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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Calavar, by Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Calavar
+       or The Knight of The Conquest, A Romance of Mexico
+
+
+Author: Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+
+
+Release Date: October 23, 2010  [eBook #34121]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CALAVAR***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Julia Miller, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made
+available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
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+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
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+
+
+
+
+
+CALAVAR
+
+Or The Knight of the Conquest
+
+A Romance of Mexico
+
+by
+
+ROBERT MONTGOMERY BIRD
+
+Author of "Nick of the Woods," "The Infidel," Etc.
+
+
+    Escucha pues, un rato, y diré cosas
+    Estrañas y espantosas, poco á poco.
+
+    GARCILASO DE LA VEGA.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Redfield
+110 And 112 Nassau Street, New York.
+Third Edition.
+
+1854
+
+Entered according to the act of Congress in the year 1834, by
+Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, in the clerk's office of the district
+court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION.
+
+
+It is now thirteen years since the first publication of "Calavar,"
+which, apart from the ordinary objects of an author, was written chiefly
+with a view of illustrating what was deemed the most romantic and
+poetical chapter in the history of the New World; but partly, also, with
+the hope of calling the attention of Americans to a portion of the
+continent which it required little political forecast to perceive must,
+before many years, assume a new and particular interest to the people of
+the United States. It was a part of the original design to prepare the
+way for a history of Mexico, which the author meditated; a design which
+was, however, soon abandoned. There was then little interest really felt
+in Mexican affairs, which presented, as they have always done since the
+first insurrection of Hidalgo, a scene of desperate confusion, not
+calculated to elevate republican institutions in the opinions of the
+world. Even the events in Texas had not, at that time, attracted much
+attention. Mexico was, in the popular notion, regarded as a part of
+_South_ America, the _alter ego_ almost of Peru,--beyond the world, and
+the concerns of Americans. There was little thought, and less talk, of
+"the halls of the Montezumas;" and the ancient Mexican history was left
+to entertain school-boys, in the pages of Robertson.
+
+"Calavar" effected its more important purpose, as far as could be
+expected of a mere work of fiction. The revolution of Texas, which
+dismembered from the mountain republic the finest and fairest portion of
+her territory, attracted the eyes and speculations of the world; and
+from that moment, Mexico has been an object of regard. The admirable
+history of Prescott has rendered all readers familiar with the ancient
+annals of the Conquest; and now, with an American army thundering at the
+gates of the capital, and an American general resting his republican
+limbs on the throne of Guatimozin and the Spanish Viceroys, it may be
+believed that a more earnest and universal attention is directed towards
+Mexico than was ever before bestowed, since the time when Cortes
+conquered upon the same field of fame where Scott is now victorious.
+There is, indeed, a remarkable parallel between the invasions of the two
+great captains. There is the same route up the same difficult and lofty
+mountains; the same city, in the same most magnificent of valleys, as
+the object of attack; the same petty forces, and the same daring
+intrepidity leading them against millions of enemies, fighting in the
+heart of their own country; and finally, the same desperate fury of
+unequal armies contending in mortal combat on the causeways and in the
+streets of Mexico. We might say, perhaps, that there is the same purpose
+of conquest: but we do not believe that the American people aim at, or
+desire, the subjugation of Mexico.
+
+"Calavar" was designed to describe the first campaign, or first year, of
+Cortes in Mexico. It was written with an attempt at the strictest
+historical accuracy compatible with the requisitions of romance; and as
+it embraces, in a narrow compass, and--what was at least meant to be--a
+popular form, a picture of the war of 1520, which so many will like to
+contrast with that of 1847, the publishers have thought that its
+revival, in a cheap edition, would prove acceptable to the reading
+community. The republication has, indeed, been suggested and called for
+by numerous persons desirous to obtain copies of the book, which has
+been for some time out of print.
+
+The revival of the romance might have furnished its author an
+opportunity to remove many faults which, he is sensible, exist in it.
+Long dialogues might have been contracted, heavy descriptions lightened
+or expunged, and antiquated phraseology modernized, with undoubted
+benefit. But, after a respectful consideration of all critical
+suggestions, friendly or unfriendly, the author has not thought it of
+consequence to attempt the improvement of a work of so trivial and
+evanescent a character; and he accordingly commits it again to the world
+precisely as it was first committed, with all its faults--would he could
+say, its merits--unchanged; satisfied with any fate that may befall it,
+or any reception it may meet, which should either imply its having given
+some little pleasure, or imparted some little information, to its
+readers.
+
+R. M. B.
+
+Philadelphia.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Nature, and the memory of strange deeds of renown have flung over the
+valley of Mexico a charm more romantic than is attached to many of the
+vales of the olden world for though historic association and the spell
+of poetry have consecrated the borders of Leman and the laurel groves of
+Tempe, and Providence has touched both with the finger of beauty, yet
+does our fancy, in either, dwell upon objects which are not so much the
+adjuvants of romance as of sentiment; in both, we gather food rather for
+feeling than imagination,--we live over thoughts which are generated by
+memory, and our conceptions are the reproductions of experience. But
+poetry has added no plenary charm, history has cast no over-sufficient
+light on the haunts of Montezuma; on the Valley of Lakes, though filled
+with the hum of life, the mysteries of backward years are yet brooding;
+and the marvels of human destiny are whispered to our ears, in the sigh
+of every breeze,--in the rustling of every tree which it stirs on the
+shore, and in the sound of every ripple it curls up on the lake. One
+chapter only of its history (and that how full of marvels!) has been
+written, or preserved; the rest is a blank: a single chain of
+vicissitudes,--a few consecutive links in the concatenation of
+events,--have escaped; the rest is a secret, strange, captivating, and
+pregnant of possibilities. This is the proper field for romantic
+musings.
+
+So, at least, thought a traveller,--or, to speak more strictly, a
+rambler, whose idle wanderings from place to place, directed by ennui
+or whim, did not deserve the name of travels,--who sat, one pleasant
+evening of October, 183-, on the hill of Chapoltepec, regarding the
+spectacle which is disclosed from the summit of that fair promontory.
+
+The hum of the city came faintly to his ear; the church-towers flung
+their long shadows over the gardened roofs; the wildfowl flapped the
+white wing over the distant sheets of water, which stretched, in a
+chain, from Chalco to San Cristobal; the shouts of Indian boatmen were
+heard, at a distance, on the canal of La Viga, and the dark forms of
+others, trotting along the causeway that borders it, were seen returning
+to their huts among the _Chinampas_. Quiet stole over the valley; the
+lizard crept to his hole; the bat woke up in the ruined chambers of the
+viceroy's palace, that crowns the hill of Chapoltepec, or started away
+from his den among the leaves of those mossy, majestic, and indeed
+colossal, cypresses, which, at its base, overshadow the graves of Aztec
+kings and sultanas. At last, the vesper-bells sounded in the city, and
+the sun stooped under the western hills, leaving his rays still
+glittering, with such hues as are only seen in a land of mountains, on
+the grand peaks of Popocatepetl and the White Woman, the farthest but
+yet the noblest summits of all in that girdle of mountain magnificence,
+which seems to shut out Mexico from the rest of the world.
+
+As these bright tints faded into a mellow and harmonious lustre, casting
+a sort of radiant obscurity over vale and mountain, lake and steeple,
+the thoughts of the wanderer (for the romance of the spectacle and the
+hour had pervaded his imagination,) crept back to the ages of antiquity
+and to those mystic races of men, the earliest of the land, who had
+built their cities and dug their graves in this Alpine paradise, now
+possessed by a race of whom their world had not dreamed. He gazed and
+mused, until fancy peopled the scene around him with spectral life, and
+his spirit's eye was opened on spectacles never more to be revealed to
+the corporeal organ. It opened on the day when the land was a
+wilderness, shaking for the first time under the foot of a stranger; and
+he beheld, as in a vision, the various emigrations and irruptions into
+the vale, of men born in other climates. They came like the tides of
+ocean, and, as such, passed away,--like shadows, and so departed; the
+history of ages was compressed into the representation of a moment, and
+an hundred generations, assembled together as one people, rushed by in
+successive apparitions.
+
+First, over the distant ridges of Nochistongo, there stole, or seemed to
+steal, a multitude of men, worn with travel, yet bearing idols on their
+backs, in whose honour, for now they had reached their land of promise,
+they built huge pyramids, to outlive their gods and themselves; and,
+scattering over the whole plain, covered it at once with cornfields and
+cities. The historian (for this unknown race brought with it science as
+well as religion,) sat him in the grove, to trace the pictured annals of
+his age; the astronomer ascended to the tower, to observe the heavens,
+and calculate the seasons, of the new land; while the multitude,
+forgetting the austere climes of their nativity, sat down in peace and
+joy, under the vines and fruit-trees that made their place of habitation
+so beautiful. Thus they rested and multiplied, until the barbarians of
+the hills,--the earlier races, and perhaps the aborigines of the
+land,--descended to take counsel of their wisdom, and follow in the ways
+of civilization. Then came a cloud, bringing a pestilence, in whose hot
+breath the rivers vanished, the lakes turned to dust and the mountains
+to volcanoes, the trees crackled and fell as before a conflagration, and
+men lay scorched with the leaves, as thick and as dead, on the plain;
+and the few who had strength to fly, betook themselves to the hills and
+the seaside, to forget their miseries and their arts, and become
+barbarians.--Thus began, and thus ended, in Mexico, the race of
+_Toltecs_, the first and the most civilized of which Mexican
+hieroglyphics,--the legacy of this buried people to their
+successors,--have preserved the memory.
+
+But the rains fell at last, the lakes filled, the forests grew; and
+other tribes,--the _Chechemecs_ and _Acolhuacans_, with others, many in
+number and strangers to each other,--coming from the same distant North,
+but bringing not the civilization of the first pilgrims, sat in their
+seats, and mingling together into one people, began, at last, after long
+seasons of barbarism, to emerge from the gloom of ignorance, and acquire
+the arts, and understand the destinies of man.
+
+To these came, by the same trodden path, a herd of men, ruder than any
+who had yet visited the southern valleys,--_Aztecs_ in family, but
+called by their neighbours and foes, _Nahuatlacas_, or People of the
+Lakes,--consisting of many tribes, the chief of which was that which
+bore upon a throne of bulrushes an image of the god Mexitli, the
+Destroyer, from whom, in its days of grandeur, it took its name. From
+this crew of savages, the most benighted and blood-thirsty, and, at
+first, the feeblest of all,--so base that history presents them as the
+only nation of bondmen known to the region of Anahuac, and so sordid
+that, in the festivals of religion, they could provide for their deity
+only the poor offering of a knife and flower,--fated now to fight the
+battles of their task-masters, and now condemned to knead the bread of
+independence from the fetid plants and foul reptiles of the lake;--from
+this herd of barbarians, grew, as it seemed, in a moment's space, the
+vast, the powerful, and, in many respects, the magnificent empire of the
+Montezumas. In his mind's eye, the stranger could perceive the salt
+Tezcuco, restored to its ancient limits, beating again upon the porphyry
+hill on which he sat, and the City of the Island, with her hundred
+temples and her thousand towers, rising from the shadows, and heaving
+again with the impulses of nascent civilization. It was at this moment,
+when the travail of centuries was about to be recompensed, when the
+carved statue, the work of many successive Pygmalions, was beginning to
+breathe the breath, and feel the instincts of moral animation, that a
+mysterious destiny trampled upon the little spark, and crushed to atoms
+the body it was warming. From the eastern hills came the voice of the
+Old World--the sound of the battle-trumpet; the smoke of artillery
+rolled over the lake; and, in a moment more, the shout of conquest and
+glory was answered by the groan of a dying nation.
+
+As this revery ended in the brain of the stranger, and the conqueror and
+the captive of the vision vanished away together, he began to contrast
+in his mind the past condition of the new world with the present, and
+particularly of those two portions, which, at the time of their
+invasion, had outlived the barbarism of nature, and were teeming with
+the evidences of incipient greatness. As for this fair valley of Mexico,
+there was scarcely an object either of beauty or utility, the creation
+of Christian wants or Christian taste, to be seen, for which his memory
+could not trace a rival, or superior, which existed in the day of
+paganism. The maize fields, the maguey plantations, the orchards and
+flower-gardens, that beautify the plains and sweeping slopes,--these
+were here, long ages ago, with the many villages that glisten among
+them,--all indeed but the white church and steeple; the lakes which are
+now noisome pools,--were they not lovelier when they covered the
+pestilential fens, and when the rose-garden floated over their blue
+surface? The long rows of trees marking the line of the great
+_Calzadas_, or causeways, the approaches to Mezico, but poorly supply
+the place of aboriginal groves, the haunts of the doe and the
+centzontli, while the calzadas themselves, stretching along over bog and
+morass, have entirely lost the charm they possessed, when washed, on
+either side, by rolling surges; even the aqueducts, though they sprang
+not from arch to arch, over the valley, as at the present time, were not
+wanting; and where the church spires of the metropolis pierce the
+heaven, the sacred tabernacles of the gods rose from the summits of
+pyramids. The changes in the physical spectacle among the valleys of
+Peru were perhaps not much greater; but what happy mutations in the
+character and condition of man, what advance of knowledge and virtue,
+had repaid the havoc and horror which were let loose, three hundred
+years ago, on the lands of Montezuma and the Incas? The question was one
+to which the rambler could not conceive an answer without pain.
+
+'The ways of Providence,' he murmured, 'are indeed inscrutable; the
+designs of Him who layeth the corner-stone and buildeth up the fabric of
+destiny, unfathomable. Two mighty empires,--the only states which seemed
+to be leading the new world to civilization,--were broken, and at an
+expense of millions of lives, barbarously destroyed; and for what
+purpose? to what good end? How much better or happier are the present
+races of Peru and Mexico, than the past? Hope speaks in the breath of
+fancy--time may, perhaps, teach us the lesson of mystery; and these
+magnificent climates, now given up, a second time, to the sway of man in
+his darkest mood,--to civilized savages and Christian pagans,--may be
+made the seats of peace and wisdom; and perhaps, if mankind should again
+descend into the gloom of the middle ages, their inhabitants will
+preserve, as did the more barbarous nations in all previous
+retrogressions, the brands from which to rekindle the torches of
+knowledge, and thus be made the engines of the reclamation of a world.'
+
+The traveller muttered the conclusion of his speculations aloud, and,
+insensibly to himself, in the Spanish tongue, totally unconscious of the
+presence of a second person, until made aware of it by a voice
+exclaiming suddenly, as if in answer, and in the same language--
+
+"Right! very right! _pecador de mi!_ sinner that I am, that _I_ should
+not have thought it, for the honour of God and my country!"
+
+The voice was sharp, abrupt, and eager, but very quavering. The stranger
+turned, and perceived that the words came from a man dressed in a long
+loose surtout or gown of black texture, none of the newest, with a hat
+of Manilla grass, umbrageous as an oak-top. He looked old and infirm;
+his person was very meager; his cheeks were of a mahogany hue, and
+hollow, and the little hair that stirred over them in the evening
+breeze, was of a sable silvered: his eyes were large, restless,
+exceedingly bright, and irascible. He carried swinging in his hand,
+without seeming to use it much, (for, in truth, his gait was too
+irregular and capricious to admit such support,) a staff, to the head of
+which was tied a bunch of flowers; and he bore under his arm, as they
+seemed to the unpractised eye of the observer, a bundle of books, a
+cluster of veritable quartos, so antique and worn, that the string
+knotted round each, seemed necessary to keep together its dilapidated
+pages. The whole air of the man was unique, but not mean; and the
+traveller did not doubt, at the first glance, that he belonged to some
+inferior order of ecclesiastics, and was perhaps the curate of a
+neighbouring village.
+
+"Right! you have said the truth!" he continued, regarding the traveller
+eagerly, and, as the latter thought, with profound veneration; "I must
+speak with you, very learned stranger, for I perceive you are a
+philosopher. Very great thanks to you! may you live a thousand years! In
+a single word, you have revealed the secret that has been the enigma of
+a long life, made good the justice of heaven, and defended the fame of
+my country. God be thanked! I am grateful to your wisdom: you speak like
+a saint: you are a philosopher!"
+
+The traveller stared with surprise on the speaker; but though thus moved
+by the abruptness of the address, and somewhat inclined to doubt its
+seriousness, there was something so unusual in the mode and quality of
+the compliment as to mollify any indignation which he might have felt
+rising in his breast.
+
+"Father," said he, "reverend father--for I perceive you are one of the
+clergy----"
+
+"The poor licentiate, Cristobal Johualicahuatzin, curate of the parish
+of San Pablo de Chinchaluca," interrupted the ecclesiastic meekly, and
+in fact with the greatest humility.
+
+"Then, indeed, very excellent and worthy father Cristobal," resumed the
+stranger, courteously, "though I do not pretend to understand you----"
+
+The padre raised his head; his meekness vanished; he eyed the traveller
+with a sharp and indignant frown:
+
+"_Gachupin!_" he cried; "you are a man with two souls: you are wise and
+you are foolish, and you speak bad Spanish!--Why do you insult me?"
+
+The stranger stared at his new acquaintance with fresh amazement.
+
+"Insult you, father!" he exclaimed. "I declare to you, I have, this
+moment, woke out of a revery; and I scarcely know what you have said or
+what I have answered, or what you are saying and what I am answering. If
+I have offended you, I ask your pardon."
+
+"Enough! right!" said the curate, with an air of satisfaction; "you are
+a philosopher; you are right. You were in a revery; you have done me no
+wrong. I have intruded upon your musings,--I beg your pardon. I thank
+you very heartily. You have instructed my ignorance, and appeased my
+repining; you have taught me the answer to a vast and painful riddle;
+and now I perceive why Providence hath given over my native land to
+seeming ruin, and permitted it to become a place of dust and sand, of
+dry-rot and death. The day of darkness shall come again,--it is coming;
+man merges again into gloom, and now we fall into the age of stone, when
+the hearts of men shall be as flint. This then shall be the valley of
+resuscitation, after it is first _plenus ossibus_, full of skeletons, an
+ossuary--a place of moral ossification. Here, then, shall the wind blow,
+the voice sound, the spirit move, the bone unite to his bone, the sinew
+come with the flesh, and light and knowledge, animating the mass into an
+army, send it forth to conquer the world;--not as an army of flesh, with
+drum and trump, sword and spear, banner and cannon, to kill and destroy,
+to ravage and depopulate; but as a phalanx of angels, with healing on
+their wings, to harmonize and enlighten, to pacify and adorn. Yes, you
+have taught me this, excellent sage! and you shall know my gratitude:
+for great joy is it to the child of Moteuczoma, to know there shall be
+an end to this desolation, this anarchy, this horror!
+
+    Vigilare metu exanimis, noctesque diesque
+    Formidare:----
+
+Came I into the world to watch in sorrow and fear for ever? _Hijo mio!_
+give me thy hand; I love thee. The vale of Anahuac is not deformed for
+nothing; Christian man has ruined it, but not for a long season!"
+
+The Cura delivered this rhapsody with extreme animation; his eye
+kindled, he spoke with a rapid and confused vehemence; and the stranger
+began to doubt the stability of his understanding. He flung his bundle
+to the earth, and grasped the hand of the philosopher, who, until this
+moment, was ignorant of the depth of his own wisdom. While still in
+perplexity, unable to comprehend the strange character, or indeed the
+strange fancies to which he had given tongue, the padre looked around
+him with complacency on the scene, over which a tropical moon was rising
+to replace the luminary of day, and continued, with a gravity which
+puzzled as much as did his late vivacity,--
+
+"It is very true; I regret it no longer, but it cannot be denied: The
+cutting through yonder hill of Nochistongo has given the last blow in a
+system of devastation; the canal of Huehuetoca has emptied the golden
+pitcher of Moteuczoma. It has converted the valley into a desert, and
+will depopulate it.--Men cannot live upon salt."
+
+"A desert, father!"
+
+"Hijo mio! do you pretend to deny it?" cried the Cura, picking up his
+bundle, and thumping it with energy. "I aver, and I will prove it to
+your satisfaction, out of these books, which--But hold! Are you a spy?
+will you betray me? No; you are not of Mexico: the cameo on your breast
+bears the device of stars, the symbol of intellectual as well as
+political independence. I reverence that flag; I saw it, when your
+envoy, attacked by an infuriated mob, in his house in yonder very city,
+(I stole there in spite of them!) sprang upon the balcony, and waved it
+abroad in the street. Frenzy vanished at the sight: it was the banner of
+man's friend!--No! you are no fool with a free arm, a licentious tongue,
+and a soul in chains. Therefore, you shall look into these pages,
+concealed for years from the jealousy of misconstruction, and the penal
+fires of intolerance; and they shall convince you, that this hollow of
+the mountain, as it came from the hands of God, and as it was occupied
+by the children of nature, was the loveliest of all the vales of the
+earth; and that, since Christian man has laid upon it his innovating
+finger, its beauty has vanished, its charm decayed; and it has become a
+place fitting only for a den of thieves, a refuge for the snake and the
+water-newt, the wild-hog and the vulture!"
+
+"To my mind, father," said the American, no longer amazed at the
+extravagant expressions of the ecclesiastic, for he was persuaded his
+wits were disordered, "to my mind, it is still the most charming of
+valleys; and were it not that the folly and madness of its inhabitants,
+the contemptible ambition of its rulers, and the servile supineness of
+its people,--in fine, the general disorganization of all its elements,
+both social and political, have made it a sort of Pandemonium,--a spot
+wherein splendour and grandeur (at least the possibilities and rudiments
+of grandeur,) are mixed with all the causes of decline and perdition, I
+should be fain to dream away my life on the borders of its blue lakes,
+and under the shadow of its volcanic barriers."
+
+"True, true, true! you have said it!" replied the curate, eagerly; "the
+ambition of public men; the feverish servility of the people, forgetful
+of themselves, of their own rights and interests, and ever anxious to
+yoke themselves to the cars of demagogues, to the wires wherewith they
+may be worked as puppets, and giving their blood to aggrandize
+these--the natural enemies of order and justice, of reason and
+tranquillity; is not this enough to demoralize and destroy? What people
+is like mine? Wo for us! The bondmen of the old world wake from sleep
+and live, while we, in the blessed light of sunshine, wrap the mantle
+round our eyes, sleep, and perish! Revolution after revolution, frenzy
+after frenzy! and what do we gain? By revolution, other nations are
+liberated, but we, by revolution, are enslaved. 'Nil medium est'--is
+there no happy mean?"
+
+"It is true," said the American. "But let us not speak of this: it is
+galling to be able to inveigh against folly without possessing the
+medicament for its cure."
+
+"Thou art an American of the North," said the Cura; "thy people are
+wise, thy rulers are servants, and you are happy! Why, then, art thou
+here? I thought thee a sage, but, I perceive, thou hast the rashness of
+youth. Art thou here to learn to despise thine own institutions? Why
+dost thou remain? the death-wind comes from the southern lakes"--(in
+fact, at this moment, the breeze from the south, rising with the moon,
+brought with it a mephitic odour, the effluvium of a bog, famous, even
+in Aztec days, as the breath of pestilence;) "the death-wind breathes on
+thee: even as this will infect thy blood, when it has entered into thy
+nostrils, disordering thy body, until thou learnest to loathe all that
+seems to thee now, in this scenery, to be so goodly and fair; so will
+the gusts of anarchy, rising from a distempered republic, disease thy
+imagination, until thou comest to be disgusted with the yet untainted
+excellence of thine own institutions, because thou perceivest the evils
+of their perversion. Arise, and begone; remain no longer with us; leave
+this land, and bear with thee to thine own, these volumes,--the poor
+remnants of another Sibylline library,--which will teach thee to
+appreciate and preserve, even as thy soul's ransom, the pure and
+admirable frame of government, which a beneficent power has suffered you
+to enjoy."
+
+"And what, then, are these?" demanded the traveller, curiously, laying
+his hand on the bundle, "which can teach Americans to admire the beauty
+of a republic, and yet are not given to thine own countrymen?"
+
+"They are," said the curate, "the fruits of years of reflection and
+toil, of deep research and profound speculation. They contain a history
+of Mexico, which, when they were perfect, that is, before my
+countrymen," (and here the Cura began to whisper, and look about him in
+alarm, as if dreading the approach of listeners,)--"before my
+countrymen were taught to fear them and to destroy, contained the
+chronicles of the land, from the time that the Toltecas were exiled from
+_Huehuetapallan_, more than twelve hundred years ago, down to the moment
+when Augustin climbed up to the throne, which Hidalgo tore from the
+Cachupins. A history wherein," continued the padre, with great
+complacency, "I flatter myself, though Mexicans have found much to
+detest, Americans will discover somewhat to approve."
+
+"What is it," said the rambler, "which your people have found so
+objectionable?"
+
+"Listen," said the padre, "and you shall be informed. In me,"--here he
+paused, and surveyed his acquaintance with as much majesty as he could
+infuse into his wasted figure and hollow countenance,--"in me you behold
+a descendant of Moteuczoma Xocojotzin."
+
+"Moteuczoma what?" exclaimed the traveller.
+
+"Are you so ignorant, then?" demanded the padre, in a heat, "that you
+must be told who was Moteuczoma Xocojotzin, that is, _the younger_,--the
+second of that name who reigned over Mexico?--the very magnificent and
+unfortunate emperor so basely decoyed into captivity, so ruthlessly
+oppressed and, as I may say, by a figure of speech, (for, literally, it
+is not true) so truculently slain, by the illustrious Don Hernan Cortes,
+the conqueror of Mexico? Perhaps you are also ignorant of the great
+names of Tizoc, of Xocotzin, and of Ixtlilxochitl?"
+
+"I have no doubt," replied the American, with courteous humility, "that
+in the histories of Mexico, which I have ever delighted to read,--in the
+books of De Solis, of Clavigero, of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, and
+especially in that of Dr. Robertson,--I have met these illustrious
+names; but you must allow, that, to one ignorant of the language, and of
+the mode of pronouncing such conglomerated grunts, it must be extremely
+difficult, if not wholly impossible, to rivet them in the memory."
+
+The curate snatched up his bundle, and surveyed the stranger with a look
+in which it was hard to tell whether anger or contempt bore the greater
+sway.
