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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches of Aboriginal Life, by V. V. Vide
+
+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: Sketches of Aboriginal Life
+ American Tableaux, No. 1
+
+Author: V. V. Vide
+
+Release Date: August 14, 2010 [EBook #33433]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES OF ABORIGINAL LIFE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Rachael Schultz and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Transcriber's Note
+
+ In the original text, verses in the chapter headings
+ were typeset in Gothic font; they are displayed below
+ ~like this~. Footnotes are indicated within the text by
+ a capital letter in brackets (e.g., [A]) and are located
+ at the end of their respective chapter. Punctuation has
+ been standardized. For details on typographical
+ corrections, please refer to the note at the end of the
+ text.
+
+
+
+
+ AMERICAN TABLEAUX,
+
+ No. 1.
+
+
+
+
+ SKETCHES
+
+ OF
+
+ ABORIGINAL LIFE.
+
+
+ 'Tis like a dream, when one awakes,--
+ These visions of the scenes of old;
+ 'Tis like the moon, when morning breaks;
+ 'Tis like a tale round watch-fires told.
+
+
+ By V. V. VIDE.
+
+
+ NEW-YORK:
+ PUBLISHED BY BUCKLAND & SUMNER,
+ 79 JOHN-STREET.
+ 1846.
+
+
+
+
+ Entered according to Act of Congress,
+ in the year 1846, by
+ BUCKLAND & SUMNER,
+ in the Clerk's office of the District Court
+ of the United States, for
+ the Southern District of New York.
+
+ Stereotyped by Vincent L. Dill,
+ 128 Fulton st. Sun Building, N. Y.
+
+ C. A. Alvord, Printer, Cor. of John and Dutch sts.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The American Tableaux lay no claim to the respect and confidence, which
+is justly shown to authentic history; nor do they anticipate the ready
+favor usually accorded to high wrought romance. They are neither the one
+nor the other. The general outline is designed to be historical, and
+true to the characters of individuals, and the customs of nations and
+tribes; and the drapery in which it is arrayed is intended rather to
+illustrate the truth, and place it in bolder relief, than to weaken its
+force by irrelevant inventions. It is proposed rather to shade and color
+the naked sketches of history, and restore them to their natural setting
+and accompaniments, than to alter or distort them. The characters of
+history are usually stiff, cold, and statue-like, and their drapery, if
+they have any, is of the same marble rigidity with themselves. The
+Tableaux would transfer them to canvass in their natural colors,
+strongly relieved by a back-ground of familiar scenery and every day
+associations, and shaded or lightened, as the case may be, by the
+sorrows or joys of social life, and the cares or honors of public
+station. It may be presumptuous to hope that all this has been
+accomplished. It is safer to say, it has been attempted.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+
+
+THE AZTEC PRINCESS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+ PAGE
+ BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF TECUICHPO. 15
+
+ The Horoscope--Faith in the revelations of
+ Astrology--Montezuma in his palace--The message
+ delivered--Resignation--Fatalism--Infancy of the
+ Princess--The slave Karee--Obtains her freedom--The
+ Chinampa--Genius and faith of Karee--Her devotion to the
+ Princess--Chivalry of the Aztecs.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS--HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED--PROPHETIC
+ ANNOUNCEMENT, AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS. 27
+
+ Superstitious forebodings of Montezuma--Loveliness of his
+ daughter--Her suitors--The Prince of
+ Tezcuco--Karee-o-thán--A secret
+ revealed--Guatimozin--The ancient legend--The young
+ Pythoness--Her vision--Warning and appeal--The vision
+ realized--The pictured scroll--Agitation of Montezuma--A
+ second courier--The royal council--Courtesy to the
+ strangers--Splendid embassy--Their meeting with
+ Cortez--Munificent presents--Avarice of the
+ Spaniards--They make interest with the Totonacs, and
+ send proposals to Tlascala--Their proposal
+ rejected--They meet and conquer the Tlascalans--An
+ alliance formed--The compeers of
+ Cortez--Xicotencatl--The strength and weakness of the
+ Aztecs.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS AND VACILLATING POLICY OF MONTEZUMA. 45
+
+ Frequent embassies and rich presents to the
+ Spaniards--Montezuma, fearing to act openly, plots their
+ destruction secretly--Cortez cautioned by the
+ Tlascalans--His prudence and strict
+ discipline--Cuitlahua urges Montezuma to bold decided
+ measures--Scene in the royal garden--Mysterious
+ chant--Warning--Its effect--Montezuma roused to
+ action--Energy of Cuitlahua--The army in motion to repel
+ the enemy--Confident of victory--The monarch changes his
+ plan--A stratagem--Cholula--The army arrested in its
+ march--The Spaniards in Cholula--Hospitable
+ reception--Sudden change--Suspicion of
+ treachery--Perilous position and bold bearing of
+ Cortez--His demand upon the Cholulan princes--Charges
+ them with conspiracy--Their alarm and apology--Terrible
+ massacre--Conflict on the great Teocalli--The Spaniards
+ victorious--Painful position of Cuitlahua and his
+ army--Tlascalans in Cholula.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL--THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD--THE
+ SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING. 65
+
+ Montezuma's duplicity--Shuts himself up in
+ despair--Divided counsels--Mistaken policy--Triumphant
+ advance of Cortez--His ambitious views--His military
+ caution--Montezuma in his family--His youngest
+ daughter--Her loveliness--Her clouded destiny--The royal
+ household--A family scene--A dark superstition versus a
+ cheerful faith--Excursion on the lake--The royal
+ cortege--The Princess--Guatimozin--The dream and its
+ echo--Prophecy--Signal and sudden return--Preparation to
+ receive the Spaniards--Cacama's embassy to
+ Cortez--Exchange of courtesies--Reception of the
+ strangers at Iztapalapan--Lofty bearing of
+ Cuitlahua--The Capital and its environs.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+ ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS AT THE CAPITAL--THEIR RECEPTION
+ BY MONTEZUMA--DETERMINED HOSTILITY OF GUATIMOZIN. 81
+
+ Singular relative position of the Spaniard and the
+ Aztec--The power and timidity of the one, and the danger
+ and boldness of the other--Speculation--Cortez
+ advancing--The Grand Causeway--The Fort of Xoloc--The
+ Emperor's retinue--Abject deference of his
+ lords--Magnificent palanquin--His personal appearance
+ and costume--The reception--Exchange of
+ presents--Montezuma retires--Cuitlahua escorts the
+ Spaniards to their quarters--Their admiration on seeing
+ the splendor of the city--Curiosity of the people--The
+ omens of that day--Their influence upon
+ Montezuma--Guatimozin's true devotion to his
+ country--His interview with the Princess--True
+ interpretation of the omens--Filial devotion versus
+ patriotism--The pledge--A new omen--The parrot turned
+ prophet--Karee and her prediction--Extreme sensitiveness
+ of the Princess.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA--THE ROYAL BANQUET--THE
+ REQUITAL--THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS OWN PALACE. 97
+
+ Grand military display by the Spaniards--The terror of the
+ Aztecs--Fearlessness and high purpose of Guatimozin and
+ others--The Banquet--The company--A contrast--The
+ strangers presented to the Queen--Her grace and
+ dignity--Beauty of the Aztec women--Awkward position of
+ the admiring Cavaliers--Their ingenuity in
+ pantomime--Readily matched by the Aztec--Sandoval and
+ the Princess--Cortez and Karee--Guatimozin and Cacama in
+ argument--The Princess interposes--Sternness of
+ Guatimozin--An incident--Orteguilla--Alvarado and the
+ Naiads--Metamorphosed into a flower-god--Pays homage to
+ the Princess--The feast--The true character of the
+ invaders--Bold movement of Cortez--Montezuma's blind
+ submission to fate--Voluntarily becomes a vassal to the
+ crown of Spain--A still bolder movement of
+ Cortez--Montezuma remonstrates, but yields, and becomes
+ a prisoner in the Spanish quarters--Indignation of the
+ nobles--Portentous omen--Distress in the palace--The
+ Princess expostulates with her father--The parting, and
+ the promised meeting--Guatimozin departs in disgust--His
+ interview with the Princess at Chapoltepec--Courageous
+ hopes--Oracle and omens--Timidity made bold by love.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION--MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC
+ NOBILITY--DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. 121
+
+ Cortez visits Vera Cruz--Alvarado in command in the
+ Capital--His character--The Aztec festival--Unprovoked
+ attack and massacre--The whole nation in arms for
+ revenge--Alvarado in imminent peril--Cortez returns--The
+ Aztecs threaten the entire destruction of the
+ Spaniards--Furious assault upon their
+ quarters--Desperate sortie--Implacable spirit of the
+ Aztecs--Their leaders--Cortez persuades Montezuma to
+ interpose--Cacama summoned to the royal presence--His
+ noble reply--The Princes' rendezvous--Guatimozin warned
+ of danger--His escape--Cacama and Cuitlahua
+ arrested--The latter released--Fresh assaults upon the
+ Spaniards--At the instigation of Cortez, Montezuma
+ appears and addresses the people--Their loyalty and
+ deference--Suddenly changed to uncontrollable rage--The
+ Emperor mortally wounded by his own people--A temporary
+ suspension of hostilities--Death of Montezuma--His
+ funeral obsequies.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ BRIEF REIGN OF CUITLAHUA--EXPULSION OF THE
+ SPANIARDS--GUATIMOZIN CHOSEN EMPEROR--HIS MARRIAGE WITH
+ TECUICHPO. 137
+
+ Cuitlahua elected to the vacant throne--His
+ resolution--Cortez, realizing his danger, resolves to
+ evacuate the city--Attempts to steal away in the
+ night--Assaulted on all sides by the Aztecs--Perils of
+ the retreat--Awful position on the Great
+ Causeway--Hemmed in on all sides--Terrible slaughter--A
+ remnant escape--Cortez in tears--Singular neglect of his
+ adversary--Activity of Cuitlahua--His sudden
+ death--Grief and despondency of the nation--Guatimozin
+ elected to his place--His activity and prudence--He
+ claims the hand of the Princess--Her timidity and her
+ devotion--Love finding the bright side of the
+ picture--The nuptial festival--Grand procession to the
+ Capital--A nation's welcome.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ FESTIVITIES AT THE COURT OF GUATIMOZIN--THE NEW HYMENEAL
+ VOW. 151
+
+ Character of Guatimozin--His practical wisdom and
+ activity--Gaiety of the court--The young
+ Queen--Nahuitla, the Prince of Tlacopan--Atlacan, a
+ princess of Tezcuco--Her brother, Maxtli--Her
+ suitors--The Merchant of Cholula--Mercenary views of
+ Maxtli--Endeavors to thwart Nahuitla--How he is thwarted
+ himself--The betrothal--Sanctioned by the Emperor--The
+ nuptials--Polygamy abjured--A new Imperial
+ statute--Torch dance--Significant pantomime.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ RETURN OF CORTEZ--SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN--BRAVERY AND
+ SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS. 161
+
+ Guatimozin prepares for a new invasion--Cortez approaches
+ with a new army--Orders vessels built at Tlascala--Takes
+ possession of Tezcuco--Makes liberal overtures to
+ Guatimozin--Rejected with scorn--Determined spirit of
+ Guatimozin--Success of Cortez in reducing some of the
+ smaller towns--Narrow escape at Iztalapatan--General
+ defection of the tributary cities--How accounted
+ for--The Spanish fleet on the Lake--Genius of
+ Cortez--Tenochtitlan invested--Preparations for the
+ siege--Spirit of the Aztecs--Their supplies cut off--The
+ Queen in her reverses--Famine--Distress in the
+ city--Love stronger than hunger--The famishing
+ fed--Desperation--an assault--an ambush--The tide of
+ battle suddenly turned--Perilous position and severe
+ loss of the Spaniards--Cortez narrowly
+ escapes--Disastrous retreat.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+ STRAITNESS OF THE FAMINE--THE FINAL CONFLICT--FLIGHT AND
+ CAPTURE OF GUATIMOZIN--DESTINY FULFILLED. 179
+
+ The Mexicans encouraged--Oracular declaration of the
+ priests--It fails to be fulfilled--Cortez resolves to
+ lay waste the city--A wide spread ruin--Terrible
+ sufferings of the besieged--Love and loyalty outliving
+ hope--Death preferred to submission--Nahuitla proposes a
+ plan of escape--Guatimozin rejects it, but is overruled
+ by the unanimous voice of his people--Prepares for
+ flight--The battle of the ghosts--The
+ retreat--Guatimozin on the lake--Pursued by the enemy--A
+ captive--Brought before Cortez--His noble spirit and
+ bearing--The Queen and the conqueror--Her destiny
+ fulfilled.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE FLIGHT OF THE KATAHBA CHIEF. 193
+
+ The dream of Minaree, the young bride of Ash-te-o-láh--Its
+ effect upon the Chief--He goes to the chase--Power and
+ prosperity of the Katahbas--Beauty of their
+ villages--The wigwam of Ash-te-o-láh--The Chief in his
+ canoe--The deer--The foe--The chase--He turns upon his
+ pursuers--Slays seven of their number successively--Is
+ taken--Marched off as a captive--His boldness and
+ dignity--Arrives in the territories of his
+ enemies--Insulted and beaten by the women--Condemned to
+ the fiery torture--Led out to execution--Breaks away
+ and escapes--Pauses to defy his pursuers--Distances
+ them all--Stops to rest--Finds a place of
+ concealment--Plans the destruction of the pursuing
+ party--Succeeds--Returns home in triumph, laden with
+ trophies and spoils.
+
+
+MONICA--THE ITEAN CAPTIVE. 209
+
+ Reverence for the dead--Indian burial--The journey to the
+ Spirit land--The favorite dog killed--Food for
+ journey--Mementoes of the departed--The grave of an
+ infant boy--The Itean encampment--A sister's grief--Her
+ dream--She visits the grave by moonlight--Her
+ song--Enters a canoe and floats down the stream--A
+ captive, devoted to the "Great Star"--Pagan rite among
+ the Pawnees--Preparing for the sacrifice--Ignorant of
+ her fate--Gathering of the Pawnees to the festival--The
+ victim led to the stake--The terrible orgies
+ commence--Are suddenly interrupted--The captive
+ unbound--The flight--Parting with her deliverer--Meets
+ her friends--Reaches her home in safety--Petalesharro,
+ her deliverer--His person and character--Bloody rite
+ abolished.
+
+
+THE HERMITESS OF ATHABASCA. 227
+
+ The wigwam of Kaf-ne-wah-go--His family--Tula, his only
+ daughter--O-ken-áh-ga, her husband--The Athapuscows
+ steal in at night--The chiefs murdered--Tula a
+ captive--Her infant boy murdered before her eyes--The
+ Chippeways in pursuit of the murderers--Following the
+ trail--The enemy overtaken--Retribution wreaked upon
+ the innocent--The deep grief of Tula--Her weary
+ marches--Her captors encamp--The tempest--She escapes
+ in the darkness--Vain attempts to discover her
+ retreat--Seeks to find her way back to her people--The
+ forest--A midnight intruder--She climbs a tree--Is
+ besieged--Assaulted--Repels and destroys the
+ enemy--Intricacies and dangers of the forest--An
+ opening, but no light--Bewildered--Resolves to go no
+ farther--Finds a convenient spot--builds a cabin--her
+ house-keeping--Her ingenuity, industry and taste--The
+ Hermitess discovered--Her solitude reluctantly
+ abandoned--Indian mode of obtaining a
+ wife--Journeyings--A new party--An unexpected meeting.
+
+
+
+
+THE AZTEC PRINCESS,
+
+OR
+
+DESTINY FORESHADOWED.
+
+
+ Rapacious Spain
+ Followed her bold discoverer o'er the main;
+ A rabid race, fanatically bold,
+ And steeled to cruelty by lust of gold,
+ Traversed the waves, the unknown world explored,
+ The cross their standard, but their path the sword;
+ Their steps were graves; o'er prostrate realms they trod,
+ They worshipped Mammon, while they vowed to God.
+
+
+
+
+THE AZTEC PRINCESS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+ BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF TECUICHPO.
+
+ ~Tell me, ascribest thou influence to the stars?~
+
+
+ "Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial House of Tenochtitlan! Never saw I
+ the heavens in so inauspicious an aspect. Dark portentous
+ influences appear on every side. May the horoscope of the
+ infant daughter of Montezuma never be fulfilled."
+
+These were the awful words of the priestly astrologer of Tenochtitlan,
+uttered with solemn and oracular emphasis from the lofty Teocalli, where
+he had been long and studiously watching the heavens, and calculating
+the relative positions and combinations of the stars. A deep unutterable
+gloom seemed to pervade his soul. Several times he traversed the broad
+terrace, in a terrible agitation; his splendid pontifical robes flowing
+loosely in the breeze, and his tall majestic figure relieved against the
+clear sky, like some colossal moving statue,--and then, in tones of
+deeper grief than before, finding no error in his calculations,
+reiterated his oracular curse--"Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial House of
+Tenochtitlan!" Casting down his instruments to the earth, and tearing
+his hair in the violence of his emotions, he prostrated himself on the
+altar, and poured forth a loud and earnest prayer to all his gods.
+
+"Is there no favoring omen in any quarter, venerable father?" inquired
+the agitated messenger from the palace, when the prayer was ended--"is
+there no one of those bright spheres above us, that will deign to smile
+on the destiny of the young princess?"
+
+"It is full of mysterious, portentous contradictions," replied the
+astrologer. "Good and evil influences contend for the mastery. The evil
+prevail, but the good are not wholly extinguished. The life of the
+princess will be a life of sorrow, but there will be a peculiar
+brightness in its end. Yet the aspect of every sign in the heavens is
+wo, and only wo, to the imperial House of Montezuma."
+
+Faith in the revelations of astrology was a deeply rooted superstition
+with the Aztecs. It pervaded the whole structure of society, affecting
+the most intelligent and well-informed, as well as the humblest and most
+ignorant individual. In this case, the prophetic wailings of the
+priestly oracle rolled, like a long funereal knell, through the
+magnificent halls of the imperial palace, and fell upon the ear of the
+monarch, as if it had been a voice from the unseen world. Montezuma was
+reclining on a splendidly embroidered couch, in his private apartment,
+anxiously awaiting the response of the celestial oracle. He was
+magnificently arrayed in his royal robes of green, richly ornamented
+with variegated feather-work, and elaborately inwrought with gold and
+silver. His sandals were of pure gold, with ties and anklets of gold and
+silver thread, curiously interwoven with a variegated cotton cord. On
+his head was a rich fillet of gold, with a beautiful plume bending
+gracefully over one side, casting a melancholy shade over his handsome
+but naturally pensive features. A few of the royal princes sat, in
+respectful silence, at the farther end of the chamber, waiting, with an
+anxiety almost equal to that of the monarch, the return of the royal
+messenger.
+
+The apartments of the emperor were richly hung with tapestry of
+ornamental feather-work, rivalling, in the brilliancy of its dyes, and
+the beautiful harmony of its arrangement, the celebrated Gobelin
+tapestry. The floor was a tesselated pavement of porphyry and other
+beautiful stones. Numerous torches, supported in massive silver stands,
+delicately carved with fanciful figures of various kinds, blazed through
+the apartment, lighting up, with an almost noonday brilliancy, the
+gorgeous folds of the plumed hangings, and filling the whole palace with
+the sweet breath of the odoriferous gums of which they were composed.
+
+The emperor leaned pensively on his hand, seemingly oppressed with some
+superstitious melancholy forebodings. Perhaps the shadow of that
+mysterious prophecy, which betokened the extinction of the Aztec
+dynasty, and the consequent ruin of his house, was passing athwart the
+troubled sky of his mind, veiling the always doubtful future in mists of
+tenfold dimness. Whatever it was that disturbed his royal serenity, his
+reverie was soon broken by the sound of an approaching footstep. For a
+moment, nothing was heard but the measured tread of the trembling
+messenger, pacing with unwilling step the long corridor, that led to the
+royal presence. With his head bowed upon his breast, his eyes fixed upon
+the pavement, his person veiled in the coarse _nequen_,[A] and his feet
+bare, he stood before the monarch, dumb as a statue.
+
+"What response bring you," eagerly enquired the emperor, "from the
+burning oracles of heaven? How reads the destiny of my new-born infant?"
+
+"The response be to the enemies of the great Montezuma," replied the
+messenger, without lifting his eyes from the floor, "and the destiny it
+foreshadows to the children of them that hate him."
+
+"Speak," exclaimed the monarch, "What message do you bring from the
+priest of the stars?"
+
+"Alas! my royal master, my message is full of wo--my heart faints, and
+my tongue refuses its office to give it utterance. The old prophet bade
+me say, that the celestial influences are all unpropitious; that the
+destiny of the infant princess is a life of sorrow, with a gleam of more
+than earthly brightness in its evening horizon. And then, prostrating
+himself upon the great altar, he groaned out one long, deep,
+heart-rending wail for the imperial House of Tenochtitlan, and the
+golden realm of Anahuac."
+
+A deeper shade came over the brow of Montezuma, and heaving a sigh from
+the very depths of a soul that had long been agitated by melancholy
+forebodings of coming evil, he raised his eyes to heaven, and said,
+"the will of the gods be done." Then, waving his hand to his attendants,
+they bowed their heads, and retired in silence from the apartment.
+
+"It has come at last," inwardly groaned the monarch, as soon as he found
+himself alone--"it has come at last--that fearful prophecy, that has so
+long hung, like the shadow of a great cloud, over my devoted house, is
+now to be fulfilled. The fates have willed it, and there is no escape
+from their dread decrees. I must make ready for the sacrifice."
+
+Nerved by the stern influence of this dark fatalism, Montezuma brushed a
+tear from his eye, and putting a royal restraint upon the turbulent
+sorrows and fears of his paternal heart, hastened to the apartments of
+the queen, to break to her, with all the gentleness and caution which
+her delicate and precarious circumstances required, the mournful issue
+of their inquiries at the court of heaven, into the future destiny and
+prospects of their new-born babe.
+
+A deep gloom hung over the palace and the city. Every heart, even the
+most humble and unobserved, sympathized in the disappointment, and
+shared the distress, of their sovereign. And the day, which should have
+been consecrated to loyal congratulations, and general festivities,
+became, as by common consent, a sort of national fast, a season of
+universal lamentation.
+
+The little stranger was welcomed into life with that peculiar chastened
+tenderness, which is the natural offspring of love and pity--love, such
+as infant innocence wins spontaneously from every heart--pity, such as
+melancholy forebodings of coming years of sorrow to one beloved, cannot
+fail to awaken. She was regarded as the most beautiful and the most
+interesting of all her race. Every look and motion seemed to have its
+peculiar significance in indicating the victim of a remarkable destiny.
+And it is not to be wondered at, that a superstition so sad, and an
+affection so tender and solicitous, discovered an almost miraculous
+precocity in the first developments of the intellectual and moral
+qualities of its subject. She was the attractive centre of all the
+admiration and love of the royal household. Imagination fancied a
+peculiar sadness in her eye, and her merry laugh was supposed to mingle
+an element of sadness in its tones. Her mild and winning manners, and
+her affectionate disposition made her the idol of all whom she loved;
+and each one strove to do her service, as if hoping to avert, in some
+measure, the coming doom of their darling; while she clung to the fond
+and devoted hearts around her, as the ivy clings to the oak, which
+receives its embraces, and is necessary to its support.
+
+When the young princess, who received the name of Tecuichpo, had arrived
+at the age of one year, she was given in charge to a young and beautiful
+slave, whom the Emperor had recently obtained from Azcapozalco. Karee
+was gifted with rare powers of minstrelsy. Her voice had the sweetness,
+power and compass of a mocking bird, and all day long she warbled her
+ever-changing lays, as if her natural breathing were music, and song the
+natural flow of her thoughts. She soon became passionately devoted to
+the little pet, and exerted all her uncommon gifts to amuse and instruct
+her. She taught her all the native songs of Azcapozalco and Mexitli,
+instructed her in dancing, embroidery and feather-work, and initiated
+her into the science of picture-writing and the fanciful language of
+flowers. Karee and her royal charge were never apart. Gentle and timid
+as the dove, Tecuichpo clung to her new nurse, as to the bosom of a
+mother. Even in her early infancy, she would so sweetly respond, like an
+echo, to the gentle lullaby, and mingle her little notes so
+symphoniously with those of Karee, that it excited the wonder and
+admiration of all. Karee was passionately fond of flowers. It was indeed
+an element in the national taste of this remarkable people. But Karee
+was unusually gifted in her preceptions of natural beauty, and seemed to
+have a soul most delicately attuned to the spirit and language of
+flowers, the painted hieroglyphics of nature. She loved to exercise her
+exuberant fancy in decorating her little mistress, and often contrived
+so to arrange them upon the various parts of her person and dress, as to
+make her at different times, the emblematic representation of every
+bright and beautiful spirit, that was supposed to people their celestial
+paradise, or to hover, on wings of love and gentle care, about the path
+of those whom the gods delighted to favor.
+
+It was the daily custom for Karee to carry the young princess into the
+apartment of the Emperor, as soon as he rose from his siesta, to receive
+the affectionate caresses which her royal father was so fond of
+lavishing upon her. At such times, Tecuichpo would often take with her
+some rich chaplets of flowers which Karee had woven for her, and amuse
+herself and her father, by arranging them in a coronet on his brow, or
+twining them, in every fantastic form, about his person, to make, as
+she said, a flower-god of _him_, who was a sun to all the flowers of her
+earthly paradise.
+
+One day, when the young princess was sleeping in her little arbor, the
+ever watchful nurse observed a viper among the flowers, which she had
+strown about her pillow, just ready to dart its venomous fang into the
+bosom of her darling. Quick as lightning she seized the reptile in her
+hand, and, before he had time to turn upon her, flung him upon the
+floor, and crushed him under her sandalled heel. Passionately embracing
+her dear charge, she hastened with her to the apartments of the queen,
+and related the story of her narrow escape, with so much of the
+eloquence of gratitude for being the favored instrument of her
+deliverance from so cruel a death, that it deeply affected the heart of
+the queen. She embraced her child and Karee, as if both were, for the
+moment, equally dear to her; and then, in return for the faithful
+service, rendered at the hazard of her own life, she promised to bestow
+upon the slave whatever she chose to ask. "Give me, O give me freedom,
+and a chinampa, and I ask no more," was the eager reply of Karee to this
+unexpected offer of the queen. The request was immediately granted; and
+the first sorrow that ever clouded the heart of the lovely Tecuichpo,
+was that of parting with her faithful and loving Karee.
+
+A _chinampa_ was a floating island in the lake of Tezcuco, upon whose
+very bosom the imperial city was built. They were very numerous, and
+some of them were large, and extremely beautiful. They were formed by
+the alluvial deposit in the waters of the lake, and by occasional masses
+of earth detached from the shores, held together by the fibrous roots,
+with which they were penetrated, and which in that luxurious clime, put
+out their feelers in every direction, and gathered to their embrace
+whatever of nutriment and support the richly impregnated waters
+afforded. In the process of a few years accumulation, the floating mass
+increased in length, breadth and thickness, till it became an island,
+capable of sustaining not only shrubs and trees, but sometimes a human
+habitation. Some of these were from two to three hundred feet square,
+and could be moved about at pleasure, like a raft, from city to city,
+along the borders of the lake. The natives, who were skilful gardeners,
+and passionately devoted to the cultivation of flowers, improved upon
+this beautiful hint of nature, to enlarge their means of supplying the
+capital with fruits, vegetables and flowers. Constructing small rafts of
+reeds, anchoring them out in the lake, and then covering them with the
+sediment drawn up from the bottom, they soon found them covered with a
+thrifty vegetation, and a vigorous soil, from which they were able to
+produce a large supply of the various luxuries of their highly favored
+clime.
+
+It was to one of these fairy gardens that the beautiful Karee retired,
+rich in the priceless jewel of freedom, and feeling that a chinampa all
+her own, and flowers to train and commune with, was the summit of human
+desire. Karee was no common character. Gifted by nature with unusual
+talents, she had, though in adverse circumstances, cultivated them by
+all the means in her power. Remarkably quick of perception, and shrewd
+and accurate of observation, with a memory that retained every thing
+that was committed to it, in its exact outlines and proportions, she
+was enabled to gather materials for improvement from every scene through
+which she passed. Her imagination was exceedingly powerful and active,
+sometimes wild and terrific, but kept in balance by a sound judgment and
+a discriminating taste. Her love of flowers was a passion, a part of her
+nature. For her they had a language, if not a soul. And there was not
+one of all the endless varieties of that luxuriant clime, that had not a
+definite and emphatic place in the vocabulary of her fancy. The history
+of her life she could have written in her floral dialect, and to her,
+though its lines might have faded rapidly, its pages would have been
+always legible and eloquent. Her attachments were strong and enduring,
+and there was that element of heroism in her soul, that she would
+unhesitatingly have sacrificed life for the object of her love.
+
+It is not to be wondered at, that, with such qualities of mind and
+heart, Karee was deeply impressed with the solemn and imposing
+superstitions of the Aztec religion. The rites and ceremonies by which
+they were illustrated and sustained, were well calculated to stir to its
+very depths, a soul like hers, and give the fullest exercise to her wild
+imagination. That pompous ritual, those terrible orgies, repeated before
+her eyes almost daily from her infancy, had become blended with the
+thoughts and associations of her mind, and intimately related to every
+scene that interested her heart, or engaged her fancy. Yet her soul was
+not enslaved to that dark and dismal superstition. Though accustomed to
+an awful veneration of the priesthood, she did not regard them as a
+superior race of beings, or listen to their words, as if they had been
+audible voices from heaven. Her spirit shrunk from many of the darker
+revelations of the established mythology, and openly revolted from some
+of its inhuman exactions. Its chains hung loosely upon her; and she
+seemed fully prepared for the freedom of a purer and loftier faith. Her
+extreme beauty, her bewitching gaiety, and her varied talents, attracted
+many admirers, and some noble and worthy suitors. But Karee had another
+destiny to fulfil. She felt herself to be the guardian angel of the
+ill-fated Tecuichpo, and her love for the princess left no room for any
+other passion in her heart. She therefore refused all solicitations, and
+remained the solitary mistress of her floating island.
+
+Karee's departure from the palace, did not in any degree lessen her
+interest in the welfare of the young princess. She was assiduous in her
+attention to every thing that could promote her happiness; and seemed to
+value the flowers she cultivated on her chinampa chiefly as they
+afforded her the means of daily correspondence with Tecuichpo. She
+managed her island like a canoe, and moved about from one part of the
+beautiful lake to another, visiting by turns the cities that glittered
+on its margin, and sometimes traversing the valleys in search of new
+flowers, or exploring the ravines and caverns of the mountains for
+whatever of rare and precious she might chance to find. The chivalry of
+the Aztecs rendered such adventures perfectly safe, their women being
+always regarded with the greatest tenderness and respect, and treated
+with a delicacy seldom surpassed in the most civilized countries of
+Christendom.
+
+This chivalric sentiment was, not improbably heightened, in the case of
+Karee, in part by her extreme beauty, and in part by the power of her
+genius and the brilliancy of her wit. She commanded respect by the force
+of her intellect, and the purity of her heart; while the uncommon depth
+and splendor of her imagination, when excited by any favorite theme, and
+the seemingly inexhaustible fruitfulness of her mental resources,
+invested her, in the view of the multitude, with something of the
+dignity, and much of the superstitious charm of a prophetess.
+
+ [A] A mantle of coarse cotton fabric, which all who approached
+ the emperor were compelled to put on, in token of humility and
+ reverence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS--HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED--PROPHETIC
+ ANNOUNCEMENT AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS.
+
+ ~Breathe not his noble name even to the winds,
+ Lest they my love reveal.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~I have mystical lore,
+ And coming events cast their shadows before.~
+
+
+The childhood of the fair princess passed away without any event of
+importance, except the occasional recurrence of those dark prophecies
+which overshadowed her entrance into life. Her father, who had exercised
+the office of priest before he came to the throne, was thoroughly imbued
+with the superstitious reverence for astrology, which formed a part of
+the religion of the Aztecs. To all the predictions of this mystic
+science he yielded implicit belief, regarding whatever it foreshadowed
+as the fixed decrees of fate. He was, therefore, fully prepared, and
+always on the look-out, for new revelations to confirm and establish his
+faith. These were sometimes found in the trivial occurrences of
+every-day life, and sometimes in the sinister aspect of the heavenly
+bodies, at peculiar epochs in the life of his daughter. With this
+superstitious foreboding of evil, the pensive character of the princess
+harmonized so well, as to afford, to the mind of the too credulous
+monarch, another unquestionable indication of her destiny. It seemed to
+be written on her brow, that her life was a doomed one; and each
+returning year was counted as the last, and entered upon with gloomy
+forebodings of some terrible catastrophe.
+
+As her life advanced, her charms, both of person and character matured
+and increased; and, at the age of fourteen, there was not a maiden in
+all the golden cities of Anahuac, who could compare with Tecuichpo. Her
+exceeding loveliness was the theme of many a song, and the fame of her
+beauty and her accomplishments was published in all the neighboring
+nations. While yet a child, her hand was eagerly sought by Cacamo, of
+the royal house of Tezcuco; but, with the true chivalry of an unselfish
+devotion, his suit was withdrawn, on discovering that her young
+affections were already engaged to another. The discovery was made in a
+manner too singular and striking to be suffered to pass unnoticed.
+
+In the course of her wanderings in the forest, Karee had taken captive a
+beautiful parrot, of the most gorgeous plumage, and the most astonishing
+capacity. This chatterer, after due training and discipline, she had
+presented to her favorite princess, among a thousand other tokens of her
+unchangeable affection. Tecuichpo loved the beautiful mimic, to whom she
+gave the name of Karee-o-thán--the voice of Karee,--and often amused
+herself with teaching her to repeat the words which she loved best to
+hear. Without being aware of the publicity she was thus giving to her
+most treasured thoughts, she entrusted to the talkative bird the secret
+of her love, by associating with the most endearing epithets, the name
+of her favored cavalier. While strolling about the magnificent gardens
+attached to the palace of Montezuma, Cacamo was wont to breathe out, in
+impassioned song, his love for Tecuichpo, repeating her name, with every
+expression of passionate regard, which the language afforded.
+Karee-o-thán was often flying about in the gardens, and soliloquizing in
+the arbors, the favorite resorts of her beautiful mistress, and often
+attracted the notice of Cacamo.
+
+One evening, as the prince was more than usually eloquent in pouring
+into the ear of Zephyr the tale of his love, the mimic bird, perched
+upon a flowering orange tree, that filled the garden with its delicious
+perfume, repeated the name of his mistress, as often as her lover
+uttered it, occasionally connecting with it the name of Guatimozin, and
+then adding some endearing epithet, expressive of the most ardent
+admiration. The prince was first amused, and then vexed, at the frequent
+repetition of the name of his rival. In vain did he endeavor to induce
+the mischievous bird to substitute his own name for that of Guatimozin.
+As often as he uttered the name of the princess, the echo in the orange
+tree gave back "noble Guatimozin," or "sweet Guatimozin," or some other
+similar response, which left no doubt on the mind of Cacamo, that the
+heart of his mistress was pre-occupied, and that the nephew of Montezuma
+was the favored object of her love. The next day, he bade adieu to
+Tenochtitlan, placed himself at the head of the army of Tezcuco, and
+plunged into a war then raging with a distant tribe on the west, hoping
+to bury his disappointment in the exciting scenes of conquest.
+
+Guatimozin was of the royal blood, and, as his after history will show,
+of a right royal and heroic spirit. From his childhood, he had exhibited
+an unusual maturity of judgment, coupled with an energy, activity, and
+fearlessness of spirit, which gave early assurance of a heroism worthy
+of the supreme command, and an intellectual superiority that might claim
+succession to the throne. His training was in the court and the camp,
+and he seemed equally at home and in his element, amid the refined
+gaieties of the palace, the grave deliberations of the royal council,
+and the mad revelry of the battle-field. His figure was of the most
+perfect manly proportions, tall, commanding, graceful--his countenance
+was marked with that peculiar blending of benignity and majesty, which
+made it unspeakably beautiful and winning to those whom he loved, and
+terrible to those on whom he frowned. He was mild, humane, generous,
+confiding; yet sternly and heroically just. His country was his idol.
+The one great passion of his soul, to which all other thoughts and
+affections were subordinate and tributary, was patriotism. On that
+altar, if he had possessed a thousand lives, he would freely have laid
+them all. Such was the noble prince who had won the heart of Tecuichpo.
+
+Meanwhile, to the anxious eye of her imperial father, the clouds of fate
+seemed to hang deep and dark over the realm of Anahuac. Long before the
+prophetic wail, which welcomed the lovely Tecuichpo to a life of
+sorrow, Montezuma had imbibed from the dark legends of ancient
+prophecies, and the faint outgivings of his own priestly oracles, a deep
+and ineradicable impression that some terrible calamity was impending
+over the realm, and that he was to be the last of its native monarchs.
+It was dimly foreshadowed, in these prophetic revelations, that the
+descendants of a noble and powerful race of men, who had many ages
+before occupied that beautiful region, and filled it with the works of
+their genius, but who had been driven out by the cruelty and perfidy of
+the Toltecs, would return, invested with supernatural power from heaven,
+to re-possess their ancient inheritance.[B] To this leading and long
+established faith, every dark and doubtful omen contributed its
+appropriate share of confirmation. To this, every significant event was
+deemed to have a more or less intimate relation. So that, at this
+particular epoch, not only the superstitious monarch, and his priestly
+astrologers, but the whole nation of Azteca were prepared, as were the
+ancient Jews at the advent of the Messiah, for great events, though
+utterly unable to imagine what might be the nature of the expected
+change.
+
+These gloomy forebodings of coming evil so thoroughly possessed the mind
+of Montezuma, that the commanding dignity and pride of the monarch gave
+way before the absorbing anxiety of the man and the father, and, in a
+manner, unfitted him for the duties of the lofty place he had so nobly
+filled. He yielded, as will be seen in the sequel, not without grief,
+but without resistance, to the fixed decrees of fate, and awaited the
+issue, as a victim for the heaven-appointed sacrifice.
+
+It was about fifteen years after the prophetic announcement of the doom
+of the young princess of the empire, that Montezuma was reclining in his
+summer saloon, where he had been gloomily brooding over his darkening
+prospects, till his soul was filled with sadness. His beautiful daughter
+was with him, striving to cheer his heart with the always welcome music
+of her songs, and the affectionate expression of a love as pure and deep
+as ever warmed the heart of a devoted child. She had gone that day into
+the royal presence to ask a boon for her early and faithful friend,
+Karee. This lovely and gifted creature, now in the full maturity of all
+her wonderful powers of mind, and personal attractions, had often been
+admitted, as a special favorite, into the royal presence, to exhibit her
+remarkable powers of minstrelsy, and her almost supernatural gifts as an
+improvisatrice of the wild melodies of Anahuac. Some of her chants were
+of rare pathos and sublimity, and sometimes she was so carried away with
+the impassioned vehemence of her inspiration, that she seemed an
+inspired messenger from the skies, uttering in their language the
+oracles of the gods. On this occasion, she had requested permission to
+sing a new chant in the palace, that she might seize the opportunity to
+breathe a prophetic warning in the ear of the emperor. She had thrice
+dreamed that the dark cloud which had so long hung over that devoted
+land, had burst in an overwhelming storm, upon the capital, and buried
+Montezuma and all his house in indiscriminate ruin. She had seen the
+demon of destruction, in the guize of a snow white angel, clad in
+burnished silver, borne on a fiery animal, of great power, and fleet as
+the wind, having under him a small band of warriors, guarded and mounted
+like himself, armed with thunderbolts which they hurled at will against
+all who opposed their progress. She had seen the monarch of
+Tenochtitlan, with his hosts of armed Mexicans, and the tributary armies
+of Tezcuco, Islacapan, Chalco, and all the cities of that glorious
+valley, tremble and cower before this small band of invaders, and yield
+himself without a blow to their hands. She had seen the thousands and
+tens of thousands of her beloved land fall before this handful of
+strangers, and melt away, like the mists of the morning before the
+rising sun. And she had heard a voice from the dark cloud as it broke,
+saying, sternly, as the forked lightning leaped into the heart of the
+imperial palace, "The gods help only those who help themselves."
+
+Filled and agitated with the stirring influence of this prophetic
+vision, Karee, who had always regarded herself as the guardian genius of
+Tecuichpo, now imagined the sphere of her duty greatly enlarged, and
+deemed herself specially commissioned to save the empire from impending
+destruction. Weaving her vision, and the warning it uttered, into one of
+her most impassioned chants, and arraying herself as the priestess of
+nature, she followed Tecuichpo, with a firm step into the royal
+presence, and, with the boldness and eloquence of a prophetess, warned
+him of the coming danger, and urged him to arouse from his apathy,
+unbecoming the monarch of a proud and powerful nation, cast off the
+slavery of his superstitious fears, and prepare to meet, with the power
+of a man, and the wisdom of a king, whatever evil might come upon him.
+Rising with the kindling inspiration of her theme, she ventured gently
+to reproach the awe-struck monarch with his unmanly fears, and to remind
+him that on his single will, and the firmness of his soul, hung not only
+his own destiny but that of wife and children; and more than that, of a
+whole nation, whose myriads of households looked up to him, as the
+common father of them all, the heaven-appointed guardian of their lives,
+liberty and happiness. At length, alarmed at her own energy and
+boldness, so unwonted even to the proudest noble of the realm, in that
+royal presence, she bent her knee, and baring her bosom, she lowered her
+voice almost to a whisper, and said imploringly--
+
+ Strike, monarch! strike, this heart is thine,
+ To live or die for thee;
+ Strike, but heed this voice of mine
+ It comes from heaven, through me;
+ It comes to save this blessed land,
+ It comes thy soul to free
+ From those dark fears, and bid thee stand
+ The monarch father of thy land,
+ That only lives in thee.
+
+ Strike, father! if my words too bold
+ Thy royal ears offend;
+ The visions of the night are told,
+ Thy destiny the gods unfold--
+ Oh! be thy people's friend,
+ True to thyself, to them, to heaven--
+ So shall this lowering cloud be riven
+ And light and peace descend,
+ To bless this golden realm, and save
+ Tecuichpo from an early grave.
+
+The vision of the beautiful pythoness had deeply and powerfully affected
+the soul of Montezuma; and her closing appeal moved him even to tears.
+Though accustomed to the most obsequious deference from all his
+subjects, even from the proudest of his nobles, he had listened to every
+word of Karee with the profoundest attention and interest, as if it had
+been from the acknowledged oracle of heaven. When she ceased, there was
+a breathless silence in the hall. The monarch drew his lovely daughter
+to his bosom in a passionate embrace. Karee remained prostrate, with her
+face to the ground, her heart throbbing almost audibly with the violence
+of her emotions. Suddenly, a deep long blast from a distant trumpet
+announced the arrival of a courier at the capital. It was a signal for
+all the attendants to retire. Tecuichpo tenderly kissing her father,
+took Karee by the hand, raised her up and led her out, and the monarch
+was left alone.
+
+In a few moments, the courier arrived and entering, barefoot and veiled,
+into the royal presence, bowed to the very ground, handed a scroll to
+the king, and departed. When Montezuma had unrolled the scroll, he
+seemed for a moment, as if struck with instant paralysis. Fear,
+astonishment, dismay, seized upon his soul. The vision of Karee was
+already fulfilled. The pictured tablet was the very counterpart of her
+oracular chant--the literal interpretation of her prophetic vision. It
+announced the arrival within the realms of Montezuma, of a band of pale
+faced strangers, clad in burnished armor, each having at his command a
+beautiful animal of great power, hitherto unknown in that country, that
+bore him with the speed of the wind wherever he would go, and seemed,
+while he was mounted, to be a part of himself. It described their
+weapons, representing them as having the lightning and thunder at their
+disposal, which they caused to issue sometimes from dark heavy engines,
+which they dragged along the ground, and sometimes from smaller ones
+which they carried in their hands. It delineated, faithfully and
+skilfully their "water houses," or ships, in which they traversed the
+great waters, from a far distant country. The peculiar costume and
+bearing of their commander, and of his chiefs, were also happily
+represented in the rich coloring for which the Aztecs were
+distinguished. Nothing was omitted in their entire array, which could
+serve to convey to the eye of the emperor a correct and complete
+impression of the appearance, numbers and power of the strangers. It was
+all before him, at a glance, a living speaking picture, and told the
+story of the invasion as graphically and eloquently, as if he had been
+himself a witness of their debarkation, and of their feats of
+horsemanship. It was all before him, a terrible living reality. The gods
+whom he worshipped had sent these strangers to fulfil their own
+irresistible purposes--if, indeed, these were not the gods themselves,
+in human form.
+
+The mind of Montezuma was overwhelmed. Like Belshazzar, when the divine
+hand appeared writing his doom on the wall, his soul fainted in him, his
+knees smote together, and he sat, in blank astonishment, gazing on the
+picture before him, as if the very tablet possessed a supernatural power
+of destruction.
+
+Paralyzed with the influence of his long indulged fears so singularly
+and strikingly realized, the monarch sat alone, neither seeking comfort,
+nor asking counsel of any one, till the hour of the evening repast. The
+summons aroused him from his reverie; but he regarded it not. He
+remained alone, in his own private apartments, during the whole night,
+fasting and sleepless, traversing the marble halls in an agony of
+agitation.
+
+With the first light of the morning, the shrill notes of the trumpet,
+reverberating along the shadowy slopes of the cordilleras, announced the
+approach of another courier from the camp of the strangers. It rung in
+the ears of the dejected monarch, like an alarum. He awoke at once from
+his stupor, and began to consider what was to be done. The warning of
+Karee rushed upon his recollection. Her bold and timely appeal struck
+him to the heart. He resolved to be once more the monarch, and the
+father of his people. Uttering an earnest prayer to all his gods, he
+awaited the arrival of the courier.
+
+Swift of foot as the mountain deer, the steps of the messenger were soon
+heard, measuring with solemn pace, the long corridor of the royal
+mansion, as one who felt that he was approaching the presence of
+majesty, and bearing a message pregnant with the most important issues
+to the common weal. Bowing low, with that profound reverence, which was
+rigorously exacted of all who approached the presence of Montezuma, he
+touched the ground with his right hand, and then, his eyes bent to the
+earth, delivered his pictured scroll, and retired. It was a courteous
+and complimentary message from the strangers he so much dreaded,
+requesting that they might be permitted to pay their respects to his
+imperial majesty, in his own capital. The quick-sighted monarch
+perceived at once that prudence and policy required that this interview
+should be prevented.
+
+A council of the wisest and most experienced of the Aztec nobles was
+immediately called. The opinions of the royal advisers were variously
+expressed, but all, with one accord, agreed that the request of the
+strangers could not be granted. Some counselled a bold and warlike
+message, commanding the intruders to depart instantly, on pain of the
+royal displeasure. Some recommended their forcible expulsion by the army
+of the empire. The more aged and experienced, who had learned how much
+easier it is to avoid, than to escape, a danger, proposed a more
+courteous and peaceable reply to the message of the strangers. They
+deemed it unworthy of a great and powerful monarch, to be angry, when
+the people of another nation visited his territories, or requested
+permission to see his capital. To manifest, or feel any thing like fear,
+in such a case, would be a reproach alike upon his courage and his
+patriotism. So long, therefore, as the strangers conducted themselves
+peaceably, and with becoming deference to the will of the emperor, and
+the laws of the realm, they should be treated civilly, and hospitably
+entertained.
+
+To this wise and prudent counsel, the monarch was already fully prepared
+to yield. It was strongly seconded by his superstitious reverence for
+the heaven-sent strangers, and his mortal dread of their superhuman
+power. He, therefore, selected the noblest and wisest of his chiefs as
+ambassadors, to bear his message, which was kindly and courteously
+expressed; at the same time conveying a firm but respectful refusal to
+admit the foreigners to an interview in the capital, or to extend to
+them the protection of the court, after a reasonable time had elapsed
+for their re-embarkation. This message was accompanied with a munificent
+royal present, consisting of the richest and most beautiful suits of
+apparel for the chief and all his men, with gorgeous capes and robes of
+feather-work, glittering with jewels--precious stones richly set in
+gold, and many magnificent ornaments of pure gold.
+
+At the head of this embassy were princes of high estate, and most noble
+bearing, commanding in person, and of great distinction, both at the
+court and in the camp. When they arrived near the encampment of the
+strangers, which was the spot where the city of Vera Cruz now stands,
+they sent a courier forward, to announce their approach, and prepare for
+their reception.
+
+The meeting of the parties was one of no little pomp and ceremony, for
+the courtly manners and chivalric bearing of the European cavaliers were
+scarcely superior, in impressiveness and effect, to the barbaric
+splendor, and graceful consciousness of power, which characterized the
+flower of the Aztec nobility. The chief, advancing towards the invaders,
+bowed low to earth, touching the ground with his right hand, then
+raising it to his head, and presenting it to his guest, announced
+himself as the envoy and servant of the great Montezuma, sole monarch
+and master of all the realms of Anahuac; and demanded the name of the
+stranger, the country from which he came, and the motives which induced
+him to trespass upon the sacred territories of his royal master, and to
+presume to ask an interview with the emperor, in his capital. The
+Castilian chieftain, with a courteous and knightly bearing replied, that
+his name was Hernando Cortez--that he was one of the humblest of the
+servants of the great Charles, the mighty monarch of Spain, and
+sovereign ruler of the Indies, and that he had come, with his little
+band of followers, to pay his court to the great Montezuma, and to bear
+to him the fraternal salutation of his master, which he could only
+deliver in person.
+
+The reply of the Mexican was dignified, courteous, and pointed, and left
+no hope to the Spaniard, that he would then be able to effect his
+purpose, of visiting in person the golden city. "If," said the prince,
+"your monarch had come himself to our shores, he might well demand a
+personal meeting with our lord, the emperor, but when he sends his
+servant to represent him, he surely cannot presume to do more than
+communicate with the servants of the great Montezuma. If it were
+possible that another sun should visit yonder sky, he might look upon
+our sun, in his march, and move and shine in his presence. But the moon
+and the stars cannot shine when he is abroad. They can look upon each
+other only when he withdraws his light."
+
+The royal message having been delivered, the presents which accompanied
+it were brought forward, and spread out upon mats, in front of the
+general's tent. The Spaniards were struck, with surprise and admiration
+at the fineness of the texture of the cloths, the richness of their
+dyes, the gorgeous coloring and tasteful arrangement of the
+feather-work, the masterly workmanship and exquisite finish of the
+jewelry, and, above all, the immense value, and magnificent size of the
+golden toys which were presented them. They conceived, at once, the most
+exalted ideas of the riches of the country, and the munificence and
+splendor of the monarch that ruled over it. Their avarice and cupidity
+were strongly excited, and more than one of the inferior officers, as
+well as their general, formed the immediate resolution, that, in despite
+of the imperial interdict, they would endeavor, either by diplomacy or
+by force, to win their way to the capital, which they supposed must of
+necessity be the grand depository of all the treasures in the empire.
+Their intentions were kept secret, even from each other, and, under
+cover of a specious submission to the expressed will of the monarch,
+Cortez requested permission to delay his departure, till his men should
+be recruited, and his stores replenished for his long voyage.
+
+Meanwhile, taking advantage of this unauthorized reprieve, the artful
+and indefatigable Castilian contrived to draw off from their unwilling
+and burdensome allegiance to Montezuma, the Totonacs, a considerable
+tribe, residing in that part of the country where he had effected his
+landing; and so to impress them with a sense of his own power and the
+lenity of his government, as to bind them to him in a solemn treaty of
+alliance. He also sent an embassy to the Tlascalans, a nation that had
+long maintained its independence against the ambitious encroachments of
+Mexico, and held Montezuma their natural and only foe. They were a brave
+and warlike people, and nearly as far advanced in the arts of
+civilization as their enemies. Their government was a kind of republic.
+Cortez, with magniloquent pretensions of invincible power, and
+inexhaustible resources, proposed to assist the Tlascalans in reducing
+the power of Mexico, and putting an end to the oppressions and exactions
+of Montezuma. For this purpose, he asked leave to pass through their
+country, on his march to the great capital.
+
+Distrusting the intentions of the strangers, and fearing that, instead
+of a disinterested friend and ally, they should find in them only a new
+enemy, whom, once admitted, they could never expel from their dominions,
+and whose yoke might be even harder to bear than that which the Aztec
+monarch had in vain attempted to fasten upon them--the proposed alliance
+of the Spaniards was rejected, with such bold and ample demonstrations
+of hostility, as left no room for doubt, that any attempt to force a
+passage through their territories, would be fiercely and ably contested.
+
+Never daunted by obstacles, though somewhat perplexed, the brave Cortez
+rushed forward, encountered the almost countless hosts of the Tlascalan
+army, and, after several severe and deadly contests, in which the skill
+and prowess of his handful of men, with their terrible horses and yet
+more terrible fire-arms, were nearly overpowered by the immense numbers,
+astonishing bravery, and comparative skill of the enemy, he succeeded in
+terrifying them into submission, and winning them to a treaty of
+alliance, offensive and defensive, against the tyrant Montezuma, the
+common enemy of all the nations of Anahuac. By these singular and
+unparalleled successes, the little band of Castilian adventurers found
+themselves fortified, in the heart of the country, in close alliance
+with two powerful tribes, who swelled their army to ten times its
+original number, besides supplying them liberally with all the
+provisions that were needed for themselves and horses.
+
+Never was adventure so rashly undertaken, or so boldly pushed, as this
+singular expedition of the Spanish cavaliers. And never, probably, were
+there associated, in one little band, so many of the master spirits of
+chivalry, the true material of a conquering army. The compeers of
+Cortez, who submitted to his authority, and acted in perfect harmony
+with him, as if they were but subordinate parts of himself, were each
+competent to command a host, and lead it on to certain victory. The
+impetuous, daring Alvarado, the cool, courageous, trusty Sandoval, the
+high-spirited, chivalrous Olid, the rash, head-long, cruel Velasquez de
+Leon, and others, worthy to be the comrades of these, and of
+Cortez--when have the ranks of the war-god assigned so many master
+spirits to one enterprize? And the brave, the gifted, the indomitable
+Xicotencatl, the mountain chief of Tlascala, whom the Spaniards, with so
+much difficulty, first subdued and then won to their cause, as an
+ally--what a noble personification of the soul and spirit of heroism,
+realizing in personal bravery, martial skill and prowess, and in all the
+commanding qualities of person and of character, which go to constitute
+the victorious warrior, the best pictures of the type-heroes of epic
+poetry and history.
+
+In all their previous discoveries in the New World, the progress of the
+Spaniards to victory was easy, and almost unresisted. The invaders of
+Mexico, however, found themselves suddenly introduced to a new people,
+and new scenes--to nations of warriors, to races intelligent, civilized,
+and competent to self-government and self-defence. And all the skill,
+courage, and energy of their ablest commanders, and their bravest men,
+would have availed them nothing in their herculean enterprize, if they
+had not craftily and skilfully worked upon the jealousies and
+differences existing between the various tribes and nations of Anahuac,
+and fomented the long smothered discontents, and unwritten complaints of
+an over-taxed and sternly-governed people, into open and clamorous
+resistance to the despotic sway of Montezuma. It is curious and
+melancholy to observe, how eagerly they shook off the golden yoke of
+their hereditary monarch, for the iron one of a new master, and
+exchanged their long-established servitude to their legitimate king and
+their pagan gods, for a more galling, hopeless, and wasting slavery to
+the cruel and rapacious invader, under the life-promising Sign of the
+Cross, the desecrated banner of the Prince of Peace.
+
+ [B] One version of this singular prophetic legend represented
+ the expected invaders, as the descendants of the ancient god
+ Quetzalcoatl, who, ages agone, had voluntarily abdicated the
+ throne of Anahuac, and departed to a far country in the East,
+ with a promise to his afflicted people, that his children would
+ ultimately return, and claim their ancient country and crown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR AND VACILLATING POLICY OF MONTEZUMA.
+
+ ~The land was ours--this glorious land--
+ With all its wealth of woods and streams--
+ Our warriors, strong in heart and hand,
+ Our daughters, beautiful as dreams.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~And then we heard the omens say,
+ That God had sent his angels forth
+ To sweep our ancient tribes away--~
+
+
+While these events were transpiring in the ever moving camp of the
+victorious invaders, the imperial court of Tenochtitlan was agitated and
+distracted by the divided counsels and wavering policy of the
+superstitious, fear-stricken monarch, and his various advisers. At one
+time, deeply offended by their audacious disregard of his positive
+prohibitions, and roused to a sense of his duty as a king, by the
+prophetic warning of Karee, which never ceased to ring in his ears,
+Montezuma was almost persuaded to give in to the war-party, and send out
+an army that should overwhelm the strangers at a blow. But, before this
+noble purpose had time to mature itself into action, all his
+superstitious fears would revive, and, without coming to any decision
+either to move or stand still, he would pause in timid inaction, till
+some new success had made the invaders more formidable than before, and
+invested their mission with something more of that preternatural
+sacredness, which alone had power to unman the monarch, and disarm his
+craving ambition. At each advance of the conquering Castilians, he
+realized the growing necessity of prompt and efficient measures of
+defence, while at the same time he felt a greater reluctance to contend
+with fate. The result was, that he only dallied with the foe, by
+continually sending new embassies, each, with larger and richer presents
+than the preceding, having no effect but to add fuel to their already
+burning thirst for gold, and strengthen their determination to
+accomplish their original purpose.
+
+These royal embassies were less and less firm and peremptory in their
+terms, until they assumed the tone of expostulation, and assigning
+various and often conflicting reasons why the Spaniards should not
+pursue their route any farther towards the imperial city. At length,
+when the courier announced the arrival of the mysterious band at
+Tlascala, and the consummation of the alliance between them and his old
+and bitter enemies, together with the defection of many cities and
+districts, he felt it impossible to remain any longer undecided. His
+throne trembled under him. He must act, or it would fall, and involve
+him and his house in inevitable ruin. Instead, however, of a bold and
+masterly activity in the defence of his capital and crown, he changed
+his policy altogether, and sending a new embassy with more splendid
+gifts than ever, invited the strangers to his court, and promised them
+all the hospitalities of his empire. He designated the route they should
+pursue, and gave orders for their reception in all the towns and cities
+through which they should pass.
+
+Montezuma was politic and wise in some things; and the purpose he had
+now in view, if it had not been frustrated, would have been deemed a
+master-stroke of policy, worthy of the ablest disciples of the
+Macchiavellian school. Perceiving the necessity of breaking up this
+combination of new and old enemies, he had recourse to stratagem to
+effect it, intending that the strangers, whom he dared not to oppose
+with direct violence, should fall into the snare they had laid for
+themselves, in thrusting themselves forward, in despite of his repeated
+remonstrances, into the heart of his empire. He feared to raise his own
+hand to destroy them, because they were, in his view, commissioned of
+heaven to overturn his throne; but he deemed it perfectly consistent
+with this reverence for the decrees of fate, to lay a snare into which
+they should fall, and so destroy themselves. He little understood the
+watchfulness and circumspection of the man he had to deal with, or the
+tremendous advantage which their armor of proof and their engines of
+destruction gave the Europeans over the almost naked Mexicans, with
+their primitive weapons of offence. It was his plan to separate the
+foreigners from their new Indian allies, and invite them to come alone
+to the capital, as was first proposed. And he designed to assign them
+accommodations in one of the ancient palaces, in the heart of the city,
+where, surrounded by high walls, on every side, they should be shut up
+from all intercourse with the people, and left to perish of famine.
+
+When this purpose was formed, the monarch kept it a profound secret in
+his own breast. The ambassadors whom he sent to the Castilian camp, were
+of the highest ranks of the nobility, and were accompanied by a long
+train of slaves, bearing the rich presents, by which the wily monarch
+hoped at the same time to display his own royal munificence, and to
+propitiate the favor of the dreaded strangers. Every new display of this
+kind only served more effectually to defeat his own hopes; for the
+avarice of the Spaniards, whose lust of gold was absolutely insatiable,
+was so far from being satisfied with this profusion of royal gifts, that
+it was only the more inflamed with every new accession to their
+treasures. The only effect, therefore, of these repeated embassies was
+to confirm the Spaniards in their convictions of the conscious weakness
+of the Mexicans, and make them the more resolute in pushing forward to
+complete the subjugation of the whole country, and possess themselves of
+all its seemingly inexhaustible treasures of gold.
+
+Montezuma had now another difficulty to contend with, in his endeavor to
+rid himself of the intruders. The Tlascalans represented him to Cortez
+as false and deceitful as he was ambitious and rapacious, and used every
+argument in their power to dissuade him from committing himself to his
+hands. But the bold adventurer, always confident in his own resources,
+seemed never to think of danger when an object was to be accomplished,
+or to regard any thing as impossible which he desired to attain. As
+soon as the door was thrown open to his amicable approach to the
+capital, he set himself to prepare for the march. The expostulations and
+suspicions of the Tlascalans made him, perhaps, more careful in his
+preparations against a surprise, and more rigorous in the discipline of
+his little corps, than he might otherwise have been. Wherever he was,
+his camp was as cautiously posted, as fully and rigidly guarded as if,
+on the eve of battle, he was hourly expecting an assault. This
+watchfulness was maintained throughout the whole adventurous campaign,
+as well when in the midst of friends and allies, as when surrounded by
+hostile legions.
+
+After the royal ambassadors had departed with their pacific message, the
+mind of Montezuma was harassed and agitated with many doubts of the
+propriety of the course he had adopted. His nobles, and the tributary
+princes of the neighboring cities of Tezcuco, Tlacopan, and Iztapalapan,
+were divided in their opinions. Some complained, though not loudly, of
+the weak and vacillating policy of the king. Some, even of the common
+people, feared the consequences, anticipating the most disastrous
+results, in accordance with their superstitious veneration for the
+oracles of their faith. The third day after the departure of the envoys,
+the king was pacing up and down one of the beautifully shaded walks of
+the royal gardens, listening with a disturbed mind to the powerful
+expostulations of his brother, Cuitlahua, who, from the beginning, had
+vehemently opposed every concession to the invaders, and urgently
+solicited permission to lead the army against them, and drive them from
+the land. Suddenly, a voice as of a distant choir of chanters arrested
+his ear. The melody was solemn, sweet and soothing. It seemed to come
+sometimes from the upper regions of the air, in tones of silvery
+clearness and power, sometimes from beneath, in suppressed and muffled
+harmony, as when the swell organ soliloquises with all its valves
+closed,--sometimes it retreated, as if dying into an echo along the
+distant avenues of royal palms and aged cypresses, or the citron and
+orange groves that skirted the farther end of the garden, and then,
+suddenly, and with great power, it burst in the full tide of impassioned
+song, from every tree and bower in that vast paradise of terrestrial
+sweets. Enchanted by the more than Circean melody, the brothers paused
+in their animated discourse, and stood, for a few moments, in silent
+wonder and fixed attention. Presently the chanting ceased, and one
+solitary voice broke forth in plaintive but emphatic recitative as from
+the midst of the sparkling jet that played its ceaseless tune in the
+grand porphyritic basin near which they stood. The words, which were
+simple and oracular, struck deep into the heart of Montezuma, and found
+a ready response in that of his royal brother.
+
+ The lion[C] walks forth in his power and pride,
+ The terror and lord of the forest wide--
+ When the fox appears, shall he flee and hide?
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ The eagle's nest is strong and high,
+ Unquestioned monarch of the sky--
+ Should he quail before the falcon's eye?
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ The sun rides forth through the heavens afar,
+ Dispensing light from his flaming car--
+ Should he veil his glory, or turn him back,
+ When the meteor flashes athwart his track?
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Shall the eagle invite the hawk to his nest?
+ Shall the fox with the lion sit down as a guest?
+ Shall the meteor look out from the noonday sky,
+ When the sun in his power is flaming by?
+
+The pauses in this significant chant were followed by choral symphonies,
+expressing, as eloquently as inarticulate sounds could do, the most
+earnest remonstrance, the most moving expostulation. When this was
+concluded, the same sweet voice broke forth again, in tones of solemn
+tenderness and majestic power, in a prophetic warning to Montezuma.
+
+ Beware, mighty monarch! beware of the hour,
+ When the pale-faced intruder shall come to this bower!
+ Beware of the weakness that whispers of fear,
+ When the all-grasping, gold-seeking Spaniard is near!
+ Beware how thou readest the dark scroll of fate!
+ Its mystic revealings may warn thee too late,
+ That the power to command, and the strength to oppose,
+ Are gone, when thou openest the gate to thy foes.
+ The white men are mortal--frail sons of the earth,
+ They know not, they claim not, a heavenly birth;
+ They bow to disease, and they fall by the sword,
+ Pale fear can disarm them, grim death is their lord;
+ And those terrible coursers, so fiery and strong,
+ That bear them like ravenous tigers along,
+ The fleet winged arrow shall pierce them, and slay,
+ And leave them to eagles and vultures a prey.
+
+ Up, monarch! arouse thee--the hour is at hand
+ When the dark howling tempest shall sweep o'er thy land.
+ Thy doubts and thy fears, ever changing, are rife
+ With peril to liberty, honor and life;
+ And this timid inaction shall surely bring down
+ To the dust, in dishonor, thy glorious crown;
+ And leave, to all time, on thy once-honored head,
+ The curse of a nation forsaken, betrayed.
+ Oh! rouse thee, brave monarch! there's power in thy hand
+ To scatter the clouds that hang over thy land.
+ Speak, speak but the word, there is magic in thee,
+ Before which the ruthless invader shall flee,
+ And myriads of braves, all equipped for defence,
+ Shall leap at thy bidding, and banish him hence;
+ And the gods, who would frown on the recreant slave,
+ Will stand by their altars, and fight for the brave.
+
+The effect of this mysterious warning upon the mind of Montezuma was
+exceedingly powerful, and seemed, for a time, to change his purpose and
+fix his resolution. With an energy and decision to which he had long
+been a stranger, he turned to his brother, and said, "Cuitlahua, you are
+right. This realm is mine. The gods have made me the father of this
+people. I must and will defend them. The strangers shall be driven back,
+or die. They shall never profane the temples and altars of Tenochtitlan,
+by entering within its gates, or looking upon its walls. Go, marshall
+your host, and prepare to meet them, before they advance a step
+further."
+
+Exulting in this sudden demonstration of his ancient martial spirit in
+his royal brother, and fired with a double zeal in the cause he had so
+much at heart, by the thrilling influence upon his soul of the
+mysterious oracle, whose message had been uttered in his hearing,
+Cuitlahua scarcely waited for the ordinary courtesy of bidding farewell
+to the king, but flew with the speed of the wind, to execute the
+grateful trust committed to him. Despatching his messengers in every
+direction, only a few hours elapsed before his army was drawn up in the
+great square of the city; and, ere the sun had gone down, they had
+passed the gates, traversed the grand causeway that linked the
+amphibious city with the main land, and pitched their camp in a
+favorable position, several leagues on the way to Cholula.
+
+The ardent imagination of the prince of Iztapalapan kindled at the
+prospect now opened before. The clouds, so long hanging over his beloved
+country, were dissipated as by magic, and the clear light of heaven
+streamed in upon his path, promising a quick and easy conquest, a
+glorious triumph, and a permanent peace. He had been in many battles,
+but had never been defeated. He believed the Mexican army invincible any
+where, but especially on their own soil, and fighting for their altars
+and their hearths. Terrible as the invading strangers had been hitherto,
+he had no fear of the coming encounter. He confidently expected to
+annihilate them at a blow. Happily his soldiers were all animated with
+the same spirit, and they took to their rest that night, eager for the
+morning to come, that should light them on their way to a certain and
+glorious victory.
+
+No sooner had the army departed, than a change came over the spirit of
+the ill-fated Montezuma. The demons of doubt and fear returned to
+perplex and harass his soul, and to incline him again to that
+vacillating policy, those half way measures, by which his doom was to be
+sealed. In an agony of distrust and suspense, he recounted to himself
+the history of the past, reviewing all those dark and fearful
+prophecies, those oft-repeated and mysteriously significant omens,
+which, for so many years, had foreshadowed the events of the present
+day, and revealed the inevitable doom of the empire, sealed with the
+signet of heaven. The impressions produced by the recent warnings of
+Karee faded and disappeared before the deep and indelible traces of
+those ancient oracles, on which he had been accustomed from his youth
+sacredly to rely. He was once more adrift in a tempest of contending
+impulses, at one moment abandoning all in a paroxism of despair, at
+another, vainly flattering himself with the hope of deliverance in some
+ill-formed stratagem, but never nerving himself to a tone of resolute
+defiance, or venturing to rest a hope on the issue of an open encounter.
+
+The result of all this agitation was, another abandonment of his noble
+purpose of defence, and a new resort to stratagem. But the plan of
+operations, and the scene of execution, were changed. Cholula was
+selected as the theatre of destruction. The Spaniards had already been
+invited to take that city in their route, and orders had been given, and
+preparations made, for their hospitable reception. It was now resolved
+to make their acceptance of that invitation the signal and seal of their
+destruction. They were to be drawn into the city, alone, under the
+pretence that the presence of their Tlascalan allies, who were the
+ancient and bitter enemies of the Cholulans, would be likely to create
+disturbance in the city, and lead to collision if not to bloodshed. The
+Cholulans were instructed to provide them with a place of encampment, in
+the heart of their city, where they could easily be surrounded, and cut
+to pieces. The streets of the city were then to be broken up by deep
+pits in some places, and barricades in others, to impede the movements
+of the horses, more dreaded than even the thunder and lightning of their
+riders. This being completed under cover of the night, the city was to
+be filled with soldiers ready to do the work of execution, while the
+brave Cuitlahua, with the flower of the army of Tenochtitlan, was to
+encamp at a convenient distance without the walls, to render prompt
+assistance, in case it should be needed.
+
+This plan being fully arranged in the mind of the Emperor, messengers
+were despatched with the light of the morning, to arrest the movements
+of Cuitlahua, and convey the necessary orders to the governor of
+Cholula. The warlike chieftain was deeply chagrined, and bitterly
+disappointed, in finding his orders so suddenly countermanded. He saw
+only certain ruin in the ever-wavering policy of the king, and was
+unable to conceive of any hope, except in striking a bold and decisive
+blow. He was willing to stake all upon a single cast, and drive back the
+insolent invader, or perish in the attempt. But Montezuma was the
+absolute monarch. His word was law; and, though not irreversible like
+that of the Medo-Persian, it was never to be questioned by any of his
+subjects. The hero must therefore rest on his arms, and await the issue
+of a doubtful stratagem.
+
+Meanwhile, the eager and self sufficient Castilians had pushed forward
+to Cholula, and entered its gates, under a royal escort, that came out
+to meet them, and amid the constrained shouts and half hearted
+congratulations of a countless multitude of natives, who with mingled
+fear, hatred and curiosity, gazed on the conquerors as a superior race
+of beings, and made way for them on every side, to take possession of
+their city. They were received with the greatest deference and
+consideration by the chiefs of the little republic, and the ambassadors
+of Montezuma, who had halted on their way, to prepare a more honorable
+reception for their guests, and further to ingratiate them with their
+master, by doing away, as far they could, the unfavorable impressions of
+him and his people, which might have made on their minds, by their
+intercourse with their old and implacable enemies of the republic of
+Tlascala.
+
+Such was the mutual jealousy and hatred of these neighboring nations,
+that, while the Cholulans could, in no wise agree to admit the
+Tlascalans to accompany Cortez into their city, they, on their part,
+were extremely reluctant to allow him to go in alone, assuring him in
+the strongest terms, that they were the most treacherous and deceitful
+of men, and their promises and professions utterly unworthy of
+confidence. Scorning danger, however, and determined at all hazards, to
+embrace every opening that seemed to facilitate his approach to the
+Mexican capital, he marched fearlessly in, and took up his quarters in
+the great square, or market place. Here, ample accommodations were
+provided for him and his band. Every courtesy was extended to them by
+the citizens and their rulers. Their table was amply supplied with all
+the necessaries and luxuries of the place. They were regarded with a
+kind of superstitious awe by the multitude, as a race of beings
+belonging to another world, of ethereal mould, and supernatural powers;
+and their camp was visited by those of all ranks, and all ages, eager to
+catch a view of the terrible strangers.
+
+A few days after their arrival, a new embassy from the imperial palace
+was announced. They held no communication with Cortez, but had a long
+consultation with the previous envoys still remaining there, and with
+the authorities of the city. From this time, there was a striking change
+in the aspect of the Cholulans towards their guests. They were soon made
+to perceive and feel that, though invited, they were not welcome guests.
+The daily supplies for their table were greatly diminished. They
+received but few and formal visits from the chiefs, and but cold
+attention from any of the nobles. Cortez was quick to perceive the
+change, but unable to divine its meaning. It caused him many an anxious
+hour, especially when he remembered the serious and urgent
+representations of his Tlascalan allies of the deceitful and treacherous
+character of the Cholulans. His apprehensions were by no means
+diminished, when he learned from the morning report of the night guards,
+that through the entire night, which had hitherto been a season of
+perfect silence and repose in the city, sounds were heard on every side,
+as of people earnestly engaged in some works of fortification, sometimes
+digging in the earth, sometimes laying up stones in heaps, and in
+various other ways, "vexing the dull ear of night with uncouth noise."
+It was found, on examination, that the streets in many places were
+barricaded, and holes, in others, were lightly covered with branches of
+trees. Unable to explain these matters, and not wishing to give offence
+to his entertainers by enquiring too curiously into what might be no
+more than the ordinary preparation for a national festival, he sent one
+of his chief officers to report to the Tlascalan commander, without the
+gates of the city, and enquire what might be the meaning of these
+singular movements. Having learned in reply, that a hostile attack was
+undoubtedly contemplated, and that a large force of Mexicans, under
+command of the brave Cuitlahua, brother of Montezuma, was encamped at no
+great distance, ready to co-operate with the Cholulans at a moment's
+warning, and that a great number of victims had been offered in
+sacrifice, to propitiate the favor of their gods, the haughty Spaniard
+found his position any thing but agreeable. He was a stranger to fear,
+but he was certainly most sadly perplexed. And, when, in addition to the
+information already received, he learned from Marina, his female
+interpreter, that she had been warned by a friend in the city to abandon
+the Spaniards, that she might not be involved in their ruin, he was, for
+a time, quite at a loss what to do. To retreat, would be to manifest
+fear, and a distrust of his own resources, which might be fatal to his
+future influence with the natives. To remain where he was--inactive,
+would be to stand still in the yawning crater of a volcano, when the
+overcharged cauldron below had already begun to belch forth sulphureous
+flames and smoke.
+
+The character of the conqueror was one precisely adapted to such
+exigencies as this. Through the whole course of his wonderful career, he
+seems to have rushed into difficulty, for the mere pleasure of fighting
+his way out. In order to extricate himself, he never lost a moment in
+parleying or diplomacy. His measures were bold, decided, and direct,
+indicating a self-reliance, and a confidence in his men and means, which
+is the surest guaranty of success. In this case, having satisfied
+himself of the actual existence of a conspiracy, he sent for the chief
+rulers, upbraided them with their want of hospitality, informed them
+that he should leave the place at break of day the next morning, and
+demanded a large number of men, to assist in removing his baggage.
+Promising to comply with this demand, which favored the execution of
+their own designs, the chiefs departed, and Cortez and his band,
+sleeping on their arms, prepared for the coming conflict.
+
+Punctually, at the peep of dawn, the princes of Cholula marched into the
+court, accompanied by a much larger number of men than Cortez had
+required. With a calm bold air, the haughty Castilian confronted them,
+charging them with treachery, and detailing all the circumstances of the
+concerted massacre. He upbraided them with their duplicity and baseness,
+and gave them to understand that they should pay dear for their
+false-hearted and cruel designs against those, who, confiding in their
+hospitality and promises of friendship, had come to their city, and
+slept quietly within their gates.
+
+Thunderstruck at this unexpected turn of affairs, and fearing more than
+ever the strange beings, who could read their very thoughts, and fathom
+the designs which were yet scarcely matured in their own bosoms, the
+disconcerted magnates tremblingly pleaded guilty to the charge, and
+attempted to excuse themselves, by urging their allegiance to Montezuma,
+and the duty and necessity of obeying his commands, however repugnant
+to their own feelings.
+
+It was not the policy of Cortez to admit this plea, in extenuation of
+their treachery. He preferred to cast the whole burden upon them alone,
+and leave the way open for an easy disclaimer on the part of the
+emperor, hoping thereby the more readily to gain a peaceable entry into
+the capital. Without waiting, therefore, for any further explanations,
+or instituting any inquiry into the comparative guilt of the parties, he
+gave the signal to his soldiers, who, with a general discharge of their
+artillery and fire arms, rushed upon the unprepared multitude, mowing
+them down like grass, and trampling them under the hoofs of their
+horses. A general massacre ensued. Not one of the chiefs escaped, and
+only so many of their panic-struck followers, as could feign themselves
+dead, or bury themselves, till the tempest was past, under the heaps of
+their slain comrades.
+
+Thus taken by surprise, and driven, before they were ready, into an
+unequal conflict with enemies who had, by some miracle, as they
+supposed, anticipated their movements, and struck the first blow, the
+Cholulans rushed in from all parts of their city, hoping to retrieve, by
+their numbers and prowess, the disadvantage of the lost onset. Cortez
+had prepared for this. He had ordered his artillery to be stationed at
+the main entrances to the square, where they poured in a raking fire
+upon the assailants, rushing in from all the avenues. The surprise being
+so sudden, and the leaders having been shot down at the first charge,
+confusion and consternation prevailed among the discomfited Cholulans,
+who alternately fled, like affrighted sheep, from the scene of
+slaughter, and then rushed back, like exasperated wolves, to the work of
+death.
+
+In anticipation of this conflict, the Spanish general had concerted a
+signal with his Tlascalan allies, without the gates, who now came
+rushing in, like hungry tigers, revelling in the opportunity to inflict
+a terrible vengeance upon their ancient enemies. Falling upon their
+rear, as they crowded in from the remoter quarters of the city towards
+the field of carnage, they drove them in upon the weapons of the
+Spaniards, from which there was now no escape. Turning upon this new
+enemy, they fought with desperate bravery, to win a retreat. But they
+were cut down on this side and that, till the streets were scarcely
+passable for the heaps of the dead and dying that cumbered them. Those
+who took refuge in their houses and temples, found no safety in such
+retreats, for they were instantly fired by the Tlascalans, and their
+defenders perished miserably in the flames.
+
+There was one scene in the midst of this desolating conflict, that was
+truly sublime,--one of those strange combinations of moral and physical
+grandeur, which sometimes occur in the dark annals of human warfare,
+investing with a kind of hallowed interest, which the lapse of ages
+serves only to soften, but never destroys, those spectacles of savage
+but heroic cruelty, where every death is elevated into a martyrdom, and
+the very ground saturated with human blood becomes a consecrated field,
+clothed with laurels of never-fading green. It was the last act in that
+bloody drama, enacted on the lofty summit of the great Teocalli, the
+principal temple of Cholula, and the centre of attraction to all the
+votaries of the Aztec religion, throughout the wide realms of Anahuac.
+Driven from street to street, and from quarter to quarter, and falling
+back, as a forlorn hope, upon the sanctuary, and the support and
+encouragement of the hoary men, who presided over the mysteries of their
+faith, they made a bold and desperate stand, in defence of all that was
+dear and holy in their homes and their altars. Step by step, they
+contested this hallowed ground, till they reached the upper terrace,
+where the great temple stood. This was an area of four hundred feet
+square, at an elevation of two hundred feet from the level of the
+surrounding streets. On this elevated platform, the furious combatants
+fought hand to hand; the priest, in his sacred garments, mingling in the
+savage conflict with the humblest of his followers--the steel-clad
+Castilian, the Tlascalan and the Cholulan, of every rank and grade, each
+eager only to slay his man, grappled in the mortal conflict, till one or
+the other fell in the death struggle, or tumbled over the side of the
+mound, to be dashed in pieces below. As the half-armed, half-naked
+natives melted away before the heavy and destructive weapons of the
+invulnerable Spaniards, they were repeatedly offered quarter, but
+scorned to accept it. One only submitted, when, pierced with countless
+wounds, he could stand no longer. All the rest, to a man, fought
+desperately till he fell, and many, even then, in the agonies of the
+last struggle, seized their antagonists by the legs, and rolled with
+them over the parapet, to the certain death of both.
+
+At length the conflict ceased for want of a victim, and the conquering
+Castilian, with a few of his Tlascalan allies, stood alone, in
+undisputed possession of this lofty vantage ground. The disheartened
+Cholulans, without leaders, without counsellors, seeing their sacred
+temple in the hands of their enemies, felt that all was lost. Not
+another blow was struck, but every where they bowed in submission to the
+irresistible conqueror.
+
+The thunder of the artillery, and the smoke of the burning buildings,
+rising in a heavy column to the skies, announced to the Mexican army the
+conflict that was raging within the city. But, having orders not to
+engage in the fray, unless notified by the Cholulan chiefs that his
+assistance was necessary, the brave Cuitlahua was compelled to wait the
+summons. Burning to vindicate the honor of the Mexican arms, the hero
+chafed under this cruel restraint, like a tiger chained in full view of
+his prey. He little doubted that the Castilians would fall by the hands
+of the Cholulans, encompassed as they were on every side, with no room
+for escape, or for the action of their horses. But he longed to have a
+share in the victory. Drawing up his forces in the order of march, he
+stood, the whole day, in readiness to move at a moment's warning; and in
+this attitude, he was still standing, when the tidings of the terrible
+disaster in the city reached him.
+
+His veteran legions were with difficulty restrained from rushing to the
+rescue. The army was almost in a state of mutiny, from their eagerness
+to avenge their slaughtered brethren in Cholula; and all the military
+authority, and unbounded influence of Cuitlahua were required to keep
+them in a state of due subordination.
+
+The influence and authority of Cortez, on the other hand, were scarcely
+sufficient to restrain his victorious allies from ravaging the city, and
+putting men, women, and children to an indiscriminate slaughter. So
+bitter and pervading was the old national animosity, that life was
+scarcely worth possessing to a Tlascalan, if he must share its daily
+blessings side by side with the Aztec. He hated the whole nation with a
+perfect implacable hatred. He execrated the very name, and never uttered
+it without a curse. Of this universal malediction, the Cholulan was
+honored with more than his appropriate share. The other subjects and
+tributaries of Montezuma they feared as well as hated. The Cholulans
+they affected also to despise, though their contempt was not so thorough
+as to mitigate in the least their fierce and uncontrollable hatred.
+
+ [C] As Americus Vespucius, in his letter to Lorenzo Di
+ Pier-Francesco De Medici, reports having met with the lion in
+ South America, I have taken the liberty to introduce him as a
+ native in our forests, notwithstanding the prevalent opinion of
+ naturalists to the contrary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL--THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD--THE
+ SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING.
+
+ ~For monarchs tremble on their thrones,
+ And 'neath the gem-lit crown,
+ Care, fear, and envy dwell--~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~----They come,
+ Mysterious, dreaded band!
+ With clang of trumpet, torch and brand;
+ With lightning speed, with lightning power,
+ They scale the lofty mountain tower,
+ And sweep along the vale--
+ Who shall arrest their proud career,
+ And save our doomed land?~
+
+
+This position of affairs suited the timid and vacillating policy of
+Montezuma. Finding that Cuitlahua, and his forces, had taken no part in
+the affair, and had not even visited the city, he immediately sent an
+embassy to the Spanish camp, disclaiming all participation in the
+treacherous counsels and doings of the Cholulans, and severely blaming
+them for their unheard of outrage upon the rites of hospitality. Whether
+the sharp-sighted Castilian placed any confidence in these professions,
+or not, it suited his designs to appear to do so. With the utmost
+seeming cordiality, he assured the royal messengers that it gave him the
+most heartfelt satisfaction to know that the treatment he had received
+at Cholula was not instigated or countenanced by their august master,
+that it was unworthy of a great and wise monarch, and that he should
+proceed on his route to the capital, with the same confidence as before,
+and visit the emperor as if nothing had happened to hinder his progress.
+
+Withdrawing the forces under Cuitlahua, and giving orders every where
+for the hospitable reception and entertainment of the Castilians, whom
+he had no longer the heart to oppose either by stratagem or by force,
+Montezuma retired within his palace, and for several days shut himself
+up from all intercourse with his chiefs. He was now fully convinced that
+his destiny was sealed, and with it that of his family and crown. He was
+in the hands of an unappeasable fate. He gave himself up to fasting,
+prayer and sacrifice. He consulted all his oracles anew. But they gave
+no response. He then sought counsel of his chiefs, and the sages of his
+court. Here again he was distracted by the divided opinions of his
+friends. While many of the princes, overawed by the invincible courage
+and invariable success of the Castilians, advised a frank and courteous
+reception, there was still a powerful war-party, with the brave
+Cuitlahua at their head, who were eager to measure lances with the
+strangers, and show them that, in order to reach the capital, they had
+other foes to contend with and overcome, than half savage Tlascalans, or
+trading Cholulans.
+
+Montezuma found no difficulty in following the counsel of the majority,
+though the mystic warning of Karee had not wholly faded from his mind. A
+new embassy was immediately despatched, consisting of a numerous suite
+of powerful nobles, and a long train of servants bearing rich presents
+of gold, and other valuables, and charged with a message couched in
+terms of humble and earnest supplication, proposing, if the Spaniards
+would now return, not only to send them home laden with gold to their
+utmost wish, but to pay an annual tribute of gold to their master, the
+king of Spain. Finding that this bribe only fired the grasping conqueror
+with a more fixed determination to secure the whole prize for which he
+had so long, and against such fearful odds, contended, the messengers
+yielded the point, and threw wide open to the dreaded foe every avenue
+to the heart of the empire, assuring him, in the name of the Emperor,
+that he should be received as a brother, and entertained with the
+consideration due to the powerful representative of a mighty monarch.
+
+The march of the Spaniards was now a continued triumph. No longer
+compelled to fight their way on, they had time to enjoy the rich and
+varied scenery, to scale the mountain, explore the caverns and ravines
+of the sierras, and the craters of the volcanoes, and show to the
+admiring natives, by their agility and love of adventure, that fighting
+and conquest had neither tamed their spirits, nor exhausted their
+physical powers. As they advanced, they were continually surprised and
+delighted with the growing evidences of civilization and high prosperity
+which met them on every side. In the cultivation of the land, in the
+style of architecture, and in all that constitutes the refinement, or
+contributes to the comfort of life, the regions they were now
+traversing very far exceeded the best of those through which they had
+passed. They were continually gaining more exalted ideas of the power,
+wealth and glory of the great Montezuma, and more enlarged views of the
+magnificence of their own adventure, and the importance of their
+position and movements. The ambition of Cortez reached to the
+viceroyalty of this splendid empire; and, though accompanied by a mere
+handful of men, their past achievements inspired him with confidence,
+that he could carry every thing before him.
+
+Though entertained with lordly munificence in every place through which
+he passed, and visited and complimented by envoys from all the states
+embraced in the Mexican domain, the sagacious Spaniard relaxed none of
+his vigilance, nor diminished aught of the strict discipline of his
+little corps. With an eye ever awake to his own safety, and feeling that
+the artful contriver of one stratagem could easily invent another, he
+advanced from post to post, in martial array, always ready for the
+exigency that might arise. His course, however, was unmolested. The
+resources and hopes of the great king seemed to have been exhausted. In
+passive despair, he was waiting for the hour of his doom.
+
+The terror of the events we have described fell not alone upon the
+unfortunate Montezuma; nor did they affect him only as monarch of the
+realm. As a parent, fondly devoted to his children, whose destiny was
+wrapped up in his, as the father of his people, to whom he had been a
+kind of demi-god, the vicegerent of heaven, entitled to their
+unqualified reverence, obedience and love, he felt with tenfold
+intensity the bitterness of his humiliation. In all his sufferings and
+distresses his wives and children shared, showing, by every token in
+their power, their profound respect and affection, and their tender
+sympathy in all his cares.
+
+In these lovely demonstrations of filial affection, none were more
+assiduous or warm-hearted, and none more successful in reaching the
+heart of the broken spirited monarch, or winning from him an occasional
+smile of hope, than Tecuichpo. Just ripening into womanhood, with every
+gift of person, mind and heart that could satisfy the pride of the
+monarch, and requite to the full the yearning love of the father, the
+fair princess lavished on him all her powers of persuasion and
+condolence. It was all in vain. It even aggravated his sorrows; for it
+was on _her_ account, and that of others dearer to him than his own
+life, that he suffered most deeply. The mysterious shadows that had
+brooded so darkly over the infancy of his lovely daughter, had never
+ceased to shed a chilling gloom over his mind. Her clouded destiny was
+linked with his, not merely as a child, but as one specifically marked
+out, by infallible signs from heaven, for a signal doom. His
+superstitious faith invested her and her fate with a peculiar
+sacredness. She was as one whom the gods had devoted to an awful
+sacrifice, from which neither imperial power nor paternal love could
+rescue her. It therefore pierced his soul with a deeper pang to gaze
+upon her loveliness, and witness her amiable efforts to soothe and
+sustain him in the midst of calamities that were more terrible and
+overwhelming to her, than even to himself. If, by offering himself as a
+sacrifice to his offended gods, he could have propitiated their favor
+for his family and his people, and handed down to his posterity an
+undiminished empire and an untarnished crown, he would have gone with as
+much pride and pleasure, to the altar, as to a triumphal festival that
+should celebrate his victory, and clothe his brow with unfading laurel.
+But in this sacrifice there was no substitution. He was himself the most
+distinguished victim, destined to the highest and hottest place on the
+great altar of his country, where a hecatomb would scarce suffice to
+appease the anger of the offended gods.
+
+Gathering his royal household around him, he explained to them the
+peculiarity of his position, avowing his entire confidence in the
+ancient prophecy, which declared that the realm of Anahuac belonged to a
+race of white men, who had gone away, for a season towards the rising
+sun, and who, after the lapse of ages, were to return in power, and
+claim their inheritance. It was the predestined arrangement of the gods,
+and could not be resisted. He had, from the beginning felt that
+resistance was wholly vain, and had only attempted it, in deference to
+the urgent advice and solicitations of his best and most experienced
+counsellors. For himself, he was ready, at any time, to stand at his
+post, and die, if necessary, in defence of his crown and his people. But
+he could not contend with the gods. Empires and crowns, and the lives
+and happiness of nations, were at their disposal, and kings and subjects
+alike must submit to their righteous requirements. It was but the
+dictate of common piety to say "the will of the gods be done." Hard and
+trying as it was, he felt it incumbent on him to relinquish his crown
+and his honors, at their bidding, as cheerfully as he should lay down
+his life, when his destined hour should arrive. He counselled them to
+bow submissively to their inevitable fate, in the hope that, though
+humbled, broken and scattered in this world, they might meet and dwell
+together in peace in the paradise of the gods.
+
+His wives and children wept around him. They besought him to hope yet
+for the best--to turn away his thoughts from the dark visions on which
+he had dwelt too long and too intensely. Their mysterious forebodings of
+evil might yet be averted, through the favor of the gods, to whom a
+childlike, cheerful confidence in their benignity and paternal regard,
+was more acceptable, than that blind abandonment, sometimes mistaken for
+submission, which views them as stern, arbitrary, and implacable
+tyrants, rather than as parents of the human family, watching over it
+for the good of mankind, and ordering all events for the welfare of
+their true children.
+
+This was a cheerful faith, and, seasonably adopted, might have saved the
+life and throne of Montezuma, and preserved, for many years, the
+integrity of his empire. But his heart was not prepared to receive it.
+Steeped in the dismal superstitions of the Aztec faith, and yielding
+himself unreservedly to the guidance and dictation of its constituted
+oracles, he had never, for a moment, allowed himself to falter in his
+conviction, that the Aztec dynasty was to terminate with him, and that
+he and his family were doomed to a terrible destruction, in the
+overthrow of the sacred institutions of his beloved land.
+
+The scene was too thrilling for the tender heart of Tecuichpo, and she
+swooned away in the arms of her father, who had drawn her towards him in
+an affectionate embrace. The attendants were called, and, as soon as the
+unhappy princess was restored to consciousness, the king directed the
+royal barges to be prepared, and went out, with all his household, to
+enjoy the invigorating air of the lake, and seek relief from the dark
+thoughts that oppressed and overwhelmed them, in contemplating, from
+various points in view, the rich and varied scenery of that glorious
+valley.
+
+It was a brave spectacle to behold, when the imperial majesty of
+Tenochtitlan condescended to accompany his little fleet on such an
+excursion. The gaily appointed canoes, with their gorgeous canopies of
+embroidered cotton, and feather-work; the splendid robes and plumes of
+the king and his attendants; the rich and fanciful attire of the women;
+the light, graceful, arrowy motions of the painted skiffs, as they
+danced along the waves; together with the wonderful beauty of the lake,
+and its swimming gardens of flowers, presented a _toute ensemble_ more
+like the fairy pictures of some enchanted sphere, than any thing we can
+now realize as belonging to this plain, prosaic, matter-of-fact world of
+ours. On this occasion, it seemed more gay and fairy-like than ever, in
+contrast, perhaps, with the deep gloom that had settled on the land,
+pervading every heart, with its sombre shadows.
+
+The light pirogues of the natives, flying hither and thither over the
+glassy waters, on errands of business or of pleasure, arrayed in
+flowers, or freighted with fruits and vegetables for the grand market of
+Tenochtitlan, made way, on every side, for the advance of the royal
+cortege, which, threading the shining avenues between the gaily-colored
+_chinampas_, that spotted the surface of that beautiful lake, like so
+many islands of flowers on the bosom of the ocean, danced over the
+waters to the sound of music, and the merry voices of glad hearts,
+rejoicing in the sunny smiles that now played on the countenance of the
+king, as if the clouds that had so long overshadowed it, were never to
+return. Tecuichpo, restored to more than her wonted gaiety, was full of
+life and animation. Never had she seemed, in the eyes of her doting
+father, and of the admiring courtiers, half so lovely as at this moment.
+She was the centre attraction for all eyes. Her resplendent beauty, her
+fairy-like gracefulness of motion, and the artless simplicity of her
+manners, won the admiring notice of all. Her gaiety was infectious. Her
+merry laugh reached, with a sort of electric influence, every heart in
+that bright company, and compelled even her father to abandon, for the
+time, his sad and solemn reflections, and give himself up to the spirit
+of the hour and the scene.
+
+Guatimozin was there, and exerted all his eloquence to keep up the
+spirit of the hour, in the earnest hope that Montezuma would put on all
+the monarch again, and assert the majesty of his insulted crown, and the
+rights of his house and his people, in despite of omen or legend, and in
+the face of every foe.
+
+Tecuichpo became more and more animated, till she seemed quite lifted
+above herself and the world about her. Suddenly rising in the midst, and
+pointing, with great energy of expression, to the royal eagle of
+Mexico, then sweeping down from his mountain eyrie, to prey upon the
+ocelot of the distant valley, she exclaimed--
+
+ 'Tis he! 'Tis he! our imperial bird!
+ Whom the gods to our aid have sent;
+ I saw him in my dream, and heard,
+ As down from his airy flight he bent,
+ His victor shout, with the dying wail,
+ Of the coming foe, borne on the gale;
+ While the air was dark with the gathering throng
+ Of bold young eaglets, that swept along
+ From every cliff, in fierceness and wrath,
+ To gorge on their prey, in the mountain path.
+
+When she ceased, an echo from a richly cultivated chinampa, which they
+were then passing, seemed to take up and prolong the strain.
+
+ I saw it too, and I heard the scream,
+ In the midst of my dark and troubled dream;
+ 'Twas a dream of despair for our doomed land,
+ For his wings were bound by the royal hand;
+ His talons were wreathed with a golden chain,
+ He smelt the prey, and he chafed in vain,
+ For they trampled him down, in their brave career,
+ While our monarch looked on with unmanly fear,
+ Till his crown and his sceptre in dust were laid low,
+ And proud Tenochtitlan had passed to the foe.
+
+The last words of this solemn chant died away on the ear, just as the
+royal barge rounded the little artificial promontory, which the
+ingenious Karee had constructed, for the double purpose of an arbor and
+look-out, at one of the angles of her chinampa. Leaning over the brow,
+and supporting herself by the overhanging branch of a luxuriant myrtle,
+she dropped a wreath of evergreen upon the head of Tecuichpo, and said--
+
+ Oh! child of doom,
+ Thy long sealed destiny is come--
+ One brief, dark, dreadful night,
+ Then on those blessed eyes
+ Another day shall rise,
+ Fair, glorious, bright,
+ With an unearthly endless light.
+ Thou shall lay down
+ An earthly crown,
+ To win a starry sceptre in the skies
+
+At this moment, signals were heard among the distant hills, which,
+answered and repeated from countless stations along the wild sierras,
+and reverberated by a thousand echoes as they came, burst upon the quiet
+valley, like the confused shouts of a mighty host rushing to battle. It
+fell like a death-knell upon the ear of Montezuma. It announced the
+arrival, within the mountain wall which encompassed his golden valley,
+of the dreaded strangers. It heralded their near approach to his
+capital, and the exposure of all he held dear to their irresistible
+power--their terrible rapacity. His heart sunk within him. But he had
+gone too far to retract. It was the act of the gods, not his. Banishing
+from his mind the impressions of the scenes just passed, he waved his
+hand to the rowers, and instantly every prow was turned, and the gaily
+caparisoned, but melancholy, terror-stricken pageant moved rapidly back
+to the city.
+
+Tenochtitlan was now alive with the bustle of preparation. It was the
+preparation, not for war, which would far better have suited the
+multitude both of the chiefs and the people, but for the hospitable
+reception and entertainment of the strangers. The great imperial palace,
+which had been the royal residence of the father of Montezuma, was
+fitted up for their accommodation. With its numberless apartments, its
+spacious courts, and magnificent gardens, it was sufficient for an army
+much larger than that of the Castilians, swelled as it was by the
+company of their Tlascalan allies. Every room was newly hung with
+beautifully colored tapestry, and furnished with all the conveniences
+and luxuries of Mexican life. The appointments and provisions were all
+on a most liberal scale, for the Emperor was as generous and munificent
+as the golden mountains from which he drew his inexhaustible treasures.
+
+Intending that nothing should be wanting to the graciousness of his
+submission to this act of constrained courtesy, Montezuma proposed to
+his brother Cuitlahua, to choose a royal retinue from the flower of the
+Aztec nobility, and go out to meet the strangers; and bid them welcome,
+in his name, to his realm and his capital. From this the soul of the
+proud undaunted soldier revolted, and he entreated so earnestly to be
+excused from executing a commission, so much at variance with his
+feelings and his convictions, that the monarch relented, and assigned
+the mission to Cacama, the young prince of Tezcuco.
+
+Nothing could exceed the gorgeous splendor of this embassy. Borne in a
+beautiful palanquin, canopied and curtained with the rarest of Mexican
+feather-work, richly powdered with jewels, and glittering with gold,
+Cacama, preceded and followed by a long train of noble veterans and
+youths, all apparelled in the gayest costume of their country, presented
+himself before the advancing host. His approach, and the errand on which
+he came, having been announced by a herald, Cortez halted his band, and
+drew up his forces in the best possible array, to give him a fitting
+reception.
+
+The meeting took place at Ajotzinco, on, or rather within, the borders
+of the lake Chalco, the first of the bright chain of inland lakes which
+the Spaniards had seen, and the place where they first saw that species
+of amphibious architecture, which prevailed so extensively among the
+Mexicans. When the royal embassy arrived in front of the waiting army,
+Cacama alighted from his palanquin, while his obsequious officers swept
+the ground before him, that he might not soil his royal feet, by too
+rude a contact with the earth. He was a young man of about twenty five
+years, with a fine manly countenance, a noble and commanding figure, and
+an address and manners that would have done honor to the most courtly
+knight of Christendom. Stepping forward with a bland and dignified
+courtesy, he made the customary Mexican salutation to persons of high
+rank, touching his right hand to the ground, and raising it to his head.
+Cortez embraced him as he rose, and the prince, in the name of his royal
+master, gave the strangers a hearty welcome, assuring them that they
+should be received with a hospitality, and treated with a respect,
+becoming the representatives of a great and mighty prince. He then
+presented Cortez with a number of large and valuable pearls, which act
+of munificence was immediately returned by the present of a necklace of
+cut glass, hung over his neck by Cortez. As glass was not known to the
+Mexicans, it probably had in their eyes the value of the rarest jewels.
+
+This interview being over, the royal envoy hastened back to the capital,
+while the Castilians and their allies, in the two-fold character of
+hostile invaders and invited guests, followed his steps by slow, easy
+and cautious marches. After a few days, during which they passed through
+large tracts of highly cultivated and fertile ground, and several of the
+beautiful towns and cities of the plateau, they arrived at Iztapalapan,
+a place of great beauty, and large resources, and the residence of
+Cuitlahua, the noble brother of Montezuma. At the command of the
+Emperor, Cuitlahua, as governor of this place, received the strangers
+with courtesy, and treated them with attention. But it was a cold
+courtesy, and a constrained attention. With a proud and haughty mien,
+the brave soldier exhibited to the wondering strangers, all the riches
+and curiosities of the place, disposing every thing in such a manner as
+to impress them most powerfully with the immense wealth of the empire,
+and the irresistible power of the Emperor. He collected around him all
+the richest and most potent nobles in his neighborhood, and displayed a
+magnificence of style, and a prodigality of expenditure, that was truly
+princely. The extent and beauty of his gardens, his beautiful aviary,
+stocked with every variety of the gorgeously plumed birds of that
+tropical clime, his menagerie, containing a full representation of all
+the wild races of animals in Anahuac, struck the Spaniards with surprise
+and admiration; while the architecture of his palaces, and the many
+refinements of his style of living, gave them the highest ideas of the
+advanced state of civilization to which the Mexicans had attained.
+
+But, so far from disheartening them in their grand design, all they saw
+of wealth and splendor in the inferior cities, only served to inflame
+their desire to see the capital, and learn if any thing more brilliant
+and wonderful than they had yet seen, could be furnished at the great
+metropolis. While they were daily more and more convinced of the power
+and resources of their enemy, and the seeming impossibility of their own
+enterprise, they were also daily more and more inflamed with the desire
+and purpose to possess themselves of the incalculable treasures which
+every where met their eyes. The cold aspect, and lofty bearing of the
+Prince Cuitlahua, the commander-in-chief of the Mexican armies, and heir
+apparent to its throne, left no doubt that the final struggle for power
+would be ably and bitterly contested, and that the wealth they so
+ardently coveted, would be dearly bought. To a heart less bold and
+self-reliant than that of Cortez, it would have been no enviable
+position, to be shut up, with his little band of followers, within the
+gates of a city, commanded by so brave and experienced a soldier, whose
+personal feelings and views were known to be of the most hostile
+character. To the iron-hearted Castilian, it was but a scene in the
+progress of his romantic adventure; and, the greater the difficulty, the
+more imminent the peril, the more cordially he trusted to his good
+genius, or his patron saint, he seems not to have known which, to carry
+him triumphantly through.
+
+They were now but one day's march, and that a short and easy one, from
+the imperial city. Already they had seen it from a distance, resting,
+or rather riding, on the bosom of the lake, glowing and glittering in
+the sunbeams, like some resplendent constellation, transferred from the
+azure above to the azure below. They had seen its noble ally, the
+metropolis of the sister kingdom of Tezcuco, shining in rival though
+unequal splendor, on the opposite shore of the lake, and many other
+splendid cities, beautiful towns, and lovely hamlets, studding its
+bright border, in its entire circuit, like mingled gems and pearls,
+richly set in the band of the imperial diadem, all reposing under the
+shadow, and eclipsed by the superior glory, of the capital, the crowning
+jewel of the Western World. They had seen the _chinampas_, those
+wandering gardens of verdure and flowers, seeming more like the fairy
+creations of poetry, than the sober realities of life, and reminding
+them of those islands of the blest, which they had been told, in their
+childish days, floated about in the ethereal regions above, freighted
+with blessings for the virtuous, and sometimes stooping so near to earth
+as to permit the weary and the waiting to escape from their toils and
+trials here, and find repose in their celestial paradise. They had seen
+and admired the wonderful works of art, the causeways of vast extent,
+constructed with scientific accuracy, and of great strength and
+durability--the canals and aqueducts, and bridges, which would have done
+honor to the genius and industry of the proudest nation in Europe. It
+now remained to them to see the imperial lord of all these wide and
+luxuriant realms, and to enter, as invited guests, into the gates of his
+royal abode.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+ ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS AT THE CAPITAL--THEIR RECEPTION
+ BY MONTEZUMA--DETERMINED HOSTILITY OF GUATIMOZIN.
+
+ ~Hark! at the very portals now they stand,
+ Demanding entrance. Can I shut them out,
+ When all the gods commission them to come?
+ Can we admit them, and preserve intact
+ Our honor and the state?~
+
+
+The spectacle of this day, the eighth of November, 1519, has not its
+parallel in the annals of history, and will probably never be repeated
+in the history of man. The sovereign and absolute monarch of a populous
+and powerful empire, stooping from his imperial throne, flinging wide
+open the gates of his capital, and condescending to go out, and receive
+with an apparent welcome an invading foe, whom he had in vain attempted
+to keep out, but whom he had now the power to crush under his feet in a
+moment. That invading foe consisted only of a few hundred adventurers,
+three thousand miles from home, in the heart of the country they had
+ravaged, and surrounded by countless thousands of exasperated foes,
+burning to revenge the injuries and insults they had received at the
+hands of the strangers, and only held back from rushing upon them, like
+herds of ravening tigers, by the strong arm of the royal prohibition.
+Their position was like that of a group of children in a menagerie,
+amusing themselves with teasing and exasperating the caged animals
+around them. The furious creatures glare on them with looks of rage,
+growling fiercely, and gnashing their teeth. The keeper sympathizes with
+his enraged subjects, burning to let them loose upon their annoyers, but
+restrained by that mysterious agency, in which the divine hand is every
+where moulding and subduing the natural impulses of humanity, and
+working out its own wise ends by the wrath and passions of men.
+
+Let the keeper but raise the bar of that cage for a moment, and not one
+of the bright group would be left to tell the tragic issue of their
+sport. Let the terror-stricken Montezuma put on once more the air of a
+monarch, and raise his finger as a signal for the onset, before the
+enemy has become entrenched in his fortress, and few, if any, of that
+brave band would be left to tell the world of their fate--the marvellous
+story of the Conquest would never be told; the Aztec dynasty would
+outlive the period assigned it by those mystic oracles; and Montezuma,
+recovered from the dark dreams of an imagination disordered by
+superstition--the long dreaded crisis of his destiny passed--would have
+swayed again the sceptre of undisputed empire over the broad and
+beautiful realms of Anahuac. Having once vanquished and destroyed the
+terrible strangers, and stripped them of that supernatural defence,
+which the idea of their celestial origin threw around them, he would
+never again have yielded his soul to so unmanly a fear. If such had
+been the issue of the invasion of Cortez and his band, it is doubtful
+whether the Aztec dynasty would ever have been overthrown. The
+civilization of Europe would soon have been engrafted upon its own.
+Christianity would have taken the place of their dark and bloody
+paganism; which, with a people so far enlightened as they were, could
+not have endured for a moment the noon-day blaze of the gospel; and the
+terrible power of that heathen despot would have been softened, without
+weakening it, into the consolidated colossal strength of an enlightened,
+Christian, peaceful empire. Christianity propagated by fire and sword
+consumes centuries, and wastes whole generations of men, in effecting a
+revolution, which they who go with the olive branch in their hand, and
+the gospel of peace in their hearts, require only a few years to
+accomplish. Witness the recent triumphs of a peaceful Christianity in
+the Sandwich Islands, as contrasted with the bloody and wasting Crusades
+of Spaniards in all portions of the new world.
+
+With the earliest dawn, the reveille was beaten in the Spanish camp, and
+all the forces were mustered and drawn up in the order of their march.
+Cortez, at the head of the cavalry, formed the advanced guard, followed
+immediately by the Castilian infantry in solid column. The artillery and
+baggage occupied the centre, while the dark files of the Tlascalan
+savages brought up the rear. The whole number was less than seven
+thousand, not more than three hundred and fifty of whom were Spaniards.
+Putting on their most imposing array, with gay flaunting banners, and
+the stirring notes of the trumpet, swelling over lake and grove, and
+rolling away in distant echoes among the mountains, they issued forth
+from the city, just as the rising sun, surmounting the eastern
+cordillera, poured the golden stream of day over the beautiful valley,
+and lighted up a thousand resplendent fires among the gilded domes, and
+enameled temples of the capital, and the rich tiara of tributary cities
+and towns that encircled it. Moving rapidly forward, they soon entered
+upon the grand causeway, which, passing through the capital, spans the
+entire breadth of the Tezcucan lake, constituting then the main
+entrance, as its remains do now the principal southern avenue, to the
+city of Mexico. It was composed of immense stones, fashioned with
+geometrical precision, well laid in cement, and capable of withstanding
+for ages the play of the waters, and the ravages of time. It was of
+sufficient width, throughout its whole extent, to allow ten horsemen to
+ride abreast. It was interrupted in several places by well built draw
+bridges for the accommodation of the numerous boats, that carried on a
+brisk trade with the several towns on the lake, and for the better
+defence of the city against an invading foe. At the distance of about
+half a league from the capital, it was also traversed by a thick heavy
+wall of stone, about twelve feet high, surmounted and fortified by
+towers at each extremity. In the centre was a battlemented gateway, of
+sufficient strength to resist any force that could be brought against
+it, by the rude enginery of native warfare. This was called the Fort of
+Xoloc.
+
+Here they were met by a very numerous and powerful body of Aztec nobles,
+splendidly arrayed in their gayest costume, who came to announce the
+approach of Montezuma, and again in his name to bid the strangers
+welcome to the capital. As each of the chiefs presented himself, in his
+turn, to Cortez, and made the customary formal salutation, a
+considerable time was consumed in the ceremony; which was somewhat more
+tedious than interesting to the hot spirited Spaniards.
+
+When this was over, they passed briskly on, and soon beheld the
+glittering retinue of the Emperor emerging from the principal gate of
+the city. The royal palanquin, blazing with burnished gold and precious
+stones, was borne on the shoulders of the principal nobles of the land,
+while crowds of others, of equal or inferior rank, thronged in
+obsequious attendance around. It was preceded by three officers, bearing
+golden wands. Over it was a canopy of gaudy feather-work, powdered with
+jewels, and fringed with silver, resting on four richly carved and
+inlaid pillars, and supported by four nobles of the same rank with the
+bearers. These were all bare-footed, and walked with a slow measured
+pace, as conscious of the majesty of their burden, and with eyes bent on
+the ground. Arrived within a convenient distance, the train halted, and
+Montezuma, alighting from his palanquin, came forward, leaning on the
+arms of his royal relatives, the lords of Tezcuco and Iztapalapan. As
+the monarch advanced, under the same gorgeous canopy which had before
+screened him from the public gaze, and the glare of the mid-day sun, the
+ground was covered with cotton tapestry, while all his subjects of high
+and low degree, who lined the sides of the causeway, bent their heads
+and fixed their eyes on the ground, as unworthy to look upon so much
+majesty. Some prostrated themselves on the ground before him, and all
+in that mighty throng were awed by his presence into a silence that was
+absolutely oppressive.
+
+The appearance of Montezuma was in the highest degree interesting to the
+Spanish general and his followers. Flung over his shoulders was the
+_tilmatli_, or large square cloak, manufactured from the finest cotton,
+with the embroidered ends gathered in a knot round his neck. Under this
+was a tunic of green, embroidered with exquisite taste, extending almost
+to his knees, and confined at the waist, by a rich jeweled vest. His
+feet were protected by sandals of gold, bound with leathern thongs
+richly embossed with the same metal. The cloak, the tunic, and the
+sandals were profusely sprinkled with pearls and precious stones. On his
+head was a _panache_ of plumes of the royal green, waving gracefully in
+the light breeze.
+
+He was then about forty years of age. His person was tall, slender, and
+well proportioned. His complexion was somewhat fairer than that of his
+race generally. His countenance was expressive of great benignity. His
+carriage was serious, dignified and even majestic, and, without the
+least tincture of haughtiness, or affectation of importance, he moved
+with the stately air of one born to command, and accustomed to the
+homage of all about him.
+
+The strangers halted, as the monarch drew near. Cortez, dismounting,
+threw his reins to a page, and, supported by a few of his principal
+cavaliers, advanced to meet him. What an interview! How full of
+thrilling interest to both parties! How painfully thrilling to
+Montezuma, who now saw before him, standing on the very threshold of
+his citadel, the all-conquering white man, whose history was so
+mysteriously blended with his own; whose coming and power had been
+foreshadowed for ages in the prophetic traditions of his country,
+confirmed again by his own most sacred oracles, and repeated by so many
+signs, and omens, and fearful prognostics, that he was compelled either
+to regard him as the heaven-sent representative of the ancient rightful
+lords of the soil, or to abandon his early and cherished faith, the
+religion of his fathers, and of the ancient race from which they sprung.
+
+Putting a royal restraint upon the feelings which almost overwhelmed
+him, the monarch received his guest with princely courtesy, expressing
+great pleasure in seeing him personally, and extending to him the
+hospitalities of his capital. The Castilian replied with expressions of
+the most profound respect, and with many and ample acknowledgments for
+the substantial proofs which the Emperor had already given of his more
+than royal munificence. He then hung on the neck of the king a sparkling
+chain of colored crystal, at the same time making a movement, as if he
+would embrace him. He was prevented, however, by the timely interference
+of two Aztec lords from thus profaning, before the assembled multitudes
+of his people, the sacred person of their master.
+
+After this formal introduction and interchange of civilities, Montezuma
+appointed his brother, the bold Cuitlahua, to conduct the Spaniards to
+their quarters in the city, and returned in the same princely state in
+which he came, amid the prostrate thousands of his subjects. Pondering
+deeply, as the train moved slowly on, upon the fearful crisis in his
+affairs which had now arrived, his ear was arrested by a faint low voice
+in the crowd, which he instantly recognized as Karee's, breathing out a
+plaintive wail, as if in soliloquy with her own soul, or in high
+communion with the spirits of the unseen world. The strain was wild and
+broken, but its tenor was deeply mournful and deprecatory. It concluded
+with these emphatic words--
+
+ The proud eagle may turn to his eyrie again,
+ But his pinions are clipped, and his foot feels the chain,
+ He is monarch no more in his wide domain--
+ The falcon has come to his nest.
+
+With an air of bold and martial triumph, their colors flying, and music
+briskly playing, the Spaniards, with the singular trail of half savage
+Tlascalans, the deadly enemies of the Aztecs, made their entrance into
+the southern quarter of the renowned Tenochtitlan, and were escorted by
+the brave Cuitlahua, to the royal palace of Axayacatl, in the heart of
+the city, once the residence of Montezuma's father, and now appropriated
+to the accommodation of Cortez and his followers.
+
+As they marched through the crowded streets, new subjects of wonder and
+admiration greeted them on every side. The grandeur and extent of the
+city, the superior style of its architecture, the ample dimensions,
+immense strength, and costly ornaments of the numerous palaces, pyramids
+and temples, separated and surrounded by broad terraced gardens in the
+highest possible state of cultivation, and teeming with flowers of every
+hue and name--the lofty tapering sanctuaries, and altars blazing with
+inextinguishable fires,--and above all, the innumerable throngs of
+people who swarmed through the streets and canals, filling every
+door-way and window, and clustering on the flat roof of every building
+as they passed, filled them with mingled emotions of admiration,
+surprise and fear.
+
+The swarming myriads of the Aztecs were, on their part, no less
+interested and amazed at the spectacle presented by their strange
+visitors. An intense and all-absorbing curiosity pervaded the entire
+mass of the people. Nothing could surpass their wonder and admiration of
+the prancing steeds, or four legged and double-headed men, as to their
+simple view they seemed to be, the rider as he sat with ease in his
+saddle, appearing to be but a part of the animal on which he rode. The
+piercing tones of the loud mouthed trumpets, astonished and delighted
+them exceedingly. But the deep thunder of the artillery as it burst upon
+them amid volumes of sulphurous smoke and flame, and then rolled away in
+long reverberated echoes among the mountains, filled them with
+indescribable alarm, and made them feel that the all-destroying god of
+war was indeed among them in the guise of men.
+
+While these scenes were enacting in the city, the palace was shrouded in
+the deepest gloom. When the monarch arrayed himself, in the morning, to
+go forth to meet the strangers, several incidents occurred, which were
+deemed peculiarly ominous, confirming all the superstitious forebodings
+of the king, and tending to take away from the yet trusting hearts of
+his household, their last remaining hope. The imperial clasp, which
+bound his girdle in front, bearing as its device, richly engraven on the
+precious _chalchivitl_, the emblem of despotic power, which was the
+eagle pouncing upon the ocelot--snapped in twain, scattering the
+fragments of the eagle's head upon the marble pavement. The principal
+jewel in the royal diadem was found loose, and trembling in its setting.
+But, more portentous than all to the mind of the devout Montezuma, the
+priest, who had charge of the great altar on the Teocalli of
+Huitzilopotchli, had been seized with convulsions during the preceding
+night, and fallen dead at his post. The perpetual fire had gone out, for
+want of a hand to replenish it, and when the morning sun shot his first
+beams upon that high altar, there was not a spark among the blackened
+embers, to answer his reviving glow.
+
+It was impossible to shake off the influence of presages like these.
+From infancy, he had been taught to read in all such incidents, the
+shadowy revealings of the will of the gods, the dark lines of destiny
+foreshown to the faithful. The soul of Montezuma was oppressed almost to
+sinking. But he roused himself to his task, and went forth, feeling, as
+he went, that the ground trembled beneath his feet, while an untimely
+night gathered at noon-day over the sky.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Among the noble princes who graced the court of Montezuma, there was no
+one of a nobler bearing, or a loftier heart, than his nephew Guatimozin,
+the favored lover of Tecuichpo. Unlike her disappointed suitor, the
+Prince of Tezcuco, he had uniformly and powerfully opposed the timid
+policy of the king, and urged, with Cuitlahua, a bold and unyielding
+resistance to the encroachments of the intruding Spaniards. His
+reluctance to their admission to the capital was so great, that he
+refused to witness the humiliating spectacle; preferring to shut himself
+up in the palace, and sustain, if he could, the fainting courage of the
+princess, and her mother. All that could be done by eloquence, inspired
+by patriotic zeal and inflamed by a pure and refined love, was attempted
+by the accomplished youth, till, excited and inflamed by his own efforts
+to comfort and persuade others, and nerved to higher resolves, by a new
+contemplation of the inestimable heart-treasures, which were staked upon
+the issue, a new hope seemed to dawn upon the clouded horizon of their
+destiny.
+
+"My fair princess," cried the impassioned lover, "it shall not be. These
+wide and glorious realms, teeming with untold thousands of brave and
+patriotic hearts, ready and able to defend our altars and our hearths,
+shall never pass away to a mere handful of pale-faced invaders. They
+_must_, they _shall_ be driven back. Or, if our gods have utterly
+deserted us--if the time has indeed come, when the power and glory of
+the Aztec is to pass away for ever, let the Aztec, to a man, pass away
+with it. Let us perish together by our altars, and leave to the
+rapacious intruder a ravaged and depopulated country. Let not one remain
+to grace his triumph, or bow his neck to the ignominious yoke."
+
+"Nay, my sweet cousin," she replied, with a tone and look of
+indescribable tenderness, "we will indeed die together, if need be, but
+let us first see if we cannot live together."
+
+"Live?" exclaimed Guatimozin. "Oh! Tecuichpo, what would I not attempt,
+what would I not sacrifice, to the hope of living, if I might share
+that life with you. But my country! my allegiance! how can I sacrifice
+that which is not my own?--that inheritance which was all my
+birth-right, and which, as it preceded, must necessarily be paramount
+to, all the other relations of life."
+
+"But, my father! dear Guatimozin! must he not be obeyed?"
+
+"Yes, and he shall be. But he _must_ be persuaded, even at this late
+hour, to dismiss the strangers, and banish them for ever from his
+domains. He has no right to yield it up. It belongs to his subjects no
+less than to him. He belongs to them, by the same sacred bond that binds
+them all to him. He may not sacrifice them to a scruple, which has in it
+more of superstition than of religion. I must go to the Temple of
+Cholula, and bring up the hoary old prophet of Quetzalcoatl, and see if
+he cannot move the too tender conscience of your father, and persuade
+him that his duty to his gods cannot, by any possibility, be made to
+conflict with his duty to his empire, and the mighty family of dependent
+children, whom the gods have committed to his care."
+
+"Oh! not now, Guatimozin, I pray you. Do not leave us at this terrible
+moment. Stay, and sustain with your courageous hopes the sad heart of my
+dear father, who is utterly overwhelmed with the dire omens of this
+dismal morning."
+
+"Omens! Oh! Tecuichpo, shall we not rather say that the gods have thus
+frowned upon our cowardly abandonment of their altars, than that they
+design, in these dark portents, to denounce an irreversible doom, which
+our prayers cannot avert, nor our combined wisdom and courage prevent?"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+At this moment Montezuma returned. But the deep distress depicted in his
+countenance, and the air of stern reserve which he assumed in the
+presence of those whose counsels would tend to shake his resolve,
+effectually prevented Guatimozin from pursuing, at that moment, the
+object nearest his heart. He retired into the garden, where he was soon
+joined by the fair princess, who wished to divert him from his purposed
+visit to Cholula, knowing full well it would be a fruitless mission.
+
+"But why, my brave cousin, may not my father be right, in feeling that
+these strangers are sent to us from the gods? And if from the gods, then
+surely for our good; for the gods are all beneficence, and can only
+intend the well-being of their children, in all the changes that befal
+us here. Perhaps these strangers will teach us more of the beings whom
+we worship, and direct us how we may serve them better than we now do,
+and so partake more largely of their favor."
+
+"Alas! my beloved, how can we hope that they who come to destroy, whose
+only god is gold--to the possession of which they are ready to sacrifice
+life, love, honor, every thing--how can we hope that they will teach us
+any thing better or higher than we learn from the ancient oracles of our
+faith, and the holy priesthood of our religion? No, it cannot be. Their
+pathway is drenched in blood, and so it will be, till the throne, and he
+who honors it, are laid in dust at their feet, and you and I, and all
+the myriads of our people, have become their abject slaves."
+
+"Say not so, I beseech you, dear Guatimozin. Where my father leads, I
+must follow, and hope for the best. And you must follow too, for I
+cannot go without you. Here, take this rose, and wear it as a pledge to
+me, over this sparkling fountain, that you will no more hazard the
+imperial displeasure, and the anger of the gods, by your bold and rash
+resistance of the known decrees of fate. And I will weave a chaplet of
+the same, to lay upon the altar, to propitiate for us all the favor of
+heaven."
+
+There was too much real chivalry in the heart of Guatimozin, to resist
+the earnest love and eloquent persuasion of his lady-love. He kissed her
+fair cheek in token of submission to her sway, and then led her to the
+palace, to learn if any thing new had transpired to encourage his hope
+that his wishes would yet be realized, in the exclusion of the Spaniards
+from the city. As they passed along, they heard Karee-o-thán, the
+garrulous pet of the Princess, seemingly soliloquising among the
+branches of the flowering orange that hung over her favorite arbor. They
+paused a moment, but could gather nothing from his chatterings but
+"Brave Guatimozin! noble Guatimozin! all is yours."
+
+"An omen! my sweet cousin, a genuine emphatic omen! Even Karee-o-thán
+encourages me in my treason. I wish I knew how she would respond to the
+name of this redoubtable Cortez. Pray ask her, Tecuichpo, what she
+thinks of the Spaniard."
+
+"Fear you not to trifle thus?" asked Tecuichpo.
+
+"Fear not, brave Guatimozin!" responded the parrot.
+
+"There, I have it again, my love; all she says is against you. And what
+do you say of Malinché, pretty Karee-o-thán?"
+
+"Poor Malinché! brave Guatimozin."
+
+"Bravo!" exclaimed the Prince, "the bird is as good as an omen, and
+I"----
+
+At that moment, Karee appeared, and coming towards them in great haste
+and trepidation, informed them that the Spaniards had already reached
+their quarters in the old palace, and that Montezuma had gone thither,
+in royal state, to receive them.
+
+"And what think you of all these things, my fairy queen," asked
+Guatimozin, playfully.
