice. What think ye of it, my masters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of <i>what</i>?" said Alvarado, bluntly: "You have said nothing. By'r lady,
+and with reverence to your excellency, you are dreaming!"</p>
+
+<p>"Pho!" cried the Captain-General, "did I not speak it? Our thoughts
+sometimes sound in our ears, like words. This is the philosophy of the
+marvel: Hast thou never, when thine eyes were shut, yet beheld in them
+the objects of which thou wert thinking? If thou couldst think music,
+never believe me but thou wouldst also hear it.&mdash;This, then, is the
+thought which I forgot to utter: I will give this dog his freedom, and,
+for lack of a better, make him my envoy to Guatimozin. If he return, it
+will be well; if not, we are left where we were; and we can hang him
+hereafter."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us first know," said Sandoval, coolly, "by what sort of charm he
+prevailed on this mad young man, Juan Lerma, to peril limb and life for
+him, and, what is more, honour too."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by my conscience!" said Cortes, hurriedly; "this thing I had
+forgotten.&mdash;He shall die the death! Connive with a spy? conceal him from
+the pursuers? draw sword upon a cavalier? strike at an officer's life?
+Were he mine own brother, he should abide his doom. Who will say I wrong
+him <i>now</i>?&mdash;Hah! what says the dog? How came this thing to pass?"</p>
+
+<p>While Cortes was yet pursuing the subject nearest to his heart, half
+soliloquizing, the question was asked and answered; and the reply, to
+Guatimozin's great relief, was received with unexpected belief.</p>
+
+<p>"He was caught by the bloodhound; (An excellent dog, that Befo!)" said
+Alvarado; "and making his moan to Lerma, (whom heaven take to its rest!
+for I know not how he can be so brave, and yet an ass,) the young fool
+fell to his old tricks. When did an Indian ever ask him for pity in
+vain?&mdash;This is his story; it is too natural to be false; yet, Indians
+are great liars.&mdash;But you said something of making this cur your envoy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," replied Cortes: "What sayst thou, Olin, speaker of wise things!
+wilt thou bear my thoughts to thy master Guatimozin?"</p>
+
+<p>"The lord of Tenochtitlan shall hear them," said Guatimozin, his eyes
+gleaming with expectation.</p>
+
+<p>"And thou wilt return to me with his answer? Swear this upon the cross
+of my sword; ay, and swear it by thy diabolical gods also."</p>
+
+<p>"Guatimozin shall send back to Malintzin a noble Mexican; or, otherwise,
+Olin will return. How shall the Mexican noble know that the Teuctli will
+not take his life?"</p>
+
+<p>"Does that deter you?" said Cortes: "I swear by the cross which I
+worship, that, come thou or another, or come Guatimozin himself,
+provided he come to me in peace, and with the king's message, he shall
+depart in safety, with good-will and with favours such as this."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he took from his own neck, and flung round the Mexican's, a
+chain of beads, which were neither of diamond, sapphire, nor ruby, but
+sufficiently resembling each and all, to gratify the vanity of a
+barbarian. The young king smiled&mdash;but it was at the thought of freedom.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt have more such, and richer," said Cortes, misconceiving his
+joy. "Why is not Olin the friend of Malintzin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Malintzin is a great prince," said the prisoner, softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Olin content to be the slave of Guatimozin?" pursued the
+Captain-General, insidiously. "Will Olin do Malintzin's bidding, and be
+the king of Chalco?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shall Olin slay Guatimozin?" cried the prisoner, with a gleam of subtle
+intelligence, and so abruptly, that Cortes was startled.</p>
+
+<p>"Hah! by my conscience!" he cried, "I understand thee: thou art even
+more knave than I thought thee.&mdash;Kill the king indeed? By no means; harm
+not a hair of his head: we will have no assassination. It is better this
+young boy should be king than another.&mdash;This is a very proper knave.
+Gentlemen, by your leave, I will bid you good-night: I will see the dog
+to the water-side. Antonio, do thou walk with us, and explain between
+us.&mdash;A very excellent shrewd villain."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the Captain-General turned to the door by which he had lately
+entered, and taking the prisoner's arm, in the most familiar and
+friendly manner, he stepped forthwith into the garden. The Mexican's
+flesh crept, when it came in contact with that of the Spaniard; but
+this, the Spaniard doubted not, was the tribute of awe to his greatness.
+His voice became yet blander, as, walking onwards towards the lake, he
+poured into Guatimozin's ear his wishes and instructions.</p>
+
+<p>As they passed by the little pool and its dark enclosure of
+schinus-trees, the infidel looked towards it anxiously and lingeringly,
+as if hoping to behold once more the pale and beautiful countenance
+which had shone upon it.&mdash;It lay in deep silence and solitude.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments after, the Mexican had passed through the broken wall, and
+by the sentries who guarded it, receiving the last instructions of the
+invader. The next instant he was alone, stalking towards a little green
+point, where a fringe of reeds and water-lilies shook in the diminutive
+surges. He cast his eye backward to the two cavaliers, and beheld them
+pass into the garden. Then, taking the chain of beads from his neck, and
+rending it with foot and hand, he cast the broken jewels into the lake.
+A moment after, his light skiff shot from its concealment, and the sound
+of his paddle startled the droning wild-fowl from their slumbers.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Ovid describes the memorable encounter between Perseus and the
+great sea-monster of Ethiopia, he is at the pains to narrate with what
+fury the creature <i>snapped at the shadow</i> of the flying hero,&mdash;a
+circumstance of trivial importance in itself, though both striking and
+characteristic; nay, he even relates how the warrior, at the first sight
+of the fair Andromeda, chained to the rock, and waiting to be devoured,
+was so moved with admiration that he forgot, for an instant, to flap his
+wings,&mdash;another detail of more fitness than moment. Thus stooping to the
+consideration of trifles, the poet does not scruple entirely to pass by
+matters of the most palpable consequence. He disdains, for example, to
+tell us even whether the monster <i>died</i> or not in the encounter, leaving
+that to be inferred; and, in like manner, he scorns even to answer the
+question that might have been anticipated, namely, <i>why</i> Perseus, like a
+sensible soldier, did not whip out his gorgon's head, instead of his
+'crooked sword,' and, by turning the beast into stone, save himself the
+trouble of despatching him with his steel.</p>
+
+<p>The writer of historical works, like the present, must claim the
+privilege of the poet, and be allowed, while expatiating on events of
+interest so inferior that they have been almost rejected by his
+predecessors, to leave many others of manifest importance to be
+supplied, not indeed by the imagination, but by the learning of the
+reader. Our only desire is to follow the adventures of two individuals,
+so obscure and so unfortunate, that the worthy and somewhat
+over-conscientious Bernal Diaz del Castillo has despatched the whole
+history of the first in the few vague fragments which we have prefixed
+to the story; while he has scrupulously abstained from saying a single
+word of the second.</p>
+
+<p>If the reader will turn to the pages of this conscientious historian, of
+De Solis, or of Clavigero, he will be made acquainted with the stirring
+exploits of the eight or nine weeks that followed after the arrest of
+Juan Lerma. In this time, the Captain-General, at the head of all the
+Spaniards, save those who were left in garrison at Tezcuco, and the few
+sailors and shipwrights who remained in the dock-yards, to preside over
+Indian artificers, compelled to work at the brigantines&mdash;in this time,
+we say, and at the head of this force, assisted by many thousand
+Tlascalans, Cortes commenced and completed the circuit of the whole
+valley, storming and burning cities and towns without number, resisted
+valiantly in all that were not disaffected, and sometimes, as at the
+city of Tacuba, repulsed with great loss and no little dishonour. The
+whole campaign abounds with singular and exciting incidents, of which,
+however, it does not suit our purpose to mention any but one, and that
+almost in a word. At the city of Xochimilco, or the Garden of Flowers,
+(for this is the signification of the word,) where the resistance was
+sanguinary and noble, though, in the end, ineffectual, Cortes was
+wounded, surrounded, struck down from his horse, which was killed, and
+he himself, for a moment, a prisoner; and he owed his life and liberty
+only to the extraordinary valour of Gaspar Olea of the Red Beard, who,
+with the help of a few resolute Tlascalans, succeeded in bringing him
+off. The aid thus rendered by Olea was the more remarkable, since, from
+the moment of Juan's arrest, he had become sullen, morose, and was
+sometimes even charged to be mutinous. In this last imputation, however,
+as far as it implied any treasonable thoughts or practices, the rude
+Gaspar was wronged. His dissatisfaction was caused solely by the fall
+and anticipated fate of his young captain. The heinousness of Juan's
+crime&mdash;the drawing his sword upon an officer in the execution of his
+duty, as Guzman had been, and, worse yet, the aiming of that at the
+breast of the General&mdash;had left it, apparently, impossible to be
+forgiven. It was universally expected that Juan would expiate the crime
+with his life; and the only wonder was, that he had not been immediately
+tried, condemned, and executed. His destiny was therefore anticipated
+with more curiosity than doubt, and apparently with less pity than
+either. Gaspar did not attempt to deny Juan's guilt; but when he
+remembered the sufferings and perils they had shared together, his heart
+burned with fury, to think how soon the brave and well-beloved youth
+should die the death of a caitiff. His dissatisfaction expended itself
+in anger towards the Captain-General; and hence the surprise of his
+comrades at his act of daring and generosity. But Gaspar had his own
+ends in view, when he saved the life of Cortes.</p>
+
+<p>It was now many weeks since his arrest, and Juan yet lay in
+imprisonment, ignorant not so much of his fate, as of the causes which
+delayed it. On the fourth day of his captivity, he was apprized, by the
+sound of trumpets and artillery, the cries of men, and the neighing of
+horses, and, in general, by the prodigious bustle which accompanies the
+setting-out of an army from a populous city, that some enterprise was
+meditated and begun; but of its character he was kept wholly ignorant.
+The custody of his person seemed to be committed to Villafana and the
+hunchback Najara, conjointly; but it was observable, that, although
+Najara frequently entered his den alone, Villafana never made his
+appearance without being accompanied by the Corcobado.</p>
+
+<p>From Najara he gained not a word of intelligence, the hunchback ever
+replying to his questions with scowls, or with pithy sarcasms in
+allusion to the crimes of treason and mutiny. From Villafana, attended,
+and, as it seemed to Juan, watched, by the jealous Najara, he obtained
+nothing but unmeaning nods of the head, and sometimes looks, too
+significant to be doubted, and yet too oraculous to be understood.</p>
+
+<p>After the first fortnight, Villafana failed to visit him altogether, and
+he saw not the face of a human being, except once each morning, when
+Najara was accustomed to make his appearance, followed by an Indian
+slave, bearing food and a jar of water. With this latter being, a
+decrepit old man, on whose naked shoulder was imprinted the horrible
+letter G, (for <i>guerra</i>, indicating that he was a prisoner of war,&mdash;in
+other words, a branded bondman,) he endeavoured to speak, using all the
+native dialects with which he was acquainted; but, though Najara made no
+offer to prevent such conversation, the barbarian replied only by
+touching his ear and then his breast, signifying thereby that, though he
+heard the words, he did not understand them. Though Najara permitted
+these little attempts at speech, with contemptuous indifference, Juan
+perceived that he ever kept his eyes fastened upon the Indian, as if to
+prevent any effort at communication of another sort. Thus, if any
+benevolent friend had endeavoured to convey a message by letter or
+otherwise, it was apparent that Najara took the best steps to insure its
+miscarriage.</p>
+
+<p>Foiled thus in every attempt to exchange thoughts with a fellow-being,
+and reduced to commune only with his own, the unhappy prisoner ceased,
+at last, to make any effort; and, yielding gradually to a despair that
+was not the less consuming for being entirely without complaint, he
+began, in the end, to be indifferent even to the coming and presence of
+his jailer, neither rising to meet him, nor even lifting his eyes from
+the floor, on which they were fixed with a lethargic dejection.</p>
+
+<p>He became also indifferent to his food; and once, when Najara entered,
+he perceived that the water-jar, the dish of <i>tortillas</i>, or
+maize-cakes, the savoury wild-fowl, and the fragrant <i>chocolatl</i>, (for
+in regard to food, he was liberally supplied,) stood upon the little
+table, where they had been placed the day before, untasted and even
+untouched. He cast his eyes upon the youth, and, for the first time,
+began to feel a sentiment of pity for his condition. Indeed, the noble
+figure of the young man was beginning to waste away; his cheeks were
+hollow, his neglected beard was springing uncouthly over his lips, and
+his sunken eyes drooped upon the earth, as if never more to gleam with
+the light of hope and pleasure. The hunchback hesitated for a moment,
+and then growled out a few words,&mdash;the first he had uttered for a week.
+But these, though commiseration prompted them, he succeeded in making
+expressive only of scorn or anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark you, seņor Juan Lerma," he said, "do you mean to starve?"</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of his voice, so unusual and so unexpected, the young man
+raised his eyes, but with a vague, wo-begone look, and answered nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, seņor," continued Najara, somewhat more blandly, "is it your
+will to die by starvation rather than in any other way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Najara! is it thou?" said Juan, rising feebly, or indolently, to
+his feet. "Heaven give you a good-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw!" returned the jailer, gruffly; "pray me no such prayers: keep
+them for yourself. I ask you, if it be your purpose to starve yourself
+to death, out of a mere unsoldierly fear of hanging?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast not said so much to me, I know not when," replied the youth,
+not with any intention of shuffling off the question, but speaking of
+what was uppermost in his mind. His voice was very mild, and Najara, by
+no means without his weaker points, felt it as a reproach.</p>
+
+<p>"I care not," he replied, "if I answer you any two or three questions,
+that may be nearest to your heart. But first give me to know, wherefore
+you have eaten nothing? Are you sick?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely I am, at heart; but, bodily, I am well."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are not resolute to die of hunger, before the
+judgment-day?&mdash;Pho, if you have that spirit, perhaps it were better. But
+it is a death of great torment.&mdash;Yet, why should one be afraid of the
+shame? 'Tis nothing, when we are dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Is this thy fear then?" said Juan, patiently. "It is not permitted us
+to commit suicide in any form. I will eat, to satisfy thee; but food is
+bitter in prison."</p>
+
+<p>"What a pity," muttered Najara, as Juan ate a morsel of food, "that
+heaven should give thee such a goodly and godlike body, and such a brave
+soul, (for, o' my life, I believe thou art entirely without fear,) and
+yet make thee a madman and traitor!"</p>
+
+<p>"A traitor!" said Juan, without taking any offence, for, indeed, he
+seemed to have been robbed of all the fire of his spirit. "It is not
+possible anybody can believe me a traitor."</p>
+
+<p>"Pho! did I not, with mine own eyes, see thee lunge at Cortes? It is
+base of thee to deny it."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not deny it," said Juan; adding, vehemently, "but I call heaven to
+witness, I saw not his face, and knew him not. He may persecute me to
+death, as I believe he is doing. Yet could I do him no wrong; no, I
+<i>think</i>, I could not.&mdash;But it is bitter, to feel we are trampled on!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, seņor, it is better you should be in a passion than a trance. But
+be not utterly without hope. If you can truly make it appear you knew
+not the general, it is thought by one or two, you may be pardoned. I
+have talked with Guzman; and I think he may be brought to forgive and
+even intercede for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I will neither receive <i>his</i> forgiveness nor his intercession," said
+Juan, frowning. "And I wonder you mention to me his detested name."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, seņor!" said Najara, sharply, "you may choose your own friends, and
+hunt them again among heathen Indians.&mdash;That you should sell your life
+for this dog of a noble!&mdash;Fare you well, seņor, fare you well."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay, Najara," said Juan, following him towards the door: "you said you
+would answer me such questions as were nearest my heart. Give not over
+the kindly thought. There are many things, which if I knew, my lot would
+not be so hard, my dungeon not so killing to my spirit. The army is
+gone&mdash;is Mexico invested?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," replied the hunchback; "it has a month or two's grace
+yet.&mdash;The troops have marched against the shore-towns.&mdash;But for this mad
+fit, thou mightst have been with them, or making thyself famous at
+Tochtepec!"</p>
+
+<p>Juan sighed heavily.</p>
+
+<p>"And the Indian, of whom you spoke,&mdash;the young noble,&mdash;Olin the orator,"
+he demanded, at first, not without hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the cur," replied Najara; "I think Cortes was even as mad as
+thyself, touching the knave. But wit is like a river, sometimes too
+full, washing away its own banks&mdash;it may be said to drown itself.&mdash;He
+made the dog his ambassador, swore him to return faithfully from
+Guatimozin, and waited three days for him in vain. Such rogues are like
+arrows,&mdash;good weapons, when you have the cast of them, but not to be
+expected in hand again, unless shot back by a foeman."</p>
+
+<p>It was fortunate, perhaps, that Najara had relaxed so far from his
+austerity as to resume the vein of metaphor common to his softer
+moments. Had he been as observant as usual, he must have been struck
+with suspicion at the sudden gleam of satisfaction, with which Juan
+heard the good fortune of the Mexican. But he marked it not.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me now," said Juan, "how thou comest to be my jailer; and why it
+is that Villafana seems to have given up his trust to thee?"</p>
+
+<p>At this question, Najara's good-humour immediately vanished, and he
+replied, sourly,</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, content you, you shall be in good keeping."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt it not," said Juan, calmly. "But Villafana is, or methinks he
+is, more friendly to me than you. I did but desire to know what changes
+had taken place in the government of the city, from the watchman up to
+the commandant, since my imprisonment."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, indeed!" replied Najara, grimly: "such changes, that hadst thou
+fifty friends waiting to aid thee, thou shouldst be caught, before
+getting twenty steps from the door. Know then, that I am made Alguazil,
+as well as Villafana; and what is more, I am captain of the prison. The
+Alcalde is Antonio de Quinones, master of the armory; and the Corregidor
+of the city is thy good friend Guzman,&mdash;an honour thou gavest him, by
+hacking his face so freely, and so leaving him in the hospital."</p>
+
+<p>"You speak to me in sarcasm," said Juan, mildly: "I have not deserved
+it. And methinks you should be more generous of temper, than to oppress
+with words of insult, a fallen and helpless man.&mdash;Well, heed it not&mdash;I
+forgive you. I have but one more question to ask you.&mdash;The lady,&mdash;this
+lady, La Monjonaza&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" cried Najara, with singular bitterness, "I have heard of that too.
+You were seen talking with her in the garden. You will play chamberer
+with Cortes! ay, and rival too! Pho, canst thou not be at peace? Meddle
+with the general's fancy. Why that were enough to hang thee. I had some
+soft thoughts of thee; but everything shows thou art unworthy. Farewell;
+think of these things no more; but repent and make your peace with
+heaven."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the hunchback flung out of the room, and securing the thick
+door of plank, Juan was again left to his meditations.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Then followed another period of silence and dejection, in which the
+prisoner wasted away as much in body as in spirit, becoming so
+listlessly indifferent to everything, that he no longer betrayed any
+desire to draw Najara into conversation, nor even to meet the advances
+which his jailer now often made. The thought of escaping from
+confinement, perhaps, never entered his mind; for, had he been even less
+resigned to his fate, the strict watch kept over him, and the condition
+of his prison, added to his apparent friendlessness, must have been
+enough to banish all such thoughts. His chamber was neither dark nor
+damp, but made strong by its bulky door, barred on the outside, and by
+windows, high above the floor, so very narrow that no human being could
+hope to pass through them.</p>
+
+<p>Narrow as they were, however, it was the jailer's custom to examine them
+very closely each morning; a degree of vigilance that Juan had, in the
+earlier days of captivity, remarked with some surprise. He became
+acquainted with Najara's object at last. One morning, he was roused out
+of his stupefaction by a harsh exclamation from his jailer, and looking
+up, he beheld him take from the floor, immediately under one of the
+loopholes, what seemed a slip of paper, tied to a little stick, which
+appeared, some time during the night, to have been thus thrust into the
+prison. What were its contents he never could divine; for Najara had no
+sooner cast his eyes over it, than mingling a laugh of satisfaction at
+its miscarriage with some natural compassion for the profound
+wretchedness which had sealed the ears and eyes of the prisoner, he
+immediately departed with the prize.</p>
+
+<p>From this time, Juan became more vigilant and wary; but the following
+night, he was admonished, by the clank of armour and the occasional
+sound of voices without, that sentinels were now stationed under the
+windows, thus precluding all hope of friendly communication from that
+quarter.</p>
+
+<p>Before he had again entirely relapsed into his listless gloom, he began
+to have a vague consciousness that the Indian slave, who accompanied
+Najara, was becoming more officious than of old, in setting his meals
+before him, and particularly in placing the jar of water at his side,
+instead of depositing it on his table, as he had done before. His
+suspicion was confirmed, when, one morning, as Najara was making his
+wonted survey of the windows, the slave gave him a quick, impatient
+look, and shaking the jar as he set it down, made him sensible, by a
+rattling sound within it, that there was something besides the innocent
+element concealed at the bottom. As soon as Najara had departed, he made
+an examination of the mystery, and drew forth, with some astonishment, a
+plate of transparent obsidian, on which had been scratched by some hard
+instrument or precious stone, a few words which he was soon able to
+decypher. "If thou wilt leave Mexico, and live, take the stone from the
+pitcher."</p>
+
+<p>He strode about the apartment for a moment in disorder; then, crushing
+the glassy temptation under his heel, and returning the fragments to the
+jar, he sat down again to brood over his despair.&mdash;The next morning the
+pitcher contained nothing but water.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, then, the time passed away, in the ordinary listlessness of
+confinement,&mdash;the dull and sleepy torture of solitude; until Najara,
+waxing more compassionate as his prisoner grew more obviously
+indifferent to light, to food, and to speech, bethought him of a mode of
+indulgence from which no danger could be apprehended, and accordingly
+introduced the dog Befo into the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>The loud yells of joy with which Befo beheld his young master, recalled
+Juan from his lethargy; and Najara was touched still further with
+compunction at the sight of the animal's transports.</p>
+
+<p>"He has been whining every day at the prison gate," he muttered; "and
+doubtless he would have whined full as much, though he were to be let in
+only to be beaten. Such a fond fool is this young Juan himself: he
+returns to his master, though he knows the scourge is ready. It were
+better he had taken my advice, and passed to the sea by Otumba: He
+should have known Cortes would never forgive him."</p>
+
+<p>The presence of this faithful animal, if it did not recall Juan's
+spirits, at least preserved him from sinking further into stupefaction;
+and nothing gave him more evident delight, than when, each morning,
+having prevailed upon Najara to lead his dumb companion into the air for
+exercise, he could hear Befo, in the joy of a liberty which he did not
+share, dashing frantically through the garden, now coursing by the
+water-side, now prancing by the palace, and, all the time, yelping and
+barking with the most clamorous delight. From these daily sorties the
+dog was used to return, with fresh spirits and increased attachment, to
+share, for the remainder of the day, the confinement of his master, upon
+whom, at his entrance, he jumped and fawned almost as boisterously as
+when enjoying his sports in the garden.</p>
+
+<p>One day, however, he returned with a much graver aspect than usual, and
+stalking up to where Juan sat, he stood, wagging his tail, and gazing up
+with a look exceedingly knowing and significant. Somewhat surprised at
+this, and finding that Befo refused, even when invited, to begin his
+usual rough expressions of friendship, he took him by the leathern
+collar, by which the servants of Cortes had been wont to secure him at
+night, and pulled him towards him. The motion of the collar released a
+little packet, that had been carefully secured beneath it, and which now
+fell upon Juan's knee. As soon as the sagacious animal perceived that he
+had accomplished a task, not often committed to such a messenger, he
+returned to his usual demonstrations of satisfaction; and, for a moment,
+Juan was unable to examine the singular missive. When Befo became
+composed, he opened it, and read, with no little agitation, the
+following words: "Not for <i>me</i>, but for thyself.&mdash;There is but a day
+more to choose. Leave Mexico, and shed not thine own blood: make not thy
+friends curse thee.&mdash;Return but a fragment of the paper, or tie but a
+hair round the collar,&mdash;and thou shalt be saved.&mdash;Not for <i>me</i>, but for
+<i>thyself</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The morning came, and Juan, taking the paper from his bosom, tore it to
+pieces. When Najara offered as usual to liberate the dog, he perceived
+that Juan held him fast by the collar.</p>
+
+<p>"How now, seņor, shall the dog play?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is cruel to rob him of his hour's liberty," said Juan, with a
+subdued voice; "but, this day, suffer him to remain with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, seņor, as you will," said Najara; "but I would you had some
+better friend,&mdash;at least, some one who could counsel you. There are
+runners arrived from the northern towns; and, at midday, Cortes will
+march into the city."</p>
+
+<p>"The better reason, then, that I should have this friend, who have no
+other," said Juan, calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Harkee, seņor," said Najara, with a sort of petulant sympathy, "if you
+would but curse yourself and your foes, or bemoan your fate a little, I
+should like it better than this stupid, womanish resignation.&mdash;Hark
+ye,&mdash;I care not if I tell you: I thought you had come athwart the
+fancies of Don Hernan, in the matter of the Doņa, not that Don Hernan
+had wronged your own: I knew not that there was any old love between
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"What art thou speaking of, Najara?" said Juan, with a hasty and
+troubled voice.</p>
+
+<p>"This does, in some sense, weaken the sin of drawing sword upon him,"
+continued the hunchback, "for no man loves to be robbed of his
+mistress.&mdash;Well,&mdash;the seņora is sorry for you.&mdash;She thought to bribe me
+to let her speak with you.&mdash;Bribe me!&mdash;And yet I pitied her, for she was
+sorely distressed."</p>
+
+<p>"For God's sake," exclaimed Juan, in extreme suffering, "speak me not a
+word of her; let me not hear her name."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, be not cast down; she has much power with the general, and,
+doubtless, she will plead for you. Well, fare you well.&mdash;I did think to
+let Cortes know of her acts: but that might harden him against you still
+more.&mdash;Why should I waste thought upon him," muttered the deformed as he
+passed from the prison. "It is hard, or it seems hard, that heaven
+should give up a frame so beauteous and majestical, to be marred by the
+hangman's axe or rope, and leave a deformed lump like me, to scare
+little Indian girls and boys, and to be jibed at by all the craven loons
+of the army. But this is naught: if I am crooked, I am neither fool,
+traitor, nor coward, as most others are, in one degree or other, and
+sometimes in all."</p>
+
+<p>As Najara had foretold, the army returned to Tezcuco about noon, as was
+made evident to Juan, by the sound of trumpets and cannon, and other
+warlike noises of rejoicing; which, continuing to fill the city for many
+hours, came to his ears like the tumult of a distant storm, and began to
+die away, only when the last twinkle of sunset, shooting through his
+narrow windows, had faded from the opposite wall.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was now midnight. Audience after audience, and council after council,
+in the great hall of the palace, had shown how rapidly were approaching
+to a climax the involved events and schemes, which had for their object
+the overthrow of the Indian empire, as well as some that looked to an
+end equally dark, though of less public import. The Captain-General had
+despatched several audiences entirely of a private nature, and hoped to
+be relieved of his toil, while discharging from his presence an
+individual already known to the reader as Gaspar of the Red Beard.
+Whatever might have been the subject of the conference, its conclusion
+was unsatisfactory to both parties; for Olea departed with a visage both
+sullen and vindictive, while Cortes strode to and fro, evidently
+affected by vexation and anger.</p>
+
+<p>As Olea, who had long since got rid of the 'infidel gait,' which had
+drawn a remark from Cortes, and which, doubtless assumed to assist his
+disguise, only adhered to him through habit,&mdash;as he vanished through the
+great door, another character made his appearance, entering by one of
+those doors which opened from the garden. It was the seņor Camarga; who,
+from the friar's habit, again flung over his armour, seemed to have been
+engaged, a second time, in his maskings.</p>
+
+<p>"What news, seņor? what news hast thou?" demanded Cortes, in a low
+voice, making a sign to the visitor to imitate his cautiousness. "Hast
+thou gathered aught of my dog Villafana? By my conscience, we are at a
+fault; the fox is scared into virtue: Najara hath seen no ill in him,
+Guzman avers he hath detected no sign of guilt, and not a spy is there
+of all, who does not swear that his fright in the matter of Olin, (that
+knave, too, cajoled me!) has reduced him into submission and honesty.
+Hast thou found nothing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing to be thought of, perhaps," replied Camarga. "Villafana is
+either returned to his allegiance, as your excellency hints, or he is
+too deep in distrust, to confer with me any further. He swears, if one
+could believe him, that he has thought better of his schemes, and is now
+resolved that they were foolish and unjust,&mdash;and therefore that he has
+ended them."</p>
+
+<p>"He lies, the rogue!" said Cortes; "you have pursued him too
+closely.&mdash;It was an ill thought to league Najara with him.&mdash;These things
+have made him suspicious, not penitent. I have taken the hunchback away,
+restored Villafana to his prisonward, and, in short, taken all means to
+seduce him into security. You will see the cloven foot again, and that
+right shortly."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps what I have to say will make your excellency believe it is
+displayed already. He has admitted one to speak with the prisoner&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" cried Cortes,&mdash;"a file of spearsmen!&mdash;But no; it matters not.
+There is no fear of escape; and this were too aimless an explosion. Know
+you the person he has admitted?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not," said Camarga; "but from the glance of the garment, methought
+'twas some such godly brother as myself. And yet 'twas a taller man than
+Olmedo."</p>
+
+<p>"By my conscience," said Cortes, quickly, "methinks I can divine the
+mystery: but of that anon. Hark thee, friend Camarga, dost thou still
+burn for this wretched man's life? I tell thee, there is much
+intercession made for him. It was but a moment since that the
+Barba-Roxa,&mdash;a good soldier, i'faith,&mdash;made certain fierce moans for
+him, mingled with divers mutinous reproaches. I vow to heaven, I could
+have struck the knave dead, but that he saved my life at Xochimilco."</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard that Juan Lerma did the same thing, on the plains of
+Tlascala," replied Camarga, dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art deceived!" exclaimed Don Hernan, with a sudden shudder. "The
+attempt, I grant you, the attempt be made; but I needed no help. Yet do
+I remember the act; and, by heaven, I would I might forgive him,&mdash;I
+would I might! I would I might! for the thought of judging him to death,
+is like a wolf in my bosom. Once I loved him as my son,&mdash;yes, as my very
+son," he repeated, with extraordinary agitation; "and when he played
+with my little children, I swear, I looked upon him but as their elder
+brother. What will men say of the act, since they cannot know the
+cause?"</p>
+
+<p>Apparently Camarga looked upon this burst of relenting feeling, (for
+such it really was,) with too much dissatisfaction and alarm, to notice
+the allusion to a cause differing from any with which he was acquainted.
+He exclaimed, hastily, and with a darkening visage,</p>
+
+<p>"If open mutiny and resistance be not excuse enough, have I not spoken
+an argument that should steel thy heart for ever? Shall I utter it
+again? I swear to thee then, that this miserable creature,
+Magdalena,&mdash;this wretch that even thou wouldst have made the slave of
+thy pleasures, and thereby added upon thy soul a sin never to be
+forgiven,&mdash;no, never!&mdash;is a true NUN,&mdash;forsworn, lost, condemned! Wilt
+thou refuse to punish the author of a horrible impiety? Would that I had
+strangled her, when an infant, though with mine own hand!&mdash;Thou talkest
+of a wolf in thy bosom; couldst thou feel one fang of the agony, that
+this act of horror has planted in mine, thou wouldst deem thyself happy.
+Let the wretch die: ask not for further cause; think not of any."</p>
+
+<p>"The cause is, indeed, enough," said Cortes, crossing himself with
+dread, "to ensure not death only, but a death at the stake of fire; and
+I am not one to think the punishment should be made easy. I could tell
+thee a story of the end of broken vows, and the vengeance of God upon
+the robber of convents; but it needs not.&mdash;Sleep in thy grave, poor
+wretch! and be forgotten." He muttered a few words to himself, and then
+banishing, with an effort, what seemed a mournful recollection, he
+resumed,&mdash;"Tell me but one thing, Camarga, and I am satisfied. The cause
+is enough, (though this is a crime to be judged by ecclesiastics,) to
+ensure the young man's fate; but it is <i>not</i> enough to explain the
+rancour of thy hatred. Speak me the truth&mdash;Is this unhappy creature
+child of thine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Think so, if thou wilt," said Camarga, with a lip ashy and quivering,
+"but ask not, ask not now. Give the young man to the block, and commit
+the girl into my hands, with the means of leaving this land; then, if
+thou hast the courage to listen, thou shalt hear a story that will
+freeze thy blood.&mdash;Is he not guilty of this thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is he not guilty of more?" muttered the Captain-General. "It is enough;
+thou hast steeled my heart. I leave him in the hands of the Alcaldes and
+De Olid, who have no such faintness of heart as confounds mine. Fare
+thee well, seņor: I know thee better, and I like thee well. Turn not
+thine eye from Villafana."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, mingling the suggestions of a native policy with passions not the
+less constitutional, Cortes dismissed his disguised visitant. The
+curtain of the great door had scarce concealed the retreating Camarga,
+before he heard a footstep behind; and looking round, he beheld the
+figure of La Monjonaza steal in from the garden, and cross the
+apartment.</p>
+
+<p>"What sayst thou <i>now</i>, Magdalena?" he cried, striding up to her, and
+viewing with interest a countenance sternly composed, yet bearing the
+traces of recent and deep passions. "Thou shouldst have told me of
+this.&mdash;Yet what sayst thou now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," replied the maiden, calmly, but with tones deeper than
+usual,&mdash;"Nothing.&mdash;Do thy work."</p>
+
+<p>With these brief and mystic expressions, she passed among the secret
+chambers; and the Captain-General, stalking into the garden, until the
+chill breezes from the lake had cooled his feverish temples, betook
+himself, at last, to his couch, to subdue, in slumber, imaginary
+empires, and contend with visionary foes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The day after the Feast of the Holy Ghost, or Whitsunday, early in May,
+1521, opened upon the valley of Mexico with clouds and vapours, which,
+sweeping over the broad lake, collected and lingered, with boding fury,
+around the island city, discharging thunder and lightning, while the
+sunbeams shone clear and uninterrupted over Tezcuco, and the rich
+savannas which surrounded it. It was the morning of a novel and
+impressive ceremony. A rivulet, deepened by the labours of many thousand
+Indians, into a navigable canal, and bordered for the space of half a
+league on either side, by narrow meadows, separated the city from
+another scarce inferior in magnitude, but which yet seemed only a
+suburb. The whole space thus extending between the two cities, from the
+lake, as far as the eye could see, was blackened by the bodies of Indian
+warriors, armed and decorated as if for battle, while the housetops in
+the cities were equally thronged with multitudes of aged men and women
+and children. A narrow space was left vacant on each bank of the canal,
+from which the feathered barbarians, two hundred thousand in number,
+were separated by the Spanish army, drawn up in extended lines on either
+bank, the companies of footmen alternating with little squadrons of
+mounted cavaliers, from whose spears waved bright pennons.</p>
+
+<p>As they stood thus, in gallant array, a flourish of trumpets drew their
+eyes up the stream, and they could behold over the housetops, winding
+with the sinuosities of the canal, a line of masts and of sails half let
+loose to the breeze, advancing slowly towards the lake, drawn, as it
+presently appeared, by double rows of natives, gayly apparelled, who
+occupied the space on the banks left vacant by the military.</p>
+
+<p>As they approached nigh and more nigh, it was seen that each vessel bore
+no little resemblance to some of those light and open brigantines which
+have been, from time immemorial, the chosen delights of Mediterranean
+pirates, and the scourge of the sea from Barbary to the Greek Islands.
+Each carried twenty-five men, twelve of whom were rowers, the others
+musketeers, crossbowmen, cannoniers, (for a falconet frowned over the
+prow of each,) and sailors. Besides a multitude of little pennons with
+which they were covered, two great banners waved over each, the one
+bearing the royal arms of Spain, the other being the private standard
+which had been assigned, along with an appropriate name and a solemn
+benediction, by a priest, at the dock-yard, after the celebration of the
+mass of the Holy Ghost; for with such ceremonies of religion and pomp,
+the fatal galleys were committed, that morning, to their proper element.</p>
+
+<p>One by one they passed into the lake, and ranged in a line before the
+mouth of the little river, fourteen in number. At this point, the
+mummeries of celebration were concluded by another and final
+benediction, pronounced from the shore; which was succeeded by a
+combined uproar of artillery, trumpets, and human voices, more loud and
+tumultuous than any which had yet shaken the borders of Tezcuco.</p>
+
+<p>When the smoke of the cannon had cleared away, the brigantines were seen
+parting and flitting along in different courses, like a flock of
+wild-fowl, frightened and separated by the explosion. Their evolutions
+should be rather likened to the gambols of vultures, escaped from some
+dreary confinement, and now fluttering their wings in the joy of
+liberation, and the expectation of prey. Castilian navigators were at
+last launched upon the sea of Anahuac, and they seemed resolved at once
+to confirm their dominion, by ploughing through each rolling surge, and
+penetrating to every bay and creek. As they divided thus, some standing
+out into the lake, and others darting along the shores, the admiring and
+shouting spectators began to observe and point out to one another
+certain pillars of smoke, rising one after the other, from the hills and
+headlands; by which was conveyed from town to town the intelligence of
+an event long since expected by the watchful infidels.</p>
+
+<p>Another spectacle, however, soon withdrew the eyes of the lookers on
+from these signal fires. From the bank of vapours which still concealed
+the towers of Tenochtitlan, they beheld an Indian piragua, or gondola,
+of some magnitude, and no little splendour, come paddling into view,
+followed by three canoes of much lighter and plainer structure. An
+awning of brilliant cloths, running from stem to stern over the piragua,
+overshadowed and almost hid the rowers.</p>
+
+<p>It was no sooner perceived from the fleet, than three or four
+brigantines gave chase, as after an undoubted enemy and legal prize.
+Still, its voyagers advanced on their course, fearlessly, and to all
+appearance disregardful of the commands of the captains to heave-to,
+even although one call was accompanied by a musket shot, discharged
+across their bows. Its director undoubtedly confided in his pacific
+character, indicated, according to the customs of Anahuac, by a little
+net of gold, mingled with white feathers, tied to the head of a spear,
+and displayed high above the awning.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done for the dog, Techeechee!" muttered Cortes into the ear of an
+hidalgo, of stern appearance, mounted like himself and at his side;
+"Well done for Techeechee, the Silent Dog! he is worth twenty such
+hounds as Olin-pilli. He has brought me an embassy. By my conscience, it
+comes over late though, and I know not what good can spring of it, at
+this hour.&mdash;These fools of the brigantines are over-officious!&mdash;'Tis a
+confident knave; see, he steers for the palace garden! I must ride
+thither.&mdash;Hark thee, De Olid," he continued, still addressing the grim
+cavalier, but aloud, as if willing that all should hear: "let this thing
+be despatched: Thou wilt make, at the worst, a just judge. In this
+trial, it becomes neither my feelings, nor perhaps my honour, that I
+should myself sit in judgment. The chief Alcaldes will give thee their
+aid. Judge not in anger, but with justice; bring it not against the
+young man that he turned his sword upon me&mdash;And yet I see not how thou
+canst avoid it: nevertheless, if thou canst do so, let it be done. There
+is enough else to condemn him. His life is in thine hands: be just; and
+yet be not too rigid. If thou canst, by any justifiable leniency, admit
+him to mercy, do so. Yes, be merciful, if thou canst,&mdash;be merciful."</p>
+
+<p>With these instructions, which were pronounced not without discomposure,
+Cortes put spurs to his steed, and rode into the city and to the palace,
+followed by some half dozen cavaliers.</p>
+
+<p>He had scarcely assumed the state with which he thought fit to overawe
+the envoys of the different barbaric tribes, whom the fame of his power
+and greatness was daily bringing to his court, before an officer entered
+the audience-chamber from the garden, and acquainted him that
+ambassadors from Tenochtitlan humbly craved to be admitted to his
+presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Let them be taken round to the front, that the dogs may look upon the
+artillery," said the Captain-General; and perhaps added in his thoughts,
+"that they may creep up to my footstool, taking in my greatness from
+afar, until their humility dwindles into submissiveness."</p>
+
+<p>Presently the curtain of the great door was pushed aside, and the
+Mexicans entered, preceded and followed by armed men; the old Ottomi
+being in advance of all. They were twelve in number, the chief or
+principal being a man of lofty stature and manly years, wholly differing
+from the orator Olin, for whom Cortes looked in vain among the others.
+To indicate the high rank of the ambassador, two attendants sustained
+over his head, on little rods, a gay canopy or penthouse of feathers.
+His green mantle (for that was the colour worn by an ambassador,) was of
+the richest material, the border being wrought into scroll-work with
+little studs of solid gold. His buskins, for such they might be called,
+were of crimson leather, and a crimson fillet was wound round his hair,
+which was, otherwise, almost covered with little tufts or tassels of
+cotton-down of the same hue. Each of these singular decorations was the
+evidence and distinguishing badge of some valiant exploit in battle; and
+it was therefore manifest to all in the slightest degree acquainted with
+the customs of Anahuac, even at the first sight, that the barbarian was
+a man of renown among the Mexicans. A cluster of rattling grains of
+gold, suspended to his nostrils, indicated that he belonged to the order
+of Teuctli,&mdash;a race of nobles inferior only to the <i>Tlamantli</i>, or
+vassal-kings; and the red fillets showed that he was a Prince of the
+House of Darts, the highest of the several chivalric branches into which
+this order was divided, the two next appertaining to the House of Eagles
+and the House of Tigers.&mdash;In introducing these barbaric terms, we have
+no desire to inflict upon the reader a dissertation on Aztec chivalry,
+but simply to make him aware, that these singular infidels were, in
+their way, nearly as well provided with the vanities of knighthood and
+nobility as some of the European nations in the Middle Ages.</p>
+
+<p>The general appearance of the ambassador was commanding; his features
+were bold and harsh, yet manly,&mdash;his forehead expanded, though inclined,
+and furrowed as with the frowns of battle,&mdash;and his eye had a touch of
+wildness and ferocity, at variance with his modest bearing while
+advancing towards the Captain-General, and still more strongly
+contrasted with that melancholy sweetness of mouth, which seems to be a
+characteristic of all the children of America.&mdash;Perhaps it is <i>fitly</i>
+characteristic, since the proclivity of their fate is equally mournful,
+throughout all the continent. He bore in his hand the gold net and white
+plume, hanging to a headless spear, which had been displayed and
+distinguished afar in the piragua,&mdash;as well as a golden arrow,&mdash;both
+being the emblems of a Mexican envoy. He was entirely without arms, as
+were all the rest.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the canopy-bearers came three old men, with tablets of dressed
+skin, or maguey paper, in their hands, known, at once, to be
+writers,&mdash;secretaries or annalists,&mdash;who accompanied ambassadors, and
+other high officers, in expeditions of importance, to record their
+actions and preserve the proofs of treaties.</p>
+
+<p>After these followed six <i>Tlamémé</i>, or common carriers, bearing
+presents, which, with Mexicans of that day, as with Orientals of this,
+made no small share of the matériel of diplomacy.</p>
+
+<p>As this train was led forward up to the chair of state, Cortes fixed his
+eye with a smile of approbation on the Ottomi, but did not think fit to
+honour him with any further evidence of thankfulness. He had other
+matters to fill his thoughts; for, at the first glance, he recognized in
+the ambassador a noble, famous even in the days of Montezuma, for skill,
+audacity, and unconquerable aversion to the strangers, and who, under
+the ominous title of Masquaza-teuctli,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> or the Lord of Death, was
+known to have commanded bodies of reinforcement, sent to several
+different shore-towns, to oppose the arms of Cortes in the late
+campaign. In especial, he was known to have devised the plan of cutting
+the dikes of Iztapalapan, after decoying the Spaniards into that city,
+where they escaped drowning almost by a miracle; it was equally certain
+that he had commanded the multitudes of warriors, who, scarce ten days
+since, had repulsed the Spaniards from Tacuba with considerable loss;
+and he was even supposed to have been present in the sack of Xochimilco,
+where Cortes had been in such imminent peril. The appearance of this man
+was doubly disagreeable, as being heartily detested himself, and as
+showing the temper of Guatimozin's mind, who chose to send an envoy so
+little inclined to composition. A murmur of dissatisfaction arose among
+the Spaniards present, as soon as they were made aware of the
+ambassador's character; and if looks could have destroyed, it is certain
+the Lord of Death would have passed to the world of shades, before
+speaking a word of his embassy.</p>
+
+<p>Without, however, seeming to regard these boding glances any more than
+he had done the hostile opposition of the brigantines, he began without
+delay the usual native forms of salutation. But before he could pass to
+those rhetorical and reverential flourishes of compliment, which
+constituted the exordium of an ambassador's speech, he was interrupted
+by Cortes, whose words were interpreted by the same cavalier who had
+officiated before, in the interview with Olin.</p>
+
+<p>"Masquaza-teuctli, Lord of Death!" said the Captain-General, sternly,
+"what dost thou here in Tezcuco?"</p>
+
+<p>The infidel looked up with surprise, and having eyed the Spaniard a
+moment, replied with another question, which was only remarkable as
+indicating the composure of the speaker, and as giving utterance to
+tones exceedingly soft and pleasant:</p>
+
+<p>"Was Olin deceived, and did Techeechee lie?" he said. "I bring the words
+of Guatimozin to Malintzin, son of Quetzalcoatl, and Lord of the Big
+Canoes with legs of crocodiles and wings of pelicans."</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou not stained with the blood of Castilians?" rejoined Cortes,
+but little pleased with the frank and unawed bearing of the envoy. "This
+thing is ill of Guatimozin: why does he send me an enemy from
+Tenochtitlan?"</p>
+
+<p>The Lord of Death replied with what seemed a lurking smile, if such
+could be traced in a peculiar and slight motion of lips, always sedate,
+if not always melancholy;</p>
+
+<p>"Has the Teuctli a <i>friend</i> in Tenochtitlan?&mdash;Let Malintzin speak his
+name: I will return.&mdash;My little children are yet awkward with the bow
+and arrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Hark to the hound!" exclaimed the Captain-General, struck more by the
+hint conveyed by the last words than by the sarcasm so gently expressed
+in the first: "He would have me believe the very boys of Mexico are
+training to resist us! and that he thinks it better honour to encourage
+the young cubs to malice, than to speak to me for terms of
+peace.&mdash;Hearken, infidel: you spoke of the young man Olin. Why returned
+not he to Tezcuco?"</p>
+
+<p>"Malintzin was in a hurry for the blood of Iztapalapan: the king saw the
+glitter of spears on the lakeside, and said to his servant, 'Go not to
+Tezcuco with gold and sweet words, but to Iztapalapan with axes and
+spears.'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, marry; but Olin, what of Olin-pilli?&mdash;I warrant me, the knavish
+king discovered the craft of the knavish noble, and so killed him?&mdash;I
+was a fool to give him the beads.&mdash;What sayst thou, infidel! what has
+become of the Speaker of Wise Things? I sent him to Guatimozin for an
+envoy; and, lo you, this old savage, the Silent Dog, has brought me what
+Olin could not, or did not. Is Olin living?"</p>
+
+<p>"How shall I answer? Ipalnemoani<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> is the maker of life; it is the
+king who takes it. Olin-pilli is forgotten."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay then, let him sleep; and to thy work, infidel, to thy work. Will
+Guatimozin have peace? He is somewhat late of decision; but the great
+monarch of Spain, who sends me to speak with him, and to enforce the
+vassalage acknowledged by Montezuma, is merciful. Speak, then, and
+quickly. My ships are on the lake, my soldiers are thicker than the
+reeds on its banks, and fiercer than its waters, when the torrents rush
+down from the mountains. Will he have the blood of his people flow
+through the streets, as the waters of an inundation, when the dikes are
+broken? Speak then, Lord of Death; will Guatimozin acknowledge himself
+the king's vassal, pay tribute, and govern his empire in peace?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hear the words of Guatimozin," said the ambassador, beckoning to the
+Tlamémé to open their packs: "The king sends you the history of his
+land,"&mdash;taking up, from among many books, which made the contents of the
+first bundle, a volume of hieroglyphics, and displaying its pictured
+pages: "He has searched for the time when the king of Castile was the
+lord of his people; but it is not written. How then shall he kiss the
+earth before the Teuctli? He has sought to find to what race, besides
+the race of heaven, the men of Mexico have paid tribute: It is not
+written,&mdash;except this,&mdash;that once, when his fathers were poor and few,
+the men of Cojohuacan called on them for tribute, and they paid it in
+the skulls of their foes. The men of Castile call for tribute:
+Guatimozin sends them such tribute as his fathers paid; here it
+is&mdash;twelve skulls of the dogs of Chalco, taken in the act of rebellion."
+And as he spoke, the grinning orbs rolled under his foot against the
+platform.</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" cried Cortes, starting up, with as much admiration as wrath, for
+he was keenly alive to every burst of audacious and heroic daring, "is
+not this a merlin of a royal stock, that will try buffets with an eagle?
+But, pho! the young man is besotted."</p>
+
+<p>"Hear, further, the words of Guatimozin," continued the envoy, taking
+from the third bundle two more books, and displaying them, as he had
+done the first: "the king remembers that the wild Ottomies came down
+from their hills, saying that they were foolish and pitiful, because
+Ipalnemoani had kept them in darkness, so that they robbed one another,
+and were blasphemers against heaven. The king gave them religion and
+laws; and, behold, those that live upon the skirts of the valley, are
+become wise and happy. The king says, 'Have not the Spaniards come like
+the Ottomies? and are they not very ignorant and miserable?' These are
+the king's words to Malintzin: 'Take this book, and learn how to worship
+the gods: religion is a good thing, and will make you happy. Take this
+book also, and understand the laws of men: justice is a good thing, and
+will make you happy."</p>
+
+<p>It would be difficult to express the varied feelings of wonder, anger,
+scorn, and merriment, with which the Spaniards hearkened to this
+extraordinary exhortation. Some stared, some frowned, some smiled, and a
+few laughed outright; but all immediately betook themselves to looks of
+sympathetic anger, when Cortes, again rising, stamped upon the platform,
+crying with a fierceness that was in part unassumed,</p>
+
+<p>"Knave of a heathen and savage, dost thou pass this scorn upon the
+religion of Christ? this slight upon the laws of Castile? this slur upon
+religious and civilized men? Look upon this cross, and say to
+Guatimozin, that not a Spaniard shall leave his valley, till every slave
+that acknowledges his sway, has knelt before it, and, abjuring the
+fiendish idolatry of Mexitli, has sworn with a kiss, to worship naught
+else. Look, too, upon this sword, and say to thine insolent prince, that
+it shall not cease to strike and slay, until his whole people have
+acknowledged it to be the abrogator of the old, and the teacher of a new
+law, such as his brutish sages never dreamed of. In one word, give him
+to know, that my purpose in his land, is to bestow upon it the cross of
+heaven and the laws of Spain; and these I will bestow,&mdash;both,&mdash;so help
+me the sword which I grasp, and the cross that I worship!"</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of satisfaction and responsive resolution passed through the
+assemblage, which had been considerably increased by the appearance of
+such officers, returning from the lakeside, as were privileged to enter
+the presence on such an occasion. But the stern voice of the
+Captain-General produced no effect on the Mexicans, except, indeed, that
+one of the three writers who had been all the time busily engaged, as
+they squatted upon the floor, recording the speeches, in their
+inexplicable manner, raised his eyes, when the Christian's voice was at
+the highest, and eyed him askant for a minute or two. The Lord of Death
+kept his glance firmly fixed on the aspect of the general, while
+listening to the interpretation of his angry vows. Then, when Cortes had
+concluded, he turned to the fourth pack, and resumed his discourse, as
+if it were no part of his duty to reply to anything not immediately
+touching his instructions.</p>
+
+<p>"Hear, further, the words of Guatimozin," he said, pointing to an ear of
+maize, a bundle of cacao-berries, a cluster of bananas, and divers other
+fruits, as well as nuts and esculent roots, which appeared in the pack:
+"Thus says the king of Mexico:&mdash;Is Castile a naked rock, where the food
+of man grows not? Malintzin said to Montezuma, 'The land is like other
+lands, with earth over the flint-stone, and with rivers to make it
+fertile; soil comes down from the mountains, and heaven sends frequent
+rains.' Look at Mexico: the sun parches it, till it becomes like sand,
+half the year; the other half, the sky turns to water, and drowns the
+gardens and corn-fields. But is man a dog, that he should howl when he
+is hungry, and run abroad for food? God gave these good things to the
+king; the king gives them to the Spaniard. Let him throw them upon the
+earth, and sit hard by in patience, while the rain drops upon them; and,
+by and by, he will have food for himself and his children: he will not
+be hungry, and run forth, like a dog, to strange lands, seeking for
+food.&mdash;Hear, further, the words of the king," continued the grave
+barbarian, observing the impatience of Cortes, and turning his anger
+into admiration, by suddenly displaying the contents of the fifth pack,
+which consisted of divers ornaments and jewels of gold, with a huge
+plate of extraordinary value, representing the sun: "Is there no yellow
+dirt in Castile, to make playthings for the women and children? Thus
+says the king: 'Let Malintzin take these things to his women and
+children; and, lest they should, by and by, cry for more, let him send a
+ship to Guatimozin, at the end of the <i>Tlalpilli</i>,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and more shall be
+given him. Thus it shall be while Guatimozin lives; and thus it shall be
+hereafter, if the king wills,&mdash;for what is Guatimozin, that he should
+make a law for his successors?"</p>
+
+<p>The admiration with which the Captain-General surveyed the gorgeous
+present, greatly moderated his disgust at the mode of making it. He
+stepped down from the platform, and taking the massive disk into his
+hands, gloated over its almost insupportable weight and dazzling
+splendour, with the relish of one who seemed never to have felt any
+passion less sordid than that of avarice. While thus engaged, ruddy at
+once with delight and with the effort of sustaining such a precious
+burthen, a paper was put into his hand, or rather held out for him to
+receive, while a voice murmured in his ear,</p>
+
+<p>"The award of the judges, sent to your excellency for confirmation."</p>
+
+<p>The golden luminary fell, with a heavy clang, upon the floor, the flush
+fled from his cheeks, and the look with which he turned to the untimely
+and ill-omened messenger, Villafana, was even more ghastly with affright
+than that which distinguished the aspect of the Alguazil.</p>
+
+<p>"If your excellency thinks of mercy," continued the Alguazil, in the
+same low and hurried voice,&mdash;"it is not yet too late. They have him on
+the square, and are confessing him.&mdash;He has but a dog's life, and a
+gnat's death, who puts them in the hands of De Olid."&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Cortes cast his eye upon the paper, and beheld, besides the date, a
+preamble of two lines, and the signatures of the judges, the following
+brief and pithy sentences:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Concealing a spy and fugitive from justice&mdash;Guilty.</p>
+
+<p>"Drawing sword upon a Christian&mdash;Guilty.</p>
+
+<p>"Resisting with arms an officer in the execution of his
+duty&mdash;Guilty.</p>
+
+<p>"Sentence&mdash;To be beheaded, his right hand struck off and nailed
+to the prison-door.&mdash;To take effect in half an hour.</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of God and the king.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">De Olid</span>,</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Marin</span>,</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">De Ircio</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Butchers!" cried Cortes, with accents of unspeakable horror. "What ho,
+a pen! a pen, knave! a pen!"</p>
+
+<p>The agitation and violence of his voice surprised even the stoical
+Mexicans; and the writers looking up, he became suddenly aware that the
+implements with which they practised their rude art, would answer all
+his purpose. Darting forward, he snatched from the hand of the nearest,
+one of the many reeds which he held. The barbarian, although apparently
+the oldest and most infirm of the three, mistaking the purpose of the
+assault, started to his feet with a vivacity of effort, which, at any
+other moment, would have drawn a sharp look of suspicion from the
+Captain-General. But his thoughts were too much excited to be diverted
+by any such seeming inconsistency.</p>
+
+<p>It happened, by a natural accident, (for each reed was appropriated to
+its peculiar colour,) that that which Cortes had seized contained a dark
+crimson ink. Still, natural as the circumstance was, it had no sooner
+touched the paper than he shuddered, and muttering 'Blood! blood!'
+seemed as if he would have cast it away. But recovering himself in an
+instant, with a faint and forced laugh, he subscribed the few words,</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Confirmed.&mdash;Respite for twenty-four hours.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Cortes.</span>"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>and putting the paper into Villafana's hands, he dismissed him with the
+hurried charge,</p>
+
+<p>"Away&mdash;see to it."</p>
+
+<p>He then flung the reed back to the writer who had already resumed his
+squatting attitude, and reascended the platform.</p>
+
+<p>On those who surmised the cause of this sudden interruption, the
+agitation of Don Hernan had the good effect of banishing from their
+minds any lingering suspicions of his entertaining personal ill-will
+towards the unfortunate Lerma. All went to show that he was shocked at
+the young man's fate, and the necessity of ministering to it, even in
+the simple act of confirming a judgment, awarded by others; but,
+unhappily, the same feeling that exonerated the judge, still further
+increased the odium attached to the criminal. How great, they thought,
+must be the guilt of him whom it causes Cortes so much suffering to
+condemn.&mdash;But the Captain-General, recovering himself, gave them little
+time for such speculations.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, infidel, thou speakest well," he cried, his voice becoming firmer
+with each syllable; "What hidest thou in the sixth bundle?&mdash;or rather,
+what if I should accept thy master's niggardly offer, and depart with
+these baubles for women and children, as thou hast rightly called them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hear the words of Guatimozin," replied the ambassador, with a careless
+emphasis, as if properly understanding the futility of the proposal,
+and, indeed, with a look of scorn, as if learning to despise one capable
+of Don Hernan's late weakness: "If Malintzin depart with the fifth pack,
+cast the sixth into the lake, and tell him, that, in its place, he shall
+have sent after him to the seaside, a thousand sacks of robes and four
+thousand sacks of corn, to clothe and feed his people as they sail over
+the endless sea. Say to him besides&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Pho," interrupted Cortes, "have done with this mummery, and get thee to
+the sixth sack, which I am impatient to examine. What hast thou there?"</p>
+
+<p>"The riches which are more precious to Mexico than the trinkets of her
+children," replied the stately barbarian; and, as he spoke, he rolled
+upon the floor, arrowheads and spearpoints of bright copper, sharp
+blades of itzli and heavy maces of flint, which made up the contents of
+the last bundle: "Hear the words of Guatimozin," he continued, with a
+dignity of bearing that might have become a Spartan envoy in the camp of
+the Persian; "thus says the king: 'What is the Lord of Castile, that
+Guatimozin should call him master? what is Malintzin, that Guatimozin
+should make him his friend? The Teuctli burns my cities, murders my
+children, and spits in the face of my gods. His religion is murder, his
+law robbery: he is strong, yet very unjust; he is wise, yet he makes men
+mad. Guatimozin has called together the chiefs and the planters of corn,
+the wise men and the foolish, the strong and the feeble, the old men,
+the women and the children. He has spoken to them, and they have
+replied: 'Is not the sword better than the whip? is not the arrow softer
+than the brand? is not the fagot of fire pleasanter than the chain of
+captivity? is not death sweeter than slavery?' Thus says the old
+man,&mdash;'I am old; wherefore, then, should I be a slave for a day?' Thus
+says the little infant,&mdash;'I am a little child; why should I be a slave
+for many years?' This, then, is the word of the whole people; it is
+Guatimozin who speaks it: 'If the gods desert me, what have I to yield
+but life? if they help me, as they have helped my fathers, what have I
+to do, but to drive away my foe? Let Malintzin look at my weapons, and
+put two plates of the black-copper of Castile on his bosom, for I am
+very strong in my sorrow, and I will strike very hard. Let Malintzin
+fear: the rebels of Tezcuco and Cholula, the traitors of Chalco and
+Otumba, are but straws to help him: can they look in the face of a
+Mexican? Let Malintzin fear: is he stronger than when he fled from
+Tenochtitlan, in the month of Mourning?<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> has not Mexico more fighting
+men than when the horn of the gods sounded at midnight, and the Teuctli
+sat on the stone and wept?&mdash;on the stone of Tacuba, by the water-side,
+when the morning came, and his people slept in the ditches? If Malintzin
+will fight, so will Guatimozin.' These are the words of the king; these
+are the words of the people: they are said. The gods behold us."</p>
+
+<p>So spake the bold savage; and as if to show that even the basest and
+feeblest shared his courage, and sanctioned his defiance, the very
+Tlamémé looked around them with a show of spirit, and the three old men
+expressed their satisfaction with audible murmurs.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards were surprised at the fearless tones of the Lord of Death,
+and not a few were impressed with alarm as well as anger, when he
+referred so unceremoniously to the events of the fatal Noche Triste. As
+for Cortes himself, though the frown with which he listened to the whole
+oration, had become darker and darker as the warrior-noble proceeded,
+yet, apparently, he had become sensible, both from the tenor of the
+discourse and the resolute bearing of the speaker, that it should be
+answered with gravity rather than anger. Hence, when he came to reply,
+it was in terms briefly impressive and solemn:</p>
+
+<p>"My young brother Guatimozin is unwise, and he is digging the grave of
+his whole people. He has evil counsellors about him. I have somewhat to
+say to him; and, to-morrow, you shall be sent back with an answer, which
+will perhaps dispel his foolish dream of resistance."&mdash;He observed that
+the Lord of Death looked displeased and even alarmed, when the
+interpreter made him sensible that he was to be detained until the
+morrow. "Be not alarmed," he continued, sternly: "when didst thou ever
+hear of a Christian aping the treachery of thy native princes, and doing
+wrong to an ambassador? I tell thee, fellow, infidel though thou be, I
+will do thee honour, in respect of thy young master. To-morrow thou
+shalt eat at my board, for it is a day of banqueting; and to-morrow,
+also, shalt thou be made acquainted with my answer to the king's
+message, which it is not possible I should speak to-day. Rest you then
+content.&mdash;Hark thee, Villafana," (for the Alguazil had returned,) "have
+thou charge of this bitter-tongued knave and his dumb companions.
+Entreat them well, but see that they neither escape nor communicate with
+anyone in this army, Christian or misbeliever. And look well to thy
+prison too.&mdash;This knave, Techeechee,&mdash;bring him to me when thou changest
+guards at the prison."</p>
+
+<p>Then, breaking up the audience, he remained for a time in conference
+with a few of the chief officers, debating subjects of great importance,
+but which would be of no interest to the readers of this history.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some two hours after nightfall, as the unhappy Lerma lay in darkness and
+solitude, (for Befo was no longer permitted to be his companion,) the
+door of the prison opened, and the Alguazil, Villafana, entered, bearing
+a lantern, which emitted just sufficient light to allow his features to
+be distinguished, together with what seemed a flask of wine&mdash;a luxury
+now to be occasionally obtained, since vessels arrived not unfrequently
+from the islands.</p>
+
+<p>"How now, what cheer, seņor?" he exclaimed, setting down the flask upon
+the table, and turning the light full upon Juan's face; "are you saying
+your prayers? Here's that shall give you better comfort,&mdash;something from
+the vineyards of Xeres de la Frontera,&mdash;stout Sherry, that shall make
+your heart bounce, were it broken twice over.&mdash;Come, faith, it will make
+you merry."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never be merry more," said Juan; "and why should I? It is
+better I should not. I thank you for your good-will, Villafana; but I
+would that, instead of this wine, if it be not contrary to your duty,
+you would fetch me the good father Olmedo, to finish the confession,
+begun upon the block, and so abruptly interrupted, this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Pho, be not in such a hurry: you have time enough. The priest is busy,
+and knowing he must shrive you to-morrow, he will be ill inclined to
+trouble himself superfluously to-night. Come, sit up, drink, laugh, and
+curse thy foes. Come, now,&mdash;a merry God's blessing! may you live a
+thousand years!&mdash;Dzoog! bah! dzoog!&mdash;Now could I fight seven tigers!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is better thou shouldst drink it than I," said Juan, observing the
+strong and somewhat fantastic gestures with which the Alguazil expressed
+his approbation, after having taken a hearty draught of the liquor; "yet
+bethink thee, Villafana,&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"'Slid!" interrupted the jailer, "bethink thyself! and bethink thee that
+this will make thee a good fellow of a warhorse mettle, whereas, now,
+thou art but a sick lambkin. What makes a beggar a king, hah? a tailor's
+'prentice a Cid Ruy Diaz of Castile,&mdash;a doughty Campeador? Pho, there is
+more of this, and to-morrow it will flow: Dost thou not know, Don
+Demonios, our king, has invited us to a banquet to-morrow? Thou shalt
+hear this banquet spoken of for a thousand years. Ah, the good ship! the
+good ship! there is a better thing she brings us than wine.&mdash;But that is
+neither here nor there. Why dost thou not drink?"</p>
+
+<p>"Am I not condemned to death for the infraction of a decree?" said Juan,
+somewhat sternly, for he thought he perceived in Villafana's levity a
+symptom of undue excitement; "and dost thou not remember that there is a
+decree also against drunkenness? Thou hast suffered somewhat from this
+already."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou suppose there is a hell?" said Villafana, with some such look
+as that which had appalled Juan, when he walked with him over the
+meadows beyond the city: "For, if thou dost, know then, that I make my
+promise to the infernal fiend, to broil with him seven times seven
+thousand years, if I do not, with a stab for every lash, make up my
+reckoning with the man who degraded me! <i>Ojala</i> and Amen!&mdash;So now,
+there's enough to keep thee quiet.&mdash;Hast thou any gall any where but in
+thy liver?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art besotted, or insane, I think," said Juan, angrily. "I am a
+dying man: begone, and suffer me to make my peace with heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, you think I am drunk," said Villafana, somewhat more rationally:
+"I grant you; but it is with a stuff stronger than strong drink;&mdash;ay,
+faith, for, to-morrow, I see my way to heaven!&mdash;Answer me, truly: have
+you no thirst for vengeance on those who have brought you to this
+pass?&mdash;You see I am sober, hah? One would not die like a sheep.&mdash;You may
+play the wolf yet. What if you had an opportunity&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Tempt me not, knave," said Juan, turning away his face&mdash;"Avoid thee,
+Satan!"</p>
+
+<p>"What if I should knock open thy doors, and put a sword into thy hand?"