+
+"De Solis! Diaz! Clavigero! Robertson!" he at last exclaimed, irefully.
+"_Basta! demasiado?_ What a _niño_, a little child, a _pobre Yankee_,
+have I fallen upon! That I should waste my words on a man who studies
+Mexican history out of the books of these jolterheads!"
+
+The padre was about to depart, without bestowing another word on the
+offender. The American was amused at the ready transition of the curate
+from deep reverence to the most unbounded contempt. He was persuaded the
+wits of the poor father were unsettled, and felt there was the greater
+need to humour and appease him: and, besides, he was curious to discover
+what would be the end of the adventure.
+
+"Father," said he, with composure, "before you condemn me for acquiring
+my little knowledge from these books, you should put it in my power to
+read better."--The padre looked back.--"What information should be
+expected from incompetent writers? from jolterheads? When I have perused
+the histories of father Cristobal, it will then be _my_ fault, if I am
+found ignorant of the names of his imperial ancestors."
+
+"_Ay de mi!_" said the curate, striking his forehead; "why did I not
+think of that before? _Santos santísimos!_ I am not so quick-witted as I
+was before. I could forgive you more readily, had you not named to me
+that infidel Scotchman, who calls the superb Moteuczoma a savage, and
+all the Tlatoani, the great princes, and princesses, the people and all,
+barbarians! But what more could you expect of a heretic? I forgive you,
+my son--_you_ are a Christian?"
+
+"A Christian, father; but not of the Catholic faith."
+
+"You will be damned!" said the curate, hastily.
+
+"A point of mere creed, perhaps I should say, mere form--"
+
+"Say nothing about it; form or creed, ceremony or canon, you are in the
+way to be lost. Open your ears, unbind your eyes--hear, see, and
+believe!--Poor, miserable darkened creature! how can your heretical
+understanding be made to conceive and profit by the great principles of
+philosophy, when it is blind to the truths of religion?"
+
+"Reverend padre," said the traveller, drily, "my people are a people of
+heretics, and yours of Catholic believers. Which has better understood,
+or better practised, the principles of the philosophy you affect to
+admire?"
+
+The padre smote his forehead a second time: "The sneer is, in this case,
+just! The sin of the enlightened is greater than the crime of the
+ignorant, and so is the punishment: the chosen people of God were
+chastised with frequent bondage, and finally with expatriation and
+entire dispersion, for crimes, which, in heathen nations, were punished
+only with wars and famine. But let us not waste time in argument: as
+babes may be made the organs of wisdom, so may heretics be suffered as
+the instruments of worldly benefaction. What thou sayest, is true;
+unbelievers as ye are, ye will comprehend and be instructed by truths,
+which, in this land, would be misconceived and opposed; and from you may
+the knowledge you gain, be reflected back on my own people. In these
+books, which I commit to you for a great purpose, you will learn who
+were those worthies of whom I spoke. You will perceive how
+Ixtlilxochitl, the king of Tezcuco, was descended from the house that
+gave birth to Moteuczoma. This illustrious name inherit I from my
+mother. With its glory, it has conferred the penalty to be suspected,
+opposed, and trampled. Three historians of the name, my ancestors, have
+already written in vain; jealousy has locked up their works in darkness,
+in the veil of manuscript; the privilege of chronicling and perverting
+the history of the land is permitted only to Spaniards, to strangers, to
+Gachupins. Twenty years since, and more, the books I composed, wherein
+the truth was told, and the injustice of Spanish writers made manifest,
+were condemned by ignorance and bigotry to such flames as consumed, at
+Tezcuco, all the native chronicles of Anahuac. But what was written in
+my books, was also recorded in the brain; fire could not be put to my
+memory. Twenty years of secret labour have repaired the loss. Behold!
+here is my history; I give it to you.--My enemies must be content with
+the ashes!"
+
+The padre rubbed his hands with exultation, as the traveller surveyed
+the bundle.
+
+"Why should you fear a similar fate for these volumes, now?" said the
+latter. "Times are changed."
+
+"The times, but not the people. Hide them, let no man see them; or the
+pile will be kindled again; all will be lost--I cannot repair the loss a
+second time, for now I am old! Five years have I borne them with me,
+night and day, seeking for some one cunning and faithful, wise like
+thyself, to whom to commit them. I have found thee; thou art the man; I
+am satisfied: _buen provecho_, much good may they do you,--not you only,
+but your people,--not your people alone, but the world! Affection for
+country is love of mankind; true patriotism is philanthropy.--Five years
+have I borne them with me, by night and by day."
+
+"Really, I think that this betokened no great fear for their safety."
+
+The padre laughed. "Though the Gachupin and the bigot would rob me of a
+Spanish dissertation, yet neither would envy me the possession of a few
+rolls of hieroglyphics."
+
+As he spoke, he knelt upon the ground, untied the string that secured
+one of the apparent volumes, and, beginning to unfold the MS., as one
+would a very nicely secured traveller's map, displayed, in the
+moonlight, a huge sheet of maguey paper, emblazoned in gaudy colours
+with all kinds of inexplicable devices. As he exhibited his treasure, he
+looked up for approbation to the American. The '_pobre Yankee_' surveyed
+him with a humorous look:
+
+"Father," said he, "you have succeeded to admiration, under this goodly
+disguise, not only in concealing your wisdom from the penetration of
+your countrymen, but, as I think, the whole world."
+
+The padre raised his finger to his nose very significantly, saying, with
+a chuckle of delight,--the delight of a diseased brain in the success of
+its cunning,--
+
+"This time, I knew I should throw dust in their eyes, even though they
+might demand, for their satisfaction, to look into my work. You
+perceive, that this volume, done up after the true manner of ancient
+Mexican books, unrolls from either end. The first pages, and the last,
+of each volume, contain duplicates of the first and the last chapters,
+done in Mexican characters: the rest is in Spanish, and, I flatter
+myself, in very choice Spanish. _Hoc ego rectè_--I knew what I was
+about.--One does not smuggle diamonds in sausages, without stuffing in
+some of the minced meat.--Here is the jewel!"
+
+So saying, and spreading the sheet at its full length, so as to discover
+his hidden records, the padre rose to his feet, and began to dance about
+with exultation.
+
+"And what am _I_ to do with these volumes?" said the traveller, after
+pondering awhile over the manuscripts.
+
+"What are you to do with them? Dios mio! are you so stupid? Take them,
+hide them in your bosom, as you would the soul of some friend you were
+smuggling into paradise. Leave this land forthwith, on any pretence;
+bear them with you; translate them into your own tongue, and let them be
+given to the world. If they do not, after they have received the seal of
+your approbation, make their way back to this land, they will, at least,
+serve some few of the many objects, for which they were written: they
+will set the character of my great ancestors in its true light, and
+teach the world to think justly of the unfortunate people from whom I
+have the honour to be descended; and, in addition, they will open the
+eyes of men to some of the specks of barbarism which yet sully their own
+foreheads. As for my countrymen, were it even possible they could be
+persuaded to spare these pages, and to read them, they would read them
+in vain. They are a thousand years removed from civilization, and the
+wisdom of this book would be to them as folly. The barbaric romance
+which loiters about the brains even of European nations, is the pith and
+medulla of a Mexican head. The poetry of bloodshed, the sentiment of
+renown,--the first and last passion, and the true test, of the savage
+state,--are not yet removed from us. We are not yet civilized up to the
+point of seeing that reason reprobates, human happiness denounces, and
+God abhors, the splendour of contention. Your own people--the happiest
+and most favoured of modern days,--are, perhaps, not so backward."
+
+The heretic sighed.--The padre went on, and with the smile of
+generosity,--tying, at the same time, the string that secured the
+volume, and knotting it again into the bundle.
+
+"The profits which may accrue from the publication, I freely make over
+to you, as some recompense for the trouble of translation, and the
+danger you run in assuming the custody. Danger, I say,--heaven forbid I
+should not acquaint you, that the discovery of these volumes on your
+person, besides insuring their speedy and irretrievable destruction,
+will expose you to punishment, perhaps to the flames which will be
+kindled for them; and this the more readily, that you are an
+unbeliever.--Pray, my son, listen to me; suffer me to convert you.
+Alas! you shake your head!--What a pity, I am compelled to entrust this
+great commission to a man who refuses to be a Christian!"
+
+"Buen padre, let us say nothing about that: judge me not by the creed I
+profess, but by the acts I perform. Let us despatch this business: the
+moon is bright, but the air is raw and unwholesome. I would willingly do
+your bidding, not doubting that the world will be greatly advantaged
+thereby. But, father, here is the difficulty:--To do justice to your
+composition, I should, myself, possess the skill of an author; but,
+really, I feel my incompetency--I am no bookmaker."
+
+"And am I?" said the descendant of Moteuczoma, indignantly; "I am an
+historian!"
+
+"I crave your pardon;--but _I_ am not."
+
+"And who said you were?" demanded the historian, with contempt. "Do I
+expect of you the qualifications or the labours of an historian? Do I
+ask you to write a book? to rake for records in dusty closets and wormy
+shelves? to decypher crabbed hands and mouldered prints? to wade through
+the fathers of stupidity, until your brain turns to dough, and your eyes
+to pots of glue? to gather materials with the labour of a pearl-diver,
+and then to digest and arrange, to methodise and elucidate, with the
+patient martyrdom of an almanac-maker? Who asks you this? Do I look for
+a long head, an inspired brain? a wit, a genius? _Ni por sueño_,--by no
+means. I ask you to read and render,--to translate;--to do the tailor's
+office, and make my work a new coat! Any one can do this!"
+
+"Father," said the traveller, "your arguments are unanswerable; do me
+the favour to send, or to bring, your production to the city, to the
+Calle----"
+
+"Send! bring! _Se burla vm.?_" cried the padre, looking aghast. "Do you
+want to ruin me? Know, that by the sentence of the archbishop and the
+command of the viceroy, I am interdicted from the city: and know that I
+would sooner put my soul into the keeping of a parrot, than my books
+into the hands of a messenger!"
+
+"A viceroy, did you say, father? It has been many long years since a
+king's ape has played his delegated antics in Mexico. To please you,
+however, I will bear the sacred treasure in my own hands; earnestly
+desiring you, notwithstanding your fears, which are now groundless, and
+the prohibition, which must be at this period invalid, to do me the
+favour of a visit, in person, as soon as may suit your conveniency;
+inasmuch as there are many things I esteem needful to be----"
+
+The padre had seized on the hands of the speaker, in testimony of his
+delight; but before the latter had concluded his discourse, he was
+interrupted by a voice at a distance, calling, as it seemed, on the
+Cura; for this worthy, starting with fear, and listening a moment,
+suddenly took to his heels, and before the traveller could give vent to
+his surprise, was hidden among the shadows of the cypress trees.
+
+"May I die," said the philosopher, in no little embarrassment, "but this
+lunatic Cura has left me to lug away his lucubrations,--his
+hieroglyphical infants, for which I am to make new coats,--on my own
+shoulders! Well! I can but carry them to the city, and seek some means
+of restoring them to his friends, or commit them to a more fitting
+depository. Pray heaven I meet no drunken Indian, or debauched soldado
+on my way."
+
+By great good fortune, he was able, in a few days, with the assistance
+of a friendly Mexican, to solve the secret of the padre's confidence.
+
+"You have seen him then?" said the excellent Señor Don Andres
+Santa-Maria de Arcaboba, laughing heartily at the grave earnestness with
+which his heretical friend inquired after the eccentric padre. "He
+offered you his hieroglyphics? Ah, I perceive! No man passes scot-free
+the crazy Cura. Ever his books in his hand, much praise with the offer,
+and seven times seven maledictions when you refuse his bantlings."
+
+"He _is_ crazy, then?"
+
+"_Demonios!_ were you long finding it out? Ever since the old
+archbishop burned his first heathenish volumes, he has done naught
+but----"
+
+"I beg your pardon.--Burn his books?--the old archbishop?--Pray
+enlighten me a little on the subject of the good father's history.
+
+"'Tis done in a moment," said Don Andres; "the only wonder is that he
+did not himself give you the story; that being, commonly, the prelude to
+his petition. The mother of Don Cristobal was an Indian _damisela_,
+delighting in the euphonical cognomen of Ixtlilxochitl; a name, which, I
+am told, belonged to some old pagan king or other, the Lord knows
+who--as for myself, I know nothing about it. But this set the padre mad,
+or, what's the same thing, it made him an historian.--'Tis a silly thing
+to trouble one's noddle about the concerns of our granddads: let them
+sleep! rest to their bones--_Asi sea!_--They made him a licenciado, and
+then Cura of some hacienda or other, out among the hills--I know nothing
+about it. He wrote a book, in which he proved that the old heathen
+Montezuma, the great Cacique, was a saint, and Hernan Cortes, who
+conquered the land, a sinner. It may be so--_Quien sabe?_ who knows? who
+cares? This was before the revolution--that is, before the first: (we
+have had five hundred since;--I never counted them.) Somehow, the
+viceroy Vanegas took a dislike to the book, and so did the archbishop.
+They set their heads together, got the good old fathers of the
+Brotherhood--(We have no Brotherhood now,--neither religious nor social:
+every man is his own brother, as the king says in the English play.--Did
+you ever read Calderon?) They got the old fathers to vote it
+dangerous,--I suppose, because they did not understand it. So they
+burned it, and commanded Johualicahuatzin--(that's another Indian
+king--so he calls himself.--His father was the Señor Marhojo, a creole,
+a lieutenant in the viceroy's horse, a very worthy Christian, who was
+hanged somewhere, for sedition. But Cristobal writes after his mother's
+name, as being more royal.)--What was I saying? Oh, yes!--They ordered
+the licentiate back to his hacienda. Then, what became of him, the lord
+knows; I don't.--Then came Hidalgo, the valiant priest of Dolores, with
+his raggamuffin patriots,--(I don't mean any reflection, being a patriot
+myself, though no fighter; but Hidalgo had a horrid crew about him!)
+Where was I? Oh, ay,--Hidalgo came to knock the city about our ears; and
+Cristobal, being seized with a fit of blood-thirstiness, joins me the
+gang. They say, he came with an old sabre of flint--I don't know the
+name; it belonged to some king in the family. Then Calleja, whom they
+made viceroy--the devil confound him! (He cut my uncle's throat, with
+some fourteen thousand others, at Guanaxuato, one day, to save
+powder.)--Calleja chased Hidalgo to Aculco, and, there, he beat him.
+Cristobal's brother (he _had_ a brother, a very fine young fellow, a
+patriot major;) was killed at Cristobal's side; Cristobal was knocked on
+the head,--somebody said, with his own royal weapon:--I don't
+know,--where's the difference? They broke his skull, and took him
+prisoner. _Y pues?_ what then? Being a notorious crazy man, and very
+savagely mauled, they did not hang him. Ever since, he has been madder
+than ever. He writes histories, and, to save them from viceroys, (he
+takes all our presidents for viceroys: to my mind, they _are_; but
+that's nothing. You know Bustamente? a mighty great man: Santa Anna will
+beat him--but don't say so!) Well, to save his books from the
+president-viceroys, or viceroy-presidents, Cristobal offers them to
+every body he meets, with a petition to take them over the seas and
+publish them.--That's all!--The Indians at the hacienda love him, and
+take care of him.--Ha, ha! he caught you, did he? What did he say?"
+
+"He gave me his books," said the traveller.
+
+"_Fuego!_ you took them? Ha, ha! now will the poor padre die happy!"
+
+"I will return them to his relations."
+
+"Relations! they are all in heaven; he is the last of the
+Ixtlilxochitls! Ha, ha! I beg your pardon, amigo mio! I beg your
+pardon; but if you offer them to any body, never believe me, but folks
+will take you for Cristobal the Second, _el segundo maniatico_, or some
+one he has hired to do the work of donation. Ha, ha! cielo mio, pity me!
+say nothing about it;--burn them."
+
+"At least, let us look over them."
+
+"_Olla podrida!_ look over a beggar's back! a pedler's sack! or a
+dictionary!--Any thing reasonable. Burn them; or take them to America,
+to your North, and deposit them in a museum, as the commonplace books of
+Montezuma. _Vamos; que me manda vm.?_ will you ride to the
+Alameda?--Pobre Cristobal! he will die happy----"
+
+The traveller returned to his own land: he bore with him the books of
+Cristobal. Twenty times did he essay to make examination of their
+contents, and twenty times did he yawn, in mental abandonment, over
+their chaotic pages,--not, indeed, that they seemed so _very_ incoherent
+in style and manner, but because the cautious historian, as it seemed,
+with a madman's subtlety, had hit upon the device of so scattering and
+confusing the pages, that it was next to impossible that any one, after
+reading the first, should discover the clue to the second. Each volume,
+as has been hinted, consisted of a single great sheet, folded up in the
+manner of a pocket map; both sides were very carefully written over, the
+paragraphs clustered in masses or pages, but without numbers; and, but
+for the occurrence, here and there, of pages of hideous hieroglyphics,
+such as were never seen in a Christian book, the whole did not seem
+unlike to a printed sheet, before it is carried to the binder. The task
+of collating and methodising the disjointed portions, required, in the
+words of the padre himself, the devotedness which he had figured as 'the
+patient martyrdom of an almanac-maker;' it was entirely too much for the
+traveller. He laid the riddle aside for future investigation: but
+Cristobal was not forgotten.
+
+A year afterwards, in reading a Mexican gazette, which had fallen into
+his hands, his eye wandered to the little corner which appeals so
+placidly to the feelings of the contemplative,--the place of obituaries.
+His attention was instantly captivated by a name in larger characters
+than the others. Was it? could it be? Pobre Cristobal!--'_El Licenciado_
+Cristobal Santiago Marhojo y Ixtlilxochitl, _Cura de la Hacienda de_
+Chinchaluca, _ordinariamente llamado_ El Maniatico Historiador'----. The
+same! But what is this? the common immortality of a long paragraph?--The
+heretic rubbed his eyes. "Several MSS., historical memoirs, relating to
+the earlier ages of the Aztec monarchy, the work of his own hand, have
+been discovered; and a lucky accident revealing the expedient which he
+adopted to render them illegible, or at least inexplicable to common
+readers, they have been found to be in all respects sane and coherent,
+the work less of a madman than an eccentric but profound scholar. The
+pages are arranged like those in the form of the printer; and, being cut
+by a knife without unfolding----" The heretic started up, and drew forth
+the long-neglected tomes.--"It is said that a North American, a year
+ago, received, and carried away, many of the volumes, which the
+eccentric clergyman was accustomed to offer to strangers. It is hoped,
+if this should meet his eye----" 'Enough! if thy work be at all
+readable, departed padre, it shall have the new coat!'
+
+Great was the surprise of the philosopher, when having, at the
+suggestion of the gazetteer, cut the folded sheet of a volume, he beheld
+the chaos of history reduced to order. There they were, the annals of
+Aztecs and Toltecs, of Chechemecs and Chiapanecs, and a thousand other
+_Ecs_, from the death of Nezahualcojotl, the imperial poet, up to the
+confusion of tongues. "Here's a nut for the philosophers," quoth the
+traveller; "but now for a peep at Montezuma!--Poor Cristobal! what a
+wonderful big book you have made of it!"
+
+How many days and nights were given to the examination of the history,
+we do not think fit to record. It is enough, that the inheritor of this
+treasure discovered with satisfaction, that, if Cristobal had been mad,
+he had been mad after a rule,--dramatically so: he was sane in the right
+places. A thousand eccentricities were, indeed, imbodied in his work,
+the result, doubtless, of a single aberration, in which he persuaded
+himself that men were yet barbarians, and that civilization, even to the
+foremost of nations, was yet unknown. Under the influence of this
+conceit, he was constantly betrayed, for he was a philanthropist, into
+sharp animadversion upon popular morals; and he stigmatized as vices of
+the most brutal character, many of those human peculiarities which the
+world has consented to esteem the highest virtues. In other respects, he
+was sane, somewhat judicious, and, as far as could be expected in an
+historian, a teller of the truth.
+
+His work consisted of several divisions; it was, in fact, a series of
+annals, relating to different epochs. Of these, that volume which
+treated of the Conquest of Mexico, had the most charms for the
+traveller; and he thought it would possess the most interest for the
+world. It was this which he determined to introduce to the public. It
+differed greatly from common histories in one particular; it descended
+to minutiæ of personal adventure, and was, indeed, as much a general
+memoir of the great _Conquistadores_ as a history of the fall of
+Tenochtitlan. Of this the writer was himself sensible; the running title
+of the division, as recorded in his own hand, being, "_Una Cronica de la
+Conquista de Megico, y Historia verdadera de los_ Conquistadores,
+_particularmente de esos_ Caballeros _á quienes descuidaron celebrar los
+Escritores Antiguos_. _Por Cristobal Johualicahuatzin Santiago Marhojo y
+Ixtlilxochitl_;"--that is to say, 'A Chronicle of the Conquest of
+Mexico, and true History of the Conquerors, especially of those
+Cavaliers who were neglected by the ancient authors.'
+
+The first portion of this,--for there were several,--treated of those
+events which occurred between the departure of the first army of
+invasion from Cuba, and its expulsion from Mexico, and this portion the
+executor of Cristobal resolved to present to the world.
+
+In pursuance of this resolution, he instituted a long and laborious
+comparison of the MS. with the most authentic printed histories; the
+result of which was a conviction, (which we beg the reader constantly to
+bear in mind,) that, although the good padre had introduced, and upon
+authority which his editor could not discover, the characters of certain
+worthy cavaliers, of whom he had never heard, the relation, in all other
+particulars, corresponded precisely with the narratives of the most
+esteemed writers. The events--the great and the minute alike--of the
+whole campaign were, in point of fact, identical with those chronicled
+by the best authors; and in no way did this history differ from others,
+except in the introduction of the above-mentioned forgotten or neglected
+cavaliers, such as the knight of Calavar and his faithful esquire, and
+in the recital of events strictly personal to them. It is true, the
+narrative was more diffuse, perhaps we should say, verbose; but
+Cristobal lived in an age of amplification. It was here alone that the
+traveller felt himself bound to take liberties with the original; for
+though the march of mind and the general augmentation of ideas, have
+made prolixity a common characteristic of each man in his own person,
+they have not made him more tolerant of it in another. He shaved,
+therefore, and he cut, he amputated and he compressed; and he felt the
+joy of an editor, when exercising the hydraulic press of the mind.
+
+This will be excused in him. He expunged as much of the philosophy as he
+could. The few principles at variance with worldly propensities, which
+he left in the book, must be referred to another responsibility.--The
+hallucinations of philanthropy are, at the worst, harmless.
+
+For the title adopted in this, the initial chronicle, he confesses
+himself answerable. The peculiar appetites of the literary community,
+the result of intellectual dyspepsia, require and justify empiricism in
+nomenclature. A good name is sugar and sweetmeats to a bad book. If it
+should be objected, that he has called the _Historia Verdadera_ a
+romance, let it be remembered, that the world likes romance better than
+truth, as the booksellers can testify; and that the history of Mexico,
+under all aspects but that of fiction, is itself----a romance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     NOTE.--It was said by the learned Scaliger, of the Basque
+     language, 'that those who spoke it were thought to understand
+     one another,--a thing which he did not himself believe.' For
+     fear that the reader, from the specimens of Mexican words he
+     will meet in this history, should imagine that the Mexican
+     tongue was not meant even to be _spoken_, we think fit to
+     apprise him, that all such words are to be pronounced as they
+     would be uttered by a Spaniard. In his language, for example,
+     the G, when before the vowels E and I, the J always, and, in
+     certain cases, the X, have the value of the aspirate. Thus, the
+     name of the city, the chief scene of our history, has been
+     spelled, at different times, _Mexico_, _Mejico_, and _Megico_;
+     yet is always pronounced _May-he-co_. The sound of our W he
+     represents by HU,--as _Huascar_, for Wascar; and, indeed, JU
+     has nearly the same sound, as in _Juan_. The names
+     Johualicahuatzin, Anahuac, Xocojotzin, Mexitli, and Chihuahua,
+     pronounced Howalicawatzin, Anawac, Hocohotzin, Meheetlee, and
+     Chewawa, will serve for examples. But this is a thing not to be
+     insisted on, so much as the degree of belief which should be
+     accorded to the relation.
+
+     Esto importa poco á nuestro cuento: basta que en la narracion
+     de el, no se salga un punto de la verdad.--_Don Quijote._
+
+
+
+
+CALAVAR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+In the year of Grace fifteen hundred and twenty, upon a day in the month
+of May thereof, the sun rose over the islands of the new deep, and the
+mountains that divided it from an ocean yet unknown, and looked upon the
+havoc, which, in the name of God, a Christian people were working upon
+the loveliest of his regions. He had seen, in the revolution of a day,
+the strange transformations which a few years had brought upon all the
+climes and races of his love. The standard of Portugal waved from the
+minarets of the east; a Portuguese admiral swept the Persian Gulf, and
+bombarded the walls of Ormuz; a Portuguese viceroy held his court on the
+shores of the Indian ocean; the princes of the eastern continent had
+exchanged their bracelets of gold for the iron fetters of the invader;
+and among the odours of the Spice Islands, the fumes of frankincense
+ascended to the God of their new masters. He passed on his course: the
+breakers that dashed upon the sands of Africa, were not whiter than the
+squadrons that rolled among them; the chapel was built on the shore, and
+under the shadow of the crucifix was fastened the first rivet in the
+slavery of her miserable children. Then rose he over the blue Atlantic:
+the new continent emerged from the dusky deep; the ships of discoverers
+were penetrating its estuaries and straits, from the Isles of Fire even
+to the frozen promontories of Labrador; and the roar of cannon went up
+to heaven, mingled with the groans and blood of naked savages. But peace
+had descended upon the islands of America; the gentle tribes of these
+paradises of ocean wept in subjection over the graves of more than half
+their race; hamlets and cities were springing up in their valleys and on
+their coasts; the culverin bellowed from the fortress, the bell pealed
+from the monastery; and the civilization and vices of Europe had
+supplanted the barbarism and innocence of the feeble native. Still, as
+he careered to the west, new spectacles were displayed before him; the
+followers of Balboa had built a proud city on the shores, and were
+launching their hasty barks on the surges of the New Ocean; the hunter
+of the Fountain of Youth was perishing under the arrows of the wild
+warriors of Florida, and armed Spaniards were at last retreating before
+a pagan multitude. One more sight of pomp and of grief awaited him: he
+rose on the mountains of Mexico; the trumpet of the Spaniards echoed
+among the peaks; he looked upon the bay of Ulua, and, as his beams stole
+tremblingly over the swelling current, they fell upon the black hulls
+and furled canvas of a great fleet riding tranquilly at its moorings.