+
+"Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial house of Tenochtitlan!" energetically
+replied Karee,--"its glory is departed for ever,--its crown has fallen
+from the head of the great Montezuma, and there is none able to wear it,
+or to redeem it from the hand of the spoiler. Thou, most noble Prince,
+wilt do all that mortal courage and prowess can do, to rescue it from
+desecration, and to protect the house of Montezuma from the cruel fate
+to which he has delivered it up; but it will be all in vain. _He_ must
+perish by an ignominious death. _They_ must pass under the yoke of the
+strangers, and thou, too, after all thy noble struggles and sacrifices,
+must perish miserably under their cruel and implacable rapacity."
+
+This was too much for Tecuichpo. She looked upon Karee as an inspired
+prophetess, and had always found it exceedingly difficult to sustain the
+filial confidence which sanctified every act and every purpose of her
+royal father, when the powerful incantations of Karee were directed
+against them. It was a continual struggle between an affectionate
+superstition, and filial love. But that first, and holiest, and
+strongest instinct of her heart prevailed, and she clung the more warmly
+to her father, when she found that every thing else was against him. But
+now the shaft had pierced her at another and an unguarded point. Her
+spirit fainted within her. She swooned in the arms of Guatimozin, and
+was borne to her apartment in a state of insensibility, where, under the
+kind and skilful nursing of Karee, and the affectionate assurances of
+Guatimozin, she was soon restored to health, and her accustomed
+cheerfulness. But these ceaseless agitations, these painful alternations
+of hope and fear, were slowly wearing upon her gentle spirit, and
+undermining a frame so delicately sensitive, that, like the aspen,
+
+ ------It trembled when the sleeping breeze
+ But dreamed of waking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA--THE ROYAL BANQUET--THE
+ REQUITAL--THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS OWN PALACE.
+
+ ~"Was that thunder?"~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~Those splendid halls resound with revelry,
+ And song, and dance lead on the tardy dawn.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~From the hall of his fathers in anguish he fled,
+ Nor again will its marble re-echo his tread.~
+
+
+Montezuma was always and every where munificent. When he had, though
+reluctantly, admitted the strangers into his capital, he prepared to
+give them a royally hospitable entertainment. Partly by way of triumph
+in the success of their movements hitherto, and partly by way of
+amusing, and at the same time overawing their entertainers, the
+Spaniards, the day after their arrival in the city, made a grand
+military display in their quarters, and in the neighboring streets. They
+exercised their prancing steeds in all the feats of horsemanship,
+racing, leaping, and careering, in all the wild majesty of the trained
+charger, under the three fold discipline of bit and spur, and cheering
+shout. They rushed upon each other in the mock warfare of the
+tournament, with clashing sword and glancing spear, and then,
+discharging their carbines in the air, separated amid clouds of dust and
+smoke, as if driven asunder by the bolts of heaven in their own hands.
+The astonished natives, accustomed only to the simple weapons of
+primitive warfare, looked on with undisguised admiration, not unmixed
+with fear. The strange beings before them, wielding such unwonted
+powers, seemed indeed to have descended upon earth from some higher
+sphere, and to partake of that mysterious and fearful character, which
+they had been wont to ascribe to inhabitants of the spiritual world. But
+when, in closing off the day's entertainment, they brought out the
+loud-mouthed artillery, and shook the very foundations of the city with
+their oft-repeated thunders, the spirit of the Aztec sunk within him,
+and he felt, as he retired to his dwelling, that it was for no good end,
+that men of such power, having such fearful engines at their command,
+had been permitted to fix their quarters in one of the fortresses of
+Tenochtitlan.
+
+"Alas!" said an ancient Cacique from the northern frontier, "we are
+fallen upon evil times. Our enemies are even now in the citadel--enemies
+whom we know not, whose mode of warfare we do not understand, whose
+weapons defy alike our powers of imitation and resistance. Let us
+abandon the field, and retire to the far north, whence our fathers came,
+and rear a new empire amid the impregnable fastnesses of the mountains."
+
+"Who talks of abandoning the field to the enemy?" interrupted
+Guatimozin,--"Let no Aztec harbor so base a thought. Rather let us
+stand by our altars and die, if die we must."
+
+"Right," cried the youthful prince Axayatl, from the southern slope of
+the Sierra, "why should the all-conquering Aztec tremble at this display
+of the mysterious strangers? Are not the millions of Anahuac a match for
+a few hundred of their enemies, in whatever form they come? Be they
+gods, or be they demons, they belong not to this soil, nor this soil to
+them, and, by all our altars and all our gods, they must retire or
+perish, though we, and our wives, and our children perish with them."
+
+"Give us your hand, brave Axayatl," exclaimed Cuitlahua and Guatimozin,
+at the same instant, "be that our vow in life and in death, and wo to
+the base Aztec, that abandons the standard of Montezuma, or whispers of
+submission to the haughty stranger."
+
+Thus were the councils of the people divided between a timid
+superstition, and a bold uncompromising patriotism. There wanted not the
+material, if well directed, to annihilate, at a blow, the hopes of the
+daring invaders. The arm of the nation was strong and sinewy, but "the
+head was sick, and the heart faint." The Emperor, the hitherto proud and
+self-sufficient Montezuma,--
+
+ Like a struck eagle fainting in his nest,
+
+had cowered to a phantom of his own diseased imagination, and weakly
+consented to regard _them_ as gods, whose passions, appetites and vices
+proved them to be men, and whose diminished numbers, after every battle
+they had fought, showed they were of mortal mould.
+
+On the following day, a magnificent banquet was prepared for Cortez, and
+his officers, in the imperial palace. It was graced by the presence of
+all the nobility of Azteca, with all the pride and beauty of their
+household divinities--for, among this refined people, the wife and the
+daughter held her appropriate rank, and woman exercised all the
+influence, which, among (so called) civilized nations, Christianity
+alone has assigned her. Every apartment of that spacious and magnificent
+pile blazed with the light of odoriferous torches, which sent up their
+clouds of incense from hundreds of gold and silver stands, elaborately
+carved and embossed in every form that fancy could suggest, or ingenuity
+invent. Flowers of every hue and name were profusely distributed through
+the rooms, clustered in beautiful vases, or hung in gorgeous festoons
+and luxurious chaplets from the walls. The costume of the monarch and
+his court was as rich and gorgeous, as the rare and variegated
+_plumagé_, with a lavish use of gold and gems, could make it. The women
+were as splendidly apparelled as the men. Many of them were extremely
+beautiful. Some were distinguished for their easy refinement of manners,
+which charmed, no less than it astonished, the Castilian knights, who
+had been accustomed to suppose that nothing so beautiful, or refined,
+could be found without the borders of Spain.
+
+By special command of the Emperor, all his nobles were present at this
+festival, so that Guatimozin, contrary to his own will and purpose, was
+brought into contact with Cortez, and his steel-clad cavaliers.
+Tecuichpo also was there, in all her maiden loveliness, outshining all
+the stars of that splendid galaxy. And yet she was as a star in
+eclipse, for her soul was oppressed with those mysterious shadows that
+hung over her destiny and that of her father, as connected with the
+coming of these white men. Karee was there in attendance upon her
+mistress, as she still delighted to call her; but her attention was more
+absorbed by the strangers than by Tecuichpo. She watched every movement,
+and scanned every countenance with a scrutiny that did not escape their
+observation, in order to read, as well as she could, the character of
+each. Her scrutiny satisfied herself, and she whispered in the ear of
+the Princess, that "if these were gods, they came from the dark, and not
+from the sunny side of heaven."
+
+It was a rare spectacle, which this royal banquet presented. The
+contrast between the steel-clad cavaliers of Castile, whose burnished
+armor blazed and glittered in the brilliant torch-light, and rung under
+their heavy martial tramp upon the marble floor, and the comparatively
+fairy figures of the gaudily apparelled Aztecs, was as strong as could
+possibly be presented in a scene like this. The costumes and customs of
+each were matter of wonder and admiration to the other. The Aztec
+trembled at the mysterious power, the incomprehensible weapons, of the
+white man. The Castilian, if he did not tremble, fully appreciated the
+danger of a little band, separated and scattered among a festive throng
+of warlike men, amid the interminable labyrinths of the imperial palace,
+and under the eye of a monarch whose word was absolute law to all the
+myriads of his people.
+
+But, whatever was passing in the inner man, the Aztec and the Castilian,
+alike, appeared perfectly at ease, each abandoning himself to the
+festivities of the occasion, as if each, unannoyed by the presence of a
+stranger, were revelling in the security of his own castle, and
+celebrating some time-honored festival of his own people.
+
+With a benign dignity and grace, the Queen, and her suite of high-born
+ladies, received the homage of the cavaliers, after they had been
+presented to the Emperor. She was struck with admiration at the graceful
+and dignified bearing of the Castilian, which, while it showed all the
+deference and respect due to her sex and her rank, had nothing in it, of
+that abject servility, which placed an impassable barrier between the
+Aztec noble and his monarch, and made them appear to belong to distinct
+races of being. To the chivalrous, impassioned Castilian, accustomed to
+worship woman, and pay an almost divine homage to beauty, in the courtly
+halls and sunny bowers of Spain, the scene presented a perfect
+constellation of grace and loveliness. The flashing eye of the Aztec
+maiden, as lustrous and eloquent as any in the gardens of Hesperides;
+the jetty tresses, glittering with gems and pearls, or chastely
+decorated with natural flowers; the easy grace of the loose flowing
+robe, revealing the full rich bust and the rounded limb, in its fairest
+proportions, won the instant admiration of every mailed knight, and
+brought again to his lips his oft-repeated vows of love and devotion.
+
+But of little avail were honied lips and eloquent tongues to the gallant
+cavaliers at that magic fęte. They formed no medium of communion with
+the bright spirits, and gay hearts around them. The doom of Babel was on
+them all, and there was no interpreter. Nothing daunted by obstacles
+seemingly insurmountable, the gay Spaniards resolved, that, where bright
+eyes were to be gazed on, and sweet smiles won from the ranks of youth
+and beauty, they would make a way for themselves. The first ceremonies
+of presentation over, each knight addressed himself to some chosen fair
+one, and by sign and gesture, and speaking look, and smile of eloquent
+flattery, commenced a spirited pantomimic attack, to the infinite
+amusement of all the gay throng around. It was met with wonderful
+spirit, and ready ingenuity, by the Aztec maidens, to whom the dialect
+of signs, and the language of hieroglyphics was perfectly familiar; that
+being the only written language of all the nations of Anahuac.
+
+The spirit and interest of the scene that followed surpasses all attempt
+at description. Abandoned to the gaiety of the hour, the Spaniards
+forgot alike their schemes of ambition and aggrandisement, and the
+peculiar perils which surrounded them; while the Aztec revellers
+dismissed, for the moment, both their superstitious dread of the white
+man, and their patriotic disgust at his daring pretensions to universal
+dominion.
+
+The noble Sandoval, attracted by the mild beaming eye, and sweet smile
+of the Princess Tecuichpo, with a profound obeisance, laid his plumed
+helmet at her feet, and choosing, from a vase at her side, a half blown
+rose, which he gracefully twined with a sprig of amaranth, he first
+pressed it to his own heart and lips, and then placed it among the
+glittering gems upon her bosom. With queenly courtesy and grace, the
+fair princess received this gallant token, and instantly responded to
+it, by stooping down, and weaving among the plumes, so courteously laid
+at her feet, another, of such rare beauty and brilliancy of hue, that it
+quite eclipsed the gayest feather in the hall.
+
+Cortez and Alvarado were, each in his turn, struck with the deep, dark,
+piercing eye of Karee, and each put forth his best endeavor to win from
+her a smile. But it was so coldly given, and accompanied with a look so
+deep and searching, that the general quailed before it, as he had never
+done before to mortal eye.
+
+Instantly recovering himself, he put on such a smile of blended grace
+and dignity, as melted at once the icy reserve of the maiden, and opened
+the way for a long and animated parley. It was full of sparkles and
+power, but could not be translated into any living tongue, without
+losing all its force and brilliancy.
+
+Meanwhile, an animated discussion had arisen between Guatimozin and the
+Prince of Tezcuco, touching the propriety of receiving gifts from the
+strangers, or, in any way, acknowledging their claims as friends. The
+showy trinket, which Cacama had received from Cortez at Ajotzinco, and
+which he displayed on his person at this festival, gave rise to the
+dispute.
+
+"It is wrong," urged Guatimozin, "wrong to our country and wrong to
+ourselves. Let them gain what they can from the exuberant munificence of
+the Emperor, and let them stay in peace, while he permits and requires
+it,--but let us not weaken our hands, by touching their gifts, or
+accepting their tokens. When they depart, let them not boast that they
+have left any remembrancer behind them, or laid claims upon our hands,
+by their gifts, which we have freely accepted."
+
+"Surely, my dear cousin," said the Princess, "you make too much of so
+small a matter. They are but common courtesies, and too trifling for
+such grave consideration and argument."
+
+"Not so, believe me, my fair cousin. They take us on the weak side of
+the heart--they blind our eyes to our true relations, unnerve our arms,
+and blunt our weapons of defence."
+
+"What then would you do," asked Cacama, as if more than half persuaded
+that Guatimozin was right in his views of duty.
+
+"Do," replied the Prince, with startling energy of tone and manner, "I
+would fling it at his feet, or trample it under my own, before his eyes,
+and show him that I scorn him and his gifts alike."
+
+Tecuichpo turned suddenly round at this remark, as if fearing the
+stranger would understand it, and in her agitation, dropped a
+magnificent jewel from her dress, and with it the rose so gallantly
+presented by Sandoval. A dozen princes and cavaliers sprang, at the same
+instant, to replace the precious toy. Pedro Orteguilla, the beautiful
+young page of Cortez, was so fortunate as to recover it. Doffing his
+cap, and kneeling gracefully at her feet, he presented it to the
+Princess with an air of admiring deference, and, by signs, solicited the
+honor of replacing it upon her arm.
+
+This little incident put an end to the discussion, which was growing too
+warm for the occasion, and the festivities went on as gaily as before.
+
+A group of sprightly, mischief loving girls, who had clustered round the
+cool basin of a sparkling _jet d' eau_, and were amusing themselves by
+free and fearless comments upon the appearance and manners of the
+strangers, arrested the eye of the impulsive, humor loving Alvarado, and
+drew him to solicit a share in their sport; for, in beating a retreat
+from the eagle glance of Karee, he had strolled into an illuminated
+arbor, in one of the open courts of the palace. With hand, and eye, and
+lip, now appealing in emphatic gesture to the stars above, and now, with
+ready tact and admirable sagacity distributing the flowers among the gay
+naiads of the fountain, he soon ingratiated himself into their favor,
+and engaged them in a brilliant and animated pantomime, which, if it
+wanted the eloquence of words, found ample compensation for that defect,
+in the merry shout and ringing laugh, that accompanied each labored
+attempt to utter, or interpret, a sentiment. The gallant cavalier soon
+found himself loaded with a profusion of floral favors. For every flower
+he bestowed upon the fair nymphs, he received an appropriate return,
+till his hands were full, and he found it necessary to arrange them upon
+his person.
+
+Instantly the whole group, as by one impulse of artistic taste, seized
+the idea, and resolved to array him as a flower-god. The magnificent
+cactus flashed among the plumes of his helmet--a pair of splendid
+magnolias, tastefully adjusted on either shoulder, supplied the place of
+the silver epaulette--a rich cluster of unfading _forget-me-not_,
+covered and eclipsed the gilded star upon his breastplate; while every
+joint in his armor, and every loop and button of his doublet, was set
+with its appropriate garden gem. Long wreaths of a blossoming vine were
+dexterously intertwined with flowers of every brilliant hue, and hung
+like a gorgeous sash over his right shoulder, its gay streamers waving
+in the gentle breeze, or winding themselves about the scabbard of his
+sword. His hands were gloved with a moss of the most delicate green
+velvet, dotted with golden stars, and his boots transformed into buskins
+of the most approved classic pattern, by alternate bands of jessamine
+and scarlet lobelia, crossed and plaided with strings of anemone and
+hyacinth.
+
+Thus arrayed, his face skilfully masked with the flowering wax-plant
+despoiled of its leaves, he was conducted into the presence of the
+Queen, under a continually increasing escort of bright girls and fair
+dames, where, with due reverence to her majesty, and with the gallantry
+becoming a true knight, he begged, by significant looks and signs, to be
+permitted to lay all his bright honors at the feet of the lovely
+Tecuichpo.
+
+The signal being given at this moment, he offered his arm to the
+Princess, and led the way into the banqueting hall, where the luxuries
+of all the climes of earth seemed to be spread out in endless profusion,
+and where, the native song of the Aztec alternating with the martial
+strains of the Castilian band, the night wore away with feasting and
+revelry.
+
+The day had almost dawned, when the strangers, laden with presents of
+inestimable value, returned to their quarters, burdened with the weight
+of their treasures, and deeply impressed with the more than regal
+munificence of their host, and the unimagined loveliness and grace of
+the fair beings, who gave life and beauty to his magnificent court.
+
+"If these white gods can be bought, dear father," the Princess naively
+remarked, as they took their leave, "you have surely paid a price worthy
+of the ransom of the proudest monarch on earth."
+
+"The more you bribe them," interrupted Guatimozin, "the less you bind
+them. They have not the soul of an Aztec, who scorns to receive a favor
+that does not pledge his heart in return. The Spaniard's heart has
+nothing to do with his hand. He takes your gift, only to be the better
+able to plot and compass your ruin."
+
+The Emperor sighed, as he listened to a remark, to which he could make
+no reply. It brought again before his agitated mind, the only course he
+could safely adopt in the present crisis of his affairs. In vain did his
+paternal heart second the suggestion, and his kingly pride urge its
+immediate adoption. He had not the moral courage to execute his own
+resolve. Superstition had wholly unmanned him.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The victorious Spaniard had now reached the goal he had so long aimed
+at. But his position was far from agreeable, or promising. With a small
+force, he was completely shut up in the heart of an immense and powerful
+empire, teeming with millions of warriors, who were deemed terrible and
+invincible by those whom he had found so formidable, and who might, at a
+word or a look from their sovereign, either rush in and overwhelm him at
+once, or withhold all supplies, and leave them to perish of famine in
+their quarters.
+
+Cortez realized the critical position into which he was drawn, and
+resolved immediately on one of his bold measures, to turn it to his own
+advantage. Soliciting an interview with Montezuma, in which he was
+accompanied by some of his bravest cavaliers, he informed the monarch,
+that it was not an idle curiosity that had drawn him to encounter the
+perils, and undergo the toils, of the adventure that had brought him to
+the capital. He came, as the accredited ambassador of the mighty monarch
+of Castile, to whom many kings and many broad lands were tributary, and
+who was the rightful lord of all the territories on which his armies had
+set their foot. And the object of the present interview was, to demand
+of the king an acknowledgment of his allegiance to his royal master, and
+his consent to pay an annual tribute for his crown.
+
+The mind of the superstitious Montezuma had long been preparing for this
+acknowledgment. With little apparent constraint, therefore, he responded
+to this haughty demand--that the oracles of his religion had long ago
+instructed him, that the territories over which he reigned belonged to a
+race of white men, who had removed to other lands beyond the rising sun,
+but would return, in process of time, invested with more than mortal
+power, to claim their original inheritance. For his part, he was fully
+convinced that that time had now arrived--that the Spaniards were the
+men of destiny foretold by a long line of presages and traditions, and
+that he was fully prepared to acknowledge the king of Castile as his
+lord, and pay allegiance to him as such.
+
+"And recognize me," interposed the wily Castilian, "as his accredited
+ambassador, and representative?"
+
+The monarch assented.
+
+The Aztec nobles, who surrounded the throne, were thunderstruck at the
+humble tone, and humiliating attitude assumed by their once proud and
+imperious lord. But they were accustomed to unqualified and
+unquestioning submission to the word of the king. They accordingly, at
+his command, gave a full assent to all that he had said, and agreed to
+recognize Cortez as the representative of their new sovereign.
+Guatimozin left the hall in disgust, and hastened to Iztapalapan, to
+report the progress of their humiliation to Cuitlahua.
+
+Even with this arrangement, which had been accomplished so much more
+easily than he had expected, Cortez was by no means satisfied. He was
+still in the power of the Mexican, and could never feel safe in the
+position he held, without some substantial pledge, that the peace of the
+city would be preserved, and the ground he had already secured be left
+to him in undisturbed possession. To secure this, he conceived and
+executed a bolder and more audacious measure than that which we have
+just related. Soliciting another and a private interview with the
+Emperor, and directing his best and bravest cavaliers, with some of
+their chosen men, to keep near and about the palace, and be in readiness
+to sustain and defend him, if any resistance or outbreak should follow
+his daring attempt, he entered the royal presence. As the Spaniards
+always carried their arms, it excited no suspicion, to see them on this
+occasion fully equipped.
+
+This disposition of his men and officers being effected, the bold
+cavalier addressed himself, in a stern voice, to the Emperor, charging
+him with secretly designing the destruction of his guests, and alleging,
+in support of the charge, some of the incidents already related, and
+others of more recent occurrence, in which some of the vassals of
+Montezuma had surprised and slain a party of Spaniards, who relied upon
+their hospitality. These were artfully woven into a tale of imaginary
+wrongs, for which he boldly pretended to claim instant redress, or
+rather security against their repetition.
+
+The monarch was thunderstruck at the charge, while he, as well as the
+few attendants that remained near his person, with difficulty restrained
+the expression of their indignation at the disrespectful tone of the
+address, so unlike that to which the royal ears were accustomed. He
+peremptorily denied the charge. But Cortez was not to be foiled thus. He
+knew that he had now gone too far to retract, and that the change of
+feeling now produced would ensure his speedy destruction, if he failed
+of securing the object of the present interview. He, therefore, repeated
+the charge, assuring the monarch that such was the belief of all his
+men, and that nothing would convince them of his innocence, or make them
+willing to rest quietly in the capital, but the consent of the king to
+transfer his residence, for a time, to their quarters. And this he
+boldly demanded of him, in the name of their common sovereign, the great
+king of Castile, and he could not refuse obedience, without breaking
+allegiance with him.
+
+"When was it ever known," exclaimed the astonished and offended king,
+"that the monarch of a great people voluntarily left his own palace, to
+become a prisoner in the camp of a foreign nation. If I should consent
+to such indignity, my own subjects would every where cry out against it,
+and a storm would be raised, which could only be hushed when the last
+Spaniard was sacrificed to the outraged honor of their king, and the
+wrath of their offended gods."
+
+"No, my imperial lord," replied the politic and smooth tongued knight,
+"your majesty entirely misapprehends my meaning, and the position in
+which I would place you. I only propose a temporary removal from one of
+your royal palaces to another, a thing of frequent occurrence, and
+therefore not likely to excite remark among your people. You can bring
+all your household and your court with you, and have the same royal
+attendance, as you now do. This show of confidence and regard, on your
+part, will inspire my men with new confidence in your kind intentions,
+and give stability in the eyes of your own people, to the friendly
+relations existing between us."
+
+Montezuma still protested that it was unworthy the dignity and majesty
+of the sovereign lord of Anahuac, thus to submit his motions to the
+direction of strangers, as it was a daring presumption and impiety, on
+their part, to suggest it. He therefore, peremptorily declined the
+proposal, and requested the general to say no more about it, if he would
+retain the position he now held in his regard, and that of his people.
+
+Upon this, the iron-souled Castilian assumed a loftier aspect, and a
+bolder tone, and abruptly assured the monarch that it was a point he was
+not at liberty to dispense with. If he would not remove peaceably and
+quietly to the Spanish quarters, he must be carried there forcibly,
+though it should involve a struggle that should drench the palace in
+blood, and sacrifice the life of every man in his army.
+
+Suddenly, the spirit of the monarch was gone. His old dread of the
+white man revived in all its power. He felt himself compelled by his
+destiny, to do as he was required. Signifying his assent to the haughty
+demand of the stranger, he ordered his nobles to make ready his
+palanquin, that he might go in royal state, and not appear in the eyes
+of his subjects, as he passed along, as a prisoner in his own capital.
+
+With looks of astonishment, not unmingled with indignation, the proud
+chiefs obeyed, marching under their royal burden, with solemn pace and
+downcast looks, in utter silence, but nursing in their hearts an
+implacable hatred against the insulting Castilians, and a burning rage,
+which was yet to burst upon their devoted heads in an overwhelming storm
+of wrath. As they passed the threshold of the imperial palace, which
+their once proud but now humbled lord was never to recross, they heaved
+a deep sigh, as if the dark shadows of the future already hung
+frowningly over their heads. It was responded to by a deep, mysterious,
+sepulchral groan, which seemed to issue from the very heart of the
+earth, while, at the same instant, a royal eagle, sailing proudly over
+the capital, struck by an invisible leaden messenger from one of the
+sure-sighted marksmen in the Castilian camp, fluttered in his lofty
+flight, drooped his strong wing, and, with a terrible death shriek, the
+blood streaming freely from his wound, fell into the court, at the very
+feet of the royal procession.
+
+The fate of Montezuma, and of his empire, was now sealed. He had, with
+his own hand, taken the crown from his head, and laid it at the feet of
+the Spaniard. And, more than all, he had humbled himself in the eyes of
+his own subjects, and diminished, though few were hardy enough to avow
+it, the profound respect and reverence with which they were accustomed
+to regard him. To his own immediate household, he had represented this
+removal as a voluntary act of courtesy, on his part, designed to
+compliment the strangers, by becoming, for a time, their guest, and to
+inspire them, by his personal presence among them, with confidence in
+his professions of regard, as well as to show his own people how strong
+the bond of amity was between them. At the same time, however, that he
+assured them of his personal safety and his confidence that all would
+end well, he recommended his wives and children to leave him, for the
+present, and take up their abode in his rural mountain palace at
+Chapoltepec.
+
+The timid and sensitive Tecuichpo was thrown into the deepest distress
+by this suggestion. She could not doubt the repeated assurances of her
+royal father, and yet she could not divest herself of the sad impression
+that his liberty, and perhaps his life, was in danger, in thus
+separating himself from the strong arms and devoted hearts of his own
+people, his natural protectors, and throwing himself, unarmed, into the
+garrison of the fearful strangers. What security could she have that he
+would ever return, or that violence would not be offered to his sacred
+person by those who looked upon him only as the vassal of their own
+sovereign, to be used for his purposes and theirs, as their own
+selfishness and rapacity might dictate.
+
+"Leave us not, my dear father," she exclaimed, "or at least compel not
+us to leave _you_. Rather in darkness and in trouble than at any other
+time, would we stand at your side, to administer, as far as we may, to
+your comfort, and to share, and perhaps lighten, your sorrows."
+
+"Nay, my beloved child," the grateful monarch calmly replied, "I have no
+need, at this time, of your solace, or your counsel. I go among friends,
+who respect my person and my authority, and who well know that their own
+safety in Tenochtitlan, depends entirely upon retaining my friendship,
+which alone can shield them from being overwhelmed, and swept away like
+chaff, before the countless hosts of my warrior bands. Why then should I
+fear for myself. But for you, and your mother, and your sisters, the
+camp of the strangers is not a fitting place for you. They have customs
+of their own, and are slow to recognize the propriety of ours, deeming
+us, as they do, an inferior race of beings. They are bold and free in
+their manners, quite too much so for the refined delicacy of an Aztec
+maiden, or an Aztec matron, as you yourself both saw and felt, at the
+festival of their reception. How shall I expose you to the rude gaze of
+these foreign cavaliers, and perhaps to the rude speeches of their
+soldiers. No, my beloved, go to your retirement at Chapoltepec, and
+train the flowers there for my coming, which will be at the approaching
+festival of the new moon."
+
+"But will you certainly come to us then, my dear father? Karee says"----
+
+"Trouble me not with the dreams of Karee, my sweet child. They are not
+always as loyal as they should be. I believe I am right in what I am now
+doing, and I cannot be diverted from it by the mystic night visions of
+your favorite. Go, and the gods be with you."
+
+So saying, he tore himself from her embrace, and returned to his own
+apartments to attire himself for the removal.
+
+The fiery, high spirited Guatimozin was so disgusted with this act of
+suicidal cowardice, on the part of his royal master, that he withdrew at
+once from the city, taking with him his servants and retainers, as well
+as his immense private treasures, and took up his abode at his country
+palace or castle, where he lived in all the pseudo-regal state and
+magnificence of a feudal baron, or a petty sovereign. Here he opened a
+correspondence with a large number of the principal nobles of the realm,
+who, like him, felt that the time had come to prepare for a terrible
+crisis. They concerted no measures, for they dared not move openly
+without the command or assent of their master; but they exchanged
+sentiments, and encouraged each other in their patriotic purpose, to
+defend their country from subjugation to a foreign foe, and their altars
+from desecration.
+
+Passing Chapoltepec on his way, the noble Prince sought an interview
+with his lovely mistress, to inform her that, while the pledge he had
+given, in accepting the proffered rose, over the sparkling fountain of
+Tenochtitlan, should be sacredly regarded, he must be allowed to see
+with his own eyes, when danger was near, and to raise his arm in her
+defence, and in that of his country, from whatever quarter the
+threatened danger might come. He found her, bathed in tears, wandering
+wildly up and down, amid the shade of the tall cypresses that overhang
+and almost bury that mountain retreat. Her raven hair had escaped from
+its pearl-studded band, and was flying loosely in the breeze; the wonted
+bloom was gone from her cheek, and the brilliant lustre of her dark
+flashing eye had given way to a sad and subdued expression, which was
+more in keeping with the uniform mildness and gentleness of her spirit.
+Separated from her adored parent, and banished from the city of her love
+and her pride, she began to feel more deeply than she had ever done, the
+terror of those dark omens which had clouded her destiny, and marked her
+out as the doomed Princess of Anahuac. While she could cling to her
+father, and feel that she was to share all that might befal him, and
+perhaps, by sharing it, extract some portion of the bitterness from the
+cup which he was compelled to drink, she was calm and hopeful. But now,
+the sheet-anchor of her soul was gone, and she was drifting, at the
+mercy of the waves, she knew not whither.
+
+"My sweet cousin," said Guatimozin gently, as he arrested her flying
+step, "why this sudden abandonment to grief and despair. Dark as the
+clouds may be over our heads, all is not lost. Know you not, my love,
+that ten thousand times ten thousand brave hearts and strong arms are
+pledged, by every bond of loyalty and love, to rush to the rescue, the
+moment that any violence is offered to the sacred person of our lord. Be
+assured not a hair of his head shall be touched."
+
+"Ah! my brave Guatimozin! I know full well your courage and your zeal.
+But of what avail to us will be the direst vengeance your arms can wreak
+on the strangers, after the violence is done, and the honored head of
+my father--oh! that I should live to speak it!--laid low at their feet!"
+
+"Fear not, my beloved, they dare not, with all their boasted power, they
+dare not lay a rude hand upon that sacred person. They know, they feel,
+that they are treading on a mighty volcano, that may burst out at any
+moment, and overwhelm them in hopeless destruction. It is this sense of
+impending danger only that has induced them to invite the Emperor to
+their quarters, and so to urge their suit, that he could not, as their
+professed friend, deny it. While he is there, they will feel safe, for
+his hand alone can stay the pent up fires, that they break not forth at
+once. Fear not. I go to-night to Iztapalapan, to confer with your royal
+uncle, the intrepid Cuitlahua. The noble Cacama joins us there,
+convinced already that his was a mistaken policy, when he counselled
+your father to receive the strangers courteously, and treat them as
+friends."
+
+"And what can Cacama do?"
+
+"That is yet to be seen. He is convinced of his error, and is ready to
+atone for it with his life. With Cacama, with Cuitlahua, with a thousand
+more like them--chiefs who never feared danger, and never knew
+defeat--why should we despair, or even doubt?"
+
+"But how know you, Guatimozin, that these Castilian strangers regard
+their own safety as any way involved in that of Montezuma?"
+
+"I gathered it from the oracle, my love, and from omens which never
+deceive."
+
+"What oracle? What omens? I pray you explain?"
+
+"The omens were their own troubled looks and clouded brows, while this
+strange negotiation was pending, and the guarded watchfulness, with
+which they now protect their guest, and prevent the intrusion upon his
+privacy of any considerable number of his friends, at the same time."
+
+"Prince Guatimozin, do I understand the import of those terrible words?
+Is my father already a prisoner in his own palace?"
+
+"What else, my sweet cousin, seeing he cannot come forth, if he would,
+and we can only approach him by permission?"
+
+"O ye gods! has it come to this? Fly, Guatimozin. Fly to Iztapalapan. I
+release you from your pledge. Sound the alarm throughout the realm. And,
+if need be, _I_ will arm, and with you to the rescue."
+
+"Not so fast, brave princess; it is just this rashness that may endanger
+the precious head we would rescue. His life is safe at present; let us
+not put it to hazard, by moving too soon, or striking a useless blow."
+
+"But I see not yet, my dear cousin, how it is ascertained that my father
+is secure from further outrage. May it not be their policy to take away
+the head, hoping thus to dishearten and distract our people, and make
+them an easy prey to their victorious arms."
+
+"If so, they know not the spirit of the Aztec. To a man, throughout
+these broad realms, they would shed their last drop, to avenge the foul
+sacrilege, nor rest in their work of vengeance, till every altar in the
+land was drenched in the blood of the captive foe. But you forget that I
+have oracle as well as omen to sustain my faith."
+
+"What oracle has condescended, at last, to give us light? I thought
+they had all been silent, not deigning, since the advent of these
+mysterious strangers, any response to our prayers."
+
+"Karee is never deaf, or silent, where the welfare of Tecuichpo is
+concerned."
+
+"Karee?"
+
+"Yes, love, Karee! I want no better or more trusty oracle. She has, you
+know, a sort of ubiquity. Nothing escapes her keen observation. Few
+mysteries are too deep for her sagacity to unravel. In her brief
+occasional encounters with the strangers, she has gathered the meaning
+of not a few of the words of their strange tongue. What she has once
+heard she never forgets. Presuming that no one could understand them,
+they have talked freely and boldly in her presence. And it is from her
+that I learn, that the Castilian general said to one of his officers, as
+he crossed the court yard, this morning--'While we have the Emperor with
+us, we are safe. We must see to it, he does not escape.'"
+
+"Escape?" shrieked the agitated Princess; "then he is indeed a prisoner.
+But these white men are gods, are the gods treacherous?"
+
+"The gods of the deep are all treachery, but not those of the blue
+fields and bright stars above us. But, be they gods from below, or gods
+from above, they are not the gods of Anahuac, nor shall they claim a
+foot of its soil, till it is drenched with the blood of the Aztec.
+Farewell. Fear not. I will yet see you return in triumph to the imperial
+halls of Tenochtitlan."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION--MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC
+ NOBILITY--DEATH OF MONTEZUMA.
+
+ ~And bloody treason triumphed.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~Feeling dies not by the knife;
+ That cuts at once and kills; its tortured strife
+ Is with distilled affliction, drop by drop
+ Oozing its bitterness. Our world is rife
+ With grief and sorrow; all that we would prop,
+ Or would be propped with, falls; where shall the ruin stop?~
+
+
+Passing lightly over some of the subsequent incidents of this stirring
+period, we must hasten to the catastrophe of our long drawn tale.
+
+Secure in the possession of his royal prisoner, Cortez now thought he
+might safely leave the capital, for a while, and respond to a demand
+which pressed urgently upon him, to relieve his little colony at Vera
+Cruz, threatened with destruction, not by the natives, but a new band of
+adventurers from Spain, who had come to dispute the spoils with the
+conquerors. Leaving one of his principal officers in command, with a
+part of the forces, he placed himself at the head of the remainder, and
+marched quietly off on his new expedition.
+
+Alvarado was a brave knight, but of a rash and headlong disposition, and
+utterly destitute of that cool prudence and far-seeing sagacity which
+was requisite for so important a station. He soon involved himself in a
+most wicked and unjust quarrel with the Aztecs, which had well nigh
+overwhelmed him and his diminished band in utter ruin.
+
+Not long after the departure of Cortez, one of the great national
+festivals of the Aztecs occurred, at which the flower of the nobility,
+not of Tenochtitlan alone, but of all the neighboring cities and towns,
+were present. They came only to the peaceful performance of the wonted
+rites of their religion, and consequently came unarmed. Their numbers
+were very great. They were all apparelled in the richest costume of
+their country. Their snow white vestments, their splendid mantles of
+feather-work, powdered all over with jewels; their sandals of gold or
+silver, and their gaudy head-dresses of many-colored plumes, made an
+imposing and magnificent display, as they moved in solemn procession, to
+the simple music of their shells and horns, towards the court yard of
+the great Teocalli, where the festival was to be celebrated. The immense
+area was thronged with the gay multitude of worshippers, who,
+unsuspicious of treachery, gave themselves up to the wild dances and all
+the customary evolutions of Indian festivity. In the midst of their
+solemn sports, Alvarado, with his band of armed followers, rushed in,
+like so many tigers let loose upon their prey, and put them to an
+indiscriminate slaughter. Scarce one of that gay company escaped the
+ruthless massacre. The holy place was drenched with the best blood of
+Anahuac, and mourning, desolation, and wo were carried into all the
+principal families in the land.
+
+It was a fearful stroke, and fearfully was it repaid upon the heads of
+the guilty murderers. On every side the cry of vengeance arose, and its
+hoarse murmurs came rolling in upon the capital, like the distant
+howlings of a gathering tempest. Myriads of outraged Aztecs, smarting
+and chafing under their wounds, and thirsting for a worthy revenge,
+thronged the avenues to the capital, and demanded the treacherous
+strangers to be offered in sacrifice to their offended gods. Guatimozin,
+and many other brave, powerful, fearless chiefs were there, eager to
+seize the opportunity to chastise the insolent intruder. Day after day,
+they stormed the quarters of the beleaguered foe, pouring in upon them
+vollies of arrows, darts and stones, that sorely discomfited, though it
+could not dislodge them. Every assailable point was so well guarded by
+those terrible engines of destruction, the fire-belching artillery, that
+the assailants, numerous as they were, and spurred on by an ungovernable
+rage, could make but little impression upon them. Nevertheless, they
+would inevitably have carried the defences, and swept away the little
+band of ruthless murderers, had not Montezuma interposed, and besought
+them, for his sake, to desist from their hostile attacks. From regard to
+his safety, they suspended their active operations, but did not
+relinquish their settled purpose of vengeance.
+
+One means of annoyance was left to them, which would soon have reduced
+the fortress to submission, had not an unexpected succor arrived. All
+supplies were cut off from the camp,--already famine began to stare
+them in the face, and relax the iron sinew and with it the iron will, of
+the haughty Castilian. They were beginning to be reduced to extremities.
+A few days more, and the undefended garrison would have fallen into the
+hands of those merciless avengers of blood, who would have doomed every
+individual to the sacrifice.
+
+At this critical juncture, the all powerful, invincible Cortez returned,
+his forces greatly increased by the accession of the very band that had
+been sent against him--Narvaez, who had been commissioned to displace
+him, having become his friend, and arrayed himself, with his whole
+company and munitions of war, under his banner. Hearing of the
+disastrous position of his friends in the capital, he hastened with
+rapid strides and forced marches to their relief. His progress was
+unimpeded by any hostilities on the part of Aztecs, or their allies,
+till he entered the city, and joined his forces with those of Alvarado
+in the beleaguered citadel. It seems to have been the purpose of the
+chiefs to permit a free ingress of the entire force of the enemy,
+preferring rather to shut them up to famine there, than to meet them in
+the open field.
+
+No sooner was the General, with his augmented army, enclosed within the
+walls of the fortress, than active and fearful demonstrations of the
+roused and unappeasable spirit of the people began to be made. The
+streets and lanes of the city, which were silent and deserted as he
+passed through them to his quarters, began to swarm with innumerable
+multitudes of warriors, as if the stones, and the very dust of the
+earth, were suddenly transformed into armed men. The flat roofs of
+their temples and dwellings were covered on every side with fierce wild
+figures, frantic with rage, who taunted the Spaniards with their cruel
+treachery, and threatened them, in the most violent language, with a
+terrible revenge. "You are now again in our power," they cried, "and you
+cannot escape. Shut up in your narrow quarters, you are doomed to the
+lingering tortures of famine, and wo to the traitorous Aztec, that
+furnishes a morsel to relieve your hunger. When, at length, the
+faintness of death overtakes you, and you can no longer offer resistance
+to our arms, we will again spread the tables in your prison-house, and
+fatten you for the sacrifice."
+
+No longer restrained by their reverence for Montezuma, whose
+pusillanimity had been the cause of all his and their troubles, they
+recommenced their active operations, and stormed the defences with an
+energy and perseverance that was truly appalling. Day after day they
+deluged the place with arrows and missiles of every kind, which fell in
+pitiless showers upon the heads of the besieged, till scarcely one was
+left without some wound or bruise. In vain did they apply, as before, to
+their royal prisoner, to appease the rage of his subjects, and induce
+them once more to send them the customary supplies. In moody silence he
+shut himself up in his room, brooding over the ingratitude and treachery
+of Cortez, and the injuries and insults he had received at his hand.
+
+Exasperated by this sudden reversal of his schemes of conquest, and
+maddened by the sense of hunger which began to be severely felt in his
+camp, Cortez resolved to strike terror into the ranks of the besiegers,
+by a vigorous sortie at the head of all his cavalry. First sweeping the
+avenue by a well directed fire from his heavy guns, which were planted
+at the main entrance of the fortress, he rushed out, with all his steel
+clad cavaliers, trampling the unprotected assailants under the iron
+hoofs of the horses, and dealing death on every side. The mighty mass
+gave way before the terrific charge of the advancing column, but
+immediately closed in upon its rear as it passed, till it was completely
+swallowed up in an interminable sea of fierce and angry foes, whose
+accumulating waves swept in from every avenue, and threatened to sweep
+them all away, in despite of the fury and power of their dreaded
+chargers. Convinced of his danger, the intrepid Castilian wheeled his
+horse about, and with a furious shout, called on his brave band to break
+a way through the serried ranks of the enemy. Plunging, rearing and
+leaping, under the double spur of the rider, and the piercing shafts of
+his foe, the fiery animals broke in upon the living wall that impeded
+their way, and rushed fiercely on, trampling down hundreds in their
+path, till they regained the open avenue, that was defended by their own
+artillery. It was not without serious loss, however, that this retreat
+was achieved. The fierce Aztecs threw themselves upon the horses, in the
+crowd, hanging upon their legs, sometimes inflicting serious wounds upon
+them, and sometimes grappling with their riders, dragging them from
+their saddles, and carrying off to captivity or sacrifice. At the same
+time, they were sorely beset by showers of stones and darts that poured
+upon their heads from every building as they passed, battering and
+breaking their armor, and terribly bruising both the horse and his
+rider.
+
+These sorties were several times repeated, but always with the same
+doubtful success. The loss of the Spaniards was always much less than
+that of their enemy. But the latter could better afford to lose a
+thousand, than the former to lose one. Their ranks were instantly
+replenished with fresh combatants, who crowded in upon the scene of
+conflict, like the countless thousands of the over-peopled North, that
+swarmed upon the fair fields of Italy, as if some used-up world had been
+suddenly emptied of its inhabitants. Their numbers seemed rather to
+increase than to diminish with every new onset. In the same proportion
+their fierce resolution increased.
+
+The haughty Spaniard was now convinced that he had wholly mistaken the
+character of the people, whom he had thought to trample down at his
+pleasure. A spirit was raised which could not be laid, either by
+persuasion or by force. He saw and felt his danger, without the power to
+avert it. At length, either by threats or entreaties, or both, he
+prevailed on the captive Montezuma once more to interpose in his behalf,
+by employing what authority remained to him against his own best friends
+and faithful subjects.
+
+The Aztecs, forsaken of their monarch, had bold and talented leaders,
+who were competent both to devise and to execute the measures deemed
+necessary for the public good, and to lead on their marshalled hosts, to
+battle and to victory. Cacama, the young Prince of Tezcuco, burning to
+retrieve his fatal error in counselling and aiding the friendly
+reception of the Spaniards, now joined all his resources with those of
+Cuitlahua and Guatimozin, in endeavoring to recover the ground they had
+lost. Their first object was, to rescue the Emperor from his inglorious
+imprisonment, never doubting that, with his sacred person at their head,
+they would be able to annihilate the treacherous intruders at a blow.
+
+Not far from the city of Tezcuco, and standing out on the bosom of the
+lake, several hundred yards from the shore, was a solitary castle of a
+heavy and sombre architecture, built upon piles, at such an elevation as
+to be above the influence of any extraordinary swell in the waters of
+the lake. Consequently, when at its ordinary level, boats could pass
+freely under. At this place the princes were accustomed to meet for
+private deliberation.
+
+Cortez was informed of these meetings, and knew too well the effect of
+the counsels there matured, not to wish them broken up. With a boldness
+of design peculiar to himself, he resolved to make Montezuma the
+instrument of their destruction. He represented to that monarch the
+danger to his own interests, of allowing such a junto of able and
+ambitious men to assume the guidance of the public affairs, and
+undertake to direct the movements of the people. "What can they do
+more," he craftily exclaimed, "but assume the reins of government, under
+the specious pretence, which they now falsely set up, that their king is
+deprived of his freedom to act, and therefore no longer a king. If, now,
+you would save your sceptre and your crown, assert at once your imperial
+prerogative--show them you have still the power to speak and to
+act--command them, on pain of your royal displeasure, to lay down their
+arms, desist from their treasonable assemblages, and repair at once to
+your court, to answer for their unloyal designs."
+
+Misled by false representations of the facts, and deceived by the
+specious arguments of the Spaniard, Montezuma despatched a message to
+the lord of Tezcuco, under the great seal of the empire, which it was
+high treason to disregard, commanding him instantly to appear before his
+master, to answer for his irregular and ill-advised proceedings. Cacama
+was too well aware of the real position of Montezuma, and of the
+constraint under which he acted, to give any heed to his mandate.
+
+"Tell my royal master," he replied, "that I am too much his friend to
+obey him in this instance. Let him banish the false-hearted Spaniards
+from his capital, the vipers whom he has taken to his bosom--let him
+ascend once more his imperial throne, not as a vassal, but as the
+rightful lord of all these realms, and Cacama will joyfully lay his
+crown, his life, his all, at his feet. Montezuma is my master when he is
+master of himself. To that dignity we intend to restore him, or perish
+in the attempt."
+
+On the evening of the fourth day after the return of the royal
+messenger, with this spirited reply of Cacama, a light pirogue, guided
+by a single hand, its sole occupant, might have been seen gliding
+silently over the Lake to the water-palace, the chosen rendezvous of the
+patriot princes. By the proud and majestic bearing of the boatman, it
+could be no other than Guatimozin. Securing his skiff by a cord passed
+through the fingers of a gigantic hand, curiously carved from the
+jutting rafters on which the floor of the palace was laid, he ascended
+the steps to the hall, which he found unoccupied and still. He was
+presently joined by Cuitlahua and Cacama, arriving from different
+directions, in the same stealthy manner. Their number was soon increased
+by the arrival of four Tezcucan lords, from whom some important
+communications were expected. Scarcely had they entered the hall, and
+seated themselves, when, a slight noise from without attracting his
+attention, Guatimozin rose, and went towards the door, to ascertain the
+cause.
+
+"It is only the chafing of our pirogues against the piles," said one of
+the new comers--"let us proceed to business."
+
+Guatimozin, true to his own impulses, heeded not the remark. Stepping
+upon the outer battlement, he discerned a slight figure in a canoe,
+moving in the shadow of the building, and apparently seeking
+concealment. Supposing it might be a servant, left by the Tezcucans in
+charge of their boats, he was about returning, when a gentle voice
+whispered his name.
+
+"Who calls Guatimozin?" he replied in a whisper, at the same time
+leaning towards the intruder.
+
+"Beware of the Tezcucans, beware." The voice was Karee's, but the skiff
+shot away, like an arrow, before the Prince had time for further parley.
+
+Returning to the council, he instantly demanded, as if nothing had
+happened, that the plans of the evening should be laid open.
+
+A pictured scroll was then produced by the Tezcucans, representing the
+contemplated movements of the enemy, which they professed to have
+ascertained from authentic sources, and delineating a plan of operations
+against them. Guatimozin, somewhat bewildered by the warning he had
+received, sat down with his friends to the examination of this scroll.
+But, while seemingly intent upon that alone, he contrived to keep a
+close watch upon the movements of the Tezcucans. It was soon evident
+that their thoughts were not wholly engrossed by the business before
+them. A slight noise from without, followed instantly by an exchange of
+significant looks between two of the party, confirmed his suspicions.
+Instantly dashing away the false scroll, and springing to his feet, he
+boldly charged the traitors with a conspiracy; and demanded an immediate
+explanation. Alarmed at this mysterious and premature disclosure of
+their designs, the chief of the party, without venturing a word of
+reply, gave a shrill, piercing whistle, which was immediately responded
+to from without. Finding himself entrapped, and not knowing what numbers
+he might have to contend with, Guatimozin sprang to the door, stretching
+one of the conspirators on the floor as he passed, and succeeded in
+reaching his skiff, just as a band of armed men rushed in from the other
+quarter. Cuitlahua also effected his escape, though not without a
+desperate encounter with one of the advancing party, who attempted to
+arrest his flight.
+
+To seize his antagonist with a powerful embrace, to fling him over the
+parapet into the water, and to plunge in after him, was the work of an
+instant. Swimming under water for some distance, and rising to the
+surface within the shadow of the building, he took possession of the
+nearest canoe, and, following in the wake of Guatimozin, was soon out
+of the reach of danger, or pursuit.
+
+Cacama, unsuspicious of danger, and intent only on the object of their
+meeting, was so engrossed with the scroll, and the plans delineated upon
+it, that he did not fully comprehend the meaning of this sudden
+interruption of their council, until his two friends had disappeared,
+and, in their place, a band of twenty armed men stood before him.
+Resistance was vain. By order of the chief of the conspirators, he was
+seized, securely bound, and carried a prisoner to Tenochtitlan. There,
+though treated with indignity by Cortez, and with severity by Montezuma,
+he maintained a haughty and independent bearing, sternly refusing to
+yield, in the slightest degree, to the insolent dictation of the one, or
+the pusillanimous policy of the other. Cuitlahua was afterwards seized
+in his own palace of Iztapalapan; but, after a short detention, was
+released again, at the instigation of Montezuma.
+
+These outrages, so far from intimidating the people, only excited and
+incensed them the more, and led to other and more desperate assaults
+upon the beleaguered foe, till Cortez, apprehensive of ultimate defeat
+and ruin, applied once more to Montezuma, proposing that he should
+appear in person before his people, and require them to lay down their
+arms, retire to their homes, and leave his guests in peaceable
+possession of the quarters he had voluntarily assigned them.
+
+Arrayed in his royal robes, with the imperial diadem upon his head,
+preceded by his officers of state, bearing the golden wands, the emblem
+of despotic power, and accompanied by a considerable train of his own
+nobles, and some of the principal Castilian cavaliers, the unfortunate
+monarch appeared on the battlements, to remonstrate with his own people
+for their zeal in the defence of his crown and honor, and appease the
+rage of his subjects for insults offered to his own person, and to those
+of his loyal nobles. His presence was instantly recognized by the
+thronging multitudes below and around. Some prostrated themselves on the
+earth in profound reverence, some bent the knee, and all waited in
+breathless silence to hear that voice, which had so long ruled them with
+despotic sway.
+
+With a sad, but at the same time a calm and dignified tone, the monarch
+addressed them, "My children," said he, "why are you here in this fierce
+array. The strangers are my friends. I abide with them as their
+voluntary guest, and all that you do against them is done against me,
+your sovereign and father."
+
+When the monarch declared himself the friend of the detested Spaniard, a
+murmur of discontent and rage arose, and ran through the assembled host.
+Their ungovernable fury burst at once the barrier of loyalty, and vented
+itself in curses upon the king who could, in the hour of their peril,
+thus basely forsake his people, and endeavor to betray them into the
+hands of a treacherous and blood thirsty foe. "Base Aztec!" they cried,
+"woman! coward! go back to the viper friends whom you have taken to your
+bosom. No longer worthy to reign over us, we cast away our allegiance
+for ever." At the same moment, some powerful arm, more fearless than the
+rest, aimed a huge stone at the unprotected head of the king, which
+brought him senseless to the ground. His attendants, put off their
+guard by the previous calm and reverential attention of the crowd, were
+taken by surprise. In vain they interposed their shields and bucklers,
+to protect his person from further violence. The fatal blow was struck.
+The great Montezuma had received his death-wound from the hand of one of
+his own subjects, who, but a moment before, would have sacrificed a
+hundred lives, had he possessed them, to shield the person of his
+monarch from violence and dishonor.
+
+The effect of this unexpected catastrophe seemed equally appalling to
+both the belligerent parties. The Aztecs, struck aghast at their own
+sacrilegious deed, dispersed in sorrow and shame to their homes; while
+the Spaniards felt that they had lost their only remaining hold upon the
+forbearance and regard of a mighty people, whose confidence they had
+shamefully abused, and whose altars and houses they had wantonly
+desecrated. It was a season of agonizing suspense. To retreat from their
+post, and abandon the conquest which they once imagined was nearly
+achieved, might be as disastrous as it would be humiliating. To remain
+in their narrow quarters, surrounded with countless thousands of
+exasperated foes, on whom they must be dependent for their daily
+supplies of food, seemed little better than madness. To the proud spirit
+of the haughty Castilian, the alternative was scarcely less to be
+dreaded than martyrdom. It was manifestly, however, the only resource,
+and he resolved to evacuate the city.
+
+Meanwhile, active hostilities had been temporarily suspended. The
+unhappy Montezuma, smitten even more severely in heart than in person,
+refused alike the condolence of his friends and the skill of the
+Castilian surgeon. Tearing off the bandages from his wounds, "leave me
+alone," he cried, "I have already outlived my honor and the affection
+and confidence of my people. Why should I look again upon the sun or the
+earth. The one has no light, the other no flowers for me. Let me die
+here. I feel indeed that the gods have smitten me, when I fall by the
+hand of one of my own people."
+
+In this disconsolate mood, the spirit of Montezuma took its flight. In
+vain did the Castilian general endeavor to suppress, for a time, the
+tidings of his death. The loud wailing of his attendants, would have
+published it far and wide among the thousands of affectionate hearts,
+that listened for every sound that issued from the palace, if they had
+not, unknown to the Spaniards, established a kind of telegraphic signal,
+by means of which they communicated to the priests on the great
+Teocalli, daily reports of the progress of his disease. When the sad
+signal was given, announcing the solemn fact, that the great Montezuma
+had laid down his honors and his troubles together, it was responded to
+by the mournful tones of the great drum of the temple, by ten measured
+muffled strokes, conveying the melancholy intelligence to every dwelling
+in Tenochtitlan.
+
+The breathing of that populous city was now one universal wail, that
+seemed to penetrate the very heavens. Partly from a sincere regard for
+the fallen monarch, and partly from the hope that he might thus
+conciliate the good will of his afflicted subjects, Cortez directed his
+remains to be placed in a splendid coffin, and borne in solemn
+procession, by his own nobles, to his palace, that it might be interred
+with the customary regal honors. It was received by his people with
+every demonstration of affectionate joy and respect. Conveyed with great
+pomp to the castle of Chapoltepec, followed by an immense train of
+priests, nobles, and common people, it was interred amid all the
+imposing ceremonies of the Aztec religion. His wives and children,
+frantic with grief, gathered around those hallowed remains, and
+testified, by all those tender and delicate tokens which seem the
+natural expression of a refined feminine sorrow, their profound sense of
+the inestimable loss they had sustained.
+
+By one of those singular coincidences, which tend so strongly to confirm
+the too easy credulity of the superstitious, and give an unnatural
+emphasis to the common accidents of life, it was the festival of the new
+moon, the very day on which Montezuma had promised Tecuichpo that he
+would join the household circle at Chapoltepec, that his lifeless
+remains were borne thither, in the solemn funereal procession.
+
+"Alas! my father," she cried, "is this the fulfilment of that only
+promise which sustained my sinking courage in the hour of separation?"
+She said no more. The more profound the sorrow, the fewer words it has
+to spare. "The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ BRIEF REIGN OF CUITLAHUA--EXPULSION OF THE
+ SPANIARDS--GUATIMOZIN CHOSEN EMPEROR--HIS MARRIAGE
+ WITH TECUICUPO.
+
+ ~Grief follows grief. The crowned head
+ So late the nation's hope, is laid
+ Low in the dust.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~Defeat and triumph, tears and smiles,
+ Life, death, true glory and the depths of shame,
+ The funeral pall and the pure bridal robe,
+ In close proximity--~
+
+
+The sacred dust restored to its native earth, and the last hallowed
+rites performed over the sepulchre of the departed, the thoughts of the
+people were immediately turned to the succession. All eyes were fixed on
+Cuitlahua, the noble brother of Montezuma, whose intrepid spirit, and
+deadly hatred of the intruding Spaniards, accorded with the now
+universal sentiment of the nation. He was elected, without a dissenting
+voice, by the grand council of the nobles. Accepting, with alacrity, the
+post of responsibility and danger, he was immediately inaugurated and
+crowned, with all the gorgeous rites, and imposing ceremonies which a
+pagan priesthood delight to throw around every important event, in which
+their holy influence is necessarily involved.
+
+During the progress of these mournful and exciting events, the rigors of
+the siege had not been materially relaxed, though all active hostilities
+had been suspended. They were now to be renewed with tenfold energy,
+under the lead of their warlike monarch, who had often led the armies of
+Anahuac to victory, and who had never known defeat.
+
+When the Castilian general was informed that the heroic Cuitlahua had
+been placed on the throne of Montezuma, and was about to take the field
+in person, he perceived the necessity of adopting prompt and decided
+measures. The retreat had already been resolved on. It was now to be put
+in execution, and that, without delay. As it was the custom of the
+Aztec, to suspend all hostilities during the night, Cortez determined to
+avail himself of that season to make his escape. Accordingly, every
+thing being made ready for the departure, and the city being hushed in a
+seemingly profound repose, the gates were thrown open, and the little
+army, with its long train of Indian allies, sallied stealthily forth,
+not to the stirring notes of drum or trumpet, but with hushed breath and
+a cautious tread, ill accordant with the haughty bearing, and vaunting
+air, with which they had hitherto attempted to lord it over the proud
+metropolis of Anahuac.
+
+But, though quiet, the sagacious and determined Aztec was wide awake. He
+had anticipated this stealthy movement of his pent up foe, and resolved
+that he should not thus escape the snare into which his own audacious
+insolence had drawn him. The last files of the retreating army had not
+yet passed out from their entrenchments, when a long loud blast from the
+horn of the great Teocalli, stirred the city to its utmost borders,
+calling out the mighty host, who had slept upon their arms, eager for
+the summons which should bring them once more to an engagement with
+their foe.
+
+Confident as the Spaniard was in the overwhelming power of his cavalry
+and artillery, he preferred rather to make good his retreat, while he
+could, than to show his prowess in these perilous circumstances. The
+hoarse distant murmurs which fell upon their ears at every street as
+they passed, indicated too plainly the mustering of a mighty host, which
+soon came rushing in upon them from all quarters, like the swelling
+surges of a stormy sea, each higher and more terrible than that which
+preceded. They fell upon the flying foe with the ferocity of tigers,
+about to be disappointed of their prey. From every lane and alley, and
+from the roof of every house, they pelted them with ceaseless vollies of
+stones. They grappled with them, man to man, reckless of life or limb,
+so that they could maim or destroy an enemy.
+
+Alvarado, with a portion of the cavalry, brought up the rear of the
+retreating army, in order to repel, with an occasional charge upon the
+enemy's ranks, those furious onsets which might have overwhelmed the
+small body of Spanish infantry, or the unmailed and lightly armed
+Tlascalan allies. The cavalier and his horse, encased in armor of proof,
+could better cope with the weapons and missiles of their assailants,
+while they often turned upon them, with a fierce and irresistible
+charge, trampling hundreds in the dust, and mowing down whole ranks on
+this side and that, with their trenchant broadswords.
+
+In this manner the fugitives defiled through the great southern avenue,
+and came out upon the grand causeway, by which they had twice entered
+the city. Here they were met by new and fresh squadrons of the enemy,
+thronging the sides of the dike in their light canoes, and showering
+down arrows thick as hail upon the advancing column. Sometimes keeping
+upon the causeway, they would grapple each with his man, and drag him
+off into the water, to be picked up by those in the canoes, and hurried
+off to a terrible and certain fate, on the great altar of their War-god.
+Their numbers increased every moment, till the lake was literally alive
+with them.
+
+At length the advancing column was brought to stand; while a cry of
+despair from the van revealed the fearful position in which they stood
+in the midst of their implacable foes. The bridges which intersected the
+dike had been removed by order of the Emperor. They had now reached the
+first opening thus made in the causeway. A sudden shout from the myriads
+of Aztec warriors that hung about them on all sides, told at once their
+own wild triumph, and the awfully perilous position of their enemy.
+Crowded together on a narrow causeway, in ranks so close as to render
+their arms and their weapons almost entirely useless--arrested in front
+by a wide chasm which it was impossible to pass--their retreat cut off
+in the rear, by the living masses that blocked up every avenue, and
+pressed them forward upon the crowded ranks of their comrades--assailed
+on both sides from the water, through the whole length of the closely
+compacted column--while all these dangers were enhanced a hundred-fold
+by the darkness of the night--there seemed no possibility of escape for
+one of that brave host.
+
+Cortez was with the principal part of the cavalry in the centre of the
+column, so wedged in by the compacted mass of his own forces, as to be
+quite unable either to advance or retreat, without trampling them under
+his feet, or crowding them off the causeway. He comprehended in a moment
+the perilous position he was in. But such was the utter confusion and
+dismay of the whole army, and such the horrid din of clashing arms, and
+the yet more horrid yells of the savage foe, that he in vain attempted
+either to direct or encourage his men. His voice was drowned in the
+uproar.
+
+Sandoval, one of his bravest and most trusty officers, who led the van,
+with a few other cavaliers as bold as himself, resolved to push forward
+at any personal hazard, rather than stand still to perish in one
+confused mass, dashed their steeds into the water, and made for the
+other side of the gap. Some succeeded in effecting a landing, while
+others, with their horses, perished in the attempt, or fell into the
+hands of the watchful boatmen. The first movement being thus made, an
+impetus was given to the moving column from behind, that drove the front
+ranks, _nolens volens_, into the breach. By far the greater part sank to
+rise no more, or were picked up by the Aztecs, and hurried away to a far
+more terrible death. At length the breach was filled up by the bodies of
+the dead, and the baggage and artillery which occupied the centre, so
+that the rear had a clear passage over the fatal chasm.
+
+A second and a third breach was yet to be passed. It was accomplished as
+before, only by making a bridge of the bodies of one half, for the other
+half to walk upon. Meanwhile the enemy hung upon flank and rear, with
+unappeasable rage, striking down and picking up vast numbers of victims,
+until, when the last breach was cleared, and a footing gained upon
+terra-firma, there was scarce a remnant left of the gallant band that
+entered upon that fatal causeway. The iron-hearted Cortez was so
+overcome with the sight of his shattered band, and the absence of so
+many brave comrades, when the morning light appeared, that he sat down
+upon a rock that overlooked the scene of desolation, and gave vent to
+his emotions in a flood of tears.
+
+Had the Mexicans followed up this success by falling upon the broken
+dispirited remnant of the Castilian army, they would probably have
+vanquished and destroyed them to a man. They were suffered, however, to
+proceed unmolested for several days, until their strength and spirits
+were somewhat recruited. Then, though attacked by immensely superior
+numbers, they succeeded in putting them to rout.
+
+The new Emperor, Cuitlahua, having signalized his accession to the
+throne by the almost total destruction of the formidable foe, who had
+spread the terror of his arms far and wide through all the realms of
+Anahuac, proceeded to fortify his capital and kingdom against another
+invasion. The dikes and canals were thoroughly repaired, the walls were
+strengthened and extended, the army enlarged and improved in discipline
+by some of the lessons which so able a general, was not slow to learn
+from the Spaniards. The immense treasures they had drawn from the
+munificent Montezuma, and which, in the disasters of that melancholy
+night, they had been compelled to leave behind, were all recovered and
+expended in these works of defence. Their arms, too, were gathered up,
+and served to improve and render more effective many of the more
+primitive weapons of the Aztecs. In the midst of these wise and
+patriotic efforts to guard against the probable return of the Spaniards,
+Cuitlahua was seized with a loathsome disease, which in a few days
+brought him to the grave, after a brief reign of four months.
+
+This was a terrible blow to the nation. It was felt throughout all the
+borders of Anahuac, as the severest frown of their gods. But partially
+recovered from the shock occasioned by the death of Montezuma, they were
+now beginning to feel their hopes renewed, and their courage reviving,
+under the bold and decided measures, and the signal successes of their
+new Emperor. He was the idol of the army. His intrepid bravery, his high
+military talents, his unyielding patriotism, and deadly hatred of the
+white men, had secured for him the confidence of all the wisest and best
+men of the realm, so that, with one heart and one voice, they rallied
+around his standard, assured that, under his energetic sway, the ancient
+glory and pre-eminence of the Aztec crown would be not only ably
+asserted, but effectually re-established.
+
+His fall, like a mighty earthquake, shook the empire to its centre. For
+a moment it seemed as if all was lost--hopelessly, irretrievably lost.
+The long funereal wail, that swelled up from every dwelling and every
+heart in that devoted land, seemed like the expiring groan of a world.
+But it was only for a moment. The first shock past, they found
+themselves still standing, though among ruins. Their land, their
+temples, their dwellings, still remained. Their wise and experienced
+counsellors were all in their midst. Their host of armed men were still
+at their post, unbroken, undivided, unappalled. The imperial mantle had
+not fallen to the earth.
+
+As by immediate direction from heaven, all eyes were turned to
+Guatimozin. He was nephew to the last two monarchs, and though only a
+young man, had distinguished himself both in the council and in the
+field. He had uniformly opposed the admission of the Spaniards to the
+capital. He had been prominent in all the recent attacks upon their
+quarters, and had especially signalized himself in the terrible
+overthrow of the disastrous night of their retreat. He had all the
+coolness and intrepidity of a veteran warrior, with all the fire and
+impetuosity of youth. He was about twenty-five years of age, of an
+elegant commanding figure, and so terrible in war that even his
+followers trembled in his presence.
+
+The young prince felt the extreme difficulty of the crisis, but did not
+shrink from the arduous and perilous post assigned him. With a prudence
+and circumspection, only to have been expected from one long accustomed
+to the cares and perplexities of government, he set himself to fortify
+every assailable point, and to prepare for the worst that might arise,
+in the event of another invasion. The works commenced during the brief
+reign of Cuitlahua were carried forward to their completion. By means of
+regular couriers and spies, a constant communication was kept up with
+all parts of the country. The movements of the Spaniards were narrowly
+watched, and their supposed designs frequently reported to the Emperor.
+Nothing was omitted which a sagacious and watchful monarch could do or
+devise, to make ready for a severe and protracted contest, in whatever
+form it might come.
+
+Thus established on the throne, and strengthened against a sudden
+surprise, the ardent young monarch repaired to Chapoltepec, where the
+bereaved household of Montezuma still remained, in sad but peaceful
+seclusion, and claimed the hand of the fair Princess Tecuichpo. Her
+retiring disposition would have preferred a humbler and more quiet
+station. She had seen enough of the agitations and burdens of a crowned
+head; enough of the gaudy emptiness of life in a palace, and longed to
+hide herself in some sweet, sequestered spot, away from the noisy parade
+and anxious bustle of a court, where her own home would be all her
+world.
+
+"Oh! that that crown had fallen on some other head," she exclaimed.
+"Though there is not another in Anahuac so worthy to wear it, not one
+who would so well sustain its ancient glory, yet I would not that _you_
+should bear the heavy burden, or be exposed to that desolating storm
+that is gathering over our devoted capital and throne."
+
+"Said I not, my beloved, that I would yet lead you back in triumph to
+the royal halls of your ancestors? I have come to redeem my pledge.
+Shrink not from a station which no other can so well adorn. Rather, far
+rather would I, if I could, retire with you to the quiet shades of
+private life, and find a home in some sweet glen among the mountains,
+than wear the crown and claim the homage of a world. But, my sweet
+cousin, the crown _must_ be defended, the throne _must_ be sustained
+against the insolent pretensions of these strangers. And _I_ must do my
+part in the defence. I dare not, either as monarch or as subject,
+withhold myself from this great work. If I perish, I fall in the service
+of my country and her altars. And the higher the station I hold, the
+greater the service I render--the heavier the burden I bear, the
+brighter the honors I shall win. As well perish on the throne, as
+fighting at its foot. I should be unworthy of the daughter of Montezuma,
+if I held any thing too dear to sacrifice on the shrine of my country."
+
+"Noble Guatimozin, my heart is yours--my life is devoted only to you.
+Lead me where you will, so that I can share your burdens, and lighten
+your cares, and not prove unworthy of such a father and such a lord. But
+you forget that mine is a doomed life, that oracles and omens, signs and
+presages, have all conspired against me from my birth."
+
+"Nay, my love, it is you that forget, not I. For the very oracles and
+omens that foreshadowed for you a clouded morning, promised with equal
+distinctness a bright and glorious evening. The tempestuous morning is
+passed. The glorious mid-day and the golden evening are yet to come."
+
+"You are quite too fast, I fear, my brave cousin, it was only the
+evening that was to have light. The sunset hour of life was to be
+clear. But what, my dear Guatimozin, what do you suppose that light is
+to be? and whence shall it come?"
+
+"What _can_ it be, but to restore, in your own person and family, the
+disputed pre-eminence of the Aztec dynasty, the tarnished glory of its
+crown. Rely upon it, my gentle cousin, _that_ is your destiny. The timid
+dove of Chapoltepec shall be transformed to the royal eagle of
+Tenochtitlan."
+
+"That cannot be. I rather fear that the deep cloud of my doom will
+overshadow and darken your life. Better far that I should suffer and
+perish alone."
+
+"It _must_ be, Tecuichpo, it shall be. Have not the gods given you to
+me? Have they not made me the defender of the Aztec throne? How then can
+you doubt that they call _you_ to share and adorn it?"
+
+"Oh! my lord! those terrible omens--they are but half fulfilled, and the
+promised light is yet far in the distance. Could I be sure that you
+would share that light with me----."
+
+"Come then with me to the palace. It will be all light for _me_ when
+_you_ are there, and sure I am that time will re-interpret those sad
+omens for you, and turn them all to sunshine."
+
+Suddenly the palace of Chapoltepec was changed from a house of mourning
+to a house of feasting. The nuptial rites of the youthful Emperor with
+the beautiful princess, were celebrated with great pomp. The festivities
+continued through several days, and were honored by the presence of all
+the nobility of the empire. The most costly entertainment was provided
+for the numerous guests. The most munificent royal largesses were
+bestowed upon the priests, and upon those who took a prominent part in
+the grand ceremonies, and gifts of great value lavishly distributed
+among all the inferior attendants. The brilliant and odoriferous
+treasures of the royal gardens, and of the chinampas of the great lake
+were exhausted in adorning the halls and chambers of the palace. The
+refined taste, and exquisite invention of Karee was every where
+apparent. The place, on the day of the nuptials, might have been taken
+for the realm and palace of Flora. The very air was redolent of the
+incense of flowers, which brightened the day with their bloom, and of
+the odoriferous gums, whose blaze extended the reign of day far into the
+realms of night.
+
+It was a national festival, a season of universal rejoicing. The people
+now believed that their days of darkness and temporary depression were
+passed, and that all the power and glory of the days of Montezuma would
+be restored, under those happy auspices which made his favorite daughter
+a sharer of his throne. The priests sanctioned and confirmed this
+belief, to the utmost of their power and influence, giving it out, with
+that oracular force and dignity, which they so well knew how to assume,
+that such was the true interpretation of all the singular predictions
+and presages, which intimated that the life of the princess would close
+with unusual splendor. In this manner, they encouraged the hopes of the
+nation, confirmed its allegiance to its new Emperor, and united all its
+forces in a solid phalanx of resistance to every foreign encroachment.
+
+When these ceremonies were concluded, and the imperial pageant passed
+from Chapoltepec to the capital, there was a new and still more
+imposing display of the reverence and loyalty of this singular people,
+and of the more than oriental magnificence with which they sustained the
+splendors of royalty. The road, through the entire distance, was swept,
+sprinkled, and strewed with flowers. The elite of the army, and the
+nobility in the gayest costumes, formed a brilliant and numerous escort,
+accompanied with flaunting banners, and every species of spirit-stirring
+music then known to Aztecs. The imperial cortege, consisting of a long
+array of magnificent palanquins, with their gorgeous canopies of
+feather-work, all a-blaze with gold and jewels, borne on the shoulders
+of princes and nobles, occupied the centre of the grand procession.
+Those of the Emperor and Empress, which moved side by side, were
+distinguished by the exceeding costliness and beauty of their
+decorations, and by the superior height of their canopies, whose sides
+and ends curved gracefully to a point in the centre, about three feet
+above the cornice, which was surmounted by the imperial diadem of
+Mexico. These were followed by the queen mother, and other members of
+the royal household, conveyed in a style but little inferior to the
+first. This cortege was immediately preceded and followed by all the
+priests and prophets of the nation, in their splendid pontificals, and
+bearing the showy insignia of their various orders. An immense train of
+the most respectable citizens, merchants, mechanics, artizans,
+husbandmen, and men of every honorable profession brought up the rear.
+They were scarcely less gay and brilliant in their costume than the
+escort and immediate attendants of the monarch, though somewhat less
+uniform in the style of their decorations. The road, through its entire
+length, was flanked by women and children, young men and maidens, in
+their gala dresses, with baskets and chaplets of flowers, which they
+continually showered upon the path, in front of the royal palanquins,
+thus renewing, at every step of its progress, the floral carpet, whose
+freshness and beauty the long escort had trampled out. Ever and anon a
+shout would go up from that vast multitude, so loud and long, that its
+echoes, reverberated along the mountain walls that shut in that
+beautiful valley from the great world, would be heard for many a league
+around. Then, from some little group of trained chanters, a song of
+right loyal welcome would burst forth, accompanied with showers of
+roses, and followed by a chorus from thousands of sweet voices--
+
+ Welcome! welcome! warrior, king--
+ Thrice welcome with the prize you bring.
+ Star of Montezuma's line,
+ O'er the empire, rise and shine!
+ Flower of Montezuma's race
+ Return, thy father's halls to grace!
+ Welcome, thrice welcome, mighty one!
+ The nation's heart shall be thy throne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ FESTIVITIES AT THE COURT OF GUATIMOZIN--THE NEW HYMENEAL
+ VOW.
+
+ ~Heaven gave to Adam one, and so proclaimed
+ Her full equality to man. He who
+ Can ask for more, knows not the worth of one,
+ And so deserves not any--~
+
+
+The imperial court of Tenochtitlan was now again the radiant centre of
+attraction to the confederated and tributary nations of Anahuac. The
+terror of Guatimozin's arm was even more dreaded than that of Montezuma.
+He was a mighty man of valor, of that impetuous courage, and that bold
+directness of action, which executes at a blow the purposes and plans,
+which, with common minds, would require time and deliberation. He was at
+the same time of a generous magnanimous disposition, open, frank,
+unsuspecting, and won the affectionate regard, as well as the prompt
+unquestioning obedience of his people. He had too much good sense, and
+too wise a regard to the dignity of those who should attend upon the
+person of majesty, to require of his nobles, the officers of his court
+and household, those humiliating attentions which were exacted by
+Montezuma. He saw that the only effect of such exactions was to weaken
+and effeminate the character of some of his greatest chieftains,
+reducing them from proud and powerful friends to fawning cringing
+slaves. They were no longer shrouded in the sombre _nequen_, as they
+entered the royal presence, nor did they go barefoot, with their eyes
+cast down to the earth, when they bore the monarch in his luxurious
+palanquin. Arrayed in all their costly finery, with golden or silver
+sandals, and with a bold, manly, cheerful bearing, as if they gloried in
+the precious treasure which it was their privilege, more than their
+duty, to protect and to care for, the imperial palanquin seemed rather
+their trophy than their burden, which they were far more ready to bear,
+than their master was to occupy. He was too active and stirring a
+spirit, to submit often to such a luxurious conveyance. He was ever in
+the midst of his chiefs, consulting and acting for the public good. He
+freely discussed with them the great measures of defence, which he put
+in progress, and evinced the remarkable and rare good sense, to adopt
+wise and politic suggestions, however humble the source from which they
+emanated, and to change his opinion at once when it was shown to be
+wrong. He superintended, in person, the repairing and enlarging of the
+fortifications, and the improvement of the tactics and discipline of the
+army. By a frugal expenditure of the vast revenues of the crown, and a
+careful preservation of the treasures left by his predecessors, he
+accumulated an amount more than equal to the exigencies of a long and
+wasting struggle with all the combined foes of the realm.
+
+Meanwhile, the gay saloons of the palace of Montezuma were gayer than
+they had ever been. For a brief season, the clouds that had so long hung
+over the fate of the lovely Tecuichpo seemed to be dissipated. The skies
+were all bright above her, and every thing around her wore a cheerful
+and promising aspect. Attracted by her resplendent beauty, the
+unaffected ease and graciousness of her manners, and the queenly
+magnificence of her court, the youth, beauty, wit, talent and chivalry
+of the nation, gathered about her, and made her life a perpetual
+gala-day, rivalling in brilliancy and effect the best days of the gayest
+courts in Europe.
+
+Conspicuous among the gay multitude that flitted about the court, was
+Nahuitla, Prince of Tlacopan, a young chief of the Tepanecs. He was just
+ripening into manhood, of an uncommonly lithe and agile frame,
+exceedingly fair and graceful, and gifted with unusual powers of
+intellect. He was one of the rarest geniuses of the age, and astonished
+and amused the court with the variety and beauty of his poems, and other
+works of taste. Nor did his intellectual accomplishments exceed his
+heroism and loyalty. Guatimozin had not an abler or more devoted
+chieftain in all his realm. It was he who fought side by side with the
+Emperor in all his after conflicts, endured with him the horrors of the
+wasting siege and painful captivity which followed, and finally shared
+his cruel and shameful martyrdom, at the hands of the then
+terror-stricken and cowardly Cortez, declaring with his last breath,
+that he desired no better or more glorious lot, than to die by the side
+of his lord.
+
+Nahuitla, like all good knights and brave soldiers, to say nothing of
+true poets, had a heart warmly susceptible of tender impressions, and
+could not resist the bright eyes and witching smiles, that illuminated
+the saloons and gardens of the imperial palace. Promiscuous flirtation
+was less hazardous in Tenochtitlan than in most of the capitals of
+Christendom. The wealthy nobles being allowed to marry as many wives as
+they could support, the young prince could win the affections of all the
+bright daughters of the valley, without at all apprehending a suit for
+breach of promise, or a conspiracy against his own life, or that of his
+favorite, by some disappointed rival. How many conquests he made in one
+brief campaign, does not appear in the chronicles of the day. Atlacan, a
+princess of Tezcuco, was his first trophy. She was very fair and highly
+gifted, resembling in many points of person and character, the guardian
+genius of the young Empress, the talented Karee.
+
+At his first encounter with the Tezcucan princess, Nahuitla was deeply
+impressed with a peculiar expression of thoughtfulness, shading a
+brilliantly beautiful countenance, and imposing a kind of constrained
+awe upon the stranger. This shadow gradually disappeared upon a further
+acquaintance, till the whole face and person were so lighted up with the
+fire of her genius and wit, that it seemed as if invested with a
+supernatural halo. Their intercourse was a perfect tournament of wit,
+and their brilliant sallies and sparkling repartees, were the theme of
+universal admiration.
+
+The princess Atlacan was always attended by a very prudent, watchful,
+anxious chaperone, of a fair exterior, and pleasing manners, who had
+passed the meridian of life, and begun to wane into the cool of its
+evening. She had also a brother, Maxtli, considerably older than
+herself, who, from a two-fold motive, seemed to delight in disappointing
+her expectations, and thwarting her plans. He was a cold, mercenary,
+selfish man, who sought only his own aggrandizement. The princess was a
+special favorite of her father, who was a prince of the highest rank,
+and nearly related to the reigning king of Tezcuco. She had already
+received many substantial proofs of parental partiality, which her
+avaricious brother would fain have claimed for himself. Her brilliant
+qualities and growing influence made her an object of jealousy, as
+seeming to stand in the way of his own preferment. He had used every
+exertion to dispose of her in marriage to some of her numerous suitors,
+and had particularly advocated the cause of a wealthy young merchant of
+Cholula, who rejoiced in the euphonous name of Xitentlóxiltlitl, from
+whom Maxtli had received large presents of gold and jewels.
+
+Atlacan despised the merchant, who fondly imagined that his gold could
+purchase any jewel in the realm. She would not listen to his proposals.
+It was not pride of family, for in Anahuac, under the Aztec dynasty, the
+merchant was a man of note, scarcely inferior to the proudest noble. But
+the merchant was _only_ a merchant, a man of one idea, and that was
+gold, without refinement, without sentiment, without heart, like the
+majority of the same class of mere money mongers all the world over.
+
+Maxtli was enraged by his sister's refusal of this alliance, which, if
+it had been consummated, he would have made subservient to his own
+interests. He determined, from mere revenge, to throw obstacles in the
+way of her alliance with the gifted prince of Tlacopan. The annoyances
+he invented, and the frequent prudential interposition of her cautious
+chaperone, who was in the pay of Maxtli, made her position rather a
+difficult one, and often put her disposition to the severest test. It
+chanced, one lovely evening, that the lovers had stolen a march upon
+both their tormentors, and found, in the royal gardens, a few moments of
+that unwatched uninterrupted conference, which only those in the same
+delicate relation, at the same period of life, know how to appreciate.
+Their absence from the saloons was soon noticed. The duenna was severely
+censured, and sent in pursuit of the fugitive. Karee, who was in the
+secret of the escape, led her a long and wearisome chase, through the
+numberless halls and corridors of that immense pile, and finally left
+her, at the furthest extremity of the building, to find her way back as
+she could. Then, returning to Maxtli, who could scarce restrain his rage
+that they had so long eluded him--
+
+"My lord," said she, "can you tell me where I shall find your sister? I
+have a message for her, which I can only deliver to her personally."
+
+"I know not," he replied angrily, "but she is probably flirting
+somewhere with that fool fop, the royal bard of Tlacopan. But from whom
+does your message come?"
+
+"That can only be made known to herself. I saw her some time since, in
+the garden, leaning upon the arm of this same royal bard, the only young
+prince in Anahuac worthy of such a jewel."
+
+The prince bit his lip with vexation, and Karee ran off toward the
+garden. In a few moments, the poor old chaperone came blustering along,
+out of breath and out of humor.
+
+"Fie upon the giddy girls of this generation," she exclaimed, "they know
+nothing of propriety. I wonder what would have been thought of such
+actions when _I_ was young!"
+
+"Hasten to the garden," said Maxtli, impatiently, "your hopeful pupil is
+there, and that rhyming fop is with her."
+
+He might as well have sent her to the labyrinth of Lemnos or Crete.
+Covering an immense area, and traversed in every direction by serpentine
+walks, shaded lanes, and magnificent avenues, one might have wandered up
+and down there a week, without finding one who wished to elude pursuit.
+She obeyed his directions, however, and was soon lost in mazes more
+intricate and perplexing than those of the palace.
+
+Presently the truants returned, by a different path from that which
+their pursuer had taken. The princess wore in her bosom a significant
+flower, which she had received and accepted from her admirer. With a
+light and joyous step, he led her through the crowded saloon, and
+presented her to the queen, craving her sanction to the vows they had
+just plighted to each other. Gracefully placing a chaplet of white roses
+and amaranths on their heads, the Empress gave them her blessing.
+Guatimozin, approaching at the same instant, confirmed it with hearty
+good will, and requested that the nuptials might be celebrated at an
+early day, and in his own palace.
+
+So distinguished a favor could not be refused. In the course of the next
+week the solemn ceremonies were performed; with all the imposing pomp of
+the Aztec ritual. A royal banquet was prepared, and the palace resounded
+with joyous revelry and music.
+
+When the officiating priest had uttered the last solemn words which
+sealed the indissoluble bond, Nahuitla stood forth, and publicly avowed
+his belief, that the gods designed only one woman for each man, solemnly
+renounced the old doctrine of polygamy, and pledged to his young bride,
+in the presence of his royal master, and the brilliant throng that had
+witnessed his vows of love and constancy, an undivided heart, and an
+undivided house.
+
+Struck with surprise and admiration at this unexpected scene, and
+impressed with the truth and purity of the sentiments, and the soundness
+of the conclusions, which the brave prince had proclaimed, the Emperor
+rose from his throne, and, with a bland but dignified and solemn air,
+addressed him:--
+
+"You are right, Nahuitla, my brave prince; I feel it in my heart, you
+are right. I feel it in the claim which _your_ Empress and _mine_,
+(looking affectionately at Tecuichpo,) has in the undivided empire of my
+heart, and in that sacred bond of union which is so close, that it
+cannot be shared by another without being broken. In the presence of
+these holy men, and of these my witnessing people, I solemnly subscribe
+to the same pure vow which you have uttered, pledging my whole self, in
+the marriage covenant to this my chosen and beloved queen, even as she
+has pledged her whole self to me. And I ordain the same, as the law of
+this my realm, and binding on all my loyal subjects for ever."[D]
+
+If the noble Guatimozin had been permitted to sway the Aztec sceptre in
+peace, his name would be embalmed in the hearts of all the women of
+Anahuac, and the anniversary of the nuptials of Nahuitla and Atlacan
+would be celebrated, to this day, as the household jubilee of the
+nation.
+
+The conclusion of this festival--the last of the kind that was ever
+celebrated in the halls of Montezuma--was a unique and magnificent
+specimen of Aztec taste and luxury. At a signal from the master of
+ceremonies, the royal garden was suddenly illuminated by a thousand
+torches, borne by as many well trained servants in white livery. They
+were so stationed as to represent, from different points of view, groups
+of bright figures whirling in the mazy evolutions of a wild Indian
+dance. The harmony of their movements, and the picturesque effect of
+their frequent changes of position, was truly wonderful. It seemed more
+like magic than any thing belonging to the ordinary denizens of earth.
+By continually passing and re-passing each other, approaching and
+receding, raising and depressing their torches, the bearers were enabled
+to describe a great variety of fantastic figures. So well did they
+perform their parts, that, to the crowd of spectators from the palace,
+it was a perfect pantomime of light.
+
+At length the dance ended, and the figures of the various groups in
+light, gathering around a high altar, all of fire, seemed waiting for
+some sacred rite to be performed. Presently a tall princely figure was
+seen, approaching with slow and solemn pace, leading a lovely female to
+the altar. The high priest joined their hands in the indissoluble bond,
+and waved his wand of fire over their heads, in token of the divine
+blessing; upon which the dance of the torches was instantly renewed,
+accompanied with strains of the most joyous music, each group breathing
+out its peculiar airs and melodies, while the whole were beautifully
+blended and harmonized by the master spirit of the fęte. It seemed like
+the bridal of two angels of light, witnessed and celebrated by all the
+stars and constellations of the celestial spheres.
+
+The sudden extinguishment of these pantomimic stars, revealed to the
+surprised revellers the presence of the dawn, before whose coming the
+stars of every sphere go out, and revelry gives place to the sober
+realities of life.
+
+ [D] If this incident be deemed apocryphal, by the rigid
+ historian, the fable is fully justified by the known state of
+ public sentiment among the Aztecs at this time. Sagahun,
+ according to a note in Prescott, states, that polygamy, though
+ allowed, was by no means generally practised among them; and
+ that the prevailing sentiment of the nation was opposed to it.
+ One of the very few relics of their ancient literature, which
+ were preserved in the general devastation of the conquest, is a
+ letter of advice from a father to his child, on the eve of her
+ marriage, in which he declares that it was the purpose of God,
+ in his grand design of replenishing the earth, to make the
+ sexes equal, and to allow only one wife to each man; and any
+ deviation from this arrangement, was contrary to the plainest
+ laws of nature.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ RETURN OF CORTEZ--SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN--BRAVERY AND
+ SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS.
+
+ ~What will not man endure, and woman too,
+ To guard the hearth and altar? Give to each
+ A thousand lives, and hedge them close around
+ With all that makes it martyrdom to die,
+ And agony to suffer--freely still,
+ With all their wealth of blood, and love, and tears,
+ They'll yield them every one, and dying, wish
+ They had a thousand more to give--~
+
+
+Guatimozin was kept constantly informed of the preparations and
+movements of the Spaniards. His faithful spies followed them in all
+their marches, and found no difficulty in divining their general
+intentions and plans, as their courage revived on their arrival at
+Tlascala, and still more on the accession of a large reinforcement of
+Spaniards at Vera Cruz. Cortez was now as resolute as ever in his
+purpose of conquest, and determined to regain his position in the
+capital, or perish in the attempt. He went with the sword in one hand
+and the olive-branch in the other, if that can be called an
+olive-branch, which admits of no answer but submission, and offers no
+alternative but slavery or death. With a large increase of cavalry and
+artillery, an ample supply of ammunition, and a force both of Castilian
+and Indian allies, more than double of that which accompanied him on his
+former expedition, he took up his line of march from the friendly city
+of Tlascala, to cross the mountain barrier that separated him from his
+prey. Previous to his departure, he gave orders for the construction of
+a considerable number of brigantines, under the inspection of
+experienced Spanish shipwrights, conceiving the singular and original
+idea of transporting them, on the shoulders of his men, across the
+mountains, and launching them upon the lake of Tezcuco, to aid him in
+laying siege to the city. His march was unchallenged till he arrived on
+the very shores of the great lake, and stood before the walls of
+Tezcuco.
+
+Here he halted, and sent a message to the governor to throw open his
+gates, and renew his allegiance to the crown of Castile. The messenger
+returned with a request that the Spaniard would delay his entry into the
+city, until the next morning, when he should be prepared to give him a
+suitable reception. Cortez, suspecting that all was not right, ascended
+one of the Teocalli in the neighborhood, to ascertain if any hostile
+movement was contemplated. To his surprise, he saw immense crowds of
+people, thronging the thoroughfares on the other side of the city, and
+going, with as much of their substance as they could carry, towards the
+metropolis. Supposing that the city, when evacuated, would be given up
+to the flames, and that he should thus be cut off not only from
+supplies, but from a place of shelter and retreat, he instantly sent
+forward a strong body of horse, with a battalion of infantry, to arrest
+the fugitives, and to demand an interview with the cacique.
+
+Flight having been resolved upon, and the city having been devoted to
+destruction, as the most effectual annoyance to the Spaniards, no
+preparations were made to resist such a movement as this. The unarmed
+fugitives returned to their homes, in great numbers, and the city, with
+all its abandoned palaces and temples, offered ample accommodations to
+the invaders. The person of the chief was not secured, he having
+effected his escape, with the principal part of his nobles, and all his
+army, to the capital. Cortez, assuming to act in the name of the king of
+Castile, for whom he claimed the sovereignty of all these lands,
+immediately deposed the reigning chief, absolving the people from all
+further allegiance to him, and installed his brother, who was favorable
+to the cause of the Spaniards, in his place.
+
+Thus secured in such commanding quarters, the haughty Castilian surveyed
+the field around him, and prepared himself, with great diligence and
+deliberation, to regain possession of it. The most liberal and
+conciliating overtures were made to the Emperor, if he would peaceably
+acknowledge the sovereignty of Castile, and admit him, as the
+representative of that crown, to the capital. These overtures were
+promptly and scornfully rejected, and every avenue to amicable
+negotiation effectually closed. The people of the country were sternly
+forbidden, on pain of death, from holding any intercourse with the
+strangers, or from administering, in any manner, to their wants. Large
+rewards were offered for captives, and every inducement held out to
+encourage the natives in a resistance, that should admit of no quarter,
+and terminate only in the utter extermination of one of the parties.
+Guatimozin was a man every way adapted to a crisis like this. Of a firm
+indomitable spirit, patient of suffering and of toil, and skilful in all
+the strategy of war and defence, and possessed of the entire confidence
+and affection of his own people, he applied himself to the work of
+self-preservation, with an energy and fertility of resource, which
+scarcely ever, in a righteous cause, fails to ensure success. That he
+was suffered to fail, is one of those inscrutable providences which
+stand frequently out on the page of history, to confound the
+short-sighted sagacity of man, and restrain his too inquisitive desire
+to fathom the counsels and purposes of heaven.
+
+Perceiving that the ground was to be contested, step by step, and that
+not a foot would be yielded but at the point of the bayonet, and the
+mouth of the cannon, Cortez resolved on reducing the smaller towns
+first, and so approaching the capital, by slow degrees, leaving no
+unfriendly territory behind him, to cut off his supplies, or annoy his
+rear. In this manner, after almost incredible hardships, and many severe
+contests, in which his forces were very considerably reduced, he
+succeeded in wresting by violence, or winning by diplomacy, many of the
+tributary cities and districts from their allegiance to the Mexican
+crown. In their attempt upon Iztapalapan, which was led by Cortez in
+person, they were near being entirely overwhelmed by an artificial
+inundation of the city. The great dikes were pierced by the natives, and
+the waters of the lake came pouring in upon them, in torrents, from
+which they made their escape with the utmost difficulty, with the loss
+of all their booty and ammunition, and not a few of their Indian allies.
+The place, however, was reduced to submission. Chalco, Otumba, and many
+other important posts were soon after added to the number of the
+conquered.
+
+This work of subjugation among the tributary provinces and cities, was
+not a little facilitated by the memory of the iron rule of Montezuma,
+and his severe exactions upon all his subjects, to maintain the
+splendors of the imperial palace. They had long felt these exactions to
+be most burdensome and unequal, and had only submitted to them by force
+of the terror of that name, which made all Anahuac tremble. They were,
+therefore, not unwilling to embrace any opportunity to throw off the
+Aztec yoke, when they could do it with the hope of ultimate protection
+from its vengeance. They had not long enough tested the administration
+of Guatimozin, to look for any relief from their burdens under his
+reign. He came to the throne at one of those signal crises in the
+affairs of the empire, which demanded all its resources, both physical
+and pecuniary, and was therefore compelled, for the time, rather to
+increase than diminish their taxes, and make heavier requisitions than
+usual upon their personal services. They were ready for a change of
+masters, and, as is usual in such cases, did not stop to consider
+whether the change might not be rather for the worse than for the
+better. As soon, therefore, as they ascertained that the Spanish power
+was sufficient to protect them against the fury of their old oppressors,
+they rushed to their standard, and arrayed themselves against the brave
+defenders of their native land. The event proved that the rod of iron
+was exchanged for a two-edged one of steel, a natural sovereign of their
+own race, for a worse than Egyptian task-master, and a subjection which
+left undisturbed their ancient customs, and the common relations of
+society, for an indiscriminate slavery which respected neither person
+nor property, and levelled alike the public and private institutions of
+the land.
+
+Meanwhile the brigantines, which had been rapidly progressing at
+Tlascala, were completed. They were thirteen in number. They were first
+put together, and tried upon the waters of the Tahnapan; then taken to
+pieces, and the timbers, with all the tackle and apparel, including
+anchors, transported on the shoulders of the Tlascalan laborers, over
+the hills, and through the narrow defiles of the mountain, a distance of
+sixty miles, and re-constructed within the walls of Tezcuco. To open a
+communication with the lake, it was still necessary to make a canal, a
+mile and a half in length, twelve feet wide, and as many deep. This was
+accomplished in season for launching the little fleet, having eight
+thousand men employed upon it during two months. It was a day of great
+rejoicing and appropriate religious solemnity, when that little squadron
+appeared, with the ensign of Castile floating proudly at each mast head,
+their white sails swelling in the breeze, the smoke of the cannon
+rolling around, and the deep thunder reverberating from every side of
+the distant mountains.
+
+There is, perhaps, no single achievement in the annals of human
+enterprize, more remarkable than this. There is certainly none which
+more clearly shows, or more beautifully illustrates, the daring
+indomitable spirit, and mighty genius, which alone could have achieved
+the conquest of Mexico. Who but Cortez would have conceived of such a
+design? Who but Cortez would have attempted and successfully executed
+it? To construct thirteen vessels of sufficient burthen to sustain the
+weight and action of heavy cannon, and accommodate the men and soldiers
+necessary to navigate and defend them, at a distance of twenty leagues
+from the waters on which they were to swim--to convey them over
+mountains, and through deep and difficult defiles, on the shoulders of
+men, without the aid of any species of waggon, or beast of burden, and
+to do this in the midst of a country, and with the aid of a people,
+where nothing had hitherto been known beyond the primitive bark canoe,
+and where the natural associations, and prevailing superstitions of the
+natives, were totally adverse to his design--to accomplish this alone
+would immortalize any other man. What was the passage of the Alps by
+Hannibal, or by Napoleon, compared to this? Yet, so replete was the
+whole expedition of Cortez with adventures of unparalleled difficulty,
+and achievements of dazzling splendor, that this is but a common event
+in his history, with nothing small or insignificant to place it in
+commanding relief. It was one of the infelicities in the career of this
+wonderful man, that he was continually eclipsing himself, showing an
+originality and power of conception, a fertility of invention and
+resource, and a determination and energy in overcoming difficulties, and
+making occurrences, seemingly the most adverse, bend to his will and
+subserve his designs, which wearies our surprise and admiration, and
+actually exhausts our capacity of astonishment.
+
+Nothing was now wanting to complete the arrangements of the invader for
+laying siege to Tenochtitlan. By the aid of the brigantines, he was able
+to command the entire lake, sweeping away the frail canoes of the
+natives, like bubbles on the surface. All the cities and towns on its
+border had fallen, one after another, into his hands, though not without
+a desperate defence, and frequent and wasting sallies from the foe. The
+metropolis, that beautiful and magnificent gem upon the fair bosom of
+the lake, now stood alone, deserted by all her friends and supporters,
+the object of the concentrated hostility of the foreign invader, the
+ancient enemy, and the recent ally.
+
+In that devoted capital, now so closely and fearfully invested, there
+was a spirit and power fully equal to the awful crisis. As soon as
+Guatimozin perceived, by the movements of his enemy, that the city was
+to be assailed rather by the slow and wasting siege, than by the storm
+of war, he made every possible preparation to sustain himself at his
+post. The aged, the infirm, the sick, and, as far as possible, all the
+helpless among the inhabitants, were sent off among the neighboring
+towns, and country; while all those who were able to do service in the
+army, were brought thence into the city. Provisions were collected in
+great quantities, and all the resources then left to the empire
+concentrated upon one point, that of making an obstinate, unyielding
+defence. In this condition of affairs the siege commenced; a large part
+of the fighting men of the neighboring cities and towns being in the
+capital, preparing to defend it against enemies with whom those cities
+and towns were now in close alliance. Though it thus brought the father
+against the son, and the son against the father, in many instances, it
+did not, in any case, disappoint the confidence of Guatimozin, or
+undermine the loyalty of his troops. There were no deserters from his
+standard. Through all the horrors of that wasting siege, they stood by
+their sovereign, and their capital, as if they knew no other home, no
+other friend.
+
+In vain did the Castilian commander propose terms of accommodation to
+the beleaguered city. The Emperor would not condescend even to an
+interview. His chiefs and his people, whenever they had an opportunity
+to do so, treated every attempt at compromise with utter scorn. They
+derided Cortez upon his disastrous evacuation of the capital on "the
+melancholy night," assuring him that, if he should enter its gates now,
+he would not find a Montezuma on the throne. They taunted their
+Tlascalan allies as women, who would never have dared to approach the
+capital, without the protection of the white men.
+
+Sustained by this spirit, the warlike Mexican did not content himself
+with mere measures of defence. Frequent and desperate sallies were made
+upon the outposts of the enemy, until it seemed as if the hope of the
+noble Guatimozin might possibly be realized, that he might slowly and
+gradually destroy an enemy, whom he could not encounter in a pitched
+battle.
+
+It was not until the last avenue to the surrounding country was cut off,
+by divisions of the invading army, planted upon all the causeways,
+supported in all their movements by the thundering brigantines, that the
+true spirit of the besieged began to show itself. Till then, their
+tables had been plentifully supplied, and their hopes continually
+encouraged by the occasional losses of their enemy, whose numbers were
+too small to admit of much diminution. The priests were unremitting in
+their appeals to the patriotism of the people, and in promises of
+peculiar divine blessings on all who should persevere to the last, in
+defence of their altars and their gods. Guatimozin was ever among his
+people, encouraging them by kind words, and an example of unyielding
+defiance to every advance of the foe. He showed that he was not less the
+father of his people, than their king, suffering the same exposure, and
+enduring the same fatigues with the boldest and hardiest of his
+subjects.
+
+Such was their confidence of ultimate success in the defence of the
+capital, that the splendor and gaiety of the court was little
+diminished, until famine began to stare them in the face. The aqueduct
+of Chapoltepec had been cut off, and there was no longer any supply of
+wholesome water in the city. The dark visions of the lovely queen were
+now renewed. For a brief season, she had been permitted to revel in
+daylight, with scarcely a cloud to darken the sky above her. Suddenly
+that light was obscured. All was gloom and darkness around her. War,
+desolating war hovered once more about the gates of the beloved city.
+Wan faces, and haggard forms began to take the places of the gay, happy,
+spirited multitudes, that so recently thronged the palace. The image of
+her father, insulted by the stranger, murdered by his own people, rose
+to her view. His melancholy desponding look and tone, as he gave way to
+the doom which he felt was sealed upon him, his frequent assurances that
+the white men were "the men of destiny," the heaven appointed
+proprietors and rulers of the land, and that wo would betide all who
+should oppose their pretensions, or offer resistance to their invincible
+arms--all these came up fresh to her thoughts, and filled her with
+sadness. Her own ill-starred destiny too, marked by every possible sign
+and presage, as full of darkness and sorrow--the thought was almost
+overwhelming. Fain would she have severed at once the bond that linked
+her fate with that of Guatimozin, for she felt that he was only sharing
+her doom, and on her account was exposed to these terrible shafts of
+fate. The love of Guatimozin, the faithful devotion of Karee, though
+they soothed in some measure her troubled spirit, could not wholly
+re-assure her, or dissipate the dreadful thought, that all these
+terrible calamities were come upon the nation only as a part of that
+dark doom, for which the gods had marked her out, on her very entrance
+into life.
+
+It was long before the Emperor and his immediate household, were made
+aware of the awful pressure of famine within that devoted city. Watchful
+and observing as he was, the people, with one consent, had contrived to
+keep him in comparative ignorance of the growing scarcity, in order that
+they might be permitted to supply his table, as long as possible, with
+all the necessaries and luxuries of life. So far was this loyal devotion
+carried, that multitudes, both of the chiefs and of the common people,
+were daily in the habit of denying themselves of every thing but what
+was absolutely necessary to sustain life, and sending to the palace
+every article of fresh food, or delicate fruit, which they could obtain
+from their own gardens, or purchase from those of others. This noble
+devotion on the part of his people, was discovered and made known to the
+Emperor by Karee. She was the almoner of the bounty of the queen to
+multitudes of the poor and the sick, in different quarters of the city.
+On one of her errands of mercy, while she was administering to the
+comfort of a poor friend, in the last stages of mortal disease, made
+ten-fold more appalling by the absence of almost every thing that could
+sustain nature in the final struggle, she overheard the conversation of
+a father with his child in the adjoining room.
+
+"Nay, my dear father, you must eat it. Your strength is almost gone, and
+how can you stand among the fighting men, and defend your king and your
+house, when you have eaten nothing for two whole days?"
+
+"My precious child, I shall find something when I go out. But this
+morsel is for you, for I know you cannot live till I come home, if you
+do not eat this. And what will life be worth when you are gone."
+
+"Father, dear father, I cannot eat it. It will do me more good to see
+you eat it, for then I shall be sure you can live another day at least,
+and then, who knows but the gods will send us help."
+
+Karee could listen no longer. Rushing into the apartment whence these
+melancholy sounds proceeded, she beheld the shadow of a once beautiful
+girl leaning on the arm of the pale and wasted figure of a man,
+endeavoring to draw him towards a table on which lay a single morsel of
+dried fruit, which he had brought in for her, it being the only food
+that either of them had seen for two days.
+
+"Take this," said she, offering the sweet child a portion of what she
+had prepared for the invalid, but which she was too far gone to receive,
+"and may it give you both strength till the day of our deliverance." And
+she instantly returned to the death-bed of her friend.
+
+To the famishing group it was like the apparition of an angel, with a
+gift from the gods. The savory mess was readily divided, though the
+affectionate self-denying child contrived to cheat her father into
+receiving a little more than his share, while he tried every effort in
+vain, to persuade her to take the larger half. The wretched pair had not
+had such a feast for many a long week. "Ah!" exclaimed the daughter, as
+she wept over the luxurious repast, "if our dear mother could have had
+such a morsel as this, before she died, to stay her in that last
+dreadful agony."
+
+"Yes, my beloved child," replied the subdued and bitterly bereaved
+father, "but she has gone where there is plenty, and no tears mingled
+with it."
+
+The dried fruit was laid away for the morrow. But the same kind hand
+that relieved them on that day, was there again on the morrow, and on
+every succeeding day, till the city was sacked, and the wretched ghosts
+of its inhabitants given up to an indiscriminate slaughter.
+
+When Guatimozin was made acquainted with this incident, he resolved on
+making another desperate sally, with the whole force of his wasted army,
+in the forlorn hope of breaking through the ranks of the enemy, and
+procuring some subsistence for his famishing people. Having drawn them
+up in the great square, his heart sunk within him, when he saw their
+pale faces and emaciated forms, and contrasted them with the fierce,
+stout, and seemingly invincible host, whom he had so often led into
+battle. But the feeling of despondency gave way instantly to that stern
+fixed purpose, that terrible decision of soul, which is the natural
+offspring of desperation. With a firm voice, he addressed them.
+
+"My brave soldiers, we must not any longer lie still. The enemy is at
+our gates, and we are perishing in our own citadel. Have we not once
+driven them, with a terrible and almost exterminating slaughter, along
+those very causeways which they now claim to occupy and to close up? Are
+they more invincible now than then? Are we less resolute, less fearless?
+By our famishing wives and children, by our desecrated altars and gods,
+let us rush upon them and overwhelm them at once."
+
+The monarch had not yet finished his stirring appeal, when a courier
+rushed in, bringing tidings that the several divisions of the besieging
+army were moving up the causeways, and approaching the city on every
+side.
+
+"They come to their own destruction," said the monarch, bitterly, and
+immediately proceeded to distribute his men, to give them a fitting
+reception. The larger part of the forces were ordered to occupy several
+somewhat retired places, amid the great public buildings in the centre
+of the city, where they should be in readiness to obey the royal signal.
+The remainder were to go out, in their several divisions, to meet and
+skirmish with the advancing foe, doing them as much mischief as
+possible, yet suffering themselves to be driven before them, till they
+were decoyed into the heart of the city. The signal would then be given,
+when every man who could draw a bow, or wield a lance, or throw a stone,
+would be expected to do his duty.
+
+It was a stratagem worthy of Guatimozin, and, in its execution, had well
+nigh overwhelmed the Spaniards, and saved the city. Cortez had appointed
+with the captains of each division of his army to meet in the great
+square of the city. Each one being eager to be first at the goal, they
+followed the retreating Aztecs without consideration, and without making
+any provision for their own retreat. The watchful agents of Guatimozin
+were behind as well as before them; and when they had passed the gates,
+and were pressing up, with all the heat and enthusiasm of a victorious
+army, into the heart of the city, the bridges were taken up in their
+rear, to cut off, if possible, their retreat. When this was effected,
+the fatal horn of Guatimozin blew a long loud blast, from the summit of
+the great Teocalli. In an instant, the retreating Aztecs turned upon
+their pursuers, like tigers ravening upon their prey; while swarms of
+fresh warriors poured in from every lane and street and avenue, rushing
+so fiercely upon the too confident assailants, as to bring them to a
+sudden pause in their triumphant career. At the same moment, the roof of
+every house and temple, along the whole line of their march, was covered
+with men, who poured upon them such a shower of stones that it seemed
+impossible to escape being buried under them. The tide of battle was now
+turned. The too daring invaders were thrown into confusion, and
+compelled to retreat. This they soon found, to their bitter cost, was
+nearly impossible. When it was discovered that the bridges, over which
+they had so recently passed, were removed, the utmost consternation
+prevailed. The heavy cannon were all on board the brigantines, so that
+they were unable, as in former times, to mow down the solid ranks of
+their foes, and break a way for their retreat. Their cavalry was of
+little service, for they could not leap the wide chasms made by the
+removal of the bridges. Cut off in front by the solid masses of warriors
+that blocked up every avenue, and in the rear by these yawning chasms,
+and hemmed in on each side by the massive stone walls of the buildings,
+they could neither protect themselves, nor effectually annoy their
+enemy. They were in imminent danger of perishing ignobly in the ditch,
+without even striking a blow in their own defence.
+
+Fortunately for the invaders, their sagacious and ever-wakeful general
+had anticipated the possibility of such a scene as this, and had taken
+some measures to forestall it. His officers, however, were too
+high-spirited and self-confident to condescend to the cowardly drudgery
+of carrying out his precautionary measures. They thought only of
+victory, and the spoils of the glorious city, which they now regarded as
+their own.
+
+In this fearful dilemma, the genius of Cortez did not desert him. When
+the first shout of battle reached his ears, as he was advancing
+cautiously along the avenue, he instantly conjectured the cause.
+Ordering his own column to halt, and selecting a chosen band of his best
+cavalry, he wheeled about, dashed furiously down the avenue, and put to
+flight the unarmed Aztecs, who were doing the work of destruction for
+him, and had then almost succeeded in tearing away the foundations of
+the great bridge. Making his way through the deserted streets, with the
+speed of the wind, he came round into the other avenue, where one
+division of his army was hemmed in, in the manner above described.
+Charging impetuously upon the gathering crowds of Aztecs, he succeeded
+in forcing his way up to the chasm, where he stood face to face with his
+own troops on the other side. Here, in the midst of a pitiless tempest
+of stones, and darts and arrows, he maintained his stand, while his men,
+with incredible labor, attempted to fill up the chasm.
+
+The work was at length accomplished, though not without the most serious
+loss to Cortez. Some of his bravest officers fell in that merciless
+contest with foes who would neither give nor receive quarter. Many were
+pelted down with the huge stones, that ceased not to rain upon them from
+all the neighboring house tops. Some were taken by the feet as they
+labored to maintain a precarious footing on the slippery causeway, and
+dragged into the canals, either to be drowned in the desperate struggle
+there, or carried off in the canoes to captivity or sacrifice. Cortez
+himself narrowly escaped immolation.
+
+At length, through the indomitable perseverance of the general, the
+breach was so far filled up as to make a practicable passage for the
+troops. A retreat was sounded, and that gallant band, which, a few hours
+before had rushed in with flaunting banners, and confident boastings of
+an easy victory, was glad to escape from the snare into which they had
+fallen, their numbers greatly reduced, their banners soiled and
+tattered, and their expectations of ultimate success terribly shaken.
+They were pursued through all their march by the exulting Aztecs, and
+many a broken head and bruised limb attested the truth of Guatimozin's
+taunting challenge, that the Spaniards, if they entered the capital
+again, would find as many fortresses as there were houses, as many
+assailants as stones in the streets.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+ STRAITNESS OF THE FAMINE--THE FINAL CONFLICT--FLIGHT AND
+ CAPTURE OF GUATIMOZIN--DESTINY FULFILLED.
+
+ ~Death opens every door,
+ And sits in every chamber by himself.
+ If what might feed a sparrow should suffice
+ For soldiers' meals, ye have not wherewithal
+ To linger out three days. For corn, there's none;
+ A mouse, imprisoned in your granaries,
+ Were starved to death.~
+
+
+This shameful defeat was a tremendous blow to the ardent anticipations
+of the conqueror. Many of the timid and the discontented in his own
+ranks availed themselves of the opportunity to create divisions, and
+withdraw from the doubtful contest. The Mexicans, strengthened by the
+spoils of their assailants, and yet more by the new courage which their
+late success infused into every heart among them, immediately commenced
+repairing their works, clearing their canals, and making the most
+vigorous preparations for maintaining the siege. Their priests,
+infuriated with the number of sacrifices which they had been enabled to
+offer to the gods, from the captives of high and low degree taken in the
+conflict, declared with authoritative solemnity, that the anger of the
+gods was now appeased, and that they had promised unequivocally, the
+speedy annihilation of their invading foes. This oracular declaration
+was, by the order of Guatimozin, published in the hearing of the Indian
+allies of his adversary. It was a politic stroke, and, if the oracle had
+not imprudently fixed too early a day for the execution of the predicted
+vengeance, its effect might have been such as to break for ever the
+bonds of that unnatural alliance, and leave the little handful of white
+men, with all their boasted pretensions to immortality, to perish by the
+hands of their own friends.
+
+But why dwell longer upon the appalling details of this miserable siege.
+The day of predicted vengeance arrived, and the Spaniards survived it.
+Their superstitious terror-stricken allies returned to their allegiance.
+By a judicious administration of reward and discipline, of promise and
+threatening, all disaffection was hushed. New measures of offence were
+concerted, with a determination, on the part of the besiegers, to press
+into the city by degrees, securing every step, as they advanced, by
+levelling every building, and filling up every ditch, in their progress,
+till not one stone should be left upon another in Tenochtitlan. This
+terrible resolution was carried into effect. Every building, whether
+public or private, palace, temple, or Teocalli, from which they could be
+annoyed by the indomitable Aztec, was laid waste. The canals were filled
+up and levelled, so as to give free scope for the movements of the
+cavalry and artillery. The beautiful suburbs were reduced to a level
+plain, a dry arid waste, covered with the ruins of all that was dear and
+sacred in the eyes of the Aztec. Slowly, but surely, the Spaniard
+pressed on towards the heart of the city, in which the heroic monarch,
+with his miserable remnant of starving subjects and skeleton soldiers
+were pent up, dying by thousands of famine and pestilence, and yet ready
+to suffer a thousand deaths, rather than yield themselves up to the
+mercy of the foe.
+
+There was now absolutely nothing left, in earth or air, to sustain for
+another day the poor remains of life in the camp of the besieged. Every
+foot of ground had been dug over many times, in quest of roots, and even
+of worms. The leaves and bark had been stripped from every tree and
+shrub, till there was not a green thing on all those terraces, which
+were once like the gardens of Elysium. The dead and the dying lay in
+heaps together, for there was neither life nor spirit in any that
+breathed, to do the last office for the departed. Pestilence was in all
+the air, so that many even of the besieging army snuffed it in the
+breeze that swept over the city, and fell victims to the very fate which
+their cruel rapacity was inflicting on the besieged.
+
+Famine, cruel, gnawing famine, was in the palace of the Emperor, as well
+as in the hovel of his meanest subject. That noble prince quailed not
+before the fate that awaited himself. Had he stood alone in that
+citadel, with power in his single arm to keep out the foe, he would have
+stood till death, in whatever form, released him from his post, and
+spurned every suggestion of compromise or quarter. But the scenes of
+utter distress which every where met his eye--the haggard ghosts of his
+friends, flitting restlessly before him, or crawling feebly and with
+convulsive moans among the upturned earth, in the forlorn hope of
+finding another root--the dead--the dying--the more miserable living
+longing for death, and glaring with their horribly prominent, but glazed
+and expressionless eye-balls on each other--this, this was too much for
+the heart of Guatimozin.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, "shall I submit to see my last friend die before
+my eyes, and my own sweet wife perish of hunger, only to retain for
+another hour the empty name of king. No. I will endure it no longer. I
+will go to Malinché, alone, and unaccompanied, and offer my life for
+yours. He only wants our gold. Let him find that if he can. He will
+spare _you_, and wreak all his vengeance on my head."
+
+A faint murmur ran through the crowd, and then a feeble expiring "No,
+never," burst feebly from many lips. One, a little stronger than the
+rest, arose and said--
+
+"Most gracious sovereign, think not of us. We only ask to live and die
+with and for you. And the more cruel the death, the more glorious the
+martyrdom for our country and our gods. Trust not Malinché."
+
+The speaker fainted and fell, with his fist clenched, and his teeth set,
+as if he felt that he held the last foe in mortal conflict.
+
+"No, never--trust not Malinché--let us die together," was echoed by many
+sepulchral voices, that seemed more like the groans of the dead, than
+the remonstrances of the living.
+
+"Trust not Malinché, remember my father," whispered the fond, devoted,
+faithful, affectionate wife, now the shadow of her former self,
+beautiful in her queenly sorrow, sublime in her womanly composure.
+
+Guatimozin, the proud, the lofty chief, whose heart had never known
+fear, whose soul had never been subdued, bowed his head upon the bosom
+of his wife, and wept. The strong heart, the lion spirit melted.
+
+"Who, who will care for Tecuichpo? Who will cherish the last daughter of
+Montezuma?"
+
+"Think not of me, Guatimozin, think of yourself and your people, I am
+resigned to my fate. If I may but die with you, it is all I desire--for
+how could I live without you. But think not of trusting Malinché. Let us
+remain as we are. Another day, and we shall all be at rest from our
+sufferings. And surely it were better to die together by our altars,
+than to fall into the hands of the treacherous stranger."
+
+"Trust not Malinché," added Karee. "Was it not trust in him that brought
+all this evil upon us? Think not of submission. You shall see that women
+can die as well as men. Let Malinché come, and take possession of the
+remains of these mutilated walls and desolated gardens, but let him not
+claim one living Aztec, to be his slave, or his subject."
+
+A murmur of approbation followed, and then a long pause ensued. It was
+like the silence of death. The whole scene would have made an admirable
+picture. At length the silence was broken by the voice of the young
+Cacique of Tlacopan.
+
+"My sovereign," said he, in a faint voice, but with something of the
+energy of despair, "there is yet hope. Let us muster what force we can,
+of men who are able to stand, and sally out upon the enemy. We cannot do
+him much harm. But, while he is occupied with us, you and your family,
+with a few attendants can escape by a canoe over the lake. As many of
+us as have life and strength to do it, will follow you, under cover of
+the coming night. Your old subjects will flock around you there, and we
+may yet, when we shall have tasted food, and become men again, make a
+stand somewhere against the foe, and drive him out."
+
+"It is well! it is well!" was the feeble response on every side.
+
+"I cannot leave you," replied the monarch. "What! shall your king fly,
+like a coward, while his people rush upon the enemy only to cover his
+retreat? No, that were worse than death--worse than captivity!"
+
+"It is not flight, my beloved sovereign," responded the Cacique, "it is
+an honorable stratagem of war, for the good of the nation, not less than
+your own. When _you_ are gone, we have no head, and we fall at once into
+the captivity we so much dread. Leave us but the name and person of
+Guatimozin to rally around, and it will be a tower of strength, which
+can never fail us."
+
+"Yes, yes, it is right," was whispered on every side--"Go, noble
+monarch, go at once. It is a voice from heaven to save us."
+
+To this counsel the priests added their earnest advice, and even
+Tecuichpo ventured to say, "it whispered of hope to her heart."
+Guatimozin suffered himself to be overruled. The canoes were made ready
+in the grand canal, which yet remained open on the eastern side. All
+that could be safely taken of treasure, and of convenient apparel, was
+carefully stowed. The Queen and other ladies of the court, with her
+faithful Karee, all wasted to skeletons, and moving painfully, like
+phantoms of beauty in a sickly dream, were conveyed to the barges. The
+Emperor and his attendants followed, and all was in readiness for the
+departure. At that moment the martial horn was sounded from the great
+Teocalli, and the shadowy host of the Aztec army staggered forth to
+offer battle to the enemy. It was a fearful sight. It seemed as if the
+armies of the dead, the mighty warriors of the past, had risen from
+their graves, to fight for their desecrated altars, and to defend those
+very graves from profanation. Feebly, but fearfully, with glaring eyes
+and hideous grin, they rushed upon the serried ranks of the besiegers. A
+kind of superstitious terror seized them, as if these shapes were
+something more than mortal. For a moment they gave way to panic, and
+fell back without striking a blow. Roused by the stentorian voice of
+Cortez, they rallied instantly, and discharging their heavy fire arms,
+swept away whole ranks of their frenzied assailants. It was a brief
+conflict. Many of the Aztecs fell by the swords of the Spaniards, and
+the spears of their merciless allies. Some fell, faint with their own
+exertions, and died without a wound. Some grappled desperately with the
+foe, content to die by his hand, if they could first quench their
+burning thirst with one drop of his blood.
+
+At length, a long blast from the horn sounded a retreat. The poor
+remnant turned towards the city, and were suffered to escape unmolested
+to their desolate homes.
+
+Meanwhile, the little fleet of Guatimozin had put forth upon the lake.
+The canoes separated, as they left the basin of the canal, taking
+different directions, the better to escape the observation of the
+brigantines. The precaution was a wise one, but unavailing. The watchful
+eye of the besieging general was there. The brigantines gave chase to
+the fugitives. Bending to their paddles with the utmost strength of
+their feeble emaciated arms, they found their pursuers gaining upon
+them. Casting their gold into the lake, Guatimozin directed them to
+cease their exertions, and wait the approach of the enemy.
+
+"Not without one little effort more, I beseech you," exclaimed Karee.
+"See, my chinampa is close at hand. Let us try to gain that. It has food
+on its trees for many days, and I have there a place of concealment,
+curiously contrived beneath the water, where you and the queen may
+remain without fear of detection, till we can effect your escape to the
+shore."
+
+In an instant the paddles were in the water, and the canoe shot ahead
+with unusual speed. The combined energy of hope and despair nerved every
+arm, and fired every heart. They neared the beautiful chinampa. Their
+eyes feasted on its fresh and cooling verdure, and its ripe fruits
+hanging luxuriantly on every bough. Their ears were ravished with the
+music of the birds, who had long since deserted their wonted haunts in
+the capital.
+
+While the chase was gaining rapidly upon them, another of those fearful
+brigantines, which had hitherto been concealed by the thick foliage of
+the chinampa, rounded its little promontory, and appeared suddenly
+before them. Instantly, every paddle dropped, every arm was paralyzed.
+Not a word was spoken. In passive silence each one waited for his doom,
+which was now inevitable. When the Spaniard had approached within
+hailing distance, the Emperor rose in his little shallop, and, waving
+his hand proudly, said, "I am Guatimozin."
+
+The royal prisoners were treated with the utmost deference and respect.
+Being brought into the presence of Cortez, the monarch, pale, emaciated,
+the shadow of what he had been, approached with an air of imperial
+dignity, and said--
+
+"Malinché, I have done what I could to defend myself and protect my
+people. Now I am your prisoner. Do what you will with me, but spare my
+poor people, who have shown a fidelity and an endurance worthy of a
+better fate."
+
+Cortez, filled with admiration at the proud bearing of the young
+monarch, assured him that not only his family and his people, but
+himself should be treated with all respect and tenderness. "Better,"
+said Guatimozin, laying his hand on the hilt of the general's poignard,
+"better rid me of life at once, and put an end to my cares and
+sufferings together."
+
+"No," replied Cortez, "you have defended your capital like a brave
+warrior. I respect your patriotism, I honor you valor, and your firm
+endurance of suffering. You shall be my friend and the friend of my
+sovereign, and live in honor among your own people."
+
+The keen eye of the monarch flashed with something like indignation,
+when allusion was made to the king of Castile, and to himself as his
+vassal.
+
+"In honor I _cannot_ live," he said proudly, "for I am defeated. A king
+I _cannot_ be, for he is no king who is subject to another. I am your
+prisoner. The gods have willed it, and I submit."
+
+Renewing his politic assurances of friendship and favor, the conqueror
+sent for the wife and family of his captive, first ordering a royal
+banquet to be prepared for them. Supported by Karee, leaning on the arm
+of the devoted Nahuitla, the lord of Tlacopan, the queen was ushered
+into the presence of the conqueror. Her appearance struck the general
+and his officers with admiration. Timid as she was by nature, she had
+the air and port of inborn royalty; and, in deference to her husband,
+she would not have allowed herself to quail before the assembled host of
+Castile, dreaded as they were, and had long been. With a becoming
+courtesy, she returned the respectful salutations of Malinché and his
+cavaliers, and asked no other favor than to share the fate of her lord.
+
+What that fate was, and how the Castilian knight redeemed his pledges to
+his unfortunate and noble captives, is matter of historical record. It
+is the darkest page in the memoir of that wonderful chief--a foul blot
+upon the name even of _that_ man, who was capable of requiting the
+superstitious reverence and confidence of a Montezuma, with a
+treacherous and inglorious captivity in his own palace, and a yet more
+inglorious death at the hands of his own subjects. History must needs
+record it, dark and painful as it is. Romance would throw a veil over
+it.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Years of intense suffering, of harrowing bereavement, of insult,
+humiliation, and every species of mental and social distress, were yet
+appointed to the daughter of Montezuma, the bride of Guatimozin. Her
+predicted destiny was fulfilled to the letter. She bowed meekly to her
+fate, sustaining every reverse with a fortitude and composure of soul,
+that indicated a mind of uncommon resources. It was a long, dark, stormy
+day, "but in the evening time there was light." It was the light of
+faith. She abandoned the false gods of her fathers, and found true and
+lasting peace in the cross of Jesus Christ.