+said Villafana, bending over, so as to whisper into his ear; "what
+wouldst thou do with it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Break it," replied the prisoner, wrapping his mantle about his head, as
+if to shut out all further temptation.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a fool," said the Alguazil, with a growl, and left the
+apartment.</p>
+
+<p>Juan heard his retreating steps, followed by the clanking of the chain,
+which, with a strong padlock, on the outside, secured the door of the
+prison; yet he neither raised his head, nor removed the mantle from his
+face, but endeavoured to drive from his heart the thoughts of passion,
+excited by the words of the tempter. From this gloomy task he was roused
+by a soft voice, murmuring, as it seemed to him from the air, for he was
+not aware of the presence of any human being in the apartment,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Does the Great Eagle fear the face of his friend?"</p>
+
+<p>He started to his feet, and beheld in the light of the lantern, which
+Villafana had left on the table, the figure of an ancient Indian,
+standing hard by.</p>
+
+<p>"Techeechee!" he exclaimed&mdash;"But no; thy speech is pure, thy tongue is
+another's. Who art thou, gray-head of Mexico?"</p>
+
+<p>"To-day, Cojotl, the cunning fox of scribes,&mdash;yesterday, Olin, the
+tongue of nobles,&mdash;but before, and hereafter, Guatimozin, the friend of
+the Great Eagle," replied the Indian, and as he spoke, he exchanged the
+decrepit stoop of age for the lofty demeanour of youth, and parted the
+gray locks which had hitherto almost concealed his countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"Rash prince," said Juan, "will you yet wear the chains of Montezuma?
+Why dost thou again entrust thyself among Spaniards?"</p>
+
+<p>"How came the Great Eagle into the place of Guatimozin?" demanded the
+young Mexican, expressively: "Shall he die for Guatimozin, and
+Guatimozin stand afar off?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, prince," said Juan, "thy friendship is noble, but can do me no
+good. Leave this place, where thou art in great danger, and think of me
+no more. I am beyond the reach of help. Think of thyself,&mdash;of thy
+people, (for, surely, it is thy duty to protect them,) and depart while
+thou canst."</p>
+
+<p>"And what am I, that I should do this thing?" said Guatimozin. "Listen
+to me, son of the day-spring: the children of Spain are wolves and
+reptiles; the iztli is sharp for them, and it must not spare. But thou,
+the young Eagle, shalt remain the friend of Guatimozin. Has not
+Malintzin eaten of thy blood? is he not like the big tiger that takes by
+the throat? and who shall draw him away? Canst thou remain, and smile on
+another sunset? I bring thee liberty."</p>
+
+<p>"How!" said Juan; "is Villafana this traitor, that he will permit me to
+escape?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is a rat with two faces," said the prince, significantly; "he fears
+the wrath of Malintzin; he loves gold, but he says thou shalt not go
+till to-morrow, and to-morrow thou wilt be in Mictlan, the world of
+caves. But Guatimozin can do what the traitor Christian will not. The
+Eagle is very brave: he shall kill his foe."</p>
+
+<p>As Guatimozin spoke, he drew from his cloak a Spanish dagger, long,
+sharp and exceedingly bright,&mdash;a relic of the spoils won from the
+invaders in the Night of Sorrow,&mdash;and offered it to the prisoner,
+adding,</p>
+
+<p>"When I depart, a soldier will fasten the door. If thou art
+strong-hearted, thou canst rush by, dealing him a blow. At the water's
+edge, by the broken wall, thou wilt find a friend with a canoe; it is
+Techeechee. Is not Tenochtitlan hard by? Guatimozin, the king of Mexico,
+will make his friend welcome."</p>
+
+<p>"Prince," said Juan, sadly, "this thing cannot be. Why should I strike
+down the poor sentinel? He has done me no wrong. What would become of
+thee? Thou couldst not escape. What would become of Villafana, who,
+knave though he be, has yet done much to serve me? And what, to
+conclude, would become of <i>me</i>, escaping from Christians, to take refuge
+among thy unbelieving people? I can die, prince, but I can be neither
+renegade nor apostate."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there nothing in Tenochtitlan, that dwells in the thoughts of the
+captive? I will be very good to thee; and thou shalt drink the blood of
+thy foe."</p>
+
+<p>"Prince," said Juan, firmly, "thine eye cannot search the soul of a
+Christian. Malintzin has done me a great wrong, yet would I not harm a
+hair of his head; no, heaven is my witness! I can forgive him even my
+death, however unjust and cruel."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a dove of Cholula that speaks in the voice of my friend," said
+the infidel, struck with as much disdain as surprise at the want of
+spirit, which his barbarous code of honour discovered in a lack of
+vindictiveness: "Is a man a worm that he should be trampled on?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Juan, bitterly,&mdash;for he could not resist his feelings of
+indignation, when he suffered himself to consider his degradation in
+this light. "Had I resisted him in his first anger, had I resented his
+first injustice, had I provoked him by any complaint, then might I think
+of his course with submission. But I have not; I have been, indeed, as
+thou sayest, a worm, at all times helpless, at all times unresisting.
+Others have complained, some have defied him, but they passed
+unpunished. I, who have yielded, like a woman, escape not: I creep from
+the path of his anger, but his foot follows me,&mdash;turn which way I will,
+it crushes me. Even Befo will show his teeth sometimes&mdash;I have seen him
+growl when Cortes struck him&mdash;and by mine honour, I think he struck him,
+because he was once mine!"</p>
+
+<p>How far, by indulging such thoughts, he might have wrought himself into
+the very spirit which Guatimozin was surprised to find absent, we will
+not venture to say. He was interrupted by the sudden re-entrance of
+Villafana, who immediately exclaimed,</p>
+
+<p>"Will you have my brother Najara diving in upon you? Pho, you talk too
+loud: 'tis well you were gabbling in Mexican. Hark ye, Olin, you knave,
+get you gone! to your den, sirrah!&mdash;Pray, seņor Juan, tell this rascal,
+in his own gibberish, that he cannot remain a moment longer from his
+lock-up, without being discovered.&mdash;Come, fellow, come: you shall have
+more talk to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the Alguazil conducted the Mexican away. A few moments after,
+he returned alone. Juan, still disordered and brooding over his wrongs,
+paced to and fro over the narrow limits of his cell. His agitation
+Increased with each step, and, at last, finding that Villafana did not
+speak, he exclaimed,</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Villafana,&mdash;I know what thou wilt say,&mdash;am I not used dog-like?
+He disdained even to sit upon the trial, to ask me what I had to urge in
+excuse of my folly; but left this to judges, who were content to ask
+'Didst thou this?' and 'Didst thou that?' without permitting me a word
+of defence. Surely, I had much provocation in the matter of Guzman; and
+as for the decree, it should have been remembered, that I was come into
+the camp too short a time to have made it as fast in my mind as others,
+who had heard it daily proclaimed for months. I must die for this!&mdash;die
+like a hunted assassin!&mdash;my hand stuck against the prison-door, my body
+given, perhaps, to fatten the lean hogs that will fatten my judges! Oh,
+by heaven, this is intolerable to think on!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt believe, now, that thou wert sent to the South Sea for no
+good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, I will believe anything," said Juan, in increasing excitement. "And
+<i>this</i> too! scarce an hour returned from my sufferings, endured for
+him,&mdash;endured to regain his good-will! Ay, and before I had done
+speaking, he would have sent me to Mexico, to be sacrificed
+there!&mdash;before I had eaten and drunk! before I had rested my wearied
+body, before I had recruited my exhausted strength!&mdash;Tell me, Villafana!
+was it not by his design I was entrapped into giving shelter to&mdash;But,
+no! that could not be; in that, at least, he must be innocent. But, in
+the rest, it is oppression, grinding, intolerable oppression!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I marvel he did not let thee off with a scourging," said
+Villafana, swallowing another draught from the neglected flask. "Come,
+drink, and we will discourse together."</p>
+
+<p>"A scourging!" said Juan, seizing the Alguazil's arm with a grasp which
+showed that imprisonment and sorrow had not altogether robbed him of
+strength; "dare you talk to me of scourging?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, marry," said Villafana, whose object seemed to be to excite the
+slumbering fury of the young man, and who now, in the effect of a word
+used for another purpose, discovered a point on which his equanimity was
+not impregnable; "ay, faith; for the whole army cries out upon his
+barbarity, saying that he is murdering you; so that he already talks of
+letting you off with a scourging.&mdash;He was as good with me."</p>
+
+<p>"By the saints of heaven!" cried Juan, snatching up the dagger which
+Guatimozin had left, and striking it into the table with a fury which
+split the plank in twain, "were it his own, I would drive this steel
+into the breast of the man that designed me such dishonour. Scourge me!
+Thanks be to heaven, that sends this weapon!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oho, seņor!" said Villafana, with counterfeited indignation, "you will
+resist, will you! Hah! and you have a dagger, too! Come, seņor, give it
+up."</p>
+
+<p>"Fool," said the prisoner, "thy bitter words have unchained me at last,
+and driven me to desperation. I will not yield this weapon but with my
+life. Wo betide him that comes to me with a scourge, were it Don Hernan
+himself!"</p>
+
+<p>"You will resist him then?&mdash;Why now you are a man again! Sit down; fear
+not: you shall have a better weapon. Come, let us drink a little: 'tis a
+raw night, and rainy. Here's success to our vengeance&mdash;a quart of blood
+apiece! Methinks, you are more wronged than myself&mdash;Therefore, you shall
+strike the first blow. I give you this privilege, out of friendship. The
+second is mine."</p>
+
+<p>While Villafana held forth in these extraordinary terms, Juan, shocked
+into composure, became aware that the wine, which the Alguazil plied
+with characteristic infatuation, had already made serious inroads upon
+his brain. He ogled and smiled, with a stupid contortion of countenance,
+which was meant to be significant; his articulation was impeded, and his
+expressions coarser than usual; and without being positively drunk, he
+was reduced to that condition in which the natural propensities get the
+better of all artificial qualities. Hence, he became fierce and
+bloody-minded, without displaying any of the subtle cautiousness and
+cunning inquisitiveness, that were common to him in his sober hours. It
+was for this reason that he proceeded to unfold the secrets of his
+breast, without being in any degree abashed by the looks of horror, with
+which Juan heard him.</p>
+
+<p>"Know then, brother Juan," said he, "that thou shalt lap the blood of
+Don Demonios to-morrow morning, at the banquet-table; and afterwards
+hang up Guzman with thine own hands. Thou art too white-livered, or thou
+shouldst have known of the matter earlier. Also, thou shalt have thy
+fair nun again, as before:&mdash;that is, upon condition she likes thee
+better than me; which may be, or may not, for who can tell whether the
+star will shoot into the marsh, or fall upon the mountain?&mdash;Bah! it is a
+pity I brought thee not another flagon. Busta! I will drink no more; for
+this is no time to be thick-witted.&mdash;Know then, <i>Juanito querido</i>, we
+have brought our conspiracy to a head; and out of the nine hundred
+Christians in this town there are two hundred and forty sworn on dirk,
+buckler, and crucifix, to our whole game,&mdash;three hundred, who will wink
+and stand by, till the play is over,&mdash;three hundred who will swear faith
+to the devil himself, when Don Demonios lies hid in his pocket,&mdash;and as
+for the rest, why we must e'en have some hanging and stabbing."</p>
+
+<p>"In heaven's name," said Juan, "what dost thou mean? Art thou really
+mad? Bethink thee what thou art saying!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" cried Villafana, "wilt thou skulk backwards, after all? Dost thou
+pretend to oppose us? We had some thoughts of making thee one of the
+three chief captains. This Olea stands to; for he swears thou art the
+best leader in the camp."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Gaspar sworn among you?" said Juan, with a faint voice, his
+detestation of the bloody scheme arousing him to the necessity of
+sifting it to the bottom&mdash;for he forgot his captivity, and thought only
+of arresting the progress of a treason so fearful.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," returned the Alguazil; "and better men than he. Come, clap thy
+name to the paper, and I swear thou shalt have a command among us,
+though I should kill thy rival-candidate Gil Gonzales, with my own hand.
+Dost thou not know these fellows? We have hidalgos among us."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he pulled from his bosom a paper, on which Juan read with
+affright the names of several men of rank, mingled with those of common
+soldiers, with many of which he was familiar. His first thought was to
+secure this dreadful list, and calling to the guards about the prison,
+arrest the Alguazil upon the spot. A moment's consideration determined
+him to take further advantage of the communicativeness of the traitor,
+until made acquainted with all the details of the conspiracy. He bridled
+his anger, therefore, and concealing his horror under an appearance of
+doubt and hesitation, to which his trembling agitation gave no little
+force, he said,</p>
+
+<p>"How is this? Are these names good and true?"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"See you not Barba Roxa's sign-manual, near the bottom of the list? He
+subscribed it last night. He draws the figure of a knife well, as one
+who knows how to use it. But as for thee, <i>niņo mio</i>, thou art able to
+write thy signature in full."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay," cried Juan. "What are you to do? You spoke of a banquet, and the
+morning. Assassination, hah?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did I not tell thee before? Look," said the Alguazil, with a harsh
+laugh, displaying a letter, well secured with wax and fillet, on which
+was written the name of the Captain-General. "Know, that this letter,
+written carefully on the outside, by mine own hand, (for there is
+nothing within,) comes from the seņor's sire, old Don Martin, whom the
+devil take to his rest, for fathering so ill-tempered a son. This
+letter, thou must know," he went on with a chuckle of self-approving
+craft, "came in the ship of Seville that brought this good wine, and
+was, by an evil accident, detained on the way. Know, sirrah, and this is
+my device: The general hath forgotten to invite me to his feast
+to-morrow, in honour of his saint-day, or some other thing&mdash;<i>Quien
+sabe?</i> It is very rude. But he has invited all my caballeros on this
+paper, and some four score soldiers, who are down likewise. The rest
+will take their ease in the vestibule, and on the square, to be ready.
+What do I then? Marry, this: I break in upon the revel with the letter
+in my hand, and a dagger in my sleeve; the others crowd round with
+congratulations, and I strike him under the ribs&mdash;Pho! I forgot; thou
+canst not have the <i>first</i> blow, as I promised thee; but thou shalt
+follow, cloaked up to the eyes, and be free to take the second.&mdash;What
+dost thou think of my plot, hah, dear devil? Hah!&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That it is the most damnable and dastardly ever devised by villain, and
+shall bring thee to a villain's death. Rogue! didst thou think thou
+couldst tell this to <i>me</i>, and live? I have thy treason in my hand, and
+will use it as it becomes an honourable man and Christian. What ho,
+guards! treason, treason!"</p>
+
+<p>Greatly astounded as Villafana was by this unexpected defection, the
+shock served rather to sober than affright him. He gave the prisoner a
+look of unspeakable malice, and whipping out his sword and calling for
+help as clamorously as Juan, he assaulted him with the utmost fury. At
+the same time, five or six of the guardsmen rushed in, and to Juan's
+utter dismay, instead of aiding him to secure the Alguazil, rushed upon
+him, some with their spears, to transfix him against the wall, while
+others, springing behind him, secured him in their arms, and hurled him
+upon the floor. In an instant, he had lost both the fatal list and the
+dagger of Guatimozin, and was at the mercy of Villafana, who knelt upon
+his breast, and shortened his sword, to despatch him with a thrust. But
+at the very moment when he had given up all hope, and was commending his
+soul to his Maker, the savage and exulting laugh with which the Alguazil
+aimed at his throat, was changed to an exclamation of alarm and pain. Up
+started the assassin, and Juan, springing also to his feet, he beheld,
+with surprise, the figure of La Monjonaza standing betwixt him and the
+assailants. The gray mantle had fallen from her head and shoulders,
+revealing a form of the finest symmetry, and a countenance convulsed
+into beauty, such as might have become a warring Bellona; to whom she
+might have been well compared, only that in place of the whip and torch
+which a moralizing mythology has put into the hands of the goddess, she
+held an emblem equally expressive, in a short dagger, gleaming with
+blood from the shoulder of Villafana.</p>
+
+<p>"Villain!" she cried, after looking as if she would have repeated the
+blow, "art thou not yet requited? Begone!"</p>
+
+<p>And the discomfited traitor, scowling and pointing at the blood
+trickling from his arm, and yet obviously quailing before her stern
+frown, left the prison, followed by the guards, who seemed even more
+terrified than himself.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Juan stood, for a moment, confounded in the presence of his preserver;
+and Magdalena, gradually exchanging her fierce expression for one more
+becoming her sex, appeared at last, as he had seen her before, pale,
+saddened, and subdued. As she sank into this softened temper, her eye
+fell upon the crimsoned blade; and it was curious to see with what
+feminine horror, disgust, and shame, she cast it from her, and to
+contrast this display of undissembled feelings with her late Amazonian
+bearing and act.</p>
+
+<p>"Magdalena," said Juan, a thousand emotions at once contending in his
+bosom, "you have saved my life. Haste now and protect that of Cortes:
+for, be it dear to thee or not, yet it is not fitting he should be left
+to the knife of an assassin. Acquaint him from me&mdash;Nay, bear it not from
+<i>me</i>; for I will not seem as if I sought to purchase my life with the
+confession&mdash;Acquaint him that a dreadful conspiracy, headed by the knave
+Villafana, is about to burst upon his head. If he seizes not the traitor
+to-night, let him beware who approaches the banquet to-morrow. Above
+all, let him be on his guard against any one who affects to bring
+letters from his father. Haste, maiden, haste! for perhaps Villafana,
+wrought upon by his fears, may discharge his train of horrors this very
+night."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou thus seek to preserve him who has so basely compassed thine
+own life?" said Magdalena, less with surprise than sorrowing admiration.
+"Think not of Cortes, but of thyself: thou hast not many hours for
+thought."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, Magdalena," said Juan, impatiently, "you do not believe me. I
+swear to you, that what I say is true: Villafana is a traitor, and is
+now on the point of assassinating the Captain-General."</p>
+
+<p>"If he were about assassinating thee, and the Captain-General knew it,
+what aid wouldst thou expect from the Captain-General?" rejoined La
+Monjonaza.</p>
+
+<p>"Maiden!" said Juan, frowning severely, "in this coldness of purpose,
+now that thou art acquainted with the act, thou art conniving at
+murder!"</p>
+
+<p>Apparently this reproof touched Magdalena to the quick. She started,
+shuddered, and turned as if to leave the prison; but changing her
+purpose, stepping up to the light, and assuming a boldness which she did
+not feel, she falteringly asked,</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no case, in which such connivance might be excusable? But a
+moment since," (and here she bent her head upon her bosom,) "I was about
+to <i>commit</i> murder&mdash;Had I slain Villafana, wouldst thou then have
+thought the act criminal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely not, surely not," said Juan; "for, in this case, thou wert
+arresting the blow of a cut-throat, to kill whom in the act, were but
+sheer justice, and according to law. And yet I would that the blow had
+been struck by another. It is not seemly for a woman to carry a dagger,
+and still more improper that she should use it."</p>
+
+<p>"What if she be attacked by a villain, and no helper nigh?" demanded the
+forlorn girl. "Heaven has given me no protector&mdash;My father, my brother,
+and my friend&mdash;they all lie in this little steel;" and as she picked up
+the weapon from the floor, as if no longer ashamed to bear it, a ghastly
+smile beamed from her visage, like the flash of a Medusa amid the foam
+of a midnight billow.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak no more of Cortes," she continued, observing that Juan was about
+to resume the subject of the conspiracy; "he is far better able to
+protect himself than thou. Were there twenty poniards in Villafana's
+hand, and were his arm as extended as his malice, yet could he not reach
+even to the heel of Don Hernan. His fate is written,&mdash;yes, more
+inevitably than thine; for thou hast yet one hope of deliverance, and
+Villafana has none.&mdash;Listen to me, Juan Lerma; it is perhaps the last
+time on earth that I shall speak to thee. If thou reject mine offer this
+night, I call heaven to witness that I will leave thee to thy fate."</p>
+
+<p>"Magdalena," said Juan, firmly, "we have spoken of this before. God
+protect thee, for there is a wall of adamant between us."</p>
+
+<p>"Be it so," said the lady; "and let it be higher than thy wishes, deeper
+than thy scorn, so thou wilt leave this land, and return to it no more."</p>
+
+<p>"On the morrow, Magdalena, I die," said Lerma, with unabated resolution.
+"Hear then the counsel of a dying man, who can yet call himself your
+friend. Do what you have recommended to me: leave this land, and, in the
+gloom of a cloister, expiate&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yet again?" exclaimed the maiden, with an eye of fire. "This is to
+distract me! Oh, if thou knew how unjustly thou hast planted daggers in
+my bosom&mdash;daggers to which this thing of steel is but as the thorn of a
+rosebud&mdash;thou wouldst kill thyself, rather than speak them again! But it
+matters not: whether thou livest or diest, still must thou know that I
+am wronged.&mdash;Listen to me&mdash;I will speak of Hilario.&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let it not be so," said Juan; and then solemnly added, "Learn that,
+yesternight, the wretched Villafana, who, by some magical science, seems
+acquainted with the secrets of all in this camp, gave me to know what I
+did not before dream. Magdalena, when I plucked thee from the wreck, I
+dreamed, for a moment, that I loved thee&mdash;" The maiden trembled from
+head to foot, and Juan was himself greatly agitated; "I beheld one, in
+whom, from the act of giving her a life, I might fancy a tie, such as
+did not exist between me and any other human being, from the time of the
+death of my poor father up to that happy hour. But had that affection
+ripened even into such as Hilario avowed,"&mdash;(Here Magdalena waved her
+hand impatiently;) "nay, had I plighted with thee faith and troth, and
+did we stand this moment before the altar, my passion would be at once
+changed to awe and horror, to know that I was wedding the spouse of
+Heaven. Magdalena, a life of penitence can scarcely remove the sin of
+broken vows!"'</p>
+
+<p>"Say not this," exclaimed the unhappy Magdalena, vehemently: "What knew
+I of earth or heaven, when, imprisoned in a cell from childhood upwards,
+I gave up the one for the other? Heaven broke the oath which oppressors
+exacted; else, wherefore was I saved of all the sisters, and thrown upon
+a land where cloisters were unknown? For these vows could I have
+procured a dispensation. Hast thou never heard of such being dissolved?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely I have," said Juan, mildly, desiring to allay the agitation of
+his visitor: "It was told to me, by Villafana, that the seņor Camarga
+(an insane man, who made an attempt on my life,) was once a monk of St.
+Dominic and an Inquisitor, and permitted to revoke his vows for some
+worldly purpose, I know not what; and I have heard it also said, that
+the sister of Don Hernan was allowed to leave a nunnery, to wed some
+great nobleman of Andalusia."</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough," said Magdalena, calmly, "the vow was suspended, not
+broken; it will be resumed, when the purpose for which I now live, is
+accomplished, and would have been before, but for the accident which
+brought me to this land.&mdash;Juan Lerma, I will not ask thee why thou
+refusest life at my hands: but it is offered thee by one wronged and
+defamed, not degraded. If thou live, it is well thou shouldst know the
+truth, and remember me without contempt; if thou die, the grave shall
+not cover thee in ignorance. Hilario&mdash;Start not, frown not, tremble not,
+for the truth must be spoken&mdash;Hilario abused thy belief, that he might
+break my heart, and perhaps, also, thine; for he hated me, because I
+repelled his love with contempt, and thee, because he knew&mdash;because he
+suspected,&mdash;that thou wert the cause. You fought; he fell,&mdash;and, with
+what seemed his dying lips, (for, even in death, his spite was not
+diminished,) repeated the demoniacal falsehood; boasting of the
+degradation of one whose only shame was that she did not requite his
+presumption with a dagger!"</p>
+
+<p>Again the figure of the unhappy girl was elevated by passion into the
+port of a destroying deity. But she perceived that Juan was shocked by a
+display of fire so unwomanly and, indeed, so fearful; and this instantly
+transformed her into another being:</p>
+
+<p>"This too, <i>this</i> too," she cried, shedding tears of humiliation, "this,
+too, is a consequence of his malice, for it has converted me into the
+thing I am not,&mdash;into what seems a fury or a demon. Dost thou believe I
+am&mdash;dost thou believe I <i>was</i> a creature formed of passions, that should
+belong only to men? No! oh heaven, oh no! it is the madness that comes
+from the viper's tooth. Stung, vilified, robbed of respect and
+happiness, how even can a woman sit down in peace, unless she can die?
+unless she can die? She will have her vengeance, believe it; and well is
+it for her, when it is won by the hands of a brother or sire.&mdash;Yet,
+believe this, if thou wilt, for I am not what I was; believe
+aught,&mdash;anything, save the lies of Hilario. With his dying lips he
+defamed me&mdash;with his dying hand he revoked the slander, and avowed
+himself a villain. Behold the refutation of calumny."</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke, she drew from her bosom, with a trembling grasp, and put
+into Juan's, a scrap of paper, on which he read, with extreme surprise,
+the following words, traced with a hand feeble and agitated, yet well
+known to him,&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"What I have said of Magdalena del Naufragio," (or Magdalena of
+the Wreck, for by this name she was known at Isabela,) "is
+false. In malice and folly I have laid perjury on my soul; and,
+as I now speak the truth, I pray heaven to forgive me.&mdash;Amen.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Antonio del Milagro.</span>"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Good heaven!" said Juan, "is it possible Antonio could commit this
+dastardly crime? Alas, Magdalena, I <i>have</i> done you a grievous wrong,
+and I beseech you, pardon me.&mdash;This thing was not only wicked, but
+marvellous. The paper is stained with blood&mdash;The saints acquit me of his
+death, for it was I who shed it! I am glad he died penitent&mdash;What
+brought him to this justice? I held my dagger to his throat, yet he
+cried, with a devilish malice and courage, 'Strike, for&mdash;' But I will
+not repeat his sinful and exulting falsehoods.&mdash;Alas, that his blood
+should be upon my soul! the blood of his father's son!"</p>
+
+<p>Magdalena surveyed the self-accusing looks of the prisoner, with much
+emotion; and twice or thrice she opened her lips, to give him comfort,
+or to continue her dark and singular story, and yet failed, as many
+times, to speak. At last, she clasped her hands upon her bosom, as if,
+by an effort of physical strength, to give support and resolution to her
+heart, and said, with low and interrupted accents,</p>
+
+<p>"Lament no more for a sin thou hast not committed. Thou wert
+deceived&mdash;Hilario died not by thy hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" exclaimed Juan, "dost thou tell me the truth? Is Hilario yet
+living? God be thanked! God be thanked! for I am not a murderer!"</p>
+
+<p>He fell upon his knees, and looking up to heaven with joy, beheld not
+the grief and trepidation with which his companion surveyed his
+raptures.</p>
+
+<p>"I told thee, not that he lived, but that thou didst not slay him," said
+the nun, with an effort.&mdash;"Had my father come to my side, and looked
+upon this paper, after hearing the story of Hilario's baseness, what
+think you he should have done?"</p>
+
+<p>"Killed him, I must allow," said Juan, rising to his feet; "for even his
+deep penitence could scarcely be permitted to stand as the sole penalty
+of such an offence.&mdash;Alas, Magdalena, my mind is beset with sore
+misgivings. How was that paper obtained? How did Hilario die? Thou
+growest pale! Heaven shield me! didst thou, didst <i>thou</i>&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>He paused with terror. The maiden replied instantly, and almost with
+firmness:</p>
+
+<p>"Hear the truth, even to the last syllable; for even <i>thy</i> good opinion
+I will not purchase by subterfuge. To Villafana,&mdash;a wretch, whose
+manifold villanies thou couldst not dream, (for know, that, being a
+sailor in the ship that bore the unlucky sisters, he devised and
+accomplished its destruction, that he might impiously obtain the holy
+vessels of silver and gold&mdash;Ay, it was Villafana, and not the tempest,
+that drove us upon the rocks of Alonso&mdash;) to Villafana, from whom I
+learned the cause of the duel and of thy flight, I committed the charge
+of obtaining this recantation.&mdash;Was this wrong?" she exclaimed, giving
+way to affright, for Juan's looks of horror could not be mistaken: "they
+were two fiends together,&mdash;the villain struck the villain,&mdash;the&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Murderess! murderess!" cried Juan aloud, recoiling from her.</p>
+
+<p>A ghastly smile passed over her countenance, and it grew into a faint
+laugh, which, to Juan's mistaken eye, (for he thought it the merriment
+of satisfaction or indifference,) seemed unnatural and dreadful, while
+she replied, her voice hysterically belying her feelings, as much as did
+her countenance,</p>
+
+<p>"Thou dost not think I employed him to do murder? I appeal to heaven, I
+did not dream he would do aught but compel the recantation from the
+wounded man.&mdash;What! bid him kill one so defenceless! Had he been strong
+and well armed, then perhaps, indeed,&mdash;then perhaps, I might have
+thought it. I sought but for the paper; the rest was the deed of
+Villafana."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh heaven! oh holy heaven!" cried Juan; "speak not another word: rather
+let me die than hear more. Away! avaunt! thou art not a woman, but a
+fiend! and all is now as it was, and worse.&mdash;What, blood-stained!
+blood-stained!"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Magdalena strode towards him, striving to speak, but could only utter
+the words, 'Injustice! injustice!' mingled with the charge, 'Leave
+Mexico,' that still made a part of her perturbed thoughts. Had not Juan
+been entirely overwhelmed by his horror, he must have observed, that her
+mind was, at this moment, convulsed beyond the degree of any former
+agitation; that she was, in fact, in a condition both alarming and
+pitiable. Her countenance was most deathlike, her accents wholly
+unnatural, and there was something of delirium or idiotcy in the manner
+with which, while still muttering the broken reproof, 'Injustice,' and
+the charge, 'Leave Mexico,' she, all the while, extended the
+blood-stained paper, as if entreating him again to receive and peruse
+it.</p>
+
+<p>As it was, he gave utterance to his horror in the words,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Miserable woman! the denial forced from the lips of the murdered man,
+is of a piece with the spirit that compelled it&mdash;False, false, all!"</p>
+
+<p>At these words, the paper dropped from her hands, another vacant smile
+distorted her visage, and she turned to depart; but before she had taken
+two steps, she tottered, and fell to the floor, with a dreadful scream,
+that instantly brought the guards into the prison.</p>
+
+<p>The absorbing nature of their conversation had, for the last two or
+three moments, rendered both incapable of observing that some scene of
+altercation had suddenly arisen at the dungeon door. High voices might
+be heard, as of one alternately entreating and demanding admittance,
+which was gruffly denied by others. The shriek of Magdalena, ringing in
+their ears like a cry of death, brought the contention to an end; and
+all rushing in together, they beheld Juan endeavouring to raise the
+figure of his unhappy and lifeless guest from the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Dios mio! y peccavi!</i> I will kill him where he stands," exclaimed one,
+rushing forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so fast, seņor Camarga," cried the hunchback, who was at the head
+of all, snatching the weapon from the hands of this individual, who
+seemed peculiarly to thirst for the blood of the young islander. "Here's
+work for the bastinado! Where's Villafana, ye treacherous dogs, that let
+women into the prison? He shall pay for it.&mdash;Harkee, seņor Camarga; if
+you have any interest in this fair lady, you may help bear her to the
+palace. Poor fool! these women love as arquebuses shoot: if you make
+them any obstruction, they burst in your hands&mdash;and this is truer still
+of a musket, if you thrust it into the earth. In mine own opinion, the
+young hound has scorned her."</p>
+
+<p>While Najara gave vent to these growling observations, Magdalena was
+carried out of the prison. The hunchback had reached the door, before
+Juan, in the confusion of the moment, thought of calling him back, to
+impart to him the secret of the treachery. But Najara replied only with
+a malediction, and departed with the lantern; so that Juan was again
+left to night and solitude.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Meanwhile, a scene of still more tragical character was on the point of
+being represented within the walls of the palace.</p>
+
+<p>It was a tempestuous night. The clouds, which had all day enveloped the
+pagan metropolis, were, at last, gathered over Tezcuco. The wind blew in
+gusts, with frequent rain; and as the distant thunderbolts rolled with a
+rumbling cadence over Mexico, vast sheets of lightning shot up in the
+west, illuminating sky, lake, and mountain, with a cadaverous glare.</p>
+
+<p>Some five or six of the principal cavaliers were assembled with Cortes,
+in the great Hall of Audience, engaged in earnest and anxious debate. It
+happened, by accident, that the huge curtain, which, at night, was
+usually drawn over the window of alabaster, had been, this evening,
+neglected by the attendants; so that it remained, drooping in gigantic
+festoons from the great beam, carved into a serpent's head, which held
+it at the top, down to the lesser ornaments that supported it on the
+sides, of the casement. The strong cords, by which it could be dragged
+into its place, hung over the central beam, flapping occasionally
+against the alabaster wall, as the gust, puffing in through the great
+door, whirled the smoke and flame of the lamps and torches, from the
+walls and pillars, to which they were attached.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, though the alabaster slabs were too thick to transmit any ordinary
+ray, the brighter flashes of lightning made their way through, and
+added, at times, a ghastly glare to the light of the lamps; in which the
+countenances of the cavaliers, perturbed as they were, assumed such an
+unnatural hue as might have beseemed the ghosts of dead heroes, rising
+to earth, to meddle again in the sport of slaughter.</p>
+
+<p>The visage of the Captain-General betrayed greater anxiety, mingled with
+sterner wrath, than appeared on any other; and when he spoke, it was in
+accents brief and low, and exceedingly emphatic.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you, cavaliers," he cried, "the mystery that shrouds this
+treason is more frightful than the treason itself. We are at fault,
+seņores, we are at fault. We behold enough to show us that the devils
+are at work about us, but not to discover in what mode they are toiling.
+It is clear enough that Villafana is a dog, and one day he shall hang;
+but I know not, in what manner, nor at what time, he will bite. This is
+certain: he has suffered one of the Mexicans to leave his cell, and
+communicate with Xicotencal: it is certain, also, that this cur of
+Tlascala will leave the camp before day-dawn; and how many of his
+warriors will follow after him, that I leave you to conjecture. This I
+have from a true mouth. He is incensed, first, on account of Juan Lerma;
+and, secondly, I doubt not, the Mexican has made the most of his
+growling temper and present discontent. What sayst thou, Sandoval? What
+hinders thee to lie in wait, and, following at his heels, so do with
+him, that his Tlascalans who desert afterwards, may be frightened on the
+path, and so return to us? There are good trees on the wayside!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," replied Don Gonzalo, grimly, "when there is any executioner's work
+towards, I am sure to play jack-ketch. I am loath to deal with a man
+that hath been so valiant; but if he be a traitor, it is right he should
+die. What if I give him the bastinado, Turk-wise? Methinks that would
+bring him into a sounder temper."</p>
+
+<p>"It would but inflame the choler of his proud people," said the shrewder
+general; "whereas his sudden death, dealt upon him in the act of
+desertion, will strike them with fear. Take thou a rope with thee, my
+son, and fear not to use it."</p>
+
+<p>The young cavalier nodded assent; and the general went on:</p>
+
+<p>"Concerning the ambassadors, thus secretly treating with a traitor,
+methinks they have forfeited all claim to protection?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," said Alvarado; "and the bastinado, of which Sandoval spake, may
+serve the good purpose of opening their lips, and thereby revealing, not
+only the depth of the Tlascalan defection, but the length to which
+Villafana and his curs have gone with them. Let us send for them, and
+try the experiment. Or stay&mdash;here are cords enough on the curtain. One
+of these, twisted round the brow with a sword-hilt, I have known to
+bring out a man's tongue as far as his eyes."</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers turned to the window; and the bitter smile of the
+Captain-General was made deathlike, by a flash, brighter than usual,
+shooting through the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"A good thought," he said; "but we will not be precipitate. We have them
+secured; and however Villafana may permit them to speak with others, he
+is somewhat too wise to set them free. We will have this thing
+considered in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, Don Francisco de Guzman made his appearance in the
+chamber, his visage disfigured by a black patch, and somewhat pale. But
+this, as it was soon discovered, was caused rather by care than
+sickness.</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor," he exclaimed, "I have been to seek the ambassadors&mdash;They have
+escaped!"</p>
+
+<p>"Escaped!" echoed Cortes. "Thou art beside thyself! And the villain
+Alguazil, has he fled with them? I will tear his flesh with pincers!
+What! release the infidels, under my eye?"</p>
+
+<p>"So please you," said Guzman, "this, I think, was no resolved treachery,
+but an effect of infatuation. The wine that came to us to-day, was too
+strong for the watchmen: where they got it, I know not; but I found them
+sound asleep at the open door."</p>
+
+<p>"They shall be scourged, till they drop more blood than they have drunk
+wine," said Don Hernan, furiously. "And the prison-guards also? Hah? The
+prisoner has escaped?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," said the cavalier: "all's well there, save&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And Villafana? Speak me the word&mdash;Has he fled?"</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor mio, no: he is in the prison, carousing with Juan Lerma, as the
+guards say. I heard his voice through the door."</p>
+
+<p>"Carousing? does Juan Lerma take his death so merrily? By'r lady, devil
+as he is, it is a sin to slay him!"</p>
+
+<p>"As to the prisoner," said Guzman, "I know not whether he be merry or
+not; but I myself (for I had mine ear to the door,) heard Villafana
+smack his lips, and vow he 'would drink no more, this being no time to
+be thick-witted.' But every one knows Villafana: his bibbing once
+brought him to the strappado."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay; and it shall bring him to the gallows.&mdash;It is the fate of the
+can-clinker&mdash;all spoken in three words&mdash;drunk, whipped, and
+gibbeted!&mdash;Didst thou worm naught from the guards? They were of his own
+appointing."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a syllable," replied Guzman: "I do believe they have been too much
+frightened, and are now penitent men."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be," said Cortes, "it may be; but I would I could look into the
+dreams of Villafana. If I punish him for the flight of the ambassadors,
+it may be that I disperse an imposthume before it comes to a head; or it
+may prove, that I drive the matter into the more vital organs of this
+body politic, till all be corrupted and consumed. What say ye to a
+little torture inflicted on Villafana himself? Yet he is a bold dog, and
+may not speak. They say he winced not under the lash. I swear to you, my
+friends, I am in a strait."</p>
+
+<p>While Cortes thus admitted the difficulty in which he felt himself
+pressed, and the cavaliers were divided in their counsels, they
+perceived a common soldier intrude himself into the chamber, and boldly
+approach them.</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" cried Alvarado, ever hot of temper, "who art thou, Sir
+Gallows-bird, that bringest thy knave's pate among cavaliers in
+council?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold! touch him not; 'tis the Barba-Roxa!" exclaimed Don Hernan. "What
+impertinence is this, sirrah? Who bade thee hitherward?"</p>
+
+<p>"God and my good saint," said Gaspar, flinging himself on his knees, and
+adding, with the greatest impetuosity, "Pardon, seņor! pardon for two
+unhappy men! Or if that cannot be, why pardon then for <i>one</i>; and I care
+not how soon you hang up the others."</p>
+
+<p>"What means the fool? Art thou distracted?"</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor!" cried the soldier, wringing his hands, "I am a knave and
+traitor. Grant me the life of Juan Lerma, who meant you no wrong, and I
+will give you, for the rope and sword, two hundred and forty such
+traitors as the world never saw, and myself among them; for I have
+signed my name with knife and arrow, and sworn myself to brotherhood,
+under the pains of hell, which I care not how soon may came upon me."</p>
+
+<p>"Let some one of you look to the door," said Cortes, quickly: "and see
+that the sentinels keep their eyes open.&mdash;How now, Gaspar! what is this
+thou sayst? Art thou indeed a villain? I should have struck on the mouth
+any soldier that had said it of thee."</p>
+
+<p>"I am what I said," replied Gaspar; "your excellency refused to listen
+to me, when I pleaded for Juan Lerma; and I was incensed. I said to
+myself, seņor, 'I have saved your life, and yet you deny me the life of
+my friend, who, in ignorance, broke a decree, yet knew no malice.'
+Besides, seņor, you called me a dog,&mdash;'an officious, presuming dog;'
+whereas I was not a dog <i>then</i>, but <i>now</i>. Well, seņor, while I was in a
+passion, the devil came to me, and tempted me, and I signed my name to
+my perdition."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" said Alvarado, recoiling with devout horror, "hast thou really
+signed over thy soul to Satan? We will burn thee, thou devil's penitent,
+in a hot fire!"</p>
+
+<p>"Speak on," said Cortes. "What meanest thou by this mummery? What devil
+is this? for, though Satan be walking now among us, yet, I think, it
+could not be he."</p>
+
+<p>"It was Villafana," replied Gaspar; "and heaven pardon me, for I think
+it must be Apollyon in his likeness!"</p>
+
+<p>At this communication, the cavaliers all stared at one another, and
+Cortes exclaimed,</p>
+
+<p>"Two hundred and forty men! What! are there so many knaves of his
+party?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, and many more, who will help, but will not put down their names
+upon paper," replied Gaspar. "But your excellency says nothing of Juan
+Lerma. If you will pardon him, your excellency shall hear all."</p>
+
+<p>"How, sirrah!" cried Cortes, sternly, "Do you avow yourself a sworn
+traitor, and yet dictate to me terms of mercy? Speak, or you shall have
+that to your brows, which will bring out words with screams."</p>
+
+<p>Gaspar sprang to his feet,&mdash;boldly, fearlessly, and even insolently,
+returning the look of the Captain-General:</p>
+
+<p>"Your excellency has no heart, and I have," he cried. "Do your will upon
+us both; and reckon my death to your conscience, as you do that of Juan
+Lerma. You shall not have a word more. Here are my arms.&mdash;What cavalier
+will demean himself to tie them? I will meet your excellency at the
+judgment-seat."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art but a fool," said Cortes, moderating his anger,&mdash;or, at least,
+mollifying the severity of his accents; for his countenance yet gleamed
+with wrath. "Thou knowest, that, having saved my life at Xochimilco, I
+can, in no case, take thine."</p>
+
+<p>"But I leave that to the laws, without asking any mercy," said the Red
+Beard, obstinately: "I ask the life of Juan Lerma, condemned without
+law."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou impugn my justice, fellow?" cried the ferocious De Olid. "I
+swear to thee, when thou art brought to be judged, I will give thee a
+double quantity, for this very reason."</p>
+
+<p>While the cavalier gave utterance to so excellent a proof of his equity,
+Alvarado, with whom Gaspar had been a favourite, whispered in his ear,</p>
+
+<p>"Speak out, and fear not. It stands not with the captain's honour to
+barter men's lives for knave's confessions; yet he shall pardon the
+young man, thy friend, as I am thy guarantee."</p>
+
+<p>"What say ye, cavaliers?" cried Cortes: "does it become me, to remit a
+sentence of death, at such mutinous intercession?"</p>
+
+<p>Before any of the officers could reply, Gaspar, confiding in the promise
+of Alvarado, threw himself again at the general's feet, crying,</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor, I am not a mutineer, but a penitent. I am mad to think that
+one,&mdash;so good a friend, so valiant a soldier, so true a follower, (for
+there is no falsehood in Juan Lerma,) should die for a small
+matter,&mdash;saving Don Francisco's presence,&mdash;when there are so many rogues
+about us, that go unpunished. But I leave him to your excellency's
+mercy, trusting that your excellency will reconsider the judgment, and
+release him. Therefore I will speak, in this trust; and I pray heaven to
+remember the act, be it merciful or be it cruel.&mdash;This is what I have to
+say: In my passion, I betook me to Villafana; who, promising to save
+Lerma's life, I signed with him; though the first act of guilt was to
+take your excellency's life. Holy mother of heaven! pardon me; but I was
+very much incensed. Well, seņor, I found on the paper the names of two
+hundred and forty men, and I will tell you such as I remember; but if
+you will send to the prison, and suddenly seize the Alguazil, you will
+find the list in his bosom.&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Quinones, see thou to this," said Cortes, turning to the master of the
+armory, who made one of the council. "Take with thee none but hidalgos,
+and be sudden, making no noise and shedding no blood&mdash;Yet stay: this
+will not do, neither. Hark thee, Gaspar, man, when shall this precious
+earthquake rumble into the upper air?"</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow," replied the soldier; and then, to the horror and
+astonishment of all present, he divulged the whole scheme of
+assassination, as Villafana had himself spoken it in the prison.</p>
+
+<p>"With a letter from my father, too!" cried Cortes, apparently more
+struck with the heartless barbarity of the stratagem, than with anything
+else in Gaspar's communication: "This is indeed the Judas-kiss,
+the&mdash;Faugh! these were the words of Magdalena!"</p>
+
+<p>While he muttered these words to himself, he was roused by a sudden
+voice at the great door, and heard distinctly the unexpected voice of
+Villafana, saying, as he wrangled with the guards,</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, 'slid, you take upon you too much. I come at the order of the
+general."</p>
+
+<p>"Admit Villafana," said Cortes, in tones that penetrated loudly to the
+farthest limits of the room, for the cavaliers were stricken into a
+boding silence at the accents of the Alguazil: "Admit my trusty
+Villafana." And Villafana entered.</p>
+
+<p>He was evidently flushed with wine, and it was for that reason,
+doubtless, that he did not seem to observe the presence of his forsworn
+associate, nor the suspicious act of two cavaliers, who stole from the
+group, and took possession of the door by which he had entered. He
+approached with a reckless and confident, though somewhat stupid, air,
+exclaiming, after divers humble scrapes and salaams,</p>
+
+<p>"I come at your excellency's bidding, according to appointment. This was
+the hour, please your excellency&mdash;But 'tis a scurvy night, with much
+thunder and lightning."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, truly," said Cortes, with a mild voice, while all the rest stood in
+the silence of death; "but, being so observant, Villafana, how comes it
+you have not remarked that you are here without the Indian Techeechee,
+whom I commanded you to bring hither at this hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor," said the Alguazil, a little confused, "that old Ottomi is a sly
+dog, and, I doubt me, not over-honest."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt me so, too," said Cortes, in the same encouraging tones; "yet,
+honest or false, sly or simple, methinks thou shouldst not have suffered
+him to escape."</p>
+
+<p>"Escape! what, Techeechee escape!" cried Villafana with unaffected
+surprise: "Ho, no! I did but give the gray infidel a sop of wine, and
+straightway he hid himself in a corner, to sleep off his drunkenness.
+And,&mdash;and,&mdash;" continued he, with instinctive though clumsy
+cunning,&mdash;"and I thought it would be unbeseemly to bring him to your
+excellency, in that condition. I beg your excellency's pardon for making
+him acquainted with such Christian liquor; but it was out of pity,
+together with some little hope of converting him to the faith; and,
+besides, I knew not his head was so weak. I will fetch him to your
+excellency in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this is well," said the Captain-General, with such insinuating
+gentleness as characterizes the snake, when closing softly on his prey;
+"and I doubt not thou canst give me as good an account of the
+ambassadors. It is said to me, that they also have escaped."</p>
+
+<p>"Good God!" cried Villafana, startled not only out of his confidence,
+but, in great measure, out of his intoxication, by such an announcement;
+"the ambassadors escaped? It cannot be!"</p>
+
+<p>"Pho, they have hurt thee more than I thought,&mdash;even to the point of
+destroying thy memory," rejoined the Captain-General, with the
+blandishment of a smile. "There is blood upon thy shoulder: I doubt not,
+thou wert severely hurt, while attempting to prevent their flight. No
+one ever questioned the courage of Villafana."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, seņor, yes&mdash;no&mdash;yes; that is,&mdash;I mean to say&mdash;Saints of
+heaven!"&mdash;And here the Alguazil paused, completely sobered,&mdash;that is,
+restored to his senses, but not to his wits; for he perceived himself in
+a difficulty, and his invention pointed out no means of escape. He
+rolled his eyes, haggard at once with debauch and alarm, over the
+cavaliers, and, though the lofty figure of Alvarado concealed Gaspar
+from his view, he beheld enough in the extraordinary sedateness of all
+present, to fill him with the most racking suspicions. He turned again
+to Cortes, and commanding his fears as much as he could, went on, with
+an appearance of boldness,</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, noble seņor, if the ambassadors <i>be</i> escaped, I am a lost
+man,&mdash;for I trusted too much to the vigilance of others, and I should
+not have done so. Alas, seņor," he continued with more energy, as his
+mind began to work more clearly, "I have committed a great offence in
+this negligence; but I vow to heaven, it was owing to my fears of Juan
+Lerma, who made many efforts to escape, and had strong friends to help
+him. Your excellency may see the necessity I was under, to give all my
+thoughts to him; for, some one having furnished him with a dagger, he
+foully attacked me, not on my guard, giving me this wound; and had it
+not been for the sudden rushing in of the guard, I should certainly have
+been killed."</p>
+
+<p>Thus spoke the Alguazil, with returning craft, mingling together fiction
+and fact with an address which astonished even himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, seņor," he continued, satisfied with the strength of his argument,
+and now elated with a prospect of providing against the effects of his
+imprudent disclosures in the prison; "yes, seņor, and the young man,
+besides thus wounding me, swore he would have me hanged for a
+conspiracy; stating roundly, as the guards will witness, (I am certain
+that Esteban, the Left-Handed, heard him,) that, being a notorious
+grumbler, any such fiction would be believed of me. As if this would
+make me a conspirator! whereas, your excellency knows, according to the
+proverb, Barking dogs are no biters." And the audacious ruffian,
+relapsing into security, attested his innocence by a gentle laugh and
+the sweetest of his smiles.</p>
+
+<p>"Again I say, thou speakest well," said Cortes, carelessly descending
+from the platform, on which he had mounted at the approach of Villafana.
+"Thine arguments have even satisfied me of the folly of certain charges,
+brought against thee by this mad fellow, here, at thy elbow."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, Alvarado, taking his instructions rather from a
+consentaneous feeling of propriety than from any hint of Don Hernan's,
+moved aside, and Villafana's eyes fell upon the figure of Gaspar.</p>
+
+<p>"Think of it, good fellow," said Cortes, laying his hand upon
+Villafana's shoulder, as if to support himself a little; "the things he
+said of thee are innumerable, and excessively preposterous. He averred,
+for instance, that thou wert peevishly offended, because I had not
+invited thy presence to the festivities of the morning banquet, and wert
+resolved to come, whether I would or not, and that with a letter from my
+father in one hand, and a dagger in the other. Eh! is not this
+outrageous? He said, besides,&mdash;But, o' my life, thou hast bled too much
+from this wound! Juan Lerma strikes deep, when the fit is on him. I hope
+thou art not faint, man!"</p>
+
+<p>To these benevolent expressions, the Alguazil replied by turning upon
+the general a countenance so bloodless, and an eye filled with such
+ecstacy of despair, (for if the poniards of all had been at his throat,
+he could not have been more perfectly apprized of his coming fate,) that
+Cortes must have been struck with some feeling of commiseration, had not
+his nature been somewhat akin to that of a cat, which delights less to
+kill than to sport with the agonies of a dying victim. As it was, he
+continued to torment the abandoned wretch, by adding, pleasantly,</p>
+
+<p>"And what thinkest thou of this, too, my Villafana? Two hundred and
+forty conspirators, to rush in when the blow was struck!&mdash;doubtless to
+carve their dinners from the ribs of my cavaliers!&mdash;Ah, Villafana,
+Villafana! thou shouldst have a care of thy friends. Our enemies are
+harmless, but our friends are always dangerous.&mdash;What dost thou say to
+all this, Villafana?&mdash;Knave! hadst thou twenty daggers in thy jerkin,
+thou wert still but an unfanged reptile!"</p>
+
+<p>While he spoke, in this jestful mood, he was sensible that Villafana,
+(doubtless with an instinctive motion, of which he was himself
+unconscious, being apparently turned to stone,) was stealing his hand up
+towards his bosom, as if to grasp a weapon. The moment the member had
+reached the opening of his garment, Cortes caught him by the throat, and
+giving utterance to his last words with a voice of thunder, and
+employing a strength irresistible by such a man as Villafana, he hurled
+him to the floor, at the same instant placing his foot on his throat.
+Then stooping down, and thrusting his hand into the traitor's bosom, he
+plucked out, at a single grasp, a poniard, a letter, and the fatal list
+of conspirators. He pushed the first aside, read the superscription of
+the second with a laugh, and casting his eye upon the third, devoured
+its contents with an avidity that left him unconscious of the murmurs of
+the fierce cavaliers, and the groans of the wretched Alguazil,
+strangling under his foot.</p>
+
+<p>"What, seņor! will you rob the gallows of its prey?" cried Alvarado,
+pointing his sword at the prostrate traitor, as, indeed, did all the
+rest, (having drawn them at the moment when Cortes seized him by the
+throat:) "His crime is manifest to all: what need of trial? Every man
+his steel through the dog!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold!" cried the Captain-General; "this were a death for an hidalgo.
+Up, cur! up, and meet thy fate! Up!" And he spurned the wretch with his
+foot.</p>
+
+<p>The Alguazil rose up, his face black with blood, which, not perfectly
+dispersing even at release from strangulation, remained in leopard-like
+blotches over his visage, ghastfully contrasted with the ashy hues that
+gathered between them. As he rose, his arms were seized by two or three
+cavaliers; and Sandoval, as quick in action as he was sluggish in
+speech, snatching the rich sword-sash of samite from his own shoulders,
+instantly secured them behind his back.</p>
+
+<p>"For the love of God, seņores!" cried Villafana, finding speech at last,
+"what do you mean? what do you design? You will not kill an innocent
+man? Will you judge me at the charge of a liar? Gaspar is my sworn foe.
+I will make all clear.&mdash;Seņor, I have been drinking, and my mind is
+confused: take me not at this disadvantage. Oh, for God's sake, what do
+you mean?&mdash;The list? what, the list? 'Tis for a merry-making&mdash;a
+rejoicing for my birthday. I will explain all to your excellencies.&mdash;I
+am an innocent man.&mdash;Gaspar is a forsworn caitiff&mdash;a caitiff, seņores, a
+caitiff!&mdash;I claim trial by the civil judges."&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Gag him," cried one.</p>
+
+<p>"Strike him on the mouth," said another. And Villafana, gasping for
+breath, uttered, for a moment, nothing but inarticulate murmurs.</p>
+
+<p>"De Olid, Marin, De Ircio," cried Cortes, rapidly, and with
+inexpressible decision, "ye are judges of life and death; Sandoval and
+Alvarado, by right of office, ye can sit in judgment; Quinones, Guzman,
+and the rest, I make you, in the king's name, special associates of the
+others.&mdash;Why, here is a court, not martial, but civil; and the dog shall
+have judgment to his content! He stands charged of treason.&mdash;Guilty,
+seņores? or not guilty?"</p>
+
+<p>"Guilty!" cried all with one voice: and De Olid added, "Let us take him
+into the garden, and hang him to the cedar-tree."</p>
+
+<p>"To the window," said Cortes, pointing with his sword to the stout
+cords, hanging so invitingly from the serpent's-head; and in an instant
+the victim was dragged upon the platform.</p>
+
+<p>Up to this moment, his fears had been uttered rather in vehement
+complaints than in outcries; but now, when he perceived that he was
+condemned by a mockery of trial, doomed without the respite of a
+minute's space to pray, the rope dangling before his eyes, and already
+in the hands of a cavalier, who was bending it into a noose, he uttered
+a piercing scream, and endeavoured to throw himself on his knees.</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy!" he cried, "mercy! mercy! I will confess&mdash;I can save all your
+lives&mdash;Mercy! mercy!"</p>
+
+<p>Of all the sights of horror and disgust, villany, transformed at the
+death-hour, into its natural character and original of cowardice, is
+among the most appalling. Villafana was as brave as a ruffian could be;
+but when imagination is linked in the same spirit with vice, courage
+expires almost at the same moment with hope. With a weapon in his hand,
+and that at liberty, Villafana, perhaps, would have manifested all the
+valour in which despair perceives the only hope, and died like a man. As
+it was, bound and grasped in the arms of strong men, entirely helpless
+and equally without hope, his death staring him in the face, he gave
+himself up at once to unmanly fears, and wept, screamed, and prayed,
+until the guards, at watch in the vestibule, sank upon their knees and
+conned over their beads, to divert their senses from cries so agonized
+and so horrible.</p>
+
+<p>As he strove to prostrate himself before his inexorable judges, he was
+pulled up by the cavaliers, and among others by Don Francisco de Guzman,
+whose countenance he recognized.</p>
+
+<p>"Save me, Guzman! save me!" he cried; "for thou wert once of the
+party&mdash;Save me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, wolf&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy! mercy! noble seņor!" he continued, turning to Cortes: "I am but
+one of many. Guzman is as false as I; I charge him with treason: he has
+abused your excellency's ear!&mdash;Listen, seņores, and spare me my life:
+give me a day&mdash;give me but to-night, to pray and confess, and you shall
+have all. There are cavaliers among us&mdash;Mercy, for the love of
+heaven!&mdash;Camarga, the Dominican,&mdash;Don Palmerino de Castro,&mdash;Muertazo of
+Toledo, Carabo of Seville,&mdash;Artiaga, Santa-Rosa, Bravo, Aljaraz, and an
+hundred more&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, lying villain!" cried the Captain-General&mdash;"What ho, the rope!
+quick, the rope!"</p>
+
+<p>"A moment to repent! a moment to repent!" shrieked the victim,
+struggling so violently to bring his hands before him, as if to clasp
+them in prayer, that the silken band crackled behind him, and his hands
+turned black with congested blood; "a moment to repent! for I am a
+sinner. What! would you condemn my soul, too? Saints, hear me! angels,
+plead for me! A priest, for the love of heaven! I killed Artiaga of
+Cadiz; I scuttled the ship at Alonso, drowned the nuns, and stole the
+church-plate&mdash;Call Magdalena&mdash;Where's Magdalena?&mdash;You are murdering me!
+Mercy! mercy! I killed Hilario, too&mdash;I poniarded him in the old wounds,
+inflicted by Juan Lerma&mdash;I have much to repent&mdash;A priest, for the love
+of God! A priest, oh, a priest!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus raved the villain, stained with a thousand crimes; and if aught had
+been wanting to steel the hearts of his executioners, enough was
+divulged in the unavailing abandonment with which he accused himself of
+misdeeds, so many and so atrocious. While his neck was yet free from the
+rope, he struggled violently, but without any attempt to do a mischief
+to his unrelenting murderers; his resistance was, indeed, like that of a
+cur, under the chastisement of a cruel and brutal master, which howls
+and contends, and yet fears to employ its fangs against the tyrant. But
+when he found, at last, that the cavaliers were actually putting the
+hasty halter about his neck, his struggles were not greater to escape
+than to inflict injury. He shook and tossed his head in distraction, and
+Don Francisco de Guzman, endeavouring to seize him by the beard, he
+caught the hand of the cavalier betwixt his teeth, and held it with the
+gripe of a tiger.</p>
+
+<p>"Hell confound thee, wolf!" cried Guzman, groaning with pain, and
+striking him over the face with the hilt of his sword, but in vain:
+"Help me, cavaliers, or he will have my hand off!&mdash;Villain, unlock thy
+teeth.&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stand aside&mdash;This will unloose thee," said one, thrusting his rapier
+into the thigh of the vindictive wretch; who no sooner felt the cold
+steel penetrate his flesh, than he opened his mouth to utter a yell.
+"Whip him up <i>now</i>.&mdash;So much for traitors!"</p>
+
+<p>It was the last scream of the assassin. His lips uttered one more cry to
+heaven; the name of Magdalena was cut short, as the noose closed upon
+his throat, and ended in a hoarse, rattling, gulphing whine, that did
+not itself prevail beyond the space of a second. As he shot up to the
+top of the window, an intense glare of lightning flashed through the
+alabaster, and his figure, traced upon that lustrous and ghastly medium,
+was seen dangling and writhing in the death-agony. The next moment, the
+huge curtain was drawn over the dreadful spectacle: but those who paused
+a moment, to look back, could behold the convulsions of the dying
+miscreant giving motion, and sometimes protrusion, to the dark folds of
+the drapery.&mdash;When all was silent, in the darkness of the night, the
+watchmen in the vestibule could yet hear the pattering of blood-drops
+falling from his mangled limb, upon the sonorous wood of the platform.</p>
+
+<p>But there were other scenes now occurring, which, for a time, drove from
+their thoughts the memory of Villafana.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The scene of death in which they were engaged, had so employed the
+thoughts of the cavaliers, that they were, for a time, insensible to
+many tumultuous noises in the city, which, beginning at the moment when
+the struggles and outcries of Villafana were fiercest and loudest,
+increased every instant, until all was uproar.</p>
+
+<p>At first, as they rushed in disorder to the doors, they thought the din
+was caused by a renewal of the storm, or rather the sudden outbursting
+of a tornado; which, overwhelming the houses of some of the poorer
+citizens, and burying them among the ruins, might account for the
+screams and yells, that were mingled with other noises. But they soon
+exchanged this fear for one more stirring, when, as they rushed into the
+air, they heard an alarum ringing from the chapel-bell on the top of the
+pyramid, drums beating to arms, arquebuses firing in several different
+quarters, and were made sensible that a conflict was raging in the town.</p>
+
+<p>"Dios!" cried one; "the conspirators are upon us! Let us back to the
+hall and defend ourselves!"</p>
+
+<p>"My life upon it," said Gaspar, "the conspirators will not stir till
+Villafana opens his lips to them.&mdash;Heaven rest his soul!&mdash;Hark! these
+are the yells of Indians."</p>
+
+<p>"On, friends!" exclaimed Cortes, perceiving the garden full of soldiers,
+rushing from various parts of the palace, as if to seek the fray. "This
+is Tlascalan work&mdash;a knavery of Xicotencal. Hah! hark! see! 'tis an
+assault upon the prison! Ho, Castilians! ho, Christians! cavaliers and
+soldiers, to arms! haste, to arms!"</p>
+
+<p>While the soldiers, collecting together at the well-known voice of the
+Captain-General, began to rush with him towards the prison, over which,
+besides hearing the shouting of the watchmen at the doors, they beheld
+three blazing arrows shot up into the air, their alarm was directed to
+another quarter, by a violent cannonade from the squadron, moored yet at
+the entrance of the little river; and looking that way, they perceived
+to their astonishment and fear, no less than four of the brigantines
+suddenly enveloped in flames.</p>
+
+<p>"Guzman and Quinones!" cried Cortes, with instant determination, "to the
+prison, with what force ye can pick up on the way. Shoot all fugitives,
+as well as all assailants. The rest follow me to the river; for I would
+mine arms should be burned, rather than my vessels."</p>
+
+<p>By this time, all the Spaniards who were capable of bearing arms, were
+in the open air, and following not less the shouts of Cortes than the
+crash of the falconets, ran hastily towards the fleet, which, it was now
+evident, was furiously beset by multitudes of Indians in canoes. The
+flash of the explosions and the flames bursting ruddily out from sails
+and cordage, revealed them clustering with impetuosity around the
+devoted vessels, whose crews, it was equally apparent, were making a
+gallant resistance. In this light, the houses bordering upon the water
+were seen covered with citizens, looking on with a tranquillity, which
+showed that their share in the unexpected hostilities, if indeed they
+had any, was entirely passive. A more agreeable sight was disclosed to
+Cortes, as he ran onwards, in the appearance of many thousand
+Tlascalans, rushing down the narrow meadows which bordered the canal,
+with such alacrity of speed and such furious cries of 'Tlascala!' and
+'Castilla!' as convinced him of their fidelity and affection.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a Mexican device, after all," he muttered; "a plan of the
+ambassadors. Well done for thee, Villafana!&mdash;Bold varlets, these! What!