+The fate of Mexico was in the scales of destiny; the second army of
+invaders had been poured upon her shores. In truth, it was a goodly
+sight to look upon the armed vessels that thronged this unfrequented
+bay; for peacefully and majestically they slept on the tide, and as the
+morning hymn of the mariners swelled faintly on the air, one would have
+thought they bore with them to the heathen the tidings of great joy, and
+the good-will and grace of their divine faith, instead of the earthly
+passions which were to cover the land with lamentation and death.
+
+With the morning sunbeam, stole into the harbour one of those little
+caravels, wherein the men of those days dared the perils of unknown
+deeps, and sought out new paths to renown and fortune; and as she drew
+nigh to the reposing fleet, the hardy adventurers who thronged her deck,
+gazed with new interest and admiration on the shores of that empire,
+the fame of whose wild grandeur and wealth had already driven from
+their minds the dreams of Golconda and the Moluccas. No fortress frowned
+on the low islands, no city glistened among the sand-hills on shore: the
+surf rolled on the coast of an uninhabited waste: the tents of the
+armourer and other artisans, the palm-thatched sheds of the sick, and
+some heaps of military stores, covered with sails, and glimmering in the
+sun, were the only evidences of life on a beach which was, in after
+times, to become the site of a rich and bustling port. But beyond the
+low desert margin of the sea, and over the rank and lovely belt of
+verdure, which succeeded the glittering sand-hills, rose a rampart of
+mountains green with an eternal vegetation, over which again peered
+chain after chain, and crag after crag, with still the majestic Perote
+and the colossal Orizaba frowning over all, until those who had dwelt
+among the Pyrenees, or looked upon the Alps, as some of that adventurous
+company had done, dreamed what wealth should be in a land, whose first
+disclosure was so full of grandeur.
+
+Of the four-score individuals who crowded the decks of the little
+caravel, there was not one whose countenance, at that spectacle, did not
+betray a touch of the enthusiasm,--the mingled lust of glory and of
+lucre,--which had already transformed so many ruffians into heroes.
+Among this motley throng might be seen all sorts of martial madmen, from
+the scarred veteran who had fought the Moors under the walls of Oran, to
+the runagate stripling who had hanselled his sword of lath on the curs
+of Seville; from the hidalgo who remembered the pride of his ancestors,
+in the cloak of his grandsire, to the boor who dreamed of the crown of a
+pagan emperor, in a leather shirt and cork shoes: here was a brigand,
+who had cursed the Santa Hermandad of all Castile, and now rejoiced over
+a land where he could cut throats at his leisure; there a gray-haired
+extortioner, whom roguery had reduced to bankruptcy, but who hoped to
+repair his fortune by following the pack of man-hunters, and picking up
+the offals they despised, or cheating them of the prizes they had
+secured; here too was a holy secular, who came to exult over the
+confusion and destruction of all barbarians who should see nothing
+diviner in the crucifix than in their own idols. The greater number,
+however, was composed of debauched and decayed planters of the islands,
+who ceased to lament their narrow acres and decreasing bondmen, snatched
+away by the good fortune of some fellow-profligate, when they thought of
+territories for an estate, and whole tribes for a household. Indeed, in
+all the group, however elevated and ennobled, for the moment, by the
+excitement of the scene, and by the resolute impatience they displayed
+to rush upon adventures well known to be full of suffering and peril,
+there was but one whom a truly noble-hearted gentleman would have chosen
+to regard with respect, or to approach with friendship.
+
+This was a young cavalier, who, in propriety of habiliments, in
+excellence of person, and in nobleness of carriage, differed greatly
+from all: and, to say the truth, he himself seemed highly conscious of
+the difference, since he regarded all his fellow-voyagers, saving only
+his own particular and armed attendants, with the disdain befitting so
+distinguished a personage. His frame, tall and moderately athletic, was
+arrayed in hose and doublet of a dusky brown cloth, slashed with purple:
+his cap and cloak were of black velvet, and in the band of one, and on
+the shoulder of the other, were symbols of his faith and his
+profession,--the first being a plain crucifix of silver, and the second
+a cross of white cloth of eight points, inserted in the mantle. In
+addition to these badges of devotion, he wore a cross of gold, pointed
+like the former, and suspended to his neck by a chain of such length and
+massiveness, as to imbue his companions with high notions of his rank
+and affluence.
+
+The only point in which he exhibited any feeling in common with his
+companions, was in admiration of the noble prospect that stretched
+before him, and which was every moment disclosing itself with newer and
+greater beauty, as the wind wafted his little vessel nearer to it. His
+cheek flushed, his eye kindled, and smiting his hands together, in his
+ardour, he dropped so much of his dignity as to address many of his
+exclamations to the obsequious but not ungentle master.
+
+"By St. John! señor Capitan," he cried, with rapture, "this is a most
+noble land to be wasted upon savages!"
+
+"True, señor Don Amador," replied the thrice-honoured master; "a noble
+land, a rich land, a most glorious land; and, I warrant me, man has
+never before looked on its equal."
+
+"For my part," said the youth, proudly, "I have seen some lands, that,
+in the estimation of those who know better, may be pronounced divine;
+among which I may mention the Greek islands, the keys of the Nile, the
+banks of the Hellespont, and the hills of Palestine,--not to speak of
+Italy, and many divisions of our own country; yet, to be honest, I must
+allow I have never yet looked upon a land, which, at the first sight,
+impressed me with such strange ideas of magnificence."
+
+"What then will be your admiration, noble cavalier," said the captain,
+"when you have passed this sandy shore, and yonder rugged hills, and
+find yourself among the golden valleys they encompass! for all those who
+have returned from the interior, thus speak of them, and declare upon
+the gospels and their honour, no man can conceive properly of paradise,
+until he has looked upon the valleys of Mexico."
+
+"I long to be among them," said the youth; "and the sooner I am mounted
+on my good steed, Fogoso, (whom God restore to his legs and his spirit,
+for this cursed ship has cramped both;) I say, the sooner I am mounted
+upon my good horse, and scattering this heathen sand from under his
+hoofs, the better will it be for myself, as well as for him. Hark'ee,
+good captain: I know not by what sort of miracle I shall surmount
+yonder tall and majestic pinnacles; but it will be some consolation,
+while stumbling among them, to be able at least to pronounce their
+names. What call you yon mountain to the north, with the huge,
+coffer-like crag on its summit?"
+
+"Your favour has even hit the name, in finding a similitude for the
+crag," said the captain. "The Indians call it by a name, which signifies
+the Square Mountain; but poor mariners like myself, who can scarce
+pronounce their prayers, much less the uncouth and horrible
+articulations of these barbarians, are content to call it the Coffer
+Mountain. It lies hard by the route to the great city; and is said to be
+such a desolate, fire-blasted spot as will sicken a man with horror."
+
+"And yon kingly monster," continued the cavalier, "that raises his snowy
+cone up to heaven, and mixes his smoke with the morning clouds,--that
+proudest of all,--what call you him?"
+
+"Spaniards have named him Orizaba," said the master; "but these godless
+Pagans, who cover every human object with some diabolical superstition,
+call that peak the Starry Mountain; because the light of his
+conflagration, seen afar by night, shines like to a planet, and is
+thought by them to be one of their gods, descending to keep watch over
+their empire."
+
+"A most heathenish and damning belief!" said the youth, with a devout
+indignation; "and I do not marvel that heaven has given over to bondage
+and destruction a race stained with such beastly idolatry. But
+nevertheless, señor Capitan, and notwithstanding that it is befouled
+with such impious heresies, I must say, that I have looked upon Mount
+Olympus, a mountain in Greece, whereon, they say, dwelt the accursed old
+heathen gods, (whom heaven confound!) before the time that our blessed
+Saviour hurled them into the Pit; and yet that mountain Olympus is but a
+hang-dog Turk's head with a turban, compared to this most royal Orizaba,
+that raiseth up his front like an old patriarch, and smokes with the
+glory of his Maker."
+
+"And yet they say," continued the captain, "that there is a mountain of
+fire even taller and nobler than this, and that hard by the great city.
+But your worship will see this for yourself, with many other wonders,
+when your worship fights the savages in the interior."
+
+"If it please Heaven," said the cavalier, "I will see this mountain, and
+those other wonders, whereof you speak; but as to fighting the savages,
+I must give you to know, that I cannot perceive how a man who has used
+his sword upon raging Mussulmans, with a sultan at their head, can
+condescend to draw it upon poor trembling barbarians, who fight with
+flints and fish-bones, and run away, a thousand of them together, from
+six not over-valiant Christians."
+
+"Your favour," said the captain, "has heard of the miserable poltroonery
+of the island Indians, who, truth to say, are neither Turks nor Moors of
+Barbary: but, señor Don Amador de Leste, you will find these dogs of
+Mexico to be another sort of people, who live in stone cities instead of
+bowers of palm-leaves; have crowned emperors, in place of feathered
+caciques; are marshalled into armies, with drums, banners, and generals,
+like Christian warriors; and, finally, go into battle with a most
+resolute and commendable good will. They will pierce a cuirass with
+their copper lances, crush an iron helmet with their hardened war-clubs,
+and,--as has twice or thrice happened with the men of Hernan
+Cortez,--they will, with their battle-axes of flint, smite through the
+neck of a horse, as one would pierce a yam with his dagger. Truly, señor
+caballero, these Mexicans are a warlike people."
+
+"What you tell me," said Don Amador, "I have heard in the islands; as
+well as that these same mountain Indians roast their prisoners with
+pepper and green maize, and think the dish both savoury and wholesome;
+all which matters, excepting only the last, which is reasonable enough
+of such children of the devil, I do most firmly disbelieve: for how,
+were they not cowardly caitiffs, could this rebellious cavalier, the
+valiant Hernan Cortes, with his six hundred mutineers, have forced his
+way even to the great city Tenochtitlan, and into the palace of the
+emperor? By my faith," and here the señor Don Amador twisted his finger
+into his right mustachio with exceeding great complacency, "these same
+Mexicans may be brave enemies to the cavaliers of the plantations, who
+have studied the art of war among the tribes of Santo Domingo and Cuba;
+but to a soldier who, as I said before, has fought the Turks, and that
+too at the siege of Rhodes, they must be even such chicken-hearted
+slaves as it would be shame and disgrace to draw sword upon."
+
+The master of the caravel regarded Don Amador with admiration for a
+moment, and then said, with much emphasis, "May I die the death of a
+mule, if I am not of your way of thinking, most noble Don Amador. To
+tell you the truth, these scurvy Mexicans, of whose ferocity and courage
+so much is said by those most interested to have them thought so, are
+even just such poor, spiritless, contemptible creatures as the Arrowauks
+of the isles, only that there are more of them; and, to be honest, I
+know nothing that should tempt a soldier and hidalgo to make war on
+them, except their gold, of which the worst that can be said is, first,
+that there is not much of it, and secondly, that there are too many
+hands to share it. There is neither honour nor wealth to be had in
+Tenochtitlan. But if a true soldier and a right noble gentleman, as the
+world esteems Don Amador de Leste, should seek a path worthy of himself,
+he has but to say the word, and there is one to be found from which he
+may return with more gold than has yet been gathered by any fortunate
+adventurer, and more renown than has been won by any other man in the
+new world: ay, by St. James, and diadems may be found there! provided
+one have the heart to contest for them with men who fight like the
+wolves of Catalonia, and die with their brows to the battle!"
+
+"Now by St. John of Jerusalem!" said Amador, kindling with enthusiasm,
+"that is a path which, as I am a true Christian and Castilian, I should
+be rejoiced to tread. For the gold of which you speak, it might come if
+it would, for gold is a good thing, even to one who is neither needy nor
+covetous; but I should be an idle hand to gather it. As for the diadems,
+I have my doubts whether a man, not born by the grace of God to inherit
+them, has any right to wear them, unless, indeed, he should marry a
+king's daughter: but here the kings are all infidels, and, I vow to
+Heaven, I would sooner burn at a stake, along with a Christian beggar,
+than sell my soul to perdition in the arms of any infidel princess
+whatever. But for the renown of subduing a nation of such valiant Pagans
+as those you speak of, and of converting them to the true faith! _that_
+is even such a thought as makes my blood tingle within me; and were I,
+in all particulars, the master of my own actions, I should say to you,
+Right worthy and courageous captain, (for truly from those honourable
+scars on your front and temple, and from your way of thinking, I esteem
+you such a man,) point me out that path, and, with the blessing of
+Heaven, I will see to what honour it may lead me."
+
+"Your favour," said the captain, "has heard of the great island,
+Florida, and of the renowned señor Don Ponce de Leon, its discoverer?"
+
+"I have heard of such names, both of isle and of man, I think," said Don
+Amador, "but, to say truth, señor comandante, you have here, in this new
+world, such a multitude of wonderful territories, and of heroic men,
+that, were I to give a month's labour to the study, I think I should not
+master the names of all of them. Truly, in Rhodes, where the poor
+knights of the Hospital stood at bay before Solyman _el Magnifico_, and
+did such deeds as the world had not heard of since the days of Leonidas
+and his brave knights of Sparta,--I say, even in Rhodes, where all men
+thought of their honour and religion, and never a moment of their blood,
+we heard not of so many heroes as have risen up here in this corner of
+the earth, in a few years' chasing of the wild Indians."
+
+"The señor Ponce de Leon," said the captain, without regarding the sneer
+of the proud soldier, "the señor Ponce de Leon, Adelantado of Bimini and
+of Florida, in search of the miraculous Fountain of Youth, which, the
+Indians say, lies somewhere to the north, landed eight years ago, with
+the crews of three ships, all of them bigger and better than this little
+rotten Sangre de Cristo, whereof I myself commanded one. Of the
+extraordinary beauty and fertility of the land of Florida, thus
+discovered, I will say nothing. Your favour will delight more to hear me
+speak of its inhabitants. These were men of a noble stature, and full of
+such resolution, that we were no sooner ashore, than they fell upon us;
+and I must say, we found we were now at variance with a people in no
+wise resembling those naked idiots of Cuba, or these cowardly hinds of
+Mexico. They cared not a jot for swordsman, arcubalister, or musketeer.
+To our rapiers they opposed their stone battle-axes, which gushed
+through the brain more like a thunderbolt than a Christian espada; no
+crossbowman could drive an arrow with more mortal aim and fury than
+could these wild archers with their horn bows, (for know, señor, they
+have, in that country of Florida, some prodigious animal, which yields
+them abundant material for their weapons;) and, what filled us with much
+surprise, and no little fear, instead of betaking themselves to their
+heels at the sound of our firelocks, as we looked for them to do, no
+sooner had they heard the roar of these arms, than they fetched many
+most loud and frightful yells, to express their contempt of our warlike
+din, and rushed upon us with such renewed and increasing violence, that,
+to be honest, as a Christian of my years should be, we were fain to
+betake ourselves to our ships with what speed and good fortune we
+could. And now, señor, you will be ashamed to hear that our courage was
+so much mollified by this repulse, and our fears of engaging further
+with such desperadoes so urgent and potent, that we straightway set
+sail, and, in the vain search for the enchanted Fountain, quite forgot
+the nobler objects of the voyage."
+
+"What you have said," quoth Don Amador, "convinces me that these savages
+of Florida are a warlike people, and worthy the wrath of a brave
+soldier; but you have said nothing of the ores and diadems, whereof, I
+think, you first spake, and which, heaven save the mark! by some strange
+mutation of mind, have made a deeper impression on my imagination than
+such trifles should."
+
+"We learned of some wounded captives we carried to the ships," continued
+the master, "as well, at least, as we could understand by their signs,
+that there was a vast country to the north-west, where dwelt nations of
+fire-worshippers, governed by kings, very rich and powerful, on the
+banks of a great river; and from some things we gathered, it was thought
+by many that the miraculous Fountain was in that land, and not in the
+island Bimini; and this think I myself, for, señor, I have seen a man
+who, with others, had slaked his thirst in every spring that gushes from
+that island, and, by my faith, he died of an apoplexy the day after his
+arrival in the Habana. Wherefore, it is clear, that marvellous Fountain
+must be in the country of the fire-worshippers. But notwithstanding all
+these things, señor, our commander Don Ponce, would resolve upon naught
+but to return to the Bahamas, where our ships were divided, each in
+search of the island called Bimini. It was my fortune to be despatched
+westward; and here, what with the aid of a tempest that blew from the
+east, and some little hankering of mine own appetites after that land of
+the fire-worshippers, I found myself many a league beyond where any
+Christian had ever navigated before, where a fresh and turbid current
+rolled through the deep, bearing the trunks of countless great trees,
+many of them scorched with fire: whereupon I knew that I was near to the
+object of my desires, which, however, the fears and the discontent of my
+crew prevented my reaching. I was even compelled to obey them, and
+conduct them to Cuba."
+
+"Señor Capitan," said Amador, who had listened to the master's narrative
+with great attention, "I give you praise for your bold and most
+commendable daring in having sailed so far, and I condole with you for
+your misfortune in being compelled to abide the government of a crew of
+such runagate and false companions, whom I marvel exceedingly you did
+not hang, every man of 'em, to some convenient corner of your ship, as
+was the due of such disloyal knaves; but yet, credit me, I see not what
+this turbid and fresh flood, and what these floating trees, had to do
+with the gold and the diadems, of which you were speaking."
+
+"Señor," said the Captain earnestly, "I have navigated the deep for,
+perhaps, more years than your favour has lived; and it was my fortune to
+be with the Admiral----"
+
+"With Colon!" cried the youth.
+
+"With his excellency, the admiral, Don Cristobal Colon, the discoverer
+of this new world!" replied the master proudly, "in his own good ship,
+when we sailed into the Serpent's Mouth, which, we knew not then, laved
+the shores of the great Continent; and I remember that when the admiral
+had beheld the trees floating in the current, and had tasted of the
+fresh water of that boiling gulf, he told us that these came from a
+great river rolling through a mighty continent. And, in after times, the
+words of the admiral were proved to be just; for there his captain, the
+young Pinzon, found the great river Oronoko."
+
+"There is no man," said Don Amador, "who more reverences the memory of
+the admiral than I; and I feel the more regard for yourself, that you
+have sailed with him on his discoveries. Moreover, I beg your pardon,
+insomuch as I have been slow to unravel your meaning. But now, I
+perceive, you think you had reached that river of the infidel
+fire-worshippers, whom God confound with fire and flame! as doubtless he
+will. And hath no man again sought the mouth of that river? I marvel you
+did not yourself make a second attempt."
+
+"I could not prevail upon any cavaliers, rich enough for the
+undertaking," said the master, "to league with me in it. Men liked not
+the spirit of the northern savages; and, in truth, there were a thousand
+other lands where the barbarians could be subdued with less peril, and,
+as they thought, with a better hope of gain. And yet, by our lady, that
+river bore with it the evidences of the wealth on its banks; for what
+were those scorched trees, but the relics of the fires with which the
+kings of the land were smelting their ores? and what quantity of gold
+must there not have been where such prodigious furnaces were kindled!"
+
+"By the mass!" said Amador, with ardour, "you speak the truth; it is
+even a most wonderful land; and if a few thousand pesoes would float an
+expedition, by my faith, I think I could find them."
+
+"A few thousand pesoes, and the countenance of such a leader as Don
+Amador de Leste, a knight of the holy and valiant order of San Juan----"
+
+"A knight by right, but not by vow," said Don Amador, hastily: "I give
+you to understand, señor Capitan, that I am not a sworn brother of that
+most ancient, honourable, and knightly order, but an humble volunteer,
+attached, for certain reasons of my own, to them, and privileged by the
+consent of his most eminent highness, the Grand Master, to wear these
+badges, wherein I am arrayed, in acknowledgment that I did some service
+not unworthy knighthood in the trenches of Rhodes."
+
+"Your favour will not lead the less worthily for that," said the
+Captain; "I know an hundred cavaliers who would throw their ducats, as
+well as their arms, into the adventure prescribed by the señor Don
+Amador; and a thousand cross-bows, with three or four score
+arquebusiers, would flock to the standard as soon as we had preached
+through the islands a crusade to the fire-worshippers, and a pilgrimage
+to the Waters of Life."
+
+"And is it truly believed," said Amador, eagerly, "that such waters are
+to be found in these heathen lands?"
+
+"Who can doubt it?" said the Captain; "the Indians of the Bahamas have
+spoken of them for years; no Spaniard hath ever thought of questioning
+their existence; and at this moment, so great is the certainty of
+finding them, that my old leader, Don Ponce, is collecting round him men
+for a second expedition, with which he will depart I know not how soon.
+But I know Don Ponce; the draught of youth is not for him; he will seek
+the fountain on his great island of Florida, and find it not: it will
+bubble only to the lips of those who seek it near the great river of the
+great continent."
+
+"By heaven!" said Don Amador, "what might not a man do, who could drink
+of this miraculous fountain! A draught of it would have carried the
+great Alejandro so far into the East, as to have left but small work for
+the knaves of Portugal. And then our friends! Dios mio! we could keep
+our friends by us for ever! But hold, señor Capitan--a thought strikes
+me: have you ever heard the opinion of a holy clergyman on this subject?
+Is it lawful for a man to drink of such a fountain?"
+
+"By my faith," replied the master, "I have never heard priest or layman
+advance an argument against its lawfulness: and I know not how it should
+be criminal, since Providence hath given us the privilege to drink of
+any well, whose waters are not to our misliking."
+
+"For my part," said Amador, "I must say, I have my doubts whether
+Providence hath given us any such privilege; the exercise of which, in
+general, would greatly confound the world, by over-peopling it, and, in
+particular, would seem, in a measure, to put man in a condition to defy
+his Maker, and to defeat all the ends of divine goodness and justice:
+for how should a man be punished for his sins, who had in him the power
+of endless life? and how should a man keep from sinning, who had no fear
+of death and the devil? and, finally, how should we ever receive any of
+the benefits of the most holy atonement, after drinking such a
+life-preserving draught?--for it is my opinion, señor Capitan, no man
+would wish to go to heaven, who had the power of remaining on earth."
+
+"By my soul," said the captain earnestly, "this is a consideration which
+never occupied me before; and I shall take counsel upon it with the
+first holy man I meet."
+
+"At all events," said the cavalier, "there is inducement enough to make
+search after this river, were it only to fight the fire-worshippers,
+convert them to the true faith, and see what may be the curiosities of
+their land. Yet I must give you warning, it will rest with another whom
+I am now seeking, whether I may league with you in this enterprise or
+not. Give me his consent and leading, and I will take leave of these
+poor rogues of Tenochtitlan, as soon as I have looked a little upon
+their wonders; and then, with the blessing of God and St. John, have at
+the valiant fire-worshippers, with all my heart!--But, how now, señor
+Capitan? What means your pilot to cast anchor here among the fleet, and
+not carry us forthwith to the shore?"
+
+"I dare not proceed farther," said the captain, "without the authority
+of the señor Cavallero, admiral of this squadron, and governor of this
+harbour of San Juan de Ulua. It is necessary I should report myself to
+him for examination, on board the _Capitana_, and receive his
+instructions concerning my cargo and fellow-voyagers."
+
+"His instructions concerning your fellow-voyagers!" said Don Amador,
+sternly. "I, for one, am a voyager, who will receive no instructions for
+the government of my actions, neither myself nor by proxy; and, with
+God's blessing, I will neither ask permission to disembark, nor allow it
+to be asked for myself, or for my grooms; and the señor Cavallero, or
+any other señor, that thinks to stop me, had better grind both sides of
+his sword, by way of preparation for such folly."
+
+"Your favour has no cause for anger," said the master, moderately. "This
+is the custom and the law, and it becomes the more necessary to enforce
+it, in the present situation of things. Your favour will receive no
+check, but rather assistance; and it is only necessary to assure the
+admiral you do not come as a league and helpmate of the mutineer,
+Cortes, to receive free license, a safe-conduct, and perhaps, even
+guides, to go whithersoever you list throughout this empire. This,
+señor, is only a form of courtesy, such as one cavalier should expect of
+another, and no more."
+
+"Truly, then, if you assure me so," said Don Amador, complacently, "I
+will not refuse to go myself in person to his excellency, the admiral;
+and the more readily that, I fancy, from the name, there is some sort of
+blood-relationship between his excellency and myself. But, by heaven, I
+would rather, at present, be coursing Fogoso over yon glittering sand,
+than winding a bolero on my cousin's deck, though he were a king's
+admiral."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Don Amador de Leste was interrupted in the agreeable duty (the last to
+be performed in the little caravel,) of inquiring into the health and
+condition of his war-horse, Fogoso, by a summons, or, as it was more
+courteously expressed, an invitation, to attend the admiral on board his
+own vessel. Giving a thousand charges to his attendants, all of which
+were received with due deference and humility, he stepped into the boat,
+which, in a few moments, he exchanged for the decks of the
+Capitana,--not, however, without some doubt as to the degree of
+loftiness he should assume during the interview with his excellency, the
+admiral, his kinsman. His pride had already twice, or thrice, since his
+appearance among the islands of the New World, been incensed by the
+arrogant assumption of their petty dignitaries to inquire into, and
+control, the independence of his movements: and he remembered with high
+displeasure, that the royal adelantado of Cuba, the renowned Velasquez,
+a man of whom, as he was pleased to say, he had never heard so much as
+the name until he found himself within his territories, had not only
+dared to disregard the privileges of his birth and decorations, but had
+well-nigh answered his ire and menaces, by giving him to chains and
+captivity. Nor, when, at last, the pious exertions of the good friars of
+Santiago had allayed the growing storm, and appeased his own
+indignation, by urging the necessity their governor was under to examine
+into the character and objects of all persons, who, by declining to
+visit the new El Dorado under the authority of the commander, might
+reasonably be suspected of a desire to join his rebellious
+lieutenant,--not even then could the proud Amador forget that, whatever
+might be the excuse, his independence _had_ been questioned, and might
+be again, by any inflated official whom he should be so unlucky as to
+meet. His doubt, however, in this case, was immediately dispelled by the
+degree of state and ceremony with which he was received on board the
+Capitana, and conducted to his excellency; and the last shadow of
+hesitation departed from his brow, when he beheld the admiral prepared
+to welcome him with such courtesy and deference as were only accorded to
+the most noble and favoured.