+
+
+
+
+THE FLIGHT
+
+OF
+
+THE KATAHBA CHIEF.
+
+
+ Go now to Greece,
+ Or Rome--to Albion's sea-girt isle--to Gaul,
+ Ancient or modern--to the fiery realm
+ Of Turk or Arab--to the ice-bound holds
+ Of Alaric and Attila--and find,
+ If find thou canst, a nobler race of men--
+ More firm, more brave, more true--swifter of foot,
+ Or readier in action.
+
+
+
+
+THE FLIGHT OF THE KATAHBA CHIEF.
+
+
+ Go not to the chase, my brave hunter, to-day,
+ There's a mist o'er the sun--there's a snare in the way;
+ Manitto revealed last night in my dream
+ A deep dark shadow o'erhanging the stream;
+ The deer, from his thicket, sprung out in thy path--
+ Then he changed to a tiger, and roared in his wrath--
+ Then the warrior hunter, so fearless and brave,
+ Was driven away, like a captive slave;
+ Then the smoke rolled up, and the flames curled high,
+ And the forest rung with the foeman's cry;
+ Then the wind swept by with a desolate wail--
+ The avenger of blood was on thy trail;--
+ Minaree looked out at the cabin door,
+ But her bold brave hunter returned no more.
+ Go not to the chase, my brave hunter, to-day,
+ There's a mist o'er the sun--there's a snare in the way.
+
+So, in sweetly plaintive strains, chanted the beautiful young bride of a
+Katahba chief, as she prepared his frugal morning meal, while he was
+busying himself in examining the string of his bow, replenishing his
+quiver with straight polished shafts, and renewing the edge of his
+trusty hatchet.
+
+In all the forest homes of the native tribes, there was not a fairer
+flower than Minaree, the loved and devoted wife of the brave
+Ash-te-o-láh. The only daughter of a chief of the Wateree tribe, which
+was one branch of the great family of the Katahbas, she inherited the
+spirit and pride of her father, with all the simple beauty, and
+unsophisticated womanly tenderness of her mother. She was the idol of
+Ash-te-o-láh's heart; for, savage as the world would call him, and
+ignorant of the codes of chivalry and of the courtly phrase of love, he
+was as true to all the warmer and purer affections, which constitute the
+bliss of domestic life, as to the lofty sentiments of heroic virtue,
+which made him early conspicuous in the councils of his people. Though
+fearless as the lion, fleet as the roe, and adventurous, sagacious and
+powerful as any that ever sounded the war-whoop, or startled the deer,
+in those interminable wilds--he was noble, generous, warm-hearted, and
+devotedly tender to the objects of his love.
+
+The winning tones, and the affectionate glances of Minaree, as she
+chanted her simple prophetic lay, had almost won Ash-te-o-láh from his
+purpose. But, half doubting whether her oracular dream was any thing
+more than a little artifice of affection, and always superior to that
+prevailing superstition of his people, which gave to dreams all the
+sanctity and force of divine revelation, and excited by the preparations
+he had been making, he flung his rattling quiver to his back, whispered
+a gentle intimation that Ash-te-o-láh feared neither tiger nor foeman,
+and returning the affectionate glance of his bride, left the wigwam.
+
+It was a clear bright summer morning. There was a balmy sweetness in the
+air, and melody in all the groves; but they won not the ear, they
+regaled not the sense of Minaree, whose heart sunk within her, as she
+saw her beloved Ash-te-o-láh launch his canoe into the stream, and dash
+away over its glassy surface, like a swallow on the wing. Ere he dipped
+his paddle in the water, he turned and gracefully waved her a parting
+salute, the affectionate desire to stay and soothe the troubled spirit
+of her dream, still struggling with that lofty pride which told him that
+he had never yet shrunk from any form of danger, or known the name of
+fear.
+
+The lands bordering on the Katahba, were covered, for many a league,
+with a dense and thriving population. More than twenty tribes were
+clustered there into one powerful fraternity, capable of bringing two
+thousand warriors into the field. Their grounds were extensively
+cultivated, their forests abounded with the choicest game, and their
+rivers with fish, and they regarded themselves as the most prosperous of
+the nations.
+
+Nothing could exceed the romantic beauty and loveliness of some of their
+villages. Stretching along the banks of the rivers, and embowered deeply
+in the luxurious forests of that favored clime, the numerous wigwams,
+simple enough in their construction, but adorned here and there with the
+trophies of war or the chase, and often alive with the athletic sports
+of the young Indians, formed a scene as animated and picturesque as ever
+glowed on the bosom of the earth--a scene of patriarchal life, such as
+cannot now be found among all the families of men.
+
+Conspicuous among them all was the wigwam of Ash-te-o-láh. The hand of
+Minaree was visible in the tasteful arrangement of a few simple
+ornaments about the door, and the trailing of a white flowering vine
+over its walls, which fell in luxuriant festoons, or floated in feathery
+pensiles on every side.
+
+Minaree stood in the door of the wigwam, watching the retreating form of
+her lord, as his light canoe swept down with the current of the river,
+till it was lost in the distance, and then pensively, and as if
+unconsciously to herself, resumed her solemn chant, weaving the while a
+wreath of her wild flowering vine.
+
+ He has gone to the chase, my brave hunter has gone--
+ He will not return in the moonlight, or morn;
+ Minaree shall look out at the cabin door,
+ But her bold brave hunter shall come no more;
+ There's a cloud in her wigwam--a fire in her brain,
+ For her warrior hunter shall ne'er come again.
+
+Gently and placidly flowed the Katahba--every tree and shrub mirrored in
+its beautiful waters. Not a sound disturbed the perfect stillness; not
+even the hum of the cricket, or the song of the bird. It seemed an utter
+solitude. Then a light canoe was seen slowly gliding down the stream. A
+noble looking Indian was standing in it, erect and tall, with his paddle
+poised, as if wrapped in meditation, or unwilling to disturb the quiet
+and charm of the silence. It was a scene to awaken a sense of poetic
+beauty, even in the mind of an untutored savage. It thrilled the soul of
+Ash-te-o-láh, and held him some moments in admiring contemplation.
+Suddenly starting from his unwonted reverie, he rounded a jutting
+promontory, and moored his skiff, carefully concealing it amid the
+overhanging shrubs.
+
+There was something surpassingly graceful and majestic in the figure of
+this noble son of the forest. Formed by nature in her most perfect
+mould, tall, sinewy, athletic, yet with every feature and every limb
+rounded to absolute grace, he was a fine subject for a painter or
+sculptor. His dress consisted of a beautiful robe, gracefully flung over
+one shoulder, and confined at the waist by a richly ornamented belt. His
+hair was wrought into a kind of crown, and ornamented with a tuft of
+feathers. Equipped with bow and quiver, he seemed intent on game; and
+yet one might have imagined, from his keen glance and cautious manner,
+that he expected a foe in ambush.
+
+Ash-te-o-láh was soon on the track of the deer, which, starting from the
+thicket, bounded away with the speed of the wind. Pursuing with equal
+pace, the bold hunter dashed into the depths of the forest, watching for
+a favorable moment to take the deadly aim. The arrow was on the string,
+and about to be raised to fly at his panting victim, when the shrill
+war-whoop burst suddenly on his ear. It arrested his step, for a moment,
+but not his arm; for the arrow sped as if nothing had occurred to divert
+its course, and buried itself in the heart of the flying deer.
+
+Perceiving, at a glance, that a party of the Senecas, the old and deadly
+enemies of the Katahbas, were down upon him, and had cut off his retreat
+to the river, he held on his course, as before, but with redoubled
+speed, intending, if possible, to secure a refuge from his pursuers, in
+a cavern about five miles distant. Fleet as the wind, he would have
+gained his purpose, if the course had been direct, for there was not a
+red man in the wide forests of America, who could outrun Ash-te-o-láh.
+Dividing themselves into several parties, and taking different courses
+to intercept his flight, his enemies gave instant chase to the fugitive.
+One party followed close on his trail, but he was soon lost to their
+view. Another struck off northwardly, towards a bend in the West Branch,
+where the rapids afforded an opportunity for crossing the stream without
+impeding his flight. A third made for a deep cut, or ravine, about a
+mile further down, where a fallen tree, extending from bank to bank,
+served the purpose of a bridge.
+
+Ash-te-o-láh soon perceived that his enemies were divided, and resolved
+that, if they _did_ intercept or overtake him, it should cost them dear.
+Halting a little in his flight, and taking to the covert of a tree, he
+drew upon the foremost of his pursuers, and laid him dead in the path.
+The next in the pursuit, pausing a moment over his fallen brother,
+shared the same fate. Knowing, as by instinct, that the other parties
+would endeavor to cut him off at the rapids and the bridge, he dashed
+forward, in a straight line for the stream, plunged into the water, and
+holding his bow aloft, struggled with a powerful arm to reach the other
+side. He gained the bank, just as his pursuers made their appearance on
+the opposite shore. Turning suddenly upon them, he levelled another
+shaft with such unerring aim, that one of their number fell bleeding
+into the stream. Another and another, in the act of leaping over the
+bank, received the fatal shaft into his heart. Hearing the distant
+whoop, which indicated that the other party had reached the bridge,
+Ash-te-o-láh waited not for another victim, but bounded away for his
+mountain fastness. The little delay which had been necessary to cut off
+five of his pursuers, had given an advantage to the other parties, who
+were now on the same side of the stream with himself, and gaining upon
+his steps. No sooner was this perceived, than the heroic fugitive turned
+upon the nearest of them, and, with the same infallible aim, laid him
+dead in the path. Still another had fallen before his sure aim, and his
+bow was strained for another shot, when one of the other party, who had
+made a circuit, and come up behind him unperceived, leaped upon, and
+held him pinioned in his powerful grasp. His struggles were terrible;
+but he was immediately surrounded, overpowered and disarmed.
+
+Though seven of their number had fallen in this brief chase, the brave
+Senecas were so struck with admiration at the wonderful skill and noble
+bearing of their captive, that they did not, as usual, instantly avenge
+the slain, by taking the life of the slayer; but resolved to take him
+along with them, and to lead him in triumph into the midst of the
+council of their nation, there to be disposed of by the united voices of
+their chiefs.
+
+It was a sad triumph, for they were filled with grief and mortification
+for the loss of so many of their brave kindred, all fallen by the hand
+of one of the hated Katahbas, and he now completely in their power.
+Though stung with shame, and thirsting for a worthy revenge, yet such
+was their love of martial virtue, that, during all their long journey
+homeward, they treated their haughty captive with far greater respect
+and kindness than if he had acted the part of a coward, and suffered
+himself to fall into their hands without any attempt at resistance. As
+for him, with an unsubdued spirit, and an air of proud superiority, he
+marched in the midst of his enemies, as if defying their power, and
+scorning the vengeance from which it was impossible to escape. To one
+unaccustomed to the modes of Indian warfare, and the code of Indian
+etiquette, who might have witnessed that triumphant procession,
+Ash-te-o-láh would have appeared the proud and absolute prince,
+surrounded by his admiring and subservient life-guard, rather than the
+subdued and helpless captive, escorted by his enemies to an ignominious
+execution.
+
+Arrived within the territories of their own tribe, the triumph of the
+captors began. The whole nation was roused to revenge the death of their
+lost heroes. In every village, as they passed along, the women and
+children were permitted to beat and insult the unresisting captive, who
+bore every indignity with stoical indifference, and proud disdain, never
+indicating by word or look, the slightest sense of mortification or
+pain, nor bating one jot of his lofty and scornful bearing.
+
+Before the great council of assembled chiefs, he maintained the same
+tone of fearless dignity and self-respect. His very look was defiance,
+that quailed not before the proudest glance of his enemy, nor showed the
+slightest symptom of disquietude, when the decision of the council was
+announced, condemning him to die by the fiery torture. It might
+reasonably be imagined that his past sufferings, his tedious marches,
+his scanty fare, lying at night on the bare ground, exposed to the
+changes of the weather, with his arms and legs extended and cramped in a
+pair of rough stocks, the insulting treatment, and cruel scourgings of
+the exasperated women and children, who were taught to consider it a
+virtue to torment an enemy, along with the anticipation of those more
+bitter sufferings which he was yet to endure, would have impaired his
+health, and subdued his hitherto proud and unyielding spirit. Such would
+have been the effect of similar circumstances upon the physical frame,
+and stout-hearted fortitude of the great majority of the heroes of that
+pale-faced race, who boast of a proud superiority over the unlettered
+children of the forest. There are few so hardy, that they could endure,
+not only without a murmur, but without shrinking, what Ash-te-o-láh had
+already suffered--few so courageous, that they could hear, with an
+unmoved countenance, the terrible doom which his enemies had prepared
+for him, or witness undisturbed the fearful arrangements, and horrid
+ceremonies, that were designed to give intensity and effect to its
+infliction.
+
+Ash-te-o-láh was insensible to fear, and would sooner have undergone a
+thousand torturing deaths, than permit his enemies to see that he was
+conscious even of suffering. So nobly did he sustain his courage amid
+the trial, so well did he act his heroic part, that his enemies, who
+admired and inculcated the same unflinching fortitude, were surprised
+and vexed at his lofty superiority, and resolved, by every possible
+aggravation of his sufferings, to break down and subdue his proud
+indomitable spirit.
+
+The hour of execution had arrived. The pile was ready for its victim.
+Every engine of torture, which savage ingenuity could invent, was
+exhibited in dreadful array, within the area selected for the trying
+scene. The whole nation was assembled to witness, and take part in the
+ceremony, which had, in their view, all the solemnity and sacredness of
+a religious rite. Ash-te-o-láh was led forth, unpinioned, into the
+midst--for the red man would scorn the weakness of leading a victim in
+chains to the altar.
+
+The place of sacrifice was an open space near the bank of the river, the
+dark forest frowning over it on every side, the entire foreground being
+filled and crowded with an eager, angry multitude, to whom a sacrifice
+was a feast, and revenge the sweetest luxury that could be offered to
+their taste. Their wild parade, their savage dances, their hideous yells
+and demoniacal looks and gestures, designed to terrify, only fired the
+soul of Ash-te-o-láh to a yet prouder and more majestic bearing. His
+firm step, his unblenching eye, his fearless and lofty port, touched
+even his executioners with admiration, and struck his guards with a
+momentary awe.
+
+Suddenly, as with a bolt from the cloud, he dashed down those who stood
+in his way, sprung out, and plunged into the water, swimming underneath,
+like an otter, only rising occasionally to take breath, till he reached
+the opposite shore. He ascended the steep bank at a bound; and then,
+though the arrows had been flying thick as hail about him from the time
+that he took to the water, and though many of the fleetest of his
+enemies were, like very blood-hounds, close in pursuit of him, he turned
+deliberately around, and with a graceful and becoming dignity, took a
+formal leave of them, as if he would acknowledge the extraordinary
+favors they had shown him. Then, raising the shrill war-whoop of
+defiance, as his last salute, till some more convenient opportunity
+should be afforded him to do them a warrior's homage, he darted off,
+like a beast broke loose from its torturing enemies. Inspired with new
+strength by his sudden release, and the returning hope of life, he flew
+with a winged speed, so as entirely to distance the fleetest of his
+eager pursuers. Confident in his speed, and assured that his enemies
+could neither overtake nor surprise him, he rested nearly a whole day,
+to recruit his wasted strength, and watch an opportunity to gain, if
+possible, some further advantage over those who were scenting his track,
+and thirsting for his blood.
+
+Passing a considerable distance beyond a spot, which his well-trained
+sagacity told him would be the natural resting place of his pursuers, he
+retraced his steps, walking carefully backwards, and planting each step
+with great precision, in the very tracks he had just made, so as
+effectually to conceal the artifice of his return. In this way, he came
+to a high rock, in which there was a considerable fissure, very narrow
+at the top, but widening toward the ground, and so concealed by the
+dense shrubbery that grew around, that it could only be discovered by
+the most careful scrutiny. Into this fissure he thrust himself,
+scrupulously replacing every leaf that had been disturbed by his
+entrance, and adjusting the whole so as not to excite the slightest
+suspicion in his keen-sighted enemies. Here he awaited their approach.
+
+It was near night of the second day, when the Senecas reached the spring
+where Ash-te-o-láh lay concealed, and where he had already rested nearly
+a whole day. Following his track some distance beyond, and not doubting
+he was yet in advance, they returned without suspicion to the spring,
+lighted their fires, partook hastily of their simple meal, and laid
+themselves down to sleep, in perfect security. They were five in number,
+powerful men, and thoroughly armed, after their own peculiar fashion.
+Ash-te-o-láh, from his narrow cavern, had watched all their movements.
+He well knew that they slept soundly, for they had satisfied themselves
+that no danger was near. But he also knew equally well how wakeful is
+the sleep of an Indian, and how almost impossible it is to surprise him,
+even in his soundest sleep. Every circumstance of his situation occurred
+to him, to inspire him with heroism, and urge him to attempt an
+impossibility, though his life was the certain forfeit of a failure. He
+was naked, torn, and hungry. His enraged enemies, who had so recently
+held him in their toils, and made him ready for a sacrifice, were now
+come up with him. In their little camp was every thing to relieve his
+wants. He would not only save his own life, but get great honor and
+sweet revenge, if he should succeed in cutting them off.
+
+Resolution, a convenient spot, and a sudden surprise, might effect this
+main object of all his wishes and hopes. Creeping cautiously out from
+his covert, and approaching the sleepers with the noiseless and stealthy
+cunning of a fox, he seized one of their tomahawks, and wielding it with
+inconceivable power and rapidity, left four of them in an eternal sleep,
+before the fifth had time to awake and spring to his feet. The struggle
+that ensued was terrible; but Ash-te-o-láh had the advantage in every
+respect, and the conflict ended in a very few minutes, by leaving him
+alone in the camp of his enemies.
+
+Selecting from the spoils of the fallen a suitable dress for himself,
+with the choicest of their bows, a well-stored quiver, a tomahawk, and
+an ample pouch of provisions, and securing to his belt the scalps of his
+yet breathing victims, Ash-te-o-láh set off afresh, with a light heart,
+and a bounding step, for the sunny vales of the Katahba. Resolved not to
+hazard any of the advantage he had gained, he did not allow himself any
+sleep, for several successive nights, only as he reclined, for a few
+moments, a little before day, with his back to a tree, and a clear space
+about him, where he could not be taken by surprise. Growing more secure,
+as he approached his home, and discovered no sign of his pursuing enemy,
+he sought out the spot where he had killed seven of the chase, in the
+first day of his flight, opened their yet fresh graves, added their
+scalps to the five then hanging to his belt, burnt their bodies to
+ashes, and returned in safety, laden with his hard earned trophies, to
+gladden his humble wigwam, and thrill the council of his people with the
+story of his singular adventures.
+
+Her prophetic dream had made so deep an impression upon the mind of
+Minaree, that, from the first, she did not expect "the bold hunter's
+return." His lengthened absence troubled, but did not surprise her. She
+yielded him to a stern fate, from which there was no escape; and with a
+calmness which we, of another race, too often regard as coldness and
+insensibility, prepared to follow him to the spirit land. His return was
+to her soul like a visit from that land--a gift from the Great
+Spirit--and ever after, to the deep devotion of her early love, was
+added that peculiar reverence, that tender, holy affection, which the
+Indians every where cherish for the departed.
+
+When the second party of the Senecas, in the course of the third day of
+the pursuit, arrived at the camp of their slaughtered people, the sight
+gave them a greater shock than they had ever known before. In their
+chilled war council they concluded, that he who had performed such
+surprising feats in his defence, before he was captured, and since that
+in his naked and unarmed condition, would, now that he was well armed
+and free, be a match for them all, if they should continue the pursuit.
+They regarded him as a wizard enemy, whose charmed life it was vain and
+wicked to attempt. They, accordingly, buried their comrades, and
+returned, with heavy hearts, to their homes.
+
+
+
+
+MONICA,
+
+OR
+
+THE ITEAN CAPTIVE.
+
+
+ What glorious hopes, what gloomy fears
+ Have sunk beneath time's noiseless tide!--
+ The red man at his horrid rite,
+ Seen by the stars at night's cold noon,--
+ His bark canoe, its track of light
+ Left on the wave beneath the moon;--
+ His dance, his yell, his council fire,
+ The altar where his victim lay,
+ His death song, and his funeral pyre,
+ That still, strong tide hath borne away.
+
+
+
+
+MONICA.
+
+ ~"Speak not, but fly--
+ There are a thousand winged deaths behind,
+ Thirsting for blood. Hope, life, and liberty
+ Are all before; and this good arm is pledged
+ To guide thee."~
+
+
+The grave of the Indian is a temple, a sort of gateway to heaven. Around
+it linger the tenderest affection, the purest devotion of the surviving
+friend. The grass and flowers that grow over it are never suffered to
+wither. The snow and the rain are not permitted to remain upon it. The
+least profanation of that sacred place would be visited with a more
+terrible vengeance than an affront to the living. Nothing illustrates
+more clearly the cruel injustice we have done to our red brethren of the
+forest, by regarding and treating them only as savages, and delineating
+them always and every where, as destitute of all the refined sympathies
+of humanity--than this prevailing national characteristic, an
+affectionate reverence for the dead, and a religious regard for the
+sepulchres and bones of their ancestors. It touches one of the deepest
+cords in the human heart. It springs from the very fountain head of
+social and moral refinement. It links the visible and material, with the
+unseen and spiritual world; blending all that is tender, and pure, and
+subduing, in the one, with all that is bright, hopeful, and inviting, in
+the other. Its existence in any heart, or its prevalence among any
+people, is proof sufficient that that heart is not wholly hardened in
+selfishness, and that people not wholly given over to barbarism.
+
+The infant child of an Itean mother lay dead in her tent. He was a
+beautiful boy, and already the fond mother had read in his brilliant
+eye, and the vigorous movements of his tiny limbs, the heroic deeds of
+the future chieftain. But her darling hope was nipped in the very germ.
+Her only son was shrouded for the grave, and the hour of burial had
+come. His shroud was a blanket, in which the head, as well as the body,
+was completely enveloped. His bier was a train, or Indian sled, in the
+form of a common snow-shoe, on which the body was laid, without a
+coffin, and secured by bandages from side to side. Into this train was
+harnessed a favorite dog of the family, when it was drawn with slow and
+solemn step, to the grave, preceded by the priest or medicine man of the
+village, in his gorgeous robes of office, and followed by the parents
+and sister of the child, with all the inmates of the neighboring
+wigwams.
+
+Arriving at the grave, the procession stopped, and gathered round the
+bier, the women and children seating or prostrating themselves on the
+ground, the men standing in a grave and solemn circle around them. The
+dog, still remaining in his harness, was then shot, and the medicine
+man, standing over it, addressed it in the following strain, "Go on your
+journey to the Spirit land. Long and weary is the way you have to go.
+Linger not on the journey, for precious is the burden you carry. Swim
+swiftly over the river, lest the little one be lost in the stream, and
+never visit the camp of its fathers. When you come to the camp of the
+White-headed Eagle, bark, that they may know who it is you bring, and
+come out and welcome the little one among its kindred band."
+
+The body was then laid in the grave, on its little train. The dog was
+placed by its side, with a kettle of food at its head, to supply it on
+the journey. A cup, containing a portion of the mother's milk, freshly
+drawn, was also put into the grave for the use of the child. The earth
+was laid gently over it, and covered with the fresh sod, the mother, and
+her female friends, chanting, the while, a plaintive dirge, designed to
+encourage the spirit of the departed on its dark and perilous journey.
+The mother held in her hand a roll of bark, elaborately decorated with
+feathers and bead-work, encompassed with a scarf of broadcloth, highly
+embroidered. This was intended as a memento of the deceased, to be
+sacredly preserved in the family lodge. Such mementoes are always seen
+there, after the death of a friend, and one may always know, by their
+number, how many of that household have gone to the spirit-land. It is
+usually placed upright in the spot where the departed was accustomed to
+sit, dressed in the same ornaments and bands that he wore while living.
+At every family meal, a portion of food is set before it. If it be a
+child who has died, the mother offers it a cup of milk, wraps it in the
+cradle bands of her lost infant, and bears it about with her wherever
+she goes.
+
+An Indian grave is a protected spot. That which is described above, was
+surrounded by a small enclosure of logs, and covered with a roof of
+bark, to shield it from the rain. At its head, a small round post was
+set, painted with vermilion. Other decorations were displayed upon the
+wall of the enclosure, which were carefully guarded, and frequently
+replaced, as they were soiled by the rains, or torn and defaced by the
+violence of the winds. Day after day, the bereaved mother and sister
+visited that grave, taking their work with them, and sitting down by its
+side, chanted their plaintive lullaby to that sleeping infant, and
+cheered on that faithful dog in his wearisome journey, charging him not
+to lag or go astray in traversing the plain, nor suffer his precious
+burden to fall into the water, in crossing the deep dark rapid river to
+the spirit land.
+
+Weeks and months had passed since that humble grave was made, and that
+precious treasure confided to its bosom. It was a calm glorious evening
+in mid-summer. The moon shone brightly on the Itean encampment. There
+was not, in the whole valley of the west, a more beautiful spot for a
+settlement. The smooth open green-sward was closely surrounded with
+trees on three sides. On the other, the land gradually sloped towards
+the river, which flowed quietly by, ever and anon sparkling in the
+moonbeams, or reflecting the dark forest and flowery banks in its azure
+depths.
+
+The wigwams in the opening were all closed. Their inmates were at rest.
+Presently, the buffalo-skin, that served as a door to the principal
+cabin, was drawn aside, and the beautiful daughter of the chief emerged
+into the light, and passed swiftly on to the river. Following its
+course a short distance, by the narrow path that threaded the woods on
+its bank, she came to the little grave, threw herself on the earth by
+its side, and wept. It was Monica, the sister of that buried infant, the
+same whom we saw at his grave when it was first opened, and who had
+daily, since that time, sung over it her simple song.
+
+The grief and disappointment of the mother, in the loss of her only son,
+was not more deep or sincere, or enduring, than that of this
+affectionate and devoted sister. From the moment of his birth, he was
+the idol of her soul. She looked forward to the time, in her ardent
+imagination very near at hand, when, emulating the virtues and deeds of
+his father, he should become the noblest chief of his tribe. She had
+pictured to herself the many wonderful exploits he should achieve, and
+the love and veneration with which he would be regarded throughout the
+nation. But now, those hopes were blasted, those visions had all faded
+into darkness. Time had not soothed her disappointment, or softened the
+poignancy of her grief. Waking or sleeping, the image of her lost
+brother was before her. She longed to follow him, that she might
+overtake him on the way, and help him in his passage over that fearful
+stream.
+
+She had laid down that night, as usual, and slept by the side of her
+mother. Her dreams were troubled. She thought that arid plain and dark
+river were before her. The faithful dog was struggling with the waves.
+The little ark which held that precious treasure, was buffeted about by
+the winds. Chilled with the cold, and terrified by the dark howling
+storm, the lone child sobbed bitterly, and looked imploringly round for
+his mother. In her distress and agitation, she awoke. Unable to sleep,
+or even to rest, she rose, and ran to the grave.
+
+ "I come, I come, my precious one,
+ I am ever by your side--
+ Fear not, your voyage is almost done
+ Over that dismal tide;
+ The winds shall hush, the storm pass o'er,
+ And a friendly band shall come
+ To meet you on the spirit shore,
+ And bid you welcome home.
+ Fear not, for love that never sleeps
+ Shall guard you o'er that wave;
+ And mother her constant vigil keep
+ Beside your quiet grave."
+
+Having chanted her simple lay of love, Monica turned from the grave,
+stepped into a canoe, and paddled down the stream. Overcome with grief,
+she dropped her paddle, sat pensively down in her shallop, and left it
+to follow its course down the current. For several hours it glided
+silently on. She gave no heed to the hours, till morning broke in the
+east. Suddenly starting up from her long dream, she looked for her
+paddle. It was gone. Seeing a bough floating on the water near her, she
+leaned out to catch it, as the canoe passed on. It was decayed, and
+broke in her hand. Throwing it from her, she looked eagerly about for
+some other means of reaching the shore. At length, passing under the
+shadow of an immense tree, that overhung the stream, she seized a branch
+that almost dipped into the water, and drawing herself in to the bank,
+sprang on shore.
+
+Slowly and doubtfully the timid girl threaded the thick forest,
+scarcely knowing which way to turn. Hoping to find some friendly wigwam
+near, she sounded the shrill call of her tribe. The call was instantly
+answered, but not by a friendly voice. Two stern and stalwart warriors
+of the Pawnee tribe, who were deadly enemies to the Iteans, chanced to
+be passing that way, and, recognizing the call as that of an enemy,
+sprang from the thicket, seized the trembling maiden, and bore her away
+in triumph. Many a weary league she travelled on by the side of her
+merciless captors, ere she reached their distant encampment. Worn,
+exhausted in strength and desponding in heart, she fell to the earth in
+the midst of the throng that gathered around her, and besought them to
+kill her at once, and let her go to her poor infant brother.
+
+The Pawnees were not only hostile to the Iteans, but were, in some
+respects, the most savage tribe in the great valley. They alone, of the
+North American Indians, continued, down the present century, and far
+within it, to practice the savage rite of sacrificing human victims on
+the altar of their gods. With them it was a propitiatory sacrifice,
+offered to the _Great Star_, or the planet Venus. This dreadful ceremony
+annually preceded the preparations for planting corn, and was supposed
+to be necessary to secure a fruitful season. The victim was always some
+prisoner, who had been captured in war, or otherwise; and there was
+never wanting an individual who coveted the honor of making a captive
+from some hostile tribe, and dedicating the spoils of his prowess to the
+national benefit.
+
+The captors of Monica were in quest of a victim for this sacrifice, when
+they wandered away alone, and prowled for several days, about the
+encampment of her tribe. With this view, they bore her away in triumph,
+deaf to all her entreaties and tears, and gave her in charge to the
+priests, to be made ready against the return of the season.
+
+The best wigwam in the village was assigned for her accommodation.
+Cheerful companions of her own age were given her. The most sedulous
+attention was paid to her wants. She was dressed in gay apparel,
+continually feasted on the choicest luxuries which their fields and
+hunting grounds afforded, and treated with the utmost tenderness by all
+about her. Every possible means was employed to allay her grief, and
+promote that cheerfulness of spirit, which is essential to health and
+comeliness, in order that she might thus be made a more suitable and
+acceptable offering.
+
+The personal charms of Monica required no such system of treatment, in
+order to their full development. She was a rare specimen of native grace
+and loveliness, and would have been a fitting model, in every feature
+and limb, for a Phidias or a Praxitiles. The exceeding beauty and
+gentleness of their captive, while it won the admiration and regard of
+all her young companions, only made her, in the view of the priests and
+chiefs of the tribe, a more desirable victim for the altar.
+
+For a long time, Monica was inconsolable. Deprived of that dearest
+privilege of visiting daily the grave of her brother, distracted in view
+of the anxiety which her mother would feel for her, she refused to be
+comforted, or to take any pleasure in the means employed to amuse her.
+Time and kindness, however, and the promise that she should, by and by,
+return to her father-land, restored, in a degree, her serenity of mind.
+She was too affectionate and confiding, to reject the sympathy and
+kindness even of an enemy. Grateful for the unwearied efforts which her
+companions made to amuse and comfort her, she came, at last, to regard
+them as friends. Gratitude begat affection. Affection created
+confidence. She unburdened her heart of the sorrows that oppressed it.
+By that effort, the burden was lightened. Something of the elasticity
+and vivacity of youth returned. She sang and played, if not to amuse
+herself, yet to gratify others, whose assiduous kindness, and seemingly
+generous sympathy, she had no other means of repaying. Thus, entirely
+ignorant of the terrible doom that awaited her, Monica passed the winter
+of her captivity, looking ever forward to the opening spring as the
+period of her promised release, and return to the wigwam of her mother.
+
+At length the fatal day arrived, and every thing was ready for the
+sacrifice. The whole Pawnee tribe was assembled to witness and take part
+in the solemnities. From every side, they were seen emerging from the
+thick forest, or gliding noiselessly over the bosom of the silver
+stream, leaping from cliff to cliff of the distant hills, or winding
+down their steep passes and narrow defiles, to meet in the great central
+village, around the grand council fire of the nation. The whole tribe
+was there--the chiefs in all their gaudy array of bead-work, feathers,
+and paint, their embroidered moccasins, their gaily wrought tunics and
+belts, their polished rifles, and glittering tomahawks--the women and
+children, and the rank and file of the people, in all the finery and
+gewgaws they could command. It was a brave sight to those accustomed to
+the barbaric finery and wild sports of the Indian, but fearful and
+hideous to one unused to the rude painted visages and half naked forms
+of the warriors.
+
+The awful hour of those dreadful orgies was announced by all those
+discordant shouts and hideous yells, which, with those primitive races,
+serve the purpose of trumpet, drum and bell. The stake was set, and the
+faggots made ready, in the centre of the great opening. The priests
+stood at their post, and the vast multitude of eager excited witnesses
+thronged around, waiting in terrible expectation for the consummation of
+that horrid rite, and kindling into phrenzy in view of the mad revelry
+that would follow. Presently, the outer ranks of that crowding circle
+made way, and opened a passage to the ring within. Through this living
+avenue, a company of chiefs marched in, singing, or rather shouting, a
+wild song, and dancing in fantastic measures. At their head was the
+captor of Monica, leading the timid girl by the hand. She was arrayed in
+the most showy and expensive style of Indian costume, the various
+decorations of her person comprising all that was beautiful and rare in
+ornament, according to the uncultivated taste of that people.
+Unconscious still of the doom that awaited her, and hoping, perhaps,
+that this was to be the festival of her freedom, when she would be sent
+away in peace to her home, she entered the circle with a cheerful face,
+and an elastic step, smiling on her young companions as she passed, and
+wondering at the cold look, or sometimes averted eye, with which her
+salutation was answered.
+
+It was not until she was led quite up to the stake, and saw the fearful
+faggots piled around it, that she comprehended the meaning of these
+mysterious preparations. Her awful doom flashed upon her, like a bolt
+from heaven. With one loud, piercing, heart-rending shriek, she fell to
+the earth, and called upon her mother. She was lifted up by the stern
+priest, placed upon the pile, and bound to the stake. With wild
+incantations, and horrid yells, the dread orgies were commenced. The
+torch was lighted, and ready to be applied. At that instant, a shrill
+whoop burst from the adjoining wood. A brave young warrior, leaping into
+the midst of the circle, rushed to the stake, cut the cords that bound
+the helpless victim, tore her away from the pile, and, dashing back
+through the panic-struck crowd, flung her upon a fleet horse which he
+had prepared for the occasion, sprung himself upon another, and was soon
+lost in the distant windings of the wood.
+
+It was the act of a moment. Even the Indian warriors, who are not easily
+surprised, or put off their guard, were confounded and paralysed. Before
+they could comprehend the object of this sudden phantom, this rash
+interruption of their festival, their victim was gone. The bare stake,
+and the useless heap of faggots were there. The proud chief, who
+furnished the victim, and the fierce-looking priests, who were to
+officiate in the dark rites of the sacrifice, stood in blank
+astonishment around, as if a bolt from the cloud had smitten them. A
+momentary silence prevailed among that mighty throng. A low murmur
+succeeded, like the distant moans of a coming storm: then, like the
+tempest, bursting in all its wrath, fierce cries of vengeance from a
+thousand flaming tongues, furious discordant yells and shouts,
+accompanied with frantic gestures, and looks of rage, such as would
+distort the visage of a fiend. Some of the fleetest started off in hot
+but vain pursuit. Those who remained, promised themselves a day of
+terrible retribution. The mothers secretly rejoiced in the escape; while
+those of the young girls who had been the chosen companions of the
+captive, gave vent to their joy and gratitude in wild songs and dances.
+
+In this manner, that turbulent assembly broke up. Without the usual
+feast and its accompanying games, they scattered to their several homes,
+coolly meditating revenge, and darkly foreboding the famine that should
+ensue from the absence of the accustomed sacrifice.
+
+Meanwhile, the fugitives held on their way, with the speed of the wind.
+Not a word was spoken. It was a race of life and death, and every
+faculty of the rescuer as well as of the rescued was absorbed in the one
+idea and effort to escape. Over hill and plain, and shallow stream,
+those foaming steeds flew on, pausing not even to snuff the breeze, till
+they had cleared the territory of the Pawnees, and reached a sheltered
+nook within the precincts of a neutral tribe. Here, as among all the
+Indian tribes the woman is considered competent to take care of herself
+in all ordinary emergencies, her deliverer left her, giving her ample
+directions for the way, and cautioning her to use the utmost diligence
+to avoid pursuit.
+
+"But, tell me first," she cried, tears of grateful joy standing in her
+eyes, "tell me to whom I am indebted for this miraculous escape--that,
+in all my prayers to the Great Spirit, I may call down his blessing upon
+your head."
+
+"I am Petalesharro," replied the youth, modestly. "My father is
+Latalashaw, the chief of my tribe. We do not believe, with our people,
+that the Great Spirit delights in the sacrifice. He loves all his red
+children, and they should all love one another."
+
+"But, will not your chiefs revenge upon your head this interference with
+their solemn rites? If any national calamities follow, will they not
+charge them all to your account? I could not bear that my generous
+deliverer should be struck down by those terrible hands, in the prime of
+his youth, as the reward of his heroic benevolence. Better that I should
+return and submit to the fate they had prepared for me."
+
+"Fear not for me, Monica. Petalesharro fears not to meet the assembled
+council of his nation. Not a brave among them all will raise a hand to
+hurt him. He will make them know that the Great Star needs not the blood
+of the captive. And never again shall the fires be kindled for that
+cruel sacrifice."
+
+Encouraged by the words of the young chief, Monica turned, with a strong
+heart, towards her home, still some four hundred miles distant. The same
+kind providence which had rescued her from the devouring flames, still
+guided and guarded her solitary way, and gave her strength and spirits
+for her toilsome journey.
+
+On the second day of her pilgrimage, as she climbed the summit of a
+range of hills that ran athwart her path, she was alarmed by the
+appearance of a considerable body of armed men, just emerging from a
+distant ravine of the same range, in a direction that would lead them
+immediately across her path. They were too far off to enable her to
+discern, by their dress and accoutrements, to what tribe they belonged.
+She supposed they must be Pawnees in pursuit of their lost captive. If
+she attempted to pass on before them, they would discover her track, and
+soon overtake her flight. She had nothing to do, therefore, but wait
+till they had passed, in the hope of eluding their eager scent.
+Concealing herself in the thicket, in a position that overlooked the
+valley, she awaited with composure the coming of that fearful band. They
+descended into the valley, and, to the utter consternation of Monica,
+began to pitch their tents under the shade of a spreading oak, on the
+bank of a little stream. She watched the movement with an anxious heart,
+not knowing how she should escape, with a pursuing enemy so near. Her
+consternation and anxiety were soon, however, changed to joy, when one
+of the company, approaching the vicinity of her hiding place, to cut a
+pole for his tent, was recognized as a chief of her own tribe. Springing
+from the thicket with a scream of delight, which startled the whole
+encampment, and brought every brave to his feet, with his hand on the
+trigger of his rifle, she rushed into the midst of her astonished
+people, and was received with silent joy, as one restored from the dead.
+Under their protection, the remainder of her journey was safely and
+easily performed. Before the moon, which was then crescent, had reached
+her full, Monica had embraced her mother, and added a fresh flower to
+the grave of her brother.
+
+The brave, the generous, the chivalrous Petalesharro returned to his
+father's tent with the fearless port and composed dignity of one whose
+consciousness of rectitude placed him above fear. He was a young man,
+just entered upon manhood, and a general favorite of his tribe.[E] His
+countenance, as represented in Col. McKenney's magnificent work upon the
+North American tribes, is one of uncommon beauty of feature. In its
+mildness of expression, it is almost effeminate. But in heart and soul
+he was a man and a hero. His courage, and the power of his arm, were
+acknowledged by friend and foe; and on the death of his father, he was
+raised to the chieftaincy of his tribe. The season which followed his
+noble act of humane, may we not say religious chivalry, was one of
+uncommon fertility, health and prosperity. "_The Great Star_" had not
+demanded the victim. And the Pawnees never again polluted their altars
+with the blood of a human sacrifice.
+
+ [E] Major Long, in his "Expeditions to the Rocky Mountains,"
+ thus describes Petalesharro, as he appeared in his native
+ wilds, and among his own people, in the full costume which he
+ wore on the occasion of some great festival of his tribe.
+
+ "Almost from the beginning of this interesting fete, our
+ attention had been attracted to a young man, who seemed to be
+ the leader or partisan of the warriors. He was about
+ twenty-three years of age, of the finest form, tall, muscular,
+ exceedingly graceful, and of a most prepossessing countenance.
+ His head-dress, of war-eagles' feathers, descended in a double
+ series upon his back, like wings, down to his saddle-croup; his
+ shield was highly decorated, and his long lance by a plaited
+ casing of red and blue cloth. On enquiring of the interpreter,
+ our admiration was augmented by learning that he was no other
+ than Petalesharro, with whose name and character we were
+ already familiar. He is the most intrepid warrior of the
+ nation, the eldest son of Letalashaw, and destined, as well by
+ mental and physical qualifications, as by his distinguished
+ birth, to be the future leader of his people."
+
+ Petalesharro visited Washington in 1821, where his fine figure
+ and countenance, and his splendid costume attracted every eye.
+ But there was that in his history and character, which had gone
+ before him, that secured for him a worthier homage than that of
+ the eye. His act of generous chivalry to the Itean captive was
+ the theme of every tongue. The ladies of the city caused an
+ appropriate medal to be prepared, commemorating the noble deed,
+ and presented it to him, in the presence of a large assemblage
+ of people, who took a lively interest in the ceremony. In reply
+ to their complimentary address, the brave young warrior
+ modestly said--"My heart is glad. The white woman has heard
+ what I did for the captive maid, and they love me, and speak
+ well of me, for doing it. I thought but little of it before. It
+ came from my heart, as the breath from my body. I did not know
+ that any one would think better of me for that. But now I am
+ glad. For it is a good thing to be praised by those, who only
+ praise that which is good."
+
+
+
+
+TULA,
+
+OR
+
+THE HERMITESS OF ATHABASCA.
+
+
+ I thought to be alone. It might not be!
+ There is no solitude in thy domains,
+ Save what man makes, when in his selfish breast,
+ He locks his joys, and bars out others' grief.
+
+
+
+
+TULA.
+
+ ~Death is not all--
+ Not half the agony we suffer here:
+ The cup of life has drugs, more bitter far,
+ That must be drained.~
+
+
+That solitary wigwam, in the outskirts of the village, was the home of
+Kaf-ne-wah-go, an aged Chippeway warrior, who had weathered the storms,
+and outlived the wars, of three score and ten seasons, and was yet as
+fiery in the chase, and as mighty and terrible in battle, as any of the
+young chiefs of his tribe. His voice in the council was, like the solemn
+tones of an oracle, listened to with a reverence approaching to awe, and
+never disregarded. His sons all inherited the spirit of their father,
+and distinguished themselves among the braves in fight, and the sages in
+council. Three of them fell in battle. One was principal chief of the
+western division of the Chippeway family. Another, the brave
+Ish-ta-le-ó-wah, occupied the first in that group of wigwams in yonder
+grove, about a hundred yards from his father's.
+
+The only daughter of the good old sachem, the child of his old age, and
+"the light of his eyes," was the fairest and loveliest wild-flower, that
+ever sprung up amid the interminable wildernesses of the Western World.
+Tula, the singing bird, was distinguished among the daughters of the
+forest, not only for those qualities of person and character which are
+recognized as graces among the Indians, but for some of those peculiar
+refinements of feeling and manner, which are supposed to be the
+exclusive product of a civilized state of society. She was remarkable
+for the depth and tenderness of her affection, and for her ingenuity,
+industry and taste. Her dress, and those of her father and brother,
+exhibited the traces of her delicate handiwork; while the neat and
+tasteful arrangement of the humble cabin, superior in all that makes
+home comfortable and pleasant to any in the village, bore testimony to
+her industry and skill.
+
+Tula had many suitors. There was scarce a young brave in the tribe who
+did not seek or desire her. But O-ken-áh-ga, the only son of their great
+chief, won her heart. She became his bride, but she remained, with him
+and their first-born child, in the tent of her aged parents, who could
+not live, as they said, "when the singing bird, the light of their eyes
+was gone."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+It was mid-summer. The night was still, clear, and lovely. All nature
+seemed to breathe nothing but calmness and peace. But the heart of
+man--how often and how sadly is it at variance with nature! The inmates
+of that humble wigwam were all wrapped in a profound sleep, not dreaming
+of danger near. The infant, nestling in his mother's bosom, by a sudden
+start roused her to partial consciousness. A deep groan, as of one in
+expiring agonies, awakened all her faculties. She sprung up and called
+upon her husband--
+
+"O-ken-áh-ga, what is the matter?"
+
+Another deep groan, and a stifled yell of triumph, was the only answer.
+
+Staring wildly round, what a scene of horror met her eyes! Her father,
+her mother, her husband, pierced with many wounds, and weltering in
+their yet warm blood, lay dead before her; while a band of fierce and
+terrible enemies, of the Athapuscow tribe, stood over them, with the
+reeking instruments of death in their hands, their eyes gleaming with
+savage delight, and their whole faces distorted with the most fiend-like
+expression of rage and triumph. With the true instinct of a mother, she
+clasped her infant to her breast, and bowed her head in silence, utterly
+unable to give any utterance to the bitterness of her wo. It was this
+silence that saved her and her child from an instant participation in
+the fate of the mangled ones around her. The first word spoken, would
+have brought down that reeking tomahawk upon their heads. The
+Athapuscows were few in number, and their only safety consisted in doing
+their work of revenge with secrecy and despatch, for the Chippeways were
+many and powerful, and to disturb the slumbers of one of them would be
+to rouse the whole tribe in a moment.
+
+The work of death was done. The scalps of their victims hung dripping at
+the belts of the murderers, and the spoils of the cabin were secured.
+The spoilers turned to depart, and Tula, in obedience to their word,
+without complaint or remonstrance, rose and followed them. Gathering up
+a few necessary articles, among which she contrived to conceal her babe,
+she took one farewell look upon the loved ones, whom death had so
+suddenly and fearfully claimed, and left them, and the home of her
+youth, for ever.
+
+With cautious stealthy steps, the murderous band plunged into the deep
+forest, threading their way through its intricate mazes, with
+inconceivable skill and sagacity, till they reached an opening, on the
+bank of the Wapatoony river, where a considerable detachment of their
+tribe was temporarily encamped. Delivering their prisoner into the hands
+of the women, the braves proceeded at once to the council of the chiefs,
+to show their trophies, and relate the incidents of their scout.
+
+When the Athapuscow women, in examining the contents of the poor
+captive's bundle, discovered the still sleeping infant, they seized him
+as they would have done a viper, and dashed him on the ground. In vain
+did the fond mother plead for her child. In vain did the voice of
+nature, and a mother's instinct in their own bosoms, plead for the
+innocent. It was an enemy's child, a hated Chippeway, and that was
+enough to stifle every other feeling in their hearts, and make even "an
+infant of days" an object of intense and implacable hatred. With the
+Indian, the son of an enemy is an enemy, doomed only to death or
+torture. The daughter may be spared for slavery or sacrifice.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The morning dawned with uncommon brilliancy and beauty upon the
+Chippeway village, and warriors and children were astir with the
+earliest light, some to fish in the smooth stream, that, like a silver
+chain, bound their two beautiful lakes together--some to look after the
+traps they had set over-night--some to prepare for the hunt--and some
+for the merry games and athletic sports of the village. The quick eye of
+Ish-ta-le-ó-wah soon discovered that all was not right in the tent of
+his father. Kaf-ne-wah-go was not abroad, as usual, with his net in the
+stream. O-ken-áh-ga was not seen among the hunters with his bow, nor
+among the wrestlers on the green. No smoke was seen curling among the
+branches of the old tree that overshadowed his mother's tent. All was
+still as the house of the dead.
+
+"Why sleep the brave so long, when the light of day is already on the
+hill-top, and coming down upon the valley. Has the snake crept into the
+tent of Kaf-ne-wah-go, and charmed the father with the children? I must
+go and see."
+
+The loud and piercing yell of Ish-ta-le-ó-wah, as he looked in upon that
+desolate wigwam, roused the whole village, like the blast of a trumpet.
+The counsellors and braves of the nation were soon on the spot. The
+whole scene was understood in a moment, as clearly as if a written
+record of the whole had been left behind. Pursuit, and the recovery of
+the captive Tula and her child, were instantly resolved; and, ere the
+sun had surmounted the eastern barrier of their beautiful valley,
+Ish-ta-le-ó-wah, with a band of chosen braves, was on the trail of the
+foe.
+
+With the keen eye and quick scent of a blood-hound, they followed the
+almost obliterated track, through forest and brake, through swamp and
+dingle, over hill and prairie, till it was lost on the border of the
+Athabasca lake. Though the party in retreat was large, so well were they
+all trained in the Indian tactics of flight and concealment, that it
+required a most experienced eye to keep on their track. They had
+marched, according to custom, in Indian file, each carefully walking in
+the steps of the other, so that, to an unpractised observer, there would
+appear to have been but one wayfarer in the path. Wherever it was
+practicable, the path was carried over rocks, or the soft elastic
+mosses, or through the bed of a running brook, with the hope of eluding
+the pursuer. But no artifice of the Athapuscow could elude the
+well-trained eye of the Chippeway. He would instantly detect the
+slightest trace of a footstep on the ground, or the passage of a human
+body through the thicket. In one place, the edges of the moss had been
+torn, or a blade of grass trampled in upon it; in another, the small
+stones of the surface had been displaced, showing sometimes the fresh
+earth, and sometimes the hole of a worm uncovered, with half the length
+of its astonished occupant protruded to the light, as if investigating
+the cause of the sudden unroofing of his cell. Here some dry stick
+broken, or the bark of a protruding root peeled off, would betray the
+step of the fugitive; and there a shrub slightly bent, or a leaf turned
+up and lapped over upon another, or a few petals of a wild flower torn
+off and scattered upon the ground, would reveal the rude touch of his
+foot, or arm, or the trailing of his blanket, as he passed. Even on the
+bare rock, if a few grains of earth had been carried forward, or a
+pebble, a leaf, a dry stick, or a bit of moss, adhering to the foot had
+been deposited there, it was instantly noticed and understood. The
+rushing of the waters in the brook did not always replace, in a moment,
+every stone that had been disturbed in its bed, nor restore the broken
+limb, nor the bent weed, to its place. So quick and intuitive were these
+observations, that the march of the pursuer was as rapid and direct as
+that of the pursued. The one would seldom lose more time in hunting for
+the track, than the other had consumed in his various artifices of
+concealment.
+
+On arriving at the lake, it was evident that a considerable number of
+the enemy had been encamped, and that they had just embarked. Their
+fires were still smoking, and the rocks were not yet dry, from which
+they had pushed off their canoes, in the haste of their departure.
+
+The Chippeway was not easily diverted from his purpose. With the speed
+of a chamois, he climbed a tall cliff, which, jutting boldly out into
+the lake, concealed its great eastern basin from his view. Arrived at
+the summit, he discerned, dimly relieved in the distant horizon, a
+number of moving specks, which he knew to be the canoes of the
+retreating foe. In the double hope of avenging the dead, and recovering
+the living from captivity, he continued his course along the shores of
+the lake, and, early the next morning, fell once more upon the trail of
+his enemy. Pursuing it a short distance into the forest, it suddenly
+divided, one part continuing on to the east, and one striking off toward
+the south. In neither of them could he discover the track of his sister.
+Her captors had placed her, with their own women, in the middle of the
+march, so that the large and heavy track of the warriors who came after,
+should cover and obliterate the lighter traces of her foot.
+
+Taking the eastern track, and moving on with accelerated speed, he
+overtook the flying party in the act of encamping for the night.
+Concealing himself carefully from view, and watching his opportunity
+when all were busily engaged in pitching their tents, he raised the
+terrible war-whoop, with a volley of well directed arrows, and rushed,
+with his whole band, upon his unarmed victims. Not one of them escaped;
+and, so sudden and complete was the retribution, that not one remained
+to tell where the captive Tula had been carried. The real murderers had
+escaped with their captives, and the vengeance intended for _them_ had
+fallen upon the heads of their innocent comrades.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Tula was treated with kindness by the Athapuscow chief, who claimed her
+as his own. Every means was tried to reconcile her to her new lot, and
+to make her content to be the wife of her enemy. But her heart was bound
+up with the memories of the dead. Her parents, her husband, her child,
+filled all her thoughts. And the idea of being for ever bound to those
+whose hands were stained with the blood of these precious lost ones, was
+not to be endured for a moment. She was inconsolable, and her captors,
+for a time, respected her grief. Day after day, they travelled on, with
+long and weary marches, till the face of the country was changed, and
+the green forest gave way to the barren and rocky waste, that skirts the
+northern borders of the great valley of prairies. As they advanced, they
+grew more and more secure against pursuit, and less watchful of their
+captive. At length, she suddenly disappeared from their view.
+
+They had pitched for the night, on the bank of the north branch of the
+Sascatchawan. The night was dark and tempestuous. The lightnings flashed
+vividly from the dark cloud, and threatened to "melt the very elements
+with fervent heat." The hoarse thunders roared among the wildly
+careering clouds, and reverberated along the shores of the stream, and
+the cliffs of the distant mountains, as if those everlasting barriers
+were rent asunder, and nature were groaning from her utmost depths. The
+Indian feared not death, in whatever shape it might come. But he feared
+the angry voice of the Great Spirit. He shrunk with terror to the covert
+of his tent, and covered his eyes from the fearful glare of those
+incessant flashes, and prayed inwardly to his gods.
+
+The poor disconsolate captive lay trembling under the side of the tent.
+She thought of the storm that had swept over her beautiful home, and
+desolated her heart in the spring time of its love. She looked at her
+savage captors, now writhing in the agonies of superstitious fear, which
+her more absorbing private grief alone prevented her from sharing to the
+full. They heeded her not. They scarcely remembered that she was among
+them. Something whispered to her heart--"No eye but that of the Great
+Spirit sees you. He bids you escape from your enemies."
+
+In the ten-fold darkness that follows the all-revealing flash from the
+storm-cloud, Tula slipped noiselessly under the edge of the robe that
+sheltered her from the beating rain, and plunging into the stream, swam
+with the current a few rods, till she was arrested by a thick covert of
+overhanging shrubs, which grew to the water's edge. Thinking she might
+be able to cover her head with these bushes, while her body was hid by
+the water, she crept cautiously under, close to the bank, when, to her
+surprise and joy, she found that this shrubbery covered and curiously
+concealed a crevice in the jutting rock, sufficiently large to admit a
+free entrance to an ample cave within. Having carefully adjusted every
+limb and leaf without, and replaced with instinctive sagacity, the
+mosses that had been disturbed by her feet, she devoutly thanked the
+good spirit for her hope of deliverance, and anxiously watched for the
+morning.
+
+The dark cloud of the night had passed over. The voice of the tempest
+was hushed. The day broke clear and cloudless, amid the singing of
+birds, and the quickened music of the swollen stream. The first thought
+of the Athapuscow chief, as he started from his troubled slumbers, was
+of his captive. But she was gone. With a shrill and angry whoop, he
+roused the whole band, and all started in pursuit. The old woods rung
+again with the whoop and yell of the pursuers, and were answered by the
+sullen echoes of the hills and cliffs around. But neither wood, nor
+hill, nor cliff, revealed the hiding-place of the captive. The heavy
+torrents of rain had obliterated every mark of her footsteps, and
+neither grass, nor sand, nor the yielding soil of the river-bank
+afforded any clue to the path she had taken.
+
+Safe in the close covert of her new found retreat, the poor captive
+heard all the loud and angry threats of her disappointed pursuers. She
+even heard their frequent conjectures and animated discussions of the
+means to be adopted for her recovery, and often, they were so near to
+her place of refuge, that she could see their anxious and angry looks,
+as they passed, and almost feel their hands among the bushes that
+sheltered her, and the quick tramp of their feet over the roof of her
+cave. But there was no track or mark, on land or water, to guide them to
+that spot, and so naturally had every leaf been adjusted, that it had
+not attracted a single suspicion from any one of those sagacious and
+quick-sighted inquisitors.
+
+Two hours of fruitless search for a hiding place, or a track that should
+reveal the course of her flight, brought them to the conclusion that the
+Great Spirit had taken her away, and that it was not for man to find her
+path again. With this conviction, they struck their tents, swam the
+stream, and resumed their march to the south.
+
+Too cautious to leave her covert at once, and wearied with her anxious
+watchings, Tula composed herself to sleep, as soon as the last sound of
+the retiring party died on her ear. The sun had declined half way to his
+setting, when she awoke. She listened, with a suspicions ear for every
+sound without. The singing of birds, the rustling of the leaves, and the
+murmur of the waters, were all that disturbed the silence of the scene.
+She put her ear to the rock, but it brought nothing to her sense that
+revealed the presence of man. With extreme caution, she ventured to look
+out from her cave, and, by slow degrees, peering on every side for some
+concealed enemy, she emerged into the light, and dropping noiselessly
+into the stream, swam to a point on the opposite shore, from which she
+could obtain a good view of the recent encampment. It was deserted and
+still. Not a trace was left behind, except the trampled grass, and the
+blackened embers.
+
+Recrossing the stream, she commenced, with a light step, and a hopeful
+spirit, the seemingly impossible task of finding her way back to her
+home and her people. The consciousness of freedom buoyed her up, and
+inspired her with a new hope, at almost every step. With a light heart,
+and an elastic step, she bounded away over the desolate waste, that lay
+between the river and the forest, having neither path, nor track, nor
+land-mark, to guide her way, and with nothing but the instinct of
+affection to point out the course she should take. She had been so
+absorbed with her many griefs, during the long and weary march hitherto,
+and so little did she dream of the possibility of escape, that she had
+scarcely taken any notice of the direction, or attempted to observe any
+land-marks to guide her return. The way by which she had been led was
+circuitous and irregular, and she had only the vague general ideas, that
+her home was near "the star that never moves," and that she had been
+leaving her shadow behind, to aid her in her solitary wanderings. With a
+hopeful courageous heart, she sought only to widen the distance between
+her cruel captors and herself, trusting that her way would open as she
+went, and that her guardian angel, her tutelar divinity, would keep her
+from going astray. _Her_ tutelar divinity was the moon, whose light and
+protection she invoked, with a devout, if not an enlightened faith.
+While she could enjoy her mild clear light, she was always happy and
+secure; but when those beams were withdrawn, a shadow came over her soul
+that was full of dark forebodings and anxious fears.
+
+She had travelled several leagues, without seeing a track of any kind,
+and without the consciousness of fatigue or hunger. When night came on,
+she was just entering a deep forest, whose impenetrable shade made a
+sudden transition from twilight to utter darkness. With no star to guide
+her, and with no appearance of a path through thickets which seemed
+never to have been penetrated by a human footstep, she was soon
+bewildered, and felt that it was vain to proceed. With a few half-ripe
+nuts for a supper, and the soft moss which had gathered about the trunk
+of a fallen tree for a bed, she committed herself to sleep.
+
+About midnight, her slumbers were disturbed by a heavy rustling among
+the bushes, at no great distance, accompanied by a constant crackling,
+as of some large animal, trying to penetrate the thicket. Perceiving
+that it approached nearer at every step, she seized a club, with which
+she had provided herself before entering the forest, and hastened to
+climb into the nearest tree. As she ascended, it began to grow lighter
+overhead. The stars looked smilingly down upon her, but it was darker
+than ever below. She breathed a silent prayer to the star of her
+faith--the bright orb where she supposed her guardian angel resided--and
+took courage. The mysterious step approached nearer and nearer. She
+soon perceived that it was a bear, and supposed he would follow her into
+the tree. She therefore seated herself upon a stout limb, a few feet
+from the main trunk, and prepared to give him a warm reception.
+Presently the heavy trampling ceased, and was followed by a silence
+vastly more oppressive than the previous noise.
+
+In this condition, the remaining hours of the night passed away. With
+the first light of the morning, the shaggy intruder was discerned,
+quietly reposing near the foot of the tree, and showing no signs of
+being in haste to depart. That he was conscious of the presence of a
+stranger, was evident only from an occasional upward glance of his eye,
+and a significant turning of the nose in that direction, as if there was
+something agreeable in prospect.
+
+Tula would have been no match for Bruin on level ground, but she felt
+confident of her power in the position she had chosen, and therefore
+quietly waited the movements of her adversary. For two or three hours,
+he behaved himself with the gravity of a true philosopher, coolly
+expecting to weary out the patience of his victim by a close siege, and
+so save himself the trouble of taking the tree by assault. But Tula was
+as patient and prudent as Bruin, and could endure hunger, and thirst,
+and wakefulness as well as he. Rousing at length from his inactivity, he
+travelled round and round the tree, as if taking its measure, and
+estimating the probable result of an encounter. Tula watched his motions
+with more interest than anxiety, hoping soon to be relieved from her
+imprisonment, and at liberty to pursue her journey. It was near noon,
+when, having satisfied himself that offensive measures were necessary,
+he began to climb the tree. Having reached the leading branch, and
+embraced the trunk to raise himself to that on which Tula was seated,
+the brave girl rose suddenly to her feet, and brought down her club upon
+the enemy's nose with such desperate and well directed force, as to send
+him, stunned and insensible, to the ground. Without allowing him a
+moment to recover, she leaped down to his side, and dealt a succession
+of heavy blows upon his head, till the blood flowed in torrents, and his
+struggles and his breathing ceased.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+In this manner, many days and nights passed on, during which she
+encountered many imminent dangers, and severe conflicts, and made but
+little progress. Hunger, weariness, a continual sense of danger, and
+that sickness of the heart, which solitude and suspense beget, were her
+inseparable companions. Every day, her hope of ultimately reaching the
+home of her childhood grew fainter and fainter. But she had a woman's
+endurance, and a woman's fertility of resource. She never for a moment
+repented her flight. She would have preferred death in any form to a
+forced espousal with the murderer of her family. Sometimes with roots
+and herbs, sometimes with nutritious mosses, and sometimes with wild
+fruits and nuts, she continued to satisfy the cravings of appetite, and
+to sustain her severely tried fortitude, for the fatigues and perils
+that were yet before her.
+
+The forest seemed interminable; and so indeed it might well have been
+regarded, for she was continually travelling round and round, in the
+same track, having only an occasional glimpse of the sun to direct her
+way, or a view of the stars, when she climbed some tall tree at night.
+She knew little of the direction in which she was going; but she was
+sure that that forest lay between her enemy and her home, and was
+therefore resolved, at any expense of labor and suffering, to find her
+way through it, or perish in the attempt.
+
+After several weeks of incredible toil, fatigue, hardship and danger,
+the brave persevering Tula emerged into a wide opening, having a
+considerable mountain on one side, and a large sheet of water, and a
+stream from the mountain pouring into it, on the other. It was a
+beautiful spot, but the whole aspect of it was new and strange. She was
+confident she had not passed that way, while a captive in the hands of
+the Athapuscows. She was now wholly at a loss which way to turn. To
+retrace her steps through the intricacies of that dark forest, would be
+as vain as the thought of it was appalling. To go on, when she was
+absolutely certain she was out of her track, seemed little less than
+madness. To choose either the right hand or the left, was to leap in the
+dark, and involve herself in new doubts and difficulties. She needed
+rest. Her apparel was torn by her difficult passages through the tangled
+thickets, and her frequent contests with the enemies she found there.
+Pondering deeply on the difficulties before her, she began to think,
+that if there was any place of shelter near, she would make herself a
+new home, and live and die alone in the great wilderness.
+
+"And why," said she to herself, "why should I return to the wigwam of my
+father? Kaf-ne-wah-go is not there. My mother, she has gone with him to
+the spirit land. O-ken-áh-ga waits no longer for my return. I left my
+brave chief in his blood. His voice will no longer be heard in the
+valley, with the hunters, nor his shout in the battle. He fell in the
+glory of his strength, like the young oak that is full of sap, and whose
+roots have struck deep into the earth. And my child, the son of
+O-ken-áh-ga, alas! he has not even a grave to sleep in. He lies on the
+cold bosom of the earth, and I know not where. Why then should I return
+to a desolate home, only made more desolate by the memory of what it
+was?"
+
+With such thoughts as these, she beguiled her inward yearnings for the
+spot where all her joys had been, and where all her hopes were buried.
+Wandering on the shores of the lake and the stream by day, and seeking
+such shelter as she could find in the clefts of the rocks at night, she
+sought for a place where she might provide a suitable protection against
+the cold and the storms of winter, which were not far distant. Wild
+berries and fruits afforded her only sustenance for a considerable time,
+until her own ingenuity provided her with the means of procuring a more
+certain substantial diet.
+
+Having found a convenient spot in a deep ravine of the mountain, which
+opened towards the south, and was consequently always exposed to the
+sun, she immediately commenced the construction of a place to dwell in.
+The spot selected was romantic and beautiful in the extreme, and seemed
+to have been designed by nature "for some especial use." It was
+sufficiently elevated to command a fine view of the opening, including
+all the meanderings of the river, and the whole extent of the lake, and
+yet it was not difficult of access, nor so high as to be too much
+exposed to the wintry storms. It was a little nook, chipped out from the
+solid rock, having a smooth slaty floor, about twelve feet square, with
+a semi-circular recess of about half that depth into the side of the
+mountain. A jutting rock, about ten feet above this floor, and
+overhanging it on every side, formed a natural ceiling. It only needed
+to be enclosed on two sides, to make a lodge that any of the great
+caciques of the wilderness might be proud of.
+
+Fortunately Tula was not entirely destitute of tools to work with. A
+piece of an iron hoop, about six inches in length, and the shank of an
+arrow head, also of iron, both of which she had picked up while among
+the Athapuscows, constituted her whole stock. With these, which she
+sharpened upon the rocks, she contrived to cut down a number of young
+saplings, and shape them to her purpose. Planting two of them upright
+upon the outer line of the floor, and laying the end of one against the
+inside, and the end of the other against the outside of the cornice, or
+overhanging ceiling, she bound them firmly together with green withes.
+In this manner she went all round, leaving a space open for a door on
+the sunny side. This done, she wove it, inside and out, with willow
+boughs, stuffing the intervening spaces with moss, till it was entirely
+impervious to the weather. The door was of close basket-work hung at the
+top, and secured at the sides, in a storm, or during the night, by means
+of withes fastened round the door-posts. This served the double purpose
+of door and window, while a crevice in the rock above, performed the
+part of a chimney.
+
+The work went on slowly and heavily at first, but patience and
+perseverance, which can conquer all but impossibilities, accomplished it
+before the cold weather set in. Meanwhile, the ingenuity of the fair
+builder had found means to make a fire upon the hearth. Her materials
+for that purpose were two hard sulphureous stones, which, by long
+friction, or hard knocking, produced a few sparks. These, communicated
+to touchwood, were soon formed into a blaze.
+
+When fruits, berries and nuts failed, her ready ingenuity supplied her
+with other means of sustaining life. She had, among her scanty stock of
+furniture, a few deer-sinews, which, with the Indians, are a common
+substitute for thread. With the aid of these, she managed to snare
+partridges, rabbits and squirrels. She also killed several beavers and
+porcupines. The sinews of the rabbit's legs and feet were twisted with
+great dexterity, to supply the place of deer-sinews, when _they_ were
+gone. Their skins also, with those of the squirrels, served to replenish
+her exhausted wardrobe, supplying, under her skilful hand, a neat and
+warm suit of winter clothing. Her industry was as untiring as her
+ingenuity was fruitful of resources. Forlorn as her situation was, she
+was composed and resigned, if not contented, and seemed to find pleasure
+in employing every moment of her waking hours in some useful or
+ornamental contrivance.
+
+Her dress evinced much taste, and exhibited no little variety of
+ornament. The materials, though rude, were very curiously wrought, and
+so judiciously arranged, as to give to the whole a pleasing and romantic
+effect. Her tunic was composed of the skins of squirrels and rabbits, in
+alternate strips of grey and white. It was secured at the waist by a
+belt of skin, beautifully wrought with porcupine quills, colored
+pebbles, and strips of bark of various brilliant hues. Her mantle, which
+was large, was of the fairest and most delicate skins, arranged with a
+certain uniformity and harmony of design, which gave it all the grace
+and beauty, without the stiffness, of a regular pattern. It had a
+tasteful border, of brilliant feathers, and, like the belt before
+described, was fastened by a clasp of an unique and original
+contrivance, being made of the beaks and claws of her captives, arranged
+and secured so as to interlock with each other. Her head-dress, leggings
+and moccasins, were equally perfect in style and effect.
+
+Besides accomplishing all this work, in her solitude, and even laying in
+a stock of provisions in advance, sufficient for her wants, in case of a
+long season of storms, sickness, or any other exigency, she had found
+time to make several hundred fathoms of net-twine, by twisting the inner
+rind, or bark, of willow boughs, into small lines. Of these, she
+intended to make a fishing-net, as soon as the spring should open, and
+thus enlarge her sources of subsistence and enjoyment.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+It was past mid-winter. The snow lay deep and hard upon all the northern
+hills and valleys. The lakes and rivers were frozen. The fountains of
+nature were sealed up, and verdure, and fruitfulness, and almost all
+the elements of life, seemed to have followed the sun in his journey to
+the far south. A company of English traders, under the guidance of a
+party of Indians, were traversing the country from Hudson's Bay to the
+Northern Ocean, in quest of furs and peltries. Emerging from a deep
+forest into a broad open plain, they discovered the track of a strange
+snow-shoe, which, from its lightness, they judged to belong to a woman.
+Not knowing of any encampment in that vicinity, it excited the more
+curiosity. They followed it. It led them a considerable distance out of
+their way, across the valley, and into the gorge of the mountain on its
+southern side. Pursuing it still, as it ascended by a circuitous path,
+they came to a small cabin, perched like an eagle's nest in the clefts
+of the rock. They entered, and found a young and beautiful woman sitting
+alone at her work. It was Tula, the hermitess of Athabasca. For more
+than seven moons she had not seen a human face, nor heard a human voice,
+nor did she ever expect again to see the one, or hear the other. She had
+become reconciled to her lot. She loved the solitude where her spirit
+could commune with the departed, undisturbed, and where only the sun,
+the moon, and the stars, and the Great Spirit that controlled and guided
+them all, could read her thoughts, and know the history of her griefs.
+
+The first surprise being over, Tula offered the strangers a place by her
+fire, and such other hospitalities as her cabin afforded.
+
+"How comes the dove alone in the eagle's nest?" enquired the leader of
+the party.--And then, regarding her with a look of admiration,
+added--"does she not fear the hawk or the vulture, here in the cold
+cliffs of the mountain?"
+
+Tula replied by relating the story of her life--her bereavement--her
+captivity--her escape--her weary wanderings--her hardships--and the
+repose she had found in her solitude; and concluded by saying, "If the
+eagle's nest be lonely and cold, it is quiet and safe. It is not too
+high for the moon to smile upon. It is not too cold for Tula."
+
+"Would the 'singing bird' seek out her people, and let her song be heard
+again among the trees of the valley?"
+
+"Tula is no longer the singing bird. Her song is shut up in her heart.
+Her heart is with her kindred in the spirit land. Her father's cabin is
+more desolate than the wilderness, or the mountain top. Her tree is
+plucked up by the roots. It cannot live again."
+
+After some considerable persuasion, in which the voice of the humane
+Englishman--suggesting that, if the Ottawas had discovered her retreat,
+the Athapuscows might discover it also,--had its full share of weight,
+the fair hermitess consented to accompany the strangers; though she
+could not conceal her regret, in abandoning her snug little castle, to
+set off on a new pilgrimage, she knew not whither.
+
+"It matters little to Tula where she goes, so that she does not meet the
+Athapuscow. His hands are red with the blood of her father, her husband,
+her child. Let her never see his face, or walk in his shadow."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The singular romance of Tula's story, the comeliness of her person, and
+her approved accomplishments, touched the hearts of some of the young
+braves of the party. They had not gone far on their way, before a
+contest arose between them, who, according to immemorial usage among the
+tribes, should claim the privilege of making her his wife. The
+dispute--to which she was no party, for her views were not so much as
+consulted in the matter--ran very high, and had nearly resulted in
+serious consequences. The poor girl was actually won and lost, at
+wrestling, by near half a score of different men, in the course of as
+many days. When, at length, a compromise was effected, and the prize
+awarded to Lak-in-aw, a young warrior of the Temiscamings, Tula refused
+to receive the pipe at his hands, or to listen in any way to his suit.
+
+"Tula is buried in the grave of O-ken-áh-ga," she said. "Tula will walk
+alone on the earth. Her heart is in the spirit land. It will never come
+back. It has nothing here to love."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Onward--onward--over interminable fields of snow and ice, where scarce a
+green thing appeared to relieve the utter desolation, the party
+proceeded, with their prize, on their journey to the far north. She was
+treated with chivalric tenderness and respect, and her comfort and
+convenience consulted in all the arrangements of the way. She needed but
+little indulgence, and solicited _none_. She was capable of enduring the
+fatigues and hardships of a man. She never flagged in the march, nor
+lingered a moment, when the word was given to go forward.
+
+In traversing a deep valley near the eastern extremity of the Great
+Slave Lake, their track was crossed by that of a considerable party of
+Indians, returning from an expedition to the fur regions of the north.
+Their course lay along the southern border of the lake. Perceiving their
+encampment at no great distance, on the other side of the valley, it was
+resolved to visit them, and, if they were found to be friendly, to join
+their camp for the night. On approaching the spot, they were met by the
+chief, who, with a few attendants, came out to bid them welcome to his
+tent. He was a fine specimen of a young Indian brave--one who, in his
+green youth, had gained laurels, which it usually requires a life-time
+to win. His costume, though adapted to the severity of the climate, was
+tasteful and picturesque, and so fitted and arranged as to develop, to
+the best advantage, the admirable proportions of his person.
+
+The parley that ensued was a fine specimen of Indian courtesy and
+diplomacy. But it was suddenly and violently interrupted, when Tula, who
+had remained in the rear of her party, with the Englishmen, came up. At
+the first sight of the young chief, she uttered a loud and
+piercing shriek--for the extremes of joy and grief use similar tones and
+gestures--and rushing forward, pushed aside friend and stranger alike,
+and flung herself upon his neck, exclaiming--"Ish-ta-le-ó-wah!--my
+brother! my brother!"
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+ Transcriber's Note
+
+ The following changes were made to the original text:
+
+ Accents were restored to the Table of Contents.
+
+ Page 5, "Ka-ree-o-than" changed to "Karee-o-thán"
+ (Tezcuco--Karee-o-thán)
+
+ Page 12, "Kaf-na-wa-go" changed to "Kaf-ne-wah-go"
+ (wigwam of Kaf-ne-wah-go)
+
+ Page 20, "skillfully" changed to "skilfully"
+ (craftily and skilfully worked)
+
+ Page 35, "paralasis" changed to "paralysis"
+ (struck with instant paralysis)
+
+ Page 40, "acknowledgements" changed to "acknowledgments"
+ (ample acknowledgments)
+
+ Page 50, "terrestial" changed to "terrestrial"
+ (paradise of terrestrial sweets)
+
+ Page 53, "harrass" changed to "harass"
+ (harass his soul)
+
+ Page 58, "anything" changed to "any thing"
+ (his position any thing but)
+
+ Page 60, "discomfitted" changed to "discomfited"
+ (among the discomfited Cholulans)
+
+ Page 66, "unappeaseable" changed to "unappeasable"
+ (an unappeasable fate)
+
+ Page 67, "suprised" changed to "surprised"
+ (continually surprised and delighted)
+
+ Page 73, "cortége" changed to "cortege"
+ (the royal cortege)
+
+ Page 78, "mein" changed to "mien"
+ (proud and haughty mien)
+
+ Page 102, "chastly" changed to "chastely"
+ (chastely decorated)
+
+ Page 121, "it's" changed to "its"
+ (Oozing its bitterness)
+
+ Page 125, "beseiged" changed to "besieged"
+ (heads of the besieged)
+
+ Page 193, "to day" changed to "to-day"
+ (my brave hunter, to-day) [First instance on page]
+
+ Page 205, "calmess" changed to "calmness"
+ (a calmness which we)
+
+ Page 227, "Kaf-ne-wa-go" changed to "Kaf-ne-wah-go"
+ (home of Kaf-ne-wah-go)
+
+ Page 227, "Ish-ta-le-áh" changed to "Ish-ta-le-ó-wah"
+ (the brave Ish-ta-le-ó-wah)
+
+ Page 245, "patridge" changed to "partridge"
+ (to snare partridges)
+
+ Page 247, "controled" changed to "controlled"
+ (controlled and guided)
+
+ Page 250, "grief" was typeset on the incorrect line and
+ was repositioned accordingly
+ (joy and grief use)
+
+ All other inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation were
+ retained as printed in the original text.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Sketches of Aboriginal Life, by V. V. Vide
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES OF ABORIGINAL LIFE ***
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+.pfont {color: #5E5E5E;}
+
+.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+.poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+.poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+.poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+.poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+.poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+.poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+
+ </style>
+ </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches of Aboriginal Life, by V. V. Vide
+
+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: Sketches of Aboriginal Life
+ American Tableaux, No. 1
+
+Author: V. V. Vide
+
+Release Date: August 14, 2010 [EBook #33433]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES OF ABORIGINAL LIFE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Rachael Schultz and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="tnborder">
+<p class="tntitle">TRANSCRIBER&rsquo;S NOTE</p>
+
+<p>In the original text, verses in the chapter headings were typeset in
+Gothic font; they are displayed below in a <span class="pfont">gray font</span>. Footnotes are
+indicated within the text by a capital letter in brackets (e.g., [A])
+and are located at the end of their respective chapter. Omitted page
+numbers reference blank pages in the original text. Punctuation has
+been standardized. For details on typographical corrections, please
+refer to the <a href="#endnote">note</a> at the end of the text.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p class="center lrgfont padtop">AMERICAN TABLEAUX,<br />
+<br />
+No. 1.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<h1>SKETCHES<br />
+<br />
+<span class="tinyfont">OF</span><br />
+<br />
+ABORIGINAL LIFE.</h1>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">&rsquo;Tis like a dream, when one awakes,&mdash;</span><br />
+<span class="i2">These visions of the scenes of old;</span><br />
+<span class="i0">&rsquo;Tis like the moon, when morning breaks;</span><br />
+<span class="i2">&rsquo;Tis like a tale round watch-fires told.</span><br /></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<h2>By V. V. VIDE.</h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p class="center smlpadt smlpadb">NEW-YORK:<br />
+<span class="midfont">PUBLISHED BY BUCKLAND &amp; SUMNER,</span><br />
+79 JOHN-STREET.<br />
+1846.</p>
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p class="center">Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by<br />
+BUCKLAND &amp; SUMNER,<br />
+in the Clerk&rsquo;s office of the District Court of the United States, for<br />
+the Southern District of New York.</p>
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p class="padtop pubindent">Stereotyped by Vincent L. Dill,<br />
+128 Fulton st. Sun Building, N. Y.<br />
+<br />
+C. A. Alvord, Printer, Cor. of John and Dutch sts.</p>
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<h2 class="padtop">PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>The American Tableaux lay no claim to the respect
+and confidence, which is justly shown to authentic
+history; nor do they anticipate the ready favor usually
+accorded to high wrought romance. They are neither
+the one nor the other. The general outline is designed
+to be historical, and true to the characters of individuals,
+and the customs of nations and tribes; and the
+drapery in which it is arrayed is intended rather to
+illustrate the truth, and place it in bolder relief, than to
+weaken its force by irrelevant inventions. It is proposed
+rather to shade and color the naked sketches of history,
+and restore them to their natural setting and accompaniments,
+than to alter or distort them. The characters
+of history are usually stiff, cold, and statue-like,
+and their drapery, if they have any, is of the same
+marble rigidity with themselves. The Tableaux would
+transfer them to canvass in their natural colors, strongly
+relieved by a back-ground of familiar scenery and every
+day associations, and shaded or lightened, as the case
+may be, by the sorrows or joys of social life, and the
+cares or honors of public station. It may be presumptuous
+to hope that all this has been accomplished.
+It is safer to say, it has been attempted.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="padtop">CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of contents">
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcbk" colspan="2">THE AZTEC PRINCESS.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch1" colspan="2">CHAPTER I.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdrt smlfont" colspan="2">PAGE</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF TECUICHPO.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+The Horoscope&mdash;Faith in the revelations of
+Astrology&mdash;Montezuma in his palace&mdash;The message
+delivered&mdash;Resignation&mdash;Fatalism&mdash;Infancy of the
+Princess&mdash;The slave Karee&mdash;Obtains her freedom&mdash;The
+Chinampa&mdash;Genius and faith of Karee&mdash;Her devotion to the
+Princess&mdash;Chivalry of the Aztecs.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER II.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS&mdash;HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED&mdash;PROPHETIC
+ANNOUNCEMENT, AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+Superstitious forebodings of Montezuma&mdash;Loveliness of his daughter&mdash;Her
+suitors&mdash;The Prince of Tezcuco&mdash;Karee-o-thán&mdash;A
+secret revealed&mdash;Guatimozin&mdash;The ancient legend&mdash;The
+young Pythoness&mdash;Her vision&mdash;Warning and appeal&mdash;The
+vision realized&mdash;The pictured scroll&mdash;Agitation of Montezuma&mdash;A
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>
+second courier&mdash;The royal council&mdash;Courtesy to
+the strangers&mdash;Splendid embassy&mdash;Their meeting with Cortez&mdash;Munificent
+presents&mdash;Avarice of the Spaniards&mdash;They
+make interest with the Totonacs, and send proposals to Tlascala&mdash;Their
+proposal rejected&mdash;They meet and conquer the
+Tlascalans&mdash;An alliance formed&mdash;The compeers of Cortez&mdash;Xicotencatl&mdash;The
+strength and weakness of the Aztecs.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER III.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS AND VACILLATING POLICY OF MONTEZUMA.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2">
+Frequent embassies and rich presents to the Spaniards&mdash;Montezuma,
+fearing to act openly, plots their destruction secretly&mdash;Cortez
+cautioned by the Tlascalans&mdash;His prudence and strict
+discipline&mdash;Cuitlahua urges Montezuma to bold decided measures&mdash;Scene
+in the royal garden&mdash;Mysterious chant&mdash;Warning&mdash;Its
+effect&mdash;Montezuma roused to action&mdash;Energy of
+Cuitlahua&mdash;The army in motion to repel the enemy&mdash;Confident
+of victory&mdash;The monarch changes his plan&mdash;A stratagem&mdash;Cholula&mdash;The
+army arrested in its march&mdash;The Spaniards
+in Cholula&mdash;Hospitable reception&mdash;Sudden change&mdash;Suspicion
+of treachery&mdash;Perilous position and bold bearing of
+Cortez&mdash;His demand upon the Cholulan princes&mdash;Charges
+them with conspiracy&mdash;Their alarm and apology&mdash;Terrible
+massacre&mdash;Conflict on the great Teocalli&mdash;The Spaniards
+victorious&mdash;Painful position of Cuitlahua and his army&mdash;Tlascalans
+in Cholula.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL&mdash;THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD&mdash;THE
+SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+Montezuma&rsquo;s duplicity&mdash;Shuts himself up in despair&mdash;Divided
+counsels&mdash;Mistaken policy&mdash;Triumphant advance of Cortez&mdash;His
+ambitious views&mdash;His military caution&mdash;Montezuma in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span>
+his family&mdash;His youngest daughter&mdash;Her loveliness&mdash;Her
+clouded destiny&mdash;The royal household&mdash;A family scene&mdash;A
+dark superstition versus a cheerful faith&mdash;Excursion on the
+lake&mdash;The royal cortege&mdash;The Princess&mdash;Guatimozin&mdash;The
+dream and its echo&mdash;Prophecy&mdash;Signal and sudden return&mdash;Preparation
+to receive the Spaniards&mdash;Cacama&rsquo;s embassy to
+Cortez&mdash;Exchange of courtesies&mdash;Reception of the strangers
+at Iztapalapan&mdash;Lofty bearing of Cuitlahua&mdash;The Capital
+and its environs.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER V.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS AT THE CAPITAL&mdash;THEIR
+RECEPTION BY MONTEZUMA&mdash;DETERMINED HOSTILITY
+OF GUATIMOZIN.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+Singular relative position of the Spaniard and the Aztec&mdash;The
+power and timidity of the one, and the danger and boldness
+of the other&mdash;Speculation&mdash;Cortez advancing&mdash;The
+Grand Causeway&mdash;The Fort of Xoloc&mdash;The Emperor&rsquo;s retinue&mdash;Abject
+deference of his lords&mdash;Magnificent palanquin&mdash;His
+personal appearance and costume&mdash;The reception&mdash;Exchange
+of presents&mdash;Montezuma retires&mdash;Cuitlahua escorts
+the Spaniards to their quarters&mdash;Their admiration on seeing
+the splendor of the city&mdash;Curiosity of the people&mdash;The
+omens of that day&mdash;Their influence upon Montezuma&mdash;Guatimozin&rsquo;s
+true devotion to his country&mdash;His interview with the
+Princess&mdash;True interpretation of the omens&mdash;Filial devotion
+versus patriotism&mdash;The pledge&mdash;A new omen&mdash;The parrot
+turned prophet&mdash;Karee and her prediction&mdash;Extreme sensitiveness
+of the Princess.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA&mdash;THE ROYAL BANQUET&mdash;THE
+REQUITAL&mdash;THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS OWN
+PALACE.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+Grand military display by the Spaniards&mdash;The terror of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span>
+Aztecs&mdash;Fearlessness and high purpose of Guatimozin and
+others&mdash;The Banquet&mdash;The company&mdash;A contrast&mdash;The
+strangers presented to the Queen&mdash;Her grace and dignity&mdash;Beauty
+of the Aztec women&mdash;Awkward position of the admiring
+Cavaliers&mdash;Their ingenuity in pantomime&mdash;Readily
+matched by the Aztec&mdash;Sandoval and the Princess&mdash;Cortez
+and Karee&mdash;Guatimozin and Cacama in argument&mdash;The
+Princess interposes&mdash;Sternness of Guatimozin&mdash;An
+incident&mdash;Orteguilla&mdash;Alvarado and the Naiads&mdash;Metamorphosed into
+a flower-god&mdash;Pays homage to the Princess&mdash;The feast&mdash;The
+true character of the invaders&mdash;Bold movement of Cortez&mdash;Montezuma&rsquo;s
+blind submission to fate&mdash;Voluntarily
+becomes a vassal to the crown of Spain&mdash;A still bolder movement
+of Cortez&mdash;Montezuma remonstrates, but yields, and
+becomes a prisoner in the Spanish quarters&mdash;Indignation of
+the nobles&mdash;Portentous omen&mdash;Distress in the palace&mdash;The
+Princess expostulates with her father&mdash;The parting, and the
+promised meeting&mdash;Guatimozin departs in disgust&mdash;His interview
+with the Princess at Chapoltepec&mdash;Courageous hopes&mdash;Oracle
+and omens&mdash;Timidity made bold by love.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION&mdash;MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC
+NOBILITY&mdash;DEATH OF MONTEZUMA.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+Cortez visits Vera Cruz&mdash;Alvarado in command in the Capital&mdash;His
+character&mdash;The Aztec festival&mdash;Unprovoked attack and
+massacre&mdash;The whole nation in arms for revenge&mdash;Alvarado
+in imminent peril&mdash;Cortez returns&mdash;The Aztecs threaten the
+entire destruction of the Spaniards&mdash;Furious assault upon
+their quarters&mdash;Desperate sortie&mdash;Implacable spirit of the
+Aztecs&mdash;Their leaders&mdash;Cortez persuades Montezuma to
+interpose&mdash;Cacama summoned to the royal presence&mdash;His
+noble reply&mdash;The Princes&rsquo; rendezvous&mdash;Guatimozin warned
+of danger&mdash;His escape&mdash;Cacama and Cuitlahua arrested&mdash;The
+latter released&mdash;Fresh assaults upon the Spaniards&mdash;At
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span>
+the instigation of Cortez, Montezuma appears and addresses
+the people&mdash;Their loyalty and deference&mdash;Suddenly changed
+to uncontrollable rage&mdash;The Emperor mortally wounded by
+his own people&mdash;A temporary suspension of hostilities&mdash;Death
+of Montezuma&mdash;His funeral obsequies.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">BRIEF REIGN OF CUITLAHUA&mdash;EXPULSION OF THE SPANIARDS&mdash;GUATIMOZIN
+CHOSEN EMPEROR&mdash;HIS MARRIAGE
+WITH TECUICHPO.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+Cuitlahua elected to the vacant throne&mdash;His resolution&mdash;Cortez,
+realizing his danger, resolves to evacuate the city&mdash;Attempts
+to steal away in the night&mdash;Assaulted on all sides by the
+Aztecs&mdash;Perils of the retreat&mdash;Awful position on the Great
+Causeway&mdash;Hemmed in on all sides&mdash;Terrible slaughter&mdash;A
+remnant escape&mdash;Cortez in tears&mdash;Singular neglect of his
+adversary&mdash;Activity of Cuitlahua&mdash;His sudden death&mdash;Grief
+and despondency of the nation&mdash;Guatimozin elected to his
+place&mdash;His activity and prudence&mdash;He claims the hand of
+the Princess&mdash;Her timidity and her devotion&mdash;Love finding
+the bright side of the picture&mdash;The nuptial festival&mdash;Grand
+procession to the Capital&mdash;A nation&rsquo;s welcome.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">FESTIVITIES AT THE COURT OF GUATIMOZIN&mdash;THE NEW
+HYMENEAL VOW.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+Character of Guatimozin&mdash;His practical wisdom and activity&mdash;Gaiety
+of the court&mdash;The young Queen&mdash;Nahuitla, the
+Prince of Tlacopan&mdash;Atlacan, a princess of Tezcuco&mdash;Her
+brother, Maxtli&mdash;Her suitors&mdash;The Merchant of Cholula&mdash;Mercenary
+views of Maxtli&mdash;Endeavors to thwart Nahuitla&mdash;How
+he is thwarted himself&mdash;The betrothal&mdash;Sanctioned by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>
+the Emperor&mdash;The nuptials&mdash;Polygamy abjured&mdash;A new
+Imperial statute&mdash;Torch dance&mdash;Significant pantomime.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER X.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">RETURN OF CORTEZ&mdash;SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN&mdash;BRAVERY
+AND SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+Guatimozin prepares for a new invasion&mdash;Cortez approaches with
+a new army&mdash;Orders vessels built at Tlascala&mdash;Takes possession
+of Tezcuco&mdash;Makes liberal overtures to Guatimozin&mdash;Rejected
+with scorn&mdash;Determined spirit of Guatimozin&mdash;Success
+of Cortez in reducing some of the smaller towns&mdash;Narrow
+escape at Iztalapatan&mdash;General defection of the tributary
+cities&mdash;How accounted for&mdash;The Spanish fleet on the
+Lake&mdash;Genius of Cortez&mdash;Tenochtitlan invested&mdash;Preparations
+for the siege&mdash;Spirit of the Aztecs&mdash;Their supplies cut
+off&mdash;The Queen in her reverses&mdash;Famine&mdash;Distress in the
+city&mdash;Love stronger than hunger&mdash;The famishing fed&mdash;Desperation&mdash;an
+assault&mdash;an ambush&mdash;The tide of battle suddenly
+turned&mdash;Perilous position and severe loss of the Spaniards&mdash;Cortez
+narrowly escapes&mdash;Disastrous retreat.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcch" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp1">STRAITNESS OF THE FAMINE&mdash;THE FINAL CONFLICT&mdash;FLIGHT
+AND CAPTURE OF GUATIMOZIN&mdash;DESTINY FULFILLED.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2" colspan="2">
+The Mexicans encouraged&mdash;Oracular declaration of the priests&mdash;It
+fails to be fulfilled&mdash;Cortez resolves to lay waste the city&mdash;A
+wide spread ruin&mdash;Terrible sufferings of the besieged&mdash;Love
+and loyalty outliving hope&mdash;Death preferred to submission&mdash;Nahuitla
+proposes a plan of escape&mdash;Guatimozin rejects
+it, but is overruled by the unanimous voice of his
+people&mdash;Prepares for flight&mdash;The battle of the ghosts&mdash;The
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span>
+retreat&mdash;Guatimozin on the lake&mdash;Pursued by the enemy&mdash;A
+captive&mdash;Brought before Cortez&mdash;His noble spirit and
+bearing&mdash;The Queen and the conqueror&mdash;Her destiny fulfilled.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"><hr class="mid" /></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcbk">THE FLIGHT OF THE KATAHBA CHIEF.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2">
+The dream of Minaree, the young bride of Ash-te-o-láh&mdash;Its effect
+upon the Chief&mdash;He goes to the chase&mdash;Power and prosperity
+of the Katahbas&mdash;Beauty of their villages&mdash;The wigwam
+of Ash-te-o-láh&mdash;The Chief in his canoe&mdash;The deer&mdash;The
+foe&mdash;The chase&mdash;He turns upon his pursuers&mdash;Slays
+seven of their number successively&mdash;Is taken&mdash;Marched off
+as a captive&mdash;His boldness and dignity&mdash;Arrives in the territories
+of his enemies&mdash;Insulted and beaten by the women&mdash;Condemned
+to the fiery torture&mdash;Led out to execution&mdash;Breaks
+away and escapes&mdash;Pauses to defy his pursuers&mdash;Distances
+them all&mdash;Stops to rest&mdash;Finds a place of concealment&mdash;Plans
+the destruction of the pursuing party&mdash;Succeeds&mdash;Returns
+home in triumph, laden with trophies and spoils.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"><hr class="mid" /></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcbk">MONICA&mdash;THE ITEAN CAPTIVE.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2">
+Reverence for the dead&mdash;Indian burial&mdash;The journey to the Spirit
+land&mdash;The favorite dog killed&mdash;Food for journey&mdash;Mementoes
+of the departed&mdash;The grave of an infant boy&mdash;The Itean
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span>
+encampment&mdash;A sister&rsquo;s grief&mdash;Her dream&mdash;She visits the
+grave by moonlight&mdash;Her song&mdash;Enters a canoe and floats
+down the stream&mdash;A captive, devoted to the &ldquo;Great Star&rdquo;&mdash;Pagan
+rite among the Pawnees&mdash;Preparing for the sacrifice&mdash;Ignorant
+of her fate&mdash;Gathering of the Pawnees to the festival&mdash;The
+victim led to the stake&mdash;The terrible orgies commence&mdash;Are
+suddenly interrupted&mdash;The captive unbound&mdash;The
+flight&mdash;Parting with her deliverer&mdash;Meets her friends&mdash;Reaches
+her home in safety&mdash;Petalesharro, her deliverer&mdash;His
+person and character&mdash;Bloody rite abolished.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"><hr class="mid" /></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdcbk">THE HERMITESS OF ATHABASCA.</td>
+ <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="tdindp2">
+The wigwam of Kaf-ne-wah-go&mdash;His family&mdash;Tula, his only
+daughter&mdash;O-ken-áh-ga, her husband&mdash;The Athapuscows
+steal in at night&mdash;The chiefs murdered&mdash;Tula a captive&mdash;Her
+infant boy murdered before her eyes&mdash;The Chippeways in
+pursuit of the murderers&mdash;Following the trail&mdash;The enemy
+overtaken&mdash;Retribution wreaked upon the innocent&mdash;The
+deep grief of Tula&mdash;Her weary marches&mdash;Her captors
+encamp&mdash;The tempest&mdash;She escapes in the darkness&mdash;Vain
+attempts to discover her retreat&mdash;Seeks to find her way back
+to her people&mdash;The forest&mdash;A midnight intruder&mdash;She climbs
+a tree&mdash;Is besieged&mdash;Assaulted&mdash;Repels and destroys the
+enemy&mdash;Intricacies and dangers of the forest&mdash;An opening,
+but no light&mdash;Bewildered&mdash;Resolves to go no farther&mdash;Finds
+a convenient spot&mdash;builds a cabin&mdash;her house-keeping&mdash;Her
+ingenuity, industry and taste&mdash;The Hermitess discovered&mdash;Her
+solitude reluctantly abandoned&mdash;Indian mode of obtaining
+a wife&mdash;Journeyings&mdash;A new party&mdash;An unexpected meeting.</td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="padtop">THE AZTEC PRINCESS,<br />
+<br />
+<span class="tinyfont">OR</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="smlfont">DESTINY FORESHADOWED.</span></h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i8">Rapacious Spain<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Followed her bold discoverer o&rsquo;er the main;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A rabid race, fanatically bold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And steeled to cruelty by lust of gold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Traversed the waves, the unknown world explored,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The cross their standard, but their path the sword;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Their steps were graves; o&rsquo;er prostrate realms they trod,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They worshipped Mammon, while they vowed to God.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="padtop">THE AZTEC PRINCESS.</h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF TECUICHPO.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Tell me, ascribest thou influence to the stars?<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="blockquot">&ldquo;Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial House of Tenochtitlan!
+Never saw I the heavens in so inauspicious an
+aspect. Dark portentous influences appear on every
+side. May the horoscope of the infant daughter of
+Montezuma never be fulfilled.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>These were the awful words of the priestly astrologer
+of Tenochtitlan, uttered with solemn and oracular
+emphasis from the lofty Teocalli, where he had been
+long and studiously watching the heavens, and calculating
+the relative positions and combinations of the
+stars. A deep unutterable gloom seemed to pervade his
+soul. Several times he traversed the broad terrace, in
+a terrible agitation; his splendid pontifical robes flowing
+loosely in the breeze, and his tall majestic figure
+relieved against the clear sky, like some colossal moving
+statue,&mdash;and then, in tones of deeper grief than
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+before, finding no error in his calculations, reiterated
+his oracular curse&mdash;&ldquo;Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial
+House of Tenochtitlan!&rdquo; Casting down his instruments
+to the earth, and tearing his hair in the violence
+of his emotions, he prostrated himself on the altar, and
+poured forth a loud and earnest prayer to all his gods.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is there no favoring omen in any quarter, venerable
+father?&rdquo; inquired the agitated messenger from
+the palace, when the prayer was ended&mdash;&ldquo;is there no
+one of those bright spheres above us, that will deign to
+smile on the destiny of the young princess?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is full of mysterious, portentous contradictions,&rdquo;
+replied the astrologer. &ldquo;Good and evil influences contend
+for the mastery. The evil prevail, but the good
+are not wholly extinguished. The life of the princess
+will be a life of sorrow, but there will be a peculiar
+brightness in its end. Yet the aspect of every sign in
+the heavens is wo, and only wo, to the imperial House
+of Montezuma.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Faith in the revelations of astrology was a deeply
+rooted superstition with the Aztecs. It pervaded the
+whole structure of society, affecting the most intelligent
+and well-informed, as well as the humblest and most
+ignorant individual. In this case, the prophetic wailings
+of the priestly oracle rolled, like a long funereal
+knell, through the magnificent halls of the imperial
+palace, and fell upon the ear of the monarch, as if it had
+been a voice from the unseen world. Montezuma was
+reclining on a splendidly embroidered couch, in his private
+apartment, anxiously awaiting the response of the
+celestial oracle. He was magnificently arrayed in his
+royal robes of green, richly ornamented with variegated
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+feather-work, and elaborately inwrought with gold and
+silver. His sandals were of pure gold, with ties and
+anklets of gold and silver thread, curiously interwoven
+with a variegated cotton cord. On his head was a rich
+fillet of gold, with a beautiful plume bending gracefully
+over one side, casting a melancholy shade over his
+handsome but naturally pensive features. A few of the
+royal princes sat, in respectful silence, at the farther
+end of the chamber, waiting, with an anxiety almost
+equal to that of the monarch, the return of the royal
+messenger.</p>
+
+<p>The apartments of the emperor were richly hung
+with tapestry of ornamental feather-work, rivalling, in
+the brilliancy of its dyes, and the beautiful harmony of
+its arrangement, the celebrated Gobelin tapestry. The
+floor was a tesselated pavement of porphyry and other
+beautiful stones. Numerous torches, supported in massive
+silver stands, delicately carved with fanciful figures
+of various kinds, blazed through the apartment, lighting
+up, with an almost noonday brilliancy, the gorgeous
+folds of the plumed hangings, and filling the whole
+palace with the sweet breath of the odoriferous gums
+of which they were composed.</p>
+
+<p>The emperor leaned pensively on his hand, seemingly
+oppressed with some superstitious melancholy
+forebodings. Perhaps the shadow of that mysterious
+prophecy, which betokened the extinction of the Aztec
+dynasty, and the consequent ruin of his house, was
+passing athwart the troubled sky of his mind, veiling
+the always doubtful future in mists of tenfold dimness.
+Whatever it was that disturbed his royal serenity, his
+reverie was soon broken by the sound of an approaching
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+footstep. For a moment, nothing was heard but the
+measured tread of the trembling messenger, pacing
+with unwilling step the long corridor, that led to the
+royal presence. With his head bowed upon his breast,
+his eyes fixed upon the pavement, his person veiled in
+the coarse <i>nequen</i>,<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a>
+and his feet bare, he stood before
+the monarch, dumb as a statue.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What response bring you,&rdquo; eagerly enquired the
+emperor, &ldquo;from the burning oracles of heaven? How
+reads the destiny of my new-born infant?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The response be to the enemies of the great Montezuma,&rdquo;
+replied the messenger, without lifting his eyes
+from the floor, &ldquo;and the destiny it foreshadows to the
+children of them that hate him.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Speak,&rdquo; exclaimed the monarch, &ldquo;What message
+do you bring from the priest of the stars?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! my royal master, my message is full of wo&mdash;my
+heart faints, and my tongue refuses its office to
+give it utterance. The old prophet bade me say, that
+the celestial influences are all unpropitious; that the
+destiny of the infant princess is a life of sorrow, with a
+gleam of more than earthly brightness in its evening
+horizon. And then, prostrating himself upon the great
+altar, he groaned out one long, deep, heart-rending wail
+for the imperial House of Tenochtitlan, and the golden
+realm of Anahuac.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A deeper shade came over the brow of Montezuma,
+and heaving a sigh from the very depths of a soul that
+had long been agitated by melancholy forebodings of
+coming evil, he raised his eyes to heaven, and said,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+&ldquo;the will of the gods be done.&rdquo; Then, waving his
+hand to his attendants, they bowed their heads, and
+retired in silence from the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It has come at last,&rdquo; inwardly groaned the monarch,
+as soon as he found himself alone&mdash;&ldquo;it has
+come at last&mdash;that fearful prophecy, that has so long
+hung, like the shadow of a great cloud, over my
+devoted house, is now to be fulfilled. The fates have
+willed it, and there is no escape from their dread
+decrees. I must make ready for the sacrifice.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Nerved by the stern influence of this dark fatalism,
+Montezuma brushed a tear from his eye, and putting a
+royal restraint upon the turbulent sorrows and fears of
+his paternal heart, hastened to the apartments of the
+queen, to break to her, with all the gentleness and caution
+which her delicate and precarious circumstances
+required, the mournful issue of their inquiries at the
+court of heaven, into the future destiny and prospects
+of their new-born babe.</p>
+
+<p>A deep gloom hung over the palace and the city.
+Every heart, even the most humble and unobserved,
+sympathized in the disappointment, and shared the distress,
+of their sovereign. And the day, which should
+have been consecrated to loyal congratulations, and
+general festivities, became, as by common consent, a
+sort of national fast, a season of universal lamentation.</p>
+
+<p>The little stranger was welcomed into life with that
+peculiar chastened tenderness, which is the natural
+offspring of love and pity&mdash;love, such as infant innocence
+wins spontaneously from every heart&mdash;pity, such
+as melancholy forebodings of coming years of sorrow to
+one beloved, cannot fail to awaken. She was regarded
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+as the most beautiful and the most interesting of all her
+race. Every look and motion seemed to have its peculiar
+significance in indicating the victim of a remarkable
+destiny. And it is not to be wondered at, that a
+superstition so sad, and an affection so tender and solicitous,
+discovered an almost miraculous precocity in
+the first developments of the intellectual and moral
+qualities of its subject. She was the attractive centre
+of all the admiration and love of the royal household.
+Imagination fancied a peculiar sadness in her eye, and
+her merry laugh was supposed to mingle an element of
+sadness in its tones. Her mild and winning manners,
+and her affectionate disposition made her the idol of all
+whom she loved; and each one strove to do her service,
+as if hoping to avert, in some measure, the coming doom
+of their darling; while she clung to the fond and
+devoted hearts around her, as the ivy clings to the oak,
+which receives its embraces, and is necessary to its
+support.</p>
+
+<p>When the young princess, who received the name of
+Tecuichpo, had arrived at the age of one year, she was
+given in charge to a young and beautiful slave, whom
+the Emperor had recently obtained from Azcapozalco.
+Karee was gifted with rare powers of minstrelsy. Her
+voice had the sweetness, power and compass of a
+mocking bird, and all day long she warbled her ever-changing
+lays, as if her natural breathing were music,
+and song the natural flow of her thoughts. She soon
+became passionately devoted to the little pet, and exerted
+all her uncommon gifts to amuse and instruct her.
+She taught her all the native songs of Azcapozalco
+and Mexitli, instructed her in dancing, embroidery and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+feather-work, and initiated her into the science of
+picture-writing and the fanciful language of flowers.
+Karee and her royal charge were never apart. Gentle
+and timid as the dove, Tecuichpo clung to her new
+nurse, as to the bosom of a mother. Even in her early
+infancy, she would so sweetly respond, like an echo,
+to the gentle lullaby, and mingle her little notes so symphoniously
+with those of Karee, that it excited the
+wonder and admiration of all. Karee was passionately
+fond of flowers. It was indeed an element in the
+national taste of this remarkable people. But Karee
+was unusually gifted in her preceptions of natural
+beauty, and seemed to have a soul most delicately
+attuned to the spirit and language of flowers, the painted
+hieroglyphics of nature. She loved to exercise her
+exuberant fancy in decorating her little mistress, and
+often contrived so to arrange them upon the various
+parts of her person and dress, as to make her at different
+times, the emblematic representation of every bright and
+beautiful spirit, that was supposed to people their celestial
+paradise, or to hover, on wings of love and gentle
+care, about the path of those whom the gods delighted
+to favor.</p>
+
+<p>It was the daily custom for Karee to carry the young
+princess into the apartment of the Emperor, as soon as
+he rose from his siesta, to receive the affectionate
+caresses which her royal father was so fond of lavishing
+upon her. At such times, Tecuichpo would often
+take with her some rich chaplets of flowers which
+Karee had woven for her, and amuse herself and her
+father, by arranging them in a coronet on his brow, or
+twining them, in every fantastic form, about his person,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+to make, as she said, a flower-god of <i>him</i>, who was a
+sun to all the flowers of her earthly paradise.</p>
+
+<p>One day, when the young princess was sleeping in
+her little arbor, the ever watchful nurse observed a
+viper among the flowers, which she had strown about
+her pillow, just ready to dart its venomous fang into
+the bosom of her darling. Quick as lightning she
+seized the reptile in her hand, and, before he had time
+to turn upon her, flung him upon the floor, and crushed
+him under her sandalled heel. Passionately embracing
+her dear charge, she hastened with her to the apartments
+of the queen, and related the story of her narrow
+escape, with so much of the eloquence of gratitude for
+being the favored instrument of her deliverance from so
+cruel a death, that it deeply affected the heart of the
+queen. She embraced her child and Karee, as if both
+were, for the moment, equally dear to her; and then, in
+return for the faithful service, rendered at the hazard of
+her own life, she promised to bestow upon the slave
+whatever she chose to ask. &ldquo;Give me, O give me
+freedom, and a chinampa, and I ask no more,&rdquo; was the
+eager reply of Karee to this unexpected offer of the
+queen. The request was immediately granted; and
+the first sorrow that ever clouded the heart of the lovely
+Tecuichpo, was that of parting with her faithful and
+loving Karee.</p>
+
+<p>A <i>chinampa</i> was a floating island in the lake of
+Tezcuco, upon whose very bosom the imperial city was
+built. They were very numerous, and some of them
+were large, and extremely beautiful. They were
+formed by the alluvial deposit in the waters of the lake,
+and by occasional masses of earth detached from the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+shores, held together by the fibrous roots, with which
+they were penetrated, and which in that luxurious
+clime, put out their feelers in every direction, and
+gathered to their embrace whatever of nutriment and
+support the richly impregnated waters afforded. In the
+process of a few years accumulation, the floating mass
+increased in length, breadth and thickness, till it
+became an island, capable of sustaining not only shrubs
+and trees, but sometimes a human habitation. Some
+of these were from two to three hundred feet square,
+and could be moved about at pleasure, like a raft, from
+city to city, along the borders of the lake. The natives,
+who were skilful gardeners, and passionately devoted
+to the cultivation of flowers, improved upon this
+beautiful hint of nature, to enlarge their means of supplying
+the capital with fruits, vegetables and flowers.
+Constructing small rafts of reeds, anchoring them out in
+the lake, and then covering them with the sediment
+drawn up from the bottom, they soon found them
+covered with a thrifty vegetation, and a vigorous soil,
+from which they were able to produce a large supply of
+the various luxuries of their highly favored clime.</p>
+
+<p>It was to one of these fairy gardens that the beautiful
+Karee retired, rich in the priceless jewel of freedom,
+and feeling that a chinampa all her own, and flowers
+to train and commune with, was the summit of human
+desire. Karee was no common character. Gifted by
+nature with unusual talents, she had, though in adverse
+circumstances, cultivated them by all the means in her
+power. Remarkably quick of perception, and shrewd
+and accurate of observation, with a memory that
+retained every thing that was committed to it, in its
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+exact outlines and proportions, she was enabled to
+gather materials for improvement from every scene
+through which she passed. Her imagination was
+exceedingly powerful and active, sometimes wild and
+terrific, but kept in balance by a sound judgment and a
+discriminating taste. Her love of flowers was a
+passion, a part of her nature. For her they had a language,
+if not a soul. And there was not one of all the
+endless varieties of that luxuriant clime, that had not a
+definite and emphatic place in the vocabulary of her
+fancy. The history of her life she could have written
+in her floral dialect, and to her, though its lines might
+have faded rapidly, its pages would have been always
+legible and eloquent. Her attachments were strong
+and enduring, and there was that element of heroism
+in her soul, that she would unhesitatingly have sacrificed
+life for the object of her love.</p>
+
+<p>It is not to be wondered at, that, with such qualities
+of mind and heart, Karee was deeply impressed with
+the solemn and imposing superstitions of the Aztec
+religion. The rites and ceremonies by which they
+were illustrated and sustained, were well calculated to
+stir to its very depths, a soul like hers, and give the
+fullest exercise to her wild imagination. That pompous
+ritual, those terrible orgies, repeated before her eyes
+almost daily from her infancy, had become blended
+with the thoughts and associations of her mind, and intimately
+related to every scene that interested her heart,
+or engaged her fancy. Yet her soul was not enslaved
+to that dark and dismal superstition. Though accustomed
+to an awful veneration of the priesthood, she did
+not regard them as a superior race of beings, or listen
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+to their words, as if they had been audible voices from
+heaven. Her spirit shrunk from many of the darker
+revelations of the established mythology, and openly
+revolted from some of its inhuman exactions. Its
+chains hung loosely upon her; and she seemed fully
+prepared for the freedom of a purer and loftier faith.
+Her extreme beauty, her bewitching gaiety, and her
+varied talents, attracted many admirers, and some noble
+and worthy suitors. But Karee had another destiny to
+fulfil. She felt herself to be the guardian angel of the
+ill-fated Tecuichpo, and her love for the princess left no
+room for any other passion in her heart. She therefore
+refused all solicitations, and remained the solitary
+mistress of her floating island.</p>
+
+<p>Karee&rsquo;s departure from the palace, did not in any
+degree lessen her interest in the welfare of the young
+princess. She was assiduous in her attention to every
+thing that could promote her happiness; and seemed to
+value the flowers she cultivated on her chinampa
+chiefly as they afforded her the means of daily correspondence
+with Tecuichpo. She managed her island
+like a canoe, and moved about from one part of the
+beautiful lake to another, visiting by turns the cities that
+glittered on its margin, and sometimes traversing the
+valleys in search of new flowers, or exploring the
+ravines and caverns of the mountains for whatever of
+rare and precious she might chance to find. The
+chivalry of the Aztecs rendered such adventures perfectly
+safe, their women being always regarded with the
+greatest tenderness and respect, and treated with a delicacy
+seldom surpassed in the most civilized countries of
+Christendom.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+This chivalric sentiment was, not improbably heightened,
+in the case of Karee, in part by her extreme beauty,
+and in part by the power of her genius and the brilliancy
+of her wit. She commanded respect by the force
+of her intellect, and the purity of her heart; while the
+uncommon depth and splendor of her imagination, when
+excited by any favorite theme, and the seemingly inexhaustible
+fruitfulness of her mental resources, invested
+her, in the view of the multitude, with something of the
+dignity, and much of the superstitious charm of a
+prophetess.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a>
+A mantle of coarse cotton fabric, which all who approached the emperor
+were compelled to put on, in token of humility and reverence.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS&mdash;HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED&mdash;PROPHETIC
+ANNOUNCEMENT AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF
+THE SPANIARDS.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Breathe not his noble name even to the winds,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lest they my love reveal.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i6">I have mystical lore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And coming events cast their shadows before.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p>The childhood of the fair princess passed away without
+any event of importance, except the occasional
+recurrence of those dark prophecies which overshadowed
+her entrance into life. Her father, who had
+exercised the office of priest before he came to the
+throne, was thoroughly imbued with the superstitious
+reverence for astrology, which formed a part of the
+religion of the Aztecs. To all the predictions of this
+mystic science he yielded implicit belief, regarding
+whatever it foreshadowed as the fixed decrees of fate.
+He was, therefore, fully prepared, and always on the
+look-out, for new revelations to confirm and establish
+his faith. These were sometimes found in the trivial
+occurrences of every-day life, and sometimes in the
+sinister aspect of the heavenly bodies, at peculiar
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+epochs in the life of his daughter. With this superstitious
+foreboding of evil, the pensive character of the
+princess harmonized so well, as to afford, to the mind
+of the too credulous monarch, another unquestionable
+indication of her destiny. It seemed to be written on
+her brow, that her life was a doomed one; and each
+returning year was counted as the last, and entered
+upon with gloomy forebodings of some terrible catastrophe.</p>
+
+<p>As her life advanced, her charms, both of person and
+character matured and increased; and, at the age of
+fourteen, there was not a maiden in all the golden
+cities of Anahuac, who could compare with Tecuichpo.
+Her exceeding loveliness was the theme of many a
+song, and the fame of her beauty and her accomplishments
+was published in all the neighboring nations.
+While yet a child, her hand was eagerly sought by
+Cacamo, of the royal house of Tezcuco; but, with the
+true chivalry of an unselfish devotion, his suit was
+withdrawn, on discovering that her young affections
+were already engaged to another. The discovery was
+made in a manner too singular and striking to be suffered
+to pass unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of her wanderings in the forest, Karee
+had taken captive a beautiful parrot, of the most gorgeous
+plumage, and the most astonishing capacity.
+This chatterer, after due training and discipline, she
+had presented to her favorite princess, among a
+thousand other tokens of her unchangeable affection.
+Tecuichpo loved the beautiful mimic, to whom she
+gave the name of Karee-o-thán&mdash;the voice of Karee,&mdash;and
+often amused herself with teaching her to repeat
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+the words which she loved best to hear. Without
+being aware of the publicity she was thus giving to her
+most treasured thoughts, she entrusted to the talkative
+bird the secret of her love, by associating with the most
+endearing epithets, the name of her favored cavalier.
+While strolling about the magnificent gardens attached
+to the palace of Montezuma, Cacamo was wont to
+breathe out, in impassioned song, his love for Tecuichpo,
+repeating her name, with every expression of
+passionate regard, which the language afforded. Karee-o-thán
+was often flying about in the gardens, and
+soliloquizing in the arbors, the favorite resorts of her
+beautiful mistress, and often attracted the notice of
+Cacamo.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, as the prince was more than usually
+eloquent in pouring into the ear of Zephyr the tale
+of his love, the mimic bird, perched upon a flowering
+orange tree, that filled the garden with its delicious
+perfume, repeated the name of his mistress, as often as
+her lover uttered it, occasionally connecting with it the
+name of Guatimozin, and then adding some endearing
+epithet, expressive of the most ardent admiration. The
+prince was first amused, and then vexed, at the frequent
+repetition of the name of his rival. In vain did
+he endeavor to induce the mischievous bird to substitute
+his own name for that of Guatimozin. As often as he
+uttered the name of the princess, the echo in the orange
+tree gave back &ldquo;noble Guatimozin,&rdquo; or &ldquo;sweet Guatimozin,&rdquo;
+or some other similar response, which left no
+doubt on the mind of Cacamo, that the heart of his
+mistress was pre-occupied, and that the nephew of
+Montezuma was the favored object of her love. The
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+next day, he bade adieu to Tenochtitlan, placed himself
+at the head of the army of Tezcuco, and plunged
+into a war then raging with a distant tribe on the west,
+hoping to bury his disappointment in the exciting
+scenes of conquest.</p>
+
+<p>Guatimozin was of the royal blood, and, as his after
+history will show, of a right royal and heroic spirit.
+From his childhood, he had exhibited an unusual
+maturity of judgment, coupled with an energy, activity,
+and fearlessness of spirit, which gave early assurance
+of a heroism worthy of the supreme command, and an
+intellectual superiority that might claim succession to
+the throne. His training was in the court and the
+camp, and he seemed equally at home and in his element,
+amid the refined gaieties of the palace, the grave
+deliberations of the royal council, and the mad revelry
+of the battle-field. His figure was of the most perfect
+manly proportions, tall, commanding, graceful&mdash;his
+countenance was marked with that peculiar blending
+of benignity and majesty, which made it unspeakably
+beautiful and winning to those whom he loved, and
+terrible to those on whom he frowned. He was mild,
+humane, generous, confiding; yet sternly and heroically
+just. His country was his idol. The one great passion
+of his soul, to which all other thoughts and affections
+were subordinate and tributary, was patriotism.
+On that altar, if he had possessed a thousand lives, he
+would freely have laid them all. Such was the noble
+prince who had won the heart of Tecuichpo.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, to the anxious eye of her imperial father,
+the clouds of fate seemed to hang deep and dark over
+the realm of Anahuac. Long before the prophetic wail,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+which welcomed the lovely Tecuichpo to a life of sorrow,
+Montezuma had imbibed from the dark legends of
+ancient prophecies, and the faint outgivings of his own
+priestly oracles, a deep and ineradicable impression that
+some terrible calamity was impending over the realm,
+and that he was to be the last of its native monarchs.
+It was dimly foreshadowed, in these prophetic revelations,
+that the descendants of a noble and powerful race
+of men, who had many ages before occupied that
+beautiful region, and filled it with the works of their
+genius, but who had been driven out by the cruelty
+and perfidy of the Toltecs, would return, invested with
+supernatural power from heaven, to re-possess their
+ancient inheritance.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a>
+To this leading and long established
+faith, every dark and doubtful omen contributed
+its appropriate share of confirmation. To this, every
+significant event was deemed to have a more or less
+intimate relation. So that, at this particular epoch, not
+only the superstitious monarch, and his priestly astrologers,
+but the whole nation of Azteca were prepared, as
+were the ancient Jews at the advent of the Messiah, for
+great events, though utterly unable to imagine what
+might be the nature of the expected change.</p>
+
+<p>These gloomy forebodings of coming evil so thoroughly
+possessed the mind of Montezuma, that the
+commanding dignity and pride of the monarch gave
+way before the absorbing anxiety of the man and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
+father, and, in a manner, unfitted him for the duties of
+the lofty place he had so nobly filled. He yielded, as
+will be seen in the sequel, not without grief, but without
+resistance, to the fixed decrees of fate, and awaited
+the issue, as a victim for the heaven-appointed sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>It was about fifteen years after the prophetic
+announcement of the doom of the young princess of the
+empire, that Montezuma was reclining in his summer
+saloon, where he had been gloomily brooding over his
+darkening prospects, till his soul was filled with sadness.
+His beautiful daughter was with him, striving to cheer
+his heart with the always welcome music of her songs,
+and the affectionate expression of a love as pure and
+deep as ever warmed the heart of a devoted child. She
+had gone that day into the royal presence to ask a boon
+for her early and faithful friend, Karee. This lovely
+and gifted creature, now in the full maturity of all her
+wonderful powers of mind, and personal attractions, had
+often been admitted, as a special favorite, into the royal
+presence, to exhibit her remarkable powers of minstrelsy,
+and her almost supernatural gifts as an improvisatrice
+of the wild melodies of Anahuac. Some of
+her chants were of rare pathos and sublimity, and sometimes
+she was so carried away with the impassioned
+vehemence of her inspiration, that she seemed an
+inspired messenger from the skies, uttering in their language
+the oracles of the gods. On this occasion, she had
+requested permission to sing a new chant in the palace,
+that she might seize the opportunity to breathe a prophetic
+warning in the ear of the emperor. She had
+thrice dreamed that the dark cloud which had so long
+hung over that devoted land, had burst in an overwhelming
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+storm, upon the capital, and buried Montezuma
+and all his house in indiscriminate ruin. She had
+seen the demon of destruction, in the guize of a snow
+white angel, clad in burnished silver, borne on a fiery
+animal, of great power, and fleet as the wind, having
+under him a small band of warriors, guarded and
+mounted like himself, armed with thunderbolts which
+they hurled at will against all who opposed their progress.
+She had seen the monarch of Tenochtitlan, with
+his hosts of armed Mexicans, and the tributary armies
+of Tezcuco, Islacapan, Chalco, and all the cities of that
+glorious valley, tremble and cower before this small
+band of invaders, and yield himself without a blow to
+their hands. She had seen the thousands and tens of
+thousands of her beloved land fall before this handful
+of strangers, and melt away, like the mists of the morning
+before the rising sun. And she had heard a voice
+from the dark cloud as it broke, saying, sternly, as the
+forked lightning leaped into the heart of the imperial
+palace, &ldquo;The gods help only those who help themselves.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Filled and agitated with the stirring influence of this
+prophetic vision, Karee, who had always regarded herself
+as the guardian genius of Tecuichpo, now imagined
+the sphere of her duty greatly enlarged, and deemed
+herself specially commissioned to save the empire from
+impending destruction. Weaving her vision, and the
+warning it uttered, into one of her most impassioned
+chants, and arraying herself as the priestess of nature,
+she followed Tecuichpo, with a firm step into the royal
+presence, and, with the boldness and eloquence of a
+prophetess, warned him of the coming danger, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+urged him to arouse from his apathy, unbecoming the
+monarch of a proud and powerful nation, cast off the
+slavery of his superstitious fears, and prepare to meet,
+with the power of a man, and the wisdom of a king,
+whatever evil might come upon him. Rising with the
+kindling inspiration of her theme, she ventured gently
+to reproach the awe-struck monarch with his unmanly
+fears, and to remind him that on his single will, and the
+firmness of his soul, hung not only his own destiny but
+that of wife and children; and more than that, of a
+whole nation, whose myriads of households looked up
+to him, as the common father of them all, the heaven-appointed
+guardian of their lives, liberty and happiness.