+down with your demi-culverins and sakers, Orozca! Where is my good
+cannonier, Juan Catalan? We will aid the vessels from the shore."</p>
+
+<p>The mariners, however hotly engaged, replied to the cries of their
+friends with shouts of courage; and redoubling their exertions, they
+succeeded not only in repelling the assailants, whose obvious aim was to
+fire the whole fleet, from those ships not yet ignited, but even in
+extinguishing the flames in the less fortunate four. In this, they were
+doubtless materially assisted by the condition of the planks and
+timbers, which being of green wood, the flames would perhaps have
+confined their ravages to the more combustible sails and cordage, and
+soon expired for want of fuel. They weighed anchor also, and taking
+advantage of the gusts which still blew over the lake, six of the
+largest and strongest set sail, and boldly plunged among the canoes,
+overturning and sinking many, while the others, receiving assistance
+from the shore, betook themselves to the little harbour, dragging with
+them their disabled consorts.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner, it soon became evident that the danger in this quarter
+was over; and Cortes, directing that the position of the brigantines
+should be strengthened by a temporary battery at the mouth of the river,
+returned to inspect the condition of the city in the neighbourhood of
+the palace.</p>
+
+<p>The sounds of contention were over; and one passing through the garden,
+and listening to the moaning of the winds through the trees, could
+scarce have believed that half an hour before it had been a scene of
+such warlike bustle. The bell rang no longer, the drums, trumpets, and
+arquebuses were silent, and the sentinels paced to and fro at their
+stations, as if nothing unusual had happened. The only sounds indeed
+that now vexed the calm of the night, were the occasional explosion of a
+falconet from some brigantine, afar among the shadows of the lake, still
+pursuing the retreating canoes. The attack was perhaps unpremeditated;
+or, perhaps, its only object was to taunt and defy. At all events, it
+was now over; and in less than an hour from the time of the first alarm,
+the cry of all's-well could be heard through the different quarters of
+the city.</p>
+
+<p>Before this satisfactory conclusion of an evening so eventful, the
+Captain-General was doomed to have his equanimity put to the proof by a
+new trial. A double line of guards surrounded the prison, and Guzman,
+Quinones, and Gaspar Olea were among them, the last wringing his hands,
+and bewailing; but the prison-door was open, a thin smoke issued from
+it, and he could see, at a glance, that the only persons in the
+apartment were a few soldiers, dashing water over its partly consumed
+floor. Under the very threshold lay the bodies of two soldiers,
+fearfully mangled; another was writhing, gasping, and dying in the arms
+of his comrades; and a fourth, severely wounded, was narrating to
+Quinones the particulars of an assault, made, as he averred, by ten
+thousand devils, or Mexicans, who sprang suddenly out of the earth,
+killed or dispersed the whole guard, carried off the prisoner, or burned
+him, he knew not which, (for he lay upon the ground, counterfeiting
+death,) and then, setting fire to the building, vanished quite as
+suddenly as they came.</p>
+
+<p>"Were these men Mexicans or Tlascalans?" demanded Cortes, without
+betraying any sign of feeling.</p>
+
+<p>The soldier started at the sound of his leader's voice, and hastily
+replied,</p>
+
+<p>"In good faith, seņor, I know not, for I was somewhat overcome with
+fear."</p>
+
+<p>"And with wine, sirrah!" exclaimed the General. "But it matters
+not&mdash;thou art too stupid to answer now. Have this fellow into the den,
+Quinones, and let him be brought to me to-morrow.&mdash;Seņor Don Francisco,
+we will walk to the palace."</p>
+
+<p>He put his arm into Guzman's, and dragging him to a little distance,
+where no beam of torch or cresset illuminated his visage, exclaimed,
+eagerly,</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me the truth, Francisco:&mdash;has he perished by fire in the prison,
+or has he escaped me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor," replied Guzman, "his star, or his devil, has helped him."</p>
+
+<p>"Why then the fiends seize thee, and all false friends, who plague me!"
+cried Cortes, giving way to passion. "Is it thus I am to be cheated?"</p>
+
+<p>"Seņor," said Guzman, moderately, but without fear; "I have mine own
+cause of distress, for my hand is horribly mangled, and I have heard
+that the bite of a dying man causes mortification. So, with this pain of
+body and mind, I may not speak good counsel or good defence.&mdash;When I
+reached the prison, it was empty and on fire. Had not your excellency
+interfered with the execution this day&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, there again!" muttered the Captain-General; "mine own hand is made
+to befool me; it pulls out of the pit faster than my foot tramples in.
+Hark thee, Guzman, dost thou not think this young man is protected by
+some special providence?"</p>
+
+<p>"I, seņor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, look you, what could have carried him through the tribes of the
+West, to the South Sea, and back again?&mdash;(a device of thy scheming,
+too!) And, didst thou not see, I was about to run him through, in the
+very act of mutinous resistance, when a brute and insensate dog seized
+my sword-blade in his mouth? And now, for the third time, what but his
+angel could have brought to his prison-door yonder infidels of
+Mexico&mdash;his only friends, I think?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let your excellency question if this circumstance will not, without
+removing him from punishment, give a still stronger excuse for it? The
+scribe visited him in the dungeon; a paction with the enemy, sealed by
+the act of flight with them to their stronghold, has confirmed him
+thrice over a traitor."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by heaven! it is true!" said Cortes, smiting his hands together;
+"and, by and by, I will take him out of his hiding-place, and crown the
+day of victory with a double triumph!"</p>
+
+<p>"And who can affirm," quoth Don Francisco, "that the misbelievers have
+not taken him for a sacrifice? It is said, the coronation of Guatimozin
+is deferred only until he can provide a Castilian victim to do honour to
+the ceremony. By my faith, seņor, there is a pleasant twitch in my
+cheek,&mdash;ay, in the scar of the rapier-wound&mdash;at the very thought of this
+retribution!"</p>
+
+<p>"Now, by heaven," said Cortes, with an altered voice, "villain as he is,
+I cannot rejoice that such a dismal fate should befall him. Death,
+indeed, but not a death of horror! Dost thou think this, then, can be
+his doom? Alas, poor youth! had he but some one to lament him or to
+avenge, I were better satisfied with what I have done. I swear to thee,
+Francisco, we are e'en as base knaves as himself; for we have employed
+our strength&mdash;our cunning and our strength&mdash;against a creature that is
+utterly friendless. Alas, I say; for I remember me of the days of old;
+and surely I loved him once as my own soul."</p>
+
+<p>This outbreaking of feeling did not at all surprise Guzman, who had been
+familiar from the beginning with the ebbings and flowings of Don
+Hernan's hate, and who had several times seen him, when the destiny of
+Juan seemed already closed, affected so much that he shed tears, as he
+did at the present moment. But Guzman was acquainted with a spell which
+never failed to banish all compunction from the General's breast; and he
+did not scruple to employ it now.</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough!" muttered Cortes, through his clenched teeth. "Heaven and
+my conscience acquit me, and I will think of it no more."</p>
+
+<p>With these words, he seemed to discharge from his mind all thoughts of
+the youth so deeply detested, and addressing himself to the task of
+inspecting in person the condition of all assailable points in the city,
+betook himself at last, and at the day-dawn, to his repose.</p>
+
+<h3>END OF VOL. I.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> These poems, we presume, were handed down <i>orally</i>. We know
+not how far the picture-writing of the Mexicans (the art of interpreting
+which appears to be now lost,) was capable of conveying any such
+thoughts as could not be represented by an absolute <i>portrait</i>. No
+system of writing that is not essentially <i>phonetic</i> or <i>dialectical</i>,
+(i. e. representative of sounds, or of language,) can be made to express
+abstract ideas, which may be defined to be such as admit of no
+ideographic or metaphoric representation. If they could, mankind might,
+at once, enjoy the benefits of the <i>universal language</i>, (or, to speak
+strictly, a substitute for it; for it would convey ideas not words,)
+which Leibnitz dreamed of, and Bishop Wilkins, and many others after
+him, so vainly attempted to construct.
+</p><p>
+When, therefore, we relate any very curious and marvellous matters,
+appertaining to Mexican <i>literature</i>, though we speak upon the authority
+of historians, we invite the reader to receive our accounts with some
+grains of allowance. With the exception of a few arbitrary symbols,
+expressive of numerals, and a few other objects of constant recurrence,
+the picture-writing of Mexico spoke in ideas, not words; and it may
+therefore be assumed, that it could express nothing that did not, or by
+a stretch of ingenuity, could not be made to, address and explain itself
+to the eye.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The Manga and Serape are Mexican cloaks worn
+scapulary-wise, the one of richly embroidered cloth, the other of
+blanket, or some such coarse material. The Anquera is a leather housing,
+embossed and gilt, with a jingling fringe of brass or silver ornaments.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Vasco Nuņez de Balboa.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The historical reader will find that the worthy Bernal has
+incorporated many of these judicious sentiments in the work he was then
+composing, and some almost word for word.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Fusta</i>&mdash;a sort of galley, very small and open, with lateen
+sails.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Itzli</i>, the obsidian or volcanic glass.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Windows of this rich material were discovered in a Roman
+villa at Pompeii. The effect of a lamp in an alabaster vase will be
+familiar to the reader.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Techichi</i>&mdash;a native animal of the dog kind, which does not
+bark. It was domesticated.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Xiquipil</i>&mdash;a military division of natives, consisting of
+eight thousand men.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Tzatzitepec</i>, a mountain near Tula.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Catcitepetl</i>, a volcano.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> The name is corrupted, as are all those handed down by the
+early historians. The suffixes, <i>pilli</i> and <i>teuctli</i>, indicate the
+title, and are therefore not a part of the name. We translate both
+<i>lord</i>; though it would be more germain to the matter, however ludicrous
+it might seem, to say at once Duke Death and Earl Olin.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> One of the titles of the Supreme God, (<i>Teotl</i>,) who was
+not worshipped directly, but through the medium of his agents, the
+inferior divinities.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Tlalpilli</i>&mdash;the quarter-cycle, or epoch of 13 years.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Embracing a portion respectively of June and July, and
+devoted to austere and penitential preparation for a coming festival.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Infidel, Vol. I., by Robert Montgomery Bird
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Infidel, Vol. I., by Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+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: The Infidel, Vol. I.
+       or, the Fall of Mexico
+
+Author: Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+Release Date: December 1, 2010 [EBook #34529]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFIDEL, VOL. I. ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
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+
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+
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+
+
+
+
+                              THE INFIDEL;
+
+                         OR, THE FALL OF MEXICO.
+
+                               A ROMANCE.
+
+                       BY THE AUTHOR OF "CALAVAR."
+
+
+    SECOND EDITION.
+
+    IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+    VOL. I.
+
+    Philadelphia:
+    CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD.
+    1835.
+
+    Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year
+    1835, by CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD, in the Clerk's Office
+    of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
+
+    PHILADELPHIA
+
+    C. SHERMAN & CO. PRINTERS, NO. 19 ST. JAMES STREET.
+
+    --Un esforcado soldado, que se dezia _Lerma_--Se fue entre los Indios
+    como aburrido de temor del mismo Cortes, a quien avia ayudado a salvar
+    la vida, por ciertas cosas de enojo que Cortes contra el tuvo, que
+    aqui no declaro por su honor: nunca mas supimos del vivo, ni muerto,
+    mala suspecha tuvimos.
+
+    BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO--_Hist. Verd de la Conquista_.
+
+    No hay mal que por bien no venga,
+    Dicen adagios vulgares.
+
+    CALPERON--_La Dama Duende_.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE INFIDEL.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+The traveller, who wanders at the present day along the northern and
+eastern borders of the Lake of Tezcuco, searches in vain for those
+monuments of aboriginal grandeur, which surrounded it in the age of
+Montezuma. The lake itself, which not so much from the saltness of its
+flood as from the vastness of its expanse, was called by Cortes the Sea
+of Anahuac, is no longer worthy of the name. The labours of that unhappy
+race of men, whose bondage the famous Conquistador cemented in the blood
+of their forefathers, have conducted, through the bowels of a mountain,
+the waters of its great tributaries, the pools of San Cristobal and
+Zumpango; and these, rushing down the channel of the Tula, or river of
+Montezuma, and mingled with the surges of the great Gulf, support fleets
+of modern argosies, instead of piraguas and chinampas, and expend upon
+foundering ships-of-war the wrath, which, in their ancient beds, was
+wasted upon reeds and bulrushes. With the waters, which rippled through
+their streets, have vanished the numberless towns and cities, that once
+beautified the margin of the Alpine sea; the towers have fallen, the
+lofty pyramids melted into earth or air, and the palaces and tombs of
+kings will be looked for in vain, under tangled copses of thistle and
+prickly-pear.
+
+The royal city of Tezcuco is now, though the capital of a republican
+state, a mean and insignificant village. It was originally the
+metropolis of a kingdom once more ancient and powerful than that of
+Mexico; and which, when it had shared the fate of all others within the
+bounds of Anahuac, and acknowledged the sway of the Island Kings, still
+preserved the reputed, and perhaps the real possession of superior
+civilization. Its princes, in becoming the feudatories, became also the
+electors, of Mexico; and thus added dignity to an independence which was
+only nominal. The polished character of these barbarous chieftains, as
+the world has been taught to esteem them, may be better understood, when
+we know, that they sowed the roadside with corn for the sustenance of
+travellers, and the protection of husbandmen, built hospitals and
+observatories, endowed colleges and formed associations of literature
+and science, in which, to compare small things with great, as in the
+learned societies of modern Europe and America, encouragement was given
+to the study of history, poetry, music, painting, astronomy, and natural
+magic. The various mechanical trades were divided into corporate bodies,
+and assigned, each, to some particular quarter of the city; courts and
+councils were regularly established, and the laws which they dispensed,
+digested into uniform and written codes, some of which are still
+preserved. The kings of Tezcuco themselves mingled in the generous
+rivalries which they fomented: there are still in existence,--at least,
+in the form of translation,--several of the odes of Nezahualcojotl, a
+royal Tezcucan poet; and his hymns to the Creator, composed half a
+century before the advent of the Spaniards, were admired and chanted by
+the Conquerors, until devoted by misjudging and fanatical missionaries
+to the flames which consumed the written histories and laws of the
+kingdom, as well as the idolatrous rituals of the priests, with which
+last the others were unfortunately confounded.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: These poems, we presume, were handed down _orally_. We know
+not how far the picture-writing of the Mexicans (the art of interpreting
+which appears to be now lost,) was capable of conveying any such
+thoughts as could not be represented by an absolute _portrait_. No
+system of writing that is not essentially _phonetic_ or _dialectical_,
+(i. e. representative of sounds, or of language,) can be made to express
+abstract ideas, which may be defined to be such as admit of no
+ideographic or metaphoric representation. If they could, mankind might,
+at once, enjoy the benefits of the _universal language_, (or, to speak
+strictly, a substitute for it; for it would convey ideas not words,)
+which Leibnitz dreamed of, and Bishop Wilkins, and many others after
+him, so vainly attempted to construct.
+
+When, therefore, we relate any very curious and marvellous matters,
+appertaining to Mexican _literature_, though we speak upon the authority
+of historians, we invite the reader to receive our accounts with some
+grains of allowance. With the exception of a few arbitrary symbols,
+expressive of numerals, and a few other objects of constant recurrence,
+the picture-writing of Mexico spoke in ideas, not words; and it may
+therefore be assumed, that it could express nothing that did not, or by
+a stretch of ingenuity, could not be made to, address and explain itself
+to the eye.]
+
+A few ruins--a cluster of dilapidated houses--a galloping Creole on his
+high Spanish saddle, with glittering _manga_ and rattling
+_anquera_,--and, now and then, an Indian skulking moodily along, in his
+squalid _serape_,[2]--are all that remain of Tezcuco.
+
+[Footnote 2: The Manga and Serape are Mexican cloaks worn
+scapulary-wise, the one of richly embroidered cloth, the other of
+blanket, or some such coarse material. The Anquera is a leather housing,
+embossed and gilt, with a jingling fringe of brass or silver ornaments.]
+
+In the spring of 1521, the year that followed the flight of the
+Spaniards from Mexico, the city of the Acolhuacanese presented all its
+grandeur of aspect, and, to the eye, looked full as royal and
+imperishable as in the best days of its freedom. But the molewarp was
+digging at its foundations; and the cloud which had ravaged the Mexican
+valley, and then passed away into the east, where it lay for a time
+still and small, 'like to a man's hand,' had again crept over the
+mountain barriers to its gates, and was now brooding among its
+sanctuaries. A group of Christian men sat under a cypress-tree, without
+the walls, regarding the great pyramid, on whose lofty terrace,
+overshadowing the surrounding edifices, floated a crimson banner of
+velvet and gold, on which, besides the royal arms of Spain, was
+emblazoned, as on the Labarum of the Constantines, a white cross, with
+the legend, imitated from that famous standard of fanaticism, _In hoc
+signo vincemus_. If other proof had been wanting of the return of the
+Spaniards to the scene of their discomfiture, their presence in Tezcuco,
+and their unchangeable resolution to complete the work of conquest so
+disastrously begun, it might have been traced abundantly in the strange
+spectacle, which, equally with the desecrated temple, divided the
+attention of the group of Castilians at the cypress-tree. They sat on a
+little swell of earth,--a natural mound which jutted into the lake,
+whose waters, agitated by a western breeze, dashed in musical breakers
+at its base; while the rustling of the leaves above, mingled with these
+sounds of waves, a tone that was both melancholy and harmonious. The
+beautiful prospect of Tezcuco, rising beyond fertile meadows in the
+livery of spring, flanked, on the right hand, by a sheet of dark and
+glossy water,--with white towers, turrets, and temple-tops, painted, as
+it seemed, on a background of mountains of the purest azure, was enough
+of itself to engross the admiration of a looker-on, had there not been
+presented, hard by, a scene still more singular and romantic.
+
+A train of warriors, artificers and labourers, the latter bending under
+such burthens as had never before descended to the verge of Tezcuco, was
+seen passing, at a little distance, towards the city, into which, as was
+denoted by a sudden explosion of artillery and the blast of trumpets on
+the top of the pyramid, the leaders were just entering, while the rear
+of the procession, extending for miles, and winding like some mighty
+snake, over hill and meadow, was lost among distant forests.
+
+The martial salutation from the town was answered by the whole train
+with a yell, filling the air, and causing the distant hills and lakes to
+tremble with the reverberation. In this, the ear might detect, besides
+the war-cry of Indians, "Tlascala, Tlascala!" the not less piercing
+shouts of Spaniards, "In the name of God and Santiago!" as well as the
+flourish of bugles, scattered at intervals among the train. If the broad
+Sea of Anahuac trembled at the sound, it was with good reason; for the
+clamour of triumph indicated the approach of those unknown naval
+engines, which were to plough its undefiled bosom, and convert every
+billow into the vassal of the stranger. On the shoulders of eight
+thousand Tlascalans, were borne the materials for the construction of
+thirteen brigantines, with which the unconquerable Spaniard, capable of
+every expedient, meditated the complete investment and the certain
+reduction of Tenochtitlan. The iron, the sails, and cordage of that
+fleet which he had caused to be broken up and sunk in the harbour of
+Vera Cruz, were added to planks, spars, and timbers from the sierras of
+Tlascala, and to pitch and rosin from the _pinales_, or pine-forests, of
+Huexotzinco,--a gloomy and broken desert, notorious, in the present day,
+as the haunt of bandits, the most brutal and merciless in the world.
+
+The brawny carriers of these massive materials were protected, on the
+front and in the rear, by legions of their countrymen, armed, after
+their wild and romantic way, and clad in tunics of cotton or maguey
+cloth, with tiaras of feathers; who passed by in successive bodies of
+spearmen, archers, slingers, and swordsmen, arranged and divided in the
+manner of their Christian confederates. Besides these guards of front
+and rear, of whom the historian Herrera asserts, there were 180,000,
+while even the modest Clavigero computes their numbers at full one-sixth
+of this vast host, there were on either flank, bodies of picked
+warriors, marching in company with small bands of Spaniards, and
+personally led by distinguished Christian cavaliers. A military man may
+form a juster estimate of the numbers of the train, by being told, that
+it formed a line more than six miles in length, the whole marching
+compactly, and in strict order, so as to be best able to resist an
+attack of enemies.
+
+The Spaniards under the cypress-tree, surveyed this striking spectacle
+with interest, but not with the grave wonder and absorbing admiration of
+men unfamiliar with such scenes. On the contrary, it was evident, from
+the tone of the remarks with which they wiled away the time of
+observation, (for it was many a long hour before the last of the train
+drew in sight,) that they were of that levity of spirit, or in that
+wantonness of mood, which can find matter for ridicule in the most
+serious of occurrences. Thus, they beheld, or fancied they beheld,
+somewhat that was diverting in the persons, or motions, of the stern and
+warlike Tlascalans, and especially in the zealous eagerness with which
+these barbarians strove to imitate the bearing and gait, as well as the
+evolutions, of their disciplined associates. Nay, their raillery was
+extended even to the Spanish portion of the train; and, sometimes, when
+a comrade passed by, if near enough to be made sensible of the jest, he
+was saluted with some such outpouring of wit, as put to the proof either
+his gravity or his patience.
+
+These happy individuals, to whom we desire to introduce the reader, were
+five in number, and, with a single exception, though betraying none of
+the submissiveness of inferior personages, were evidently of no very
+exalted rank in the Christian army. Their attire was plain, and
+consisted, for the most part, of the cumbrous escaupil, or
+cotton-armour, over which, in the case of one or two, at least, were
+buckled a few plates of iron. Most of them had on their heads, helmets,
+or rather caps, of the same flimsy material, sometimes so thickly padded
+as to assume the bulk, as well as the appearance of rude turbans; all
+wore swords, and two had crossbows hanging at their backs. No
+distinction of station could have been inferred from their manner of
+discoursing one with another; and it was only by the morion of bright
+steel, richly inlaid with gold, on the head of one, and the polished
+hauberk on his chest, worn more for display than for any present
+service, that the wearer would have been recognized as of a grade
+superior to that of his companions. He was a tall and athletic cavalier,
+with a long chin, and cheeks broad and bony; and a singular and rather
+unpleasing expression was added to his countenance by eyes
+disproportionably small, though exceedingly black, keen, and resolute. A
+small, sharply peaked beard,--mustaches so thin, long, and straight,
+that they looked rather like the drooping locks of a woman than the
+favourites of a vain gallant,--a narrow but lofty forehead, on either
+side of which, divided and smoothed with effeminate care, fell masses of
+straight black hair, touched, yet almost invisibly, with the traces of
+matured manhood,--a small mouth,--a prominent nose,--and a complexion
+exceedingly dark, yet rather of the hue of iron than mahogany, completed
+a visage which a stranger would not have hesitated to attribute to a man
+of decided character, but without daring to determine whether that was
+of good or evil.
+
+The individual who would have been the second to attract the notice of a
+wayfarer, owed this distinction rather to his personal deformity than to
+any other very striking characteristic. He was a hunchback, with much of
+the saturnine and sour expression which distinguishes the countenances
+of the deformed, and yet of a spirit so much belied by his looks, that
+he heard, recognized, and constantly replied to, without anger, the
+nickname of _Corcobado_, or the humpbacked, to which his misfortune
+exposed him. The most observable peculiarity in his countenance, was the
+uncommon length of his nose, which so far intruded upon the lower part
+of his visage, as to give this a look of age, which was contradicted,
+not only by other features, but by the prodigious muscularity of his
+shoulders and arms. It must be confessed, however, that his lower
+extremities were entirely unworthy to compare with the upper, being both
+so short and thin, that when he stood upon his feet, his arms crossed
+behind,--which was their ordinary position,--with the stout iron plates
+protruding from both back and breast, he looked rather like a bundle of
+armour and garments, exposed to the air and supported above the earth on
+two broken pikestaves or javelins, than a living and human creature.
+
+The next individual was a man of good stature, who would have been
+considered, notwithstanding his grey hairs, the strongest man in the
+company, had it not been for his general emaciation and an expression of
+suffering on a countenance over which disease, contracted among the hot
+and humid swamps of the coast, had cast the sickliest hues of jaundice.
+Indeed, this discolouration, on a visage naturally none of the fairest,
+was of so deep a tint, that it had gained for the invalid, as well as
+for a whole ship's crew of his companions, the significant title of _Ojo
+Verde_, or the Green Eye. And here we may as well observe, that, in the
+army of Cortes, the wit which shows itself in the invention of such
+distinctions, was so prevalent, that there was scarce a man, from the
+general down to his groom or scullion, who had not been honoured by at
+least _one_ sobriquet.
+
+The fourth personage was a man of indifferent figure, remarkable for
+little save the marvellous sweetness of his eyes, which were set among
+features exceedingly sharp and harsh, and the volubility of his tongue.
+
+The fifth sat apart from the others, a little down the slope of the
+hillock, with tablets in his hands, yet so plunged in abstraction, or so
+much wrapped up in the contemplation of the dark lake, the little
+piraguas dancing over its billows, and the far-distant turrets of the
+infidel city, that he seemed to have forgotten, not only the presence of
+his companions, and the passing procession, but the purpose for which he
+had drawn forth his writing implements.
+
+The sound of the cannon, as we have said, was immediately responded to
+by the shouts of the train; which, commencing at the gates of the city,
+were continued and prolonged by the various bodies that composed the
+huge and moving mass, until they died away in the distance, like peals
+of rolling thunder. At the same time, the Indians struck their tabours,
+and sounded their conches and cane-flutes, in rivalry with the Spanish
+buglers; and a din was made, which, for a time, put a stop to the
+conversation of the four Castilians. It also startled the solitary man
+from his meditations, but only for an instant. He rose, turned his eye
+listlessly towards the procession, and then again resuming his seat, he
+was presently sunk in as profound abstraction as before.
+
+In the meanwhile, the cavalier of the helmet had bent his gaze upon the
+pyramid, from the top of which the cannon-smoke was driving slowly away
+like a cloud, and revealing the proud banner, which it had for a moment
+enveloped. He could see, even at this distance, that the two stone
+turrets,--the idol-chambers,--on the summit, were crowned with crosses,
+and that the flag-staff,--a tall cedar, that might have made a mast for
+an admiral's ship,--was surrounded by a tent, or rather pavilion, of
+native white cloth, broadly striped with crimson, which glittered
+brilliantly at its foot. As he looked he stroked his beard, and
+muttered, addressing himself to the hunchback,
+
+"Harkee, Najara, man! give me the benefit of thy thoughts, and care not
+if they come out like crab-apples. What thinkest thou of Cortes now? Is
+there not something over-stately and very regal-like in the present
+condition of his temper?"
+
+"Why dost thou ask that of _me_, when thou hast Villafana at thy elbow?"
+replied the hunchback, with a voice worthy the acerbity of his aspect:
+"if thou wilt have dirty water, get thee to the ditch."
+
+"You call me _Grunidor_, and grumbler I am," said he of the sweet eyes,
+with a laugh. "I grumble when I am in the humour; and I care not who
+knows it. Am I a ditch, old sinner? I'faith, I must be, when I have such
+ill weeds as thyself growing about me. Wilt thou have _my_ thoughts,
+senor Guzman, on this subject? I can speak them."
+
+"Be quick, then," said the cavalier; "for Corcobado is digesting an
+answer to thy fling, which will leave thee speechless."
+
+"Pho, I will bandy mudballs with him at any moment," said Villafana: "I
+care not for the buffets of a friend. As for the noble senor, the
+Captain General, what you say is true. The king's letter hath set him
+mad. While the Bishop of Burgos was still in power, and his enemy, he
+was e'en a good companion,--a comrade, and no master. Demonios! 'twas a
+better thing for us, when his authority rested on our good-will, and no
+royal patent."
+
+"Ay," said Guzman; "when we were but rebels and exiles, denounced by the
+governor, cursed by the priest, and outlawed by the king, Cortes was the
+most moderate, humble, and loving rogue of us all. I do think, he is
+somewhat altered."
+
+"Oh, senor, there is no such bond for our friendship as a consciousness
+of dependence upon those who love us; and nothing so efficacious in
+cooling us to friends, as the discovery that we can do without them. His
+authority is no longer our gift; the bishop has fallen; the king has
+acknowledged his claims, and sent him, besides a fair, lawful commission
+and goodly reinforcements both of men and arms, a letter of commendation
+written with his own royal hands. May his majesty live a thousand years!
+but would to heaven his letter were at the bottom of the sea. It has
+brought us a hard master. Can your favour solve me the riddle of the
+king's change? What argument has so operated on his mind, that he now
+does honour to a man he once condemned as a traitor, and advances him
+into such power as leaves him independent even of the Governor of the
+Islands?"
+
+"The very same argument," replied Guzman, "which has turned thee--a
+friend of Velasquez--into the most devoted, though grumbling adherent of
+our Captain--_interest_, sirrah, interest. It is manifest, that this
+empire was made to be won; and equally apparent, that the man who could
+half subdue it, though trammelled and opposed by all the arts and power
+of Velasquez, was the fittest to conclude the good work; and what was no
+less persuasive, it was plain, our valiant Don was fully determined to
+do the work himself, without much questioning whether the king would or
+not."
+
+"Why, by heaven!" cried Villafana, "you make out the general to be a
+traitor, indeed!"
+
+"Ay;--for, in certain cases, there is virtue in treason."
+
+"Hark now to Villafana!" cried the hunchback, abruptly: "he will thank
+you for the maxim, as if 'twere a mass for his soul."
+
+"_I_, curmudgeon?" exclaimed the grumbler. "There were a virtue in it,
+could it bring such fellows as thyself to the block. What I aver, is,
+that the king's honours have spoiled our general. By'r lady, I see not
+what good can come of sending us a Royal Treasurer, Franciscan friars
+with bulls of St. Peter, and Lady Abbesses to build up nunneries, unless
+to make up more state for our leader."
+
+"Then art thou more thick-pated than I thought thee," replied the
+cavalier. "The bulls will make us somewhat stronger of heart, and
+therefore better gatherers of gold in a land where gold is not to be had
+without fighting. La Monjonaza will sanctify our efforts, by converting
+the women; and the king's Treasurer will see that we do not cheat the
+king, after we have got our rewards, as, it is rumoured, we have done
+somewhat already."
+
+"Santos! I know what thou art pointing at, Don Francisco," said
+Villafana, significantly. "The four hundred thousand crowns that have
+vanished out of the treasury, hah! This is a matter that has stained the
+General's honour for ever. And as for La Monjonaza, thou knowest there
+are dark thoughts about her."
+
+"Have a care," said Don Francisco. "We are friends, and friends may
+speak their minds: but I cannot hear thee abuse Don Hernan."
+
+"Hast thou never been as free thyself?" cried Villafana, with a laugh,
+which mingled a careless derision with good-humour. "Come, now,--confess
+thou wert pleased to be appointed Grand Guardian and Chamberlain,--or,
+if thou wilt, Grand Vizier,--to his god-son, the young king of Tezcuco;
+and that, since he gave thee Lerma's horse, thou hast been better
+mounted than any other cavalier in the army."
+
+"Thou art an ass. Cortes has ever been my friend; and when I have
+complained, as I have sometimes done, it was only like a good house-dog,
+who howls in the night-watches, because he has nothing better to amuse
+him. But hold,--look! the carriers are passed. The rear-guard
+approaches. Now is my friend Sandoval yonder, betwixt the two Tlascalan
+chiefs, glorified in his imagination. 'Slid! he would have had me
+exchange my brown Bobadil for his raw-boned Motacila!--Come, Najara, rub
+up thy wit; fling me some sweet word into the teeth of the Tlascalan
+generals. Dost thou perceive with what solemn visages they approach us?"
+
+"I perceive," said Najara, "that Xicotencal is in no mood for jesting.
+It is said, he comes to join us with his power reluctantly. Dost thou
+see how he stalks by himself, frowning? A maravedi to a ducat, he would
+sooner take us by the throat than the hand!"
+
+"Why then, be quick, show him thy scorn in a fillip."
+
+"Hast thou forgotten it has been decreed a matter for the bastinado, to
+abuse an ally?"
+
+"Ay!" cried Villafana, "there is another fruit of a king's patent. One
+may neither laugh nor scold, gamble nor play truant, but straight he is
+told of a decree. Faith, when Cortes was our plain Captain, it was
+another matter: if there was aught to be done or not to do, it was then,
+in simple phrase, 'I commend to your favours,' or, 'I beg of your
+friendships, do me this thing,' or, 'do it not,' as was needful. But now
+the Captain-General deals only in decrees or proclamations, wherein we
+have commands for exhortations, prohibitions in place of dissuasions,
+and, withal, a plentiful garnishing of stocks and dungeons, whips and
+halters, all in the king's name. By Santiago! there is too much state in
+this."
+
+"Pho! thou art an Alguazil; why shouldst thou care?" said the Cavalier.
+"The decrees are wholesome, the restrictions wise. It is right, we
+should not displease the Republicans: they are our best friends,--very
+quick and jealous too; and we were but a scotched snake without them."
+
+"If they fight our battles," said Villafana, "they divide our spoil. In
+my mind, that black-faced Xicotencal is a villain and traitor."
+
+"Thy judgment is better, in such matters, than another's," said the
+hunchback.
+
+"Right!" cried Guzman; "the Alguazil will be presently in his own
+stocks, if thou dost heat him into a quarrel. We are not forbidden to
+abuse one another. Let the red jackalls pass by unnoticed; we have mirth
+enough among ourselves,--we will worry our Immortality. Look, Najara,
+man; dost thou not see in what perplexity of cogitation he is
+involved,--yonder dull Bernal? Rouse him with a quip, now; pierce him
+with a jest. Come, stir; rub thy nose, make thy wit as sharp as a goad,
+and prick the ox out of his slumber."
+
+"Ay, good Corcobado," cried Villafana, turning from the procession, and
+mischievously eyeing their solitary and abstracted companion, "fling out
+the legs of thy understanding, like a rough horse, and see if thou canst
+not strike fire out of his flinty brain. All the scratching in the world
+will not do it."
+
+"Now, were you not both besotted, and bent upon self-destruction," said
+the deformed, regarding the pair with a commiserating sneer, "you would
+not ask me to disturb our Immortality; who is, at this moment,
+meditating by what possible stretch of benevolence he can hand your
+names down to posterity; a thing, which if _he_ do not effect, you may
+be sure, nobody else will. Senor Guzman, 'twas but a half-hour since,
+that he asked me, if I could, upon mine own knowledge, acquaint him with
+any act of thine worthy of commemoration."
+
+"Ay, indeed!" said the cavalier, laughing; "was Bernal of this mind,
+then? He asked thee this question? By my faith, have I not killed as
+many Indians as another? Have I not encountered as many risks, and
+endured as many knocks? Out upon the misbelieving caitiff! he asked thee
+this question? Thy reply now? pr'ythee, thy learned answer to this
+foolish interrogatory? What saidst thou, now, in good truth?"
+
+"In good truth, then," replied Najara, with a sour gravity, "I told him,
+I had it, upon excellent authority, though I believed it not myself,
+that thou wert a cavalier, equal to any, in the virtues of a
+soldier,--bold, quick, and resolute,--cool and fiery,--a lover of peril,
+a relisher of blood; one that had won more gold than he could pocket,
+more slaves than he could make marketable, and more renown than he cared
+to boast of; a prudent captain, yet a better follower, because of the
+ardour of his temper, which was, indeed, upon occasion, so hot, that,
+sometimes, it was feared, he might take Cortes by the beard, for being
+too faint-hearted."
+
+"Oh, thou rogue, thou merry thing of vinegar, thou hast belied me!"
+cried Guzman; "thou knowest, I would sooner eat my arms,--lance,
+buckler, and all,--than lift my hand against the General: I would, by my
+troth, for I love him. But come, now,--thou saidst all this, upon good
+authority? You jest, you rogue,--we are all jealous and envious. We have
+good words from none but Cortes.--What authority?"
+
+"Marry, upon that of thine own lips," replied the hunchback; "for I know
+not who else could have invented so liberally."
+
+"Out!" cried the cavalier, somewhat intemperately; "you presume--"
+
+"Ha! ha! a truce, a truce, Don Francisco!" exclaimed Villafana; "a fair
+hit--no quarrelling; for captain though thou be, thou knowest I am sworn
+Alguazil, as well as head-turnkey, chief executioner, and the Lord knows
+what beside. No wrath among friends--A very justifiable, fair hit!
+Najara must have his ways. Thou wilt see, by and by, how he will lay
+_me_ by the ears. Come, Corcobado, begin.--He who plays with colts, must
+look to be kicked.--Come now, be sharp, fear not; I am a dog, and love
+thee all the better for cudgelling."
+
+"I know thou art, and I know thou dost," said Najara; "for I remember,
+that ever since Don Hernan had thee scourged, for abusing the Tlascalan
+woman, thou hast been a more loving hound than any other of the
+Velasquez faction."
+
+"Fuego de dios! Pho,--Good! Ha! ha! very good!" exclaimed Villafana,
+laughing, though somewhat disconcerted. "I confess the beating; but then
+I have a back to endure it--Hah! A Roland for an Oliver, a kick for a
+buffet! Thou liest, though, as to the cause: 'twas for taking the old
+senator they call Maxiscatzin by the beard, when he had given me the
+first sop of the Maguey-liquor. I was drunk, sirrah, broke rules,
+disobeyed orders, and so deserved my guerdon. Wilt thou be satisfied? By
+this hand, I grumble not. I should trounce thee for the like
+misdemeanour,--that is, if I could find whereon to lay my scourge. Aha!
+wilt thou pull noses with me? Come, what saidst thou of me to Bernal? I
+bear thee no malice, man;--no, no more than the general.--Drunk indeed?
+He should have struck my head off!"
+
+"I told him," said Najara, "that thou wert, in some sense, worthy to be
+chronicled."
+
+"Many thanks for that," said Villafana, "were it only on account of the
+beating."
+
+"For though thou wert as naturally given to grovelling as a football,
+yet wouldst thou as certainly mount, at every kick, as that same bag of
+wind."
+
+"Bravo! bravo!" cried the Alguazil, with a roar of delight, in which he
+was joined by Guzman; "thou art as witty and unsavoury as ever, and thou
+dingest me about the ears as with a pine-tree. What else, cielo mio?
+what else saidst thou to Bernal?"
+
+"Simply, that thou hadst more boldness than would be thought of thee,
+more dreams than would be reckoned of thy dull brain, and such skill at
+rising, notwithstanding the clog of thy folly, that it was manifest thou
+wouldst not be content, till thy feet were two fathoms from the earth,
+and thy crown as near to the oak-bough as the rope would."
+
+"Oh, fu! fy!" said Villafana, "hast thou no better trope for hanging?
+Have you done? Am I despatched? Get thee to better game, then; and see
+thou art more metaphoric. Hast thou no verjuice for our good friend
+here, Camarga?"
+
+The individual thus alluded to, though giving his attention to the
+conversation, had maintained a profound and unsympathetic silence during
+all. He stood leaning against the tree, folding over his breast, and
+even wrapping about his chin, the long cloak of striped cotton
+cloth--the product of the country,--the bright and gaudy colours of
+which contrasted unnaturally with the sickly hue of his visage.
+Throughout all, when not particularly noticed, his countenance wore an
+expression of as much mental as bodily pain; but when thus accosted by
+Villafana, it changed at once, and in a remarkable degree, from gloom to
+good-humour, and even to apparent gayety. It is true, that, at the
+moment when his name was pronounced, he started quickly with a sort of
+nervous agitation; and a sudden rush of blood into his face, mingling
+with its bilious stain, covered it with the swarthiest purple: but this
+immediately passed away--perhaps before any of his comrades had noted
+it.
+
+"I cry you mercy, senor Villafana," he said; "I am as unworthy to be
+made the butt of wit as the subject of history. My ambition runs not
+beyond my conscience; the month that I have spent in this land,--and it
+is scarce a month,--has been wasted in disease and idleness. A year
+hence, I shall be more worthy your consideration. But tell me, good
+friends, is it true, as you say, that yonder worthy soldier hath been
+appointed the historian of your brave exploits? By mine honour, his head
+seems to me better fitted to receive blows than to remember them, and
+his hand to repay them rather than to record."
+
+"He is, truly," said Villafana, "our Immortality, as we call him, or our
+Historian, as he denominates himself. As to his appointment, it comes of
+his own will, and not of our grace; but we quarrel not with his humours.
+He conceives himself called to be our chronicler. Who cares? He can do
+no harm. I am told, he doth greatly abuse Cortes, especially in the
+matter of the slaves, and the gold we fetched from Mexico in the Flight.
+By'r lady, I have heard some sharp things said about that."
+
+"You said them yourself," muttered Najara. "It is well you are in
+favour."
+
+"Ay, by my troth," cried Guzman; "_Cuidado_, Villafana! Don Hernan will
+be angry. Good luck to you! You are the lion's small dog: seize not his
+majesty by the nose."
+
+"Pho, friends! here's a coil," said the Alguazil, stoutly: "Don Hernan
+knows me: I will say what I think. I have maintained to his face, that
+there was foul work with the gold, and that we have been cheated
+of our shares; I have told him what ill work was made of both
+Repartimientos,--the partition of the slaves,--at Segura-de-la-Frontera,
+and here at Tezcuco,--scurvy, knavish work, senores: One may fetch
+angels to the brand, but, ay de mi! the iron turns them into beldames!"
+
+"Ay, there is some truth in that," said Guzman, a little thoughtfully.
+"No man honours Don Hernan more than myself; and yet did he suffer me to
+be choused out of the princess I fetched from Iztapalapan."
+
+"Ay, the whole army witnessed it, and there was not a man who did not
+cry shame on you for taking it so--"
+
+"Good-humouredly," interrupted the cavalier. "Rub me as thou wilt for a
+jest, Villafana; but touch me not in soberness."
+
+"Pshaw! can I not abuse thee as a friend, without the apology of a grin?
+Thou hadst been used basely, had not Cortes made up the loss with
+Lerma's horse. I have heard thee complain as much as another; and even
+now, thou art as bitter as any against this mad scheme of the ships.
+Demonios! our general will have us rot in the lake, like our friends of
+the Noche Triste!"
+
+"Thou errest," said the cavalier, gravely. "I have changed my mind, on
+this subject: I perceive we shall conquer this city."
+
+"Wilt thou be sworn to that?" exclaimed the Alguazil, earnestly. "I tell
+thee, as a friend, we are all mad, and we are deluded to death. If we
+launch the brigantines, we are but gods' meat--food for idols and
+cannibals. We were fools to come from Tlascala. Would to Heaven we had
+departed with Duero! We are toiled on to our fate, to make Cortes
+famous: he will win his renown out of our corses. What sayst thou,
+Najara, mi Corcobado, mi Hacedor de Tropos?"
+
+"Even that the will-o-th'-wisps, the Ignes-fatui, rising out of our
+decaying bodies, will forsake each honest man's corse, to gather,
+glory-wise, about the head of our leader.--Is that to thy liking?"
+
+"Marvellously! Thy wit explains and gives tongue to my thoughts. Thou
+seest things clearly--I am glad thou art of my way of thinking. This is
+our destiny, if we continue our insane enterprise."
+
+"A pest upon thee, clod!" cried the Hunchback; "I did but supply thee a
+simile, in pity of thine own barrenness. _I_ of thy way of thinking?
+Dost imagine I will hang with thee? _I_ see things clearly? Marry, I do.
+Give tongue to thy thoughts? Ratsbane!"
+
+As Najara spoke, he bent his sour and piercing looks on the Alguazil;
+who, much to the surprise of Camarga, grew pale, and snatched at his
+dagger, in an ecstasy of rage, greatly disproportioned to the offence,
+if such there could be in what seemed idle and unmeaning sarcasms. The
+wrath of Villafana, however, was checked by the mirth of the cavalier,
+Don Francisco, who exclaimed with the triumph of retaliation,
+
+"A fair knock, by St. Dominic! Art thou laid by the heels, now? Sirrah
+Alguazil, if thou showest but an inch more of thy dudgeon, I will have
+thee in thine own stocks,--ay, faith, and on thine own block, into the
+bargain. Forgettest thou the decree? Death, man, very mortal death to
+any one who draws weapon upon a christian comrade: thy hidalgo blood,
+(if thou hast any, as thou art ever boasting,) will not save thee. Pho!
+thou art notoriously known to be a plotter. Why shouldst thou be angry?"
+
+"_Hombre!_ I am not angry _now_: but, methinks, Corcobado hath the art
+of inflaming whatever is combustible in man's body. A good friend were
+he for a poor man, in the winter. Why, thou bitter, misjudging,
+remorseless, male-shrew, here is my hand, in token I will not maul thee.
+Why dost thou ever persecute me with thy hints? By and by, men will come
+to believe thou art in earnest. _What_ dost thou see, that I care not to
+have exposed? I am a plotter? I grant ye; so Cortes hath called me to my
+face a dozen times, or more. I am a grumbler? So he avers, and so I
+allow. I must speak what I think; ay, and I must growl, too. All this is
+apparent, but it harms me not with the general: he scolds me very oft;
+but who stands better in his favour?"
+
+"Thou takest the matter too seriously," said Guzman. "Hast thou no
+suspicion that thy self-commendations are tedious?"
+
+"In such case, hadst thou ever any thyself?" demanded the unrelenting
+Najara. "Pray, let him go on. Let him draw his dagger, if he will, too.
+What care I? I have a better fence than the decree."
+
+"Pshaw, man," said Villafana, "why dost thou take a frown so bitterly? I
+will not quarrel with thee. But I would thou couldst be reasonable in
+thy fillips: call me a knave openly, if thou wilt; thy insinuations have
+the air of seriousness. But come; you have robbed the senor Camarga of
+his diversion with Bernal. Lo you now, if our wrangling have disturbed
+him a jot! He sits there, like an old horse of a summer's day, patient
+and uncomplaining; and, all the time, there are gadfly thoughts
+persecuting his imagination."
+
+"Methinks, senores," said Camarga, "you should be curious to know in
+what manner the good man records your actions. For my part, I should be
+well content to be made better acquainted with them; especially with
+those later exploits, since the retreat from Mexico, of which I have
+heard only confused and contradictory accounts. Will he suffer us to
+examine his chronicles?"
+
+"Suffer us!" cried Guzman; "if you do but give him a grain of
+encouragement, never believe me but he will requite you with pounds of
+his stupidity. What, have you any curiosity?--Harkee, Bernal, man!--You
+shall see how I will rouse him,--Bernal Diaz! Historian! Immortality!
+what ho, senor Del Castillo! Are you asleep? Zounds, sirrah, here are
+three or four dull fellows, who, for lack of better amusement, are
+willing to listen to your history."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+At these words, the worthy thus appealed to, woke from his revery, and
+staring a moment in some little perplexity at his companions, took up a
+long copper-headed spear, which rested on the ground at his side, and
+advanced towards them. Viewed at a little distance, the gravity of his
+countenance gave him an appearance of age, which vanished on a nearer
+inspection. In reality, if his own recorded account can be believed,
+(and heaven forbid we should attach any doubt to the representations of
+our excellent prototype,) he did not number above twenty-six or
+twenty-seven years, and was thus, as he chose to call himself, 'a
+stripling.' Young as he was, however, there was not a man in the army of
+Cortes who had seen more, or more varied service than Bernal Diaz del
+Castillo. His exploits in the New World had commenced seven years
+before, among the burning and pestilential fens of Nombre de Dios,--a
+place made still more odious to an aspiring youth by the ferocious
+dissensions of its inhabitants, and that bloodthirsty jealousy of its
+ruler, which had rewarded with the block the man[3] who disclosed to
+Spain the broad expanse of the Pacific, and led his subaltern, Pizarro,
+to the shores of Peru. With the two adventurers, Cordova and Grijalva,
+who had preceded Cortes in the attempt upon the lands of Montezuma,
+(discovered by the first,) Bernal Diaz shared the wounds and
+misadventures of both expeditions; and he was among the first to join
+the standard of Don Hernan, in the third and most successful of the
+Spanish descents.
+
+[Footnote 3: Vasco Nunez de Balboa.]
+
+The hardships he had endured, the constant and unmitigated suffering to
+which he had been exposed for seven years, had given him much of the
+weatherbeaten look of a veteran, which, added to the sombre gravity of
+his visage, caused him to present, at the first sight, the appearance of
+a man of forty years or more. His garments were of a dusky red cloth,
+padded into escaupil, with back and breast-pieces of iron, over which
+was a long cloak of a chocolate colour, well embroidered, and, though
+much worn and tarnished, obviously a holiday suit. To these were added a
+black velvet hat, ornamented with three flamingo feathers, striking up
+like the points of a trident, with the medal of a saint, rudely wrought
+in gold, hanging beneath them. His person was brawny, his face full and
+inexpressive; his dull grey eyes indicated nothing but simplicity and
+absence of mind, or rather inattentiveness; and it required the presence
+of many scars of several wounds on his countenance, to convince a
+stranger that Bernal actually possessed the fortitude to encounter such
+badges of honour.
+
+He approached the group with a heavy and indolent tread, bearing in his
+hand a bundle of leaves of maguey paper, such as served the purposes of
+the native painters and chroniclers of Anahuac, and with which he was
+fain to supply the want of a better material.
+
+"Dost thou hear, senor Inmortalidad?" cried Don Francisco de Guzman, as
+the martial annalist took his seat serenely among the Castilians; "art
+thou deaf, dumb, or still wrapt in thy seventh heaven, that thou
+answerest not a word to my salutations? Zounds, man, I will not ask thee
+a second time."
+
+"What is your will?" said Bernal Diaz, "what will you have of me,
+senores?" he repeated, surveying each member of the group, one after the
+other. "I did think that this being a day of license and rejoicing to so
+many of us, I might have an opportunity, not often in my power, of
+putting down some things in my journal which it will be well to do,
+before setting out on the circuit of the lake, wherein there may happen
+some passages to drive from my memory those which are not yet recorded.
+But, by my faith, you have talked loud and much, and so disturbed my
+mind, that I have entirely lost some things I intended to say. I would
+to heaven you would find some other place to your liking, and leave me
+alone for a few hours."
+
+"Why, thou infidel!" said Guzman, "if thou likest not our company, why
+dost thou not leave it? Dost thou forget thou hast the power of
+locomotion? Wilt thou wait for us to depart before thou bethinkest thee
+of thine own legs? By'r lady! thou art not yet in thy senses!"
+
+"By my faith, so I can!" said the historian, abruptly, as if the idea
+had just entered his mind: "I will go down to the lake shore, where the
+sound of the waves will drown your voices. There is something
+encouraging to contemplation in the dashing of water; but as for men's
+voices, I could never think well, when they were within hearing. I beg
+your pardon, all, senores: I will go down."
+
+"What! when here are four fools, who are in the humour of listening to
+thee for some seven minutes, or so? ay, man, to thy crazy chronicles!
+When wilt thou expect such another audience? Lo you, the senor Camarga
+has desired to be made acquainted with your learned lucubrations. Come,
+stir; open thy lips, exalt thyself, while thou art alive; for after
+death, there is no saying how short a time thou wilt sleep in cobwebs."
+
+"You jeer me, senor Guzman; you laugh at me, gentlemen," said the
+soldier, gravely; "and thereby you do yourselves, as well as me, much
+wrong. Is it so great a thing for a soldier to write a history? The
+valiant Julius Caesar of Rome recorded, with his own hand, his great
+actions in France, Britain, and our own Castile, as I know full well;
+for when I was a boy at school, I saw the very book; and sorry I am that
+the poverty of my parents denied me such instruction, as might have
+enabled me to read it. Then, there was Josephus, the Jewish Captain, who
+wrote a history of the fall of Jerusalem, as I have heard from a learned
+priest. Besides, there were many Greek soldiers, who did the same thing,
+as I have been told; but I never knew much concerning them."
+
+"And hast thou the vanity to talk of Julius Caesar?" cried Guzman,
+laughing.
+
+"Why not?" said the soldier, stoutly; "I have fought almost as many
+battles, and I warrant me, my heart is as strong; and were it my fate to
+be a general and commander, instead of a poor soldier of fortune in the
+ranks, I could myself, as well as another, lead you through these
+mischievous Mexicans; who, I will be sworn, are much more valiant
+heathens than ever Caesar found among the French. As far as he was a
+soldier, then, I boast to be as good a man as he; ay, by mine honour,
+and better too! for I am a Christian man, whereas he was a poor
+benighted infidel. As for my history, I will not make bold to compare it
+in excellence with his; for it has been told me, that Caesar was a
+scholar, and possessed of the graces and elegancies of style; whereas, I
+have myself none of these graces, being ignorant of both Latin and
+Greek, and knowing nothing of any tongues, except the Castilian, and
+some smattering of this Indian jargon, which I have picked up with much
+pains, and, as I may say, at the expense of more beating than one gets
+from the schoolmaster. Nevertheless, I flatter myself, that what I write
+will be good, because it will be true; for this which I am writing, is
+not a history of distant nations or of past events, nor is it composed
+of vain reveries and conjectures, such as fill the pages of one who
+writes of former ages. I relate those things of which I am an
+eye-witness, and not idle reports and hearsay. Truth is sacred and very
+valuable. In future days, when men come to make histories of our acts in
+this land, their histories will be good, because they will draw them
+from me, and not from those vain historiographers who stay at home, and
+write down all the lies that people at a distance may say of us. This is
+a good thing, and will make my book, when finished, a treasury to men;
+but what is better, and what should make it noticeable to yourselves, it
+will not, like other histories, say, 'The great hero Cortes did this,'
+and 'the mighty commander did that,' giving all the glory to one man
+alone; but it will record our achievements in such a way as to show who
+performed them, relating that 'this thing was done by the Senor Don
+Francisco de Guzman, and this by the valiant soldier Najara, and this by
+myself, Bernal Diaz del Castillo,' and so on, each of us according to
+our acts."[4]
+
+[Footnote 4: The historical reader will find that the worthy Bernal has
+incorporated many of these judicious sentiments in the work he was then
+composing, and some almost word for word.]
+
+"What the worthy Del Castillo says, is just," said Camarga; "and whether
+his history be elegant or unpolished, he should be encouraged to
+continue it. For my own part, I shall be glad when I have performed
+anything worthy to be preserved, to know, we have with us a man who will
+see that the credit of the act is not bestowed upon another. And, in
+this frame of mind, I will stand much indebted to the good senor, if he
+will permit me at once, to be made acquainted with the true relation of
+certain events, with which I am not yet familiar."
+
+"What will you have?" said Bernal Diaz, much gratified by this proof of
+approbation. "You shall hear the truth, and no vain fabrication; for I
+call heaven to witness, and I say Amen to it, that I have related
+nothing which, being an eye-witness, I do not _know_ to be true; or
+which, having the testimony of many others, actors and lookers-on, to
+the same, I have not good reason to believe, is true. What, then, will
+you have, senor Camarga? Is there any particular battle you choose to be
+informed of? Perhaps, I had better begin with the first chapter, which I
+have here, written out in full, and which--"
+
+"Fire!" cried Guzman, starting up, "will you drive us away? Zounds! do
+you think we will swallow all?"
+
+"Read that chapter," said Najara, "in which you celebrate the exploits
+of the senor Guzman."
+
+"I have not," said Diaz, with much simplicity, "I have not yet had
+occasion to come to Don Francisco."
+
+"Hear!" cried Villafana, clapping his hands with admiration, in which
+the cavalier, after looking a little indignant, thought fit to join.
+
+"Unless indeed," continued the historian, "I should have resolved to
+relate the quarrel betwixt his favour, and the young cornet Lerma, (whom
+may heaven take to its rest; for there were some good things in the
+young man.) But as to this feud, I thought it better for the honour of
+both, as well as of another, whom I do not desire to mention with
+dispraise, that the matter should be forgotten."
+
+"Put it down, if thou wilt," said Guzman, with a stern aspect. "What I
+have done, I have done; and I shame not to have it spoken. If I did not
+kill the youth, never believe me if it was not out of pity for his
+years; and out of regard to Cortes, with whom he was a favourite."
+
+At these words, which were delivered with the greatest gravity, the
+historian raised his eyes to Don Francisco, and regarded him, for a
+moment, with surprise. Then shaking his head, and muttering the word
+'favourite,' with a voice of incredulity, and even wonder, he held his
+peace, with the air of one who locks up in his breast a mystery, which
+he has been on the point of imprudently revealing.
+
+"A favourite--I repeat the word," exclaimed Don Francisco, with angry
+emphasis; "a favourite, at least, until his folly and baseness were made
+apparent to Cortes, and so brought him to disgrace."
+
+"Strong words, Don Francisco!" said Villafana, with a bold tone of
+rebuke; "and somewhat _too_ strong to be spoken of a dead enemy. And
+besides, without referring to your share in the matter, there are those
+in this army, who have other thoughts in relation to the lad. It has
+been whispered,--and the honour of Cortes has suffered thereby,--it has
+been whispered----"
+
+"By Villafana," exclaimed the hunchback, abruptly and sharply; "by
+thyself, certainly, Sir Alguazil, if there be anything in it against the
+credit of the general."
+
+"Pshaw! wilt thou buffet me again?" cried Villafana, springing up and
+stamping on the earth, though not in anger. "Dost thou know now what
+thou art like?"
+
+"Like a thorn in the foot, which, the more you stamp, the more it will
+hurt."
+
+"Rather like a stupid ball tied to my leg," said the Alguazil, "which,
+without any merit of its own, serves but the dead-weight purpose of
+giving me a jerk, turn whichsoever way I will."
+
+"Right!" cried Najara, with a sneer; "you have clapped the ball to the
+right leg. We do not so shot honest men."
+
+"Gentlemen, with your leave," said Camarga, willing to divert the storm,
+which it seemed Najara's delight to provoke in the breast of the
+Alguazil, "with your leave, senores, I must not be robbed of my
+curiosity. It was my purpose to ask the senor del Castillo to read me
+such portions of his journal as treated, first, of occurrences that
+happened after the Noche Triste, and battle of Otumba, and then of the
+history and fate of this very young man, whose name is so efficacious in
+laying you by the ears. But as I perceive the latter subject is hateful
+to you all,--." Here he turned his eyes on Guzman.
+
+"You are deceived," said Don Francisco, drily. "I bear the young man no
+malice: the wolf and the dog may roll over carcasses--I have no anger
+for bones. He slandered me: being no longer alive, I forgive him. Ask
+Bernal what you will, and let him answer what he will: I swear by my
+troth, I care not."
+
+"What needs that we should look into noisome caves, when we have green,
+wholesome lawns before us?" said Bernal Diaz, hesitating; for, at that
+moment, the eyes of all except Guzman, were fastened eagerly on his own.
+"I could speak of the quarrel, to be sure, between his favour Don
+Francisco and the young colour-bearer; for though, as I said, and for
+the reasons stated, I have not put it down in my history, yet do I
+remember it very well. But, should I get thus far, I should even persist
+with the whole story; for, I know not how it is, I never begin a
+relation, and get well advanced in the same, but I am loath to leave it,
+till I have recounted all."
+
+"Ay, I'll be sworn, thou art," said Villafana: "thy stories are much
+like to a crane's neck; 'tis but a head and bill at first, and an ell or
+two of nothing stretched out after."
+
+"Nor am I able," said the worthy Bernal, without stopping to digest the
+simile, "to read a full account of those actions the senor Camarga
+speaks of, which took place subsequently to our flight from Mexico and
+our great victory on the plains of Otumba, for the good reason that I
+have not yet composed them; the failure of which is, in a great measure,
+the consequence of your loud talking just now, whilst I was addressing
+my mind to the same. But, if you will have a verbal relation, senor
+Camarga, I will do my best to pleasure you, and that right briefly, and
+in true words; for I defy any man to detect falsehood or exaggeration in
+what I write."
+
+"Ay, by'r lady!" cried Guzman, who had recovered his good-humour, and
+now laughed heartily,--"in what you _write_, honest Bernal; but in what
+you say, you are not so infallible."
+
+"You would not let me finish what I was about to say," murmured the
+historian.
+
+"No, faith; you would make a day's work of it; whereas I, who am no
+wire-drawer of conceits, can despatch the whole thing in a minute. Do
+you not see? the rear of the procession is in sight: in half an hour we
+shall be summoned into camp. Be content then, scribbler; I quote thy
+words, which should be honour enough: 'I defy any man to discover
+falsehood or exaggeration in what I say.' Know then, senor
+Camarga--after our victory at Otumba, nine months since, we retreated to
+Tlascala, four hundred and fifty in number, at which city we rested five
+months, curing our wounds, recruiting our forces, and preparing to
+resume the war. During this time, the only remarkable incidents
+were,--first--the meeting of those goodly knaves who had come with
+Narvaez, sworn faith to Cortes, looked at Mexico, and now, being
+satisfied with blows and honour, demanded to be sent back to Cuba, to
+the great injury and almost destruction of all our hopes. Among the
+foremost of these turbulent fellows, was our friend here, Villafana;
+who, although he came not with Narvaez, but was sent soon after us by
+Velasquez, was ever found consorting with the disaffected, until his
+good saint, in some dream of the gallows, brought better thoughts into
+his mind, and converted him from an open enemy into a doubtful friend.
+Peace, Villafana! I am now playing the historian, and must therefore
+tell what I believe to be the truth."
+
+At these words, Villafana, who had opened his mouth to speak, checked
+the impulse, nodded, laughed, and composed himself to silence.
+
+"The defection of these men," resumed the cavalier, "and the reduction
+of our numbers that followed, (for we were e'en forced to discharge the
+more importunate of them,) were requited to us by happy reinforcements
+of men, horses, and arms; some of them sent by the foolish Velasquez--"
+
+"Senor Guzman," said Bernal Diaz, "the Governor Velasquez is my
+relation. My father was an hidalgo, and his wife, my mother--"
+
+"Oh, I forgot!" said Guzman, nodding to the historian:--"Some sent by
+the _sagacious_ Velasquez to his captain, Narvaez, who was in chains at
+Villa Rica; some by De Garay, Adelantado of Jamaica, to rob us of our
+northern province, Panuco,--and it is supposed that thou, senor Camarga,
+with thy crew of sick men, though thou comest so late, and apparently of
+thine own good will, wert equipt by the same inconsiderate commander;
+and some by the merchants of the Canaries and of Seville, to be
+exchanged for our superfluous spoils, which were not then gathered;--no,
+by'r lady, nor yet, either. In fine, we became strong enough, by these
+means, to recruit our forces among the natives of the land; which we
+did, by attacking divers provinces in the neighbourhood of Tlascala, and
+compelling their warriors to join our standard, along with the
+Tlascalans, who were willing enough,--all save their generalissimo,
+Xicotencal. Thus, then, with no mean force of Spaniards, and with
+several armies of Indian confederates, we came, 'tis now more than three
+months since, to yonder city, Tezcuco, and raised to the throne, (in
+place of his brother, who fled to Mexico,) a king of our own choosing;
+of whom I have the honour to be chief counsellor and minister, that is
+to say, guardian, regent, sponsor, or master, as you may think fit to
+esteem me. Here, it has been our good fortune to receive other and
+stronger reinforcements, and, as Villafana said, from the king's own
+royal bounty, with commissions and orders, priests and crown-officers,
+and so on; which circumstances have caused our army to be reorganized,
+the whole reduced to a stricter discipline, and civil officers to be
+appointed, for the better enforcing of martial law. Here, too, we have
+been preparing for the siege and blockade of yonder accursed metropolis,
+by bringing ships, (they are on the shoulders of these crawling pagans,)
+to give us the command of the lake; and by attacking and destroying the
+neighbouring towns, so as to secure possession of the shores. In the
+meanwhile, the young cub of an Emperor, Guatimozin, who has succeeded
+Cuitlahuatzin, the successor of Montezuma, has been equally busy in
+concentrating the warriors of all his faithful provinces in the island,
+and providing vast stores of corn and meat, for their subsistence,--as
+resolute to resist as we are to assail. The materials for our vessels
+being arrived, it is now known, that the time of constructing and
+lanching them, will be devoted to an expedition, led by Cortes himself;
+in which we will make the circuit of the whole lake, destroying the
+rebellious cities on the main, and driving to the island all who may
+think fit to resist. When they are thus caged, we shall have them like
+pigeons in a net; and good plucking there will be in store for
+all.--This is my history, and methinks it should satisfy you."