+
+"If I do not err," said the admiral, with a bow of great reverence, and
+a smile of prodigious suavity, "I behold, in the señor Don Amador de
+Leste, a gentleman of Valencia, whom I make free, as I shall be proud,
+to welcome as my countryman and kinsman?"
+
+"Señor Almirante," replied Amador, with equal amenity, "my mother was a
+Valencian, and of the house of Cavallero. Wherefore, I take it for
+granted, we are in some sort related; but in what degree, I am not able
+to determine: nor do I think that a matter very important to be
+questioned into, since, in these savage corners of the earth, the
+farthest degree of consanguinity should draw men together as firmly as
+the closest."
+
+"You are right, señor cavalier and kinsman," said the admiral: "affinity
+of any degree should be a claim to the intimacy and affection of
+brotherhood; and although this is the first time I have enjoyed the
+felicity to behold my right worthy and much honoured cousin, I welcome
+him with good will to such hospitalities as my poor bark and this
+barbarous clime can afford; marvelling, however, amid all my
+satisfaction, what strange fortune has driven him to exchange the
+knightly combats of Christendom for the ignoble campaigns of this wild
+hemisphere."
+
+"As to that, most noble and excellent cousin," said the cavalier, "I
+will not scruple to inform your excellency, together with all other
+matters, wherein, as my kinsman, you are entitled to question; previous
+to which, however, I must demand of your goodness to know how far your
+interrogatories are to bear the stamp of office and authority, the
+satisfaction of my mind on which point will materially affect the
+character of my answers."
+
+"Surely," said the admiral courteously, and seemingly with great
+frankness, "I will only presume to question you as a friend and
+relative, and, as such, no farther than it may suit your pleasure to
+allow. My office I will only use so far as it may enable me to assist
+you in your objects, if, as I will make bold to believe, you may need
+such assistance in this land of Mexico."
+
+"I thank your excellency," said Amador, now receiving and pressing the
+hand of the commander with much cordiality, "both for your offers of
+assistance, which, if I may need it, I will freely accept; and for your
+assurance you do not mean to trouble me with your authority:--a mark of
+extreme civility and good sense, which virtues, under your favour, I
+have not found so common among your fellow-commanders in these heathen
+lands, as I was led to expect."
+
+The admiral smiled pleasantly on his kinsman while replying, "I must beg
+your allowance for the presumption of my brothers in command, who, sooth
+to say, have had so much dealing with the wild Indians and rough
+reprobates of these regions as somewhat to have forgot their manners,
+when treating with gentlemen and nobles. My superior and governor, the
+worthy and thrice-honoured Velasquez, (whom God grant many and wiser
+counsellors!) is rather hot of head and unreasonable of temper; and has,
+doubtless, thrown some obstructions in the way of your visit to this
+disturbed land. But you should remember, that the junction of so brave a
+cavalier as Don Amador de Leste with the mutinous bands of the señor
+Cortes, is a thing to excite both dread and opposition."
+
+"I remember," said Amador, "that some such excuse was made for him, and
+that my assurance that my business had no more to do with that valiant
+rebel than with his own crabbed excellency, was no more believed than
+the assertion of any common hind: a piece of incredulity I shall take
+great pleasure, at some more convenient period, of removing, at my
+sword's point, from his excellency's body."
+
+"I am grieved you should have cause to complain of the governor," said
+the señor Cavallero; "and verily I myself cannot pretend to justify his
+rash and tyrannical opposition, especially in the matter of yourself;
+who, I take it for granted, come hither as the kinsman of the knight
+Calavar, to search out and remove that crack-brained cavalier from these
+scenes of tumult and danger."
+
+"The knight Calavar," said the young soldier sternly, "like other men,
+has his eccentricities and follies; but if God has smitten him with a
+sorer infirmity than others, he has left him so much strength of arm and
+resoluteness of heart, and withal has given him friends of so
+unhesitating a devotion, that it will always be wise to pronounce his
+name with the respect which his great worth and valiant deeds have
+proved to be his due."
+
+"Surely," said the admiral, good-humouredly, "it is my boast that I can
+claim, through yourself, to be distantly related to this most renowned
+and unhappy gentleman; and, while I would sharply rebuke a stranger for
+mentioning him with discourtesy, I held myself at liberty to speak of
+him with freedom to yourself."
+
+"I beg your pardon then," said Amador, "if I took offence at your
+utterance of a word, which seemed to me to savour more of the heartless
+ridicule with which the world is disposed to remark a mental calamity,
+than the respectful pity which, it is my opinion, in such cases should
+be always accorded. Your excellency did right to suppose my business in
+this hemisphere was to seek out the knight Calavar; not, however, as you
+have hinted, to remove him from among the savages, (for I give you to
+understand, he is ever capable of being the guide and director of his
+own actions;) but to render him the dutiful service of his kinsman and
+esquire, and to submit myself to his will and government, whether it be
+to fight these rogues of Mexico, or any other heathens whatever."
+
+"I give you praise for your fidelity and affection," said the señor
+Cavallero, "which, I think, will stand the knight in good stead, if it
+be his pleasure to remain longer in this wild country. But tell me, Don
+Amador:--as a Cavallero of Valencia, I could not be ignorant of the
+misfortune of our very renowned cousin; yet was I never able to compass
+the cause of his melancholy. I remember that when he fleshed his boyish
+sword for the first time among the Moors of the Alpujarras, he was
+accounted not only of valour, but of discretion, far beyond his years.
+There was no patrimony in all Granada so rich and enviable as the
+lordship of Calavar; no nobleman of Spain was thought to have fairer and
+loftier prospects than the young Don Gines Gabriel de Calavar; none had
+greater reason to laugh and be merry, for before the beard had darkened
+on his lip, he had enjoyed the reputation of a brave soldier; yet, no
+sooner came he to man's estate, than, utterly disregarding the interests
+of his house and the common impulses of youth, he flung himself into the
+arms of the knights of Rhodes, vowed himself to toil and sorrow, and
+has, ever since, been remembered by those who knew him in his boyhood,
+as the saddest and maddest of men."
+
+"So much I have heard, and so much I know, of the good knight," said
+Amador, with a sigh; "little more can I add to the story, but that some
+calamity, the nature of which I never dared to inquire, suddenly wrought
+this change in him, even in the midst of his youth, and led him to
+devote his life to the cause of the faithful."
+
+"Thou hast heard it suggested," said Cavallero, significantly, "that, in
+the matter of the Alpujarras, his heart was hotter, and his hand redder
+than became a Christian knight, even when striking on the hearth of the
+Infidel?"
+
+"Señor cousin and admiral," said Amador decidedly, "in my soul, I
+believe you are uttering these suggestions only from a kinsman's concern
+for the honour and welfare of the party in question; and therefore do I
+make bold to tell you, the man who, in my hearing, asperses the knight
+Calavar, charging his grief of mind to be the fruit of any criminal or
+dishonourable deed, shall abide the issue of the slander as ruefully as
+if it had been cast on the ashes of my mother!"
+
+"So shall he win his deservings," said the commander. "Nevertheless doth
+Calavar himself give some cause for these foolish surmises, of which
+indiscreet persons have occasionally delivered themselves; for the
+evident misery of heart and distraction of head, the austere and
+penitential self-denial of his life, nay, the very ostentation of grief
+and contrition, which is written in his deportment and blazoned on his
+armour, and which has gained him, in these lands, the appellation of the
+Penitent Knight, seem almost to warrant the suspicion of an unquiet and
+remorseful conscience, brooding over the memory of an unabsolved crime.
+But I say this not so much to justify, as, in part, to excuse those idle
+impertinents, who are so free with their innuendoes. I have ever
+pondered with wonder on the secret of the brave knight's unrest; yet, I
+must confess to thee, I was struck with no less astonishment, when,
+returning from Nombre de Dios to Santiago, I heard that a famous Knight
+Hospitaller, and he no other than Don Gines Gabriel de Calavar, had
+arrived among the islands, frenzied with the opportunity of slaying
+pagans at his pleasure, and had already followed on the path of Cortes
+to Mexico. It gave me great pain, and caused me no little marvel, to
+find he had come and vanished with so little of the retinue of his rank,
+and of the attendance necessary to one in his condition, that two or
+three ignorant grooms were his only attendants."
+
+"I have no doubt," said Amador, "I can allay your wonder as to these
+matters. Your excellency need not be told that the banner of the Turk
+now floats over the broken ramparts of Rhodes, and over the corses of
+those noble knights of San Juan, who defended them for more than two
+hundred years, and at last perished among their ruins. This is a
+catastrophe that has pealed over all Christendom like the roar of a
+funeral bell, and its sound has even pierced to these lands of twilight.
+No knight among all that band of warriors and martyrs, as I am myself a
+witness, did more brave and heroical actions throughout the black and
+bloody siege, than my lord and kinsman, Calavar. But the good and
+ever-gracious Saint, the patron of this most ancient and chivalric
+brotherhood, saved him, with a few other knights, out of the jaws of
+destruction, and restored him again to his own country. Rhodes was
+fallen, there was no longer a home for the destitute knights; they
+wandered over Europe, whithersoever their destinies listed, but
+particularly wheresoever there was an infidel to be slain. Our monarch
+of Spain contemplated a crusade among the Moors of Barbary, the
+descendants of that accursed--(why should I not say wretched? for they
+are exiles;)--that wretched race who had once o'ermastered our own
+beloved land; the knight Calavar entered into this project with
+alacrity, and set himself to such preparations as should win him good
+vengeance for the blood of his brothers lost at Rhodes. I did myself, in
+obedience to his will, betake me to the business of seeing what honest
+Christians might be prevailed on to fight under his banner; and while
+thus engaged, at a distance from my beloved lord, with, perhaps, as I
+should confess with shame, less energy and more sloth than were becoming
+in his follower, I suffered certain worldly allurements to step between
+me and my duty, and, for a time, almost forgot my renowned and unhappy
+kinsman. Now señor," continued the youth, with some little hesitation,
+and a deep sigh, "it is not necessary I should trouble you with any very
+particular account of my forgetfulness and stupidity: it was soon known
+that the enthusiasm of our king was somewhat abated touching the matter
+of the African crusade,--perhaps swallowed up in the interest wherewith
+he regarded the new world which God and the great Colon had given him;
+the enthusiasm of his subjects diminished in like manner: there was no
+more talk of Africa. This, señor, may perhaps in a measure excuse my own
+lethargy, but you may be assured I awoke out of it with shame and
+mortification, when I discovered that the good knight, left to himself,
+and deprived of that excitement of combat, or the hope of combat, so
+necessary to the well-being of his mind, had suddenly (doubtless, in one
+of those paroxysms of eccentricity,--or delirium, as I may call it to
+you,) departed from the land, and was now cleaving the surges that
+divided us from the new hemisphere. There was nothing left for me but to
+follow him in the first ship that sailed on the same adventure. This I
+have done: I have tracked my leader from Palos to Cuba; from Cuba to
+this barren coast; and now, with your good leave and aidance, I will
+take the last step of the pursuit, and render myself up to his authority
+in the barbaric city, Tenochtitlan."
+
+"I respect your motive, and praise your devotion, most worthy cousin,"
+said the admiral with much kindness; "and yet you must forgive me, if I
+dare to express to you some degree of pity. My long acquaintance with
+these countries, both of isle and main, has well instructed me what you
+have to expect among them; and I can truly conceive what sacrifices you
+have made for the good knight's sake. In any case, I beg leave to
+apprise you, you can command all my services, either to persist in
+seeking him, or to return to Spain. My advice is, that you leave this
+place forthwith, in a ship which I am to-morrow to despatch to
+Andalusia; return to your native land; betake yourself to those
+allurements, and that lethargy, which I can well believe may bring you
+happiness; commend yourself to your honourable lady-love, and think no
+more of the wild Calavar. Here, if you lose not life, before you have
+looked on your kinsman, as there is much fear, you must resolve to pass
+your days in such suffering and misery, and withal in ignoble warfare
+with naked savages, supported by such mean and desperate companions, as,
+I am sure, you were never born to."
+
+"What you counsel me," said Amador coolly, "is doubtless both wisdom and
+friendship; nevertheless, if your excellency will be good enough to
+reconsider your advice, you will perceive it involves such selfishness,
+meanness, and dishonour, as cannot be listened to with any propriety by
+a kinsman of the knight of Calavar. I do not say I come hither to
+condescend to this ignoble warfare,--though if it be worthy my good
+knight, _I_ shall have no reason to scorn it. I bear with me, to my
+kinsman, the despatch of his most eminent highness, the Grand Master of
+the most illustrious order of San Juan, wherein, although it be
+recommended to him, if such warfare seem to him honourable and
+advantageous to the cause of Christ, to strike fast and well, it is, if
+such strife be otherwise, strongly urged on him to return without delay
+to Europe, and to the Isle of Malta; which, it is announced, our monarch
+of Spain will speedily give to the good knights. It is therefore,"
+continued the cavalier, "from the nature of things and of mine own will,
+clearly impossible I should follow your advice; in default of which, I
+must beg such other counsel and assistance of your excellency as your
+excellency may think needful to bestow; only premising, that as I have
+many a weary league of sand and mountain to compass, the sooner you
+benefit me with these good things the better."
+
+"Your journey will be neither so long nor so wearisome as you imagine,"
+said Cavallero: "but, I fear me, will present more obstructions than you
+may be prepared to encounter. I take it for granted, the governor
+Velasquez has furnished you with no commands to his general Don Panfilo
+de Narvaez, since he gave you none to myself."
+
+"This is even the fact," said Amador; "I entered the caravel which
+brought me here, as I thought, in defiance of his authority, and not
+without apprehensions of being obliged to cut off the ears of some dozen
+or two of his rogues, who might be ordered to detain me. Nevertheless, I
+left the island without a contest, and equally without aidance of any
+kind from this discourteous ruler."
+
+"I must give thee some counsel, then," said the admiral, "for I
+apprehend the governor did, very perfidiously as I esteem it, when he
+ceased his opposition, rest much hope on that of his general. Thou art
+acquainted with the character of Narvaez?"
+
+"By my faith, I am so ignorant of all matters appertaining to these
+climates, that, saving thine own, and the knight Calavar's, and one or
+two others which I acquired this morning, I am familiar only with those
+of two other persons,--to wit,--of Velasquez, whom I consider a very
+scurvy and ill-bred personage, and of Cortes, a man whom I hold in much
+esteem, ever since I heard he burned his fleet to keep his followers
+from running away, and made prisoner of the great Mexican emperor in his
+own capital. In addition to this, I know the aforesaid governor doth
+very hotly hate, and hath disgraced with the titles of rebel and outlaw,
+this same respectable and courageous Cortes; but for what reason, as I
+have been kept in somewhat too great a passion to inquire, I am yet
+altogether ignorant."
+
+"For one who may soon share an important part in the events of this
+region, I think thou showest a most princely indifference to them," said
+the admiral, smiling. "I will not say the safety, but the facility, with
+which thou mayest traverse these lands, will be greatly increased by
+knowing some little of their history; and that knowledge I will hasten
+to impart to thee, and with what brevity I can. If I should be led to
+speak with more freedom of certain persons than may seem fitting in an
+inferior and a colleague, I must beseech thee to remember I am doing so
+to a kinsman, and for his especial information and good. Know then,
+señor Don Amador, the person whom it pleased our viceroy, the son of
+Colon, to set over us, and whom it has since pleased his most devout
+majesty, the emperor, to confirm in the government of Cuba, and even to
+that to add the further dignity of ruler of the kings of Mexico, is, as
+I hinted to thee before, afflicted with so irascible a temper and so
+jealous a fancy, that, were I not restrained by the office I hold under
+him, I should say he was, at the least, as mad as any other man in his
+dominion. The desire of immortalizing himself by some great exploit
+would be commendable in him, were it not accompanied by the ambition to
+achieve it by the hands of another. Ever since the discovery of this
+fair empire of Montezuma by the señor Cordova, he has thirsted for the
+glory of subduing it; and has taken all the steps necessary to such a
+purpose, except the single one of attempting it in person;--an omission
+not in itself important, since there are an hundred other cavaliers more
+capable of the task, only that, besides the other munitions with which
+he furnishes his lieutenant, he follows him ever with so plentiful a
+store of distrust, that it is utterly impossible his officer should have
+a chance to immortalize him. After much seeking of a man whose ambition
+should extend no further than to the glory of winning a crown for the
+purpose of seeing his excellency wear it, he fixed upon the worthy
+hidalgo, Hernan Cortes, a gentleman of Medellin in Estremadura, and
+despatched him on the business of conquest. Now, no sooner was his
+general gone, than this jealous imagination, whereof I spake, instantly
+presented to his mind the image of Cortes as a conqueror, suddenly
+laying claim, before the emperor and the world, to the sole merit of the
+conquest; a spectacle so infinitely intolerable, that without delay he
+set himself at work to hinder Cortes from making any conquest at all."
+
+"Surely," said Amador, "this governor Velasquez is a fool, as well as a
+knave!"
+
+"Heaven have him in keeping! You should mention him with respect: but as
+you are speaking in the confidence of blood-relationship, I cannot take
+notice of your sarcasm," said the admiral. "The señor Cortes, however,"
+continued Cavallero, "was by no means disposed to second the disloyal
+frenzy of the governor: (disloyal I call it, since it threatened to
+deprive his majesty, the emperor Charles, of the opportunity of adding a
+new empire to his diadem.) On the other hand, Cortes was fully
+determined to do his duty, and thought the governor could do nothing
+better than to follow his example. But in the end, this same Cortes,
+though of as meek a temper as is desirable in the commander of an army,
+became greatly incensed at the sottish and grievous distrust of his
+governor; and calling his army together, and representing to them the
+foolish predicament in which his excellency had placed them, he threw
+down his truncheon with contempt, and told them that as Velasquez had
+left them without a leader, the wisest thing that remained for them was
+to find another as soon as possible: as for himself, he disdained to
+hold his commission longer under such a commander."
+
+"By heaven, a most proper-spirited and gallant gentleman!" cried Amador.
+"I honour him for the act, but chiefly for the contempt it argued of
+this jackfeather ruler."
+
+"I must beg of your favour," said the admiral, gravely, "to remember
+that his excellency is my chief and commander; though, in justice, I
+think you have some reason to censure him.--What remained for the army
+of Cortes, now no longer having a general? They were loath to leave the
+fair empire that appeared almost in their grasp, and enraged at the
+governor, who seemed determined to rob them of it. There was only one
+way to secure the conquest for their royal master: they absolved
+themselves of their allegiance to the governor, swore themselves the
+soldiers and subjects of the emperor alone, and erecting themselves
+into a colony, forthwith elected Cortes their governor and
+commander-in-chief; and despatched advice of the same to Don Carlos,
+with a petition for permission to pursue and conclude the conquest of
+Tenochtitlan in his name."
+
+"A very loyal, defensible, and, indeed, praiseworthy action," said Don
+Amador, with emphasis; "and I marvel your jealous governor did not stab
+himself forthwith, out of pure chagrin, to be so sharply and justly
+outwitted."
+
+"Instead of that," said the admiral, "boiling with vexation and rage,
+and devoting Cortes to the fiend who had first suggested him as a proper
+lieutenant, his excellency equipped a second army, more than twice as
+strong as that he had ordered Cortes to raise; and this, one would have
+thought, he would have commanded in person. But the old whim of
+conquering by lieutenants, and becoming famous by proxy, still beset the
+brain of his wisdom. He gave the command of an army of more than a
+thousand men to the señor Panfilo de Narvaez, a Biscayan, of
+whom the best I can say is, that he swore eternal fidelity to
+Velasquez,--resolving privately in his own mind that, as soon as he had
+subdued Cortes, he would follow his example, and throw off the authority
+of his distrustful commander."
+
+"I should call this treachery," said Amador, "but that I think the
+absurdity of the chief a full excuse for the defection of the follower."
+
+"The wisdom of the proceeding is now made manifest," continued the
+admiral. "It is scarce a month since it was my misfortune, as commander
+of the naval division of this expedition, to land the forces of Narvaez
+on this shore. Here I learned with much admiration, that Cortes,
+notwithstanding the meagerness of his army, had, absolutely, after
+certain bloody combats with savages on the wayside, marched into the
+great city, taken possession of the body of the barbarous emperor, and,
+through him, virtually, of all the lands which acknowledged his sway;
+and you may understand how much, as a true and reasonable subject of our
+Catholic monarch, I was afflicted to learn, in addition, that the
+sending of the new force by Velasquez, only served the purpose of
+snatching the conquest out of our hands. For Cortes, under a delusion
+which may be pardoned him, on account of its loyalty, regarding himself,
+in obedience to the command of his followers, as the only true
+representative and general of our king, and ourselves, by consequence,
+as traitors and rebels to his majesty, did forthwith resolve to drive us
+from the land; to do which, it was needful he should withdraw his forces
+from Tenochtitlan; and therefore, Tenochtitlan is lost."
+
+"Thou sayest, the señor Cortes hath an army not half so powerful as the
+Biscayan's?"
+
+"Nay, 'tis much short of five hundred men, and weakened by a year's
+campaign, and still further diminished by the necessity of maintaining a
+garrison in his port of Vera Cruz, which he doth humorously denominate
+the Rich City, and leaving another of more than a hundred men, with one
+of his best captains, in the goodly city, out of a hope, which I myself
+reckon both vain and foolish, still to retain possession of it."
+
+"And with this shattered and pitiful handful, which I think cannot
+exceed three hundred men," said Amador, "the brave Cortes is resolute to
+resist the Biscayan, and his thousand fresh combatants?"
+
+"It is even so," replied Cavallero.
+
+"I give him the praise of a most dauntless and heroic leader," cried
+Amador; "and I am eager to proffer him the hand of friendship."
+
+"Not only resolute to resist," said the admiral, "but, from the most
+undeniable tokens, impatient to attack; as, indeed, are all his people.
+As an evidence of which, I may tell thee, that Narvaez having quartered
+his host at an Indian city called Zempoala, within a few leagues of this
+aforesaid stockade and Rich City of the True Cross, he straightway
+despatched certain officers, military, civil, and religious, to demand
+the surrender of the same at the hands of the very young and very
+simple-minded señor, Don Gonzalo de Sandoval, its commandante. What
+answer, thinkest thou, was made by this foolish captain, so many leagues
+separated from his commander, and so far from all assistance? Faith, he
+flings me the envoys into certain bags of net-work, as one would live
+quails, and tossing them upon the backs of lusty savages, in lieu of
+asses, despatched them forthwith over the mountains to his general. And
+this is the only answer my colleague and most excellent friend the
+general Narvaez, ever received to his summons for the surrender of the
+Rich City of the True Cross."
+
+"A spirited and ever-to-be-commended youth, this same bold Sandoval,"
+said Amador earnestly; "and I begin to bethink me, I shall not be loath
+to remain for a time in the company of a leader, who hath such worthy
+spirits for his companions. But tell me, señor cavalier and cousin, hath
+Cortes yet struck a blow for his honour and his right?"
+
+"By our Lady, no," said the admiral: "and yet, upon reflection,"
+continued he, "I must confess, that though he has not yet drawn a
+Christian sabre on the Biscayan, he has done him much hurt with a
+certain weapon of gold, the use of which he learned at Mexico, and whose
+blows, by the operation of a kind of magic, have the virtue to paralyze
+the wrath, without spilling the blood, of an adversary."
+
+"This is a weapon of the devil!" said the young cavalier indignantly,
+"which I marvel much should be used by so worthy a soldier.
+Nevertheless, as it does not shed blood, the use of it may be
+justifiable in a contest between brothers and countrymen; wherein
+humanity and mercy are always more Christian qualities than the rage and
+blood-thirstiness of another warfare. But notwithstanding all this, if
+such enchanted arms (if such indeed exist, as I cannot believe,) be in
+vogue among the followers of Cortes, I swear to God and Saint John, I
+will eschew them as I would the gifts of the fiend; and, if compelled by
+the command of my good knight, to fight in their company, it shall be
+with such sword and spear as I can use with a free conscience, and an
+honest arm."
+
+"I commend your honourable resolution," said the admiral, amused with
+the literal straightforwardness of his kinsman, but without thinking fit
+to undeceive him; "but how long the cavalier Cortes will employ so
+bloodless a rapier, is more than I can determine. He now lies within a
+few leagues of my colleague, the Biscayan; and although apparently more
+ripe for negotiation than combat, I shall be much mistaken if he do not,
+at some convenient season, so fling his crew of desperadoes at the head
+of Narvaez, as shall make his excellency stare. Indeed there is now
+little hope of pacification; for Narvaez has very grievously insulted
+Cortes, by proclaiming him a rebel and an outlaw, and setting a price on
+his head; and such is his hotheadedness, that, it was but yesterday, he
+compelled me to ship to Cuba the king's _oidor_, Vasques, whom he had
+arrested for daring to speak to him of amicable treaty. I look daily for
+intelligence of a battle."
+
+"I vow to heaven!" said Amador, his eyes sparkling with animation, "I
+vow to heaven! I have no desire to mingle in a civil fray of any kind;
+but if these mad fellows must be e'en at it, I see no reason why I
+should not stand hard by, to be a witness of their bravery. Wherefore
+most excellent cousin, I must entreat of your favour to despatch me
+without delay, with such guides, or instructions, as will enable me to
+reach the Señor Cortes before the combat begins."
+
+"If it would suit thee as well to survey this spectacle from the camp of
+Narvaez," said Cavallero, "I could gratify thee without any difficulty.
+But I must apprise thee, that to reach Cortes, it will be necessary to
+pass the lines of Narvaez; and what obstructions he may choose to throw
+in thy way is more than I can very satisfactorily determine, though I
+may counsel thee how best to overcome them."