+At length, alarmed at her own energy and boldness, so
+unwonted even to the proudest noble of the realm, in
+that royal presence, she bent her knee, and baring her
+bosom, she lowered her voice almost to a whisper, and
+said imploringly&mdash;</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Strike, monarch! strike, this heart is thine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To live or die for thee;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Strike, but heed this voice of mine<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It comes from heaven, through me;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It comes to save this blessed land,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It comes thy soul to free<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">From those dark fears, and bid thee stand<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The monarch father of thy land,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That only lives in thee.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Strike, father! if my words too bold<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thy royal ears offend;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The visions of the night are told,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thy destiny the gods unfold&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh! be thy people&rsquo;s friend,<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">True to thyself, to them, to heaven&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So shall this lowering cloud be riven<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And light and peace descend,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To bless this golden realm, and save<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tecuichpo from an early grave.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The vision of the beautiful pythoness had deeply and
+powerfully affected the soul of Montezuma; and her
+closing appeal moved him even to tears. Though
+accustomed to the most obsequious deference from all
+his subjects, even from the proudest of his nobles, he
+had listened to every word of Karee with the profoundest
+attention and interest, as if it had been from the acknowledged
+oracle of heaven. When she ceased, there was
+a breathless silence in the hall. The monarch drew
+his lovely daughter to his bosom in a passionate
+embrace. Karee remained prostrate, with her face to
+the ground, her heart throbbing almost audibly with the
+violence of her emotions. Suddenly, a deep long blast
+from a distant trumpet announced the arrival of a
+courier at the capital. It was a signal for all the attendants
+to retire. Tecuichpo tenderly kissing her father,
+took Karee by the hand, raised her up and led her out,
+and the monarch was left alone.</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments, the courier arrived and entering,
+barefoot and veiled, into the royal presence, bowed to
+the very ground, handed a scroll to the king, and
+departed. When Montezuma had unrolled the scroll,
+he seemed for a moment, as if struck with instant paralysis.
+Fear, astonishment, dismay, seized upon his
+soul. The vision of Karee was already fulfilled. The
+pictured tablet was the very counterpart of her oracular
+chant&mdash;the literal interpretation of her prophetic vision.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+It announced the arrival within the realms of Montezuma,
+of a band of pale faced strangers, clad in burnished
+armor, each having at his command a beautiful
+animal of great power, hitherto unknown in that
+country, that bore him with the speed of the wind
+wherever he would go, and seemed, while he was
+mounted, to be a part of himself. It described their
+weapons, representing them as having the lightning and
+thunder at their disposal, which they caused to issue
+sometimes from dark heavy engines, which they
+dragged along the ground, and sometimes from smaller
+ones which they carried in their hands. It delineated,
+faithfully and skilfully their &ldquo;water houses,&rdquo; or ships,
+in which they traversed the great waters, from a far distant
+country. The peculiar costume and bearing of their
+commander, and of his chiefs, were also happily represented
+in the rich coloring for which the Aztecs were
+distinguished. Nothing was omitted in their entire
+array, which could serve to convey to the eye of the
+emperor a correct and complete impression of the appearance,
+numbers and power of the strangers. It was all
+before him, at a glance, a living speaking picture, and
+told the story of the invasion as graphically and eloquently,
+as if he had been himself a witness of their
+debarkation, and of their feats of horsemanship. It was
+all before him, a terrible living reality. The gods
+whom he worshipped had sent these strangers to fulfil
+their own irresistible purposes&mdash;if, indeed, these were
+not the gods themselves, in human form.</p>
+
+<p>The mind of Montezuma was overwhelmed. Like
+Belshazzar, when the divine hand appeared writing his
+doom on the wall, his soul fainted in him, his knees
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+smote together, and he sat, in blank astonishment,
+gazing on the picture before him, as if the very tablet
+possessed a supernatural power of destruction.</p>
+
+<p>Paralyzed with the influence of his long indulged
+fears so singularly and strikingly realized, the monarch
+sat alone, neither seeking comfort, nor asking counsel
+of any one, till the hour of the evening repast. The
+summons aroused him from his reverie; but he regarded
+it not. He remained alone, in his own private apartments,
+during the whole night, fasting and sleepless,
+traversing the marble halls in an agony of agitation.</p>
+
+<p>With the first light of the morning, the shrill notes of
+the trumpet, reverberating along the shadowy slopes of
+the cordilleras, announced the approach of another
+courier from the camp of the strangers. It rung in the
+ears of the dejected monarch, like an alarum. He
+awoke at once from his stupor, and began to consider
+what was to be done. The warning of Karee rushed
+upon his recollection. Her bold and timely appeal
+struck him to the heart. He resolved to be once more
+the monarch, and the father of his people. Uttering an
+earnest prayer to all his gods, he awaited the arrival of
+the courier.</p>
+
+<p>Swift of foot as the mountain deer, the steps of the
+messenger were soon heard, measuring with solemn
+pace, the long corridor of the royal mansion, as one who
+felt that he was approaching the presence of majesty,
+and bearing a message pregnant with the most important
+issues to the common weal. Bowing low, with that
+profound reverence, which was rigorously exacted of all
+who approached the presence of Montezuma, he touched
+the ground with his right hand, and then, his eyes bent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+to the earth, delivered his pictured scroll, and retired.
+It was a courteous and complimentary message from the
+strangers he so much dreaded, requesting that they
+might be permitted to pay their respects to his imperial
+majesty, in his own capital. The quick-sighted monarch
+perceived at once that prudence and policy
+required that this interview should be prevented.</p>
+
+<p>A council of the wisest and most experienced of the
+Aztec nobles was immediately called. The opinions
+of the royal advisers were variously expressed, but all,
+with one accord, agreed that the request of the strangers
+could not be granted. Some counselled a bold and
+warlike message, commanding the intruders to depart
+instantly, on pain of the royal displeasure. Some
+recommended their forcible expulsion by the army of
+the empire. The more aged and experienced, who had
+learned how much easier it is to avoid, than to escape, a
+danger, proposed a more courteous and peaceable reply
+to the message of the strangers. They deemed it
+unworthy of a great and powerful monarch, to be
+angry, when the people of another nation visited his
+territories, or requested permission to see his capital.
+To manifest, or feel any thing like fear, in such a case,
+would be a reproach alike upon his courage and his
+patriotism. So long, therefore, as the strangers conducted
+themselves peaceably, and with becoming deference
+to the will of the emperor, and the laws of the
+realm, they should be treated civilly, and hospitably
+entertained.</p>
+
+<p>To this wise and prudent counsel, the monarch was
+already fully prepared to yield. It was strongly
+seconded by his superstitious reverence for the heaven-sent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+strangers, and his mortal dread of their superhuman
+power. He, therefore, selected the noblest and
+wisest of his chiefs as ambassadors, to bear his message,
+which was kindly and courteously expressed; at
+the same time conveying a firm but respectful refusal to
+admit the foreigners to an interview in the capital, or
+to extend to them the protection of the court, after a
+reasonable time had elapsed for their re-embarkation.
+This message was accompanied with a munificent royal
+present, consisting of the richest and most beautiful
+suits of apparel for the chief and all his men, with
+gorgeous capes and robes of feather-work, glittering
+with jewels&mdash;precious stones richly set in gold, and
+many magnificent ornaments of pure gold.</p>
+
+<p>At the head of this embassy were princes of high
+estate, and most noble bearing, commanding in person,
+and of great distinction, both at the court and in the
+camp. When they arrived near the encampment of
+the strangers, which was the spot where the city of
+Vera Cruz now stands, they sent a courier forward,
+to announce their approach, and prepare for their
+reception.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting of the parties was one of no little pomp
+and ceremony, for the courtly manners and chivalric
+bearing of the European cavaliers were scarcely superior,
+in impressiveness and effect, to the barbaric splendor,
+and graceful consciousness of power, which characterized
+the flower of the Aztec nobility. The chief,
+advancing towards the invaders, bowed low to earth,
+touching the ground with his right hand, then raising
+it to his head, and presenting it to his guest, announced
+himself as the envoy and servant of the great Montezuma,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+sole monarch and master of all the realms of
+Anahuac; and demanded the name of the stranger, the
+country from which he came, and the motives which
+induced him to trespass upon the sacred territories of
+his royal master, and to presume to ask an interview
+with the emperor, in his capital. The Castilian chieftain,
+with a courteous and knightly bearing replied,
+that his name was Hernando Cortez&mdash;that he was one
+of the humblest of the servants of the great Charles, the
+mighty monarch of Spain, and sovereign ruler of the
+Indies, and that he had come, with his little band of
+followers, to pay his court to the great Montezuma, and
+to bear to him the fraternal salutation of his master,
+which he could only deliver in person.</p>
+
+<p>The reply of the Mexican was dignified, courteous,
+and pointed, and left no hope to the Spaniard, that he
+would then be able to effect his purpose, of visiting in
+person the golden city. &ldquo;If,&rdquo; said the prince, &ldquo;your
+monarch had come himself to our shores, he might
+well demand a personal meeting with our lord, the
+emperor, but when he sends his servant to represent
+him, he surely cannot presume to do more than communicate
+with the servants of the great Montezuma.
+If it were possible that another sun should visit yonder
+sky, he might look upon our sun, in his march, and
+move and shine in his presence. But the moon and
+the stars cannot shine when he is abroad. They can
+look upon each other only when he withdraws his
+light.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The royal message having been delivered, the presents
+which accompanied it were brought forward, and
+spread out upon mats, in front of the general&rsquo;s tent.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
+The Spaniards were struck, with surprise and admiration
+at the fineness of the texture of the cloths, the
+richness of their dyes, the gorgeous coloring and tasteful
+arrangement of the feather-work, the masterly workmanship
+and exquisite finish of the jewelry, and, above
+all, the immense value, and magnificent size of the
+golden toys which were presented them. They conceived,
+at once, the most exalted ideas of the riches of
+the country, and the munificence and splendor of the
+monarch that ruled over it. Their avarice and cupidity
+were strongly excited, and more than one of the inferior
+officers, as well as their general, formed the immediate
+resolution, that, in despite of the imperial interdict,
+they would endeavor, either by diplomacy or by force,
+to win their way to the capital, which they supposed
+must of necessity be the grand depository of all the
+treasures in the empire. Their intentions were kept
+secret, even from each other, and, under cover of a specious
+submission to the expressed will of the monarch,
+Cortez requested permission to delay his departure, till
+his men should be recruited, and his stores replenished
+for his long voyage.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, taking advantage of this unauthorized
+reprieve, the artful and indefatigable Castilian contrived
+to draw off from their unwilling and burdensome
+allegiance to Montezuma, the Totonacs, a considerable
+tribe, residing in that part of the country where he had
+effected his landing; and so to impress them with a
+sense of his own power and the lenity of his government,
+as to bind them to him in a solemn treaty of alliance.
+He also sent an embassy to the Tlascalans, a
+nation that had long maintained its independence
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+against the ambitious encroachments of Mexico, and
+held Montezuma their natural and only foe. They
+were a brave and warlike people, and nearly as far
+advanced in the arts of civilization as their enemies.
+Their government was a kind of republic. Cortez, with
+magniloquent pretensions of invincible power, and inexhaustible
+resources, proposed to assist the Tlascalans in
+reducing the power of Mexico, and putting an end to
+the oppressions and exactions of Montezuma. For this
+purpose, he asked leave to pass through their country,
+on his march to the great capital.</p>
+
+<p>Distrusting the intentions of the strangers, and fearing
+that, instead of a disinterested friend and ally, they
+should find in them only a new enemy, whom, once
+admitted, they could never expel from their dominions,
+and whose yoke might be even harder to bear than
+that which the Aztec monarch had in vain attempted
+to fasten upon them&mdash;the proposed alliance of the
+Spaniards was rejected, with such bold and ample
+demonstrations of hostility, as left no room for doubt,
+that any attempt to force a passage through their territories,
+would be fiercely and ably contested.</p>
+
+<p>Never daunted by obstacles, though somewhat perplexed,
+the brave Cortez rushed forward, encountered
+the almost countless hosts of the Tlascalan army, and,
+after several severe and deadly contests, in which the
+skill and prowess of his handful of men, with their
+terrible horses and yet more terrible fire-arms, were
+nearly overpowered by the immense numbers, astonishing
+bravery, and comparative skill of the enemy, he
+succeeded in terrifying them into submission, and winning
+them to a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+against the tyrant Montezuma, the common enemy
+of all the nations of Anahuac. By these singular and
+unparalleled successes, the little band of Castilian
+adventurers found themselves fortified, in the heart of
+the country, in close alliance with two powerful tribes,
+who swelled their army to ten times its original number,
+besides supplying them liberally with all the provisions
+that were needed for themselves and horses.</p>
+
+<p>Never was adventure so rashly undertaken, or so
+boldly pushed, as this singular expedition of the
+Spanish cavaliers. And never, probably, were there
+associated, in one little band, so many of the master
+spirits of chivalry, the true material of a conquering
+army. The compeers of Cortez, who submitted to his
+authority, and acted in perfect harmony with him, as
+if they were but subordinate parts of himself, were
+each competent to command a host, and lead it on to
+certain victory. The impetuous, daring Alvarado, the
+cool, courageous, trusty Sandoval, the high-spirited,
+chivalrous Olid, the rash, head-long, cruel Velasquez
+de Leon, and others, worthy to be the comrades of
+these, and of Cortez&mdash;when have the ranks of the war-god
+assigned so many master spirits to one enterprize?
+And the brave, the gifted, the indomitable Xicotencatl,
+the mountain chief of Tlascala, whom the Spaniards,
+with so much difficulty, first subdued and then won to
+their cause, as an ally&mdash;what a noble personification
+of the soul and spirit of heroism, realizing in personal
+bravery, martial skill and prowess, and in all the commanding
+qualities of person and of character, which go
+to constitute the victorious warrior, the best pictures of
+the type-heroes of epic poetry and history.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+In all their previous discoveries in the New World,
+the progress of the Spaniards to victory was easy, and
+almost unresisted. The invaders of Mexico, however,
+found themselves suddenly introduced to a new people,
+and new scenes&mdash;to nations of warriors, to races intelligent,
+civilized, and competent to self-government and
+self-defence. And all the skill, courage, and energy of
+their ablest commanders, and their bravest men, would
+have availed them nothing in their herculean enterprize,
+if they had not craftily and skilfully worked
+upon the jealousies and differences existing between
+the various tribes and nations of Anahuac, and fomented
+the long smothered discontents, and unwritten complaints
+of an over-taxed and sternly-governed people,
+into open and clamorous resistance to the despotic sway
+of Montezuma. It is curious and melancholy to
+observe, how eagerly they shook off the golden yoke
+of their hereditary monarch, for the iron one of a new
+master, and exchanged their long-established servitude
+to their legitimate king and their pagan gods, for a
+more galling, hopeless, and wasting slavery to the cruel
+and rapacious invader, under the life-promising Sign
+of the Cross, the desecrated banner of the Prince of
+Peace.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2">
+<span class="label">[B]</span></a> One version of this singular prophetic legend represented the
+expected invaders, as the descendants of the ancient god Quetzalcoatl,
+who, ages agone, had voluntarily abdicated the throne of Anahuac, and
+departed to a far country in the East, with a promise to his afflicted
+people, that his children would ultimately return, and claim their
+ancient country and crown.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR AND VACILLATING POLICY OF
+MONTEZUMA.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">The land was ours&mdash;this glorious land&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With all its wealth of woods and streams&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Our warriors, strong in heart and hand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Our daughters, beautiful as dreams.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">And then we heard the omens say,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That God had sent his angels forth<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To sweep our ancient tribes away&mdash;<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>While these events were transpiring in the ever
+moving camp of the victorious invaders, the imperial
+court of Tenochtitlan was agitated and distracted by the
+divided counsels and wavering policy of the superstitious,
+fear-stricken monarch, and his various advisers.
+At one time, deeply offended by their audacious disregard
+of his positive prohibitions, and roused to a sense
+of his duty as a king, by the prophetic warning of
+Karee, which never ceased to ring in his ears, Montezuma
+was almost persuaded to give in to the war-party,
+and send out an army that should overwhelm the
+strangers at a blow. But, before this noble purpose had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+time to mature itself into action, all his superstitious
+fears would revive, and, without coming to any decision
+either to move or stand still, he would pause in timid
+inaction, till some new success had made the invaders
+more formidable than before, and invested their mission
+with something more of that preternatural sacredness,
+which alone had power to unman the monarch, and
+disarm his craving ambition. At each advance of the
+conquering Castilians, he realized the growing necessity
+of prompt and efficient measures of defence, while at
+the same time he felt a greater reluctance to contend
+with fate. The result was, that he only dallied with
+the foe, by continually sending new embassies, each,
+with larger and richer presents than the preceding,
+having no effect but to add fuel to their already burning
+thirst for gold, and strengthen their determination to
+accomplish their original purpose.</p>
+
+<p>These royal embassies were less and less firm and
+peremptory in their terms, until they assumed the tone
+of expostulation, and assigning various and often conflicting
+reasons why the Spaniards should not pursue
+their route any farther towards the imperial city. At
+length, when the courier announced the arrival of the
+mysterious band at Tlascala, and the consummation of
+the alliance between them and his old and bitter
+enemies, together with the defection of many cities and
+districts, he felt it impossible to remain any longer
+undecided. His throne trembled under him. He must
+act, or it would fall, and involve him and his house in
+inevitable ruin. Instead, however, of a bold and
+masterly activity in the defence of his capital and
+crown, he changed his policy altogether, and sending a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+new embassy with more splendid gifts than ever,
+invited the strangers to his court, and promised them all
+the hospitalities of his empire. He designated the route
+they should pursue, and gave orders for their reception
+in all the towns and cities through which they should
+pass.</p>
+
+<p>Montezuma was politic and wise in some things; and
+the purpose he had now in view, if it had not been
+frustrated, would have been deemed a master-stroke of
+policy, worthy of the ablest disciples of the Macchiavellian
+school. Perceiving the necessity of breaking
+up this combination of new and old enemies, he had
+recourse to stratagem to effect it, intending that the
+strangers, whom he dared not to oppose with direct
+violence, should fall into the snare they had laid for
+themselves, in thrusting themselves forward, in despite
+of his repeated remonstrances, into the heart of his
+empire. He feared to raise his own hand to destroy
+them, because they were, in his view, commissioned of
+heaven to overturn his throne; but he deemed it perfectly
+consistent with this reverence for the decrees of
+fate, to lay a snare into which they should fall, and so
+destroy themselves. He little understood the watchfulness
+and circumspection of the man he had to deal
+with, or the tremendous advantage which their armor
+of proof and their engines of destruction gave the
+Europeans over the almost naked Mexicans, with their
+primitive weapons of offence. It was his plan to separate
+the foreigners from their new Indian allies, and invite
+them to come alone to the capital, as was first proposed.
+And he designed to assign them accommodations in one
+of the ancient palaces, in the heart of the city, where,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+surrounded by high walls, on every side, they should
+be shut up from all intercourse with the people, and left
+to perish of famine.</p>
+
+<p>When this purpose was formed, the monarch kept it
+a profound secret in his own breast. The ambassadors
+whom he sent to the Castilian camp, were of the highest
+ranks of the nobility, and were accompanied by a long
+train of slaves, bearing the rich presents, by which the
+wily monarch hoped at the same time to display his
+own royal munificence, and to propitiate the favor of the
+dreaded strangers. Every new display of this kind
+only served more effectually to defeat his own hopes;
+for the avarice of the Spaniards, whose lust of gold was
+absolutely insatiable, was so far from being satisfied
+with this profusion of royal gifts, that it was only the
+more inflamed with every new accession to their
+treasures. The only effect, therefore, of these repeated
+embassies was to confirm the Spaniards in their convictions
+of the conscious weakness of the Mexicans, and
+make them the more resolute in pushing forward to
+complete the subjugation of the whole country, and
+possess themselves of all its seemingly inexhaustible
+treasures of gold.</p>
+
+<p>Montezuma had now another difficulty to contend
+with, in his endeavor to rid himself of the intruders.
+The Tlascalans represented him to Cortez as false and
+deceitful as he was ambitious and rapacious, and used
+every argument in their power to dissuade him from
+committing himself to his hands. But the bold adventurer,
+always confident in his own resources, seemed
+never to think of danger when an object was to be
+accomplished, or to regard any thing as impossible
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+which he desired to attain. As soon as the door was
+thrown open to his amicable approach to the capital, he
+set himself to prepare for the march. The expostulations
+and suspicions of the Tlascalans made him, perhaps,
+more careful in his preparations against a surprise, and
+more rigorous in the discipline of his little corps, than
+he might otherwise have been. Wherever he was, his
+camp was as cautiously posted, as fully and rigidly
+guarded as if, on the eve of battle, he was hourly
+expecting an assault. This watchfulness was maintained
+throughout the whole adventurous campaign, as
+well when in the midst of friends and allies, as when
+surrounded by hostile legions.</p>
+
+<p>After the royal ambassadors had departed with their
+pacific message, the mind of Montezuma was harassed
+and agitated with many doubts of the propriety of the
+course he had adopted. His nobles, and the tributary
+princes of the neighboring cities of Tezcuco, Tlacopan,
+and Iztapalapan, were divided in their opinions. Some
+complained, though not loudly, of the weak and vacillating
+policy of the king. Some, even of the common
+people, feared the consequences, anticipating the most
+disastrous results, in accordance with their superstitious
+veneration for the oracles of their faith. The third day
+after the departure of the envoys, the king was pacing
+up and down one of the beautifully shaded walks of the
+royal gardens, listening with a disturbed mind to the
+powerful expostulations of his brother, Cuitlahua, who,
+from the beginning, had vehemently opposed every
+concession to the invaders, and urgently solicited permission
+to lead the army against them, and drive them
+from the land. Suddenly, a voice as of a distant choir
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+of chanters arrested his ear. The melody was solemn,
+sweet and soothing. It seemed to come sometimes
+from the upper regions of the air, in tones of silvery
+clearness and power, sometimes from beneath, in suppressed
+and muffled harmony, as when the swell organ
+soliloquises with all its valves closed,&mdash;sometimes it
+retreated, as if dying into an echo along the distant
+avenues of royal palms and aged cypresses, or the
+citron and orange groves that skirted the farther end of
+the garden, and then, suddenly, and with great power,
+it burst in the full tide of impassioned song, from every
+tree and bower in that vast paradise of terrestrial sweets.
+Enchanted by the more than Circean melody, the
+brothers paused in their animated discourse, and stood,
+for a few moments, in silent wonder and fixed attention.
+Presently the chanting ceased, and one solitary voice
+broke forth in plaintive but emphatic recitative as from
+the midst of the sparkling jet that played its ceaseless
+tune in the grand porphyritic basin near which they
+stood. The words, which were simple and oracular,
+struck deep into the heart of Montezuma, and found a
+ready response in that of his royal brother.</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">The lion<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a>
+walks forth in his power and pride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The terror and lord of the forest wide&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the fox appears, shall he flee and hide?<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">The eagle&rsquo;s nest is strong and high,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Unquestioned monarch of the sky&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Should he quail before the falcon&rsquo;s eye?<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">The sun rides forth through the heavens afar,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dispensing light from his flaming car&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Should he veil his glory, or turn him back,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the meteor flashes athwart his track?<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Shall the eagle invite the hawk to his nest?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shall the fox with the lion sit down as a guest?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shall the meteor look out from the noonday sky,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the sun in his power is flaming by?<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The pauses in this significant chant were followed
+by choral symphonies, expressing, as eloquently as
+inarticulate sounds could do, the most earnest remonstrance,
+the most moving expostulation. When this
+was concluded, the same sweet voice broke forth again,
+in tones of solemn tenderness and majestic power, in a
+prophetic warning to Montezuma.</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i2">Beware, mighty monarch! beware of the hour,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the pale-faced intruder shall come to this bower!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Beware of the weakness that whispers of fear,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the all-grasping, gold-seeking Spaniard is near!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Beware how thou readest the dark scroll of fate!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Its mystic revealings may warn thee too late,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That the power to command, and the strength to oppose,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Are gone, when thou openest the gate to thy foes.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The white men are mortal&mdash;frail sons of the earth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They know not, they claim not, a heavenly birth;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They bow to disease, and they fall by the sword,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pale fear can disarm them, grim death is their lord;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And those terrible coursers, so fiery and strong,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That bear them like ravenous tigers along,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The fleet winged arrow shall pierce them, and slay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And leave them to eagles and vultures a prey.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td><br />
+<span class="i2">Up, monarch! arouse thee&mdash;the hour is at hand<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the dark howling tempest shall sweep o&rsquo;er thy land.<br /></span>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+<span class="i0">Thy doubts and thy fears, ever changing, are rife<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With peril to liberty, honor and life;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And this timid inaction shall surely bring down<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To the dust, in dishonor, thy glorious crown;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And leave, to all time, on thy once-honored head,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The curse of a nation forsaken, betrayed.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh! rouse thee, brave monarch! there&rsquo;s power in thy hand<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To scatter the clouds that hang over thy land.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Speak, speak but the word, there is magic in thee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Before which the ruthless invader shall flee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And myriads of braves, all equipped for defence,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shall leap at thy bidding, and banish him hence;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the gods, who would frown on the recreant slave,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Will stand by their altars, and fight for the brave.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The effect of this mysterious warning upon the mind
+of Montezuma was exceedingly powerful, and seemed,
+for a time, to change his purpose and fix his resolution.
+With an energy and decision to which he had long
+been a stranger, he turned to his brother, and said,
+&ldquo;Cuitlahua, you are right. This realm is mine. The
+gods have made me the father of this people. I must
+and will defend them. The strangers shall be driven
+back, or die. They shall never profane the temples
+and altars of Tenochtitlan, by entering within its gates,
+or looking upon its walls. Go, marshall your host, and
+prepare to meet them, before they advance a step
+further.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Exulting in this sudden demonstration of his ancient
+martial spirit in his royal brother, and fired with a
+double zeal in the cause he had so much at heart, by
+the thrilling influence upon his soul of the mysterious
+oracle, whose message had been uttered in his hearing,
+Cuitlahua scarcely waited for the ordinary courtesy of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+bidding farewell to the king, but flew with the speed
+of the wind, to execute the grateful trust committed to
+him. Despatching his messengers in every direction,
+only a few hours elapsed before his army was drawn
+up in the great square of the city; and, ere the sun had
+gone down, they had passed the gates, traversed the
+grand causeway that linked the amphibious city with
+the main land, and pitched their camp in a favorable
+position, several leagues on the way to Cholula.</p>
+
+<p>The ardent imagination of the prince of Iztapalapan
+kindled at the prospect now opened before. The
+clouds, so long hanging over his beloved country, were
+dissipated as by magic, and the clear light of heaven
+streamed in upon his path, promising a quick and easy
+conquest, a glorious triumph, and a permanent peace.
+He had been in many battles, but had never been
+defeated. He believed the Mexican army invincible
+any where, but especially on their own soil, and fighting
+for their altars and their hearths. Terrible as the
+invading strangers had been hitherto, he had no fear
+of the coming encounter. He confidently expected to
+annihilate them at a blow. Happily his soldiers were
+all animated with the same spirit, and they took to
+their rest that night, eager for the morning to come,
+that should light them on their way to a certain and
+glorious victory.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had the army departed, than a change
+came over the spirit of the ill-fated Montezuma. The
+demons of doubt and fear returned to perplex and harass
+his soul, and to incline him again to that vacillating
+policy, those half way measures, by which his doom
+was to be sealed. In an agony of distrust and suspense,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+he recounted to himself the history of the past, reviewing
+all those dark and fearful prophecies, those oft-repeated
+and mysteriously significant omens, which,
+for so many years, had foreshadowed the events of the
+present day, and revealed the inevitable doom of the
+empire, sealed with the signet of heaven. The impressions
+produced by the recent warnings of Karee faded
+and disappeared before the deep and indelible traces of
+those ancient oracles, on which he had been accustomed
+from his youth sacredly to rely. He was once
+more adrift in a tempest of contending impulses, at one
+moment abandoning all in a paroxism of despair, at
+another, vainly flattering himself with the hope of
+deliverance in some ill-formed stratagem, but never
+nerving himself to a tone of resolute defiance, or venturing
+to rest a hope on the issue of an open encounter.</p>
+
+<p>The result of all this agitation was, another abandonment
+of his noble purpose of defence, and a new
+resort to stratagem. But the plan of operations, and
+the scene of execution, were changed. Cholula was
+selected as the theatre of destruction. The Spaniards
+had already been invited to take that city in their route,
+and orders had been given, and preparations made, for
+their hospitable reception. It was now resolved to
+make their acceptance of that invitation the signal and
+seal of their destruction. They were to be drawn into
+the city, alone, under the pretence that the presence of
+their Tlascalan allies, who were the ancient and bitter
+enemies of the Cholulans, would be likely to create disturbance
+in the city, and lead to collision if not to
+bloodshed. The Cholulans were instructed to provide
+them with a place of encampment, in the heart of their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+city, where they could easily be surrounded, and cut to
+pieces. The streets of the city were then to be broken
+up by deep pits in some places, and barricades in
+others, to impede the movements of the horses, more
+dreaded than even the thunder and lightning of their
+riders. This being completed under cover of the
+night, the city was to be filled with soldiers ready to do
+the work of execution, while the brave Cuitlahua, with
+the flower of the army of Tenochtitlan, was to encamp
+at a convenient distance without the walls, to render
+prompt assistance, in case it should be needed.</p>
+
+<p>This plan being fully arranged in the mind of the
+Emperor, messengers were despatched with the light of
+the morning, to arrest the movements of Cuitlahua, and
+convey the necessary orders to the governor of Cholula.
+The warlike chieftain was deeply chagrined, and bitterly
+disappointed, in finding his orders so suddenly
+countermanded. He saw only certain ruin in the ever-wavering
+policy of the king, and was unable to conceive
+of any hope, except in striking a bold and decisive
+blow. He was willing to stake all upon a single cast,
+and drive back the insolent invader, or perish in the
+attempt. But Montezuma was the absolute monarch.
+His word was law; and, though not irreversible like
+that of the Medo-Persian, it was never to be questioned
+by any of his subjects. The hero must therefore rest
+on his arms, and await the issue of a doubtful stratagem.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the eager and self sufficient Castilians
+had pushed forward to Cholula, and entered its gates,
+under a royal escort, that came out to meet them, and
+amid the constrained shouts and half hearted congratulations
+of a countless multitude of natives, who with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+mingled fear, hatred and curiosity, gazed on the conquerors
+as a superior race of beings, and made way for
+them on every side, to take possession of their city.
+They were received with the greatest deference and
+consideration by the chiefs of the little republic, and
+the ambassadors of Montezuma, who had halted on
+their way, to prepare a more honorable reception for
+their guests, and further to ingratiate them with their
+master, by doing away, as far they could, the unfavorable
+impressions of him and his people, which might
+have made on their minds, by their intercourse with
+their old and implacable enemies of the republic of
+Tlascala.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the mutual jealousy and hatred of these
+neighboring nations, that, while the Cholulans could,
+in no wise agree to admit the Tlascalans to accompany
+Cortez into their city, they, on their part, were extremely
+reluctant to allow him to go in alone, assuring
+him in the strongest terms, that they were the most
+treacherous and deceitful of men, and their promises
+and professions utterly unworthy of confidence. Scorning
+danger, however, and determined at all hazards, to
+embrace every opening that seemed to facilitate his
+approach to the Mexican capital, he marched fearlessly
+in, and took up his quarters in the great square, or
+market place. Here, ample accommodations were provided
+for him and his band. Every courtesy was
+extended to them by the citizens and their rulers.
+Their table was amply supplied with all the necessaries
+and luxuries of the place. They were regarded with a
+kind of superstitious awe by the multitude, as a race of
+beings belonging to another world, of ethereal mould,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+and supernatural powers; and their camp was visited
+by those of all ranks, and all ages, eager to catch a
+view of the terrible strangers.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after their arrival, a new embassy from
+the imperial palace was announced. They held no
+communication with Cortez, but had a long consultation
+with the previous envoys still remaining there, and
+with the authorities of the city. From this time, there
+was a striking change in the aspect of the Cholulans
+towards their guests. They were soon made to perceive
+and feel that, though invited, they were not
+welcome guests. The daily supplies for their table
+were greatly diminished. They received but few and
+formal visits from the chiefs, and but cold attention
+from any of the nobles. Cortez was quick to perceive
+the change, but unable to divine its meaning. It
+caused him many an anxious hour, especially when he
+remembered the serious and urgent representations of
+his Tlascalan allies of the deceitful and treacherous
+character of the Cholulans. His apprehensions were by
+no means diminished, when he learned from the morning
+report of the night guards, that through the entire
+night, which had hitherto been a season of perfect
+silence and repose in the city, sounds were heard on
+every side, as of people earnestly engaged in some
+works of fortification, sometimes digging in the earth,
+sometimes laying up stones in heaps, and in various
+other ways, &ldquo;vexing the dull ear of night with uncouth
+noise.&rdquo; It was found, on examination, that the streets
+in many places were barricaded, and holes, in others,
+were lightly covered with branches of trees. Unable
+to explain these matters, and not wishing to give offence
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+to his entertainers by enquiring too curiously into what
+might be no more than the ordinary preparation for a
+national festival, he sent one of his chief officers to
+report to the Tlascalan commander, without the gates
+of the city, and enquire what might be the meaning of
+these singular movements. Having learned in reply,
+that a hostile attack was undoubtedly contemplated,
+and that a large force of Mexicans, under command of
+the brave Cuitlahua, brother of Montezuma, was encamped
+at no great distance, ready to co-operate with
+the Cholulans at a moment&rsquo;s warning, and that a great
+number of victims had been offered in sacrifice, to propitiate
+the favor of their gods, the haughty Spaniard
+found his position any thing but agreeable. He was a
+stranger to fear, but he was certainly most sadly perplexed.
+And, when, in addition to the information
+already received, he learned from Marina, his female
+interpreter, that she had been warned by a friend in the
+city to abandon the Spaniards, that she might not be
+involved in their ruin, he was, for a time, quite at a
+loss what to do. To retreat, would be to manifest fear,
+and a distrust of his own resources, which might be
+fatal to his future influence with the natives. To
+remain where he was&mdash;inactive, would be to stand still
+in the yawning crater of a volcano, when the overcharged
+cauldron below had already begun to belch
+forth sulphureous flames and smoke.</p>
+
+<p>The character of the conqueror was one precisely
+adapted to such exigencies as this. Through the
+whole course of his wonderful career, he seems to have
+rushed into difficulty, for the mere pleasure of fighting
+his way out. In order to extricate himself, he never
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+lost a moment in parleying or diplomacy. His measures
+were bold, decided, and direct, indicating a self-reliance,
+and a confidence in his men and means,
+which is the surest guaranty of success. In this case,
+having satisfied himself of the actual existence of a
+conspiracy, he sent for the chief rulers, upbraided them
+with their want of hospitality, informed them that he
+should leave the place at break of day the next morning,
+and demanded a large number of men, to assist in
+removing his baggage. Promising to comply with this
+demand, which favored the execution of their own
+designs, the chiefs departed, and Cortez and his band,
+sleeping on their arms, prepared for the coming
+conflict.</p>
+
+<p>Punctually, at the peep of dawn, the princes of Cholula
+marched into the court, accompanied by a much
+larger number of men than Cortez had required. With
+a calm bold air, the haughty Castilian confronted them,
+charging them with treachery, and detailing all the circumstances
+of the concerted massacre. He upbraided
+them with their duplicity and baseness, and gave them
+to understand that they should pay dear for their false-hearted
+and cruel designs against those, who, confiding
+in their hospitality and promises of friendship, had
+come to their city, and slept quietly within their gates.</p>
+
+<p>Thunderstruck at this unexpected turn of affairs,
+and fearing more than ever the strange beings, who
+could read their very thoughts, and fathom the designs
+which were yet scarcely matured in their own bosoms,
+the disconcerted magnates tremblingly pleaded guilty
+to the charge, and attempted to excuse themselves, by
+urging their allegiance to Montezuma, and the duty
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+and necessity of obeying his commands, however
+repugnant to their own feelings.</p>
+
+<p>It was not the policy of Cortez to admit this plea, in
+extenuation of their treachery. He preferred to cast
+the whole burden upon them alone, and leave the way
+open for an easy disclaimer on the part of the emperor,
+hoping thereby the more readily to gain a peaceable
+entry into the capital. Without waiting, therefore, for
+any further explanations, or instituting any inquiry
+into the comparative guilt of the parties, he gave the
+signal to his soldiers, who, with a general discharge of
+their artillery and fire arms, rushed upon the unprepared
+multitude, mowing them down like grass, and
+trampling them under the hoofs of their horses. A
+general massacre ensued. Not one of the chiefs
+escaped, and only so many of their panic-struck followers,
+as could feign themselves dead, or bury themselves,
+till the tempest was past, under the heaps of their slain
+comrades.</p>
+
+<p>Thus taken by surprise, and driven, before they
+were ready, into an unequal conflict with enemies who
+had, by some miracle, as they supposed, anticipated
+their movements, and struck the first blow, the Cholulans
+rushed in from all parts of their city, hoping to
+retrieve, by their numbers and prowess, the disadvantage
+of the lost onset. Cortez had prepared for this.
+He had ordered his artillery to be stationed at the main
+entrances to the square, where they poured in a raking
+fire upon the assailants, rushing in from all the avenues.
+The surprise being so sudden, and the leaders
+having been shot down at the first charge, confusion
+and consternation prevailed among the discomfited
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+Cholulans, who alternately fled, like affrighted sheep,
+from the scene of slaughter, and then rushed back, like
+exasperated wolves, to the work of death.</p>
+
+<p>In anticipation of this conflict, the Spanish general
+had concerted a signal with his Tlascalan allies, without
+the gates, who now came rushing in, like hungry
+tigers, revelling in the opportunity to inflict a terrible
+vengeance upon their ancient enemies. Falling upon
+their rear, as they crowded in from the remoter quarters
+of the city towards the field of carnage, they drove
+them in upon the weapons of the Spaniards, from
+which there was now no escape. Turning upon this
+new enemy, they fought with desperate bravery, to win
+a retreat. But they were cut down on this side and that,
+till the streets were scarcely passable for the heaps of
+the dead and dying that cumbered them. Those who
+took refuge in their houses and temples, found no
+safety in such retreats, for they were instantly fired
+by the Tlascalans, and their defenders perished miserably
+in the flames.</p>
+
+<p>There was one scene in the midst of this desolating
+conflict, that was truly sublime,&mdash;one of those strange
+combinations of moral and physical grandeur, which
+sometimes occur in the dark annals of human warfare,
+investing with a kind of hallowed interest, which the
+lapse of ages serves only to soften, but never destroys,
+those spectacles of savage but heroic cruelty, where
+every death is elevated into a martyrdom, and the very
+ground saturated with human blood becomes a consecrated
+field, clothed with laurels of never-fading green.
+It was the last act in that bloody drama, enacted on the
+lofty summit of the great Teocalli, the principal temple
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+of Cholula, and the centre of attraction to all the votaries
+of the Aztec religion, throughout the wide realms
+of Anahuac. Driven from street to street, and from
+quarter to quarter, and falling back, as a forlorn hope,
+upon the sanctuary, and the support and encouragement
+of the hoary men, who presided over the mysteries
+of their faith, they made a bold and desperate
+stand, in defence of all that was dear and holy in their
+homes and their altars. Step by step, they contested
+this hallowed ground, till they reached the upper terrace,
+where the great temple stood. This was an
+area of four hundred feet square, at an elevation of
+two hundred feet from the level of the surrounding
+streets. On this elevated platform, the furious combatants
+fought hand to hand; the priest, in his sacred
+garments, mingling in the savage conflict with the
+humblest of his followers&mdash;the steel-clad Castilian, the
+Tlascalan and the Cholulan, of every rank and grade,
+each eager only to slay his man, grappled in the mortal
+conflict, till one or the other fell in the death struggle,
+or tumbled over the side of the mound, to be dashed in
+pieces below. As the half-armed, half-naked natives
+melted away before the heavy and destructive weapons
+of the invulnerable Spaniards, they were repeatedly
+offered quarter, but scorned to accept it. One only submitted,
+when, pierced with countless wounds, he could
+stand no longer. All the rest, to a man, fought desperately
+till he fell, and many, even then, in the agonies
+of the last struggle, seized their antagonists by the legs,
+and rolled with them over the parapet, to the certain
+death of both.</p>
+
+<p>At length the conflict ceased for want of a victim,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+and the conquering Castilian, with a few of his Tlascalan
+allies, stood alone, in undisputed possession of
+this lofty vantage ground. The disheartened Cholulans,
+without leaders, without counsellors, seeing their sacred
+temple in the hands of their enemies, felt that all was
+lost. Not another blow was struck, but every where
+they bowed in submission to the irresistible conqueror.</p>
+
+<p>The thunder of the artillery, and the smoke of the
+burning buildings, rising in a heavy column to the
+skies, announced to the Mexican army the conflict that
+was raging within the city. But, having orders not to
+engage in the fray, unless notified by the Cholulan
+chiefs that his assistance was necessary, the brave
+Cuitlahua was compelled to wait the summons. Burning
+to vindicate the honor of the Mexican arms, the
+hero chafed under this cruel restraint, like a tiger
+chained in full view of his prey. He little doubted that
+the Castilians would fall by the hands of the Cholulans,
+encompassed as they were on every side, with no room
+for escape, or for the action of their horses. But he
+longed to have a share in the victory. Drawing up his
+forces in the order of march, he stood, the whole day,
+in readiness to move at a moment&rsquo;s warning; and in
+this attitude, he was still standing, when the tidings of
+the terrible disaster in the city reached him.</p>
+
+<p>His veteran legions were with difficulty restrained
+from rushing to the rescue. The army was almost in
+a state of mutiny, from their eagerness to avenge their
+slaughtered brethren in Cholula; and all the military
+authority, and unbounded influence of Cuitlahua were
+required to keep them in a state of due subordination.</p>
+
+<p>The influence and authority of Cortez, on the other
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+hand, were scarcely sufficient to restrain his victorious
+allies from ravaging the city, and putting men,
+women, and children to an indiscriminate slaughter.
+So bitter and pervading was the old national animosity,
+that life was scarcely worth possessing to a Tlascalan,
+if he must share its daily blessings side by
+side with the Aztec. He hated the whole nation
+with a perfect implacable hatred. He execrated the
+very name, and never uttered it without a curse. Of
+this universal malediction, the Cholulan was honored
+with more than his appropriate share. The other subjects
+and tributaries of Montezuma they feared as well
+as hated. The Cholulans they affected also to despise,
+though their contempt was not so thorough as to mitigate
+in the least their fierce and uncontrollable hatred.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3">
+<span class="label">[C]</span></a> As Americus Vespucius, in his letter to Lorenzo Di
+Pier-Francesco De Medici, reports having met with the lion in South
+America, I have taken the liberty to introduce him as a native in our
+forests, notwithstanding the prevalent opinion of naturalists to the
+contrary.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL&mdash;THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD&mdash;THE
+SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">For monarchs tremble on their thrones,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And &rsquo;neath the gem-lit crown,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Care, fear, and envy dwell&mdash;<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">&mdash;&mdash;They come,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mysterious, dreaded band!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With clang of trumpet, torch and brand;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With lightning speed, with lightning power,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They scale the lofty mountain tower,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And sweep along the vale&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who shall arrest their proud career,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And save our doomed land?<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>This position of affairs suited the timid and vacillating
+policy of Montezuma. Finding that Cuitlahua, and his
+forces, had taken no part in the affair, and had not
+even visited the city, he immediately sent an embassy
+to the Spanish camp, disclaiming all participation in
+the treacherous counsels and doings of the Cholulans,
+and severely blaming them for their unheard of outrage
+upon the rites of hospitality. Whether the sharp-sighted
+Castilian placed any confidence in these professions,
+or not, it suited his designs to appear to do so.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+With the utmost seeming cordiality, he assured the
+royal messengers that it gave him the most heartfelt
+satisfaction to know that the treatment he had received
+at Cholula was not instigated or countenanced by their
+august master, that it was unworthy of a great and
+wise monarch, and that he should proceed on his route
+to the capital, with the same confidence as before, and
+visit the emperor as if nothing had happened to hinder
+his progress.</p>
+
+<p>Withdrawing the forces under Cuitlahua, and giving
+orders every where for the hospitable reception and
+entertainment of the Castilians, whom he had no longer
+the heart to oppose either by stratagem or by force,
+Montezuma retired within his palace, and for several
+days shut himself up from all intercourse with his
+chiefs. He was now fully convinced that his destiny
+was sealed, and with it that of his family and crown.
+He was in the hands of an unappeasable fate. He
+gave himself up to fasting, prayer and sacrifice. He
+consulted all his oracles anew. But they gave no
+response. He then sought counsel of his chiefs, and
+the sages of his court. Here again he was distracted
+by the divided opinions of his friends. While many of
+the princes, overawed by the invincible courage and
+invariable success of the Castilians, advised a frank
+and courteous reception, there was still a powerful war-party,
+with the brave Cuitlahua at their head, who
+were eager to measure lances with the strangers, and
+show them that, in order to reach the capital, they had
+other foes to contend with and overcome, than half
+savage Tlascalans, or trading Cholulans.</p>
+
+<p>Montezuma found no difficulty in following the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+counsel of the majority, though the mystic warning of
+Karee had not wholly faded from his mind. A new
+embassy was immediately despatched, consisting of a
+numerous suite of powerful nobles, and a long train of
+servants bearing rich presents of gold, and other valuables,
+and charged with a message couched in terms of
+humble and earnest supplication, proposing, if the
+Spaniards would now return, not only to send them
+home laden with gold to their utmost wish, but to pay
+an annual tribute of gold to their master, the king of
+Spain. Finding that this bribe only fired the grasping
+conqueror with a more fixed determination to secure
+the whole prize for which he had so long, and against
+such fearful odds, contended, the messengers yielded the
+point, and threw wide open to the dreaded foe every
+avenue to the heart of the empire, assuring him, in the
+name of the Emperor, that he should be received as a
+brother, and entertained with the consideration due to
+the powerful representative of a mighty monarch.</p>
+
+<p>The march of the Spaniards was now a continued
+triumph. No longer compelled to fight their way on,
+they had time to enjoy the rich and varied scenery, to
+scale the mountain, explore the caverns and ravines of
+the sierras, and the craters of the volcanoes, and show
+to the admiring natives, by their agility and love of
+adventure, that fighting and conquest had neither tamed
+their spirits, nor exhausted their physical powers. As
+they advanced, they were continually surprised and
+delighted with the growing evidences of civilization and
+high prosperity which met them on every side. In the
+cultivation of the land, in the style of architecture, and
+in all that constitutes the refinement, or contributes to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+the comfort of life, the regions they were now traversing
+very far exceeded the best of those through which they
+had passed. They were continually gaining more
+exalted ideas of the power, wealth and glory of the
+great Montezuma, and more enlarged views of the magnificence
+of their own adventure, and the importance of
+their position and movements. The ambition of Cortez
+reached to the viceroyalty of this splendid empire; and,
+though accompanied by a mere handful of men, their
+past achievements inspired him with confidence, that
+he could carry every thing before him.</p>
+
+<p>Though entertained with lordly munificence in every
+place through which he passed, and visited and complimented
+by envoys from all the states embraced in
+the Mexican domain, the sagacious Spaniard relaxed
+none of his vigilance, nor diminished aught of the
+strict discipline of his little corps. With an eye ever
+awake to his own safety, and feeling that the artful
+contriver of one stratagem could easily invent another,
+he advanced from post to post, in martial array, always
+ready for the exigency that might arise. His course,
+however, was unmolested. The resources and hopes
+of the great king seemed to have been exhausted. In
+passive despair, he was waiting for the hour of his
+doom.</p>
+
+<p>The terror of the events we have described fell not
+alone upon the unfortunate Montezuma; nor did they
+affect him only as monarch of the realm. As a parent,
+fondly devoted to his children, whose destiny was
+wrapped up in his, as the father of his people, to whom
+he had been a kind of demi-god, the vicegerent of
+heaven, entitled to their unqualified reverence, obedience
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+and love, he felt with tenfold intensity the
+bitterness of his humiliation. In all his sufferings and
+distresses his wives and children shared, showing, by
+every token in their power, their profound respect and
+affection, and their tender sympathy in all his cares.</p>
+
+<p>In these lovely demonstrations of filial affection, none
+were more assiduous or warm-hearted, and none more
+successful in reaching the heart of the broken spirited
+monarch, or winning from him an occasional smile of
+hope, than Tecuichpo. Just ripening into womanhood,
+with every gift of person, mind and heart that could
+satisfy the pride of the monarch, and requite to the full
+the yearning love of the father, the fair princess
+lavished on him all her powers of persuasion and
+condolence. It was all in vain. It even aggravated
+his sorrows; for it was on <i>her</i> account, and that of
+others dearer to him than his own life, that he suffered
+most deeply. The mysterious shadows that had
+brooded so darkly over the infancy of his lovely daughter,
+had never ceased to shed a chilling gloom over
+his mind. Her clouded destiny was linked with his,
+not merely as a child, but as one specifically marked
+out, by infallible signs from heaven, for a signal doom.
+His superstitious faith invested her and her fate with a
+peculiar sacredness. She was as one whom the gods
+had devoted to an awful sacrifice, from which neither
+imperial power nor paternal love could rescue her. It
+therefore pierced his soul with a deeper pang to gaze
+upon her loveliness, and witness her amiable efforts to
+soothe and sustain him in the midst of calamities that
+were more terrible and overwhelming to her, than even
+to himself. If, by offering himself as a sacrifice to his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+offended gods, he could have propitiated their favor for
+his family and his people, and handed down to his posterity
+an undiminished empire and an untarnished
+crown, he would have gone with as much pride and
+pleasure, to the altar, as to a triumphal festival that
+should celebrate his victory, and clothe his brow with
+unfading laurel. But in this sacrifice there was no
+substitution. He was himself the most distinguished
+victim, destined to the highest and hottest place on the
+great altar of his country, where a hecatomb would
+scarce suffice to appease the anger of the offended gods.</p>
+
+<p>Gathering his royal household around him, he
+explained to them the peculiarity of his position, avowing
+his entire confidence in the ancient prophecy, which
+declared that the realm of Anahuac belonged to a race
+of white men, who had gone away, for a season towards
+the rising sun, and who, after the lapse of ages, were to
+return in power, and claim their inheritance. It was
+the predestined arrangement of the gods, and could not
+be resisted. He had, from the beginning felt that resistance
+was wholly vain, and had only attempted it, in
+deference to the urgent advice and solicitations of his
+best and most experienced counsellors. For himself,
+he was ready, at any time, to stand at his post, and die,
+if necessary, in defence of his crown and his people.
+But he could not contend with the gods. Empires and
+crowns, and the lives and happiness of nations, were
+at their disposal, and kings and subjects alike must submit
+to their righteous requirements. It was but the
+dictate of common piety to say &ldquo;the will of the gods
+be done.&rdquo; Hard and trying as it was, he felt it incumbent
+on him to relinquish his crown and his honors, at
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+their bidding, as cheerfully as he should lay down his
+life, when his destined hour should arrive. He counselled
+them to bow submissively to their inevitable fate,
+in the hope that, though humbled, broken and scattered
+in this world, they might meet and dwell together in
+peace in the paradise of the gods.</p>
+
+<p>His wives and children wept around him. They
+besought him to hope yet for the best&mdash;to turn away
+his thoughts from the dark visions on which he had
+dwelt too long and too intensely. Their mysterious
+forebodings of evil might yet be averted, through the
+favor of the gods, to whom a childlike, cheerful confidence
+in their benignity and paternal regard, was more
+acceptable, than that blind abandonment, sometimes
+mistaken for submission, which views them as stern,
+arbitrary, and implacable tyrants, rather than as parents
+of the human family, watching over it for the good of
+mankind, and ordering all events for the welfare of
+their true children.</p>
+
+<p>This was a cheerful faith, and, seasonably adopted,
+might have saved the life and throne of Montezuma,
+and preserved, for many years, the integrity of his
+empire. But his heart was not prepared to receive it.
+Steeped in the dismal superstitions of the Aztec faith,
+and yielding himself unreservedly to the guidance and
+dictation of its constituted oracles, he had never, for a
+moment, allowed himself to falter in his conviction,
+that the Aztec dynasty was to terminate with him, and
+that he and his family were doomed to a terrible
+destruction, in the overthrow of the sacred institutions
+of his beloved land.</p>
+
+<p>The scene was too thrilling for the tender heart of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+Tecuichpo, and she swooned away in the arms of her
+father, who had drawn her towards him in an affectionate
+embrace. The attendants were called, and, as
+soon as the unhappy princess was restored to consciousness,
+the king directed the royal barges to be prepared,
+and went out, with all his household, to enjoy the invigorating
+air of the lake, and seek relief from the dark
+thoughts that oppressed and overwhelmed them, in
+contemplating, from various points in view, the rich
+and varied scenery of that glorious valley.</p>
+
+<p>It was a brave spectacle to behold, when the imperial
+majesty of Tenochtitlan condescended to accompany
+his little fleet on such an excursion. The gaily
+appointed canoes, with their gorgeous canopies of
+embroidered cotton, and feather-work; the splendid
+robes and plumes of the king and his attendants; the
+rich and fanciful attire of the women; the light, graceful,
+arrowy motions of the painted skiffs, as they
+danced along the waves; together with the wonderful
+beauty of the lake, and its swimming gardens of
+flowers, presented a <i>toute ensemble</i> more like the fairy
+pictures of some enchanted sphere, than any thing
+we can now realize as belonging to this plain, prosaic,
+matter-of-fact world of ours. On this occasion, it
+seemed more gay and fairy-like than ever, in contrast,
+perhaps, with the deep gloom that had settled
+on the land, pervading every heart, with its sombre
+shadows.</p>
+
+<p>The light pirogues of the natives, flying hither and
+thither over the glassy waters, on errands of business
+or of pleasure, arrayed in flowers, or freighted with
+fruits and vegetables for the grand market of Tenochtitlan,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+made way, on every side, for the advance of the
+royal cortege, which, threading the shining avenues
+between the gaily-colored <i>chinampas</i>, that spotted the
+surface of that beautiful lake, like so many islands of
+flowers on the bosom of the ocean, danced over the
+waters to the sound of music, and the merry voices
+of glad hearts, rejoicing in the sunny smiles that now
+played on the countenance of the king, as if the clouds
+that had so long overshadowed it, were never to return.
+Tecuichpo, restored to more than her wonted gaiety,
+was full of life and animation. Never had she seemed,
+in the eyes of her doting father, and of the admiring
+courtiers, half so lovely as at this moment. She was
+the centre attraction for all eyes. Her resplendent
+beauty, her fairy-like gracefulness of motion, and the
+artless simplicity of her manners, won the admiring
+notice of all. Her gaiety was infectious. Her merry
+laugh reached, with a sort of electric influence, every
+heart in that bright company, and compelled even her
+father to abandon, for the time, his sad and solemn
+reflections, and give himself up to the spirit of the hour
+and the scene.</p>
+
+<p>Guatimozin was there, and exerted all his eloquence
+to keep up the spirit of the hour, in the earnest hope
+that Montezuma would put on all the monarch again,
+and assert the majesty of his insulted crown, and the
+rights of his house and his people, in despite of omen
+or legend, and in the face of every foe.</p>
+
+<p>Tecuichpo became more and more animated, till she
+seemed quite lifted above herself and the world about
+her. Suddenly rising in the midst, and pointing, with
+great energy of expression, to the royal eagle of Mexico,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+then sweeping down from his mountain eyrie, to
+prey upon the ocelot of the distant valley, she exclaimed&mdash;</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i2">&rsquo;Tis he! &rsquo;Tis he! our imperial bird!<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Whom the gods to our aid have sent;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I saw him in my dream, and heard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">As down from his airy flight he bent,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His victor shout, with the dying wail,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of the coming foe, borne on the gale;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While the air was dark with the gathering throng<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of bold young eaglets, that swept along<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">From every cliff, in fierceness and wrath,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To gorge on their prey, in the mountain path.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>When she ceased, an echo from a richly cultivated
+chinampa, which they were then passing, seemed to
+take up and prolong the strain.</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">I saw it too, and I heard the scream,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In the midst of my dark and troubled dream;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">&rsquo;Twas a dream of despair for our doomed land,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For his wings were bound by the royal hand;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His talons were wreathed with a golden chain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He smelt the prey, and he chafed in vain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For they trampled him down, in their brave career,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While our monarch looked on with unmanly fear,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Till his crown and his sceptre in dust were laid low,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And proud Tenochtitlan had passed to the foe.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The last words of this solemn chant died away on
+the ear, just as the royal barge rounded the little artificial
+promontory, which the ingenious Karee had
+constructed, for the double purpose of an arbor and
+look-out, at one of the angles of her chinampa. Leaning
+over the brow, and supporting herself by the overhanging
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+branch of a luxuriant myrtle, she dropped a
+wreath of evergreen upon the head of Tecuichpo, and
+said&mdash;</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i2">Oh! child of doom,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thy long sealed destiny is come&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">One brief, dark, dreadful night,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then on those blessed eyes<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Another day shall rise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fair, glorious, bright,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With an unearthly endless light.<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Thou shall lay down<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">An earthly crown,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To win a starry sceptre in the skies<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>At this moment, signals were heard among the distant
+hills, which, answered and repeated from countless
+stations along the wild sierras, and reverberated by a
+thousand echoes as they came, burst upon the quiet
+valley, like the confused shouts of a mighty host rushing
+to battle. It fell like a death-knell upon the ear of
+Montezuma. It announced the arrival, within the
+mountain wall which encompassed his golden valley,
+of the dreaded strangers. It heralded their near approach
+to his capital, and the exposure of all he held
+dear to their irresistible power&mdash;their terrible rapacity.
+His heart sunk within him. But he had gone too far
+to retract. It was the act of the gods, not his. Banishing
+from his mind the impressions of the scenes just
+passed, he waved his hand to the rowers, and instantly
+every prow was turned, and the gaily caparisoned, but
+melancholy, terror-stricken pageant moved rapidly back
+to the city.</p>
+
+<p>Tenochtitlan was now alive with the bustle of preparation.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+It was the preparation, not for war, which
+would far better have suited the multitude both of the
+chiefs and the people, but for the hospitable reception
+and entertainment of the strangers. The great imperial
+palace, which had been the royal residence of the father
+of Montezuma, was fitted up for their accommodation.
+With its numberless apartments, its spacious courts,
+and magnificent gardens, it was sufficient for an army
+much larger than that of the Castilians, swelled as it
+was by the company of their Tlascalan allies. Every
+room was newly hung with beautifully colored tapestry,
+and furnished with all the conveniences and luxuries
+of Mexican life. The appointments and provisions
+were all on a most liberal scale, for the Emperor was
+as generous and munificent as the golden mountains
+from which he drew his inexhaustible treasures.</p>
+
+<p>Intending that nothing should be wanting to the
+graciousness of his submission to this act of constrained
+courtesy, Montezuma proposed to his brother Cuitlahua,
+to choose a royal retinue from the flower of the Aztec
+nobility, and go out to meet the strangers; and bid them
+welcome, in his name, to his realm and his capital.
+From this the soul of the proud undaunted soldier
+revolted, and he entreated so earnestly to be excused
+from executing a commission, so much at variance
+with his feelings and his convictions, that the monarch
+relented, and assigned the mission to Cacama, the
+young prince of Tezcuco.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could exceed the gorgeous splendor of this
+embassy. Borne in a beautiful palanquin, canopied
+and curtained with the rarest of Mexican feather-work,
+richly powdered with jewels, and glittering with gold,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+Cacama, preceded and followed by a long train of
+noble veterans and youths, all apparelled in the gayest
+costume of their country, presented himself before the
+advancing host. His approach, and the errand on
+which he came, having been announced by a herald,
+Cortez halted his band, and drew up his forces in the
+best possible array, to give him a fitting reception.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting took place at Ajotzinco, on, or rather
+within, the borders of the lake Chalco, the first of the
+bright chain of inland lakes which the Spaniards had
+seen, and the place where they first saw that species of
+amphibious architecture, which prevailed so extensively
+among the Mexicans. When the royal embassy
+arrived in front of the waiting army, Cacama alighted
+from his palanquin, while his obsequious officers swept
+the ground before him, that he might not soil his royal
+feet, by too rude a contact with the earth. He was a
+young man of about twenty five years, with a fine
+manly countenance, a noble and commanding figure,
+and an address and manners that would have done
+honor to the most courtly knight of Christendom.
+Stepping forward with a bland and dignified courtesy,
+he made the customary Mexican salutation to persons
+of high rank, touching his right hand to the ground,
+and raising it to his head. Cortez embraced him as he
+rose, and the prince, in the name of his royal master,
+gave the strangers a hearty welcome, assuring them
+that they should be received with a hospitality, and
+treated with a respect, becoming the representatives of
+a great and mighty prince. He then presented Cortez
+with a number of large and valuable pearls, which act
+of munificence was immediately returned by the present
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+of a necklace of cut glass, hung over his neck by Cortez.
+As glass was not known to the Mexicans, it probably
+had in their eyes the value of the rarest jewels.</p>
+
+<p>This interview being over, the royal envoy hastened
+back to the capital, while the Castilians and their allies,
+in the two-fold character of hostile invaders and invited
+guests, followed his steps by slow, easy and cautious
+marches. After a few days, during which they passed
+through large tracts of highly cultivated and fertile
+ground, and several of the beautiful towns and cities of
+the plateau, they arrived at Iztapalapan, a place of
+great beauty, and large resources, and the residence of
+Cuitlahua, the noble brother of Montezuma. At the
+command of the Emperor, Cuitlahua, as governor of
+this place, received the strangers with courtesy, and
+treated them with attention. But it was a cold courtesy,
+and a constrained attention. With a proud and
+haughty mien, the brave soldier exhibited to the
+wondering strangers, all the riches and curiosities of the
+place, disposing every thing in such a manner as to
+impress them most powerfully with the immense wealth
+of the empire, and the irresistible power of the Emperor.
+He collected around him all the richest and most potent
+nobles in his neighborhood, and displayed a magnificence
+of style, and a prodigality of expenditure, that
+was truly princely. The extent and beauty of his
+gardens, his beautiful aviary, stocked with every variety
+of the gorgeously plumed birds of that tropical clime,
+his menagerie, containing a full representation of all the
+wild races of animals in Anahuac, struck the Spaniards
+with surprise and admiration; while the architecture
+of his palaces, and the many refinements of his style of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+living, gave them the highest ideas of the advanced
+state of civilization to which the Mexicans had attained.</p>
+
+<p>But, so far from disheartening them in their grand
+design, all they saw of wealth and splendor in the
+inferior cities, only served to inflame their desire to see
+the capital, and learn if any thing more brilliant and
+wonderful than they had yet seen, could be furnished
+at the great metropolis. While they were daily more
+and more convinced of the power and resources of their
+enemy, and the seeming impossibility of their own
+enterprise, they were also daily more and more inflamed
+with the desire and purpose to possess themselves of the
+incalculable treasures which every where met their
+eyes. The cold aspect, and lofty bearing of the Prince
+Cuitlahua, the commander-in-chief of the Mexican
+armies, and heir apparent to its throne, left no doubt
+that the final struggle for power would be ably and bitterly
+contested, and that the wealth they so ardently
+coveted, would be dearly bought. To a heart less bold
+and self-reliant than that of Cortez, it would have been
+no enviable position, to be shut up, with his little band
+of followers, within the gates of a city, commanded by
+so brave and experienced a soldier, whose personal
+feelings and views were known to be of the most hostile
+character. To the iron-hearted Castilian, it was but a
+scene in the progress of his romantic adventure; and,
+the greater the difficulty, the more imminent the peril,
+the more cordially he trusted to his good genius, or his
+patron saint, he seems not to have known which, to
+carry him triumphantly through.</p>
+
+<p>They were now but one day&rsquo;s march, and that a
+short and easy one, from the imperial city. Already
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+they had seen it from a distance, resting, or rather
+riding, on the bosom of the lake, glowing and glittering
+in the sunbeams, like some resplendent constellation,
+transferred from the azure above to the azure below.
+They had seen its noble ally, the metropolis of the
+sister kingdom of Tezcuco, shining in rival though
+unequal splendor, on the opposite shore of the lake,
+and many other splendid cities, beautiful towns, and
+lovely hamlets, studding its bright border, in its entire
+circuit, like mingled gems and pearls, richly set in the
+band of the imperial diadem, all reposing under the
+shadow, and eclipsed by the superior glory, of the capital,
+the crowning jewel of the Western World. They
+had seen the <i>chinampas</i>, those wandering gardens of
+verdure and flowers, seeming more like the fairy creations
+of poetry, than the sober realities of life, and
+reminding them of those islands of the blest, which
+they had been told, in their childish days, floated about
+in the ethereal regions above, freighted with blessings
+for the virtuous, and sometimes stooping so near to
+earth as to permit the weary and the waiting to escape
+from their toils and trials here, and find repose in their
+celestial paradise. They had seen and admired the
+wonderful works of art, the causeways of vast extent,
+constructed with scientific accuracy, and of great
+strength and durability&mdash;the canals and aqueducts,
+and bridges, which would have done honor to the
+genius and industry of the proudest nation in Europe.
+It now remained to them to see the imperial lord of all
+these wide and luxuriant realms, and to enter, as
+invited guests, into the gates of his royal abode.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER V.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS AT THE CAPITAL&mdash;THEIR
+RECEPTION BY MONTEZUMA&mdash;DETERMINED HOSTILITY
+OF GUATIMOZIN.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Hark! at the very portals now they stand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Demanding entrance. Can I shut them out,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When all the gods commission them to come?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Can we admit them, and preserve intact<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Our honor and the state?<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The spectacle of this day, the eighth of November,
+1519, has not its parallel in the annals of history, and
+will probably never be repeated in the history of man.
+The sovereign and absolute monarch of a populous
+and powerful empire, stooping from his imperial throne,
+flinging wide open the gates of his capital, and condescending
+to go out, and receive with an apparent welcome
+an invading foe, whom he had in vain attempted
+to keep out, but whom he had now the power to crush
+under his feet in a moment. That invading foe consisted
+only of a few hundred adventurers, three thousand
+miles from home, in the heart of the country they had
+ravaged, and surrounded by countless thousands of
+exasperated foes, burning to revenge the injuries and
+insults they had received at the hands of the strangers,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+and only held back from rushing upon them, like herds
+of ravening tigers, by the strong arm of the royal prohibition.
+Their position was like that of a group of
+children in a menagerie, amusing themselves with
+teasing and exasperating the caged animals around
+them. The furious creatures glare on them with looks
+of rage, growling fiercely, and gnashing their teeth.
+The keeper sympathizes with his enraged subjects,
+burning to let them loose upon their annoyers, but
+restrained by that mysterious agency, in which the
+divine hand is every where moulding and subduing
+the natural impulses of humanity, and working out its
+own wise ends by the wrath and passions of men.</p>
+
+<p>Let the keeper but raise the bar of that cage for a
+moment, and not one of the bright group would be left
+to tell the tragic issue of their sport. Let the terror-stricken
+Montezuma put on once more the air of a
+monarch, and raise his finger as a signal for the onset,
+before the enemy has become entrenched in his fortress,
+and few, if any, of that brave band would be left
+to tell the world of their fate&mdash;the marvellous story of
+the Conquest would never be told; the Aztec dynasty
+would outlive the period assigned it by those mystic
+oracles; and Montezuma, recovered from the dark
+dreams of an imagination disordered by superstition&mdash;the
+long dreaded crisis of his destiny passed&mdash;would
+have swayed again the sceptre of undisputed empire
+over the broad and beautiful realms of Anahuac.
+Having once vanquished and destroyed the terrible
+strangers, and stripped them of that supernatural defence,
+which the idea of their celestial origin threw
+around them, he would never again have yielded his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+soul to so unmanly a fear. If such had been the issue
+of the invasion of Cortez and his band, it is doubtful
+whether the Aztec dynasty would ever have been overthrown.
+The civilization of Europe would soon have
+been engrafted upon its own. Christianity would have
+taken the place of their dark and bloody paganism;
+which, with a people so far enlightened as they were,
+could not have endured for a moment the noon-day
+blaze of the gospel; and the terrible power of that heathen
+despot would have been softened, without weakening
+it, into the consolidated colossal strength of an
+enlightened, Christian, peaceful empire. Christianity
+propagated by fire and sword consumes centuries, and
+wastes whole generations of men, in effecting a revolution,
+which they who go with the olive branch in their
+hand, and the gospel of peace in their hearts, require
+only a few years to accomplish. Witness the recent
+triumphs of a peaceful Christianity in the Sandwich
+Islands, as contrasted with the bloody and wasting
+Crusades of Spaniards in all portions of the new
+world.</p>
+
+<p>With the earliest dawn, the reveille was beaten in
+the Spanish camp, and all the forces were mustered and
+drawn up in the order of their march. Cortez, at the
+head of the cavalry, formed the advanced guard, followed
+immediately by the Castilian infantry in solid column.
+The artillery and baggage occupied the centre, while
+the dark files of the Tlascalan savages brought up the
+rear. The whole number was less than seven thousand,
+not more than three hundred and fifty of whom were
+Spaniards. Putting on their most imposing array, with
+gay flaunting banners, and the stirring notes of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+trumpet, swelling over lake and grove, and rolling away
+in distant echoes among the mountains, they issued
+forth from the city, just as the rising sun, surmounting
+the eastern cordillera, poured the golden stream of day
+over the beautiful valley, and lighted up a thousand
+resplendent fires among the gilded domes, and enameled
+temples of the capital, and the rich tiara of tributary
+cities and towns that encircled it. Moving rapidly
+forward, they soon entered upon the grand causeway,
+which, passing through the capital, spans the entire
+breadth of the Tezcucan lake, constituting then the
+main entrance, as its remains do now the principal
+southern avenue, to the city of Mexico. It was composed
+of immense stones, fashioned with geometrical
+precision, well laid in cement, and capable of withstanding
+for ages the play of the waters, and the ravages of
+time. It was of sufficient width, throughout its whole
+extent, to allow ten horsemen to ride abreast. It was
+interrupted in several places by well built draw bridges
+for the accommodation of the numerous boats, that
+carried on a brisk trade with the several towns on the
+lake, and for the better defence of the city against an
+invading foe. At the distance of about half a league
+from the capital, it was also traversed by a thick heavy
+wall of stone, about twelve feet high, surmounted and
+fortified by towers at each extremity. In the centre
+was a battlemented gateway, of sufficient strength to
+resist any force that could be brought against it, by the
+rude enginery of native warfare. This was called the
+Fort of Xoloc.</p>
+
+<p>Here they were met by a very numerous and powerful
+body of Aztec nobles, splendidly arrayed in their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+gayest costume, who came to announce the approach of
+Montezuma, and again in his name to bid the strangers
+welcome to the capital. As each of the chiefs presented
+himself, in his turn, to Cortez, and made the customary
+formal salutation, a considerable time was consumed in
+the ceremony; which was somewhat more tedious than
+interesting to the hot spirited Spaniards.</p>
+
+<p>When this was over, they passed briskly on, and
+soon beheld the glittering retinue of the Emperor
+emerging from the principal gate of the city. The
+royal palanquin, blazing with burnished gold and precious
+stones, was borne on the shoulders of the principal
+nobles of the land, while crowds of others, of equal or
+inferior rank, thronged in obsequious attendance around.
+It was preceded by three officers, bearing golden wands.
+Over it was a canopy of gaudy feather-work, powdered
+with jewels, and fringed with silver, resting on four
+richly carved and inlaid pillars, and supported by four
+nobles of the same rank with the bearers. These were
+all bare-footed, and walked with a slow measured pace,
+as conscious of the majesty of their burden, and with
+eyes bent on the ground. Arrived within a convenient
+distance, the train halted, and Montezuma, alighting
+from his palanquin, came forward, leaning on the arms
+of his royal relatives, the lords of Tezcuco and Iztapalapan.
+As the monarch advanced, under the same
+gorgeous canopy which had before screened him from
+the public gaze, and the glare of the mid-day sun, the
+ground was covered with cotton tapestry, while all his
+subjects of high and low degree, who lined the sides of
+the causeway, bent their heads and fixed their eyes on
+the ground, as unworthy to look upon so much majesty.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+Some prostrated themselves on the ground before him,
+and all in that mighty throng were awed by his presence
+into a silence that was absolutely oppressive.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of Montezuma was in the highest
+degree interesting to the Spanish general and his followers.
+Flung over his shoulders was the <i>tilmatli</i>, or
+large square cloak, manufactured from the finest cotton,
+with the embroidered ends gathered in a knot round his
+neck. Under this was a tunic of green, embroidered
+with exquisite taste, extending almost to his knees, and
+confined at the waist, by a rich jeweled vest. His feet
+were protected by sandals of gold, bound with leathern
+thongs richly embossed with the same metal. The
+cloak, the tunic, and the sandals were profusely sprinkled
+with pearls and precious stones. On his head was
+a <i>panache</i> of plumes of the royal green, waving gracefully
+in the light breeze.</p>
+
+<p>He was then about forty years of age. His person
+was tall, slender, and well proportioned. His complexion
+was somewhat fairer than that of his race
+generally. His countenance was expressive of great
+benignity. His carriage was serious, dignified and
+even majestic, and, without the least tincture of haughtiness,
+or affectation of importance, he moved with the
+stately air of one born to command, and accustomed to
+the homage of all about him.</p>
+
+<p>The strangers halted, as the monarch drew near.
+Cortez, dismounting, threw his reins to a page, and,
+supported by a few of his principal cavaliers, advanced
+to meet him. What an interview! How full of thrilling
+interest to both parties! How painfully thrilling
+to Montezuma, who now saw before him, standing on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+the very threshold of his citadel, the all-conquering
+white man, whose history was so mysteriously blended
+with his own; whose coming and power had been
+foreshadowed for ages in the prophetic traditions of his
+country, confirmed again by his own most sacred
+oracles, and repeated by so many signs, and omens, and
+fearful prognostics, that he was compelled either to
+regard him as the heaven-sent representative of the
+ancient rightful lords of the soil, or to abandon his
+early and cherished faith, the religion of his fathers,
+and of the ancient race from which they sprung.</p>
+
+<p>Putting a royal restraint upon the feelings which
+almost overwhelmed him, the monarch received his
+guest with princely courtesy, expressing great pleasure
+in seeing him personally, and extending to him the
+hospitalities of his capital. The Castilian replied with
+expressions of the most profound respect, and with
+many and ample acknowledgments for the substantial
+proofs which the Emperor had already given of his
+more than royal munificence. He then hung on the
+neck of the king a sparkling chain of colored crystal, at
+the same time making a movement, as if he would
+embrace him. He was prevented, however, by the
+timely interference of two Aztec lords from thus profaning,
+before the assembled multitudes of his people,
+the sacred person of their master.</p>
+
+<p>After this formal introduction and interchange of
+civilities, Montezuma appointed his brother, the bold
+Cuitlahua, to conduct the Spaniards to their quarters in
+the city, and returned in the same princely state in
+which he came, amid the prostrate thousands of his
+subjects. Pondering deeply, as the train moved slowly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+on, upon the fearful crisis in his affairs which had now
+arrived, his ear was arrested by a faint low voice in the
+crowd, which he instantly recognized as Karee&rsquo;s, breathing
+out a plaintive wail, as if in soliloquy with her own
+soul, or in high communion with the spirits of the
+unseen world. The strain was wild and broken, but
+its tenor was deeply mournful and deprecatory. It
+concluded with these emphatic words&mdash;</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">The proud eagle may turn to his eyrie again,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But his pinions are clipped, and his foot feels the chain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He is monarch no more in his wide domain&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The falcon has come to his nest.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>With an air of bold and martial triumph, their colors
+flying, and music briskly playing, the Spaniards, with
+the singular trail of half savage Tlascalans, the deadly
+enemies of the Aztecs, made their entrance into the
+southern quarter of the renowned Tenochtitlan, and
+were escorted by the brave Cuitlahua, to the royal
+palace of Axayacatl, in the heart of the city, once the
+residence of Montezuma&rsquo;s father, and now appropriated
+to the accommodation of Cortez and his followers.</p>
+
+<p>As they marched through the crowded streets, new
+subjects of wonder and admiration greeted them on
+every side. The grandeur and extent of the city, the
+superior style of its architecture, the ample dimensions,
+immense strength, and costly ornaments of the numerous
+palaces, pyramids and temples, separated and
+surrounded by broad terraced gardens in the highest
+possible state of cultivation, and teeming with flowers
+of every hue and name&mdash;the lofty tapering sanctuaries,
+and altars blazing with inextinguishable fires,&mdash;and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+above all, the innumerable throngs of people who
+swarmed through the streets and canals, filling every
+door-way and window, and clustering on the flat roof
+of every building as they passed, filled them with
+mingled emotions of admiration, surprise and fear.</p>
+
+<p>The swarming myriads of the Aztecs were, on their
+part, no less interested and amazed at the spectacle
+presented by their strange visitors. An intense and
+all-absorbing curiosity pervaded the entire mass of the
+people. Nothing could surpass their wonder and
+admiration of the prancing steeds, or four legged and
+double-headed men, as to their simple view they seemed
+to be, the rider as he sat with ease in his saddle, appearing
+to be but a part of the animal on which he rode.
+The piercing tones of the loud mouthed trumpets,
+astonished and delighted them exceedingly. But the
+deep thunder of the artillery as it burst upon them amid
+volumes of sulphurous smoke and flame, and then rolled
+away in long reverberated echoes among the mountains,
+filled them with indescribable alarm, and made
+them feel that the all-destroying god of war was indeed
+among them in the guise of men.</p>
+
+<p>While these scenes were enacting in the city, the
+palace was shrouded in the deepest gloom. When the
+monarch arrayed himself, in the morning, to go forth to
+meet the strangers, several incidents occurred, which
+were deemed peculiarly ominous, confirming all the
+superstitious forebodings of the king, and tending to
+take away from the yet trusting hearts of his household,
+their last remaining hope. The imperial clasp,
+which bound his girdle in front, bearing as its device,
+richly engraven on the precious <i>chalchivitl</i>, the emblem
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+of despotic power, which was the eagle pouncing upon
+the ocelot&mdash;snapped in twain, scattering the fragments
+of the eagle&rsquo;s head upon the marble pavement. The
+principal jewel in the royal diadem was found loose,
+and trembling in its setting. But, more portentous
+than all to the mind of the devout Montezuma, the
+priest, who had charge of the great altar on the
+Teocalli of Huitzilopotchli, had been seized with convulsions
+during the preceding night, and fallen dead at
+his post. The perpetual fire had gone out, for want of
+a hand to replenish it, and when the morning sun shot
+his first beams upon that high altar, there was not a
+spark among the blackened embers, to answer his
+reviving glow.</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to shake off the influence of presages
+like these. From infancy, he had been taught
+to read in all such incidents, the shadowy revealings
+of the will of the gods, the dark lines of destiny foreshown
+to the faithful. The soul of Montezuma was
+oppressed almost to sinking. But he roused himself to
+his task, and went forth, feeling, as he went, that the
+ground trembled beneath his feet, while an untimely
+night gathered at noon-day over the sky.</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p>Among the noble princes who graced the court of
+Montezuma, there was no one of a nobler bearing, or a
+loftier heart, than his nephew Guatimozin, the favored
+lover of Tecuichpo. Unlike her disappointed suitor,
+the Prince of Tezcuco, he had uniformly and powerfully
+opposed the timid policy of the king, and urged,
+with Cuitlahua, a bold and unyielding resistance to the
+encroachments of the intruding Spaniards. His reluctance
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+to their admission to the capital was so great, that
+he refused to witness the humiliating spectacle; preferring
+to shut himself up in the palace, and sustain, if he
+could, the fainting courage of the princess, and her
+mother. All that could be done by eloquence, inspired
+by patriotic zeal and inflamed by a pure and refined
+love, was attempted by the accomplished youth, till,
+excited and inflamed by his own efforts to comfort and
+persuade others, and nerved to higher resolves, by a
+new contemplation of the inestimable heart-treasures,
+which were staked upon the issue, a new hope seemed
+to dawn upon the clouded horizon of their destiny.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My fair princess,&rdquo; cried the impassioned lover, &ldquo;it
+shall not be. These wide and glorious realms, teeming
+with untold thousands of brave and patriotic hearts,
+ready and able to defend our altars and our hearths,
+shall never pass away to a mere handful of pale-faced
+invaders. They <i>must</i>, they <i>shall</i> be driven back. Or,
+if our gods have utterly deserted us&mdash;if the time has
+indeed come, when the power and glory of the Aztec is
+to pass away for ever, let the Aztec, to a man, pass
+away with it. Let us perish together by our altars,
+and leave to the rapacious intruder a ravaged and
+depopulated country. Let not one remain to grace
+his triumph, or bow his neck to the ignominious
+yoke.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, my sweet cousin,&rdquo; she replied, with a tone
+and look of indescribable tenderness, &ldquo;we will indeed
+die together, if need be, but let us first see if we cannot
+live together.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Live?&rdquo; exclaimed Guatimozin. &ldquo;Oh! Tecuichpo,
+what would I not attempt, what would I not sacrifice,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>
+to the hope of living, if I might share that life with
+you. But my country! my allegiance! how can I
+sacrifice that which is not my own?&mdash;that inheritance
+which was all my birth-right, and which, as it preceded,
+must necessarily be paramount to, all the other
+relations of life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But, my father! dear Guatimozin! must he not be
+obeyed?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, and he shall be. But he <i>must</i> be persuaded,
+even at this late hour, to dismiss the strangers, and
+banish them for ever from his domains. He has no
+right to yield it up. It belongs to his subjects no less
+than to him. He belongs to them, by the same sacred
+bond that binds them all to him. He may not sacrifice
+them to a scruple, which has in it more of superstition
+than of religion. I must go to the Temple of Cholula,
+and bring up the hoary old prophet of Quetzalcoatl,
+and see if he cannot move the too tender conscience of
+your father, and persuade him that his duty to his gods
+cannot, by any possibility, be made to conflict with his
+duty to his empire, and the mighty family of dependent
+children, whom the gods have committed to his
+care.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh! not now, Guatimozin, I pray you. Do not
+leave us at this terrible moment. Stay, and sustain
+with your courageous hopes the sad heart of my dear
+father, who is utterly overwhelmed with the dire omens
+of this dismal morning.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Omens! Oh! Tecuichpo, shall we not rather say
+that the gods have thus frowned upon our cowardly
+abandonment of their altars, than that they design, in
+these dark portents, to denounce an irreversible doom,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
+which our prayers cannot avert, nor our combined wisdom
+and courage prevent?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p>At this moment Montezuma returned. But the deep
+distress depicted in his countenance, and the air of
+stern reserve which he assumed in the presence of
+those whose counsels would tend to shake his resolve,
+effectually prevented Guatimozin from pursuing, at that
+moment, the object nearest his heart. He retired into
+the garden, where he was soon joined by the fair princess,
+who wished to divert him from his purposed
+visit to Cholula, knowing full well it would be a fruitless
+mission.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But why, my brave cousin, may not my father be
+right, in feeling that these strangers are sent to us from
+the gods? And if from the gods, then surely for our
+good; for the gods are all beneficence, and can only
+intend the well-being of their children, in all the
+changes that befal us here. Perhaps these strangers
+will teach us more of the beings whom we worship,
+and direct us how we may serve them better than
+we now do, and so partake more largely of their
+favor.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! my beloved, how can we hope that they
+who come to destroy, whose only god is gold&mdash;to the
+possession of which they are ready to sacrifice life,
+love, honor, every thing&mdash;how can we hope that they
+will teach us any thing better or higher than we learn
+from the ancient oracles of our faith, and the holy
+priesthood of our religion? No, it cannot be. Their
+pathway is drenched in blood, and so it will be, till the
+throne, and he who honors it, are laid in dust at their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+feet, and you and I, and all the myriads of our people,
+have become their abject slaves.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Say not so, I beseech you, dear Guatimozin.
+Where my father leads, I must follow, and hope for
+the best. And you must follow too, for I cannot go
+without you. Here, take this rose, and wear it as a
+pledge to me, over this sparkling fountain, that you
+will no more hazard the imperial displeasure, and the
+anger of the gods, by your bold and rash resistance of
+the known decrees of fate. And I will weave a chaplet
+of the same, to lay upon the altar, to propitiate for
+us all the favor of heaven.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>There was too much real chivalry in the heart of
+Guatimozin, to resist the earnest love and eloquent
+persuasion of his lady-love. He kissed her fair cheek
+in token of submission to her sway, and then led her to
+the palace, to learn if any thing new had transpired to
+encourage his hope that his wishes would yet be realized,
+in the exclusion of the Spaniards from the city.
+As they passed along, they heard Karee-o-thán, the garrulous
+pet of the Princess, seemingly soliloquising
+among the branches of the flowering orange that hung
+over her favorite arbor. They paused a moment, but
+could gather nothing from his chatterings but &ldquo;Brave
+Guatimozin! noble Guatimozin! all is yours.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;An omen! my sweet cousin, a genuine emphatic
+omen! Even Karee-o-thán encourages me in my treason.
+I wish I knew how she would respond to the
+name of this redoubtable Cortez. Pray ask her,
+Tecuichpo, what she thinks of the Spaniard.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fear you not to trifle thus?&rdquo; asked Tecuichpo.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fear not, brave Guatimozin!&rdquo; responded the parrot.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+&ldquo;There, I have it again, my love; all she says is
+against you. And what do you say of Malinché, pretty
+Karee-o-thán?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Poor Malinché! brave Guatimozin.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Bravo!&rdquo; exclaimed the Prince, &ldquo;the bird is as
+good as an omen, and I&rdquo;&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, Karee appeared, and coming towards
+them in great haste and trepidation, informed
+them that the Spaniards had already reached their
+quarters in the old palace, and that Montezuma had
+gone thither, in royal state, to receive them.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And what think you of all these things, my fairy
+queen,&rdquo; asked Guatimozin, playfully.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial house of Tenochtitlan!&rdquo;
+energetically replied Karee,&mdash;&ldquo;its glory is
+departed for ever,&mdash;its crown has fallen from the head
+of the great Montezuma, and there is none able to wear
+it, or to redeem it from the hand of the spoiler. Thou,
+most noble Prince, wilt do all that mortal courage and
+prowess can do, to rescue it from desecration, and to
+protect the house of Montezuma from the cruel fate to
+which he has delivered it up; but it will be all in vain.
+<i>He</i> must perish by an ignominious death. <i>They</i> must
+pass under the yoke of the strangers, and thou, too,
+after all thy noble struggles and sacrifices, must perish
+miserably under their cruel and implacable rapacity.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>This was too much for Tecuichpo. She looked upon
+Karee as an inspired prophetess, and had always found
+it exceedingly difficult to sustain the filial confidence
+which sanctified every act and every purpose of her
+royal father, when the powerful incantations of Karee
+were directed against them. It was a continual struggle
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+between an affectionate superstition, and filial love.
+But that first, and holiest, and strongest instinct of her
+heart prevailed, and she clung the more warmly to her
+father, when she found that every thing else was
+against him. But now the shaft had pierced her at
+another and an unguarded point. Her spirit fainted
+within her. She swooned in the arms of Guatimozin,
+and was borne to her apartment in a state of insensibility,
+where, under the kind and skilful nursing of
+Karee, and the affectionate assurances of Guatimozin,
+she was soon restored to health, and her accustomed
+cheerfulness. But these ceaseless agitations, these
+painful alternations of hope and fear, were slowly
+wearing upon her gentle spirit, and undermining a
+frame so delicately sensitive, that, like the aspen,</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;It trembled when the sleeping breeze<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But dreamed of waking.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA&mdash;THE ROYAL BANQUET&mdash;THE
+REQUITAL&mdash;THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS
+OWN PALACE.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Was that thunder?&rdquo;<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Those splendid halls resound with revelry,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And song, and dance lead on the tardy dawn.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">From the hall of his fathers in anguish he fled,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor again will its marble re-echo his tread.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Montezuma was always and every where munificent.
+When he had, though reluctantly, admitted the strangers
+into his capital, he prepared to give them a royally
+hospitable entertainment. Partly by way of triumph
+in the success of their movements hitherto, and partly
+by way of amusing, and at the same time overawing
+their entertainers, the Spaniards, the day after their
+arrival in the city, made a grand military display in
+their quarters, and in the neighboring streets. They
+exercised their prancing steeds in all the feats of horsemanship,
+racing, leaping, and careering, in all the wild
+majesty of the trained charger, under the three fold discipline
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
+of bit and spur, and cheering shout. They
+rushed upon each other in the mock warfare of the
+tournament, with clashing sword and glancing spear,
+and then, discharging their carbines in the air, separated
+amid clouds of dust and smoke, as if driven asunder
+by the bolts of heaven in their own hands. The
+astonished natives, accustomed only to the simple
+weapons of primitive warfare, looked on with undisguised
+admiration, not unmixed with fear. The strange
+beings before them, wielding such unwonted powers,
+seemed indeed to have descended upon earth from some
+higher sphere, and to partake of that mysterious and
+fearful character, which they had been wont to ascribe
+to inhabitants of the spiritual world. But when, in
+closing off the day&rsquo;s entertainment, they brought out the
+loud-mouthed artillery, and shook the very foundations
+of the city with their oft-repeated thunders, the spirit
+of the Aztec sunk within him, and he felt, as he retired
+to his dwelling, that it was for no good end, that men of
+such power, having such fearful engines at their command,
+had been permitted to fix their quarters in one
+of the fortresses of Tenochtitlan.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; said an ancient Cacique from the northern
+frontier, &ldquo;we are fallen upon evil times. Our enemies
+are even now in the citadel&mdash;enemies whom we know
+not, whose mode of warfare we do not understand,
+whose weapons defy alike our powers of imitation and
+resistance. Let us abandon the field, and retire to the
+far north, whence our fathers came, and rear a new empire
+amid the impregnable fastnesses of the mountains.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who talks of abandoning the field to the enemy?&rdquo;
+interrupted Guatimozin,&mdash;&ldquo;Let no Aztec harbor so base
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+a thought. Rather let us stand by our altars and die,
+if die we must.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Right,&rdquo; cried the youthful prince Axayatl, from
+the southern slope of the Sierra, &ldquo;why should the all-conquering
+Aztec tremble at this display of the mysterious
+strangers? Are not the millions of Anahuac a
+match for a few hundred of their enemies, in whatever
+form they come? Be they gods, or be they demons,
+they belong not to this soil, nor this soil to them, and,
+by all our altars and all our gods, they must retire or
+perish, though we, and our wives, and our children
+perish with them.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Give us your hand, brave Axayatl,&rdquo; exclaimed
+Cuitlahua and Guatimozin, at the same instant, &ldquo;be
+that our vow in life and in death, and wo to the base
+Aztec, that abandons the standard of Montezuma, or
+whispers of submission to the haughty stranger.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Thus were the councils of the people divided between
+a timid superstition, and a bold uncompromising patriotism.
+There wanted not the material, if well directed,
+to annihilate, at a blow, the hopes of the daring invaders.
+The arm of the nation was strong and sinewy,
+but &ldquo;the head was sick, and the heart faint.&rdquo; The
+Emperor, the hitherto proud and self-sufficient Montezuma,&mdash;</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Like a struck eagle fainting in his nest,<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>had cowered to a phantom of his own diseased imagination,
+and weakly consented to regard <i>them</i> as gods,
+whose passions, appetites and vices proved them to be
+men, and whose diminished numbers, after every battle
+they had fought, showed they were of mortal mould.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+On the following day, a magnificent banquet was
+prepared for Cortez, and his officers, in the imperial
+palace. It was graced by the presence of all the
+nobility of Azteca, with all the pride and beauty of their
+household divinities&mdash;for, among this refined people,
+the wife and the daughter held her appropriate rank,
+and woman exercised all the influence, which, among
+(so called) civilized nations, Christianity alone has
+assigned her. Every apartment of that spacious and
+magnificent pile blazed with the light of odoriferous
+torches, which sent up their clouds of incense from
+hundreds of gold and silver stands, elaborately carved
+and embossed in every form that fancy could suggest,
+or ingenuity invent. Flowers of every hue and name
+were profusely distributed through the rooms, clustered
+in beautiful vases, or hung in gorgeous festoons and
+luxurious chaplets from the walls. The costume of the
+monarch and his court was as rich and gorgeous, as
+the rare and variegated <i>plumagé</i>, with a lavish use of
+gold and gems, could make it. The women were as
+splendidly apparelled as the men. Many of them were
+extremely beautiful. Some were distinguished for
+their easy refinement of manners, which charmed, no
+less than it astonished, the Castilian knights, who had
+been accustomed to suppose that nothing so beautiful,
+or refined, could be found without the borders of Spain.</p>
+
+<p>By special command of the Emperor, all his nobles
+were present at this festival, so that Guatimozin, contrary
+to his own will and purpose, was brought into
+contact with Cortez, and his steel-clad cavaliers.
+Tecuichpo also was there, in all her maiden loveliness,
+outshining all the stars of that splendid galaxy. And
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+yet she was as a star in eclipse, for her soul was
+oppressed with those mysterious shadows that hung
+over her destiny and that of her father, as connected
+with the coming of these white men. Karee was there
+in attendance upon her mistress, as she still delighted
+to call her; but her attention was more absorbed by the
+strangers than by Tecuichpo. She watched every
+movement, and scanned every countenance with a scrutiny
+that did not escape their observation, in order to
+read, as well as she could, the character of each. Her
+scrutiny satisfied herself, and she whispered in the ear
+of the Princess, that &ldquo;if these were gods, they came
+from the dark, and not from the sunny side of heaven.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was a rare spectacle, which this royal banquet
+presented. The contrast between the steel-clad cavaliers
+of Castile, whose burnished armor blazed and
+glittered in the brilliant torch-light, and rung under
+their heavy martial tramp upon the marble floor,
+and the comparatively fairy figures of the gaudily
+apparelled Aztecs, was as strong as could possibly be
+presented in a scene like this. The costumes and customs
+of each were matter of wonder and admiration to
+the other. The Aztec trembled at the mysterious
+power, the incomprehensible weapons, of the white
+man. The Castilian, if he did not tremble, fully appreciated
+the danger of a little band, separated and scattered
+among a festive throng of warlike men, amid the
+interminable labyrinths of the imperial palace, and
+under the eye of a monarch whose word was absolute
+law to all the myriads of his people.</p>
+
+<p>But, whatever was passing in the inner man, the
+Aztec and the Castilian, alike, appeared perfectly at
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+ease, each abandoning himself to the festivities of the
+occasion, as if each, unannoyed by the presence of a
+stranger, were revelling in the security of his own
+castle, and celebrating some time-honored festival of his
+own people.</p>
+
+<p>With a benign dignity and grace, the Queen, and her
+suite of high-born ladies, received the homage of the
+cavaliers, after they had been presented to the Emperor.
+She was struck with admiration at the graceful and
+dignified bearing of the Castilian, which, while it
+showed all the deference and respect due to her sex
+and her rank, had nothing in it, of that abject servility,
+which placed an impassable barrier between the Aztec
+noble and his monarch, and made them appear to
+belong to distinct races of being. To the chivalrous,
+impassioned Castilian, accustomed to worship woman,
+and pay an almost divine homage to beauty, in the
+courtly halls and sunny bowers of Spain, the scene presented
+a perfect constellation of grace and loveliness.
+The flashing eye of the Aztec maiden, as lustrous and
+eloquent as any in the gardens of Hesperides; the jetty
+tresses, glittering with gems and pearls, or chastely
+decorated with natural flowers; the easy grace of the
+loose flowing robe, revealing the full rich bust and the
+rounded limb, in its fairest proportions, won the instant
+admiration of every mailed knight, and brought again
+to his lips his oft-repeated vows of love and devotion.</p>
+
+<p>But of little avail were honied lips and eloquent
+tongues to the gallant cavaliers at that magic fęte.
+They formed no medium of communion with the bright
+spirits, and gay hearts around them. The doom of
+Babel was on them all, and there was no interpreter.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>
+Nothing daunted by obstacles seemingly insurmountable,
+the gay Spaniards resolved, that, where bright
+eyes were to be gazed on, and sweet smiles won from
+the ranks of youth and beauty, they would make a way
+for themselves. The first ceremonies of presentation
+over, each knight addressed himself to some chosen
+fair one, and by sign and gesture, and speaking look,
+and smile of eloquent flattery, commenced a spirited
+pantomimic attack, to the infinite amusement of all the
+gay throng around. It was met with wonderful spirit,
+and ready ingenuity, by the Aztec maidens, to whom
+the dialect of signs, and the language of hieroglyphics
+was perfectly familiar; that being the only written language
+of all the nations of Anahuac.</p>
+
+<p>The spirit and interest of the scene that followed surpasses
+all attempt at description. Abandoned to the
+gaiety of the hour, the Spaniards forgot alike their
+schemes of ambition and aggrandisement, and the
+peculiar perils which surrounded them; while the
+Aztec revellers dismissed, for the moment, both their
+superstitious dread of the white man, and their patriotic
+disgust at his daring pretensions to universal
+dominion.</p>
+
+<p>The noble Sandoval, attracted by the mild beaming
+eye, and sweet smile of the Princess Tecuichpo, with a
+profound obeisance, laid his plumed helmet at her feet,
+and choosing, from a vase at her side, a half blown
+rose, which he gracefully twined with a sprig of amaranth,
+he first pressed it to his own heart and lips, and
+then placed it among the glittering gems upon her
+bosom. With queenly courtesy and grace, the fair
+princess received this gallant token, and instantly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>
+responded to it, by stooping down, and weaving among
+the plumes, so courteously laid at her feet, another, of
+such rare beauty and brilliancy of hue, that it quite
+eclipsed the gayest feather in the hall.</p>
+
+<p>Cortez and Alvarado were, each in his turn, struck
+with the deep, dark, piercing eye of Karee, and each
+put forth his best endeavor to win from her a smile.
+But it was so coldly given, and accompanied with a
+look so deep and searching, that the general quailed
+before it, as he had never done before to mortal eye.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly recovering himself, he put on such a smile
+of blended grace and dignity, as melted at once the icy
+reserve of the maiden, and opened the way for a long
+and animated parley. It was full of sparkles and
+power, but could not be translated into any living
+tongue, without losing all its force and brilliancy.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, an animated discussion had arisen between
+Guatimozin and the Prince of Tezcuco, touching
+the propriety of receiving gifts from the strangers, or, in
+any way, acknowledging their claims as friends. The
+showy trinket, which Cacama had received from Cortez
+at Ajotzinco, and which he displayed on his person
+at this festival, gave rise to the dispute.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is wrong,&rdquo; urged Guatimozin, &ldquo;wrong to our
+country and wrong to ourselves. Let them gain what
+they can from the exuberant munificence of the Emperor,
+and let them stay in peace, while he permits and
+requires it,&mdash;but let us not weaken our hands, by
+touching their gifts, or accepting their tokens. When
+they depart, let them not boast that they have left any
+remembrancer behind them, or laid claims upon our
+hands, by their gifts, which we have freely accepted.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+&ldquo;Surely, my dear cousin,&rdquo; said the Princess, &ldquo;you
+make too much of so small a matter. They are but
+common courtesies, and too trifling for such grave consideration
+and argument.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not so, believe me, my fair cousin. They take us
+on the weak side of the heart&mdash;they blind our eyes to
+our true relations, unnerve our arms, and blunt our
+weapons of defence.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What then would you do,&rdquo; asked Cacama, as if
+more than half persuaded that Guatimozin was right in
+his views of duty.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do,&rdquo; replied the Prince, with startling energy of
+tone and manner, &ldquo;I would fling it at his feet, or trample
+it under my own, before his eyes, and show him that
+I scorn him and his gifts alike.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Tecuichpo turned suddenly round at this remark, as
+if fearing the stranger would understand it, and in her
+agitation, dropped a magnificent jewel from her dress,
+and with it the rose so gallantly presented by Sandoval.
+A dozen princes and cavaliers sprang, at the same
+instant, to replace the precious toy. Pedro Orteguilla,
+the beautiful young page of Cortez, was so fortunate as
+to recover it. Doffing his cap, and kneeling gracefully
+at her feet, he presented it to the Princess with an air of
+admiring deference, and, by signs, solicited the honor
+of replacing it upon her arm.</p>
+
+<p>This little incident put an end to the discussion,
+which was growing too warm for the occasion, and the
+festivities went on as gaily as before.</p>
+
+<p>A group of sprightly, mischief loving girls, who had
+clustered round the cool basin of a sparkling <i>jet d&rsquo; eau</i>,
+and were amusing themselves by free and fearless
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+comments upon the appearance and manners of the
+strangers, arrested the eye of the impulsive, humor
+loving Alvarado, and drew him to solicit a share in
+their sport; for, in beating a retreat from the eagle
+glance of Karee, he had strolled into an illuminated
+arbor, in one of the open courts of the palace. With
+hand, and eye, and lip, now appealing in emphatic
+gesture to the stars above, and now, with ready tact
+and admirable sagacity distributing the flowers among
+the gay naiads of the fountain, he soon ingratiated
+himself into their favor, and engaged them in a brilliant
+and animated pantomime, which, if it wanted the eloquence
+of words, found ample compensation for that
+defect, in the merry shout and ringing laugh, that
+accompanied each labored attempt to utter, or interpret,
+a sentiment. The gallant cavalier soon found himself
+loaded with a profusion of floral favors. For every
+flower he bestowed upon the fair nymphs, he received
+an appropriate return, till his hands were full, and he
+found it necessary to arrange them upon his person.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the whole group, as by one impulse of
+artistic taste, seized the idea, and resolved to array him
+as a flower-god. The magnificent cactus flashed
+among the plumes of his helmet&mdash;a pair of splendid
+magnolias, tastefully adjusted on either shoulder, supplied
+the place of the silver epaulette&mdash;a rich cluster
+of unfading <i>forget-me-not</i>, covered and eclipsed the
+gilded star upon his breastplate; while every joint in
+his armor, and every loop and button of his doublet,
+was set with its appropriate garden gem. Long
+wreaths of a blossoming vine were dexterously intertwined
+with flowers of every brilliant hue, and hung
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+like a gorgeous sash over his right shoulder, its gay
+streamers waving in the gentle breeze, or winding themselves
+about the scabbard of his sword. His hands
+were gloved with a moss of the most delicate green
+velvet, dotted with golden stars, and his boots transformed
+into buskins of the most approved classic pattern,
+by alternate bands of jessamine and scarlet lobelia,
+crossed and plaided with strings of anemone and hyacinth.</p>
+
+<p>Thus arrayed, his face skilfully masked with the
+flowering wax-plant despoiled of its leaves, he was
+conducted into the presence of the Queen, under a
+continually increasing escort of bright girls and fair
+dames, where, with due reverence to her majesty, and
+with the gallantry becoming a true knight, he begged,
+by significant looks and signs, to be permitted to lay all
+his bright honors at the feet of the lovely Tecuichpo.</p>
+
+<p>The signal being given at this moment, he offered
+his arm to the Princess, and led the way into the banqueting
+hall, where the luxuries of all the climes of
+earth seemed to be spread out in endless profusion, and
+where, the native song of the Aztec alternating with the
+martial strains of the Castilian band, the night wore
+away with feasting and revelry.</p>
+
+<p>The day had almost dawned, when the strangers,
+laden with presents of inestimable value, returned to
+their quarters, burdened with the weight of their treasures,
+and deeply impressed with the more than regal
+munificence of their host, and the unimagined loveliness
+and grace of the fair beings, who gave life and
+beauty to his magnificent court.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If these white gods can be bought, dear father,&rdquo; the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+Princess naively remarked, as they took their leave,
+&ldquo;you have surely paid a price worthy of the ransom of
+the proudest monarch on earth.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The more you bribe them,&rdquo; interrupted Guatimozin,
+&ldquo;the less you bind them. They have not the soul of
+an Aztec, who scorns to receive a favor that does not
+pledge his heart in return. The Spaniard&rsquo;s heart has
+nothing to do with his hand. He takes your gift, only
+to be the better able to plot and compass your ruin.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor sighed, as he listened to a remark, to
+which he could make no reply. It brought again
+before his agitated mind, the only course he could
+safely adopt in the present crisis of his affairs. In
+vain did his paternal heart second the suggestion, and
+his kingly pride urge its immediate adoption. He had
+not the moral courage to execute his own resolve.
+Superstition had wholly unmanned him.</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p>The victorious Spaniard had now reached the goal
+he had so long aimed at. But his position was far
+from agreeable, or promising. With a small force, he
+was completely shut up in the heart of an immense and
+powerful empire, teeming with millions of warriors,
+who were deemed terrible and invincible by those
+whom he had found so formidable, and who might, at
+a word or a look from their sovereign, either rush in
+and overwhelm him at once, or withhold all supplies,
+and leave them to perish of famine in their quarters.</p>
+
+<p>Cortez realized the critical position into which he
+was drawn, and resolved immediately on one of his bold
+measures, to turn it to his own advantage. Soliciting
+an interview with Montezuma, in which he was accompanied
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+by some of his bravest cavaliers, he informed
+the monarch, that it was not an idle curiosity that had
+drawn him to encounter the perils, and undergo the
+toils, of the adventure that had brought him to the
+capital. He came, as the accredited ambassador of the
+mighty monarch of Castile, to whom many kings and
+many broad lands were tributary, and who was the
+rightful lord of all the territories on which his armies
+had set their foot. And the object of the present interview
+was, to demand of the king an acknowledgment
+of his allegiance to his royal master, and his consent to
+pay an annual tribute for his crown.</p>
+
+<p>The mind of the superstitious Montezuma had long
+been preparing for this acknowledgment. With little
+apparent constraint, therefore, he responded to this
+haughty demand&mdash;that the oracles of his religion had
+long ago instructed him, that the territories over which
+he reigned belonged to a race of white men, who had
+removed to other lands beyond the rising sun, but
+would return, in process of time, invested with more
+than mortal power, to claim their original inheritance.
+For his part, he was fully convinced that that time had
+now arrived&mdash;that the Spaniards were the men of destiny
+foretold by a long line of presages and traditions,
+and that he was fully prepared to acknowledge the
+king of Castile as his lord, and pay allegiance to him
+as such.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And recognize me,&rdquo; interposed the wily Castilian,
+&ldquo;as his accredited ambassador, and representative?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The monarch assented.</p>
+
+<p>The Aztec nobles, who surrounded the throne, were
+thunderstruck at the humble tone, and humiliating
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>
+attitude assumed by their once proud and imperious
+lord. But they were accustomed to unqualified and
+unquestioning submission to the word of the king.
+They accordingly, at his command, gave a full assent
+to all that he had said, and agreed to recognize Cortez
+as the representative of their new sovereign. Guatimozin
+left the hall in disgust, and hastened to Iztapalapan,
+to report the progress of their humiliation to
+Cuitlahua.</p>
+
+<p>Even with this arrangement, which had been accomplished
+so much more easily than he had expected,
+Cortez was by no means satisfied. He was still in the
+power of the Mexican, and could never feel safe in the
+position he held, without some substantial pledge, that
+the peace of the city would be preserved, and the
+ground he had already secured be left to him in undisturbed
+possession. To secure this, he conceived and
+executed a bolder and more audacious measure than
+that which we have just related. Soliciting another
+and a private interview with the Emperor, and directing
+his best and bravest cavaliers, with some of their
+chosen men, to keep near and about the palace, and be
+in readiness to sustain and defend him, if any resistance
+or outbreak should follow his daring attempt, he
+entered the royal presence. As the Spaniards always
+carried their arms, it excited no suspicion, to see them
+on this occasion fully equipped.</p>
+
+<p>This disposition of his men and officers being effected,
+the bold cavalier addressed himself, in a stern voice, to
+the Emperor, charging him with secretly designing the
+destruction of his guests, and alleging, in support of the
+charge, some of the incidents already related, and others
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+of more recent occurrence, in which some of the vassals
+of Montezuma had surprised and slain a party of
+Spaniards, who relied upon their hospitality. These
+were artfully woven into a tale of imaginary wrongs,
+for which he boldly pretended to claim instant redress,
+or rather security against their repetition.</p>
+
+<p>The monarch was thunderstruck at the charge,
+while he, as well as the few attendants that remained
+near his person, with difficulty restrained the expression
+of their indignation at the disrespectful tone of the
+address, so unlike that to which the royal ears were
+accustomed. He peremptorily denied the charge. But
+Cortez was not to be foiled thus. He knew that he had
+now gone too far to retract, and that the change of feeling
+now produced would ensure his speedy destruction,
+if he failed of securing the object of the present interview.
+He, therefore, repeated the charge, assuring the
+monarch that such was the belief of all his men, and
+that nothing would convince them of his innocence, or
+make them willing to rest quietly in the capital, but the
+consent of the king to transfer his residence, for a time,
+to their quarters. And this he boldly demanded of him,
+in the name of their common sovereign, the great king
+of Castile, and he could not refuse obedience, without
+breaking allegiance with him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When was it ever known,&rdquo; exclaimed the astonished
+and offended king, &ldquo;that the monarch of a great
+people voluntarily left his own palace, to become a
+prisoner in the camp of a foreign nation. If I should
+consent to such indignity, my own subjects would every
+where cry out against it, and a storm would be raised,
+which could only be hushed when the last Spaniard
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+was sacrificed to the outraged honor of their king, and
+the wrath of their offended gods.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, my imperial lord,&rdquo; replied the politic and
+smooth tongued knight, &ldquo;your majesty entirely misapprehends
+my meaning, and the position in which I
+would place you. I only propose a temporary removal
+from one of your royal palaces to another, a thing of
+frequent occurrence, and therefore not likely to excite
+remark among your people. You can bring all your
+household and your court with you, and have the same
+royal attendance, as you now do. This show of confidence
+and regard, on your part, will inspire my men
+with new confidence in your kind intentions, and give
+stability in the eyes of your own people, to the friendly
+relations existing between us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Montezuma still protested that it was unworthy the
+dignity and majesty of the sovereign lord of Anahuac,
+thus to submit his motions to the direction of strangers,
+as it was a daring presumption and impiety, on their
+part, to suggest it. He therefore, peremptorily declined
+the proposal, and requested the general to say no more
+about it, if he would retain the position he now held in
+his regard, and that of his people.</p>
+
+<p>Upon this, the iron-souled Castilian assumed a loftier
+aspect, and a bolder tone, and abruptly assured the
+monarch that it was a point he was not at liberty to
+dispense with. If he would not remove peaceably and
+quietly to the Spanish quarters, he must be carried
+there forcibly, though it should involve a struggle that
+should drench the palace in blood, and sacrifice the life
+of every man in his army.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, the spirit of the monarch was gone. His
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
+old dread of the white man revived in all its power.
+He felt himself compelled by his destiny, to do as he
+was required. Signifying his assent to the haughty
+demand of the stranger, he ordered his nobles to make
+ready his palanquin, that he might go in royal state,
+and not appear in the eyes of his subjects, as he passed
+along, as a prisoner in his own capital.</p>
+
+<p>With looks of astonishment, not unmingled with
+indignation, the proud chiefs obeyed, marching under
+their royal burden, with solemn pace and downcast
+looks, in utter silence, but nursing in their hearts an
+implacable hatred against the insulting Castilians, and
+a burning rage, which was yet to burst upon their
+devoted heads in an overwhelming storm of wrath. As
+they passed the threshold of the imperial palace, which
+their once proud but now humbled lord was never to
+recross, they heaved a deep sigh, as if the dark shadows
+of the future already hung frowningly over their
+heads. It was responded to by a deep, mysterious,
+sepulchral groan, which seemed to issue from the very
+heart of the earth, while, at the same instant, a royal
+eagle, sailing proudly over the capital, struck by an
+invisible leaden messenger from one of the sure-sighted
+marksmen in the Castilian camp, fluttered in his lofty
+flight, drooped his strong wing, and, with a terrible
+death shriek, the blood streaming freely from his
+wound, fell into the court, at the very feet of the royal
+procession.</p>
+
+<p>The fate of Montezuma, and of his empire, was now
+sealed. He had, with his own hand, taken the crown
+from his head, and laid it at the feet of the Spaniard.
+And, more than all, he had humbled himself in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+eyes of his own subjects, and diminished, though few
+were hardy enough to avow it, the profound respect and
+reverence with which they were accustomed to regard
+him. To his own immediate household, he had represented
+this removal as a voluntary act of courtesy, on
+his part, designed to compliment the strangers, by
+becoming, for a time, their guest, and to inspire them,
+by his personal presence among them, with confidence
+in his professions of regard, as well as to show his own
+people how strong the bond of amity was between
+them. At the same time, however, that he assured
+them of his personal safety and his confidence that
+all would end well, he recommended his wives
+and children to leave him, for the present, and take
+up their abode in his rural mountain palace at Chapoltepec.</p>
+
+<p>The timid and sensitive Tecuichpo was thrown into
+the deepest distress by this suggestion. She could not
+doubt the repeated assurances of her royal father, and
+yet she could not divest herself of the sad impression
+that his liberty, and perhaps his life, was in danger, in
+thus separating himself from the strong arms and
+devoted hearts of his own people, his natural protectors,
+and throwing himself, unarmed, into the garrison of
+the fearful strangers. What security could she have
+that he would ever return, or that violence would not
+be offered to his sacred person by those who looked
+upon him only as the vassal of their own sovereign, to
+be used for his purposes and theirs, as their own selfishness
+and rapacity might dictate.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Leave us not, my dear father,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;or
+at least compel not us to leave <i>you</i>. Rather in darkness
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+and in trouble than at any other time, would we
+stand at your side, to administer, as far as we may, to
+your comfort, and to share, and perhaps lighten, your
+sorrows.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, my beloved child,&rdquo; the grateful monarch
+calmly replied, &ldquo;I have no need, at this time, of your
+solace, or your counsel. I go among friends, who
+respect my person and my authority, and who well
+know that their own safety in Tenochtitlan, depends
+entirely upon retaining my friendship, which alone can
+shield them from being overwhelmed, and swept away
+like chaff, before the countless hosts of my warrior
+bands. Why then should I fear for myself. But for
+you, and your mother, and your sisters, the camp of the
+strangers is not a fitting place for you. They have
+customs of their own, and are slow to recognize the propriety
+of ours, deeming us, as they do, an inferior race
+of beings. They are bold and free in their manners,
+quite too much so for the refined delicacy of an Aztec
+maiden, or an Aztec matron, as you yourself both saw
+and felt, at the festival of their reception. How shall I
+expose you to the rude gaze of these foreign cavaliers,
+and perhaps to the rude speeches of their soldiers. No,
+my beloved, go to your retirement at Chapoltepec, and
+train the flowers there for my coming, which will be at
+the approaching festival of the new moon.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But will you certainly come to us then, my dear
+father? Karee says&rdquo;&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Trouble me not with the dreams of Karee, my
+sweet child. They are not always as loyal as they
+should be. I believe I am right in what I am now
+doing, and I cannot be diverted from it by the mystic
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>
+night visions of your favorite. Go, and the gods be
+with you.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he tore himself from her embrace, and
+returned to his own apartments to attire himself for the
+removal.</p>
+
+<p>The fiery, high spirited Guatimozin was so disgusted
+with this act of suicidal cowardice, on the part of his
+royal master, that he withdrew at once from the city,
+taking with him his servants and retainers, as well as
+his immense private treasures, and took up his abode at
+his country palace or castle, where he lived in all the
+pseudo-regal state and magnificence of a feudal baron,
+or a petty sovereign. Here he opened a correspondence
+with a large number of the principal nobles of the
+realm, who, like him, felt that the time had come to
+prepare for a terrible crisis. They concerted no measures,
+for they dared not move openly without the command
+or assent of their master; but they exchanged
+sentiments, and encouraged each other in their patriotic
+purpose, to defend their country from subjugation to a
+foreign foe, and their altars from desecration.</p>
+
+<p>Passing Chapoltepec on his way, the noble Prince
+sought an interview with his lovely mistress, to inform
+her that, while the pledge he had given, in accepting
+the proffered rose, over the sparkling fountain of
+Tenochtitlan, should be sacredly regarded, he must be
+allowed to see with his own eyes, when danger was
+near, and to raise his arm in her defence, and in that
+of his country, from whatever quarter the threatened
+danger might come. He found her, bathed in tears,
+wandering wildly up and down, amid the shade of the
+tall cypresses that overhang and almost bury that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>
+mountain retreat. Her raven hair had escaped from
+its pearl-studded band, and was flying loosely in the
+breeze; the wonted bloom was gone from her cheek,
+and the brilliant lustre of her dark flashing eye had
+given way to a sad and subdued expression, which
+was more in keeping with the uniform mildness and
+gentleness of her spirit. Separated from her adored
+parent, and banished from the city of her love and her
+pride, she began to feel more deeply than she had ever
+done, the terror of those dark omens which had clouded
+her destiny, and marked her out as the doomed Princess
+of Anahuac. While she could cling to her father,
+and feel that she was to share all that might befal him,
+and perhaps, by sharing it, extract some portion of the
+bitterness from the cup which he was compelled to
+drink, she was calm and hopeful. But now, the sheet-anchor
+of her soul was gone, and she was drifting, at
+the mercy of the waves, she knew not whither.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My sweet cousin,&rdquo; said Guatimozin gently, as he
+arrested her flying step, &ldquo;why this sudden abandonment
+to grief and despair. Dark as the clouds may be
+over our heads, all is not lost. Know you not, my
+love, that ten thousand times ten thousand brave
+hearts and strong arms are pledged, by every bond of
+loyalty and love, to rush to the rescue, the moment
+that any violence is offered to the sacred person of
+our lord. Be assured not a hair of his head shall be
+touched.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ah! my brave Guatimozin! I know full well your
+courage and your zeal. But of what avail to us will
+be the direst vengeance your arms can wreak on the
+strangers, after the violence is done, and the honored
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+head of my father&mdash;oh! that I should live to speak it!&mdash;laid
+low at their feet!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fear not, my beloved, they dare not, with all their
+boasted power, they dare not lay a rude hand upon that
+sacred person. They know, they feel, that they are
+treading on a mighty volcano, that may burst out
+at any moment, and overwhelm them in hopeless
+destruction. It is this sense of impending danger only
+that has induced them to invite the Emperor to their
+quarters, and so to urge their suit, that he could not,
+as their professed friend, deny it. While he is there,
+they will feel safe, for his hand alone can stay the pent
+up fires, that they break not forth at once. Fear not.
+I go to-night to Iztapalapan, to confer with your royal
+uncle, the intrepid Cuitlahua. The noble Cacama
+joins us there, convinced already that his was a mistaken
+policy, when he counselled your father to receive
+the strangers courteously, and treat them as friends.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And what can Cacama do?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is yet to be seen. He is convinced of his
+error, and is ready to atone for it with his life. With
+Cacama, with Cuitlahua, with a thousand more like
+them&mdash;chiefs who never feared danger, and never
+knew defeat&mdash;why should we despair, or even doubt?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But how know you, Guatimozin, that these Castilian
+strangers regard their own safety as any way
+involved in that of Montezuma?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I gathered it from the oracle, my love, and from
+omens which never deceive.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What oracle? What omens? I pray you explain?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The omens were their own troubled looks and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+clouded brows, while this strange negotiation was
+pending, and the guarded watchfulness, with which
+they now protect their guest, and prevent the intrusion
+upon his privacy of any considerable number of his
+friends, at the same time.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Prince Guatimozin, do I understand the import of
+those terrible words? Is my father already a prisoner
+in his own palace?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What else, my sweet cousin, seeing he cannot
+come forth, if he would, and we can only approach
+him by permission?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;O ye gods! has it come to this? Fly, Guatimozin.
+Fly to Iztapalapan. I release you from your pledge.
+Sound the alarm throughout the realm. And, if need
+be, <i>I</i> will arm, and with you to the rescue.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not so fast, brave princess; it is just this rashness
+that may endanger the precious head we would rescue.
+His life is safe at present; let us not put it to hazard,
+by moving too soon, or striking a useless blow.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But I see not yet, my dear cousin, how it is ascertained
+that my father is secure from further outrage.
+May it not be their policy to take away the head,
+hoping thus to dishearten and distract our people, and
+make them an easy prey to their victorious arms.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If so, they know not the spirit of the Aztec. To a
+man, throughout these broad realms, they would shed
+their last drop, to avenge the foul sacrilege, nor rest in
+their work of vengeance, till every altar in the land
+was drenched in the blood of the captive foe. But you
+forget that I have oracle as well as omen to sustain my
+faith.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What oracle has condescended, at last, to give us
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>
+light? I thought they had all been silent, not deigning,
+since the advent of these mysterious strangers, any
+response to our prayers.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Karee is never deaf, or silent, where the welfare of
+Tecuichpo is concerned.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Karee?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, love, Karee! I want no better or more trusty
+oracle. She has, you know, a sort of ubiquity. Nothing
+escapes her keen observation. Few mysteries
+are too deep for her sagacity to unravel. In her brief
+occasional encounters with the strangers, she has
+gathered the meaning of not a few of the words of their
+strange tongue. What she has once heard she never
+forgets. Presuming that no one could understand
+them, they have talked freely and boldly in her presence.
+And it is from her that I learn, that the Castilian
+general said to one of his officers, as he crossed
+the court yard, this morning&mdash;&lsquo;While we have the
+Emperor with us, we are safe. We must see to it, he
+does not escape.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Escape?&rdquo; shrieked the agitated Princess; &ldquo;then he
+is indeed a prisoner. But these white men are gods,
+are the gods treacherous?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The gods of the deep are all treachery, but not
+those of the blue fields and bright stars above us. But,
+be they gods from below, or gods from above, they are
+not the gods of Anahuac, nor shall they claim a foot of
+its soil, till it is drenched with the blood of the Aztec.
+Farewell. Fear not. I will yet see you return in
+triumph to the imperial halls of Tenochtitlan.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION&mdash;MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC
+NOBILITY&mdash;DEATH OF MONTEZUMA.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">And bloody treason triumphed.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i10">Feeling dies not by the knife;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That cuts at once and kills; its tortured strife<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is with distilled affliction, drop by drop<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oozing its bitterness. Our world is rife<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With grief and sorrow; all that we would prop,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or would be propped with, falls; where shall the ruin stop?<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Passing lightly over some of the subsequent incidents
+of this stirring period, we must hasten to the catastrophe
+of our long drawn tale.</p>
+
+<p>Secure in the possession of his royal prisoner, Cortez
+now thought he might safely leave the capital, for a
+while, and respond to a demand which pressed urgently
+upon him, to relieve his little colony at Vera Cruz,
+threatened with destruction, not by the natives, but a
+new band of adventurers from Spain, who had come to
+dispute the spoils with the conquerors. Leaving one
+of his principal officers in command, with a part of the
+forces, he placed himself at the head of the remainder,
+and marched quietly off on his new expedition.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+Alvarado was a brave knight, but of a rash and
+headlong disposition, and utterly destitute of that cool
+prudence and far-seeing sagacity which was requisite
+for so important a station. He soon involved himself
+in a most wicked and unjust quarrel with the Aztecs,
+which had well nigh overwhelmed him and his diminished
+band in utter ruin.</p>
+
+<p>Not long after the departure of Cortez, one of the great
+national festivals of the Aztecs occurred, at which the
+flower of the nobility, not of Tenochtitlan alone, but of
+all the neighboring cities and towns, were present. They
+came only to the peaceful performance of the wonted
+rites of their religion, and consequently came unarmed.
+Their numbers were very great. They were all apparelled
+in the richest costume of their country. Their
+snow white vestments, their splendid mantles of feather-work,
+powdered all over with jewels; their sandals of
+gold or silver, and their gaudy head-dresses of many-colored
+plumes, made an imposing and magnificent
+display, as they moved in solemn procession, to the
+simple music of their shells and horns, towards the
+court yard of the great Teocalli, where the festival was
+to be celebrated. The immense area was thronged
+with the gay multitude of worshippers, who, unsuspicious
+of treachery, gave themselves up to the wild
+dances and all the customary evolutions of Indian festivity.