+
+"It wants nothing to be complete save the episode of the Cornet Lerma,"
+said Villafana, with a malicious grin; "and, in requital for the good
+turn you have done me, when speaking of the mutiny Tlascala, I will
+relate it,--ay, by St. James, I will! frown and storm as you may. The
+senor Camarga has avowed his curiosity in the matter. Our dull Bernal,
+who is so frequent at boasting he tells naught but truth, has confessed
+that he dares not tell _all_ the truth; which, I think, will be somewhat
+of a qualification to the belief of his future admirers. Najara, here,
+will say naught of any one but myself, and that with a crusty and bitter
+obstinacy,--wherein he seems to me to resemble a silly ox, who rubs his
+stupid head against a tree, much less to the prejudice of the bark than
+his skin. And as for thyself, senor Don Francisco, thou hast but thine
+own fashion of telling the story. But I told thee before, there are
+those in the army who have another way of thinking; and I am one--I will
+not boggle at a truth, like Diaz, because it is somewhat discreditable
+to Cortes, or to a chief officer."
+
+"Speak then," said Guzman, gravely; "I have said already I care not. I
+know full well how your knavish companions belie me. I say again, I care
+not. What you aver as your own belief, I will make free to hold in
+consideration: for the reported imputations of others, I release you
+from responsibility."
+
+"Oh, I speak not on my own knowledge, nor of my own personal belief,"
+said Villafana, "and therefore, (but more especially in consequence of
+the decree, senor, the decree!--we will not forget the decree,) I shall
+fear neither dagger nor black looks. You called Lerma a 'favourite' of
+the general: pho! even Bernal smiled at that!"
+
+"What I have said in that matter," replied Guzman, with composure, "I
+will condescend to support with argument. The young man was received
+into the household of Cortes, while Cortes was yet a planter of
+Santiago: he picked him up, heaven knows where, how, or why, a poor,
+vagabond boy. It is notorious to all, that, in those days, Don Hernan
+employed him less as a servant than as a son, or younger brother, and as
+such, bestowed upon him affection and confidence, as well as the truest
+protection. Thou knowest, and if thou art not an infidel altogether,
+thou wilt allow, that the sword-cut on the general's left hand was
+obtained in a duel which he fought with a man, ('twas the senor
+Bocasucia,) who had thrown some sarcasm on the youth's birth, and then
+ran him through the body, when he sought for satisfaction."
+
+"I allow all this," said Villafana; "I confess the youth was an ass, to
+match his boy's blade against the weapon of the best swordsman in the
+island; and I agree that it was both noble and truly affectionate in
+Cortes, to take up the quarrel, and so baste the bones of Bocasucia,
+that he will remember the correction to his dying day. I allow all this;
+and I add to it the greater proof of Don Hernan's love for the youth,
+that when Velasquez granted him his commission to subdue these lands, (I
+would the sea had swallowed them, some good ten years since!) the
+captain did forthwith entrust to the boy the honourable and
+distinguished duty of recruiting soldiers for him, in Espanola, in which
+island he was born."
+
+"Ay," quoth Guzman, dryly, "and one may find cause for the general's
+anger, in the diligence with which the urchin prosecuted his task, and
+the success that crowned it."
+
+"By my faith," said Bernal Diaz, unable any longer to restrain his
+desire to take part in a discussion of such historical moment, "the
+young man sped well; and that he came to us empty-handed was no cause of
+Don Hernan's displeasure, as I have heard Don Hernan say. It was, in the
+first place, our haste to embark, when we discovered that the governor
+was about to revoke our captain's commission, that caused Lerma to be
+left behind us; and, secondly, it was the governor's own act, that Lerma
+was not permitted to follow us, with the forces he had raised and
+brought as far as Santiago. It is well known, that these men were
+arrested on their course, and disbanded by Velasquez,--for some of them
+came afterwards with Narvaez, and have so reported. The youth was thrown
+into prison, too, where he fell sick,--for he had never entirely
+recovered from the effects of his wound,--and it required all the
+exertions of Dona Catalina, our leader's wife, backed by those of her
+friends, to procure his release. His fidelity was afterwards shown in
+his escape from Cuba, which was truly wonderful, both in boldness of
+conception and success of accomplishment."
+
+"His fidelity truly, and his folly, too," said Villafana; "for, I think,
+no one but a confirmed madman could have projected and undertaken a
+voyage across the gulf, in an open _fusta_,[5] (by'r lady! I have heard
+'twas nothing better than a piragua,) with a few beggarly Indian
+fishermen for his crew. But this he did, mad or not; and if Cortes were
+angry, he took but an ill way to punish, since he gave him a horse and
+standard, and kept him, for a long time, near to his own person. His
+favourite for a time, I grant you he may have been, having heard it so
+related; but when I myself came to the land, there were others much
+better beloved."
+
+[Footnote 5: _Fusta_--a sort of galley, very small and open, with lateen
+sails.]
+
+"If I am not mistaken," said Don Francisco, "he was in favour at that
+time; and I have heard it affirmed it was some news of thy bringing, or
+some good counsel of thy speaking, which first opened the eyes of
+Cortes."
+
+"_I_, indeed!--_my_ news, and _my_ counsel!" cried Villafana, with a
+grin. "I was more like, at that period, to get to the bastinado than the
+ears of Don Hernan. I, indeed!--I loved not the young man, I confess;
+and who did? He had even the fate of a fallen minion; all spoke of him
+with dispraise,--all hated him, or seemed to hate him, save only the
+Tlascalan chief, Xicotencal, who loved him out of opposition; and I
+remember a saying of this very crabbed Corcobado, here, on the subject,
+namely, that a hedgehog was the best fellow for a viper."
+
+"Ay, by my faith," said Najara; "yet I meant not Xicotencal for the
+animal, but a worthy Christian cavalier; who was, at that time, rolling
+the snake out of his dwelling." As Najara spoke, he fixed his eyes on
+Guzman.
+
+"I understand thee, toad," said the latter, indifferently. "It was
+natural, the young man should be somewhat jealous. But this leads us
+from the story. If it be needful to find a reason for Don Hernan's
+change, I can myself give a thousand. In the first place, mere human
+fickleness might be enough, for no man is master of his affections. It
+might be enough too, to know, that the youth was no longer the gay and
+good-humoured lad he had been described, but a sour, gloomy, and peevish
+fool, exceedingly disagreeable and quarrelsome; and, perhaps, it might
+be more than enough, to remind you, that, as was currently believed,
+this change of temper was the consequence of certain villanous acts,
+committed after our departure, and which were thought to furnish a
+better and more probable reason for the voyage in the fusta than any
+particular zeal he had in the cause of Cortes. If this be not enough,"
+continued the cavalier, looking round him with the air of one who feels
+that his arguments are conclusive, "then I have but to mention what you
+seem to have forgotten,--to wit, that this petulant and meddlesome boy
+did presume to make opposition to, and very arrogantly censure, certain
+actions of the general; and, in particular, the seizure and imprisonment
+of king Montezuma, and the burning alive of the Cholulan prisoners, as
+well as the seventeen warriors, who had fought the battle with
+Escalante, at Vera Cruz."--In the last of these instances, Don Francisco
+made reference to the barbarous and most unjust punishment of
+Quauhpopoco,--the military governor of a Mexican province near to Vera
+Cruz,--and of his chief officers, who had presumed to resist with arms,
+and with fatal success, the Spanish commandant of the coast, in an
+unjustifiable attack.
+
+"All this is true," said Villafana, "and it is all superfluous. What I
+desired to establish was, that Lerma was no favourite, when sent on the
+expedition, as would have been inferred from your words. I come now,
+senor Camarga, to speak of that occurrence in relation to this boy, Juan
+Lerma, (I call him a boy, for, at that time, he was not thought to
+exceed nineteen years of age,) which, as Bernal Diaz says, touches the
+honour of Don Hernan, and which, others think, bears as heavily upon
+that of Don Francisco. The senores must answer for themselves: I only
+give what is one version of the story."
+
+"And, I warrant thee, it is the worst," said Najara. "Thou hast very
+much the appetite of a gallinaza, who chooses her meat according to the
+roughness of the savour."
+
+"Among the daughters of the captive Montezuma," said Villafana, nodding
+to the hunchback, in testimony of approbation, "was one, the youngest of
+all, and, in truth, the prettiest, as I have heard, for I never beheld
+her, who was called Cillahula,--"
+
+"_Zelahualla_," said Bernal Diaz. "It is a word that signifies--"
+
+"It signifies nothing, so long as you give it not the proper accent,"
+said Guzman, with infinite composure. "Her true name was Citlaltihuatl;
+or, at least, it was by that the Mexicans designated her; for they of
+the royal family have, ordinarily, a popular title, in addition to that
+used at court. The name may be interpreted the Maiden of the Star, or
+the Celestial Lady; for so much is expressed by the two words of which
+it is compounded."
+
+"I maintain," said Bernal Diaz, stoutly, "that the word Zelahualla is
+more agreeable of pronunciation, as well as much more universal in the
+army."
+
+"I grant you that," said Guzman. "Nor is the corruption so great as that
+of many names you have recorded in your journal: but I leave these
+things to be examined by your admirers hereafter. We will call the
+princess, then, Zelahualla; that being the better and more common
+title.--And now, Villafana, man, get thee on, in God's name; and start
+not, senor Camarga, at the damnable inventions of slander, which will
+now be told you."
+
+"Pho!" said the Alguazil, "I will not abuse thee half so much as the
+General. Know, senor Camarga, that there arose, between the young fool
+Lerma and the excellent cavalier Don Francisco de Guzman, a quarrel,
+very hot and deadly, concerning this same silly daughter of Montezuma;
+with whom Don Francisco chose to be somewhat rougher and more
+tyrannical, in displaying his affection, than was proper towards a
+king's daughter and a captive."
+
+"Dost thou speak this upon thine own personal averment?" demanded Don
+Francisco, with a countenance unchanged, but with a voice
+preternaturally subdued.
+
+"No, faith," said Villafana, hastily, and with an air that looked like
+alarm; "I repeat the innuendoes of others, which may be slanders or
+not,--I know not. But it is certain, the young man so charged thee to
+Cortes; affirming that, but for his interference, the villany
+meditated--But, pho! thou growest angry! So much, certainly, he brought
+against thee?"
+
+"He did," replied Guzman, smiling as if in derision; "and I know not how
+any could have been induced to believe him, except that man,--each
+man,--being naturally a rogue himself, doth rather delight to entertain
+those aspersions which bring down his neighbour to his own level, than
+the commendations which acquaint him with a superior. He did!--He was a
+fool! I can explain this thing to your satisfaction."
+
+"Basta! it does not need," replied Villafana. "The rear-guard is
+passing,--there is a stir on the temple-top, and presently we shall hear
+the trumpet, which, like a curfew-bell, will command us to put out the
+fires of our fancy and the lights of our wit, on pain of having them,
+somewhat of a sudden, whipped out with switches. I must tell mine own
+story; the senor Camarga looks a little impatient. The end of this
+quarrel," continued the Alguazil, "was a duel; in which neither of the
+rivals in love and the general's favour, came to much hurt; since they
+were speedily seized upon and introduced to the Calabozo, for fighting
+against the express orders of the general. Then, being released, they
+were separated,--our excellent friend Don Francisco being sent on some
+duty to Tlascala, and the boy Juan to--heaven."
+
+"Saints!" exclaimed Camarga; "he was not executed?"
+
+"Not on the block or the gallows, to be sure," said Villafana; "but in a
+manner quite as effectual. He was sent on some fool's errand of
+discovery, or exploration, to the South Sea, which, it was told us,
+washed the distant borders of this mighty empire;--his companions, two
+unlucky dogs of La Mancha, and one Leonese of Medina-del-Campo,--"
+
+"Ay," said Bernal Diaz, with a groan,--"Gaspar Olea; he was my beloved
+friend and townsman, and--" But Villafana was in no humour to be
+interrupted:
+
+"All three, like himself, out of favour," he continued. "Besides these,
+the young man had with him a band of knavish infidels, from the western
+province Matlatzinco; and his guide and counsellor was an old chief of
+the Ottomies--a half-savage, (they called him _Ocelotl_ or _Ocelotzin_,
+that is, the Tiger,) who had been domesticated among Montezuma's other
+wild beasts. Now, senor, you may make your own conclusions, or you may
+take those of men who are true friends of Cortes, and yet will speak
+their mind. It was said, at the time, that the young man was sent to his
+death; for the western tribes are fierce and barbarous; it was an easy
+way to get rid of him--and so it has been proved. This happened fourteen
+months ago: neither the young man, nor any of his companions, were ever
+heard of more. The thing was understood, and it was called a cruel and
+unchristian act."
+
+"Thou doest a foul wrong to Cortes, to say so," exclaimed Don Francisco,
+"imputing to him such sinister and perfidious motives. Such expeditions
+were at that time common; for we were then at peace, and each explorer
+was furnished by Montezuma with some royal officer by way of
+safe-conduct. Did not Don Hernan send his cousin, the young Pizarro, to
+explore the gold-lands of Guaztepec, at that very time? Were not others
+sent to search for mines, in the southern and northern provinces? I
+affirm, that this expedition of Lerma, fatal though it has proved, was
+not thought more, or _much_ more dangerous than Pizarro's:--thou
+knowest, Pizarro lost three of his men.--Moreover, thou doest the
+general an equal wrong, in the matter of the three Spaniards, that went
+with Lerma. Olea, at least,--Gaspar Olea, the Barba-Roxa--was
+notoriously a favourite and trusted soldier, and was sent with the
+youth, as being the fittest man who could be spared, to aid his
+inexperience."
+
+"The history is finished," said Villafana, rising; "the trumpet
+flourishes; and, like hounds at the horn of the hunter, we must e'en get
+us to the general, and add our howls to the yells of these curs of
+Tlascala. The history is finished; and I have only to add, by way of
+annotation, that the hatred you bore the youth, (I have heard some say,
+he had the better in the duel!) will supply you good reasons for
+defending his punishment."
+
+"I say to you again," cried Guzman, "I have forgiven the youth, and I
+hate him not."
+
+"Oh! the brown horse, Bobadil, that was sent to him from Santo Domingo,
+a month since, and given to your own excellent favour, as to his proper
+heir, is a good peace-maker!"
+
+"Thou art a fool," said Don Francisco; "I lament his death as much as
+another.----"
+
+"Have masses then said for his soul, for, by heaven and St. John, his
+spirit is among us!"
+
+These words, pronounced by the hunchback, Najara, suddenly, and with a
+voice of extreme alarm, caused the cavalier, who, with Villafana and
+Camarga, had already begun to walk towards the city, to turn round; when
+he instantly beheld, and with similar agitation, the apparition which
+had drawn forth the exclamation of the deformed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+As the Castilians followed the eyes of Najara, they beheld, approaching
+them from behind, three men, in whom, but for the direction given to
+their thoughts by the exclamation, they would have seen nothing but the
+persons of Indians, belonging to some tribe more wild and savage than
+any which inhabited the valley. Their garments were coarse and singular;
+their gait--at least, the gait of two of them,--not unlike to that of
+barbarians; and the look of wonder with which they surveyed the long
+train of the rear-guard, in which the high penachos, or plumes, and the
+copper-headed spears of Tlascalan chiefs, shone among the iron casques
+of Spanish cavaliers, was similar to the childish admiration of natives,
+unused to such a spectacle. Their dark countenances and long hair, their
+vestments and arms, were all of an Aztec character; yet a second and
+more scrutinizing glance made it apparent, that one, at least, if not
+two of them, was of another and nobler race.
+
+The foremost, or leader, of the little band, was undoubtedly a savage;
+as was seen by the depressed forehead, the high cheek-bones, the eye of
+a peculiar form, and the skin of even uncommon swarthiness, which
+distinguished him from his companions. His stature was short, almost
+dwarfish; his toes were turned inwards; and as he moved along with a
+shuffling gait, with advanced chest, and head still more protruded, his
+long locks, grizzled as with extreme age, fell from either side of his
+face, like patches of gray moss from the bough of a tree, and almost
+swept the ground. A coarse cloth was wrapped round his loins; another of
+a square shape,--its opposite corners tied round his neck,--hung like a
+mantle, or rather a shawl, from his shoulders, over which were also
+strapped a bow and quiver of arrows; and a thick mat of cane-work was
+secured by thongs to his left arm, in the manner of a buckler, and swung
+at his side, or was laid upon his breast, as suited his mood or
+convenience. In other respects, he was naked,--though not without the
+native battle-axe of obsidian. This weapon consisted of a rod, or
+bludgeon, of heavy wood, (it was sometimes of copper,) at the extremity
+of which, and on either side, were fastened six or seven broad blades,
+or flakes, of volcanic glass, standing a little apart from each other.
+Its native name, _maquahuitl_, was speedily corrupted by the Spaniards
+into _macana_,--a name that is applied, in Castile, to a sabre of lath;
+and which, being more practicable to civilized organs of speech than the
+original title, is worthy of being preserved. The appearance of this
+aged warrior presented none of the infirmities of years. His stooping
+carriage was rather the result of habit than feebleness; his step was
+quick and firm, though ungainly; and his eye rolled with the piercing
+vivacity of youth over the scene, which occupied so much of the
+attention of his followers.
+
+Of these, that one whom the Castilians at the cypress-tree hesitated,
+for a moment, whether to esteem an Indian or a Christian man, was of a
+figure more remarkable for sturdiness than elegance. The roll of cloth
+round his body extended from his waist, where it was secured by a
+leathern girdle, to his knees. The mantle about his shoulders was more
+capacious than his fellow's, but it left his brawny chest in part
+exposed, and thereby revealed a skin fairer than belonged to the natives
+of Anahuac. His hair, though very long, was of a reddish-brown colour,
+and waving rather than straight; and a rough beard of a ruddy hue,
+though so short that its growth seemed to have been permitted for not
+more than the space of a week, was another phenomenon not to be looked
+for in a barbarian. But the indications of civilized origin offered by
+these characteristics, were set at naught by the step and bearing of the
+stranger, which were to the full as wild and peculiar as those of his
+more ancient companion; like whom, he carried a buckler and macana,
+though without the bow and quiver. His eye rolled with a like wildness;
+but his features were European; and instead of being entirely barefoot,
+like the senior, his feet were defended by stout sandals of untanned
+skin.
+
+The third, and by far the most remarkable of all, was he who had first
+caught the eye of Najara, and upon whom was now concentrated the gaze of
+the whole party. A figure of the most majestic height, and noble
+proportions, though, at the present moment, greatly wasted, was rather
+set off to advantage than concealed by a costume as spare and primitive
+as that of the red-bearded man. His skin was much tawnier than his
+companion's; indeed, it was of the darkest hue known among the southern
+provinces of Spain and Portugal, where the blood of Europe has mingled
+harmoniously with the life-tides of Africa. His lofty stature was more
+obvious, perhaps, since he adopted not the bearing or gait of the
+others, but moved along erect, with a graceful demeanour, and a step of
+natural ease and dignity. He had but one characteristic of a Mexican;
+and that was the long hair, straight, and of an intense blackness, that
+fell from his temples to his breast, with much of a wild and savage
+profusion, concealing, in part, a cheek of the finest contour, though
+somewhat hollowed by hardship, and, perhaps, suffering. The puffs of
+wind, blowing aside this sable curtain, disclosed an elevated forehead,
+crowning a visage in which every feature was of the mould of Castile,
+and after the happiest model of that order of beauty, each being
+sculptured with a touch that preserved delicacy, even while giving
+boldness. His age would have been a question wherewith to puzzle a
+physiognomist: there was much in the smoothness of his brow, and the
+unaltered freshness of a mouth, over which was sprouting a mustache,
+short and bushy, as if as lately submitted to the tonsure as the beard
+of his companion, that spoke of youth just verging into maturity; while,
+on the other hand, the complete developement of his frame, and the
+seriousness of his countenance, would have conveyed the impression of an
+age many years farther advanced. This seriousness of expression was,
+indeed, more than mere gravity; it indicated a melancholy, or even
+sadness, which, though of a gentle cast, was become a settled and
+permanent characteristic.
+
+As he approached, his eyes were, like his companions', fixed with
+curiosity upon the long and dense body of Tlascalans, from whom they
+were only withdrawn, when the exclamation of Najara attracted them
+suddenly to the group at the cypress. The confusion of these personages
+was so manifest, and they handled their arms with an air so indicative
+of hostility, that the old warrior and the red-bearded man came to an
+instant halt, and looked, as if for instructions, to their taller and
+more noble-visaged companion. He instantly stepped before them, and
+waving his hand to Najara, who was hastily fitting a bolt to his
+crossbow, and to the historian, who presented his partisan with greater
+alacrity of decision than would have been anticipated from his sluggish
+appearance, cried aloud,
+
+"Hold, friends! We are not enemies, but Christians and Castilians."
+
+"Art thou Juan Lerma? and art thou truly alive? or do I look upon thy
+phantom?" cried the hunchback, with an agitated voice.
+
+"Out, fool! we are good living men," exclaimed the red-bearded man,
+angrily; "and with flesh enough upon our bones, to cudgel thee into
+better manners, I trow. Is this the way you receive old friends,
+returning from bondage among infidels? What, Bernal Diaz, thou ass! dost
+thou not know Gaspar Olea, thine old townsman of Medina-del-Campo, thy
+brother-in-arms and sworn friend? nor yet the senor Don Juan Lerma, my
+captain and friend in trouble? nor Ocelotzin, the old Ottomi rascal, our
+guide here?"
+
+"Ay, oho! old rascal, old friend; all friends, all rascals," cried the
+Indian, looking affectionately towards the Castilians, who still stood
+in doubt, and using the few Spanish words with which he was familiar;
+"good friends, good rascals,--Castellanos, Cristianos;--friends,
+rascals."
+
+While the rest were hesitating, the cavalier Don Francisco de Guzman
+suddenly stepped out from among them, and, advancing towards the young
+man Lerma, with a smiling countenance and extended hand, said,
+
+"Though I am not thought to be the most loving of thy friends, I will be
+the first to bid thee welcome, senor Lerma, in token that old feuds do
+not mar the satisfaction with which I behold a Christian man rescued so
+happily, and as it appears to me, so marvellously, from the grave."
+
+The emotions and changes of countenance with which the young man heard
+these words, were various and strongly marked. At the first tones of
+Guzman, he started back, as if a serpent had suddenly crossed his path,
+and grew pale, while his eyes flashed a ferocious and deadly fire. At
+the next, the blood rushed over his visage, and throbbed with a visible
+violence in the vessels of his temples; while he half raised the macana,
+which he carried, in lieu of a better weapon, as if to cleave the
+speaker to the earth. The next instant, the angry suffusion departed,
+his brows relaxed their severity, the deep melancholy gathered again in
+his eyes, and he surveyed the cavalier with a patient and grave
+placidity, until the latter had finished his salutation. Then, bending
+his head, and folding his hands upon his breast, he replied, mildly, and
+without a shadow of anger,
+
+"I have, as thou sayest, returned from the grave, in the sight of which
+I strove, as a Christian should, to make my peace with man as well as
+with heaven. I have done so; I am at peace with all; I am at peace with
+_thee_--But I cannot give thee my hand."
+
+The cavalier Don Francisco received this rejection of his good-will with
+no sign of dissatisfaction, that was distinguishable by others, beyond a
+smile or sneer; but inclining his head towards Lerma, he muttered in his
+ear--
+
+"The strife is unequal; but I accept thy defiance. Thou art but a
+broken-legged wolf, and wilt fight a fatted tiger--I am content."
+
+So saying, or rather whispering, for his words were only caught by the
+ears of Juan, the cavalier turned upon his heel, and without
+condescending to exhibit his mortification in the vain air of pride and
+scorn, assumed by ordinary men on such occasions, he began to walk
+towards the city. He was presently followed by the senor Camarga; who,
+having fastened upon Juan, for a few moments, a look of intense
+curiosity, flung, when he had satisfied himself, his cloak over the
+lower part of his visage, and thus departed.
+
+"You give me but a cold welcome, good friends," said Juan, looking after
+the retreating man with a sigh. "Will no one else in this company offer
+his hand to one who burns with joy at the sight of Christian faces?"
+
+"When thou art better acquainted with the bounty of the compliment,
+doubtless, but no sooner," said the hunchback, who had surveyed the
+youth with an interest which was belied by his present scorn. "A good
+day to you, senor Juan Lerma, and God keep you well. There is a good
+path over the mountains, northward, by the way of Otumba. If you like
+not the company of heathens, there are fair maids enow in Cuba."
+
+With these hints, which the young man listened to with a disturbed
+aspect, and which the hunchback accompanied with sour and contemptuous
+looks, he turned away, and began to hobble after his companions.
+
+"Now God be our stay!" exclaimed Juan, with some emotion, "there is not
+a man who has a tear for our sorrows, or a smile for our joy. It were
+better we had perished, Gaspar!"
+
+"_I_ am not ashamed to give thee my hand," said Bernal Diaz, shaking off
+his amazement, and advancing, "though I know not how far thou art
+deserving of such countenance. But I must first claim to embrace my old
+friend and brother, Gaspar; whom, by my faith, I can scarce believe that
+I see living before me! How didst thou thus learn to turn thy toes in,
+Gaspar?"
+
+"Away, thou dog-eared, ill-blooded block!" cried the red-bearded Gaspar,
+who had watched the turn of proceedings with indignation, and now poured
+forth his accumulated wrath upon the worthy historian. "Ashamed!--_thou_
+ashamed!--_thy_ countenance!--deserving of _thy_ countenance, thou
+ill-mannered, bog-brained churl and ass! Thou wilt give the young senor
+thy hand! If thou dost but lift it, I will smite it off with my
+battle-axe. Curmudgeon! _I_ thy friend and brother?--I discard thee and
+forswear thee; I do, marry--"
+
+"Peace, Gaspar," said Lerma, mildly; "quarrel not with thy friend on my
+account; thou hast no offence on thine own. It is plain, there is but
+cold cheer in store for me: make none for thyself."
+
+"Oh, senor!" said Gaspar, sharply, for his anger was waxing hot and
+unrespective, "I am no servant, no grinning lackey, to be told, 'do me
+this,' and 'do me that,' by your excellent favour; no, by your leave,
+no;--I am your soldier, not your foot-man. I will quarrel when I like,
+and I will not be chidden. I am your soldier, senor, your soldier--"
+
+"My friend, I think," said the young man; "though thou dost now afflict
+me more than those who seem my enemies."
+
+"Afflict!--enemies!--_I_ afflict!" cried Gaspar, fiercely; "I quarrel
+with your enemies!--ay, _a outrance_, as the Frenchmen, say. I have
+fought them in Italy. Fuego! enemies!--call this knave by the name, and
+if I do not smite him to the chine, townsman though he be--"
+
+"Peace, Gaspar, if thou art my friend, as, I trust this good Bernal
+is,--"
+
+"Go to," said Bernal Diaz, in high dudgeon, addressing himself to
+Gaspar, "thou art turned heathen, or thou wouldst not so abuse me. I
+care for you not; I have nothing to do with you, nor with any of your
+companions. By and by you will repent. God be with you, and make you
+wiser."
+
+With these words, the historian followed the example of the others, and
+was straightway stalking, with impetuous strides, towards Tezcuco.
+
+"Now art you not ashamed, Gaspar, to have given way to this boy's wrath?
+Wilt thou be womanish, too?"
+
+"Ay," said Gaspar, shaking his head with the fury of a mastiff, rending
+some meaner animal, and thus dashing away certain tears of rage or
+mortification, that were starting in his eyes: "it doth make a woman of
+me, to think we have escaped from dangers such as were never dreamed of
+by these false traitors,--from infidel prisons and heathen maws, and
+come, at last, among Christian men, whom I could have hugged, every ill
+loon of them all; and not one to stretch forth his hand, and say God
+bless me! You were right, senor; it were better to have remained slaves
+with the King of the Humming-bird Valley, than to have left him for such
+hangdog welcome."
+
+"Thou wouldst have had nothing to complain of, hadst thou bridled thy
+impatient temper. These men meant not to provoke _thee_."
+
+"Bad friends, bad rascals!" said the Ottomi, who, during these several
+passages, had been staring from one Christian to another in unconcealed
+amazement: "bad friends! no good rascals!" he muttered in Spanish; then
+instantly changing to Mexican, which though not his native tongue, was
+more familiar to him, and was besides well understood by Juan, he
+continued,
+
+"Itzquauhtzin, the Great Eagle," (for thus he chose to designate the
+youth,) "has settled upon the hill of kites. Where are his wings?
+Malintzin is angry; he sends his young men to frown. Here is another: he
+laughs with his eyes.--Ocelotzin is an old tiger,--Techeechee is a dog
+without voice; but the _itzli_[6] is sharp in his hand. Shall he
+strike?"
+
+[Footnote 6: _Itzli_, the obsidian or volcanic glass.]
+
+The wild eyes of the barbarian (for the Ottomies, or mountain Indians,
+were the true savages of Anahuac,) were bent with the subtle and
+malignant keenness of the tiger whose name he bore, upon the Alguazil,
+Villafana, who, standing a little aside, and for a time unseen, had
+watched the salutations, and, finally, the departure of his companions,
+without himself saying a word. He now stepped forward, disregarding the
+evil looks of the Indian, as well as those of Gaspar, whose feelings of
+mortification were thirsting for some legitimate object whereon to
+expend their fury: and stretching forth his hand in the most friendly
+manner, said to Juan,
+
+"How now, senor? drive this old cut-throat dog away.--I claim to be an
+old acquaintance, and, at this moment, not a cold one. The foxes being
+gone, the goose may stretch her neck.--Here am I, one man at least,
+heartily glad to find you coming alive from the trap, and not afraid to
+say so.--Does your favour forget me? Methinks you have the gift of
+rejecting the hands that are offered, howsoever you may covet those that
+are withheld."
+
+"You do me wrong--I remember you well," said Juan, taking the hand, from
+which he had first recoiled with a visible reluctance: "I thank you for
+your kindness. Yes, I remember you," he repeated, with extreme sadness:
+"Would I did _not_."
+
+"Come, senor Gaspar," continued the Alguazil, turning to Olea. "You and
+I were never such friends as true men should be; but, notwithstanding, I
+give you my true welcome and most Christian congratulations."
+
+"I ever thought you a knave," said Gaspar, clutching Villafana's hand,
+with a sort of sulky thankfulness, "being but an eternal grumbler and
+reviler at the general. But I see you are more of a Christian and man
+than any other villain of them all. Fire and blood! why do they treat us
+thus?"
+
+"Oh, you shall soon know. But how now, senor Lerma, what is your will?
+Will you walk with me to the city? We have royal commanders now: 'tis a
+matter for the stocks, and, sometimes, the strappado, to loiter beyond
+the lines, after the trumpet's call. Will you walk to Tezcuco? or do you
+choose rather to betake you to the hills, as Najara advised you? Cortes
+is another man now, senor, and somewhat dangerous, as you may have
+inferred from the bearing of his favourites. If you would be wise, go
+not near him. It is not too late."
+
+"Senor Villafana," said Juan, "what I have seen and heard has filled me
+with trouble; for, like Gaspar, I looked for such reception as might be
+expected by men returning from among heathen oppressors, to Christian
+associates and old friends. I know not well what has happened during the
+fourteen months of my absence from the army, save what was darkly spoken
+to me by a certain king, in whose hands I have remained, with my
+companions, many months in captivity. He gave me to believe that my
+countrymen had all fallen in a war with Montezuma, whom I left in peace,
+and in strong, though undeserved, bonds. I perceive that I have been
+cajoled: I rejoice that you are living men; but I know not why I should
+fear to join myself again among you. I claim to be conducted to your
+general."
+
+"It shall be as you choose; but, senor, you are no longer in favour. As
+for Gaspar and the Indian, it will be well enough with them: a good
+soldier like Gaspar is worth something more than hanging; and such a
+knave as this old savage can be put to good use. Senor, shall I speak a
+word with you? Bid the two advance: I have somewhat to say to you in
+private."
+
+The young man regarded the Alguazil with an anxious countenance; and
+then, desiring his companions to lead the way towards Tezcuco, followed,
+at a little distance, with Villafana.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+For a few moments, the two walked together in silence, and at a slow
+pace, until the others were beyond earshot; when Villafana, suddenly
+stopping and casting his eyes upon Juan, said, with but little ceremony,
+
+"Senor Juan Lerma, I am your friend; and by St. Peter, who was once a
+false one, you need one that is both plain and true. Does your memory
+tax you with the commission of any act deserving death?"
+
+To this abrupt demand, the young man answered, with an agitated voice,
+but without a moment's hesitation,
+
+"It does. Thou knowest full well, and perhaps all others know, now, that
+I have shed the blood of my friend, the son of my oldest and truest
+benefactor."
+
+"Pho!" cried Villafana, hastily; "I meant not _that_. Your friend,
+indeed? Come, you grieve too much for this. At the worst, it was the
+mishap of a duel,--a fair duel; and, I am a witness, it was, in a
+manner, forced upon you. You should not think of this: there are but few
+who know of it, and none blame you. What I meant to ask, was this--are
+you conscious of any crime worthy of death at the hands of Cortes?"
+
+"I am not," said Lerma, firmly, though very sadly; "no, by mine honour,
+no! I am conscious, and it is a thing long since known to all, that I
+have entirely lost the favour with which he was used to befriend me.
+Nay, this was apparent to me, before I was sent from his presence. I
+hoped that in the long period of my exile, something might occur to show
+him his anger was unjust; and, with this hope, I looked this day, to end
+my wanderings joyfully. I am deceived; everything goes to prove, that
+neither my long sufferings, (and they were both long and many,) nor my
+supposed death have made my appeal of innocence. But I will satisfy him
+of this: I will demand to know my crime. If it be indeed, as I think,
+the death of Hilario--"
+
+"Pho! be wise. He counts not this against thee,--he has been himself a
+duellist. Say nothing of Hilario, neither; no, by the mass! nor be thou
+so mad as to question him of his anger. Thou art very sure, then--I must
+be free with thee, even to the dulness of repetition:--thou art very
+sure, thou hast done nothing to deserve death at his hands?"
+
+"I call heaven to witness," said Juan, "that, save this unhappy
+mischance in the matter of Hilario, which is itself deserving of death,
+I am ignorant of aught that should bring me under his displeasure."
+
+"Enough," said Villafana: "But I would thou shouldst never more speak of
+Hilario. He is dead, heaven rest his soul! He was a knave too; peace,
+then, to his bones!--I am satisfied, thou hast done naught to Cortes,
+deserving death at his hand. I have but one more question to ask
+you:--Has Cortes done nothing to deserve death at thine?"
+
+"Good heavens! what do you mean?" cried Juan, starting as much at the
+sinister tones as the surprising question of the Alguazil.
+
+"Do you ask me? what, _you_?" said Villafana, "Come, I am your friend."
+
+As the Alguazil pronounced these words, with an insinuating frankness
+and earnestness, he threw into his countenance an expression that seemed
+meant to invite the confidence of the young man, and encourage him to
+expose the mystery of his breast, by laying bare the secrets of his own.
+It was a transfiguration: the mean person was unchanged,--the
+insignificant features did not alter their proportions,--but the smile
+that had contorted them, was turned into a sneer of fiendish malignancy,
+and the peculiar sweetness that characterized his eyes, was lost in a
+sudden glare of passion, so demoniacal, that it seemed as if the flames
+of hell were blazing in their sockets. It was the look of but an
+instant: it made Juan recoil with terror: but before he could express a
+word of this feeling, of curiosity, or of suspicion, it had vanished.
+The Alguazil touched his arm, and said quickly, though without any
+peculiar emphasis,
+
+"Judge for yourself: Heaven forbid I should breed ill-will where there
+is none, or plant thorns in my friend's flower-garden. Judge for
+yourself, senor: if, being innocent of all crime, Cortes has yet doomed
+you, basely and perfidiously, to death,--"
+
+"To death!" exclaimed Juan, with a voice that reached the ears of his
+late companions, and brought them to a sudden stand; "Heaven be my help!
+and do I come back but to die?"
+
+"You went forth but to die!" said Villafana; "and, you may judge, with
+what justice. Come, senor,--the thing is said in a moment. The
+expedition was designed for your death-warrant."
+
+"Villain!" exclaimed Juan; "dare you impute this horrible treachery to
+Cortes?"
+
+"Not,--no, not, if it appear at all doubtful to your own excellent
+penetration," replied the Alguazil, with a laugh. "I do but repeat you
+the belief of some half the army--had it been but before the Noche
+Triste, I might have said, _all_: but, in truth, we are now, more than
+half of us, new men, who know but little of the matter."
+
+"Does any one charge this upon the general?" said Juan, with a look of
+horror.
+
+"Ay,--if you call them not 'villains,'" replied the soldier.
+
+"I will know the truth," said Juan. "I will find who has belied me."
+
+"You will find that of any one but Don Hernan. Senor Don Juan, I pity
+you. You have returned at an evil moment; your presence will chill old
+friends, and sharpen ancient enemies."
+
+"If he seek my life, it is his: but, by heaven, the man who has wronged
+me,--"
+
+"Get thy horse and arms first. Wilt thou be wise? Thou shalt have
+friends to back thee. Listen: A month since, there came for thee, in a
+ship from the islands, two very noble horses, and a suit of goodly
+armour, sent, as was said, by some benevolent friend, whom thou mayst be
+quicker at remembering than myself."
+
+"Sent by heaven, I think," said Lerma, "for I know not what earthly
+friend would so supply my necessities."
+
+"Oh, then," said Villafana, "the rumour is, they were sent thee by the
+lady Catalina, our general's wife."
+
+"May heaven bless her!" exclaimed Juan; "for she is mine only friend:
+and this bounty I have not deserved."
+
+"In this matter," said Villafana, dryly, "she will prove rather thine
+enemy; that is, if thou art resolute to demand the restoration of her
+gifts."
+
+"The restoration!"
+
+"In good truth, they were distributed among thine heirs; the horse
+Bobadil, thought by many to be the best in the army, falling to the
+share of thy good friend Guzman."
+
+"To Guzman?" cried Juan, angrily. "Could they find no better friend to
+give him to? I will have him back again; yea, by St. Juan, he shall ride
+no steed of mine!"
+
+"Right!" exclaimed Villafana; "for if thou hast an enemy, he is the man.
+Thou didst well, to refuse his hand. He offered it not in love, but in
+treachery. Thou wilt ask Cortes for thy maligner? It needs not: remember
+Don Francisco."
+
+"I will do so," said Juan, with a sigh. "I thought, in my captivity,
+when I despaired of ever more looking upon a Christian face, that I had
+forgiven my enemies. I deceived myself,--I hate Don Francisco. I will
+proclaim him before the whole army, if he refuse to do me reparation."
+
+"I tell thee, thou shalt have friends," said the Alguazil, with an
+insinuating voice, "to back thee in this matter, as well as in all
+others wherein thou hast been wronged. But thou must be ruled. Speak not
+to Cortes in complaint: he will do thee no justice. Send no defiance of
+battle to Guzman, for this has been proclaimed a sin against God and the
+king, to be punished with loss of arms, degradation, and whipping with
+rods,--sometimes with the loss of the right hand. You stare! Oh, senor
+Juan Lerma, you will find we have a master now,--a master by the king's
+patent,--who makes his own laws, beats and dishonours, and gives us to
+the gallows, when the fit moves him, without any necessity of cozening
+us to death in expeditions to the gold mines, or the South Seas."
+
+"Senor Villafana," said Juan, firmly, "I do not believe that, in this
+thing, Cortes designed me any wrong; nor will I permit myself to think
+of it any more. You seem to have something to say to me. Gaspar and the
+Indian are beyond hearing. If you will advise me as a friend, in what
+manner I shall conduct myself in this difficult conjuncture, I will
+listen to you with gratitude; and with thanks more hearty still, if you
+make me acquainted with a way to redeem my honour and faith in the eyes
+of the general."
+
+"I have but two things to counsel you: Make your report of adventures,
+good and bad, to the general, without words of complaint or suspicion;
+and, this done, demand of him, and care not how boldly, the restoration
+of your horses and armour."
+
+"If they be the gifts of his lady," said Juan, with hesitation,
+"methinks, it will not become me to press this demand on him; but rather
+to leave it to his own honour and generosity."
+
+The Alguazil gave the youth a piercing look; but seeing in his visage no
+embarrassment beyond that of a man who is debating a question of mere
+delicacy, replied, coolly,--
+
+"Ask him, then. It is not certainly known that these horses came from
+Dona Catalina; and, perhaps, they do not. Yet it will be but courteous
+in thee to say, thou hast been so informed, and that thou dost so
+believe. Get thy horses, by all means: but again I say to thee, do
+nothing to incense the general. If he provoke thee, show not thy
+displeasure; at least, show it not now. I will give thee more reasons
+for what I counsel, as we walk through the city."
+
+By this time the speakers had reached the gates of the city, where
+Gaspar and the Ottomi stood in waiting for them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+The walls of Mexico were the foaming surges of her lake. The cities on
+the shore, when much exposed by defencelessness of site, great wealth of
+inhabitants, or other causes, to the attacks of enemies, were surrounded
+by walls, commonly of earth, though sometimes, as in the case of
+Tezcuco, of stone. These were, ordinarily, of no great height or
+strength, but sufficient, when well manned, to repel the assaults of the
+slingers and archers of America.
+
+The external fortifications of Tezcuco were, as became the ancient rival
+of Tenochtitlan, of a more imposing order. The walls were thick and
+high, with embattled parapets, and deep ditches at the base. The gates
+were protected in the manner common to the land, by the overlapping, so
+to speak, of the opposite walls; that is, being made, as they approached
+each other, to change from their straight, to a circular course, the one
+traversing upon a greater radius than the other, they thus swept by and
+_round_ each other, in parallel curves, leaving a long and narrow
+passage between them, commanded not only by the walls themselves, but by
+strong stone turrets, built on their extremities.
+
+Besides these defences, there was erected within the walls, and directly
+opposed to each entrance, a small pyramid, elevated fifteen or twenty
+feet above the walls, and crowned with little sanctuaries,--thus serving
+a religious as well as a military purpose. In the one sense, these
+structures might be considered Chapels of Ease to the greater temples of
+the quarters in which they stood; in the other, they were not unlike the
+cavaliers, or commanding mounds, of European fortification, from the
+tops and sides of which the besieger could be annoyed, whilst without
+the walls, and arrested on his course, when within.
+
+Thus, then, there were ready to his hands, fortifications, of which the
+Spanish commander, now the Captain-General of New Spain, as the
+unsubdued Mexico was already called, was not slow to reap the full
+advantage. A strong guard of Castilian soldiers was posted before each
+gate; a native watchman sat on each turret; and a line of Tlascalan
+sentries, stepping proudly along in their places of trust, occupied the
+lofty terrace of the walls.
+
+The edifices disclosed to Juan, when he had, with his companions, passed
+through the staring warders into the town, were similar to those of
+Mexico,--of stone, and low, though often adorned with turrets. In all
+cases, the roofs were terraced, and covered with shrubs and flowers; and
+the passion of the citizens for such delightful embellishments, had
+converted many a spacious square into gardens, wherein fluttered and
+warbled birds of a thousand hues and voices.
+
+Over these open spaces were seen, in different quarters, the tops of
+high pyramids and towers, scattered about the town in vast and
+picturesque profusion.
+
+The roaring sound of life that pervades a great city, even when
+unassisted by the thundering din of wheeled carriages, gave proof enough
+of the dense multitudes that inhabited Tezcuco. The eye detected the
+evidences of a population still more astonishing, in the myriads of
+tawny bodies that crowded the streets, the gardens, the temple squares,
+and the housetops, many of whom seemed to have no other habitation. In
+fact, the introduction of the many thousands who composed the train, or,
+as it was called, the Army of the Brigantines, added to the hosts of
+other warriors previously collected by Cortes, and the presence of the
+original inhabitants, gave to Tezcuco that appearance of an
+over-crowded, suffocating vitality, which is presented by the modern
+Babylons of France and Great Britain. The murmur of voices, the
+pattering of feet, the rustling of garments, with the sounds of
+instruments wielded by artisans, both native and Christian, made,
+together, a din that seemed like the roar of a tempest to the ears of
+one, who, like Lerma, had just escaped from the mute hills and the
+silent forests of the desert. At a distance--beheld from the
+cypress-tree,--the view of Tezcuco seemed to embrace a scene made up of
+tranquillity and repose. The same thing is true of all other cities; and
+the same thing may be said of human life, when we sit aloof and
+contemplate the bright pageant, in which we take no part. If we advance
+and mingle with it, the picture is turned to life, the peace to tumult,
+and we lose all the charms of the prospect in the distractions of
+participation.
+
+As Juan, conducted by the Alguazil, made his way through the torrents of
+bodies which poured through every street, and became more accustomed to
+move among them, the excitement gradually subsided in his breast, the
+colour faded from his cheeks; and, by the time he had reached the end of
+his journey, there remained no expression on his visage beyond that of
+its usual and characteristic sadness. This was deepened, perhaps, by the
+scene around him; for it is the virtue of melancholy, where it exists as
+a temperament, or has become a settled trait, to be increased by the
+excitements of a city or crowd. Perhaps it was darkened also by the
+reflection, as he raised his eyes to the vast palace in which Cortes had
+established his head-quarters, that among all its crowds,--the military
+guards at the door, and the lounging courtiers within,--there was not a
+single friend waiting to rejoice over his return.
+
+The house of Nezahualcojotl, who has been already mentioned as the most
+famous and refined of the Tezcucan kings, possessed but little to
+distinguish it from the edifices of nobles around, except its greatness
+of extent. It was a pile or cluster of many houses built of vast blocks
+of basalt, well cut and polished, surrounding divers courts and
+gardens,--what might be termed the wings consisting of but a basement
+story, which was relieved from monotony by the presence of towers and
+battlements, and the sculptured effigies of animals and serpents on the
+walls, and particularly around the narrow loops which served for
+windows. The centre, or principal portion, had an additional story,
+loftier towers, and more imposing sculptures. The windows were carved of
+stone, so as to resemble the yawning mouths of beasts of prey; the
+battlements were crouching tigers; and the pillars of the great door
+were palm-trees, round the trunks of which twined two immense serpents,
+whose necks met at the lintel, among the interlocking branches, and
+embraced and supported a huge tablet, on which was engraven the Aztec
+calendar, according to the singular and yet just system of the ancient
+native astronomers.--Sixty years _after_ this period, the sages of
+Europe discovered and adopted a mode of adjusting the civil to the
+astronomical time, so as to avoid, for the future, the confusion--the
+utter disjointing of seasons--which had been the consequence of the
+Julian computation. At this very moment, the barbarians of America were
+in possession of a system, which enabled them to anticipate, and rectify
+by proper intercalations, the disorders not only of years, but of
+cycles,--and how much _earlier_, the wisdom of civilization has not yet
+divined.
+
+On the whole, there was something not less impressive than peculiar in
+the appearance of an edifice which had sheltered a long line of
+Autochthonous monarchs; and as Juan passed from the square, in front of
+the artillery that commanded it, under the folds of the mighty serpents
+at the door, and into the sombre shadows of the interior, he was struck
+with a feeling of awe, which was not immediately removed even by the
+more stirring emotions of the instant.
+
+The hall, or rather vestibule, in which he now found himself, was
+distinguished, rather than animated, by the presence of many Spaniards
+of high and low degree, some clustered together in groups, some stalking
+to and fro in haughty solitude, while others bustled about with an air
+of importance and authority; but all, as Lerma quickly observed,
+preserving a decorous silence,--conversing in whispers, and moving with
+a cautious tread, as if in the ante-room of a king, instead of the hall
+of a soldier-of-fortune like themselves.
+
+A few of them bent their eyes upon the strangers, and stepped forward to
+survey their savage equipments. The keen glances which they cast towards
+him, the hurried and somewhat sonorous exclamations with which they
+pointed him out to one another, but more than all, the presence of
+Najara, of Bernal Diaz, and of the stranger Camarga, among them,
+convinced Juan that he was recognized. But with this conviction came
+also the sickening consciousness that not one had a smile of
+satisfaction to bestow upon him in the way of welcome. He remembered the
+faces of many; and, once or twice, he raised his hand, and half stepped
+forward, to meet some one or other who seemed disposed to salute him. He
+was deceived; those who came nighest, were only the most curious. They
+nodded their heads familiarly to Villafana; a few returned the advances
+of Lerma with solemn and reverential bows; but none raised up their
+heads to meet the exile's advances.
+
+"The curse of ingratitude follow you all, cold knaves!" muttered Gaspar
+between his teeth. The eyes of the Ottomi twinkled upon the groups, with
+a mixture of wonder and malignant wrath. Juan smothered his sighs, and
+strode onwards.
+
+He stopped suddenly at a door, wreathed, like the outer, with snakes,
+though carved of wood, over which hung curtains of some dark and heavy
+texture, and behind which, as it seemed to him, from the murmuring of
+voices, was the apartment in which the Captain-General gave audience to
+his followers and the allied tribes of Mexico, who made up what may be
+called, as it seemed to be considered, his court. Here Juan paused, and
+turning to the Alguazil, said, calmly, and with a low voice,
+
+"From what I have seen and now see, I perceive, it will not be fitting I
+should approach the general--especially in these weeds, which can scarce
+extenuate the coldness of my old companions,--without the ceremony of an
+announcement and expressed permission."
+
+"Fear not," whispered Villafana, with a grim smile: "thy friend
+Francisco will have done thee this good turn. Remember--offend him not
+now: but, still, lay claim to the horses."
+
+As he spoke, the Alguazil, pushed aside the curtain, and, in a moment
+more, the youth was in the presence of Cortes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+The apartment into which Juan now found himself introduced, was very
+spacious; and, indeed, had the height of the ceiling corresponded in
+proportion with the length and breadth, would have been esteemed vast.
+Without being so low as to be decidedly mean, it was yet depressed
+enough to show how little the principles of taste had extended among the
+natives, to the art of architecture; or, what is equally probable, how
+wisely provision was made against the earthquakes and other convulsions,
+so naturally to be expected in a land of volcanoes.
+
+The huge rafters of cedar, carved into strange and emblematic
+arabesques, were supported, at intervals, by a double row of pillars of
+the most grotesque shapes. On the walls were hung arras, on which were
+painted rude scenes of battle and of sacrifice, with hieroglyphic
+records of history, as well as choice maxims of virtue and policy,
+selected from the compositions of that king, who had finished, and given
+name to the habitation, long since founded by his ancestors. It was
+lighted in a manner equally rare and magnificent. A considerable space
+in the further or western wall, from which the tapestry was drawn aside,
+was occupied by stone mullions of strange forms, between which were
+fixed large translucent blocks of alabaster, such as we now behold in
+the church windows of Puebla de los Angelos. Upon these were painted
+many incomprehensible figures, which would have deformed the beauty of
+the stone, but for the brilliancy and delicacy of their hues. As it was,
+the strong glare of the evening sun, falling upon this transparent wall,
+came through it, with the mellow lustre and harmonious tints of a
+harvest-moon, shedding a soft but sufficient light over the whole
+apartment, making what was harsh tender, and what was lovely almost
+divine.[7]
+
+[Footnote 7: Windows of this rich material were discovered in a Roman
+villa at Pompeii. The effect of a lamp in an alabaster vase will be
+familiar to the reader.]
+
+On the left hand, were several narrow doors, opening upon a garden,
+which was seen, sometimes, when the breeze stirred aside the curtains
+that defended them; on the right, were others leading to certain
+chambers, and carefully protected by a similar drapery.
+
+The floor of this hall of audience was covered with mats stained with
+various colours.
+
+At the farther extremity of the apartment stood a group of Spanish
+cavaliers, surrounding a platform of slight elevation, on which,
+sumptuously dressed, and leaning upon a _camoncillo_, or chair of state,
+stood Hernan Cortes. At his right hand, sitting and supported by two
+gallant cavaliers, was his royal god-son, Ixtlilxochitl, now Don Hernan
+Cortes, the king of Tezcuco;--a young man of mild aspect; at whose feet
+sat his younger and more manly brother, Suchel, from whom was afterwards
+derived one of the noble families of New Spain. On the left of the
+general, were two Indians of a far nobler presence, and known by the
+singular loftiness of their plumes, if not by the commanding sternness
+of their visages, to be Tlascalans of high degree. They were, in fact,
+the military chieftains Xicotencatl and Chichimecatl, men of renown not
+only among their tribes, but the Spaniards. Behind each stood his page,
+or esquire, bearing the great shield of ceremony, whereon were
+emblazoned, in native heraldic devices, the various exploits of his
+master.
+
+Besides these distinguished barbarians, there were others of note among
+the cavaliers, at the side of the platform.
+
+All these several details of a spectacle both romantic and imposing,
+were seen by Juan at a single glance; for, almost at the moment of his
+entrance, a movement was made among those who stood on the left of the
+platform, in the direction of the great Conquistador, as if they desired
+to catch something that instant falling from his lips. As they left the
+view thus open, Juan saw that Cortes, instead of speaking, was bending
+his head and listening with eager interest to the senor Guzman, who had
+ascended the platform, and was now whispering in his ear. At the same
+moment, a prodigiously large dog, with shaggy coat, hanging lips, and
+ferocious eyes, roused by the motion of the general, at whose feet he
+had been sleeping, raised his head, and stared with the majestic gravity
+of a lion, upon the speaker and his master.
+
+There was something in the interested and agitated eagerness with which
+the Captain-General drank in the words of Guzman, that went to the heart
+of Lerma. He doubted not, that Don Francisco was, at that moment,
+speaking of _him_,--of _his_ return to the society of Christians, and to
+the arms of his benefactor,--for such had Cortes once been to him; and
+he read in the varying play of Don Hernan's features, nothing but
+refutation of the malign charges of Villafana, and full proof that the
+general was not indifferent to the friend of former years.
+
+As these thoughts entered his mind, he rushed forward, under their
+impulse, with clasped hands, and with an exclamation that brought the
+looks of all instantly upon him. The huge dog raised himself half up
+from the platform, and uttered a savage growl. He advanced yet another
+step, and the ferocious beast, with a roar that filled the whole
+chamber, dashed furiously from the platform, as against an enemy not to
+be doubted. The young man paused, but not at the opposition of the
+animal: he had, that moment, caught the eye of Don Hernan, and his heart
+failed as he beheld the frown of rage, and, as it seemed to him, hate,
+with which he was regarded.
+
+"Down, Befo!" cried Cortes, with a voice of thunder.
+
+But Befo, who had leaped forward with such ferocious determination, had,
+that instant, stopped before Juan, whom he now eyed with a look of
+wonder and recognition. Then, suddenly fetching such a yelp of joy as
+would have better become the playmate-cur of a child, than the grim
+bloodhound of a soldier, he raised up his vast body, flung his paws upon
+Juan's breast, and strove, evidently, to throw them round his body, in
+the mode of human embrace, whining all the time with the most expressive
+delight.
+
+"Down, Befo! Thick-lips! thou cub of a false wolf!" repeated the
+general, irefully, yet with an expression that would have suited better,
+had he been commanding him to tear the youth to pieces; "Down, fool,
+down! I will stick thee with my rapier."
+
+As he spoke, he half drew his sword from the scabbard.
+
+"Harm him not,--call him not away," cried Juan, with a thick voice; "for
+by heaven and St. Mary, he is all, of a troop of Christian men, once my
+friends, who have any joy to see an old companion return from bonds and
+the grave!"
+
+As the young man spoke, he flung his arms round the neck of the faithful
+beast, and bending his head upon Befo's face, gave way to a passion of
+tears.
+
+"The shame of foul knaves and false companions be on you all!" cried the
+flaming Gaspar, without a whit regarding the presence in which he spake.
+His wrath was cut short, before it had been noticed by any but the
+Ottomi, who stood gaping, at a distance, with looks of visible alarm,
+first excited by the appearance of the dog.
+
+Among most of the cavaliers now present, Juan had been once well known;
+and however their affections might be chilled and their respect
+destroyed, by untoward circumstances, there was something so painfully
+reproachful in the spectacle of his tears, that a strong impression was
+immediately produced among them. All seemed, at once, to remember, that
+he had been once esteemed, notwithstanding his youth, of a bold heart
+and manly bearing; and all seemed to remember also, that fourteen
+months' suffering among unknown pagans, was worthy of some little
+commiseration.
+
+But there was one present of more fiery feelings and determination more
+hasty than any of the Christians. The elder and taller of the Tlascalan
+chiefs, distinguished as much by a haughty and darkly frowning visage as
+by an Herculean frame, stepped down from the platform, and laid his hand
+upon Juan's shoulder; in which position he stood, without speaking a
+word, but expressing in his countenance the spirit of one who avowed
+himself a patron and champion. The tall plume rustled like a waving
+palm, as he raised up his head, and the look that he cast upon Cortes,
+seemed to mingle defiance with disdain. But this hostile expression was
+perhaps concealed by the approach of a cavalier of gallant appearance,
+who stepped suddenly from the throng, and snatching up Juan's left hand
+from the dog's neck, cried with hasty good-will,
+
+"Santiago! (and the devil take all of us that have no better hearts than
+a cur or a wild Indian!) I know no reason, certainly, why thou shouldst
+be treated like a dog. God be with thee, Juan Lerma! I am glad thou art
+alive; God bless thee: and so hold up thy head. If thou hast no better
+raiment, I will give thee my fustian breeches and liver-coloured mantle,
+as well as a good sword of iron, which I have to spare."
+
+This quick-spoken and benevolent cavalier was no less a man than the
+gallant Don Pedro de Alvarado, at this time called, almost universally,
+in memory of his famous leap over the ditch of Tacuba, in the Night of
+Sorrow, the _Capitan del Salto_. He gave place to another of still
+greater renown, who would have been perhaps the first to extend his
+hand, had he been as hasty of resolution as his more mercurial comrade.
+This was the good cavalier Don Gonzalo de Sandoval, better esteemed for
+his skill in arms than any peculiar elegance of conversation.
+
+"Juan Lerma," said he, "I am not sorry thou art alive and well; and if
+thou wilt make any use of the same, to put thee into more Christian
+bravery, I will pray thee to take my gold chain, as well as six good
+cotton shirts, which an Indian woman made me."
+
+To these friendly salutations and bountiful offers, as well as the
+advances of other cavaliers who now bustled around him, Juan replied
+with a manner more expressive of indignation than gratitude. He was
+ashamed of having exposed his weakness, and sensible that it was this
+alone which had obtained him a charitable notice. He raised his head
+proudly, as one who would not accept such compelled kindness, pushed
+Befo to the floor, though still keeping a hand upon his neck,
+acknowledged the presence of Xicotencal with a word, and turned towards
+Cortes a countenance now quite composed, though not without a touch of
+sorrowful resentment.
+
+The emotion which had produced such an impression among the cavaliers,
+was not without its effect even upon the Captain-General. His features
+relaxed their angry severity, he stepped forwards; and when Juan lifted
+up his eyes, he beheld a hand extended towards him, and heard the voice
+of Cortes say, in tones of concession, though of embarrassment,
+
+"God be with you--you do us wrong in this matter: as a Christian man
+escaped from bondage, we are not unrejoiced to see you: as a soldier
+returning from a delayed duty, we will declare our thoughts of you
+anon."
+
+There was nothing very gracious either in the words or tones of the
+speaker; but they were unexpected. They swept away the proud and angry
+resolutions of Juan, and restored to him the warm feelings of affection
+and gratitude, with which he had ever been accustomed to regard the
+general. He seized the proffered hand, pressed it to his lips, and
+seemed about to throw himself at Don Hernan's feet, when suddenly a
+noise was heard at a curtained door hard by, accompanied by what seemed
+the smothered shriek of a woman. At this sound the young man started up,
+with a look of fear, and yielded up the hand which was abruptly snatched
+from his own. He gazed round him and plainly beheld the thick cloth
+before the nearest passage, shaking, as if disturbed by the recent
+passage of some one,--but nothing else. He perceived no new countenance
+added to those of the many in audience, which were directed upon his
+own, with an universal stare of wonder. His attention was recalled by
+the voice of Cortes. He turned; the general was seated; a stern and iron
+gravity had taken the place of relenting feeling on his visage; and it
+was evident to the unfortunate Juan, that the hour of reconciliation had
+passed away, and for ever. The cavaliers retreated,--the Tlascalan and
+the dog were all that remained by his side; and, as if to make his
+disgrace both undeniable and intolerable, the senor Guzman maintained,
+throughout the whole scene, his post at the general's side, confronted
+face to face with his fallen rival.
+
+"We are ready to hear thee, Juan Lerma," said the Captain-General, with
+a voice at once cold and commanding: "you went hence, to explore the
+lands of the west, and the sea that rolls among them. We argue much
+success, and great discoveries, from the time devoted to these purposes,
+and from the discretion you evinced in pursuing them for a whole year
+and more, rather than by returning with your forces, to share in the
+dangerous fights of Mexico. What have you to say? You had some good
+followers, both Christian and unconverted.--Stand thou aloof, Gaspar
+Olea! I will presently speak with thee.--Hast thou brought none back
+with thee but the Barba-Roxa,--Gaspar of the Red Beard?"
+
+There was not a word in this address which did not sting the young man
+to the heart; and the insulting insinuation which a portion of it
+conveyed, was uttered in a tone of the most cutting sarcasm. He
+trembled, reddened, clenched his hand in the shaggy coat of Befo,--who
+still, though beckoned by Cortes, refused to leave the exile,--until the
+animal whined with pain. Then, smothering his emotions, like one who
+perceives that he is wronged, and, knowing that complaint will be
+unavailing, is resolute to suffer with fortitude, he elevated his lofty
+figure with tranquil dignity, looked upon Cortes with an aspect no
+longer reproachful, and replied,
+
+"Besides Gaspar, who is worthy of your excellency's confidence and
+thanks, no one returns with me save the Ottomi, Ocelotzin,--the Tiger; a
+man to whom should be accorded the praise of having saved the life of
+Gaspar, which is valuable to your excellency, and my own,--which is
+worthless."
+
+As he spoke, he pointed to the ancient barbarian, who stepped forward
+with the same affectionate smiles and grimaces which he had bestowed
+upon the party at the cypress-tree, and with many uncouth gestures of
+reverence, saying, in imperfect Castilian, after he had touched the
+floor with his hand, and then kissed it,
+
+"Ottomi I,--good friend, good rascal; but Ocelotzin no more.
+I am Techeechee,[8] the Silent Dog,--the little dog without
+voice,--Techeechee!"
+
+[Footnote 8: _Techichi_--a native animal of the dog kind, which does not
+bark. It was domesticated.]
+
+As he spoke, he cast his eyes, with less of love than admiring fear,
+upon the gigantic beast, whose voice was to him, as well as to his
+countrymen, more terrible than the yell of the mountain tiger.
+
+"I remember thee, good fellow," said the Captain-General.
+
+Then, without bestowing any further present notice on him, he turned
+again to Juan, speaking with the same cold and magisterial tones:
+
+"And where, then, are the two Christians of La Mancha, and the seventy
+warriors of Matlatzinco, who composed your party? the arms you carried?
+and the four good horses entrusted to your charge?"
+
+"Your excellency shall hear," said Juan, calmly: "The two Manchegos were
+ill inclined to the expedition; and therein were my followers but
+unfortunately selected."
+
+"They were mutineers!" cried Gaspar, whose anger was not mollified by
+being made a witness to the ill fate of his young captain: "they were
+mutineers; and so the devil has them."
+
+"Hah!" exclaimed Cortes, starting up, with what seemed angry joy: "didst
+thou dare arrogate the privileges of a judge, and condemn a Christian
+man to death?"