+
+"Please heaven," said Amador proudly, "he shall make me no opposition
+which he shall not answer to the cost of his body. For I am here, a free
+hidalgo of Spain, knowing no authority but the king's will and mine own;
+a neophyte (and, as I may add, a knight by right, though unsworn,) of
+the illustrious order of San Juan, bearing the instructions of his most
+eminent highness, the Grand Master, to a vowed knight, and therefore
+liable to the command of no other man, save only, as before excepted,
+the king; and he who thinks to hinder me in my passage, besides
+provoking the wrath of the aforesaid privileged order, must, as I said
+before, do it under the peril of mine own sword."
+
+"It would not become me to question your privileges, or the danger with
+which they might be invaded," said the admiral, "nor will I repeat to
+you in how little regard these matters may be had by a man who has
+presumed to arrest and imprison the representative of his majesty
+himself, and who, surrounded by an army, and separated from the sway of
+the laws, is beyond the present responsibility of any government but
+that of his own conscience. I can only remind you that, as an emissary
+of the holy order, you are doubly bound to avoid a quarrel with a
+Christian and countryman; especially when, as will presently be your
+case, you are in the lands of the infidel. I must beg to remind you,
+too, that the Biscayan, holding, as he believes, the authority of the
+king, and compelled to act as may seem to him necessary for the
+preservation of the king's interest, should be respected accordingly;
+and his humours, as well as his rightful commands, borne without anger
+or opposition."
+
+"May his majesty live a thousand years!" said the cavalier. "It is no
+part of my principle to oppose his pleasure; wherefore, if contesting
+the authority of this Biscayan general be such disloyalty, I will
+refrain from it; that is, as long as I can. But nevertheless, I will
+protest against any authority that may hinder my present journey."
+
+"Moderation, and the exercise of patience," said Cavallero, "will
+doubtless secure you from restraint and insult. It is quite necessary
+you report the object of your travel to the commander Narvaez; and even
+to desire his permission (a courtesy that has in it nothing of
+degradation) to continue your journey."
+
+"Doubtless," said Amador, sarcastically, "you will tell me, as did the
+señor Gomez, the captain of the caravel, that this submission of myself
+to his commands will be nothing more than the rendering of a customary
+compliment to his dignity. If there be any way by which I may pass by
+the camp of Narvaez, I shall be much bound to your excellency to inform
+me of it; and I will pursue it, be it ever so rough and long, with much
+more satisfaction than I can ever make my entreaties to him."
+
+"There is no other way," said the admiral. "The Indian city, Zempoala,
+where Narvaez has established his head-quarters, lies immediately on the
+path to the Villa Rica; and the scouts of Narvaez, occupying all the
+intermediate ground, render it impossible you should pass him without
+observation, or them without their leader's commands. I am now about to
+despatch to Narvaez certain reinforcements, in whose company I recommend
+you to travel, and with whom I will send such representations to the
+general as, I think, will secure you his instant permission and,
+doubtless, aid, to join your kinsman, the good knight, without delay.
+Only let me entreat of you, as your true friend and relation, not
+wantonly, by any overbearing pride, to exasperate the peevish temper of
+my colleague."
+
+"I will take your advice," said the cavalier, complacently, "and treat
+the Biscayan with as much respect as he may seem to deserve. Only, as it
+may be a long day's journey to this Zempoala, I must entreat your
+excellency to give orders for the instant debarkation of my horses and
+attendants, and permit me to follow them as soon as possible."
+
+"This shall be instantly done," said the admiral. "In the meanwhile, I
+must beg to entertain you with the sight of one of those personages who
+will be your companions on the journey."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+At the signal of the admiral, an officer made his appearance, received
+certain commands, the most agreeable of which to the young cavalier were
+those in reference to his own liberation, and then immediately withdrew.
+
+"Thou wilt now see, worthy cousin," said Cavallero, "a man, whom,
+although a base Moor and infidel, thou shouldst regard with some sort of
+admiration; since, from the reports of those who brought him hither, he
+is endowed with a spirit and pugnacity worthy even of a Christian."
+
+While the admiral spoke, the door of the cabin was darkened by the
+bodies of several men, who, at his beck, advanced, and stood full in the
+view of the neophyte. He perceived in these, besides two or three
+officers of the ship, nothing more, with a single exception, than the
+rough figures of ordinary sailors. This exception presented itself in
+the bronzed visage and wildly attired person of the Moor; and Amador
+almost started, when the bright eyes of the pagan rolled from the
+admiral to himself in a brief but most penetrating stare. In person, the
+Moor was somewhat above the ordinary stature, but his limbs, though
+hardy and active enough, were much attenuated. His face was emaciated
+and bony, and the long black locks falling wildly over it, gave it an
+appearance exceedingly haggard,--a character greatly augmented by the
+white eyeballs flashing like stars in its almost Nubian blackness.
+Something perhaps was to be allowed for the effect of his uncouth and
+savage attire, which was composed almost entirely of skins, seemingly of
+dogs or wolves, a portion of which encircled his loins as a tunic, while
+the remainder lay, like a cape or short cloak, about his shoulders.
+Under this latter garment, however, was a shirt of cotton, stained with
+bright colours; and a kerchief of similar material glittered, not so
+much like a turban as a fillet round his head. Rude sandals, strapped as
+high as the midleg with shreds cut from his cloak, completed the
+primitive costume of the barbarian.
+
+"This fellow," said the admiral, turning from him to one who seemed as
+chief of the seamen,--"this fellow is then the commander of that Sallee
+pirate, you took among the Canaries?"
+
+"Commander or not, I cannot say," said the sailor, with a shrug; "but
+chief varlet at the gun, as I am free to maintain; and freer was he at
+that same ordnance than was like to be safe for the good snow, _La
+Encarnacion_, as her ribs may yet testify. But the knave speaks Spanish;
+and if your excellency chooses to ask him, can tell you his rank and
+condition."
+
+"No commander--no pirate!" said the Moor, with a voice whose soft and
+harmonious accents contrasted strangely with his rude appearance. "No
+commander--no pirate," he repeated in good Castilian; "but a poor
+Morisco of Fez, voyaging in a harmless trader to the Gibbel-al-Tarik."
+
+"The Gibbel-al-Tarik," said the admiral, dryly, "would have been much
+beholden for the new visit of an infidel."
+
+"No commander, no pirate, no infidel!" said the Moor, earnestly; "but a
+poor shepherd of Fez, brought to a knowledge of the true faith, and
+driven from the home of his fathers for the exercise of it, to the land
+of his fathers' enemies."
+
+"Moor," said the admiral, composedly, "there are three reasons why I
+should not believe thee: First, because thou _art_ a Moor, and therefore
+born to be a liar and deceiver; secondly, because, unless God should
+have worked a greater miracle for the good of a besotted heathen than he
+often vouchsafes to prayerful Christians, there is no possibility thou
+couldst be converted to the faith among the sands of Barbary; and
+thirdly, because the fact that thou art skilful in the management of
+ordnance, is sufficient proof thou canst not be an ignorant shepherd of
+Fez, whose hands are more commonly trained to the spear and arrow, than
+to the quoin and linstock."
+
+"He manages them," said the sailor, "as if he had been born with them in
+his hands; as I have made proof, sometimes, for my amusement, during the
+tedium of the voyage."
+
+"If my lord will listen to me," said the Moor eagerly, though humbly, "I
+will make it apparent that I speak nothing but the truth.--My father
+drew his first breath among the Almogavars of the desert; his son opened
+his eyes among the hills of Granada."
+
+"Ha!" cried the admiral; "thou art then one of the accursed tribe of
+mine own land!"
+
+"A Morisco of the Alpujarras," said the Moor, submissively; "whom, in my
+very early youth, it pleased my father to have baptized in the holy
+faith, as was the command of his most faithful and ever-blessed majesty,
+the king Fernando, the conqueror of the kings of Granada. This will
+show, my lord, that I speak the words of a Christian. As an Almogavar, I
+was born to be a soldier, and so trained to all arms of an Almogavar,
+the knife and dart, the spear and axe, the cross-bow and musket, as well
+as other weapons of Christians. This will show my lord how it came that
+I was found skilful at the cannon."
+
+"Thou speakest like a cunning and most honest man," said the admiral,
+gravely; "but all this revelation does not show me how an Almogavar of
+Granada became a herdsman of the desert; and, after that, how the
+herdsman of the desert was transformed into the gunner of a Sallee
+corsair, or, as thou callest her, a harmless trader, on her innocent
+voyage to Gibraltar."
+
+"May it please my lord," said the Almogavar, bending for a moment his
+troubled eyes on the admiral, as if to resolve himself whether or not
+these questions were put to him in mockery, and then casting them
+instantly on the floor; "may it please my lord to remember that after
+the fall of Granada and the subjugation of the Alpujarras, many Moors,
+Christian as well as pagan, preferring rather to lament their miseries
+at a distance than in their own enslaved country, chose to accept the
+merciful permission of the king, and withdrew from the land altogether.
+This did I, my lord's servant and slave. I fled to the country of my
+father; and although, there, I suffered many indignities and hardships,
+as well as constant peril, as being suspected to be an apostate to the
+faith of the land, I had been content to drag out a wearisome life, but
+for one grief that was sharper than others."
+
+"I will shrive thee as patiently as thy confessor," said the admiral;
+"but while thou art speaking the sharpest of thy calamities, it will be
+much proof to me of the sincerity of thy religion, if thou use language
+somewhat of the briefest."
+
+"My son," said the Moor, hurriedly, "my son, that was the lamp of my
+eye-sight, the perfume of my nostrils, the song and music of my soul,
+was in great danger to be led astray, and converted back to infidelity.
+To save him from the contagion of heathenism, I resolved to return to
+Granada, where, though he might grow up to bondage, he should be free
+from the thrall of darkness: it was better he should be a slave than an
+infidel. With these thoughts and these hopes in my heart, I embarked in
+the Sallee trader; when it was my hard fate to be arrested in my course
+by these men of the Canaries."
+
+"Thy course," said the admiral, "was none of the straightest; and how
+thou couldst find thy way to Gibraltar by way of the Fortunate Isles, is
+much more than my nautical experience can teach me to understand."
+
+"A great storm," said the Moor, with the deepest humility, "drove us
+from our course; and it was the will of God that when the tempest
+subsided, we should find ourselves beset by two strong ships, which
+nothing but the fears and desperation of our captain could have tempted
+him to think of resisting. We fought, and were subdued; the lives of my
+son and myself were preserved out of the horrors of that combat. The
+ships were traders of the Isles, bound to these new lands; they brought
+us hither; where there is nothing left us but to claim the privileges of
+our faith, acknowledge ourselves the thrall and bondmen of his majesty
+the king, and entreat of my lord to send us, when it may suit his good
+pleasure, to our homes and our altars in Granada."
+
+The Moor concluded his speech with a degree of eagerness approaching
+almost to vehemence. The admiral indifferently rejoined:--
+
+"Thy name is Abdalla----?"
+
+"Abdoul al Sidi," said the Moor, hastily. "When my father gave me up to
+be baptized, he called me, in token of his true devotion and humility,
+Esclavo de la Cruz; but in my days of darkness I was known as Abdoul al
+Sidi, a poor Almogavar, but descended from the ancient lords of Fez."
+
+"Sidi Abdalla, or sir Slave of the Cross, whichever it may please you to
+be called," said the admiral, coolly, "in respect to your lordly descent
+and most dignified title, which I think no Christian has dared to assume
+since the days of the Cid Rodrigo, I will, before determining how far I
+can make your fate agreeable to your wishes, condescend to compare your
+story with that of the brave sailor, master of the Encarnacion, who
+captured you."
+
+"If I am to say any thing," said the master, gruffly, "it will be first
+to pronounce this same Abdalla, or Esclavo, as he calls himself, a
+hypocrite and knave not to be trusted. It is true there was a great
+storm, which might have driven his piratical galley into the
+neighbourhood of the Canaries; but that he showed any extraordinary
+ardour to escape, as long as my consort was out of sight, is a matter
+not to be believed. Trusting to his skill in the management of the great
+_mangonneau_, with which the galley was armed, and not doubting to
+cripple me with some lucky ball, before I could approach him, he fell to
+with right good will; and it was not until my consort joined in the
+melée that I was able to lay him aboard. Even then, when our crews were
+springing on his decks, and his fellow-pirates had fled in dismay below,
+I saw him, this very knave Abdalla, with mine own eyes, lay match to the
+last charge which thundered against us; immediately after which, with a
+most devilish spirit of desperation, he snatched up his boy, as one
+would a kitten, and springing to the opposite side, was in the act of
+dashing himself into the sea, when he was brought down by a
+pistol-shot."
+
+"I thought they would have murdered my poor Jacinto," said the
+Almogavar, in a low voice; "and, in my desperation, desired he should
+rather die the easy death of the deep, than be mangled by cruel
+daggers."
+
+"There was much fear of that," said the master; "for my sailors had
+marked him at the linstock with no great love. In faith, there were some
+five or six cutlasses aimed at his prostrate body; but I could not bear
+they should slay the boy, who lay on his breast; and therefore I
+commanded them to hold."
+
+"Thou art a right worthy and noble heart!" said Amador ardently,
+interrupting him; "for there is no reason a brave soldier, even in the
+heat of blood, and with a pagan under his foot, should strike at the
+life of a boy: and hadst thou done otherwise, I swear to thee, I was so
+much moved by the relation, I should have gone nigh to slay thee for thy
+barbarity!"
+
+"And besides, señor," said the master complacently, "I was beset with
+the idea, that if I preserved his life, and brought him to this land of
+Mexico, I might sell him at a good price as an able cannonier; such a
+man, as I had good reason to know, being worth the value of a dozen
+bloodhounds. And besides," he continued, without regarding the
+expression of disgust and contempt which drove the look of benevolence
+from the visage of the cavalier, "I had greater reason to applaud my
+clemency, when I discovered that the boy Jacinto, besides being a comely
+and very dexterous stripling, was so great a master of the Moorish
+lute, singing withal in a most agreeable manner, that I was well assured
+some noble cavalier among the invaders would not scruple, at any price,
+to have him for a page."
+
+"I am a Christian! the boy is a Christian!" cried the Moor, hurriedly;
+"and neither of us can be sold to bondage, except at the command of his
+most faithful and merciful majesty, the emperor and king; to whose
+gracious will and pleasure I desire, with my boy, to be rendered."
+
+"Good Cid," said the admiral, "that is a matter wherein, if his
+majesty's will were certainly known, thou shouldst not have to complain
+of our negligence; but, under present circumstances, we must make our
+own judgment the representative of the royal wisdom, and dispose of thee
+in such manner as we may think most conducive to his majesty's interest.
+We are resolute thou wilt serve him better by directing the thunders of
+his cannon against the heathen hordes of Mexico, than by cultivating his
+vines and fig-trees on the hills of Granada. We must send thee to the
+commander Narvaez, whom if thou please, he will doubtless advance thee
+to the command of a falconet, wherewith thou mayst divert many of thy
+Almogavar propensities for battle and bloodshed. As for the boy, it not
+appearing to me that the strumming of his strings, or the uplifting of
+his voice in ballad and redondilla, are, in any wise, necessary to the
+conquest of this barbarous empire, I may be able, if thou insistest upon
+that, to send him to Spain."
+
+"I take my lord at his word!" said Abdoul, trembling with eagerness and
+anxiety; "let the boy be sent to Spain--to Granada--to either of the
+ports Algeciras, Malaga, or Almeria; and he will find some friends
+there, to protect his youth and inexperience; while I submit to my
+harder fate in Mexico."
+
+"To Almeria?" said Amador quickly. "I have myself some acquaintance with
+that town; and it may perhaps advantage thee to make me thy confidant,
+if there be any secret friend there thou wouldst send the boy to; or to
+take my counsel as to what Christians may be persuaded to show him
+kindness."
+
+The Moor regarded Amador for an instant with a disturbed but piercing
+eye. His answer was, however, prevented, by the admiral saying,
+
+"Sir Slave of the Cross, (With the consent of my very noble kinsman); to
+cut short all needless discussion on this subject, I may as well inform
+thee, first, that if thy boy be sent to Spain, it will not be to any
+port of thy choosing, but to such an one as may seem most fit to other
+persons, and which will most probably be the port of Seville; wherefrom
+thou canst better imagine than myself, how thy boy will be helped to
+Granada. In the second place, as I deem it but honesty to acquaint thee,
+if the youth be taken from this land, he will first be sent to the
+excellent señor, the honourable Don Diego Velasquez, governor of Cuba,
+to be disposed of by him as may seem most agreeable to his judgment; and
+I warn thee, if the lad be an adept at the lute, as is asserted, Don
+Diego will find him such employment in twangling to the ladies of our
+brave cavaliers, as will leave it uncertain how much sooner than
+doomsday he will bethink him to advance the poor youth on his voyage."
+
+"It is enough!" said the Moor with a gloomy countenance. "God is with
+us; and it may be better to have the boy among the perils of death than
+the seductions of pleasure. Let my boy stay with me, and I am content to
+follow my lord's bidding."
+
+He bowed his head upon his breast, and, at the signal of the admiral,
+was led away.
+
+"Señor Capitan," continued Cavallero, addressing the master, who still
+lingered in the cabin, "I will satisfy thee for the armament thou hast
+brought, by acknowledgments, which thou must present to the governor.
+What more Moors hast thou brought with thee from the galley, capable of
+doing service in these exigencies?"
+
+"The father and son are all," replied the master. "The others, as I told
+your excellency, had fled below from the fury of my sailors. To make all
+sure, while rummaging about their cabin, we had fastened down the
+hatches. We had not picked up many things of value, before there was a
+sudden cry that the pirate was sinking. Whether this happened from a
+shot she may have received, or because the accursed runagates below had
+knocked a hole in her bottom, was more than was ever determined. The
+alarm sent us scampering to our own vessel; and in our hurry, as was
+natural enough, we forgot the infidels in the hold; so that, when she
+went down, which she did as soon as we were well clear of her, her crew
+went along with her.--But your excellency has not told me whether I am
+to receive pay for Sidi and the boy?"
+
+"I swear to heaven," said the admiral, "thou hast no more heart than
+thine anchor! Thou shockest me with the detail of a catastrophe, which,
+though affecting the lives of nothing but heathen Moors, is nevertheless
+both dreadful and pitiable; and yet thou dost abruptly demand me, 'Shall
+I have payment for the two lives I saved?' Thou wilt have payment, if it
+please the governor; and not otherwise. Betake thee to thy ship: I will
+send thee thy warranties, and the sooner thou leavest with them the
+better."
+
+The master departed, and again Amador found himself alone with the
+admiral.
+
+"Cousin," said Cavallero, "I am now able to comply with your wishes. I
+should have been rejoiced to keep you a prisoner on board the Capitana
+for a few days; but I will not invite you, when I perceive you are so
+impatient for freedom. Your horses are doubtless at this moment rolling
+on the beach; your grooms are with them, either combing the sand from
+their manes, or scraping the sea-spots from your armour. A company of
+artisans, with a military escort, is on the eve of marching to the camp
+of Narvaez. I have given such commands as will secure you the company
+and friendly aidance of that escort; in addition to which, I will
+immediately send after you a trusty officer with despatches concerning
+yourself, to the general, and recommendations to him to assist you in
+joining your kinsman, the knight Calavar, without delay. You will easily
+reach Zempoala by night-fall. I beseech you to salute the general with
+courtesy; and to-morrow you will be in the arms of your leader."
+
+"I am so overjoyed," said the Cavalier, "at the thought of once more
+bestriding my poor Fogoso, and exchanging the stupid pitching of a ship
+for the bound of his gallop and curvet, that I know not how I can do
+otherwise than treat the Biscayan with urbanity."
+
+"A barge is ready to conduct you to the shore," continued the admiral,
+leading the young soldier to the side of the vessel. "I pray heaven to
+give you a prosperous journey, and to carry you with as much safety as
+honour through the weapons of the heathen multitude. Make my devoirs to
+his noble valour, the good knight of Rhodes; and say to the señor
+Cortes, that though fate has arrayed me against him as an enemy, I
+cannot forget the friendship of our past lives. Nay," continued
+Cavallero, with emphasis, "tell him, that though it does not become me,
+as an officer commissioned by Velasquez, to hold any communications with
+him excepting those of simple form and civility, I shall be well pleased
+when heaven has removed the obstruction, and left me at liberty to meet
+him with full friendship and confidence. This salutation," said the
+admiral significantly, "there is no reason thou shouldst impart to
+Narvaez; for he is distrustful and suspicious to that degree, that, I do
+not doubt, he would torture its harmlessness into a matured treason."
+
+"I will do your bidding," said Amador blithely, "both to the Biscayan,
+and the cavalier of Medellin. And now, with a thousand acknowledgments
+for your favour and assistance, and as many wishes for your weal and
+comfort, I bid you the farewell of a kinsman and true friend."
+
+And so saying, and heartily shaking the hand of his excellency, the
+young cavalier sprang into the boat, and was soon wafted to the beach.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The rapture with which Don Amador de Leste exchanged the confined decks
+of the caravel for the boundless sands of Ulua, and these again for the
+back of his impatient steed, was fully as great as he had promised
+himself. Profound was his joy to find the demon of ennui, which had
+beset the cribbed and confined charger as sorely as the cabined master,
+flying from his dilated nostrils, and giving place to the mettlesome
+ardour which had won him the title of the Fiery. The neigh that he sent
+forth was like the welcome of the battle; the fire that flashed in his
+eye was bright as the red reflection of a banner; and when he reared up
+under his rider, it was as if to paw down the opposition of crouching
+spearmen. A few snuffs of the morning breeze, a few bounds over the
+sandy hillocks, and the beast that had pined in stupefaction in a narrow
+stall on the sea, was converted into an animal fit for the seat of a
+warrior.
+
+The cavalier galloped about for a few moments, while his attendants made
+their preparations for the journey. Then returning, like a thoughtful
+leader, to inquire into their welfare, he beheld them with great
+satisfaction, both horse and man, in good condition to commence their
+adventurous campaign.
+
+The elder of his followers was a personage of years and gravity; a mass
+of grizzled locks fell from under his iron skull-cap, and a shaggy beard
+of the same reverend hue ornamented his cheeks and throat. He had seen
+long and sharp service, for besides the many scars that marked his
+swarthy visage, one of which, from its livid hue, seemed to have been
+won in recent combat, a sabre-cut, extending over his left cheek and
+brow, had darkened the sinister eye forever. But his frame, though
+somewhat short and squat, was robust and even gigantic in proportions;
+and the muscles springing under the narrow cuishes, which, together with
+a heavy breast-plate, made nearly the whole of his defensive armour, did
+not seem less of iron than their covering. He was truly a man-at-arms
+worthy to follow at the heels of a valiant cavalier.
+
+The second attendant, though armed with little more care than the
+former, had contrived, by the judicious distribution of riband-knots and
+sashes about his person, to assume a more gallant appearance: and in
+addition, he had the smoother features and gayer looks of youth. Both
+were provided with horses strong and not inactive; and both, as Amador
+returned, were busily engaged in disposing the mails and accoutrements
+of the cavalier about the bulky loins of their animals.
+
+"Hearken, Lazaro, thou varlet, that flingest my mailed shirt over thy
+crupper, as if it were a vile horse-cloth," he cried to the younger
+follower, "have more care what thou art doing. Give my helmet to
+Baltasar, and let him sling it, with my buckler, over his broad
+shoulders. I will not entrust thee with such matters; nor, by 'r lady,
+with my pistols neither."
+
+"If I may make bold to speak," said Baltasar, bending his eye bluffly,
+and with a sort of rude affection on his young lord, "I can advise a way
+to dispose of both casque and buckler more agreeably and usefully than
+on the back of either Lazaro or myself."
+
+"Thou meanest upon mine own, no doubt," said Amador: "I have ever found
+thee fonder of carrying the arms of a dead foeman than of a living
+master, though it were the knight Calavar himself."
+
+"That is very true," said the veteran, chuckling grimly at the
+compliment disguised in the sarcasm.
+
+"I am never loath to do such duty: because, then, my conscience tells me
+I am bearing arms which can no longer be of use to their owner."
+
+"And thou desirest now to intimate, that, if I were arrayed in my
+harness, I might put it to some use?"
+
+"Quien sabe? who knows?" said Baltasar, looking around him with an
+earnest eye. "We are now in a strange land, possessed by barbarians, who
+are good at spear and bow, and fonder of fighting from an ambuscado than
+on an open field; and with no true companions that I can see, to look
+that they be not lurking among yonder woodlands, some of which, I take
+it for granted, we have to pass. I should grieve sorely to see an arrow,
+even in a boy's hand, aimed at your honour's present hauberk of cloth
+and velvet."
+
+"Well, thy wisdom will not perish for want of utterance," said Amador;
+"and, in very truth, I must own, it has sometimes stood me in good
+stead. I will therefore relieve thee of thy burthen, and Lazaro shall
+hang it to my own shoulders."
+
+He descended, and the linked surcoat soon invested his person.
+
+"I will also presume to recommend your honour to have these snapdragons
+hung to your saddle-bow," said Baltasar, extending the rude and
+ponderous pistols,--weapons then scarcely creeping into notice, but
+within twenty years, not uncommon in the hands of horsemen; "for if it
+should come to pass, that some cut-throat pagan should discharge a
+missile at us from the bushes, it will doubtless afford your honour much
+satisfaction to shoot him dead on the spot; a punishment that would not
+be so certain with the weapons in my own hands, or in Lazaro's. And
+before I could bring my cross-bow from my back, it is possible the knave
+might have another opportunity to do us mischief."
+
+"In this matter also," said Amador good-humouredly, "I will follow thy
+instructions. But, I give thee warning, there is something in the
+feeling of my hauberk under this raging sun, that admonishes me how soon
+my brain would seethe, as in a stew-pan, under the cover of a steel
+helmet. Wherefore I will have thee carry that in thine own hands, until,
+from the change of atmosphere, or the appearance of an enemy, I may see
+fit to alter my resolution."
+
+"I have ever found," said Baltasar, with the pertinacity of age, and,
+perhaps, of a favourite, "that, under a broiling sun, a well-polished
+casque of metal is something cooler than a cloth cap; a fact, the reason
+for which I do not myself understand, and which I should esteem too
+marvellous for belief, had I not oft-times put it to the proof."