+In the midst of their solemn sports, Alvarado,
+with his band of armed followers, rushed in, like so many
+tigers let loose upon their prey, and put them to an
+indiscriminate slaughter. Scarce one of that gay company
+escaped the ruthless massacre. The holy place
+was drenched with the best blood of Anahuac, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+mourning, desolation, and wo were carried into all the
+principal families in the land.</p>
+
+<p>It was a fearful stroke, and fearfully was it repaid
+upon the heads of the guilty murderers. On every side
+the cry of vengeance arose, and its hoarse murmurs
+came rolling in upon the capital, like the distant howlings
+of a gathering tempest. Myriads of outraged
+Aztecs, smarting and chafing under their wounds, and
+thirsting for a worthy revenge, thronged the avenues
+to the capital, and demanded the treacherous strangers
+to be offered in sacrifice to their offended gods. Guatimozin,
+and many other brave, powerful, fearless chiefs
+were there, eager to seize the opportunity to chastise
+the insolent intruder. Day after day, they stormed the
+quarters of the beleaguered foe, pouring in upon them
+vollies of arrows, darts and stones, that sorely discomfited,
+though it could not dislodge them. Every assailable
+point was so well guarded by those terrible engines
+of destruction, the fire-belching artillery, that the assailants,
+numerous as they were, and spurred on by an
+ungovernable rage, could make but little impression
+upon them. Nevertheless, they would inevitably have
+carried the defences, and swept away the little band of
+ruthless murderers, had not Montezuma interposed, and
+besought them, for his sake, to desist from their hostile
+attacks. From regard to his safety, they suspended
+their active operations, but did not relinquish their
+settled purpose of vengeance.</p>
+
+<p>One means of annoyance was left to them, which
+would soon have reduced the fortress to submission,
+had not an unexpected succor arrived. All supplies
+were cut off from the camp,&mdash;already famine began to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+stare them in the face, and relax the iron sinew and
+with it the iron will, of the haughty Castilian. They
+were beginning to be reduced to extremities. A few
+days more, and the undefended garrison would have
+fallen into the hands of those merciless avengers of
+blood, who would have doomed every individual to the
+sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>At this critical juncture, the all powerful, invincible
+Cortez returned, his forces greatly increased by the
+accession of the very band that had been sent against
+him&mdash;Narvaez, who had been commissioned to displace
+him, having become his friend, and arrayed himself,
+with his whole company and munitions of war,
+under his banner. Hearing of the disastrous position
+of his friends in the capital, he hastened with rapid
+strides and forced marches to their relief. His progress
+was unimpeded by any hostilities on the part of Aztecs,
+or their allies, till he entered the city, and joined his
+forces with those of Alvarado in the beleaguered citadel.
+It seems to have been the purpose of the chiefs to permit
+a free ingress of the entire force of the enemy, preferring
+rather to shut them up to famine there, than
+to meet them in the open field.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was the General, with his augmented
+army, enclosed within the walls of the fortress, than
+active and fearful demonstrations of the roused and
+unappeasable spirit of the people began to be made.
+The streets and lanes of the city, which were silent and
+deserted as he passed through them to his quarters,
+began to swarm with innumerable multitudes of warriors,
+as if the stones, and the very dust of the earth,
+were suddenly transformed into armed men. The flat
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+roofs of their temples and dwellings were covered on
+every side with fierce wild figures, frantic with rage,
+who taunted the Spaniards with their cruel treachery,
+and threatened them, in the most violent language,
+with a terrible revenge. &ldquo;You are now again in our
+power,&rdquo; they cried, &ldquo;and you cannot escape. Shut up
+in your narrow quarters, you are doomed to the lingering
+tortures of famine, and wo to the traitorous Aztec,
+that furnishes a morsel to relieve your hunger. When,
+at length, the faintness of death overtakes you, and you
+can no longer offer resistance to our arms, we will again
+spread the tables in your prison-house, and fatten you
+for the sacrifice.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>No longer restrained by their reverence for Montezuma,
+whose pusillanimity had been the cause of all
+his and their troubles, they recommenced their active
+operations, and stormed the defences with an energy
+and perseverance that was truly appalling. Day after
+day they deluged the place with arrows and missiles
+of every kind, which fell in pitiless showers upon the
+heads of the besieged, till scarcely one was left without
+some wound or bruise. In vain did they apply, as
+before, to their royal prisoner, to appease the rage of his
+subjects, and induce them once more to send them the
+customary supplies. In moody silence he shut himself
+up in his room, brooding over the ingratitude and
+treachery of Cortez, and the injuries and insults he had
+received at his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Exasperated by this sudden reversal of his schemes
+of conquest, and maddened by the sense of hunger
+which began to be severely felt in his camp, Cortez
+resolved to strike terror into the ranks of the besiegers,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>
+by a vigorous sortie at the head of all his cavalry.
+First sweeping the avenue by a well directed fire from
+his heavy guns, which were planted at the main
+entrance of the fortress, he rushed out, with all his
+steel clad cavaliers, trampling the unprotected assailants
+under the iron hoofs of the horses, and dealing
+death on every side. The mighty mass gave way
+before the terrific charge of the advancing column, but
+immediately closed in upon its rear as it passed, till it
+was completely swallowed up in an interminable sea
+of fierce and angry foes, whose accumulating waves
+swept in from every avenue, and threatened to sweep
+them all away, in despite of the fury and power of their
+dreaded chargers. Convinced of his danger, the intrepid
+Castilian wheeled his horse about, and with a furious
+shout, called on his brave band to break a way through
+the serried ranks of the enemy. Plunging, rearing and
+leaping, under the double spur of the rider, and the
+piercing shafts of his foe, the fiery animals broke in
+upon the living wall that impeded their way, and
+rushed fiercely on, trampling down hundreds in their
+path, till they regained the open avenue, that was
+defended by their own artillery. It was not without
+serious loss, however, that this retreat was achieved.
+The fierce Aztecs threw themselves upon the horses, in
+the crowd, hanging upon their legs, sometimes inflicting
+serious wounds upon them, and sometimes grappling
+with their riders, dragging them from their saddles,
+and carrying off to captivity or sacrifice. At the
+same time, they were sorely beset by showers of
+stones and darts that poured upon their heads from
+every building as they passed, battering and breaking
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+their armor, and terribly bruising both the horse and
+his rider.</p>
+
+<p>These sorties were several times repeated, but always
+with the same doubtful success. The loss of the Spaniards
+was always much less than that of their enemy.
+But the latter could better afford to lose a thousand,
+than the former to lose one. Their ranks were instantly
+replenished with fresh combatants, who crowded in
+upon the scene of conflict, like the countless thousands
+of the over-peopled North, that swarmed upon the fair
+fields of Italy, as if some used-up world had been suddenly
+emptied of its inhabitants. Their numbers
+seemed rather to increase than to diminish with every
+new onset. In the same proportion their fierce resolution
+increased.</p>
+
+<p>The haughty Spaniard was now convinced that he
+had wholly mistaken the character of the people, whom
+he had thought to trample down at his pleasure. A
+spirit was raised which could not be laid, either by
+persuasion or by force. He saw and felt his danger,
+without the power to avert it. At length, either by
+threats or entreaties, or both, he prevailed on the captive
+Montezuma once more to interpose in his behalf,
+by employing what authority remained to him against
+his own best friends and faithful subjects.</p>
+
+<p>The Aztecs, forsaken of their monarch, had bold and
+talented leaders, who were competent both to devise
+and to execute the measures deemed necessary for the
+public good, and to lead on their marshalled hosts, to
+battle and to victory. Cacama, the young Prince
+of Tezcuco, burning to retrieve his fatal error in
+counselling and aiding the friendly reception of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
+Spaniards, now joined all his resources with those of
+Cuitlahua and Guatimozin, in endeavoring to recover
+the ground they had lost. Their first object was, to
+rescue the Emperor from his inglorious imprisonment,
+never doubting that, with his sacred person at their
+head, they would be able to annihilate the treacherous
+intruders at a blow.</p>
+
+<p>Not far from the city of Tezcuco, and standing out
+on the bosom of the lake, several hundred yards from
+the shore, was a solitary castle of a heavy and sombre
+architecture, built upon piles, at such an elevation as to
+be above the influence of any extraordinary swell in
+the waters of the lake. Consequently, when at its ordinary
+level, boats could pass freely under. At this place
+the princes were accustomed to meet for private deliberation.</p>
+
+<p>Cortez was informed of these meetings, and knew
+too well the effect of the counsels there matured, not to
+wish them broken up. With a boldness of design
+peculiar to himself, he resolved to make Montezuma
+the instrument of their destruction. He represented to
+that monarch the danger to his own interests, of allowing
+such a junto of able and ambitious men to assume
+the guidance of the public affairs, and undertake to
+direct the movements of the people. &ldquo;What can they
+do more,&rdquo; he craftily exclaimed, &ldquo;but assume the reins
+of government, under the specious pretence, which they
+now falsely set up, that their king is deprived of his
+freedom to act, and therefore no longer a king. If,
+now, you would save your sceptre and your crown,
+assert at once your imperial prerogative&mdash;show them
+you have still the power to speak and to act&mdash;command
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
+them, on pain of your royal displeasure, to lay down
+their arms, desist from their treasonable assemblages,
+and repair at once to your court, to answer for their
+unloyal designs.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Misled by false representations of the facts, and
+deceived by the specious arguments of the Spaniard,
+Montezuma despatched a message to the lord of Tezcuco,
+under the great seal of the empire, which it was
+high treason to disregard, commanding him instantly
+to appear before his master, to answer for his irregular
+and ill-advised proceedings. Cacama was too well
+aware of the real position of Montezuma, and of the
+constraint under which he acted, to give any heed to
+his mandate.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tell my royal master,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that I am too
+much his friend to obey him in this instance. Let him
+banish the false-hearted Spaniards from his capital, the
+vipers whom he has taken to his bosom&mdash;let him
+ascend once more his imperial throne, not as a vassal,
+but as the rightful lord of all these realms, and Cacama
+will joyfully lay his crown, his life, his all, at his feet.
+Montezuma is my master when he is master of himself.
+To that dignity we intend to restore him, or perish in
+the attempt.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of the fourth day after the return of
+the royal messenger, with this spirited reply of Cacama,
+a light pirogue, guided by a single hand, its sole occupant,
+might have been seen gliding silently over the
+Lake to the water-palace, the chosen rendezvous of
+the patriot princes. By the proud and majestic bearing
+of the boatman, it could be no other than Guatimozin.
+Securing his skiff by a cord passed through the fingers
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>
+of a gigantic hand, curiously carved from the jutting
+rafters on which the floor of the palace was laid, he
+ascended the steps to the hall, which he found unoccupied
+and still. He was presently joined by Cuitlahua
+and Cacama, arriving from different directions, in the
+same stealthy manner. Their number was soon increased
+by the arrival of four Tezcucan lords, from
+whom some important communications were expected.
+Scarcely had they entered the hall, and seated themselves,
+when, a slight noise from without attracting his
+attention, Guatimozin rose, and went towards the door,
+to ascertain the cause.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is only the chafing of our pirogues against the
+piles,&rdquo; said one of the new comers&mdash;&ldquo;let us proceed to
+business.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Guatimozin, true to his own impulses, heeded not the
+remark. Stepping upon the outer battlement, he discerned
+a slight figure in a canoe, moving in the shadow
+of the building, and apparently seeking concealment.
+Supposing it might be a servant, left by the Tezcucans
+in charge of their boats, he was about returning, when
+a gentle voice whispered his name.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who calls Guatimozin?&rdquo; he replied in a whisper,
+at the same time leaning towards the intruder.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Beware of the Tezcucans, beware.&rdquo; The voice
+was Karee&rsquo;s, but the skiff shot away, like an arrow,
+before the Prince had time for further parley.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the council, he instantly demanded, as
+if nothing had happened, that the plans of the evening
+should be laid open.</p>
+
+<p>A pictured scroll was then produced by the Tezcucans,
+representing the contemplated movements of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+enemy, which they professed to have ascertained from
+authentic sources, and delineating a plan of operations
+against them. Guatimozin, somewhat bewildered by
+the warning he had received, sat down with his friends
+to the examination of this scroll. But, while seemingly
+intent upon that alone, he contrived to keep a close
+watch upon the movements of the Tezcucans. It was
+soon evident that their thoughts were not wholly
+engrossed by the business before them. A slight noise
+from without, followed instantly by an exchange of
+significant looks between two of the party, confirmed
+his suspicions. Instantly dashing away the false scroll,
+and springing to his feet, he boldly charged the traitors
+with a conspiracy; and demanded an immediate explanation.
+Alarmed at this mysterious and premature disclosure
+of their designs, the chief of the party, without
+venturing a word of reply, gave a shrill, piercing whistle,
+which was immediately responded to from without.
+Finding himself entrapped, and not knowing what
+numbers he might have to contend with, Guatimozin
+sprang to the door, stretching one of the conspirators on
+the floor as he passed, and succeeded in reaching his
+skiff, just as a band of armed men rushed in from the
+other quarter. Cuitlahua also effected his escape,
+though not without a desperate encounter with one of
+the advancing party, who attempted to arrest his flight.</p>
+
+<p>To seize his antagonist with a powerful embrace, to
+fling him over the parapet into the water, and to plunge
+in after him, was the work of an instant. Swimming
+under water for some distance, and rising to the surface
+within the shadow of the building, he took possession
+of the nearest canoe, and, following in the wake of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
+Guatimozin, was soon out of the reach of danger, or
+pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>Cacama, unsuspicious of danger, and intent only on
+the object of their meeting, was so engrossed with the
+scroll, and the plans delineated upon it, that he did not
+fully comprehend the meaning of this sudden interruption
+of their council, until his two friends had disappeared,
+and, in their place, a band of twenty armed
+men stood before him. Resistance was vain. By
+order of the chief of the conspirators, he was seized,
+securely bound, and carried a prisoner to Tenochtitlan.
+There, though treated with indignity by Cortez, and
+with severity by Montezuma, he maintained a haughty
+and independent bearing, sternly refusing to yield, in
+the slightest degree, to the insolent dictation of the one,
+or the pusillanimous policy of the other. Cuitlahua
+was afterwards seized in his own palace of Iztapalapan;
+but, after a short detention, was released again, at
+the instigation of Montezuma.</p>
+
+<p>These outrages, so far from intimidating the people,
+only excited and incensed them the more, and led to
+other and more desperate assaults upon the beleaguered
+foe, till Cortez, apprehensive of ultimate defeat and
+ruin, applied once more to Montezuma, proposing that
+he should appear in person before his people, and
+require them to lay down their arms, retire to their
+homes, and leave his guests in peaceable possession of
+the quarters he had voluntarily assigned them.</p>
+
+<p>Arrayed in his royal robes, with the imperial diadem
+upon his head, preceded by his officers of state, bearing
+the golden wands, the emblem of despotic power, and
+accompanied by a considerable train of his own nobles,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>
+and some of the principal Castilian cavaliers, the unfortunate
+monarch appeared on the battlements, to remonstrate
+with his own people for their zeal in the defence
+of his crown and honor, and appease the rage of his
+subjects for insults offered to his own person, and to
+those of his loyal nobles. His presence was instantly
+recognized by the thronging multitudes below and
+around. Some prostrated themselves on the earth in
+profound reverence, some bent the knee, and all waited
+in breathless silence to hear that voice, which had so
+long ruled them with despotic sway.</p>
+
+<p>With a sad, but at the same time a calm and dignified
+tone, the monarch addressed them, &ldquo;My children,&rdquo;
+said he, &ldquo;why are you here in this fierce array. The
+strangers are my friends. I abide with them as their
+voluntary guest, and all that you do against them is
+done against me, your sovereign and father.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>When the monarch declared himself the friend of the
+detested Spaniard, a murmur of discontent and rage
+arose, and ran through the assembled host. Their
+ungovernable fury burst at once the barrier of loyalty,
+and vented itself in curses upon the king who could, in
+the hour of their peril, thus basely forsake his people,
+and endeavor to betray them into the hands of a
+treacherous and blood thirsty foe. &ldquo;Base Aztec!&rdquo;
+they cried, &ldquo;woman! coward! go back to the viper
+friends whom you have taken to your bosom. No longer
+worthy to reign over us, we cast away our allegiance
+for ever.&rdquo; At the same moment, some powerful arm,
+more fearless than the rest, aimed a huge stone at the
+unprotected head of the king, which brought him senseless
+to the ground. His attendants, put off their guard
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+by the previous calm and reverential attention of the
+crowd, were taken by surprise. In vain they interposed
+their shields and bucklers, to protect his person
+from further violence. The fatal blow was struck.
+The great Montezuma had received his death-wound
+from the hand of one of his own subjects, who, but a
+moment before, would have sacrificed a hundred lives,
+had he possessed them, to shield the person of his monarch
+from violence and dishonor.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of this unexpected catastrophe seemed
+equally appalling to both the belligerent parties. The
+Aztecs, struck aghast at their own sacrilegious deed,
+dispersed in sorrow and shame to their homes; while
+the Spaniards felt that they had lost their only remaining
+hold upon the forbearance and regard of a mighty
+people, whose confidence they had shamefully abused,
+and whose altars and houses they had wantonly desecrated.
+It was a season of agonizing suspense. To
+retreat from their post, and abandon the conquest which
+they once imagined was nearly achieved, might be as
+disastrous as it would be humiliating. To remain in
+their narrow quarters, surrounded with countless thousands
+of exasperated foes, on whom they must be
+dependent for their daily supplies of food, seemed little
+better than madness. To the proud spirit of the
+haughty Castilian, the alternative was scarcely less to
+be dreaded than martyrdom. It was manifestly, however,
+the only resource, and he resolved to evacuate the
+city.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, active hostilities had been temporarily
+suspended. The unhappy Montezuma, smitten even
+more severely in heart than in person, refused alike the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+condolence of his friends and the skill of the Castilian
+surgeon. Tearing off the bandages from his wounds,
+&ldquo;leave me alone,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;I have already outlived
+my honor and the affection and confidence of my people.
+Why should I look again upon the sun or the
+earth. The one has no light, the other no flowers for
+me. Let me die here. I feel indeed that the gods
+have smitten me, when I fall by the hand of one of my
+own people.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In this disconsolate mood, the spirit of Montezuma
+took its flight. In vain did the Castilian general
+endeavor to suppress, for a time, the tidings of his
+death. The loud wailing of his attendants, would
+have published it far and wide among the thousands
+of affectionate hearts, that listened for every sound that
+issued from the palace, if they had not, unknown to
+the Spaniards, established a kind of telegraphic signal,
+by means of which they communicated to the priests
+on the great Teocalli, daily reports of the progress of
+his disease. When the sad signal was given, announcing
+the solemn fact, that the great Montezuma had laid
+down his honors and his troubles together, it was
+responded to by the mournful tones of the great drum
+of the temple, by ten measured muffled strokes, conveying
+the melancholy intelligence to every dwelling in
+Tenochtitlan.</p>
+
+<p>The breathing of that populous city was now one
+universal wail, that seemed to penetrate the very heavens.
+Partly from a sincere regard for the fallen
+monarch, and partly from the hope that he might thus
+conciliate the good will of his afflicted subjects, Cortez
+directed his remains to be placed in a splendid coffin,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+and borne in solemn procession, by his own nobles, to
+his palace, that it might be interred with the customary
+regal honors. It was received by his people with every
+demonstration of affectionate joy and respect. Conveyed
+with great pomp to the castle of Chapoltepec,
+followed by an immense train of priests, nobles, and
+common people, it was interred amid all the imposing
+ceremonies of the Aztec religion. His wives and
+children, frantic with grief, gathered around those hallowed
+remains, and testified, by all those tender and
+delicate tokens which seem the natural expression of a
+refined feminine sorrow, their profound sense of the
+inestimable loss they had sustained.</p>
+
+<p>By one of those singular coincidences, which tend so
+strongly to confirm the too easy credulity of the superstitious,
+and give an unnatural emphasis to the common
+accidents of life, it was the festival of the new
+moon, the very day on which Montezuma had promised
+Tecuichpo that he would join the household
+circle at Chapoltepec, that his lifeless remains were
+borne thither, in the solemn funereal procession.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Alas! my father,&rdquo; she cried, &ldquo;is this the fulfilment
+of that only promise which sustained my sinking courage
+in the hour of separation?&rdquo; She said no more.
+The more profound the sorrow, the fewer words it has
+to spare. &ldquo;The shallow murmur, but the deep are
+dumb.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">BRIEF REIGN OF CUITLAHUA&mdash;EXPULSION OF THE
+SPANIARDS&mdash;GUATIMOZIN CHOSEN EMPEROR&mdash;HIS MARRIAGE
+WITH TECUICUPO.
+</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Grief follows grief. The crowned head<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So late the nation&rsquo;s hope, is laid<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Low in the dust.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="center">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i4">Defeat and triumph, tears and smiles,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Life, death, true glory and the depths of shame,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The funeral pall and the pure bridal robe,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In close proximity&mdash;<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The sacred dust restored to its native earth, and the
+last hallowed rites performed over the sepulchre of the
+departed, the thoughts of the people were immediately
+turned to the succession. All eyes were fixed on Cuitlahua,
+the noble brother of Montezuma, whose intrepid
+spirit, and deadly hatred of the intruding Spaniards,
+accorded with the now universal sentiment of the
+nation. He was elected, without a dissenting voice, by
+the grand council of the nobles. Accepting, with alacrity,
+the post of responsibility and danger, he was
+immediately inaugurated and crowned, with all the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+gorgeous rites, and imposing ceremonies which a pagan
+priesthood delight to throw around every important
+event, in which their holy influence is necessarily
+involved.</p>
+
+<p>During the progress of these mournful and exciting
+events, the rigors of the siege had not been materially
+relaxed, though all active hostilities had been suspended.
+They were now to be renewed with tenfold
+energy, under the lead of their warlike monarch, who
+had often led the armies of Anahuac to victory, and
+who had never known defeat.</p>
+
+<p>When the Castilian general was informed that the
+heroic Cuitlahua had been placed on the throne of Montezuma,
+and was about to take the field in person, he
+perceived the necessity of adopting prompt and decided
+measures. The retreat had already been resolved on.
+It was now to be put in execution, and that, without
+delay. As it was the custom of the Aztec, to suspend
+all hostilities during the night, Cortez determined to
+avail himself of that season to make his escape.
+Accordingly, every thing being made ready for the
+departure, and the city being hushed in a seemingly
+profound repose, the gates were thrown open, and the
+little army, with its long train of Indian allies, sallied
+stealthily forth, not to the stirring notes of drum or
+trumpet, but with hushed breath and a cautious tread,
+ill accordant with the haughty bearing, and vaunting
+air, with which they had hitherto attempted to lord it
+over the proud metropolis of Anahuac.</p>
+
+<p>But, though quiet, the sagacious and determined
+Aztec was wide awake. He had anticipated this
+stealthy movement of his pent up foe, and resolved that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>
+he should not thus escape the snare into which his own
+audacious insolence had drawn him. The last files of
+the retreating army had not yet passed out from their
+entrenchments, when a long loud blast from the horn
+of the great Teocalli, stirred the city to its utmost borders,
+calling out the mighty host, who had slept upon
+their arms, eager for the summons which should bring
+them once more to an engagement with their foe.</p>
+
+<p>Confident as the Spaniard was in the overwhelming
+power of his cavalry and artillery, he preferred rather
+to make good his retreat, while he could, than to show
+his prowess in these perilous circumstances. The
+hoarse distant murmurs which fell upon their ears at
+every street as they passed, indicated too plainly the
+mustering of a mighty host, which soon came rushing
+in upon them from all quarters, like the swelling surges
+of a stormy sea, each higher and more terrible than
+that which preceded. They fell upon the flying foe
+with the ferocity of tigers, about to be disappointed of
+their prey. From every lane and alley, and from the
+roof of every house, they pelted them with ceaseless
+vollies of stones. They grappled with them, man to
+man, reckless of life or limb, so that they could maim
+or destroy an enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Alvarado, with a portion of the cavalry, brought up
+the rear of the retreating army, in order to repel, with
+an occasional charge upon the enemy&rsquo;s ranks, those
+furious onsets which might have overwhelmed the
+small body of Spanish infantry, or the unmailed and
+lightly armed Tlascalan allies. The cavalier and his
+horse, encased in armor of proof, could better cope with
+the weapons and missiles of their assailants, while they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>
+often turned upon them, with a fierce and irresistible
+charge, trampling hundreds in the dust, and mowing
+down whole ranks on this side and that, with their
+trenchant broadswords.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner the fugitives defiled through the great
+southern avenue, and came out upon the grand causeway,
+by which they had twice entered the city. Here
+they were met by new and fresh squadrons of the
+enemy, thronging the sides of the dike in their light
+canoes, and showering down arrows thick as hail upon
+the advancing column. Sometimes keeping upon the
+causeway, they would grapple each with his man, and
+drag him off into the water, to be picked up by those in
+the canoes, and hurried off to a terrible and certain fate,
+on the great altar of their War-god. Their numbers
+increased every moment, till the lake was literally alive
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>At length the advancing column was brought to
+stand; while a cry of despair from the van revealed
+the fearful position in which they stood in the midst of
+their implacable foes. The bridges which intersected
+the dike had been removed by order of the Emperor.
+They had now reached the first opening thus made in
+the causeway. A sudden shout from the myriads of
+Aztec warriors that hung about them on all sides, told
+at once their own wild triumph, and the awfully perilous
+position of their enemy. Crowded together on a
+narrow causeway, in ranks so close as to render their
+arms and their weapons almost entirely useless&mdash;arrested
+in front by a wide chasm which it was impossible
+to pass&mdash;their retreat cut off in the rear, by the
+living masses that blocked up every avenue, and pressed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+them forward upon the crowded ranks of their comrades&mdash;assailed
+on both sides from the water, through
+the whole length of the closely compacted column&mdash;while
+all these dangers were enhanced a hundred-fold
+by the darkness of the night&mdash;there seemed no possibility
+of escape for one of that brave host.</p>
+
+<p>Cortez was with the principal part of the cavalry in
+the centre of the column, so wedged in by the compacted
+mass of his own forces, as to be quite unable
+either to advance or retreat, without trampling them
+under his feet, or crowding them off the causeway.
+He comprehended in a moment the perilous position he
+was in. But such was the utter confusion and dismay
+of the whole army, and such the horrid din of clashing
+arms, and the yet more horrid yells of the savage foe,
+that he in vain attempted either to direct or encourage
+his men. His voice was drowned in the uproar.</p>
+
+<p>Sandoval, one of his bravest and most trusty officers,
+who led the van, with a few other cavaliers as bold as
+himself, resolved to push forward at any personal
+hazard, rather than stand still to perish in one confused
+mass, dashed their steeds into the water, and made for
+the other side of the gap. Some succeeded in effecting
+a landing, while others, with their horses, perished in
+the attempt, or fell into the hands of the watchful boatmen.
+The first movement being thus made, an impetus
+was given to the moving column from behind, that
+drove the front ranks, <i>nolens volens</i>, into the breach.
+By far the greater part sank to rise no more, or were
+picked up by the Aztecs, and hurried away to a far
+more terrible death. At length the breach was filled
+up by the bodies of the dead, and the baggage and artillery
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
+which occupied the centre, so that the rear had a
+clear passage over the fatal chasm.</p>
+
+<p>A second and a third breach was yet to be passed.
+It was accomplished as before, only by making a bridge
+of the bodies of one half, for the other half to walk upon.
+Meanwhile the enemy hung upon flank and rear, with
+unappeasable rage, striking down and picking up vast
+numbers of victims, until, when the last breach was
+cleared, and a footing gained upon terra-firma, there
+was scarce a remnant left of the gallant band that
+entered upon that fatal causeway. The iron-hearted
+Cortez was so overcome with the sight of his shattered
+band, and the absence of so many brave comrades,
+when the morning light appeared, that he sat down
+upon a rock that overlooked the scene of desolation,
+and gave vent to his emotions in a flood of tears.</p>
+
+<p>Had the Mexicans followed up this success by falling
+upon the broken dispirited remnant of the Castilian
+army, they would probably have vanquished and
+destroyed them to a man. They were suffered, however,
+to proceed unmolested for several days, until their
+strength and spirits were somewhat recruited. Then,
+though attacked by immensely superior numbers, they
+succeeded in putting them to rout.</p>
+
+<p>The new Emperor, Cuitlahua, having signalized his
+accession to the throne by the almost total destruction
+of the formidable foe, who had spread the terror of his
+arms far and wide through all the realms of Anahuac,
+proceeded to fortify his capital and kingdom against
+another invasion. The dikes and canals were thoroughly
+repaired, the walls were strengthened and
+extended, the army enlarged and improved in discipline
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+by some of the lessons which so able a general,
+was not slow to learn from the Spaniards. The
+immense treasures they had drawn from the munificent
+Montezuma, and which, in the disasters of that melancholy
+night, they had been compelled to leave behind,
+were all recovered and expended in these works of
+defence. Their arms, too, were gathered up, and served
+to improve and render more effective many of the more
+primitive weapons of the Aztecs. In the midst of these
+wise and patriotic efforts to guard against the probable
+return of the Spaniards, Cuitlahua was seized with a
+loathsome disease, which in a few days brought him to
+the grave, after a brief reign of four months.</p>
+
+<p>This was a terrible blow to the nation. It was felt
+throughout all the borders of Anahuac, as the severest
+frown of their gods. But partially recovered from the
+shock occasioned by the death of Montezuma, they
+were now beginning to feel their hopes renewed, and
+their courage reviving, under the bold and decided
+measures, and the signal successes of their new Emperor.
+He was the idol of the army. His intrepid bravery,
+his high military talents, his unyielding patriotism, and
+deadly hatred of the white men, had secured for him
+the confidence of all the wisest and best men of the
+realm, so that, with one heart and one voice, they rallied
+around his standard, assured that, under his energetic
+sway, the ancient glory and pre-eminence of the
+Aztec crown would be not only ably asserted, but effectually
+re-established.</p>
+
+<p>His fall, like a mighty earthquake, shook the empire
+to its centre. For a moment it seemed as if all was
+lost&mdash;hopelessly, irretrievably lost. The long funereal
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+wail, that swelled up from every dwelling and every
+heart in that devoted land, seemed like the expiring
+groan of a world. But it was only for a moment. The
+first shock past, they found themselves still standing,
+though among ruins. Their land, their temples, their
+dwellings, still remained. Their wise and experienced
+counsellors were all in their midst. Their host of
+armed men were still at their post, unbroken, undivided,
+unappalled. The imperial mantle had not fallen to the
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>As by immediate direction from heaven, all eyes
+were turned to Guatimozin. He was nephew to the
+last two monarchs, and though only a young man, had
+distinguished himself both in the council and in the
+field. He had uniformly opposed the admission of the
+Spaniards to the capital. He had been prominent in
+all the recent attacks upon their quarters, and had especially
+signalized himself in the terrible overthrow of the
+disastrous night of their retreat. He had all the coolness
+and intrepidity of a veteran warrior, with all the
+fire and impetuosity of youth. He was about twenty-five
+years of age, of an elegant commanding figure, and
+so terrible in war that even his followers trembled in
+his presence.</p>
+
+<p>The young prince felt the extreme difficulty of the
+crisis, but did not shrink from the arduous and perilous
+post assigned him. With a prudence and circumspection,
+only to have been expected from one long accustomed
+to the cares and perplexities of government, he
+set himself to fortify every assailable point, and to prepare
+for the worst that might arise, in the event of
+another invasion. The works commenced during the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+brief reign of Cuitlahua were carried forward to their
+completion. By means of regular couriers and spies, a
+constant communication was kept up with all parts of
+the country. The movements of the Spaniards were
+narrowly watched, and their supposed designs frequently
+reported to the Emperor. Nothing was omitted
+which a sagacious and watchful monarch could do or
+devise, to make ready for a severe and protracted contest,
+in whatever form it might come.</p>
+
+<p>Thus established on the throne, and strengthened
+against a sudden surprise, the ardent young monarch
+repaired to Chapoltepec, where the bereaved household
+of Montezuma still remained, in sad but peaceful seclusion,
+and claimed the hand of the fair Princess
+Tecuichpo. Her retiring disposition would have preferred
+a humbler and more quiet station. She had seen
+enough of the agitations and burdens of a crowned
+head; enough of the gaudy emptiness of life in a
+palace, and longed to hide herself in some sweet,
+sequestered spot, away from the noisy parade and anxious
+bustle of a court, where her own home would be
+all her world.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh! that that crown had fallen on some other
+head,&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Though there is not another
+in Anahuac so worthy to wear it, not one who would
+so well sustain its ancient glory, yet I would not that
+<i>you</i> should bear the heavy burden, or be exposed to
+that desolating storm that is gathering over our devoted
+capital and throne.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Said I not, my beloved, that I would yet lead you
+back in triumph to the royal halls of your ancestors?
+I have come to redeem my pledge. Shrink not from a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+station which no other can so well adorn. Rather, far
+rather would I, if I could, retire with you to the quiet
+shades of private life, and find a home in some sweet
+glen among the mountains, than wear the crown and
+claim the homage of a world. But, my sweet cousin,
+the crown <i>must</i> be defended, the throne <i>must</i> be sustained
+against the insolent pretensions of these strangers.
+And <i>I</i> must do my part in the defence. I dare
+not, either as monarch or as subject, withhold myself
+from this great work. If I perish, I fall in the service
+of my country and her altars. And the higher the station
+I hold, the greater the service I render&mdash;the heavier
+the burden I bear, the brighter the honors I shall win.
+As well perish on the throne, as fighting at its foot. I
+should be unworthy of the daughter of Montezuma, if I
+held any thing too dear to sacrifice on the shrine of my
+country.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Noble Guatimozin, my heart is yours&mdash;my life is
+devoted only to you. Lead me where you will, so that
+I can share your burdens, and lighten your cares, and
+not prove unworthy of such a father and such a lord.
+But you forget that mine is a doomed life, that oracles
+and omens, signs and presages, have all conspired
+against me from my birth.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, my love, it is you that forget, not I. For the
+very oracles and omens that foreshadowed for you a
+clouded morning, promised with equal distinctness a
+bright and glorious evening. The tempestuous morning
+is passed. The glorious mid-day and the golden
+evening are yet to come.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are quite too fast, I fear, my brave cousin, it
+was only the evening that was to have light. The
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+sunset hour of life was to be clear. But what, my dear
+Guatimozin, what do you suppose that light is to be?
+and whence shall it come?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What <i>can</i> it be, but to restore, in your own person
+and family, the disputed pre-eminence of the Aztec
+dynasty, the tarnished glory of its crown. Rely upon
+it, my gentle cousin, <i>that</i> is your destiny. The timid
+dove of Chapoltepec shall be transformed to the royal
+eagle of Tenochtitlan.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That cannot be. I rather fear that the deep cloud
+of my doom will overshadow and darken your life.
+Better far that I should suffer and perish alone.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It <i>must</i> be, Tecuichpo, it shall be. Have not the
+gods given you to me? Have they not made me the
+defender of the Aztec throne? How then can you doubt
+that they call <i>you</i> to share and adorn it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh! my lord! those terrible omens&mdash;they are but
+half fulfilled, and the promised light is yet far in the
+distance. Could I be sure that you would share that
+light with me&mdash;&mdash;.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come then with me to the palace. It will be all
+light for <i>me</i> when <i>you</i> are there, and sure I am that
+time will re-interpret those sad omens for you, and turn
+them all to sunshine.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the palace of Chapoltepec was changed
+from a house of mourning to a house of feasting. The
+nuptial rites of the youthful Emperor with the beautiful
+princess, were celebrated with great pomp. The festivities
+continued through several days, and were honored
+by the presence of all the nobility of the empire.
+The most costly entertainment was provided for the
+numerous guests. The most munificent royal largesses
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+were bestowed upon the priests, and upon those who
+took a prominent part in the grand ceremonies, and
+gifts of great value lavishly distributed among all the
+inferior attendants. The brilliant and odoriferous treasures
+of the royal gardens, and of the chinampas of the
+great lake were exhausted in adorning the halls and
+chambers of the palace. The refined taste, and
+exquisite invention of Karee was every where apparent.
+The place, on the day of the nuptials, might
+have been taken for the realm and palace of Flora.
+The very air was redolent of the incense of flowers,
+which brightened the day with their bloom, and of the
+odoriferous gums, whose blaze extended the reign of
+day far into the realms of night.</p>
+
+<p>It was a national festival, a season of universal
+rejoicing. The people now believed that their days of
+darkness and temporary depression were passed, and
+that all the power and glory of the days of Montezuma
+would be restored, under those happy auspices which
+made his favorite daughter a sharer of his throne. The
+priests sanctioned and confirmed this belief, to the
+utmost of their power and influence, giving it out, with
+that oracular force and dignity, which they so well
+knew how to assume, that such was the true interpretation
+of all the singular predictions and presages, which
+intimated that the life of the princess would close with
+unusual splendor. In this manner, they encouraged
+the hopes of the nation, confirmed its allegiance to its
+new Emperor, and united all its forces in a solid
+phalanx of resistance to every foreign encroachment.</p>
+
+<p>When these ceremonies were concluded, and the
+imperial pageant passed from Chapoltepec to the capital,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
+there was a new and still more imposing display of
+the reverence and loyalty of this singular people, and
+of the more than oriental magnificence with which they
+sustained the splendors of royalty. The road, through
+the entire distance, was swept, sprinkled, and strewed
+with flowers. The elite of the army, and the nobility
+in the gayest costumes, formed a brilliant and numerous
+escort, accompanied with flaunting banners, and
+every species of spirit-stirring music then known to
+Aztecs. The imperial cortege, consisting of a long
+array of magnificent palanquins, with their gorgeous
+canopies of feather-work, all a-blaze with gold and
+jewels, borne on the shoulders of princes and nobles,
+occupied the centre of the grand procession. Those of
+the Emperor and Empress, which moved side by side,
+were distinguished by the exceeding costliness and
+beauty of their decorations, and by the superior height
+of their canopies, whose sides and ends curved gracefully
+to a point in the centre, about three feet above the
+cornice, which was surmounted by the imperial diadem
+of Mexico. These were followed by the queen mother,
+and other members of the royal household, conveyed in
+a style but little inferior to the first. This cortege was
+immediately preceded and followed by all the priests
+and prophets of the nation, in their splendid pontificals,
+and bearing the showy insignia of their various orders.
+An immense train of the most respectable citizens, merchants,
+mechanics, artizans, husbandmen, and men of
+every honorable profession brought up the rear. They
+were scarcely less gay and brilliant in their costume
+than the escort and immediate attendants of the monarch,
+though somewhat less uniform in the style of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+their decorations. The road, through its entire length,
+was flanked by women and children, young men and
+maidens, in their gala dresses, with baskets and chaplets
+of flowers, which they continually showered upon
+the path, in front of the royal palanquins, thus renewing,
+at every step of its progress, the floral carpet,
+whose freshness and beauty the long escort had trampled
+out. Ever and anon a shout would go up from
+that vast multitude, so loud and long, that its echoes,
+reverberated along the mountain walls that shut in that
+beautiful valley from the great world, would be heard
+for many a league around. Then, from some little
+group of trained chanters, a song of right loyal welcome
+would burst forth, accompanied with showers of roses,
+and followed by a chorus from thousands of sweet
+voices&mdash;</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">Welcome! welcome! warrior, king&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thrice welcome with the prize you bring.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Star of Montezuma&rsquo;s line,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O&rsquo;er the empire, rise and shine!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Flower of Montezuma&rsquo;s race<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Return, thy father&rsquo;s halls to grace!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Welcome, thrice welcome, mighty one!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The nation&rsquo;s heart shall be thy throne.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER IX.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">FESTIVITIES AT THE COURT OF GUATIMOZIN&mdash;HYMENEAL VOW.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i4">Heaven gave to Adam one, and so proclaimed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Her full equality to man. He who<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Can ask for more, knows not the worth of one,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And so deserves not any&mdash;<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The imperial court of Tenochtitlan was now again the
+radiant centre of attraction to the confederated and
+tributary nations of Anahuac. The terror of Guatimozin&rsquo;s
+arm was even more dreaded than that of Montezuma.
+He was a mighty man of valor, of that impetuous
+courage, and that bold directness of action, which
+executes at a blow the purposes and plans, which, with
+common minds, would require time and deliberation.
+He was at the same time of a generous magnanimous
+disposition, open, frank, unsuspecting, and won the
+affectionate regard, as well as the prompt unquestioning
+obedience of his people. He had too much good
+sense, and too wise a regard to the dignity of those
+who should attend upon the person of majesty, to
+require of his nobles, the officers of his court and
+household, those humiliating attentions which were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+exacted by Montezuma. He saw that the only effect
+of such exactions was to weaken and effeminate the
+character of some of his greatest chieftains, reducing
+them from proud and powerful friends to fawning
+cringing slaves. They were no longer shrouded in the
+sombre <i>nequen</i>, as they entered the royal presence, nor
+did they go barefoot, with their eyes cast down to the
+earth, when they bore the monarch in his luxurious
+palanquin. Arrayed in all their costly finery, with
+golden or silver sandals, and with a bold, manly, cheerful
+bearing, as if they gloried in the precious treasure
+which it was their privilege, more than their duty, to
+protect and to care for, the imperial palanquin seemed
+rather their trophy than their burden, which they were
+far more ready to bear, than their master was to occupy.
+He was too active and stirring a spirit, to submit often
+to such a luxurious conveyance. He was ever in the
+midst of his chiefs, consulting and acting for the public
+good. He freely discussed with them the great measures
+of defence, which he put in progress, and evinced
+the remarkable and rare good sense, to adopt wise and
+politic suggestions, however humble the source from
+which they emanated, and to change his opinion at
+once when it was shown to be wrong. He superintended,
+in person, the repairing and enlarging of the
+fortifications, and the improvement of the tactics and
+discipline of the army. By a frugal expenditure of the
+vast revenues of the crown, and a careful preservation
+of the treasures left by his predecessors, he accumulated
+an amount more than equal to the exigencies of a long
+and wasting struggle with all the combined foes of the
+realm.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+Meanwhile, the gay saloons of the palace of Montezuma
+were gayer than they had ever been. For a
+brief season, the clouds that had so long hung over the
+fate of the lovely Tecuichpo seemed to be dissipated.
+The skies were all bright above her, and every thing
+around her wore a cheerful and promising aspect.
+Attracted by her resplendent beauty, the unaffected
+ease and graciousness of her manners, and the queenly
+magnificence of her court, the youth, beauty, wit, talent
+and chivalry of the nation, gathered about her, and
+made her life a perpetual gala-day, rivalling in brilliancy
+and effect the best days of the gayest courts in
+Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Conspicuous among the gay multitude that flitted
+about the court, was Nahuitla, Prince of Tlacopan, a
+young chief of the Tepanecs. He was just ripening
+into manhood, of an uncommonly lithe and agile frame,
+exceedingly fair and graceful, and gifted with unusual
+powers of intellect. He was one of the rarest geniuses
+of the age, and astonished and amused the court with
+the variety and beauty of his poems, and other works
+of taste. Nor did his intellectual accomplishments
+exceed his heroism and loyalty. Guatimozin had not
+an abler or more devoted chieftain in all his realm. It
+was he who fought side by side with the Emperor in
+all his after conflicts, endured with him the horrors of
+the wasting siege and painful captivity which followed,
+and finally shared his cruel and shameful martyrdom,
+at the hands of the then terror-stricken and
+cowardly Cortez, declaring with his last breath, that he
+desired no better or more glorious lot, than to die by the
+side of his lord.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>
+Nahuitla, like all good knights and brave soldiers, to
+say nothing of true poets, had a heart warmly susceptible
+of tender impressions, and could not resist the bright
+eyes and witching smiles, that illuminated the saloons
+and gardens of the imperial palace. Promiscuous flirtation
+was less hazardous in Tenochtitlan than in most
+of the capitals of Christendom. The wealthy nobles
+being allowed to marry as many wives as they could
+support, the young prince could win the affections of
+all the bright daughters of the valley, without at all
+apprehending a suit for breach of promise, or a conspiracy
+against his own life, or that of his favorite, by
+some disappointed rival. How many conquests he
+made in one brief campaign, does not appear in the
+chronicles of the day. Atlacan, a princess of Tezcuco,
+was his first trophy. She was very fair and highly
+gifted, resembling in many points of person and character,
+the guardian genius of the young Empress, the
+talented Karee.</p>
+
+<p>At his first encounter with the Tezcucan princess,
+Nahuitla was deeply impressed with a peculiar expression
+of thoughtfulness, shading a brilliantly beautiful
+countenance, and imposing a kind of constrained awe
+upon the stranger. This shadow gradually disappeared
+upon a further acquaintance, till the whole face and
+person were so lighted up with the fire of her genius
+and wit, that it seemed as if invested with a supernatural
+halo. Their intercourse was a perfect tournament
+of wit, and their brilliant sallies and sparkling
+repartees, were the theme of universal admiration.</p>
+
+<p>The princess Atlacan was always attended by a
+very prudent, watchful, anxious chaperone, of a fair
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+exterior, and pleasing manners, who had passed the
+meridian of life, and begun to wane into the cool of its
+evening. She had also a brother, Maxtli, considerably
+older than herself, who, from a two-fold motive, seemed
+to delight in disappointing her expectations, and
+thwarting her plans. He was a cold, mercenary, selfish
+man, who sought only his own aggrandizement.
+The princess was a special favorite of her father, who
+was a prince of the highest rank, and nearly related to
+the reigning king of Tezcuco. She had already
+received many substantial proofs of parental partiality,
+which her avaricious brother would fain have claimed
+for himself. Her brilliant qualities and growing influence
+made her an object of jealousy, as seeming to
+stand in the way of his own preferment. He had used
+every exertion to dispose of her in marriage to some of
+her numerous suitors, and had particularly advocated
+the cause of a wealthy young merchant of Cholula,
+who rejoiced in the euphonous name of Xitentlóxiltlitl,
+from whom Maxtli had received large presents of gold
+and jewels.</p>
+
+<p>Atlacan despised the merchant, who fondly imagined
+that his gold could purchase any jewel in the realm.
+She would not listen to his proposals. It was not pride
+of family, for in Anahuac, under the Aztec dynasty, the
+merchant was a man of note, scarcely inferior to the
+proudest noble. But the merchant was <i>only</i> a merchant,
+a man of one idea, and that was gold, without
+refinement, without sentiment, without heart, like the
+majority of the same class of mere money mongers all
+the world over.</p>
+
+<p>Maxtli was enraged by his sister&rsquo;s refusal of this alliance,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>
+which, if it had been consummated, he would
+have made subservient to his own interests. He determined,
+from mere revenge, to throw obstacles in the
+way of her alliance with the gifted prince of Tlacopan.
+The annoyances he invented, and the frequent prudential
+interposition of her cautious chaperone, who was in
+the pay of Maxtli, made her position rather a difficult
+one, and often put her disposition to the severest test.
+It chanced, one lovely evening, that the lovers had
+stolen a march upon both their tormentors, and found,
+in the royal gardens, a few moments of that unwatched
+uninterrupted conference, which only those in the same
+delicate relation, at the same period of life, know how
+to appreciate. Their absence from the saloons was
+soon noticed. The duenna was severely censured, and
+sent in pursuit of the fugitive. Karee, who was in the
+secret of the escape, led her a long and wearisome
+chase, through the numberless halls and corridors of
+that immense pile, and finally left her, at the furthest
+extremity of the building, to find her way back as she
+could. Then, returning to Maxtli, who could scarce
+restrain his rage that they had so long eluded him&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My lord,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;can you tell me where I shall
+find your sister? I have a message for her, which I
+can only deliver to her personally.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I know not,&rdquo; he replied angrily, &ldquo;but she is probably
+flirting somewhere with that fool fop, the royal bard of
+Tlacopan. But from whom does your message come?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That can only be made known to herself. I saw
+her some time since, in the garden, leaning upon the
+arm of this same royal bard, the only young prince in
+Anahuac worthy of such a jewel.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+The prince bit his lip with vexation, and Karee ran
+off toward the garden. In a few moments, the poor old
+chaperone came blustering along, out of breath and out
+of humor.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fie upon the giddy girls of this generation,&rdquo; she
+exclaimed, &ldquo;they know nothing of propriety. I wonder
+what would have been thought of such actions
+when <i>I</i> was young!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hasten to the garden,&rdquo; said Maxtli, impatiently,
+&ldquo;your hopeful pupil is there, and that rhyming fop is
+with her.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He might as well have sent her to the labyrinth of
+Lemnos or Crete. Covering an immense area, and
+traversed in every direction by serpentine walks, shaded
+lanes, and magnificent avenues, one might have wandered
+up and down there a week, without finding one
+who wished to elude pursuit. She obeyed his directions,
+however, and was soon lost in mazes more intricate
+and perplexing than those of the palace.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the truants returned, by a different path
+from that which their pursuer had taken. The princess
+wore in her bosom a significant flower, which she had
+received and accepted from her admirer. With a light
+and joyous step, he led her through the crowded saloon,
+and presented her to the queen, craving her sanction to
+the vows they had just plighted to each other. Gracefully
+placing a chaplet of white roses and amaranths
+on their heads, the Empress gave them her blessing.
+Guatimozin, approaching at the same instant, confirmed
+it with hearty good will, and requested that the nuptials
+might be celebrated at an early day, and in his
+own palace.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+So distinguished a favor could not be refused. In
+the course of the next week the solemn ceremonies
+were performed; with all the imposing pomp of the
+Aztec ritual. A royal banquet was prepared, and the
+palace resounded with joyous revelry and music.</p>
+
+<p>When the officiating priest had uttered the last
+solemn words which sealed the indissoluble bond,
+Nahuitla stood forth, and publicly avowed his belief,
+that the gods designed only one woman for each man,
+solemnly renounced the old doctrine of polygamy, and
+pledged to his young bride, in the presence of his royal
+master, and the brilliant throng that had witnessed his
+vows of love and constancy, an undivided heart, and
+an undivided house.</p>
+
+<p>Struck with surprise and admiration at this unexpected
+scene, and impressed with the truth and purity
+of the sentiments, and the soundness of the conclusions,
+which the brave prince had proclaimed, the Emperor
+rose from his throne, and, with a bland but dignified
+and solemn air, addressed him:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You are right, Nahuitla, my brave prince; I feel it
+in my heart, you are right. I feel it in the claim which
+<i>your</i> Empress and <i>mine</i>, (looking affectionately at Tecuichpo,)
+has in the undivided empire of my heart, and
+in that sacred bond of union which is so close, that it
+cannot be shared by another without being broken.
+In the presence of these holy men, and of these my
+witnessing people, I solemnly subscribe to the same
+pure vow which you have uttered, pledging my whole
+self, in the marriage covenant to this my chosen and
+beloved queen, even as she has pledged her whole
+self to me. And I ordain the same, as the law of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+this my realm, and binding on all my loyal subjects for
+ever.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p>
+
+<p>If the noble Guatimozin had been permitted to
+sway the Aztec sceptre in peace, his name would be
+embalmed in the hearts of all the women of Anahuac,
+and the anniversary of the nuptials of Nahuitla and
+Atlacan would be celebrated, to this day, as the household
+jubilee of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>The conclusion of this festival&mdash;the last of the kind
+that was ever celebrated in the halls of Montezuma&mdash;was
+a unique and magnificent specimen of Aztec taste
+and luxury. At a signal from the master of ceremonies,
+the royal garden was suddenly illuminated by a
+thousand torches, borne by as many well trained servants
+in white livery. They were so stationed as to
+represent, from different points of view, groups of bright
+figures whirling in the mazy evolutions of a wild Indian
+dance. The harmony of their movements, and the
+picturesque effect of their frequent changes of position,
+was truly wonderful. It seemed more like magic than
+any thing belonging to the ordinary denizens of earth.
+By continually passing and re-passing each other,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+approaching and receding, raising and depressing their
+torches, the bearers were enabled to describe a great
+variety of fantastic figures. So well did they perform
+their parts, that, to the crowd of spectators from the
+palace, it was a perfect pantomime of light.</p>
+
+<p>At length the dance ended, and the figures of the
+various groups in light, gathering around a high altar,
+all of fire, seemed waiting for some sacred rite to be
+performed. Presently a tall princely figure was seen,
+approaching with slow and solemn pace, leading a
+lovely female to the altar. The high priest joined their
+hands in the indissoluble bond, and waved his wand
+of fire over their heads, in token of the divine blessing;
+upon which the dance of the torches was instantly
+renewed, accompanied with strains of the most joyous
+music, each group breathing out its peculiar airs and
+melodies, while the whole were beautifully blended and
+harmonized by the master spirit of the fęte. It seemed
+like the bridal of two angels of light, witnessed and
+celebrated by all the stars and constellations of the
+celestial spheres.</p>
+
+<p>The sudden extinguishment of these pantomimic
+stars, revealed to the surprised revellers the presence of
+the dawn, before whose coming the stars of every
+sphere go out, and revelry gives place to the sober realities
+of life.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> If this incident be deemed apocryphal, by the rigid historian, the fable
+is fully justified by the known state of public sentiment among the Aztecs
+at this time. Sagahun, according to a note in Prescott, states, that polygamy,
+though allowed, was by no means generally practised among them;
+and that the prevailing sentiment of the nation was opposed to it. One of
+the very few relics of their ancient literature, which were preserved in the
+general devastation of the conquest, is a letter of advice from a father to
+his child, on the eve of her marriage, in which he declares that it was the
+purpose of God, in his grand design of replenishing the earth, to make the
+sexes equal, and to allow only one wife to each man; and any deviation
+from this arrangement, was contrary to the plainest laws of nature.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER X.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">RETURN OF CORTEZ&mdash;SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN&mdash;BRAVERY
+AND SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">What will not man endure, and woman too,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To guard the hearth and altar? Give to each<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A thousand lives, and hedge them close around<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With all that makes it martyrdom to die,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And agony to suffer&mdash;freely still,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With all their wealth of blood, and love, and tears,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They&rsquo;ll yield them every one, and dying, wish<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They had a thousand more to give&mdash;<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Guatimozin was kept constantly informed of the preparations
+and movements of the Spaniards. His faithful
+spies followed them in all their marches, and found
+no difficulty in divining their general intentions and
+plans, as their courage revived on their arrival at Tlascala,
+and still more on the accession of a large reinforcement
+of Spaniards at Vera Cruz. Cortez was now
+as resolute as ever in his purpose of conquest, and
+determined to regain his position in the capital, or
+perish in the attempt. He went with the sword in one
+hand and the olive-branch in the other, if that can be
+called an olive-branch, which admits of no answer but
+submission, and offers no alternative but slavery or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+death. With a large increase of cavalry and artillery,
+an ample supply of ammunition, and a force both of
+Castilian and Indian allies, more than double of that
+which accompanied him on his former expedition, he
+took up his line of march from the friendly city of
+Tlascala, to cross the mountain barrier that separated
+him from his prey. Previous to his departure, he
+gave orders for the construction of a considerable
+number of brigantines, under the inspection of experienced
+Spanish shipwrights, conceiving the singular
+and original idea of transporting them, on the shoulders
+of his men, across the mountains, and launching
+them upon the lake of Tezcuco, to aid him in laying
+siege to the city. His march was unchallenged till
+he arrived on the very shores of the great lake, and
+stood before the walls of Tezcuco.</p>
+
+<p>Here he halted, and sent a message to the governor
+to throw open his gates, and renew his allegiance to the
+crown of Castile. The messenger returned with a
+request that the Spaniard would delay his entry into
+the city, until the next morning, when he should be
+prepared to give him a suitable reception. Cortez, suspecting
+that all was not right, ascended one of the Teocalli
+in the neighborhood, to ascertain if any hostile
+movement was contemplated. To his surprise, he saw
+immense crowds of people, thronging the thoroughfares
+on the other side of the city, and going, with as much
+of their substance as they could carry, towards the
+metropolis. Supposing that the city, when evacuated,
+would be given up to the flames, and that he should
+thus be cut off not only from supplies, but from a place
+of shelter and retreat, he instantly sent forward a strong
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+body of horse, with a battalion of infantry, to arrest
+the fugitives, and to demand an interview with the
+cacique.</p>
+
+<p>Flight having been resolved upon, and the city having
+been devoted to destruction, as the most effectual
+annoyance to the Spaniards, no preparations were made
+to resist such a movement as this. The unarmed fugitives
+returned to their homes, in great numbers, and the
+city, with all its abandoned palaces and temples, offered
+ample accommodations to the invaders. The person
+of the chief was not secured, he having effected his
+escape, with the principal part of his nobles, and all his
+army, to the capital. Cortez, assuming to act in the
+name of the king of Castile, for whom he claimed the
+sovereignty of all these lands, immediately deposed the
+reigning chief, absolving the people from all further
+allegiance to him, and installed his brother, who was
+favorable to the cause of the Spaniards, in his place.</p>
+
+<p>Thus secured in such commanding quarters, the
+haughty Castilian surveyed the field around him, and
+prepared himself, with great diligence and deliberation,
+to regain possession of it. The most liberal and conciliating
+overtures were made to the Emperor, if he would
+peaceably acknowledge the sovereignty of Castile, and
+admit him, as the representative of that crown, to the
+capital. These overtures were promptly and scornfully
+rejected, and every avenue to amicable negotiation effectually
+closed. The people of the country were sternly
+forbidden, on pain of death, from holding any intercourse
+with the strangers, or from administering, in
+any manner, to their wants. Large rewards were
+offered for captives, and every inducement held out to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+encourage the natives in a resistance, that should admit
+of no quarter, and terminate only in the utter extermination
+of one of the parties. Guatimozin was a man
+every way adapted to a crisis like this. Of a firm
+indomitable spirit, patient of suffering and of toil, and
+skilful in all the strategy of war and defence, and possessed
+of the entire confidence and affection of his own
+people, he applied himself to the work of self-preservation,
+with an energy and fertility of resource, which
+scarcely ever, in a righteous cause, fails to ensure success.
+That he was suffered to fail, is one of those
+inscrutable providences which stand frequently out on
+the page of history, to confound the short-sighted sagacity
+of man, and restrain his too inquisitive desire to
+fathom the counsels and purposes of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Perceiving that the ground was to be contested, step
+by step, and that not a foot would be yielded but at the
+point of the bayonet, and the mouth of the cannon,
+Cortez resolved on reducing the smaller towns first,
+and so approaching the capital, by slow degrees, leaving
+no unfriendly territory behind him, to cut off his
+supplies, or annoy his rear. In this manner, after
+almost incredible hardships, and many severe contests,
+in which his forces were very considerably reduced, he
+succeeded in wresting by violence, or winning by diplomacy,
+many of the tributary cities and districts from
+their allegiance to the Mexican crown. In their attempt
+upon Iztapalapan, which was led by Cortez in person,
+they were near being entirely overwhelmed by an artificial
+inundation of the city. The great dikes were
+pierced by the natives, and the waters of the lake came
+pouring in upon them, in torrents, from which they made
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+their escape with the utmost difficulty, with the loss of
+all their booty and ammunition, and not a few of their
+Indian allies. The place, however, was reduced to
+submission. Chalco, Otumba, and many other important
+posts were soon after added to the number of the
+conquered.</p>
+
+<p>This work of subjugation among the tributary provinces
+and cities, was not a little facilitated by the
+memory of the iron rule of Montezuma, and his severe
+exactions upon all his subjects, to maintain the splendors
+of the imperial palace. They had long felt these
+exactions to be most burdensome and unequal, and had
+only submitted to them by force of the terror of that
+name, which made all Anahuac tremble. They were,
+therefore, not unwilling to embrace any opportunity to
+throw off the Aztec yoke, when they could do it with
+the hope of ultimate protection from its vengeance.
+They had not long enough tested the administration of
+Guatimozin, to look for any relief from their burdens
+under his reign. He came to the throne at one of those
+signal crises in the affairs of the empire, which
+demanded all its resources, both physical and pecuniary,
+and was therefore compelled, for the time, rather
+to increase than diminish their taxes, and make heavier
+requisitions than usual upon their personal services.
+They were ready for a change of masters, and, as is
+usual in such cases, did not stop to consider whether
+the change might not be rather for the worse than for
+the better. As soon, therefore, as they ascertained that
+the Spanish power was sufficient to protect them against
+the fury of their old oppressors, they rushed to their
+standard, and arrayed themselves against the brave
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
+defenders of their native land. The event proved that
+the rod of iron was exchanged for a two-edged one of
+steel, a natural sovereign of their own race, for a worse
+than Egyptian task-master, and a subjection which left
+undisturbed their ancient customs, and the common
+relations of society, for an indiscriminate slavery which
+respected neither person nor property, and levelled alike
+the public and private institutions of the land.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the brigantines, which had been rapidly
+progressing at Tlascala, were completed. They were
+thirteen in number. They were first put together, and
+tried upon the waters of the Tahnapan; then taken to
+pieces, and the timbers, with all the tackle and apparel,
+including anchors, transported on the shoulders of
+the Tlascalan laborers, over the hills, and through
+the narrow defiles of the mountain, a distance of sixty
+miles, and re-constructed within the walls of Tezcuco.
+To open a communication with the lake, it was still
+necessary to make a canal, a mile and a half in length,
+twelve feet wide, and as many deep. This was accomplished
+in season for launching the little fleet, having
+eight thousand men employed upon it during two
+months. It was a day of great rejoicing and appropriate
+religious solemnity, when that little squadron
+appeared, with the ensign of Castile floating proudly at
+each mast head, their white sails swelling in the breeze,
+the smoke of the cannon rolling around, and the deep
+thunder reverberating from every side of the distant
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>There is, perhaps, no single achievement in the
+annals of human enterprize, more remarkable than this.
+There is certainly none which more clearly shows, or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>
+more beautifully illustrates, the daring indomitable spirit,
+and mighty genius, which alone could have achieved
+the conquest of Mexico. Who but Cortez would have
+conceived of such a design? Who but Cortez would
+have attempted and successfully executed it? To construct
+thirteen vessels of sufficient burthen to sustain
+the weight and action of heavy cannon, and accommodate
+the men and soldiers necessary to navigate and
+defend them, at a distance of twenty leagues from the
+waters on which they were to swim&mdash;to convey them
+over mountains, and through deep and difficult defiles,
+on the shoulders of men, without the aid of any species
+of waggon, or beast of burden, and to do this in the
+midst of a country, and with the aid of a people, where
+nothing had hitherto been known beyond the primitive
+bark canoe, and where the natural associations, and
+prevailing superstitions of the natives, were totally
+adverse to his design&mdash;to accomplish this alone would
+immortalize any other man. What was the passage of
+the Alps by Hannibal, or by Napoleon, compared to
+this? Yet, so replete was the whole expedition of Cortez
+with adventures of unparalleled difficulty, and
+achievements of dazzling splendor, that this is but a
+common event in his history, with nothing small or
+insignificant to place it in commanding relief. It was
+one of the infelicities in the career of this wonderful
+man, that he was continually eclipsing himself, showing
+an originality and power of conception, a fertility
+of invention and resource, and a determination and
+energy in overcoming difficulties, and making occurrences,
+seemingly the most adverse, bend to his will
+and subserve his designs, which wearies our surprise
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+and admiration, and actually exhausts our capacity of
+astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing was now wanting to complete the arrangements
+of the invader for laying siege to Tenochtitlan.
+By the aid of the brigantines, he was able to command
+the entire lake, sweeping away the frail canoes of the
+natives, like bubbles on the surface. All the cities and
+towns on its border had fallen, one after another, into
+his hands, though not without a desperate defence, and
+frequent and wasting sallies from the foe. The metropolis,
+that beautiful and magnificent gem upon the fair
+bosom of the lake, now stood alone, deserted by all her
+friends and supporters, the object of the concentrated
+hostility of the foreign invader, the ancient enemy, and
+the recent ally.</p>
+
+<p>In that devoted capital, now so closely and fearfully
+invested, there was a spirit and power fully equal to the
+awful crisis. As soon as Guatimozin perceived, by
+the movements of his enemy, that the city was to be
+assailed rather by the slow and wasting siege, than by
+the storm of war, he made every possible preparation to
+sustain himself at his post. The aged, the infirm, the
+sick, and, as far as possible, all the helpless among the
+inhabitants, were sent off among the neighboring towns,
+and country; while all those who were able to do service
+in the army, were brought thence into the city.
+Provisions were collected in great quantities, and all
+the resources then left to the empire concentrated upon
+one point, that of making an obstinate, unyielding
+defence. In this condition of affairs the siege commenced;
+a large part of the fighting men of the neighboring
+cities and towns being in the capital, preparing
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+to defend it against enemies with whom those cities
+and towns were now in close alliance. Though it thus
+brought the father against the son, and the son against
+the father, in many instances, it did not, in any case,
+disappoint the confidence of Guatimozin, or undermine
+the loyalty of his troops. There were no deserters from
+his standard. Through all the horrors of that wasting
+siege, they stood by their sovereign, and their capital,
+as if they knew no other home, no other friend.</p>
+
+<p>In vain did the Castilian commander propose terms
+of accommodation to the beleaguered city. The
+Emperor would not condescend even to an interview.
+His chiefs and his people, whenever they had an opportunity
+to do so, treated every attempt at compromise
+with utter scorn. They derided Cortez upon his disastrous
+evacuation of the capital on &ldquo;the melancholy
+night,&rdquo; assuring him that, if he should enter its gates
+now, he would not find a Montezuma on the throne.
+They taunted their Tlascalan allies as women, who
+would never have dared to approach the capital, without
+the protection of the white men.</p>
+
+<p>Sustained by this spirit, the warlike Mexican did not
+content himself with mere measures of defence. Frequent
+and desperate sallies were made upon the outposts
+of the enemy, until it seemed as if the hope of the
+noble Guatimozin might possibly be realized, that he
+might slowly and gradually destroy an enemy, whom
+he could not encounter in a pitched battle.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until the last avenue to the surrounding
+country was cut off, by divisions of the invading army,
+planted upon all the causeways, supported in all their
+movements by the thundering brigantines, that the true
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
+spirit of the besieged began to show itself. Till then,
+their tables had been plentifully supplied, and their
+hopes continually encouraged by the occasional losses
+of their enemy, whose numbers were too small to admit
+of much diminution. The priests were unremitting in
+their appeals to the patriotism of the people, and in
+promises of peculiar divine blessings on all who should
+persevere to the last, in defence of their altars and their
+gods. Guatimozin was ever among his people, encouraging
+them by kind words, and an example of unyielding
+defiance to every advance of the foe. He showed
+that he was not less the father of his people, than their
+king, suffering the same exposure, and enduring the
+same fatigues with the boldest and hardiest of his subjects.</p>
+
+<p>Such was their confidence of ultimate success in the
+defence of the capital, that the splendor and gaiety of
+the court was little diminished, until famine began to
+stare them in the face. The aqueduct of Chapoltepec
+had been cut off, and there was no longer any supply
+of wholesome water in the city. The dark visions of
+the lovely queen were now renewed. For a brief season,
+she had been permitted to revel in daylight, with
+scarcely a cloud to darken the sky above her. Suddenly
+that light was obscured. All was gloom and
+darkness around her. War, desolating war hovered
+once more about the gates of the beloved city. Wan
+faces, and haggard forms began to take the places of
+the gay, happy, spirited multitudes, that so recently
+thronged the palace. The image of her father, insulted
+by the stranger, murdered by his own people, rose to
+her view. His melancholy desponding look and tone,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>
+as he gave way to the doom which he felt was sealed
+upon him, his frequent assurances that the white men
+were &ldquo;the men of destiny,&rdquo; the heaven appointed proprietors
+and rulers of the land, and that wo would
+betide all who should oppose their pretensions, or offer
+resistance to their invincible arms&mdash;all these came up
+fresh to her thoughts, and filled her with sadness. Her
+own ill-starred destiny too, marked by every possible
+sign and presage, as full of darkness and sorrow&mdash;the
+thought was almost overwhelming. Fain would she
+have severed at once the bond that linked her fate with
+that of Guatimozin, for she felt that he was only sharing
+her doom, and on her account was exposed to these terrible
+shafts of fate. The love of Guatimozin, the faithful
+devotion of Karee, though they soothed in some
+measure her troubled spirit, could not wholly re-assure
+her, or dissipate the dreadful thought, that all these terrible
+calamities were come upon the nation only as a
+part of that dark doom, for which the gods had marked
+her out, on her very entrance into life.</p>
+
+<p>It was long before the Emperor and his immediate
+household, were made aware of the awful pressure
+of famine within that devoted city. Watchful and
+observing as he was, the people, with one consent, had
+contrived to keep him in comparative ignorance of the
+growing scarcity, in order that they might be permitted
+to supply his table, as long as possible, with all the
+necessaries and luxuries of life. So far was this loyal
+devotion carried, that multitudes, both of the chiefs and
+of the common people, were daily in the habit of denying
+themselves of every thing but what was absolutely
+necessary to sustain life, and sending to the palace
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+every article of fresh food, or delicate fruit, which they
+could obtain from their own gardens, or purchase from
+those of others. This noble devotion on the part of his
+people, was discovered and made known to the Emperor
+by Karee. She was the almoner of the bounty of
+the queen to multitudes of the poor and the sick, in
+different quarters of the city. On one of her errands
+of mercy, while she was administering to the comfort
+of a poor friend, in the last stages of mortal disease,
+made ten-fold more appalling by the absence of almost
+every thing that could sustain nature in the final struggle,
+she overheard the conversation of a father with his
+child in the adjoining room.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nay, my dear father, you must eat it. Your
+strength is almost gone, and how can you stand among
+the fighting men, and defend your king and your
+house, when you have eaten nothing for two whole
+days?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My precious child, I shall find something when I
+go out. But this morsel is for you, for I know you
+cannot live till I come home, if you do not eat this.
+And what will life be worth when you are gone.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Father, dear father, I cannot eat it. It will do me
+more good to see you eat it, for then I shall be sure you
+can live another day at least, and then, who knows but
+the gods will send us help.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Karee could listen no longer. Rushing into the
+apartment whence these melancholy sounds proceeded,
+she beheld the shadow of a once beautiful girl leaning
+on the arm of the pale and wasted figure of a man,
+endeavoring to draw him towards a table on which lay
+a single morsel of dried fruit, which he had brought in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+for her, it being the only food that either of them had
+seen for two days.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Take this,&rdquo; said she, offering the sweet child a portion
+of what she had prepared for the invalid, but
+which she was too far gone to receive, &ldquo;and may it
+give you both strength till the day of our deliverance.&rdquo;
+And she instantly returned to the death-bed of her
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>To the famishing group it was like the apparition of
+an angel, with a gift from the gods. The savory mess
+was readily divided, though the affectionate self-denying
+child contrived to cheat her father into receiving a
+little more than his share, while he tried every effort in
+vain, to persuade her to take the larger half. The
+wretched pair had not had such a feast for many a long
+week. &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; exclaimed the daughter, as she wept
+over the luxurious repast, &ldquo;if our dear mother could
+have had such a morsel as this, before she died, to stay
+her in that last dreadful agony.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, my beloved child,&rdquo; replied the subdued and
+bitterly bereaved father, &ldquo;but she has gone where there
+is plenty, and no tears mingled with it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The dried fruit was laid away for the morrow. But
+the same kind hand that relieved them on that day,
+was there again on the morrow, and on every succeeding
+day, till the city was sacked, and the wretched
+ghosts of its inhabitants given up to an indiscriminate
+slaughter.</p>
+
+<p>When Guatimozin was made acquainted with this
+incident, he resolved on making another desperate sally,
+with the whole force of his wasted army, in the forlorn
+hope of breaking through the ranks of the enemy, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+procuring some subsistence for his famishing people.
+Having drawn them up in the great square, his heart
+sunk within him, when he saw their pale faces and
+emaciated forms, and contrasted them with the fierce,
+stout, and seemingly invincible host, whom he had so
+often led into battle. But the feeling of despondency
+gave way instantly to that stern fixed purpose, that terrible
+decision of soul, which is the natural offspring of
+desperation. With a firm voice, he addressed them.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My brave soldiers, we must not any longer lie still.
+The enemy is at our gates, and we are perishing in our
+own citadel. Have we not once driven them, with a
+terrible and almost exterminating slaughter, along those
+very causeways which they now claim to occupy and
+to close up? Are they more invincible now than then?
+Are we less resolute, less fearless? By our famishing
+wives and children, by our desecrated altars and gods,
+let us rush upon them and overwhelm them at once.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The monarch had not yet finished his stirring appeal,
+when a courier rushed in, bringing tidings that the
+several divisions of the besieging army were moving
+up the causeways, and approaching the city on every
+side.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They come to their own destruction,&rdquo; said the monarch,
+bitterly, and immediately proceeded to distribute
+his men, to give them a fitting reception. The larger
+part of the forces were ordered to occupy several somewhat
+retired places, amid the great public buildings in
+the centre of the city, where they should be in readiness
+to obey the royal signal. The remainder were to
+go out, in their several divisions, to meet and skirmish
+with the advancing foe, doing them as much mischief
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
+as possible, yet suffering themselves to be driven before
+them, till they were decoyed into the heart of the city.
+The signal would then be given, when every man who
+could draw a bow, or wield a lance, or throw a stone,
+would be expected to do his duty.</p>
+
+<p>It was a stratagem worthy of Guatimozin, and, in its
+execution, had well nigh overwhelmed the Spaniards,
+and saved the city. Cortez had appointed with the
+captains of each division of his army to meet in the
+great square of the city. Each one being eager to be
+first at the goal, they followed the retreating Aztecs
+without consideration, and without making any provision
+for their own retreat. The watchful agents of
+Guatimozin were behind as well as before them; and
+when they had passed the gates, and were pressing up,
+with all the heat and enthusiasm of a victorious army,
+into the heart of the city, the bridges were taken up in
+their rear, to cut off, if possible, their retreat. When
+this was effected, the fatal horn of Guatimozin blew a
+long loud blast, from the summit of the great Teocalli.
+In an instant, the retreating Aztecs turned upon their
+pursuers, like tigers ravening upon their prey; while
+swarms of fresh warriors poured in from every lane
+and street and avenue, rushing so fiercely upon the
+too confident assailants, as to bring them to a sudden
+pause in their triumphant career. At the same moment,
+the roof of every house and temple, along the
+whole line of their march, was covered with men, who
+poured upon them such a shower of stones that it
+seemed impossible to escape being buried under them.
+The tide of battle was now turned. The too daring
+invaders were thrown into confusion, and compelled to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
+retreat. This they soon found, to their bitter cost, was
+nearly impossible. When it was discovered that the
+bridges, over which they had so recently passed, were
+removed, the utmost consternation prevailed. The
+heavy cannon were all on board the brigantines, so
+that they were unable, as in former times, to mow
+down the solid ranks of their foes, and break a way for
+their retreat. Their cavalry was of little service, for
+they could not leap the wide chasms made by the
+removal of the bridges. Cut off in front by the solid
+masses of warriors that blocked up every avenue, and
+in the rear by these yawning chasms, and hemmed in
+on each side by the massive stone walls of the buildings,
+they could neither protect themselves, nor effectually
+annoy their enemy. They were in imminent
+danger of perishing ignobly in the ditch, without even
+striking a blow in their own defence.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately for the invaders, their sagacious and
+ever-wakeful general had anticipated the possibility of
+such a scene as this, and had taken some measures
+to forestall it. His officers, however, were too high-spirited
+and self-confident to condescend to the cowardly
+drudgery of carrying out his precautionary
+measures. They thought only of victory, and the
+spoils of the glorious city, which they now regarded as
+their own.</p>
+
+<p>In this fearful dilemma, the genius of Cortez did not
+desert him. When the first shout of battle reached his
+ears, as he was advancing cautiously along the avenue,
+he instantly conjectured the cause. Ordering his own
+column to halt, and selecting a chosen band of his best
+cavalry, he wheeled about, dashed furiously down the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+avenue, and put to flight the unarmed Aztecs, who
+were doing the work of destruction for him, and had
+then almost succeeded in tearing away the foundations
+of the great bridge. Making his way through the
+deserted streets, with the speed of the wind, he came
+round into the other avenue, where one division of his
+army was hemmed in, in the manner above described.
+Charging impetuously upon the gathering crowds of
+Aztecs, he succeeded in forcing his way up to the
+chasm, where he stood face to face with his own troops
+on the other side. Here, in the midst of a pitiless tempest
+of stones, and darts and arrows, he maintained his
+stand, while his men, with incredible labor, attempted
+to fill up the chasm.</p>
+
+<p>The work was at length accomplished, though not
+without the most serious loss to Cortez. Some of his
+bravest officers fell in that merciless contest with foes
+who would neither give nor receive quarter. Many
+were pelted down with the huge stones, that ceased not
+to rain upon them from all the neighboring house tops.
+Some were taken by the feet as they labored to maintain
+a precarious footing on the slippery causeway, and
+dragged into the canals, either to be drowned in the
+desperate struggle there, or carried off in the canoes to
+captivity or sacrifice. Cortez himself narrowly escaped
+immolation.</p>
+
+<p>At length, through the indomitable perseverance of
+the general, the breach was so far filled up as to make
+a practicable passage for the troops. A retreat was
+sounded, and that gallant band, which, a few hours
+before had rushed in with flaunting banners, and confident
+boastings of an easy victory, was glad to escape
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
+from the snare into which they had fallen, their numbers
+greatly reduced, their banners soiled and tattered,
+and their expectations of ultimate success terribly
+shaken. They were pursued through all their march
+by the exulting Aztecs, and many a broken head and
+bruised limb attested the truth of Guatimozin&rsquo;s taunting
+challenge, that the Spaniards, if they entered the capital
+again, would find as many fortresses as there were
+houses, as many assailants as stones in the streets.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3 class="padtop">CHAPTER XI.</h3>
+
+<p class="p1">STRAITNESS OF THE FAMINE. THE FINAL CONFLICT. FLIGHT
+AND CAPTURE OF GUATIMOZIN. DESTINY FULFILLED.</p>
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i8">Death opens every door,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And sits in every chamber by himself.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If what might feed a sparrow should suffice<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For soldiers&rsquo; meals, ye have not wherewithal<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To linger out three days. For corn, there&rsquo;s none;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A mouse, imprisoned in your granaries,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Were starved to death.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>This shameful defeat was a tremendous blow to the
+ardent anticipations of the conqueror. Many of the
+timid and the discontented in his own ranks availed
+themselves of the opportunity to create divisions, and
+withdraw from the doubtful contest. The Mexicans,
+strengthened by the spoils of their assailants, and yet
+more by the new courage which their late success
+infused into every heart among them, immediately commenced
+repairing their works, clearing their canals, and
+making the most vigorous preparations for maintaining
+the siege. Their priests, infuriated with the number of
+sacrifices which they had been enabled to offer to the
+gods, from the captives of high and low degree taken in
+the conflict, declared with authoritative solemnity, that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+the anger of the gods was now appeased, and that they
+had promised unequivocally, the speedy annihilation
+of their invading foes. This oracular declaration was,
+by the order of Guatimozin, published in the hearing
+of the Indian allies of his adversary. It was a politic
+stroke, and, if the oracle had not imprudently fixed too
+early a day for the execution of the predicted vengeance,
+its effect might have been such as to break for
+ever the bonds of that unnatural alliance, and leave the
+little handful of white men, with all their boasted pretensions
+to immortality, to perish by the hands of their
+own friends.</p>
+
+<p>But why dwell longer upon the appalling details of
+this miserable siege. The day of predicted vengeance
+arrived, and the Spaniards survived it. Their superstitious
+terror-stricken allies returned to their allegiance.
+By a judicious administration of reward and discipline,
+of promise and threatening, all disaffection was hushed.
+New measures of offence were concerted, with a determination,
+on the part of the besiegers, to press into the
+city by degrees, securing every step, as they advanced,
+by levelling every building, and filling up every ditch,
+in their progress, till not one stone should be left upon
+another in Tenochtitlan. This terrible resolution was
+carried into effect. Every building, whether public or
+private, palace, temple, or Teocalli, from which they
+could be annoyed by the indomitable Aztec, was laid
+waste. The canals were filled up and levelled, so as
+to give free scope for the movements of the cavalry and
+artillery. The beautiful suburbs were reduced to a
+level plain, a dry arid waste, covered with the ruins of
+all that was dear and sacred in the eyes of the Aztec.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+Slowly, but surely, the Spaniard pressed on towards the
+heart of the city, in which the heroic monarch, with his
+miserable remnant of starving subjects and skeleton soldiers
+were pent up, dying by thousands of famine and
+pestilence, and yet ready to suffer a thousand deaths,
+rather than yield themselves up to the mercy of the foe.</p>
+
+<p>There was now absolutely nothing left, in earth or
+air, to sustain for another day the poor remains of life
+in the camp of the besieged. Every foot of ground had
+been dug over many times, in quest of roots, and even
+of worms. The leaves and bark had been stripped
+from every tree and shrub, till there was not a green
+thing on all those terraces, which were once like the
+gardens of Elysium. The dead and the dying lay in
+heaps together, for there was neither life nor spirit in
+any that breathed, to do the last office for the departed.
+Pestilence was in all the air, so that many even of the
+besieging army snuffed it in the breeze that swept over
+the city, and fell victims to the very fate which their
+cruel rapacity was inflicting on the besieged.</p>
+
+<p>Famine, cruel, gnawing famine, was in the palace of
+the Emperor, as well as in the hovel of his meanest
+subject. That noble prince quailed not before the fate
+that awaited himself. Had he stood alone in that citadel,
+with power in his single arm to keep out the foe,
+he would have stood till death, in whatever form,
+released him from his post, and spurned every suggestion
+of compromise or quarter. But the scenes of utter
+distress which every where met his eye&mdash;the haggard
+ghosts of his friends, flitting restlessly before him, or
+crawling feebly and with convulsive moans among the
+upturned earth, in the forlorn hope of finding another
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
+root&mdash;the dead&mdash;the dying&mdash;the more miserable living
+longing for death, and glaring with their horribly
+prominent, but glazed and expressionless eye-balls on
+each other&mdash;this, this was too much for the heart of
+Guatimozin.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;shall I submit to see my
+last friend die before my eyes, and my own sweet wife
+perish of hunger, only to retain for another hour the
+empty name of king. No. I will endure it no longer.
+I will go to Malinché, alone, and unaccompanied, and
+offer my life for yours. He only wants our gold. Let
+him find that if he can. He will spare <i>you</i>, and wreak
+all his vengeance on my head.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A faint murmur ran through the crowd, and then a
+feeble expiring &ldquo;No, never,&rdquo; burst feebly from many
+lips. One, a little stronger than the rest, arose and
+said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Most gracious sovereign, think not of us. We only
+ask to live and die with and for you. And the more
+cruel the death, the more glorious the martyrdom for
+our country and our gods. Trust not Malinché.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The speaker fainted and fell, with his fist clenched,
+and his teeth set, as if he felt that he held the last foe
+in mortal conflict.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No, never&mdash;trust not Malinché&mdash;let us die together,&rdquo;
+was echoed by many sepulchral voices, that seemed
+more like the groans of the dead, than the remonstrances
+of the living.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Trust not Malinché, remember my father,&rdquo; whispered
+the fond, devoted, faithful, affectionate wife, now
+the shadow of her former self, beautiful in her queenly
+sorrow, sublime in her womanly composure.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+Guatimozin, the proud, the lofty chief, whose heart
+had never known fear, whose soul had never been subdued,
+bowed his head upon the bosom of his wife, and
+wept. The strong heart, the lion spirit melted.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Who, who will care for Tecuichpo? Who will
+cherish the last daughter of Montezuma?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Think not of me, Guatimozin, think of yourself and
+your people, I am resigned to my fate. If I may but
+die with you, it is all I desire&mdash;for how could I live
+without you. But think not of trusting Malinché. Let
+us remain as we are. Another day, and we shall all
+be at rest from our sufferings. And surely it were
+better to die together by our altars, than to fall into the
+hands of the treacherous stranger.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Trust not Malinché,&rdquo; added Karee. &ldquo;Was it not
+trust in him that brought all this evil upon us? Think
+not of submission. You shall see that women can die
+as well as men. Let Malinché come, and take possession
+of the remains of these mutilated walls and desolated
+gardens, but let him not claim one living Aztec,
+to be his slave, or his subject.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of approbation followed, and then a long
+pause ensued. It was like the silence of death. The
+whole scene would have made an admirable picture.
+At length the silence was broken by the voice of the
+young Cacique of Tlacopan.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My sovereign,&rdquo; said he, in a faint voice, but with
+something of the energy of despair, &ldquo;there is yet hope.
+Let us muster what force we can, of men who are able
+to stand, and sally out upon the enemy. We cannot
+do him much harm. But, while he is occupied with
+us, you and your family, with a few attendants can
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+escape by a canoe over the lake. As many of us as
+have life and strength to do it, will follow you, under
+cover of the coming night. Your old subjects will
+flock around you there, and we may yet, when we
+shall have tasted food, and become men again, make
+a stand somewhere against the foe, and drive him
+out.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is well! it is well!&rdquo; was the feeble response on
+every side.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I cannot leave you,&rdquo; replied the monarch. &ldquo;What!
+shall your king fly, like a coward, while his people
+rush upon the enemy only to cover his retreat? No,
+that were worse than death&mdash;worse than captivity!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is not flight, my beloved sovereign,&rdquo; responded
+the Cacique, &ldquo;it is an honorable stratagem of war, for
+the good of the nation, not less than your own. When
+<i>you</i> are gone, we have no head, and we fall at once
+into the captivity we so much dread. Leave us but
+the name and person of Guatimozin to rally around,
+and it will be a tower of strength, which can never
+fail us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, yes, it is right,&rdquo; was whispered on every side&mdash;&ldquo;Go,
+noble monarch, go at once. It is a voice from
+heaven to save us.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>To this counsel the priests added their earnest advice,
+and even Tecuichpo ventured to say, &ldquo;it whispered of
+hope to her heart.&rdquo; Guatimozin suffered himself to be
+overruled. The canoes were made ready in the grand
+canal, which yet remained open on the eastern side.
+All that could be safely taken of treasure, and of convenient
+apparel, was carefully stowed. The Queen and
+other ladies of the court, with her faithful Karee, all
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+wasted to skeletons, and moving painfully, like phantoms
+of beauty in a sickly dream, were conveyed to the
+barges. The Emperor and his attendants followed,
+and all was in readiness for the departure. At that
+moment the martial horn was sounded from the great
+Teocalli, and the shadowy host of the Aztec army staggered
+forth to offer battle to the enemy. It was a fearful
+sight. It seemed as if the armies of the dead, the
+mighty warriors of the past, had risen from their
+graves, to fight for their desecrated altars, and to defend
+those very graves from profanation. Feebly, but fearfully,
+with glaring eyes and hideous grin, they rushed
+upon the serried ranks of the besiegers. A kind of
+superstitious terror seized them, as if these shapes were
+something more than mortal. For a moment they
+gave way to panic, and fell back without striking a
+blow. Roused by the stentorian voice of Cortez, they
+rallied instantly, and discharging their heavy fire arms,
+swept away whole ranks of their frenzied assailants.
+It was a brief conflict. Many of the Aztecs fell by the
+swords of the Spaniards, and the spears of their merciless
+allies. Some fell, faint with their own exertions,
+and died without a wound. Some grappled desperately
+with the foe, content to die by his hand, if they could
+first quench their burning thirst with one drop of his
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>At length, a long blast from the horn sounded a
+retreat. The poor remnant turned towards the city,
+and were suffered to escape unmolested to their desolate
+homes.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the little fleet of Guatimozin had put
+forth upon the lake. The canoes separated, as they left
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+the basin of the canal, taking different directions, the
+better to escape the observation of the brigantines. The
+precaution was a wise one, but unavailing. The watchful
+eye of the besieging general was there. The brigantines
+gave chase to the fugitives. Bending to their
+paddles with the utmost strength of their feeble emaciated
+arms, they found their pursuers gaining upon
+them. Casting their gold into the lake, Guatimozin
+directed them to cease their exertions, and wait the
+approach of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not without one little effort more, I beseech you,&rdquo;
+exclaimed Karee. &ldquo;See, my chinampa is close at
+hand. Let us try to gain that. It has food on its trees
+for many days, and I have there a place of concealment,
+curiously contrived beneath the water, where you and
+the queen may remain without fear of detection, till we
+can effect your escape to the shore.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>In an instant the paddles were in the water, and the
+canoe shot ahead with unusual speed. The combined
+energy of hope and despair nerved every arm, and fired
+every heart. They neared the beautiful chinampa.
+Their eyes feasted on its fresh and cooling verdure, and
+its ripe fruits hanging luxuriantly on every bough.
+Their ears were ravished with the music of the birds,
+who had long since deserted their wonted haunts in the
+capital.</p>
+
+<p>While the chase was gaining rapidly upon them,
+another of those fearful brigantines, which had hitherto
+been concealed by the thick foliage of the chinampa,
+rounded its little promontory, and appeared suddenly
+before them. Instantly, every paddle dropped, every
+arm was paralyzed. Not a word was spoken. In passive
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+silence each one waited for his doom, which was
+now inevitable. When the Spaniard had approached
+within hailing distance, the Emperor rose in his little
+shallop, and, waving his hand proudly, said, &ldquo;I am
+Guatimozin.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The royal prisoners were treated with the utmost
+deference and respect. Being brought into the presence
+of Cortez, the monarch, pale, emaciated, the shadow of
+what he had been, approached with an air of imperial
+dignity, and said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Malinché, I have done what I could to defend
+myself and protect my people. Now I am your prisoner.
+Do what you will with me, but spare my poor
+people, who have shown a fidelity and an endurance
+worthy of a better fate.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Cortez, filled with admiration at the proud bearing
+of the young monarch, assured him that not only his
+family and his people, but himself should be treated
+with all respect and tenderness. &ldquo;Better,&rdquo; said Guatimozin,
+laying his hand on the hilt of the general&rsquo;s
+poignard, &ldquo;better rid me of life at once, and put an end
+to my cares and sufferings together.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied Cortez, &ldquo;you have defended your capital
+like a brave warrior. I respect your patriotism, I
+honor you valor, and your firm endurance of suffering.
+You shall be my friend and the friend of my sovereign,
+and live in honor among your own people.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The keen eye of the monarch flashed with something
+like indignation, when allusion was made to the king
+of Castile, and to himself as his vassal.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In honor I <i>cannot</i> live,&rdquo; he said proudly, &ldquo;for I am
+defeated. A king I <i>cannot</i> be, for he is no king who is
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+subject to another. I am your prisoner. The gods
+have willed it, and I submit.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Renewing his politic assurances of friendship and
+favor, the conqueror sent for the wife and family of his
+captive, first ordering a royal banquet to be prepared for
+them. Supported by Karee, leaning on the arm of the
+devoted Nahuitla, the lord of Tlacopan, the queen was
+ushered into the presence of the conqueror. Her appearance
+struck the general and his officers with admiration.
+Timid as she was by nature, she had the air and
+port of inborn royalty; and, in deference to her husband,
+she would not have allowed herself to quail
+before the assembled host of Castile, dreaded as they
+were, and had long been. With a becoming courtesy,
+she returned the respectful salutations of Malinché and
+his cavaliers, and asked no other favor than to share
+the fate of her lord.</p>
+
+<p>What that fate was, and how the Castilian knight
+redeemed his pledges to his unfortunate and noble captives,
+is matter of historical record. It is the darkest
+page in the memoir of that wonderful chief&mdash;a foul blot
+upon the name even of <i>that</i> man, who was capable of
+requiting the superstitious reverence and confidence of
+a Montezuma, with a treacherous and inglorious captivity
+in his own palace, and a yet more inglorious
+death at the hands of his own subjects. History must
+needs record it, dark and painful as it is. Romance
+would throw a veil over it.</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Years of intense suffering, of harrowing bereavement,
+of insult, humiliation, and every species of mental and
+social distress, were yet appointed to the daughter of
+Montezuma, the bride of Guatimozin. Her predicted
+destiny was fulfilled to the letter. She bowed meekly
+to her fate, sustaining every reverse with a fortitude and
+composure of soul, that indicated a mind of uncommon
+resources. It was a long, dark, stormy day, &ldquo;but in
+the evening time there was light.&rdquo; It was the light of
+faith. She abandoned the false gods of her fathers,
+and found true and lasting peace in the cross of Jesus
+Christ.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="padtop">THE FLIGHT<br />
+<br />
+<span class="tinyfont">OF</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="smlfont">THE KATAHBA CHIEF.</span></h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i12">Go now to Greece,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or Rome&mdash;to Albion&rsquo;s sea-girt isle&mdash;to Gaul,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ancient or modern&mdash;to the fiery realm<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of Turk or Arab&mdash;to the ice-bound holds<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of Alaric and Attila&mdash;and find,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If find thou canst, a nobler race of men&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">More firm, more brave, more true&mdash;swifter of foot,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or readier in action.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="padtop">THE FLIGHT OF THE KATAHBA CHIEF.</h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i2">Go not to the chase, my brave hunter, to-day,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There&rsquo;s a mist o&rsquo;er the sun&mdash;there&rsquo;s a snare in the way;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Manitto revealed last night in my dream<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A deep dark shadow o&rsquo;erhanging the stream;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The deer, from his thicket, sprung out in thy path&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then he changed to a tiger, and roared in his wrath&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then the warrior hunter, so fearless and brave,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Was driven away, like a captive slave;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then the smoke rolled up, and the flames curled high,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the forest rung with the foeman&rsquo;s cry;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then the wind swept by with a desolate wail&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The avenger of blood was on thy trail;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Minaree looked out at the cabin door,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But her bold brave hunter returned no more.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Go not to the chase, my brave hunter, to-day,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There&rsquo;s a mist o&rsquo;er the sun&mdash;there&rsquo;s a snare in the way.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>So, in sweetly plaintive strains, chanted the beautiful
+young bride of a Katahba chief, as she prepared his
+frugal morning meal, while he was busying himself in
+examining the string of his bow, replenishing his quiver
+with straight polished shafts, and renewing the edge of
+his trusty hatchet.</p>
+
+<p>In all the forest homes of the native tribes, there was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+not a fairer flower than Minaree, the loved and devoted
+wife of the brave Ash-te-o-láh. The only daughter of a
+chief of the Wateree tribe, which was one branch of
+the great family of the Katahbas, she inherited the
+spirit and pride of her father, with all the simple beauty,
+and unsophisticated womanly tenderness of her mother.
+She was the idol of Ash-te-o-láh&rsquo;s heart; for, savage as
+the world would call him, and ignorant of the codes of
+chivalry and of the courtly phrase of love, he was as
+true to all the warmer and purer affections, which constitute
+the bliss of domestic life, as to the lofty sentiments
+of heroic virtue, which made him early conspicuous
+in the councils of his people. Though fearless as
+the lion, fleet as the roe, and adventurous, sagacious
+and powerful as any that ever sounded the war-whoop,
+or startled the deer, in those interminable wilds&mdash;he
+was noble, generous, warm-hearted, and devotedly tender
+to the objects of his love.</p>
+
+<p>The winning tones, and the affectionate glances of
+Minaree, as she chanted her simple prophetic lay, had
+almost won Ash-te-o-láh from his purpose. But, half
+doubting whether her oracular dream was any thing
+more than a little artifice of affection, and always superior
+to that prevailing superstition of his people, which
+gave to dreams all the sanctity and force of divine revelation,
+and excited by the preparations he had been
+making, he flung his rattling quiver to his back, whispered
+a gentle intimation that Ash-te-o-láh feared neither
+tiger nor foeman, and returning the affectionate glance
+of his bride, left the wigwam.</p>
+
+<p>It was a clear bright summer morning. There was
+a balmy sweetness in the air, and melody in all the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+groves; but they won not the ear, they regaled not the
+sense of Minaree, whose heart sunk within her, as she
+saw her beloved Ash-te-o-láh launch his canoe into the
+stream, and dash away over its glassy surface, like a
+swallow on the wing. Ere he dipped his paddle in the
+water, he turned and gracefully waved her a parting
+salute, the affectionate desire to stay and soothe the
+troubled spirit of her dream, still struggling with that
+lofty pride which told him that he had never yet shrunk
+from any form of danger, or known the name of fear.</p>
+
+<p>The lands bordering on the Katahba, were covered,
+for many a league, with a dense and thriving population.
+More than twenty tribes were clustered there
+into one powerful fraternity, capable of bringing two
+thousand warriors into the field. Their grounds were
+extensively cultivated, their forests abounded with the
+choicest game, and their rivers with fish, and they
+regarded themselves as the most prosperous of the
+nations.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could exceed the romantic beauty and loveliness
+of some of their villages. Stretching along the
+banks of the rivers, and embowered deeply in the luxurious
+forests of that favored clime, the numerous wigwams,
+simple enough in their construction, but adorned
+here and there with the trophies of war or the chase,
+and often alive with the athletic sports of the young
+Indians, formed a scene as animated and picturesque
+as ever glowed on the bosom of the earth&mdash;a scene of
+patriarchal life, such as cannot now be found among
+all the families of men.</p>
+
+<p>Conspicuous among them all was the wigwam of
+Ash-te-o-láh. The hand of Minaree was visible in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
+tasteful arrangement of a few simple ornaments about
+the door, and the trailing of a white flowering vine over
+its walls, which fell in luxuriant festoons, or floated in
+feathery pensiles on every side.</p>
+
+<p>Minaree stood in the door of the wigwam, watching
+the retreating form of her lord, as his light canoe swept
+down with the current of the river, till it was lost in the
+distance, and then pensively, and as if unconsciously to
+herself, resumed her solemn chant, weaving the while
+a wreath of her wild flowering vine.</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">He has gone to the chase, my brave hunter has gone&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He will not return in the moonlight, or morn;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Minaree shall look out at the cabin door,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But her bold brave hunter shall come no more;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There&rsquo;s a cloud in her wigwam&mdash;a fire in her brain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For her warrior hunter shall ne&rsquo;er come again.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Gently and placidly flowed the Katahba&mdash;every tree
+and shrub mirrored in its beautiful waters. Not a
+sound disturbed the perfect stillness; not even the hum
+of the cricket, or the song of the bird. It seemed an
+utter solitude. Then a light canoe was seen slowly
+gliding down the stream. A noble looking Indian was
+standing in it, erect and tall, with his paddle poised, as
+if wrapped in meditation, or unwilling to disturb the
+quiet and charm of the silence. It was a scene to
+awaken a sense of poetic beauty, even in the mind of
+an untutored savage. It thrilled the soul of Ash-te-o-láh,
+and held him some moments in admiring contemplation.
+Suddenly starting from his unwonted reverie, he
+rounded a jutting promontory, and moored his skiff,
+carefully concealing it amid the overhanging shrubs.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+There was something surpassingly graceful and
+majestic in the figure of this noble son of the forest.
+Formed by nature in her most perfect mould, tall,
+sinewy, athletic, yet with every feature and every limb
+rounded to absolute grace, he was a fine subject for a
+painter or sculptor. His dress consisted of a beautiful
+robe, gracefully flung over one shoulder, and confined
+at the waist by a richly ornamented belt. His hair was
+wrought into a kind of crown, and ornamented with a
+tuft of feathers. Equipped with bow and quiver, he
+seemed intent on game; and yet one might have imagined,
+from his keen glance and cautious manner, that
+he expected a foe in ambush.</p>
+
+<p>Ash-te-o-láh was soon on the track of the deer, which,
+starting from the thicket, bounded away with the speed
+of the wind. Pursuing with equal pace, the bold hunter
+dashed into the depths of the forest, watching for a
+favorable moment to take the deadly aim. The arrow
+was on the string, and about to be raised to fly at his
+panting victim, when the shrill war-whoop burst suddenly
+on his ear. It arrested his step, for a moment,
+but not his arm; for the arrow sped as if nothing had
+occurred to divert its course, and buried itself in the
+heart of the flying deer.</p>
+
+<p>Perceiving, at a glance, that a party of the Senecas,
+the old and deadly enemies of the Katahbas, were down
+upon him, and had cut off his retreat to the river, he
+held on his course, as before, but with redoubled speed,
+intending, if possible, to secure a refuge from his pursuers,
+in a cavern about five miles distant. Fleet as
+the wind, he would have gained his purpose, if the
+course had been direct, for there was not a red man in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+the wide forests of America, who could outrun Ash-te-o-láh.
+Dividing themselves into several parties, and
+taking different courses to intercept his flight, his enemies
+gave instant chase to the fugitive. One party followed
+close on his trail, but he was soon lost to their
+view. Another struck off northwardly, towards a bend
+in the West Branch, where the rapids afforded an opportunity
+for crossing the stream without impeding his
+flight. A third made for a deep cut, or ravine, about a
+mile further down, where a fallen tree, extending from
+bank to bank, served the purpose of a bridge.</p>
+
+<p>Ash-te-o-láh soon perceived that his enemies were
+divided, and resolved that, if they <i>did</i> intercept or overtake
+him, it should cost them dear. Halting a little in
+his flight, and taking to the covert of a tree, he drew
+upon the foremost of his pursuers, and laid him dead
+in the path. The next in the pursuit, pausing a
+moment over his fallen brother, shared the same fate.
+Knowing, as by instinct, that the other parties would
+endeavor to cut him off at the rapids and the bridge, he
+dashed forward, in a straight line for the stream,
+plunged into the water, and holding his bow aloft,
+struggled with a powerful arm to reach the other side.
+He gained the bank, just as his pursuers made their
+appearance on the opposite shore. Turning suddenly
+upon them, he levelled another shaft with such unerring
+aim, that one of their number fell bleeding into
+the stream. Another and another, in the act of leaping
+over the bank, received the fatal shaft into his heart.
+Hearing the distant whoop, which indicated that the
+other party had reached the bridge, Ash-te-o-láh waited
+not for another victim, but bounded away for his mountain
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+fastness. The little delay which had been necessary
+to cut off five of his pursuers, had given an advantage
+to the other parties, who were now on the same
+side of the stream with himself, and gaining upon his
+steps. No sooner was this perceived, than the heroic
+fugitive turned upon the nearest of them, and, with the
+same infallible aim, laid him dead in the path. Still
+another had fallen before his sure aim, and his bow
+was strained for another shot, when one of the other
+party, who had made a circuit, and come up behind
+him unperceived, leaped upon, and held him pinioned
+in his powerful grasp. His struggles were terrible;
+but he was immediately surrounded, overpowered and
+disarmed.</p>
+
+<p>Though seven of their number had fallen in this
+brief chase, the brave Senecas were so struck with
+admiration at the wonderful skill and noble bearing of
+their captive, that they did not, as usual, instantly
+avenge the slain, by taking the life of the slayer; but
+resolved to take him along with them, and to lead him
+in triumph into the midst of the council of their nation,
+there to be disposed of by the united voices of their
+chiefs.</p>
+
+<p>It was a sad triumph, for they were filled with grief
+and mortification for the loss of so many of their brave
+kindred, all fallen by the hand of one of the hated
+Katahbas, and he now completely in their power.
+Though stung with shame, and thirsting for a worthy
+revenge, yet such was their love of martial virtue, that,
+during all their long journey homeward, they treated
+their haughty captive with far greater respect and kindness
+than if he had acted the part of a coward, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+suffered himself to fall into their hands without any
+attempt at resistance. As for him, with an unsubdued
+spirit, and an air of proud superiority, he marched in
+the midst of his enemies, as if defying their power, and
+scorning the vengeance from which it was impossible
+to escape. To one unaccustomed to the modes of
+Indian warfare, and the code of Indian etiquette, who
+might have witnessed that triumphant procession, Ash-te-o-láh
+would have appeared the proud and absolute
+prince, surrounded by his admiring and subservient
+life-guard, rather than the subdued and helpless captive,
+escorted by his enemies to an ignominious execution.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived within the territories of their own tribe,
+the triumph of the captors began. The whole nation
+was roused to revenge the death of their lost heroes.
+In every village, as they passed along, the women and
+children were permitted to beat and insult the unresisting
+captive, who bore every indignity with stoical indifference,
+and proud disdain, never indicating by word
+or look, the slightest sense of mortification or pain, nor
+bating one jot of his lofty and scornful bearing.</p>
+
+<p>Before the great council of assembled chiefs, he maintained
+the same tone of fearless dignity and self-respect.
+His very look was defiance, that quailed not before the
+proudest glance of his enemy, nor showed the slightest
+symptom of disquietude, when the decision of the council
+was announced, condemning him to die by the fiery
+torture. It might reasonably be imagined that his past
+sufferings, his tedious marches, his scanty fare, lying at
+night on the bare ground, exposed to the changes of the
+weather, with his arms and legs extended and cramped
+in a pair of rough stocks, the insulting treatment, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>
+cruel scourgings of the exasperated women and children,
+who were taught to consider it a virtue to torment
+an enemy, along with the anticipation of those more
+bitter sufferings which he was yet to endure, would
+have impaired his health, and subdued his hitherto
+proud and unyielding spirit. Such would have been
+the effect of similar circumstances upon the physical
+frame, and stout-hearted fortitude of the great majority
+of the heroes of that pale-faced race, who boast of a
+proud superiority over the unlettered children of the
+forest. There are few so hardy, that they could endure,
+not only without a murmur, but without shrinking,
+what Ash-te-o-láh had already suffered&mdash;few so courageous,
+that they could hear, with an unmoved countenance,
+the terrible doom which his enemies had prepared
+for him, or witness undisturbed the fearful
+arrangements, and horrid ceremonies, that were designed
+to give intensity and effect to its infliction.</p>
+
+<p>Ash-te-o-láh was insensible to fear, and would sooner
+have undergone a thousand torturing deaths, than permit
+his enemies to see that he was conscious even of
+suffering. So nobly did he sustain his courage amid
+the trial, so well did he act his heroic part, that his
+enemies, who admired and inculcated the same unflinching
+fortitude, were surprised and vexed at his lofty
+superiority, and resolved, by every possible aggravation
+of his sufferings, to break down and subdue his proud
+indomitable spirit.</p>
+
+<p>The hour of execution had arrived. The pile was
+ready for its victim. Every engine of torture, which
+savage ingenuity could invent, was exhibited in dreadful
+array, within the area selected for the trying scene.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+The whole nation was assembled to witness, and take
+part in the ceremony, which had, in their view, all the
+solemnity and sacredness of a religious rite. Ash-te-o-láh
+was led forth, unpinioned, into the midst&mdash;for the
+red man would scorn the weakness of leading a victim
+in chains to the altar.</p>
+
+<p>The place of sacrifice was an open space near the
+bank of the river, the dark forest frowning over it on
+every side, the entire foreground being filled and
+crowded with an eager, angry multitude, to whom a
+sacrifice was a feast, and revenge the sweetest luxury
+that could be offered to their taste. Their wild parade,
+their savage dances, their hideous yells and demoniacal
+looks and gestures, designed to terrify, only fired the
+soul of Ash-te-o-láh to a yet prouder and more majestic
+bearing. His firm step, his unblenching eye, his fearless
+and lofty port, touched even his executioners with
+admiration, and struck his guards with a momentary
+awe.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, as with a bolt from the cloud, he dashed
+down those who stood in his way, sprung out, and
+plunged into the water, swimming underneath, like an
+otter, only rising occasionally to take breath, till he
+reached the opposite shore. He ascended the steep
+bank at a bound; and then, though the arrows had
+been flying thick as hail about him from the time that
+he took to the water, and though many of the fleetest
+of his enemies were, like very blood-hounds, close in
+pursuit of him, he turned deliberately around, and with
+a graceful and becoming dignity, took a formal leave
+of them, as if he would acknowledge the extraordinary
+favors they had shown him. Then, raising the shrill
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>
+war-whoop of defiance, as his last salute, till some more
+convenient opportunity should be afforded him to do
+them a warrior&rsquo;s homage, he darted off, like a beast
+broke loose from its torturing enemies. Inspired with
+new strength by his sudden release, and the returning
+hope of life, he flew with a winged speed, so as entirely
+to distance the fleetest of his eager pursuers. Confident
+in his speed, and assured that his enemies could neither
+overtake nor surprise him, he rested nearly a whole
+day, to recruit his wasted strength, and watch an opportunity
+to gain, if possible, some further advantage over
+those who were scenting his track, and thirsting for his
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Passing a considerable distance beyond a spot, which
+his well-trained sagacity told him would be the natural
+resting place of his pursuers, he retraced his steps,
+walking carefully backwards, and planting each step
+with great precision, in the very tracks he had just
+made, so as effectually to conceal the artifice of his
+return. In this way, he came to a high rock, in which
+there was a considerable fissure, very narrow at the
+top, but widening toward the ground, and so concealed
+by the dense shrubbery that grew around, that it could
+only be discovered by the most careful scrutiny. Into
+this fissure he thrust himself, scrupulously replacing
+every leaf that had been disturbed by his entrance, and
+adjusting the whole so as not to excite the slightest suspicion
+in his keen-sighted enemies. Here he awaited
+their approach.</p>
+
+<p>It was near night of the second day, when the Senecas
+reached the spring where Ash-te-o-láh lay concealed,
+and where he had already rested nearly a whole day.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+Following his track some distance beyond, and not
+doubting he was yet in advance, they returned without
+suspicion to the spring, lighted their fires, partook hastily
+of their simple meal, and laid themselves down to
+sleep, in perfect security. They were five in number,
+powerful men, and thoroughly armed, after their own
+peculiar fashion. Ash-te-o-láh, from his narrow cavern,
+had watched all their movements. He well knew that
+they slept soundly, for they had satisfied themselves
+that no danger was near. But he also knew equally
+well how wakeful is the sleep of an Indian, and how
+almost impossible it is to surprise him, even in his
+soundest sleep. Every circumstance of his situation
+occurred to him, to inspire him with heroism, and urge
+him to attempt an impossibility, though his life was the
+certain forfeit of a failure. He was naked, torn, and
+hungry. His enraged enemies, who had so recently
+held him in their toils, and made him ready for a sacrifice,
+were now come up with him. In their little camp
+was every thing to relieve his wants. He would not
+only save his own life, but get great honor and sweet
+revenge, if he should succeed in cutting them off.</p>
+
+<p>Resolution, a convenient spot, and a sudden surprise,
+might effect this main object of all his wishes and
+hopes. Creeping cautiously out from his covert, and
+approaching the sleepers with the noiseless and stealthy
+cunning of a fox, he seized one of their tomahawks,
+and wielding it with inconceivable power and rapidity,
+left four of them in an eternal sleep, before the fifth had
+time to awake and spring to his feet. The struggle
+that ensued was terrible; but Ash-te-o-láh had the
+advantage in every respect, and the conflict ended in a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+very few minutes, by leaving him alone in the camp
+of his enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Selecting from the spoils of the fallen a suitable
+dress for himself, with the choicest of their bows, a
+well-stored quiver, a tomahawk, and an ample pouch
+of provisions, and securing to his belt the scalps of his
+yet breathing victims, Ash-te-o-láh set off afresh, with
+a light heart, and a bounding step, for the sunny vales
+of the Katahba. Resolved not to hazard any of the
+advantage he had gained, he did not allow himself any
+sleep, for several successive nights, only as he reclined,
+for a few moments, a little before day, with his back
+to a tree, and a clear space about him, where he could
+not be taken by surprise. Growing more secure, as he
+approached his home, and discovered no sign of his
+pursuing enemy, he sought out the spot where he had
+killed seven of the chase, in the first day of his flight,
+opened their yet fresh graves, added their scalps to the
+five then hanging to his belt, burnt their bodies to
+ashes, and returned in safety, laden with his hard
+earned trophies, to gladden his humble wigwam, and
+thrill the council of his people with the story of his
+singular adventures.</p>
+
+<p>Her prophetic dream had made so deep an impression
+upon the mind of Minaree, that, from the first, she
+did not expect &ldquo;the bold hunter&rsquo;s return.&rdquo; His lengthened
+absence troubled, but did not surprise her. She
+yielded him to a stern fate, from which there was no
+escape; and with a calmness which we, of another race,
+too often regard as coldness and insensibility, prepared
+to follow him to the spirit land. His return was to her
+soul like a visit from that land&mdash;a gift from the Great
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+Spirit&mdash;and ever after, to the deep devotion of her early
+love, was added that peculiar reverence, that tender,
+holy affection, which the Indians every where cherish
+for the departed.</p>
+
+<p>When the second party of the Senecas, in the course
+of the third day of the pursuit, arrived at the camp of
+their slaughtered people, the sight gave them a greater
+shock than they had ever known before. In their
+chilled war council they concluded, that he who had
+performed such surprising feats in his defence, before
+he was captured, and since that in his naked and
+unarmed condition, would, now that he was well
+armed and free, be a match for them all, if they should
+continue the pursuit. They regarded him as a wizard
+enemy, whose charmed life it was vain and wicked to
+attempt. They, accordingly, buried their comrades,
+and returned, with heavy hearts, to their homes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="padtop">MONICA,<br />
+<br />
+<span class="tinyfont">OR</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="smlfont">THE ITEAN CAPTIVE.</span></h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">What glorious hopes, what gloomy fears<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Have sunk beneath time&rsquo;s noiseless tide!&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The red man at his horrid rite,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Seen by the stars at night&rsquo;s cold noon,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His bark canoe, its track of light<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Left on the wave beneath the moon;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His dance, his yell, his council fire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The altar where his victim lay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His death song, and his funeral pyre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That still, strong tide hath borne away.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="padtop">MONICA.</h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i12">&ldquo;Speak not, but fly&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There are a thousand winged deaths behind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thirsting for blood. Hope, life, and liberty<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Are all before; and this good arm is pledged<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To guide thee.&rdquo;<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The grave of the Indian is a temple, a sort of gateway
+to heaven. Around it linger the tenderest affection, the
+purest devotion of the surviving friend. The grass and
+flowers that grow over it are never suffered to wither.
+The snow and the rain are not permitted to remain
+upon it. The least profanation of that sacred place
+would be visited with a more terrible vengeance than
+an affront to the living. Nothing illustrates more
+clearly the cruel injustice we have done to our red
+brethren of the forest, by regarding and treating them
+only as savages, and delineating them always and
+every where, as destitute of all the refined sympathies
+of humanity&mdash;than this prevailing national characteristic,
+an affectionate reverence for the dead, and a
+religious regard for the sepulchres and bones of their
+ancestors. It touches one of the deepest cords in the
+human heart. It springs from the very fountain head
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+of social and moral refinement. It links the visible
+and material, with the unseen and spiritual world;
+blending all that is tender, and pure, and subduing, in
+the one, with all that is bright, hopeful, and inviting, in
+the other. Its existence in any heart, or its prevalence
+among any people, is proof sufficient that that heart is
+not wholly hardened in selfishness, and that people not
+wholly given over to barbarism.</p>
+
+<p>The infant child of an Itean mother lay dead in her
+tent. He was a beautiful boy, and already the fond
+mother had read in his brilliant eye, and the vigorous
+movements of his tiny limbs, the heroic deeds of the
+future chieftain. But her darling hope was nipped in the
+very germ. Her only son was shrouded for the grave,
+and the hour of burial had come. His shroud was a
+blanket, in which the head, as well as the body, was
+completely enveloped. His bier was a train, or Indian
+sled, in the form of a common snow-shoe, on which the
+body was laid, without a coffin, and secured by bandages
+from side to side. Into this train was harnessed a
+favorite dog of the family, when it was drawn with slow
+and solemn step, to the grave, preceded by the priest
+or medicine man of the village, in his gorgeous robes
+of office, and followed by the parents and sister of the
+child, with all the inmates of the neighboring wigwams.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at the grave, the procession stopped, and
+gathered round the bier, the women and children seating
+or prostrating themselves on the ground, the men
+standing in a grave and solemn circle around them.
+The dog, still remaining in his harness, was then shot,
+and the medicine man, standing over it, addressed it in
+the following strain, &ldquo;Go on your journey to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>
+Spirit land. Long and weary is the way you have to
+go. Linger not on the journey, for precious is the burden
+you carry. Swim swiftly over the river, lest the
+little one be lost in the stream, and never visit the camp
+of its fathers. When you come to the camp of the
+White-headed Eagle, bark, that they may know who
+it is you bring, and come out and welcome the little
+one among its kindred band.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The body was then laid in the grave, on its little
+train. The dog was placed by its side, with a kettle of
+food at its head, to supply it on the journey. A cup,
+containing a portion of the mother&rsquo;s milk, freshly drawn,
+was also put into the grave for the use of the child.
+The earth was laid gently over it, and covered with the
+fresh sod, the mother, and her female friends, chanting,
+the while, a plaintive dirge, designed to encourage the
+spirit of the departed on its dark and perilous journey.
+The mother held in her hand a roll of bark, elaborately
+decorated with feathers and bead-work, encompassed
+with a scarf of broadcloth, highly embroidered. This
+was intended as a memento of the deceased, to be
+sacredly preserved in the family lodge. Such mementoes
+are always seen there, after the death of a friend,
+and one may always know, by their number, how many
+of that household have gone to the spirit-land. It is
+usually placed upright in the spot where the departed
+was accustomed to sit, dressed in the same ornaments
+and bands that he wore while living. At every family
+meal, a portion of food is set before it. If it be a child
+who has died, the mother offers it a cup of milk, wraps
+it in the cradle bands of her lost infant, and bears it
+about with her wherever she goes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+An Indian grave is a protected spot. That which is
+described above, was surrounded by a small enclosure
+of logs, and covered with a roof of bark, to shield it
+from the rain. At its head, a small round post was set,
+painted with vermilion. Other decorations were displayed
+upon the wall of the enclosure, which were carefully
+guarded, and frequently replaced, as they were
+soiled by the rains, or torn and defaced by the violence
+of the winds. Day after day, the bereaved mother and
+sister visited that grave, taking their work with them,
+and sitting down by its side, chanted their plaintive
+lullaby to that sleeping infant, and cheered on that
+faithful dog in his wearisome journey, charging him
+not to lag or go astray in traversing the plain, nor suffer
+his precious burden to fall into the water, in crossing
+the deep dark rapid river to the spirit land.</p>
+
+<p>Weeks and months had passed since that humble
+grave was made, and that precious treasure confided to
+its bosom. It was a calm glorious evening in mid-summer.
+The moon shone brightly on the Itean
+encampment. There was not, in the whole valley of
+the west, a more beautiful spot for a settlement. The
+smooth open green-sward was closely surrounded with
+trees on three sides. On the other, the land gradually
+sloped towards the river, which flowed quietly by, ever
+and anon sparkling in the moonbeams, or reflecting the
+dark forest and flowery banks in its azure depths.</p>
+
+<p>The wigwams in the opening were all closed. Their
+inmates were at rest. Presently, the buffalo-skin, that
+served as a door to the principal cabin, was drawn
+aside, and the beautiful daughter of the chief emerged
+into the light, and passed swiftly on to the river. Following
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>
+its course a short distance, by the narrow path
+that threaded the woods on its bank, she came to the
+little grave, threw herself on the earth by its side, and
+wept. It was Monica, the sister of that buried infant,
+the same whom we saw at his grave when it was first
+opened, and who had daily, since that time, sung over
+it her simple song.</p>
+
+<p>The grief and disappointment of the mother, in the
+loss of her only son, was not more deep or sincere, or
+enduring, than that of this affectionate and devoted sister.
+From the moment of his birth, he was the idol of
+her soul. She looked forward to the time, in her ardent
+imagination very near at hand, when, emulating the
+virtues and deeds of his father, he should become the
+noblest chief of his tribe. She had pictured to herself
+the many wonderful exploits he should achieve, and
+the love and veneration with which he would be
+regarded throughout the nation. But now, those hopes
+were blasted, those visions had all faded into darkness.
+Time had not soothed her disappointment, or softened
+the poignancy of her grief. Waking or sleeping, the
+image of her lost brother was before her. She longed
+to follow him, that she might overtake him on the way,
+and help him in his passage over that fearful stream.</p>
+
+<p>She had laid down that night, as usual, and slept by
+the side of her mother. Her dreams were troubled.
+She thought that arid plain and dark river were before
+her. The faithful dog was struggling with the waves.
+The little ark which held that precious treasure, was
+buffeted about by the winds. Chilled with the cold,
+and terrified by the dark howling storm, the lone child
+sobbed bitterly, and looked imploringly round for his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
+mother. In her distress and agitation, she awoke.
+Unable to sleep, or even to rest, she rose, and ran to the
+grave.</p>
+
+<table class="poem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;I come, I come, my precious one,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I am ever by your side&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fear not, your voyage is almost done<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Over that dismal tide;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The winds shall hush, the storm pass o&rsquo;er,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And a friendly band shall come<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To meet you on the spirit shore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And bid you welcome home.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fear not, for love that never sleeps<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Shall guard you o&rsquo;er that wave;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And mother her constant vigil keep<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Beside your quiet grave.&rdquo;<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>Having chanted her simple lay of love, Monica turned
+from the grave, stepped into a canoe, and paddled down
+the stream. Overcome with grief, she dropped her paddle,
+sat pensively down in her shallop, and left it to follow
+its course down the current. For several hours it
+glided silently on. She gave no heed to the hours, till
+morning broke in the east. Suddenly starting up from
+her long dream, she looked for her paddle. It was gone.
+Seeing a bough floating on the water near her, she
+leaned out to catch it, as the canoe passed on. It was
+decayed, and broke in her hand. Throwing it from
+her, she looked eagerly about for some other means of
+reaching the shore. At length, passing under the
+shadow of an immense tree, that overhung the stream,
+she seized a branch that almost dipped into the water,
+and drawing herself in to the bank, sprang on shore.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly and doubtfully the timid girl threaded the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+thick forest, scarcely knowing which way to turn.
+Hoping to find some friendly wigwam near, she sounded
+the shrill call of her tribe. The call was instantly
+answered, but not by a friendly voice. Two stern and
+stalwart warriors of the Pawnee tribe, who were deadly
+enemies to the Iteans, chanced to be passing that way,
+and, recognizing the call as that of an enemy, sprang
+from the thicket, seized the trembling maiden, and bore
+her away in triumph. Many a weary league she
+travelled on by the side of her merciless captors, ere she
+reached their distant encampment. Worn, exhausted
+in strength and desponding in heart, she fell to the earth
+in the midst of the throng that gathered around her,
+and besought them to kill her at once, and let her go to
+her poor infant brother.</p>
+
+<p>The Pawnees were not only hostile to the Iteans, but
+were, in some respects, the most savage tribe in the
+great valley. They alone, of the North American
+Indians, continued, down the present century, and far
+within it, to practice the savage rite of sacrificing
+human victims on the altar of their gods. With them
+it was a propitiatory sacrifice, offered to the <i>Great Star</i>,
+or the planet Venus. This dreadful ceremony annually
+preceded the preparations for planting corn, and was
+supposed to be necessary to secure a fruitful season.
+The victim was always some prisoner, who had been
+captured in war, or otherwise; and there was never
+wanting an individual who coveted the honor of making
+a captive from some hostile tribe, and dedicating the
+spoils of his prowess to the national benefit.</p>
+
+<p>The captors of Monica were in quest of a victim for
+this sacrifice, when they wandered away alone, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+prowled for several days, about the encampment of her
+tribe. With this view, they bore her away in triumph,
+deaf to all her entreaties and tears, and gave her in
+charge to the priests, to be made ready against the
+return of the season.</p>
+
+<p>The best wigwam in the village was assigned for
+her accommodation. Cheerful companions of her own
+age were given her. The most sedulous attention was
+paid to her wants. She was dressed in gay apparel,
+continually feasted on the choicest luxuries which their
+fields and hunting grounds afforded, and treated with
+the utmost tenderness by all about her. Every possible
+means was employed to allay her grief, and promote
+that cheerfulness of spirit, which is essential to health
+and comeliness, in order that she might thus be made
+a more suitable and acceptable offering.</p>
+
+<p>The personal charms of Monica required no such
+system of treatment, in order to their full development.
+She was a rare specimen of native grace and loveliness,
+and would have been a fitting model, in every feature
+and limb, for a Phidias or a Praxitiles. The exceeding
+beauty and gentleness of their captive, while it won
+the admiration and regard of all her young companions,
+only made her, in the view of the priests and chiefs of
+the tribe, a more desirable victim for the altar.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time, Monica was inconsolable. Deprived
+of that dearest privilege of visiting daily the grave of
+her brother, distracted in view of the anxiety which
+her mother would feel for her, she refused to be comforted,
+or to take any pleasure in the means employed
+to amuse her. Time and kindness, however, and the
+promise that she should, by and by, return to her
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+father-land, restored, in a degree, her serenity of mind.
+She was too affectionate and confiding, to reject the
+sympathy and kindness even of an enemy. Grateful
+for the unwearied efforts which her companions made
+to amuse and comfort her, she came, at last, to regard
+them as friends. Gratitude begat affection. Affection
+created confidence. She unburdened her heart of the
+sorrows that oppressed it. By that effort, the burden
+was lightened. Something of the elasticity and vivacity
+of youth returned. She sang and played, if not to
+amuse herself, yet to gratify others, whose assiduous
+kindness, and seemingly generous sympathy, she had
+no other means of repaying. Thus, entirely ignorant
+of the terrible doom that awaited her, Monica passed
+the winter of her captivity, looking ever forward to the
+opening spring as the period of her promised release,
+and return to the wigwam of her mother.</p>
+
+<p>At length the fatal day arrived, and every thing was
+ready for the sacrifice. The whole Pawnee tribe was
+assembled to witness and take part in the solemnities.