+
+"I am guiltless of such presumption," said Juan. "To their
+dissatisfaction, to their disobedience,--nay, to their frequent threats,
+and open disregard of the commands your excellency had yourself imposed
+upon us, not to provoke the Indians among whom we might be
+journeying,--I adjudged no punishment but the assurance that your
+excellency should certainly be made acquainted with their acts. With
+much persuasion, I prevailed upon them to follow me, until we had
+reached the sea, which it was your excellency's command I should first
+examine."
+
+"Ay!" said Cortes, again starting up, but with an air of exultation;
+"thou hast found it then? and a port that may give shelter to ships of
+burthen?"
+
+"Not one port only, but many," said Juan, with a faltering voice,
+mistaking the satisfaction of the leader for approbation. "In a space of
+seventy leagues, (for so much of the coast was I able to survey,) there
+are many harbours, exceedingly spacious, deep and secure; and some of
+such excellence, that I question whether the world contains any others
+to equal them. Near to some, there is much good ship timber, as well as
+lands amazingly fertile and beautiful."
+
+"This is well," said the Captain-General, coldly. "Thou hast well
+devoted a year of time to the examination of seventy leagues of coast."
+
+"Had that been the only subject of your excellency's orders," said
+Lerma, "you should have had no cause for dissatisfaction. This
+accomplished, it became me, as your excellency had commanded, to explore
+those gold lands to the northwest, and discover that kingdom of
+Huitzitzila, as it was erroneously called by Montezuma, which bordered
+upon his dominions, and had ever maintained its independence by force of
+arms."
+
+At these words, many of the cavaliers looked surprised, as if made
+acquainted with this article of Juan's instructions for the first time,
+and some exchanged meaning glances, which were not lost on Cortes. He
+frowned, and hastily exclaimed,
+
+"You are wrong; I _commanded_ you not. That kingdom being at enmity with
+Mexico, it was not fit your lives should be endangered, by rashly
+adventuring within its confines. You were advised, if you should find we
+had been deceived in the character of those infidels of Huitzitzila, to
+make yourself acquainted with them and their country: but this was left
+to your discretion."
+
+"It is true," said Juan mildly, "your excellency did so advise me; and
+the fault which I committed was in thinking that I should best please
+you, by penetrating to that land, without much thought of difficulty or
+danger. In this, as in other things, as Gaspar will be my witness, I was
+opposed by those unhappy Manchegos; who deserted from me in the night,
+carrying with them, (to replace a horse which they had lost in a river,)
+the charger which your excellency had given to me for my own riding,--as
+well as their arquebuses,--which was still more unfortunate; for
+Gaspar's piece had been broken by a fall, and we were thus left without
+firearms, with but one horse, and no better weapon to procure us food,
+than mine own crossbow, and the arrows of the Matlatzincos."
+
+"Now, by my conscience," said Cortes, "I know not which the more to
+admire,--the good vigilance that allowed these knaves to escape, or the
+rash-brained folly which led you to continue the expedition without
+them!"
+
+The sarcasm produced no change in Juan's visage. He seemed to have made
+up his mind not only to endure injustice, but to expect it.
+
+"Their desertion was neither unforeseen nor unopposed," he answered. "It
+is my grief to say, that they forgot the obligations both of discipline
+and Christianity, and desperately fired upon Gaspar and myself; whereby
+they killed our remaining horse, and wounded myself in the side."
+
+"And where then were thy knavish Indians, that thou didst not slay the
+false traitors on the spot?" cried Cortes, with an indignation, which,
+this time, had the right direction.
+
+The answer to this added but another item of mischance to the young
+man's story. The arts of the Manchegos had spread disaffection among his
+Indian followers, many of whom had deserted with them. Following after
+the mutineers, he was, shortly after, abandoned by the rest; and then
+his little party, consisting only of Gaspar and the Ottomi, was
+attacked, by hostile tribes, driven back upon the path, and finally
+forced to take refuge in the dominions of that native monarch, whose
+reputed grandeur and wealth had so long since excited the curiosity of
+Don Hernan.
+
+The relation of Lerma, though of such thrilling interest that it
+absorbed the attention of all present, and even so wrought upon the mind
+of Cortes, that he gradually discharged the severity of his countenance,
+and even at last ceased altogether to interrupt it with sarcasm or
+commentary of any kind, has too little, or at least too indirect a
+connexion with the present history, to require it to be given in the
+exile's words, or at any length. With the main facts,--his long
+captivity and final escape,--the reader is already acquainted; and it is
+not perhaps necessary to add more than that the kingdom of which so much
+has been said, was that of Mechoacan, and that its capital Tzintzontzan,
+(the Place of Hummingbirds,) corrupted by the Mexicans into Huitzitzila,
+lies yet, though dwindled into the meanest of villages, upon the
+beautiful lake Pascuaro. Juan knew nothing of the fate of the Manchegos.
+By a comparison of dates, it was discovered that the sudden outbreaking
+of hostilities, which had driven him into this remote land, had followed
+almost immediately upon the tumults In Mexico, which had resulted in the
+death of Montezuma and the expulsion of the Spaniards; and it was not
+doubted, that the mutineers had met a miserable and speedy death. With
+the account of lands of unexampled beauty and fertility, of rivers of
+gold and hills of silver, we have nothing to do, except to remark that
+it determined the fate of Mechoacan as certainly as if the order had
+been uttered for its immediate subjugation. The whole account might have
+been omitted, except that it was necessary, as the means of explaining
+some of the feelings with which the young Lerma was regarded by the
+general and his chief followers.
+
+There is no eloquence so persuasive as that of distress, uttered without
+complaint; and no story of hardship and peril fails of exciting
+sympathy, when recounted with truth and modesty. Accordingly, the
+narrative of the exile produced among the cavaliers a powerful
+impression in his favour, which was heightened into admiration by the
+consciousness that nothing but the greatest constancy of purpose, and
+mental resources beyond those of ordinary men, could have conducted him
+through his long and perilous enterprise. Many of those, who seemed to
+remember with most interest the breach between the general and one who
+had been formerly considered almost his adopted son, kept their eyes
+curiously bent on Cortes; and they did not doubt, from the changes of
+his countenance, that his better feelings were deeply engaged, and would
+perhaps restore the young man to the confidence and affection which all
+knew he had lost. This belief became universal, when, at the close of
+the story, the Captain-General arose, and addressing the throng, said,
+
+"Cavaliers and friends, we will free all present from the tedium of this
+audience, saving only the gentlemen of the Secret Counsel, and these our
+returned friends.--Nay, by my faith, Gaspar of the Red Beard, thou mayst
+depart likewise, to speak thy adventures to thine old friends, which
+thou art doubtless itching to do; or, if thou likest that better, get
+thee to Antonio de Quinones, our Master of the Armory, and choose
+thyself a good sword, buckler and breastplate. Thou art a true soldier,
+and, by and by, I have somewhat to say to thee.--The knave has the gait
+of an infidel!"
+
+At this signal for breaking up the audience, which was pronounced with
+the grave and easy authoritativeness of one long accustomed to command,
+the individuals present, Christian and heathen, princes, chieftains, and
+cavaliers, took their departure, leaving behind them Sandoval, Alvarado,
+and a few other officers of high standing.
+
+As Juan stood, embarrassed between hope and doubt, the senor Guzman
+descended from the platform, and, passing him, said with a low voice and
+a derisive smile,
+
+"You mount, senor, and Bobadil neighs for you! It is better--the war is
+equal."
+
+So saying, he passed on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+"Senor Juan Lerma," said Cortes, when the last of the assemblage had
+reluctantly departed:--He had descended from the platform, and spoke
+with a voice, which, if not decidedly friendly, was, at least, free from
+every trace of sternness:--"Senor Juan Lerma, I have to say, that for
+the result of your enterprise, however it has been attended by calamity,
+you deserve both thanks and honours; and it will rest upon your own
+determination whether you shall obtain them or not. Some things there
+are, growing out of this affair, of which it becomes me to speak; and
+thereby I shall give you an opportunity to remove certain stains not yet
+washed from your good name; and after that, to take off others that are
+thought to attach to mine. Hast thou not heard of those fierce and fatal
+wars, that broke out in Mexico shortly after thy departure."
+
+"I have," said Juan; "the king's spies brought the news to Tzintzontzan;
+and they were not only lamentable to hear, but they caused us to be cast
+into cages, and devoted, as we feared, to die the death of sacrifice:
+For know, senor, the sanguinary Mexitli is the god of all this land."
+
+"And hadst thou no suspicion, before departing, that these wars were
+brewing, and threatening us with destruction? Thou wert somewhat quicker
+in catching the heathen tongue than others, and wert not without
+counsellors and friends even among the household of Montezuma."
+
+To this demand, the young man, though embarrassed by the innuendo that
+followed it, did not hesitate to answer:
+
+"I had such suspicions, and I made them known to your excellency."
+
+"You did indeed," said Cortes, musingly; "and I derided them, being
+somewhat heated at the time: but counsel to an irritated temper is even
+sharper than salt on a wounded skin.--This knowledge, senor," he went
+on, "some will impute to thee as good reason why thou shouldst loiter
+fourteen months in the wilderness, to avoid sharing in our perils, which
+were somewhat more horrible than have ever before beset Christian men."
+
+"This," said Juan, firmly, and a little dryly, for there was something
+in the tone of the speaker, which, though he knew not why, impressed him
+unpleasantly,--"this is to make me a coward, which your excellency will
+not believe me to be."
+
+"By my conscience, no!" said Cortes, with emphasis. "Without much
+thought of this present expedition of which we speak, there is no man
+will accuse thee of fear, who has heard of thy voyage in the fusta. By
+my conscience, a most mad piece of daring!" he continued as if in
+admiration, although it was observable, that, while he spoke, his
+countenance darkened, as though there were some disagreeable thought
+associated with the recollection. "No," he went on, "there will be more
+said of anger and ambition than of terror. Thou knowest, we have envy
+and detraction about us, that spare none. I can hear, already, how
+Villafana and other knaves of his peevish, malicious temper, will speak
+of thee.--They will speak of thy causes for resentment, of the promised
+favour of the plotting king, a principality among the lakes, with the
+hope of loftier succession, and the hand of the princely Maiden of the
+Star,----"
+
+"And this," cried Juan, interrupting the general, "this is to make me a
+traitor and apostate! Senor, I doubt not that the senor Guzman is at the
+bottom of all this slander: and I therefore claim to defie,--"
+
+"Peace! wilt thou put thyself in opposition again? If thou dost but
+raise thy hand in wrath, save against an infidel enemy, thou wert better
+never to have been born!"
+
+The sudden sternness with which these words were uttered, checked the
+impetuosity of the youth, and filled him again with anxious forebodings.
+The general, instantly resuming the milder tones with which he had
+spoken before, continued,
+
+"So much will be said of _thee_. Before I offer thee my hand, in token
+that I desire to forget everything of the past, but that I once truly
+loved thee, and before I propose to thee a new and honourable
+duty,--hear,--not what will be, but what has been said of _myself_, in
+relation to thine expedition and to thee."
+
+Here the general paused a moment, eyeing the youth intently, as if to
+read his most secret thoughts; then continuing, he said, with the utmost
+gravity,
+
+"It has been said of me, senor Juan Lerma, that I sent thee upon thy
+enterprise of the South Seas, in the malicious thought that the blow of
+savages might execute the sentence of vengeance I cared not to commit to
+a Christian assassin. What thinkest thou of this?"
+
+"Even that it is the blackest and insanest of slanders; and that it
+shows me, I have little cause to marvel at my own loss of credit, when I
+find that malice can aim even at your excellency's. Whatever may have
+been your anger, I never believed your excellency would conceal it, much
+less expend it, in secret vengeance upon a feeble wretch like myself."
+
+"Thou hast but little worldly knowledge," said the Captain-General, half
+smiling, "or thou wouldst know, that revenge is of a reptile's nature,
+crawling rather in secret among dark thickets than openly over sunny
+plains, and none the less venomous, that it can lie half a year torpid.
+Neither put thou much trust in innocent looks; which, to a shrewd eye,
+are like sea-water,--the smoother they lie, the deeper can they be
+looked into."
+
+Having pronounced these metaphorical maxims with much gravity, his eye
+all the time bent on the youth, Cortes paused for a moment, as if for a
+reply; when, receiving none, for, in truth, Juan, not well comprehending
+them, knew not what to answer, he continued,
+
+"Let us understand one another. There has been strife between
+us,--strife and ill-will. I have perhaps done you injustice: I thought I
+had cause. By my conscience, young man, I once loved you very well--I
+have been sorry for you."
+
+"I have deserved your displeasure," said Juan, hurriedly, moved by the
+earnestness with which the general spoke; "but, I hope, not beyond
+forgiveness."
+
+"Surely not, surely not," said Cortes; "but what I may forget as thy
+friend, I am still bound to consider as thy general. I am now the king's
+officer, and it becomes me, forgetting all private feelings, to know no
+friends but those who approve themselves true and valuable servants of
+his majesty. In this character, I must remember some of thy past acts
+with disfavour; but in both, it is not improper I should desire thou
+shouldst have opportunity fully to retrieve thy good name, and, in spite
+of envy and detraction, to deserve such friendship as I have shown thee
+in former years."
+
+The exile pondered a moment over the words of the general, in more
+indecision than before. They spoke of friendship and kindness, and
+seemed to offer an apology for severity that was rather official than
+personal; and yet, in this apology, was a degree of reproach, of which
+it appeared Cortes's resolution to keep him always sensible.
+Nevertheless, this very tone of complaint served to soothe the little
+exasperation of feelings which had remained in Juan's breast, while
+smarting under a sense of wrong and injustice. Anger both irritates and
+hardens the heart; reproach softens, while it distresses. It seemed
+obvious to Juan, that Cortes, while apprizing him that a full
+reconciliation had not yet taken place, was willing, nay anxious, that
+it should. He answered therefore with the greatest fervour,
+
+"If your excellency will but show me in what manner I may regain your
+favour--at least your belief that I have not wantonly rejected it--I
+call heaven to witness, I will remember it as such an act of kindness as
+that which _this_ must ever keep me in memory of."
+
+As he spoke, he touched with his finger a rapier-scar on his right
+breast, which the narrowness and peculiar fashion of his mantle scarcely
+enabled him to conceal, even when so disposed.
+
+At this sight, Cortes seemed disordered, if not offended, saying after
+striding to and fro for an instant,
+
+"Let these follies be forgotten! Bury the past, and think only of the
+future. It is true, I avenged thy wrong--It gives me no pleasure to
+remember it.--Did I think this, when I made thee my son,--fed thee at my
+board, lodged thee on my couch, advanced thee, honoured thee, fought thy
+battles? did I think _this_? Pho! Juan Lerma, thou hast not repaid me
+well!"
+
+"Senor!" said Juan, surprised and confounded by the sudden and
+reproachful bitterness of these words; "when I presumed to speak to you
+in opposition to your measures, it was with the boldness--the folly--of
+affection, jealous for your excellency's--your excellency's--"
+
+"Honour!" said Cortes, sharply. "Let us speak of this no more. To
+business, senor, to business. Leave mine honour to mine own keeping:
+thou wilt find, I have it even in my thoughts. To business, to business.
+What say ye, Councillors?--Wilt thou truly steal my dog from me? If you
+rob me of naught else, it is no matter.--What say you, senor Capitan Del
+Salto? what say you, Sandoval? Is this young man fit to be entrusted
+with a captain's command? He was a good Cornet.--Can we confide to him a
+duty of danger and trust? His pilgrimage to the Hummingbird-land,
+methinks, was well conducted. What say you? I have a goodly thought for
+him--But I will abide your better judgment."
+
+"By St. James," said Alvarado, "there is no braver lad in the army; and
+were he but of clear hidalgo lineage, I should say, give him a command
+with the best. But here is my thought: he is a good sailor, especially
+in piraguas and galleys: give him a brigantine. I will crave to have him
+in the squadron attached to mine own division."
+
+"In my mind," said Sandoval, "he is good for the land service. It is
+needful we revenge the death of Salcedo and his eighty loons, who
+suffered themselves to be killed before Tochtepec. Lerma has the love of
+the dog Xicotencal, who loves nobody else. He can follow the young
+senor, with some twenty thousand or so of his bare-legs; and they can
+take the town among them."
+
+"A good thought," said Cortes, "a good thought: for this is a command
+which, nobody coveting, there will be none to envy. What sayst thou,
+senor Lerma? wilt thou adventure upon a deed thought to be both
+dangerous and desperate? Choose for thyself: I will compel thee to
+nothing. I tell thee the truth.--No captain seeks after this employment,
+and three have refused, except upon condition that I give them, besides
+as many Indians as they can raise, three hundred picked Spaniards. Thou
+canst not look for more than twenty, with some five or six horsemen."
+
+The eyes of the exile sparkled.
+
+"Your excellency honours me."
+
+"Never think so; deceive not thyself," said Cortes, with apparent
+frankness. "The enterprise is dangerous, nay, as I have said, desperate;
+and by my conscience, it will be said of it, as of the South Sea
+journey, that it is devised for thy ruin.--If I honour thee, I must
+suffer thereby: no evil can happen to thee, that will not be maliciously
+imputed to wicked and premeditated design. By my conscience, there are
+many who think me but a hangman in disguise!"
+
+"I hope your excellency will not think of these things," said Juan,
+fervently. "I will do battle with any one who presumes--"
+
+"Peace: have I not told thee already that the duel is forbidden under
+heavy penalties? I swear to thee, they shall be enforced, in all cases
+of disobedience, were it upon my own brother.--I tell thee again, I can
+advance thee to no service which will not make me the mark of slander.
+There are fools about us, who, I know not why, have tortured anger into
+hatred, and will now interpret good-will into malignant treachery. But I
+care not for this: the tall tree catches the bolts that pass by the
+underwood,--the rock that rises above the sea, is lashed by breakers,
+while the grovellers at the bottom lie in tranquillity. It is thus with
+the condition of man;--peace abides with the lowly, envy shoots arrows
+at the high. Think of this, think of this, Juan Lerma, when thou hearest
+me maligned."
+
+"I shall not need," said Juan. "The more dangerous the duty, the more
+must I thank your excellency for your confidence. I beseech, therefore,
+that I may be permitted to undertake this present enterprise."
+
+"Wilt thou march them on foot, and with no better arms than thy Indian
+battle-axe and buckler?" demanded the general, gravely.
+
+"I have heard," said Juan, with hesitation, "that your excellency has in
+charge certain horses and arms, which of right are mine, as being the
+gifts of a bountiful friend."
+
+"It is even so," said Cortes, "and the restoration of them, which thou
+canst justly claim, will cause some heart-burnings. I must crave your
+pardon for having presumed to bestow them away, as though they had been
+mine own property."
+
+"Under your favour," said Juan, "considering that they were the gifts of
+your excellency's ever honoured and beloved lady--"
+
+"Ha!" cried Cortes, with a darkening visage, "what fiend possessed thee
+with this impertinent conceit?"
+
+"I beg your excellency's pardon for my presumption," said Juan, "which
+was indeed caused no more by rumour than by a belief that there was no
+other being in the world, who could thus far have befriended me."
+
+"Why then," said Cortes, "if thou knowest not the donor, it is the more
+remarkable; for nobody else does. Very strange! Two horses, the worst of
+which is worth full nine hundred crowns, and Bobadil almost
+priceless;--a suit of armour so well chosen to thy stature, that never a
+man of us all but is as loose in the cuirass as a shrivelled walnut in
+the shell,--all very positively sent to _thee_ from Santiago,--for thee,
+senor, and for nobody else!"
+
+"They are saint's gifts," said Alvarado, devoutly: "the young man has
+suffered much, and has found favour with heaven."
+
+"Senor," said Juan, mildly, "you are jesting with me. I will hope, by
+and by, to discover this benevolent patron. What I have to say now, is
+that my wants will be content with but one of the horses; the return of
+which will cause your excellency no trouble,--the same being in the
+hands of the senor Guzman, who has already signified his intention to
+restore him."
+
+"Ha! has he so, indeed? Why thy very enemies have become thy friends!"
+
+"As for the armour, senor," continued the youth, without thinking fit to
+notice the latter exclamation, "I will make no claim to it, if you have
+bestowed it away. A simple morion and breastplate,--or indeed a good cap
+and doublet of escaupil, if iron be scarce,--will content me, provided I
+have but a good sword and steed."
+
+"Thou shalt have both," said Cortes, "and the plate-mail also; which
+being somewhat too gigantic for any cavalier, and too good for a common
+soldier, I have preserved, thinking some day to bestow it upon the
+Tlascalan Xicotencal.--Thou art not loath to undertake this business? I
+will give thee a day to think of it."
+
+"Not an hour, senor," said Juan, ardently. "Give me but time to exchange
+these heathen weeds and sandals for good armour and a warhorse, and I
+will depart instantly, with whatsoever force you may think fit to
+entrust to me."
+
+"Art thou really, then, so hot after danger?"
+
+"God is my protection," said Juan; "I thank heaven, that this duty _is_
+the most dangerous your excellency could charge me with: it is, for that
+reason, the most honourable."
+
+"Sayst thou so?" cried the Captain-General, quickly. "There is _one_
+duty, at least, I could impose upon thee, which thou wouldst not be so
+hasty to accept? No, faith; for the very name of it has caused the
+boldest soldier in the army to turn pale.--Get thee to the armory; rest
+and refresh thyself: to-morrow thou shalt to Tochtepec."
+
+"Senor, for your love I will do what others will not: I have years of
+benefaction to repay. I claim to be appointed to that task which is so
+dreadful to others."
+
+"By my conscience, no," said Don Hernan: "_this_ would be sending thee
+to execution indeed. And yet I know none so well fitted as thyself: Thou
+art fearless, cunning, discreet,--at least thou canst be so; and thou
+art a master of the barbarous language, I think?"
+
+"Your excellency once commended the success with which I laboured to
+acquire it: my year's wanderings in the west have made it familiar to me
+almost as the tongue of Castile."
+
+"It is a good endowment," said Cortes. "What thinkest thou of an
+embassage to Tenochtitlan?"
+
+As he spoke, pronouncing each word with deliberate emphasis, he bent his
+eyes searchingly on Juan, and a smile crept over his features, as he
+perceived the young man lose colour and start.
+
+"The man that would do me _that_ duty," he continued, gravely, "would
+indeed deserve well, not only of myself, but of his majesty, the king of
+Spain. But think not I mean to overtask thee,--or that I seriously
+designed to try thee with this rack of probation.--There are bounds to
+the courage of us all."
+
+"Your excellency mistakes me," said Juan, dispelling all emotion with a
+single effort, and speaking with a voice as firm as it was serious: "if
+there be but one good can come of such an embassy--"
+
+"There might be _many_," said the general, "not the least of which would
+be the conquest of the city, and thereby of the whole land, without the
+loss of Christian lives. Could I but find speech with the prince
+Guatimozin, I have that which will move him to peaceful submission. But
+this is impossible."
+
+"Again your excellency is deceived," said Juan, with the composure of
+one who has taken his resolution. "I will do your bidding,--I will carry
+your message to Mexico."
+
+"Pho! I did but jest with thee. Three Indian envoys have I sent already:
+the infidel slew them all."
+
+"And cannot your excellency answer why? Your envoys were Indians,--your
+excellency's allies, but his subjects, who, in the act of alliance, had
+committed the crimes of treason and rebellion; for which he punished
+them with death, as seemed to him right and just. A Spanish ambassador
+would be received with greater respect, and perhaps dismissed without
+injury. I will not, with a boastful vanity, proclaim that I fear
+nothing; but such fears as I have, are not enough to deter me; and again
+I say, I will do your bidding."
+
+"My bidding!" cried Cortes; "I bid thee not; heaven forfend I should bid
+thee any such thing. But if thou really thinkest the danger is not
+great,--if thou art so persuaded--" He paused; his eyes sparkled; he
+strode to and fro in disorder. Then suddenly halting, he exclaimed, with
+a faint laugh, "No, by my conscience! no, by heaven! no, by St. James of
+Compostella! thou art the bravest fool of all, but thou shalt not die
+the death of a dog! I will not catch thee with tiger-traps!"
+
+To these extraordinary expressions, Juan answered with emotion, but
+still with unvarying resolution,
+
+"I wait your excellency's orders. I fear not death; I am alone in the
+world;--father or mother, brother or sister, kinsman or friend, there is
+not one to lament me, should I come to disaster. If I live, I will, as
+your excellency has said, have saved the effusion of Christian blood; if
+I die, heaven will remember the motive, and none will miss me.--I will
+go to Tenochtitlan."
+
+"Thou art a fool," said Alvarado. "Senor Captain-General, this embassy
+may not be; I protest against it. The world will cry shame on us."
+
+"I do oppose the same," said Sandoval, "as being the wilful throwing
+away of a Christian life."
+
+The other cavaliers present were about to add their voices against the
+measure, when Cortes cut them short by saying, sternly,
+
+"Are ye all mad, senores? Think ye, this thing was said seriously? I did
+but try the young man's mettle, and I do think he hath somewhat less of
+gaingiving about him, as well as much more folly, than any one here
+present. I must get me an ambassador; but, Juan Lerma, thou art not the
+man."
+
+"To my thought," said Sandoval, "this old Indian, Ocelotzin, will be a
+much safer emissary."
+
+Apparently the Ottomi, who had listened throughout the whole conference
+with great attention, and who understood just enough of it to know the
+course that affairs were taking, did not at all relish the suggestion of
+Sandoval. He started, flung the gray curtain of hair from his visage,
+and began to pour forth a torrent of such objurgations and remonstrances
+as he could find Spanish to express:
+
+"I am not Ocelotzin, the Tiger," he exclaimed; "very weak and old I
+am,--no claw, no tooth, no roar."--And here the barbarian, by way of
+confirming his speech, set up a yell, so wild, shrill, and hideous, that
+the cavaliers started back, catching at their swords in alarm, and two
+or three soldiers from the ante-room rushed in, as if apprehending some
+act of treason. But the dog Befo, who had hitherto maintained his post
+at the feet of Lerma, now rubbing against his knees, now rearing against
+his breast, and sometimes, when pushed down and too long neglected,
+expressing his impatience or affection, by extending his vast jaws, as
+if to swallow the hand that repelled him,--the dog Befo heard the cry of
+the savage with such indignation as he would have bestowed upon the howl
+of a rival. He replied with a lion-like growl, and stalking up to the
+Ottomi, he stood watching him, ever and anon writhing his lips so as to
+disclose his huge fangs, and seemed waiting the signal to attack,
+greatly to the terror of the orator.
+
+A wave of the general's hand dismissed the intruding soldiers from the
+apartment; and at the voice of Lerma, the dog returned to him.
+
+"I am Techeechee," said the orator, resuming his discourse, but with
+tones greatly subdued; "I am Techeechee, the Silent Dog,--the Silent Dog
+I am; Techeechee, the Silent Dog,--the Silent Dog I am.--Techeechee."--
+
+All this time, he kept his eyes fixed upon Befo as if dreading an
+assault; and, in fact, his solicitude had somewhat overpowered his mind,
+so that he continued for some moments to reiterate the above phrases,
+without any seeming consciousness of their absurdity. At last, he fell
+into his vernacular language, and this happily releasing him from his
+trammels, he poured forth, with amazing volubility, a string of sounds,
+so harsh, guttural, inarticulate, and unearthly, that they seemed rather
+the basso chatterings of an ape than the meaning accents of a human
+being.
+
+"What says the knave?" cried Cortes.
+
+"He says," replied Juan, "that he is the little dumb dog of the hills,
+and will harm nobody; that Montezuma was a big dog, like Befo, (wherein
+he lies,) and that Guatimozin the prince is bigger still, and will eat
+him,--which is to be understood figuratively. He says, he is the Little
+Dog, and therefore not fit to be an ambassador; but--Ha! what sayst
+thou, Techeechee?"--
+
+The young man spoke to the Ottomi in his own tongue, and receiving an
+answer, turned immediately to Cortes, saying,
+
+"It becomes me to inform your excellency of his words; for savage though
+he be, this old man I have ever found to be marvellously shrewd, as well
+as faithful. It is his opinion, that the prince Guatimozin would not
+injure _me_, if I went on the embassy; wherefore, I beg your excellency
+to reconsider your resolution. He says, too, he will go with me."
+
+"Your destiny, senor, is to the rebellious and bloody town Tochtepec,"
+replied the general, quickly and decidedly.
+
+"He adds," continued Juan, "that he is Techeechee and no ambassador; but
+that he is cousin to Quimichin, the Ground Rat, and that he will be your
+spy,--for _quimichin_ is the word by which they express a spy throughout
+the whole land."
+
+"I am Techeechee; I will be Quimichin," said the Indian, as if to
+confirm the words of Juan, and twisting his withered features into a
+smile, that was meant to express both cunning and affection.
+
+"Dost thou think him faithful?" said Cortes. "I will find service for
+him. But go, amigo! I have kept thee till thou art as faint and weary as
+myself. Get thee to Quinones, and the armory. Make thy preparations and
+take thy rest. I will see thee on the morrow--perhaps to-night, and
+acquaint thee with thy force and instructions. God be with you--Nay,
+heed not the dog--Adieu, senores--He has much of your own fidelity, roam
+he never so much. Take him with you."
+
+When the last of the cavaliers had departed from the chamber, the
+Captain-General, stepped upon the platform, and throwing himself into
+the chair of state, sat or reclined thereon, with the air of one worn
+out by exertion of mind and body, and on the eve of sinking into a
+swoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+According to the apologue, every man carries on his back a satchel, in
+which are deposited his infirmities and vices, and which, though thus
+concealed from his own eyes, lies very invitingly open to the inspection
+of his friends. Not satisfied with this exposure of foibles, there are
+some good-natured moralists, who would dive deeper into the secrets of
+their neighbours, and who lament, with the old heathen metaphysician,
+that heaven had not clapped windows into their breasts, so that they
+might detect even the iniquity of thoughts. This regret may be avoided
+by all who are willing to satisfy curiosity at their own expense; for
+heaven has fitted most bosoms with private loopholes, through which each
+man may survey at his leisure the workings of his own spirit. A peep
+through the secret casement will disclose something startling, if not
+humbling, to many, who, in the vanity of good works, are disposed to
+uplift themselves above their fellows;--such, perhaps, as rational
+principles, and even kindly feelings, taking their hue from 'that
+smooth-faced gentleman,'--that biassing spirit which is more
+comprehensively expressed in Shakespeare's phrase of _Commodity_ than in
+the more familiar one of Interest; for it is true of us all, that
+virtues are sometimes nothing but passions in disguise, and that reason
+has a marvellous facility in acquiring the tones of worldly-wisdom. If
+the mere grovelling villain,--the robber, assassin, or slayer of man's
+peace,--can find some such spectacle near to his heart as the surgeon's
+knife exposes in the breast of a cankered corse, what may _he_ detect,
+whose sublimer villany has led, or is leading him, to distinction, upon
+a highway paved with the miseries of mankind? Methinks, the breast of
+the ambitious man is a labyrinth of some such caverns as perforate the
+bowels of a volcano, in whose depths are lost all the petty details of
+crime, committed, or meditated,--in which there is no light but that
+which bubbles up from the lava of the vast passion,--and in which there
+is even no grandeur, that has not arisen from convulsions the most
+disorganizing and unnatural. Such a heart is, at least to the limited
+ken of others, a chaos,--but a chaos from which he who imbosoms it, and
+who alone can understand it, calls up,--less like a god than a
+demon,--the evil elements, which create the lurid sphere his greatness.
+
+In the bosom of the Conquistador there was a corner, into which the
+blaze of ambition had not yet penetrated, and where the common passions
+of our nature were left to rage and struggle as in the heart of a meaner
+mortal. As he looked therein, he gave himself up to thoughts which
+devoured him, while his countenance betrayed, for a time at least,
+nothing beyond such lassitude and faintness as may have characterized
+the Spartan boy, while bleeding under the fangs of the beast he
+concealed in his bosom.
+
+As he sat brooding in this apparently calm, yet deeply suffering
+lethargy, there glided into the apartment, from one of the curtained
+doors on the right hand, a figure, which, seen for the first time and in
+the dusky twilight already darkening around, might, to superstitious
+eyes, have seemed an apparition,--it was so strange, so fair, so
+majestic, and so mournful. It presented a stature taller than belongs to
+the beauty of woman, yet not inconsistent with the conception of a
+divinity; and to this a singular dignity was given by flowing and
+voluminous robes of a grayish texture, which, both in hue and fashion,
+bore an air of monastic simplicity, without precisely resembling those
+of any one order. A sort of hood, or veil, drawn a little aside and
+resting upon the brow, gave to view a female countenance of wonderful
+loveliness, and not without a share of that commanding dignity, which
+distinguished her figure. Her hair, shorn, or perhaps bound behind by a
+fillet, and thus almost altogether concealed by the hood, gave yet to
+the gaze two long locks, broad and black, which, falling over either
+cheek, were lost among the folds of the veil which her right hand held
+upon her bosom. A complexion dark, yet not tawny,--a chin and nostrils
+carved like the most exquisite statuary,--lips of dusky crimson,--a brow
+of marble, and an eye of midnight, made up a countenance both beautiful
+and characteristic, yet contradictory in the expression of its several
+parts, and sometimes even in the expression of the same features. Thus,
+the first impression made upon a spectator by the whole visage, was such
+as could only be effected by extreme gentleness of disposition; while
+the second, he scarce knew why, spoke of energy and decision, none the
+less striking for being concealed under a mask so captivating. Thus,
+also, the eyes, very large and set widely apart, conveyed, on ordinary
+occasions, the idea of a spirit passive, melancholy, and inanimate;
+though the slightest depression of the brow, the smallest motion of the
+lid, transformed them at once into the brightest torches of passion. If
+one could conceive the spirit of a Philomela--a compound of sweet
+tenderness and still sweeter melancholy--dashed with the fire of a
+Penthesilea, he might conjure up to his mind's eye a correct
+representation of the mysterious being, (alluded to by Villafana, under
+the name of La Monjonaza, or the Nun, the word being a sort of cant
+augmentative of _Monja_, a nun,) whom an extraordinary destiny had
+thrown among the warlike invaders of Mexico.
+
+As she passed from the thick curtain and advanced towards the platform,
+on which sat the moody general, her visage presented none of its
+ordinary mildness; on the contrary, her brows were knit together, her
+lip retracted, and the look with which she regarded him whom all others
+were learning to fear, was bold, stern, and even fiercely hostile.
+
+The rustling of the curtain, the light sound of her footstep, the bright
+glance of her eye, when she paused before him, all alike failed to make
+an impression on the general's senses. She perceived that he was in a
+waking dream, absorbingly profound and painful, and she stood in
+silence, from disdainful pride, or perhaps with a woman's curiosity,
+endeavouring to trace the workings of his spirit from the revelations of
+his countenance, which, by this time, had changed from a stony
+inexpressiveness to agitation and distortion. At this moment, the head
+of the Conqueror was bent forwards, and his eyes directed upon the
+floor; but she saw enough in the writhing features, and the forehead
+almost impurpled with blood, to know that the passions then convulsing
+his bosom, were dark and deadly.
+
+At this sight, the frown gradually passed away from her own visage, and
+she stood regarding him for the space of several minutes, with a calm
+and melancholy intentness. Then, perceiving that his lips, though moving
+as if in speech, gave out no articulate sound, she exclaimed, with a
+voice that thrilled to his soul, though subdued to the lowest accents,
+
+"Arise, assassin! It is _not_ just, it is _not_ expedient; and he shall
+NOT perish!"
+
+It seemed as if she had read his heart. He started up, surprised and
+confounded; and his first act was to cross himself, as if to exorcise a
+fiend, conjured up by the mere spell of evil thoughts. He even gave
+voice to two or three interjections of alarm, before perceiving that the
+rebuke came only from lips of earth.
+
+"Hah! hah! Santa Maria! Santos y Angeles! hah!--Ho! ho! Infeliz!
+Magdalena! fair conqueror of hearts! bright converter of souls that
+shalt be! is it thou, _Monja mia Santisima_? most devout saint of the
+veil?" he cried, recovering his self-possession, and banishing every
+trace of passion with astonishing address. "By thy bright eyes of
+heaven,--and thanks be thine for the good deed,--thou hast waked me from
+a dream of night-mare, a most horrible vision. These naps o' the
+afternoon are but provokers of Incubus,--ay, and Succuba into the
+bargain. I thank thee, bright Infeliz: it is better to be waked by thy
+voice, than by sweet music!"
+
+"And dost thou think," said the lady, with a voice whose deep but not
+unfeminine tones suited so well with the mournfulness of her
+emphasis,--"dost thou think, I see not, this moment, into thy bosom?
+Visions and sleep! Speak of visions to thy dull conquerors: they who
+dream of immortal renown, can best appreciate a vision of bloodshed.
+Speak of sleep to thy duller victims: the stupid wretches who slumber
+with the chain at their necks, may well believe that the enslaver has
+also his seasons of repose. But talk not of these to _me_, who look upon
+thee neither with the eyes of follower nor of foe. Thou canst not sleep,
+thou dost not dream: thy head is too full of fame, thy foot too deep in
+blood, thy heart too black with evil thoughts--No, nevermore canst thou
+sleep, nevermore, nevermore!"
+
+The last words were uttered with a cadence so extremely melancholy, and
+with a manner so much like that of one who apostrophizes self, that a
+stranger overhearing them, and marking the look and gesture--the
+upturned eye and the folding of arms on the breast--would have naturally
+supposed they referred rather to herself than to another. This was,
+indeed, a suspicion, entertained, in part, by Cortes, who, somewhat
+confounded by the calm decision with which she rejected a deceitful
+attempt to explain expressions of countenance so ominous as those he had
+displayed, now recovered himself, and said, with an air of grave
+sympathy, in which earnestness could not conceal a vein of sarcasm and
+bagatelle, that were parts of his nature,
+
+"Fair Infeliz, the Unhappy, (since by this lugubrious epithet you choose
+to be called,) it is now some two months since you dropped among us from
+the clouds, the fairest, shrewdest and strangest, as well as the most
+broken-hearted, and self-accusing of all the angels that have fallen
+from paradise. For mine own part, however fervently I may thank heaven
+for sending me such a minister, I have not yet got over my amazement at
+your presence; which I indeed regard with much the same wonder wherewith
+I should behold the sun of heaven take up his quarters at my tent-door."
+
+"In this particular," said the lady, with the utmost tranquillity, "you
+should have been satisfied, (had it accorded with your nature to believe
+any solution of a problem, that was not suggested by your own
+imagination,) that the deceptions of others, and no will of my own,
+brought me from Santiago to Mexico, in a ship which should have carried
+me to Jamaica.--Your allies do not fit out vessels openly for this land,
+under the eye of Velasquez.--But why ask you me this? Hast thou no
+better device to lure me from my purpose? I came, not to speak of
+myself, but of others. Thou couldst have played the lapwing more subtly,
+hadst thou dwelt upon the whispers, the nods, the smiles of contempt and
+the words of scorn, that heralded a compelled coming, find which requite
+an inevitable stay. But learn, if thou hast not yet learned it, that
+these things are felt more than they are feared, and that she who has
+not deserved it, may sometimes have the courage to endure even a
+degrading misconstruction. Why hast thou not insinuated _this_?"
+continued the singular being, with a voice that betrayed more feeling
+than her pride confessed: "this would have drowned every other thought
+in a true woman; for to woman, good name and fame are more than
+life-blood,--yes, more than life!--I save thee, however, the trouble; I
+am reminded of my condition,--a woman alone in thy camp, alone in thy
+hands;--and yet I return to my purpose, which concerns not myself, but
+another. Wilt thou have me speak further of myself? If it last till the
+midnight, be sure I will yet speak of that which I have in view."
+
+"Of thyself, then, beauteous Infeliz," said Cortes, admiringly; "for I
+vow to heaven, thou art the marvel of womankind, whom I desire to
+understand even more than to adore. Sit thou upon my barbarian throne,
+and I will fling me at thy feet, in token that I acknowledge thy
+supremacy in wit, wisdom, subtle observation, determination, and all
+other virtues that can grace woman,--ay, or man either; for I swear by
+my conscience, I think thou art valiant also, fearing nothing that walks
+under heaven or above the abyss. To the throne then, as queen of my
+mystery."
+
+"I will answer thee where I stand," said Infeliz, calmly disengaging the
+hand which the Conquistador had taken to lead her to the platform; "and
+think not, this gallant folly will make me a whit quicker of
+apprehension, or reply. Make thy demands, and gain thereby what time
+thou wilt to answer mine; for this is thy purpose."
+
+"Well then," said the Captain-General, with a look of not less respect
+than curiosity, "make me acquainted with this. Wherefore, as thy coming
+hither was so much against thy will, hast thou not once demanded to be
+taken back to the islands?"
+
+"Because it is not yet my will to be discharged from your presence,"
+replied the lady, calmly.
+
+"Be thou of this mind for ever," said the general, with an air of
+sincerity. "Now let me know, I pray you, why it is that I am somewhat
+more forward in confiding to thy scrutiny my secret thoughts than to the
+best and wisest of my bold cavaliers?"
+
+"Because thou knowest I neither love thee nor hate thee; because I lose
+not good-will by asking honours and spoils, nor by boasting of services
+and ability; but chiefly am I troubled with your confidence, because I
+am the only one who lists not to have it."
+
+"By my faith, thou art very right, especially in the last reason of
+all," said Cortes, with a laugh; "for secrets are like gnats and
+musket-bullets, they ever crowd thickest after those who strive most to
+avoid them.--Tell me now, fair and most provoking Infeliz, why, when I
+have flung thee open the whole book of my confidence, thou givest me not
+a single chapter of thine?"
+
+"Because it extends not beyond that single chapter," replied La
+Monjonaza, patiently, "hath neither beginning nor end, and is, beside,
+in a language which thou canst not understand."
+
+"Pho, you put me off with nothing," said Don Hernan, again taking the
+hand of his remarkable guest. "I have but one more question to ask you.
+Why is it, (and I pray you to forgive me the question,) that, with the
+consciousness that your situation in this mad land and knavish army,
+exposes you not only to degrading suspicion, but even to absolute
+personal danger, you betray no apprehension of the wild reprobates among
+whom you are placed? that you show no dread even of me?"
+
+"Because," said the maiden, removing her right hand, which she had, up
+to this moment, preserved upon her breast, and drawing aside the thick
+folds of veil and mantle,--"because, for the wretch who fears not the
+woman's arms of modesty and helplessness, I bear with me a weapon which
+will secure his respect."
+
+And as she spoke, the eye of Don Hernan fell upon a naked and glittering
+poniard thrust through her girdle, and worn as if it had long formed a
+part of the habit.
+
+There was something inexpressibly impressive in the calm and simple
+dignity with which, in the very gesture that pointed out a protection so
+insufficient, she acknowledged a weakness, in all other respects,
+unfriended. Cortes, in the multitude of his base and graspingly selfish
+attributes, was not without some traits of a more generous character;
+and especially admiring a courage so self-relying, so unaffectedly real,
+and perhaps so much akin to his own, he had enough of the old leaven of
+chivalric feeling, to understand and appreciate the claims of the sex to
+his compassion and protection. That he had other reasons for treating La
+Monjonaza with respect, cannot be denied.
+
+"Give me thy hand, Magdalena," he said, with an action and voice rather
+indicating the familiarity of a patron than that of a presumptuous
+suitor: "Thou art right; thou art a creature after mine own heart; and I
+swear to thee, I will do thee no wrong, nor suffer it to be done thee by
+another. Heed not what may be said of thee; my dogs would bay an angel,
+should one condescend to pay them a visit. Thy cloister-like garments
+are not amiss;--there be more that venerate than malign thee, for this
+reason; and, thank heaven, the padre Olmedo finds no sin in thy wearing
+them. Wilt thou be seated? There is peace between us; let there be
+confidence. What hast thou to ask of me, Magdalena? Thy revenge is at
+hand."
+
+The maiden returned the scrutinizing look of the general with one which,
+if not so piercing, was at least quite as steady:
+
+"Your excellency has thrice called me, who call myself Infeliz, by a
+name not authorized by any revealments of mine," she said: "you speak
+also of revenge,--of _my_ revenge!--Yes," she muttered, with a quivering
+lip; "this is a thing to be thought of, not spoken."
+
+She paused a moment, and Cortes, casting a quick eye round the
+apartment, said, in a voice confidentially low and insinuating,
+
+"I would the story had come from yourself. But it matters not,--I have
+it; and disguise is no longer availing. You lose nothing by the change,
+for I see, thy spirit hath the elements of mine own. Ah! water in the
+desert! the first kiss of a lover! breath to the suffocating!--such is
+revenge to the soul of the mighty!--I know thee, thy history and thy
+purpose.--I have dandled the boy Hilario upon my knee!"
+
+The strong and meaning stress laid upon the last abrupt words, only
+served to drive the colour from the maiden's cheeks and lips. In all
+other respects, she remained calm and collected, and replied gravely,--
+
+"The tale comes from the Alguazil Villafana--"
+
+"Hah!" said Cortes, in surprise; "how knowest thou that?"
+
+"Because there is no other,--no other, save _one_, who will not speak
+it,--in all this land, who knows so much of me; and because, were there
+twenty, the man whom heaven has cursed with the industrious treachery of
+a spider, and the rage to entangle all things in his flimsy web, would
+be the first to betray me."
+
+"Thou sayst the truth of Villafana," said Cortes, with a laugh of
+peculiar exultation. "In spirit and intention, he is the insect you have
+named; but yet he spins his web, less like the spider, with the chance
+of destroying, than the silken-caterpillar, that toils for his master,
+who will smother him in his work, as soon as it is perfected. Ay, thy
+penetration is clear, thy conception just; the knave is, in all things,
+a traitor,--a double, a triple,--a centupled traitor!"
+
+"And you both spare him, and give him the means of multiplying his
+dangerous villanies?"
+
+"I do, by my conscience!" said Cortes, vivaciously. "There is a charm in
+it, and no little policy. Dost thou think this little fly can deceive?
+can deceive _me_?--Wert thou a man, thou wouldst know, that even above
+the triumph of vengeance, is the joy of him who watches the nets that
+his foe is spreading, and, as he watches, fastens them softly down upon
+the ensnarer."
+
+"And is the insect worthy to be toiled by the lion?"
+
+"Ay,--when the lion is a _man_!--This is my diversion; it is also my
+profit. I would not for a thousand crowns, any harm should come to so
+serviceable a tool: a better decoy never circled the disaffected about
+him. He is the touchstone that reveals me the metal of the
+doubtful,--the diamond that cuts me the adamant of malignancy. I look
+through him, as through the philosopher's glass, and behold the million
+things of corruption that swarm in the hearts of the curs beneath
+him.--By heaven! it joys me, that I have one to whom I can speak these
+secret blisses. Thou art my vizier, my very familiar. Know then, that
+this very night, the dog meditates a treachery, with which I will be
+acquainted, and yet seem unacquainted. By my conscience, it delights me
+to tell thee, with what exquisite industry the poor knave works me a
+good, while foolishly believing he is doing me an ill. Dost thou not
+remember that I have told thee, how much it concerns me to procure some
+trusty envoy, to go between me and the young infidel, Guatimozin of
+Tenochtitlan?"
+
+"I am familiar with your wishes."
+
+"Learn then, that, this night, Villafana himself procures me the
+emissary I have myself sought after in vain,--a Mexican noble of high
+rank.--I could kiss the dog for his knavery!"
+
+"And wherefore does he this?"
+
+"Faith, in the amiable wish to reconcile some of the jarring elements of
+his conspiracy; to wit, the Tlascalans and Mexicans; the latter of whom,
+this night, will, with his good help, show the black-cheeked Xicotencal
+the advantages to be gained by uniting with his mighty and royal enemy
+of Mexico, to secure the destruction of my insignificant self. Ha! ha!
+Is not the thought absurdly delightful! Ah, Villafana! Villafana! I have
+no such merry conceited good-fellow as thou!"
+
+La Monjonaza beheld the exultation, and listened to the mirthful laugh
+of the Conqueror with much interest, and not a little surprise. It did
+indeed seem extraordinary, that he should be so heartily diverted by the
+audacity of a villany that aimed at his downfall, and perhaps his life.
+But this very merriment indicated how many majestic fathoms he felt
+himself elevated above the reach of any arts of human malevolence or
+opposition. It was as if the eagle, flapping his wings among
+thunder-clouds, shrieked with contempt at schoolboys shooting up
+birdbolts from the village-green.--It gave a clew to a characteristic
+which Infeliz was not slow to unravel. A deep sigh from her lips
+recalled the general from his diversion.
+
+"Thou sighest, Magdalena?" he cried.
+
+"It was for thee," she answered: "I sighed, indeed, to think how much
+and how truly _thou_, thus elevated by a touch of divinity above the
+children of men, dost yet resemble this miserable, grovelling, befooled
+Villafana!"
+
+"What, I? Resemble him? resemble Villafana?"
+
+"Deny it, if thou canst," said the maiden, with rebuking severity; "and
+if thou canst not, then humble thyself, and confess the base similitude.
+Thou differest from him but in this,--that, whereas, in one quality,
+thou art uplifted miles above his head, thou art, in another, sunk even
+leagues _below_ him.--Thou frownest? Hast thou discovered that anger
+adds aught to the state of dignity? Thou dost, this moment, even with
+the crawling venom of Villafana, with a rage still more abased, seek a
+life thou hast not courage openly to destroy."
+
+"Santiago!" cried Cortes, in a heat; "by St. Peter, you are over-bitter.
+But pho, I will not be angry with thee. Dost thou think me this coward
+thing?"
+
+"Hast thou not doomed the young man, Juan Lerma, a second time, to
+death?" cried La Monjonaza, with an eye that trembled not a moment in
+the gaze of the Captain-General; "and was it not with the embrace of a
+Judas? Oh, senor!" she continued, firmly, "say not that Villafana is
+either base or craven. _He_ strikes at the strong man, who sits armed
+and with his eyes open: but thou, oh _thou_,--thou art content to aim at
+the breast of the friendless and naked sleeper!--Judge between thyself
+and Villafana."
+
+It is impossible to express the mingled effects of shame and rage, that
+disfigured the visage and convulsed the frame of the Captain-General, at
+this powerful and altogether unexpected rebuke. He smote his brow, he
+took two or three hasty steps over the floor; when, at last, a thought
+striking him, he rushed back to the chider, snatched up her hand, and
+said, with an attempt at laughter, painfully contrasted with his working
+and even agonized visage,
+
+"Dost thou quarrel with me for fighting thy battles? Oh, by St. James,
+it is better to draw sword _on_ a friend than _for_ him: ingratitude
+always comes of it. Had I thought this of old, I had been a happier man,
+and thou never hadst mourned the death of Hilario;--no, by'r lady,
+Hilario had been a living man, and thou happy with him in the island!"
+
+As he hurried over these words, the diversion they gave to his thoughts,
+enabled him rapidly to recover his self-command, in which, as in affairs
+of less personal consequence, he always exhibited wonderful power. This
+accomplished, he continued, with an earnest voice,
+
+"Concealment is now useless: the time waxes, when I must think of other
+things: let us shrive one another even as two friars, and deceive one
+another no further than they. Methinks, what I do is for thy especial
+satisfaction.--An ill loon I am, to do so much for one who so bitterly
+censures me!--Who thou art, and what thou art, I know not: thou wert an
+angel, couldst thou give over chiding. The young Hilario del Milagro was
+the son of mine old friend Antonio:--a very noble boy,--I remember him
+well.--By heaven, thy hand is turned to ice! Art thou ill?"
+
+"Do I look so?" said the maiden, with a faint laugh. Her face had of a
+sudden become very pale, yet she spoke firmly, though not without a
+visible effort. "I listen to thy confession."
+
+"To mine! By my troth, I am confessing _thy_ sins and sorrows, and not
+mine. Well, Magdalena," he continued, "thy emotion is not amiss: it is
+not every maiden can think calmly of the death of her lover, knowing
+that his slayer is nigh.--I knew Hilario, when a boy,--ay, good faith,
+and Juan Lerma, too, his playmate and foster-brother, or his young page
+and varlet, I know not which. It was on Antonio's recommendation, that I
+afterwards took this foundling knave to my bosom, and made him--no, not
+what he _is_! for this is a thing of his own making. I sent him to
+Espanola to recruit: he loitered,--he returned to the house of
+Milagro--Shall I say more? Hilario, his brother, the son of his best
+friend and patron, was the betrothed husband of Magdalena; and him did
+the wolf-cub slay. Wo betide me! for it was I that taught him the use of
+his weapon.--Is not this enough? Accident hath brought thee to Mexico;
+thou seest the killer of thy lover; and, like a true daughter of Spain,
+thy heart is full of vengeance.--Is not this true? Disguise thy wrath in
+wild sarcasm no longer. Were he the king's son, he should----Pho! recall
+thy words: Is it not 'just?' is it not 'expedient?'"
+
+To these sinister demands, Magdalena replied with astonishing composure:
+
+"All this is well. Shrive now thyself--Hast _thou_ any cause,
+personally, to desire his death?"
+
+"Millions!" replied the general, grinding his teeth; "millions,
+millions! to which the death of Hilario, wringing at thy breast, is but
+as a gnat-bite to the sting of adders.--Millions, millions!"
+
+"Give him then to death," said Magdalena, with a voice so grave and
+passionless, that it instantly surprised the Conquistador out of his
+fury; "give him to death,--but let it be in _thy_ name, not _mine_."
+
+"Art thou wholly inexplicable?" he cried. "I read thee by the alphabet
+of human passions, and I make thee not out,--no, not so much as a word.
+Thy flesh warms and chills, thine eye swims and flashes, thy brow bends,
+thy lip curls, thy breast heaves, thy frame trembles; and yet art thou
+more than mortal, or less. When shall I understand thee?"
+
+"When thou canst look to heaven, and say, 'I have done no wrong'--No,
+no! not to heaven; for what child of earth can look thitherward, and
+unveil the actions of life?--When thou canst lay thy hand upon thy
+bosom, and appealing, not to divine justice, but to that of human
+reason, say, 'What I do is just:'--in other words, _never_. You are
+surprised: you bade me repeat my words: I do:--'It is _not_ just, it is
+_not_ expedient, and Juan Lerma shall _not_ die!'"
+
+"Now by my conscience!" said Cortes, "this is the true dog-star madness!
+Wert thou not behind the curtain, and didst thou not shriek at sight of
+him? Mystery that thou art, unveil thyself--Wherefore tarriest thou in
+this land, suspected, scorned, degraded, if not to have vengeance on
+him? Wherefore, I say, wherefore?"
+
+"To _save_ him," replied the lady, boldly,--"to save him from the fury
+that has brought thee to the level of the Alguazil. Else had I long
+since returned to the islands. Revoke therefore thy commission, and, in
+any way thou wilt, so that it carry with it neither secret malice nor
+open insult, contrive to discharge him from thy service. His life is
+charmed--it is in my keeping."
+
+"Oho!" said the Captain-General, surveying La Monjonaza with an exulting
+sneer; "sits the wind in that quarter? And thou art but a woman after
+all! Now was I but a fool, I trow, not to bethink me how the wife of
+Uriah forgot the death of her husband, when she saw a path open to the
+arms of his murderer. Is it so indeed? Thou hast fallen from admiration
+to pity."
+
+"She who withstands evil thoughts and maligning words, will not weep
+even at the contempt of commiseration," said Magdalena, with a sigh.
+
+"Villafana has then deceived me,--or rather, poor fool, has deceived
+himself, as is more natural," said Cortes, with a malicious grin. "Never
+believe me, but thou shalt rule me in this matter, as in others. Juan
+Lerma shall thank thee for his life, even for the sake of the Maid of
+Mexico,--thy brown rival, Zelahualla."
+
+As he spoke thus, he watched closely the effect of his words on
+Magdalena, and beheld a sudden fire light up in her eyes, succeeded by
+such paleness as had always covered her visage, when he referred to the
+death of Hilario. Nevertheless, she did not avert her glance, nor
+exhibit any other manifestation of feeling, except that she replied not
+a single word.
+
+"It is the truth that I tell thee," he muttered in a low voice, taking
+up, as if in compassion, her hand, which was yielded passively, and was
+again cold and dewy; "she is very lovely,--very,--and a king's daughter.
+He fought for her love with Guzman. So, perhaps, he fought Hilario for
+thine. By my conscience! he makes love over blood-thirstily! When I
+spoke to him of Zelahualla,--nay, I mentioned not her name; I spoke only
+of his friends in the palace of Mexico--yet the colour flushed over his
+cheeks. Nevertheless, thou shalt rule me; thou shalt have time for
+consideration: the expedition to Tochtepec can be delayed. Dost thou
+think he would have consented to be mine envoy to Tenochtitlan, but for
+the hope of seeing his princess? I could tell thee another thing--(there
+are more rivals than one)--but it matters not,--it matters not! Thou
+wilt not be content with--pity!--Arouse thee, and speak.--Art thou
+marble?"
+
+At this moment, and while it seemed indeed that the unhappy Monjonaza,
+notwithstanding that her countenance was still inexpressively placid,
+had been turned to stone, the curtain of the great door, or principal
+entrance, was drawn aside, and the cavalier Don Francisco de Guzman
+strode hastily into the apartment. The sound of his footsteps, more than
+the warning gesture of Cortes, recalled her to her senses. She raised
+her hand to her brow, and the long hood falling over her countenance,
+she turned to depart through the door by which she had entered. The
+evening was already closing fast, and the shadowy obscurity of the
+chamber perhaps concealed her from the eyes of the intruder.
+Nevertheless, Cortes perceived, as she glided away, that her step was
+altered and tottering, and that her hands fumbled for a moment at the
+door curtain, as if she knew not how to remove it. It yielded, however,
+at last, and she vanished from his eyes.
+
+"Poor fool," he muttered, with a feeling divided between scorn, anger,
+and pity, "thou hast discovered to me the broken postern of thy spirit:
+the walls are strong, but the citadel is in ruins. This is somewhat
+marvellous,--I will know more of it. It is a new and another thing to be
+remembered.--Come, amigo: it is over dark here for thy business. We will
+walk in the open air."
+
+So saying, he took Guzman's arm, and departed from the chamber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+Some two hours or more after he had been discharged from the presence of
+the Captain-General, Juan Lerma sat musing in one of the many hundred
+chambers which composed the vast extent of the palace of Nezahualcojotl,
+a different being from that the reader beheld him returning from exile.
+The coarse _tilmaltli_, or native cloak, and the barbarous tunic, had
+been exchanged for raiment of a better material and fashion, a part of
+which,--the _bragas_ and _xaqueta_, at least--were from the wardrobe of
+the general, while modesty, or reluctance to accept any further of such
+assistance than was absolutely necessary, had induced him to substitute
+for the plain but costly _capa_, or mantle, of velvet, the long surcoat
+of black cloth, very richly embroidered, which had, as he was told,
+accompanied the suit of armour, sent by his unknown friend. This
+valuable and well-timed gift lay upon a platform beside his matted and
+canopied couch, shining brilliantly in the light which a waxen candle
+diffused throughout the apartment. He sat upon a native stool, carved of
+a solid block of wood, and his fine countenance and majestic figure,
+besides the advantages they received from becoming garments, appeared
+even of a more elevated beauty, when seen by this solitary ray.
+
+His only companion was the dog Befo, whose shaggy coat, yet gleaming
+with moisture, betrayed that he had shared with the young man his
+evening bath in the lake. The attachment of this beast was much more
+natural than remarkable. Five years before, when Juan was but a boy in
+Santo Domingo, Befo had been his playmate and companion;--had followed
+him to Cuba, when the youth began to weary of dependence, and long for a
+life of activity and distinction; and was finally presented by the
+grateful adventurer to Cortes, as the only gift in his power to bestow;
+for, at that time, saving his youth, health, and good spirits, Befo made
+up the sum of his worldly possessions. In the change of masters,
+however, Befo did not trouble himself to acquiesce; nor did he perceive
+any necessity, while treating Cortes with all surly good-will and
+respect, to abate a jot of his love for the hand which had first
+sustained and caressed him. The dog is the only animal that shows
+disinclination to be transferred from one master to another. The horse
+cares not, the ox submits, and man makes no opposition. The dog has a
+will of his own, and acknowledges no change of servitude, until
+conscious of a change of affection.
+
+The stirring and harassing events of the day, though they had exhausted
+the spirit of the youth, had yet brought with exhaustion that nervous
+irritableness which drives away slumber from the eyes of the over-weary.
+Twice or thrice, Juan had flung himself on the couch to repose, but in
+vain; and as he now sat questioning himself how far the substitution of
+soft mats and robes for a bed of earth, might account for his inability
+to sleep, he began to revolve in his mind, for the twentieth time, his
+change of fortunes, and wonder at the inauspicious, and, as it seemed to
+him, unnatural sadness, which oppressed his spirits.
+
+"I have been restored," he muttered, half aloud,--and, as he spoke,
+Befo, roused by the accents from the floor, thrust his rough head over
+his knees, to testify his attention,--"I have been restored to favour,
+and, in great part, to the friendship of the General.--Thou whinest,
+Befo! I would I could read the heart of a man as clearly as thine.--Yet
+has he not distinguished me with a high command,--a captain's? I trow,
+it is not every one who can so soon step into this dignity, especially
+when without the recommendation of birth, as Alvarado hinted.--I will
+show this proud cavalier, that God does not confine all merit to
+hidalgos' sons. If he give me but a capable force--Twenty foot and six
+horse?--'tis but a weak array for a field where eighty men have
+perished. Yet I care not: if I have but Xicotencal to back me, with some
+two or three _xiquipils_[9] of his Tlascalans, it will be enough. If I
+fall,--perhaps _that_ will be better: I am too faint-hearted for these
+wars. Villafana says, that he brands the prisoners too, and sells them
+for slaves. This is surely unjust--He was another man at Cuba."
+
+[Footnote 9: _Xiquipil_--a military division of natives, consisting of
+eight thousand men.]
+
+At this moment, the dog raised his head and growled, and Juan heard
+steps approaching through the long passage, that ran by his door. Here
+they stopped, and Befo continuing to give utterance to his displeasure,
+the voice of Villafana whispered through the curtain,
+
+"Put thy hand on the beast's neck, or box him o' the ears--He is no
+friend of mine."
+
+"Enter," said Juan, "if thou art seeking me. He will do thee no harm."
+
+"Ay, marry," said Villafana, coming in; "for at the worst, and when
+other things fail, I will stop him with my dudgeon, be he Cortes's,
+thine, or any one's else. It stirs my choler to be growled at by so base
+a thing as a dog."
+
+"Put up thy weapon, nevertheless," said Juan, observing that Villafana
+had a poniard in his hand; "thou seest, the dog is quiet. In this he
+pays me the compliment of supposing I can protect myself. What is thy
+will with me, Villafana?"
+
+"First," said the Alguazil, with a laugh, "to give thee my
+congratulations touching thy sudden rise from the abyss, and thy
+meditated flight heaven-ward. And, secondly," he continued, when Juan
+had nodded his thanks, "to ask, in the way of friendship, from how high
+a cliff thou canst tumble headlong, without danger of breaking thy
+neck?"
+
+"This is but a silly question, friendly though it may be," replied Juan.
+
+"Oh, senor," said Villafana, "you must remember, the first night we
+slept with the army, at the base of El Volcan, the mighty Popocatepetl,
+how much we admired the great stones, that the devils therein flung up
+against the stars! You nod again: good luck to your recollections! Did
+you observe any one of those ignited masses stick against the vault, and
+there hang among the luminaries?"
+
+"Surely not," said Juan; "those that fell not immediately back into the
+crater, rolled down among the snows on the mountain-side, and were there
+extinguished."
+
+"Very well, senor--When you are mounted, you can remember the
+fire-stones, and make your choice whether to tumble back into the fire
+of wrath, that now sends you upward, or to quench yourself for ever in
+the frozen bed of degradation.--You go to Tochtepec?"
+
+"I do," said Juan, somewhat angrily; "and I warn thee, thy malicious
+metaphors will not make me less grateful for the kindness that sends
+me."
+
+"God rest you--it were better you had accepted the embassy to
+Guatimozin."
+
+"Hah!" said Juan, "how knowest thou of this? It was spoken only in
+secret council?"
+
+"Oh," said Villafana, with a second laugh, "if thou wilt but scratch on
+one end of a long log, be sure I will hear it at the other. There is
+something more in the world than magic."