+
+"There is even much truth in what thou art saying," quoth the cavalier,
+"and I have perhaps philosophy enough to explain the marvel to thee, but
+that I know philosophy is not much to thy liking. There must be a cold
+head, however, under the bright cap; otherwise, and with a brain as
+inflammable as my own, I am very well convinced that bright steel would
+be just as ignitible as dull iron." And so saying, he again bestrode the
+champing Fogoso.
+
+"It must be as your honour says," muttered the man-at-arms. "But, as we
+are all as well prepared now to begin our journey as we will be
+to-morrow, I would fain know of your favour whither lies our path, or
+where lags the jackanapes that is to guide us? I heard some talk in the
+caravel of a great troop of horse and foot, that was to accompany us;
+but unless it may have been the herd of vagabonds, who, a full hour
+since, took up their march along the sands, I know not where to look for
+them among these few tinkers and sailors that are strolling yonder among
+the huts of bamboo."
+
+"I have much reliance on the friendship and courtesy of my cousin, the
+admiral," said Amador hastily; "but I must confess, that, saving the
+appearance of yonder bridled horse, (which may be in waiting for the
+officer he told me of,) it looks very much, now, as if he had left me to
+mine own guidance. Nay, I wrong the worthy señor," he cried quickly, as
+turning with some doubt and indignation towards the ship, he beheld a
+boat leave her, and approach the shore with all the speed of oars; "the
+guide he promised me is, without doubt, in that barge; and the bridled
+horse, which, as I can perceive even at this distance, is none of the
+bravest, is the beast whereon he will keep us company."
+
+As Amador conjectured, the boat contained his promised companion, who
+instantly sprang upon the beach and on the caparisoned animal, and in a
+few moments was at the side of the cavalier. He was young and handsome,
+an adult in stature, but scarcely a man in deportment, for as he removed
+his cap to make the obeisance of an inferior, there was a strong
+tincture of confusion and trepidation in his countenance. This was
+perhaps owing, in part, to a consciousness of having merited a reprimand
+for over-delay, and in part also to his suddenly finding himself
+confronted with so warlike a personage as the neophyte. Amador of the
+caravel was a different person from Amador armed and mounted; and,
+indeed, as he sat on his noble bay, mailed and sworded, and with two
+goodly armsmen at his back, he was such a martial figure as might have
+moved an older messenger to reverence.
+
+"Señor caballero," said the youth, with a stammering voice, "my master
+and patron, the admiral, has appointed me, his secretary, to be your
+guide to the Indian city Zempoala; and I have to beg your pardon, if,
+waiting for the letters wherewith it was his excellency's will to charge
+me, and to make some needful preparation of my own, I have detained your
+favour somewhat longer than was agreeable."
+
+"I am ever bound to thank his excellency," said Amador; "and as I well
+suppose, your own preparations had some weighty relation to the business
+you have in charge, I will not take it upon me to express any
+dissatisfaction with your delay."
+
+"In truth," said the secretary, ingenuously, "I was loath to depart
+without such armour about me as should beseem the attendant of a true
+cavalier; in the fitting of which I fell into some perplexity, as not
+finding a corselet that did not, in some manner, incommode my ribs; and
+besides, the sabres were all so unwieldy and rough about the hilts, I
+was in some despair I should never find one to my liking."
+
+"Señor secretario," said Amador, with a smile of good-humoured contempt,
+surveying the youth, and observing the cuirass chosen with no discretion
+and donned without skill, "I am of opinion, that in the company of
+myself and my attendants, you will find no occasion for such troublesome
+apparel; and it is my advice, grounded on your admission of inexperience
+in such matters, that, should we, on our march, be beset by any enemies,
+you take post instantly behind my veteran Baltasar, whose broad breast
+will stand you in greater stead than your ill-chosen cuirass, and whose
+arm will do you better service than the sabre in your own hands."
+
+"Señor," said the youth, colouring, "I am no soldier nor cavalier; I
+have ever had my breast more bruised by the scribe's table than the
+weight of a breast-plate, and my fingers have heretofore known more of
+the goose-quill than the sword. Nevertheless I am both willing and
+desirous to be placed where the knowledge of weapons may be obtained,
+and to encounter such risks as are the helpers to knowledge. It was from
+no lack of beseeching on mine own part, that his excellency has
+heretofore denied me permission to try my fate among the cavaliers
+ashore; nor should I have hoped that pleasure so early, but that I found
+his excellency was bent to do you honour, by making a confidential
+servant your attendant, and was therefore easily persuaded to give me
+the opportunity I have so long coveted, of looking a little into the
+strange sights of this marvellous land."
+
+"I am to understand then," said Amador gravely, "that his excellency,
+the admiral, has entrusted the charge of guiding me to Zempoala to an
+individual who has never before put foot on the wilderness that divides
+us from it?"
+
+"It is true, señor," said the secretary, "that I have never been to
+Zempoala. But I hope your favour will not doubt me for that reason, nor
+take offence at the admiral. I am enjoined to conduct you to the
+reinforcement that set out an hour ago. Its tracks are plain enough
+along the beach; and as it is composed principally of footmen, there is
+no doubt we will overtake it before another hour has elapsed. I am
+confident I can lead your favour without difficulty to the party; among
+which are guides well acquainted with the country."
+
+"Let us set out then, in heaven's name," said the cavalier: "the day is
+wasting apace; the sun climbs high in the vault; and the sooner we are
+sheltered from its fury among some of yonder distant forests, the better
+will it be for us. St. John be our guide, and the Holy Virgin favour
+us.--Amen! Let us depart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+As the secretary anticipated, the tracks of the reinforcement were
+plainly discernible over the sandy downs and by the margins of the
+pestilent fens, which gave an air of desolation to this part of the
+Mexican coast, not much relieved by an occasional clump of palms, nor by
+the spectacle, here and there disclosed, of the broad ocean blackening
+among the low islets; though the hazy and verdant ramparts which
+stretched between these burning deserts and the imagined paradises of
+the interior, ever presented a field of refreshment and interest to the
+eyes of the travellers. The novelty of their situation, felt more or
+less intensely by all, was exciting: and many a dream of barbaric
+monarchs reposing on thrones of gold and emeralds, and canopied by
+flowers and feathers,--of dusky armies deploying among green valleys and
+on the borders of fair lakes,--and perhaps of themselves doing the work
+of heroes among these mystic multitudes,--wandered through their
+over-troubled fancies.
+
+Such visions flitted over the brain of Amador, but mingled with others,
+with which the past had more to do than the present; for, despite the
+eager longing with which he looked forward to a meeting with his good
+knight and kinsman, and, notwithstanding his impatient ardour to gaze
+with his own eyes upon those scenes which were filling the minds of men
+with wonder, he looked back from a sand-hill to the distant ships, and
+sighed, as, in an instant of time, his soul was borne from them, over
+the broad surges to the pleasant hills of Spain.
+
+But with the view of the squadron vanished his memory and his
+melancholy: the narrow belt of sand-hills along the coast had been
+exchanged for the first zone of vegetation; the mimosa afforded its
+shade; the breeze and the paroquet chattered together on its top; and
+when he came, at last, to journey among the shadows of a forest rich in
+magnificent and unknown trees and plants, with here a lagoon fringed
+with stately ceibas (the cotton-wood trees of Mexico) and gigantic
+canes, and there a water-course murmuring among palms and other tropical
+trees, he gave himself up to a complacent rapture. He remarked with
+satisfaction the bright plumage of water-fowl,--the egret, the pelican,
+the heron, and sometimes the flamingo, sporting among the pools; gazed
+with wonder after the little _picaflor_, or humming-bird, darting, like
+a sunbeam, from flower to flower; with still greater admiration listened
+to the song of the calandra and the cardinal, and to the magical
+_centzontli_,--the hundred-tongued,--as it caught and repeated, as if
+with a thousand voices, the thousand roundelays of other songsters
+scattered among the boughs; and it was not until the notes of a
+trumpet, swelling suddenly in the distance, invaded his reveries, that
+he roused from the voluptuous intoxication of such a scene.
+
+"It is the trumpet of the soldiers, señor!" cried the secretary,
+joyously; "and it rejoices me much, for I know not how much longer I
+could have followed their obscure tracks through this forest. And
+besides, I find, as I must in honesty confess, I have in me so little of
+the skill of a leader, that I would gladly submit to be led myself,
+especially by your worship, though it were to follow you to battle as an
+humble esquire."
+
+"I must commend your spirit, señor Lorenzo Fabueno," (for so the
+secretary had called himself,) "though I must needs believe your
+inexperience in all matters of war might render such an attempt
+exceedingly difficult, if not altogether impossible."
+
+"Señor," said the secretary, eagerly, "I have the wish, and doubtless
+the ability, in course of time, to learn all the duties, and to acquire
+some of the skill, of a soldier; and under so noble a leader as your
+favour, I am sure I should advance much faster than ever I did in the
+learning of a clerk. And, in addition to the little service I might
+render with my sword, I have such skill with the pen as might be of good
+use to your honour."
+
+"I have no certain assurance," said Amador, "that I shall have any
+occasion to use my own sword; it is utterly beyond my imagination to
+discover to what use I could put the inkhorn of a secretary; and
+finally, I know not how the course of events in these deserts may
+require me to add to the number of my associates. Nevertheless, señor
+Lorenzo, if it be the wish of his excellency the admiral, that his
+secretary should be transformed into a soldier, I see not how I can
+refuse to give my assistance to the conversion."
+
+"I know not why I should be dungeoned in a ship's cabin," said Lorenzo,
+with a sort of petulance, "when other youths are roaming at liberty
+among these brave hills; and gnawing a quill with disgust, when all my
+old schoolmates are carving out reputation with more manly implements. I
+am sure I was not born to slave forever at the desk."
+
+"This may be all true, as, in my opinion, it is both natural and
+reasonable," said Amador, with gravity; "for, it seems to me, man was
+brought into the world for a nobler purpose than to scribble on paper.
+Yet you have not made it apparent that the admiral's wishes are in this
+matter consonant with your own."
+
+"I know not that they are," replied the secretary, "but, as I now feel
+myself at liberty, with both horse and sword, I cannot help feeling that
+they ought to be. How I can ever have the heart to return to my bondage
+again, is more than I can tell; and I am confident, if it were your
+favour's desire he should grant me permission to follow you through this
+land, he would make no opposition, the more particularly that your
+favour is his kinsman."
+
+"I doubt whether the consent would not be wrung from his courtesy; and I
+cannot well agree to rob him of one who may be a valuable servant.
+Neither, under such circumstances, can I think of encouraging you in
+your ardour, or recommending you, at present, to change your pursuits,
+for which you are better fitted than for mine. Nay," said the cavalier
+good-naturedly, observing the chagrin of the youth, "if you are
+resolutely bent on your purpose, it is my advice you make your petitions
+to his excellency; and when he has granted them, as doubtless he will,
+you can, with a free mind, seek the patronage of some cavalier engaged
+in these armies of invasion.--Hark! the trumpet sounds louder and
+nearer, and by my faith, I see on yonder rising ground the bodies of men
+and the glimmer of weapons! Spur thy horse a little; (and, I pr'ythee,
+fling thy shoulders a jot backwards, sitting erect and at ease; for I
+promise thee, this manner of riding, as if thou wouldst presently be
+hugging at thy nag's neck, is neither becoming nor advantageous;)--spur
+me up a little, and we will join company with them."
+
+The long and straggling train with which the travellers caught up, just
+as it issued from the forest upon an open tract of low sandy hills and
+plains, was composed of motley materials. A few mounted men, who, by
+their armour and bustling activity, seemed the leaders and commanders,
+were scattered among a horde of footmen, a portion of whom were armed
+and ranked as a company of military, but the greater part being the
+ordinary native labourers, who served the office of mules, and bore on
+their backs the burdens of the invaders. Some five or six score of these
+swarthy creatures, followed by a dozen Castilian crossbowmen and a
+single horseman, brought up the rear. They stalked in a line one after
+another, each bending to his burden; and in their uniformity of
+equipment, gait, muscular figures, and solemn visages, added not a
+little to the singularity of the spectacle. A narrow strip of some
+vegetable texture, so rude and coarse that it seemed rather a mat than a
+cloth, was wrapped round the loins of each, leaving their strong and
+tawny bodies otherwise naked. No sandal protected their soles from the
+heated soil; and no covering, save only the long and matted locks
+swinging about their countenances, defended their heads from the
+scorching sun. A huge basket of cane, the _petlacalli_, or _petaca_ of
+the Spaniards, carelessly covered with matting, and evidently well
+charged with military stores and provision, weighed upon the shoulders
+of each, while it was connected by a broad strap to the forehead. Thus
+burthened, however, and thus exposed to a temperature which, as the day
+advanced, seemed, in the open plains, nearly intolerable to their
+Christian companions, they strode on with a slow but vigorous step, each
+bearing a knot of gay flowers or of brilliant feathers, wherewith he
+defended his face from insects, and perhaps, occasionally, his eyes from
+the dazzling reflection of the soil. These were the _Tlamémé_, or
+carriers of Mexico.
+
+The eye of Amador, though at first attracted by this singular train,
+dwelt with more surprise and curiosity on the crossbowmen, who were
+sweltering, in common with nearly every Christian of the party, under
+the thick and uncouth investment of the _escaupil_, a sort of armour
+which the invaders of Mexico had not disdained to borrow from their
+despised enemies. This consisted of nothing more than garments of
+woollen or cotton cloth, cut as much after the fashions of Spain as was
+possible, quilted so thickly with cotton as to be able to resist the
+arrow heads and lance-points of the Indians; which virtue, added to the
+facility with which it could be obtained and adapted to every part of
+the body, gave the escaupil a decided preference over the few pieces of
+iron mail which the poverty of the combatants denied them the power of
+extending to the whole frame. In truth, so common had become this
+armour, that there were few among the cavaliers of the conquest, except
+those leaders who despised so unknightly and so unsightly an attire, who
+were provided with any other. Nevertheless many distinguished captains
+concealed garments of this material under their iron armour; and the
+common soldiers of Cortes, after long experience, had fallen upon the
+plan of quilting it in pieces imitative of morions and breast-plates,
+which were far from being uncouth or unwieldy. But its efficacy, though
+strongly explained and urged by the secretary Fabueno, could not blind
+Don Amador to its ungainliness, as seen in the fashions of raw recruits;
+and even the solemn gravity of Baltasar was changed to a grin of
+ineffable derision, and the good-humoured vivacity of Lazaro to a laugh
+of contempt, when the secretary advised the cavalier to provide his
+followers with such coats of mail.
+
+"What thinkest thou, Lazaro, rogue?" said Don Amador, merrily. "Thou
+wert but a bitter groaner over the only cut it was ever thy good hap to
+meet: and that was by a fair and courteous pistol-shot, which hath
+something of an oily way about it: whereas these infidel flints and
+hard woods gash as painfully as an oyster-shell. What sayest thou? Shall
+I give thee an escaupil, to save thee from new lamentation?"
+
+"May your honour live a thousand years!" said the serving-man. "The
+tortoise to his shell, the Turk to his turban: heaven never thrust a
+hornet into the cocoon of a caterpillar, nor a lion into a sheep's skin.
+Wherefore I will keep my sting and my claws free from the cotton bags;
+the only merit of which is, that when a man is wounded in them, he has
+lint ever ready at his fingers."
+
+"For my part," said Baltasar, "I am, in this matter, much of Lazaro's
+way of thinking. Howsoever, please your favour, when I see these
+lubberly lumps fight more courageously than myself in my iron trifles, I
+will straightway change my mind on the subject."
+
+"Hold thy tongue, then," said the cavalier, "lest thou give offence to
+some of these worthy cotton-coats, who have, in no manner, furnished
+thee with cause for a quarrel."
+
+The cavalier rode on, followed closely by his attendants, courteously
+returning the salutations which were everywhere rendered to his apparent
+rank and martial appearance by the Spanish portion of the train; though
+not even the glitter of his mail, the proud tramp of his war-horse, nor
+the stout appearance of his followers, drew a glance from the Tlamémé.
+The dull apathy which the oppression of ages has flung over the spirits
+of Mexicans at the present epoch, had already been instilled into the
+hearts of this class of natives, which with some others, under the
+prevalence of the common feudalism of barbarians, were little better
+than bondmen. He rode slowly by them, admiring the sinewy bulk of their
+limbs, and the ease with which they moved under their heavy burdens.
+
+The van of the train was formed by a score of footmen, all arrayed in
+the escaupil, and all, with the exception of some five or six, who bore
+firelocks, armed with sword and spear. A cavalier of goodly presence,
+and well mounted, rode at their head; and Amador, thinking he perceived
+in him the tokens of gentle blood and manners, pressed forward to salute
+him. The ringing of Fogoso's heels arrested the attention of the leader,
+who, turning round and beholding the gallant array of the stranger,
+instantly returned upon his path, and met him with many courteous
+expressions. At the very moment of meeting, Amador's eye was attracted
+by a figure, which, in making way for the steed of the leader, had
+well-nigh been trodden under the hoofs of his own; and in which, when
+removed from this peril, he instantly remarked the spare person and
+haggard countenance of the Moor. Holding fast to the hand of the
+Almogavar, and indeed, for an instant, while the danger lasted, wrapped
+anxiously in his arms, was a boy, whose youth and terror might have won
+a second notice, had not the salutation of the officer immediately
+occupied his attention.
+
+"The señor Amador de Leste," said he--"Thou varlet of an infidel, I will
+strike thee with my lance!" (This menacing objurgation was addressed to
+the Moor, at the moment when, most endangered, he wavered with his boy
+between the horses.) "The señor Amador de Leste," he continued, as the
+Moor, recovering himself, cowered away, "will not be surprised to find
+his coming expected, and his presence welcomed, by the general Narvaez,
+or by his excellency's humble friend and captain, Juan Salvatierra."
+
+"Señor Salvatierra, I give you good thanks," replied Amador; "and
+although I know not what avant-courier has proclaimed the approach of so
+obscure an individual as myself, I will not, for that reason, receive
+your courtesy less gratefully."
+
+"I have with me here," said Salvatierra, with a stately condescension,
+"several of your fellow-voyagers of the caravel; among whom it would
+have been strange indeed if any had forgotten the name of so honourable
+a companion."
+
+"Those cavaliers of the caravel," said Amador, dryly, "who condescend to
+claim me as a companion, do me thereby a greater honour than I am
+desirous to do myself. Sly companions are, as you may see, my two
+men-at-arms; to which we will at present add the young señor Fabueno,
+whom, as the secretary of his excellency the admiral Cavallero, I am not
+indisposed to acknowledge."
+
+There was something in the tone of the haughty and even arrogant
+neophyte, that might have nettled his new friend; but its only effect,
+beside bringing a little colour upon his rather pallid cheeks, was to
+rob his suavity of somewhat of its loftiness.
+
+"It is for hidalgos and cavaliers of knightly orders," he said, "and not
+for ignoble adventurers, to aspire to the fellowship of a valiant knight
+of San Juan."
+
+"I am no knight of San Juan," said Amador, "but a simple novice, who may
+one day claim admission to the illustrious order (by right of birth,) or
+not, as it may please the destinies and mine own humour. Nevertheless I
+have much pleasure to speak of the order and its valiant brothers, at
+every opportunity, and at the present moment I am moved to ask your
+favour, as relying much on your knowledge, what tidings have been last
+had of the good knight Calavar, an eminent branch of that most lordly,
+though thunder-stricken, stock."
+
+"Concerning the knight of Calavar," said Salvatierra blandly, "it is my
+grief to assure you that his madness----"
+
+"Call it his melancholy! or his humour!" said Amador, sternly; "and let
+it be some mitigation to your surprise, if my correction sound like a
+rebuke, to know that I am his kinsman."
+
+Again did the colour mount into the cheeks of the cavalier, and again
+did his courtesy, or his discretion, get the better of the impulse that
+raised it.
+
+"The kinsman of that valiant and renowned gentleman," he said politely,
+"shall command me to any epithet he chooses. The señor De Leste will
+doubtless lament to hear that his kinsman, with an eccentricity scarce
+worthy his high birth and knightly dignity, still stoops to be the
+follower of an inferior and rebel, the outcast and proclaimed outlaw,
+Hernan Cortes."
+
+"As far as my own judgment is concerned in this matter, señor
+caballero," said Amador coolly, "I very much doubt whether I shall
+lament that circumstance at all. The knight Calavar will not disparage
+his dignity or his profession, by choosing to serve where a
+little-minded man might covet to command. Such a condescension in him,
+besides being a new proof of magnanimity and fidelity to his vows,
+whereby he is sworn never to make peace with the infidel, is only an
+evidence to me that the cavalier Cortes, whom you call a rebel and
+outlaw, must be a man worthy of much more respectful appellations; as
+indeed, methinks, your own reflections should show you must be the due
+of any associate of the knight of Calavar."
+
+The unaffected surprise, and even consternation, with which the follower
+of Narvaez heard the neophyte thus speak of his leader's enemy, might
+perhaps have urged Amador to the utterance of commendations still more
+unequivocal, had not his eye at that moment been caught by the shadow on
+the sand of a man striding nearer to the flanks of Fogoso than he had
+supposed any footman to be. His own position was near the side of the
+company of musketeers and spearmen mentioned before; his followers, not
+being willing to obtrude upon the privacy of the cavaliers, had fallen a
+little back; and the Morisco, as he took it for granted, was lagging
+some distance behind. His surprise was therefore not a little excited,
+when looking round, he beheld the Almogavar so close at his side as to
+be able to overhear all that was said, and drinking his words with an
+expression of the intensest interest.
+
+"Son of a dog!" cried Salvatierra, who beheld him at the same time, and
+who was not unwilling to vent some of the gall that Amador had raised
+in his bosom, upon so legitimate an object,--"I will see if I cannot
+teach thee how to thrust thyself among soldiers and hidalgos!"
+
+"Softly, señor Caballero!" cried Amador, observing the captain raising
+his lance; "strike not Abdalla; for I have it in my power to inform you,
+that, although in some sense your prisoner, and, to the eye of a
+stranger, a most helpless and wretched varlet, he has shown himself to
+be possessed of a spirit so worthy of respect, that you will do yourself
+foul shame to strike him."
+
+The lance of the cavalier was turned away from the shrinking Moor.
+
+"Don Amador de Leste shall command my weapon, whether it be to smite or
+to spare," said Salvatierra, smothering the rage which every word and
+action of the neophyte seemed fated to inspire, and advancing to the
+head of the train.
+
+"Hark'ee, Sidi Abdalla," continued Amador, beckoning complacently to the
+retiring Morisco, "it is not in my nature to see indignity of any kind
+heaped upon a man who hath not the power of vengeance, and especially a
+man who hath in him the virtue of courage, without raising a hand in his
+defence."
+
+"My lord speaks the truth," said Abdoul, with a subdued voice; "the
+Almogavar hath not the power of vengeance:--The strong man may strike
+him, the proud may trample, and he cannot resist; the cavalier may wound
+with the lance, the soldier may smite with the unthonged bow.--It is all
+one;--his head is bare, his breast open, his hand empty:--he can neither
+resist nor avenge."
+
+"By St. John of Jerusalem," said the cavalier warmly, moved to a
+stronger feeling for the friendless Morisco, "I remember, as was
+confessed by that beast of a Canary captain, that when thine enemies
+were on thy decks, and thy friends fled from thy side, (for which they
+deserved to sink to the bottom, as they did;) thou hadst the courage to
+discharge thy mangonneau into the victorious trader; for which reason
+chiefly, but partly because thou hast avowed thyself a Christian
+proselyte, I will take it upon me, as far as it may be in my power, to
+be thy protector and champion."
+
+"My lord is good," said the Moor, bending his head low on his breast;
+"and in the day of my death I will not forget his benevolence. The
+Almogavar was born to grief; trouble came at his first hour; his first
+breath was the sigh of Granada, his first cry was mingled with the
+groans of his enslaved people, his first look was on the tears of his
+father. Sorrow came in youth, anguish in manhood, and misery is in the
+footsteps of years. My lord is great and powerful; he protects me from
+the blow of a spear.--He can save me from a grief that strikes deeper
+than a thousand spears!"
+
+"As I am a true gentleman and Christian," said Amador, "I will hold to
+my word, to give thee protection and aid, as far as my power lies."
+
+"The feeble boy that totters over these scorching sands!" said the Moor,
+raising his eyes wistfully to the cavalier, and turning them for an
+instant with a look of unspeakable wildness to his son.--The cavalier
+looked back, in that momentary pause, and beheld the young Morisco. He
+seemed a boy of not more than twelve years. The soldier judged only from
+his stature, for a garment of escaupil of unusual thickness completely
+invested and concealed his figure; while his face drooping, as if from
+weariness, on his breast, was hidden by a cap slouching in disorder, and
+by long ringlets that fell in childish profusion over his shoulders.
+
+"The boy!" continued Abdalla, turning again to the neophyte, and raising
+his clasped hands as if in supplication. "Is it fit his tender years
+should be passed among the horrors of a camp? among the dangers of a
+wild war? among the vices and contaminations of a brutal soldiery? If it
+were possible,"--and here the voice of the Almogavar trembled with
+eagerness;--"if it were possible that boy could be sent to
+Granada,--nay, to Barbary,--anywhere, where, for his father's sake, he
+should be granted a refuge and asylum; then might the curse be uttered,
+the blow struck, and Abdoul, receiving it as the payment of his debt,
+would not call upon his lord for vengeance."
+
+"Thou heardest from the admiral," said Amador, "how impossible would be
+the gratification of such a wish; since, even were he parted from this
+shore, it rests with another, who, I can, upon mine own knowledge,
+assure thee, is not likely to help him on his way, whether he shall not
+waste his days among the planters of the islands; who, according to
+common report, are not a whit less wild and debauched than their friends
+here in Mexico."
+
+"God is just!" cried the Moor, clasping his hands in despair.
+
+"Nevertheless," continued Amador, "I will not fail to make thy petition,
+backed with my own request, to the señor Narvaez; and at the worst, it
+is not improbable some good cavalier may be found who will consent to
+receive him as a page, and treat him with kindness."