+From every side, they were seen emerging from the
+thick forest, or gliding noiselessly over the bosom of the
+silver stream, leaping from cliff to cliff of the distant
+hills, or winding down their steep passes and narrow
+defiles, to meet in the great central village, around the
+grand council fire of the nation. The whole tribe was
+there&mdash;the chiefs in all their gaudy array of bead-work,
+feathers, and paint, their embroidered moccasins, their
+gaily wrought tunics and belts, their polished rifles, and
+glittering tomahawks&mdash;the women and children, and
+the rank and file of the people, in all the finery and
+gewgaws they could command. It was a brave sight to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+those accustomed to the barbaric finery and wild sports
+of the Indian, but fearful and hideous to one unused to
+the rude painted visages and half naked forms of the
+warriors.</p>
+
+<p>The awful hour of those dreadful orgies was
+announced by all those discordant shouts and hideous
+yells, which, with those primitive races, serve the purpose
+of trumpet, drum and bell. The stake was set,
+and the faggots made ready, in the centre of the great
+opening. The priests stood at their post, and the vast
+multitude of eager excited witnesses thronged around,
+waiting in terrible expectation for the consummation of
+that horrid rite, and kindling into phrenzy in view of
+the mad revelry that would follow. Presently, the outer
+ranks of that crowding circle made way, and opened a
+passage to the ring within. Through this living avenue,
+a company of chiefs marched in, singing, or rather
+shouting, a wild song, and dancing in fantastic measures.
+At their head was the captor of Monica, leading
+the timid girl by the hand. She was arrayed in
+the most showy and expensive style of Indian costume,
+the various decorations of her person comprising all that
+was beautiful and rare in ornament, according to the
+uncultivated taste of that people. Unconscious still of
+the doom that awaited her, and hoping, perhaps, that
+this was to be the festival of her freedom, when she
+would be sent away in peace to her home, she entered
+the circle with a cheerful face, and an elastic step,
+smiling on her young companions as she passed, and
+wondering at the cold look, or sometimes averted eye,
+with which her salutation was answered.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until she was led quite up to the stake,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+and saw the fearful faggots piled around it, that she
+comprehended the meaning of these mysterious preparations.
+Her awful doom flashed upon her, like a bolt
+from heaven. With one loud, piercing, heart-rending
+shriek, she fell to the earth, and called upon her mother.
+She was lifted up by the stern priest, placed upon the
+pile, and bound to the stake. With wild incantations,
+and horrid yells, the dread orgies were commenced.
+The torch was lighted, and ready to be applied. At
+that instant, a shrill whoop burst from the adjoining
+wood. A brave young warrior, leaping into the midst
+of the circle, rushed to the stake, cut the cords that
+bound the helpless victim, tore her away from the pile,
+and, dashing back through the panic-struck crowd,
+flung her upon a fleet horse which he had prepared for
+the occasion, sprung himself upon another, and was
+soon lost in the distant windings of the wood.</p>
+
+<p>It was the act of a moment. Even the Indian
+warriors, who are not easily surprised, or put off their
+guard, were confounded and paralysed. Before they
+could comprehend the object of this sudden phantom,
+this rash interruption of their festival, their victim was
+gone. The bare stake, and the useless heap of faggots
+were there. The proud chief, who furnished the victim,
+and the fierce-looking priests, who were to officiate
+in the dark rites of the sacrifice, stood in blank astonishment
+around, as if a bolt from the cloud had smitten
+them. A momentary silence prevailed among that
+mighty throng. A low murmur succeeded, like the distant
+moans of a coming storm: then, like the tempest,
+bursting in all its wrath, fierce cries of vengeance from
+a thousand flaming tongues, furious discordant yells
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+and shouts, accompanied with frantic gestures, and
+looks of rage, such as would distort the visage of a
+fiend. Some of the fleetest started off in hot but vain
+pursuit. Those who remained, promised themselves
+a day of terrible retribution. The mothers secretly rejoiced
+in the escape; while those of the young girls who
+had been the chosen companions of the captive, gave
+vent to their joy and gratitude in wild songs and dances.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner, that turbulent assembly broke up.
+Without the usual feast and its accompanying games,
+they scattered to their several homes, coolly meditating
+revenge, and darkly foreboding the famine that should
+ensue from the absence of the accustomed sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the fugitives held on their way, with the
+speed of the wind. Not a word was spoken. It was a
+race of life and death, and every faculty of the rescuer
+as well as of the rescued was absorbed in the one idea
+and effort to escape. Over hill and plain, and shallow
+stream, those foaming steeds flew on, pausing not even
+to snuff the breeze, till they had cleared the territory of
+the Pawnees, and reached a sheltered nook within the
+precincts of a neutral tribe. Here, as among all the
+Indian tribes the woman is considered competent to
+take care of herself in all ordinary emergencies, her
+deliverer left her, giving her ample directions for the
+way, and cautioning her to use the utmost diligence to
+avoid pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But, tell me first,&rdquo; she cried, tears of grateful joy
+standing in her eyes, &ldquo;tell me to whom I am indebted
+for this miraculous escape&mdash;that, in all my prayers to
+the Great Spirit, I may call down his blessing upon
+your head.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>
+&ldquo;I am Petalesharro,&rdquo; replied the youth, modestly.
+&ldquo;My father is Latalashaw, the chief of my tribe. We
+do not believe, with our people, that the Great Spirit
+delights in the sacrifice. He loves all his red children,
+and they should all love one another.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But, will not your chiefs revenge upon your head
+this interference with their solemn rites? If any
+national calamities follow, will they not charge them
+all to your account? I could not bear that my generous
+deliverer should be struck down by those terrible
+hands, in the prime of his youth, as the reward of his
+heroic benevolence. Better that I should return and
+submit to the fate they had prepared for me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fear not for me, Monica. Petalesharro fears not
+to meet the assembled council of his nation. Not a
+brave among them all will raise a hand to hurt him.
+He will make them know that the Great Star needs not
+the blood of the captive. And never again shall the
+fires be kindled for that cruel sacrifice.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Encouraged by the words of the young chief, Monica
+turned, with a strong heart, towards her home, still
+some four hundred miles distant. The same kind providence
+which had rescued her from the devouring
+flames, still guided and guarded her solitary way, and
+gave her strength and spirits for her toilsome journey.</p>
+
+<p>On the second day of her pilgrimage, as she climbed
+the summit of a range of hills that ran athwart her
+path, she was alarmed by the appearance of a considerable
+body of armed men, just emerging from a distant
+ravine of the same range, in a direction that would lead
+them immediately across her path. They were too far
+off to enable her to discern, by their dress and accoutrements,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+to what tribe they belonged. She supposed they
+must be Pawnees in pursuit of their lost captive. If
+she attempted to pass on before them, they would discover
+her track, and soon overtake her flight. She had
+nothing to do, therefore, but wait till they had passed,
+in the hope of eluding their eager scent. Concealing
+herself in the thicket, in a position that overlooked the
+valley, she awaited with composure the coming of that
+fearful band. They descended into the valley, and, to
+the utter consternation of Monica, began to pitch their
+tents under the shade of a spreading oak, on the bank
+of a little stream. She watched the movement with an
+anxious heart, not knowing how she should escape,
+with a pursuing enemy so near. Her consternation and
+anxiety were soon, however, changed to joy, when one
+of the company, approaching the vicinity of her hiding
+place, to cut a pole for his tent, was recognized as a
+chief of her own tribe. Springing from the thicket with
+a scream of delight, which startled the whole encampment,
+and brought every brave to his feet, with his
+hand on the trigger of his rifle, she rushed into the
+midst of her astonished people, and was received with
+silent joy, as one restored from the dead. Under their
+protection, the remainder of her journey was safely and
+easily performed. Before the moon, which was then
+crescent, had reached her full, Monica had embraced
+her mother, and added a fresh flower to the grave of
+her brother.</p>
+
+<p>The brave, the generous, the chivalrous Petalesharro
+returned to his father&rsquo;s tent with the fearless port and
+composed dignity of one whose consciousness of rectitude
+placed him above fear. He was a young man,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+just entered upon manhood, and a general favorite of
+his tribe.<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a>
+His countenance, as represented in Col.
+McKenney&rsquo;s magnificent work upon the North American
+tribes, is one of uncommon beauty of feature. In
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>
+its mildness of expression, it is almost effeminate. But
+in heart and soul he was a man and a hero. His courage,
+and the power of his arm, were acknowledged by
+friend and foe; and on the death of his father, he was
+raised to the chieftaincy of his tribe. The season which
+followed his noble act of humane, may we not say religious
+chivalry, was one of uncommon fertility, health
+and prosperity. &ldquo;<i>The Great Star</i>&rdquo; had not demanded
+the victim. And the Pawnees never again polluted
+their altars with the blood of a human sacrifice.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> Major Long, in his &ldquo;Expeditions to the Rocky Mountains,&rdquo; thus
+describes Petalesharro, as he appeared in his native wilds, and among his
+own people, in the full costume which he wore on the occasion of some
+great festival of his tribe.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Almost from the beginning of this interesting fete, our attention had
+been attracted to a young man, who seemed to be the leader or partisan of
+the warriors. He was about twenty-three years of age, of the finest form,
+tall, muscular, exceedingly graceful, and of a most prepossessing countenance.
+His head-dress, of war-eagles&rsquo; feathers, descended in a double
+series upon his back, like wings, down to his saddle-croup; his shield was
+highly decorated, and his long lance by a plaited casing of red and blue
+cloth. On enquiring of the interpreter, our admiration was augmented by
+learning that he was no other than Petalesharro, with whose name and
+character we were already familiar. He is the most intrepid warrior of
+the nation, the eldest son of Letalashaw, and destined, as well by mental
+and physical qualifications, as by his distinguished birth, to be the future
+leader of his people.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Petalesharro visited Washington in 1821, where his fine figure and countenance,
+and his splendid costume attracted every eye. But there was that
+in his history and character, which had gone before him, that secured for
+him a worthier homage than that of the eye. His act of generous chivalry
+to the Itean captive was the theme of every tongue. The ladies of the city
+caused an appropriate medal to be prepared, commemorating the noble
+deed, and presented it to him, in the presence of a large assemblage of
+people, who took a lively interest in the ceremony. In reply to their complimentary
+address, the brave young warrior modestly said&mdash;&ldquo;My heart is
+glad. The white woman has heard what I did for the captive maid, and
+they love me, and speak well of me, for doing it. I thought but little of it
+before. It came from my heart, as the breath from my body. I did not
+know that any one would think better of me for that. But now I am glad.
+For it is a good thing to be praised by those, who only praise that which is
+good.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="padtop">TULA,<br />
+<br />
+<span class="tinyfont">OR</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="smlfont">THE HERMITESS OF ATHABASCA.</span></h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i2">I thought to be alone. It might not be!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">There is no solitude in thy domains,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Save what man makes, when in his selfish breast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He locks his joys, and bars out others&rsquo; grief.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"><!-- blank page --></a></span></p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="padtop">TULA.</h2>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<table class="poem pfont chpoem" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="poem">
+ <tr class="stanza">
+ <td>
+<span class="i8">Death is not all&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Not half the agony we suffer here:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The cup of life has drugs, more bitter far,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That must be drained.<br /></span></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>That solitary wigwam, in the outskirts of the village,
+was the home of Kaf-ne-wah-go, an aged Chippeway warrior,
+who had weathered the storms, and outlived the
+wars, of three score and ten seasons, and was yet as fiery
+in the chase, and as mighty and terrible in battle, as any
+of the young chiefs of his tribe. His voice in the council
+was, like the solemn tones of an oracle, listened to
+with a reverence approaching to awe, and never disregarded.
+His sons all inherited the spirit of their father,
+and distinguished themselves among the braves in
+fight, and the sages in council. Three of them fell in
+battle. One was principal chief of the western division
+of the Chippeway family. Another, the brave Ish-ta-le-ó-wah,
+occupied the first in that group of wigwams in
+yonder grove, about a hundred yards from his father&rsquo;s.</p>
+
+<p>The only daughter of the good old sachem, the child
+of his old age, and &ldquo;the light of his eyes,&rdquo; was the
+fairest and loveliest wild-flower, that ever sprung up
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
+amid the interminable wildernesses of the Western
+World. Tula, the singing bird, was distinguished
+among the daughters of the forest, not only for those
+qualities of person and character which are recognized
+as graces among the Indians, but for some of
+those peculiar refinements of feeling and manner, which
+are supposed to be the exclusive product of a civilized
+state of society. She was remarkable for the depth and
+tenderness of her affection, and for her ingenuity, industry
+and taste. Her dress, and those of her father and
+brother, exhibited the traces of her delicate handiwork;
+while the neat and tasteful arrangement of the humble
+cabin, superior in all that makes home comfortable and
+pleasant to any in the village, bore testimony to her
+industry and skill.</p>
+
+<p>Tula had many suitors. There was scarce a young
+brave in the tribe who did not seek or desire her. But
+O-ken-áh-ga, the only son of their great chief, won her
+heart. She became his bride, but she remained, with
+him and their first-born child, in the tent of her aged
+parents, who could not live, as they said, &ldquo;when the
+singing bird, the light of their eyes was gone.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p>It was mid-summer. The night was still, clear, and
+lovely. All nature seemed to breathe nothing but calmness
+and peace. But the heart of man&mdash;how often and
+how sadly is it at variance with nature! The inmates
+of that humble wigwam were all wrapped in a profound
+sleep, not dreaming of danger near. The infant,
+nestling in his mother&rsquo;s bosom, by a sudden start roused
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+her to partial consciousness. A deep groan, as of one
+in expiring agonies, awakened all her faculties. She
+sprung up and called upon her husband&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;O-ken-áh-ga, what is the matter?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Another deep groan, and a stifled yell of triumph,
+was the only answer.</p>
+
+<p>Staring wildly round, what a scene of horror met her
+eyes! Her father, her mother, her husband, pierced
+with many wounds, and weltering in their yet warm
+blood, lay dead before her; while a band of fierce and
+terrible enemies, of the Athapuscow tribe, stood over
+them, with the reeking instruments of death in their
+hands, their eyes gleaming with savage delight, and
+their whole faces distorted with the most fiend-like
+expression of rage and triumph. With the true instinct
+of a mother, she clasped her infant to her breast, and
+bowed her head in silence, utterly unable to give any
+utterance to the bitterness of her wo. It was this silence
+that saved her and her child from an instant participation
+in the fate of the mangled ones around her. The
+first word spoken, would have brought down that reeking
+tomahawk upon their heads. The Athapuscows
+were few in number, and their only safety consisted in
+doing their work of revenge with secrecy and despatch,
+for the Chippeways were many and powerful, and to
+disturb the slumbers of one of them would be to rouse
+the whole tribe in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>The work of death was done. The scalps of their
+victims hung dripping at the belts of the murderers, and
+the spoils of the cabin were secured. The spoilers
+turned to depart, and Tula, in obedience to their word,
+without complaint or remonstrance, rose and followed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+them. Gathering up a few necessary articles, among
+which she contrived to conceal her babe, she took one
+farewell look upon the loved ones, whom death had so
+suddenly and fearfully claimed, and left them, and the
+home of her youth, for ever.</p>
+
+<p>With cautious stealthy steps, the murderous band
+plunged into the deep forest, threading their way
+through its intricate mazes, with inconceivable skill
+and sagacity, till they reached an opening, on the bank
+of the Wapatoony river, where a considerable detachment
+of their tribe was temporarily encamped. Delivering
+their prisoner into the hands of the women, the
+braves proceeded at once to the council of the chiefs, to
+show their trophies, and relate the incidents of their
+scout.</p>
+
+<p>When the Athapuscow women, in examining the
+contents of the poor captive&rsquo;s bundle, discovered the still
+sleeping infant, they seized him as they would have
+done a viper, and dashed him on the ground. In vain
+did the fond mother plead for her child. In vain did
+the voice of nature, and a mother&rsquo;s instinct in their own
+bosoms, plead for the innocent. It was an enemy&rsquo;s
+child, a hated Chippeway, and that was enough to stifle
+every other feeling in their hearts, and make even &ldquo;an
+infant of days&rdquo; an object of intense and implacable
+hatred. With the Indian, the son of an enemy is an
+enemy, doomed only to death or torture. The daughter
+may be spared for slavery or sacrifice.</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
+The morning dawned with uncommon brilliancy and
+beauty upon the Chippeway village, and warriors and
+children were astir with the earliest light, some to fish
+in the smooth stream, that, like a silver chain, bound
+their two beautiful lakes together&mdash;some to look after
+the traps they had set over-night&mdash;some to prepare for
+the hunt&mdash;and some for the merry games and athletic
+sports of the village. The quick eye of Ish-ta-le-ó-wah
+soon discovered that all was not right in the tent of his
+father. Kaf-ne-wah-go was not abroad, as usual, with
+his net in the stream. O-ken-áh-ga was not seen
+among the hunters with his bow, nor among the wrestlers
+on the green. No smoke was seen curling among
+the branches of the old tree that overshadowed his
+mother&rsquo;s tent. All was still as the house of the dead.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why sleep the brave so long, when the light of day
+is already on the hill-top, and coming down upon the
+valley. Has the snake crept into the tent of Kaf-ne-wah-go,
+and charmed the father with the children? I
+must go and see.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The loud and piercing yell of Ish-ta-le-ó-wah, as he
+looked in upon that desolate wigwam, roused the whole
+village, like the blast of a trumpet. The counsellors
+and braves of the nation were soon on the spot. The
+whole scene was understood in a moment, as clearly as
+if a written record of the whole had been left behind.
+Pursuit, and the recovery of the captive Tula and her
+child, were instantly resolved; and, ere the sun had
+surmounted the eastern barrier of their beautiful valley,
+Ish-ta-le-ó-wah, with a band of chosen braves, was on
+the trail of the foe.</p>
+
+<p>With the keen eye and quick scent of a blood-hound,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>
+they followed the almost obliterated track, through
+forest and brake, through swamp and dingle, over hill
+and prairie, till it was lost on the border of the Athabasca
+lake. Though the party in retreat was large, so
+well were they all trained in the Indian tactics of flight
+and concealment, that it required a most experienced
+eye to keep on their track. They had marched,
+according to custom, in Indian file, each carefully walking
+in the steps of the other, so that, to an unpractised
+observer, there would appear to have been but one wayfarer
+in the path. Wherever it was practicable, the path
+was carried over rocks, or the soft elastic mosses, or
+through the bed of a running brook, with the hope of
+eluding the pursuer. But no artifice of the Athapuscow
+could elude the well-trained eye of the Chippeway. He
+would instantly detect the slightest trace of a footstep
+on the ground, or the passage of a human body through
+the thicket. In one place, the edges of the moss had
+been torn, or a blade of grass trampled in upon it; in
+another, the small stones of the surface had been displaced,
+showing sometimes the fresh earth, and sometimes
+the hole of a worm uncovered, with half the
+length of its astonished occupant protruded to the light,
+as if investigating the cause of the sudden unroofing of
+his cell. Here some dry stick broken, or the bark of a
+protruding root peeled off, would betray the step of the
+fugitive; and there a shrub slightly bent, or a leaf
+turned up and lapped over upon another, or a few
+petals of a wild flower torn off and scattered upon the
+ground, would reveal the rude touch of his foot, or arm,
+or the trailing of his blanket, as he passed. Even on
+the bare rock, if a few grains of earth had been carried
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>
+forward, or a pebble, a leaf, a dry stick, or a bit of moss,
+adhering to the foot had been deposited there, it was
+instantly noticed and understood. The rushing of the
+waters in the brook did not always replace, in a
+moment, every stone that had been disturbed in its bed,
+nor restore the broken limb, nor the bent weed, to its
+place. So quick and intuitive were these observations,
+that the march of the pursuer was as rapid and direct
+as that of the pursued. The one would seldom lose
+more time in hunting for the track, than the other had
+consumed in his various artifices of concealment.</p>
+
+<p>On arriving at the lake, it was evident that a considerable
+number of the enemy had been encamped, and
+that they had just embarked. Their fires were still
+smoking, and the rocks were not yet dry, from which
+they had pushed off their canoes, in the haste of their
+departure.</p>
+
+<p>The Chippeway was not easily diverted from his
+purpose. With the speed of a chamois, he climbed a
+tall cliff, which, jutting boldly out into the lake, concealed
+its great eastern basin from his view. Arrived
+at the summit, he discerned, dimly relieved in the distant
+horizon, a number of moving specks, which he
+knew to be the canoes of the retreating foe. In the
+double hope of avenging the dead, and recovering the
+living from captivity, he continued his course along the
+shores of the lake, and, early the next morning, fell
+once more upon the trail of his enemy. Pursuing it a
+short distance into the forest, it suddenly divided, one
+part continuing on to the east, and one striking off
+toward the south. In neither of them could he discover
+the track of his sister. Her captors had placed her,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
+with their own women, in the middle of the march, so
+that the large and heavy track of the warriors who
+came after, should cover and obliterate the lighter traces
+of her foot.</p>
+
+<p>Taking the eastern track, and moving on with accelerated
+speed, he overtook the flying party in the act of
+encamping for the night. Concealing himself carefully
+from view, and watching his opportunity when all were
+busily engaged in pitching their tents, he raised the terrible
+war-whoop, with a volley of well directed arrows,
+and rushed, with his whole band, upon his unarmed
+victims. Not one of them escaped; and, so sudden and
+complete was the retribution, that not one remained to
+tell where the captive Tula had been carried. The real
+murderers had escaped with their captives, and the vengeance
+intended for <i>them</i> had fallen upon the heads of
+their innocent comrades.</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p>Tula was treated with kindness by the Athapuscow
+chief, who claimed her as his own. Every means was
+tried to reconcile her to her new lot, and to make her
+content to be the wife of her enemy. But her heart
+was bound up with the memories of the dead. Her
+parents, her husband, her child, filled all her thoughts.
+And the idea of being for ever bound to those whose
+hands were stained with the blood of these precious lost
+ones, was not to be endured for a moment. She was
+inconsolable, and her captors, for a time, respected her
+grief. Day after day, they travelled on, with long and
+weary marches, till the face of the country was changed,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+and the green forest gave way to the barren and rocky
+waste, that skirts the northern borders of the great valley
+of prairies. As they advanced, they grew more
+and more secure against pursuit, and less watchful of
+their captive. At length, she suddenly disappeared
+from their view.</p>
+
+<p>They had pitched for the night, on the bank of the
+north branch of the Sascatchawan. The night was
+dark and tempestuous. The lightnings flashed vividly
+from the dark cloud, and threatened to &ldquo;melt the very
+elements with fervent heat.&rdquo; The hoarse thunders
+roared among the wildly careering clouds, and reverberated
+along the shores of the stream, and the cliffs of
+the distant mountains, as if those everlasting barriers
+were rent asunder, and nature were groaning from her
+utmost depths. The Indian feared not death, in whatever
+shape it might come. But he feared the angry
+voice of the Great Spirit. He shrunk with terror to the
+covert of his tent, and covered his eyes from the fearful
+glare of those incessant flashes, and prayed inwardly to
+his gods.</p>
+
+<p>The poor disconsolate captive lay trembling under
+the side of the tent. She thought of the storm that had
+swept over her beautiful home, and desolated her heart
+in the spring time of its love. She looked at her savage
+captors, now writhing in the agonies of superstitious
+fear, which her more absorbing private grief alone prevented
+her from sharing to the full. They heeded her
+not. They scarcely remembered that she was among
+them. Something whispered to her heart&mdash;&ldquo;No eye
+but that of the Great Spirit sees you. He bids you
+escape from your enemies.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+In the ten-fold darkness that follows the all-revealing
+flash from the storm-cloud, Tula slipped noiselessly
+under the edge of the robe that sheltered her from
+the beating rain, and plunging into the stream, swam
+with the current a few rods, till she was arrested by a
+thick covert of overhanging shrubs, which grew to the
+water&rsquo;s edge. Thinking she might be able to cover
+her head with these bushes, while her body was hid by
+the water, she crept cautiously under, close to the bank,
+when, to her surprise and joy, she found that this shrubbery
+covered and curiously concealed a crevice in the
+jutting rock, sufficiently large to admit a free entrance
+to an ample cave within. Having carefully adjusted
+every limb and leaf without, and replaced with instinctive
+sagacity, the mosses that had been disturbed
+by her feet, she devoutly thanked the good spirit
+for her hope of deliverance, and anxiously watched
+for the morning.</p>
+
+<p>The dark cloud of the night had passed over. The
+voice of the tempest was hushed. The day broke clear
+and cloudless, amid the singing of birds, and the quickened
+music of the swollen stream. The first thought
+of the Athapuscow chief, as he started from his troubled
+slumbers, was of his captive. But she was gone.
+With a shrill and angry whoop, he roused the whole
+band, and all started in pursuit. The old woods rung
+again with the whoop and yell of the pursuers, and
+were answered by the sullen echoes of the hills and
+cliffs around. But neither wood, nor hill, nor cliff,
+revealed the hiding-place of the captive. The heavy
+torrents of rain had obliterated every mark of her footsteps,
+and neither grass, nor sand, nor the yielding soil
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>
+of the river-bank afforded any clue to the path she had
+taken.</p>
+
+<p>Safe in the close covert of her new found retreat, the
+poor captive heard all the loud and angry threats of her
+disappointed pursuers. She even heard their frequent
+conjectures and animated discussions of the means to
+be adopted for her recovery, and often, they were so
+near to her place of refuge, that she could see their
+anxious and angry looks, as they passed, and almost
+feel their hands among the bushes that sheltered her,
+and the quick tramp of their feet over the roof of her
+cave. But there was no track or mark, on land or
+water, to guide them to that spot, and so naturally had
+every leaf been adjusted, that it had not attracted a
+single suspicion from any one of those sagacious and
+quick-sighted inquisitors.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours of fruitless search for a hiding place, or a
+track that should reveal the course of her flight, brought
+them to the conclusion that the Great Spirit had taken
+her away, and that it was not for man to find her path
+again. With this conviction, they struck their tents,
+swam the stream, and resumed their march to the
+south.</p>
+
+<p>Too cautious to leave her covert at once, and wearied
+with her anxious watchings, Tula composed herself to
+sleep, as soon as the last sound of the retiring party
+died on her ear. The sun had declined half way to
+his setting, when she awoke. She listened, with a suspicions
+ear for every sound without. The singing of
+birds, the rustling of the leaves, and the murmur of the
+waters, were all that disturbed the silence of the scene.
+She put her ear to the rock, but it brought nothing to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
+her sense that revealed the presence of man. With
+extreme caution, she ventured to look out from her
+cave, and, by slow degrees, peering on every side for
+some concealed enemy, she emerged into the light, and
+dropping noiselessly into the stream, swam to a point
+on the opposite shore, from which she could obtain a
+good view of the recent encampment. It was deserted
+and still. Not a trace was left behind, except the
+trampled grass, and the blackened embers.</p>
+
+<p>Recrossing the stream, she commenced, with a light
+step, and a hopeful spirit, the seemingly impossible
+task of finding her way back to her home and her people.
+The consciousness of freedom buoyed her up, and
+inspired her with a new hope, at almost every step.
+With a light heart, and an elastic step, she bounded
+away over the desolate waste, that lay between the
+river and the forest, having neither path, nor track, nor
+land-mark, to guide her way, and with nothing but the
+instinct of affection to point out the course she should
+take. She had been so absorbed with her many griefs,
+during the long and weary march hitherto, and so little
+did she dream of the possibility of escape, that she
+had scarcely taken any notice of the direction, or
+attempted to observe any land-marks to guide her
+return. The way by which she had been led was circuitous
+and irregular, and she had only the vague
+general ideas, that her home was near &ldquo;the star that
+never moves,&rdquo; and that she had been leaving her shadow
+behind, to aid her in her solitary wanderings.
+With a hopeful courageous heart, she sought only to
+widen the distance between her cruel captors and herself,
+trusting that her way would open as she went,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>
+and that her guardian angel, her tutelar divinity, would
+keep her from going astray. <i>Her</i> tutelar divinity was
+the moon, whose light and protection she invoked, with
+a devout, if not an enlightened faith. While she could
+enjoy her mild clear light, she was always happy and
+secure; but when those beams were withdrawn, a
+shadow came over her soul that was full of dark forebodings
+and anxious fears.</p>
+
+<p>She had travelled several leagues, without seeing a
+track of any kind, and without the consciousness of
+fatigue or hunger. When night came on, she was just
+entering a deep forest, whose impenetrable shade made
+a sudden transition from twilight to utter darkness.
+With no star to guide her, and with no appearance of a
+path through thickets which seemed never to have
+been penetrated by a human footstep, she was soon
+bewildered, and felt that it was vain to proceed. With
+a few half-ripe nuts for a supper, and the soft moss
+which had gathered about the trunk of a fallen tree for
+a bed, she committed herself to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>About midnight, her slumbers were disturbed by a
+heavy rustling among the bushes, at no great distance,
+accompanied by a constant crackling, as of some large
+animal, trying to penetrate the thicket. Perceiving that
+it approached nearer at every step, she seized a club,
+with which she had provided herself before entering
+the forest, and hastened to climb into the nearest tree.
+As she ascended, it began to grow lighter overhead.
+The stars looked smilingly down upon her, but it was
+darker than ever below. She breathed a silent prayer
+to the star of her faith&mdash;the bright orb where she supposed
+her guardian angel resided&mdash;and took courage.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+The mysterious step approached nearer and nearer.
+She soon perceived that it was a bear, and supposed he
+would follow her into the tree. She therefore seated
+herself upon a stout limb, a few feet from the main
+trunk, and prepared to give him a warm reception.
+Presently the heavy trampling ceased, and was followed
+by a silence vastly more oppressive than the previous
+noise.</p>
+
+<p>In this condition, the remaining hours of the night
+passed away. With the first light of the morning, the
+shaggy intruder was discerned, quietly reposing near
+the foot of the tree, and showing no signs of being in
+haste to depart. That he was conscious of the presence
+of a stranger, was evident only from an occasional
+upward glance of his eye, and a significant turning of
+the nose in that direction, as if there was something
+agreeable in prospect.</p>
+
+<p>Tula would have been no match for Bruin on level
+ground, but she felt confident of her power in the position
+she had chosen, and therefore quietly waited the
+movements of her adversary. For two or three hours,
+he behaved himself with the gravity of a true philosopher,
+coolly expecting to weary out the patience of his
+victim by a close siege, and so save himself the trouble
+of taking the tree by assault. But Tula was as patient
+and prudent as Bruin, and could endure hunger, and
+thirst, and wakefulness as well as he. Rousing at
+length from his inactivity, he travelled round and
+round the tree, as if taking its measure, and estimating
+the probable result of an encounter. Tula watched his
+motions with more interest than anxiety, hoping soon
+to be relieved from her imprisonment, and at liberty to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>
+pursue her journey. It was near noon, when, having
+satisfied himself that offensive measures were necessary,
+he began to climb the tree. Having reached the leading
+branch, and embraced the trunk to raise himself to
+that on which Tula was seated, the brave girl rose suddenly
+to her feet, and brought down her club upon the
+enemy&rsquo;s nose with such desperate and well directed
+force, as to send him, stunned and insensible, to the
+ground. Without allowing him a moment to recover,
+she leaped down to his side, and dealt a succession of
+heavy blows upon his head, till the blood flowed in torrents,
+and his struggles and his breathing ceased.</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p>In this manner, many days and nights passed on,
+during which she encountered many imminent dangers,
+and severe conflicts, and made but little progress.
+Hunger, weariness, a continual sense of danger, and
+that sickness of the heart, which solitude and suspense
+beget, were her inseparable companions. Every day,
+her hope of ultimately reaching the home of her childhood
+grew fainter and fainter. But she had a woman&rsquo;s
+endurance, and a woman&rsquo;s fertility of resource. She
+never for a moment repented her flight. She would
+have preferred death in any form to a forced espousal
+with the murderer of her family. Sometimes with roots
+and herbs, sometimes with nutritious mosses, and sometimes
+with wild fruits and nuts, she continued to satisfy
+the cravings of appetite, and to sustain her severely
+tried fortitude, for the fatigues and perils that were yet
+before her.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>
+The forest seemed interminable; and so indeed it
+might well have been regarded, for she was continually
+travelling round and round, in the same track, having
+only an occasional glimpse of the sun to direct her way,
+or a view of the stars, when she climbed some tall tree
+at night. She knew little of the direction in which she
+was going; but she was sure that that forest lay
+between her enemy and her home, and was therefore
+resolved, at any expense of labor and suffering, to find
+her way through it, or perish in the attempt.</p>
+
+<p>After several weeks of incredible toil, fatigue, hardship
+and danger, the brave persevering Tula emerged
+into a wide opening, having a considerable mountain
+on one side, and a large sheet of water, and a stream
+from the mountain pouring into it, on the other. It
+was a beautiful spot, but the whole aspect of it was
+new and strange. She was confident she had not
+passed that way, while a captive in the hands of the
+Athapuscows. She was now wholly at a loss which
+way to turn. To retrace her steps through the intricacies
+of that dark forest, would be as vain as the thought
+of it was appalling. To go on, when she was absolutely
+certain she was out of her track, seemed little less
+than madness. To choose either the right hand or the
+left, was to leap in the dark, and involve herself in new
+doubts and difficulties. She needed rest. Her apparel
+was torn by her difficult passages through the tangled
+thickets, and her frequent contests with the enemies she
+found there. Pondering deeply on the difficulties before
+her, she began to think, that if there was any place of
+shelter near, she would make herself a new home, and
+live and die alone in the great wilderness.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>
+&ldquo;And why,&rdquo; said she to herself, &ldquo;why should I
+return to the wigwam of my father? Kaf-ne-wah-go
+is not there. My mother, she has gone with him to
+the spirit land. O-ken-áh-ga waits no longer for my
+return. I left my brave chief in his blood. His voice
+will no longer be heard in the valley, with the hunters,
+nor his shout in the battle. He fell in the glory of his
+strength, like the young oak that is full of sap, and
+whose roots have struck deep into the earth. And my
+child, the son of O-ken-áh-ga, alas! he has not even a
+grave to sleep in. He lies on the cold bosom of the
+earth, and I know not where. Why then should I
+return to a desolate home, only made more desolate by
+the memory of what it was?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With such thoughts as these, she beguiled her inward
+yearnings for the spot where all her joys had been, and
+where all her hopes were buried. Wandering on the
+shores of the lake and the stream by day, and seeking
+such shelter as she could find in the clefts of the rocks
+at night, she sought for a place where she might provide
+a suitable protection against the cold and the
+storms of winter, which were not far distant. Wild
+berries and fruits afforded her only sustenance for a
+considerable time, until her own ingenuity provided her
+with the means of procuring a more certain substantial
+diet.</p>
+
+<p>Having found a convenient spot in a deep ravine of
+the mountain, which opened towards the south, and
+was consequently always exposed to the sun, she immediately
+commenced the construction of a place to dwell
+in. The spot selected was romantic and beautiful in
+the extreme, and seemed to have been designed by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>
+nature &ldquo;for some especial use.&rdquo; It was sufficiently elevated
+to command a fine view of the opening, including
+all the meanderings of the river, and the whole extent
+of the lake, and yet it was not difficult of access, nor so
+high as to be too much exposed to the wintry storms.
+It was a little nook, chipped out from the solid rock,
+having a smooth slaty floor, about twelve feet square,
+with a semi-circular recess of about half that depth into
+the side of the mountain. A jutting rock, about ten feet
+above this floor, and overhanging it on every side,
+formed a natural ceiling. It only needed to be enclosed
+on two sides, to make a lodge that any of the great
+caciques of the wilderness might be proud of.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately Tula was not entirely destitute of tools
+to work with. A piece of an iron hoop, about six
+inches in length, and the shank of an arrow head, also
+of iron, both of which she had picked up while among
+the Athapuscows, constituted her whole stock. With
+these, which she sharpened upon the rocks, she contrived
+to cut down a number of young saplings, and
+shape them to her purpose. Planting two of them
+upright upon the outer line of the floor, and laying the
+end of one against the inside, and the end of the other
+against the outside of the cornice, or overhanging ceiling,
+she bound them firmly together with green withes.
+In this manner she went all round, leaving a space open
+for a door on the sunny side. This done, she wove it,
+inside and out, with willow boughs, stuffing the intervening
+spaces with moss, till it was entirely impervious
+to the weather. The door was of close basket-work
+hung at the top, and secured at the sides, in a storm, or
+during the night, by means of withes fastened round
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>
+the door-posts. This served the double purpose of door
+and window, while a crevice in the rock above, performed
+the part of a chimney.</p>
+
+<p>The work went on slowly and heavily at first, but
+patience and perseverance, which can conquer all but
+impossibilities, accomplished it before the cold weather
+set in. Meanwhile, the ingenuity of the fair builder
+had found means to make a fire upon the hearth. Her
+materials for that purpose were two hard sulphureous
+stones, which, by long friction, or hard knocking, produced
+a few sparks. These, communicated to touchwood,
+were soon formed into a blaze.</p>
+
+<p>When fruits, berries and nuts failed, her ready ingenuity
+supplied her with other means of sustaining life.
+She had, among her scanty stock of furniture, a few
+deer-sinews, which, with the Indians, are a common
+substitute for thread. With the aid of these, she managed
+to snare partridges, rabbits and squirrels. She also
+killed several beavers and porcupines. The sinews of
+the rabbit&rsquo;s legs and feet were twisted with great dexterity,
+to supply the place of deer-sinews, when <i>they</i>
+were gone. Their skins also, with those of the squirrels,
+served to replenish her exhausted wardrobe, supplying,
+under her skilful hand, a neat and warm suit
+of winter clothing. Her industry was as untiring as
+her ingenuity was fruitful of resources. Forlorn as her
+situation was, she was composed and resigned, if not
+contented, and seemed to find pleasure in employing
+every moment of her waking hours in some useful or
+ornamental contrivance.</p>
+
+<p>Her dress evinced much taste, and exhibited no little
+variety of ornament. The materials, though rude, were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>
+very curiously wrought, and so judiciously arranged, as
+to give to the whole a pleasing and romantic effect.
+Her tunic was composed of the skins of squirrels and
+rabbits, in alternate strips of grey and white. It was
+secured at the waist by a belt of skin, beautifully
+wrought with porcupine quills, colored pebbles, and
+strips of bark of various brilliant hues. Her mantle,
+which was large, was of the fairest and most delicate
+skins, arranged with a certain uniformity and harmony
+of design, which gave it all the grace and beauty, without
+the stiffness, of a regular pattern. It had a tasteful
+border, of brilliant feathers, and, like the belt before
+described, was fastened by a clasp of an unique and
+original contrivance, being made of the beaks and
+claws of her captives, arranged and secured so as to
+interlock with each other. Her head-dress, leggings
+and moccasins, were equally perfect in style and effect.</p>
+
+<p>Besides accomplishing all this work, in her solitude,
+and even laying in a stock of provisions in advance,
+sufficient for her wants, in case of a long season of
+storms, sickness, or any other exigency, she had found
+time to make several hundred fathoms of net-twine, by
+twisting the inner rind, or bark, of willow boughs, into
+small lines. Of these, she intended to make a fishing-net,
+as soon as the spring should open, and thus enlarge
+her sources of subsistence and enjoyment.</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p>It was past mid-winter. The snow lay deep and
+hard upon all the northern hills and valleys. The
+lakes and rivers were frozen. The fountains of nature
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
+were sealed up, and verdure, and fruitfulness, and
+almost all the elements of life, seemed to have followed
+the sun in his journey to the far south. A company of
+English traders, under the guidance of a party of
+Indians, were traversing the country from Hudson&rsquo;s
+Bay to the Northern Ocean, in quest of furs and peltries.
+Emerging from a deep forest into a broad open
+plain, they discovered the track of a strange snow-shoe,
+which, from its lightness, they judged to belong to a
+woman. Not knowing of any encampment in that
+vicinity, it excited the more curiosity. They followed
+it. It led them a considerable distance out of their
+way, across the valley, and into the gorge of the mountain
+on its southern side. Pursuing it still, as it
+ascended by a circuitous path, they came to a small
+cabin, perched like an eagle&rsquo;s nest in the clefts of the
+rock. They entered, and found a young and beautiful
+woman sitting alone at her work. It was Tula, the
+hermitess of Athabasca. For more than seven moons
+she had not seen a human face, nor heard a human
+voice, nor did she ever expect again to see the one, or
+hear the other. She had become reconciled to her lot.
+She loved the solitude where her spirit could commune
+with the departed, undisturbed, and where only the
+sun, the moon, and the stars, and the Great Spirit that
+controlled and guided them all, could read her thoughts,
+and know the history of her griefs.</p>
+
+<p>The first surprise being over, Tula offered the strangers
+a place by her fire, and such other hospitalities as
+her cabin afforded.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How comes the dove alone in the eagle&rsquo;s nest?&rdquo;
+enquired the leader of the party.&mdash;And then, regarding
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
+her with a look of admiration, added&mdash;&ldquo;does she not
+fear the hawk or the vulture, here in the cold cliffs of
+the mountain?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Tula replied by relating the story of her life&mdash;her
+bereavement&mdash;her captivity&mdash;her escape&mdash;her weary
+wanderings&mdash;her hardships&mdash;and the repose she had
+found in her solitude; and concluded by saying, &ldquo;If
+the eagle&rsquo;s nest be lonely and cold, it is quiet and safe.
+It is not too high for the moon to smile upon. It is not
+too cold for Tula.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Would the &lsquo;singing bird&rsquo; seek out her people, and
+let her song be heard again among the trees of the
+valley?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tula is no longer the singing bird. Her song is
+shut up in her heart. Her heart is with her kindred in
+the spirit land. Her father&rsquo;s cabin is more desolate
+than the wilderness, or the mountain top. Her tree is
+plucked up by the roots. It cannot live again.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>After some considerable persuasion, in which the
+voice of the humane Englishman&mdash;suggesting that, if
+the Ottawas had discovered her retreat, the Athapuscows
+might discover it also,&mdash;had its full share of
+weight, the fair hermitess consented to accompany the
+strangers; though she could not conceal her regret, in
+abandoning her snug little castle, to set off on a new
+pilgrimage, she knew not whither.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It matters little to Tula where she goes, so that she
+does not meet the Athapuscow. His hands are red
+with the blood of her father, her husband, her child.
+Let her never see his face, or walk in his shadow.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>
+The singular romance of Tula&rsquo;s story, the comeliness
+of her person, and her approved accomplishments,
+touched the hearts of some of the young braves of the
+party. They had not gone far on their way, before a
+contest arose between them, who, according to immemorial
+usage among the tribes, should claim the privilege
+of making her his wife. The dispute&mdash;to which
+she was no party, for her views were not so much as
+consulted in the matter&mdash;ran very high, and had nearly
+resulted in serious consequences. The poor girl was
+actually won and lost, at wrestling, by near half a
+score of different men, in the course of as many days.
+When, at length, a compromise was effected, and the
+prize awarded to Lak-in-aw, a young warrior of the
+Temiscamings, Tula refused to receive the pipe at his
+hands, or to listen in any way to his suit.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tula is buried in the grave of O-ken-áh-ga,&rdquo; she
+said. &ldquo;Tula will walk alone on the earth. Her heart
+is in the spirit land. It will never come back. It has
+nothing here to love.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<hr class="mid" />
+
+<p>Onward&mdash;onward&mdash;over interminable fields of snow
+and ice, where scarce a green thing appeared to relieve
+the utter desolation, the party proceeded, with their
+prize, on their journey to the far north. She was
+treated with chivalric tenderness and respect, and her
+comfort and convenience consulted in all the arrangements
+of the way. She needed but little indulgence,
+and solicited <i>none</i>. She was capable of enduring the
+fatigues and hardships of a man. She never flagged
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>
+in the march, nor lingered a moment, when the word
+was given to go forward.</p>
+
+<p>In traversing a deep valley near the eastern extremity
+of the Great Slave Lake, their track was crossed by
+that of a considerable party of Indians, returning from
+an expedition to the fur regions of the north. Their
+course lay along the southern border of the lake. Perceiving
+their encampment at no great distance, on the
+other side of the valley, it was resolved to visit them,
+and, if they were found to be friendly, to join their
+camp for the night. On approaching the spot, they
+were met by the chief, who, with a few attendants,
+came out to bid them welcome to his tent. He was a
+fine specimen of a young Indian brave&mdash;one who, in
+his green youth, had gained laurels, which it usually
+requires a life-time to win. His costume, though adapted
+to the severity of the climate, was tasteful and picturesque,
+and so fitted and arranged as to develop, to
+the best advantage, the admirable proportions of his
+person.</p>
+
+<p>The parley that ensued was a fine specimen of
+Indian courtesy and diplomacy. But it was suddenly
+and violently interrupted, when Tula, who had remained
+in the rear of her party, with the Englishmen, came
+up. At the first sight of the young chief, she uttered a
+loud and piercing shriek&mdash;for the extremes of joy
+and grief use similar tones and gestures&mdash;and rushing forward,
+pushed aside friend and stranger alike, and flung
+herself upon his neck, exclaiming&mdash;&ldquo;Ish-ta-le-ó-wah!&mdash;my
+brother! my brother!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<hr class="long" />
+
+<div class="tnborder">
+<p class="tntitle"><a name="endnote" id="endnote">TRANSCRIBER&rsquo;S NOTE</a></p>
+
+<p>The following changes were made to the original text:</p>
+
+<div class="tnindent">
+<p>Accents were restored to the Table of Contents.</p>
+
+<p>Pg 5, &ldquo;Ka-ree-o-than&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;Karee-o-thán&rdquo; (Tezcuco&mdash;Karee-o-thán)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 12, &ldquo;Kaf-na-wa-go&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;Kaf-ne-wah-go&rdquo; (wigwam of Kaf-ne-wah-go)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 20, &ldquo;skillfully&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;skilfully&rdquo; (craftily and skilfully worked)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 35, &ldquo;paralasis&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;paralysis&rdquo; (struck with instant paralysis)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 40, &ldquo;acknowledgements&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;acknowledgments&rdquo; (ample acknowledgments)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 50, &ldquo;terrestial&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;terrestrial&rdquo; (paradise of terrestrial sweets)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 53, &ldquo;harrass&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;harass&rdquo; (harass his soul)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 58, &ldquo;anything&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;any thing&rdquo; (his position any thing but)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 60, &ldquo;discomfitted&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;discomfited&rdquo; (among the discomfited Cholulans)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 66, &ldquo;unappeaseable&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;unappeasable&rdquo; (an unappeasable fate)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 67, &ldquo;suprised&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;surprised&rdquo; (continually surprised and delighted)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 73, &ldquo;cortége&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;cortege&rdquo; (the royal cortege)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 78, &ldquo;mein&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;mien&rdquo; (proud and haughty mien)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 102, &ldquo;chastly&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;chastely&rdquo; (chastely decorated)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 121, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;its&rdquo; (Oozing its bitterness)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 125, &ldquo;beseiged&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;besieged&rdquo; (heads of the besieged)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 193, &ldquo;to day&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;to-day&rdquo; (my brave hunter, to-day) [First instance]</p>
+
+<p>Pg 205, &ldquo;calmess&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;calmness&rdquo; (a calmness which we)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 227, &ldquo;Kaf-ne-wa-go&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;Kaf-ne-wah-go&rdquo; (home of Kaf-ne-wah-go)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 227, &ldquo;Ish-ta-le-áh&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;Ish-ta-le-ó-wah&rdquo; (the brave Ish-ta-le-ó-wah)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 245, &ldquo;patridge&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;partridge&rdquo; (to snare partridges)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 247, &ldquo;controled&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;controlled&rdquo; (controlled and guided)</p>
+
+<p>Pg 250, &ldquo;grief&rdquo; was typeset on the incorrect line and was repositioned accordingly (joy and grief use)</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>All other inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation were retained as printed in the original text.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Sketches of Aboriginal Life, by V. V. Vide
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES OF ABORIGINAL LIFE ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches of Aboriginal Life, by V. V. Vide
+
+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: Sketches of Aboriginal Life
+ American Tableaux, No. 1
+
+Author: V. V. Vide
+
+Release Date: August 14, 2010 [EBook #33433]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES OF ABORIGINAL LIFE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Rachael Schultz and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Transcriber's Note
+
+ In the original text, verses in the chapter headings
+ were typeset in Gothic font; they are displayed below
+ ~like this~. Footnotes are indicated within the text by
+ a capital letter in brackets (e.g., [A]) and are located
+ at the end of their respective chapter. Punctuation has
+ been standardized. For details on typographical
+ corrections, please refer to the note at the end of the
+ text.
+
+
+
+
+ AMERICAN TABLEAUX,
+
+ No. 1.
+
+
+
+
+ SKETCHES
+
+ OF
+
+ ABORIGINAL LIFE.
+
+
+ 'Tis like a dream, when one awakes,--
+ These visions of the scenes of old;
+ 'Tis like the moon, when morning breaks;
+ 'Tis like a tale round watch-fires told.
+
+
+ By V. V. VIDE.
+
+
+ NEW-YORK:
+ PUBLISHED BY BUCKLAND & SUMNER,
+ 79 JOHN-STREET.
+ 1846.
+
+
+
+
+ Entered according to Act of Congress,
+ in the year 1846, by
+ BUCKLAND & SUMNER,
+ in the Clerk's office of the District Court
+ of the United States, for
+ the Southern District of New York.
+
+ Stereotyped by Vincent L. Dill,
+ 128 Fulton st. Sun Building, N. Y.
+
+ C. A. Alvord, Printer, Cor. of John and Dutch sts.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The American Tableaux lay no claim to the respect and confidence, which
+is justly shown to authentic history; nor do they anticipate the ready
+favor usually accorded to high wrought romance. They are neither the one
+nor the other. The general outline is designed to be historical, and
+true to the characters of individuals, and the customs of nations and
+tribes; and the drapery in which it is arrayed is intended rather to
+illustrate the truth, and place it in bolder relief, than to weaken its
+force by irrelevant inventions. It is proposed rather to shade and color
+the naked sketches of history, and restore them to their natural setting
+and accompaniments, than to alter or distort them. The characters of
+history are usually stiff, cold, and statue-like, and their drapery, if
+they have any, is of the same marble rigidity with themselves. The
+Tableaux would transfer them to canvass in their natural colors,
+strongly relieved by a back-ground of familiar scenery and every day
+associations, and shaded or lightened, as the case may be, by the
+sorrows or joys of social life, and the cares or honors of public
+station. It may be presumptuous to hope that all this has been
+accomplished. It is safer to say, it has been attempted.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+
+
+THE AZTEC PRINCESS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+ PAGE
+ BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF TECUICHPO. 15
+
+ The Horoscope--Faith in the revelations of
+ Astrology--Montezuma in his palace--The message
+ delivered--Resignation--Fatalism--Infancy of the
+ Princess--The slave Karee--Obtains her freedom--The
+ Chinampa--Genius and faith of Karee--Her devotion to the
+ Princess--Chivalry of the Aztecs.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS--HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED--PROPHETIC
+ ANNOUNCEMENT, AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS. 27
+
+ Superstitious forebodings of Montezuma--Loveliness of his
+ daughter--Her suitors--The Prince of
+ Tezcuco--Karee-o-than--A secret
+ revealed--Guatimozin--The ancient legend--The young
+ Pythoness--Her vision--Warning and appeal--The vision
+ realized--The pictured scroll--Agitation of Montezuma--A
+ second courier--The royal council--Courtesy to the
+ strangers--Splendid embassy--Their meeting with
+ Cortez--Munificent presents--Avarice of the
+ Spaniards--They make interest with the Totonacs, and
+ send proposals to Tlascala--Their proposal
+ rejected--They meet and conquer the Tlascalans--An
+ alliance formed--The compeers of
+ Cortez--Xicotencatl--The strength and weakness of the
+ Aztecs.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS AND VACILLATING POLICY OF MONTEZUMA. 45
+
+ Frequent embassies and rich presents to the
+ Spaniards--Montezuma, fearing to act openly, plots their
+ destruction secretly--Cortez cautioned by the
+ Tlascalans--His prudence and strict
+ discipline--Cuitlahua urges Montezuma to bold decided
+ measures--Scene in the royal garden--Mysterious
+ chant--Warning--Its effect--Montezuma roused to
+ action--Energy of Cuitlahua--The army in motion to repel
+ the enemy--Confident of victory--The monarch changes his
+ plan--A stratagem--Cholula--The army arrested in its
+ march--The Spaniards in Cholula--Hospitable
+ reception--Sudden change--Suspicion of
+ treachery--Perilous position and bold bearing of
+ Cortez--His demand upon the Cholulan princes--Charges
+ them with conspiracy--Their alarm and apology--Terrible
+ massacre--Conflict on the great Teocalli--The Spaniards
+ victorious--Painful position of Cuitlahua and his
+ army--Tlascalans in Cholula.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL--THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD--THE
+ SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING. 65
+
+ Montezuma's duplicity--Shuts himself up in
+ despair--Divided counsels--Mistaken policy--Triumphant
+ advance of Cortez--His ambitious views--His military
+ caution--Montezuma in his family--His youngest
+ daughter--Her loveliness--Her clouded destiny--The royal
+ household--A family scene--A dark superstition versus a
+ cheerful faith--Excursion on the lake--The royal
+ cortege--The Princess--Guatimozin--The dream and its
+ echo--Prophecy--Signal and sudden return--Preparation to
+ receive the Spaniards--Cacama's embassy to
+ Cortez--Exchange of courtesies--Reception of the
+ strangers at Iztapalapan--Lofty bearing of
+ Cuitlahua--The Capital and its environs.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+ ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS AT THE CAPITAL--THEIR RECEPTION
+ BY MONTEZUMA--DETERMINED HOSTILITY OF GUATIMOZIN. 81
+
+ Singular relative position of the Spaniard and the
+ Aztec--The power and timidity of the one, and the danger
+ and boldness of the other--Speculation--Cortez
+ advancing--The Grand Causeway--The Fort of Xoloc--The
+ Emperor's retinue--Abject deference of his
+ lords--Magnificent palanquin--His personal appearance
+ and costume--The reception--Exchange of
+ presents--Montezuma retires--Cuitlahua escorts the
+ Spaniards to their quarters--Their admiration on seeing
+ the splendor of the city--Curiosity of the people--The
+ omens of that day--Their influence upon
+ Montezuma--Guatimozin's true devotion to his
+ country--His interview with the Princess--True
+ interpretation of the omens--Filial devotion versus
+ patriotism--The pledge--A new omen--The parrot turned
+ prophet--Karee and her prediction--Extreme sensitiveness
+ of the Princess.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA--THE ROYAL BANQUET--THE
+ REQUITAL--THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS OWN PALACE. 97
+
+ Grand military display by the Spaniards--The terror of the
+ Aztecs--Fearlessness and high purpose of Guatimozin and
+ others--The Banquet--The company--A contrast--The
+ strangers presented to the Queen--Her grace and
+ dignity--Beauty of the Aztec women--Awkward position of
+ the admiring Cavaliers--Their ingenuity in
+ pantomime--Readily matched by the Aztec--Sandoval and
+ the Princess--Cortez and Karee--Guatimozin and Cacama in
+ argument--The Princess interposes--Sternness of
+ Guatimozin--An incident--Orteguilla--Alvarado and the
+ Naiads--Metamorphosed into a flower-god--Pays homage to
+ the Princess--The feast--The true character of the
+ invaders--Bold movement of Cortez--Montezuma's blind
+ submission to fate--Voluntarily becomes a vassal to the
+ crown of Spain--A still bolder movement of
+ Cortez--Montezuma remonstrates, but yields, and becomes
+ a prisoner in the Spanish quarters--Indignation of the
+ nobles--Portentous omen--Distress in the palace--The
+ Princess expostulates with her father--The parting, and
+ the promised meeting--Guatimozin departs in disgust--His
+ interview with the Princess at Chapoltepec--Courageous
+ hopes--Oracle and omens--Timidity made bold by love.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION--MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC
+ NOBILITY--DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. 121
+
+ Cortez visits Vera Cruz--Alvarado in command in the
+ Capital--His character--The Aztec festival--Unprovoked
+ attack and massacre--The whole nation in arms for
+ revenge--Alvarado in imminent peril--Cortez returns--The
+ Aztecs threaten the entire destruction of the
+ Spaniards--Furious assault upon their
+ quarters--Desperate sortie--Implacable spirit of the
+ Aztecs--Their leaders--Cortez persuades Montezuma to
+ interpose--Cacama summoned to the royal presence--His
+ noble reply--The Princes' rendezvous--Guatimozin warned
+ of danger--His escape--Cacama and Cuitlahua
+ arrested--The latter released--Fresh assaults upon the
+ Spaniards--At the instigation of Cortez, Montezuma
+ appears and addresses the people--Their loyalty and
+ deference--Suddenly changed to uncontrollable rage--The
+ Emperor mortally wounded by his own people--A temporary
+ suspension of hostilities--Death of Montezuma--His
+ funeral obsequies.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ BRIEF REIGN OF CUITLAHUA--EXPULSION OF THE
+ SPANIARDS--GUATIMOZIN CHOSEN EMPEROR--HIS MARRIAGE WITH
+ TECUICHPO. 137
+
+ Cuitlahua elected to the vacant throne--His
+ resolution--Cortez, realizing his danger, resolves to
+ evacuate the city--Attempts to steal away in the
+ night--Assaulted on all sides by the Aztecs--Perils of
+ the retreat--Awful position on the Great
+ Causeway--Hemmed in on all sides--Terrible slaughter--A
+ remnant escape--Cortez in tears--Singular neglect of his
+ adversary--Activity of Cuitlahua--His sudden
+ death--Grief and despondency of the nation--Guatimozin
+ elected to his place--His activity and prudence--He
+ claims the hand of the Princess--Her timidity and her
+ devotion--Love finding the bright side of the
+ picture--The nuptial festival--Grand procession to the
+ Capital--A nation's welcome.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ FESTIVITIES AT THE COURT OF GUATIMOZIN--THE NEW HYMENEAL
+ VOW. 151
+
+ Character of Guatimozin--His practical wisdom and
+ activity--Gaiety of the court--The young
+ Queen--Nahuitla, the Prince of Tlacopan--Atlacan, a
+ princess of Tezcuco--Her brother, Maxtli--Her
+ suitors--The Merchant of Cholula--Mercenary views of
+ Maxtli--Endeavors to thwart Nahuitla--How he is thwarted
+ himself--The betrothal--Sanctioned by the Emperor--The
+ nuptials--Polygamy abjured--A new Imperial
+ statute--Torch dance--Significant pantomime.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ RETURN OF CORTEZ--SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN--BRAVERY AND
+ SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS. 161
+
+ Guatimozin prepares for a new invasion--Cortez approaches
+ with a new army--Orders vessels built at Tlascala--Takes
+ possession of Tezcuco--Makes liberal overtures to
+ Guatimozin--Rejected with scorn--Determined spirit of
+ Guatimozin--Success of Cortez in reducing some of the
+ smaller towns--Narrow escape at Iztalapatan--General
+ defection of the tributary cities--How accounted
+ for--The Spanish fleet on the Lake--Genius of
+ Cortez--Tenochtitlan invested--Preparations for the
+ siege--Spirit of the Aztecs--Their supplies cut off--The
+ Queen in her reverses--Famine--Distress in the
+ city--Love stronger than hunger--The famishing
+ fed--Desperation--an assault--an ambush--The tide of
+ battle suddenly turned--Perilous position and severe
+ loss of the Spaniards--Cortez narrowly
+ escapes--Disastrous retreat.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+ STRAITNESS OF THE FAMINE--THE FINAL CONFLICT--FLIGHT AND
+ CAPTURE OF GUATIMOZIN--DESTINY FULFILLED. 179
+
+ The Mexicans encouraged--Oracular declaration of the
+ priests--It fails to be fulfilled--Cortez resolves to
+ lay waste the city--A wide spread ruin--Terrible
+ sufferings of the besieged--Love and loyalty outliving
+ hope--Death preferred to submission--Nahuitla proposes a
+ plan of escape--Guatimozin rejects it, but is overruled
+ by the unanimous voice of his people--Prepares for
+ flight--The battle of the ghosts--The
+ retreat--Guatimozin on the lake--Pursued by the enemy--A
+ captive--Brought before Cortez--His noble spirit and
+ bearing--The Queen and the conqueror--Her destiny
+ fulfilled.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE FLIGHT OF THE KATAHBA CHIEF. 193
+
+ The dream of Minaree, the young bride of Ash-te-o-lah--Its
+ effect upon the Chief--He goes to the chase--Power and
+ prosperity of the Katahbas--Beauty of their
+ villages--The wigwam of Ash-te-o-lah--The Chief in his
+ canoe--The deer--The foe--The chase--He turns upon his
+ pursuers--Slays seven of their number successively--Is
+ taken--Marched off as a captive--His boldness and
+ dignity--Arrives in the territories of his
+ enemies--Insulted and beaten by the women--Condemned to
+ the fiery torture--Led out to execution--Breaks away
+ and escapes--Pauses to defy his pursuers--Distances
+ them all--Stops to rest--Finds a place of
+ concealment--Plans the destruction of the pursuing
+ party--Succeeds--Returns home in triumph, laden with
+ trophies and spoils.
+
+
+MONICA--THE ITEAN CAPTIVE. 209
+
+ Reverence for the dead--Indian burial--The journey to the
+ Spirit land--The favorite dog killed--Food for
+ journey--Mementoes of the departed--The grave of an
+ infant boy--The Itean encampment--A sister's grief--Her
+ dream--She visits the grave by moonlight--Her
+ song--Enters a canoe and floats down the stream--A
+ captive, devoted to the "Great Star"--Pagan rite among
+ the Pawnees--Preparing for the sacrifice--Ignorant of
+ her fate--Gathering of the Pawnees to the festival--The
+ victim led to the stake--The terrible orgies
+ commence--Are suddenly interrupted--The captive
+ unbound--The flight--Parting with her deliverer--Meets
+ her friends--Reaches her home in safety--Petalesharro,
+ her deliverer--His person and character--Bloody rite
+ abolished.
+
+
+THE HERMITESS OF ATHABASCA. 227
+
+ The wigwam of Kaf-ne-wah-go--His family--Tula, his only
+ daughter--O-ken-ah-ga, her husband--The Athapuscows
+ steal in at night--The chiefs murdered--Tula a
+ captive--Her infant boy murdered before her eyes--The
+ Chippeways in pursuit of the murderers--Following the
+ trail--The enemy overtaken--Retribution wreaked upon
+ the innocent--The deep grief of Tula--Her weary
+ marches--Her captors encamp--The tempest--She escapes
+ in the darkness--Vain attempts to discover her
+ retreat--Seeks to find her way back to her people--The
+ forest--A midnight intruder--She climbs a tree--Is
+ besieged--Assaulted--Repels and destroys the
+ enemy--Intricacies and dangers of the forest--An
+ opening, but no light--Bewildered--Resolves to go no
+ farther--Finds a convenient spot--builds a cabin--her
+ house-keeping--Her ingenuity, industry and taste--The
+ Hermitess discovered--Her solitude reluctantly
+ abandoned--Indian mode of obtaining a
+ wife--Journeyings--A new party--An unexpected meeting.
+
+
+
+
+THE AZTEC PRINCESS,
+
+OR
+
+DESTINY FORESHADOWED.
+
+
+ Rapacious Spain
+ Followed her bold discoverer o'er the main;
+ A rabid race, fanatically bold,
+ And steeled to cruelty by lust of gold,
+ Traversed the waves, the unknown world explored,
+ The cross their standard, but their path the sword;
+ Their steps were graves; o'er prostrate realms they trod,
+ They worshipped Mammon, while they vowed to God.
+
+
+
+
+THE AZTEC PRINCESS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+ BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF TECUICHPO.
+
+ ~Tell me, ascribest thou influence to the stars?~
+
+
+ "Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial House of Tenochtitlan! Never saw I
+ the heavens in so inauspicious an aspect. Dark portentous
+ influences appear on every side. May the horoscope of the
+ infant daughter of Montezuma never be fulfilled."
+
+These were the awful words of the priestly astrologer of Tenochtitlan,
+uttered with solemn and oracular emphasis from the lofty Teocalli, where
+he had been long and studiously watching the heavens, and calculating
+the relative positions and combinations of the stars. A deep unutterable
+gloom seemed to pervade his soul. Several times he traversed the broad
+terrace, in a terrible agitation; his splendid pontifical robes flowing
+loosely in the breeze, and his tall majestic figure relieved against the
+clear sky, like some colossal moving statue,--and then, in tones of
+deeper grief than before, finding no error in his calculations,
+reiterated his oracular curse--"Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial House of
+Tenochtitlan!" Casting down his instruments to the earth, and tearing
+his hair in the violence of his emotions, he prostrated himself on the
+altar, and poured forth a loud and earnest prayer to all his gods.
+
+"Is there no favoring omen in any quarter, venerable father?" inquired
+the agitated messenger from the palace, when the prayer was ended--"is
+there no one of those bright spheres above us, that will deign to smile
+on the destiny of the young princess?"
+
+"It is full of mysterious, portentous contradictions," replied the
+astrologer. "Good and evil influences contend for the mastery. The evil
+prevail, but the good are not wholly extinguished. The life of the
+princess will be a life of sorrow, but there will be a peculiar
+brightness in its end. Yet the aspect of every sign in the heavens is
+wo, and only wo, to the imperial House of Montezuma."
+
+Faith in the revelations of astrology was a deeply rooted superstition
+with the Aztecs. It pervaded the whole structure of society, affecting
+the most intelligent and well-informed, as well as the humblest and most
+ignorant individual. In this case, the prophetic wailings of the
+priestly oracle rolled, like a long funereal knell, through the
+magnificent halls of the imperial palace, and fell upon the ear of the
+monarch, as if it had been a voice from the unseen world. Montezuma was
+reclining on a splendidly embroidered couch, in his private apartment,
+anxiously awaiting the response of the celestial oracle. He was
+magnificently arrayed in his royal robes of green, richly ornamented
+with variegated feather-work, and elaborately inwrought with gold and
+silver. His sandals were of pure gold, with ties and anklets of gold and
+silver thread, curiously interwoven with a variegated cotton cord. On
+his head was a rich fillet of gold, with a beautiful plume bending
+gracefully over one side, casting a melancholy shade over his handsome
+but naturally pensive features. A few of the royal princes sat, in
+respectful silence, at the farther end of the chamber, waiting, with an
+anxiety almost equal to that of the monarch, the return of the royal
+messenger.
+
+The apartments of the emperor were richly hung with tapestry of
+ornamental feather-work, rivalling, in the brilliancy of its dyes, and
+the beautiful harmony of its arrangement, the celebrated Gobelin
+tapestry. The floor was a tesselated pavement of porphyry and other
+beautiful stones. Numerous torches, supported in massive silver stands,
+delicately carved with fanciful figures of various kinds, blazed through
+the apartment, lighting up, with an almost noonday brilliancy, the
+gorgeous folds of the plumed hangings, and filling the whole palace with
+the sweet breath of the odoriferous gums of which they were composed.
+
+The emperor leaned pensively on his hand, seemingly oppressed with some
+superstitious melancholy forebodings. Perhaps the shadow of that
+mysterious prophecy, which betokened the extinction of the Aztec
+dynasty, and the consequent ruin of his house, was passing athwart the
+troubled sky of his mind, veiling the always doubtful future in mists of
+tenfold dimness. Whatever it was that disturbed his royal serenity, his
+reverie was soon broken by the sound of an approaching footstep. For a
+moment, nothing was heard but the measured tread of the trembling
+messenger, pacing with unwilling step the long corridor, that led to the
+royal presence. With his head bowed upon his breast, his eyes fixed upon
+the pavement, his person veiled in the coarse _nequen_,[A] and his feet
+bare, he stood before the monarch, dumb as a statue.
+
+"What response bring you," eagerly enquired the emperor, "from the
+burning oracles of heaven? How reads the destiny of my new-born infant?"
+
+"The response be to the enemies of the great Montezuma," replied the
+messenger, without lifting his eyes from the floor, "and the destiny it
+foreshadows to the children of them that hate him."
+
+"Speak," exclaimed the monarch, "What message do you bring from the
+priest of the stars?"
+
+"Alas! my royal master, my message is full of wo--my heart faints, and
+my tongue refuses its office to give it utterance. The old prophet bade
+me say, that the celestial influences are all unpropitious; that the
+destiny of the infant princess is a life of sorrow, with a gleam of more
+than earthly brightness in its evening horizon. And then, prostrating
+himself upon the great altar, he groaned out one long, deep,
+heart-rending wail for the imperial House of Tenochtitlan, and the
+golden realm of Anahuac."
+
+A deeper shade came over the brow of Montezuma, and heaving a sigh from
+the very depths of a soul that had long been agitated by melancholy
+forebodings of coming evil, he raised his eyes to heaven, and said,
+"the will of the gods be done." Then, waving his hand to his attendants,
+they bowed their heads, and retired in silence from the apartment.
+
+"It has come at last," inwardly groaned the monarch, as soon as he found
+himself alone--"it has come at last--that fearful prophecy, that has so
+long hung, like the shadow of a great cloud, over my devoted house, is
+now to be fulfilled. The fates have willed it, and there is no escape
+from their dread decrees. I must make ready for the sacrifice."
+
+Nerved by the stern influence of this dark fatalism, Montezuma brushed a
+tear from his eye, and putting a royal restraint upon the turbulent
+sorrows and fears of his paternal heart, hastened to the apartments of
+the queen, to break to her, with all the gentleness and caution which
+her delicate and precarious circumstances required, the mournful issue
+of their inquiries at the court of heaven, into the future destiny and
+prospects of their new-born babe.
+
+A deep gloom hung over the palace and the city. Every heart, even the
+most humble and unobserved, sympathized in the disappointment, and
+shared the distress, of their sovereign. And the day, which should have
+been consecrated to loyal congratulations, and general festivities,
+became, as by common consent, a sort of national fast, a season of
+universal lamentation.
+
+The little stranger was welcomed into life with that peculiar chastened
+tenderness, which is the natural offspring of love and pity--love, such
+as infant innocence wins spontaneously from every heart--pity, such as
+melancholy forebodings of coming years of sorrow to one beloved, cannot
+fail to awaken. She was regarded as the most beautiful and the most
+interesting of all her race. Every look and motion seemed to have its
+peculiar significance in indicating the victim of a remarkable destiny.
+And it is not to be wondered at, that a superstition so sad, and an
+affection so tender and solicitous, discovered an almost miraculous
+precocity in the first developments of the intellectual and moral
+qualities of its subject. She was the attractive centre of all the
+admiration and love of the royal household. Imagination fancied a
+peculiar sadness in her eye, and her merry laugh was supposed to mingle
+an element of sadness in its tones. Her mild and winning manners, and
+her affectionate disposition made her the idol of all whom she loved;
+and each one strove to do her service, as if hoping to avert, in some
+measure, the coming doom of their darling; while she clung to the fond
+and devoted hearts around her, as the ivy clings to the oak, which
+receives its embraces, and is necessary to its support.
+
+When the young princess, who received the name of Tecuichpo, had arrived
+at the age of one year, she was given in charge to a young and beautiful
+slave, whom the Emperor had recently obtained from Azcapozalco. Karee
+was gifted with rare powers of minstrelsy. Her voice had the sweetness,
+power and compass of a mocking bird, and all day long she warbled her
+ever-changing lays, as if her natural breathing were music, and song the
+natural flow of her thoughts. She soon became passionately devoted to
+the little pet, and exerted all her uncommon gifts to amuse and instruct
+her. She taught her all the native songs of Azcapozalco and Mexitli,
+instructed her in dancing, embroidery and feather-work, and initiated
+her into the science of picture-writing and the fanciful language of
+flowers. Karee and her royal charge were never apart. Gentle and timid
+as the dove, Tecuichpo clung to her new nurse, as to the bosom of a
+mother. Even in her early infancy, she would so sweetly respond, like an
+echo, to the gentle lullaby, and mingle her little notes so
+symphoniously with those of Karee, that it excited the wonder and
+admiration of all. Karee was passionately fond of flowers. It was indeed
+an element in the national taste of this remarkable people. But Karee
+was unusually gifted in her preceptions of natural beauty, and seemed to
+have a soul most delicately attuned to the spirit and language of
+flowers, the painted hieroglyphics of nature. She loved to exercise her
+exuberant fancy in decorating her little mistress, and often contrived
+so to arrange them upon the various parts of her person and dress, as to
+make her at different times, the emblematic representation of every
+bright and beautiful spirit, that was supposed to people their celestial
+paradise, or to hover, on wings of love and gentle care, about the path
+of those whom the gods delighted to favor.
+
+It was the daily custom for Karee to carry the young princess into the
+apartment of the Emperor, as soon as he rose from his siesta, to receive
+the affectionate caresses which her royal father was so fond of
+lavishing upon her. At such times, Tecuichpo would often take with her
+some rich chaplets of flowers which Karee had woven for her, and amuse
+herself and her father, by arranging them in a coronet on his brow, or
+twining them, in every fantastic form, about his person, to make, as
+she said, a flower-god of _him_, who was a sun to all the flowers of her
+earthly paradise.
+
+One day, when the young princess was sleeping in her little arbor, the
+ever watchful nurse observed a viper among the flowers, which she had
+strown about her pillow, just ready to dart its venomous fang into the
+bosom of her darling. Quick as lightning she seized the reptile in her
+hand, and, before he had time to turn upon her, flung him upon the
+floor, and crushed him under her sandalled heel. Passionately embracing
+her dear charge, she hastened with her to the apartments of the queen,
+and related the story of her narrow escape, with so much of the
+eloquence of gratitude for being the favored instrument of her
+deliverance from so cruel a death, that it deeply affected the heart of
+the queen. She embraced her child and Karee, as if both were, for the
+moment, equally dear to her; and then, in return for the faithful
+service, rendered at the hazard of her own life, she promised to bestow
+upon the slave whatever she chose to ask. "Give me, O give me freedom,
+and a chinampa, and I ask no more," was the eager reply of Karee to this
+unexpected offer of the queen. The request was immediately granted; and
+the first sorrow that ever clouded the heart of the lovely Tecuichpo,
+was that of parting with her faithful and loving Karee.
+
+A _chinampa_ was a floating island in the lake of Tezcuco, upon whose
+very bosom the imperial city was built. They were very numerous, and
+some of them were large, and extremely beautiful. They were formed by
+the alluvial deposit in the waters of the lake, and by occasional masses
+of earth detached from the shores, held together by the fibrous roots,
+with which they were penetrated, and which in that luxurious clime, put
+out their feelers in every direction, and gathered to their embrace
+whatever of nutriment and support the richly impregnated waters
+afforded. In the process of a few years accumulation, the floating mass
+increased in length, breadth and thickness, till it became an island,
+capable of sustaining not only shrubs and trees, but sometimes a human
+habitation. Some of these were from two to three hundred feet square,
+and could be moved about at pleasure, like a raft, from city to city,
+along the borders of the lake. The natives, who were skilful gardeners,
+and passionately devoted to the cultivation of flowers, improved upon
+this beautiful hint of nature, to enlarge their means of supplying the
+capital with fruits, vegetables and flowers. Constructing small rafts of
+reeds, anchoring them out in the lake, and then covering them with the
+sediment drawn up from the bottom, they soon found them covered with a
+thrifty vegetation, and a vigorous soil, from which they were able to
+produce a large supply of the various luxuries of their highly favored
+clime.
+
+It was to one of these fairy gardens that the beautiful Karee retired,
+rich in the priceless jewel of freedom, and feeling that a chinampa all
+her own, and flowers to train and commune with, was the summit of human
+desire. Karee was no common character. Gifted by nature with unusual
+talents, she had, though in adverse circumstances, cultivated them by
+all the means in her power. Remarkably quick of perception, and shrewd
+and accurate of observation, with a memory that retained every thing
+that was committed to it, in its exact outlines and proportions, she
+was enabled to gather materials for improvement from every scene through
+which she passed. Her imagination was exceedingly powerful and active,
+sometimes wild and terrific, but kept in balance by a sound judgment and
+a discriminating taste. Her love of flowers was a passion, a part of her
+nature. For her they had a language, if not a soul. And there was not
+one of all the endless varieties of that luxuriant clime, that had not a
+definite and emphatic place in the vocabulary of her fancy. The history
+of her life she could have written in her floral dialect, and to her,
+though its lines might have faded rapidly, its pages would have been
+always legible and eloquent. Her attachments were strong and enduring,
+and there was that element of heroism in her soul, that she would
+unhesitatingly have sacrificed life for the object of her love.
+
+It is not to be wondered at, that, with such qualities of mind and
+heart, Karee was deeply impressed with the solemn and imposing
+superstitions of the Aztec religion. The rites and ceremonies by which
+they were illustrated and sustained, were well calculated to stir to its
+very depths, a soul like hers, and give the fullest exercise to her wild
+imagination. That pompous ritual, those terrible orgies, repeated before
+her eyes almost daily from her infancy, had become blended with the
+thoughts and associations of her mind, and intimately related to every
+scene that interested her heart, or engaged her fancy. Yet her soul was
+not enslaved to that dark and dismal superstition. Though accustomed to
+an awful veneration of the priesthood, she did not regard them as a
+superior race of beings, or listen to their words, as if they had been
+audible voices from heaven. Her spirit shrunk from many of the darker
+revelations of the established mythology, and openly revolted from some
+of its inhuman exactions. Its chains hung loosely upon her; and she
+seemed fully prepared for the freedom of a purer and loftier faith. Her
+extreme beauty, her bewitching gaiety, and her varied talents, attracted
+many admirers, and some noble and worthy suitors. But Karee had another
+destiny to fulfil. She felt herself to be the guardian angel of the
+ill-fated Tecuichpo, and her love for the princess left no room for any
+other passion in her heart. She therefore refused all solicitations, and
+remained the solitary mistress of her floating island.
+
+Karee's departure from the palace, did not in any degree lessen her
+interest in the welfare of the young princess. She was assiduous in her
+attention to every thing that could promote her happiness; and seemed to
+value the flowers she cultivated on her chinampa chiefly as they
+afforded her the means of daily correspondence with Tecuichpo. She
+managed her island like a canoe, and moved about from one part of the
+beautiful lake to another, visiting by turns the cities that glittered
+on its margin, and sometimes traversing the valleys in search of new
+flowers, or exploring the ravines and caverns of the mountains for
+whatever of rare and precious she might chance to find. The chivalry of
+the Aztecs rendered such adventures perfectly safe, their women being
+always regarded with the greatest tenderness and respect, and treated
+with a delicacy seldom surpassed in the most civilized countries of
+Christendom.
+
+This chivalric sentiment was, not improbably heightened, in the case of
+Karee, in part by her extreme beauty, and in part by the power of her
+genius and the brilliancy of her wit. She commanded respect by the force
+of her intellect, and the purity of her heart; while the uncommon depth
+and splendor of her imagination, when excited by any favorite theme, and
+the seemingly inexhaustible fruitfulness of her mental resources,
+invested her, in the view of the multitude, with something of the
+dignity, and much of the superstitious charm of a prophetess.
+
+ [A] A mantle of coarse cotton fabric, which all who approached
+ the emperor were compelled to put on, in token of humility and
+ reverence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS--HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED--PROPHETIC
+ ANNOUNCEMENT AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS.
+
+ ~Breathe not his noble name even to the winds,
+ Lest they my love reveal.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~I have mystical lore,
+ And coming events cast their shadows before.~
+
+
+The childhood of the fair princess passed away without any event of
+importance, except the occasional recurrence of those dark prophecies
+which overshadowed her entrance into life. Her father, who had exercised
+the office of priest before he came to the throne, was thoroughly imbued
+with the superstitious reverence for astrology, which formed a part of
+the religion of the Aztecs. To all the predictions of this mystic
+science he yielded implicit belief, regarding whatever it foreshadowed
+as the fixed decrees of fate. He was, therefore, fully prepared, and
+always on the look-out, for new revelations to confirm and establish his
+faith. These were sometimes found in the trivial occurrences of
+every-day life, and sometimes in the sinister aspect of the heavenly
+bodies, at peculiar epochs in the life of his daughter. With this
+superstitious foreboding of evil, the pensive character of the princess
+harmonized so well, as to afford, to the mind of the too credulous
+monarch, another unquestionable indication of her destiny. It seemed to
+be written on her brow, that her life was a doomed one; and each
+returning year was counted as the last, and entered upon with gloomy
+forebodings of some terrible catastrophe.
+
+As her life advanced, her charms, both of person and character matured
+and increased; and, at the age of fourteen, there was not a maiden in
+all the golden cities of Anahuac, who could compare with Tecuichpo. Her
+exceeding loveliness was the theme of many a song, and the fame of her
+beauty and her accomplishments was published in all the neighboring
+nations. While yet a child, her hand was eagerly sought by Cacamo, of
+the royal house of Tezcuco; but, with the true chivalry of an unselfish
+devotion, his suit was withdrawn, on discovering that her young
+affections were already engaged to another. The discovery was made in a
+manner too singular and striking to be suffered to pass unnoticed.
+
+In the course of her wanderings in the forest, Karee had taken captive a
+beautiful parrot, of the most gorgeous plumage, and the most astonishing
+capacity. This chatterer, after due training and discipline, she had
+presented to her favorite princess, among a thousand other tokens of her
+unchangeable affection. Tecuichpo loved the beautiful mimic, to whom she
+gave the name of Karee-o-than--the voice of Karee,--and often amused
+herself with teaching her to repeat the words which she loved best to
+hear. Without being aware of the publicity she was thus giving to her
+most treasured thoughts, she entrusted to the talkative bird the secret
+of her love, by associating with the most endearing epithets, the name
+of her favored cavalier. While strolling about the magnificent gardens
+attached to the palace of Montezuma, Cacamo was wont to breathe out, in
+impassioned song, his love for Tecuichpo, repeating her name, with every
+expression of passionate regard, which the language afforded.
+Karee-o-than was often flying about in the gardens, and soliloquizing in
+the arbors, the favorite resorts of her beautiful mistress, and often
+attracted the notice of Cacamo.
+
+One evening, as the prince was more than usually eloquent in pouring
+into the ear of Zephyr the tale of his love, the mimic bird, perched
+upon a flowering orange tree, that filled the garden with its delicious
+perfume, repeated the name of his mistress, as often as her lover
+uttered it, occasionally connecting with it the name of Guatimozin, and
+then adding some endearing epithet, expressive of the most ardent
+admiration. The prince was first amused, and then vexed, at the frequent
+repetition of the name of his rival. In vain did he endeavor to induce
+the mischievous bird to substitute his own name for that of Guatimozin.
+As often as he uttered the name of the princess, the echo in the orange
+tree gave back "noble Guatimozin," or "sweet Guatimozin," or some other
+similar response, which left no doubt on the mind of Cacamo, that the
+heart of his mistress was pre-occupied, and that the nephew of Montezuma
+was the favored object of her love. The next day, he bade adieu to
+Tenochtitlan, placed himself at the head of the army of Tezcuco, and
+plunged into a war then raging with a distant tribe on the west, hoping
+to bury his disappointment in the exciting scenes of conquest.
+
+Guatimozin was of the royal blood, and, as his after history will show,
+of a right royal and heroic spirit. From his childhood, he had exhibited
+an unusual maturity of judgment, coupled with an energy, activity, and
+fearlessness of spirit, which gave early assurance of a heroism worthy
+of the supreme command, and an intellectual superiority that might claim
+succession to the throne. His training was in the court and the camp,
+and he seemed equally at home and in his element, amid the refined
+gaieties of the palace, the grave deliberations of the royal council,
+and the mad revelry of the battle-field. His figure was of the most
+perfect manly proportions, tall, commanding, graceful--his countenance
+was marked with that peculiar blending of benignity and majesty, which
+made it unspeakably beautiful and winning to those whom he loved, and
+terrible to those on whom he frowned. He was mild, humane, generous,
+confiding; yet sternly and heroically just. His country was his idol.
+The one great passion of his soul, to which all other thoughts and
+affections were subordinate and tributary, was patriotism. On that
+altar, if he had possessed a thousand lives, he would freely have laid
+them all. Such was the noble prince who had won the heart of Tecuichpo.
+
+Meanwhile, to the anxious eye of her imperial father, the clouds of fate
+seemed to hang deep and dark over the realm of Anahuac. Long before the
+prophetic wail, which welcomed the lovely Tecuichpo to a life of
+sorrow, Montezuma had imbibed from the dark legends of ancient
+prophecies, and the faint outgivings of his own priestly oracles, a deep
+and ineradicable impression that some terrible calamity was impending
+over the realm, and that he was to be the last of its native monarchs.
+It was dimly foreshadowed, in these prophetic revelations, that the
+descendants of a noble and powerful race of men, who had many ages
+before occupied that beautiful region, and filled it with the works of
+their genius, but who had been driven out by the cruelty and perfidy of
+the Toltecs, would return, invested with supernatural power from heaven,
+to re-possess their ancient inheritance.[B] To this leading and long
+established faith, every dark and doubtful omen contributed its
+appropriate share of confirmation. To this, every significant event was
+deemed to have a more or less intimate relation. So that, at this
+particular epoch, not only the superstitious monarch, and his priestly
+astrologers, but the whole nation of Azteca were prepared, as were the
+ancient Jews at the advent of the Messiah, for great events, though
+utterly unable to imagine what might be the nature of the expected
+change.
+
+These gloomy forebodings of coming evil so thoroughly possessed the mind
+of Montezuma, that the commanding dignity and pride of the monarch gave
+way before the absorbing anxiety of the man and the father, and, in a
+manner, unfitted him for the duties of the lofty place he had so nobly
+filled. He yielded, as will be seen in the sequel, not without grief,
+but without resistance, to the fixed decrees of fate, and awaited the
+issue, as a victim for the heaven-appointed sacrifice.
+
+It was about fifteen years after the prophetic announcement of the doom
+of the young princess of the empire, that Montezuma was reclining in his
+summer saloon, where he had been gloomily brooding over his darkening
+prospects, till his soul was filled with sadness. His beautiful daughter
+was with him, striving to cheer his heart with the always welcome music
+of her songs, and the affectionate expression of a love as pure and deep
+as ever warmed the heart of a devoted child. She had gone that day into
+the royal presence to ask a boon for her early and faithful friend,
+Karee. This lovely and gifted creature, now in the full maturity of all
+her wonderful powers of mind, and personal attractions, had often been
+admitted, as a special favorite, into the royal presence, to exhibit her
+remarkable powers of minstrelsy, and her almost supernatural gifts as an
+improvisatrice of the wild melodies of Anahuac. Some of her chants were
+of rare pathos and sublimity, and sometimes she was so carried away with
+the impassioned vehemence of her inspiration, that she seemed an
+inspired messenger from the skies, uttering in their language the
+oracles of the gods. On this occasion, she had requested permission to
+sing a new chant in the palace, that she might seize the opportunity to
+breathe a prophetic warning in the ear of the emperor. She had thrice
+dreamed that the dark cloud which had so long hung over that devoted
+land, had burst in an overwhelming storm, upon the capital, and buried
+Montezuma and all his house in indiscriminate ruin. She had seen the
+demon of destruction, in the guize of a snow white angel, clad in
+burnished silver, borne on a fiery animal, of great power, and fleet as
+the wind, having under him a small band of warriors, guarded and mounted
+like himself, armed with thunderbolts which they hurled at will against
+all who opposed their progress. She had seen the monarch of
+Tenochtitlan, with his hosts of armed Mexicans, and the tributary armies
+of Tezcuco, Islacapan, Chalco, and all the cities of that glorious
+valley, tremble and cower before this small band of invaders, and yield
+himself without a blow to their hands. She had seen the thousands and
+tens of thousands of her beloved land fall before this handful of
+strangers, and melt away, like the mists of the morning before the
+rising sun. And she had heard a voice from the dark cloud as it broke,
+saying, sternly, as the forked lightning leaped into the heart of the
+imperial palace, "The gods help only those who help themselves."
+
+Filled and agitated with the stirring influence of this prophetic
+vision, Karee, who had always regarded herself as the guardian genius of
+Tecuichpo, now imagined the sphere of her duty greatly enlarged, and
+deemed herself specially commissioned to save the empire from impending
+destruction. Weaving her vision, and the warning it uttered, into one of
+her most impassioned chants, and arraying herself as the priestess of
+nature, she followed Tecuichpo, with a firm step into the royal
+presence, and, with the boldness and eloquence of a prophetess, warned
+him of the coming danger, and urged him to arouse from his apathy,
+unbecoming the monarch of a proud and powerful nation, cast off the
+slavery of his superstitious fears, and prepare to meet, with the power
+of a man, and the wisdom of a king, whatever evil might come upon him.
+Rising with the kindling inspiration of her theme, she ventured gently
+to reproach the awe-struck monarch with his unmanly fears, and to remind
+him that on his single will, and the firmness of his soul, hung not only
+his own destiny but that of wife and children; and more than that, of a
+whole nation, whose myriads of households looked up to him, as the
+common father of them all, the heaven-appointed guardian of their lives,
+liberty and happiness. At length, alarmed at her own energy and
+boldness, so unwonted even to the proudest noble of the realm, in that
+royal presence, she bent her knee, and baring her bosom, she lowered her
+voice almost to a whisper, and said imploringly--
+
+ Strike, monarch! strike, this heart is thine,
+ To live or die for thee;
+ Strike, but heed this voice of mine
+ It comes from heaven, through me;
+ It comes to save this blessed land,
+ It comes thy soul to free
+ From those dark fears, and bid thee stand
+ The monarch father of thy land,
+ That only lives in thee.
+
+ Strike, father! if my words too bold
+ Thy royal ears offend;
+ The visions of the night are told,
+ Thy destiny the gods unfold--
+ Oh! be thy people's friend,
+ True to thyself, to them, to heaven--
+ So shall this lowering cloud be riven
+ And light and peace descend,
+ To bless this golden realm, and save
+ Tecuichpo from an early grave.
+
+The vision of the beautiful pythoness had deeply and powerfully affected
+the soul of Montezuma; and her closing appeal moved him even to tears.
+Though accustomed to the most obsequious deference from all his
+subjects, even from the proudest of his nobles, he had listened to every
+word of Karee with the profoundest attention and interest, as if it had
+been from the acknowledged oracle of heaven. When she ceased, there was
+a breathless silence in the hall. The monarch drew his lovely daughter
+to his bosom in a passionate embrace. Karee remained prostrate, with her
+face to the ground, her heart throbbing almost audibly with the violence
+of her emotions. Suddenly, a deep long blast from a distant trumpet
+announced the arrival of a courier at the capital. It was a signal for
+all the attendants to retire. Tecuichpo tenderly kissing her father,
+took Karee by the hand, raised her up and led her out, and the monarch
+was left alone.
+
+In a few moments, the courier arrived and entering, barefoot and veiled,
+into the royal presence, bowed to the very ground, handed a scroll to
+the king, and departed. When Montezuma had unrolled the scroll, he
+seemed for a moment, as if struck with instant paralysis. Fear,
+astonishment, dismay, seized upon his soul. The vision of Karee was
+already fulfilled. The pictured tablet was the very counterpart of her
+oracular chant--the literal interpretation of her prophetic vision. It
+announced the arrival within the realms of Montezuma, of a band of pale
+faced strangers, clad in burnished armor, each having at his command a
+beautiful animal of great power, hitherto unknown in that country, that
+bore him with the speed of the wind wherever he would go, and seemed,
+while he was mounted, to be a part of himself. It described their
+weapons, representing them as having the lightning and thunder at their
+disposal, which they caused to issue sometimes from dark heavy engines,
+which they dragged along the ground, and sometimes from smaller ones
+which they carried in their hands. It delineated, faithfully and
+skilfully their "water houses," or ships, in which they traversed the
+great waters, from a far distant country. The peculiar costume and
+bearing of their commander, and of his chiefs, were also happily
+represented in the rich coloring for which the Aztecs were
+distinguished. Nothing was omitted in their entire array, which could
+serve to convey to the eye of the emperor a correct and complete
+impression of the appearance, numbers and power of the strangers. It was
+all before him, at a glance, a living speaking picture, and told the
+story of the invasion as graphically and eloquently, as if he had been
+himself a witness of their debarkation, and of their feats of
+horsemanship. It was all before him, a terrible living reality. The gods
+whom he worshipped had sent these strangers to fulfil their own
+irresistible purposes--if, indeed, these were not the gods themselves,
+in human form.
+
+The mind of Montezuma was overwhelmed. Like Belshazzar, when the divine
+hand appeared writing his doom on the wall, his soul fainted in him, his
+knees smote together, and he sat, in blank astonishment, gazing on the
+picture before him, as if the very tablet possessed a supernatural power
+of destruction.
+
+Paralyzed with the influence of his long indulged fears so singularly
+and strikingly realized, the monarch sat alone, neither seeking comfort,
+nor asking counsel of any one, till the hour of the evening repast. The
+summons aroused him from his reverie; but he regarded it not. He
+remained alone, in his own private apartments, during the whole night,
+fasting and sleepless, traversing the marble halls in an agony of
+agitation.
+
+With the first light of the morning, the shrill notes of the trumpet,
+reverberating along the shadowy slopes of the cordilleras, announced the
+approach of another courier from the camp of the strangers. It rung in
+the ears of the dejected monarch, like an alarum. He awoke at once from
+his stupor, and began to consider what was to be done. The warning of
+Karee rushed upon his recollection. Her bold and timely appeal struck
+him to the heart. He resolved to be once more the monarch, and the
+father of his people. Uttering an earnest prayer to all his gods, he
+awaited the arrival of the courier.
+
+Swift of foot as the mountain deer, the steps of the messenger were soon
+heard, measuring with solemn pace, the long corridor of the royal
+mansion, as one who felt that he was approaching the presence of
+majesty, and bearing a message pregnant with the most important issues
+to the common weal. Bowing low, with that profound reverence, which was
+rigorously exacted of all who approached the presence of Montezuma, he
+touched the ground with his right hand, and then, his eyes bent to the
+earth, delivered his pictured scroll, and retired. It was a courteous
+and complimentary message from the strangers he so much dreaded,
+requesting that they might be permitted to pay their respects to his
+imperial majesty, in his own capital. The quick-sighted monarch
+perceived at once that prudence and policy required that this interview
+should be prevented.
+
+A council of the wisest and most experienced of the Aztec nobles was
+immediately called. The opinions of the royal advisers were variously
+expressed, but all, with one accord, agreed that the request of the
+strangers could not be granted. Some counselled a bold and warlike
+message, commanding the intruders to depart instantly, on pain of the
+royal displeasure. Some recommended their forcible expulsion by the army
+of the empire. The more aged and experienced, who had learned how much
+easier it is to avoid, than to escape, a danger, proposed a more
+courteous and peaceable reply to the message of the strangers. They
+deemed it unworthy of a great and powerful monarch, to be angry, when
+the people of another nation visited his territories, or requested
+permission to see his capital. To manifest, or feel any thing like fear,
+in such a case, would be a reproach alike upon his courage and his
+patriotism. So long, therefore, as the strangers conducted themselves
+peaceably, and with becoming deference to the will of the emperor, and
+the laws of the realm, they should be treated civilly, and hospitably
+entertained.
+
+To this wise and prudent counsel, the monarch was already fully prepared
+to yield. It was strongly seconded by his superstitious reverence for
+the heaven-sent strangers, and his mortal dread of their superhuman
+power. He, therefore, selected the noblest and wisest of his chiefs as
+ambassadors, to bear his message, which was kindly and courteously
+expressed; at the same time conveying a firm but respectful refusal to
+admit the foreigners to an interview in the capital, or to extend to
+them the protection of the court, after a reasonable time had elapsed
+for their re-embarkation. This message was accompanied with a munificent
+royal present, consisting of the richest and most beautiful suits of
+apparel for the chief and all his men, with gorgeous capes and robes of
+feather-work, glittering with jewels--precious stones richly set in
+gold, and many magnificent ornaments of pure gold.
+
+At the head of this embassy were princes of high estate, and most noble
+bearing, commanding in person, and of great distinction, both at the
+court and in the camp. When they arrived near the encampment of the
+strangers, which was the spot where the city of Vera Cruz now stands,
+they sent a courier forward, to announce their approach, and prepare for
+their reception.
+
+The meeting of the parties was one of no little pomp and ceremony, for
+the courtly manners and chivalric bearing of the European cavaliers were
+scarcely superior, in impressiveness and effect, to the barbaric
+splendor, and graceful consciousness of power, which characterized the
+flower of the Aztec nobility. The chief, advancing towards the invaders,
+bowed low to earth, touching the ground with his right hand, then
+raising it to his head, and presenting it to his guest, announced
+himself as the envoy and servant of the great Montezuma, sole monarch
+and master of all the realms of Anahuac; and demanded the name of the
+stranger, the country from which he came, and the motives which induced
+him to trespass upon the sacred territories of his royal master, and to
+presume to ask an interview with the emperor, in his capital. The
+Castilian chieftain, with a courteous and knightly bearing replied, that
+his name was Hernando Cortez--that he was one of the humblest of the
+servants of the great Charles, the mighty monarch of Spain, and
+sovereign ruler of the Indies, and that he had come, with his little
+band of followers, to pay his court to the great Montezuma, and to bear
+to him the fraternal salutation of his master, which he could only
+deliver in person.
+
+The reply of the Mexican was dignified, courteous, and pointed, and left
+no hope to the Spaniard, that he would then be able to effect his
+purpose, of visiting in person the golden city. "If," said the prince,
+"your monarch had come himself to our shores, he might well demand a
+personal meeting with our lord, the emperor, but when he sends his
+servant to represent him, he surely cannot presume to do more than
+communicate with the servants of the great Montezuma. If it were
+possible that another sun should visit yonder sky, he might look upon
+our sun, in his march, and move and shine in his presence. But the moon
+and the stars cannot shine when he is abroad. They can look upon each
+other only when he withdraws his light."
+
+The royal message having been delivered, the presents which accompanied
+it were brought forward, and spread out upon mats, in front of the
+general's tent. The Spaniards were struck, with surprise and admiration
+at the fineness of the texture of the cloths, the richness of their
+dyes, the gorgeous coloring and tasteful arrangement of the
+feather-work, the masterly workmanship and exquisite finish of the
+jewelry, and, above all, the immense value, and magnificent size of the
+golden toys which were presented them. They conceived, at once, the most
+exalted ideas of the riches of the country, and the munificence and
+splendor of the monarch that ruled over it. Their avarice and cupidity
+were strongly excited, and more than one of the inferior officers, as
+well as their general, formed the immediate resolution, that, in despite
+of the imperial interdict, they would endeavor, either by diplomacy or
+by force, to win their way to the capital, which they supposed must of
+necessity be the grand depository of all the treasures in the empire.
+Their intentions were kept secret, even from each other, and, under
+cover of a specious submission to the expressed will of the monarch,
+Cortez requested permission to delay his departure, till his men should
+be recruited, and his stores replenished for his long voyage.
+
+Meanwhile, taking advantage of this unauthorized reprieve, the artful
+and indefatigable Castilian contrived to draw off from their unwilling
+and burdensome allegiance to Montezuma, the Totonacs, a considerable
+tribe, residing in that part of the country where he had effected his
+landing; and so to impress them with a sense of his own power and the
+lenity of his government, as to bind them to him in a solemn treaty of
+alliance. He also sent an embassy to the Tlascalans, a nation that had
+long maintained its independence against the ambitious encroachments of
+Mexico, and held Montezuma their natural and only foe. They were a brave
+and warlike people, and nearly as far advanced in the arts of
+civilization as their enemies. Their government was a kind of republic.
+Cortez, with magniloquent pretensions of invincible power, and
+inexhaustible resources, proposed to assist the Tlascalans in reducing
+the power of Mexico, and putting an end to the oppressions and exactions
+of Montezuma. For this purpose, he asked leave to pass through their
+country, on his march to the great capital.
+
+Distrusting the intentions of the strangers, and fearing that, instead
+of a disinterested friend and ally, they should find in them only a new
+enemy, whom, once admitted, they could never expel from their dominions,
+and whose yoke might be even harder to bear than that which the Aztec
+monarch had in vain attempted to fasten upon them--the proposed alliance
+of the Spaniards was rejected, with such bold and ample demonstrations
+of hostility, as left no room for doubt, that any attempt to force a
+passage through their territories, would be fiercely and ably contested.
+
+Never daunted by obstacles, though somewhat perplexed, the brave Cortez
+rushed forward, encountered the almost countless hosts of the Tlascalan
+army, and, after several severe and deadly contests, in which the skill
+and prowess of his handful of men, with their terrible horses and yet
+more terrible fire-arms, were nearly overpowered by the immense numbers,
+astonishing bravery, and comparative skill of the enemy, he succeeded in
+terrifying them into submission, and winning them to a treaty of
+alliance, offensive and defensive, against the tyrant Montezuma, the
+common enemy of all the nations of Anahuac. By these singular and
+unparalleled successes, the little band of Castilian adventurers found
+themselves fortified, in the heart of the country, in close alliance
+with two powerful tribes, who swelled their army to ten times its
+original number, besides supplying them liberally with all the
+provisions that were needed for themselves and horses.
+
+Never was adventure so rashly undertaken, or so boldly pushed, as this
+singular expedition of the Spanish cavaliers. And never, probably, were
+there associated, in one little band, so many of the master spirits of
+chivalry, the true material of a conquering army. The compeers of
+Cortez, who submitted to his authority, and acted in perfect harmony
+with him, as if they were but subordinate parts of himself, were each
+competent to command a host, and lead it on to certain victory. The
+impetuous, daring Alvarado, the cool, courageous, trusty Sandoval, the
+high-spirited, chivalrous Olid, the rash, head-long, cruel Velasquez de
+Leon, and others, worthy to be the comrades of these, and of
+Cortez--when have the ranks of the war-god assigned so many master
+spirits to one enterprize? And the brave, the gifted, the indomitable
+Xicotencatl, the mountain chief of Tlascala, whom the Spaniards, with so
+much difficulty, first subdued and then won to their cause, as an
+ally--what a noble personification of the soul and spirit of heroism,
+realizing in personal bravery, martial skill and prowess, and in all the
+commanding qualities of person and of character, which go to constitute
+the victorious warrior, the best pictures of the type-heroes of epic
+poetry and history.
+
+In all their previous discoveries in the New World, the progress of the
+Spaniards to victory was easy, and almost unresisted. The invaders of
+Mexico, however, found themselves suddenly introduced to a new people,
+and new scenes--to nations of warriors, to races intelligent, civilized,
+and competent to self-government and self-defence. And all the skill,
+courage, and energy of their ablest commanders, and their bravest men,
+would have availed them nothing in their herculean enterprize, if they
+had not craftily and skilfully worked upon the jealousies and
+differences existing between the various tribes and nations of Anahuac,
+and fomented the long smothered discontents, and unwritten complaints of
+an over-taxed and sternly-governed people, into open and clamorous
+resistance to the despotic sway of Montezuma. It is curious and
+melancholy to observe, how eagerly they shook off the golden yoke of
+their hereditary monarch, for the iron one of a new master, and
+exchanged their long-established servitude to their legitimate king and
+their pagan gods, for a more galling, hopeless, and wasting slavery to
+the cruel and rapacious invader, under the life-promising Sign of the
+Cross, the desecrated banner of the Prince of Peace.
+
+ [B] One version of this singular prophetic legend represented
+ the expected invaders, as the descendants of the ancient god
+ Quetzalcoatl, who, ages agone, had voluntarily abdicated the
+ throne of Anahuac, and departed to a far country in the East,
+ with a promise to his afflicted people, that his children would
+ ultimately return, and claim their ancient country and crown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR AND VACILLATING POLICY OF MONTEZUMA.
+
+ ~The land was ours--this glorious land--
+ With all its wealth of woods and streams--
+ Our warriors, strong in heart and hand,
+ Our daughters, beautiful as dreams.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~And then we heard the omens say,
+ That God had sent his angels forth
+ To sweep our ancient tribes away--~
+
+
+While these events were transpiring in the ever moving camp of the
+victorious invaders, the imperial court of Tenochtitlan was agitated and
+distracted by the divided counsels and wavering policy of the
+superstitious, fear-stricken monarch, and his various advisers. At one
+time, deeply offended by their audacious disregard of his positive
+prohibitions, and roused to a sense of his duty as a king, by the
+prophetic warning of Karee, which never ceased to ring in his ears,
+Montezuma was almost persuaded to give in to the war-party, and send out
+an army that should overwhelm the strangers at a blow. But, before this
+noble purpose had time to mature itself into action, all his
+superstitious fears would revive, and, without coming to any decision
+either to move or stand still, he would pause in timid inaction, till
+some new success had made the invaders more formidable than before, and
+invested their mission with something more of that preternatural
+sacredness, which alone had power to unman the monarch, and disarm his
+craving ambition. At each advance of the conquering Castilians, he
+realized the growing necessity of prompt and efficient measures of
+defence, while at the same time he felt a greater reluctance to contend
+with fate. The result was, that he only dallied with the foe, by
+continually sending new embassies, each, with larger and richer presents
+than the preceding, having no effect but to add fuel to their already
+burning thirst for gold, and strengthen their determination to
+accomplish their original purpose.
+
+These royal embassies were less and less firm and peremptory in their
+terms, until they assumed the tone of expostulation, and assigning
+various and often conflicting reasons why the Spaniards should not
+pursue their route any farther towards the imperial city. At length,
+when the courier announced the arrival of the mysterious band at
+Tlascala, and the consummation of the alliance between them and his old
+and bitter enemies, together with the defection of many cities and
+districts, he felt it impossible to remain any longer undecided. His
+throne trembled under him. He must act, or it would fall, and involve
+him and his house in inevitable ruin. Instead, however, of a bold and
+masterly activity in the defence of his capital and crown, he changed
+his policy altogether, and sending a new embassy with more splendid
+gifts than ever, invited the strangers to his court, and promised them
+all the hospitalities of his empire. He designated the route they should
+pursue, and gave orders for their reception in all the towns and cities
+through which they should pass.
+
+Montezuma was politic and wise in some things; and the purpose he had
+now in view, if it had not been frustrated, would have been deemed a
+master-stroke of policy, worthy of the ablest disciples of the
+Macchiavellian school. Perceiving the necessity of breaking up this
+combination of new and old enemies, he had recourse to stratagem to
+effect it, intending that the strangers, whom he dared not to oppose
+with direct violence, should fall into the snare they had laid for
+themselves, in thrusting themselves forward, in despite of his repeated
+remonstrances, into the heart of his empire. He feared to raise his own
+hand to destroy them, because they were, in his view, commissioned of
+heaven to overturn his throne; but he deemed it perfectly consistent
+with this reverence for the decrees of fate, to lay a snare into which
+they should fall, and so destroy themselves. He little understood the
+watchfulness and circumspection of the man he had to deal with, or the
+tremendous advantage which their armor of proof and their engines of
+destruction gave the Europeans over the almost naked Mexicans, with
+their primitive weapons of offence. It was his plan to separate the
+foreigners from their new Indian allies, and invite them to come alone
+to the capital, as was first proposed. And he designed to assign them
+accommodations in one of the ancient palaces, in the heart of the city,
+where, surrounded by high walls, on every side, they should be shut up
+from all intercourse with the people, and left to perish of famine.
+
+When this purpose was formed, the monarch kept it a profound secret in
+his own breast. The ambassadors whom he sent to the Castilian camp, were
+of the highest ranks of the nobility, and were accompanied by a long
+train of slaves, bearing the rich presents, by which the wily monarch
+hoped at the same time to display his own royal munificence, and to
+propitiate the favor of the dreaded strangers. Every new display of this
+kind only served more effectually to defeat his own hopes; for the
+avarice of the Spaniards, whose lust of gold was absolutely insatiable,
+was so far from being satisfied with this profusion of royal gifts, that
+it was only the more inflamed with every new accession to their
+treasures. The only effect, therefore, of these repeated embassies was
+to confirm the Spaniards in their convictions of the conscious weakness
+of the Mexicans, and make them the more resolute in pushing forward to
+complete the subjugation of the whole country, and possess themselves of
+all its seemingly inexhaustible treasures of gold.
+
+Montezuma had now another difficulty to contend with, in his endeavor to
+rid himself of the intruders. The Tlascalans represented him to Cortez
+as false and deceitful as he was ambitious and rapacious, and used every
+argument in their power to dissuade him from committing himself to his
+hands. But the bold adventurer, always confident in his own resources,
+seemed never to think of danger when an object was to be accomplished,
+or to regard any thing as impossible which he desired to attain. As
+soon as the door was thrown open to his amicable approach to the
+capital, he set himself to prepare for the march. The expostulations and
+suspicions of the Tlascalans made him, perhaps, more careful in his
+preparations against a surprise, and more rigorous in the discipline of
+his little corps, than he might otherwise have been. Wherever he was,
+his camp was as cautiously posted, as fully and rigidly guarded as if,
+on the eve of battle, he was hourly expecting an assault. This
+watchfulness was maintained throughout the whole adventurous campaign,
+as well when in the midst of friends and allies, as when surrounded by
+hostile legions.
+
+After the royal ambassadors had departed with their pacific message, the
+mind of Montezuma was harassed and agitated with many doubts of the
+propriety of the course he had adopted. His nobles, and the tributary
+princes of the neighboring cities of Tezcuco, Tlacopan, and Iztapalapan,
+were divided in their opinions. Some complained, though not loudly, of
+the weak and vacillating policy of the king. Some, even of the common
+people, feared the consequences, anticipating the most disastrous
+results, in accordance with their superstitious veneration for the
+oracles of their faith. The third day after the departure of the envoys,
+the king was pacing up and down one of the beautifully shaded walks of
+the royal gardens, listening with a disturbed mind to the powerful
+expostulations of his brother, Cuitlahua, who, from the beginning, had
+vehemently opposed every concession to the invaders, and urgently
+solicited permission to lead the army against them, and drive them from
+the land. Suddenly, a voice as of a distant choir of chanters arrested
+his ear. The melody was solemn, sweet and soothing. It seemed to come
+sometimes from the upper regions of the air, in tones of silvery
+clearness and power, sometimes from beneath, in suppressed and muffled
+harmony, as when the swell organ soliloquises with all its valves
+closed,--sometimes it retreated, as if dying into an echo along the
+distant avenues of royal palms and aged cypresses, or the citron and
+orange groves that skirted the farther end of the garden, and then,
+suddenly, and with great power, it burst in the full tide of impassioned
+song, from every tree and bower in that vast paradise of terrestrial
+sweets. Enchanted by the more than Circean melody, the brothers paused
+in their animated discourse, and stood, for a few moments, in silent
+wonder and fixed attention. Presently the chanting ceased, and one
+solitary voice broke forth in plaintive but emphatic recitative as from
+the midst of the sparkling jet that played its ceaseless tune in the
+grand porphyritic basin near which they stood. The words, which were
+simple and oracular, struck deep into the heart of Montezuma, and found
+a ready response in that of his royal brother.
+
+ The lion[C] walks forth in his power and pride,
+ The terror and lord of the forest wide--
+ When the fox appears, shall he flee and hide?
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ The eagle's nest is strong and high,
+ Unquestioned monarch of the sky--
+ Should he quail before the falcon's eye?
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ The sun rides forth through the heavens afar,
+ Dispensing light from his flaming car--
+ Should he veil his glory, or turn him back,
+ When the meteor flashes athwart his track?
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Shall the eagle invite the hawk to his nest?
+ Shall the fox with the lion sit down as a guest?
+ Shall the meteor look out from the noonday sky,
+ When the sun in his power is flaming by?
+
+The pauses in this significant chant were followed by choral symphonies,
+expressing, as eloquently as inarticulate sounds could do, the most
+earnest remonstrance, the most moving expostulation. When this was
+concluded, the same sweet voice broke forth again, in tones of solemn
+tenderness and majestic power, in a prophetic warning to Montezuma.
+
+ Beware, mighty monarch! beware of the hour,
+ When the pale-faced intruder shall come to this bower!
+ Beware of the weakness that whispers of fear,
+ When the all-grasping, gold-seeking Spaniard is near!
+ Beware how thou readest the dark scroll of fate!
+ Its mystic revealings may warn thee too late,
+ That the power to command, and the strength to oppose,
+ Are gone, when thou openest the gate to thy foes.
+ The white men are mortal--frail sons of the earth,
+ They know not, they claim not, a heavenly birth;
+ They bow to disease, and they fall by the sword,
+ Pale fear can disarm them, grim death is their lord;
+ And those terrible coursers, so fiery and strong,
+ That bear them like ravenous tigers along,
+ The fleet winged arrow shall pierce them, and slay,
+ And leave them to eagles and vultures a prey.
+
+ Up, monarch! arouse thee--the hour is at hand
+ When the dark howling tempest shall sweep o'er thy land.
+ Thy doubts and thy fears, ever changing, are rife
+ With peril to liberty, honor and life;
+ And this timid inaction shall surely bring down
+ To the dust, in dishonor, thy glorious crown;
+ And leave, to all time, on thy once-honored head,
+ The curse of a nation forsaken, betrayed.
+ Oh! rouse thee, brave monarch! there's power in thy hand
+ To scatter the clouds that hang over thy land.
+ Speak, speak but the word, there is magic in thee,
+ Before which the ruthless invader shall flee,
+ And myriads of braves, all equipped for defence,
+ Shall leap at thy bidding, and banish him hence;
+ And the gods, who would frown on the recreant slave,
+ Will stand by their altars, and fight for the brave.
+
+The effect of this mysterious warning upon the mind of Montezuma was
+exceedingly powerful, and seemed, for a time, to change his purpose and
+fix his resolution. With an energy and decision to which he had long
+been a stranger, he turned to his brother, and said, "Cuitlahua, you are
+right. This realm is mine. The gods have made me the father of this
+people. I must and will defend them. The strangers shall be driven back,
+or die. They shall never profane the temples and altars of Tenochtitlan,
+by entering within its gates, or looking upon its walls. Go, marshall
+your host, and prepare to meet them, before they advance a step
+further."
+
+Exulting in this sudden demonstration of his ancient martial spirit in
+his royal brother, and fired with a double zeal in the cause he had so
+much at heart, by the thrilling influence upon his soul of the
+mysterious oracle, whose message had been uttered in his hearing,
+Cuitlahua scarcely waited for the ordinary courtesy of bidding farewell
+to the king, but flew with the speed of the wind, to execute the
+grateful trust committed to him. Despatching his messengers in every
+direction, only a few hours elapsed before his army was drawn up in the
+great square of the city; and, ere the sun had gone down, they had
+passed the gates, traversed the grand causeway that linked the
+amphibious city with the main land, and pitched their camp in a
+favorable position, several leagues on the way to Cholula.
+
+The ardent imagination of the prince of Iztapalapan kindled at the
+prospect now opened before. The clouds, so long hanging over his beloved
+country, were dissipated as by magic, and the clear light of heaven
+streamed in upon his path, promising a quick and easy conquest, a
+glorious triumph, and a permanent peace. He had been in many battles,
+but had never been defeated. He believed the Mexican army invincible any
+where, but especially on their own soil, and fighting for their altars
+and their hearths. Terrible as the invading strangers had been hitherto,
+he had no fear of the coming encounter. He confidently expected to
+annihilate them at a blow. Happily his soldiers were all animated with
+the same spirit, and they took to their rest that night, eager for the
+morning to come, that should light them on their way to a certain and
+glorious victory.
+
+No sooner had the army departed, than a change came over the spirit of
+the ill-fated Montezuma. The demons of doubt and fear returned to
+perplex and harass his soul, and to incline him again to that
+vacillating policy, those half way measures, by which his doom was to be
+sealed. In an agony of distrust and suspense, he recounted to himself
+the history of the past, reviewing all those dark and fearful
+prophecies, those oft-repeated and mysteriously significant omens,
+which, for so many years, had foreshadowed the events of the present
+day, and revealed the inevitable doom of the empire, sealed with the
+signet of heaven. The impressions produced by the recent warnings of
+Karee faded and disappeared before the deep and indelible traces of
+those ancient oracles, on which he had been accustomed from his youth
+sacredly to rely. He was once more adrift in a tempest of contending
+impulses, at one moment abandoning all in a paroxism of despair, at
+another, vainly flattering himself with the hope of deliverance in some
+ill-formed stratagem, but never nerving himself to a tone of resolute
+defiance, or venturing to rest a hope on the issue of an open encounter.
+
+The result of all this agitation was, another abandonment of his noble
+purpose of defence, and a new resort to stratagem. But the plan of
+operations, and the scene of execution, were changed. Cholula was
+selected as the theatre of destruction. The Spaniards had already been
+invited to take that city in their route, and orders had been given, and
+preparations made, for their hospitable reception. It was now resolved
+to make their acceptance of that invitation the signal and seal of their
+destruction. They were to be drawn into the city, alone, under the
+pretence that the presence of their Tlascalan allies, who were the
+ancient and bitter enemies of the Cholulans, would be likely to create
+disturbance in the city, and lead to collision if not to bloodshed. The
+Cholulans were instructed to provide them with a place of encampment, in
+the heart of their city, where they could easily be surrounded, and cut
+to pieces. The streets of the city were then to be broken up by deep
+pits in some places, and barricades in others, to impede the movements
+of the horses, more dreaded than even the thunder and lightning of their
+riders. This being completed under cover of the night, the city was to
+be filled with soldiers ready to do the work of execution, while the
+brave Cuitlahua, with the flower of the army of Tenochtitlan, was to
+encamp at a convenient distance without the walls, to render prompt
+assistance, in case it should be needed.
+
+This plan being fully arranged in the mind of the Emperor, messengers
+were despatched with the light of the morning, to arrest the movements
+of Cuitlahua, and convey the necessary orders to the governor of
+Cholula. The warlike chieftain was deeply chagrined, and bitterly
+disappointed, in finding his orders so suddenly countermanded. He saw
+only certain ruin in the ever-wavering policy of the king, and was
+unable to conceive of any hope, except in striking a bold and decisive
+blow. He was willing to stake all upon a single cast, and drive back the
+insolent invader, or perish in the attempt. But Montezuma was the
+absolute monarch. His word was law; and, though not irreversible like
+that of the Medo-Persian, it was never to be questioned by any of his
+subjects. The hero must therefore rest on his arms, and await the issue
+of a doubtful stratagem.
+
+Meanwhile, the eager and self sufficient Castilians had pushed forward
+to Cholula, and entered its gates, under a royal escort, that came out
+to meet them, and amid the constrained shouts and half hearted
+congratulations of a countless multitude of natives, who with mingled
+fear, hatred and curiosity, gazed on the conquerors as a superior race
+of beings, and made way for them on every side, to take possession of
+their city. They were received with the greatest deference and
+consideration by the chiefs of the little republic, and the ambassadors
+of Montezuma, who had halted on their way, to prepare a more honorable
+reception for their guests, and further to ingratiate them with their
+master, by doing away, as far they could, the unfavorable impressions of
+him and his people, which might have made on their minds, by their
+intercourse with their old and implacable enemies of the republic of
+Tlascala.
+
+Such was the mutual jealousy and hatred of these neighboring nations,
+that, while the Cholulans could, in no wise agree to admit the
+Tlascalans to accompany Cortez into their city, they, on their part,
+were extremely reluctant to allow him to go in alone, assuring him in
+the strongest terms, that they were the most treacherous and deceitful
+of men, and their promises and professions utterly unworthy of
+confidence. Scorning danger, however, and determined at all hazards, to
+embrace every opening that seemed to facilitate his approach to the
+Mexican capital, he marched fearlessly in, and took up his quarters in
+the great square, or market place. Here, ample accommodations were
+provided for him and his band. Every courtesy was extended to them by
+the citizens and their rulers. Their table was amply supplied with all
+the necessaries and luxuries of the place. They were regarded with a
+kind of superstitious awe by the multitude, as a race of beings
+belonging to another world, of ethereal mould, and supernatural powers;
+and their camp was visited by those of all ranks, and all ages, eager to
+catch a view of the terrible strangers.
+
+A few days after their arrival, a new embassy from the imperial palace
+was announced. They held no communication with Cortez, but had a long
+consultation with the previous envoys still remaining there, and with
+the authorities of the city. From this time, there was a striking change
+in the aspect of the Cholulans towards their guests. They were soon made
+to perceive and feel that, though invited, they were not welcome guests.
+The daily supplies for their table were greatly diminished. They
+received but few and formal visits from the chiefs, and but cold
+attention from any of the nobles. Cortez was quick to perceive the
+change, but unable to divine its meaning. It caused him many an anxious
+hour, especially when he remembered the serious and urgent
+representations of his Tlascalan allies of the deceitful and treacherous
+character of the Cholulans. His apprehensions were by no means
+diminished, when he learned from the morning report of the night guards,
+that through the entire night, which had hitherto been a season of
+perfect silence and repose in the city, sounds were heard on every side,
+as of people earnestly engaged in some works of fortification, sometimes
+digging in the earth, sometimes laying up stones in heaps, and in
+various other ways, "vexing the dull ear of night with uncouth noise."
+It was found, on examination, that the streets in many places were
+barricaded, and holes, in others, were lightly covered with branches of
+trees. Unable to explain these matters, and not wishing to give offence
+to his entertainers by enquiring too curiously into what might be no
+more than the ordinary preparation for a national festival, he sent one
+of his chief officers to report to the Tlascalan commander, without the
+gates of the city, and enquire what might be the meaning of these
+singular movements. Having learned in reply, that a hostile attack was
+undoubtedly contemplated, and that a large force of Mexicans, under
+command of the brave Cuitlahua, brother of Montezuma, was encamped at no
+great distance, ready to co-operate with the Cholulans at a moment's
+warning, and that a great number of victims had been offered in
+sacrifice, to propitiate the favor of their gods, the haughty Spaniard
+found his position any thing but agreeable. He was a stranger to fear,
+but he was certainly most sadly perplexed. And, when, in addition to the
+information already received, he learned from Marina, his female
+interpreter, that she had been warned by a friend in the city to abandon
+the Spaniards, that she might not be involved in their ruin, he was, for
+a time, quite at a loss what to do. To retreat, would be to manifest
+fear, and a distrust of his own resources, which might be fatal to his
+future influence with the natives. To remain where he was--inactive,
+would be to stand still in the yawning crater of a volcano, when the
+overcharged cauldron below had already begun to belch forth sulphureous
+flames and smoke.
+
+The character of the conqueror was one precisely adapted to such
+exigencies as this. Through the whole course of his wonderful career, he
+seems to have rushed into difficulty, for the mere pleasure of fighting
+his way out. In order to extricate himself, he never lost a moment in
+parleying or diplomacy. His measures were bold, decided, and direct,
+indicating a self-reliance, and a confidence in his men and means, which
+is the surest guaranty of success. In this case, having satisfied
+himself of the actual existence of a conspiracy, he sent for the chief
+rulers, upbraided them with their want of hospitality, informed them
+that he should leave the place at break of day the next morning, and
+demanded a large number of men, to assist in removing his baggage.
+Promising to comply with this demand, which favored the execution of
+their own designs, the chiefs departed, and Cortez and his band,
+sleeping on their arms, prepared for the coming conflict.
+
+Punctually, at the peep of dawn, the princes of Cholula marched into the
+court, accompanied by a much larger number of men than Cortez had
+required. With a calm bold air, the haughty Castilian confronted them,
+charging them with treachery, and detailing all the circumstances of the
+concerted massacre. He upbraided them with their duplicity and baseness,
+and gave them to understand that they should pay dear for their
+false-hearted and cruel designs against those, who, confiding in their
+hospitality and promises of friendship, had come to their city, and
+slept quietly within their gates.
+
+Thunderstruck at this unexpected turn of affairs, and fearing more than
+ever the strange beings, who could read their very thoughts, and fathom
+the designs which were yet scarcely matured in their own bosoms, the
+disconcerted magnates tremblingly pleaded guilty to the charge, and
+attempted to excuse themselves, by urging their allegiance to Montezuma,
+and the duty and necessity of obeying his commands, however repugnant
+to their own feelings.
+
+It was not the policy of Cortez to admit this plea, in extenuation of
+their treachery. He preferred to cast the whole burden upon them alone,
+and leave the way open for an easy disclaimer on the part of the
+emperor, hoping thereby the more readily to gain a peaceable entry into
+the capital. Without waiting, therefore, for any further explanations,
+or instituting any inquiry into the comparative guilt of the parties, he
+gave the signal to his soldiers, who, with a general discharge of their
+artillery and fire arms, rushed upon the unprepared multitude, mowing
+them down like grass, and trampling them under the hoofs of their
+horses. A general massacre ensued. Not one of the chiefs escaped, and
+only so many of their panic-struck followers, as could feign themselves
+dead, or bury themselves, till the tempest was past, under the heaps of
+their slain comrades.
+
+Thus taken by surprise, and driven, before they were ready, into an
+unequal conflict with enemies who had, by some miracle, as they
+supposed, anticipated their movements, and struck the first blow, the
+Cholulans rushed in from all parts of their city, hoping to retrieve, by
+their numbers and prowess, the disadvantage of the lost onset. Cortez
+had prepared for this. He had ordered his artillery to be stationed at
+the main entrances to the square, where they poured in a raking fire
+upon the assailants, rushing in from all the avenues. The surprise being
+so sudden, and the leaders having been shot down at the first charge,
+confusion and consternation prevailed among the discomfited Cholulans,
+who alternately fled, like affrighted sheep, from the scene of
+slaughter, and then rushed back, like exasperated wolves, to the work of
+death.