+
+He spoke with marked exultation; indeed Juan had already observed that
+his carriage was freer and bolder than common, and that he bore himself
+like a man who cares not wholly to conceal a triumph of spirit, which he
+thinks it not needful altogether to divulge.
+
+"Harkee, senor Don Juan," he went on, abruptly and inquisitively, "thou
+art good friends with Xicotencal?"
+
+"So far as a Christian man can be with one, who, though a very noble
+being, is yet a misbeliever."
+
+"And thou wert sworn friends, at Mexico, with the young prince,
+Guatimozin?"
+
+"Not so," said Juan: "the young man kept aloof from us all, being of the
+hostile party; and there was scarce one of us who had ever seen his
+face. I must confess, however, if I can believe Techeechee, that my
+preservation in the expedition was owing to his good act; for Techeechee
+avers, that it was through Guatimozin's good will that he was sent with
+me, to secure me from the death which was designed for all the rest of
+the party."
+
+"Designed? dost thou allow it then?" cried the Alguazil, quickly.
+
+"Ay," replied Juan, dryly; "designed by the Mexican lords, but not by
+Christian leaders."
+
+"And art thou not sorry thou wert not despatched to him as envoy?"
+
+"Why need we talk of this?" said Juan, hesitating. "Guatimozin the king,
+may be different from Guatimozin the prince."
+
+"He is not _yet_ the king," said Villafana. "He will not be crowned till
+the day of the great war-festival, and not then, unless he can furnish a
+Spaniard for the sacrifice. I'faith, he loves not the blood of his red
+neighbours."
+
+"Villafana," said Juan, struck with certain uneasy suspicions, "thou
+seemest better acquainted with these things than becomes a true follower
+of Don Hernan."
+
+"Not a whit, not a whit," cried the Alguazil, hastily: "this is but the
+common talk,--the common talk, senor; and I am but a fool to indulge in
+it, to the prejudice of other business more urgent. Come, senor,--will
+you walk in the garden? There is a friend to speak with you."
+
+"What friend?" said Juan.--"Villafana, I half suspect you are engaged in
+some foul work. I will have naught to do with it."
+
+"Lo you now," said the Alguazil, impatiently; "this is wild work. Do you
+think I will assassinate you? Ho! this is a thing thy best friend would
+entrust to another. Come, senor;--you have your rapier,--you can take
+your casque, too, if you have any fear. It is a friend, who has that to
+say which it concerns your life to know. You know not your danger. God
+be with you, and your blood be upon your own head! If you refuse, you
+will not repent you:--no, faith--you will not have time left for
+lamentation.--Farewell, senor,--"
+
+"Stay, Villafana," exclaimed Juan, much disturbed: "Friend or foe,--it
+is not that which stays me, but the fear of being entrapped into
+something more to be dreaded than death. Thou art a schemer; it is thy
+nature: I will have nothing to do with thy plots, or with those who--"
+
+"Pho! this concerns thyself alone, not me. My only plot is to help one
+who desires to drag thee out of the fire thou art so bent to burn in. I
+take you to your friend, and depart: I have other things to occupy me. I
+am but a messenger. Will you go? I must give you a token then.--You have
+not forgotten Hilario?"
+
+At these words, muttered under breath, Juan started and turned pale,
+exclaiming, "Saints and angels! and heaven forbid! Mine ears did not
+then deceive me? Oh wo to us all! Alas for thine ill news! Have I not
+pain enough of mine own?"
+
+As he spoke, with a trembling voice, Villafana handed him his cap and
+sword, saying, as he put into his hand the latter, which was a light
+rapier,
+
+"A good blade! and has hung at Don Hernan's girdle.--Leave the dog
+behind: he will but set up his cursed growling, and so bring upon you
+some one who may not relish the meeting."
+
+"It is true, then?" cried Juan, with tones and aspect of the greatest
+distress: "So fair, so young, so noble, so fallen!"
+
+"Back, cur! thick-lips! Befo!" cried the Alguazil, as the two left the
+chamber.--"He grumbles at me, as if to say _Ehem_, with disdain. Command
+him thyself: he is a superfluous companion."
+
+The young man waved his hand to Befo; at which signal Befo threw himself
+upon his haunches, looking after Juan till he beheld him issue from the
+long passage into the open air. Then rising, with the air of a servant
+who understands his duty much better even than his master, he followed
+slowly after the pair into the garden.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+The royal garden of Tezcuco was an extensive piece of ground, fenced, on
+three sides, by the palace and its dependencies, and bounded on the
+fourth, by the waters of the lake, from which it was divided by a low
+wall, long since broken down by the Conquerors, by certain shadowy
+buildings, and by clumps of noble cypresses and other trees. The moon,
+not yet near her full, shone westward of the meridian, in a sky
+intensely azure and almost cloudless; and her beams could be traced,
+through the wall of cypresses, glittering and dancing on the light
+waves, as they rippled up merrily to the night-breeze. What taste was
+displayed in the plan and cultivation of the garden, could not be
+determined, at this hour, and in this insufficient, though beautiful,
+light. One could behold, indeed, obscurely, flower-beds and shrubberies,
+winding alleys and hanging groves, little still pools and even, here and
+there, a jetting fountain, scattered about in a manner which the
+imagination might believe was designed and judicious; but it seemed, at
+night, rather a wilderness, in which the nostrils had greater reason to
+be gratified than the eyes. A thousand odours fell from the trees, a
+thousand scents rose from the flowers, as the heads of the one and the
+petals of the other were shaken by the flitting gusts. It was a scene
+calculated at least to soothe exasperated feelings, and induce sentiment
+and melancholy in the breast of the contemplative.
+
+To Juan's temperament, it would have been, at any other moment,
+saddening enough; but his thoughts were, at present, far too much, and
+far too painfully, engaged, to permit any to be wasted upon it.
+
+As he followed hastily at the heels of the Alguazil, he made one or two
+agitated attempts to draw from him some further tokens to remove or
+confirm his boding suspicions; but the Alguazil had on the sudden grown
+very cautiously or very maliciously silent, and answered only by
+pressing his finger on his lips, eyeing the youth significantly, and
+hurrying him more rapidly along.
+
+He led him to a spot, almost in the centre of the garden, where a little
+oval-shaped pool lay embosomed among schinus-trees, whose long weeping
+branches, stirred by the wind, swept gracefully over and in the water,
+which was only agitated, when thus disturbed by the motion of a bough,
+or by the plunge of the fragrant berries, the harvest of a former year,
+which dropped at intervals from the cluster. A single moonbeam found its
+way into this solitary inclosure, falling upon a limited portion of a
+path which seemed to surround the pool. In other respects, all was dark
+and invisible, and not a ray could be seen on the water, save when the
+spectator, peering over the brink, beheld some faint star of the zenith
+glimmering down among the shadowy depths.
+
+Upon this path, and in this moonbeam, the Alguazil paused, and pointing
+hastily to a nook--the darkest of all where all were dark,--Juan
+perceived obscurely what seemed a moving figure. The next moment,
+Villafana passed among the boughs, retracing his steps, and strode again
+into the moonlight. As he stood an instant shaking the dew-drops from
+his cloak, he beheld a dark object approaching slowly on the path. It
+was the faithful Befo, who, with his head to the ground, and his tail
+draggling in the grass, as if sensible of having committed a breach of
+discipline, yet crawled along after his master, under the irresistible
+instinct of fidelity.
+
+"This is ill thought on, and may be unlucky," muttered Villafana, with a
+subdued voice. "Here, Befo! you rascal! come with me, and you shall have
+a bone.--Ay, thou ill devil!" he continued, in the same whispered tones,
+as Befo, without stirring to the right or the left, and merely showing
+his teeth, when the Alguazil seemed disposed to check him with his hand,
+passed on towards the grove,--"go thy ways, and growl as thou wilt: thou
+art the only thing in the land incorruptible. But thou wilt be
+acquainted with my dagger yet, if thou hast no better appetite for my
+dinner."
+
+He resumed his path. He had not taken a dozen steps, before he became
+sensible of the approach of another intruder: but this time the intruder
+was human. There was something in the fashion and sweep of the garments,
+which, even at a distance, apprized him of the character of the comer.
+
+"The devil take these prying priests, monks, friars, and all!" he
+muttered irreverently betwixt his teeth.--"Holy father,----Hah! by the
+mass, is it thou, Camarga! my brother of all orders, monkish, mendicant,
+martial, and so on? Thy masking goes the wrong way: I told thee to meet
+me at the prison. 'Tis my palace, man; and the princes are in
+waiting.--Come, these damp mazes are ill for thy years and diseased
+liver. We will walk together."
+
+"Senor Grunidor, as they call you," said Camarga, flinging back the
+white cowl, and revealing his sallow features in the moonshine, "senor
+Alguazil, carcelero, rogue, conspirator, devil, and what-not, how I came
+to be so deep among your damnable devices, in the short month I have
+been in this land, I know not, except that I have, like thyself, a
+greater aptitude to be groping among caverns than journeying on kings'
+highways. But know, sirrah, that besides _thy_ subtleties, I have some
+whimseys of my own; to which, when the wind stirs them, yours must give
+place, were they ten thousand times more magnificent than your wit
+strives to make them appear. Begone, therefore; get thee to thy scurvy
+Tlascalan, whom thou art training to the gallows; to thy Mexican
+Magnifico, who is an ass to trust his neck to thy keeping; and to what
+vagabond Christians will give thee their countenance, who are e'en
+greater fools than thyself, and the Indians together. Get thee away: I
+have business of mine own; and I will come to you when it is despatched,
+or I will _not_ come,--just as the imp urges me. So away with you, and
+leave me to myself."
+
+"Under your favour, no," said Villafana, apparently too well acquainted
+with the man to be much surprised at a tone and manner so unlike to
+those which Camarga had used at the cypress-tree: "I must e'en have your
+saintly cowl and leaden cross, to swear the two infidels together:
+otherwise there is no trusting them.--They have much superstitious
+reverence for our priests and ceremonies. Come, senor; I tell thee, the
+Mexican will make our fortunes."
+
+"Thine, rogue, _thine_!" said the disguised Camarga, impatiently: "Why
+talkest thou to me in this stupid wise? I am an older villain than
+thou.--I have a fancy for this lad of the Anakim, this thick-witted,
+turtle-brained young Magog. Thou makest a mystery of him, too. 'Slid! I
+will penetrate it; for I have a use to make of him, as well as thou."
+
+"Demonios!" said Villafana; "are you seeking Juan Lerma?"
+
+"Ay, marry. I dogged thee hitherward, I saw thee hide him in the bush,
+and by St. Dominic, (who will fry my soul to cinders, for defiling his
+garments--_peccavi_!) I will know what's i' the wind betwixt you, ere I
+stir a step further in your counsels. Dost thou think I will be thine
+accomplice, and have anything hidden from me? Thou swearest, he is to be
+murdered to-morrow, too. There is no time to be lost."
+
+"Thou art mad," said Villafana: "he is engaged on our business. I make
+no mystery; I will tell you all. It is well I met thee. He has
+company,--a good sword,--and would think no more of lunging through thy
+holy lion's skin, if he caught thee eavesdropping--"
+
+"Hark! dost thou not hear tuck and corselet?" said Camarga, smiling
+grimly, and rattling the hilt of a sword against his concealed armour.
+"I must know his companion too. I tell thee, I will have all thy
+secrets, or I drop thee, perhaps denounce thee."
+
+"Thou shalt have them," said Villafana, gradually drawing him further
+from the pool. "His companion is La Monjonaza."
+
+"Ha! sits the wind there? I must have a peep at her: they say, she is
+lovely as a goddess."
+
+"Thou wilt incense her," said Villafana, emphatically. "By heaven, thou
+knowest not the temper of this woman, which is deadly. Leave the two
+cooing fools to themselves. Our fortunes,--nay, faith, our lives, depend
+upon them. La Monjonaza is deep in our secrets,--"
+
+"Knave!" muttered the pretended friar, in a low but furious voice, "hast
+thou trusted my life in the keeping of a woman?"
+
+"Pho, she is an older conspirator than thou; a wiser, too, for she can
+keep her temper. Out of her love for the young man, we draw our truest
+safety and quickest success."
+
+"Her love! oh fu! and is she of this corrupt fickleness, that she will
+have two lovers in one hour? But it is the way with these creatures!"
+
+"They are old lovers, very old lovers, senor," said Villafana,
+endeavouring, as he spoke, but in vain, to quicken the steps of Camarga.
+"You shall hear the story.--Juan Lerma's father was some low, poor, base
+fellow, killed in some tumult at Isabela. The old hidalgo, Antonio del
+Milagro, took the boy out of charity, first as a servant--"
+
+"A servant? Dios mio!--Is he of no better beginning?"
+
+"Not a jot; but the old fellow liked him, and, in the end, treated him
+full as well as his own son,--a knavish lad, called Hilario, some two or
+three years older than Juan."
+
+"Slife!" said Camarga, "tell me no granddam's tale, with all tedious
+particulars. How came the youth into the hands of Cortes?"
+
+"Even by setting out to seek his fortune, somewhat early, and getting to
+Santiago, where Cortes took him into keeping. You heard us say, that Don
+Hernan, when he received his commission from Velasquez, sent Juan back
+to his native island, to recruit forces. It was natural he should visit
+his old friends at Isabela. It was here he met with, and quarrelled
+about, Magdalena--"
+
+"Magdalena!" said Camarga, with surprise. "You swore her name was
+Infeliz!"
+
+"Ay; but the true one is Magdalena. When she came from Spain--"
+
+"From Spain!" cried Camarga, starting: "is she not an islander?"
+
+"Pho! didst thou ever see a creature of her beauty, born out of
+Andalusia?"
+
+"I have not seen her--but I will,--yes, by all the saints of heaven, I
+will,--I must.--How came she to the island?"
+
+"Oh, a-horseback, I think," said Villafana; "for the ship was never seen
+at Isabela: never question about that. The two young dogs, Hilario and
+Juan, found her somewhere, brought her to old Milagro, and, Juan being
+more favoured and better beloved than Hilario, who, to say truth, was
+both ugly and vicious, they fought about her, and Hilario was killed.
+Thus, Juan was left the master of the beauty; but being tired of her, or
+afraid of old Milagro's vengeance, or perhaps both, he fled again to
+Cuba, and thence as you heard, came to Mexico in a fusta. What brought
+Magdalena after him I know not, unless 'twas mad, raging love; yes,
+faith, that's the cause; for she cares not half so much for Don Hernan.
+But they did say, at Isabela, she had a better cause; for the ship, it
+was well known--"
+
+"Fool of all fools!" said Camarga, with a strange and unnatural laugh,
+"didst thou not say the ship was never seen at Isabela?"
+
+"Ay, truly; but it was seen on the rocks at the Point of Alonso, not
+many leagues distant," replied Villafana; and then added, "I would thou
+couldst be more choice of thine epithets of endearment. These 'knaves,'
+'rogues,' and 'fools,' do well enough among friends; but one may season
+discourse too strongly with them, even for the roughest appetite.--The
+ship was a wreck: there was said to be foul work about it; but that's
+neither here nor there. The girl was brought ashore by the young men,
+Juan being good in the management of a skiff,--indeed, a notoriously
+skilful and fearless sailor. What was said of Magdalena, was this,"
+continued the Alguazil, with a low, confidential voice: "It was
+discovered, or at least conjectured, that the ship was no other than the
+Santa Anonciacion, a vessel sent from Seville with a bevy of
+nuns,--faith, some worshippers of thine own good St. Dominic,--who were
+to found a convent at the Havana. It was whispered, that the fair
+Magdalena was even one of the number, and therefore--But the thing must
+be plain! To be a nun, and to love young fellows _par amours_--this is a
+matter for the Inquisition. But thanks be to God, we have no good
+Brothers in Mexico!--I will tell thee more, as we walk, and show thee,
+if thou hast not the wit to see it, how much it concerns us to have a
+friend like La Monjonaza."
+
+"I have heard enough," said Camarga, with tones deep and hoarse;
+"enough, and more than enough. And this woman was, _then_, the leman of
+Juan Lerma, and, now, the creature of Cortes!"--Here he muttered
+something to himself. Then, speaking with an audible voice, he said,
+
+"Get thee to thy den, and look to thyself: there is danger afloat, and
+full enough to excuse me from meddling with thee to-night. There is a
+force of men concealed near to the prison, and commanded by Guzman. Ask
+no questions--look to thyself: thou art suspected."
+
+At these words, Villafana became greatly alarmed, and exchanging but a
+few words more with Camarga, hastily departed. He was no sooner gone,
+than Camarga, yielding to an emotion he had long suppressed, fell upon
+his knees and uttered wild prayers, mingled with groans and
+maledictions, all the while beating his breast and brows. Then rising
+and whipping out his sword, as if to execute some deadly purpose of
+vengeance, he strode towards the pool.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+No sooner had the Alguazil departed from the enclosure, than the figure
+which Juan had beheld obscurely among the shadows, stepped slowly into
+the moonshine, looking like a phantom, because so closely shrouded from
+head to foot that nothing was seen but the similitude of a human being,
+wrapped, as it might be imagined, in a gray winding-sheet. The thick
+hood and veil concealed her countenance, and even her hands were hidden
+among the folds.
+
+It seemed, for a moment, as if she were about to speak, for low murmurs
+came inarticulately from the veil. As for Juan himself, he was kept
+silent by the most painful agitation. At last, and when it appeared as
+if the unhappy being was conscious that no other mode of revealment was
+in her power, she raised her hand to her head, and the next moment, the
+hood falling back, the moonbeams fell upon the exposed visage of La
+Monjonaza. It was exceedingly, indeed deadly, pale; and the gleaming of
+her dewy forehead indicated how feebly even her powerful strength of
+mind contended with a sense of humiliation. She made an effort to
+elevate her head, to compose her features into womanly dignity, but all
+in vain; her hands sought each other, and were clasped together upon her
+breast, her lips quivered, her head fell, and her eyes, after one wild,
+brief, and supplicating glance, were cast upon the earth.
+
+"Alas, Magdalena!" exclaimed Juan, with tones of the deepest feeling,
+"do I see you here, do I see you _thus_?"
+
+At these words she raised her head, with a sudden and convulsive start,
+as if the imputation they conveyed had stung her to the soul; and as she
+bent her eyes upon Juan, though they were filled with tears, yet they
+flashed with what seemed a noble indignation. But this was soon changed
+to a milder and sadder expression, and the flush which had accompanied
+it, was quickly replaced by her former paleness.
+
+"Thou dost indeed see me here," she replied, summoning her resolution,
+and speaking firmly, "and thou seest me thus,--degraded, not in thine
+imagination only, but in the suspicions of all, down to the level of
+scorn. Yes," she continued, bitterly, "and while thou pitiest me for a
+shame endured only for thyself,--endured only that I may requite thee
+with life for life,--thou art sorry thy hand ever snatched me from the
+billows. Speak, Juan Lerma, is it not so?"
+
+"It had been better, Magdalena," said the youth, reproachfully, "for,
+besides that the act caused me to be stained with blood, it afflicts me
+with a curse still more heavy. I do not mourn the death of Hilario, as I
+mourn the downfall of one whom I once esteemed almost a seraph."
+
+"Villain that he was!" cried Magdalena, with vindictive impetuosity,
+"mean and malignant in life and in death! who, with a lie, living,
+destroyed the peace and the fame of the friendless, and died with a lie,
+that both might remain blighted for ever! O wretch! O wretch! there is
+no punishment for him among the fiends, for he was of their nature. And
+thou mournest his death, too! Thou cursest the hand that avenged the
+wrong of a feeble woman!"
+
+"I lament that I slew the son of my benefactor," said Juan, with a deep
+sigh; and then added with one still deeper, "but, sinner that I am, I
+rejoice while looking on thee, in the fierce thought, that I killed the
+destroyer of innocence."
+
+"The destroyer of innocence indeed," replied Magdalena, with a voice
+broken and suffocating. "Yes, innocence!" she exclaimed more wildly, "or
+at least, the _fame_ of innocence! for innocence herself he could not
+harm. No, by heaven! oh, no! for what I came from the sea, that I am
+_now_; yes, now, I tell thee, now! and if thou darest give tongue to
+aught else, if thou darest think--Oh heaven! this is more than I can
+bear! Say, Juan Lerma! say! dost _thou_, too, believe me the thing I am
+called? the base, the fallen, the degraded?"
+
+"Alas, Magdalena," replied Juan, to the wild demand: "with his dying
+lips, Hilario----"
+
+"With his dying lips, he perjured his soul for ever!" exclaimed
+Magdalena, "for ever, for ever!" she went on, with inexpressible energy
+and fury; "and may the curse of a broken-hearted woman, destroyed by his
+defaming malice, cling to him as long, scorching him with fresh
+torments, even when fiends grow relentful and forbearing. Mountains of
+fire requite the coals he has thrown upon my bosom! May God never
+forgive him! no, never! never!"
+
+"This is horrid!" said Juan. "Revoke thy malediction: it is impiety.
+Alas, alas!" he continued, moved with compassion, as the singular being,
+passing at once from a sibyl-like rage to the deepest and most feminine
+abasement of grief, wrung her hands, and sobbed aloud and bitterly;
+"Would indeed that thou hadst perished with the others!"
+
+"Would that I had!" said Magdalena, more calmly; "but thou hadst then
+been left to a malice like that which has slain me.--No, not like that;
+for it is content with thy _life_!--I would ask thee more of myself,"
+she went on, more composedly, after a little pause, "but it needs not.
+If I can show thee thou wrongest me concerning Hilario, canst thou not
+believe I may be even _here_ without stain? Well, I care not; one day,
+thou wilt know thou hast wronged me. But let the shame rest upon me now;
+for it needs I should think, not of myself, but of thee. Listen to me,
+Juan Lerma; for fallen or not, yet am I thine only friend among a
+thousand enemies. Give up thy service, thy hopes of fame and fortune in
+this land, and leave it. Leave Mexico, return to the islands. Thou hast
+marvellously escaped a death, subtly and cruelly designed; and now thou
+art destined to an end as vengeful, and perhaps even more inevitable.
+Yet there is one way of escape, and there is one moment to take
+advantage of it. Leave Mexico: Cortes is thy foe.--Leave Mexico."
+
+"These are but wild words, Magdalena," said Juan, with a troubled voice.
+"I would do much to remove _thee_ from a situation, the thought whereof
+is bitterer to me than my own misfortunes."
+
+"Wouldst thou?" said Magdalena, eagerly. "Go then, and I go likewise; go
+then, and know that thy departure not only releases me from a situation
+of disgrace, but enables me to make clear a reputation which thou--yes,
+_thou_,--believest to be sullied and lost. I am not what I seem--Saints
+of heaven, that I should have to say it! But by the grave of my mother,
+I swear, Juan Lerma, thou doest me as deep a wrong as others. Leave this
+land, and thou shalt see that the fame of an angel is not purer than
+mine own scorned name,--no, by heaven, no freer from a deserved shame.
+Thou shakest thy head!--I could kill thee, Juan Lerma, I could kill
+thee!"--she went on, with a strange mingling of fierce resentment and
+beseeching grief; "I could kill thee, for I have not deserved this of
+thee!" Then, changing her tone, and clasping her hands submissively, she
+said, "But think not of me, or rather continue to think me unworthy of
+aught but pity: think not, above all, that what I do is with any
+reference to myself. No, heaven is my witness, I claim of thee neither
+affection nor respect; I am content to be mistaken, to be despised. All
+this I can endure, and will, uncomplaining,--so that I can rescue thee
+from the danger in which thou art placed. Leave this land: Don Hernan
+deceives thee; he hates thee, and thirsts after thy blood. He has
+confessed it!"
+
+"God be my help!" said Juan, despairingly; "my life is in his hands. If
+this be true--"
+
+"If it be true!" repeated Magdalena: "It is known to all but thyself."
+
+"It is _not_ true!" exclaimed the young man, vehemently: "I have done
+him no wrong, and he is not the detestable being you would make him. If
+he be, I owe him a life--let him have it; it is in his hands."
+
+"Leave Mexico," reiterated Magdalena. "If thou goest to Tochtepec, thou
+art lost. I have it in my power to aid,--nay, to secure thy escape. Say,
+therefore, thou wilt consent, say thou wilt leave Mexico!"
+
+"It cannot be," said Juan, with a sad and sullen resolution: "I will
+await my fate in Mexico!"
+
+"And wilt thou stand, like the fat ox, till the noose is cast upon thy
+neck? till thou art butchered?"
+
+"My life is nothing--I live not for myself; the redemption of others
+depends upon my acts. I have a duty that speaks more urgently than fear.
+My lot is cast in Mexico; I cannot leave it."
+
+As he spoke, with a firm voice, he bent his looks expressively on his
+companion. Her eyes flashed fire, and they shone from her pale face like
+living coals:
+
+"Sayst thou this to me?" she exclaimed, her voice trembling with fury,
+"sayst thou this to me?" Then advancing a step, and laying her hand upon
+his arm, she continued, her accents sinking almost into whispers, they
+were so subdued, or so feeble, "Lay not upon thy soul a sin greater than
+stains it already. Leave Mexico; resolve or die: leave Mexico, or
+perish!--Oh, thou art guiltier than thou thinkest! Thou hast cursed
+Hilario for my fall: curse thyself,--not Hilario, but thyself; for but
+for thee, but for thee, I had been happy! yes, happy, happy!"
+
+To these words, Juan, though greatly compassionating the distress of the
+speaker, would have replied with remonstrance; but she gave him no
+opportunity. She continued to repeat over and over again, with a kind of
+hysterical pertinacity, the words 'Leave Mexico! leave Mexico!' so that
+Juan was not only prevented replying, but confounded. He was relieved
+from embarrassment by a sudden growl, coming from the bushes at his
+side. La Monjonaza started at the sound, and in the moment of silence
+that succeeded, both could distinguish the steps of a man rapidly
+approaching the pool. At the same instant, another growl was heard, and
+Befo, issuing from the leafy covert, took a stand by his master's side,
+as if to defend him from an enemy. The veil of Magdalena fell over her
+visage; she paused but to whisper, in tones of such energy that they
+thrilled him to the soul, 'Leave Mexico, or die!' and then instantly
+vanished among the boughs. It was too late for Juan to follow her: he
+had scarce time to lay his hand upon Befo's neck and moderate his
+ferocity, before his eyes were struck with the strange spectacle of a
+tall man, in the garb of a Dominican friar, his face pale as death, his
+hand holding a naked sword, who strode into the inclosure and upon that
+part of the path which was illuminated by the moonbeams. No sooner had
+he cast his eyes upon Juan than he exclaimed, "Die, wretch!" and made a
+pass at him with his weapon. Had the lunge been skilfully made, it must
+have proved fatal; for though Juan still held the sheathless rapier he
+had brought from his chamber, he was so much surprised at the suddenness
+of the apparition, that his attempt to ward it could not have succeeded
+against a good fencer. A better protection was given by the faithful
+Befo, who, darting from Juan's hand, against the assailant's breast,
+attacked him with a shock so violent, that, in an instant, the senor
+Camarga (for it was he who played this insane part) lay rolling upon his
+back, his grizzled locks streaming in the pool.
+
+"In the name of heaven, what dost thou mean, and who art thou, impostor
+and assassin!" cried Juan, pulling off the dog, and helping Camarga to
+his feet. "Thou art mad, I think!"
+
+There was something in the man's countenance, as well as in the
+murderous attempt, to confirm the idea; for Camarga's agitation was
+singular and extreme, and he seemed unable to answer a word.
+
+"Who art thou?" continued Juan angrily, impressed with the certainty
+that he had seen the face of the assailant before, yet without knowing
+when or where. "Confess thyself straight, or I will have thee to the
+Alguazil, and see the friar's frock scourged from thy base body!"
+
+However eager and foreboding the young man's curiosity, it was doomed to
+be disappointed by a new interruption. While he yet spoke, he was
+alarmed by a sudden discharge of firearms, followed by shrieks and
+cries, at the bottom of the garden; and presently the whole solitude was
+transformed into a scene of tumult and uproar. Lights were seen flashing
+among the trees, and men were heard running confusedly to and fro,
+calling to one another.
+
+The last word had hardly parted from his lips, before the boughs crashed
+on the opposite side of the pool, and a new actor was suddenly added to
+the scene.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+As the bushes parted, a tall figure sprang into the path, and running
+round the pool, would instantly have been at the side of the two
+Castilians, who were yet unobserved, had it not been that Befo, his
+ferocity greatly whetted by his former encounter, darted forward as at
+first, with a sudden roar, with equal violence, and with similar
+success. As the stranger fell to the earth under an attack so impetuous
+and unexpected, he uttered an exclamation in which Juan recognized the
+language of Mexico. He ran forwards, guided by the growls of the beast
+and the stifled cries of the man, (for the spot on which the two
+contended was covered with impenetrable gloom,) and, by accident, caught
+the stranger's arm, and felt that it wielded a heavy macana, now
+uplifted against the animal. As his other hand was stretched forward,
+again to remove the victorious Befo from a fallen antagonist, it fell
+upon the naked breast of a barbarian.--In a moment more, he had torn the
+dog away, and dragged the savage into the moonshine, where he had left
+Camarga standing, but where Camarga stood no longer. He had fled away in
+the confusion, unobserved, and now almost forgotten.
+
+Here Juan released the captive from his powerful grasp, for his rapier
+was in his hand, and the macana of the Mexican he had already cast into
+the pool; and thus standing, confiding as much in the aid of Befo as in
+the menacing attitude of his weapon, he began to address his prisoner.
+
+"What art thou?" he demanded, in the tongue which, as he had boasted,
+was almost as familiar to him as the language of Spain: "What art thou?
+and what dost thou here?"
+
+Instead of answering, the Mexican, gazing over his conqueror's shoulder,
+seemed to survey, with looks of admiration and alarm, some spectacle
+behind his back. Juan cast his eye in the direction thus indicated, and
+beheld the visage of Magdalena, recalled by the tumult, gleaming hard
+by. In an instant more, she had vanished, and he turned again to the
+captive, who, when the vision, to him so inexplicable, had faded away,
+now directed his attention to an object equally surprising and much more
+formidable in his estimation than even the redoubtable Juan. As he
+rolled his eyes, in mingled wonder, trepidation, and anger, on the huge
+Befo, who now stood regarding him, writhing his lips and showing his
+tusks, in the manner with which he was wont so expressively to intimate
+his readiness to obey any signal of attack, Juan had full leisure to
+observe that the Indian was a young man not above twenty-three or
+twenty-four years old, of good and manly stature, and limbs nobly
+proportioned. His only garments were a tunic and mantle of some
+dark-coloured stuff, but little ornamented, the former extending from
+the waist to the knees, the latter, knotted, as usual, about his throat,
+but so disordered and torn by the teeth of the dog, as to leave the
+upper part of his body nearly naked. His only defensive armour was a
+little round buckler of the skin of the _danta_ or tapir, not exceeding
+fourteen inches in diameter, strapped to his left arm. The loss of the
+macana had left him without any offensive weapon. As he raised his head
+at the second salutation of his capturer, he flung back the long masses
+of black hair from his forehead, and displayed a visage, as well, at
+least, as it could be seen in the moonlight, not unworthy his manly
+person.
+
+"Olin, the tongue of the Teuctli, is a prisoner."
+
+As he pronounced these words, in his own language, signifying that he
+was an orator of his high class, and that he confessed himself a
+captive, he touched the earth with his hand and kissed it, in token of
+submission. The tones of his voice caused Juan to start.
+
+He dropped his sword-point, advanced nearer to him, and perused his
+features with intense curiosity. His gaze was returned with a look of
+equal surprise, which betrayed a touch of fear; for the Mexican at once
+exclaimed, withdrawing a step backward,
+
+"The Great Eagle fell among the archers of Matlatzinco!"
+
+"The king is not wise--Guatimozin is in the hands of Cortes!" said Juan,
+with deep earnestness.
+
+"Olin is the orator--the king is wise," replied the Indian, hastily.
+
+"It is in vain," said Juan. "Thou art Guatimozin! and a captive, too,
+ere a blow has been struck, in the camp of thy foeman! Is this an end
+for the king of Mexico?"
+
+"Quauhtimozin can die: there are other kings for the free warriors of
+Tenochtitlan," replied the young monarch, boldly and haughtily, avowing
+his name,--which is here given in its original and genuine harshness,
+that the reader may be made acquainted with it; though it is not
+intended to substitute it for its more agreeable and familiar
+corruption: "Guatimozin is a prisoner," he continued, with a firm voice
+and lofty demeanour, "but the king of Mexico is free.--When did the
+Great Eagle become the foe of Guatimozin?"
+
+"I am not thy foe," replied Juan, "but thy friend; so far, at least, as
+it becomes a Christian and Spaniard to be. I lament to see thee in this
+place--I am not thy foe."
+
+"Raise then thy weapon," said the prince, dropping his haughty manner
+and ceremonious style, and speaking, as he laid his hand on Juan's arm,
+with fierce emotion; "strike me through the neck, and cast my body into
+the pool.--It is not fit that Guatimozin should wear the bonds of
+Montezuma!"
+
+It must not be supposed that this conversation took place in quiet.
+During the whole time, on the contrary, the garden continued to resound
+with the voices of men running from copse to copse, from alley to alley,
+sometimes drawing nigh, and, at other moments, appearing to be removed
+to the furthest limits of the grounds. At the moment when the Mexican
+made his abrupt and insane appeal to the friendship of his capturer, a
+party of Spaniards rushed by at so short a distance and with so much
+clamour, that he had good reason to conceive himself almost already in
+their hands. They passed by, however, and with them fled a portion of
+Juan's embarrassment. As soon as he perceived they were beyond hearing,
+he replied:
+
+"This were to be thy foe indeed. But, oh, unwise and imprudent! what
+tempted thee to this mad confidence?"
+
+"The craft of Malintzin," replied the Mexican, making use of a name
+which his people had long since attached to Cortes,--"the craft of
+Malintzin, who ensnares his foe like the wild Ottomi, hidden among the
+reeds;--he scatters the sweet berry on the lake, and steals upon the
+feeding sheldrake; so steals Malintzin. He sends words of peace to the
+foe afar; when the foe is asleep, Malintzin is a tiger!"
+
+"And thou hast been deceived by these perfidious and unworthy arts?"
+said Juan, the innuendoes of Villafana and the monitions of Magdalena,
+recurring to his mind with painful force.
+
+"Deceived and trapped!" replied the infidel, with fierce indignation;
+"cajoled by lies, circumvented by treachery, seduced and betrayed!--Is
+the Great Eagle like Malintzin?" As he spoke thus, sinking his voice,
+which was indeed all the time cautiously subdued, he again laid his hand
+on the young Christian's arm, and continued,
+
+"Art thou such a man, and dost thou desire the blood of thy friend? What
+shall be said to the little _Centzontli_, the mocking-bird? The little
+Centzontli sang the song to Guatimozin, 'Let not the Great Eagle die in
+the trap!' What sings she now? Does the Great Eagle listen to the little
+Centzontli?"
+
+"He does," replied Juan, on whom these metaphors, however mysterious
+they may seem to the reader, produced a strong impression. "Thou art
+_my_ prisoner, not Don Hernan's; and it rests with me to liberate or to
+bind, not with him. Answer me, therefore, truly; for if thou hast been
+trained by treachery into this present danger, coming with thoughts of
+peace and composition, and not with an army, to surprise and slay, thou
+shalt be made free, even though the act cost me my life."
+
+"I come in peace: does the leader of an army walk bareheaded and naked?
+My canoe lies hid among the reeds: my warriors are asleep on the island.
+The Christian sent for a lord of the city, to give his hand to the angry
+men of Tlascala. Guatimozin is not the king, but he brought them the
+hand of the king.--It was the lie of Malintzin! I am betrayed!"
+
+"If I suffer thee to depart," said Juan, anxiously, "canst thou make
+good thy escape?"
+
+"Is not Guatimozin a soldier?" replied the Mexican, with a gleaming eye.
+"Give me a sword, and hold fast the Christian tiger."--
+
+"Hark!--peace!" whispered Juan, drawing the prisoner suddenly among the
+boughs: "we are beset. Hist, Befo, hist!"
+
+With a degree of uneasiness, which approached almost to fear, when he
+found that Befo, instead of following him into his concealment, remained
+out upon the illuminated path, where he attracted notice, while
+expressing fidelity, by setting up an audible growl, Juan heard a man
+crash through the boughs on the further side of the pool, all the while
+calling loudly and cheerily to his companions.
+
+"Hither, knaves!" he cried; "the fox is in cover! Hither! quick,
+hither!"
+
+It was the voice of Guzman. He had caught the growl of the dog, and
+responded with a shout of triumph, as he ran forward, closely followed
+by three or four soldiers armed with spears;
+
+"The bloodhound for ever! he has the fox in his mouth, I know by his
+growling!--Hah, Befo, fool?" he continued, when he had reached the
+animal; "art thou baying the moon then?--Pass on, pass on: no Indian
+passes scotfree by Befo at midnight--Pass on, pass on!"
+
+In a moment more, the nook was left to its solitude, and Juan
+reappeared, with the prince. The sight and voice of Guzman had stirred
+up his wrath, and he took his measures with a quicker and sterner
+resolution.
+
+"He protects and loves this man, who is a villain," he muttered through
+his teeth. "There is nothing else left. Follow me prince: if we are
+seen, thy fate is not more certain than mine--Follow me in silence."
+
+The garden was still alive with men; they could be seen running about in
+different directions, though the greatest numbers seemed to be collected
+at the bottom, near to the lake side. It was not from this circumstance,
+however, so much as from his ignorance of every portion of the grounds
+except that by which he had approached the pool, that he bent his steps
+towards the wing of the palace he had so lately left. He advanced
+cautiously, taking advantage of every clump of trees, which could afford
+concealment from any passing group; and once or twice, to allay
+suspicion, adding his voice to those of the others, as if engaged in the
+same duty; in which latter stratagem he was ably seconded by the
+unconscious Befo, whose bark, excited by the shout of his master, was a
+sufficient warrant to all within hearing, of the friendly character of
+the party.
+
+Thus assisted by the undesigned help of the dog, and by the imitative
+caution of the Mexican, he succeeded in reaching the wing of the palace,
+and the passage that led to his chamber, which was illumined by torches
+of resinous wood. A door, leading to the open square that surrounded the
+palace, opened opposite to that by which he entered from the garden. It
+was his intention, if possible, to pass through this into the city, not
+doubting that it would be easy to conceal the fugitive among the
+thousand barbarians of his own colour and appearance, who yet thronged
+the streets; after which, it would not perhaps be impracticable to find
+some way to discharge him from the gates. But, unfortunately, as he
+pressed towards it, he found the outer door beset by armed men,
+thronging tumultuously in, as if to join their comrades in the garden.
+There was nothing left him, then, but to seek his apartment, as hastily
+as he could, and there conceal the Mexican until the heat of pursuit was
+over. A motion of his hand apprized the fugitive of his change of
+purpose, and Guatimozin, darting quickly forward, was already stealing
+into the chamber, when a harsh voice suddenly bawled behind,
+
+"Mutiny and miracles! here runs the rat with the viper! Treason,
+treason!"
+
+It was the hunchback Najara, whose quick eye detected the vanishing
+hair, and who now ran forward in pursuit, followed by a confused throng
+of soldiers, from among whom suddenly darted the cavalier Don Francisco
+de Guzman.
+
+Juan had reached the door. The cry of Najara assured him that he was
+discovered; and conscious that his act of generosity was, or of right
+ought to be, considered little better than sheer treason, the varied
+passions of hope, grief, indignation and wrath, which had been, the
+whole evening, chasing one another through his bosom, gave place at once
+to the single feeling of despair. He felt that he was now lost.
+
+At this very moment, while his brain was confused, and his heart dying
+within him, a laugh sounded in his ear, and he heard, even above the
+clamorous shouts of the soldiers, the voice of Guzman, exclaiming,
+
+"What think'st thou _now_, senor? Art thou conquered?--Stand! I arrest
+thee."
+
+He turned; the cavalier was within reach of his arm, and the malignant
+sneer was yet writhing over his visage. The words of scorn, the look of
+exultation, were intolerable; the rapier was already naked in his hand,
+and almost before he was himself aware of the act, it was aimed, with a
+deadly lunge, at Don Francisco's throat.
+
+"The deed has slain thee!" cried Guzman, leaping backwards, so as to
+avoid a thrust too fiercely sudden to be parried, and then again rushing
+forward, before he could be supported by the soldiers, who had also
+recoiled at this show of resistance; "the act has slain thee; and so
+take the fate thou art seeking!"
+
+As he spoke, he advanced his weapon, which was before unsheathed,
+against an adversary, whom the recollection of a thousand wrongs had
+inflamed to frenzy, but who could scarcely be supposed to have retained,
+during a year of servitude and suffering, the skill in arms, which once
+made him an equal antagonist. Nevertheless, Guzman's pass was turned
+aside, and returned with such interest, that, had the field been fair
+and unincumbered, it is questionable how long he might have lived to
+repeat it. As it was, the combat was cut short by the interposition of
+the bloodhound, who, whining, at first, as if unwilling to attack a
+cavalier so long and so well known as Don Francisco, and yet unable to
+remain neuter, at last added his fierce yell to the clash of the
+weapons, and decided the battle by springing against Guzman's breast. It
+was perhaps fortunate for the cavalier that he did. He had a breastplate
+on; and, for this reason, Juan aimed the few blows that were made, full
+at his throat, with the fatal determination of one, who, hopeless of
+life himself, had sworn a vow to his soul that his enemy should die. It
+was but the third thrust he had made, (they had scarce occupied so many
+seconds,) and it was directed with such irresistible skill and violence,
+that the point of the weapon was already gliding through Guzman's beard
+and razing his skin, when the weight of Befo's assault, for the third
+time successful, hurled him from his feet, and thus saved his life, at
+the expense of a severe gash made through his right cheek and ear.
+
+The whole of this encounter, from the first attack to the fall of
+Guzman, had not occupied the space of twenty seconds; and Don Francisco
+was at the mercy of his rival, before even the rapid Najara could
+advance a spear to protect him. It was not improbable that Juan would
+have taken a deadly advantage of the mishap, for, as he had declared, in
+a cooler moment, he hated Don Francisco, and his blood was now boiling.
+If such, however, was his purpose, he was prevented putting it into
+execution by another one of those opposing accidents, which seemed this
+night, to pursue him with such unrelenting rigour.
+
+Before he could advance a single step, a cavalier, bareheaded and
+unarmed, save that he flourished a naked sword, sprang from the throng
+of soldiers, followed by the senor Camarga, now without his masking
+habit, the latter of whom cried with fierce emphasis, all the time,
+"Kill him! cut him down! kill him!" until the soldiers caught up the
+cry, and the whole passage echoed with their furious exclamations. These
+served but the end of still further exasperating the choler of the young
+man, thus beset as it seemed by the tyranny of numbers; and seeing the
+bareheaded cavalier advancing against him, and already betwixt him and
+his fallen rival, he turned upon him with fresh fury.
+
+"Hah!" cried the new antagonist, when Juan's weapon clashed against his
+own; "traitor! dost thou provoke thy fate?"
+
+The words were not out of his lips, before Juan perceived that he had
+raised his rapier against the bosom of Cortes. He beheld, in the
+countenance which he had once loved, the scowl of an evil spirit, and
+the fire flashing from the general's eyes, was no longer to be mistaken
+for aught but the revelation of the deadliest hatred. He flung down his
+sword, resisting no longer, and the next instant would have been run
+through the body, but that Befo, fearing to attack, and yet unable to
+resist the impulse of fidelity, sprang up, with a howl, and seized the
+weapon with his teeth. Before Cortes could disengage it, and again turn
+it upon the unfortunate youth, the Mexican fugitive glided from the
+apartment, threw himself before the latter, and taking the point of the
+weapon in his hand, placed it against his own naked breast. Then bowing
+his head submissively, he stood in tranquillity, expecting his death.
+
+At his sudden appearance, the soldiers set up a shout, and Cortes was
+sufficiently diverted from his bloody purpose, to smooth his frowning
+brow into an air of official sternness.
+
+"Olin is the prisoner of the Teuctli," murmured the captive, in words
+scarce understood by any one present, except Juan.
+
+"Where bide mine Alguazils?" demanded the Captain-General, without
+condescending to notice the Mexican any further than merely by removing
+the rapier from his grasp. "Hah, Guzman! thou art hurt, art thou? By
+heaven,"--But he checked the oath, when he observed that Guzman, already
+on his feet, notwithstanding the frightful appearance that was given him
+by the blood running down his cheek and neck, and drippling slowly from
+his beard, replied to the exclamation with a smile of peculiar coolness:
+"Get thee to a surgeon. Where bide the Alguazils? Is there no officer to
+rid me of a traitor?"
+
+"Senor General," said Juan, sullenly, "I am no traitor--"
+
+He was interrupted by the appearance of two men, carrying batons, who
+bustled from among the crowd, and laid hands upon him. The readiest and
+the most officious was Villafana, who concealed a vast deal of agitation
+under an air of extravagant zeal.
+
+"Ha, Villafana! art thou found at last?" cried Don Hernan, with apparent
+anger. "Hast thou no better care of thy ward on the water-side, but that
+spies may come stealing into my garden?"
+
+"May it please your excellency," said Villafana, recovering his wit, "I
+was neither gambling nor asleep; but--'Slid, this is a pretty piece of
+villany! Oho, senor mutineer, this is hanging-work?--Speak not a word,
+as you love life."--This was spoken apart into Juan's ear.--"What is
+your excellency's will, touching the prisoner?"
+
+"Have him to prison, and see that he escape not."
+
+These words were pronounced with a coolness and gravity that amazed all
+who had witnessed the rage, which, but a moment before, had shaken the
+frame of the Captain-General. "And you, ye idle fellows," he continued,
+addressing the soldiers, "get you to your quarters, to your watch, or to
+your beds. Begone.--Why loiter ye, Villafana? Conduct away the
+prisoner."
+
+Juan raised his eyes once more to the general, and seemed as if he would
+have spoken; but, confused and bewildered by the extraordinary
+termination of the drama of the day, chilled by frowns, oppressed by a
+consciousness of having provoked his fate, his head sunk in a deep
+dejection on his breast, and he suffered himself to be led silently
+away.
+
+A gleam of light, such as flares up at night from a decaying brand, just
+lost in ashes, sprang up in the leader's eyes, as they followed the
+steps of the unhappy youth, until, passing from that door, which he had
+so vainly sought to gain with the Mexican, he vanished from sight. Its
+lustre was hidden from all but the captive, who, maintaining throughout
+the whole scene, the self-possession, characteristic of all the American
+race, from the pygmies of the Frozen Sea to the giants of Patagonia, did
+not lose the opportunity thus afforded, of diving into the thoughts of
+the Invader.
+
+As soon as Juan Lerma had departed, with the mass of the soldiers,
+Cortes turned to the Mexican, and with a mild countenance, and a gentle
+voice, which were designed to convey the proper interpretation of his
+Castilian speech, said,
+
+"Let my young friend, the Tlatoani, be at peace, and fear not; no harm
+is designed him."
+
+Then, making a signal to those who remained, to lead the captive after
+him, he passed into the garden, and thence, by a private entrance, into
+the hall of audience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+It has been already mentioned, that the person of Guatimozin was
+familiar to few, or none, of the Spaniards. Intensely and consistently
+hostile to the invaders, from the first moment of their appearance in
+the Valley, he had ever kept aloof from them, and was one of the few
+princes of Mexico, whom neither force nor stratagem could reduce to
+thraldom. His youth, indeed,--his want of authority, (for though of the
+loftiest birth and the highest military fame, he enjoyed, at first, no
+independent command or government,) and, hence, his apparent
+insignificance,--had made the possession of his person of no great
+consequence; and it was not until he was seen leading the incensed
+citizens up against the guns of the garrison, and directing the assault
+which terminated in the life of Montezuma, that he began to be
+considered an enemy worthy to be feared. Even then, however, he was but
+one among the warlike followers of Cuitlahuatzin,--the successor of
+Montezuma,--and on the famous battle-field of Otumba, he fought only as
+a second in command. But from that time until the present moment, his
+name was constantly before the Spaniards, first as the king of
+Iztapalapan, then as a leader among those royal warriors, sent forth by
+Cuitlahuatzin, now to annoy the Spaniards, even among their fortresses
+on the borders of Tlascala, and now to chastise those rebellious tribes
+which were daily acknowledging allegiance to the Spaniard, and preparing
+to march with him against Tenochtitlan.
+
+The death of Cuitlahuatzin had suddenly exposed him to view as the
+probable successor to the imperial dignity; and the act of the royal
+electors, (the kings of Mexico were chosen by the crowned vassals of the
+empire,) in bestowing the mantle and sceptre, had left nothing to be
+done to confirm his authority, save a solemn inauguration on the day of
+an august religious and national festival.
+
+He had thus assumed the attitude which Montezuma had once preserved in
+the eyes of the Conquistador; and it was as much the policy of Cortes to
+attempt the acts of delusion with him, as it had been with his
+predecessor. The craftier and haughtier Guatimozin had, however,
+rejected his overtures with disdain; and, justly appreciating the
+character and designs of his enemy, he prepared for war as the only
+alternative of slavery. He had already concentrated in his city, and in
+the neighbouring towns, the whole martial force of the tribes yet
+valiant and faithful; he had laboured, with an address that was not
+always ineffectual, to regain the false and rebellious; and, rising
+above the weakness of national resentments, he had even striven to unite
+his hereditary foes in a league of resistance against the stranger, who,
+whether frowning or smiling, whether courting with friendship, or
+subduing with arms, was yet, and equally, the enemy of all.
+
+Enough has been said to explain the purpose for which he so rashly threw
+himself into the power of the Conqueror. The certain assurance of
+disaffection in the invader's camp, not only among the allies, but among
+the Spaniards themselves, was enough to fire his heart with the desire
+of employing against Don Hernan a weapon which his foe had used so
+fatally against him; and, besides, the opportunity of detaching the
+Tlascalans from the Spanish interest, was too captivating to be
+rejected. These were advantages to be investigated and promoted by
+himself, rather than by agents; and, confiding in his enemies' ignorance
+of his person, in his cunning, and in the interested fidelity of
+traitors, who had already grasped at bribes, and were eager to be better
+acquainted with his bounty, he did not scruple to direct his midnight
+skiff among the reeds on the lakeside, and, in the guise of a mere
+noble, trust himself alone in their power.
+
+If the reader desire to know what could induce any of the followers of
+Cortes to treat thus perfidiously with the infidel enemy whose wealth
+was promised as the certain guerdon of war, he may be answered almost in
+a word. The _dangers_ of the war were manifold and obvious to all, and
+the horrors of the five days' battles in the streets of Mexico, and more
+than all, the calamities of the midnight retreat, had given such a
+foretaste of what might be expected from a prosecution of the campaign,
+that full half the army looked forward to it with equal terror and
+repugnance. A majority of those who survived the Noche Triste, were
+followers of the unfortunate Narvaez, and some of them yet friendly to
+the deceived Velasquez. They remained with Cortes upon compulsion, and
+they hated him not only for their inability to return to their peaceable
+farms among the islands, for past calamities, and coming misfortunes,
+but for the superior favours showered so liberally, and indeed so
+naturally, upon those who had been his original, and were yet his
+faithful, adherents. In a word, they regarded the reduction of the
+Mexican empire as hopeless, and their own fate, if they remained, as
+already written in characters of blood. The bolder scowled and
+complained, the feeble and the crafty dissembled, but evil thoughts and
+fierce resolutions were common to all. They burned to be released from
+what was to them intolerable bondage, and the means were not to be
+questioned, even though they might involve connivance and collusion with
+the foe. But such collusion was by no means known, nor even suspected,
+by any save the few desperadoes who had risen to the bad eminence of
+leaders. Even Villafana was ignorant of the true character of his guest,
+and esteemed him to be only what he represented himself,--Olin, the
+young noble, an orator, counsellor, and confidential agent of
+Guatimozin. It was not possible for the Captain-General to regard him in
+any other light.
+
+Whatever may have been the young monarch's thoughts, his secret
+misgivings and self-reproaches, as he strode, closely environed by
+cavaliers, into the great hall, now dimly lighted by tapers of vegetable
+wax and torches of fragrant wood, they were exposed by no agitation of
+countenance or hesitation of step; and when Cortes ascended the platform
+to his seat, and turned his penetrating eye upon him, he preserved an
+air of the most fearless tranquillity. For the space of several moments,
+the general regarded him in silence; then commanding all to leave the
+apartment, excepting Sandoval, Alvarado, and another cavalier who
+officiated as interpreter, he said to Alvarado, with a mild voice, very
+strangely contrasted with the rudeness of his words,
+
+"Look into the face of this heathen dog, and tell me if thou knowest
+him."
+
+Alvarado had been, as the historical reader is aware, left in Mexico,
+the jailer of Montezuma and the warden of the city, during the absence
+of Cortes, when he marched against Narvaez. It was supposed, therefore,
+that Don Pedro was better acquainted with the persons of the principal
+nobles than any other cavalier. He examined the captive curiously, and
+at last said, shaking his head,
+
+"Methinks his visage is not unknown; and yet I wot not to whom it
+belongs. The knave is but a boy. If he be a noble, never trust me but he
+is one of Guatimozin's making, and therefore not yet of consequence."
+
+At the sound of his own name, the only word distinguishable by the
+prisoner, Alvarado observed that his brow contracted a little. But this
+awoke no suspicion.
+
+"Demand of him," said Cortes to the interpreter, "his name, and the
+purpose of his coming to Tezcuco?"
+
+When this was explained to the Mexican, his brow contracted still
+further, but rather with inquisitiveness than embarrassment:
+
+"I am Olin-pilli," (that is, Olin the Lord, or Lord Olin,) he replied,
+"the speaker of wise things to the king, and the mouth of nobles."
+
+He then paused, as if to examine with what degree of belief he was
+listened to; and being satisfied, from the countenance of Don Hernan,
+that he was really unknown, he continued, with a more confident tone,
+
+"And I come to the Lord of the East, the Son of the God of Air, to hear
+the words of his children. Did not the Teuctli send for me?"
+
+"Not I," replied the Captain-General, sternly. "Speaker of wise things,
+I look into thy heart, and I see thy falsehood. Thou art a spy,--a
+_quimichin_,--sent by Guatimozin the king, to speak dark things to the
+men of Tlascala."
+
+The captive, though somewhat disconcerted, maintained a fearless
+countenance:
+
+"The Teuctli is the son of the gods, and knows everything," he answered.
+
+"And charged also," continued Cortes, "to whisper in the ears of fools,
+who send good words to the king, that the king may enrich them with
+gold. Is not this true, Sir Quimichin?"
+
+"Is not Malintzin the Son of Quetzalcoatl, the White God with a beard,
+who proclaimed from the Hill of Shouting[10] and from the Speaking
+Mountain,[11] the coming of his offspring? and shall Olin know more
+things than Malintzin? Guatimozin thinks, that the Spaniard should not
+slay his people."
+
+[Footnote 10: _Tzatzitepec_, a mountain near Tula.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Catcitepetl_, a volcano.]
+
+"Wherefore, then, sent he not thee to _me_?" demanded the
+Captain-General. "I will listen to his words. It was not wise to send
+his ambassador to the soldier, when the general sat by, in his
+tent.--Hearken to me, friend Olin," he continued, with gravity: "Hadst
+thou brought his discourse to me, thou hadst then been listened to with
+honour, and dismissed in peace. Art thou a soldier?"
+
+"Olin is a counsellor," replied the Mexican, proudly; "but he has bled
+in battle."
+
+"And is not Guatimozin a warrior?"
+
+"He is the king of the House of Darts, and he has struck his foe."
+
+"When the lurking Ottomi is found skulking in his camp; when the angry
+Tlascalan creeps up to his fort; what does Guatimozin then with the
+prisoner? what says he to the Ottomi? what wills he with the Tlascalan?"
+
+"He binds them to the stone, and they die like the dogs of the altar!"
+replied the barbarian, with a fierce utterance.
+
+"Thou hast spoken thine own doom," replied Cortes, sternly; "only that,
+instead of perishing according to thy damnable customs, a sacrifice to
+spirits accurst, thou shalt have such death as we give to the dogs of
+Castile. Thou hast crept into my camp, like the spying Ottomi; thou
+comest with sword and shield, like the bravo of Tlascala; and thou hast
+addressed thyself to traitors and conspirators, to make them mine
+enemies. Why then should I not hang thee upon a tree? or why," he
+continued, with an elevated voice, descending from the platform, and,
+with a single motion, unsheathing his rapier and aiming it against the
+captive's breast--"why should I not kill thee, thou cur! upon the spot?"
+
+"I am a Mexican!" replied the young king, rather opposing his body to
+the expected thrust than seeking to avoid it; "I look upon my death, and
+I spit upon thee, Spaniard!"
+
+"Hah!" cried Cortes, whose desire was to intimidate, not to slay, and
+who could not but admire the fearless air of defiance, so boldly assumed
+by the captive, "thou hast either a true heart, or a penetrating
+eye.--Fear not; thy life is in my hands, but I design thee no wrong:
+death were but a just punishment for thy villany, yet I mean not to
+enforce it. What wilt thou do, if I discharge thee unharmed?"
+
+"I will know," said the barbarian, with a look of surprise, as soon as
+this was interpreted, "that Malintzin is not always hungry for blood; or
+rather, I will ask of my thoughts, what mischief to Mexico is meditated
+in the act of mercy."
+
+"A shrewd knave, i'faith, a shrewd knave!" cried Cortes, admiringly: "by
+my conscience, this fellow hath somewhat the wit of a Christian
+politician.--Infidel," he continued, "hearken to what I say. I desire to
+speak the words of peace with my young brother Guatimozin. Wherefore
+will he not listen to me?"
+
+"Because his ears are open to the groans of his children," replied the
+Mexican, promptly. "When Malintzin smiles, the brand hisses on the flesh
+of the prisoner; when he talks of peace, the great warhorse paws the
+breast of the dead. Let this thing be not, let his insurgent subjects be
+sent to their villages, and Guatimozin will listen to the Teuctli."
+
+"He has slain my ambassadors," said Cortes.
+
+"Shall the slave say to his master, 'I am the bondman of another,' and
+laugh in the king's face? Let Malintzin send a Christian to Guatimozin.
+I will row him in my skiff, and he shall return unharmed."
+
+"What thinkest thou of _this_? I will send him such an envoy, and thou
+shalt remain a hostage in his place. What will be said to him by the
+king of Mexico?"
+
+"This," replied the captive, without a moment's hesitation: "The
+Christian is in Mexico, and Olin-pilli in the prisons of Malintzin: let
+the Christian therefore die."
+
+"Ay, by my conscience, he speaks well," said Cortes. "But were
+friendship offered, and twenty thousand hostages left behind, I should
+like to know what Spaniard of us all would perform the pilgrimage? There
+is but _one_.--But that is naught. By heaven and St. John, we will think
+of other things! we will think of other things!--Is it not death by the
+decree?"
+
+"Senor!" cried Alvarado in surprise. Cortes started.--In the moment of
+entranced thought, he had stridden away from the group to some distance,
+and, he now perceived, they were gazing at him with wonder.
+
+"We will entrust this thing to him, then, as I said," he cried,
+hurriedly, "and he shall return with the misbeliever's answer. We have
+no other choice. What think ye of it, my masters?"
+
+"Of _what_?" said Alvarado, bluntly: "You have said nothing. By'r lady,
+and with reverence to your excellency, you are dreaming!"
+
+"Pho!" cried the Captain-General, "did I not speak it? Our thoughts
+sometimes sound in our ears, like words. This is the philosophy of the
+marvel: Hast thou never, when thine eyes were shut, yet beheld in them
+the objects of which thou wert thinking? If thou couldst think music,
+never believe me but thou wouldst also hear it.--This, then, is the
+thought which I forgot to utter: I will give this dog his freedom, and,
+for lack of a better, make him my envoy to Guatimozin. If he return, it
+will be well; if not, we are left where we were; and we can hang him
+hereafter."
+
+"Let us first know," said Sandoval, coolly, "by what sort of charm he
+prevailed on this mad young man, Juan Lerma, to peril limb and life for
+him, and, what is more, honour too."
+
+"Ay, by my conscience!" said Cortes, hurriedly; "this thing I had
+forgotten.--He shall die the death! Connive with a spy? conceal him from
+the pursuers? draw sword upon a cavalier? strike at an officer's life?
+Were he mine own brother, he should abide his doom. Who will say I wrong
+him _now_?--Hah! what says the dog? How came this thing to pass?"
+
+While Cortes was yet pursuing the subject nearest to his heart, half
+soliloquizing, the question was asked and answered; and the reply, to
+Guatimozin's great relief, was received with unexpected belief.
+
+"He was caught by the bloodhound; (An excellent dog, that Befo!)" said
+Alvarado; "and making his moan to Lerma, (whom heaven take to its rest!
+for I know not how he can be so brave, and yet an ass,) the young fool
+fell to his old tricks. When did an Indian ever ask him for pity in
+vain?--This is his story; it is too natural to be false; yet, Indians
+are great liars.--But you said something of making this cur your envoy?"
+
+"Ay," replied Cortes: "What sayst thou, Olin, speaker of wise things!
+wilt thou bear my thoughts to thy master Guatimozin?"
+
+"The lord of Tenochtitlan shall hear them," said Guatimozin, his eyes
+gleaming with expectation.
+
+"And thou wilt return to me with his answer? Swear this upon the cross
+of my sword; ay, and swear it by thy diabolical gods also."
+
+"Guatimozin shall send back to Malintzin a noble Mexican; or, otherwise,
+Olin will return. How shall the Mexican noble know that the Teuctli will
+not take his life?"
+
+"Does that deter you?" said Cortes: "I swear by the cross which I
+worship, that, come thou or another, or come Guatimozin himself,
+provided he come to me in peace, and with the king's message, he shall
+depart in safety, with good-will and with favours such as this."
+
+As he spoke, he took from his own neck, and flung round the Mexican's, a
+chain of beads, which were neither of diamond, sapphire, nor ruby, but
+sufficiently resembling each and all, to gratify the vanity of a
+barbarian. The young king smiled--but it was at the thought of freedom.
+
+"Thou shalt have more such, and richer," said Cortes, misconceiving his
+joy. "Why is not Olin the friend of Malintzin?"
+
+"Malintzin is a great prince," said the prisoner, softly.
+
+"Is Olin content to be the slave of Guatimozin?" pursued the
+Captain-General, insidiously. "Will Olin do Malintzin's bidding, and be
+the king of Chalco?"
+
+"Shall Olin slay Guatimozin?" cried the prisoner, with a gleam of subtle
+intelligence, and so abruptly, that Cortes was startled.
+
+"Hah! by my conscience!" he cried, "I understand thee: thou art even
+more knave than I thought thee.--Kill the king indeed? By no means; harm
+not a hair of his head: we will have no assassination. It is better this
+young boy should be king than another.--This is a very proper knave.
+Gentlemen, by your leave, I will bid you good-night: I will see the dog
+to the water-side. Antonio, do thou walk with us, and explain between
+us.--A very excellent shrewd villain."
+
+So saying, the Captain-General turned to the door by which he had lately
+entered, and taking the prisoner's arm, in the most familiar and
+friendly manner, he stepped forthwith into the garden. The Mexican's
+flesh crept, when it came in contact with that of the Spaniard; but
+this, the Spaniard doubted not, was the tribute of awe to his greatness.
+His voice became yet blander, as, walking onwards towards the lake, he
+poured into Guatimozin's ear his wishes and instructions.
+
+As they passed by the little pool and its dark enclosure of
+schinus-trees, the infidel looked towards it anxiously and lingeringly,
+as if hoping to behold once more the pale and beautiful countenance
+which had shone upon it.--It lay in deep silence and solitude.
+
+A few moments after, the Mexican had passed through the broken wall, and
+by the sentries who guarded it, receiving the last instructions of the
+invader. The next instant he was alone, stalking towards a little green
+point, where a fringe of reeds and water-lilies shook in the diminutive
+surges. He cast his eye backward to the two cavaliers, and beheld them
+pass into the garden. Then, taking the chain of beads from his neck, and
+rending it with foot and hand, he cast the broken jewels into the lake.