+
+"God is just!" reiterated the Moor, with a gloomy sorrow; "and the arrow
+of the savage may save him from the wrong of the Christian."
+
+"I tell thee again," said Amador, "I will not forget to do my best for
+his welfare, at the first opportunity. But tell me, Abdalla"--The
+Morisco was dropping behind: he returned.--"I had forgotten to ask thee
+a question for which I first called thee. I was speaking to this
+hot-tempered captain of the knight Calavar--By heaven! it was thus I saw
+thine eyes sparkle before! Is there any magic in the name, that it
+should move thee to such emotion?"
+
+"The knight Calavar," said the Morisco, "was among the conquerors of the
+Alpujarras; and how can I hear his name, and not bethink me of the black
+day of my country? His name is in our Moorish ballads; and when the
+orphan sings them, he mourns over the fate of his father."
+
+"That the knight Calavar did good service among those rebellious
+mountaineers, I can well believe," said the cavalier, hastily; "but that
+he did not temper his valour with mercy, is an assertion which no man
+can make to me with perfect safety. As to those ballads of which you
+speak, I am not certain if they be not the invention of some devilish
+magician, opposed to honourable war and glory; since it is their sole
+purpose to keep one thinking of certain sorrowful particulars, that may
+be a consequence of victory and conquest, such as tearful widows and
+destitute orphans; and I must declare, for mine own part, such is the
+mischievous tendency of these madrigals, that sometimes, after hearing
+them, I have had my imagination so enchanted, as to look with disgust at
+war, and almost to lament that I ever had struck at the life of a human
+being. I shall like well to have thy boy sing to me; but, as I will tell
+him beforehand, it must be of lovelorn knights, and of knights going to
+battle, and never a word about widows and orphans."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+At midday, the squadron, after having accomplished more than half the
+journey, halted for rest and refreshment on the banks of a little river,
+under the shade of pleasant trees. The Tlamémé threw down their bundles,
+and, apart from the rest, betook themselves to their frugal meal. A
+plaintain, a cake of maize, or a morsel of some of the nameless but
+delicious fruits of the clime, perhaps growing at their side, prepared
+them for the enjoyment of slumber; while the Spaniards, grouped among
+the trees, added to this simple repast the more substantial luxury of
+the _tasajo_, or jerked beef of the islands.
+
+As for the cavalier De Leste, not having bethought him to give orders
+for the preparation of such needful munitions, he was glad to accept the
+invitation of the captain Salvatierra to share his meal; and this he did
+the more readily, that, having entered into farther conversation with
+the leader, after the affair of the lance, it was the good fortune of
+this gentleman to stumble upon no more offensive topics. In addition to
+this, he observed with great satisfaction, that Salvatierra, preserving
+among his subalterns the stateliness which he had vailed to the
+neophyte, did not mean to trouble him with their society; and it was
+only at his express desire that the secretary Fabueno was admitted to
+partake of their repast. The excellent taste of the worthy commander, or
+perhaps the wisdom of his attendants, several of whom, both Christian
+and pagan, being in constant waiting, gave him an appearance of great
+rank and importance, had provided a stock of food, which, in variety and
+quantity, might have satisfied the hunger of half the squadron. Here,
+besides the heavenly anana, the grateful manioc, and other fruits and
+roots with which the cavalier had become acquainted in the islands, he
+was introduced to the royal chirimoya, the zapote, and other fruits as
+new as they were delicious. But, above all these delights with which
+Providence has so bountifully enriched the lands of Mexico, did Don
+Amador admire the appearance of certain fowls, which, though neither
+reeking nor smoking with their savoury juices, but drawn cold from their
+covering of green leaves, were of so agreeable a character as to fill
+his mind with transport.
+
+"Either this land is the very paradise of earth," said he, "or, señor
+Salvatierra, you have the most goodly purveyors among your household,
+that ever loaded the table of man. I will be much beholden to your
+favour to know the name of this fowl I am eating, which, from its bulk,
+one might esteem a goose, but which, I am sure, is no such contemptible
+creature."
+
+"That," said the leader, "is a sort of great pheasant, the name of which
+I have not yet schooled my organs to pronounce, but which, being taken
+among the hills and trained in the cottages of the Indians, becomes as
+familiar and loving as a dog; and is therefore always ready when its
+master is hungry."
+
+"By my life, then!" said Amador, "I am loath to eat it; for it seems to
+me, the creature that loves us is more worthy to be consecrated in the
+heart, than immolated to the cravings of the stomach. I will therefore
+desire to know something of that other featherless monster at your
+elbow, previous to determining upon its fitness for mastification."
+
+"Your favour need entertain no scruples about this bird," said the
+captain; "for although domesticated, and kept by the Indians about their
+houses in great flocks, it hath too much affection for itself to trouble
+itself much about its masters. It is a kind of peacock, and without
+possessing any of the resplendent beauty of that animal, it is endowed
+with all its vanity and pride; so that, when strutting about with its
+shaven head and long-gobbeted beard, its feathers ruffled in a majestic
+self-conceit, our soldiers have sometimes, for want of a better name,
+called it _el Turco_."
+
+"A better name could not have been invented," said the neophyte; "for if
+it be true, as is sometimes asserted by those who know better than
+myself, that heretics and infidels are the food of the devil, I know no
+morsel should be more agreeable to his appetite than one of those same
+pagans that give name to this foolish and savoury creature."
+
+The thoughts of Amador, as he sat testing the merits of the noble fowl,
+which is one among the many blessings America, in after days, scattered
+over the whole world, wandered from Mexico to Rhodes, from the peaceful
+enjoyment of his dinner to the uproar and horror of a siege, from a dead
+fowl to the turbaned Turk; and then, by a similar vagary, jumped at
+once from the magnificent infidel to the poor Morisco who had lately
+trod the desert at his side. As the image of Abdoul al Sidi entered his
+brain, he looked round and beheld the proselyte sitting with his boy in
+the shadow of a palm, remote from the rest; and a pang smote him, as he
+perceived, that, among the scores who sat glutting their appetites
+around, not one had dropped a morsel of food into the hands of the
+Almogavar or his child.
+
+"Hark'ee, Lazaro, thou gluttonous villain!" he cried, with a voice that
+instantly brought the follower, staring, to his side; "dost thou feed
+like a pelican, and yet refuse to share thy meal, as a pelican would,
+with a helpless fellow of thy race? Take me this lump of a Turk to Sidi
+Abdalla, and bid him feed his boy."
+
+"I will suggest to your favour," said the captain Salvatierra, with a
+grin, "that Lazaro be directed to bring the urchin hither, with his
+lute, of which it is said he is no mean master; and before he eats he
+shall sing us a song, which, thus, he will doubtless execute with more
+perfection than after he has gorged himself into stupidity or the
+asthma."
+
+"I agree to that, with all my heart," said the neophyte. "The boy can
+sing while we are eating, provided the poor fellow be not too hungry."
+
+Lazaro strode to the Moriscos; and in an instant, as they rose, Amador
+beheld the Sidi take the instrument from his own back where he had
+carried it, and put it into the hands of his offspring. The boy received
+it, and, as Amador thought, removed the gay covering, with a faltering
+hand. Nevertheless, in a few moments, this preparation was accomplished,
+and, with Abdalla, the stripling stood trembling from weariness or
+timidity at the side of the group.
+
+"Moor," said Salvatierra, before Amador had commenced his benevolent
+greeting, "the noble and valiant cavalier hath charitably commanded thou
+shouldst eat thy dinner at our feet; which whilst thou art doing, we
+will expect thy lad to entertain us with such sample of his skill in
+luting and singing as may make our own repast more agreeable."
+
+"That is, if the boy be not too hungry," said the good-natured neophyte.
+"I should blush to owe my pleasures to any torments of his own, however
+slight; and (as I know by some little famine wherewith we were afflicted
+at Rhodes,) there is no more intolerable anguish with which one can be
+cursed, than this same unhumoured appetite."
+
+"Jacinto will sing to my lord," said the Almogavar submissively.
+
+But Jacinto was seized with such a fit of trembling, as seemed for a
+time to leave him incapable; and when, at last, he had sufficiently
+subdued his terror, to begin tuning his instrument, he did it with so
+slow and so hesitating a hand, that Salvatierra lost patience, and
+reproved him harshly and violently.
+
+It happened, unluckily for the young Moor, that, at that moment, the eye
+of Amador wandered to Fogoso, and beheld him wallowing, with more of the
+spirit of a yeoman's hog than a warrior's charger, in a certain miry
+spot near to which he had been suffered to crop the green leaves. He
+called hastily and wrathfully to Lazaro, and, in his indignation,
+entirely lost sight of his dinner, his host, and the musician.
+
+"Whelp of a heathen!" said Salvatierra to the shrinking lad: "hast thou
+no more skill or manners, but to make this accursed jangling, to which
+there seems no end? Bestir thyself, or I will teach thee activity."
+
+The boy, frightened at the violence of the soldier, rose to his feet,
+and dropping his instrument in alarm clung to Abdalla. The wrath of the
+hot-tempered Salvatierra exceeded the bounds of decorum and of humanity.
+He had a twig in his hand, and with this he raised his arm to strike the
+unfortunate urchin. But just then the neophyte turned round, and beheld
+the act of tyranny.
+
+"Señor!" he cried, with a voice even more harsh and angry than his own,
+and seizing the uplifted hand with no ceremonious grasp,--"Señor! you
+will not so far forget your manhood as to do violence to the child? Know
+that I have taken him, for this journey, into my protection; know also,
+thou canst not inflict a stripe upon his feeble body, that will not
+degrade thee into the baseness of a hind, and that will not especially
+draw upon thee the inconvenience of mine own displeasure!"
+
+The heart of Salvatierra sunk before the flaming countenance of the
+cavalier: but observing that several of his nearest followers had taken
+note of the insult, and were grasping their arms, as if to avenge it, he
+said with an air of firmness,
+
+"The señor De Leste has twice or thrice taken occasion to requite my
+courtesies with such shame as is hard to be borne, and in particular by
+interfering with the just exercise of my authority; and I have to assure
+him, that when the duties of my office shall release me from restraint,
+his injuries shall not be unremembered."
+
+"If thou art a hidalgo," said the cavalier sternly, "thou hast the right
+to command me; if of ignoble blood, as from thy deportment to this
+trembling child, I am constrained to believe, I have, nevertheless,
+eaten of thy bread and salt, and cannot refuse to meet thee with such
+weapons and in such way as thou mayest desire; and to this obligation do
+I hold myself bound and fettered."
+
+Some half-dozen followers of the captain had crowded round their leader,
+and were lowering ominously and menacingly on the neophyte. Lazaro and
+Baltasar beheld the jeopardy of their master, and silently but
+resolutely placed themselves at his side; nay, even the youthful
+Fabueno, though seemingly bewildered, as if doubting on which side to
+array himself, had snatched up his bloodless sabre; and it seemed for an
+instant as if this unlucky rupture might end in blows. The señor
+Salvatierra looked from his followers to the angry hidalgo; the flush
+faded from his cheek; and it was remarked by some of his soldiers, not a
+little to his dispraise, that when, as if conquering his passion, he
+motioned them to retire, it was with a hurried hand and tremulous lip.
+
+"The señor de Leste is right," he said, with a disturbed voice; "I
+should have done myself dishonour to harm the boy; and although the
+reproof was none of the most gentle and honeyed, I can still thank him
+that it preserved me from the shame of giving too much rein to my
+ill-temper. I therefore forget the injury, as one that was merited,
+discharge my anger as causeless, and desiring rather to devote my blood
+to the subjugation of pagans, than to squander it in contest with a
+fellow-Christian, offer the hand of reconciliation and of friendship to
+Don Amador de Leste."
+
+There was an appearance of magnanimity in this confession of fault and
+offer of composition, that won upon the good opinion of the neophyte;
+and he frankly gave his hand to the captain. Then turning to the
+innocent cause of his trouble, who, during the time that there seemed
+danger of a conflict, had exhibited the greatest dismay, he found him
+sobbing bitterly in the arms of Abdalla.
+
+"Poor child!" said the benevolent cavalier, "thou art fitter to touch
+thy lute in the bower of a lady, than to wake it among these wild and
+troubled deserts. It is enough, Abdalla: conduct thy son to some shade,
+where he may eat and sleep; and when we renew our march, I will think of
+some device to spare his tender feet the pain of trudging longer over
+the sands."
+
+The Moor laid his hand on his heart, bowed with the deepest submission
+and gratitude, and led the boy away to a covert.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+"Didst thou observe, brother henchman," said Lazaro, as, after having
+completed his meal, and taken good note of the tethers of the horses, he
+threw himself on the ground by the side of Baltasar, as if to imitate
+the other members of the party, who were making what preparations they
+could for the indulgence of the siesta,--"Didst thou observe, I say, old
+sinner, that, this moment, we were like to have made experience of the
+virtue of cotton corslets? By my faith, this gentle master mine will not
+suffer our hands to be idle, so long as there be savages to curse the
+faith, or hidalgos to cross his humours. I am ever bound to the
+magnanimous señor commander, that he thought fit to swallow his wrath,
+and send me those black-browed vagabonds back to their dinner: for
+otherwise, I assure thee, there was much fear of our supping in
+purgatory."
+
+"For my part," said Baltasar, raising his head from the saddle, which
+served him for a pillow, and looking curiously round on the various
+groups, "I am of opinion, there was more discretion than dignity about
+that same captain, when he became so moderate of a sudden; for so sure
+as he was very foolish to get into a quarrel with the boy Amador, who, I
+am free to say, is no way unworthy to be a kinsman and esquire of my
+master the knight, so surely would the boy have dinged the feathers off
+his gilt casque with the first blow; and how much of his head might have
+followed the feathers, is more than I will take upon me to determine."
+
+"Thou art so hungry after war," said Lazaro, "thou canst not perceive
+the valour of foregoing an opportunity of battle now and then. Hast thou
+never seen a man turn pale from anger, as well as cowardice?"
+
+"Of a truth, I have," said the veteran; "and, provided there be a steady
+countenance along with it, this sickly hue is ever a sight to be dreaded
+more than the woman's blush, which some men fall into in their anger.
+But a coward's mouth is always playing him dog's tricks: I have
+sometimes seen the nether lip shake in a brave man; but when the
+trembling is all up in the corners, as I have learned to know, after
+divers lessons, it is a sign the heart is in a flutter. There are
+doubtless certain strings, whereby the heart is fastened to the mouth;
+and it is when the corners are writhing about in this cowardly snaky
+manner, that the heart is drawn up further than is comfortable; a thing,
+as I have no doubt, may have sometimes happened to yourself."
+
+"If it have, may I become a Turk's slave!" said Lazaro, with great
+indignation; "and if it do, I hope it may be transformed, at that
+moment, from my own mouth to a dog's, to be made a dinner of!"
+
+"Thou art an ass to be in a passion, at any rate," said Baltasar,
+coolly, "and a very improbable idiot, to deny, in thy vain-glory, what
+has happened to braver men than thyself; and, which I am free to
+confess, has sometimes chanced to myself, especially in my youth, when I
+first went to fight the Moors; and, I very well remember, that besides
+perceiving there was a sort of emptiness under my ribs, on such
+occasions, I could feel my heart beating at the back of my throat as
+plainly as I ever felt the arrow-heads tapping about my buckler. But it
+always went to its place again, when we were come to close quarters."
+
+"May I die of the bastinado, if I ever felt any such thing!" said
+Lazaro, proudly. "I was born without any such gaingiving; and the only
+uncomfortable feeling I have had, under such circumstances, was a sort
+of cold creeping about the stomach, as if it were raining inside of me."
+
+"Or as if there was a cold air brewing in your gizzard!" said Baltasar,
+triumphantly. "That is the very same thing,--the emptiness, I was
+talking about; and if you never felt the beating in your throat, it was
+because your heart was in such a fit of fright as to have no power of
+beating left."
+
+"Ay! that may be," said Lazaro, with a grin: "that beating is a business
+I keep for my arm, and when that is in service, my heart is ever wise
+enough to be quiet. But concerning the captain,--Dost thou really esteem
+him a coward?"
+
+"Who knows?" said the veteran. "A man may be once in fear, and
+strong-hearted ever after. Yet was there such a working about that
+cavalier's mouth, as made me think he longed to strike Don Amador, if he
+durst, and which still persuades he has some bitter thoughts about the
+matter of the insult: for, as you may remember, Don Amador said he was
+more of a hind than a hidalgo, with other such loving remarks as might
+stir a man's choler. For this reason, I am of opinion it will be good
+service of thee to thy master, to keep thine eyes open while he is
+taking his siesta, lest, mayhap, some mischief might come to him
+sleeping."
+
+"I am ever bound to your good-natured discretion," said Lazaro, with a
+laugh. "I have no doubt it would be more profitable to sit for an hour
+or two, watching the sunbeams stealing through the wood, than, for the
+same time, to slumber and snore, without any other amusement than an
+occasional buffeting of one's nose, to keep the flies off. I will
+therefore surrender this agreeable privilege to thyself, as being my
+senior and better; while I nap a little, and that so lightly, that if an
+emmet do but creep near my master, I shall hear the rustling of his
+footsteps. But hark'ee, Baltasar: there is much wit about thee, for an
+old man that has endured so many hard knocks; and ever, about once in an
+hundred times, I have found thy conjectures to be very reasonable. What
+is thy opinion concerning those infidel Moors under the bush yonder? and
+by what sort of magic dost thou suppose they have so wrought upon our
+commander, that he will neither suffer lance-shaft nor cane-twig to be
+laid upon them?"
+
+"Ay, there they are!" said Baltasar, looking towards the father and son.
+"The boy lies with his head on Abdalla's knee, and Abdalla covers him
+with his skin mantle; and the mantle shakes, as if the boy were sobbing
+under it.--It is my opinion, the lad has been used to milder treatment
+than he seems likely to meet in these parts, unless Don Amador should
+see fit to take him into his own keeping; and it is also my opinion, if
+he be so much affected at the sight of a green twig, he will go nigh to
+die of terror at the flash of a savage's sword."
+
+"That is an opinion I have, in part, formed for myself," said the junior
+coolly: "and one that I think is shared in common with every other
+person in this quilted company, that has looked in the manikin's face."
+
+"It is as white," said Baltasar, "as that mountain top we saw from the
+caravel; whereas the children of common Moriscos are much the hue of my
+own weather-beaten boots."
+
+"The boy was in a most pestilent fright," said Lazaro, "and therefore
+somewhat more snowy than was natural; nevertheless, I have seen darker
+skins among the damsels of La Mancha."
+
+"And he is, in a manner, well figured and comely," said the veteran.
+
+"If thou hadst said he was such a Ganymede as might hold the wine-cup
+and trencher to a princess, I should have thought better of thine
+eye-sight. By cross and spear! he has such eyes as I shall be glad to
+find in any wench I may be predestined to marry."
+
+"And his hand," said Baltasar, "is as small as a hidalgo's son's. He
+hath an amiable countenance, and such gravity in it, when not disturbed,
+as belongs to older years; and he ever keeps it bent to the earth, as if
+to shun observation."
+
+"Ay; I see what thou art driving at," said Lazaro, significantly. "Thou
+thinkest Sidi Abdalla is some infidel prince of Granada--a Zegri or
+Abencerrage--"
+
+"I think no such thing," said Baltasar, gruffly. "I have fought, myself,
+hand to hand, with a Zegri, while my young lord Gabriel was cleaving the
+head of another; to which knightly and majestic infidels the wretch Sidi
+bears such resemblance as, in comparison, doth the hedge-hog to a
+leopard."
+
+"Thou art of opinion then, doubtless," said Lazaro, "that the boy
+Jacinto is some Christian nobleman's son, stolen in his infancy by Sidi,
+to be made a sacrifice to the devil?"
+
+"I am no such ass," said Baltasar, "to entertain any such notion."
+
+"A bird's flight by his feather, a beast's rage by his claw, and a man's
+thoughts by his tongue," said Lazaro; "but how I am to judge thee, is
+more than I know. What a-God's name, dost thou think then of these
+Christian heathens?"
+
+"I think nothing at all," said Baltasar, dryly: "I only wonder by what
+chance a Morisco boor came to have so tender and so handsome a boy."
+
+"Well, heaven be with thee, old oracle," said Lazaro, laying his head on
+his saddle: "If I should resolve thy wonder in my dreams, I will
+enlighten thee when I wake."
+
+The veteran gave a look to the horses,--to his master, who, by the
+attentions of the captain Salvatierra, had been enabled to enjoy the
+luxury of a hammock, slung between two trees,--to the Moor, who sat
+watching over his child,--to the Tlamémé, who slumbered by their
+packs,--to the Spaniards, who slept, as they had eaten, in groups,--to
+the few sentinels who stood nodding under the trees,--and then,
+dismissing all care, as if satisfied with the security of the motley
+encampment, he was not slow to follow the example of his companion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+Two or three hours before sunset, the sleepers were roused to renew
+their march. Horses were saddled and armour buckled, and Don Amador de
+Leste mounted his steed with great satisfaction at the thought of still
+further diminishing the distance that separated him from his knight. As
+the train began to ford the rivulet, he turned round and beckoned to
+Abdoul, who, with Jacinto, had taken the station assigned them behind
+the musketeers.
+
+"Sidi Abdalla," said he, "I have thought it a great shame that thy weary
+boy should trudge over these sands afoot, when such men as myself and my
+people are resting our lazy limbs on horseback. I have therefore given
+order to my soldier, Lazaro, to take the youth behind him; whereby much
+discomfort and suffering may be avoided."
+
+"My lord will scorn the thanks of the poor Morisco," said Abdoul,
+humbly. "Sleep, and the food which it pleased my noble lord to give to
+the boy, have so refreshed his strength and his spirits, that now, in
+the pleasant evening air, he will journey without pain, as he has often,
+of yore, in the deserts of Barbary. And let not my lord be displeased to
+know, that Jacinto will be of better heart at the side of his father,
+than on the saddle of my lord's servant."
+
+"If it be as thou sayest," said the cavalier, "I am content. Heaven
+forbid I should take him from thee, but for his good; which, doubtless,
+thou must know better how to compass than myself. Yet if he should at
+any time grow weary, make me acquainted with it, and Lazaro shall be
+still prepared to give him relief."
+
+The Moor bent his head to the ground, and fell back; while Amador,
+followed by his attendants and the secretary, rode to the head of the
+train.
+
+No occurrence of moment interrupted the monotony of the journey, until a
+thunderstorm, accompanied by rain, drove them for shelter into a
+forest, where their march was interrupted for a time. But with a
+capriciousness equal to the fury with which they had gathered, the
+clouds parted and vanished in the sunbeams; the earth was gladdened; the
+trees shook the liquid treasure from their leaves; a breeze came from
+the distant surges; and, resuming their path, the train and cavalcade
+went on their way rejoicing.
+
+As they advanced, and as the day declined, the country assumed a more
+agreeable aspect; the woods were thicker and more luxuriant; the
+mountains approached nearer to the sea, and the streams gambolled among
+piles of rocks, instead of creeping sluggishly through the sands; the
+flowers were more abundant, and the birds, resuming their songs,
+prepared their vespers for the sinking luminary. At last he set: the
+curlew wheeled his last flight; the plover sent his last whistle, from
+the air; and the stars, stealing out from the dusky arch, shed their
+celestial lustre over the path of the travellers. With these lamps of
+heaven, were also lit the torches of the cucujos,--those phosphorescent
+beetles, with which Don Amador had been made acquainted in the islands.
+But he did not the less admire the splendour of the spectacle, when he
+saw these resplendent insects glistening among the trees, or flashing by
+him like little meteors. The moon rose from the sea; and as her mellow
+radiance streamed over the tree tops, or sheeted itself on the sands,
+and as a thousand delicious scents came to the nostrils of the soldier,
+he thought he had never before, not even when watching the same planet
+in the calm bosom of the Levantine sea, looked upon a scene of more
+beautiful repose. The commander of the squadron had not, since the
+affair of the dinner, thought fit, frequently, to trouble Don Amador
+with his presence; but by the murmurs of satisfaction and curiosity
+which were breathed about him, the cavalier knew he was approaching the
+Indian city Zempoala. The party issued from the wood upon what seemed a
+fair waving plain, dotted, in certain places, with clumps of trees, and
+doubtless, in other spots, enriched with plantations of maize and
+bananas. In the distance, from a dark and shadowy mass, which might have
+been a lofty grove or a low hillock, and whose gloom was alike broken by
+the glare of insects and the flash of many flambeaux, arose three lofty
+towers, square and white, and glittering in the moonbeams as if covered
+over with plates of silver.
+
+"Zempoala!" whispered an hundred voices, as these gleaming fabrics came
+fairly into view. The languid horseman raised himself on his saddle; the
+foot-soldier strode onwards with a firmer and quicker step; and at each
+moment, as the three towers reflected the moonbeams with increasing
+brilliancy, more torches flickered and more structures were seen shining
+among the trees; and it was evident to Don Amador that he was
+approaching a city or town of no little magnitude.
+
+The secretary had pressed to his side, and overhearing his exclamations
+of surprise, took the liberty of addressing him.
+
+"Señor," he cried, "they say this pagan city is bigger and lovelier than
+Seville. I have often before heard of the Silver Towers; for truly, when
+the men of Cortes first saw them, they thought they were built of blocks
+of plate, and rode forward to hack away some samples with their swords;
+whereupon, to their great shame and disappointment, they discovered the
+brilliance to be owing to a certain white and polished plaster, with
+which these barbarians have the art to beautify their temples."
+
+"Are these then the sanctuaries of the fiend?" said the neophyte,
+raising himself, and surveying the structures with a frown of infinite
+hostility: "It drives me to little esteem, to know that the señor
+Narvaez and his companions should rest in sight of these accursed
+places, without hurling them to the dust."
+
+"They are no longer the houses of devils," said Lorenzo: "Cortes, the
+great rebel, tore the idols from their altars, and putting an image of
+Our Blessed Lady in their place, consecrated them forthwith to the
+service of God."
+
+"I hear nothing of Cortes, that does not convince me he is a truly noble
+and faithful cavalier," said Amador, with emphasis.