+
+In anticipation of this conflict, the Spanish general had concerted a
+signal with his Tlascalan allies, without the gates, who now came
+rushing in, like hungry tigers, revelling in the opportunity to inflict
+a terrible vengeance upon their ancient enemies. Falling upon their
+rear, as they crowded in from the remoter quarters of the city towards
+the field of carnage, they drove them in upon the weapons of the
+Spaniards, from which there was now no escape. Turning upon this new
+enemy, they fought with desperate bravery, to win a retreat. But they
+were cut down on this side and that, till the streets were scarcely
+passable for the heaps of the dead and dying that cumbered them. Those
+who took refuge in their houses and temples, found no safety in such
+retreats, for they were instantly fired by the Tlascalans, and their
+defenders perished miserably in the flames.
+
+There was one scene in the midst of this desolating conflict, that was
+truly sublime,--one of those strange combinations of moral and physical
+grandeur, which sometimes occur in the dark annals of human warfare,
+investing with a kind of hallowed interest, which the lapse of ages
+serves only to soften, but never destroys, those spectacles of savage
+but heroic cruelty, where every death is elevated into a martyrdom, and
+the very ground saturated with human blood becomes a consecrated field,
+clothed with laurels of never-fading green. It was the last act in that
+bloody drama, enacted on the lofty summit of the great Teocalli, the
+principal temple of Cholula, and the centre of attraction to all the
+votaries of the Aztec religion, throughout the wide realms of Anahuac.
+Driven from street to street, and from quarter to quarter, and falling
+back, as a forlorn hope, upon the sanctuary, and the support and
+encouragement of the hoary men, who presided over the mysteries of their
+faith, they made a bold and desperate stand, in defence of all that was
+dear and holy in their homes and their altars. Step by step, they
+contested this hallowed ground, till they reached the upper terrace,
+where the great temple stood. This was an area of four hundred feet
+square, at an elevation of two hundred feet from the level of the
+surrounding streets. On this elevated platform, the furious combatants
+fought hand to hand; the priest, in his sacred garments, mingling in the
+savage conflict with the humblest of his followers--the steel-clad
+Castilian, the Tlascalan and the Cholulan, of every rank and grade, each
+eager only to slay his man, grappled in the mortal conflict, till one or
+the other fell in the death struggle, or tumbled over the side of the
+mound, to be dashed in pieces below. As the half-armed, half-naked
+natives melted away before the heavy and destructive weapons of the
+invulnerable Spaniards, they were repeatedly offered quarter, but
+scorned to accept it. One only submitted, when, pierced with countless
+wounds, he could stand no longer. All the rest, to a man, fought
+desperately till he fell, and many, even then, in the agonies of the
+last struggle, seized their antagonists by the legs, and rolled with
+them over the parapet, to the certain death of both.
+
+At length the conflict ceased for want of a victim, and the conquering
+Castilian, with a few of his Tlascalan allies, stood alone, in
+undisputed possession of this lofty vantage ground. The disheartened
+Cholulans, without leaders, without counsellors, seeing their sacred
+temple in the hands of their enemies, felt that all was lost. Not
+another blow was struck, but every where they bowed in submission to the
+irresistible conqueror.
+
+The thunder of the artillery, and the smoke of the burning buildings,
+rising in a heavy column to the skies, announced to the Mexican army the
+conflict that was raging within the city. But, having orders not to
+engage in the fray, unless notified by the Cholulan chiefs that his
+assistance was necessary, the brave Cuitlahua was compelled to wait the
+summons. Burning to vindicate the honor of the Mexican arms, the hero
+chafed under this cruel restraint, like a tiger chained in full view of
+his prey. He little doubted that the Castilians would fall by the hands
+of the Cholulans, encompassed as they were on every side, with no room
+for escape, or for the action of their horses. But he longed to have a
+share in the victory. Drawing up his forces in the order of march, he
+stood, the whole day, in readiness to move at a moment's warning; and in
+this attitude, he was still standing, when the tidings of the terrible
+disaster in the city reached him.
+
+His veteran legions were with difficulty restrained from rushing to the
+rescue. The army was almost in a state of mutiny, from their eagerness
+to avenge their slaughtered brethren in Cholula; and all the military
+authority, and unbounded influence of Cuitlahua were required to keep
+them in a state of due subordination.
+
+The influence and authority of Cortez, on the other hand, were scarcely
+sufficient to restrain his victorious allies from ravaging the city, and
+putting men, women, and children to an indiscriminate slaughter. So
+bitter and pervading was the old national animosity, that life was
+scarcely worth possessing to a Tlascalan, if he must share its daily
+blessings side by side with the Aztec. He hated the whole nation with a
+perfect implacable hatred. He execrated the very name, and never uttered
+it without a curse. Of this universal malediction, the Cholulan was
+honored with more than his appropriate share. The other subjects and
+tributaries of Montezuma they feared as well as hated. The Cholulans
+they affected also to despise, though their contempt was not so thorough
+as to mitigate in the least their fierce and uncontrollable hatred.
+
+ [C] As Americus Vespucius, in his letter to Lorenzo Di
+ Pier-Francesco De Medici, reports having met with the lion in
+ South America, I have taken the liberty to introduce him as a
+ native in our forests, notwithstanding the prevalent opinion of
+ naturalists to the contrary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL--THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD--THE
+ SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING.
+
+ ~For monarchs tremble on their thrones,
+ And 'neath the gem-lit crown,
+ Care, fear, and envy dwell--~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~----They come,
+ Mysterious, dreaded band!
+ With clang of trumpet, torch and brand;
+ With lightning speed, with lightning power,
+ They scale the lofty mountain tower,
+ And sweep along the vale--
+ Who shall arrest their proud career,
+ And save our doomed land?~
+
+
+This position of affairs suited the timid and vacillating policy of
+Montezuma. Finding that Cuitlahua, and his forces, had taken no part in
+the affair, and had not even visited the city, he immediately sent an
+embassy to the Spanish camp, disclaiming all participation in the
+treacherous counsels and doings of the Cholulans, and severely blaming
+them for their unheard of outrage upon the rites of hospitality. Whether
+the sharp-sighted Castilian placed any confidence in these professions,
+or not, it suited his designs to appear to do so. With the utmost
+seeming cordiality, he assured the royal messengers that it gave him the
+most heartfelt satisfaction to know that the treatment he had received
+at Cholula was not instigated or countenanced by their august master,
+that it was unworthy of a great and wise monarch, and that he should
+proceed on his route to the capital, with the same confidence as before,
+and visit the emperor as if nothing had happened to hinder his progress.
+
+Withdrawing the forces under Cuitlahua, and giving orders every where
+for the hospitable reception and entertainment of the Castilians, whom
+he had no longer the heart to oppose either by stratagem or by force,
+Montezuma retired within his palace, and for several days shut himself
+up from all intercourse with his chiefs. He was now fully convinced that
+his destiny was sealed, and with it that of his family and crown. He was
+in the hands of an unappeasable fate. He gave himself up to fasting,
+prayer and sacrifice. He consulted all his oracles anew. But they gave
+no response. He then sought counsel of his chiefs, and the sages of his
+court. Here again he was distracted by the divided opinions of his
+friends. While many of the princes, overawed by the invincible courage
+and invariable success of the Castilians, advised a frank and courteous
+reception, there was still a powerful war-party, with the brave
+Cuitlahua at their head, who were eager to measure lances with the
+strangers, and show them that, in order to reach the capital, they had
+other foes to contend with and overcome, than half savage Tlascalans, or
+trading Cholulans.
+
+Montezuma found no difficulty in following the counsel of the majority,
+though the mystic warning of Karee had not wholly faded from his mind. A
+new embassy was immediately despatched, consisting of a numerous suite
+of powerful nobles, and a long train of servants bearing rich presents
+of gold, and other valuables, and charged with a message couched in
+terms of humble and earnest supplication, proposing, if the Spaniards
+would now return, not only to send them home laden with gold to their
+utmost wish, but to pay an annual tribute of gold to their master, the
+king of Spain. Finding that this bribe only fired the grasping conqueror
+with a more fixed determination to secure the whole prize for which he
+had so long, and against such fearful odds, contended, the messengers
+yielded the point, and threw wide open to the dreaded foe every avenue
+to the heart of the empire, assuring him, in the name of the Emperor,
+that he should be received as a brother, and entertained with the
+consideration due to the powerful representative of a mighty monarch.
+
+The march of the Spaniards was now a continued triumph. No longer
+compelled to fight their way on, they had time to enjoy the rich and
+varied scenery, to scale the mountain, explore the caverns and ravines
+of the sierras, and the craters of the volcanoes, and show to the
+admiring natives, by their agility and love of adventure, that fighting
+and conquest had neither tamed their spirits, nor exhausted their
+physical powers. As they advanced, they were continually surprised and
+delighted with the growing evidences of civilization and high prosperity
+which met them on every side. In the cultivation of the land, in the
+style of architecture, and in all that constitutes the refinement, or
+contributes to the comfort of life, the regions they were now
+traversing very far exceeded the best of those through which they had
+passed. They were continually gaining more exalted ideas of the power,
+wealth and glory of the great Montezuma, and more enlarged views of the
+magnificence of their own adventure, and the importance of their
+position and movements. The ambition of Cortez reached to the
+viceroyalty of this splendid empire; and, though accompanied by a mere
+handful of men, their past achievements inspired him with confidence,
+that he could carry every thing before him.
+
+Though entertained with lordly munificence in every place through which
+he passed, and visited and complimented by envoys from all the states
+embraced in the Mexican domain, the sagacious Spaniard relaxed none of
+his vigilance, nor diminished aught of the strict discipline of his
+little corps. With an eye ever awake to his own safety, and feeling that
+the artful contriver of one stratagem could easily invent another, he
+advanced from post to post, in martial array, always ready for the
+exigency that might arise. His course, however, was unmolested. The
+resources and hopes of the great king seemed to have been exhausted. In
+passive despair, he was waiting for the hour of his doom.
+
+The terror of the events we have described fell not alone upon the
+unfortunate Montezuma; nor did they affect him only as monarch of the
+realm. As a parent, fondly devoted to his children, whose destiny was
+wrapped up in his, as the father of his people, to whom he had been a
+kind of demi-god, the vicegerent of heaven, entitled to their
+unqualified reverence, obedience and love, he felt with tenfold
+intensity the bitterness of his humiliation. In all his sufferings and
+distresses his wives and children shared, showing, by every token in
+their power, their profound respect and affection, and their tender
+sympathy in all his cares.
+
+In these lovely demonstrations of filial affection, none were more
+assiduous or warm-hearted, and none more successful in reaching the
+heart of the broken spirited monarch, or winning from him an occasional
+smile of hope, than Tecuichpo. Just ripening into womanhood, with every
+gift of person, mind and heart that could satisfy the pride of the
+monarch, and requite to the full the yearning love of the father, the
+fair princess lavished on him all her powers of persuasion and
+condolence. It was all in vain. It even aggravated his sorrows; for it
+was on _her_ account, and that of others dearer to him than his own
+life, that he suffered most deeply. The mysterious shadows that had
+brooded so darkly over the infancy of his lovely daughter, had never
+ceased to shed a chilling gloom over his mind. Her clouded destiny was
+linked with his, not merely as a child, but as one specifically marked
+out, by infallible signs from heaven, for a signal doom. His
+superstitious faith invested her and her fate with a peculiar
+sacredness. She was as one whom the gods had devoted to an awful
+sacrifice, from which neither imperial power nor paternal love could
+rescue her. It therefore pierced his soul with a deeper pang to gaze
+upon her loveliness, and witness her amiable efforts to soothe and
+sustain him in the midst of calamities that were more terrible and
+overwhelming to her, than even to himself. If, by offering himself as a
+sacrifice to his offended gods, he could have propitiated their favor
+for his family and his people, and handed down to his posterity an
+undiminished empire and an untarnished crown, he would have gone with as
+much pride and pleasure, to the altar, as to a triumphal festival that
+should celebrate his victory, and clothe his brow with unfading laurel.
+But in this sacrifice there was no substitution. He was himself the most
+distinguished victim, destined to the highest and hottest place on the
+great altar of his country, where a hecatomb would scarce suffice to
+appease the anger of the offended gods.
+
+Gathering his royal household around him, he explained to them the
+peculiarity of his position, avowing his entire confidence in the
+ancient prophecy, which declared that the realm of Anahuac belonged to a
+race of white men, who had gone away, for a season towards the rising
+sun, and who, after the lapse of ages, were to return in power, and
+claim their inheritance. It was the predestined arrangement of the gods,
+and could not be resisted. He had, from the beginning felt that
+resistance was wholly vain, and had only attempted it, in deference to
+the urgent advice and solicitations of his best and most experienced
+counsellors. For himself, he was ready, at any time, to stand at his
+post, and die, if necessary, in defence of his crown and his people. But
+he could not contend with the gods. Empires and crowns, and the lives
+and happiness of nations, were at their disposal, and kings and subjects
+alike must submit to their righteous requirements. It was but the
+dictate of common piety to say "the will of the gods be done." Hard and
+trying as it was, he felt it incumbent on him to relinquish his crown
+and his honors, at their bidding, as cheerfully as he should lay down
+his life, when his destined hour should arrive. He counselled them to
+bow submissively to their inevitable fate, in the hope that, though
+humbled, broken and scattered in this world, they might meet and dwell
+together in peace in the paradise of the gods.
+
+His wives and children wept around him. They besought him to hope yet
+for the best--to turn away his thoughts from the dark visions on which
+he had dwelt too long and too intensely. Their mysterious forebodings of
+evil might yet be averted, through the favor of the gods, to whom a
+childlike, cheerful confidence in their benignity and paternal regard,
+was more acceptable, than that blind abandonment, sometimes mistaken for
+submission, which views them as stern, arbitrary, and implacable
+tyrants, rather than as parents of the human family, watching over it
+for the good of mankind, and ordering all events for the welfare of
+their true children.
+
+This was a cheerful faith, and, seasonably adopted, might have saved the
+life and throne of Montezuma, and preserved, for many years, the
+integrity of his empire. But his heart was not prepared to receive it.
+Steeped in the dismal superstitions of the Aztec faith, and yielding
+himself unreservedly to the guidance and dictation of its constituted
+oracles, he had never, for a moment, allowed himself to falter in his
+conviction, that the Aztec dynasty was to terminate with him, and that
+he and his family were doomed to a terrible destruction, in the
+overthrow of the sacred institutions of his beloved land.
+
+The scene was too thrilling for the tender heart of Tecuichpo, and she
+swooned away in the arms of her father, who had drawn her towards him in
+an affectionate embrace. The attendants were called, and, as soon as the
+unhappy princess was restored to consciousness, the king directed the
+royal barges to be prepared, and went out, with all his household, to
+enjoy the invigorating air of the lake, and seek relief from the dark
+thoughts that oppressed and overwhelmed them, in contemplating, from
+various points in view, the rich and varied scenery of that glorious
+valley.
+
+It was a brave spectacle to behold, when the imperial majesty of
+Tenochtitlan condescended to accompany his little fleet on such an
+excursion. The gaily appointed canoes, with their gorgeous canopies of
+embroidered cotton, and feather-work; the splendid robes and plumes of
+the king and his attendants; the rich and fanciful attire of the women;
+the light, graceful, arrowy motions of the painted skiffs, as they
+danced along the waves; together with the wonderful beauty of the lake,
+and its swimming gardens of flowers, presented a _toute ensemble_ more
+like the fairy pictures of some enchanted sphere, than any thing we can
+now realize as belonging to this plain, prosaic, matter-of-fact world of
+ours. On this occasion, it seemed more gay and fairy-like than ever, in
+contrast, perhaps, with the deep gloom that had settled on the land,
+pervading every heart, with its sombre shadows.
+
+The light pirogues of the natives, flying hither and thither over the
+glassy waters, on errands of business or of pleasure, arrayed in
+flowers, or freighted with fruits and vegetables for the grand market of
+Tenochtitlan, made way, on every side, for the advance of the royal
+cortege, which, threading the shining avenues between the gaily-colored
+_chinampas_, that spotted the surface of that beautiful lake, like so
+many islands of flowers on the bosom of the ocean, danced over the
+waters to the sound of music, and the merry voices of glad hearts,
+rejoicing in the sunny smiles that now played on the countenance of the
+king, as if the clouds that had so long overshadowed it, were never to
+return. Tecuichpo, restored to more than her wonted gaiety, was full of
+life and animation. Never had she seemed, in the eyes of her doting
+father, and of the admiring courtiers, half so lovely as at this moment.
+She was the centre attraction for all eyes. Her resplendent beauty, her
+fairy-like gracefulness of motion, and the artless simplicity of her
+manners, won the admiring notice of all. Her gaiety was infectious. Her
+merry laugh reached, with a sort of electric influence, every heart in
+that bright company, and compelled even her father to abandon, for the
+time, his sad and solemn reflections, and give himself up to the spirit
+of the hour and the scene.
+
+Guatimozin was there, and exerted all his eloquence to keep up the
+spirit of the hour, in the earnest hope that Montezuma would put on all
+the monarch again, and assert the majesty of his insulted crown, and the
+rights of his house and his people, in despite of omen or legend, and in
+the face of every foe.
+
+Tecuichpo became more and more animated, till she seemed quite lifted
+above herself and the world about her. Suddenly rising in the midst, and
+pointing, with great energy of expression, to the royal eagle of
+Mexico, then sweeping down from his mountain eyrie, to prey upon the
+ocelot of the distant valley, she exclaimed--
+
+ 'Tis he! 'Tis he! our imperial bird!
+ Whom the gods to our aid have sent;
+ I saw him in my dream, and heard,
+ As down from his airy flight he bent,
+ His victor shout, with the dying wail,
+ Of the coming foe, borne on the gale;
+ While the air was dark with the gathering throng
+ Of bold young eaglets, that swept along
+ From every cliff, in fierceness and wrath,
+ To gorge on their prey, in the mountain path.
+
+When she ceased, an echo from a richly cultivated chinampa, which they
+were then passing, seemed to take up and prolong the strain.
+
+ I saw it too, and I heard the scream,
+ In the midst of my dark and troubled dream;
+ 'Twas a dream of despair for our doomed land,
+ For his wings were bound by the royal hand;
+ His talons were wreathed with a golden chain,
+ He smelt the prey, and he chafed in vain,
+ For they trampled him down, in their brave career,
+ While our monarch looked on with unmanly fear,
+ Till his crown and his sceptre in dust were laid low,
+ And proud Tenochtitlan had passed to the foe.
+
+The last words of this solemn chant died away on the ear, just as the
+royal barge rounded the little artificial promontory, which the
+ingenious Karee had constructed, for the double purpose of an arbor and
+look-out, at one of the angles of her chinampa. Leaning over the brow,
+and supporting herself by the overhanging branch of a luxuriant myrtle,
+she dropped a wreath of evergreen upon the head of Tecuichpo, and said--
+
+ Oh! child of doom,
+ Thy long sealed destiny is come--
+ One brief, dark, dreadful night,
+ Then on those blessed eyes
+ Another day shall rise,
+ Fair, glorious, bright,
+ With an unearthly endless light.
+ Thou shall lay down
+ An earthly crown,
+ To win a starry sceptre in the skies
+
+At this moment, signals were heard among the distant hills, which,
+answered and repeated from countless stations along the wild sierras,
+and reverberated by a thousand echoes as they came, burst upon the quiet
+valley, like the confused shouts of a mighty host rushing to battle. It
+fell like a death-knell upon the ear of Montezuma. It announced the
+arrival, within the mountain wall which encompassed his golden valley,
+of the dreaded strangers. It heralded their near approach to his
+capital, and the exposure of all he held dear to their irresistible
+power--their terrible rapacity. His heart sunk within him. But he had
+gone too far to retract. It was the act of the gods, not his. Banishing
+from his mind the impressions of the scenes just passed, he waved his
+hand to the rowers, and instantly every prow was turned, and the gaily
+caparisoned, but melancholy, terror-stricken pageant moved rapidly back
+to the city.
+
+Tenochtitlan was now alive with the bustle of preparation. It was the
+preparation, not for war, which would far better have suited the
+multitude both of the chiefs and the people, but for the hospitable
+reception and entertainment of the strangers. The great imperial palace,
+which had been the royal residence of the father of Montezuma, was
+fitted up for their accommodation. With its numberless apartments, its
+spacious courts, and magnificent gardens, it was sufficient for an army
+much larger than that of the Castilians, swelled as it was by the
+company of their Tlascalan allies. Every room was newly hung with
+beautifully colored tapestry, and furnished with all the conveniences
+and luxuries of Mexican life. The appointments and provisions were all
+on a most liberal scale, for the Emperor was as generous and munificent
+as the golden mountains from which he drew his inexhaustible treasures.
+
+Intending that nothing should be wanting to the graciousness of his
+submission to this act of constrained courtesy, Montezuma proposed to
+his brother Cuitlahua, to choose a royal retinue from the flower of the
+Aztec nobility, and go out to meet the strangers; and bid them welcome,
+in his name, to his realm and his capital. From this the soul of the
+proud undaunted soldier revolted, and he entreated so earnestly to be
+excused from executing a commission, so much at variance with his
+feelings and his convictions, that the monarch relented, and assigned
+the mission to Cacama, the young prince of Tezcuco.
+
+Nothing could exceed the gorgeous splendor of this embassy. Borne in a
+beautiful palanquin, canopied and curtained with the rarest of Mexican
+feather-work, richly powdered with jewels, and glittering with gold,
+Cacama, preceded and followed by a long train of noble veterans and
+youths, all apparelled in the gayest costume of their country, presented
+himself before the advancing host. His approach, and the errand on which
+he came, having been announced by a herald, Cortez halted his band, and
+drew up his forces in the best possible array, to give him a fitting
+reception.
+
+The meeting took place at Ajotzinco, on, or rather within, the borders
+of the lake Chalco, the first of the bright chain of inland lakes which
+the Spaniards had seen, and the place where they first saw that species
+of amphibious architecture, which prevailed so extensively among the
+Mexicans. When the royal embassy arrived in front of the waiting army,
+Cacama alighted from his palanquin, while his obsequious officers swept
+the ground before him, that he might not soil his royal feet, by too
+rude a contact with the earth. He was a young man of about twenty five
+years, with a fine manly countenance, a noble and commanding figure, and
+an address and manners that would have done honor to the most courtly
+knight of Christendom. Stepping forward with a bland and dignified
+courtesy, he made the customary Mexican salutation to persons of high
+rank, touching his right hand to the ground, and raising it to his head.
+Cortez embraced him as he rose, and the prince, in the name of his royal
+master, gave the strangers a hearty welcome, assuring them that they
+should be received with a hospitality, and treated with a respect,
+becoming the representatives of a great and mighty prince. He then
+presented Cortez with a number of large and valuable pearls, which act
+of munificence was immediately returned by the present of a necklace of
+cut glass, hung over his neck by Cortez. As glass was not known to the
+Mexicans, it probably had in their eyes the value of the rarest jewels.
+
+This interview being over, the royal envoy hastened back to the capital,
+while the Castilians and their allies, in the two-fold character of
+hostile invaders and invited guests, followed his steps by slow, easy
+and cautious marches. After a few days, during which they passed through
+large tracts of highly cultivated and fertile ground, and several of the
+beautiful towns and cities of the plateau, they arrived at Iztapalapan,
+a place of great beauty, and large resources, and the residence of
+Cuitlahua, the noble brother of Montezuma. At the command of the
+Emperor, Cuitlahua, as governor of this place, received the strangers
+with courtesy, and treated them with attention. But it was a cold
+courtesy, and a constrained attention. With a proud and haughty mien,
+the brave soldier exhibited to the wondering strangers, all the riches
+and curiosities of the place, disposing every thing in such a manner as
+to impress them most powerfully with the immense wealth of the empire,
+and the irresistible power of the Emperor. He collected around him all
+the richest and most potent nobles in his neighborhood, and displayed a
+magnificence of style, and a prodigality of expenditure, that was truly
+princely. The extent and beauty of his gardens, his beautiful aviary,
+stocked with every variety of the gorgeously plumed birds of that
+tropical clime, his menagerie, containing a full representation of all
+the wild races of animals in Anahuac, struck the Spaniards with surprise
+and admiration; while the architecture of his palaces, and the many
+refinements of his style of living, gave them the highest ideas of the
+advanced state of civilization to which the Mexicans had attained.
+
+But, so far from disheartening them in their grand design, all they saw
+of wealth and splendor in the inferior cities, only served to inflame
+their desire to see the capital, and learn if any thing more brilliant
+and wonderful than they had yet seen, could be furnished at the great
+metropolis. While they were daily more and more convinced of the power
+and resources of their enemy, and the seeming impossibility of their own
+enterprise, they were also daily more and more inflamed with the desire
+and purpose to possess themselves of the incalculable treasures which
+every where met their eyes. The cold aspect, and lofty bearing of the
+Prince Cuitlahua, the commander-in-chief of the Mexican armies, and heir
+apparent to its throne, left no doubt that the final struggle for power
+would be ably and bitterly contested, and that the wealth they so
+ardently coveted, would be dearly bought. To a heart less bold and
+self-reliant than that of Cortez, it would have been no enviable
+position, to be shut up, with his little band of followers, within the
+gates of a city, commanded by so brave and experienced a soldier, whose
+personal feelings and views were known to be of the most hostile
+character. To the iron-hearted Castilian, it was but a scene in the
+progress of his romantic adventure; and, the greater the difficulty, the
+more imminent the peril, the more cordially he trusted to his good
+genius, or his patron saint, he seems not to have known which, to carry
+him triumphantly through.
+
+They were now but one day's march, and that a short and easy one, from
+the imperial city. Already they had seen it from a distance, resting,
+or rather riding, on the bosom of the lake, glowing and glittering in
+the sunbeams, like some resplendent constellation, transferred from the
+azure above to the azure below. They had seen its noble ally, the
+metropolis of the sister kingdom of Tezcuco, shining in rival though
+unequal splendor, on the opposite shore of the lake, and many other
+splendid cities, beautiful towns, and lovely hamlets, studding its
+bright border, in its entire circuit, like mingled gems and pearls,
+richly set in the band of the imperial diadem, all reposing under the
+shadow, and eclipsed by the superior glory, of the capital, the crowning
+jewel of the Western World. They had seen the _chinampas_, those
+wandering gardens of verdure and flowers, seeming more like the fairy
+creations of poetry, than the sober realities of life, and reminding
+them of those islands of the blest, which they had been told, in their
+childish days, floated about in the ethereal regions above, freighted
+with blessings for the virtuous, and sometimes stooping so near to earth
+as to permit the weary and the waiting to escape from their toils and
+trials here, and find repose in their celestial paradise. They had seen
+and admired the wonderful works of art, the causeways of vast extent,
+constructed with scientific accuracy, and of great strength and
+durability--the canals and aqueducts, and bridges, which would have done
+honor to the genius and industry of the proudest nation in Europe. It
+now remained to them to see the imperial lord of all these wide and
+luxuriant realms, and to enter, as invited guests, into the gates of his
+royal abode.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+ ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS AT THE CAPITAL--THEIR RECEPTION
+ BY MONTEZUMA--DETERMINED HOSTILITY OF GUATIMOZIN.
+
+ ~Hark! at the very portals now they stand,
+ Demanding entrance. Can I shut them out,
+ When all the gods commission them to come?
+ Can we admit them, and preserve intact
+ Our honor and the state?~
+
+
+The spectacle of this day, the eighth of November, 1519, has not its
+parallel in the annals of history, and will probably never be repeated
+in the history of man. The sovereign and absolute monarch of a populous
+and powerful empire, stooping from his imperial throne, flinging wide
+open the gates of his capital, and condescending to go out, and receive
+with an apparent welcome an invading foe, whom he had in vain attempted
+to keep out, but whom he had now the power to crush under his feet in a
+moment. That invading foe consisted only of a few hundred adventurers,
+three thousand miles from home, in the heart of the country they had
+ravaged, and surrounded by countless thousands of exasperated foes,
+burning to revenge the injuries and insults they had received at the
+hands of the strangers, and only held back from rushing upon them, like
+herds of ravening tigers, by the strong arm of the royal prohibition.
+Their position was like that of a group of children in a menagerie,
+amusing themselves with teasing and exasperating the caged animals
+around them. The furious creatures glare on them with looks of rage,
+growling fiercely, and gnashing their teeth. The keeper sympathizes with
+his enraged subjects, burning to let them loose upon their annoyers, but
+restrained by that mysterious agency, in which the divine hand is every
+where moulding and subduing the natural impulses of humanity, and
+working out its own wise ends by the wrath and passions of men.
+
+Let the keeper but raise the bar of that cage for a moment, and not one
+of the bright group would be left to tell the tragic issue of their
+sport. Let the terror-stricken Montezuma put on once more the air of a
+monarch, and raise his finger as a signal for the onset, before the
+enemy has become entrenched in his fortress, and few, if any, of that
+brave band would be left to tell the world of their fate--the marvellous
+story of the Conquest would never be told; the Aztec dynasty would
+outlive the period assigned it by those mystic oracles; and Montezuma,
+recovered from the dark dreams of an imagination disordered by
+superstition--the long dreaded crisis of his destiny passed--would have
+swayed again the sceptre of undisputed empire over the broad and
+beautiful realms of Anahuac. Having once vanquished and destroyed the
+terrible strangers, and stripped them of that supernatural defence,
+which the idea of their celestial origin threw around them, he would
+never again have yielded his soul to so unmanly a fear. If such had
+been the issue of the invasion of Cortez and his band, it is doubtful
+whether the Aztec dynasty would ever have been overthrown. The
+civilization of Europe would soon have been engrafted upon its own.
+Christianity would have taken the place of their dark and bloody
+paganism; which, with a people so far enlightened as they were, could
+not have endured for a moment the noon-day blaze of the gospel; and the
+terrible power of that heathen despot would have been softened, without
+weakening it, into the consolidated colossal strength of an enlightened,
+Christian, peaceful empire. Christianity propagated by fire and sword
+consumes centuries, and wastes whole generations of men, in effecting a
+revolution, which they who go with the olive branch in their hand, and
+the gospel of peace in their hearts, require only a few years to
+accomplish. Witness the recent triumphs of a peaceful Christianity in
+the Sandwich Islands, as contrasted with the bloody and wasting Crusades
+of Spaniards in all portions of the new world.
+
+With the earliest dawn, the reveille was beaten in the Spanish camp, and
+all the forces were mustered and drawn up in the order of their march.
+Cortez, at the head of the cavalry, formed the advanced guard, followed
+immediately by the Castilian infantry in solid column. The artillery and
+baggage occupied the centre, while the dark files of the Tlascalan
+savages brought up the rear. The whole number was less than seven
+thousand, not more than three hundred and fifty of whom were Spaniards.
+Putting on their most imposing array, with gay flaunting banners, and
+the stirring notes of the trumpet, swelling over lake and grove, and
+rolling away in distant echoes among the mountains, they issued forth
+from the city, just as the rising sun, surmounting the eastern
+cordillera, poured the golden stream of day over the beautiful valley,
+and lighted up a thousand resplendent fires among the gilded domes, and
+enameled temples of the capital, and the rich tiara of tributary cities
+and towns that encircled it. Moving rapidly forward, they soon entered
+upon the grand causeway, which, passing through the capital, spans the
+entire breadth of the Tezcucan lake, constituting then the main
+entrance, as its remains do now the principal southern avenue, to the
+city of Mexico. It was composed of immense stones, fashioned with
+geometrical precision, well laid in cement, and capable of withstanding
+for ages the play of the waters, and the ravages of time. It was of
+sufficient width, throughout its whole extent, to allow ten horsemen to
+ride abreast. It was interrupted in several places by well built draw
+bridges for the accommodation of the numerous boats, that carried on a
+brisk trade with the several towns on the lake, and for the better
+defence of the city against an invading foe. At the distance of about
+half a league from the capital, it was also traversed by a thick heavy
+wall of stone, about twelve feet high, surmounted and fortified by
+towers at each extremity. In the centre was a battlemented gateway, of
+sufficient strength to resist any force that could be brought against
+it, by the rude enginery of native warfare. This was called the Fort of
+Xoloc.
+
+Here they were met by a very numerous and powerful body of Aztec nobles,
+splendidly arrayed in their gayest costume, who came to announce the
+approach of Montezuma, and again in his name to bid the strangers
+welcome to the capital. As each of the chiefs presented himself, in his
+turn, to Cortez, and made the customary formal salutation, a
+considerable time was consumed in the ceremony; which was somewhat more
+tedious than interesting to the hot spirited Spaniards.
+
+When this was over, they passed briskly on, and soon beheld the
+glittering retinue of the Emperor emerging from the principal gate of
+the city. The royal palanquin, blazing with burnished gold and precious
+stones, was borne on the shoulders of the principal nobles of the land,
+while crowds of others, of equal or inferior rank, thronged in
+obsequious attendance around. It was preceded by three officers, bearing
+golden wands. Over it was a canopy of gaudy feather-work, powdered with
+jewels, and fringed with silver, resting on four richly carved and
+inlaid pillars, and supported by four nobles of the same rank with the
+bearers. These were all bare-footed, and walked with a slow measured
+pace, as conscious of the majesty of their burden, and with eyes bent on
+the ground. Arrived within a convenient distance, the train halted, and
+Montezuma, alighting from his palanquin, came forward, leaning on the
+arms of his royal relatives, the lords of Tezcuco and Iztapalapan. As
+the monarch advanced, under the same gorgeous canopy which had before
+screened him from the public gaze, and the glare of the mid-day sun, the
+ground was covered with cotton tapestry, while all his subjects of high
+and low degree, who lined the sides of the causeway, bent their heads
+and fixed their eyes on the ground, as unworthy to look upon so much
+majesty. Some prostrated themselves on the ground before him, and all
+in that mighty throng were awed by his presence into a silence that was
+absolutely oppressive.
+
+The appearance of Montezuma was in the highest degree interesting to the
+Spanish general and his followers. Flung over his shoulders was the
+_tilmatli_, or large square cloak, manufactured from the finest cotton,
+with the embroidered ends gathered in a knot round his neck. Under this
+was a tunic of green, embroidered with exquisite taste, extending almost
+to his knees, and confined at the waist, by a rich jeweled vest. His
+feet were protected by sandals of gold, bound with leathern thongs
+richly embossed with the same metal. The cloak, the tunic, and the
+sandals were profusely sprinkled with pearls and precious stones. On his
+head was a _panache_ of plumes of the royal green, waving gracefully in
+the light breeze.
+
+He was then about forty years of age. His person was tall, slender, and
+well proportioned. His complexion was somewhat fairer than that of his
+race generally. His countenance was expressive of great benignity. His
+carriage was serious, dignified and even majestic, and, without the
+least tincture of haughtiness, or affectation of importance, he moved
+with the stately air of one born to command, and accustomed to the
+homage of all about him.
+
+The strangers halted, as the monarch drew near. Cortez, dismounting,
+threw his reins to a page, and, supported by a few of his principal
+cavaliers, advanced to meet him. What an interview! How full of
+thrilling interest to both parties! How painfully thrilling to
+Montezuma, who now saw before him, standing on the very threshold of
+his citadel, the all-conquering white man, whose history was so
+mysteriously blended with his own; whose coming and power had been
+foreshadowed for ages in the prophetic traditions of his country,
+confirmed again by his own most sacred oracles, and repeated by so many
+signs, and omens, and fearful prognostics, that he was compelled either
+to regard him as the heaven-sent representative of the ancient rightful
+lords of the soil, or to abandon his early and cherished faith, the
+religion of his fathers, and of the ancient race from which they sprung.
+
+Putting a royal restraint upon the feelings which almost overwhelmed
+him, the monarch received his guest with princely courtesy, expressing
+great pleasure in seeing him personally, and extending to him the
+hospitalities of his capital. The Castilian replied with expressions of
+the most profound respect, and with many and ample acknowledgments for
+the substantial proofs which the Emperor had already given of his more
+than royal munificence. He then hung on the neck of the king a sparkling
+chain of colored crystal, at the same time making a movement, as if he
+would embrace him. He was prevented, however, by the timely interference
+of two Aztec lords from thus profaning, before the assembled multitudes
+of his people, the sacred person of their master.
+
+After this formal introduction and interchange of civilities, Montezuma
+appointed his brother, the bold Cuitlahua, to conduct the Spaniards to
+their quarters in the city, and returned in the same princely state in
+which he came, amid the prostrate thousands of his subjects. Pondering
+deeply, as the train moved slowly on, upon the fearful crisis in his
+affairs which had now arrived, his ear was arrested by a faint low voice
+in the crowd, which he instantly recognized as Karee's, breathing out a
+plaintive wail, as if in soliloquy with her own soul, or in high
+communion with the spirits of the unseen world. The strain was wild and
+broken, but its tenor was deeply mournful and deprecatory. It concluded
+with these emphatic words--
+
+ The proud eagle may turn to his eyrie again,
+ But his pinions are clipped, and his foot feels the chain,
+ He is monarch no more in his wide domain--
+ The falcon has come to his nest.
+
+With an air of bold and martial triumph, their colors flying, and music
+briskly playing, the Spaniards, with the singular trail of half savage
+Tlascalans, the deadly enemies of the Aztecs, made their entrance into
+the southern quarter of the renowned Tenochtitlan, and were escorted by
+the brave Cuitlahua, to the royal palace of Axayacatl, in the heart of
+the city, once the residence of Montezuma's father, and now appropriated
+to the accommodation of Cortez and his followers.
+
+As they marched through the crowded streets, new subjects of wonder and
+admiration greeted them on every side. The grandeur and extent of the
+city, the superior style of its architecture, the ample dimensions,
+immense strength, and costly ornaments of the numerous palaces, pyramids
+and temples, separated and surrounded by broad terraced gardens in the
+highest possible state of cultivation, and teeming with flowers of every
+hue and name--the lofty tapering sanctuaries, and altars blazing with
+inextinguishable fires,--and above all, the innumerable throngs of
+people who swarmed through the streets and canals, filling every
+door-way and window, and clustering on the flat roof of every building
+as they passed, filled them with mingled emotions of admiration,
+surprise and fear.
+
+The swarming myriads of the Aztecs were, on their part, no less
+interested and amazed at the spectacle presented by their strange
+visitors. An intense and all-absorbing curiosity pervaded the entire
+mass of the people. Nothing could surpass their wonder and admiration of
+the prancing steeds, or four legged and double-headed men, as to their
+simple view they seemed to be, the rider as he sat with ease in his
+saddle, appearing to be but a part of the animal on which he rode. The
+piercing tones of the loud mouthed trumpets, astonished and delighted
+them exceedingly. But the deep thunder of the artillery as it burst upon
+them amid volumes of sulphurous smoke and flame, and then rolled away in
+long reverberated echoes among the mountains, filled them with
+indescribable alarm, and made them feel that the all-destroying god of
+war was indeed among them in the guise of men.
+
+While these scenes were enacting in the city, the palace was shrouded in
+the deepest gloom. When the monarch arrayed himself, in the morning, to
+go forth to meet the strangers, several incidents occurred, which were
+deemed peculiarly ominous, confirming all the superstitious forebodings
+of the king, and tending to take away from the yet trusting hearts of
+his household, their last remaining hope. The imperial clasp, which
+bound his girdle in front, bearing as its device, richly engraven on the
+precious _chalchivitl_, the emblem of despotic power, which was the
+eagle pouncing upon the ocelot--snapped in twain, scattering the
+fragments of the eagle's head upon the marble pavement. The principal
+jewel in the royal diadem was found loose, and trembling in its setting.
+But, more portentous than all to the mind of the devout Montezuma, the
+priest, who had charge of the great altar on the Teocalli of
+Huitzilopotchli, had been seized with convulsions during the preceding
+night, and fallen dead at his post. The perpetual fire had gone out, for
+want of a hand to replenish it, and when the morning sun shot his first
+beams upon that high altar, there was not a spark among the blackened
+embers, to answer his reviving glow.
+
+It was impossible to shake off the influence of presages like these.
+From infancy, he had been taught to read in all such incidents, the
+shadowy revealings of the will of the gods, the dark lines of destiny
+foreshown to the faithful. The soul of Montezuma was oppressed almost to
+sinking. But he roused himself to his task, and went forth, feeling, as
+he went, that the ground trembled beneath his feet, while an untimely
+night gathered at noon-day over the sky.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Among the noble princes who graced the court of Montezuma, there was no
+one of a nobler bearing, or a loftier heart, than his nephew Guatimozin,
+the favored lover of Tecuichpo. Unlike her disappointed suitor, the
+Prince of Tezcuco, he had uniformly and powerfully opposed the timid
+policy of the king, and urged, with Cuitlahua, a bold and unyielding
+resistance to the encroachments of the intruding Spaniards. His
+reluctance to their admission to the capital was so great, that he
+refused to witness the humiliating spectacle; preferring to shut himself
+up in the palace, and sustain, if he could, the fainting courage of the
+princess, and her mother. All that could be done by eloquence, inspired
+by patriotic zeal and inflamed by a pure and refined love, was attempted
+by the accomplished youth, till, excited and inflamed by his own efforts
+to comfort and persuade others, and nerved to higher resolves, by a new
+contemplation of the inestimable heart-treasures, which were staked upon
+the issue, a new hope seemed to dawn upon the clouded horizon of their
+destiny.
+
+"My fair princess," cried the impassioned lover, "it shall not be. These
+wide and glorious realms, teeming with untold thousands of brave and
+patriotic hearts, ready and able to defend our altars and our hearths,
+shall never pass away to a mere handful of pale-faced invaders. They
+_must_, they _shall_ be driven back. Or, if our gods have utterly
+deserted us--if the time has indeed come, when the power and glory of
+the Aztec is to pass away for ever, let the Aztec, to a man, pass away
+with it. Let us perish together by our altars, and leave to the
+rapacious intruder a ravaged and depopulated country. Let not one remain
+to grace his triumph, or bow his neck to the ignominious yoke."
+
+"Nay, my sweet cousin," she replied, with a tone and look of
+indescribable tenderness, "we will indeed die together, if need be, but
+let us first see if we cannot live together."
+
+"Live?" exclaimed Guatimozin. "Oh! Tecuichpo, what would I not attempt,
+what would I not sacrifice, to the hope of living, if I might share
+that life with you. But my country! my allegiance! how can I sacrifice
+that which is not my own?--that inheritance which was all my
+birth-right, and which, as it preceded, must necessarily be paramount
+to, all the other relations of life."
+
+"But, my father! dear Guatimozin! must he not be obeyed?"
+
+"Yes, and he shall be. But he _must_ be persuaded, even at this late
+hour, to dismiss the strangers, and banish them for ever from his
+domains. He has no right to yield it up. It belongs to his subjects no
+less than to him. He belongs to them, by the same sacred bond that binds
+them all to him. He may not sacrifice them to a scruple, which has in it
+more of superstition than of religion. I must go to the Temple of
+Cholula, and bring up the hoary old prophet of Quetzalcoatl, and see if
+he cannot move the too tender conscience of your father, and persuade
+him that his duty to his gods cannot, by any possibility, be made to
+conflict with his duty to his empire, and the mighty family of dependent
+children, whom the gods have committed to his care."
+
+"Oh! not now, Guatimozin, I pray you. Do not leave us at this terrible
+moment. Stay, and sustain with your courageous hopes the sad heart of my
+dear father, who is utterly overwhelmed with the dire omens of this
+dismal morning."
+
+"Omens! Oh! Tecuichpo, shall we not rather say that the gods have thus
+frowned upon our cowardly abandonment of their altars, than that they
+design, in these dark portents, to denounce an irreversible doom, which
+our prayers cannot avert, nor our combined wisdom and courage prevent?"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+At this moment Montezuma returned. But the deep distress depicted in his
+countenance, and the air of stern reserve which he assumed in the
+presence of those whose counsels would tend to shake his resolve,
+effectually prevented Guatimozin from pursuing, at that moment, the
+object nearest his heart. He retired into the garden, where he was soon
+joined by the fair princess, who wished to divert him from his purposed
+visit to Cholula, knowing full well it would be a fruitless mission.
+
+"But why, my brave cousin, may not my father be right, in feeling that
+these strangers are sent to us from the gods? And if from the gods, then
+surely for our good; for the gods are all beneficence, and can only
+intend the well-being of their children, in all the changes that befal
+us here. Perhaps these strangers will teach us more of the beings whom
+we worship, and direct us how we may serve them better than we now do,
+and so partake more largely of their favor."
+
+"Alas! my beloved, how can we hope that they who come to destroy, whose
+only god is gold--to the possession of which they are ready to sacrifice
+life, love, honor, every thing--how can we hope that they will teach us
+any thing better or higher than we learn from the ancient oracles of our
+faith, and the holy priesthood of our religion? No, it cannot be. Their
+pathway is drenched in blood, and so it will be, till the throne, and he
+who honors it, are laid in dust at their feet, and you and I, and all
+the myriads of our people, have become their abject slaves."
+
+"Say not so, I beseech you, dear Guatimozin. Where my father leads, I
+must follow, and hope for the best. And you must follow too, for I
+cannot go without you. Here, take this rose, and wear it as a pledge to
+me, over this sparkling fountain, that you will no more hazard the
+imperial displeasure, and the anger of the gods, by your bold and rash
+resistance of the known decrees of fate. And I will weave a chaplet of
+the same, to lay upon the altar, to propitiate for us all the favor of
+heaven."
+
+There was too much real chivalry in the heart of Guatimozin, to resist
+the earnest love and eloquent persuasion of his lady-love. He kissed her
+fair cheek in token of submission to her sway, and then led her to the
+palace, to learn if any thing new had transpired to encourage his hope
+that his wishes would yet be realized, in the exclusion of the Spaniards
+from the city. As they passed along, they heard Karee-o-than, the
+garrulous pet of the Princess, seemingly soliloquising among the
+branches of the flowering orange that hung over her favorite arbor. They
+paused a moment, but could gather nothing from his chatterings but
+"Brave Guatimozin! noble Guatimozin! all is yours."
+
+"An omen! my sweet cousin, a genuine emphatic omen! Even Karee-o-than
+encourages me in my treason. I wish I knew how she would respond to the
+name of this redoubtable Cortez. Pray ask her, Tecuichpo, what she
+thinks of the Spaniard."
+
+"Fear you not to trifle thus?" asked Tecuichpo.
+
+"Fear not, brave Guatimozin!" responded the parrot.
+
+"There, I have it again, my love; all she says is against you. And what
+do you say of Malinche, pretty Karee-o-than?"
+
+"Poor Malinche! brave Guatimozin."
+
+"Bravo!" exclaimed the Prince, "the bird is as good as an omen, and
+I"----
+
+At that moment, Karee appeared, and coming towards them in great haste
+and trepidation, informed them that the Spaniards had already reached
+their quarters in the old palace, and that Montezuma had gone thither,
+in royal state, to receive them.
+
+"And what think you of all these things, my fairy queen," asked
+Guatimozin, playfully.
+
+"Wo! wo! wo! to the imperial house of Tenochtitlan!" energetically
+replied Karee,--"its glory is departed for ever,--its crown has fallen
+from the head of the great Montezuma, and there is none able to wear it,
+or to redeem it from the hand of the spoiler. Thou, most noble Prince,
+wilt do all that mortal courage and prowess can do, to rescue it from
+desecration, and to protect the house of Montezuma from the cruel fate
+to which he has delivered it up; but it will be all in vain. _He_ must
+perish by an ignominious death. _They_ must pass under the yoke of the
+strangers, and thou, too, after all thy noble struggles and sacrifices,
+must perish miserably under their cruel and implacable rapacity."
+
+This was too much for Tecuichpo. She looked upon Karee as an inspired
+prophetess, and had always found it exceedingly difficult to sustain the
+filial confidence which sanctified every act and every purpose of her
+royal father, when the powerful incantations of Karee were directed
+against them. It was a continual struggle between an affectionate
+superstition, and filial love. But that first, and holiest, and
+strongest instinct of her heart prevailed, and she clung the more warmly
+to her father, when she found that every thing else was against him. But
+now the shaft had pierced her at another and an unguarded point. Her
+spirit fainted within her. She swooned in the arms of Guatimozin, and
+was borne to her apartment in a state of insensibility, where, under the
+kind and skilful nursing of Karee, and the affectionate assurances of
+Guatimozin, she was soon restored to health, and her accustomed
+cheerfulness. But these ceaseless agitations, these painful alternations
+of hope and fear, were slowly wearing upon her gentle spirit, and
+undermining a frame so delicately sensitive, that, like the aspen,
+
+ ------It trembled when the sleeping breeze
+ But dreamed of waking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA--THE ROYAL BANQUET--THE
+ REQUITAL--THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS OWN PALACE.
+
+ ~"Was that thunder?"~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~Those splendid halls resound with revelry,
+ And song, and dance lead on the tardy dawn.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~From the hall of his fathers in anguish he fled,
+ Nor again will its marble re-echo his tread.~
+
+
+Montezuma was always and every where munificent. When he had, though
+reluctantly, admitted the strangers into his capital, he prepared to
+give them a royally hospitable entertainment. Partly by way of triumph
+in the success of their movements hitherto, and partly by way of
+amusing, and at the same time overawing their entertainers, the
+Spaniards, the day after their arrival in the city, made a grand
+military display in their quarters, and in the neighboring streets. They
+exercised their prancing steeds in all the feats of horsemanship,
+racing, leaping, and careering, in all the wild majesty of the trained
+charger, under the three fold discipline of bit and spur, and cheering
+shout. They rushed upon each other in the mock warfare of the
+tournament, with clashing sword and glancing spear, and then,
+discharging their carbines in the air, separated amid clouds of dust and
+smoke, as if driven asunder by the bolts of heaven in their own hands.
+The astonished natives, accustomed only to the simple weapons of
+primitive warfare, looked on with undisguised admiration, not unmixed
+with fear. The strange beings before them, wielding such unwonted
+powers, seemed indeed to have descended upon earth from some higher
+sphere, and to partake of that mysterious and fearful character, which
+they had been wont to ascribe to inhabitants of the spiritual world. But
+when, in closing off the day's entertainment, they brought out the
+loud-mouthed artillery, and shook the very foundations of the city with
+their oft-repeated thunders, the spirit of the Aztec sunk within him,
+and he felt, as he retired to his dwelling, that it was for no good end,
+that men of such power, having such fearful engines at their command,
+had been permitted to fix their quarters in one of the fortresses of
+Tenochtitlan.
+
+"Alas!" said an ancient Cacique from the northern frontier, "we are
+fallen upon evil times. Our enemies are even now in the citadel--enemies
+whom we know not, whose mode of warfare we do not understand, whose
+weapons defy alike our powers of imitation and resistance. Let us
+abandon the field, and retire to the far north, whence our fathers came,
+and rear a new empire amid the impregnable fastnesses of the mountains."
+
+"Who talks of abandoning the field to the enemy?" interrupted
+Guatimozin,--"Let no Aztec harbor so base a thought. Rather let us
+stand by our altars and die, if die we must."
+
+"Right," cried the youthful prince Axayatl, from the southern slope of
+the Sierra, "why should the all-conquering Aztec tremble at this display
+of the mysterious strangers? Are not the millions of Anahuac a match for
+a few hundred of their enemies, in whatever form they come? Be they
+gods, or be they demons, they belong not to this soil, nor this soil to
+them, and, by all our altars and all our gods, they must retire or
+perish, though we, and our wives, and our children perish with them."
+
+"Give us your hand, brave Axayatl," exclaimed Cuitlahua and Guatimozin,
+at the same instant, "be that our vow in life and in death, and wo to
+the base Aztec, that abandons the standard of Montezuma, or whispers of
+submission to the haughty stranger."
+
+Thus were the councils of the people divided between a timid
+superstition, and a bold uncompromising patriotism. There wanted not the
+material, if well directed, to annihilate, at a blow, the hopes of the
+daring invaders. The arm of the nation was strong and sinewy, but "the
+head was sick, and the heart faint." The Emperor, the hitherto proud and
+self-sufficient Montezuma,--
+
+ Like a struck eagle fainting in his nest,
+
+had cowered to a phantom of his own diseased imagination, and weakly
+consented to regard _them_ as gods, whose passions, appetites and vices
+proved them to be men, and whose diminished numbers, after every battle
+they had fought, showed they were of mortal mould.
+
+On the following day, a magnificent banquet was prepared for Cortez, and
+his officers, in the imperial palace. It was graced by the presence of
+all the nobility of Azteca, with all the pride and beauty of their
+household divinities--for, among this refined people, the wife and the
+daughter held her appropriate rank, and woman exercised all the
+influence, which, among (so called) civilized nations, Christianity
+alone has assigned her. Every apartment of that spacious and magnificent
+pile blazed with the light of odoriferous torches, which sent up their
+clouds of incense from hundreds of gold and silver stands, elaborately
+carved and embossed in every form that fancy could suggest, or ingenuity
+invent. Flowers of every hue and name were profusely distributed through
+the rooms, clustered in beautiful vases, or hung in gorgeous festoons
+and luxurious chaplets from the walls. The costume of the monarch and
+his court was as rich and gorgeous, as the rare and variegated
+_plumage_, with a lavish use of gold and gems, could make it. The women
+were as splendidly apparelled as the men. Many of them were extremely
+beautiful. Some were distinguished for their easy refinement of manners,
+which charmed, no less than it astonished, the Castilian knights, who
+had been accustomed to suppose that nothing so beautiful, or refined,
+could be found without the borders of Spain.
+
+By special command of the Emperor, all his nobles were present at this
+festival, so that Guatimozin, contrary to his own will and purpose, was
+brought into contact with Cortez, and his steel-clad cavaliers.
+Tecuichpo also was there, in all her maiden loveliness, outshining all
+the stars of that splendid galaxy. And yet she was as a star in
+eclipse, for her soul was oppressed with those mysterious shadows that
+hung over her destiny and that of her father, as connected with the
+coming of these white men. Karee was there in attendance upon her
+mistress, as she still delighted to call her; but her attention was more
+absorbed by the strangers than by Tecuichpo. She watched every movement,
+and scanned every countenance with a scrutiny that did not escape their
+observation, in order to read, as well as she could, the character of
+each. Her scrutiny satisfied herself, and she whispered in the ear of
+the Princess, that "if these were gods, they came from the dark, and not
+from the sunny side of heaven."
+
+It was a rare spectacle, which this royal banquet presented. The
+contrast between the steel-clad cavaliers of Castile, whose burnished
+armor blazed and glittered in the brilliant torch-light, and rung under
+their heavy martial tramp upon the marble floor, and the comparatively
+fairy figures of the gaudily apparelled Aztecs, was as strong as could
+possibly be presented in a scene like this. The costumes and customs of
+each were matter of wonder and admiration to the other. The Aztec
+trembled at the mysterious power, the incomprehensible weapons, of the
+white man. The Castilian, if he did not tremble, fully appreciated the
+danger of a little band, separated and scattered among a festive throng
+of warlike men, amid the interminable labyrinths of the imperial palace,
+and under the eye of a monarch whose word was absolute law to all the
+myriads of his people.
+
+But, whatever was passing in the inner man, the Aztec and the Castilian,
+alike, appeared perfectly at ease, each abandoning himself to the
+festivities of the occasion, as if each, unannoyed by the presence of a
+stranger, were revelling in the security of his own castle, and
+celebrating some time-honored festival of his own people.
+
+With a benign dignity and grace, the Queen, and her suite of high-born
+ladies, received the homage of the cavaliers, after they had been
+presented to the Emperor. She was struck with admiration at the graceful
+and dignified bearing of the Castilian, which, while it showed all the
+deference and respect due to her sex and her rank, had nothing in it, of
+that abject servility, which placed an impassable barrier between the
+Aztec noble and his monarch, and made them appear to belong to distinct
+races of being. To the chivalrous, impassioned Castilian, accustomed to
+worship woman, and pay an almost divine homage to beauty, in the courtly
+halls and sunny bowers of Spain, the scene presented a perfect
+constellation of grace and loveliness. The flashing eye of the Aztec
+maiden, as lustrous and eloquent as any in the gardens of Hesperides;
+the jetty tresses, glittering with gems and pearls, or chastely
+decorated with natural flowers; the easy grace of the loose flowing
+robe, revealing the full rich bust and the rounded limb, in its fairest
+proportions, won the instant admiration of every mailed knight, and
+brought again to his lips his oft-repeated vows of love and devotion.
+
+But of little avail were honied lips and eloquent tongues to the gallant
+cavaliers at that magic fete. They formed no medium of communion with
+the bright spirits, and gay hearts around them. The doom of Babel was on
+them all, and there was no interpreter. Nothing daunted by obstacles
+seemingly insurmountable, the gay Spaniards resolved, that, where bright
+eyes were to be gazed on, and sweet smiles won from the ranks of youth
+and beauty, they would make a way for themselves. The first ceremonies
+of presentation over, each knight addressed himself to some chosen fair
+one, and by sign and gesture, and speaking look, and smile of eloquent
+flattery, commenced a spirited pantomimic attack, to the infinite
+amusement of all the gay throng around. It was met with wonderful
+spirit, and ready ingenuity, by the Aztec maidens, to whom the dialect
+of signs, and the language of hieroglyphics was perfectly familiar; that
+being the only written language of all the nations of Anahuac.
+
+The spirit and interest of the scene that followed surpasses all attempt
+at description. Abandoned to the gaiety of the hour, the Spaniards
+forgot alike their schemes of ambition and aggrandisement, and the
+peculiar perils which surrounded them; while the Aztec revellers
+dismissed, for the moment, both their superstitious dread of the white
+man, and their patriotic disgust at his daring pretensions to universal
+dominion.
+
+The noble Sandoval, attracted by the mild beaming eye, and sweet smile
+of the Princess Tecuichpo, with a profound obeisance, laid his plumed
+helmet at her feet, and choosing, from a vase at her side, a half blown
+rose, which he gracefully twined with a sprig of amaranth, he first
+pressed it to his own heart and lips, and then placed it among the
+glittering gems upon her bosom. With queenly courtesy and grace, the
+fair princess received this gallant token, and instantly responded to
+it, by stooping down, and weaving among the plumes, so courteously laid
+at her feet, another, of such rare beauty and brilliancy of hue, that it
+quite eclipsed the gayest feather in the hall.
+
+Cortez and Alvarado were, each in his turn, struck with the deep, dark,
+piercing eye of Karee, and each put forth his best endeavor to win from
+her a smile. But it was so coldly given, and accompanied with a look so
+deep and searching, that the general quailed before it, as he had never
+done before to mortal eye.
+
+Instantly recovering himself, he put on such a smile of blended grace
+and dignity, as melted at once the icy reserve of the maiden, and opened
+the way for a long and animated parley. It was full of sparkles and
+power, but could not be translated into any living tongue, without
+losing all its force and brilliancy.
+
+Meanwhile, an animated discussion had arisen between Guatimozin and the
+Prince of Tezcuco, touching the propriety of receiving gifts from the
+strangers, or, in any way, acknowledging their claims as friends. The
+showy trinket, which Cacama had received from Cortez at Ajotzinco, and
+which he displayed on his person at this festival, gave rise to the
+dispute.
+
+"It is wrong," urged Guatimozin, "wrong to our country and wrong to
+ourselves. Let them gain what they can from the exuberant munificence of
+the Emperor, and let them stay in peace, while he permits and requires
+it,--but let us not weaken our hands, by touching their gifts, or
+accepting their tokens. When they depart, let them not boast that they
+have left any remembrancer behind them, or laid claims upon our hands,
+by their gifts, which we have freely accepted."
+
+"Surely, my dear cousin," said the Princess, "you make too much of so
+small a matter. They are but common courtesies, and too trifling for
+such grave consideration and argument."
+
+"Not so, believe me, my fair cousin. They take us on the weak side of
+the heart--they blind our eyes to our true relations, unnerve our arms,
+and blunt our weapons of defence."
+
+"What then would you do," asked Cacama, as if more than half persuaded
+that Guatimozin was right in his views of duty.
+
+"Do," replied the Prince, with startling energy of tone and manner, "I
+would fling it at his feet, or trample it under my own, before his eyes,
+and show him that I scorn him and his gifts alike."
+
+Tecuichpo turned suddenly round at this remark, as if fearing the
+stranger would understand it, and in her agitation, dropped a
+magnificent jewel from her dress, and with it the rose so gallantly
+presented by Sandoval. A dozen princes and cavaliers sprang, at the same
+instant, to replace the precious toy. Pedro Orteguilla, the beautiful
+young page of Cortez, was so fortunate as to recover it. Doffing his
+cap, and kneeling gracefully at her feet, he presented it to the
+Princess with an air of admiring deference, and, by signs, solicited the
+honor of replacing it upon her arm.
+
+This little incident put an end to the discussion, which was growing too
+warm for the occasion, and the festivities went on as gaily as before.
+
+A group of sprightly, mischief loving girls, who had clustered round the
+cool basin of a sparkling _jet d' eau_, and were amusing themselves by
+free and fearless comments upon the appearance and manners of the
+strangers, arrested the eye of the impulsive, humor loving Alvarado, and
+drew him to solicit a share in their sport; for, in beating a retreat
+from the eagle glance of Karee, he had strolled into an illuminated
+arbor, in one of the open courts of the palace. With hand, and eye, and
+lip, now appealing in emphatic gesture to the stars above, and now, with
+ready tact and admirable sagacity distributing the flowers among the gay
+naiads of the fountain, he soon ingratiated himself into their favor,
+and engaged them in a brilliant and animated pantomime, which, if it
+wanted the eloquence of words, found ample compensation for that defect,
+in the merry shout and ringing laugh, that accompanied each labored
+attempt to utter, or interpret, a sentiment. The gallant cavalier soon
+found himself loaded with a profusion of floral favors. For every flower
+he bestowed upon the fair nymphs, he received an appropriate return,
+till his hands were full, and he found it necessary to arrange them upon
+his person.
+
+Instantly the whole group, as by one impulse of artistic taste, seized
+the idea, and resolved to array him as a flower-god. The magnificent
+cactus flashed among the plumes of his helmet--a pair of splendid
+magnolias, tastefully adjusted on either shoulder, supplied the place of
+the silver epaulette--a rich cluster of unfading _forget-me-not_,
+covered and eclipsed the gilded star upon his breastplate; while every
+joint in his armor, and every loop and button of his doublet, was set
+with its appropriate garden gem. Long wreaths of a blossoming vine were
+dexterously intertwined with flowers of every brilliant hue, and hung
+like a gorgeous sash over his right shoulder, its gay streamers waving
+in the gentle breeze, or winding themselves about the scabbard of his
+sword. His hands were gloved with a moss of the most delicate green
+velvet, dotted with golden stars, and his boots transformed into buskins
+of the most approved classic pattern, by alternate bands of jessamine
+and scarlet lobelia, crossed and plaided with strings of anemone and
+hyacinth.
+
+Thus arrayed, his face skilfully masked with the flowering wax-plant
+despoiled of its leaves, he was conducted into the presence of the
+Queen, under a continually increasing escort of bright girls and fair
+dames, where, with due reverence to her majesty, and with the gallantry
+becoming a true knight, he begged, by significant looks and signs, to be
+permitted to lay all his bright honors at the feet of the lovely
+Tecuichpo.
+
+The signal being given at this moment, he offered his arm to the
+Princess, and led the way into the banqueting hall, where the luxuries
+of all the climes of earth seemed to be spread out in endless profusion,
+and where, the native song of the Aztec alternating with the martial
+strains of the Castilian band, the night wore away with feasting and
+revelry.
+
+The day had almost dawned, when the strangers, laden with presents of
+inestimable value, returned to their quarters, burdened with the weight
+of their treasures, and deeply impressed with the more than regal
+munificence of their host, and the unimagined loveliness and grace of
+the fair beings, who gave life and beauty to his magnificent court.
+
+"If these white gods can be bought, dear father," the Princess naively
+remarked, as they took their leave, "you have surely paid a price worthy
+of the ransom of the proudest monarch on earth."
+
+"The more you bribe them," interrupted Guatimozin, "the less you bind
+them. They have not the soul of an Aztec, who scorns to receive a favor
+that does not pledge his heart in return. The Spaniard's heart has
+nothing to do with his hand. He takes your gift, only to be the better
+able to plot and compass your ruin."
+
+The Emperor sighed, as he listened to a remark, to which he could make
+no reply. It brought again before his agitated mind, the only course he
+could safely adopt in the present crisis of his affairs. In vain did his
+paternal heart second the suggestion, and his kingly pride urge its
+immediate adoption. He had not the moral courage to execute his own
+resolve. Superstition had wholly unmanned him.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The victorious Spaniard had now reached the goal he had so long aimed
+at. But his position was far from agreeable, or promising. With a small
+force, he was completely shut up in the heart of an immense and powerful
+empire, teeming with millions of warriors, who were deemed terrible and
+invincible by those whom he had found so formidable, and who might, at a
+word or a look from their sovereign, either rush in and overwhelm him at
+once, or withhold all supplies, and leave them to perish of famine in
+their quarters.
+
+Cortez realized the critical position into which he was drawn, and
+resolved immediately on one of his bold measures, to turn it to his own
+advantage. Soliciting an interview with Montezuma, in which he was
+accompanied by some of his bravest cavaliers, he informed the monarch,
+that it was not an idle curiosity that had drawn him to encounter the
+perils, and undergo the toils, of the adventure that had brought him to
+the capital. He came, as the accredited ambassador of the mighty monarch
+of Castile, to whom many kings and many broad lands were tributary, and
+who was the rightful lord of all the territories on which his armies had
+set their foot. And the object of the present interview was, to demand
+of the king an acknowledgment of his allegiance to his royal master, and
+his consent to pay an annual tribute for his crown.
+
+The mind of the superstitious Montezuma had long been preparing for this
+acknowledgment. With little apparent constraint, therefore, he responded
+to this haughty demand--that the oracles of his religion had long ago
+instructed him, that the territories over which he reigned belonged to a
+race of white men, who had removed to other lands beyond the rising sun,
+but would return, in process of time, invested with more than mortal
+power, to claim their original inheritance. For his part, he was fully
+convinced that that time had now arrived--that the Spaniards were the
+men of destiny foretold by a long line of presages and traditions, and
+that he was fully prepared to acknowledge the king of Castile as his
+lord, and pay allegiance to him as such.
+
+"And recognize me," interposed the wily Castilian, "as his accredited
+ambassador, and representative?"
+
+The monarch assented.
+
+The Aztec nobles, who surrounded the throne, were thunderstruck at the
+humble tone, and humiliating attitude assumed by their once proud and
+imperious lord. But they were accustomed to unqualified and
+unquestioning submission to the word of the king. They accordingly, at
+his command, gave a full assent to all that he had said, and agreed to
+recognize Cortez as the representative of their new sovereign.
+Guatimozin left the hall in disgust, and hastened to Iztapalapan, to
+report the progress of their humiliation to Cuitlahua.
+
+Even with this arrangement, which had been accomplished so much more
+easily than he had expected, Cortez was by no means satisfied. He was
+still in the power of the Mexican, and could never feel safe in the
+position he held, without some substantial pledge, that the peace of the
+city would be preserved, and the ground he had already secured be left
+to him in undisturbed possession. To secure this, he conceived and
+executed a bolder and more audacious measure than that which we have
+just related. Soliciting another and a private interview with the
+Emperor, and directing his best and bravest cavaliers, with some of
+their chosen men, to keep near and about the palace, and be in readiness
+to sustain and defend him, if any resistance or outbreak should follow
+his daring attempt, he entered the royal presence. As the Spaniards
+always carried their arms, it excited no suspicion, to see them on this
+occasion fully equipped.
+
+This disposition of his men and officers being effected, the bold
+cavalier addressed himself, in a stern voice, to the Emperor, charging
+him with secretly designing the destruction of his guests, and alleging,
+in support of the charge, some of the incidents already related, and
+others of more recent occurrence, in which some of the vassals of
+Montezuma had surprised and slain a party of Spaniards, who relied upon
+their hospitality. These were artfully woven into a tale of imaginary
+wrongs, for which he boldly pretended to claim instant redress, or
+rather security against their repetition.
+
+The monarch was thunderstruck at the charge, while he, as well as the
+few attendants that remained near his person, with difficulty restrained
+the expression of their indignation at the disrespectful tone of the
+address, so unlike that to which the royal ears were accustomed. He
+peremptorily denied the charge. But Cortez was not to be foiled thus. He
+knew that he had now gone too far to retract, and that the change of
+feeling now produced would ensure his speedy destruction, if he failed
+of securing the object of the present interview. He, therefore, repeated
+the charge, assuring the monarch that such was the belief of all his
+men, and that nothing would convince them of his innocence, or make them
+willing to rest quietly in the capital, but the consent of the king to
+transfer his residence, for a time, to their quarters. And this he
+boldly demanded of him, in the name of their common sovereign, the great
+king of Castile, and he could not refuse obedience, without breaking
+allegiance with him.
+
+"When was it ever known," exclaimed the astonished and offended king,
+"that the monarch of a great people voluntarily left his own palace, to
+become a prisoner in the camp of a foreign nation. If I should consent
+to such indignity, my own subjects would every where cry out against it,
+and a storm would be raised, which could only be hushed when the last
+Spaniard was sacrificed to the outraged honor of their king, and the
+wrath of their offended gods."
+
+"No, my imperial lord," replied the politic and smooth tongued knight,
+"your majesty entirely misapprehends my meaning, and the position in
+which I would place you. I only propose a temporary removal from one of
+your royal palaces to another, a thing of frequent occurrence, and
+therefore not likely to excite remark among your people. You can bring
+all your household and your court with you, and have the same royal
+attendance, as you now do. This show of confidence and regard, on your
+part, will inspire my men with new confidence in your kind intentions,
+and give stability in the eyes of your own people, to the friendly
+relations existing between us."
+
+Montezuma still protested that it was unworthy the dignity and majesty
+of the sovereign lord of Anahuac, thus to submit his motions to the
+direction of strangers, as it was a daring presumption and impiety, on
+their part, to suggest it. He therefore, peremptorily declined the
+proposal, and requested the general to say no more about it, if he would
+retain the position he now held in his regard, and that of his people.
+
+Upon this, the iron-souled Castilian assumed a loftier aspect, and a
+bolder tone, and abruptly assured the monarch that it was a point he was
+not at liberty to dispense with. If he would not remove peaceably and
+quietly to the Spanish quarters, he must be carried there forcibly,
+though it should involve a struggle that should drench the palace in
+blood, and sacrifice the life of every man in his army.
+
+Suddenly, the spirit of the monarch was gone. His old dread of the
+white man revived in all its power. He felt himself compelled by his
+destiny, to do as he was required. Signifying his assent to the haughty
+demand of the stranger, he ordered his nobles to make ready his
+palanquin, that he might go in royal state, and not appear in the eyes
+of his subjects, as he passed along, as a prisoner in his own capital.
+
+With looks of astonishment, not unmingled with indignation, the proud
+chiefs obeyed, marching under their royal burden, with solemn pace and
+downcast looks, in utter silence, but nursing in their hearts an
+implacable hatred against the insulting Castilians, and a burning rage,
+which was yet to burst upon their devoted heads in an overwhelming storm
+of wrath. As they passed the threshold of the imperial palace, which
+their once proud but now humbled lord was never to recross, they heaved
+a deep sigh, as if the dark shadows of the future already hung
+frowningly over their heads. It was responded to by a deep, mysterious,
+sepulchral groan, which seemed to issue from the very heart of the
+earth, while, at the same instant, a royal eagle, sailing proudly over
+the capital, struck by an invisible leaden messenger from one of the
+sure-sighted marksmen in the Castilian camp, fluttered in his lofty
+flight, drooped his strong wing, and, with a terrible death shriek, the
+blood streaming freely from his wound, fell into the court, at the very
+feet of the royal procession.
+
+The fate of Montezuma, and of his empire, was now sealed. He had, with
+his own hand, taken the crown from his head, and laid it at the feet of
+the Spaniard. And, more than all, he had humbled himself in the eyes of
+his own subjects, and diminished, though few were hardy enough to avow
+it, the profound respect and reverence with which they were accustomed
+to regard him. To his own immediate household, he had represented this
+removal as a voluntary act of courtesy, on his part, designed to
+compliment the strangers, by becoming, for a time, their guest, and to
+inspire them, by his personal presence among them, with confidence in
+his professions of regard, as well as to show his own people how strong
+the bond of amity was between them. At the same time, however, that he
+assured them of his personal safety and his confidence that all would
+end well, he recommended his wives and children to leave him, for the
+present, and take up their abode in his rural mountain palace at
+Chapoltepec.
+
+The timid and sensitive Tecuichpo was thrown into the deepest distress
+by this suggestion. She could not doubt the repeated assurances of her
+royal father, and yet she could not divest herself of the sad impression
+that his liberty, and perhaps his life, was in danger, in thus
+separating himself from the strong arms and devoted hearts of his own
+people, his natural protectors, and throwing himself, unarmed, into the
+garrison of the fearful strangers. What security could she have that he
+would ever return, or that violence would not be offered to his sacred
+person by those who looked upon him only as the vassal of their own
+sovereign, to be used for his purposes and theirs, as their own
+selfishness and rapacity might dictate.
+
+"Leave us not, my dear father," she exclaimed, "or at least compel not
+us to leave _you_. Rather in darkness and in trouble than at any other
+time, would we stand at your side, to administer, as far as we may, to
+your comfort, and to share, and perhaps lighten, your sorrows."
+
+"Nay, my beloved child," the grateful monarch calmly replied, "I have no
+need, at this time, of your solace, or your counsel. I go among friends,
+who respect my person and my authority, and who well know that their own
+safety in Tenochtitlan, depends entirely upon retaining my friendship,
+which alone can shield them from being overwhelmed, and swept away like
+chaff, before the countless hosts of my warrior bands. Why then should I
+fear for myself. But for you, and your mother, and your sisters, the
+camp of the strangers is not a fitting place for you. They have customs
+of their own, and are slow to recognize the propriety of ours, deeming
+us, as they do, an inferior race of beings. They are bold and free in
+their manners, quite too much so for the refined delicacy of an Aztec
+maiden, or an Aztec matron, as you yourself both saw and felt, at the
+festival of their reception. How shall I expose you to the rude gaze of
+these foreign cavaliers, and perhaps to the rude speeches of their
+soldiers. No, my beloved, go to your retirement at Chapoltepec, and
+train the flowers there for my coming, which will be at the approaching
+festival of the new moon."
+
+"But will you certainly come to us then, my dear father? Karee says"----
+
+"Trouble me not with the dreams of Karee, my sweet child. They are not
+always as loyal as they should be. I believe I am right in what I am now
+doing, and I cannot be diverted from it by the mystic night visions of
+your favorite. Go, and the gods be with you."
+
+So saying, he tore himself from her embrace, and returned to his own
+apartments to attire himself for the removal.
+
+The fiery, high spirited Guatimozin was so disgusted with this act of
+suicidal cowardice, on the part of his royal master, that he withdrew at
+once from the city, taking with him his servants and retainers, as well
+as his immense private treasures, and took up his abode at his country
+palace or castle, where he lived in all the pseudo-regal state and
+magnificence of a feudal baron, or a petty sovereign. Here he opened a
+correspondence with a large number of the principal nobles of the realm,
+who, like him, felt that the time had come to prepare for a terrible
+crisis. They concerted no measures, for they dared not move openly
+without the command or assent of their master; but they exchanged
+sentiments, and encouraged each other in their patriotic purpose, to
+defend their country from subjugation to a foreign foe, and their altars
+from desecration.
+
+Passing Chapoltepec on his way, the noble Prince sought an interview
+with his lovely mistress, to inform her that, while the pledge he had
+given, in accepting the proffered rose, over the sparkling fountain of
+Tenochtitlan, should be sacredly regarded, he must be allowed to see
+with his own eyes, when danger was near, and to raise his arm in her
+defence, and in that of his country, from whatever quarter the
+threatened danger might come. He found her, bathed in tears, wandering
+wildly up and down, amid the shade of the tall cypresses that overhang
+and almost bury that mountain retreat. Her raven hair had escaped from
+its pearl-studded band, and was flying loosely in the breeze; the wonted
+bloom was gone from her cheek, and the brilliant lustre of her dark
+flashing eye had given way to a sad and subdued expression, which was
+more in keeping with the uniform mildness and gentleness of her spirit.
+Separated from her adored parent, and banished from the city of her love
+and her pride, she began to feel more deeply than she had ever done, the
+terror of those dark omens which had clouded her destiny, and marked her
+out as the doomed Princess of Anahuac. While she could cling to her
+father, and feel that she was to share all that might befal him, and
+perhaps, by sharing it, extract some portion of the bitterness from the
+cup which he was compelled to drink, she was calm and hopeful. But now,
+the sheet-anchor of her soul was gone, and she was drifting, at the
+mercy of the waves, she knew not whither.
+
+"My sweet cousin," said Guatimozin gently, as he arrested her flying
+step, "why this sudden abandonment to grief and despair. Dark as the
+clouds may be over our heads, all is not lost. Know you not, my love,
+that ten thousand times ten thousand brave hearts and strong arms are
+pledged, by every bond of loyalty and love, to rush to the rescue, the
+moment that any violence is offered to the sacred person of our lord. Be
+assured not a hair of his head shall be touched."
+
+"Ah! my brave Guatimozin! I know full well your courage and your zeal.
+But of what avail to us will be the direst vengeance your arms can wreak
+on the strangers, after the violence is done, and the honored head of
+my father--oh! that I should live to speak it!--laid low at their feet!"
+
+"Fear not, my beloved, they dare not, with all their boasted power, they
+dare not lay a rude hand upon that sacred person. They know, they feel,
+that they are treading on a mighty volcano, that may burst out at any
+moment, and overwhelm them in hopeless destruction. It is this sense of
+impending danger only that has induced them to invite the Emperor to
+their quarters, and so to urge their suit, that he could not, as their
+professed friend, deny it. While he is there, they will feel safe, for
+his hand alone can stay the pent up fires, that they break not forth at
+once. Fear not. I go to-night to Iztapalapan, to confer with your royal
+uncle, the intrepid Cuitlahua. The noble Cacama joins us there,
+convinced already that his was a mistaken policy, when he counselled
+your father to receive the strangers courteously, and treat them as
+friends."
+
+"And what can Cacama do?"
+
+"That is yet to be seen. He is convinced of his error, and is ready to
+atone for it with his life. With Cacama, with Cuitlahua, with a thousand
+more like them--chiefs who never feared danger, and never knew
+defeat--why should we despair, or even doubt?"
+
+"But how know you, Guatimozin, that these Castilian strangers regard
+their own safety as any way involved in that of Montezuma?"
+
+"I gathered it from the oracle, my love, and from omens which never
+deceive."
+
+"What oracle? What omens? I pray you explain?"
+
+"The omens were their own troubled looks and clouded brows, while this
+strange negotiation was pending, and the guarded watchfulness, with
+which they now protect their guest, and prevent the intrusion upon his
+privacy of any considerable number of his friends, at the same time."
+
+"Prince Guatimozin, do I understand the import of those terrible words?
+Is my father already a prisoner in his own palace?"
+
+"What else, my sweet cousin, seeing he cannot come forth, if he would,
+and we can only approach him by permission?"
+
+"O ye gods! has it come to this? Fly, Guatimozin. Fly to Iztapalapan. I
+release you from your pledge. Sound the alarm throughout the realm. And,
+if need be, _I_ will arm, and with you to the rescue."
+
+"Not so fast, brave princess; it is just this rashness that may endanger
+the precious head we would rescue. His life is safe at present; let us
+not put it to hazard, by moving too soon, or striking a useless blow."
+
+"But I see not yet, my dear cousin, how it is ascertained that my father
+is secure from further outrage. May it not be their policy to take away
+the head, hoping thus to dishearten and distract our people, and make
+them an easy prey to their victorious arms."
+
+"If so, they know not the spirit of the Aztec. To a man, throughout
+these broad realms, they would shed their last drop, to avenge the foul
+sacrilege, nor rest in their work of vengeance, till every altar in the
+land was drenched in the blood of the captive foe. But you forget that I
+have oracle as well as omen to sustain my faith."
+
+"What oracle has condescended, at last, to give us light? I thought
+they had all been silent, not deigning, since the advent of these
+mysterious strangers, any response to our prayers."
+
+"Karee is never deaf, or silent, where the welfare of Tecuichpo is
+concerned."
+
+"Karee?"
+
+"Yes, love, Karee! I want no better or more trusty oracle. She has, you
+know, a sort of ubiquity. Nothing escapes her keen observation. Few
+mysteries are too deep for her sagacity to unravel. In her brief
+occasional encounters with the strangers, she has gathered the meaning
+of not a few of the words of their strange tongue. What she has once
+heard she never forgets. Presuming that no one could understand them,
+they have talked freely and boldly in her presence. And it is from her
+that I learn, that the Castilian general said to one of his officers, as
+he crossed the court yard, this morning--'While we have the Emperor with
+us, we are safe. We must see to it, he does not escape.'"
+
+"Escape?" shrieked the agitated Princess; "then he is indeed a prisoner.
+But these white men are gods, are the gods treacherous?"
+
+"The gods of the deep are all treachery, but not those of the blue
+fields and bright stars above us. But, be they gods from below, or gods
+from above, they are not the gods of Anahuac, nor shall they claim a
+foot of its soil, till it is drenched with the blood of the Aztec.
+Farewell. Fear not. I will yet see you return in triumph to the imperial
+halls of Tenochtitlan."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION--MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC
+ NOBILITY--DEATH OF MONTEZUMA.
+
+ ~And bloody treason triumphed.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~Feeling dies not by the knife;
+ That cuts at once and kills; its tortured strife
+ Is with distilled affliction, drop by drop
+ Oozing its bitterness. Our world is rife
+ With grief and sorrow; all that we would prop,
+ Or would be propped with, falls; where shall the ruin stop?~
+
+
+Passing lightly over some of the subsequent incidents of this stirring
+period, we must hasten to the catastrophe of our long drawn tale.
+
+Secure in the possession of his royal prisoner, Cortez now thought he
+might safely leave the capital, for a while, and respond to a demand
+which pressed urgently upon him, to relieve his little colony at Vera
+Cruz, threatened with destruction, not by the natives, but a new band of
+adventurers from Spain, who had come to dispute the spoils with the
+conquerors. Leaving one of his principal officers in command, with a
+part of the forces, he placed himself at the head of the remainder, and
+marched quietly off on his new expedition.
+
+Alvarado was a brave knight, but of a rash and headlong disposition, and
+utterly destitute of that cool prudence and far-seeing sagacity which
+was requisite for so important a station. He soon involved himself in a
+most wicked and unjust quarrel with the Aztecs, which had well nigh
+overwhelmed him and his diminished band in utter ruin.
+
+Not long after the departure of Cortez, one of the great national
+festivals of the Aztecs occurred, at which the flower of the nobility,
+not of Tenochtitlan alone, but of all the neighboring cities and towns,
+were present. They came only to the peaceful performance of the wonted
+rites of their religion, and consequently came unarmed. Their numbers
+were very great. They were all apparelled in the richest costume of
+their country. Their snow white vestments, their splendid mantles of
+feather-work, powdered all over with jewels; their sandals of gold or
+silver, and their gaudy head-dresses of many-colored plumes, made an
+imposing and magnificent display, as they moved in solemn procession, to
+the simple music of their shells and horns, towards the court yard of
+the great Teocalli, where the festival was to be celebrated. The immense
+area was thronged with the gay multitude of worshippers, who,
+unsuspicious of treachery, gave themselves up to the wild dances and all
+the customary evolutions of Indian festivity. In the midst of their
+solemn sports, Alvarado, with his band of armed followers, rushed in,
+like so many tigers let loose upon their prey, and put them to an
+indiscriminate slaughter. Scarce one of that gay company escaped the
+ruthless massacre. The holy place was drenched with the best blood of
+Anahuac, and mourning, desolation, and wo were carried into all the
+principal families in the land.
+
+It was a fearful stroke, and fearfully was it repaid upon the heads of
+the guilty murderers. On every side the cry of vengeance arose, and its
+hoarse murmurs came rolling in upon the capital, like the distant
+howlings of a gathering tempest. Myriads of outraged Aztecs, smarting
+and chafing under their wounds, and thirsting for a worthy revenge,
+thronged the avenues to the capital, and demanded the treacherous
+strangers to be offered in sacrifice to their offended gods. Guatimozin,
+and many other brave, powerful, fearless chiefs were there, eager to
+seize the opportunity to chastise the insolent intruder. Day after day,
+they stormed the quarters of the beleaguered foe, pouring in upon them
+vollies of arrows, darts and stones, that sorely discomfited, though it
+could not dislodge them. Every assailable point was so well guarded by
+those terrible engines of destruction, the fire-belching artillery, that
+the assailants, numerous as they were, and spurred on by an ungovernable
+rage, could make but little impression upon them. Nevertheless, they
+would inevitably have carried the defences, and swept away the little
+band of ruthless murderers, had not Montezuma interposed, and besought
+them, for his sake, to desist from their hostile attacks. From regard to
+his safety, they suspended their active operations, but did not
+relinquish their settled purpose of vengeance.
+
+One means of annoyance was left to them, which would soon have reduced
+the fortress to submission, had not an unexpected succor arrived. All
+supplies were cut off from the camp,--already famine began to stare
+them in the face, and relax the iron sinew and with it the iron will, of
+the haughty Castilian. They were beginning to be reduced to extremities.
+A few days more, and the undefended garrison would have fallen into the
+hands of those merciless avengers of blood, who would have doomed every
+individual to the sacrifice.
+
+At this critical juncture, the all powerful, invincible Cortez returned,
+his forces greatly increased by the accession of the very band that had
+been sent against him--Narvaez, who had been commissioned to displace
+him, having become his friend, and arrayed himself, with his whole
+company and munitions of war, under his banner. Hearing of the
+disastrous position of his friends in the capital, he hastened with
+rapid strides and forced marches to their relief. His progress was
+unimpeded by any hostilities on the part of Aztecs, or their allies,
+till he entered the city, and joined his forces with those of Alvarado
+in the beleaguered citadel. It seems to have been the purpose of the
+chiefs to permit a free ingress of the entire force of the enemy,
+preferring rather to shut them up to famine there, than to meet them in
+the open field.
+
+No sooner was the General, with his augmented army, enclosed within the
+walls of the fortress, than active and fearful demonstrations of the
+roused and unappeasable spirit of the people began to be made. The
+streets and lanes of the city, which were silent and deserted as he
+passed through them to his quarters, began to swarm with innumerable
+multitudes of warriors, as if the stones, and the very dust of the
+earth, were suddenly transformed into armed men. The flat roofs of
+their temples and dwellings were covered on every side with fierce wild
+figures, frantic with rage, who taunted the Spaniards with their cruel
+treachery, and threatened them, in the most violent language, with a
+terrible revenge. "You are now again in our power," they cried, "and you
+cannot escape. Shut up in your narrow quarters, you are doomed to the
+lingering tortures of famine, and wo to the traitorous Aztec, that
+furnishes a morsel to relieve your hunger. When, at length, the
+faintness of death overtakes you, and you can no longer offer resistance
+to our arms, we will again spread the tables in your prison-house, and
+fatten you for the sacrifice."
+
+No longer restrained by their reverence for Montezuma, whose
+pusillanimity had been the cause of all his and their troubles, they
+recommenced their active operations, and stormed the defences with an
+energy and perseverance that was truly appalling. Day after day they
+deluged the place with arrows and missiles of every kind, which fell in
+pitiless showers upon the heads of the besieged, till scarcely one was
+left without some wound or bruise. In vain did they apply, as before, to
+their royal prisoner, to appease the rage of his subjects, and induce
+them once more to send them the customary supplies. In moody silence he
+shut himself up in his room, brooding over the ingratitude and treachery
+of Cortez, and the injuries and insults he had received at his hand.
+
+Exasperated by this sudden reversal of his schemes of conquest, and
+maddened by the sense of hunger which began to be severely felt in his
+camp, Cortez resolved to strike terror into the ranks of the besiegers,
+by a vigorous sortie at the head of all his cavalry. First sweeping the
+avenue by a well directed fire from his heavy guns, which were planted
+at the main entrance of the fortress, he rushed out, with all his steel
+clad cavaliers, trampling the unprotected assailants under the iron
+hoofs of the horses, and dealing death on every side. The mighty mass
+gave way before the terrific charge of the advancing column, but
+immediately closed in upon its rear as it passed, till it was completely
+swallowed up in an interminable sea of fierce and angry foes, whose
+accumulating waves swept in from every avenue, and threatened to sweep
+them all away, in despite of the fury and power of their dreaded
+chargers. Convinced of his danger, the intrepid Castilian wheeled his
+horse about, and with a furious shout, called on his brave band to break
+a way through the serried ranks of the enemy. Plunging, rearing and
+leaping, under the double spur of the rider, and the piercing shafts of
+his foe, the fiery animals broke in upon the living wall that impeded
+their way, and rushed fiercely on, trampling down hundreds in their
+path, till they regained the open avenue, that was defended by their own
+artillery. It was not without serious loss, however, that this retreat
+was achieved. The fierce Aztecs threw themselves upon the horses, in the
+crowd, hanging upon their legs, sometimes inflicting serious wounds upon
+them, and sometimes grappling with their riders, dragging them from
+their saddles, and carrying off to captivity or sacrifice. At the same
+time, they were sorely beset by showers of stones and darts that poured
+upon their heads from every building as they passed, battering and
+breaking their armor, and terribly bruising both the horse and his
+rider.
+
+These sorties were several times repeated, but always with the same
+doubtful success. The loss of the Spaniards was always much less than
+that of their enemy. But the latter could better afford to lose a
+thousand, than the former to lose one. Their ranks were instantly
+replenished with fresh combatants, who crowded in upon the scene of
+conflict, like the countless thousands of the over-peopled North, that
+swarmed upon the fair fields of Italy, as if some used-up world had been
+suddenly emptied of its inhabitants. Their numbers seemed rather to
+increase than to diminish with every new onset. In the same proportion
+their fierce resolution increased.
+
+The haughty Spaniard was now convinced that he had wholly mistaken the
+character of the people, whom he had thought to trample down at his
+pleasure. A spirit was raised which could not be laid, either by
+persuasion or by force. He saw and felt his danger, without the power to
+avert it. At length, either by threats or entreaties, or both, he
+prevailed on the captive Montezuma once more to interpose in his behalf,
+by employing what authority remained to him against his own best friends
+and faithful subjects.
+
+The Aztecs, forsaken of their monarch, had bold and talented leaders,
+who were competent both to devise and to execute the measures deemed
+necessary for the public good, and to lead on their marshalled hosts, to
+battle and to victory. Cacama, the young Prince of Tezcuco, burning to
+retrieve his fatal error in counselling and aiding the friendly
+reception of the Spaniards, now joined all his resources with those of
+Cuitlahua and Guatimozin, in endeavoring to recover the ground they had
+lost. Their first object was, to rescue the Emperor from his inglorious
+imprisonment, never doubting that, with his sacred person at their head,
+they would be able to annihilate the treacherous intruders at a blow.
+
+Not far from the city of Tezcuco, and standing out on the bosom of the
+lake, several hundred yards from the shore, was a solitary castle of a
+heavy and sombre architecture, built upon piles, at such an elevation as
+to be above the influence of any extraordinary swell in the waters of
+the lake. Consequently, when at its ordinary level, boats could pass
+freely under. At this place the princes were accustomed to meet for
+private deliberation.
+
+Cortez was informed of these meetings, and knew too well the effect of
+the counsels there matured, not to wish them broken up. With a boldness
+of design peculiar to himself, he resolved to make Montezuma the
+instrument of their destruction. He represented to that monarch the
+danger to his own interests, of allowing such a junto of able and
+ambitious men to assume the guidance of the public affairs, and
+undertake to direct the movements of the people. "What can they do
+more," he craftily exclaimed, "but assume the reins of government, under
+the specious pretence, which they now falsely set up, that their king is
+deprived of his freedom to act, and therefore no longer a king. If, now,
+you would save your sceptre and your crown, assert at once your imperial
+prerogative--show them you have still the power to speak and to
+act--command them, on pain of your royal displeasure, to lay down their
+arms, desist from their treasonable assemblages, and repair at once to
+your court, to answer for their unloyal designs."
+
+Misled by false representations of the facts, and deceived by the
+specious arguments of the Spaniard, Montezuma despatched a message to
+the lord of Tezcuco, under the great seal of the empire, which it was
+high treason to disregard, commanding him instantly to appear before his
+master, to answer for his irregular and ill-advised proceedings. Cacama
+was too well aware of the real position of Montezuma, and of the
+constraint under which he acted, to give any heed to his mandate.
+
+"Tell my royal master," he replied, "that I am too much his friend to
+obey him in this instance. Let him banish the false-hearted Spaniards
+from his capital, the vipers whom he has taken to his bosom--let him
+ascend once more his imperial throne, not as a vassal, but as the
+rightful lord of all these realms, and Cacama will joyfully lay his
+crown, his life, his all, at his feet. Montezuma is my master when he is
+master of himself. To that dignity we intend to restore him, or perish
+in the attempt."
+
+On the evening of the fourth day after the return of the royal
+messenger, with this spirited reply of Cacama, a light pirogue, guided
+by a single hand, its sole occupant, might have been seen gliding
+silently over the Lake to the water-palace, the chosen rendezvous of the
+patriot princes. By the proud and majestic bearing of the boatman, it
+could be no other than Guatimozin. Securing his skiff by a cord passed
+through the fingers of a gigantic hand, curiously carved from the
+jutting rafters on which the floor of the palace was laid, he ascended
+the steps to the hall, which he found unoccupied and still. He was
+presently joined by Cuitlahua and Cacama, arriving from different
+directions, in the same stealthy manner. Their number was soon increased
+by the arrival of four Tezcucan lords, from whom some important
+communications were expected. Scarcely had they entered the hall, and
+seated themselves, when, a slight noise from without attracting his
+attention, Guatimozin rose, and went towards the door, to ascertain the
+cause.
+
+"It is only the chafing of our pirogues against the piles," said one of
+the new comers--"let us proceed to business."
+
+Guatimozin, true to his own impulses, heeded not the remark. Stepping
+upon the outer battlement, he discerned a slight figure in a canoe,
+moving in the shadow of the building, and apparently seeking
+concealment. Supposing it might be a servant, left by the Tezcucans in
+charge of their boats, he was about returning, when a gentle voice
+whispered his name.
+
+"Who calls Guatimozin?" he replied in a whisper, at the same time
+leaning towards the intruder.
+
+"Beware of the Tezcucans, beware." The voice was Karee's, but the skiff
+shot away, like an arrow, before the Prince had time for further parley.
+
+Returning to the council, he instantly demanded, as if nothing had
+happened, that the plans of the evening should be laid open.
+
+A pictured scroll was then produced by the Tezcucans, representing the
+contemplated movements of the enemy, which they professed to have
+ascertained from authentic sources, and delineating a plan of operations
+against them. Guatimozin, somewhat bewildered by the warning he had
+received, sat down with his friends to the examination of this scroll.
+But, while seemingly intent upon that alone, he contrived to keep a
+close watch upon the movements of the Tezcucans. It was soon evident
+that their thoughts were not wholly engrossed by the business before
+them. A slight noise from without, followed instantly by an exchange of
+significant looks between two of the party, confirmed his suspicions.
+Instantly dashing away the false scroll, and springing to his feet, he
+boldly charged the traitors with a conspiracy; and demanded an immediate
+explanation. Alarmed at this mysterious and premature disclosure of
+their designs, the chief of the party, without venturing a word of
+reply, gave a shrill, piercing whistle, which was immediately responded
+to from without. Finding himself entrapped, and not knowing what numbers
+he might have to contend with, Guatimozin sprang to the door, stretching
+one of the conspirators on the floor as he passed, and succeeded in
+reaching his skiff, just as a band of armed men rushed in from the other
+quarter. Cuitlahua also effected his escape, though not without a
+desperate encounter with one of the advancing party, who attempted to
+arrest his flight.
+
+To seize his antagonist with a powerful embrace, to fling him over the
+parapet into the water, and to plunge in after him, was the work of an
+instant. Swimming under water for some distance, and rising to the
+surface within the shadow of the building, he took possession of the
+nearest canoe, and, following in the wake of Guatimozin, was soon out
+of the reach of danger, or pursuit.
+
+Cacama, unsuspicious of danger, and intent only on the object of their
+meeting, was so engrossed with the scroll, and the plans delineated upon
+it, that he did not fully comprehend the meaning of this sudden
+interruption of their council, until his two friends had disappeared,
+and, in their place, a band of twenty armed men stood before him.
+Resistance was vain. By order of the chief of the conspirators, he was
+seized, securely bound, and carried a prisoner to Tenochtitlan. There,
+though treated with indignity by Cortez, and with severity by Montezuma,
+he maintained a haughty and independent bearing, sternly refusing to
+yield, in the slightest degree, to the insolent dictation of the one, or
+the pusillanimous policy of the other. Cuitlahua was afterwards seized
+in his own palace of Iztapalapan; but, after a short detention, was
+released again, at the instigation of Montezuma.
+
+These outrages, so far from intimidating the people, only excited and
+incensed them the more, and led to other and more desperate assaults
+upon the beleaguered foe, till Cortez, apprehensive of ultimate defeat
+and ruin, applied once more to Montezuma, proposing that he should
+appear in person before his people, and require them to lay down their
+arms, retire to their homes, and leave his guests in peaceable
+possession of the quarters he had voluntarily assigned them.
+
+Arrayed in his royal robes, with the imperial diadem upon his head,
+preceded by his officers of state, bearing the golden wands, the emblem
+of despotic power, and accompanied by a considerable train of his own
+nobles, and some of the principal Castilian cavaliers, the unfortunate
+monarch appeared on the battlements, to remonstrate with his own people
+for their zeal in the defence of his crown and honor, and appease the
+rage of his subjects for insults offered to his own person, and to those
+of his loyal nobles. His presence was instantly recognized by the
+thronging multitudes below and around. Some prostrated themselves on the
+earth in profound reverence, some bent the knee, and all waited in
+breathless silence to hear that voice, which had so long ruled them with
+despotic sway.
+
+With a sad, but at the same time a calm and dignified tone, the monarch
+addressed them, "My children," said he, "why are you here in this fierce
+array. The strangers are my friends. I abide with them as their
+voluntary guest, and all that you do against them is done against me,
+your sovereign and father."
+
+When the monarch declared himself the friend of the detested Spaniard, a
+murmur of discontent and rage arose, and ran through the assembled host.
+Their ungovernable fury burst at once the barrier of loyalty, and vented
+itself in curses upon the king who could, in the hour of their peril,
+thus basely forsake his people, and endeavor to betray them into the
+hands of a treacherous and blood thirsty foe. "Base Aztec!" they cried,
+"woman! coward! go back to the viper friends whom you have taken to your
+bosom. No longer worthy to reign over us, we cast away our allegiance
+for ever." At the same moment, some powerful arm, more fearless than the
+rest, aimed a huge stone at the unprotected head of the king, which
+brought him senseless to the ground. His attendants, put off their
+guard by the previous calm and reverential attention of the crowd, were
+taken by surprise. In vain they interposed their shields and bucklers,
+to protect his person from further violence. The fatal blow was struck.
+The great Montezuma had received his death-wound from the hand of one of
+his own subjects, who, but a moment before, would have sacrificed a
+hundred lives, had he possessed them, to shield the person of his
+monarch from violence and dishonor.
+
+The effect of this unexpected catastrophe seemed equally appalling to
+both the belligerent parties. The Aztecs, struck aghast at their own
+sacrilegious deed, dispersed in sorrow and shame to their homes; while
+the Spaniards felt that they had lost their only remaining hold upon the
+forbearance and regard of a mighty people, whose confidence they had
+shamefully abused, and whose altars and houses they had wantonly
+desecrated. It was a season of agonizing suspense. To retreat from their
+post, and abandon the conquest which they once imagined was nearly
+achieved, might be as disastrous as it would be humiliating. To remain
+in their narrow quarters, surrounded with countless thousands of
+exasperated foes, on whom they must be dependent for their daily
+supplies of food, seemed little better than madness. To the proud spirit
+of the haughty Castilian, the alternative was scarcely less to be
+dreaded than martyrdom. It was manifestly, however, the only resource,
+and he resolved to evacuate the city.
+
+Meanwhile, active hostilities had been temporarily suspended. The
+unhappy Montezuma, smitten even more severely in heart than in person,
+refused alike the condolence of his friends and the skill of the
+Castilian surgeon. Tearing off the bandages from his wounds, "leave me
+alone," he cried, "I have already outlived my honor and the affection
+and confidence of my people. Why should I look again upon the sun or the
+earth. The one has no light, the other no flowers for me. Let me die
+here. I feel indeed that the gods have smitten me, when I fall by the
+hand of one of my own people."
+
+In this disconsolate mood, the spirit of Montezuma took its flight. In
+vain did the Castilian general endeavor to suppress, for a time, the
+tidings of his death. The loud wailing of his attendants, would have
+published it far and wide among the thousands of affectionate hearts,
+that listened for every sound that issued from the palace, if they had
+not, unknown to the Spaniards, established a kind of telegraphic signal,
+by means of which they communicated to the priests on the great
+Teocalli, daily reports of the progress of his disease. When the sad
+signal was given, announcing the solemn fact, that the great Montezuma
+had laid down his honors and his troubles together, it was responded to
+by the mournful tones of the great drum of the temple, by ten measured
+muffled strokes, conveying the melancholy intelligence to every dwelling
+in Tenochtitlan.
+
+The breathing of that populous city was now one universal wail, that
+seemed to penetrate the very heavens. Partly from a sincere regard for
+the fallen monarch, and partly from the hope that he might thus
+conciliate the good will of his afflicted subjects, Cortez directed his
+remains to be placed in a splendid coffin, and borne in solemn
+procession, by his own nobles, to his palace, that it might be interred
+with the customary regal honors. It was received by his people with
+every demonstration of affectionate joy and respect. Conveyed with great
+pomp to the castle of Chapoltepec, followed by an immense train of
+priests, nobles, and common people, it was interred amid all the
+imposing ceremonies of the Aztec religion. His wives and children,
+frantic with grief, gathered around those hallowed remains, and
+testified, by all those tender and delicate tokens which seem the
+natural expression of a refined feminine sorrow, their profound sense of
+the inestimable loss they had sustained.
+
+By one of those singular coincidences, which tend so strongly to confirm
+the too easy credulity of the superstitious, and give an unnatural
+emphasis to the common accidents of life, it was the festival of the new
+moon, the very day on which Montezuma had promised Tecuichpo that he
+would join the household circle at Chapoltepec, that his lifeless
+remains were borne thither, in the solemn funereal procession.
+
+"Alas! my father," she cried, "is this the fulfilment of that only
+promise which sustained my sinking courage in the hour of separation?"
+She said no more. The more profound the sorrow, the fewer words it has
+to spare. "The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ BRIEF REIGN OF CUITLAHUA--EXPULSION OF THE
+ SPANIARDS--GUATIMOZIN CHOSEN EMPEROR--HIS MARRIAGE
+ WITH TECUICUPO.
+
+ ~Grief follows grief. The crowned head
+ So late the nation's hope, is laid
+ Low in the dust.~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ ~Defeat and triumph, tears and smiles,
+ Life, death, true glory and the depths of shame,
+ The funeral pall and the pure bridal robe,
+ In close proximity--~
+
+
+The sacred dust restored to its native earth, and the last hallowed
+rites performed over the sepulchre of the departed, the thoughts of the
+people were immediately turned to the succession. All eyes were fixed on
+Cuitlahua, the noble brother of Montezuma, whose intrepid spirit, and
+deadly hatred of the intruding Spaniards, accorded with the now
+universal sentiment of the nation. He was elected, without a dissenting
+voice, by the grand council of the nobles. Accepting, with alacrity, the
+post of responsibility and danger, he was immediately inaugurated and
+crowned, with all the gorgeous rites, and imposing ceremonies which a
+pagan priesthood delight to throw around every important event, in which
+their holy influence is necessarily involved.
+
+During the progress of these mournful and exciting events, the rigors of
+the siege had not been materially relaxed, though all active hostilities
+had been suspended. They were now to be renewed with tenfold energy,
+under the lead of their warlike monarch, who had often led the armies of
+Anahuac to victory, and who had never known defeat.
+
+When the Castilian general was informed that the heroic Cuitlahua had
+been placed on the throne of Montezuma, and was about to take the field
+in person, he perceived the necessity of adopting prompt and decided
+measures. The retreat had already been resolved on. It was now to be put
+in execution, and that, without delay. As it was the custom of the
+Aztec, to suspend all hostilities during the night, Cortez determined to
+avail himself of that season to make his escape. Accordingly, every
+thing being made ready for the departure, and the city being hushed in a
+seemingly profound repose, the gates were thrown open, and the little
+army, with its long train of Indian allies, sallied stealthily forth,
+not to the stirring notes of drum or trumpet, but with hushed breath and
+a cautious tread, ill accordant with the haughty bearing, and vaunting
+air, with which they had hitherto attempted to lord it over the proud
+metropolis of Anahuac.
+
+But, though quiet, the sagacious and determined Aztec was wide awake. He
+had anticipated this stealthy movement of his pent up foe, and resolved
+that he should not thus escape the snare into which his own audacious
+insolence had drawn him. The last files of the retreating army had not
+yet passed out from their entrenchments, when a long loud blast from the
+horn of the great Teocalli, stirred the city to its utmost borders,
+calling out the mighty host, who had slept upon their arms, eager for
+the summons which should bring them once more to an engagement with
+their foe.
+
+Confident as the Spaniard was in the overwhelming power of his cavalry
+and artillery, he preferred rather to make good his retreat, while he
+could, than to show his prowess in these perilous circumstances. The
+hoarse distant murmurs which fell upon their ears at every street as
+they passed, indicated too plainly the mustering of a mighty host, which
+soon came rushing in upon them from all quarters, like the swelling
+surges of a stormy sea, each higher and more terrible than that which
+preceded. They fell upon the flying foe with the ferocity of tigers,
+about to be disappointed of their prey. From every lane and alley, and
+from the roof of every house, they pelted them with ceaseless vollies of
+stones. They grappled with them, man to man, reckless of life or limb,
+so that they could maim or destroy an enemy.
+
+Alvarado, with a portion of the cavalry, brought up the rear of the
+retreating army, in order to repel, with an occasional charge upon the
+enemy's ranks, those furious onsets which might have overwhelmed the
+small body of Spanish infantry, or the unmailed and lightly armed
+Tlascalan allies. The cavalier and his horse, encased in armor of proof,
+could better cope with the weapons and missiles of their assailants,
+while they often turned upon them, with a fierce and irresistible
+charge, trampling hundreds in the dust, and mowing down whole ranks on
+this side and that, with their trenchant broadswords.
+
+In this manner the fugitives defiled through the great southern avenue,
+and came out upon the grand causeway, by which they had twice entered
+the city. Here they were met by new and fresh squadrons of the enemy,
+thronging the sides of the dike in their light canoes, and showering
+down arrows thick as hail upon the advancing column. Sometimes keeping
+upon the causeway, they would grapple each with his man, and drag him
+off into the water, to be picked up by those in the canoes, and hurried
+off to a terrible and certain fate, on the great altar of their War-god.
+Their numbers increased every moment, till the lake was literally alive
+with them.
+
+At length the advancing column was brought to stand; while a cry of
+despair from the van revealed the fearful position in which they stood
+in the midst of their implacable foes. The bridges which intersected the
+dike had been removed by order of the Emperor. They had now reached the
+first opening thus made in the causeway. A sudden shout from the myriads
+of Aztec warriors that hung about them on all sides, told at once their
+own wild triumph, and the awfully perilous position of their enemy.
+Crowded together on a narrow causeway, in ranks so close as to render
+their arms and their weapons almost entirely useless--arrested in front
+by a wide chasm which it was impossible to pass--their retreat cut off
+in the rear, by the living masses that blocked up every avenue, and
+pressed them forward upon the crowded ranks of their comrades--assailed
+on both sides from the water, through the whole length of the closely
+compacted column--while all these dangers were enhanced a hundred-fold
+by the darkness of the night--there seemed no possibility of escape for
+one of that brave host.
+
+Cortez was with the principal part of the cavalry in the centre of the
+column, so wedged in by the compacted mass of his own forces, as to be
+quite unable either to advance or retreat, without trampling them under
+his feet, or crowding them off the causeway. He comprehended in a moment
+the perilous position he was in. But such was the utter confusion and
+dismay of the whole army, and such the horrid din of clashing arms, and
+the yet more horrid yells of the savage foe, that he in vain attempted
+either to direct or encourage his men. His voice was drowned in the
+uproar.
+
+Sandoval, one of his bravest and most trusty officers, who led the van,
+with a few other cavaliers as bold as himself, resolved to push forward
+at any personal hazard, rather than stand still to perish in one
+confused mass, dashed their steeds into the water, and made for the
+other side of the gap. Some succeeded in effecting a landing, while
+others, with their horses, perished in the attempt, or fell into the
+hands of the watchful boatmen. The first movement being thus made, an
+impetus was given to the moving column from behind, that drove the front
+ranks, _nolens volens_, into the breach. By far the greater part sank to
+rise no more, or were picked up by the Aztecs, and hurried away to a far
+more terrible death. At length the breach was filled up by the bodies of
+the dead, and the baggage and artillery which occupied the centre, so
+that the rear had a clear passage over the fatal chasm.
+
+A second and a third breach was yet to be passed. It was accomplished as
+before, only by making a bridge of the bodies of one half, for the other
+half to walk upon. Meanwhile the enemy hung upon flank and rear, with
+unappeasable rage, striking down and picking up vast numbers of victims,
+until, when the last breach was cleared, and a footing gained upon
+terra-firma, there was scarce a remnant left of the gallant band that
+entered upon that fatal causeway. The iron-hearted Cortez was so
+overcome with the sight of his shattered band, and the absence of so
+many brave comrades, when the morning light appeared, that he sat down
+upon a rock that overlooked the scene of desolation, and gave vent to
+his emotions in a flood of tears.
+
+Had the Mexicans followed up this success by falling upon the broken
+dispirited remnant of the Castilian army, they would probably have
+vanquished and destroyed them to a man. They were suffered, however, to
+proceed unmolested for several days, until their strength and spirits
+were somewhat recruited. Then, though attacked by immensely superior
+numbers, they succeeded in putting them to rout.
+
+The new Emperor, Cuitlahua, having signalized his accession to the
+throne by the almost total destruction of the formidable foe, who had
+spread the terror of his arms far and wide through all the realms of
+Anahuac, proceeded to fortify his capital and kingdom against another
+invasion. The dikes and canals were thoroughly repaired, the walls were
+strengthened and extended, the army enlarged and improved in discipline
+by some of the lessons which so able a general, was not slow to learn
+from the Spaniards. The immense treasures they had drawn from the
+munificent Montezuma, and which, in the disasters of that melancholy
+night, they had been compelled to leave behind, were all recovered and
+expended in these works of defence. Their arms, too, were gathered up,
+and served to improve and render more effective many of the more
+primitive weapons of the Aztecs. In the midst of these wise and
+patriotic efforts to guard against the probable return of the Spaniards,
+Cuitlahua was seized with a loathsome disease, which in a few days
+brought him to the grave, after a brief reign of four months.
+
+This was a terrible blow to the nation. It was felt throughout all the
+borders of Anahuac, as the severest frown of their gods. But partially
+recovered from the shock occasioned by the death of Montezuma, they were
+now beginning to feel their hopes renewed, and their courage reviving,
+under the bold and decided measures, and the signal successes of their
+new Emperor. He was the idol of the army. His intrepid bravery, his high
+military talents, his unyielding patriotism, and deadly hatred of the
+white men, had secured for him the confidence of all the wisest and best
+men of the realm, so that, with one heart and one voice, they rallied
+around his standard, assured that, under his energetic sway, the ancient
+glory and pre-eminence of the Aztec crown would be not only ably
+asserted, but effectually re-established.
+
+His fall, like a mighty earthquake, shook the empire to its centre. For
+a moment it seemed as if all was lost--hopelessly, irretrievably lost.
+The long funereal wail, that swelled up from every dwelling and every
+heart in that devoted land, seemed like the expiring groan of a world.
+But it was only for a moment. The first shock past, they found
+themselves still standing, though among ruins. Their land, their
+temples, their dwellings, still remained. Their wise and experienced
+counsellors were all in their midst. Their host of armed men were still
+at their post, unbroken, undivided, unappalled. The imperial mantle had
+not fallen to the earth.
+
+As by immediate direction from heaven, all eyes were turned to
+Guatimozin. He was nephew to the last two monarchs, and though only a
+young man, had distinguished himself both in the council and in the
+field. He had uniformly opposed the admission of the Spaniards to the
+capital. He had been prominent in all the recent attacks upon their
+quarters, and had especially signalized himself in the terrible
+overthrow of the disastrous night of their retreat. He had all the
+coolness and intrepidity of a veteran warrior, with all the fire and
+impetuosity of youth. He was about twenty-five years of age, of an
+elegant commanding figure, and so terrible in war that even his
+followers trembled in his presence.
+
+The young prince felt the extreme difficulty of the crisis, but did not
+shrink from the arduous and perilous post assigned him. With a prudence
+and circumspection, only to have been expected from one long accustomed
+to the cares and perplexities of government, he set himself to fortify
+every assailable point, and to prepare for the worst that might arise,
+in the event of another invasion. The works commenced during the brief
+reign of Cuitlahua were carried forward to their completion. By means of
+regular couriers and spies, a constant communication was kept up with
+all parts of the country. The movements of the Spaniards were narrowly
+watched, and their supposed designs frequently reported to the Emperor.
+Nothing was omitted which a sagacious and watchful monarch could do or
+devise, to make ready for a severe and protracted contest, in whatever
+form it might come.
+
+Thus established on the throne, and strengthened against a sudden
+surprise, the ardent young monarch repaired to Chapoltepec, where the
+bereaved household of Montezuma still remained, in sad but peaceful
+seclusion, and claimed the hand of the fair Princess Tecuichpo. Her
+retiring disposition would have preferred a humbler and more quiet
+station. She had seen enough of the agitations and burdens of a crowned
+head; enough of the gaudy emptiness of life in a palace, and longed to
+hide herself in some sweet, sequestered spot, away from the noisy parade
+and anxious bustle of a court, where her own home would be all her
+world.
+
+"Oh! that that crown had fallen on some other head," she exclaimed.
+"Though there is not another in Anahuac so worthy to wear it, not one
+who would so well sustain its ancient glory, yet I would not that _you_
+should bear the heavy burden, or be exposed to that desolating storm
+that is gathering over our devoted capital and throne."
+
+"Said I not, my beloved, that I would yet lead you back in triumph to
+the royal halls of your ancestors? I have come to redeem my pledge.
+Shrink not from a station which no other can so well adorn. Rather, far
+rather would I, if I could, retire with you to the quiet shades of
+private life, and find a home in some sweet glen among the mountains,
+than wear the crown and claim the homage of a world. But, my sweet
+cousin, the crown _must_ be defended, the throne _must_ be sustained
+against the insolent pretensions of these strangers. And _I_ must do my
+part in the defence. I dare not, either as monarch or as subject,
+withhold myself from this great work. If I perish, I fall in the service
+of my country and her altars. And the higher the station I hold, the
+greater the service I render--the heavier the burden I bear, the
+brighter the honors I shall win. As well perish on the throne, as
+fighting at its foot. I should be unworthy of the daughter of Montezuma,
+if I held any thing too dear to sacrifice on the shrine of my country."
+
+"Noble Guatimozin, my heart is yours--my life is devoted only to you.
+Lead me where you will, so that I can share your burdens, and lighten
+your cares, and not prove unworthy of such a father and such a lord. But
+you forget that mine is a doomed life, that oracles and omens, signs and
+presages, have all conspired against me from my birth."
+
+"Nay, my love, it is you that forget, not I. For the very oracles and
+omens that foreshadowed for you a clouded morning, promised with equal
+distinctness a bright and glorious evening. The tempestuous morning is
+passed. The glorious mid-day and the golden evening are yet to come."
+
+"You are quite too fast, I fear, my brave cousin, it was only the
+evening that was to have light. The sunset hour of life was to be
+clear. But what, my dear Guatimozin, what do you suppose that light is
+to be? and whence shall it come?"
+
+"What _can_ it be, but to restore, in your own person and family, the
+disputed pre-eminence of the Aztec dynasty, the tarnished glory of its
+crown. Rely upon it, my gentle cousin, _that_ is your destiny. The timid
+dove of Chapoltepec shall be transformed to the royal eagle of
+Tenochtitlan."
+
+"That cannot be. I rather fear that the deep cloud of my doom will
+overshadow and darken your life. Better far that I should suffer and
+perish alone."
+
+"It _must_ be, Tecuichpo, it shall be. Have not the gods given you to
+me? Have they not made me the defender of the Aztec throne? How then can
+you doubt that they call _you_ to share and adorn it?"
+
+"Oh! my lord! those terrible omens--they are but half fulfilled, and the
+promised light is yet far in the distance. Could I be sure that you
+would share that light with me----."
+
+"Come then with me to the palace. It will be all light for _me_ when
+_you_ are there, and sure I am that time will re-interpret those sad
+omens for you, and turn them all to sunshine."
+
+Suddenly the palace of Chapoltepec was changed from a house of mourning
+to a house of feasting. The nuptial rites of the youthful Emperor with
+the beautiful princess, were celebrated with great pomp. The festivities
+continued through several days, and were honored by the presence of all
+the nobility of the empire. The most costly entertainment was provided
+for the numerous guests. The most munificent royal largesses were
+bestowed upon the priests, and upon those who took a prominent part in
+the grand ceremonies, and gifts of great value lavishly distributed
+among all the inferior attendants. The brilliant and odoriferous
+treasures of the royal gardens, and of the chinampas of the great lake
+were exhausted in adorning the halls and chambers of the palace. The
+refined taste, and exquisite invention of Karee was every where
+apparent. The place, on the day of the nuptials, might have been taken
+for the realm and palace of Flora. The very air was redolent of the
+incense of flowers, which brightened the day with their bloom, and of
+the odoriferous gums, whose blaze extended the reign of day far into the
+realms of night.
+
+It was a national festival, a season of universal rejoicing. The people
+now believed that their days of darkness and temporary depression were
+passed, and that all the power and glory of the days of Montezuma would
+be restored, under those happy auspices which made his favorite daughter
+a sharer of his throne. The priests sanctioned and confirmed this
+belief, to the utmost of their power and influence, giving it out, with
+that oracular force and dignity, which they so well knew how to assume,
+that such was the true interpretation of all the singular predictions
+and presages, which intimated that the life of the princess would close
+with unusual splendor. In this manner, they encouraged the hopes of the
+nation, confirmed its allegiance to its new Emperor, and united all its
+forces in a solid phalanx of resistance to every foreign encroachment.
+
+When these ceremonies were concluded, and the imperial pageant passed
+from Chapoltepec to the capital, there was a new and still more
+imposing display of the reverence and loyalty of this singular people,
+and of the more than oriental magnificence with which they sustained the
+splendors of royalty. The road, through the entire distance, was swept,
+sprinkled, and strewed with flowers. The elite of the army, and the
+nobility in the gayest costumes, formed a brilliant and numerous escort,
+accompanied with flaunting banners, and every species of spirit-stirring
+music then known to Aztecs. The imperial cortege, consisting of a long
+array of magnificent palanquins, with their gorgeous canopies of
+feather-work, all a-blaze with gold and jewels, borne on the shoulders
+of princes and nobles, occupied the centre of the grand procession.
+Those of the Emperor and Empress, which moved side by side, were
+distinguished by the exceeding costliness and beauty of their
+decorations, and by the superior height of their canopies, whose sides
+and ends curved gracefully to a point in the centre, about three feet
+above the cornice, which was surmounted by the imperial diadem of
+Mexico. These were followed by the queen mother, and other members of
+the royal household, conveyed in a style but little inferior to the
+first. This cortege was immediately preceded and followed by all the
+priests and prophets of the nation, in their splendid pontificals, and
+bearing the showy insignia of their various orders. An immense train of
+the most respectable citizens, merchants, mechanics, artizans,
+husbandmen, and men of every honorable profession brought up the rear.
+They were scarcely less gay and brilliant in their costume than the
+escort and immediate attendants of the monarch, though somewhat less
+uniform in the style of their decorations. The road, through its entire
+length, was flanked by women and children, young men and maidens, in
+their gala dresses, with baskets and chaplets of flowers, which they
+continually showered upon the path, in front of the royal palanquins,
+thus renewing, at every step of its progress, the floral carpet, whose
+freshness and beauty the long escort had trampled out. Ever and anon a
+shout would go up from that vast multitude, so loud and long, that its
+echoes, reverberated along the mountain walls that shut in that
+beautiful valley from the great world, would be heard for many a league
+around. Then, from some little group of trained chanters, a song of
+right loyal welcome would burst forth, accompanied with showers of
+roses, and followed by a chorus from thousands of sweet voices--
+
+ Welcome! welcome! warrior, king--
+ Thrice welcome with the prize you bring.
+ Star of Montezuma's line,
+ O'er the empire, rise and shine!
+ Flower of Montezuma's race
+ Return, thy father's halls to grace!
+ Welcome, thrice welcome, mighty one!
+ The nation's heart shall be thy throne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ FESTIVITIES AT THE COURT OF GUATIMOZIN--THE NEW HYMENEAL
+ VOW.
+
+ ~Heaven gave to Adam one, and so proclaimed
+ Her full equality to man. He who
+ Can ask for more, knows not the worth of one,
+ And so deserves not any--~
+
+
+The imperial court of Tenochtitlan was now again the radiant centre of
+attraction to the confederated and tributary nations of Anahuac. The
+terror of Guatimozin's arm was even more dreaded than that of Montezuma.
+He was a mighty man of valor, of that impetuous courage, and that bold
+directness of action, which executes at a blow the purposes and plans,
+which, with common minds, would require time and deliberation. He was at
+the same time of a generous magnanimous disposition, open, frank,
+unsuspecting, and won the affectionate regard, as well as the prompt
+unquestioning obedience of his people. He had too much good sense, and
+too wise a regard to the dignity of those who should attend upon the
+person of majesty, to require of his nobles, the officers of his court
+and household, those humiliating attentions which were exacted by
+Montezuma. He saw that the only effect of such exactions was to weaken
+and effeminate the character of some of his greatest chieftains,
+reducing them from proud and powerful friends to fawning cringing
+slaves. They were no longer shrouded in the sombre _nequen_, as they
+entered the royal presence, nor did they go barefoot, with their eyes
+cast down to the earth, when they bore the monarch in his luxurious
+palanquin. Arrayed in all their costly finery, with golden or silver
+sandals, and with a bold, manly, cheerful bearing, as if they gloried in
+the precious treasure which it was their privilege, more than their
+duty, to protect and to care for, the imperial palanquin seemed rather
+their trophy than their burden, which they were far more ready to bear,
+than their master was to occupy. He was too active and stirring a
+spirit, to submit often to such a luxurious conveyance. He was ever in
+the midst of his chiefs, consulting and acting for the public good. He
+freely discussed with them the great measures of defence, which he put
+in progress, and evinced the remarkable and rare good sense, to adopt
+wise and politic suggestions, however humble the source from which they
+emanated, and to change his opinion at once when it was shown to be
+wrong. He superintended, in person, the repairing and enlarging of the
+fortifications, and the improvement of the tactics and discipline of the
+army. By a frugal expenditure of the vast revenues of the crown, and a
+careful preservation of the treasures left by his predecessors, he
+accumulated an amount more than equal to the exigencies of a long and
+wasting struggle with all the combined foes of the realm.
+
+Meanwhile, the gay saloons of the palace of Montezuma were gayer than
+they had ever been. For a brief season, the clouds that had so long hung
+over the fate of the lovely Tecuichpo seemed to be dissipated. The skies
+were all bright above her, and every thing around her wore a cheerful
+and promising aspect. Attracted by her resplendent beauty, the
+unaffected ease and graciousness of her manners, and the queenly
+magnificence of her court, the youth, beauty, wit, talent and chivalry
+of the nation, gathered about her, and made her life a perpetual
+gala-day, rivalling in brilliancy and effect the best days of the gayest
+courts in Europe.