+A moment after, his light skiff shot from its concealment, and the sound
+of his paddle startled the droning wild-fowl from their slumbers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+When Ovid describes the memorable encounter between Perseus and the
+great sea-monster of Ethiopia, he is at the pains to narrate with what
+fury the creature _snapped at the shadow_ of the flying hero,--a
+circumstance of trivial importance in itself, though both striking and
+characteristic; nay, he even relates how the warrior, at the first sight
+of the fair Andromeda, chained to the rock, and waiting to be devoured,
+was so moved with admiration that he forgot, for an instant, to flap his
+wings,--another detail of more fitness than moment. Thus stooping to the
+consideration of trifles, the poet does not scruple entirely to pass by
+matters of the most palpable consequence. He disdains, for example, to
+tell us even whether the monster _died_ or not in the encounter, leaving
+that to be inferred; and, in like manner, he scorns even to answer the
+question that might have been anticipated, namely, _why_ Perseus, like a
+sensible soldier, did not whip out his gorgon's head, instead of his
+'crooked sword,' and, by turning the beast into stone, save himself the
+trouble of despatching him with his steel.
+
+The writer of historical works, like the present, must claim the
+privilege of the poet, and be allowed, while expatiating on events of
+interest so inferior that they have been almost rejected by his
+predecessors, to leave many others of manifest importance to be
+supplied, not indeed by the imagination, but by the learning of the
+reader. Our only desire is to follow the adventures of two individuals,
+so obscure and so unfortunate, that the worthy and somewhat
+over-conscientious Bernal Diaz del Castillo has despatched the whole
+history of the first in the few vague fragments which we have prefixed
+to the story; while he has scrupulously abstained from saying a single
+word of the second.
+
+If the reader will turn to the pages of this conscientious historian, of
+De Solis, or of Clavigero, he will be made acquainted with the stirring
+exploits of the eight or nine weeks that followed after the arrest of
+Juan Lerma. In this time, the Captain-General, at the head of all the
+Spaniards, save those who were left in garrison at Tezcuco, and the few
+sailors and shipwrights who remained in the dock-yards, to preside over
+Indian artificers, compelled to work at the brigantines--in this time,
+we say, and at the head of this force, assisted by many thousand
+Tlascalans, Cortes commenced and completed the circuit of the whole
+valley, storming and burning cities and towns without number, resisted
+valiantly in all that were not disaffected, and sometimes, as at the
+city of Tacuba, repulsed with great loss and no little dishonour. The
+whole campaign abounds with singular and exciting incidents, of which,
+however, it does not suit our purpose to mention any but one, and that
+almost in a word. At the city of Xochimilco, or the Garden of Flowers,
+(for this is the signification of the word,) where the resistance was
+sanguinary and noble, though, in the end, ineffectual, Cortes was
+wounded, surrounded, struck down from his horse, which was killed, and
+he himself, for a moment, a prisoner; and he owed his life and liberty
+only to the extraordinary valour of Gaspar Olea of the Red Beard, who,
+with the help of a few resolute Tlascalans, succeeded in bringing him
+off. The aid thus rendered by Olea was the more remarkable, since, from
+the moment of Juan's arrest, he had become sullen, morose, and was
+sometimes even charged to be mutinous. In this last imputation, however,
+as far as it implied any treasonable thoughts or practices, the rude
+Gaspar was wronged. His dissatisfaction was caused solely by the fall
+and anticipated fate of his young captain. The heinousness of Juan's
+crime--the drawing his sword upon an officer in the execution of his
+duty, as Guzman had been, and, worse yet, the aiming of that at the
+breast of the General--had left it, apparently, impossible to be
+forgiven. It was universally expected that Juan would expiate the crime
+with his life; and the only wonder was, that he had not been immediately
+tried, condemned, and executed. His destiny was therefore anticipated
+with more curiosity than doubt, and apparently with less pity than
+either. Gaspar did not attempt to deny Juan's guilt; but when he
+remembered the sufferings and perils they had shared together, his heart
+burned with fury, to think how soon the brave and well-beloved youth
+should die the death of a caitiff. His dissatisfaction expended itself
+in anger towards the Captain-General; and hence the surprise of his
+comrades at his act of daring and generosity. But Gaspar had his own
+ends in view, when he saved the life of Cortes.
+
+It was now many weeks since his arrest, and Juan yet lay in
+imprisonment, ignorant not so much of his fate, as of the causes which
+delayed it. On the fourth day of his captivity, he was apprized, by the
+sound of trumpets and artillery, the cries of men, and the neighing of
+horses, and, in general, by the prodigious bustle which accompanies the
+setting-out of an army from a populous city, that some enterprise was
+meditated and begun; but of its character he was kept wholly ignorant.
+The custody of his person seemed to be committed to Villafana and the
+hunchback Najara, conjointly; but it was observable, that, although
+Najara frequently entered his den alone, Villafana never made his
+appearance without being accompanied by the Corcobado.
+
+From Najara he gained not a word of intelligence, the hunchback ever
+replying to his questions with scowls, or with pithy sarcasms in
+allusion to the crimes of treason and mutiny. From Villafana, attended,
+and, as it seemed to Juan, watched, by the jealous Najara, he obtained
+nothing but unmeaning nods of the head, and sometimes looks, too
+significant to be doubted, and yet too oraculous to be understood.
+
+After the first fortnight, Villafana failed to visit him altogether, and
+he saw not the face of a human being, except once each morning, when
+Najara was accustomed to make his appearance, followed by an Indian
+slave, bearing food and a jar of water. With this latter being, a
+decrepit old man, on whose naked shoulder was imprinted the horrible
+letter G, (for _guerra_, indicating that he was a prisoner of war,--in
+other words, a branded bondman,) he endeavoured to speak, using all the
+native dialects with which he was acquainted; but, though Najara made no
+offer to prevent such conversation, the barbarian replied only by
+touching his ear and then his breast, signifying thereby that, though he
+heard the words, he did not understand them. Though Najara permitted
+these little attempts at speech, with contemptuous indifference, Juan
+perceived that he ever kept his eyes fastened upon the Indian, as if to
+prevent any effort at communication of another sort. Thus, if any
+benevolent friend had endeavoured to convey a message by letter or
+otherwise, it was apparent that Najara took the best steps to insure its
+miscarriage.
+
+Foiled thus in every attempt to exchange thoughts with a fellow-being,
+and reduced to commune only with his own, the unhappy prisoner ceased,
+at last, to make any effort; and, yielding gradually to a despair that
+was not the less consuming for being entirely without complaint, he
+began, in the end, to be indifferent even to the coming and presence of
+his jailer, neither rising to meet him, nor even lifting his eyes from
+the floor, on which they were fixed with a lethargic dejection.
+
+He became also indifferent to his food; and once, when Najara entered,
+he perceived that the water-jar, the dish of _tortillas_, or
+maize-cakes, the savoury wild-fowl, and the fragrant _chocolatl_, (for
+in regard to food, he was liberally supplied,) stood upon the little
+table, where they had been placed the day before, untasted and even
+untouched. He cast his eyes upon the youth, and, for the first time,
+began to feel a sentiment of pity for his condition. Indeed, the noble
+figure of the young man was beginning to waste away; his cheeks were
+hollow, his neglected beard was springing uncouthly over his lips, and
+his sunken eyes drooped upon the earth, as if never more to gleam with
+the light of hope and pleasure. The hunchback hesitated for a moment,
+and then growled out a few words,--the first he had uttered for a week.
+But these, though commiseration prompted them, he succeeded in making
+expressive only of scorn or anger.
+
+"Hark you, senor Juan Lerma," he said, "do you mean to starve?"
+
+At the sound of his voice, so unusual and so unexpected, the young man
+raised his eyes, but with a vague, wo-begone look, and answered nothing.
+
+"I say, senor," continued Najara, somewhat more blandly, "is it your
+will to die by starvation rather than in any other way?"
+
+"Ah, Najara! is it thou?" said Juan, rising feebly, or indolently, to
+his feet. "Heaven give you a good-morrow."
+
+"Pshaw!" returned the jailer, gruffly; "pray me no such prayers: keep
+them for yourself. I ask you, if it be your purpose to starve yourself
+to death, out of a mere unsoldierly fear of hanging?"
+
+"Thou hast not said so much to me, I know not when," replied the youth,
+not with any intention of shuffling off the question, but speaking of
+what was uppermost in his mind. His voice was very mild, and Najara, by
+no means without his weaker points, felt it as a reproach.
+
+"I care not," he replied, "if I answer you any two or three questions,
+that may be nearest to your heart. But first give me to know, wherefore
+you have eaten nothing? Are you sick?"
+
+"Surely I am, at heart; but, bodily, I am well."
+
+"And you are not resolute to die of hunger, before the
+judgment-day?--Pho, if you have that spirit, perhaps it were better. But
+it is a death of great torment.--Yet, why should one be afraid of the
+shame? 'Tis nothing, when we are dead."
+
+"Is this thy fear then?" said Juan, patiently. "It is not permitted us
+to commit suicide in any form. I will eat, to satisfy thee; but food is
+bitter in prison."
+
+"What a pity," muttered Najara, as Juan ate a morsel of food, "that
+heaven should give thee such a goodly and godlike body, and such a brave
+soul, (for, o' my life, I believe thou art entirely without fear,) and
+yet make thee a madman and traitor!"
+
+"A traitor!" said Juan, without taking any offence, for, indeed, he
+seemed to have been robbed of all the fire of his spirit. "It is not
+possible anybody can believe me a traitor."
+
+"Pho! did I not, with mine own eyes, see thee lunge at Cortes? It is
+base of thee to deny it."
+
+"I do not deny it," said Juan; adding, vehemently, "but I call heaven to
+witness, I saw not his face, and knew him not. He may persecute me to
+death, as I believe he is doing. Yet could I do him no wrong; no, I
+_think_, I could not.--But it is bitter, to feel we are trampled on!"
+
+"Well, senor, it is better you should be in a passion than a trance. But
+be not utterly without hope. If you can truly make it appear you knew
+not the general, it is thought by one or two, you may be pardoned. I
+have talked with Guzman; and I think he may be brought to forgive and
+even intercede for you."
+
+"I will neither receive _his_ forgiveness nor his intercession," said
+Juan, frowning. "And I wonder you mention to me his detested name."
+
+"Oh, senor!" said Najara, sharply, "you may choose your own friends, and
+hunt them again among heathen Indians.--That you should sell your life
+for this dog of a noble!--Fare you well, senor, fare you well."
+
+"Stay, Najara," said Juan, following him towards the door: "you said you
+would answer me such questions as were nearest my heart. Give not over
+the kindly thought. There are many things, which if I knew, my lot would
+not be so hard, my dungeon not so killing to my spirit. The army is
+gone--is Mexico invested?"
+
+"Not so," replied the hunchback; "it has a month or two's grace
+yet.--The troops have marched against the shore-towns.--But for this mad
+fit, thou mightst have been with them, or making thyself famous at
+Tochtepec!"
+
+Juan sighed heavily.
+
+"And the Indian, of whom you spoke,--the young noble,--Olin the orator,"
+he demanded, at first, not without hesitation.
+
+"Oh, the cur," replied Najara; "I think Cortes was even as mad as
+thyself, touching the knave. But wit is like a river, sometimes too
+full, washing away its own banks--it may be said to drown itself.--He
+made the dog his ambassador, swore him to return faithfully from
+Guatimozin, and waited three days for him in vain. Such rogues are like
+arrows,--good weapons, when you have the cast of them, but not to be
+expected in hand again, unless shot back by a foeman."
+
+It was fortunate, perhaps, that Najara had relaxed so far from his
+austerity as to resume the vein of metaphor common to his softer
+moments. Had he been as observant as usual, he must have been struck
+with suspicion at the sudden gleam of satisfaction, with which Juan
+heard the good fortune of the Mexican. But he marked it not.
+
+"Tell me now," said Juan, "how thou comest to be my jailer; and why it
+is that Villafana seems to have given up his trust to thee?"
+
+At this question, Najara's good-humour immediately vanished, and he
+replied, sourly,
+
+"Oh, content you, you shall be in good keeping."
+
+"I doubt it not," said Juan, calmly. "But Villafana is, or methinks he
+is, more friendly to me than you. I did but desire to know what changes
+had taken place in the government of the city, from the watchman up to
+the commandant, since my imprisonment."
+
+"Ay, indeed!" replied Najara, grimly: "such changes, that hadst thou
+fifty friends waiting to aid thee, thou shouldst be caught, before
+getting twenty steps from the door. Know then, that I am made Alguazil,
+as well as Villafana; and what is more, I am captain of the prison. The
+Alcalde is Antonio de Quinones, master of the armory; and the Corregidor
+of the city is thy good friend Guzman,--an honour thou gavest him, by
+hacking his face so freely, and so leaving him in the hospital."
+
+"You speak to me in sarcasm," said Juan, mildly: "I have not deserved
+it. And methinks you should be more generous of temper, than to oppress
+with words of insult, a fallen and helpless man.--Well, heed it not--I
+forgive you. I have but one more question to ask you.--The lady,--this
+lady, La Monjonaza--"
+
+"Ay!" cried Najara, with singular bitterness, "I have heard of that too.
+You were seen talking with her in the garden. You will play chamberer
+with Cortes! ay, and rival too! Pho, canst thou not be at peace? Meddle
+with the general's fancy. Why that were enough to hang thee. I had some
+soft thoughts of thee; but everything shows thou art unworthy. Farewell;
+think of these things no more; but repent and make your peace with
+heaven."
+
+So saying, the hunchback flung out of the room, and securing the thick
+door of plank, Juan was again left to his meditations.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+Then followed another period of silence and dejection, in which the
+prisoner wasted away as much in body as in spirit, becoming so
+listlessly indifferent to everything, that he no longer betrayed any
+desire to draw Najara into conversation, nor even to meet the advances
+which his jailer now often made. The thought of escaping from
+confinement, perhaps, never entered his mind; for, had he been even less
+resigned to his fate, the strict watch kept over him, and the condition
+of his prison, added to his apparent friendlessness, must have been
+enough to banish all such thoughts. His chamber was neither dark nor
+damp, but made strong by its bulky door, barred on the outside, and by
+windows, high above the floor, so very narrow that no human being could
+hope to pass through them.
+
+Narrow as they were, however, it was the jailer's custom to examine them
+very closely each morning; a degree of vigilance that Juan had, in the
+earlier days of captivity, remarked with some surprise. He became
+acquainted with Najara's object at last. One morning, he was roused out
+of his stupefaction by a harsh exclamation from his jailer, and looking
+up, he beheld him take from the floor, immediately under one of the
+loopholes, what seemed a slip of paper, tied to a little stick, which
+appeared, some time during the night, to have been thus thrust into the
+prison. What were its contents he never could divine; for Najara had no
+sooner cast his eyes over it, than mingling a laugh of satisfaction at
+its miscarriage with some natural compassion for the profound
+wretchedness which had sealed the ears and eyes of the prisoner, he
+immediately departed with the prize.
+
+From this time, Juan became more vigilant and wary; but the following
+night, he was admonished, by the clank of armour and the occasional
+sound of voices without, that sentinels were now stationed under the
+windows, thus precluding all hope of friendly communication from that
+quarter.
+
+Before he had again entirely relapsed into his listless gloom, he began
+to have a vague consciousness that the Indian slave, who accompanied
+Najara, was becoming more officious than of old, in setting his meals
+before him, and particularly in placing the jar of water at his side,
+instead of depositing it on his table, as he had done before. His
+suspicion was confirmed, when, one morning, as Najara was making his
+wonted survey of the windows, the slave gave him a quick, impatient
+look, and shaking the jar as he set it down, made him sensible, by a
+rattling sound within it, that there was something besides the innocent
+element concealed at the bottom. As soon as Najara had departed, he made
+an examination of the mystery, and drew forth, with some astonishment, a
+plate of transparent obsidian, on which had been scratched by some hard
+instrument or precious stone, a few words which he was soon able to
+decypher. "If thou wilt leave Mexico, and live, take the stone from the
+pitcher."
+
+He strode about the apartment for a moment in disorder; then, crushing
+the glassy temptation under his heel, and returning the fragments to the
+jar, he sat down again to brood over his despair.--The next morning the
+pitcher contained nothing but water.
+
+Thus, then, the time passed away, in the ordinary listlessness of
+confinement,--the dull and sleepy torture of solitude; until Najara,
+waxing more compassionate as his prisoner grew more obviously
+indifferent to light, to food, and to speech, bethought him of a mode of
+indulgence from which no danger could be apprehended, and accordingly
+introduced the dog Befo into the apartment.
+
+The loud yells of joy with which Befo beheld his young master, recalled
+Juan from his lethargy; and Najara was touched still further with
+compunction at the sight of the animal's transports.
+
+"He has been whining every day at the prison gate," he muttered; "and
+doubtless he would have whined full as much, though he were to be let in
+only to be beaten. Such a fond fool is this young Juan himself: he
+returns to his master, though he knows the scourge is ready. It were
+better he had taken my advice, and passed to the sea by Otumba: He
+should have known Cortes would never forgive him."
+
+The presence of this faithful animal, if it did not recall Juan's
+spirits, at least preserved him from sinking further into stupefaction;
+and nothing gave him more evident delight, than when, each morning,
+having prevailed upon Najara to lead his dumb companion into the air for
+exercise, he could hear Befo, in the joy of a liberty which he did not
+share, dashing frantically through the garden, now coursing by the
+water-side, now prancing by the palace, and, all the time, yelping and
+barking with the most clamorous delight. From these daily sorties the
+dog was used to return, with fresh spirits and increased attachment, to
+share, for the remainder of the day, the confinement of his master, upon
+whom, at his entrance, he jumped and fawned almost as boisterously as
+when enjoying his sports in the garden.
+
+One day, however, he returned with a much graver aspect than usual, and
+stalking up to where Juan sat, he stood, wagging his tail, and gazing up
+with a look exceedingly knowing and significant. Somewhat surprised at
+this, and finding that Befo refused, even when invited, to begin his
+usual rough expressions of friendship, he took him by the leathern
+collar, by which the servants of Cortes had been wont to secure him at
+night, and pulled him towards him. The motion of the collar released a
+little packet, that had been carefully secured beneath it, and which now
+fell upon Juan's knee. As soon as the sagacious animal perceived that he
+had accomplished a task, not often committed to such a messenger, he
+returned to his usual demonstrations of satisfaction; and, for a moment,
+Juan was unable to examine the singular missive. When Befo became
+composed, he opened it, and read, with no little agitation, the
+following words: "Not for _me_, but for thyself.--There is but a day
+more to choose. Leave Mexico, and shed not thine own blood: make not thy
+friends curse thee.--Return but a fragment of the paper, or tie but a
+hair round the collar,--and thou shalt be saved.--Not for _me_, but for
+_thyself_."
+
+The morning came, and Juan, taking the paper from his bosom, tore it to
+pieces. When Najara offered as usual to liberate the dog, he perceived
+that Juan held him fast by the collar.
+
+"How now, senor, shall the dog play?"
+
+"It is cruel to rob him of his hour's liberty," said Juan, with a
+subdued voice; "but, this day, suffer him to remain with me."
+
+"Well, senor, as you will," said Najara; "but I would you had some
+better friend,--at least, some one who could counsel you. There are
+runners arrived from the northern towns; and, at midday, Cortes will
+march into the city."
+
+"The better reason, then, that I should have this friend, who have no
+other," said Juan, calmly.
+
+"Harkee, senor," said Najara, with a sort of petulant sympathy, "if you
+would but curse yourself and your foes, or bemoan your fate a little, I
+should like it better than this stupid, womanish resignation.--Hark
+ye,--I care not if I tell you: I thought you had come athwart the
+fancies of Don Hernan, in the matter of the Dona, not that Don Hernan
+had wronged your own: I knew not that there was any old love between
+you."
+
+"What art thou speaking of, Najara?" said Juan, with a hasty and
+troubled voice.
+
+"This does, in some sense, weaken the sin of drawing sword upon him,"
+continued the hunchback, "for no man loves to be robbed of his
+mistress.--Well,--the senora is sorry for you.--She thought to bribe me
+to let her speak with you.--Bribe me!--And yet I pitied her, for she was
+sorely distressed."
+
+"For God's sake," exclaimed Juan, in extreme suffering, "speak me not a
+word of her; let me not hear her name."
+
+"Well, be not cast down; she has much power with the general, and,
+doubtless, she will plead for you. Well, fare you well.--I did think to
+let Cortes know of her acts: but that might harden him against you still
+more.--Why should I waste thought upon him," muttered the deformed as he
+passed from the prison. "It is hard, or it seems hard, that heaven
+should give up a frame so beauteous and majestical, to be marred by the
+hangman's axe or rope, and leave a deformed lump like me, to scare
+little Indian girls and boys, and to be jibed at by all the craven loons
+of the army. But this is naught: if I am crooked, I am neither fool,
+traitor, nor coward, as most others are, in one degree or other, and
+sometimes in all."
+
+As Najara had foretold, the army returned to Tezcuco about noon, as was
+made evident to Juan, by the sound of trumpets and cannon, and other
+warlike noises of rejoicing; which, continuing to fill the city for many
+hours, came to his ears like the tumult of a distant storm, and began to
+die away, only when the last twinkle of sunset, shooting through his
+narrow windows, had faded from the opposite wall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+It was now midnight. Audience after audience, and council after council,
+in the great hall of the palace, had shown how rapidly were approaching
+to a climax the involved events and schemes, which had for their object
+the overthrow of the Indian empire, as well as some that looked to an
+end equally dark, though of less public import. The Captain-General had
+despatched several audiences entirely of a private nature, and hoped to
+be relieved of his toil, while discharging from his presence an
+individual already known to the reader as Gaspar of the Red Beard.
+Whatever might have been the subject of the conference, its conclusion
+was unsatisfactory to both parties; for Olea departed with a visage both
+sullen and vindictive, while Cortes strode to and fro, evidently
+affected by vexation and anger.
+
+As Olea, who had long since got rid of the 'infidel gait,' which had
+drawn a remark from Cortes, and which, doubtless assumed to assist his
+disguise, only adhered to him through habit,--as he vanished through the
+great door, another character made his appearance, entering by one of
+those doors which opened from the garden. It was the senor Camarga; who,
+from the friar's habit, again flung over his armour, seemed to have been
+engaged, a second time, in his maskings.
+
+"What news, senor? what news hast thou?" demanded Cortes, in a low
+voice, making a sign to the visitor to imitate his cautiousness. "Hast
+thou gathered aught of my dog Villafana? By my conscience, we are at a
+fault; the fox is scared into virtue: Najara hath seen no ill in him,
+Guzman avers he hath detected no sign of guilt, and not a spy is there
+of all, who does not swear that his fright in the matter of Olin, (that
+knave, too, cajoled me!) has reduced him into submission and honesty.
+Hast thou found nothing?"
+
+"Nothing to be thought of, perhaps," replied Camarga. "Villafana is
+either returned to his allegiance, as your excellency hints, or he is
+too deep in distrust, to confer with me any further. He swears, if one
+could believe him, that he has thought better of his schemes, and is now
+resolved that they were foolish and unjust,--and therefore that he has
+ended them."
+
+"He lies, the rogue!" said Cortes; "you have pursued him too
+closely.--It was an ill thought to league Najara with him.--These things
+have made him suspicious, not penitent. I have taken the hunchback away,
+restored Villafana to his prisonward, and, in short, taken all means to
+seduce him into security. You will see the cloven foot again, and that
+right shortly."
+
+"Perhaps what I have to say will make your excellency believe it is
+displayed already. He has admitted one to speak with the prisoner--"
+
+"Hah!" cried Cortes,--"a file of spearsmen!--But no; it matters not.
+There is no fear of escape; and this were too aimless an explosion. Know
+you the person he has admitted?"
+
+"I do not," said Camarga; "but from the glance of the garment, methought
+'twas some such godly brother as myself. And yet 'twas a taller man than
+Olmedo."
+
+"By my conscience," said Cortes, quickly, "methinks I can divine the
+mystery: but of that anon. Hark thee, friend Camarga, dost thou still
+burn for this wretched man's life? I tell thee, there is much
+intercession made for him. It was but a moment since that the
+Barba-Roxa,--a good soldier, i'faith,--made certain fierce moans for
+him, mingled with divers mutinous reproaches. I vow to heaven, I could
+have struck the knave dead, but that he saved my life at Xochimilco."
+
+"I have heard that Juan Lerma did the same thing, on the plains of
+Tlascala," replied Camarga, dryly.
+
+"Thou art deceived!" exclaimed Don Hernan, with a sudden shudder. "The
+attempt, I grant you, the attempt be made; but I needed no help. Yet do
+I remember the act; and, by heaven, I would I might forgive him,--I
+would I might! I would I might! for the thought of judging him to death,
+is like a wolf in my bosom. Once I loved him as my son,--yes, as my very
+son," he repeated, with extraordinary agitation; "and when he played
+with my little children, I swear, I looked upon him but as their elder
+brother. What will men say of the act, since they cannot know the
+cause?"
+
+Apparently Camarga looked upon this burst of relenting feeling, (for
+such it really was,) with too much dissatisfaction and alarm, to notice
+the allusion to a cause differing from any with which he was acquainted.
+He exclaimed, hastily, and with a darkening visage,
+
+"If open mutiny and resistance be not excuse enough, have I not spoken
+an argument that should steel thy heart for ever? Shall I utter it
+again? I swear to thee then, that this miserable creature,
+Magdalena,--this wretch that even thou wouldst have made the slave of
+thy pleasures, and thereby added upon thy soul a sin never to be
+forgiven,--no, never!--is a true NUN,--forsworn, lost, condemned! Wilt
+thou refuse to punish the author of a horrible impiety? Would that I had
+strangled her, when an infant, though with mine own hand!--Thou talkest
+of a wolf in thy bosom; couldst thou feel one fang of the agony, that
+this act of horror has planted in mine, thou wouldst deem thyself happy.
+Let the wretch die: ask not for further cause; think not of any."
+
+"The cause is, indeed, enough," said Cortes, crossing himself with
+dread, "to ensure not death only, but a death at the stake of fire; and
+I am not one to think the punishment should be made easy. I could tell
+thee a story of the end of broken vows, and the vengeance of God upon
+the robber of convents; but it needs not.--Sleep in thy grave, poor
+wretch! and be forgotten." He muttered a few words to himself, and then
+banishing, with an effort, what seemed a mournful recollection, he
+resumed,--"Tell me but one thing, Camarga, and I am satisfied. The cause
+is enough, (though this is a crime to be judged by ecclesiastics,) to
+ensure the young man's fate; but it is _not_ enough to explain the
+rancour of thy hatred. Speak me the truth--Is this unhappy creature
+child of thine?"
+
+"Think so, if thou wilt," said Camarga, with a lip ashy and quivering,
+"but ask not, ask not now. Give the young man to the block, and commit
+the girl into my hands, with the means of leaving this land; then, if
+thou hast the courage to listen, thou shalt hear a story that will
+freeze thy blood.--Is he not guilty of this thing?"
+
+"Is he not guilty of more?" muttered the Captain-General. "It is enough;
+thou hast steeled my heart. I leave him in the hands of the Alcaldes and
+De Olid, who have no such faintness of heart as confounds mine. Fare
+thee well, senor: I know thee better, and I like thee well. Turn not
+thine eye from Villafana."
+
+Thus, mingling the suggestions of a native policy with passions not the
+less constitutional, Cortes dismissed his disguised visitant. The
+curtain of the great door had scarce concealed the retreating Camarga,
+before he heard a footstep behind; and looking round, he beheld the
+figure of La Monjonaza steal in from the garden, and cross the
+apartment.
+
+"What sayst thou _now_, Magdalena?" he cried, striding up to her, and
+viewing with interest a countenance sternly composed, yet bearing the
+traces of recent and deep passions. "Thou shouldst have told me of
+this.--Yet what sayst thou now?"
+
+"Nothing," replied the maiden, calmly, but with tones deeper than
+usual,--"Nothing.--Do thy work."
+
+With these brief and mystic expressions, she passed among the secret
+chambers; and the Captain-General, stalking into the garden, until the
+chill breezes from the lake had cooled his feverish temples, betook
+himself, at last, to his couch, to subdue, in slumber, imaginary
+empires, and contend with visionary foes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The day after the Feast of the Holy Ghost, or Whitsunday, early in May,
+1521, opened upon the valley of Mexico with clouds and vapours, which,
+sweeping over the broad lake, collected and lingered, with boding fury,
+around the island city, discharging thunder and lightning, while the
+sunbeams shone clear and uninterrupted over Tezcuco, and the rich
+savannas which surrounded it. It was the morning of a novel and
+impressive ceremony. A rivulet, deepened by the labours of many thousand
+Indians, into a navigable canal, and bordered for the space of half a
+league on either side, by narrow meadows, separated the city from
+another scarce inferior in magnitude, but which yet seemed only a
+suburb. The whole space thus extending between the two cities, from the
+lake, as far as the eye could see, was blackened by the bodies of Indian
+warriors, armed and decorated as if for battle, while the housetops in
+the cities were equally thronged with multitudes of aged men and women
+and children. A narrow space was left vacant on each bank of the canal,
+from which the feathered barbarians, two hundred thousand in number,
+were separated by the Spanish army, drawn up in extended lines on either
+bank, the companies of footmen alternating with little squadrons of
+mounted cavaliers, from whose spears waved bright pennons.
+
+As they stood thus, in gallant array, a flourish of trumpets drew their
+eyes up the stream, and they could behold over the housetops, winding
+with the sinuosities of the canal, a line of masts and of sails half let
+loose to the breeze, advancing slowly towards the lake, drawn, as it
+presently appeared, by double rows of natives, gayly apparelled, who
+occupied the space on the banks left vacant by the military.
+
+As they approached nigh and more nigh, it was seen that each vessel bore
+no little resemblance to some of those light and open brigantines which
+have been, from time immemorial, the chosen delights of Mediterranean
+pirates, and the scourge of the sea from Barbary to the Greek Islands.
+Each carried twenty-five men, twelve of whom were rowers, the others
+musketeers, crossbowmen, cannoniers, (for a falconet frowned over the
+prow of each,) and sailors. Besides a multitude of little pennons with
+which they were covered, two great banners waved over each, the one
+bearing the royal arms of Spain, the other being the private standard
+which had been assigned, along with an appropriate name and a solemn
+benediction, by a priest, at the dock-yard, after the celebration of the
+mass of the Holy Ghost; for with such ceremonies of religion and pomp,
+the fatal galleys were committed, that morning, to their proper element.
+
+One by one they passed into the lake, and ranged in a line before the
+mouth of the little river, fourteen in number. At this point, the
+mummeries of celebration were concluded by another and final
+benediction, pronounced from the shore; which was succeeded by a
+combined uproar of artillery, trumpets, and human voices, more loud and
+tumultuous than any which had yet shaken the borders of Tezcuco.
+
+When the smoke of the cannon had cleared away, the brigantines were seen
+parting and flitting along in different courses, like a flock of
+wild-fowl, frightened and separated by the explosion. Their evolutions
+should be rather likened to the gambols of vultures, escaped from some
+dreary confinement, and now fluttering their wings in the joy of
+liberation, and the expectation of prey. Castilian navigators were at
+last launched upon the sea of Anahuac, and they seemed resolved at once
+to confirm their dominion, by ploughing through each rolling surge, and
+penetrating to every bay and creek. As they divided thus, some standing
+out into the lake, and others darting along the shores, the admiring and
+shouting spectators began to observe and point out to one another
+certain pillars of smoke, rising one after the other, from the hills and
+headlands; by which was conveyed from town to town the intelligence of
+an event long since expected by the watchful infidels.
+
+Another spectacle, however, soon withdrew the eyes of the lookers on
+from these signal fires. From the bank of vapours which still concealed
+the towers of Tenochtitlan, they beheld an Indian piragua, or gondola,
+of some magnitude, and no little splendour, come paddling into view,
+followed by three canoes of much lighter and plainer structure. An
+awning of brilliant cloths, running from stem to stern over the piragua,
+overshadowed and almost hid the rowers.
+
+It was no sooner perceived from the fleet, than three or four
+brigantines gave chase, as after an undoubted enemy and legal prize.
+Still, its voyagers advanced on their course, fearlessly, and to all
+appearance disregardful of the commands of the captains to heave-to,
+even although one call was accompanied by a musket shot, discharged
+across their bows. Its director undoubtedly confided in his pacific
+character, indicated, according to the customs of Anahuac, by a little
+net of gold, mingled with white feathers, tied to the head of a spear,
+and displayed high above the awning.
+
+"Well done for the dog, Techeechee!" muttered Cortes into the ear of an
+hidalgo, of stern appearance, mounted like himself and at his side;
+"Well done for Techeechee, the Silent Dog! he is worth twenty such
+hounds as Olin-pilli. He has brought me an embassy. By my conscience, it
+comes over late though, and I know not what good can spring of it, at
+this hour.--These fools of the brigantines are over-officious!--'Tis a
+confident knave; see, he steers for the palace garden! I must ride
+thither.--Hark thee, De Olid," he continued, still addressing the grim
+cavalier, but aloud, as if willing that all should hear: "let this thing
+be despatched: Thou wilt make, at the worst, a just judge. In this
+trial, it becomes neither my feelings, nor perhaps my honour, that I
+should myself sit in judgment. The chief Alcaldes will give thee their
+aid. Judge not in anger, but with justice; bring it not against the
+young man that he turned his sword upon me--And yet I see not how thou
+canst avoid it: nevertheless, if thou canst do so, let it be done. There
+is enough else to condemn him. His life is in thine hands: be just; and
+yet be not too rigid. If thou canst, by any justifiable leniency, admit
+him to mercy, do so. Yes, be merciful, if thou canst,--be merciful."
+
+With these instructions, which were pronounced not without discomposure,
+Cortes put spurs to his steed, and rode into the city and to the palace,
+followed by some half dozen cavaliers.
+
+He had scarcely assumed the state with which he thought fit to overawe
+the envoys of the different barbaric tribes, whom the fame of his power
+and greatness was daily bringing to his court, before an officer entered
+the audience-chamber from the garden, and acquainted him that
+ambassadors from Tenochtitlan humbly craved to be admitted to his
+presence.
+
+"Let them be taken round to the front, that the dogs may look upon the
+artillery," said the Captain-General; and perhaps added in his thoughts,
+"that they may creep up to my footstool, taking in my greatness from
+afar, until their humility dwindles into submissiveness."
+
+Presently the curtain of the great door was pushed aside, and the
+Mexicans entered, preceded and followed by armed men; the old Ottomi
+being in advance of all. They were twelve in number, the chief or
+principal being a man of lofty stature and manly years, wholly differing
+from the orator Olin, for whom Cortes looked in vain among the others.
+To indicate the high rank of the ambassador, two attendants sustained
+over his head, on little rods, a gay canopy or penthouse of feathers.
+His green mantle (for that was the colour worn by an ambassador,) was of
+the richest material, the border being wrought into scroll-work with
+little studs of solid gold. His buskins, for such they might be called,
+were of crimson leather, and a crimson fillet was wound round his hair,
+which was, otherwise, almost covered with little tufts or tassels of
+cotton-down of the same hue. Each of these singular decorations was the
+evidence and distinguishing badge of some valiant exploit in battle; and
+it was therefore manifest to all in the slightest degree acquainted with
+the customs of Anahuac, even at the first sight, that the barbarian was
+a man of renown among the Mexicans. A cluster of rattling grains of
+gold, suspended to his nostrils, indicated that he belonged to the order
+of Teuctli,--a race of nobles inferior only to the _Tlamantli_, or
+vassal-kings; and the red fillets showed that he was a Prince of the
+House of Darts, the highest of the several chivalric branches into which
+this order was divided, the two next appertaining to the House of Eagles
+and the House of Tigers.--In introducing these barbaric terms, we have
+no desire to inflict upon the reader a dissertation on Aztec chivalry,
+but simply to make him aware, that these singular infidels were, in
+their way, nearly as well provided with the vanities of knighthood and
+nobility as some of the European nations in the Middle Ages.
+
+The general appearance of the ambassador was commanding; his features
+were bold and harsh, yet manly,--his forehead expanded, though inclined,
+and furrowed as with the frowns of battle,--and his eye had a touch of
+wildness and ferocity, at variance with his modest bearing while
+advancing towards the Captain-General, and still more strongly
+contrasted with that melancholy sweetness of mouth, which seems to be a
+characteristic of all the children of America.--Perhaps it is _fitly_
+characteristic, since the proclivity of their fate is equally mournful,
+throughout all the continent. He bore in his hand the gold net and white
+plume, hanging to a headless spear, which had been displayed and
+distinguished afar in the piragua,--as well as a golden arrow,--both
+being the emblems of a Mexican envoy. He was entirely without arms, as
+were all the rest.
+
+Behind the canopy-bearers came three old men, with tablets of dressed
+skin, or maguey paper, in their hands, known, at once, to be
+writers,--secretaries or annalists,--who accompanied ambassadors, and
+other high officers, in expeditions of importance, to record their
+actions and preserve the proofs of treaties.
+
+After these followed six _Tlameme_, or common carriers, bearing
+presents, which, with Mexicans of that day, as with Orientals of this,
+made no small share of the materiel of diplomacy.
+
+As this train was led forward up to the chair of state, Cortes fixed his
+eye with a smile of approbation on the Ottomi, but did not think fit to
+honour him with any further evidence of thankfulness. He had other
+matters to fill his thoughts; for, at the first glance, he recognized in
+the ambassador a noble, famous even in the days of Montezuma, for skill,
+audacity, and unconquerable aversion to the strangers, and who, under
+the ominous title of Masquaza-teuctli,[12] or the Lord of Death, was
+known to have commanded bodies of reinforcement, sent to several
+different shore-towns, to oppose the arms of Cortes in the late
+campaign. In especial, he was known to have devised the plan of cutting
+the dikes of Iztapalapan, after decoying the Spaniards into that city,
+where they escaped drowning almost by a miracle; it was equally certain
+that he had commanded the multitudes of warriors, who, scarce ten days
+since, had repulsed the Spaniards from Tacuba with considerable loss;
+and he was even supposed to have been present in the sack of Xochimilco,
+where Cortes had been in such imminent peril. The appearance of this man
+was doubly disagreeable, as being heartily detested himself, and as
+showing the temper of Guatimozin's mind, who chose to send an envoy so
+little inclined to composition. A murmur of dissatisfaction arose among
+the Spaniards present, as soon as they were made aware of the
+ambassador's character; and if looks could have destroyed, it is certain
+the Lord of Death would have passed to the world of shades, before
+speaking a word of his embassy.
+
+[Footnote 12: The name is corrupted, as are all those handed down by the
+early historians. The suffixes, _pilli_ and _teuctli_, indicate the
+title, and are therefore not a part of the name. We translate both
+_lord_; though it would be more germain to the matter, however ludicrous
+it might seem, to say at once Duke Death and Earl Olin.]
+
+Without, however, seeming to regard these boding glances any more than
+he had done the hostile opposition of the brigantines, he began without
+delay the usual native forms of salutation. But before he could pass to
+those rhetorical and reverential flourishes of compliment, which
+constituted the exordium of an ambassador's speech, he was interrupted
+by Cortes, whose words were interpreted by the same cavalier who had
+officiated before, in the interview with Olin.
+
+"Masquaza-teuctli, Lord of Death!" said the Captain-General, sternly,
+"what dost thou here in Tezcuco?"
+
+The infidel looked up with surprise, and having eyed the Spaniard a
+moment, replied with another question, which was only remarkable as
+indicating the composure of the speaker, and as giving utterance to
+tones exceedingly soft and pleasant:
+
+"Was Olin deceived, and did Techeechee lie?" he said. "I bring the words
+of Guatimozin to Malintzin, son of Quetzalcoatl, and Lord of the Big
+Canoes with legs of crocodiles and wings of pelicans."
+
+"Art thou not stained with the blood of Castilians?" rejoined Cortes,
+but little pleased with the frank and unawed bearing of the envoy. "This
+thing is ill of Guatimozin: why does he send me an enemy from
+Tenochtitlan?"
+
+The Lord of Death replied with what seemed a lurking smile, if such
+could be traced in a peculiar and slight motion of lips, always sedate,
+if not always melancholy;
+
+"Has the Teuctli a _friend_ in Tenochtitlan?--Let Malintzin speak his
+name: I will return.--My little children are yet awkward with the bow
+and arrow."
+
+"Hark to the hound!" exclaimed the Captain-General, struck more by the
+hint conveyed by the last words than by the sarcasm so gently expressed
+in the first: "He would have me believe the very boys of Mexico are
+training to resist us! and that he thinks it better honour to encourage
+the young cubs to malice, than to speak to me for terms of
+peace.--Hearken, infidel: you spoke of the young man Olin. Why returned
+not he to Tezcuco?"
+
+"Malintzin was in a hurry for the blood of Iztapalapan: the king saw the
+glitter of spears on the lakeside, and said to his servant, 'Go not to
+Tezcuco with gold and sweet words, but to Iztapalapan with axes and
+spears.'--"
+
+"Ay, marry; but Olin, what of Olin-pilli?--I warrant me, the knavish
+king discovered the craft of the knavish noble, and so killed him?--I
+was a fool to give him the beads.--What sayst thou, infidel! what has
+become of the Speaker of Wise Things? I sent him to Guatimozin for an
+envoy; and, lo you, this old savage, the Silent Dog, has brought me what
+Olin could not, or did not. Is Olin living?"
+
+"How shall I answer? Ipalnemoani[13] is the maker of life; it is the
+king who takes it. Olin-pilli is forgotten."
+
+[Footnote 13: One of the titles of the Supreme God, (_Teotl_,) who was
+not worshipped directly, but through the medium of his agents, the
+inferior divinities.]
+
+"Ay then, let him sleep; and to thy work, infidel, to thy work. Will
+Guatimozin have peace? He is somewhat late of decision; but the great
+monarch of Spain, who sends me to speak with him, and to enforce the
+vassalage acknowledged by Montezuma, is merciful. Speak, then, and
+quickly. My ships are on the lake, my soldiers are thicker than the
+reeds on its banks, and fiercer than its waters, when the torrents rush
+down from the mountains. Will he have the blood of his people flow
+through the streets, as the waters of an inundation, when the dikes are
+broken? Speak then, Lord of Death; will Guatimozin acknowledge himself
+the king's vassal, pay tribute, and govern his empire in peace?"
+
+"Hear the words of Guatimozin," said the ambassador, beckoning to the
+Tlameme to open their packs: "The king sends you the history of his
+land,"--taking up, from among many books, which made the contents of the
+first bundle, a volume of hieroglyphics, and displaying its pictured
+pages: "He has searched for the time when the king of Castile was the
+lord of his people; but it is not written. How then shall he kiss the
+earth before the Teuctli? He has sought to find to what race, besides
+the race of heaven, the men of Mexico have paid tribute: It is not
+written,--except this,--that once, when his fathers were poor and few,
+the men of Cojohuacan called on them for tribute, and they paid it in
+the skulls of their foes. The men of Castile call for tribute:
+Guatimozin sends them such tribute as his fathers paid; here it
+is--twelve skulls of the dogs of Chalco, taken in the act of rebellion."
+And as he spoke, the grinning orbs rolled under his foot against the
+platform.
+
+"Hah!" cried Cortes, starting up, with as much admiration as wrath, for
+he was keenly alive to every burst of audacious and heroic daring, "is
+not this a merlin of a royal stock, that will try buffets with an eagle?
+But, pho! the young man is besotted."
+
+"Hear, further, the words of Guatimozin," continued the envoy, taking
+from the third bundle two more books, and displaying them, as he had
+done the first: "the king remembers that the wild Ottomies came down
+from their hills, saying that they were foolish and pitiful, because
+Ipalnemoani had kept them in darkness, so that they robbed one another,
+and were blasphemers against heaven. The king gave them religion and
+laws; and, behold, those that live upon the skirts of the valley, are
+become wise and happy. The king says, 'Have not the Spaniards come like
+the Ottomies? and are they not very ignorant and miserable?' These are
+the king's words to Malintzin: 'Take this book, and learn how to worship
+the gods: religion is a good thing, and will make you happy. Take this
+book also, and understand the laws of men: justice is a good thing, and
+will make you happy."
+
+It would be difficult to express the varied feelings of wonder, anger,
+scorn, and merriment, with which the Spaniards hearkened to this
+extraordinary exhortation. Some stared, some frowned, some smiled, and a
+few laughed outright; but all immediately betook themselves to looks of
+sympathetic anger, when Cortes, again rising, stamped upon the platform,
+crying with a fierceness that was in part unassumed,
+
+"Knave of a heathen and savage, dost thou pass this scorn upon the
+religion of Christ? this slight upon the laws of Castile? this slur upon
+religious and civilized men? Look upon this cross, and say to
+Guatimozin, that not a Spaniard shall leave his valley, till every slave
+that acknowledges his sway, has knelt before it, and, abjuring the
+fiendish idolatry of Mexitli, has sworn with a kiss, to worship naught
+else. Look, too, upon this sword, and say to thine insolent prince, that
+it shall not cease to strike and slay, until his whole people have
+acknowledged it to be the abrogator of the old, and the teacher of a new
+law, such as his brutish sages never dreamed of. In one word, give him
+to know, that my purpose in his land, is to bestow upon it the cross of
+heaven and the laws of Spain; and these I will bestow,--both,--so help
+me the sword which I grasp, and the cross that I worship!"
+
+A murmur of satisfaction and responsive resolution passed through the
+assemblage, which had been considerably increased by the appearance of
+such officers, returning from the lakeside, as were privileged to enter
+the presence on such an occasion. But the stern voice of the
+Captain-General produced no effect on the Mexicans, except, indeed, that
+one of the three writers who had been all the time busily engaged, as
+they squatted upon the floor, recording the speeches, in their
+inexplicable manner, raised his eyes, when the Christian's voice was at
+the highest, and eyed him askant for a minute or two. The Lord of Death
+kept his glance firmly fixed on the aspect of the general, while
+listening to the interpretation of his angry vows. Then, when Cortes had
+concluded, he turned to the fourth pack, and resumed his discourse, as
+if it were no part of his duty to reply to anything not immediately
+touching his instructions.
+
+"Hear, further, the words of Guatimozin," he said, pointing to an ear of
+maize, a bundle of cacao-berries, a cluster of bananas, and divers other
+fruits, as well as nuts and esculent roots, which appeared in the pack:
+"Thus says the king of Mexico:--Is Castile a naked rock, where the food
+of man grows not? Malintzin said to Montezuma, 'The land is like other
+lands, with earth over the flint-stone, and with rivers to make it
+fertile; soil comes down from the mountains, and heaven sends frequent
+rains.' Look at Mexico: the sun parches it, till it becomes like sand,
+half the year; the other half, the sky turns to water, and drowns the
+gardens and corn-fields. But is man a dog, that he should howl when he
+is hungry, and run abroad for food? God gave these good things to the
+king; the king gives them to the Spaniard. Let him throw them upon the
+earth, and sit hard by in patience, while the rain drops upon them; and,
+by and by, he will have food for himself and his children: he will not
+be hungry, and run forth, like a dog, to strange lands, seeking for
+food.--Hear, further, the words of the king," continued the grave
+barbarian, observing the impatience of Cortes, and turning his anger
+into admiration, by suddenly displaying the contents of the fifth pack,
+which consisted of divers ornaments and jewels of gold, with a huge
+plate of extraordinary value, representing the sun: "Is there no yellow
+dirt in Castile, to make playthings for the women and children? Thus
+says the king: 'Let Malintzin take these things to his women and
+children; and, lest they should, by and by, cry for more, let him send a
+ship to Guatimozin, at the end of the _Tlalpilli_,[14] and more shall be
+given him. Thus it shall be while Guatimozin lives; and thus it shall be
+hereafter, if the king wills,--for what is Guatimozin, that he should
+make a law for his successors?"
+
+[Footnote 14: _Tlalpilli_--the quarter-cycle, or epoch of 13 years.]
+
+The admiration with which the Captain-General surveyed the gorgeous
+present, greatly moderated his disgust at the mode of making it. He
+stepped down from the platform, and taking the massive disk into his
+hands, gloated over its almost insupportable weight and dazzling
+splendour, with the relish of one who seemed never to have felt any
+passion less sordid than that of avarice. While thus engaged, ruddy at
+once with delight and with the effort of sustaining such a precious
+burthen, a paper was put into his hand, or rather held out for him to
+receive, while a voice murmured in his ear,
+
+"The award of the judges, sent to your excellency for confirmation."
+
+The golden luminary fell, with a heavy clang, upon the floor, the flush
+fled from his cheeks, and the look with which he turned to the untimely
+and ill-omened messenger, Villafana, was even more ghastly with affright
+than that which distinguished the aspect of the Alguazil.
+
+"If your excellency thinks of mercy," continued the Alguazil, in the
+same low and hurried voice,--"it is not yet too late. They have him on
+the square, and are confessing him.--He has but a dog's life, and a
+gnat's death, who puts them in the hands of De Olid."--
+
+Cortes cast his eye upon the paper, and beheld, besides the date, a
+preamble of two lines, and the signatures of the judges, the following
+brief and pithy sentences:
+
+     "Concealing a spy and fugitive from justice--Guilty.
+
+     "Drawing sword upon a Christian--Guilty.
+
+     "Resisting with arms an officer in the execution of his
+     duty--Guilty.
+
+     "Sentence--To be beheaded, his right hand struck off and nailed
+     to the prison-door.--To take effect in half an hour.
+
+     "In the name of God and the king.
+
+     "DE OLID,
+
+     "MARIN,
+
+     "DE IRCIO."
+
+"Butchers!" cried Cortes, with accents of unspeakable horror. "What ho,
+a pen! a pen, knave! a pen!"
+
+The agitation and violence of his voice surprised even the stoical
+Mexicans; and the writers looking up, he became suddenly aware that the
+implements with which they practised their rude art, would answer all
+his purpose. Darting forward, he snatched from the hand of the nearest,
+one of the many reeds which he held. The barbarian, although apparently
+the oldest and most infirm of the three, mistaking the purpose of the
+assault, started to his feet with a vivacity of effort, which, at any
+other moment, would have drawn a sharp look of suspicion from the
+Captain-General. But his thoughts were too much excited to be diverted
+by any such seeming inconsistency.
+
+It happened, by a natural accident, (for each reed was appropriated to
+its peculiar colour,) that that which Cortes had seized contained a dark
+crimson ink. Still, natural as the circumstance was, it had no sooner
+touched the paper than he shuddered, and muttering 'Blood! blood!'
+seemed as if he would have cast it away. But recovering himself in an
+instant, with a faint and forced laugh, he subscribed the few words,
+
+     "Confirmed.--Respite for twenty-four hours.
+
+     "CORTES."
+
+and putting the paper into Villafana's hands, he dismissed him with the
+hurried charge,
+
+"Away--see to it."
+
+He then flung the reed back to the writer who had already resumed his
+squatting attitude, and reascended the platform.
+
+On those who surmised the cause of this sudden interruption, the
+agitation of Don Hernan had the good effect of banishing from their
+minds any lingering suspicions of his entertaining personal ill-will
+towards the unfortunate Lerma. All went to show that he was shocked at
+the young man's fate, and the necessity of ministering to it, even in
+the simple act of confirming a judgment, awarded by others; but,
+unhappily, the same feeling that exonerated the judge, still further
+increased the odium attached to the criminal. How great, they thought,
+must be the guilt of him whom it causes Cortes so much suffering to
+condemn.--But the Captain-General, recovering himself, gave them little
+time for such speculations.
+
+"Well, infidel, thou speakest well," he cried, his voice becoming firmer
+with each syllable; "What hidest thou in the sixth bundle?--or rather,
+what if I should accept thy master's niggardly offer, and depart with
+these baubles for women and children, as thou hast rightly called them?"
+
+"Hear the words of Guatimozin," replied the ambassador, with a careless
+emphasis, as if properly understanding the futility of the proposal,
+and, indeed, with a look of scorn, as if learning to despise one capable
+of Don Hernan's late weakness: "If Malintzin depart with the fifth pack,
+cast the sixth into the lake, and tell him, that, in its place, he shall
+have sent after him to the seaside, a thousand sacks of robes and four
+thousand sacks of corn, to clothe and feed his people as they sail over
+the endless sea. Say to him besides--"
+
+"Pho," interrupted Cortes, "have done with this mummery, and get thee to
+the sixth sack, which I am impatient to examine. What hast thou there?"
+
+"The riches which are more precious to Mexico than the trinkets of her
+children," replied the stately barbarian; and, as he spoke, he rolled
+upon the floor, arrowheads and spearpoints of bright copper, sharp
+blades of itzli and heavy maces of flint, which made up the contents of
+the last bundle: "Hear the words of Guatimozin," he continued, with a
+dignity of bearing that might have become a Spartan envoy in the camp of
+the Persian; "thus says the king: 'What is the Lord of Castile, that
+Guatimozin should call him master? what is Malintzin, that Guatimozin
+should make him his friend? The Teuctli burns my cities, murders my
+children, and spits in the face of my gods. His religion is murder, his
+law robbery: he is strong, yet very unjust; he is wise, yet he makes men
+mad. Guatimozin has called together the chiefs and the planters of corn,
+the wise men and the foolish, the strong and the feeble, the old men,
+the women and the children. He has spoken to them, and they have
+replied: 'Is not the sword better than the whip? is not the arrow softer
+than the brand? is not the fagot of fire pleasanter than the chain of
+captivity? is not death sweeter than slavery?' Thus says the old
+man,--'I am old; wherefore, then, should I be a slave for a day?' Thus
+says the little infant,--'I am a little child; why should I be a slave
+for many years?' This, then, is the word of the whole people; it is
+Guatimozin who speaks it: 'If the gods desert me, what have I to yield
+but life? if they help me, as they have helped my fathers, what have I
+to do, but to drive away my foe? Let Malintzin look at my weapons, and
+put two plates of the black-copper of Castile on his bosom, for I am
+very strong in my sorrow, and I will strike very hard. Let Malintzin
+fear: the rebels of Tezcuco and Cholula, the traitors of Chalco and
+Otumba, are but straws to help him: can they look in the face of a
+Mexican? Let Malintzin fear: is he stronger than when he fled from
+Tenochtitlan, in the month of Mourning?[15] has not Mexico more fighting
+men than when the horn of the gods sounded at midnight, and the Teuctli
+sat on the stone and wept?--on the stone of Tacuba, by the water-side,
+when the morning came, and his people slept in the ditches? If Malintzin
+will fight, so will Guatimozin.' These are the words of the king; these
+are the words of the people: they are said. The gods behold us."
+
+[Footnote 15: Embracing a portion respectively of June and July, and
+devoted to austere and penitential preparation for a coming festival.]
+
+So spake the bold savage; and as if to show that even the basest and
+feeblest shared his courage, and sanctioned his defiance, the very
+Tlameme looked around them with a show of spirit, and the three old men
+expressed their satisfaction with audible murmurs.
+
+The Spaniards were surprised at the fearless tones of the Lord of Death,
+and not a few were impressed with alarm as well as anger, when he
+referred so unceremoniously to the events of the fatal Noche Triste. As
+for Cortes himself, though the frown with which he listened to the whole
+oration, had become darker and darker as the warrior-noble proceeded,
+yet, apparently, he had become sensible, both from the tenor of the
+discourse and the resolute bearing of the speaker, that it should be
+answered with gravity rather than anger. Hence, when he came to reply,
+it was in terms briefly impressive and solemn:
+
+"My young brother Guatimozin is unwise, and he is digging the grave of
+his whole people. He has evil counsellors about him. I have somewhat to
+say to him; and, to-morrow, you shall be sent back with an answer, which
+will perhaps dispel his foolish dream of resistance."--He observed that
+the Lord of Death looked displeased and even alarmed, when the
+interpreter made him sensible that he was to be detained until the
+morrow. "Be not alarmed," he continued, sternly: "when didst thou ever
+hear of a Christian aping the treachery of thy native princes, and doing
+wrong to an ambassador? I tell thee, fellow, infidel though thou be, I
+will do thee honour, in respect of thy young master. To-morrow thou
+shalt eat at my board, for it is a day of banqueting; and to-morrow,
+also, shalt thou be made acquainted with my answer to the king's
+message, which it is not possible I should speak to-day. Rest you then
+content.--Hark thee, Villafana," (for the Alguazil had returned,) "have
+thou charge of this bitter-tongued knave and his dumb companions.
+Entreat them well, but see that they neither escape nor communicate with
+anyone in this army, Christian or misbeliever. And look well to thy
+prison too.--This knave, Techeechee,--bring him to me when thou changest
+guards at the prison."
+
+Then, breaking up the audience, he remained for a time in conference
+with a few of the chief officers, debating subjects of great importance,
+but which would be of no interest to the readers of this history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+Some two hours after nightfall, as the unhappy Lerma lay in darkness and
+solitude, (for Befo was no longer permitted to be his companion,) the
+door of the prison opened, and the Alguazil, Villafana, entered, bearing
+a lantern, which emitted just sufficient light to allow his features to
+be distinguished, together with what seemed a flask of wine--a luxury
+now to be occasionally obtained, since vessels arrived not unfrequently
+from the islands.
+
+"How now, what cheer, senor?" he exclaimed, setting down the flask upon
+the table, and turning the light full upon Juan's face; "are you saying
+your prayers? Here's that shall give you better comfort,--something from
+the vineyards of Xeres de la Frontera,--stout Sherry, that shall make
+your heart bounce, were it broken twice over.--Come, faith, it will make
+you merry."
+
+"I shall never be merry more," said Juan; "and why should I? It is
+better I should not. I thank you for your good-will, Villafana; but I
+would that, instead of this wine, if it be not contrary to your duty,
+you would fetch me the good father Olmedo, to finish the confession,
+begun upon the block, and so abruptly interrupted, this morning."
+
+"Pho, be not in such a hurry: you have time enough. The priest is busy,
+and knowing he must shrive you to-morrow, he will be ill inclined to
+trouble himself superfluously to-night. Come, sit up, drink, laugh, and
+curse thy foes. Come, now,--a merry God's blessing! may you live a
+thousand years!--Dzoog! bah! dzoog!--Now could I fight seven tigers!"
+
+"It is better thou shouldst drink it than I," said Juan, observing the
+strong and somewhat fantastic gestures with which the Alguazil expressed
+his approbation, after having taken a hearty draught of the liquor; "yet
+bethink thee, Villafana,--"
+
+"'Slid!" interrupted the jailer, "bethink thyself! and bethink thee that
+this will make thee a good fellow of a warhorse mettle, whereas, now,
+thou art but a sick lambkin. What makes a beggar a king, hah? a tailor's
+'prentice a Cid Ruy Diaz of Castile,--a doughty Campeador? Pho, there is
+more of this, and to-morrow it will flow: Dost thou not know, Don
+Demonios, our king, has invited us to a banquet to-morrow? Thou shalt
+hear this banquet spoken of for a thousand years. Ah, the good ship! the
+good ship! there is a better thing she brings us than wine.--But that is
+neither here nor there. Why dost thou not drink?"
+
+"Am I not condemned to death for the infraction of a decree?" said Juan,
+somewhat sternly, for he thought he perceived in Villafana's levity a
+symptom of undue excitement; "and dost thou not remember that there is a
+decree also against drunkenness? Thou hast suffered somewhat from this
+already."
+
+"Dost thou suppose there is a hell?" said Villafana, with some such look
+as that which had appalled Juan, when he walked with him over the
+meadows beyond the city: "For, if thou dost, know then, that I make my
+promise to the infernal fiend, to broil with him seven times seven
+thousand years, if I do not, with a stab for every lash, make up my
+reckoning with the man who degraded me! _Ojala_ and Amen!--So now,
+there's enough to keep thee quiet.--Hast thou any gall any where but in
+thy liver?"
+
+"Thou art besotted, or insane, I think," said Juan, angrily. "I am a
+dying man: begone, and suffer me to make my peace with heaven."
+
+"Come, you think I am drunk," said Villafana, somewhat more rationally:
+"I grant you; but it is with a stuff stronger than strong drink;--ay,
+faith, for, to-morrow, I see my way to heaven!--Answer me, truly: have
+you no thirst for vengeance on those who have brought you to this
+pass?--You see I am sober, hah? One would not die like a sheep.--You may
+play the wolf yet. What if you had an opportunity--"
+
+"Tempt me not, knave," said Juan, turning away his face--"Avoid thee,
+Satan!"
+
+"What if I should knock open thy doors, and put a sword into thy hand?"
+said Villafana, bending over, so as to whisper into his ear; "what
+wouldst thou do with it?"
+
+"Break it," replied the prisoner, wrapping his mantle about his head, as
+if to shut out all further temptation.
+
+"Thou art a fool," said the Alguazil, with a growl, and left the
+apartment.
+
+Juan heard his retreating steps, followed by the clanking of the chain,
+which, with a strong padlock, on the outside, secured the door of the
+prison; yet he neither raised his head, nor removed the mantle from his
+face, but endeavoured to drive from his heart the thoughts of passion,
+excited by the words of the tempter. From this gloomy task he was roused
+by a soft voice, murmuring, as it seemed to him from the air, for he was
+not aware of the presence of any human being in the apartment,--
+
+"Does the Great Eagle fear the face of his friend?"
+
+He started to his feet, and beheld in the light of the lantern, which
+Villafana had left on the table, the figure of an ancient Indian,
+standing hard by.
+
+"Techeechee!" he exclaimed--"But no; thy speech is pure, thy tongue is
+another's. Who art thou, gray-head of Mexico?"
+
+"To-day, Cojotl, the cunning fox of scribes,--yesterday, Olin, the
+tongue of nobles,--but before, and hereafter, Guatimozin, the friend of
+the Great Eagle," replied the Indian, and as he spoke, he exchanged the
+decrepit stoop of age for the lofty demeanour of youth, and parted the
+gray locks which had hitherto almost concealed his countenance.
+
+"Rash prince," said Juan, "will you yet wear the chains of Montezuma?
+Why dost thou again entrust thyself among Spaniards?"
+
+"How came the Great Eagle into the place of Guatimozin?" demanded the
+young Mexican, expressively: "Shall he die for Guatimozin, and
+Guatimozin stand afar off?"
+
+"Alas, prince," said Juan, "thy friendship is noble, but can do me no
+good. Leave this place, where thou art in great danger, and think of me
+no more. I am beyond the reach of help. Think of thyself,--of thy
+people, (for, surely, it is thy duty to protect them,) and depart while
+thou canst."
+
+"And what am I, that I should do this thing?" said Guatimozin. "Listen
+to me, son of the day-spring: the children of Spain are wolves and
+reptiles; the iztli is sharp for them, and it must not spare. But thou,
+the young Eagle, shalt remain the friend of Guatimozin. Has not
+Malintzin eaten of thy blood? is he not like the big tiger that takes by
+the throat? and who shall draw him away? Canst thou remain, and smile on
+another sunset? I bring thee liberty."
+
+"How!" said Juan; "is Villafana this traitor, that he will permit me to
+escape?"
+
+"He is a rat with two faces," said the prince, significantly; "he fears
+the wrath of Malintzin; he loves gold, but he says thou shalt not go
+till to-morrow, and to-morrow thou wilt be in Mictlan, the world of
+caves. But Guatimozin can do what the traitor Christian will not. The
+Eagle is very brave: he shall kill his foe."
+
+As Guatimozin spoke, he drew from his cloak a Spanish dagger, long,
+sharp and exceedingly bright,--a relic of the spoils won from the
+invaders in the Night of Sorrow,--and offered it to the prisoner,
+adding,
+
+"When I depart, a soldier will fasten the door. If thou art
+strong-hearted, thou canst rush by, dealing him a blow. At the water's
+edge, by the broken wall, thou wilt find a friend with a canoe; it is
+Techeechee. Is not Tenochtitlan hard by? Guatimozin, the king of Mexico,
+will make his friend welcome."
+
+"Prince," said Juan, sadly, "this thing cannot be. Why should I strike
+down the poor sentinel? He has done me no wrong. What would become of
+thee? Thou couldst not escape. What would become of Villafana, who,
+knave though he be, has yet done much to serve me? And what, to
+conclude, would become of _me_, escaping from Christians, to take refuge
+among thy unbelieving people? I can die, prince, but I can be neither
+renegade nor apostate."
+
+"Is there nothing in Tenochtitlan, that dwells in the thoughts of the
+captive? I will be very good to thee; and thou shalt drink the blood of
+thy foe."
+
+"Prince," said Juan, firmly, "thine eye cannot search the soul of a
+Christian. Malintzin has done me a great wrong, yet would I not harm a
+hair of his head; no, heaven is my witness! I can forgive him even my
+death, however unjust and cruel."
+
+"It is a dove of Cholula that speaks in the voice of my friend," said
+the infidel, struck with as much disdain as surprise at the want of
+spirit, which his barbarous code of honour discovered in a lack of
+vindictiveness: "Is a man a worm that he should be trampled on?"
+
+"No," said Juan, bitterly,--for he could not resist his feelings of
+indignation, when he suffered himself to consider his degradation in
+this light. "Had I resisted him in his first anger, had I resented his
+first injustice, had I provoked him by any complaint, then might I think
+of his course with submission. But I have not; I have been, indeed, as
+thou sayest, a worm, at all times helpless, at all times unresisting.
+Others have complained, some have defied him, but they passed
+unpunished. I, who have yielded, like a woman, escape not: I creep from
+the path of his anger, but his foot follows me,--turn which way I will,
+it crushes me. Even Befo will show his teeth sometimes--I have seen him
+growl when Cortes struck him--and by mine honour, I think he struck him,
+because he was once mine!"
+
+How far, by indulging such thoughts, he might have wrought himself into
+the very spirit which Guatimozin was surprised to find absent, we will
+not venture to say. He was interrupted by the sudden re-entrance of
+Villafana, who immediately exclaimed,
+
+"Will you have my brother Najara diving in upon you? Pho, you talk too
+loud: 'tis well you were gabbling in Mexican. Hark ye, Olin, you knave,
+get you gone! to your den, sirrah!--Pray, senor Juan, tell this rascal,
+in his own gibberish, that he cannot remain a moment longer from his
+lock-up, without being discovered.--Come, fellow, come: you shall have
+more talk to-morrow."
+
+So saying, the Alguazil conducted the Mexican away. A few moments after,
+he returned alone. Juan, still disordered and brooding over his wrongs,
+paced to and fro over the narrow limits of his cell. His agitation
+Increased with each step, and, at last, finding that Villafana did not
+speak, he exclaimed,
+
+"Come, Villafana,--I know what thou wilt say,--am I not used dog-like?
+He disdained even to sit upon the trial, to ask me what I had to urge in
+excuse of my folly; but left this to judges, who were content to ask
+'Didst thou this?' and 'Didst thou that?' without permitting me a word
+of defence. Surely, I had much provocation in the matter of Guzman; and
+as for the decree, it should have been remembered, that I was come into
+the camp too short a time to have made it as fast in my mind as others,
+who had heard it daily proclaimed for months. I must die for this!--die
+like a hunted assassin!--my hand stuck against the prison-door, my body
+given, perhaps, to fatten the lean hogs that will fatten my judges! Oh,
+by heaven, this is intolerable to think on!"
+
+"Thou wilt believe, now, that thou wert sent to the South Sea for no
+good?"
+
+"Ay, I will believe anything," said Juan, in increasing excitement. "And
+_this_ too! scarce an hour returned from my sufferings, endured for
+him,--endured to regain his good-will! Ay, and before I had done
+speaking, he would have sent me to Mexico, to be sacrificed
+there!--before I had eaten and drunk! before I had rested my wearied
+body, before I had recruited my exhausted strength!--Tell me, Villafana!
+was it not by his design I was entrapped into giving shelter to--But,
+no! that could not be; in that, at least, he must be innocent. But, in
+the rest, it is oppression, grinding, intolerable oppression!"
+
+"Well, I marvel he did not let thee off with a scourging," said
+Villafana, swallowing another draught from the neglected flask. "Come,
+drink, and we will discourse together."
+
+"A scourging!" said Juan, seizing the Alguazil's arm with a grasp which
+showed that imprisonment and sorrow had not altogether robbed him of
+strength; "dare you talk to me of scourging?"
+
+"Ay, marry," said Villafana, whose object seemed to be to excite the
+slumbering fury of the young man, and who now, in the effect of a word
+used for another purpose, discovered a point on which his equanimity was
+not impregnable; "ay, faith; for the whole army cries out upon his
+barbarity, saying that he is murdering you; so that he already talks of
+letting you off with a scourging.--He was as good with me."
+
+"By the saints of heaven!" cried Juan, snatching up the dagger which
+Guatimozin had left, and striking it into the table with a fury which
+split the plank in twain, "were it his own, I would drive this steel
+into the breast of the man that designed me such dishonour. Scourge me!
+Thanks be to heaven, that sends this weapon!"
+
+"Oho, senor!" said Villafana, with counterfeited indignation, "you will
+resist, will you! Hah! and you have a dagger, too! Come, senor, give it
+up."
+
+"Fool," said the prisoner, "thy bitter words have unchained me at last,
+and driven me to desperation. I will not yield this weapon but with my
+life. Wo betide him that comes to me with a scourge, were it Don Hernan
+himself!"
+
+"You will resist him then?--Why now you are a man again! Sit down; fear
+not: you shall have a better weapon. Come, let us drink a little: 'tis a
+raw night, and rainy. Here's success to our vengeance--a quart of blood
+apiece! Methinks, you are more wronged than myself--Therefore, you shall
+strike the first blow. I give you this privilege, out of friendship. The
+second is mine."
+
+While Villafana held forth in these extraordinary terms, Juan, shocked
+into composure, became aware that the wine, which the Alguazil plied
+with characteristic infatuation, had already made serious inroads upon
+his brain. He ogled and smiled, with a stupid contortion of countenance,
+which was meant to be significant; his articulation was impeded, and his
+expressions coarser than usual; and without being positively drunk, he
+was reduced to that condition in which the natural propensities get the
+better of all artificial qualities. Hence, he became fierce and
+bloody-minded, without displaying any of the subtle cautiousness and
+cunning inquisitiveness, that were common to him in his sober hours. It
+was for this reason that he proceeded to unfold the secrets of his
+breast, without being in any degree abashed by the looks of horror, with
+which Juan heard him.
+
+"Know then, brother Juan," said he, "that thou shalt lap the blood of
+Don Demonios to-morrow morning, at the banquet-table; and afterwards
+hang up Guzman with thine own hands. Thou art too white-livered, or thou
+shouldst have known of the matter earlier. Also, thou shalt have thy
+fair nun again, as before:--that is, upon condition she likes thee
+better than me; which may be, or may not, for who can tell whether the
+star will shoot into the marsh, or fall upon the mountain?--Bah! it is a
+pity I brought thee not another flagon. Busta! I will drink no more; for
+this is no time to be thick-witted.--Know then, _Juanito querido_, we
+have brought our conspiracy to a head; and out of the nine hundred
+Christians in this town there are two hundred and forty sworn on dirk,
+buckler, and crucifix, to our whole game,--three hundred, who will wink
+and stand by, till the play is over,--three hundred who will swear faith
+to the devil himself, when Don Demonios lies hid in his pocket,--and as
+for the rest, why we must e'en have some hanging and stabbing."
+
+"In heaven's name," said Juan, "what dost thou mean? Art thou really
+mad? Bethink thee what thou art saying!"
+
+"Hah!" cried Villafana, "wilt thou skulk backwards, after all? Dost thou
+pretend to oppose us? We had some thoughts of making thee one of the
+three chief captains. This Olea stands to; for he swears thou art the
+best leader in the camp."
+
+"Is Gaspar sworn among you?" said Juan, with a faint voice, his
+detestation of the bloody scheme arousing him to the necessity of
+sifting it to the bottom--for he forgot his captivity, and thought only
+of arresting the progress of a treason so fearful.
+
+"Ay," returned the Alguazil; "and better men than he. Come, clap thy
+name to the paper, and I swear thou shalt have a command among us,
+though I should kill thy rival-candidate Gil Gonzales, with my own hand.
+Dost thou not know these fellows? We have hidalgos among us."
+
+As he spoke, he pulled from his bosom a paper, on which Juan read with
+affright the names of several men of rank, mingled with those of common
+soldiers, with many of which he was familiar. His first thought was to
+secure this dreadful list, and calling to the guards about the prison,
+arrest the Alguazil upon the spot. A moment's consideration determined
+him to take further advantage of the communicativeness of the traitor,
+until made acquainted with all the details of the conspiracy. He bridled
+his anger, therefore, and concealing his horror under an appearance of
+doubt and hesitation, to which his trembling agitation gave no little
+force, he said,
+
+"How is this? Are these names good and true?"--
+
+"See you not Barba Roxa's sign-manual, near the bottom of the list? He
+subscribed it last night. He draws the figure of a knife well, as one
+who knows how to use it. But as for thee, _nino mio_, thou art able to
+write thy signature in full."
+
+"Stay," cried Juan. "What are you to do? You spoke of a banquet, and the
+morning. Assassination, hah?"
+
+"Did I not tell thee before? Look," said the Alguazil, with a harsh
+laugh, displaying a letter, well secured with wax and fillet, on which
+was written the name of the Captain-General. "Know, that this letter,
+written carefully on the outside, by mine own hand, (for there is
+nothing within,) comes from the senor's sire, old Don Martin, whom the
+devil take to his rest, for fathering so ill-tempered a son. This
+letter, thou must know," he went on with a chuckle of self-approving
+craft, "came in the ship of Seville that brought this good wine, and
+was, by an evil accident, detained on the way. Know, sirrah, and this is
+my device: The general hath forgotten to invite me to his feast
+to-morrow, in honour of his saint-day, or some other thing--_Quien
+sabe?_ It is very rude. But he has invited all my caballeros on this
+paper, and some four score soldiers, who are down likewise. The rest
+will take their ease in the vestibule, and on the square, to be ready.
+What do I then? Marry, this: I break in upon the revel with the letter
+in my hand, and a dagger in my sleeve; the others crowd round with
+congratulations, and I strike him under the ribs--Pho! I forgot; thou
+canst not have the _first_ blow, as I promised thee; but thou shalt
+follow, cloaked up to the eyes, and be free to take the second.--What
+dost thou think of my plot, hah, dear devil? Hah!--"
+
+"That it is the most damnable and dastardly ever devised by villain, and
+shall bring thee to a villain's death. Rogue! didst thou think thou
+couldst tell this to _me_, and live? I have thy treason in my hand, and
+will use it as it becomes an honourable man and Christian. What ho,
+guards! treason, treason!"
+
+Greatly astounded as Villafana was by this unexpected defection, the
+shock served rather to sober than affright him. He gave the prisoner a
+look of unspeakable malice, and whipping out his sword and calling for
+help as clamorously as Juan, he assaulted him with the utmost fury. At
+the same time, five or six of the guardsmen rushed in, and to Juan's
+utter dismay, instead of aiding him to secure the Alguazil, rushed upon
+him, some with their spears, to transfix him against the wall, while
+others, springing behind him, secured him in their arms, and hurled him
+upon the floor. In an instant, he had lost both the fatal list and the
+dagger of Guatimozin, and was at the mercy of Villafana, who knelt upon
+his breast, and shortened his sword, to despatch him with a thrust. But
+at the very moment when he had given up all hope, and was commending his
+soul to his Maker, the savage and exulting laugh with which the Alguazil
+aimed at his throat, was changed to an exclamation of alarm and pain. Up
+started the assassin, and Juan, springing also to his feet, he beheld,
+with surprise, the figure of La Monjonaza standing betwixt him and the
+assailants. The gray mantle had fallen from her head and shoulders,
+revealing a form of the finest symmetry, and a countenance convulsed
+into beauty, such as might have become a warring Bellona; to whom she
+might have been well compared, only that in place of the whip and torch
+which a moralizing mythology has put into the hands of the goddess, she
+held an emblem equally expressive, in a short dagger, gleaming with
+blood from the shoulder of Villafana.
+
+"Villain!" she cried, after looking as if she would have repeated the
+blow, "art thou not yet requited? Begone!"
+
+And the discomfited traitor, scowling and pointing at the blood
+trickling from his arm, and yet obviously quailing before her stern
+frown, left the prison, followed by the guards, who seemed even more
+terrified than himself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+Juan stood, for a moment, confounded in the presence of his preserver;
+and Magdalena, gradually exchanging her fierce expression for one more
+becoming her sex, appeared at last, as he had seen her before, pale,
+saddened, and subdued. As she sank into this softened temper, her eye
+fell upon the crimsoned blade; and it was curious to see with what
+feminine horror, disgust, and shame, she cast it from her, and to
+contrast this display of undissembled feelings with her late Amazonian
+bearing and act.
+
+"Magdalena," said Juan, a thousand emotions at once contending in his
+bosom, "you have saved my life. Haste now and protect that of Cortes:
+for, be it dear to thee or not, yet it is not fitting he should be left
+to the knife of an assassin. Acquaint him from me--Nay, bear it not from
+_me_; for I will not seem as if I sought to purchase my life with the
+confession--Acquaint him that a dreadful conspiracy, headed by the knave
+Villafana, is about to burst upon his head. If he seizes not the traitor
+to-night, let him beware who approaches the banquet to-morrow. Above
+all, let him be on his guard against any one who affects to bring
+letters from his father. Haste, maiden, haste! for perhaps Villafana,
+wrought upon by his fears, may discharge his train of horrors this very
+night."
+
+"Dost thou thus seek to preserve him who has so basely compassed thine
+own life?" said Magdalena, less with surprise than sorrowing admiration.
+"Think not of Cortes, but of thyself: thou hast not many hours for
+thought."
+
+"Alas, Magdalena," said Juan, impatiently, "you do not believe me. I
+swear to you, that what I say is true: Villafana is a traitor, and is
+now on the point of assassinating the Captain-General."
+
+"If he were about assassinating thee, and the Captain-General knew it,
+what aid wouldst thou expect from the Captain-General?" rejoined La
+Monjonaza.
+
+"Maiden!" said Juan, frowning severely, "in this coldness of purpose,
+now that thou art acquainted with the act, thou art conniving at
+murder!"
+
+Apparently this reproof touched Magdalena to the quick. She started,
+shuddered, and turned as if to leave the prison; but changing her
+purpose, stepping up to the light, and assuming a boldness which she did
+not feel, she falteringly asked,
+
+"Is there no case, in which such connivance might be excusable? But a
+moment since," (and here she bent her head upon her bosom,) "I was about
+to _commit_ murder--Had I slain Villafana, wouldst thou then have
+thought the act criminal?"
+
+"Surely not, surely not," said Juan; "for, in this case, thou wert
+arresting the blow of a cut-throat, to kill whom in the act, were but
+sheer justice, and according to law. And yet I would that the blow had
+been struck by another. It is not seemly for a woman to carry a dagger,
+and still more improper that she should use it."
+
+"What if she be attacked by a villain, and no helper nigh?" demanded the
+forlorn girl. "Heaven has given me no protector--My father, my brother,
+and my friend--they all lie in this little steel;" and as she picked up
+the weapon from the floor, as if no longer ashamed to bear it, a ghastly
+smile beamed from her visage, like the flash of a Medusa amid the foam
+of a midnight billow.
+
+"Speak no more of Cortes," she continued, observing that Juan was about
+to resume the subject of the conspiracy; "he is far better able to
+protect himself than thou. Were there twenty poniards in Villafana's
+hand, and were his arm as extended as his malice, yet could he not reach
+even to the heel of Don Hernan. His fate is written,--yes, more
+inevitably than thine; for thou hast yet one hope of deliverance, and
+Villafana has none.--Listen to me, Juan Lerma; it is perhaps the last
+time on earth that I shall speak to thee. If thou reject mine offer this
+night, I call heaven to witness that I will leave thee to thy fate."
+
+"Magdalena," said Juan, firmly, "we have spoken of this before. God
+protect thee, for there is a wall of adamant between us."
+
+"Be it so," said the lady; "and let it be higher than thy wishes, deeper
+than thy scorn, so thou wilt leave this land, and return to it no more."
+
+"On the morrow, Magdalena, I die," said Lerma, with unabated resolution.
+"Hear then the counsel of a dying man, who can yet call himself your
+friend. Do what you have recommended to me: leave this land, and, in the
+gloom of a cloister, expiate--"
+
+"Yet again?" exclaimed the maiden, with an eye of fire. "This is to
+distract me! Oh, if thou knew how unjustly thou hast planted daggers in
+my bosom--daggers to which this thing of steel is but as the thorn of a
+rosebud--thou wouldst kill thyself, rather than speak them again! But it
+matters not: whether thou livest or diest, still must thou know that I
+am wronged.--Listen to me--I will speak of Hilario.--"
+
+"Let it not be so," said Juan; and then solemnly added, "Learn that,
+yesternight, the wretched Villafana, who, by some magical science, seems
+acquainted with the secrets of all in this camp, gave me to know what I
+did not before dream. Magdalena, when I plucked thee from the wreck, I
+dreamed, for a moment, that I loved thee--" The maiden trembled from
+head to foot, and Juan was himself greatly agitated; "I beheld one, in
+whom, from the act of giving her a life, I might fancy a tie, such as
+did not exist between me and any other human being, from the time of the
+death of my poor father up to that happy hour. But had that affection
+ripened even into such as Hilario avowed,"--(Here Magdalena waved her
+hand impatiently;) "nay, had I plighted with thee faith and troth, and
+did we stand this moment before the altar, my passion would be at once
+changed to awe and horror, to know that I was wedding the spouse of
+Heaven. Magdalena, a life of penitence can scarcely remove the sin of
+broken vows!"'
+
+"Say not this," exclaimed the unhappy Magdalena, vehemently: "What knew
+I of earth or heaven, when, imprisoned in a cell from childhood upwards,
+I gave up the one for the other? Heaven broke the oath which oppressors
+exacted; else, wherefore was I saved of all the sisters, and thrown upon
+a land where cloisters were unknown? For these vows could I have
+procured a dispensation. Hast thou never heard of such being dissolved?"
+
+"Surely I have," said Juan, mildly, desiring to allay the agitation of
+his visitor: "It was told to me, by Villafana, that the senor Camarga
+(an insane man, who made an attempt on my life,) was once a monk of St.
+Dominic and an Inquisitor, and permitted to revoke his vows for some
+worldly purpose, I know not what; and I have heard it also said, that
+the sister of Don Hernan was allowed to leave a nunnery, to wed some
+great nobleman of Andalusia."
+
+"It is enough," said Magdalena, calmly, "the vow was suspended, not
+broken; it will be resumed, when the purpose for which I now live, is
+accomplished, and would have been before, but for the accident which
+brought me to this land.--Juan Lerma, I will not ask thee why thou
+refusest life at my hands: but it is offered thee by one wronged and
+defamed, not degraded. If thou live, it is well thou shouldst know the
+truth, and remember me without contempt; if thou die, the grave shall
+not cover thee in ignorance. Hilario--Start not, frown not, tremble not,
+for the truth must be spoken--Hilario abused thy belief, that he might
+break my heart, and perhaps, also, thine; for he hated me, because I
+repelled his love with contempt, and thee, because he knew--because he
+suspected,--that thou wert the cause. You fought; he fell,--and, with
+what seemed his dying lips, (for, even in death, his spite was not
+diminished,) repeated the demoniacal falsehood; boasting of the
+degradation of one whose only shame was that she did not requite his
+presumption with a dagger!"
+
+Again the figure of the unhappy girl was elevated by passion into the
+port of a destroying deity. But she perceived that Juan was shocked by a
+display of fire so unwomanly and, indeed, so fearful; and this instantly
+transformed her into another being:
+
+"This too, _this_ too," she cried, shedding tears of humiliation, "this,
+too, is a consequence of his malice, for it has converted me into the
+thing I am not,--into what seems a fury or a demon. Dost thou believe I
+am--dost thou believe I _was_ a creature formed of passions, that should
+belong only to men? No! oh heaven, oh no! it is the madness that comes
+from the viper's tooth. Stung, vilified, robbed of respect and
+happiness, how even can a woman sit down in peace, unless she can die?
+unless she can die? She will have her vengeance, believe it; and well is
+it for her, when it is won by the hands of a brother or sire.--Yet,
+believe this, if thou wilt, for I am not what I was; believe
+aught,--anything, save the lies of Hilario. With his dying lips he
+defamed me--with his dying hand he revoked the slander, and avowed
+himself a villain. Behold the refutation of calumny."
+
+As she spoke, she drew from her bosom, with a trembling grasp, and put
+into Juan's, a scrap of paper, on which he read, with extreme surprise,
+the following words, traced with a hand feeble and agitated, yet well
+known to him,--
+
+     "What I have said of Magdalena del Naufragio," (or Magdalena of
+     the Wreck, for by this name she was known at Isabela,) "is
+     false. In malice and folly I have laid perjury on my soul; and,
+     as I now speak the truth, I pray heaven to forgive me.--Amen.
+
+     "ANTONIO DEL MILAGRO."
+
+"Good heaven!" said Juan, "is it possible Antonio could commit this
+dastardly crime? Alas, Magdalena, I _have_ done you a grievous wrong,
+and I beseech you, pardon me.--This thing was not only wicked, but
+marvellous. The paper is stained with blood--The saints acquit me of his
+death, for it was I who shed it! I am glad he died penitent--What
+brought him to this justice? I held my dagger to his throat, yet he
+cried, with a devilish malice and courage, 'Strike, for--' But I will
+not repeat his sinful and exulting falsehoods.--Alas, that his blood
+should be upon my soul! the blood of his father's son!"
+
+Magdalena surveyed the self-accusing looks of the prisoner, with much
+emotion; and twice or thrice she opened her lips, to give him comfort,
+or to continue her dark and singular story, and yet failed, as many
+times, to speak. At last, she clasped her hands upon her bosom, as if,
+by an effort of physical strength, to give support and resolution to her
+heart, and said, with low and interrupted accents,
+
+"Lament no more for a sin thou hast not committed. Thou wert
+deceived--Hilario died not by thy hands."
+
+"Hah!" exclaimed Juan, "dost thou tell me the truth? Is Hilario yet
+living? God be thanked! God be thanked! for I am not a murderer!"
+
+He fell upon his knees, and looking up to heaven with joy, beheld not
+the grief and trepidation with which his companion surveyed his
+raptures.
+
+"I told thee, not that he lived, but that thou didst not slay him," said
+the nun, with an effort.--"Had my father come to my side, and looked
+upon this paper, after hearing the story of Hilario's baseness, what
+think you he should have done?"
+
+"Killed him, I must allow," said Juan, rising to his feet; "for even his
+deep penitence could scarcely be permitted to stand as the sole penalty
+of such an offence.--Alas, Magdalena, my mind is beset with sore
+misgivings. How was that paper obtained? How did Hilario die? Thou
+growest pale! Heaven shield me! didst thou, didst _thou_--?"
+
+He paused with terror. The maiden replied instantly, and almost with
+firmness:
+
+"Hear the truth, even to the last syllable; for even _thy_ good opinion
+I will not purchase by subterfuge. To Villafana,--a wretch, whose
+manifold villanies thou couldst not dream, (for know, that, being a
+sailor in the ship that bore the unlucky sisters, he devised and
+accomplished its destruction, that he might impiously obtain the holy
+vessels of silver and gold--Ay, it was Villafana, and not the tempest,
+that drove us upon the rocks of Alonso--) to Villafana, from whom I
+learned the cause of the duel and of thy flight, I committed the charge
+of obtaining this recantation.--Was this wrong?" she exclaimed, giving
+way to affright, for Juan's looks of horror could not be mistaken: "they
+were two fiends together,--the villain struck the villain,--the--"
+
+"Murderess! murderess!" cried Juan aloud, recoiling from her.
+
+A ghastly smile passed over her countenance, and it grew into a faint
+laugh, which, to Juan's mistaken eye, (for he thought it the merriment
+of satisfaction or indifference,) seemed unnatural and dreadful, while
+she replied, her voice hysterically belying her feelings, as much as did
+her countenance,
+
+"Thou dost not think I employed him to do murder? I appeal to heaven, I
+did not dream he would do aught but compel the recantation from the
+wounded man.--What! bid him kill one so defenceless! Had he been strong
+and well armed, then perhaps, indeed,--then perhaps, I might have
+thought it. I sought but for the paper; the rest was the deed of
+Villafana."
+
+"Oh heaven! oh holy heaven!" cried Juan; "speak not another word: rather
+let me die than hear more. Away! avaunt! thou art not a woman, but a
+fiend! and all is now as it was, and worse.--What, blood-stained!
+blood-stained!"--
+
+Magdalena strode towards him, striving to speak, but could only utter
+the words, 'Injustice! injustice!' mingled with the charge, 'Leave
+Mexico,' that still made a part of her perturbed thoughts. Had not Juan
+been entirely overwhelmed by his horror, he must have observed, that her
+mind was, at this moment, convulsed beyond the degree of any former
+agitation; that she was, in fact, in a condition both alarming and
+pitiable. Her countenance was most deathlike, her accents wholly
+unnatural, and there was something of delirium or idiotcy in the manner
+with which, while still muttering the broken reproof, 'Injustice,' and
+the charge, 'Leave Mexico,' she, all the while, extended the
+blood-stained paper, as if entreating him again to receive and peruse
+it.
+
+As it was, he gave utterance to his horror in the words,--
+
+"Miserable woman! the denial forced from the lips of the murdered man,
+is of a piece with the spirit that compelled it--False, false, all!"
+
+At these words, the paper dropped from her hands, another vacant smile
+distorted her visage, and she turned to depart; but before she had taken
+two steps, she tottered, and fell to the floor, with a dreadful scream,
+that instantly brought the guards into the prison.
+
+The absorbing nature of their conversation had, for the last two or
+three moments, rendered both incapable of observing that some scene of
+altercation had suddenly arisen at the dungeon door. High voices might
+be heard, as of one alternately entreating and demanding admittance,
+which was gruffly denied by others. The shriek of Magdalena, ringing in
+their ears like a cry of death, brought the contention to an end; and
+all rushing in together, they beheld Juan endeavouring to raise the
+figure of his unhappy and lifeless guest from the floor.
+
+"_Dios mio! y peccavi!_ I will kill him where he stands," exclaimed one,
+rushing forward.
+
+"Not so fast, senor Camarga," cried the hunchback, who was at the head
+of all, snatching the weapon from the hands of this individual, who
+seemed peculiarly to thirst for the blood of the young islander. "Here's
+work for the bastinado! Where's Villafana, ye treacherous dogs, that let
+women into the prison? He shall pay for it.--Harkee, senor Camarga; if
+you have any interest in this fair lady, you may help bear her to the
+palace. Poor fool! these women love as arquebuses shoot: if you make
+them any obstruction, they burst in your hands--and this is truer still
+of a musket, if you thrust it into the earth. In mine own opinion, the
+young hound has scorned her."
+
+While Najara gave vent to these growling observations, Magdalena was
+carried out of the prison. The hunchback had reached the door, before
+Juan, in the confusion of the moment, thought of calling him back, to
+impart to him the secret of the treachery. But Najara replied only with
+a malediction, and departed with the lantern; so that Juan was again
+left to night and solitude.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+Meanwhile, a scene of still more tragical character was on the point of
+being represented within the walls of the palace.
+
+It was a tempestuous night. The clouds, which had all day enveloped the
+pagan metropolis, were, at last, gathered over Tezcuco. The wind blew in
+gusts, with frequent rain; and as the distant thunderbolts rolled with a
+rumbling cadence over Mexico, vast sheets of lightning shot up in the
+west, illuminating sky, lake, and mountain, with a cadaverous glare.
+
+Some five or six of the principal cavaliers were assembled with Cortes,
+in the great Hall of Audience, engaged in earnest and anxious debate. It
+happened, by accident, that the huge curtain, which, at night, was
+usually drawn over the window of alabaster, had been, this evening,
+neglected by the attendants; so that it remained, drooping in gigantic
+festoons from the great beam, carved into a serpent's head, which held
+it at the top, down to the lesser ornaments that supported it on the
+sides, of the casement. The strong cords, by which it could be dragged
+into its place, hung over the central beam, flapping occasionally
+against the alabaster wall, as the gust, puffing in through the great
+door, whirled the smoke and flame of the lamps and torches, from the
+walls and pillars, to which they were attached.
+
+Thus, though the alabaster slabs were too thick to transmit any ordinary
+ray, the brighter flashes of lightning made their way through, and
+added, at times, a ghastly glare to the light of the lamps; in which the
+countenances of the cavaliers, perturbed as they were, assumed such an
+unnatural hue as might have beseemed the ghosts of dead heroes, rising
+to earth, to meddle again in the sport of slaughter.
+
+The visage of the Captain-General betrayed greater anxiety, mingled with
+sterner wrath, than appeared on any other; and when he spoke, it was in
+accents brief and low, and exceedingly emphatic.
+
+"I tell you, cavaliers," he cried, "the mystery that shrouds this
+treason is more frightful than the treason itself. We are at fault,
+senores, we are at fault. We behold enough to show us that the devils
+are at work about us, but not to discover in what mode they are toiling.
+It is clear enough that Villafana is a dog, and one day he shall hang;
+but I know not, in what manner, nor at what time, he will bite. This is
+certain: he has suffered one of the Mexicans to leave his cell, and
+communicate with Xicotencal: it is certain, also, that this cur of
+Tlascala will leave the camp before day-dawn; and how many of his
+warriors will follow after him, that I leave you to conjecture. This I
+have from a true mouth. He is incensed, first, on account of Juan Lerma;
+and, secondly, I doubt not, the Mexican has made the most of his
+growling temper and present discontent. What sayst thou, Sandoval? What
+hinders thee to lie in wait, and, following at his heels, so do with
+him, that his Tlascalans who desert afterwards, may be frightened on the
+path, and so return to us? There are good trees on the wayside!"
+
+"Ay," replied Don Gonzalo, grimly, "when there is any executioner's work
+towards, I am sure to play jack-ketch. I am loath to deal with a man
+that hath been so valiant; but if he be a traitor, it is right he should
+die. What if I give him the bastinado, Turk-wise? Methinks that would
+bring him into a sounder temper."
+
+"It would but inflame the choler of his proud people," said the shrewder
+general; "whereas his sudden death, dealt upon him in the act of
+desertion, will strike them with fear. Take thou a rope with thee, my
+son, and fear not to use it."
+
+The young cavalier nodded assent; and the general went on:
+
+"Concerning the ambassadors, thus secretly treating with a traitor,
+methinks they have forfeited all claim to protection?"
+
+"Ay," said Alvarado; "and the bastinado, of which Sandoval spake, may
+serve the good purpose of opening their lips, and thereby revealing, not
+only the depth of the Tlascalan defection, but the length to which
+Villafana and his curs have gone with them. Let us send for them, and
+try the experiment. Or stay--here are cords enough on the curtain. One
+of these, twisted round the brow with a sword-hilt, I have known to
+bring out a man's tongue as far as his eyes."
+
+The cavaliers turned to the window; and the bitter smile of the
+Captain-General was made deathlike, by a flash, brighter than usual,
+shooting through the wall.
+
+"A good thought," he said; "but we will not be precipitate. We have them
+secured; and however Villafana may permit them to speak with others, he
+is somewhat too wise to set them free. We will have this thing
+considered in the morning."
+
+At this moment, Don Francisco de Guzman made his appearance in the
+chamber, his visage disfigured by a black patch, and somewhat pale. But
+this, as it was soon discovered, was caused rather by care than
+sickness.
+
+"Senor," he exclaimed, "I have been to seek the ambassadors--They have
+escaped!"
+
+"Escaped!" echoed Cortes. "Thou art beside thyself! And the villain
+Alguazil, has he fled with them? I will tear his flesh with pincers!
+What! release the infidels, under my eye?"
+
+"So please you," said Guzman, "this, I think, was no resolved treachery,
+but an effect of infatuation. The wine that came to us to-day, was too
+strong for the watchmen: where they got it, I know not; but I found them
+sound asleep at the open door."
+
+"They shall be scourged, till they drop more blood than they have drunk
+wine," said Don Hernan, furiously. "And the prison-guards also? Hah? The
+prisoner has escaped?"
+
+"Not so," said the cavalier: "all's well there, save--"
+
+"And Villafana? Speak me the word--Has he fled?"
+
+"Senor mio, no: he is in the prison, carousing with Juan Lerma, as the
+guards say. I heard his voice through the door."
+
+"Carousing? does Juan Lerma take his death so merrily? By'r lady, devil
+as he is, it is a sin to slay him!"
+
+"As to the prisoner," said Guzman, "I know not whether he be merry or
+not; but I myself (for I had mine ear to the door,) heard Villafana
+smack his lips, and vow he 'would drink no more, this being no time to
+be thick-witted.' But every one knows Villafana: his bibbing once
+brought him to the strappado."
+
+"Ay; and it shall bring him to the gallows.--It is the fate of the
+can-clinker--all spoken in three words--drunk, whipped, and
+gibbeted!--Didst thou worm naught from the guards? They were of his own
+appointing."
+
+"Not a syllable," replied Guzman: "I do believe they have been too much
+frightened, and are now penitent men."
+
+"It may be," said Cortes, "it may be; but I would I could look into the
+dreams of Villafana. If I punish him for the flight of the ambassadors,
+it may be that I disperse an imposthume before it comes to a head; or it
+may prove, that I drive the matter into the more vital organs of this
+body politic, till all be corrupted and consumed. What say ye to a
+little torture inflicted on Villafana himself? Yet he is a bold dog, and
+may not speak. They say he winced not under the lash. I swear to you, my
+friends, I am in a strait."
+
+While Cortes thus admitted the difficulty in which he felt himself
+pressed, and the cavaliers were divided in their counsels, they
+perceived a common soldier intrude himself into the chamber, and boldly
+approach them.
+
+"Hah!" cried Alvarado, ever hot of temper, "who art thou, Sir
+Gallows-bird, that bringest thy knave's pate among cavaliers in
+council?"
+
+"Hold! touch him not; 'tis the Barba-Roxa!" exclaimed Don Hernan. "What
+impertinence is this, sirrah? Who bade thee hitherward?"
+
+"God and my good saint," said Gaspar, flinging himself on his knees, and
+adding, with the greatest impetuosity, "Pardon, senor! pardon for two
+unhappy men! Or if that cannot be, why pardon then for _one_; and I care
+not how soon you hang up the others."
+
+"What means the fool? Art thou distracted?"
+
+"Senor!" cried the soldier, wringing his hands, "I am a knave and
+traitor. Grant me the life of Juan Lerma, who meant you no wrong, and I
+will give you, for the rope and sword, two hundred and forty such
+traitors as the world never saw, and myself among them; for I have
+signed my name with knife and arrow, and sworn myself to brotherhood,
+under the pains of hell, which I care not how soon may came upon me."
+
+"Let some one of you look to the door," said Cortes, quickly: "and see
+that the sentinels keep their eyes open.--How now, Gaspar! what is this
+thou sayst? Art thou indeed a villain? I should have struck on the mouth
+any soldier that had said it of thee."
+
+"I am what I said," replied Gaspar; "your excellency refused to listen
+to me, when I pleaded for Juan Lerma; and I was incensed. I said to
+myself, senor, 'I have saved your life, and yet you deny me the life of
+my friend, who, in ignorance, broke a decree, yet knew no malice.'
+Besides, senor, you called me a dog,--'an officious, presuming dog;'
+whereas I was not a dog _then_, but _now_. Well, senor, while I was in a
+passion, the devil came to me, and tempted me, and I signed my name to
+my perdition."
+
+"What!" said Alvarado, recoiling with devout horror, "hast thou really
+signed over thy soul to Satan? We will burn thee, thou devil's penitent,
+in a hot fire!"
+
+"Speak on," said Cortes. "What meanest thou by this mummery? What devil
+is this? for, though Satan be walking now among us, yet, I think, it
+could not be he."
+
+"It was Villafana," replied Gaspar; "and heaven pardon me, for I think
+it must be Apollyon in his likeness!"
+
+At this communication, the cavaliers all stared at one another, and
+Cortes exclaimed,
+
+"Two hundred and forty men! What! are there so many knaves of his
+party?"
+
+"Ay, and many more, who will help, but will not put down their names
+upon paper," replied Gaspar. "But your excellency says nothing of Juan
+Lerma. If you will pardon him, your excellency shall hear all."
+
+"How, sirrah!" cried Cortes, sternly, "Do you avow yourself a sworn
+traitor, and yet dictate to me terms of mercy? Speak, or you shall have
+that to your brows, which will bring out words with screams."
+
+Gaspar sprang to his feet,--boldly, fearlessly, and even insolently,
+returning the look of the Captain-General:
+
+"Your excellency has no heart, and I have," he cried. "Do your will upon
+us both; and reckon my death to your conscience, as you do that of Juan
+Lerma. You shall not have a word more. Here are my arms.--What cavalier
+will demean himself to tie them? I will meet your excellency at the
+judgment-seat."
+
+"Thou art but a fool," said Cortes, moderating his anger,--or, at least,
+mollifying the severity of his accents; for his countenance yet gleamed
+with wrath. "Thou knowest, that, having saved my life at Xochimilco, I
+can, in no case, take thine."
+
+"But I leave that to the laws, without asking any mercy," said the Red
+Beard, obstinately: "I ask the life of Juan Lerma, condemned without
+law."
+
+"Dost thou impugn my justice, fellow?" cried the ferocious De Olid. "I
+swear to thee, when thou art brought to be judged, I will give thee a
+double quantity, for this very reason."
+
+While the cavalier gave utterance to so excellent a proof of his equity,
+Alvarado, with whom Gaspar had been a favourite, whispered in his ear,
+
+"Speak out, and fear not. It stands not with the captain's honour to
+barter men's lives for knave's confessions; yet he shall pardon the
+young man, thy friend, as I am thy guarantee."
+
+"What say ye, cavaliers?" cried Cortes: "does it become me, to remit a
+sentence of death, at such mutinous intercession?"
+
+Before any of the officers could reply, Gaspar, confiding in the promise
+of Alvarado, threw himself again at the general's feet, crying,
+
+"Senor, I am not a mutineer, but a penitent. I am mad to think that
+one,--so good a friend, so valiant a soldier, so true a follower, (for
+there is no falsehood in Juan Lerma,) should die for a small
+matter,--saving Don Francisco's presence,--when there are so many rogues
+about us, that go unpunished. But I leave him to your excellency's
+mercy, trusting that your excellency will reconsider the judgment, and
+release him. Therefore I will speak, in this trust; and I pray heaven to
+remember the act, be it merciful or be it cruel.--This is what I have to
+say: In my passion, I betook me to Villafana; who, promising to save
+Lerma's life, I signed with him; though the first act of guilt was to
+take your excellency's life. Holy mother of heaven! pardon me; but I was
+very much incensed. Well, senor, I found on the paper the names of two
+hundred and forty men, and I will tell you such as I remember; but if
+you will send to the prison, and suddenly seize the Alguazil, you will
+find the list in his bosom.--"
+
+"Quinones, see thou to this," said Cortes, turning to the master of the
+armory, who made one of the council. "Take with thee none but hidalgos,
+and be sudden, making no noise and shedding no blood--Yet stay: this
+will not do, neither. Hark thee, Gaspar, man, when shall this precious
+earthquake rumble into the upper air?"
+
+"To-morrow," replied the soldier; and then, to the horror and
+astonishment of all present, he divulged the whole scheme of
+assassination, as Villafana had himself spoken it in the prison.
+
+"With a letter from my father, too!" cried Cortes, apparently more
+struck with the heartless barbarity of the stratagem, than with anything
+else in Gaspar's communication: "This is indeed the Judas-kiss,
+the--Faugh! these were the words of Magdalena!"
+
+While he muttered these words to himself, he was roused by a sudden
+voice at the great door, and heard distinctly the unexpected voice of
+Villafana, saying, as he wrangled with the guards,
+
+"Oh, 'slid, you take upon you too much. I come at the order of the
+general."
+
+"Admit Villafana," said Cortes, in tones that penetrated loudly to the
+farthest limits of the room, for the cavaliers were stricken into a
+boding silence at the accents of the Alguazil: "Admit my trusty
+Villafana." And Villafana entered.
+
+He was evidently flushed with wine, and it was for that reason,
+doubtless, that he did not seem to observe the presence of his forsworn
+associate, nor the suspicious act of two cavaliers, who stole from the
+group, and took possession of the door by which he had entered. He
+approached with a reckless and confident, though somewhat stupid, air,
+exclaiming, after divers humble scrapes and salaams,
+
+"I come at your excellency's bidding, according to appointment. This was
+the hour, please your excellency--But 'tis a scurvy night, with much
+thunder and lightning."
+
+"Ay, truly," said Cortes, with a mild voice, while all the rest stood in
+the silence of death; "but, being so observant, Villafana, how comes it
+you have not remarked that you are here without the Indian Techeechee,
+whom I commanded you to bring hither at this hour?"
+
+"Senor," said the Alguazil, a little confused, "that old Ottomi is a sly
+dog, and, I doubt me, not over-honest."
+
+"I doubt me so, too," said Cortes, in the same encouraging tones; "yet,
+honest or false, sly or simple, methinks thou shouldst not have suffered
+him to escape."
+
+"Escape! what, Techeechee escape!" cried Villafana with unaffected
+surprise: "Ho, no! I did but give the gray infidel a sop of wine, and
+straightway he hid himself in a corner, to sleep off his drunkenness.
+And,--and,--" continued he, with instinctive though clumsy
+cunning,--"and I thought it would be unbeseemly to bring him to your
+excellency, in that condition. I beg your excellency's pardon for making
+him acquainted with such Christian liquor; but it was out of pity,
+together with some little hope of converting him to the faith; and,
+besides, I knew not his head was so weak. I will fetch him to your
+excellency in the morning."
+
+"Why, this is well," said the Captain-General, with such insinuating
+gentleness as characterizes the snake, when closing softly on his prey;
+"and I doubt not thou canst give me as good an account of the
+ambassadors. It is said to me, that they also have escaped."
+
+"Good God!" cried Villafana, startled not only out of his confidence,
+but, in great measure, out of his intoxication, by such an announcement;
+"the ambassadors escaped? It cannot be!"
+
+"Pho, they have hurt thee more than I thought,--even to the point of
+destroying thy memory," rejoined the Captain-General, with the
+blandishment of a smile. "There is blood upon thy shoulder: I doubt not,
+thou wert severely hurt, while attempting to prevent their flight. No
+one ever questioned the courage of Villafana."
+
+"Yes, senor, yes--no--yes; that is,--I mean to say--Saints of
+heaven!"--And here the Alguazil paused, completely sobered,--that is,
+restored to his senses, but not to his wits; for he perceived himself in
+a difficulty, and his invention pointed out no means of escape. He
+rolled his eyes, haggard at once with debauch and alarm, over the
+cavaliers, and, though the lofty figure of Alvarado concealed Gaspar
+from his view, he beheld enough in the extraordinary sedateness of all
+present, to fill him with the most racking suspicions. He turned again
+to Cortes, and commanding his fears as much as he could, went on, with
+an appearance of boldness,
+
+"Alas, noble senor, if the ambassadors _be_ escaped, I am a lost
+man,--for I trusted too much to the vigilance of others, and I should
+not have done so. Alas, senor," he continued with more energy, as his
+mind began to work more clearly, "I have committed a great offence in
+this negligence; but I vow to heaven, it was owing to my fears of Juan
+Lerma, who made many efforts to escape, and had strong friends to help
+him. Your excellency may see the necessity I was under, to give all my
+thoughts to him; for, some one having furnished him with a dagger, he
+foully attacked me, not on my guard, giving me this wound; and had it
+not been for the sudden rushing in of the guard, I should certainly have
+been killed."
+
+Thus spoke the Alguazil, with returning craft, mingling together fiction
+and fact with an address which astonished even himself:
+
+"Yes, senor," he continued, satisfied with the strength of his argument,
+and now elated with a prospect of providing against the effects of his
+imprudent disclosures in the prison; "yes, senor, and the young man,
+besides thus wounding me, swore he would have me hanged for a
+conspiracy; stating roundly, as the guards will witness, (I am certain
+that Esteban, the Left-Handed, heard him,) that, being a notorious
+grumbler, any such fiction would be believed of me. As if this would
+make me a conspirator! whereas, your excellency knows, according to the
+proverb, Barking dogs are no biters." And the audacious ruffian,
+relapsing into security, attested his innocence by a gentle laugh and
+the sweetest of his smiles.
+
+"Again I say, thou speakest well," said Cortes, carelessly descending
+from the platform, on which he had mounted at the approach of Villafana.
+"Thine arguments have even satisfied me of the folly of certain charges,
+brought against thee by this mad fellow, here, at thy elbow."
+
+As he spoke, Alvarado, taking his instructions rather from a
+consentaneous feeling of propriety than from any hint of Don Hernan's,
+moved aside, and Villafana's eyes fell upon the figure of Gaspar.
+
+"Think of it, good fellow," said Cortes, laying his hand upon
+Villafana's shoulder, as if to support himself a little; "the things he
+said of thee are innumerable, and excessively preposterous. He averred,
+for instance, that thou wert peevishly offended, because I had not
+invited thy presence to the festivities of the morning banquet, and wert
+resolved to come, whether I would or not, and that with a letter from my
+father in one hand, and a dagger in the other. Eh! is not this
+outrageous? He said, besides,--But, o' my life, thou hast bled too much
+from this wound! Juan Lerma strikes deep, when the fit is on him. I hope
+thou art not faint, man!"
+
+To these benevolent expressions, the Alguazil replied by turning upon
+the general a countenance so bloodless, and an eye filled with such
+ecstacy of despair, (for if the poniards of all had been at his throat,
+he could not have been more perfectly apprized of his coming fate,) that
+Cortes must have been struck with some feeling of commiseration, had not
+his nature been somewhat akin to that of a cat, which delights less to
+kill than to sport with the agonies of a dying victim. As it was, he
+continued to torment the abandoned wretch, by adding, pleasantly,
+
+"And what thinkest thou of this, too, my Villafana? Two hundred and
+forty conspirators, to rush in when the blow was struck!--doubtless to
+carve their dinners from the ribs of my cavaliers!--Ah, Villafana,
+Villafana! thou shouldst have a care of thy friends. Our enemies are
+harmless, but our friends are always dangerous.--What dost thou say to
+all this, Villafana?--Knave! hadst thou twenty daggers in thy jerkin,
+thou wert still but an unfanged reptile!"
+
+While he spoke, in this jestful mood, he was sensible that Villafana,
+(doubtless with an instinctive motion, of which he was himself
+unconscious, being apparently turned to stone,) was stealing his hand up
+towards his bosom, as if to grasp a weapon. The moment the member had
+reached the opening of his garment, Cortes caught him by the throat, and
+giving utterance to his last words with a voice of thunder, and
+employing a strength irresistible by such a man as Villafana, he hurled
+him to the floor, at the same instant placing his foot on his throat.
+Then stooping down, and thrusting his hand into the traitor's bosom, he
+plucked out, at a single grasp, a poniard, a letter, and the fatal list
+of conspirators. He pushed the first aside, read the superscription of
+the second with a laugh, and casting his eye upon the third, devoured
+its contents with an avidity that left him unconscious of the murmurs of
+the fierce cavaliers, and the groans of the wretched Alguazil,
+strangling under his foot.
+
+"What, senor! will you rob the gallows of its prey?" cried Alvarado,
+pointing his sword at the prostrate traitor, as, indeed, did all the
+rest, (having drawn them at the moment when Cortes seized him by the
+throat:) "His crime is manifest to all: what need of trial? Every man
+his steel through the dog!"
+
+"Hold!" cried the Captain-General; "this were a death for an hidalgo.
+Up, cur! up, and meet thy fate! Up!" And he spurned the wretch with his
+foot.
+
+The Alguazil rose up, his face black with blood, which, not perfectly
+dispersing even at release from strangulation, remained in leopard-like
+blotches over his visage, ghastfully contrasted with the ashy hues that
+gathered between them. As he rose, his arms were seized by two or three
+cavaliers; and Sandoval, as quick in action as he was sluggish in
+speech, snatching the rich sword-sash of samite from his own shoulders,
+instantly secured them behind his back.
+
+"For the love of God, senores!" cried Villafana, finding speech at last,
+"what do you mean? what do you design? You will not kill an innocent
+man? Will you judge me at the charge of a liar? Gaspar is my sworn foe.
+I will make all clear.--Senor, I have been drinking, and my mind is
+confused: take me not at this disadvantage. Oh, for God's sake, what do
+you mean?--The list? what, the list? 'Tis for a merry-making--a
+rejoicing for my birthday. I will explain all to your excellencies.--I
+am an innocent man.--Gaspar is a forsworn caitiff--a caitiff, senores, a
+caitiff!--I claim trial by the civil judges."--
+
+"Gag him," cried one.
+
+"Strike him on the mouth," said another. And Villafana, gasping for
+breath, uttered, for a moment, nothing but inarticulate murmurs.
+
+"De Olid, Marin, De Ircio," cried Cortes, rapidly, and with
+inexpressible decision, "ye are judges of life and death; Sandoval and
+Alvarado, by right of office, ye can sit in judgment; Quinones, Guzman,
+and the rest, I make you, in the king's name, special associates of the
+others.--Why, here is a court, not martial, but civil; and the dog shall
+have judgment to his content! He stands charged of treason.--Guilty,
+senores? or not guilty?"
+
+"Guilty!" cried all with one voice: and De Olid added, "Let us take him
+into the garden, and hang him to the cedar-tree."
+
+"To the window," said Cortes, pointing with his sword to the stout
+cords, hanging so invitingly from the serpent's-head; and in an instant
+the victim was dragged upon the platform.
+
+Up to this moment, his fears had been uttered rather in vehement
+complaints than in outcries; but now, when he perceived that he was
+condemned by a mockery of trial, doomed without the respite of a
+minute's space to pray, the rope dangling before his eyes, and already
+in the hands of a cavalier, who was bending it into a noose, he uttered
+a piercing scream, and endeavoured to throw himself on his knees.
+
+"Mercy!" he cried, "mercy! mercy! I will confess--I can save all your
+lives--Mercy! mercy!"
+
+Of all the sights of horror and disgust, villany, transformed at the
+death-hour, into its natural character and original of cowardice, is
+among the most appalling. Villafana was as brave as a ruffian could be;
+but when imagination is linked in the same spirit with vice, courage
+expires almost at the same moment with hope. With a weapon in his hand,
+and that at liberty, Villafana, perhaps, would have manifested all the
+valour in which despair perceives the only hope, and died like a man. As
+it was, bound and grasped in the arms of strong men, entirely helpless
+and equally without hope, his death staring him in the face, he gave
+himself up at once to unmanly fears, and wept, screamed, and prayed,
+until the guards, at watch in the vestibule, sank upon their knees and
+conned over their beads, to divert their senses from cries so agonized
+and so horrible.
+
+As he strove to prostrate himself before his inexorable judges, he was
+pulled up by the cavaliers, and among others by Don Francisco de Guzman,
+whose countenance he recognized.
+
+"Save me, Guzman! save me!" he cried; "for thou wert once of the
+party--Save me!"
+
+"Peace, wolf--"
+
+"Mercy! mercy! noble senor!" he continued, turning to Cortes: "I am but
+one of many. Guzman is as false as I; I charge him with treason: he has
+abused your excellency's ear!--Listen, senores, and spare me my life:
+give me a day--give me but to-night, to pray and confess, and you shall
+have all. There are cavaliers among us--Mercy, for the love of
+heaven!--Camarga, the Dominican,--Don Palmerino de Castro,--Muertazo of
+Toledo, Carabo of Seville,--Artiaga, Santa-Rosa, Bravo, Aljaraz, and an
+hundred more--"
+
+"Peace, lying villain!" cried the Captain-General--"What ho, the rope!
+quick, the rope!"
+
+"A moment to repent! a moment to repent!" shrieked the victim,
+struggling so violently to bring his hands before him, as if to clasp
+them in prayer, that the silken band crackled behind him, and his hands
+turned black with congested blood; "a moment to repent! for I am a
+sinner. What! would you condemn my soul, too? Saints, hear me! angels,
+plead for me! A priest, for the love of heaven! I killed Artiaga of
+Cadiz; I scuttled the ship at Alonso, drowned the nuns, and stole the
+church-plate--Call Magdalena--Where's Magdalena?--You are murdering me!
+Mercy! mercy! I killed Hilario, too--I poniarded him in the old wounds,
+inflicted by Juan Lerma--I have much to repent--A priest, for the love
+of God! A priest, oh, a priest!"
+
+Thus raved the villain, stained with a thousand crimes; and if aught had
+been wanting to steel the hearts of his executioners, enough was
+divulged in the unavailing abandonment with which he accused himself of
+misdeeds, so many and so atrocious. While his neck was yet free from the
+rope, he struggled violently, but without any attempt to do a mischief
+to his unrelenting murderers; his resistance was, indeed, like that of a
+cur, under the chastisement of a cruel and brutal master, which howls
+and contends, and yet fears to employ its fangs against the tyrant. But
+when he found, at last, that the cavaliers were actually putting the
+hasty halter about his neck, his struggles were not greater to escape
+than to inflict injury. He shook and tossed his head in distraction, and
+Don Francisco de Guzman, endeavouring to seize him by the beard, he
+caught the hand of the cavalier betwixt his teeth, and held it with the
+gripe of a tiger.
+
+"Hell confound thee, wolf!" cried Guzman, groaning with pain, and
+striking him over the face with the hilt of his sword, but in vain:
+"Help me, cavaliers, or he will have my hand off!--Villain, unlock thy
+teeth.--"
+
+"Stand aside--This will unloose thee," said one, thrusting his rapier
+into the thigh of the vindictive wretch; who no sooner felt the cold
+steel penetrate his flesh, than he opened his mouth to utter a yell.
+"Whip him up _now_.--So much for traitors!"
+
+It was the last scream of the assassin. His lips uttered one more cry to
+heaven; the name of Magdalena was cut short, as the noose closed upon
+his throat, and ended in a hoarse, rattling, gulphing whine, that did
+not itself prevail beyond the space of a second. As he shot up to the
+top of the window, an intense glare of lightning flashed through the
+alabaster, and his figure, traced upon that lustrous and ghastly medium,
+was seen dangling and writhing in the death-agony. The next moment, the
+huge curtain was drawn over the dreadful spectacle: but those who paused
+a moment, to look back, could behold the convulsions of the dying
+miscreant giving motion, and sometimes protrusion, to the dark folds of
+the drapery.--When all was silent, in the darkness of the night, the
+watchmen in the vestibule could yet hear the pattering of blood-drops
+falling from his mangled limb, upon the sonorous wood of the platform.
+
+But there were other scenes now occurring, which, for a time, drove from
+their thoughts the memory of Villafana.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+The scene of death in which they were engaged, had so employed the
+thoughts of the cavaliers, that they were, for a time, insensible to
+many tumultuous noises in the city, which, beginning at the moment when
+the struggles and outcries of Villafana were fiercest and loudest,
+increased every instant, until all was uproar.
+
+At first, as they rushed in disorder to the doors, they thought the din
+was caused by a renewal of the storm, or rather the sudden outbursting
+of a tornado; which, overwhelming the houses of some of the poorer
+citizens, and burying them among the ruins, might account for the
+screams and yells, that were mingled with other noises. But they soon
+exchanged this fear for one more stirring, when, as they rushed into the
+air, they heard an alarum ringing from the chapel-bell on the top of the
+pyramid, drums beating to arms, arquebuses firing in several different
+quarters, and were made sensible that a conflict was raging in the town.
+
+"Dios!" cried one; "the conspirators are upon us! Let us back to the
+hall and defend ourselves!"
+
+"My life upon it," said Gaspar, "the conspirators will not stir till
+Villafana opens his lips to them.--Heaven rest his soul!--Hark! these
+are the yells of Indians."
+
+"On, friends!" exclaimed Cortes, perceiving the garden full of soldiers,
+rushing from various parts of the palace, as if to seek the fray. "This
+is Tlascalan work--a knavery of Xicotencal. Hah! hark! see! 'tis an
+assault upon the prison! Ho, Castilians! ho, Christians! cavaliers and
+soldiers, to arms! haste, to arms!"
+
+While the soldiers, collecting together at the well-known voice of the
+Captain-General, began to rush with him towards the prison, over which,
+besides hearing the shouting of the watchmen at the doors, they beheld
+three blazing arrows shot up into the air, their alarm was directed to
+another quarter, by a violent cannonade from the squadron, moored yet at
+the entrance of the little river; and looking that way, they perceived
+to their astonishment and fear, no less than four of the brigantines
+suddenly enveloped in flames.
+
+"Guzman and Quinones!" cried Cortes, with instant determination, "to the
+prison, with what force ye can pick up on the way. Shoot all fugitives,
+as well as all assailants. The rest follow me to the river; for I would
+mine arms should be burned, rather than my vessels."
+
+By this time, all the Spaniards who were capable of bearing arms, were
+in the open air, and following not less the shouts of Cortes than the
+crash of the falconets, ran hastily towards the fleet, which, it was now
+evident, was furiously beset by multitudes of Indians in canoes. The
+flash of the explosions and the flames bursting ruddily out from sails
+and cordage, revealed them clustering with impetuosity around the
+devoted vessels, whose crews, it was equally apparent, were making a
+gallant resistance. In this light, the houses bordering upon the water
+were seen covered with citizens, looking on with a tranquillity, which
+showed that their share in the unexpected hostilities, if indeed they
+had any, was entirely passive. A more agreeable sight was disclosed to
+Cortes, as he ran onwards, in the appearance of many thousand
+Tlascalans, rushing down the narrow meadows which bordered the canal,
+with such alacrity of speed and such furious cries of 'Tlascala!' and
+'Castilla!' as convinced him of their fidelity and affection.
+
+"It is a Mexican device, after all," he muttered; "a plan of the
+ambassadors. Well done for thee, Villafana!--Bold varlets, these! What!
+down with your demi-culverins and sakers, Orozca! Where is my good
+cannonier, Juan Catalan? We will aid the vessels from the shore."
+
+The mariners, however hotly engaged, replied to the cries of their
+friends with shouts of courage; and redoubling their exertions, they
+succeeded not only in repelling the assailants, whose obvious aim was to
+fire the whole fleet, from those ships not yet ignited, but even in
+extinguishing the flames in the less fortunate four. In this, they were
+doubtless materially assisted by the condition of the planks and
+timbers, which being of green wood, the flames would perhaps have
+confined their ravages to the more combustible sails and cordage, and
+soon expired for want of fuel. They weighed anchor also, and taking
+advantage of the gusts which still blew over the lake, six of the
+largest and strongest set sail, and boldly plunged among the canoes,
+overturning and sinking many, while the others, receiving assistance
+from the shore, betook themselves to the little harbour, dragging with
+them their disabled consorts.
+
+In this manner, it soon became evident that the danger in this quarter
+was over; and Cortes, directing that the position of the brigantines
+should be strengthened by a temporary battery at the mouth of the river,
+returned to inspect the condition of the city in the neighbourhood of
+the palace.
+
+The sounds of contention were over; and one passing through the garden,
+and listening to the moaning of the winds through the trees, could
+scarce have believed that half an hour before it had been a scene of
+such warlike bustle. The bell rang no longer, the drums, trumpets, and
+arquebuses were silent, and the sentinels paced to and fro at their
+stations, as if nothing unusual had happened. The only sounds indeed
+that now vexed the calm of the night, were the occasional explosion of a
+falconet from some brigantine, afar among the shadows of the lake, still
+pursuing the retreating canoes. The attack was perhaps unpremeditated;
+or, perhaps, its only object was to taunt and defy. At all events, it
+was now over; and in less than an hour from the time of the first alarm,
+the cry of all's-well could be heard through the different quarters of
+the city.
+
+Before this satisfactory conclusion of an evening so eventful, the
+Captain-General was doomed to have his equanimity put to the proof by a
+new trial. A double line of guards surrounded the prison, and Guzman,
+Quinones, and Gaspar Olea were among them, the last wringing his hands,
+and bewailing; but the prison-door was open, a thin smoke issued from
+it, and he could see, at a glance, that the only persons in the
+apartment were a few soldiers, dashing water over its partly consumed
+floor. Under the very threshold lay the bodies of two soldiers,
+fearfully mangled; another was writhing, gasping, and dying in the arms
+of his comrades; and a fourth, severely wounded, was narrating to
+Quinones the particulars of an assault, made, as he averred, by ten
+thousand devils, or Mexicans, who sprang suddenly out of the earth,
+killed or dispersed the whole guard, carried off the prisoner, or burned
+him, he knew not which, (for he lay upon the ground, counterfeiting
+death,) and then, setting fire to the building, vanished quite as
+suddenly as they came.
+
+"Were these men Mexicans or Tlascalans?" demanded Cortes, without
+betraying any sign of feeling.
+
+The soldier started at the sound of his leader's voice, and hastily
+replied,
+
+"In good faith, senor, I know not, for I was somewhat overcome with
+fear."
+
+"And with wine, sirrah!" exclaimed the General. "But it matters
+not--thou art too stupid to answer now. Have this fellow into the den,
+Quinones, and let him be brought to me to-morrow.--Senor Don Francisco,
+we will walk to the palace."
+
+He put his arm into Guzman's, and dragging him to a little distance,
+where no beam of torch or cresset illuminated his visage, exclaimed,
+eagerly,
+
+"Tell me the truth, Francisco:--has he perished by fire in the prison,
+or has he escaped me?"
+
+"Senor," replied Guzman, "his star, or his devil, has helped him."
+
+"Why then the fiends seize thee, and all false friends, who plague me!"
+cried Cortes, giving way to passion. "Is it thus I am to be cheated?"
+
+"Senor," said Guzman, moderately, but without fear; "I have mine own
+cause of distress, for my hand is horribly mangled, and I have heard
+that the bite of a dying man causes mortification. So, with this pain of
+body and mind, I may not speak good counsel or good defence.--When I
+reached the prison, it was empty and on fire. Had not your excellency
+interfered with the execution this day--"
+
+"Ay, there again!" muttered the Captain-General; "mine own hand is made
+to befool me; it pulls out of the pit faster than my foot tramples in.
+Hark thee, Guzman, dost thou not think this young man is protected by
+some special providence?"
+
+"I, senor?"
+
+"Why, look you, what could have carried him through the tribes of the
+West, to the South Sea, and back again?--(a device of thy scheming,
+too!) And, didst thou not see, I was about to run him through, in the
+very act of mutinous resistance, when a brute and insensate dog seized
+my sword-blade in his mouth? And now, for the third time, what but his
+angel could have brought to his prison-door yonder infidels of
+Mexico--his only friends, I think?"
+
+"Let your excellency question if this circumstance will not, without
+removing him from punishment, give a still stronger excuse for it? The
+scribe visited him in the dungeon; a paction with the enemy, sealed by
+the act of flight with them to their stronghold, has confirmed him
+thrice over a traitor."
+
+"Ay, by heaven! it is true!" said Cortes, smiting his hands together;
+"and, by and by, I will take him out of his hiding-place, and crown the
+day of victory with a double triumph!"
+
+"And who can affirm," quoth Don Francisco, "that the misbelievers have
+not taken him for a sacrifice? It is said, the coronation of Guatimozin
+is deferred only until he can provide a Castilian victim to do honour to
+the ceremony. By my faith, senor, there is a pleasant twitch in my
+cheek,--ay, in the scar of the rapier-wound--at the very thought of this
+retribution!"
+
+"Now, by heaven," said Cortes, with an altered voice, "villain as he is,
+I cannot rejoice that such a dismal fate should befall him. Death,
+indeed, but not a death of horror! Dost thou think this, then, can be
+his doom? Alas, poor youth! had he but some one to lament him or to
+avenge, I were better satisfied with what I have done. I swear to thee,
+Francisco, we are e'en as base knaves as himself; for we have employed
+our strength--our cunning and our strength--against a creature that is
+utterly friendless. Alas, I say; for I remember me of the days of old;
+and surely I loved him once as my own soul."
+
+This outbreaking of feeling did not at all surprise Guzman, who had been
+familiar from the beginning with the ebbings and flowings of Don
+Hernan's hate, and who had several times seen him, when the destiny of
+Juan seemed already closed, affected so much that he shed tears, as he
+did at the present moment. But Guzman was acquainted with a spell which
+never failed to banish all compunction from the General's breast; and he
+did not scruple to employ it now.
+
+"It is enough!" muttered Cortes, through his clenched teeth. "Heaven and
+my conscience acquit me, and I will think of it no more."
+
+With these words, he seemed to discharge from his mind all thoughts of
+the youth so deeply detested, and addressing himself to the task of
+inspecting in person the condition of all assailable points in the city,
+betook himself at last, and at the day-dawn, to his repose.
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Infidel, Vol. I., by Robert Montgomery Bird
+
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