+
+Conspicuous among the gay multitude that flitted about the court, was
+Nahuitla, Prince of Tlacopan, a young chief of the Tepanecs. He was just
+ripening into manhood, of an uncommonly lithe and agile frame,
+exceedingly fair and graceful, and gifted with unusual powers of
+intellect. He was one of the rarest geniuses of the age, and astonished
+and amused the court with the variety and beauty of his poems, and other
+works of taste. Nor did his intellectual accomplishments exceed his
+heroism and loyalty. Guatimozin had not an abler or more devoted
+chieftain in all his realm. It was he who fought side by side with the
+Emperor in all his after conflicts, endured with him the horrors of the
+wasting siege and painful captivity which followed, and finally shared
+his cruel and shameful martyrdom, at the hands of the then
+terror-stricken and cowardly Cortez, declaring with his last breath,
+that he desired no better or more glorious lot, than to die by the side
+of his lord.
+
+Nahuitla, like all good knights and brave soldiers, to say nothing of
+true poets, had a heart warmly susceptible of tender impressions, and
+could not resist the bright eyes and witching smiles, that illuminated
+the saloons and gardens of the imperial palace. Promiscuous flirtation
+was less hazardous in Tenochtitlan than in most of the capitals of
+Christendom. The wealthy nobles being allowed to marry as many wives as
+they could support, the young prince could win the affections of all the
+bright daughters of the valley, without at all apprehending a suit for
+breach of promise, or a conspiracy against his own life, or that of his
+favorite, by some disappointed rival. How many conquests he made in one
+brief campaign, does not appear in the chronicles of the day. Atlacan, a
+princess of Tezcuco, was his first trophy. She was very fair and highly
+gifted, resembling in many points of person and character, the guardian
+genius of the young Empress, the talented Karee.
+
+At his first encounter with the Tezcucan princess, Nahuitla was deeply
+impressed with a peculiar expression of thoughtfulness, shading a
+brilliantly beautiful countenance, and imposing a kind of constrained
+awe upon the stranger. This shadow gradually disappeared upon a further
+acquaintance, till the whole face and person were so lighted up with the
+fire of her genius and wit, that it seemed as if invested with a
+supernatural halo. Their intercourse was a perfect tournament of wit,
+and their brilliant sallies and sparkling repartees, were the theme of
+universal admiration.
+
+The princess Atlacan was always attended by a very prudent, watchful,
+anxious chaperone, of a fair exterior, and pleasing manners, who had
+passed the meridian of life, and begun to wane into the cool of its
+evening. She had also a brother, Maxtli, considerably older than
+herself, who, from a two-fold motive, seemed to delight in disappointing
+her expectations, and thwarting her plans. He was a cold, mercenary,
+selfish man, who sought only his own aggrandizement. The princess was a
+special favorite of her father, who was a prince of the highest rank,
+and nearly related to the reigning king of Tezcuco. She had already
+received many substantial proofs of parental partiality, which her
+avaricious brother would fain have claimed for himself. Her brilliant
+qualities and growing influence made her an object of jealousy, as
+seeming to stand in the way of his own preferment. He had used every
+exertion to dispose of her in marriage to some of her numerous suitors,
+and had particularly advocated the cause of a wealthy young merchant of
+Cholula, who rejoiced in the euphonous name of Xitentloxiltlitl, from
+whom Maxtli had received large presents of gold and jewels.
+
+Atlacan despised the merchant, who fondly imagined that his gold could
+purchase any jewel in the realm. She would not listen to his proposals.
+It was not pride of family, for in Anahuac, under the Aztec dynasty, the
+merchant was a man of note, scarcely inferior to the proudest noble. But
+the merchant was _only_ a merchant, a man of one idea, and that was
+gold, without refinement, without sentiment, without heart, like the
+majority of the same class of mere money mongers all the world over.
+
+Maxtli was enraged by his sister's refusal of this alliance, which, if
+it had been consummated, he would have made subservient to his own
+interests. He determined, from mere revenge, to throw obstacles in the
+way of her alliance with the gifted prince of Tlacopan. The annoyances
+he invented, and the frequent prudential interposition of her cautious
+chaperone, who was in the pay of Maxtli, made her position rather a
+difficult one, and often put her disposition to the severest test. It
+chanced, one lovely evening, that the lovers had stolen a march upon
+both their tormentors, and found, in the royal gardens, a few moments of
+that unwatched uninterrupted conference, which only those in the same
+delicate relation, at the same period of life, know how to appreciate.
+Their absence from the saloons was soon noticed. The duenna was severely
+censured, and sent in pursuit of the fugitive. Karee, who was in the
+secret of the escape, led her a long and wearisome chase, through the
+numberless halls and corridors of that immense pile, and finally left
+her, at the furthest extremity of the building, to find her way back as
+she could. Then, returning to Maxtli, who could scarce restrain his rage
+that they had so long eluded him--
+
+"My lord," said she, "can you tell me where I shall find your sister? I
+have a message for her, which I can only deliver to her personally."
+
+"I know not," he replied angrily, "but she is probably flirting
+somewhere with that fool fop, the royal bard of Tlacopan. But from whom
+does your message come?"
+
+"That can only be made known to herself. I saw her some time since, in
+the garden, leaning upon the arm of this same royal bard, the only young
+prince in Anahuac worthy of such a jewel."
+
+The prince bit his lip with vexation, and Karee ran off toward the
+garden. In a few moments, the poor old chaperone came blustering along,
+out of breath and out of humor.
+
+"Fie upon the giddy girls of this generation," she exclaimed, "they know
+nothing of propriety. I wonder what would have been thought of such
+actions when _I_ was young!"
+
+"Hasten to the garden," said Maxtli, impatiently, "your hopeful pupil is
+there, and that rhyming fop is with her."
+
+He might as well have sent her to the labyrinth of Lemnos or Crete.
+Covering an immense area, and traversed in every direction by serpentine
+walks, shaded lanes, and magnificent avenues, one might have wandered up
+and down there a week, without finding one who wished to elude pursuit.
+She obeyed his directions, however, and was soon lost in mazes more
+intricate and perplexing than those of the palace.
+
+Presently the truants returned, by a different path from that which
+their pursuer had taken. The princess wore in her bosom a significant
+flower, which she had received and accepted from her admirer. With a
+light and joyous step, he led her through the crowded saloon, and
+presented her to the queen, craving her sanction to the vows they had
+just plighted to each other. Gracefully placing a chaplet of white roses
+and amaranths on their heads, the Empress gave them her blessing.
+Guatimozin, approaching at the same instant, confirmed it with hearty
+good will, and requested that the nuptials might be celebrated at an
+early day, and in his own palace.
+
+So distinguished a favor could not be refused. In the course of the next
+week the solemn ceremonies were performed; with all the imposing pomp of
+the Aztec ritual. A royal banquet was prepared, and the palace resounded
+with joyous revelry and music.
+
+When the officiating priest had uttered the last solemn words which
+sealed the indissoluble bond, Nahuitla stood forth, and publicly avowed
+his belief, that the gods designed only one woman for each man, solemnly
+renounced the old doctrine of polygamy, and pledged to his young bride,
+in the presence of his royal master, and the brilliant throng that had
+witnessed his vows of love and constancy, an undivided heart, and an
+undivided house.
+
+Struck with surprise and admiration at this unexpected scene, and
+impressed with the truth and purity of the sentiments, and the soundness
+of the conclusions, which the brave prince had proclaimed, the Emperor
+rose from his throne, and, with a bland but dignified and solemn air,
+addressed him:--
+
+"You are right, Nahuitla, my brave prince; I feel it in my heart, you
+are right. I feel it in the claim which _your_ Empress and _mine_,
+(looking affectionately at Tecuichpo,) has in the undivided empire of my
+heart, and in that sacred bond of union which is so close, that it
+cannot be shared by another without being broken. In the presence of
+these holy men, and of these my witnessing people, I solemnly subscribe
+to the same pure vow which you have uttered, pledging my whole self, in
+the marriage covenant to this my chosen and beloved queen, even as she
+has pledged her whole self to me. And I ordain the same, as the law of
+this my realm, and binding on all my loyal subjects for ever."[D]
+
+If the noble Guatimozin had been permitted to sway the Aztec sceptre in
+peace, his name would be embalmed in the hearts of all the women of
+Anahuac, and the anniversary of the nuptials of Nahuitla and Atlacan
+would be celebrated, to this day, as the household jubilee of the
+nation.
+
+The conclusion of this festival--the last of the kind that was ever
+celebrated in the halls of Montezuma--was a unique and magnificent
+specimen of Aztec taste and luxury. At a signal from the master of
+ceremonies, the royal garden was suddenly illuminated by a thousand
+torches, borne by as many well trained servants in white livery. They
+were so stationed as to represent, from different points of view, groups
+of bright figures whirling in the mazy evolutions of a wild Indian
+dance. The harmony of their movements, and the picturesque effect of
+their frequent changes of position, was truly wonderful. It seemed more
+like magic than any thing belonging to the ordinary denizens of earth.
+By continually passing and re-passing each other, approaching and
+receding, raising and depressing their torches, the bearers were enabled
+to describe a great variety of fantastic figures. So well did they
+perform their parts, that, to the crowd of spectators from the palace,
+it was a perfect pantomime of light.
+
+At length the dance ended, and the figures of the various groups in
+light, gathering around a high altar, all of fire, seemed waiting for
+some sacred rite to be performed. Presently a tall princely figure was
+seen, approaching with slow and solemn pace, leading a lovely female to
+the altar. The high priest joined their hands in the indissoluble bond,
+and waved his wand of fire over their heads, in token of the divine
+blessing; upon which the dance of the torches was instantly renewed,
+accompanied with strains of the most joyous music, each group breathing
+out its peculiar airs and melodies, while the whole were beautifully
+blended and harmonized by the master spirit of the fete. It seemed like
+the bridal of two angels of light, witnessed and celebrated by all the
+stars and constellations of the celestial spheres.
+
+The sudden extinguishment of these pantomimic stars, revealed to the
+surprised revellers the presence of the dawn, before whose coming the
+stars of every sphere go out, and revelry gives place to the sober
+realities of life.
+
+ [D] If this incident be deemed apocryphal, by the rigid
+ historian, the fable is fully justified by the known state of
+ public sentiment among the Aztecs at this time. Sagahun,
+ according to a note in Prescott, states, that polygamy, though
+ allowed, was by no means generally practised among them; and
+ that the prevailing sentiment of the nation was opposed to it.
+ One of the very few relics of their ancient literature, which
+ were preserved in the general devastation of the conquest, is a
+ letter of advice from a father to his child, on the eve of her
+ marriage, in which he declares that it was the purpose of God,
+ in his grand design of replenishing the earth, to make the
+ sexes equal, and to allow only one wife to each man; and any
+ deviation from this arrangement, was contrary to the plainest
+ laws of nature.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ RETURN OF CORTEZ--SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN--BRAVERY AND
+ SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS.
+
+ ~What will not man endure, and woman too,
+ To guard the hearth and altar? Give to each
+ A thousand lives, and hedge them close around
+ With all that makes it martyrdom to die,
+ And agony to suffer--freely still,
+ With all their wealth of blood, and love, and tears,
+ They'll yield them every one, and dying, wish
+ They had a thousand more to give--~
+
+
+Guatimozin was kept constantly informed of the preparations and
+movements of the Spaniards. His faithful spies followed them in all
+their marches, and found no difficulty in divining their general
+intentions and plans, as their courage revived on their arrival at
+Tlascala, and still more on the accession of a large reinforcement of
+Spaniards at Vera Cruz. Cortez was now as resolute as ever in his
+purpose of conquest, and determined to regain his position in the
+capital, or perish in the attempt. He went with the sword in one hand
+and the olive-branch in the other, if that can be called an
+olive-branch, which admits of no answer but submission, and offers no
+alternative but slavery or death. With a large increase of cavalry and
+artillery, an ample supply of ammunition, and a force both of Castilian
+and Indian allies, more than double of that which accompanied him on his
+former expedition, he took up his line of march from the friendly city
+of Tlascala, to cross the mountain barrier that separated him from his
+prey. Previous to his departure, he gave orders for the construction of
+a considerable number of brigantines, under the inspection of
+experienced Spanish shipwrights, conceiving the singular and original
+idea of transporting them, on the shoulders of his men, across the
+mountains, and launching them upon the lake of Tezcuco, to aid him in
+laying siege to the city. His march was unchallenged till he arrived on
+the very shores of the great lake, and stood before the walls of
+Tezcuco.
+
+Here he halted, and sent a message to the governor to throw open his
+gates, and renew his allegiance to the crown of Castile. The messenger
+returned with a request that the Spaniard would delay his entry into the
+city, until the next morning, when he should be prepared to give him a
+suitable reception. Cortez, suspecting that all was not right, ascended
+one of the Teocalli in the neighborhood, to ascertain if any hostile
+movement was contemplated. To his surprise, he saw immense crowds of
+people, thronging the thoroughfares on the other side of the city, and
+going, with as much of their substance as they could carry, towards the
+metropolis. Supposing that the city, when evacuated, would be given up
+to the flames, and that he should thus be cut off not only from
+supplies, but from a place of shelter and retreat, he instantly sent
+forward a strong body of horse, with a battalion of infantry, to arrest
+the fugitives, and to demand an interview with the cacique.
+
+Flight having been resolved upon, and the city having been devoted to
+destruction, as the most effectual annoyance to the Spaniards, no
+preparations were made to resist such a movement as this. The unarmed
+fugitives returned to their homes, in great numbers, and the city, with
+all its abandoned palaces and temples, offered ample accommodations to
+the invaders. The person of the chief was not secured, he having
+effected his escape, with the principal part of his nobles, and all his
+army, to the capital. Cortez, assuming to act in the name of the king of
+Castile, for whom he claimed the sovereignty of all these lands,
+immediately deposed the reigning chief, absolving the people from all
+further allegiance to him, and installed his brother, who was favorable
+to the cause of the Spaniards, in his place.
+
+Thus secured in such commanding quarters, the haughty Castilian surveyed
+the field around him, and prepared himself, with great diligence and
+deliberation, to regain possession of it. The most liberal and
+conciliating overtures were made to the Emperor, if he would peaceably
+acknowledge the sovereignty of Castile, and admit him, as the
+representative of that crown, to the capital. These overtures were
+promptly and scornfully rejected, and every avenue to amicable
+negotiation effectually closed. The people of the country were sternly
+forbidden, on pain of death, from holding any intercourse with the
+strangers, or from administering, in any manner, to their wants. Large
+rewards were offered for captives, and every inducement held out to
+encourage the natives in a resistance, that should admit of no quarter,
+and terminate only in the utter extermination of one of the parties.
+Guatimozin was a man every way adapted to a crisis like this. Of a firm
+indomitable spirit, patient of suffering and of toil, and skilful in all
+the strategy of war and defence, and possessed of the entire confidence
+and affection of his own people, he applied himself to the work of
+self-preservation, with an energy and fertility of resource, which
+scarcely ever, in a righteous cause, fails to ensure success. That he
+was suffered to fail, is one of those inscrutable providences which
+stand frequently out on the page of history, to confound the
+short-sighted sagacity of man, and restrain his too inquisitive desire
+to fathom the counsels and purposes of heaven.
+
+Perceiving that the ground was to be contested, step by step, and that
+not a foot would be yielded but at the point of the bayonet, and the
+mouth of the cannon, Cortez resolved on reducing the smaller towns
+first, and so approaching the capital, by slow degrees, leaving no
+unfriendly territory behind him, to cut off his supplies, or annoy his
+rear. In this manner, after almost incredible hardships, and many severe
+contests, in which his forces were very considerably reduced, he
+succeeded in wresting by violence, or winning by diplomacy, many of the
+tributary cities and districts from their allegiance to the Mexican
+crown. In their attempt upon Iztapalapan, which was led by Cortez in
+person, they were near being entirely overwhelmed by an artificial
+inundation of the city. The great dikes were pierced by the natives, and
+the waters of the lake came pouring in upon them, in torrents, from
+which they made their escape with the utmost difficulty, with the loss
+of all their booty and ammunition, and not a few of their Indian allies.
+The place, however, was reduced to submission. Chalco, Otumba, and many
+other important posts were soon after added to the number of the
+conquered.
+
+This work of subjugation among the tributary provinces and cities, was
+not a little facilitated by the memory of the iron rule of Montezuma,
+and his severe exactions upon all his subjects, to maintain the
+splendors of the imperial palace. They had long felt these exactions to
+be most burdensome and unequal, and had only submitted to them by force
+of the terror of that name, which made all Anahuac tremble. They were,
+therefore, not unwilling to embrace any opportunity to throw off the
+Aztec yoke, when they could do it with the hope of ultimate protection
+from its vengeance. They had not long enough tested the administration
+of Guatimozin, to look for any relief from their burdens under his
+reign. He came to the throne at one of those signal crises in the
+affairs of the empire, which demanded all its resources, both physical
+and pecuniary, and was therefore compelled, for the time, rather to
+increase than diminish their taxes, and make heavier requisitions than
+usual upon their personal services. They were ready for a change of
+masters, and, as is usual in such cases, did not stop to consider
+whether the change might not be rather for the worse than for the
+better. As soon, therefore, as they ascertained that the Spanish power
+was sufficient to protect them against the fury of their old oppressors,
+they rushed to their standard, and arrayed themselves against the brave
+defenders of their native land. The event proved that the rod of iron
+was exchanged for a two-edged one of steel, a natural sovereign of their
+own race, for a worse than Egyptian task-master, and a subjection which
+left undisturbed their ancient customs, and the common relations of
+society, for an indiscriminate slavery which respected neither person
+nor property, and levelled alike the public and private institutions of
+the land.
+
+Meanwhile the brigantines, which had been rapidly progressing at
+Tlascala, were completed. They were thirteen in number. They were first
+put together, and tried upon the waters of the Tahnapan; then taken to
+pieces, and the timbers, with all the tackle and apparel, including
+anchors, transported on the shoulders of the Tlascalan laborers, over
+the hills, and through the narrow defiles of the mountain, a distance of
+sixty miles, and re-constructed within the walls of Tezcuco. To open a
+communication with the lake, it was still necessary to make a canal, a
+mile and a half in length, twelve feet wide, and as many deep. This was
+accomplished in season for launching the little fleet, having eight
+thousand men employed upon it during two months. It was a day of great
+rejoicing and appropriate religious solemnity, when that little squadron
+appeared, with the ensign of Castile floating proudly at each mast head,
+their white sails swelling in the breeze, the smoke of the cannon
+rolling around, and the deep thunder reverberating from every side of
+the distant mountains.
+
+There is, perhaps, no single achievement in the annals of human
+enterprize, more remarkable than this. There is certainly none which
+more clearly shows, or more beautifully illustrates, the daring
+indomitable spirit, and mighty genius, which alone could have achieved
+the conquest of Mexico. Who but Cortez would have conceived of such a
+design? Who but Cortez would have attempted and successfully executed
+it? To construct thirteen vessels of sufficient burthen to sustain the
+weight and action of heavy cannon, and accommodate the men and soldiers
+necessary to navigate and defend them, at a distance of twenty leagues
+from the waters on which they were to swim--to convey them over
+mountains, and through deep and difficult defiles, on the shoulders of
+men, without the aid of any species of waggon, or beast of burden, and
+to do this in the midst of a country, and with the aid of a people,
+where nothing had hitherto been known beyond the primitive bark canoe,
+and where the natural associations, and prevailing superstitions of the
+natives, were totally adverse to his design--to accomplish this alone
+would immortalize any other man. What was the passage of the Alps by
+Hannibal, or by Napoleon, compared to this? Yet, so replete was the
+whole expedition of Cortez with adventures of unparalleled difficulty,
+and achievements of dazzling splendor, that this is but a common event
+in his history, with nothing small or insignificant to place it in
+commanding relief. It was one of the infelicities in the career of this
+wonderful man, that he was continually eclipsing himself, showing an
+originality and power of conception, a fertility of invention and
+resource, and a determination and energy in overcoming difficulties, and
+making occurrences, seemingly the most adverse, bend to his will and
+subserve his designs, which wearies our surprise and admiration, and
+actually exhausts our capacity of astonishment.
+
+Nothing was now wanting to complete the arrangements of the invader for
+laying siege to Tenochtitlan. By the aid of the brigantines, he was able
+to command the entire lake, sweeping away the frail canoes of the
+natives, like bubbles on the surface. All the cities and towns on its
+border had fallen, one after another, into his hands, though not without
+a desperate defence, and frequent and wasting sallies from the foe. The
+metropolis, that beautiful and magnificent gem upon the fair bosom of
+the lake, now stood alone, deserted by all her friends and supporters,
+the object of the concentrated hostility of the foreign invader, the
+ancient enemy, and the recent ally.
+
+In that devoted capital, now so closely and fearfully invested, there
+was a spirit and power fully equal to the awful crisis. As soon as
+Guatimozin perceived, by the movements of his enemy, that the city was
+to be assailed rather by the slow and wasting siege, than by the storm
+of war, he made every possible preparation to sustain himself at his
+post. The aged, the infirm, the sick, and, as far as possible, all the
+helpless among the inhabitants, were sent off among the neighboring
+towns, and country; while all those who were able to do service in the
+army, were brought thence into the city. Provisions were collected in
+great quantities, and all the resources then left to the empire
+concentrated upon one point, that of making an obstinate, unyielding
+defence. In this condition of affairs the siege commenced; a large part
+of the fighting men of the neighboring cities and towns being in the
+capital, preparing to defend it against enemies with whom those cities
+and towns were now in close alliance. Though it thus brought the father
+against the son, and the son against the father, in many instances, it
+did not, in any case, disappoint the confidence of Guatimozin, or
+undermine the loyalty of his troops. There were no deserters from his
+standard. Through all the horrors of that wasting siege, they stood by
+their sovereign, and their capital, as if they knew no other home, no
+other friend.
+
+In vain did the Castilian commander propose terms of accommodation to
+the beleaguered city. The Emperor would not condescend even to an
+interview. His chiefs and his people, whenever they had an opportunity
+to do so, treated every attempt at compromise with utter scorn. They
+derided Cortez upon his disastrous evacuation of the capital on "the
+melancholy night," assuring him that, if he should enter its gates now,
+he would not find a Montezuma on the throne. They taunted their
+Tlascalan allies as women, who would never have dared to approach the
+capital, without the protection of the white men.
+
+Sustained by this spirit, the warlike Mexican did not content himself
+with mere measures of defence. Frequent and desperate sallies were made
+upon the outposts of the enemy, until it seemed as if the hope of the
+noble Guatimozin might possibly be realized, that he might slowly and
+gradually destroy an enemy, whom he could not encounter in a pitched
+battle.
+
+It was not until the last avenue to the surrounding country was cut off,
+by divisions of the invading army, planted upon all the causeways,
+supported in all their movements by the thundering brigantines, that the
+true spirit of the besieged began to show itself. Till then, their
+tables had been plentifully supplied, and their hopes continually
+encouraged by the occasional losses of their enemy, whose numbers were
+too small to admit of much diminution. The priests were unremitting in
+their appeals to the patriotism of the people, and in promises of
+peculiar divine blessings on all who should persevere to the last, in
+defence of their altars and their gods. Guatimozin was ever among his
+people, encouraging them by kind words, and an example of unyielding
+defiance to every advance of the foe. He showed that he was not less the
+father of his people, than their king, suffering the same exposure, and
+enduring the same fatigues with the boldest and hardiest of his
+subjects.
+
+Such was their confidence of ultimate success in the defence of the
+capital, that the splendor and gaiety of the court was little
+diminished, until famine began to stare them in the face. The aqueduct
+of Chapoltepec had been cut off, and there was no longer any supply of
+wholesome water in the city. The dark visions of the lovely queen were
+now renewed. For a brief season, she had been permitted to revel in
+daylight, with scarcely a cloud to darken the sky above her. Suddenly
+that light was obscured. All was gloom and darkness around her. War,
+desolating war hovered once more about the gates of the beloved city.
+Wan faces, and haggard forms began to take the places of the gay, happy,
+spirited multitudes, that so recently thronged the palace. The image of
+her father, insulted by the stranger, murdered by his own people, rose
+to her view. His melancholy desponding look and tone, as he gave way to
+the doom which he felt was sealed upon him, his frequent assurances that
+the white men were "the men of destiny," the heaven appointed
+proprietors and rulers of the land, and that wo would betide all who
+should oppose their pretensions, or offer resistance to their invincible
+arms--all these came up fresh to her thoughts, and filled her with
+sadness. Her own ill-starred destiny too, marked by every possible sign
+and presage, as full of darkness and sorrow--the thought was almost
+overwhelming. Fain would she have severed at once the bond that linked
+her fate with that of Guatimozin, for she felt that he was only sharing
+her doom, and on her account was exposed to these terrible shafts of
+fate. The love of Guatimozin, the faithful devotion of Karee, though
+they soothed in some measure her troubled spirit, could not wholly
+re-assure her, or dissipate the dreadful thought, that all these
+terrible calamities were come upon the nation only as a part of that
+dark doom, for which the gods had marked her out, on her very entrance
+into life.
+
+It was long before the Emperor and his immediate household, were made
+aware of the awful pressure of famine within that devoted city. Watchful
+and observing as he was, the people, with one consent, had contrived to
+keep him in comparative ignorance of the growing scarcity, in order that
+they might be permitted to supply his table, as long as possible, with
+all the necessaries and luxuries of life. So far was this loyal devotion
+carried, that multitudes, both of the chiefs and of the common people,
+were daily in the habit of denying themselves of every thing but what
+was absolutely necessary to sustain life, and sending to the palace
+every article of fresh food, or delicate fruit, which they could obtain
+from their own gardens, or purchase from those of others. This noble
+devotion on the part of his people, was discovered and made known to the
+Emperor by Karee. She was the almoner of the bounty of the queen to
+multitudes of the poor and the sick, in different quarters of the city.
+On one of her errands of mercy, while she was administering to the
+comfort of a poor friend, in the last stages of mortal disease, made
+ten-fold more appalling by the absence of almost every thing that could
+sustain nature in the final struggle, she overheard the conversation of
+a father with his child in the adjoining room.
+
+"Nay, my dear father, you must eat it. Your strength is almost gone, and
+how can you stand among the fighting men, and defend your king and your
+house, when you have eaten nothing for two whole days?"
+
+"My precious child, I shall find something when I go out. But this
+morsel is for you, for I know you cannot live till I come home, if you
+do not eat this. And what will life be worth when you are gone."
+
+"Father, dear father, I cannot eat it. It will do me more good to see
+you eat it, for then I shall be sure you can live another day at least,
+and then, who knows but the gods will send us help."
+
+Karee could listen no longer. Rushing into the apartment whence these
+melancholy sounds proceeded, she beheld the shadow of a once beautiful
+girl leaning on the arm of the pale and wasted figure of a man,
+endeavoring to draw him towards a table on which lay a single morsel of
+dried fruit, which he had brought in for her, it being the only food
+that either of them had seen for two days.
+
+"Take this," said she, offering the sweet child a portion of what she
+had prepared for the invalid, but which she was too far gone to receive,
+"and may it give you both strength till the day of our deliverance." And
+she instantly returned to the death-bed of her friend.
+
+To the famishing group it was like the apparition of an angel, with a
+gift from the gods. The savory mess was readily divided, though the
+affectionate self-denying child contrived to cheat her father into
+receiving a little more than his share, while he tried every effort in
+vain, to persuade her to take the larger half. The wretched pair had not
+had such a feast for many a long week. "Ah!" exclaimed the daughter, as
+she wept over the luxurious repast, "if our dear mother could have had
+such a morsel as this, before she died, to stay her in that last
+dreadful agony."
+
+"Yes, my beloved child," replied the subdued and bitterly bereaved
+father, "but she has gone where there is plenty, and no tears mingled
+with it."
+
+The dried fruit was laid away for the morrow. But the same kind hand
+that relieved them on that day, was there again on the morrow, and on
+every succeeding day, till the city was sacked, and the wretched ghosts
+of its inhabitants given up to an indiscriminate slaughter.
+
+When Guatimozin was made acquainted with this incident, he resolved on
+making another desperate sally, with the whole force of his wasted army,
+in the forlorn hope of breaking through the ranks of the enemy, and
+procuring some subsistence for his famishing people. Having drawn them
+up in the great square, his heart sunk within him, when he saw their
+pale faces and emaciated forms, and contrasted them with the fierce,
+stout, and seemingly invincible host, whom he had so often led into
+battle. But the feeling of despondency gave way instantly to that stern
+fixed purpose, that terrible decision of soul, which is the natural
+offspring of desperation. With a firm voice, he addressed them.
+
+"My brave soldiers, we must not any longer lie still. The enemy is at
+our gates, and we are perishing in our own citadel. Have we not once
+driven them, with a terrible and almost exterminating slaughter, along
+those very causeways which they now claim to occupy and to close up? Are
+they more invincible now than then? Are we less resolute, less fearless?
+By our famishing wives and children, by our desecrated altars and gods,
+let us rush upon them and overwhelm them at once."
+
+The monarch had not yet finished his stirring appeal, when a courier
+rushed in, bringing tidings that the several divisions of the besieging
+army were moving up the causeways, and approaching the city on every
+side.
+
+"They come to their own destruction," said the monarch, bitterly, and
+immediately proceeded to distribute his men, to give them a fitting
+reception. The larger part of the forces were ordered to occupy several
+somewhat retired places, amid the great public buildings in the centre
+of the city, where they should be in readiness to obey the royal signal.
+The remainder were to go out, in their several divisions, to meet and
+skirmish with the advancing foe, doing them as much mischief as
+possible, yet suffering themselves to be driven before them, till they
+were decoyed into the heart of the city. The signal would then be given,
+when every man who could draw a bow, or wield a lance, or throw a stone,
+would be expected to do his duty.
+
+It was a stratagem worthy of Guatimozin, and, in its execution, had well
+nigh overwhelmed the Spaniards, and saved the city. Cortez had appointed
+with the captains of each division of his army to meet in the great
+square of the city. Each one being eager to be first at the goal, they
+followed the retreating Aztecs without consideration, and without making
+any provision for their own retreat. The watchful agents of Guatimozin
+were behind as well as before them; and when they had passed the gates,
+and were pressing up, with all the heat and enthusiasm of a victorious
+army, into the heart of the city, the bridges were taken up in their
+rear, to cut off, if possible, their retreat. When this was effected,
+the fatal horn of Guatimozin blew a long loud blast, from the summit of
+the great Teocalli. In an instant, the retreating Aztecs turned upon
+their pursuers, like tigers ravening upon their prey; while swarms of
+fresh warriors poured in from every lane and street and avenue, rushing
+so fiercely upon the too confident assailants, as to bring them to a
+sudden pause in their triumphant career. At the same moment, the roof of
+every house and temple, along the whole line of their march, was covered
+with men, who poured upon them such a shower of stones that it seemed
+impossible to escape being buried under them. The tide of battle was now
+turned. The too daring invaders were thrown into confusion, and
+compelled to retreat. This they soon found, to their bitter cost, was
+nearly impossible. When it was discovered that the bridges, over which
+they had so recently passed, were removed, the utmost consternation
+prevailed. The heavy cannon were all on board the brigantines, so that
+they were unable, as in former times, to mow down the solid ranks of
+their foes, and break a way for their retreat. Their cavalry was of
+little service, for they could not leap the wide chasms made by the
+removal of the bridges. Cut off in front by the solid masses of warriors
+that blocked up every avenue, and in the rear by these yawning chasms,
+and hemmed in on each side by the massive stone walls of the buildings,
+they could neither protect themselves, nor effectually annoy their
+enemy. They were in imminent danger of perishing ignobly in the ditch,
+without even striking a blow in their own defence.
+
+Fortunately for the invaders, their sagacious and ever-wakeful general
+had anticipated the possibility of such a scene as this, and had taken
+some measures to forestall it. His officers, however, were too
+high-spirited and self-confident to condescend to the cowardly drudgery
+of carrying out his precautionary measures. They thought only of
+victory, and the spoils of the glorious city, which they now regarded as
+their own.
+
+In this fearful dilemma, the genius of Cortez did not desert him. When
+the first shout of battle reached his ears, as he was advancing
+cautiously along the avenue, he instantly conjectured the cause.
+Ordering his own column to halt, and selecting a chosen band of his best
+cavalry, he wheeled about, dashed furiously down the avenue, and put to
+flight the unarmed Aztecs, who were doing the work of destruction for
+him, and had then almost succeeded in tearing away the foundations of
+the great bridge. Making his way through the deserted streets, with the
+speed of the wind, he came round into the other avenue, where one
+division of his army was hemmed in, in the manner above described.
+Charging impetuously upon the gathering crowds of Aztecs, he succeeded
+in forcing his way up to the chasm, where he stood face to face with his
+own troops on the other side. Here, in the midst of a pitiless tempest
+of stones, and darts and arrows, he maintained his stand, while his men,
+with incredible labor, attempted to fill up the chasm.
+
+The work was at length accomplished, though not without the most serious
+loss to Cortez. Some of his bravest officers fell in that merciless
+contest with foes who would neither give nor receive quarter. Many were
+pelted down with the huge stones, that ceased not to rain upon them from
+all the neighboring house tops. Some were taken by the feet as they
+labored to maintain a precarious footing on the slippery causeway, and
+dragged into the canals, either to be drowned in the desperate struggle
+there, or carried off in the canoes to captivity or sacrifice. Cortez
+himself narrowly escaped immolation.
+
+At length, through the indomitable perseverance of the general, the
+breach was so far filled up as to make a practicable passage for the
+troops. A retreat was sounded, and that gallant band, which, a few hours
+before had rushed in with flaunting banners, and confident boastings of
+an easy victory, was glad to escape from the snare into which they had
+fallen, their numbers greatly reduced, their banners soiled and
+tattered, and their expectations of ultimate success terribly shaken.
+They were pursued through all their march by the exulting Aztecs, and
+many a broken head and bruised limb attested the truth of Guatimozin's
+taunting challenge, that the Spaniards, if they entered the capital
+again, would find as many fortresses as there were houses, as many
+assailants as stones in the streets.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+ STRAITNESS OF THE FAMINE--THE FINAL CONFLICT--FLIGHT AND
+ CAPTURE OF GUATIMOZIN--DESTINY FULFILLED.
+
+ ~Death opens every door,
+ And sits in every chamber by himself.
+ If what might feed a sparrow should suffice
+ For soldiers' meals, ye have not wherewithal
+ To linger out three days. For corn, there's none;
+ A mouse, imprisoned in your granaries,
+ Were starved to death.~
+
+
+This shameful defeat was a tremendous blow to the ardent anticipations
+of the conqueror. Many of the timid and the discontented in his own
+ranks availed themselves of the opportunity to create divisions, and
+withdraw from the doubtful contest. The Mexicans, strengthened by the
+spoils of their assailants, and yet more by the new courage which their
+late success infused into every heart among them, immediately commenced
+repairing their works, clearing their canals, and making the most
+vigorous preparations for maintaining the siege. Their priests,
+infuriated with the number of sacrifices which they had been enabled to
+offer to the gods, from the captives of high and low degree taken in the
+conflict, declared with authoritative solemnity, that the anger of the
+gods was now appeased, and that they had promised unequivocally, the
+speedy annihilation of their invading foes. This oracular declaration
+was, by the order of Guatimozin, published in the hearing of the Indian
+allies of his adversary. It was a politic stroke, and, if the oracle had
+not imprudently fixed too early a day for the execution of the predicted
+vengeance, its effect might have been such as to break for ever the
+bonds of that unnatural alliance, and leave the little handful of white
+men, with all their boasted pretensions to immortality, to perish by the
+hands of their own friends.
+
+But why dwell longer upon the appalling details of this miserable siege.
+The day of predicted vengeance arrived, and the Spaniards survived it.
+Their superstitious terror-stricken allies returned to their allegiance.
+By a judicious administration of reward and discipline, of promise and
+threatening, all disaffection was hushed. New measures of offence were
+concerted, with a determination, on the part of the besiegers, to press
+into the city by degrees, securing every step, as they advanced, by
+levelling every building, and filling up every ditch, in their progress,
+till not one stone should be left upon another in Tenochtitlan. This
+terrible resolution was carried into effect. Every building, whether
+public or private, palace, temple, or Teocalli, from which they could be
+annoyed by the indomitable Aztec, was laid waste. The canals were filled
+up and levelled, so as to give free scope for the movements of the
+cavalry and artillery. The beautiful suburbs were reduced to a level
+plain, a dry arid waste, covered with the ruins of all that was dear and
+sacred in the eyes of the Aztec. Slowly, but surely, the Spaniard
+pressed on towards the heart of the city, in which the heroic monarch,
+with his miserable remnant of starving subjects and skeleton soldiers
+were pent up, dying by thousands of famine and pestilence, and yet ready
+to suffer a thousand deaths, rather than yield themselves up to the
+mercy of the foe.
+
+There was now absolutely nothing left, in earth or air, to sustain for
+another day the poor remains of life in the camp of the besieged. Every
+foot of ground had been dug over many times, in quest of roots, and even
+of worms. The leaves and bark had been stripped from every tree and
+shrub, till there was not a green thing on all those terraces, which
+were once like the gardens of Elysium. The dead and the dying lay in
+heaps together, for there was neither life nor spirit in any that
+breathed, to do the last office for the departed. Pestilence was in all
+the air, so that many even of the besieging army snuffed it in the
+breeze that swept over the city, and fell victims to the very fate which
+their cruel rapacity was inflicting on the besieged.
+
+Famine, cruel, gnawing famine, was in the palace of the Emperor, as well
+as in the hovel of his meanest subject. That noble prince quailed not
+before the fate that awaited himself. Had he stood alone in that
+citadel, with power in his single arm to keep out the foe, he would have
+stood till death, in whatever form, released him from his post, and
+spurned every suggestion of compromise or quarter. But the scenes of
+utter distress which every where met his eye--the haggard ghosts of his
+friends, flitting restlessly before him, or crawling feebly and with
+convulsive moans among the upturned earth, in the forlorn hope of
+finding another root--the dead--the dying--the more miserable living
+longing for death, and glaring with their horribly prominent, but glazed
+and expressionless eye-balls on each other--this, this was too much for
+the heart of Guatimozin.
+
+"What!" he exclaimed, "shall I submit to see my last friend die before
+my eyes, and my own sweet wife perish of hunger, only to retain for
+another hour the empty name of king. No. I will endure it no longer. I
+will go to Malinche, alone, and unaccompanied, and offer my life for
+yours. He only wants our gold. Let him find that if he can. He will
+spare _you_, and wreak all his vengeance on my head."
+
+A faint murmur ran through the crowd, and then a feeble expiring "No,
+never," burst feebly from many lips. One, a little stronger than the
+rest, arose and said--
+
+"Most gracious sovereign, think not of us. We only ask to live and die
+with and for you. And the more cruel the death, the more glorious the
+martyrdom for our country and our gods. Trust not Malinche."
+
+The speaker fainted and fell, with his fist clenched, and his teeth set,
+as if he felt that he held the last foe in mortal conflict.
+
+"No, never--trust not Malinche--let us die together," was echoed by many
+sepulchral voices, that seemed more like the groans of the dead, than
+the remonstrances of the living.
+
+"Trust not Malinche, remember my father," whispered the fond, devoted,
+faithful, affectionate wife, now the shadow of her former self,
+beautiful in her queenly sorrow, sublime in her womanly composure.
+
+Guatimozin, the proud, the lofty chief, whose heart had never known
+fear, whose soul had never been subdued, bowed his head upon the bosom
+of his wife, and wept. The strong heart, the lion spirit melted.
+
+"Who, who will care for Tecuichpo? Who will cherish the last daughter of
+Montezuma?"
+
+"Think not of me, Guatimozin, think of yourself and your people, I am
+resigned to my fate. If I may but die with you, it is all I desire--for
+how could I live without you. But think not of trusting Malinche. Let us
+remain as we are. Another day, and we shall all be at rest from our
+sufferings. And surely it were better to die together by our altars,
+than to fall into the hands of the treacherous stranger."
+
+"Trust not Malinche," added Karee. "Was it not trust in him that brought
+all this evil upon us? Think not of submission. You shall see that women
+can die as well as men. Let Malinche come, and take possession of the
+remains of these mutilated walls and desolated gardens, but let him not
+claim one living Aztec, to be his slave, or his subject."
+
+A murmur of approbation followed, and then a long pause ensued. It was
+like the silence of death. The whole scene would have made an admirable
+picture. At length the silence was broken by the voice of the young
+Cacique of Tlacopan.
+
+"My sovereign," said he, in a faint voice, but with something of the
+energy of despair, "there is yet hope. Let us muster what force we can,
+of men who are able to stand, and sally out upon the enemy. We cannot do
+him much harm. But, while he is occupied with us, you and your family,
+with a few attendants can escape by a canoe over the lake. As many of
+us as have life and strength to do it, will follow you, under cover of
+the coming night. Your old subjects will flock around you there, and we
+may yet, when we shall have tasted food, and become men again, make a
+stand somewhere against the foe, and drive him out."
+
+"It is well! it is well!" was the feeble response on every side.
+
+"I cannot leave you," replied the monarch. "What! shall your king fly,
+like a coward, while his people rush upon the enemy only to cover his
+retreat? No, that were worse than death--worse than captivity!"
+
+"It is not flight, my beloved sovereign," responded the Cacique, "it is
+an honorable stratagem of war, for the good of the nation, not less than
+your own. When _you_ are gone, we have no head, and we fall at once into
+the captivity we so much dread. Leave us but the name and person of
+Guatimozin to rally around, and it will be a tower of strength, which
+can never fail us."
+
+"Yes, yes, it is right," was whispered on every side--"Go, noble
+monarch, go at once. It is a voice from heaven to save us."
+
+To this counsel the priests added their earnest advice, and even
+Tecuichpo ventured to say, "it whispered of hope to her heart."
+Guatimozin suffered himself to be overruled. The canoes were made ready
+in the grand canal, which yet remained open on the eastern side. All
+that could be safely taken of treasure, and of convenient apparel, was
+carefully stowed. The Queen and other ladies of the court, with her
+faithful Karee, all wasted to skeletons, and moving painfully, like
+phantoms of beauty in a sickly dream, were conveyed to the barges. The
+Emperor and his attendants followed, and all was in readiness for the
+departure. At that moment the martial horn was sounded from the great
+Teocalli, and the shadowy host of the Aztec army staggered forth to
+offer battle to the enemy. It was a fearful sight. It seemed as if the
+armies of the dead, the mighty warriors of the past, had risen from
+their graves, to fight for their desecrated altars, and to defend those
+very graves from profanation. Feebly, but fearfully, with glaring eyes
+and hideous grin, they rushed upon the serried ranks of the besiegers. A
+kind of superstitious terror seized them, as if these shapes were
+something more than mortal. For a moment they gave way to panic, and
+fell back without striking a blow. Roused by the stentorian voice of
+Cortez, they rallied instantly, and discharging their heavy fire arms,
+swept away whole ranks of their frenzied assailants. It was a brief
+conflict. Many of the Aztecs fell by the swords of the Spaniards, and
+the spears of their merciless allies. Some fell, faint with their own
+exertions, and died without a wound. Some grappled desperately with the
+foe, content to die by his hand, if they could first quench their
+burning thirst with one drop of his blood.
+
+At length, a long blast from the horn sounded a retreat. The poor
+remnant turned towards the city, and were suffered to escape unmolested
+to their desolate homes.
+
+Meanwhile, the little fleet of Guatimozin had put forth upon the lake.
+The canoes separated, as they left the basin of the canal, taking
+different directions, the better to escape the observation of the
+brigantines. The precaution was a wise one, but unavailing. The watchful
+eye of the besieging general was there. The brigantines gave chase to
+the fugitives. Bending to their paddles with the utmost strength of
+their feeble emaciated arms, they found their pursuers gaining upon
+them. Casting their gold into the lake, Guatimozin directed them to
+cease their exertions, and wait the approach of the enemy.
+
+"Not without one little effort more, I beseech you," exclaimed Karee.
+"See, my chinampa is close at hand. Let us try to gain that. It has food
+on its trees for many days, and I have there a place of concealment,
+curiously contrived beneath the water, where you and the queen may
+remain without fear of detection, till we can effect your escape to the
+shore."
+
+In an instant the paddles were in the water, and the canoe shot ahead
+with unusual speed. The combined energy of hope and despair nerved every
+arm, and fired every heart. They neared the beautiful chinampa. Their
+eyes feasted on its fresh and cooling verdure, and its ripe fruits
+hanging luxuriantly on every bough. Their ears were ravished with the
+music of the birds, who had long since deserted their wonted haunts in
+the capital.
+
+While the chase was gaining rapidly upon them, another of those fearful
+brigantines, which had hitherto been concealed by the thick foliage of
+the chinampa, rounded its little promontory, and appeared suddenly
+before them. Instantly, every paddle dropped, every arm was paralyzed.
+Not a word was spoken. In passive silence each one waited for his doom,
+which was now inevitable. When the Spaniard had approached within
+hailing distance, the Emperor rose in his little shallop, and, waving
+his hand proudly, said, "I am Guatimozin."
+
+The royal prisoners were treated with the utmost deference and respect.
+Being brought into the presence of Cortez, the monarch, pale, emaciated,
+the shadow of what he had been, approached with an air of imperial
+dignity, and said--
+
+"Malinche, I have done what I could to defend myself and protect my
+people. Now I am your prisoner. Do what you will with me, but spare my
+poor people, who have shown a fidelity and an endurance worthy of a
+better fate."
+
+Cortez, filled with admiration at the proud bearing of the young
+monarch, assured him that not only his family and his people, but
+himself should be treated with all respect and tenderness. "Better,"
+said Guatimozin, laying his hand on the hilt of the general's poignard,
+"better rid me of life at once, and put an end to my cares and
+sufferings together."
+
+"No," replied Cortez, "you have defended your capital like a brave
+warrior. I respect your patriotism, I honor you valor, and your firm
+endurance of suffering. You shall be my friend and the friend of my
+sovereign, and live in honor among your own people."
+
+The keen eye of the monarch flashed with something like indignation,
+when allusion was made to the king of Castile, and to himself as his
+vassal.
+
+"In honor I _cannot_ live," he said proudly, "for I am defeated. A king
+I _cannot_ be, for he is no king who is subject to another. I am your
+prisoner. The gods have willed it, and I submit."
+
+Renewing his politic assurances of friendship and favor, the conqueror
+sent for the wife and family of his captive, first ordering a royal
+banquet to be prepared for them. Supported by Karee, leaning on the arm
+of the devoted Nahuitla, the lord of Tlacopan, the queen was ushered
+into the presence of the conqueror. Her appearance struck the general
+and his officers with admiration. Timid as she was by nature, she had
+the air and port of inborn royalty; and, in deference to her husband,
+she would not have allowed herself to quail before the assembled host of
+Castile, dreaded as they were, and had long been. With a becoming
+courtesy, she returned the respectful salutations of Malinche and his
+cavaliers, and asked no other favor than to share the fate of her lord.
+
+What that fate was, and how the Castilian knight redeemed his pledges to
+his unfortunate and noble captives, is matter of historical record. It
+is the darkest page in the memoir of that wonderful chief--a foul blot
+upon the name even of _that_ man, who was capable of requiting the
+superstitious reverence and confidence of a Montezuma, with a
+treacherous and inglorious captivity in his own palace, and a yet more
+inglorious death at the hands of his own subjects. History must needs
+record it, dark and painful as it is. Romance would throw a veil over
+it.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Years of intense suffering, of harrowing bereavement, of insult,
+humiliation, and every species of mental and social distress, were yet
+appointed to the daughter of Montezuma, the bride of Guatimozin. Her
+predicted destiny was fulfilled to the letter. She bowed meekly to her
+fate, sustaining every reverse with a fortitude and composure of soul,
+that indicated a mind of uncommon resources. It was a long, dark, stormy
+day, "but in the evening time there was light." It was the light of
+faith. She abandoned the false gods of her fathers, and found true and
+lasting peace in the cross of Jesus Christ.
+
+
+
+
+THE FLIGHT
+
+OF
+
+THE KATAHBA CHIEF.
+
+
+ Go now to Greece,
+ Or Rome--to Albion's sea-girt isle--to Gaul,
+ Ancient or modern--to the fiery realm
+ Of Turk or Arab--to the ice-bound holds
+ Of Alaric and Attila--and find,
+ If find thou canst, a nobler race of men--
+ More firm, more brave, more true--swifter of foot,
+ Or readier in action.
+
+
+
+
+THE FLIGHT OF THE KATAHBA CHIEF.
+
+
+ Go not to the chase, my brave hunter, to-day,
+ There's a mist o'er the sun--there's a snare in the way;
+ Manitto revealed last night in my dream
+ A deep dark shadow o'erhanging the stream;
+ The deer, from his thicket, sprung out in thy path--
+ Then he changed to a tiger, and roared in his wrath--
+ Then the warrior hunter, so fearless and brave,
+ Was driven away, like a captive slave;
+ Then the smoke rolled up, and the flames curled high,
+ And the forest rung with the foeman's cry;
+ Then the wind swept by with a desolate wail--
+ The avenger of blood was on thy trail;--
+ Minaree looked out at the cabin door,
+ But her bold brave hunter returned no more.
+ Go not to the chase, my brave hunter, to-day,
+ There's a mist o'er the sun--there's a snare in the way.
+
+So, in sweetly plaintive strains, chanted the beautiful young bride of a
+Katahba chief, as she prepared his frugal morning meal, while he was
+busying himself in examining the string of his bow, replenishing his
+quiver with straight polished shafts, and renewing the edge of his
+trusty hatchet.
+
+In all the forest homes of the native tribes, there was not a fairer
+flower than Minaree, the loved and devoted wife of the brave
+Ash-te-o-lah. The only daughter of a chief of the Wateree tribe, which
+was one branch of the great family of the Katahbas, she inherited the
+spirit and pride of her father, with all the simple beauty, and
+unsophisticated womanly tenderness of her mother. She was the idol of
+Ash-te-o-lah's heart; for, savage as the world would call him, and
+ignorant of the codes of chivalry and of the courtly phrase of love, he
+was as true to all the warmer and purer affections, which constitute the
+bliss of domestic life, as to the lofty sentiments of heroic virtue,
+which made him early conspicuous in the councils of his people. Though
+fearless as the lion, fleet as the roe, and adventurous, sagacious and
+powerful as any that ever sounded the war-whoop, or startled the deer,
+in those interminable wilds--he was noble, generous, warm-hearted, and
+devotedly tender to the objects of his love.
+
+The winning tones, and the affectionate glances of Minaree, as she
+chanted her simple prophetic lay, had almost won Ash-te-o-lah from his
+purpose. But, half doubting whether her oracular dream was any thing
+more than a little artifice of affection, and always superior to that
+prevailing superstition of his people, which gave to dreams all the
+sanctity and force of divine revelation, and excited by the preparations
+he had been making, he flung his rattling quiver to his back, whispered
+a gentle intimation that Ash-te-o-lah feared neither tiger nor foeman,
+and returning the affectionate glance of his bride, left the wigwam.
+
+It was a clear bright summer morning. There was a balmy sweetness in the
+air, and melody in all the groves; but they won not the ear, they
+regaled not the sense of Minaree, whose heart sunk within her, as she
+saw her beloved Ash-te-o-lah launch his canoe into the stream, and dash
+away over its glassy surface, like a swallow on the wing. Ere he dipped
+his paddle in the water, he turned and gracefully waved her a parting
+salute, the affectionate desire to stay and soothe the troubled spirit
+of her dream, still struggling with that lofty pride which told him that
+he had never yet shrunk from any form of danger, or known the name of
+fear.
+
+The lands bordering on the Katahba, were covered, for many a league,
+with a dense and thriving population. More than twenty tribes were
+clustered there into one powerful fraternity, capable of bringing two
+thousand warriors into the field. Their grounds were extensively
+cultivated, their forests abounded with the choicest game, and their
+rivers with fish, and they regarded themselves as the most prosperous of
+the nations.
+
+Nothing could exceed the romantic beauty and loveliness of some of their
+villages. Stretching along the banks of the rivers, and embowered deeply
+in the luxurious forests of that favored clime, the numerous wigwams,
+simple enough in their construction, but adorned here and there with the
+trophies of war or the chase, and often alive with the athletic sports
+of the young Indians, formed a scene as animated and picturesque as ever
+glowed on the bosom of the earth--a scene of patriarchal life, such as
+cannot now be found among all the families of men.
+
+Conspicuous among them all was the wigwam of Ash-te-o-lah. The hand of
+Minaree was visible in the tasteful arrangement of a few simple
+ornaments about the door, and the trailing of a white flowering vine
+over its walls, which fell in luxuriant festoons, or floated in feathery
+pensiles on every side.
+
+Minaree stood in the door of the wigwam, watching the retreating form of
+her lord, as his light canoe swept down with the current of the river,
+till it was lost in the distance, and then pensively, and as if
+unconsciously to herself, resumed her solemn chant, weaving the while a
+wreath of her wild flowering vine.
+
+ He has gone to the chase, my brave hunter has gone--
+ He will not return in the moonlight, or morn;
+ Minaree shall look out at the cabin door,
+ But her bold brave hunter shall come no more;
+ There's a cloud in her wigwam--a fire in her brain,
+ For her warrior hunter shall ne'er come again.
+
+Gently and placidly flowed the Katahba--every tree and shrub mirrored in
+its beautiful waters. Not a sound disturbed the perfect stillness; not
+even the hum of the cricket, or the song of the bird. It seemed an utter
+solitude. Then a light canoe was seen slowly gliding down the stream. A
+noble looking Indian was standing in it, erect and tall, with his paddle
+poised, as if wrapped in meditation, or unwilling to disturb the quiet
+and charm of the silence. It was a scene to awaken a sense of poetic
+beauty, even in the mind of an untutored savage. It thrilled the soul of
+Ash-te-o-lah, and held him some moments in admiring contemplation.
+Suddenly starting from his unwonted reverie, he rounded a jutting
+promontory, and moored his skiff, carefully concealing it amid the
+overhanging shrubs.
+
+There was something surpassingly graceful and majestic in the figure of
+this noble son of the forest. Formed by nature in her most perfect
+mould, tall, sinewy, athletic, yet with every feature and every limb
+rounded to absolute grace, he was a fine subject for a painter or
+sculptor. His dress consisted of a beautiful robe, gracefully flung over
+one shoulder, and confined at the waist by a richly ornamented belt. His
+hair was wrought into a kind of crown, and ornamented with a tuft of
+feathers. Equipped with bow and quiver, he seemed intent on game; and
+yet one might have imagined, from his keen glance and cautious manner,
+that he expected a foe in ambush.
+
+Ash-te-o-lah was soon on the track of the deer, which, starting from the
+thicket, bounded away with the speed of the wind. Pursuing with equal
+pace, the bold hunter dashed into the depths of the forest, watching for
+a favorable moment to take the deadly aim. The arrow was on the string,
+and about to be raised to fly at his panting victim, when the shrill
+war-whoop burst suddenly on his ear. It arrested his step, for a moment,
+but not his arm; for the arrow sped as if nothing had occurred to divert
+its course, and buried itself in the heart of the flying deer.
+
+Perceiving, at a glance, that a party of the Senecas, the old and deadly
+enemies of the Katahbas, were down upon him, and had cut off his retreat
+to the river, he held on his course, as before, but with redoubled
+speed, intending, if possible, to secure a refuge from his pursuers, in
+a cavern about five miles distant. Fleet as the wind, he would have
+gained his purpose, if the course had been direct, for there was not a
+red man in the wide forests of America, who could outrun Ash-te-o-lah.
+Dividing themselves into several parties, and taking different courses
+to intercept his flight, his enemies gave instant chase to the fugitive.
+One party followed close on his trail, but he was soon lost to their
+view. Another struck off northwardly, towards a bend in the West Branch,
+where the rapids afforded an opportunity for crossing the stream without
+impeding his flight. A third made for a deep cut, or ravine, about a
+mile further down, where a fallen tree, extending from bank to bank,
+served the purpose of a bridge.
+
+Ash-te-o-lah soon perceived that his enemies were divided, and resolved
+that, if they _did_ intercept or overtake him, it should cost them dear.
+Halting a little in his flight, and taking to the covert of a tree, he
+drew upon the foremost of his pursuers, and laid him dead in the path.
+The next in the pursuit, pausing a moment over his fallen brother,
+shared the same fate. Knowing, as by instinct, that the other parties
+would endeavor to cut him off at the rapids and the bridge, he dashed
+forward, in a straight line for the stream, plunged into the water, and
+holding his bow aloft, struggled with a powerful arm to reach the other
+side. He gained the bank, just as his pursuers made their appearance on
+the opposite shore. Turning suddenly upon them, he levelled another
+shaft with such unerring aim, that one of their number fell bleeding
+into the stream. Another and another, in the act of leaping over the
+bank, received the fatal shaft into his heart. Hearing the distant
+whoop, which indicated that the other party had reached the bridge,
+Ash-te-o-lah waited not for another victim, but bounded away for his
+mountain fastness. The little delay which had been necessary to cut off
+five of his pursuers, had given an advantage to the other parties, who
+were now on the same side of the stream with himself, and gaining upon
+his steps. No sooner was this perceived, than the heroic fugitive turned
+upon the nearest of them, and, with the same infallible aim, laid him
+dead in the path. Still another had fallen before his sure aim, and his
+bow was strained for another shot, when one of the other party, who had
+made a circuit, and come up behind him unperceived, leaped upon, and
+held him pinioned in his powerful grasp. His struggles were terrible;
+but he was immediately surrounded, overpowered and disarmed.
+
+Though seven of their number had fallen in this brief chase, the brave
+Senecas were so struck with admiration at the wonderful skill and noble
+bearing of their captive, that they did not, as usual, instantly avenge
+the slain, by taking the life of the slayer; but resolved to take him
+along with them, and to lead him in triumph into the midst of the
+council of their nation, there to be disposed of by the united voices of
+their chiefs.
+
+It was a sad triumph, for they were filled with grief and mortification
+for the loss of so many of their brave kindred, all fallen by the hand
+of one of the hated Katahbas, and he now completely in their power.
+Though stung with shame, and thirsting for a worthy revenge, yet such
+was their love of martial virtue, that, during all their long journey
+homeward, they treated their haughty captive with far greater respect
+and kindness than if he had acted the part of a coward, and suffered
+himself to fall into their hands without any attempt at resistance. As
+for him, with an unsubdued spirit, and an air of proud superiority, he
+marched in the midst of his enemies, as if defying their power, and
+scorning the vengeance from which it was impossible to escape. To one
+unaccustomed to the modes of Indian warfare, and the code of Indian
+etiquette, who might have witnessed that triumphant procession,
+Ash-te-o-lah would have appeared the proud and absolute prince,
+surrounded by his admiring and subservient life-guard, rather than the
+subdued and helpless captive, escorted by his enemies to an ignominious
+execution.
+
+Arrived within the territories of their own tribe, the triumph of the
+captors began. The whole nation was roused to revenge the death of their
+lost heroes. In every village, as they passed along, the women and
+children were permitted to beat and insult the unresisting captive, who
+bore every indignity with stoical indifference, and proud disdain, never
+indicating by word or look, the slightest sense of mortification or
+pain, nor bating one jot of his lofty and scornful bearing.
+
+Before the great council of assembled chiefs, he maintained the same
+tone of fearless dignity and self-respect. His very look was defiance,
+that quailed not before the proudest glance of his enemy, nor showed the
+slightest symptom of disquietude, when the decision of the council was
+announced, condemning him to die by the fiery torture. It might
+reasonably be imagined that his past sufferings, his tedious marches,
+his scanty fare, lying at night on the bare ground, exposed to the
+changes of the weather, with his arms and legs extended and cramped in a
+pair of rough stocks, the insulting treatment, and cruel scourgings of
+the exasperated women and children, who were taught to consider it a
+virtue to torment an enemy, along with the anticipation of those more
+bitter sufferings which he was yet to endure, would have impaired his
+health, and subdued his hitherto proud and unyielding spirit. Such would
+have been the effect of similar circumstances upon the physical frame,
+and stout-hearted fortitude of the great majority of the heroes of that
+pale-faced race, who boast of a proud superiority over the unlettered
+children of the forest. There are few so hardy, that they could endure,
+not only without a murmur, but without shrinking, what Ash-te-o-lah had
+already suffered--few so courageous, that they could hear, with an
+unmoved countenance, the terrible doom which his enemies had prepared
+for him, or witness undisturbed the fearful arrangements, and horrid
+ceremonies, that were designed to give intensity and effect to its
+infliction.
+
+Ash-te-o-lah was insensible to fear, and would sooner have undergone a
+thousand torturing deaths, than permit his enemies to see that he was
+conscious even of suffering. So nobly did he sustain his courage amid
+the trial, so well did he act his heroic part, that his enemies, who
+admired and inculcated the same unflinching fortitude, were surprised
+and vexed at his lofty superiority, and resolved, by every possible
+aggravation of his sufferings, to break down and subdue his proud
+indomitable spirit.
+
+The hour of execution had arrived. The pile was ready for its victim.
+Every engine of torture, which savage ingenuity could invent, was
+exhibited in dreadful array, within the area selected for the trying
+scene. The whole nation was assembled to witness, and take part in the
+ceremony, which had, in their view, all the solemnity and sacredness of
+a religious rite. Ash-te-o-lah was led forth, unpinioned, into the
+midst--for the red man would scorn the weakness of leading a victim in
+chains to the altar.
+
+The place of sacrifice was an open space near the bank of the river, the
+dark forest frowning over it on every side, the entire foreground being
+filled and crowded with an eager, angry multitude, to whom a sacrifice
+was a feast, and revenge the sweetest luxury that could be offered to
+their taste. Their wild parade, their savage dances, their hideous yells
+and demoniacal looks and gestures, designed to terrify, only fired the
+soul of Ash-te-o-lah to a yet prouder and more majestic bearing. His
+firm step, his unblenching eye, his fearless and lofty port, touched
+even his executioners with admiration, and struck his guards with a
+momentary awe.
+
+Suddenly, as with a bolt from the cloud, he dashed down those who stood
+in his way, sprung out, and plunged into the water, swimming underneath,
+like an otter, only rising occasionally to take breath, till he reached
+the opposite shore. He ascended the steep bank at a bound; and then,
+though the arrows had been flying thick as hail about him from the time
+that he took to the water, and though many of the fleetest of his
+enemies were, like very blood-hounds, close in pursuit of him, he turned
+deliberately around, and with a graceful and becoming dignity, took a
+formal leave of them, as if he would acknowledge the extraordinary
+favors they had shown him. Then, raising the shrill war-whoop of
+defiance, as his last salute, till some more convenient opportunity
+should be afforded him to do them a warrior's homage, he darted off,
+like a beast broke loose from its torturing enemies. Inspired with new
+strength by his sudden release, and the returning hope of life, he flew
+with a winged speed, so as entirely to distance the fleetest of his
+eager pursuers. Confident in his speed, and assured that his enemies
+could neither overtake nor surprise him, he rested nearly a whole day,
+to recruit his wasted strength, and watch an opportunity to gain, if
+possible, some further advantage over those who were scenting his track,
+and thirsting for his blood.
+
+Passing a considerable distance beyond a spot, which his well-trained
+sagacity told him would be the natural resting place of his pursuers, he
+retraced his steps, walking carefully backwards, and planting each step
+with great precision, in the very tracks he had just made, so as
+effectually to conceal the artifice of his return. In this way, he came
+to a high rock, in which there was a considerable fissure, very narrow
+at the top, but widening toward the ground, and so concealed by the
+dense shrubbery that grew around, that it could only be discovered by
+the most careful scrutiny. Into this fissure he thrust himself,
+scrupulously replacing every leaf that had been disturbed by his
+entrance, and adjusting the whole so as not to excite the slightest
+suspicion in his keen-sighted enemies. Here he awaited their approach.
+
+It was near night of the second day, when the Senecas reached the spring
+where Ash-te-o-lah lay concealed, and where he had already rested nearly
+a whole day. Following his track some distance beyond, and not doubting
+he was yet in advance, they returned without suspicion to the spring,
+lighted their fires, partook hastily of their simple meal, and laid
+themselves down to sleep, in perfect security. They were five in number,
+powerful men, and thoroughly armed, after their own peculiar fashion.
+Ash-te-o-lah, from his narrow cavern, had watched all their movements.
+He well knew that they slept soundly, for they had satisfied themselves
+that no danger was near. But he also knew equally well how wakeful is
+the sleep of an Indian, and how almost impossible it is to surprise him,
+even in his soundest sleep. Every circumstance of his situation occurred
+to him, to inspire him with heroism, and urge him to attempt an
+impossibility, though his life was the certain forfeit of a failure. He
+was naked, torn, and hungry. His enraged enemies, who had so recently
+held him in their toils, and made him ready for a sacrifice, were now
+come up with him. In their little camp was every thing to relieve his
+wants. He would not only save his own life, but get great honor and
+sweet revenge, if he should succeed in cutting them off.
+
+Resolution, a convenient spot, and a sudden surprise, might effect this
+main object of all his wishes and hopes. Creeping cautiously out from
+his covert, and approaching the sleepers with the noiseless and stealthy
+cunning of a fox, he seized one of their tomahawks, and wielding it with
+inconceivable power and rapidity, left four of them in an eternal sleep,
+before the fifth had time to awake and spring to his feet. The struggle
+that ensued was terrible; but Ash-te-o-lah had the advantage in every
+respect, and the conflict ended in a very few minutes, by leaving him
+alone in the camp of his enemies.
+
+Selecting from the spoils of the fallen a suitable dress for himself,
+with the choicest of their bows, a well-stored quiver, a tomahawk, and
+an ample pouch of provisions, and securing to his belt the scalps of his
+yet breathing victims, Ash-te-o-lah set off afresh, with a light heart,
+and a bounding step, for the sunny vales of the Katahba. Resolved not to
+hazard any of the advantage he had gained, he did not allow himself any
+sleep, for several successive nights, only as he reclined, for a few
+moments, a little before day, with his back to a tree, and a clear space
+about him, where he could not be taken by surprise. Growing more secure,
+as he approached his home, and discovered no sign of his pursuing enemy,
+he sought out the spot where he had killed seven of the chase, in the
+first day of his flight, opened their yet fresh graves, added their
+scalps to the five then hanging to his belt, burnt their bodies to
+ashes, and returned in safety, laden with his hard earned trophies, to
+gladden his humble wigwam, and thrill the council of his people with the
+story of his singular adventures.
+
+Her prophetic dream had made so deep an impression upon the mind of
+Minaree, that, from the first, she did not expect "the bold hunter's
+return." His lengthened absence troubled, but did not surprise her. She
+yielded him to a stern fate, from which there was no escape; and with a
+calmness which we, of another race, too often regard as coldness and
+insensibility, prepared to follow him to the spirit land. His return was
+to her soul like a visit from that land--a gift from the Great
+Spirit--and ever after, to the deep devotion of her early love, was
+added that peculiar reverence, that tender, holy affection, which the
+Indians every where cherish for the departed.
+
+When the second party of the Senecas, in the course of the third day of
+the pursuit, arrived at the camp of their slaughtered people, the sight
+gave them a greater shock than they had ever known before. In their
+chilled war council they concluded, that he who had performed such
+surprising feats in his defence, before he was captured, and since that
+in his naked and unarmed condition, would, now that he was well armed
+and free, be a match for them all, if they should continue the pursuit.
+They regarded him as a wizard enemy, whose charmed life it was vain and
+wicked to attempt. They, accordingly, buried their comrades, and
+returned, with heavy hearts, to their homes.
+
+
+
+
+MONICA,
+
+OR
+
+THE ITEAN CAPTIVE.
+
+
+ What glorious hopes, what gloomy fears
+ Have sunk beneath time's noiseless tide!--
+ The red man at his horrid rite,
+ Seen by the stars at night's cold noon,--
+ His bark canoe, its track of light
+ Left on the wave beneath the moon;--
+ His dance, his yell, his council fire,
+ The altar where his victim lay,
+ His death song, and his funeral pyre,
+ That still, strong tide hath borne away.
+
+
+
+
+MONICA.
+
+ ~"Speak not, but fly--
+ There are a thousand winged deaths behind,
+ Thirsting for blood. Hope, life, and liberty
+ Are all before; and this good arm is pledged
+ To guide thee."~
+
+
+The grave of the Indian is a temple, a sort of gateway to heaven. Around
+it linger the tenderest affection, the purest devotion of the surviving
+friend. The grass and flowers that grow over it are never suffered to
+wither. The snow and the rain are not permitted to remain upon it. The
+least profanation of that sacred place would be visited with a more
+terrible vengeance than an affront to the living. Nothing illustrates
+more clearly the cruel injustice we have done to our red brethren of the
+forest, by regarding and treating them only as savages, and delineating
+them always and every where, as destitute of all the refined sympathies
+of humanity--than this prevailing national characteristic, an
+affectionate reverence for the dead, and a religious regard for the
+sepulchres and bones of their ancestors. It touches one of the deepest
+cords in the human heart. It springs from the very fountain head of
+social and moral refinement. It links the visible and material, with the
+unseen and spiritual world; blending all that is tender, and pure, and
+subduing, in the one, with all that is bright, hopeful, and inviting, in
+the other. Its existence in any heart, or its prevalence among any
+people, is proof sufficient that that heart is not wholly hardened in
+selfishness, and that people not wholly given over to barbarism.
+
+The infant child of an Itean mother lay dead in her tent. He was a
+beautiful boy, and already the fond mother had read in his brilliant
+eye, and the vigorous movements of his tiny limbs, the heroic deeds of
+the future chieftain. But her darling hope was nipped in the very germ.
+Her only son was shrouded for the grave, and the hour of burial had
+come. His shroud was a blanket, in which the head, as well as the body,
+was completely enveloped. His bier was a train, or Indian sled, in the
+form of a common snow-shoe, on which the body was laid, without a
+coffin, and secured by bandages from side to side. Into this train was
+harnessed a favorite dog of the family, when it was drawn with slow and
+solemn step, to the grave, preceded by the priest or medicine man of the
+village, in his gorgeous robes of office, and followed by the parents
+and sister of the child, with all the inmates of the neighboring
+wigwams.
+
+Arriving at the grave, the procession stopped, and gathered round the
+bier, the women and children seating or prostrating themselves on the
+ground, the men standing in a grave and solemn circle around them. The
+dog, still remaining in his harness, was then shot, and the medicine
+man, standing over it, addressed it in the following strain, "Go on your
+journey to the Spirit land. Long and weary is the way you have to go.
+Linger not on the journey, for precious is the burden you carry. Swim
+swiftly over the river, lest the little one be lost in the stream, and
+never visit the camp of its fathers. When you come to the camp of the
+White-headed Eagle, bark, that they may know who it is you bring, and
+come out and welcome the little one among its kindred band."
+
+The body was then laid in the grave, on its little train. The dog was
+placed by its side, with a kettle of food at its head, to supply it on
+the journey. A cup, containing a portion of the mother's milk, freshly
+drawn, was also put into the grave for the use of the child. The earth
+was laid gently over it, and covered with the fresh sod, the mother, and
+her female friends, chanting, the while, a plaintive dirge, designed to
+encourage the spirit of the departed on its dark and perilous journey.
+The mother held in her hand a roll of bark, elaborately decorated with
+feathers and bead-work, encompassed with a scarf of broadcloth, highly
+embroidered. This was intended as a memento of the deceased, to be
+sacredly preserved in the family lodge. Such mementoes are always seen
+there, after the death of a friend, and one may always know, by their
+number, how many of that household have gone to the spirit-land. It is
+usually placed upright in the spot where the departed was accustomed to
+sit, dressed in the same ornaments and bands that he wore while living.
+At every family meal, a portion of food is set before it. If it be a
+child who has died, the mother offers it a cup of milk, wraps it in the
+cradle bands of her lost infant, and bears it about with her wherever
+she goes.
+
+An Indian grave is a protected spot. That which is described above, was
+surrounded by a small enclosure of logs, and covered with a roof of
+bark, to shield it from the rain. At its head, a small round post was
+set, painted with vermilion. Other decorations were displayed upon the
+wall of the enclosure, which were carefully guarded, and frequently
+replaced, as they were soiled by the rains, or torn and defaced by the
+violence of the winds. Day after day, the bereaved mother and sister
+visited that grave, taking their work with them, and sitting down by its
+side, chanted their plaintive lullaby to that sleeping infant, and
+cheered on that faithful dog in his wearisome journey, charging him not
+to lag or go astray in traversing the plain, nor suffer his precious
+burden to fall into the water, in crossing the deep dark rapid river to
+the spirit land.
+
+Weeks and months had passed since that humble grave was made, and that
+precious treasure confided to its bosom. It was a calm glorious evening
+in mid-summer. The moon shone brightly on the Itean encampment. There
+was not, in the whole valley of the west, a more beautiful spot for a
+settlement. The smooth open green-sward was closely surrounded with
+trees on three sides. On the other, the land gradually sloped towards
+the river, which flowed quietly by, ever and anon sparkling in the
+moonbeams, or reflecting the dark forest and flowery banks in its azure
+depths.
+
+The wigwams in the opening were all closed. Their inmates were at rest.
+Presently, the buffalo-skin, that served as a door to the principal
+cabin, was drawn aside, and the beautiful daughter of the chief emerged
+into the light, and passed swiftly on to the river. Following its
+course a short distance, by the narrow path that threaded the woods on
+its bank, she came to the little grave, threw herself on the earth by
+its side, and wept. It was Monica, the sister of that buried infant, the
+same whom we saw at his grave when it was first opened, and who had
+daily, since that time, sung over it her simple song.
+
+The grief and disappointment of the mother, in the loss of her only son,
+was not more deep or sincere, or enduring, than that of this
+affectionate and devoted sister. From the moment of his birth, he was
+the idol of her soul. She looked forward to the time, in her ardent
+imagination very near at hand, when, emulating the virtues and deeds of
+his father, he should become the noblest chief of his tribe. She had
+pictured to herself the many wonderful exploits he should achieve, and
+the love and veneration with which he would be regarded throughout the
+nation. But now, those hopes were blasted, those visions had all faded
+into darkness. Time had not soothed her disappointment, or softened the
+poignancy of her grief. Waking or sleeping, the image of her lost
+brother was before her. She longed to follow him, that she might
+overtake him on the way, and help him in his passage over that fearful
+stream.
+
+She had laid down that night, as usual, and slept by the side of her
+mother. Her dreams were troubled. She thought that arid plain and dark
+river were before her. The faithful dog was struggling with the waves.
+The little ark which held that precious treasure, was buffeted about by
+the winds. Chilled with the cold, and terrified by the dark howling
+storm, the lone child sobbed bitterly, and looked imploringly round for
+his mother. In her distress and agitation, she awoke. Unable to sleep,
+or even to rest, she rose, and ran to the grave.
+
+ "I come, I come, my precious one,
+ I am ever by your side--
+ Fear not, your voyage is almost done
+ Over that dismal tide;
+ The winds shall hush, the storm pass o'er,
+ And a friendly band shall come
+ To meet you on the spirit shore,
+ And bid you welcome home.
+ Fear not, for love that never sleeps
+ Shall guard you o'er that wave;
+ And mother her constant vigil keep
+ Beside your quiet grave."
+
+Having chanted her simple lay of love, Monica turned from the grave,
+stepped into a canoe, and paddled down the stream. Overcome with grief,
+she dropped her paddle, sat pensively down in her shallop, and left it
+to follow its course down the current. For several hours it glided
+silently on. She gave no heed to the hours, till morning broke in the
+east. Suddenly starting up from her long dream, she looked for her
+paddle. It was gone. Seeing a bough floating on the water near her, she
+leaned out to catch it, as the canoe passed on. It was decayed, and
+broke in her hand. Throwing it from her, she looked eagerly about for
+some other means of reaching the shore. At length, passing under the
+shadow of an immense tree, that overhung the stream, she seized a branch
+that almost dipped into the water, and drawing herself in to the bank,
+sprang on shore.
+
+Slowly and doubtfully the timid girl threaded the thick forest,
+scarcely knowing which way to turn. Hoping to find some friendly wigwam
+near, she sounded the shrill call of her tribe. The call was instantly
+answered, but not by a friendly voice. Two stern and stalwart warriors
+of the Pawnee tribe, who were deadly enemies to the Iteans, chanced to
+be passing that way, and, recognizing the call as that of an enemy,
+sprang from the thicket, seized the trembling maiden, and bore her away
+in triumph. Many a weary league she travelled on by the side of her
+merciless captors, ere she reached their distant encampment. Worn,
+exhausted in strength and desponding in heart, she fell to the earth in
+the midst of the throng that gathered around her, and besought them to
+kill her at once, and let her go to her poor infant brother.
+
+The Pawnees were not only hostile to the Iteans, but were, in some
+respects, the most savage tribe in the great valley. They alone, of the
+North American Indians, continued, down the present century, and far
+within it, to practice the savage rite of sacrificing human victims on
+the altar of their gods. With them it was a propitiatory sacrifice,
+offered to the _Great Star_, or the planet Venus. This dreadful ceremony
+annually preceded the preparations for planting corn, and was supposed
+to be necessary to secure a fruitful season. The victim was always some
+prisoner, who had been captured in war, or otherwise; and there was
+never wanting an individual who coveted the honor of making a captive
+from some hostile tribe, and dedicating the spoils of his prowess to the
+national benefit.
+
+The captors of Monica were in quest of a victim for this sacrifice, when
+they wandered away alone, and prowled for several days, about the
+encampment of her tribe. With this view, they bore her away in triumph,
+deaf to all her entreaties and tears, and gave her in charge to the
+priests, to be made ready against the return of the season.
+
+The best wigwam in the village was assigned for her accommodation.
+Cheerful companions of her own age were given her. The most sedulous
+attention was paid to her wants. She was dressed in gay apparel,
+continually feasted on the choicest luxuries which their fields and
+hunting grounds afforded, and treated with the utmost tenderness by all
+about her. Every possible means was employed to allay her grief, and
+promote that cheerfulness of spirit, which is essential to health and
+comeliness, in order that she might thus be made a more suitable and
+acceptable offering.
+
+The personal charms of Monica required no such system of treatment, in
+order to their full development. She was a rare specimen of native grace
+and loveliness, and would have been a fitting model, in every feature
+and limb, for a Phidias or a Praxitiles. The exceeding beauty and
+gentleness of their captive, while it won the admiration and regard of
+all her young companions, only made her, in the view of the priests and
+chiefs of the tribe, a more desirable victim for the altar.
+
+For a long time, Monica was inconsolable. Deprived of that dearest
+privilege of visiting daily the grave of her brother, distracted in view
+of the anxiety which her mother would feel for her, she refused to be
+comforted, or to take any pleasure in the means employed to amuse her.
+Time and kindness, however, and the promise that she should, by and by,
+return to her father-land, restored, in a degree, her serenity of mind.
+She was too affectionate and confiding, to reject the sympathy and
+kindness even of an enemy. Grateful for the unwearied efforts which her
+companions made to amuse and comfort her, she came, at last, to regard
+them as friends. Gratitude begat affection. Affection created
+confidence. She unburdened her heart of the sorrows that oppressed it.
+By that effort, the burden was lightened. Something of the elasticity
+and vivacity of youth returned. She sang and played, if not to amuse
+herself, yet to gratify others, whose assiduous kindness, and seemingly
+generous sympathy, she had no other means of repaying. Thus, entirely
+ignorant of the terrible doom that awaited her, Monica passed the winter
+of her captivity, looking ever forward to the opening spring as the
+period of her promised release, and return to the wigwam of her mother.
+
+At length the fatal day arrived, and every thing was ready for the
+sacrifice. The whole Pawnee tribe was assembled to witness and take part
+in the solemnities. From every side, they were seen emerging from the
+thick forest, or gliding noiselessly over the bosom of the silver
+stream, leaping from cliff to cliff of the distant hills, or winding
+down their steep passes and narrow defiles, to meet in the great central
+village, around the grand council fire of the nation. The whole tribe
+was there--the chiefs in all their gaudy array of bead-work, feathers,
+and paint, their embroidered moccasins, their gaily wrought tunics and
+belts, their polished rifles, and glittering tomahawks--the women and
+children, and the rank and file of the people, in all the finery and
+gewgaws they could command. It was a brave sight to those accustomed to
+the barbaric finery and wild sports of the Indian, but fearful and
+hideous to one unused to the rude painted visages and half naked forms
+of the warriors.
+
+The awful hour of those dreadful orgies was announced by all those
+discordant shouts and hideous yells, which, with those primitive races,
+serve the purpose of trumpet, drum and bell. The stake was set, and the
+faggots made ready, in the centre of the great opening. The priests
+stood at their post, and the vast multitude of eager excited witnesses
+thronged around, waiting in terrible expectation for the consummation of
+that horrid rite, and kindling into phrenzy in view of the mad revelry
+that would follow. Presently, the outer ranks of that crowding circle
+made way, and opened a passage to the ring within. Through this living
+avenue, a company of chiefs marched in, singing, or rather shouting, a
+wild song, and dancing in fantastic measures. At their head was the
+captor of Monica, leading the timid girl by the hand. She was arrayed in
+the most showy and expensive style of Indian costume, the various
+decorations of her person comprising all that was beautiful and rare in
+ornament, according to the uncultivated taste of that people.
+Unconscious still of the doom that awaited her, and hoping, perhaps,
+that this was to be the festival of her freedom, when she would be sent
+away in peace to her home, she entered the circle with a cheerful face,
+and an elastic step, smiling on her young companions as she passed, and
+wondering at the cold look, or sometimes averted eye, with which her
+salutation was answered.
+
+It was not until she was led quite up to the stake, and saw the fearful
+faggots piled around it, that she comprehended the meaning of these
+mysterious preparations. Her awful doom flashed upon her, like a bolt
+from heaven. With one loud, piercing, heart-rending shriek, she fell to
+the earth, and called upon her mother. She was lifted up by the stern
+priest, placed upon the pile, and bound to the stake. With wild
+incantations, and horrid yells, the dread orgies were commenced. The
+torch was lighted, and ready to be applied. At that instant, a shrill
+whoop burst from the adjoining wood. A brave young warrior, leaping into
+the midst of the circle, rushed to the stake, cut the cords that bound
+the helpless victim, tore her away from the pile, and, dashing back
+through the panic-struck crowd, flung her upon a fleet horse which he
+had prepared for the occasion, sprung himself upon another, and was soon
+lost in the distant windings of the wood.
+
+It was the act of a moment. Even the Indian warriors, who are not easily
+surprised, or put off their guard, were confounded and paralysed. Before
+they could comprehend the object of this sudden phantom, this rash
+interruption of their festival, their victim was gone. The bare stake,
+and the useless heap of faggots were there. The proud chief, who
+furnished the victim, and the fierce-looking priests, who were to
+officiate in the dark rites of the sacrifice, stood in blank
+astonishment around, as if a bolt from the cloud had smitten them. A
+momentary silence prevailed among that mighty throng. A low murmur
+succeeded, like the distant moans of a coming storm: then, like the
+tempest, bursting in all its wrath, fierce cries of vengeance from a
+thousand flaming tongues, furious discordant yells and shouts,
+accompanied with frantic gestures, and looks of rage, such as would
+distort the visage of a fiend. Some of the fleetest started off in hot
+but vain pursuit. Those who remained, promised themselves a day of
+terrible retribution. The mothers secretly rejoiced in the escape; while
+those of the young girls who had been the chosen companions of the
+captive, gave vent to their joy and gratitude in wild songs and dances.
+
+In this manner, that turbulent assembly broke up. Without the usual
+feast and its accompanying games, they scattered to their several homes,
+coolly meditating revenge, and darkly foreboding the famine that should
+ensue from the absence of the accustomed sacrifice.
+
+Meanwhile, the fugitives held on their way, with the speed of the wind.
+Not a word was spoken. It was a race of life and death, and every
+faculty of the rescuer as well as of the rescued was absorbed in the one
+idea and effort to escape. Over hill and plain, and shallow stream,
+those foaming steeds flew on, pausing not even to snuff the breeze, till
+they had cleared the territory of the Pawnees, and reached a sheltered
+nook within the precincts of a neutral tribe. Here, as among all the
+Indian tribes the woman is considered competent to take care of herself
+in all ordinary emergencies, her deliverer left her, giving her ample
+directions for the way, and cautioning her to use the utmost diligence
+to avoid pursuit.
+
+"But, tell me first," she cried, tears of grateful joy standing in her
+eyes, "tell me to whom I am indebted for this miraculous escape--that,
+in all my prayers to the Great Spirit, I may call down his blessing upon
+your head."
+
+"I am Petalesharro," replied the youth, modestly. "My father is
+Latalashaw, the chief of my tribe. We do not believe, with our people,
+that the Great Spirit delights in the sacrifice. He loves all his red
+children, and they should all love one another."
+
+"But, will not your chiefs revenge upon your head this interference with
+their solemn rites? If any national calamities follow, will they not
+charge them all to your account? I could not bear that my generous
+deliverer should be struck down by those terrible hands, in the prime of
+his youth, as the reward of his heroic benevolence. Better that I should
+return and submit to the fate they had prepared for me."
+
+"Fear not for me, Monica. Petalesharro fears not to meet the assembled
+council of his nation. Not a brave among them all will raise a hand to
+hurt him. He will make them know that the Great Star needs not the blood
+of the captive. And never again shall the fires be kindled for that
+cruel sacrifice."
+
+Encouraged by the words of the young chief, Monica turned, with a strong
+heart, towards her home, still some four hundred miles distant. The same
+kind providence which had rescued her from the devouring flames, still
+guided and guarded her solitary way, and gave her strength and spirits
+for her toilsome journey.
+
+On the second day of her pilgrimage, as she climbed the summit of a
+range of hills that ran athwart her path, she was alarmed by the
+appearance of a considerable body of armed men, just emerging from a
+distant ravine of the same range, in a direction that would lead them
+immediately across her path. They were too far off to enable her to
+discern, by their dress and accoutrements, to what tribe they belonged.
+She supposed they must be Pawnees in pursuit of their lost captive. If
+she attempted to pass on before them, they would discover her track, and
+soon overtake her flight. She had nothing to do, therefore, but wait
+till they had passed, in the hope of eluding their eager scent.
+Concealing herself in the thicket, in a position that overlooked the
+valley, she awaited with composure the coming of that fearful band. They
+descended into the valley, and, to the utter consternation of Monica,
+began to pitch their tents under the shade of a spreading oak, on the
+bank of a little stream. She watched the movement with an anxious heart,
+not knowing how she should escape, with a pursuing enemy so near. Her
+consternation and anxiety were soon, however, changed to joy, when one
+of the company, approaching the vicinity of her hiding place, to cut a
+pole for his tent, was recognized as a chief of her own tribe. Springing
+from the thicket with a scream of delight, which startled the whole
+encampment, and brought every brave to his feet, with his hand on the
+trigger of his rifle, she rushed into the midst of her astonished
+people, and was received with silent joy, as one restored from the dead.
+Under their protection, the remainder of her journey was safely and
+easily performed. Before the moon, which was then crescent, had reached
+her full, Monica had embraced her mother, and added a fresh flower to
+the grave of her brother.
+
+The brave, the generous, the chivalrous Petalesharro returned to his
+father's tent with the fearless port and composed dignity of one whose
+consciousness of rectitude placed him above fear. He was a young man,
+just entered upon manhood, and a general favorite of his tribe.[E] His
+countenance, as represented in Col. McKenney's magnificent work upon the
+North American tribes, is one of uncommon beauty of feature. In its
+mildness of expression, it is almost effeminate. But in heart and soul
+he was a man and a hero. His courage, and the power of his arm, were
+acknowledged by friend and foe; and on the death of his father, he was
+raised to the chieftaincy of his tribe. The season which followed his
+noble act of humane, may we not say religious chivalry, was one of
+uncommon fertility, health and prosperity. "_The Great Star_" had not
+demanded the victim. And the Pawnees never again polluted their altars
+with the blood of a human sacrifice.
+
+ [E] Major Long, in his "Expeditions to the Rocky Mountains,"
+ thus describes Petalesharro, as he appeared in his native
+ wilds, and among his own people, in the full costume which he
+ wore on the occasion of some great festival of his tribe.
+
+ "Almost from the beginning of this interesting fete, our
+ attention had been attracted to a young man, who seemed to be
+ the leader or partisan of the warriors. He was about
+ twenty-three years of age, of the finest form, tall, muscular,
+ exceedingly graceful, and of a most prepossessing countenance.
+ His head-dress, of war-eagles' feathers, descended in a double
+ series upon his back, like wings, down to his saddle-croup; his
+ shield was highly decorated, and his long lance by a plaited
+ casing of red and blue cloth. On enquiring of the interpreter,
+ our admiration was augmented by learning that he was no other
+ than Petalesharro, with whose name and character we were
+ already familiar. He is the most intrepid warrior of the
+ nation, the eldest son of Letalashaw, and destined, as well by
+ mental and physical qualifications, as by his distinguished
+ birth, to be the future leader of his people."
+
+ Petalesharro visited Washington in 1821, where his fine figure
+ and countenance, and his splendid costume attracted every eye.
+ But there was that in his history and character, which had gone
+ before him, that secured for him a worthier homage than that of
+ the eye. His act of generous chivalry to the Itean captive was
+ the theme of every tongue. The ladies of the city caused an
+ appropriate medal to be prepared, commemorating the noble deed,
+ and presented it to him, in the presence of a large assemblage
+ of people, who took a lively interest in the ceremony. In reply
+ to their complimentary address, the brave young warrior
+ modestly said--"My heart is glad. The white woman has heard
+ what I did for the captive maid, and they love me, and speak
+ well of me, for doing it. I thought but little of it before. It
+ came from my heart, as the breath from my body. I did not know
+ that any one would think better of me for that. But now I am
+ glad. For it is a good thing to be praised by those, who only
+ praise that which is good."
+
+
+
+
+TULA,
+
+OR
+
+THE HERMITESS OF ATHABASCA.
+
+
+ I thought to be alone. It might not be!
+ There is no solitude in thy domains,
+ Save what man makes, when in his selfish breast,
+ He locks his joys, and bars out others' grief.
+
+
+
+
+TULA.
+
+ ~Death is not all--
+ Not half the agony we suffer here:
+ The cup of life has drugs, more bitter far,
+ That must be drained.~
+
+
+That solitary wigwam, in the outskirts of the village, was the home of
+Kaf-ne-wah-go, an aged Chippeway warrior, who had weathered the storms,
+and outlived the wars, of three score and ten seasons, and was yet as
+fiery in the chase, and as mighty and terrible in battle, as any of the
+young chiefs of his tribe. His voice in the council was, like the solemn
+tones of an oracle, listened to with a reverence approaching to awe, and
+never disregarded. His sons all inherited the spirit of their father,
+and distinguished themselves among the braves in fight, and the sages in
+council. Three of them fell in battle. One was principal chief of the
+western division of the Chippeway family. Another, the brave
+Ish-ta-le-o-wah, occupied the first in that group of wigwams in yonder
+grove, about a hundred yards from his father's.
+
+The only daughter of the good old sachem, the child of his old age, and
+"the light of his eyes," was the fairest and loveliest wild-flower, that
+ever sprung up amid the interminable wildernesses of the Western World.
+Tula, the singing bird, was distinguished among the daughters of the
+forest, not only for those qualities of person and character which are
+recognized as graces among the Indians, but for some of those peculiar
+refinements of feeling and manner, which are supposed to be the
+exclusive product of a civilized state of society. She was remarkable
+for the depth and tenderness of her affection, and for her ingenuity,
+industry and taste. Her dress, and those of her father and brother,
+exhibited the traces of her delicate handiwork; while the neat and
+tasteful arrangement of the humble cabin, superior in all that makes
+home comfortable and pleasant to any in the village, bore testimony to
+her industry and skill.
+
+Tula had many suitors. There was scarce a young brave in the tribe who
+did not seek or desire her. But O-ken-ah-ga, the only son of their great
+chief, won her heart. She became his bride, but she remained, with him
+and their first-born child, in the tent of her aged parents, who could
+not live, as they said, "when the singing bird, the light of their eyes
+was gone."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+It was mid-summer. The night was still, clear, and lovely. All nature
+seemed to breathe nothing but calmness and peace. But the heart of
+man--how often and how sadly is it at variance with nature! The inmates
+of that humble wigwam were all wrapped in a profound sleep, not dreaming
+of danger near. The infant, nestling in his mother's bosom, by a sudden
+start roused her to partial consciousness. A deep groan, as of one in
+expiring agonies, awakened all her faculties. She sprung up and called
+upon her husband--
+
+"O-ken-ah-ga, what is the matter?"
+
+Another deep groan, and a stifled yell of triumph, was the only answer.
+
+Staring wildly round, what a scene of horror met her eyes! Her father,
+her mother, her husband, pierced with many wounds, and weltering in
+their yet warm blood, lay dead before her; while a band of fierce and
+terrible enemies, of the Athapuscow tribe, stood over them, with the
+reeking instruments of death in their hands, their eyes gleaming with
+savage delight, and their whole faces distorted with the most fiend-like
+expression of rage and triumph. With the true instinct of a mother, she
+clasped her infant to her breast, and bowed her head in silence, utterly
+unable to give any utterance to the bitterness of her wo. It was this
+silence that saved her and her child from an instant participation in
+the fate of the mangled ones around her. The first word spoken, would
+have brought down that reeking tomahawk upon their heads. The
+Athapuscows were few in number, and their only safety consisted in doing
+their work of revenge with secrecy and despatch, for the Chippeways were
+many and powerful, and to disturb the slumbers of one of them would be
+to rouse the whole tribe in a moment.
+
+The work of death was done. The scalps of their victims hung dripping at
+the belts of the murderers, and the spoils of the cabin were secured.
+The spoilers turned to depart, and Tula, in obedience to their word,
+without complaint or remonstrance, rose and followed them. Gathering up
+a few necessary articles, among which she contrived to conceal her babe,
+she took one farewell look upon the loved ones, whom death had so
+suddenly and fearfully claimed, and left them, and the home of her
+youth, for ever.
+
+With cautious stealthy steps, the murderous band plunged into the deep
+forest, threading their way through its intricate mazes, with
+inconceivable skill and sagacity, till they reached an opening, on the
+bank of the Wapatoony river, where a considerable detachment of their
+tribe was temporarily encamped. Delivering their prisoner into the hands
+of the women, the braves proceeded at once to the council of the chiefs,
+to show their trophies, and relate the incidents of their scout.
+
+When the Athapuscow women, in examining the contents of the poor
+captive's bundle, discovered the still sleeping infant, they seized him
+as they would have done a viper, and dashed him on the ground. In vain
+did the fond mother plead for her child. In vain did the voice of
+nature, and a mother's instinct in their own bosoms, plead for the
+innocent. It was an enemy's child, a hated Chippeway, and that was
+enough to stifle every other feeling in their hearts, and make even "an
+infant of days" an object of intense and implacable hatred. With the
+Indian, the son of an enemy is an enemy, doomed only to death or
+torture. The daughter may be spared for slavery or sacrifice.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The morning dawned with uncommon brilliancy and beauty upon the
+Chippeway village, and warriors and children were astir with the
+earliest light, some to fish in the smooth stream, that, like a silver
+chain, bound their two beautiful lakes together--some to look after the
+traps they had set over-night--some to prepare for the hunt--and some
+for the merry games and athletic sports of the village. The quick eye of
+Ish-ta-le-o-wah soon discovered that all was not right in the tent of
+his father. Kaf-ne-wah-go was not abroad, as usual, with his net in the
+stream. O-ken-ah-ga was not seen among the hunters with his bow, nor
+among the wrestlers on the green. No smoke was seen curling among the
+branches of the old tree that overshadowed his mother's tent. All was
+still as the house of the dead.
+
+"Why sleep the brave so long, when the light of day is already on the
+hill-top, and coming down upon the valley. Has the snake crept into the
+tent of Kaf-ne-wah-go, and charmed the father with the children? I must
+go and see."
+
+The loud and piercing yell of Ish-ta-le-o-wah, as he looked in upon that
+desolate wigwam, roused the whole village, like the blast of a trumpet.
+The counsellors and braves of the nation were soon on the spot. The
+whole scene was understood in a moment, as clearly as if a written
+record of the whole had been left behind. Pursuit, and the recovery of
+the captive Tula and her child, were instantly resolved; and, ere the
+sun had surmounted the eastern barrier of their beautiful valley,
+Ish-ta-le-o-wah, with a band of chosen braves, was on the trail of the
+foe.
+
+With the keen eye and quick scent of a blood-hound, they followed the
+almost obliterated track, through forest and brake, through swamp and
+dingle, over hill and prairie, till it was lost on the border of the
+Athabasca lake. Though the party in retreat was large, so well were they
+all trained in the Indian tactics of flight and concealment, that it
+required a most experienced eye to keep on their track. They had
+marched, according to custom, in Indian file, each carefully walking in
+the steps of the other, so that, to an unpractised observer, there would
+appear to have been but one wayfarer in the path. Wherever it was
+practicable, the path was carried over rocks, or the soft elastic
+mosses, or through the bed of a running brook, with the hope of eluding
+the pursuer. But no artifice of the Athapuscow could elude the
+well-trained eye of the Chippeway. He would instantly detect the
+slightest trace of a footstep on the ground, or the passage of a human
+body through the thicket. In one place, the edges of the moss had been
+torn, or a blade of grass trampled in upon it; in another, the small
+stones of the surface had been displaced, showing sometimes the fresh
+earth, and sometimes the hole of a worm uncovered, with half the length
+of its astonished occupant protruded to the light, as if investigating
+the cause of the sudden unroofing of his cell. Here some dry stick
+broken, or the bark of a protruding root peeled off, would betray the
+step of the fugitive; and there a shrub slightly bent, or a leaf turned
+up and lapped over upon another, or a few petals of a wild flower torn
+off and scattered upon the ground, would reveal the rude touch of his
+foot, or arm, or the trailing of his blanket, as he passed. Even on the
+bare rock, if a few grains of earth had been carried forward, or a
+pebble, a leaf, a dry stick, or a bit of moss, adhering to the foot had
+been deposited there, it was instantly noticed and understood. The
+rushing of the waters in the brook did not always replace, in a moment,
+every stone that had been disturbed in its bed, nor restore the broken
+limb, nor the bent weed, to its place. So quick and intuitive were these
+observations, that the march of the pursuer was as rapid and direct as
+that of the pursued. The one would seldom lose more time in hunting for
+the track, than the other had consumed in his various artifices of
+concealment.
+
+On arriving at the lake, it was evident that a considerable number of
+the enemy had been encamped, and that they had just embarked. Their
+fires were still smoking, and the rocks were not yet dry, from which
+they had pushed off their canoes, in the haste of their departure.
+
+The Chippeway was not easily diverted from his purpose. With the speed
+of a chamois, he climbed a tall cliff, which, jutting boldly out into
+the lake, concealed its great eastern basin from his view. Arrived at
+the summit, he discerned, dimly relieved in the distant horizon, a
+number of moving specks, which he knew to be the canoes of the
+retreating foe. In the double hope of avenging the dead, and recovering
+the living from captivity, he continued his course along the shores of
+the lake, and, early the next morning, fell once more upon the trail of
+his enemy. Pursuing it a short distance into the forest, it suddenly
+divided, one part continuing on to the east, and one striking off toward
+the south. In neither of them could he discover the track of his sister.
+Her captors had placed her, with their own women, in the middle of the
+march, so that the large and heavy track of the warriors who came after,
+should cover and obliterate the lighter traces of her foot.
+
+Taking the eastern track, and moving on with accelerated speed, he
+overtook the flying party in the act of encamping for the night.
+Concealing himself carefully from view, and watching his opportunity
+when all were busily engaged in pitching their tents, he raised the
+terrible war-whoop, with a volley of well directed arrows, and rushed,
+with his whole band, upon his unarmed victims. Not one of them escaped;
+and, so sudden and complete was the retribution, that not one remained
+to tell where the captive Tula had been carried. The real murderers had
+escaped with their captives, and the vengeance intended for _them_ had
+fallen upon the heads of their innocent comrades.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Tula was treated with kindness by the Athapuscow chief, who claimed her
+as his own. Every means was tried to reconcile her to her new lot, and
+to make her content to be the wife of her enemy. But her heart was bound
+up with the memories of the dead. Her parents, her husband, her child,
+filled all her thoughts. And the idea of being for ever bound to those
+whose hands were stained with the blood of these precious lost ones, was
+not to be endured for a moment. She was inconsolable, and her captors,
+for a time, respected her grief. Day after day, they travelled on, with
+long and weary marches, till the face of the country was changed, and
+the green forest gave way to the barren and rocky waste, that skirts the
+northern borders of the great valley of prairies. As they advanced, they
+grew more and more secure against pursuit, and less watchful of their
+captive. At length, she suddenly disappeared from their view.
+
+They had pitched for the night, on the bank of the north branch of the
+Sascatchawan. The night was dark and tempestuous. The lightnings flashed
+vividly from the dark cloud, and threatened to "melt the very elements
+with fervent heat." The hoarse thunders roared among the wildly
+careering clouds, and reverberated along the shores of the stream, and
+the cliffs of the distant mountains, as if those everlasting barriers
+were rent asunder, and nature were groaning from her utmost depths. The
+Indian feared not death, in whatever shape it might come. But he feared
+the angry voice of the Great Spirit. He shrunk with terror to the covert
+of his tent, and covered his eyes from the fearful glare of those
+incessant flashes, and prayed inwardly to his gods.
+
+The poor disconsolate captive lay trembling under the side of the tent.
+She thought of the storm that had swept over her beautiful home, and
+desolated her heart in the spring time of its love. She looked at her
+savage captors, now writhing in the agonies of superstitious fear, which
+her more absorbing private grief alone prevented her from sharing to the
+full. They heeded her not. They scarcely remembered that she was among
+them. Something whispered to her heart--"No eye but that of the Great
+Spirit sees you. He bids you escape from your enemies."
+
+In the ten-fold darkness that follows the all-revealing flash from the
+storm-cloud, Tula slipped noiselessly under the edge of the robe that
+sheltered her from the beating rain, and plunging into the stream, swam
+with the current a few rods, till she was arrested by a thick covert of
+overhanging shrubs, which grew to the water's edge. Thinking she might
+be able to cover her head with these bushes, while her body was hid by
+the water, she crept cautiously under, close to the bank, when, to her
+surprise and joy, she found that this shrubbery covered and curiously
+concealed a crevice in the jutting rock, sufficiently large to admit a
+free entrance to an ample cave within. Having carefully adjusted every
+limb and leaf without, and replaced with instinctive sagacity, the
+mosses that had been disturbed by her feet, she devoutly thanked the
+good spirit for her hope of deliverance, and anxiously watched for the
+morning.
+
+The dark cloud of the night had passed over. The voice of the tempest
+was hushed. The day broke clear and cloudless, amid the singing of
+birds, and the quickened music of the swollen stream. The first thought
+of the Athapuscow chief, as he started from his troubled slumbers, was
+of his captive. But she was gone. With a shrill and angry whoop, he
+roused the whole band, and all started in pursuit. The old woods rung
+again with the whoop and yell of the pursuers, and were answered by the
+sullen echoes of the hills and cliffs around. But neither wood, nor
+hill, nor cliff, revealed the hiding-place of the captive. The heavy
+torrents of rain had obliterated every mark of her footsteps, and
+neither grass, nor sand, nor the yielding soil of the river-bank
+afforded any clue to the path she had taken.
+
+Safe in the close covert of her new found retreat, the poor captive
+heard all the loud and angry threats of her disappointed pursuers. She
+even heard their frequent conjectures and animated discussions of the
+means to be adopted for her recovery, and often, they were so near to
+her place of refuge, that she could see their anxious and angry looks,
+as they passed, and almost feel their hands among the bushes that
+sheltered her, and the quick tramp of their feet over the roof of her
+cave. But there was no track or mark, on land or water, to guide them to
+that spot, and so naturally had every leaf been adjusted, that it had
+not attracted a single suspicion from any one of those sagacious and
+quick-sighted inquisitors.
+
+Two hours of fruitless search for a hiding place, or a track that should
+reveal the course of her flight, brought them to the conclusion that the
+Great Spirit had taken her away, and that it was not for man to find her
+path again. With this conviction, they struck their tents, swam the
+stream, and resumed their march to the south.
+
+Too cautious to leave her covert at once, and wearied with her anxious
+watchings, Tula composed herself to sleep, as soon as the last sound of
+the retiring party died on her ear. The sun had declined half way to his
+setting, when she awoke. She listened, with a suspicions ear for every
+sound without. The singing of birds, the rustling of the leaves, and the
+murmur of the waters, were all that disturbed the silence of the scene.
+She put her ear to the rock, but it brought nothing to her sense that
+revealed the presence of man. With extreme caution, she ventured to look
+out from her cave, and, by slow degrees, peering on every side for some
+concealed enemy, she emerged into the light, and dropping noiselessly
+into the stream, swam to a point on the opposite shore, from which she
+could obtain a good view of the recent encampment. It was deserted and
+still. Not a trace was left behind, except the trampled grass, and the
+blackened embers.
+
+Recrossing the stream, she commenced, with a light step, and a hopeful
+spirit, the seemingly impossible task of finding her way back to her
+home and her people. The consciousness of freedom buoyed her up, and
+inspired her with a new hope, at almost every step. With a light heart,
+and an elastic step, she bounded away over the desolate waste, that lay
+between the river and the forest, having neither path, nor track, nor
+land-mark, to guide her way, and with nothing but the instinct of
+affection to point out the course she should take. She had been so
+absorbed with her many griefs, during the long and weary march hitherto,
+and so little did she dream of the possibility of escape, that she had
+scarcely taken any notice of the direction, or attempted to observe any
+land-marks to guide her return. The way by which she had been led was
+circuitous and irregular, and she had only the vague general ideas, that
+her home was near "the star that never moves," and that she had been
+leaving her shadow behind, to aid her in her solitary wanderings. With a
+hopeful courageous heart, she sought only to widen the distance between
+her cruel captors and herself, trusting that her way would open as she
+went, and that her guardian angel, her tutelar divinity, would keep her
+from going astray. _Her_ tutelar divinity was the moon, whose light and
+protection she invoked, with a devout, if not an enlightened faith.
+While she could enjoy her mild clear light, she was always happy and
+secure; but when those beams were withdrawn, a shadow came over her soul
+that was full of dark forebodings and anxious fears.
+
+She had travelled several leagues, without seeing a track of any kind,
+and without the consciousness of fatigue or hunger. When night came on,
+she was just entering a deep forest, whose impenetrable shade made a
+sudden transition from twilight to utter darkness. With no star to guide
+her, and with no appearance of a path through thickets which seemed
+never to have been penetrated by a human footstep, she was soon
+bewildered, and felt that it was vain to proceed. With a few half-ripe
+nuts for a supper, and the soft moss which had gathered about the trunk
+of a fallen tree for a bed, she committed herself to sleep.
+
+About midnight, her slumbers were disturbed by a heavy rustling among
+the bushes, at no great distance, accompanied by a constant crackling,
+as of some large animal, trying to penetrate the thicket. Perceiving
+that it approached nearer at every step, she seized a club, with which
+she had provided herself before entering the forest, and hastened to
+climb into the nearest tree. As she ascended, it began to grow lighter
+overhead. The stars looked smilingly down upon her, but it was darker
+than ever below. She breathed a silent prayer to the star of her
+faith--the bright orb where she supposed her guardian angel resided--and
+took courage. The mysterious step approached nearer and nearer. She
+soon perceived that it was a bear, and supposed he would follow her into
+the tree. She therefore seated herself upon a stout limb, a few feet
+from the main trunk, and prepared to give him a warm reception.
+Presently the heavy trampling ceased, and was followed by a silence
+vastly more oppressive than the previous noise.
+
+In this condition, the remaining hours of the night passed away. With
+the first light of the morning, the shaggy intruder was discerned,
+quietly reposing near the foot of the tree, and showing no signs of
+being in haste to depart. That he was conscious of the presence of a
+stranger, was evident only from an occasional upward glance of his eye,
+and a significant turning of the nose in that direction, as if there was
+something agreeable in prospect.
+
+Tula would have been no match for Bruin on level ground, but she felt
+confident of her power in the position she had chosen, and therefore
+quietly waited the movements of her adversary. For two or three hours,
+he behaved himself with the gravity of a true philosopher, coolly
+expecting to weary out the patience of his victim by a close siege, and
+so save himself the trouble of taking the tree by assault. But Tula was
+as patient and prudent as Bruin, and could endure hunger, and thirst,
+and wakefulness as well as he. Rousing at length from his inactivity, he
+travelled round and round the tree, as if taking its measure, and
+estimating the probable result of an encounter. Tula watched his motions
+with more interest than anxiety, hoping soon to be relieved from her
+imprisonment, and at liberty to pursue her journey. It was near noon,
+when, having satisfied himself that offensive measures were necessary,
+he began to climb the tree. Having reached the leading branch, and
+embraced the trunk to raise himself to that on which Tula was seated,
+the brave girl rose suddenly to her feet, and brought down her club upon
+the enemy's nose with such desperate and well directed force, as to send
+him, stunned and insensible, to the ground. Without allowing him a
+moment to recover, she leaped down to his side, and dealt a succession
+of heavy blows upon his head, till the blood flowed in torrents, and his
+struggles and his breathing ceased.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+In this manner, many days and nights passed on, during which she
+encountered many imminent dangers, and severe conflicts, and made but
+little progress. Hunger, weariness, a continual sense of danger, and
+that sickness of the heart, which solitude and suspense beget, were her
+inseparable companions. Every day, her hope of ultimately reaching the
+home of her childhood grew fainter and fainter. But she had a woman's
+endurance, and a woman's fertility of resource. She never for a moment
+repented her flight. She would have preferred death in any form to a
+forced espousal with the murderer of her family. Sometimes with roots
+and herbs, sometimes with nutritious mosses, and sometimes with wild
+fruits and nuts, she continued to satisfy the cravings of appetite, and
+to sustain her severely tried fortitude, for the fatigues and perils
+that were yet before her.
+
+The forest seemed interminable; and so indeed it might well have been
+regarded, for she was continually travelling round and round, in the
+same track, having only an occasional glimpse of the sun to direct her
+way, or a view of the stars, when she climbed some tall tree at night.
+She knew little of the direction in which she was going; but she was
+sure that that forest lay between her enemy and her home, and was
+therefore resolved, at any expense of labor and suffering, to find her
+way through it, or perish in the attempt.
+
+After several weeks of incredible toil, fatigue, hardship and danger,
+the brave persevering Tula emerged into a wide opening, having a
+considerable mountain on one side, and a large sheet of water, and a
+stream from the mountain pouring into it, on the other. It was a
+beautiful spot, but the whole aspect of it was new and strange. She was
+confident she had not passed that way, while a captive in the hands of
+the Athapuscows. She was now wholly at a loss which way to turn. To
+retrace her steps through the intricacies of that dark forest, would be
+as vain as the thought of it was appalling. To go on, when she was
+absolutely certain she was out of her track, seemed little less than
+madness. To choose either the right hand or the left, was to leap in the
+dark, and involve herself in new doubts and difficulties. She needed
+rest. Her apparel was torn by her difficult passages through the tangled
+thickets, and her frequent contests with the enemies she found there.
+Pondering deeply on the difficulties before her, she began to think,
+that if there was any place of shelter near, she would make herself a
+new home, and live and die alone in the great wilderness.
+
+"And why," said she to herself, "why should I return to the wigwam of my
+father? Kaf-ne-wah-go is not there. My mother, she has gone with him to
+the spirit land. O-ken-ah-ga waits no longer for my return. I left my
+brave chief in his blood. His voice will no longer be heard in the
+valley, with the hunters, nor his shout in the battle. He fell in the
+glory of his strength, like the young oak that is full of sap, and whose
+roots have struck deep into the earth. And my child, the son of
+O-ken-ah-ga, alas! he has not even a grave to sleep in. He lies on the
+cold bosom of the earth, and I know not where. Why then should I return
+to a desolate home, only made more desolate by the memory of what it
+was?"
+
+With such thoughts as these, she beguiled her inward yearnings for the
+spot where all her joys had been, and where all her hopes were buried.
+Wandering on the shores of the lake and the stream by day, and seeking
+such shelter as she could find in the clefts of the rocks at night, she
+sought for a place where she might provide a suitable protection against
+the cold and the storms of winter, which were not far distant. Wild
+berries and fruits afforded her only sustenance for a considerable time,
+until her own ingenuity provided her with the means of procuring a more
+certain substantial diet.
+
+Having found a convenient spot in a deep ravine of the mountain, which
+opened towards the south, and was consequently always exposed to the
+sun, she immediately commenced the construction of a place to dwell in.
+The spot selected was romantic and beautiful in the extreme, and seemed
+to have been designed by nature "for some especial use." It was
+sufficiently elevated to command a fine view of the opening, including
+all the meanderings of the river, and the whole extent of the lake, and
+yet it was not difficult of access, nor so high as to be too much
+exposed to the wintry storms. It was a little nook, chipped out from the
+solid rock, having a smooth slaty floor, about twelve feet square, with
+a semi-circular recess of about half that depth into the side of the
+mountain. A jutting rock, about ten feet above this floor, and
+overhanging it on every side, formed a natural ceiling. It only needed
+to be enclosed on two sides, to make a lodge that any of the great
+caciques of the wilderness might be proud of.
+
+Fortunately Tula was not entirely destitute of tools to work with. A
+piece of an iron hoop, about six inches in length, and the shank of an
+arrow head, also of iron, both of which she had picked up while among
+the Athapuscows, constituted her whole stock. With these, which she
+sharpened upon the rocks, she contrived to cut down a number of young
+saplings, and shape them to her purpose. Planting two of them upright
+upon the outer line of the floor, and laying the end of one against the
+inside, and the end of the other against the outside of the cornice, or
+overhanging ceiling, she bound them firmly together with green withes.
+In this manner she went all round, leaving a space open for a door on
+the sunny side. This done, she wove it, inside and out, with willow
+boughs, stuffing the intervening spaces with moss, till it was entirely
+impervious to the weather. The door was of close basket-work hung at the
+top, and secured at the sides, in a storm, or during the night, by means
+of withes fastened round the door-posts. This served the double purpose
+of door and window, while a crevice in the rock above, performed the
+part of a chimney.
+
+The work went on slowly and heavily at first, but patience and
+perseverance, which can conquer all but impossibilities, accomplished it
+before the cold weather set in. Meanwhile, the ingenuity of the fair
+builder had found means to make a fire upon the hearth. Her materials
+for that purpose were two hard sulphureous stones, which, by long
+friction, or hard knocking, produced a few sparks. These, communicated
+to touchwood, were soon formed into a blaze.
+
+When fruits, berries and nuts failed, her ready ingenuity supplied her
+with other means of sustaining life. She had, among her scanty stock of
+furniture, a few deer-sinews, which, with the Indians, are a common
+substitute for thread. With the aid of these, she managed to snare
+partridges, rabbits and squirrels. She also killed several beavers and
+porcupines. The sinews of the rabbit's legs and feet were twisted with
+great dexterity, to supply the place of deer-sinews, when _they_ were
+gone. Their skins also, with those of the squirrels, served to replenish
+her exhausted wardrobe, supplying, under her skilful hand, a neat and
+warm suit of winter clothing. Her industry was as untiring as her
+ingenuity was fruitful of resources. Forlorn as her situation was, she
+was composed and resigned, if not contented, and seemed to find pleasure
+in employing every moment of her waking hours in some useful or
+ornamental contrivance.
+
+Her dress evinced much taste, and exhibited no little variety of
+ornament. The materials, though rude, were very curiously wrought, and
+so judiciously arranged, as to give to the whole a pleasing and romantic
+effect. Her tunic was composed of the skins of squirrels and rabbits, in
+alternate strips of grey and white. It was secured at the waist by a
+belt of skin, beautifully wrought with porcupine quills, colored
+pebbles, and strips of bark of various brilliant hues. Her mantle, which
+was large, was of the fairest and most delicate skins, arranged with a
+certain uniformity and harmony of design, which gave it all the grace
+and beauty, without the stiffness, of a regular pattern. It had a
+tasteful border, of brilliant feathers, and, like the belt before
+described, was fastened by a clasp of an unique and original
+contrivance, being made of the beaks and claws of her captives, arranged
+and secured so as to interlock with each other. Her head-dress, leggings
+and moccasins, were equally perfect in style and effect.
+
+Besides accomplishing all this work, in her solitude, and even laying in
+a stock of provisions in advance, sufficient for her wants, in case of a
+long season of storms, sickness, or any other exigency, she had found
+time to make several hundred fathoms of net-twine, by twisting the inner
+rind, or bark, of willow boughs, into small lines. Of these, she
+intended to make a fishing-net, as soon as the spring should open, and
+thus enlarge her sources of subsistence and enjoyment.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+It was past mid-winter. The snow lay deep and hard upon all the northern
+hills and valleys. The lakes and rivers were frozen. The fountains of
+nature were sealed up, and verdure, and fruitfulness, and almost all
+the elements of life, seemed to have followed the sun in his journey to
+the far south. A company of English traders, under the guidance of a
+party of Indians, were traversing the country from Hudson's Bay to the
+Northern Ocean, in quest of furs and peltries. Emerging from a deep
+forest into a broad open plain, they discovered the track of a strange
+snow-shoe, which, from its lightness, they judged to belong to a woman.
+Not knowing of any encampment in that vicinity, it excited the more
+curiosity. They followed it. It led them a considerable distance out of
+their way, across the valley, and into the gorge of the mountain on its
+southern side. Pursuing it still, as it ascended by a circuitous path,
+they came to a small cabin, perched like an eagle's nest in the clefts
+of the rock. They entered, and found a young and beautiful woman sitting
+alone at her work. It was Tula, the hermitess of Athabasca. For more
+than seven moons she had not seen a human face, nor heard a human voice,
+nor did she ever expect again to see the one, or hear the other. She had
+become reconciled to her lot. She loved the solitude where her spirit
+could commune with the departed, undisturbed, and where only the sun,
+the moon, and the stars, and the Great Spirit that controlled and guided
+them all, could read her thoughts, and know the history of her griefs.
+
+The first surprise being over, Tula offered the strangers a place by her
+fire, and such other hospitalities as her cabin afforded.
+
+"How comes the dove alone in the eagle's nest?" enquired the leader of
+the party.--And then, regarding her with a look of admiration,
+added--"does she not fear the hawk or the vulture, here in the cold
+cliffs of the mountain?"
+
+Tula replied by relating the story of her life--her bereavement--her
+captivity--her escape--her weary wanderings--her hardships--and the
+repose she had found in her solitude; and concluded by saying, "If the
+eagle's nest be lonely and cold, it is quiet and safe. It is not too
+high for the moon to smile upon. It is not too cold for Tula."
+
+"Would the 'singing bird' seek out her people, and let her song be heard
+again among the trees of the valley?"
+
+"Tula is no longer the singing bird. Her song is shut up in her heart.
+Her heart is with her kindred in the spirit land. Her father's cabin is
+more desolate than the wilderness, or the mountain top. Her tree is
+plucked up by the roots. It cannot live again."
+
+After some considerable persuasion, in which the voice of the humane
+Englishman--suggesting that, if the Ottawas had discovered her retreat,
+the Athapuscows might discover it also,--had its full share of weight,
+the fair hermitess consented to accompany the strangers; though she
+could not conceal her regret, in abandoning her snug little castle, to
+set off on a new pilgrimage, she knew not whither.
+
+"It matters little to Tula where she goes, so that she does not meet the
+Athapuscow. His hands are red with the blood of her father, her husband,
+her child. Let her never see his face, or walk in his shadow."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The singular romance of Tula's story, the comeliness of her person, and
+her approved accomplishments, touched the hearts of some of the young
+braves of the party. They had not gone far on their way, before a
+contest arose between them, who, according to immemorial usage among the
+tribes, should claim the privilege of making her his wife. The
+dispute--to which she was no party, for her views were not so much as
+consulted in the matter--ran very high, and had nearly resulted in
+serious consequences. The poor girl was actually won and lost, at
+wrestling, by near half a score of different men, in the course of as
+many days. When, at length, a compromise was effected, and the prize
+awarded to Lak-in-aw, a young warrior of the Temiscamings, Tula refused
+to receive the pipe at his hands, or to listen in any way to his suit.
+
+"Tula is buried in the grave of O-ken-ah-ga," she said. "Tula will walk
+alone on the earth. Her heart is in the spirit land. It will never come
+back. It has nothing here to love."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Onward--onward--over interminable fields of snow and ice, where scarce a
+green thing appeared to relieve the utter desolation, the party
+proceeded, with their prize, on their journey to the far north. She was
+treated with chivalric tenderness and respect, and her comfort and
+convenience consulted in all the arrangements of the way. She needed but
+little indulgence, and solicited _none_. She was capable of enduring the
+fatigues and hardships of a man. She never flagged in the march, nor
+lingered a moment, when the word was given to go forward.
+
+In traversing a deep valley near the eastern extremity of the Great
+Slave Lake, their track was crossed by that of a considerable party of
+Indians, returning from an expedition to the fur regions of the north.
+Their course lay along the southern border of the lake. Perceiving their
+encampment at no great distance, on the other side of the valley, it was
+resolved to visit them, and, if they were found to be friendly, to join
+their camp for the night. On approaching the spot, they were met by the
+chief, who, with a few attendants, came out to bid them welcome to his
+tent. He was a fine specimen of a young Indian brave--one who, in his
+green youth, had gained laurels, which it usually requires a life-time
+to win. His costume, though adapted to the severity of the climate, was
+tasteful and picturesque, and so fitted and arranged as to develop, to
+the best advantage, the admirable proportions of his person.
+
+The parley that ensued was a fine specimen of Indian courtesy and
+diplomacy. But it was suddenly and violently interrupted, when Tula, who
+had remained in the rear of her party, with the Englishmen, came up. At
+the first sight of the young chief, she uttered a loud and
+piercing shriek--for the extremes of joy and grief use similar tones and
+gestures--and rushing forward, pushed aside friend and stranger alike,
+and flung herself upon his neck, exclaiming--"Ish-ta-le-o-wah!--my
+brother! my brother!"
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+ Transcriber's Note
+
+ The following changes were made to the original text:
+
+ Accents were restored to the Table of Contents.
+
+ Page 5, "Ka-ree-o-than" changed to "Karee-o-than"
+ (Tezcuco--Karee-o-than)
+
+ Page 12, "Kaf-na-wa-go" changed to "Kaf-ne-wah-go"
+ (wigwam of Kaf-ne-wah-go)
+
+ Page 20, "skillfully" changed to "skilfully"
+ (craftily and skilfully worked)
+
+ Page 35, "paralasis" changed to "paralysis"
+ (struck with instant paralysis)
+
+ Page 40, "acknowledgements" changed to "acknowledgments"
+ (ample acknowledgments)
+
+ Page 50, "terrestial" changed to "terrestrial"
+ (paradise of terrestrial sweets)
+
+ Page 53, "harrass" changed to "harass"
+ (harass his soul)
+
+ Page 58, "anything" changed to "any thing"
+ (his position any thing but)
+
+ Page 60, "discomfitted" changed to "discomfited"
+ (among the discomfited Cholulans)
+
+ Page 66, "unappeaseable" changed to "unappeasable"
+ (an unappeasable fate)
+
+ Page 67, "suprised" changed to "surprised"
+ (continually surprised and delighted)
+
+ Page 73, "cortege" changed to "cortege"
+ (the royal cortege)
+
+ Page 78, "mein" changed to "mien"
+ (proud and haughty mien)
+
+ Page 102, "chastly" changed to "chastely"
+ (chastely decorated)
+
+ Page 121, "it's" changed to "its"
+ (Oozing its bitterness)
+
+ Page 125, "beseiged" changed to "besieged"
+ (heads of the besieged)
+
+ Page 193, "to day" changed to "to-day"
+ (my brave hunter, to-day) [First instance on page]
+
+ Page 205, "calmess" changed to "calmness"
+ (a calmness which we)
+
+ Page 227, "Kaf-ne-wa-go" changed to "Kaf-ne-wah-go"
+ (home of Kaf-ne-wah-go)
+
+ Page 227, "Ish-ta-le-ah" changed to "Ish-ta-le-o-wah"
+ (the brave Ish-ta-le-o-wah)
+
+ Page 245, "patridge" changed to "partridge"
+ (to snare partridges)
+
+ Page 247, "controled" changed to "controlled"
+ (controlled and guided)
+
+ Page 250, "grief" was typeset on the incorrect line and
+ was repositioned accordingly
+ (joy and grief use)
+
+ All other inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation were
+ retained as printed in the original text.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Sketches of Aboriginal Life, by V. V. Vide
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #33433 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33433)
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.25.1) at 2026-06-10 02:16:39 +0000