+
+"There can be no doubt of that," said the secretary; "nevertheless, if I
+may presume to advise your favour, I would beseech you not to mention
+the name of Cortes among these men of Narvaez; or at least, not with the
+respect which you may think his due."
+
+"Dost thou know," said Amador, addressing Fabueno so sternly, as to
+cause him instantly to repent his presumption: "dost thou know, that
+what thou art saying is of so base and boorish a spirit, that, if it be
+the true prompting of thy heart, thou art utterly unworthy to take upon
+thee the arms, as thou art wholly incapable of winning the fame, of a
+soldier? Know thou, for it is good thou shouldst be told, that all
+hypocrisy is the offspring of cowardice, and is therefore impossible to
+be practised by a brave man: know also, that when thou art deceiving
+man, thou art lying to God, which is an impiety not to be thought of by
+an honest man: and know, in conclusion, that when thou art called upon
+for thy opinion, if thou givest not that which is in thy heart, thou art
+guilty of that hypocrisy which is cowardice, and that deceit which is
+perjury."
+
+"I beg your worship's pardon," said Lorenzo, abashed and confounded, and
+somewhat bewildered by the chivalrous and fantastic system of honour
+disclosed in the reproof of the cavalier. "I meant only to let your
+favour know, that there could be no travelling beyond this Indian city,
+without the good will of Narvaez and his officers, which might not be
+gained by commending their enemy. And moreover, señor, if you will
+suffer me to justify myself,--while I confess it would be both cowardly
+and impious, as your worship says, to conceal or alter a sentiment, when
+it is called for, yet was I thinking it could be in no wise
+dishonourable to retain in our own mind opinions _not_ called for,
+particularly when they might be disagreeable to those upon whom they
+were thus, as I may say, forced."
+
+"By my faith, thou art, in a measure, very right," said Amador, "and I
+hereby recall any expressions which may have reflected on thy courage or
+thy religion; for, I perceive, thou wert only touching upon the
+obligation all men are under not to force their opinions upon others; an
+obligation of which I am myself so sensible, that, provided I am not
+called upon by the questions of these people, or the enforcements of
+mine own honour, I shall surely utter nothing to displease them. But
+canst thou tell me, señor secretario, how far from this town lies the
+commander, of whom we were speaking?"
+
+"I have heard, only at the distance of two or three leagues," replied
+Fabueno; "but I should think, considering the wisdom of Cortes, he would
+be fain to increase that distance, as soon as he came to know the
+strength of Narvaez. Your favour may see, by the many torches glimmering
+through the streets, and the many voices that go chanting up and down,
+that there is a goodly multitude with him."
+
+"I see, by the same tokens," said Amador, "he has a set of riotous,
+disorderly vagabonds, who seem to think they are keeping carnival in
+Christendom, rather than defending a camp among infidels: and, by St.
+John, I know not any very good reason, why the valiant Cortes might not,
+this instant, with his knot of brave men, steal upon the town, and
+snatch it out of the hands of the Biscayan. There is, neither out-post
+in the field, nor sentinel in the suburbs!"
+
+There seemed some grounds for this notion of the cavalier. As he
+approached nearer to Zempoala, there was audible a concert of sounds
+such as one would not have looked for in the camp of a good general. A
+great fire had been lit, as it appeared, among the Silver Towers, the
+ruddy reflection of which, mingled with the purer light of the moon,
+had given them so shining an appearance, even at a distance. In this
+neighbourhood, as Amador judged by the direction and variety of cries,
+was the chief place of the revellers; though in divers quarters of the
+town might be heard the voices, and sometimes the musical instruments,
+of idle soldiers, struggling in rivalry with the ruder songs and harsher
+instruments of the natives. Besides the bonfires among the temples,
+there was another in the quarter of the town which the train was just
+entering, and apparently upon the very street which they were to pass.
+The cavalier had, however, underrated the vigilance of the sentinels;
+for, just as he had concluded his denunciation, the trumpet with which
+Salvatierra announced his approach to his companions, was answered by a
+flourish from the fire; and there was straightway seen a group of armed
+men advancing to challenge the party. In fact, an out-post was stationed
+at the fire; the worthy warriors of which, in the absence of any
+important duties, had got together the means of amusement in the persons
+of certain Indian tumblers and merry-andrews, who were diverting them
+with feats of agility. Besides these tawny sons of joyance, there were
+others of the same race, whose business it was to add to the pleasures
+of the entertainment the din of the musical instruments common to
+barbarians; only, as it seemed to Amador, that if there was nothing
+superior in the tone or management of these which he now heard, they had
+an advantage, over those of the islanders, in being wrought with greater
+skill and ornamented with a more refined taste. Thus, of the little
+drums which were suspended to the necks of the musicians, and which were
+at least equal in sound to the labours of Europe, some were carved and
+painted in a very gay manner; while the flutes of cane, though not less
+monotonous than the pipes of other savages, had about them an air of
+elegance, from being furnished with pendants of rich flowers, or
+beautiful feathers.
+
+As Amador rode by, his attention was in a measure diverted from the
+tumblers by the agitation of Fogoso, who regarded neither the great fire
+nor the wild looking artists with friendship; and when, having subdued
+his alarm, he turned to gratify his wonder, his eye was caught by the
+appearance of the Moor, who had stolen to his side, and now stood with a
+countenance even more disturbed than when shrinking from the blow of
+Salvatierra, and with hands upraised and clasped, as if to beseech his
+notice.
+
+"My lord is benevolent to the friendless, and pitiful to the orphan," he
+cried anxiously, as soon as he perceived that Amador regarded him; "he
+has been the champion of the father, and the protector of the son; and
+when the heart's blood of Abdoul can requite his benefactor, Abdoul will
+not deny it."
+
+"Good Sidi," said Amador, "that I have protected both yourself and your
+son Jacinto, from unjust violence, is more than can be denied; but why
+it is needful to thank me so many times for the favour, is more than I
+can easily understand. I must therefore command you to find some more
+novel subject for conversation."
+
+"My lord is a knight of Rhodes," said Abdalla quickly, "and therefore by
+vow bound to charity, justice, pity, and all the other good virtues
+acknowledged as well by infidels as Christians?"
+
+"I am no knight; a novice of the order I may be called," said Amador,
+"but no knight; though," he added with a most dolorous sigh, "how soon I
+may take the vows after returning from the lands of Mexico, is more than
+I can pronounce. I have therefore not bound myself by oath to any of
+those virtues of which you spoke; but had you been born of a nobler
+blood than I can account that of the lord of Fez, you should have known,
+that, being a gentleman and a Christian, I cannot release myself from
+any of their natural obligations."
+
+"For myself," said Abdalla, "though insult and danger will come to me
+among these riotous soldiers, who are the enemies of my race, and these
+barbarians, who are surely the enemies of all, I can submit to my
+griefs; but Jacinto needs the arm of power to protect him. If my lord
+will take him to be his servant, he will be merciful to misfortune; the
+prayers of gratitude will ascend to heaven; and the love of a faithful
+boy will watch ever at his side like the vigilance of an armed
+follower."
+
+"Art thou content the boy should be parted from thee?" demanded Amador.
+"I know not how, among these strange lands and unknown wildernesses, I
+may be able to take that care of his tender years which should be the
+duty of a good master; nor, to tell thee the truth, do I know in what
+manner I can make use of his services----"
+
+"Let not my lord despise his skill," said the Almogavar, "because his
+fright and weariness palsied his hand, when he should have played before
+him. He hath good skill with the lute, and he has in his memory a
+thousand redondillas, with which he may divert the leisure of my lord.
+Besides this skill, he hath a fidelity which nothing can corrupt, and a
+loving heart which, once gained by kindness, no temptation can lure from
+his master: and in these qualities will I vouch for him with my head. I
+know not in truth," continued Abdalla, faltering, "since he has never
+before served a master, if he have any other qualifications. But he is
+quick to acquire, and perhaps--perhaps, he may soon learn to preserve
+the armour of my lord--yes, he will soon make himself useful to my
+lord."
+
+"The cleaning of my armour," said Amador, in a very matter-of-fact
+manner, "is a duty which belongs particularly to Lazaro; whose fidelity,
+as well as that of Baltasar, is of so unquestionable a character, that
+it fully meets all the exigencies of my course of life. I would
+therefore receive thy son chiefly out of a hope to be comforted, at
+times, with his music; and partly out of pity for his forlornness. He
+will doubtless serve me as a page and cup-bearer; in which capacity,
+promising to give him as much protection and kindness as may be in my
+power, I consent to receive him."
+
+"And my lord will permit that I shall often see him?" said Abdoul,
+eagerly.
+
+"Surely I must desire thou shouldst," said Amador, "if it were possible
+thou couldst be in the same army."
+
+Abdalla looked at the cavalier with a bewildered and confused
+countenance, as if not understanding him.
+
+"I must acquaint thee, good Sidi," said Amador, "with one fact, of which
+thou seemest ignorant, and which may wholly change thy desires in this
+matter. Thy destination is to this town of Zempoala, and mine to the
+very far city Tenochtitlan; thy fate is to submit thee into the hands of
+the general Narvaez, as thou hast heard, to serve him as a cannonier,
+while mine is to betake myself to the general Cortes, his sworn and most
+indomitable enemy. Thou mayest therefore inquire of thyself, if thy boy
+go with me, whether thou wilt ever again look upon him; a question that
+I cannot myself answer in a satisfactory manner. Make thy election,
+therefore, whether thou wilt keep him at thy side, or entrust him to my
+guardianship; being assured, that if the latter be thy desire, I will
+bid thee call him, and straightway take him into my keeping."
+
+"It cannot be!" said Abdalla, vehemently;--"I cannot trust him from my
+sight: it cannot be! God is just; and justice may come with misery!"
+
+Thus lamenting, Abdoul al Sidi retired from the side of the cavalier;
+and Amador, whose pity was not a little touched, suffered his image to
+be crowded from his mind by the new and strange spectacles which were
+now opening upon him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+While he still talked with the Morisco, Don Amador was able to cast his
+eyes about him, and to perceive on either side a great multitude of low
+houses of wickered cane, which seemed to him more to resemble gigantic
+baskets than the habitations of men; but which, even in these latter
+days, are found sufficient to protect the humble aborigines from the
+vicissitudes of that benignant clime. Each stood by itself in an
+enclosure of shrubs and flowers, and where it happened that the inmates
+were within, with torches or fires burning, the blaze, streaming through
+the wattled walls, illuminated every thing around, and disclosed the
+figures of the habitants moving about like shadows in the flame. Other
+buildings, equally humble in size, were constructed of less remarkable
+but not less romantic materials; and where the moonbeams fell over their
+earthen walls and palmy roofs, both were often concealed by such a
+drapery of vines and creeping flowers, perhaps the odoriferous vanilla
+and the beautiful convolvulus, as might have satisfied the longings of a
+wood-nymph. As he approached nearer to the centre of the town, these
+lowly and lovely cottages were exchanged for fabrics of stone, many of
+them of considerable size, and several with walls covered with the
+bright and silvery plaster which ornamented the temples. Each of these,
+the dwellings of the _Tlatoani_, or, as the Spaniards called them, in
+the language of Santo Domingo, the _Caciques_ of the city,--stood alone
+in its garden of flowers, with vines trailing, and palm-trees bending
+over its roof, commonly in darkness, though sometimes the myrtle-taper
+of a fair Totonac, (for such was the name of this provincial people of
+the coast,) or the oily cresset of a Spanish captain, who had made his
+quarters wherever was a house to his fancy, might be seen gleaming from
+behind the curtains of cotton stuff, which were hung at the doors and
+windows. These sights had been seen by Amador, while yet engaged in
+conversation with Abdalla; but when the Morisco dropped sorrowfully
+away, he found himself on the great square of the city, immediately
+fronting the sanctuaries, and gazing upon a scene of peculiarly wild and
+novel character. The centre of the square was occupied by a broad, and
+indeed a vast platform of earth, raised to a height of eight or ten
+feet, ascended from all sides by half as many steps,--having the
+appearance of a low truncated pyramid, serving as a base to the three
+towers which crowned it. Upon its summit or terrace, immediately in
+advance of the towers, was kindled a great fire, the blaze of which,
+besides illuminating the temple itself and all the buildings which
+surrounded the square, fell upon sundry groups of Indian tumblers,
+engaged in feats of activity, as well as upon a host of cavaliers who
+surveyed them close at hand, and many throngs of common soldiers and
+natives who looked on at a distance from the square.
+
+Here the detachment was halted; the burthens of the Tlamémé were
+deposited on the earth; the horses were freed from their packs; and
+Amador, at the suggestion of Salvatierra, dismounted, and leaving Fogoso
+to the care of his attendants, and these again to the disposition of the
+captain, ascended the pyramid, followed by the secretary. He was
+somewhat surprised, when this worthy commander, whom he looked for to
+conduct him to the general, resuming much of the stately dignity he had
+found it inconvenient to support on the march, made him a low bow, and
+informed him with much gravity he would find the commander-in-chief
+either on the terrace among his officers, or at his head-quarters in the
+middle tower. The feeling of indignation which for a moment beset him,
+would have been expressed, had not Salvatierra with another bow retired,
+and had he not perceived, at the same moment, the young Fabueno draw
+from his girdle the letter which was doubtless to secure him the
+good-will of Narvaez. Checking therefore his anger, he straightway
+ascended the platform. Arrived at its summit, he now beheld the scene
+which he had imperfectly witnessed from below. The great fire, crackling
+and roaring, added the ruddy glare of a volcano to the pallid
+illumination of the moon; and in the combined light, the operations of
+the gymnasts and dancers, the athletes and jugglers, were as visible as
+if performed in the glitter of noon-day. For a moment Amador thought, as
+had been thought by all other Spaniards, when looking for the first time
+on the sports of these barbarous races, that he had got among a group of
+devils, or at least of devilish magicians; and he crossed himself with
+an instinctive horror, when he beheld, so to speak, three piles of men,
+each composed of three individuals, half-naked, standing one upon the
+head or shoulders of another, whirling about in a circle, and each, as
+he whirled, dancing on the head or shoulders of his supporter, and
+tossing abroad his _penacho_, or long plume of feathers, as if diverting
+himself on the solid earth. This spectacle entirely distracted his
+attention from others scarcely less worthy of observation,--as was
+indeed that, where two men see-sawed on a pole, in the air, and, as
+might be said, without support, except that which was occasionally
+rendered by the feet of a sinewy pagan, who lay on his back, and ever
+and anon, as the flying phantoms descended, spurned them again into the
+air. Such also was that magical dance of the cords, brought from the
+unknown tribes of the South, wherein a score of men, each holding to a
+rope of some brilliant colour, and each decorated with the feathers of
+the parrot and the flamingo, whirled in fleet gyrations round a
+garlanded post, till their cords were twisted together in a net of
+incomprehensible complexity, but which, before the observer had leisure
+to digest his amazement, were again unravelled in the rapid and
+mysterious evolutions of the dance. A thousand other such exhibitions,
+similar in novelty but different in character, were displayed at the
+same moment; but the eyes of the neophyte were lost to all but that
+which had first astounded him; and it was not till the voice of the
+secretary roused him from his bewitchment, that he collected his senses,
+and observed an officer of the household of the general standing before
+him, and doing him such reverence as was evidently the right of his
+dignity. It was then that Don Amador looked from the dancers to the
+cavaliers whom they were diverting. The fire flashed over the walls of
+the square and lofty towers up to the shelving thatch of palm-leaves,
+under which they were grouped, making, with the glitter of their
+half-armed persons, a suitable addition to the romance of the scene. In
+the centre of that group which lounged before the middle and loftiest
+tower, in a chair, or indeed, as it might be called, a throne, of such
+barbaric beauty as was known only to the magnificos of this singular
+people, sat a cavalier, tall and somewhat majestic of stature, with a
+ruddy beard, and yellow locks falling over an agreeable countenance; in
+whom, not so much from the character of his deportment and the quality
+of his decorations, as from the evident homage rendered him by the
+officers around, Don Amador did not doubt he beheld the Biscayan
+general. At the very moment when his eyes fell upon this smiling
+dignitary, he was himself perceived by the general; and Narvaez started
+up with a sort of confusion, as if ashamed to be discovered in such
+trivial enjoyment by so gallant a cavalier. In fact, the glittering
+casque of steel had supplanted the velvet cap on the head of the novice;
+and as he approached in full armour, clad also in the dignity with which
+he was wont to approach his fellows in rank, Don Amador presented a
+figure, to say the least, equally noble with that of the
+commander,--and, what was no slight advantage in those days, with the
+additional manifestation of high blood, such as was certainly less
+questionable in him than in Narvaez. It seemed for a moment, as if the
+general would have retreated into the temple, doubtless with the view of
+assuming a more stately character for the interview; but perceiving that
+Don Amador had already recognised him, and was advancing, he changed his
+purpose, and making a step forward to do honour to his visiter, he stood
+still to receive him. The eyes of all those gallant adventurers were
+turned from the dancers to the new-comer; but Don Amador, not much moved
+by such a circumstance, as indifferent to their curiosity as their
+admiration, approached with a stately gravity, and, making a courteous
+reverence to the general, said,--
+
+"I have no doubt it is my felicity at this present moment to offer my
+devoirs to the noble and very respected señor, the general Don Panfilo
+de Narvaez; on the presumption of which, I, Amador de Leste, of Cuenza,
+a novice of the holy hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, do not hesitate
+to claim the hospitalities, which, as an hidalgo of Spain, and kinsman
+of the noble señor, the admiral Cavallero, your excellency's
+confederate, I hold myself entitled to expect."
+
+"The very noble and valiant señor Don Amador de Leste shall not claim
+those hospitalities in vain," said the general, with a voice whose
+natural and voluminous harshness did not conceal an attempt at amenity;
+"and I hope he will not anticipate in them too little of the roughness
+of a soldier, by reason that he has seen us unbending a little from the
+toils of war to the foolish diversions of these ingenious barbarians."
+
+"I will not take upon me to judge either of the tactics or the
+recreations of your excellency," said Amador, very coolly. "I will only
+demand of your favour to accept, at this present moment, such
+protestations of respect as become me in my function of suitor; and, in
+especial, to accredit my companion, the secretary Fabueno, the messenger
+of the admiral, who is charged with certain letters to your excellency,
+of which, I believe, I am myself, in part, the subject."
+
+"I receive them with respect, and I welcome the very distinguished Don
+Amador with much joy," said Narvaez; "in token of which I must beg him
+to allow himself to be considered, at least so long as he honours my
+command with his presence, as my own peculiar guest: and that I may the
+sooner know in what it may be my happiness to do him service, I must
+entreat him to enter with me into my poor quarters."
+
+With such superb expressions of etiquette, the common compliments of an
+over-chivalrous age and people, Don Amador was ushered into the interior
+of the temple. A curtain of a certain strong and checkered matting, that
+served the purpose of a door, was pushed aside, and, entering with the
+general and two or three of his most favoured officers, he found himself
+in the heathen sanctuary. A table covered with brilliant drapery of
+cotton--a product of the country--and strewed over with pieces of
+armour, as well as with divers vessels wherein glowed some of the rich
+wines ripened by the breath of the Solano, contained also a great silver
+cresset filled with oil tempered with liquidambar, which, besides
+pervading the whole atmosphere with a delicious odour, shed abroad such
+a light as enabled Don Amador to survey the apartment. It was of good
+height, and spacious: the walls were hung with arras of a sombre-hued
+cotton, and the floor covered with thick matting. In one corner was a
+ladder, leading to the upper chambers. Two sides of it were occupied by
+a low platform, on which lay several mattresses stuffed with the down of
+the ceiba; over one of which, on a small altar of wood, illuminated by
+tapers of the myrtle wax, was a little image of the Virgin. In this
+chamber, the chief adoratory of the temple, where now flashed the
+weapons of the iconoclasts, stood once the altar of an idol, whose
+fiendish lips had been often died with the blood of human sacrifices.
+There were rude chairs about the table; and Amador, at the invitation of
+the general, did not hesitate to seat himself, and cast an eye of
+observation on his companions, while Narvaez, with the assistance of the
+secretary, proceeded to decipher the advices of the admiral.
+
+The individuals with whom Amador found himself in contact, were of a
+genteel and manly presence: and though evidently burning with desire to
+make the acquaintance of the novice of Rhodes, and certainly also with
+curiosity to know what strange event had cast him among themselves, had
+yet sufficient breeding to conceal their anxieties,--excepting one, who,
+although of riper years than the rest, and even of more gravity of
+deportment, was nevertheless twice or thrice guilty of a very
+inquisitive stare. This Don Amador did himself at last perceive, and
+felt greatly moved to discover the cause of so remarkable a scrutiny.
+Nevertheless, before he had resolved in what manner to commence the
+investigation, and before the general had well looked into the advices
+of the admiral, they were both interrupted in their purpose by the
+abrupt intrusion of an officer, who, approaching Narvaez, said something
+to him in a low voice, of which all that Amador could distinguish were
+the words, twice or thrice repeated, of _nigromante_ and _astrologo_.
+The officer received a direction equally obscure with his information;
+and Amador observed that as Narvaez gave it, his face flushed over with
+some sudden excitement. The speculations of the neophyte were soon
+terminated. Before the curtain had yet closed upon the retreating
+officer, the cavalier whose curious looks had attracted his own
+attention, rose and addressed the general.
+
+"Señor general and governor," he cried, "I doubt whether this knavish
+impostor be worthy your attention. He is accounted both a liar and
+traitor, and he can tell us nothing that will not be spoken to deceive
+us."
+
+"The señor Don Andres de Duero cannot be better persuaded of the man's
+character than myself," said the general; "and he will not assure me
+that a good general can refuse to listen to any intelligence of his
+enemy, though it be brought by a traitor.--The noble Don Amador de Leste
+will pardon me, if I make so free with him, as in his presence to
+introduce and examine a prisoner, or deserter, I know not which, on
+matters which it concerns me as a commander to know. And moreover,"
+continued the Biscayan, with a laugh, "I know not what better diversion
+I can give my guest, than to make him acquainted with a man who pretends
+to read the mysteries of the stars by night, and to have a devil who
+gives him knowledge of men's destinies by daylight."
+
+Before Amador could reply to this appeal, the señor Duero spoke again.
+
+"Surely he can bring us no information of Cortes which we have not
+received at better hands; and as for his magical art, I think your
+excellency holds that in too much doubt and contempt to set much store
+by its crazy revelations."
+
+"What may be my doubt, and what my contempt for his art," said the
+general, "is more than I have yet resolved: only there is one thing of
+which I am quite certain, and that is, that, with the blessing of Our
+Holy and Immaculate Lady, I defy the devil and all his imps, whether
+they come at the bidding of a heathenish magician or a Christian
+enchanter; and, moreover, that if there be any knowledge to be gained of
+the devil, without jeopardy of soul, one is a fool not to receive it.
+Señor," continued Narvaez, addressing himself again to Amador, "I may as
+well tell you, that the magician Botello, whom you will presently
+behold, is a favourite soldier and chief enchanter to that infidel
+rebel, Cortes, (whom God confound, with all his mutinous friends and
+upholders, high and low, strong and feeble, Amen!)--I say, señor, his
+chief magician," continued the general, speaking so rapidly and
+impetuously, as utterly to prevent Don Amador from making the amendment
+he meditated to the curse, and insisting that Narvaez should revoke it,
+as far at least as it concerned his kinsman, the knight,--"his chief
+magician, by whose aid, it is supposed, the runagate desperado has been
+enabled to imprison the Indian emperor. And, knave or not Don Amador, it
+cannot be denied, that when struck down, after surrendering himself,
+this morning, by the currish soldier, Caboban, he cursed the smiter with
+'a short life and a long death;' which curse was fulfilled upon him on
+the instant; for striking Botello with his spear again, his horse
+plunged, threw him violently, and, falling, he was instantly spitted on
+the spear of a footman. He has been dying ever since; and sometime,
+doubtless, his agony will be over; but he is as good as a dead man now."
+
+"I am by no means certain," said Don Amador, "that there was any
+connexion between the curse of the magician and the calamity of the
+soldier; though, as it appears to me, heaven could not visit with
+judgment any one more righteously than the dastard who strikes an enemy
+after he has rendered himself a captive. Nevertheless, and though I am
+somewhat impatient your excellency should determine upon my own affairs,
+I have such respect for the superior claims of your duties, that I will
+willingly defer my anxiety until your excellency has examined the
+prisoner."
+
+There were several very meaning glances exchanged among the cavaliers at
+this speech, which seemed to imply a feeling of neglect and resentment
+on the part of the speaker; but Narvaez did not notice it, or if he did,
+the impression was immediately driven from his mind by the entrance of
+the enchanter, conducted by several soldiers and officers, among whom
+was the captain Salvatierra.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Amador surveyed the prisoner, though somewhat indifferently. He was, in
+figure and age, very much such a man as Baltasar, but in other respects
+very dissimilar. His face was wan, and even cadaverous; but this might
+have been the effect of the blows he had received from the dying
+soldier, as was made probable by the presence of several spots of blood
+encrusted over his visage. His cheeks were broad, and the bones
+prominent; his eyes very hollow, and expressive of a wild solemnity,
+mingled with cunning; his beard long and bushy, and only slightly
+grizzled, and a rugged mustache hung over his lips so as almost to
+conceal them. His apparel was of black cloth, none of the freshest, the
+principal garment of which was a long loose doublet, under which was
+buckled an iron breast-plate,--his only armour; for, instead of a
+morion, he wore a cloth hat of capacious brim, stuck round with the
+feathers of divers birds, as well as several medals of the saints,
+rudely executed in silver. Besides these fantastic decorations, he had
+suspended to his neck several instruments of the Cabala,--a pentacle of
+silver, and charms and talismans written over with mystical characters,
+as well as a little leathern pouch filled with various dried herbs and
+roots. This mystagogue, an agent of no little importance among many of
+the scenes of the Conquest, was led into the presence of the general,
+and approached him without betraying any signs of fear or embarrassment;
+nor, on the other hand, did he manifest any thing like audacity or
+presumption; but lifting his eyes to the visage of the Biscayan, he
+gazed upon him with a silent and grave earnestness, that seemed somewhat
+to disconcert the leader.
+
+"Sirrah sorcerer," said he, "since the devil has deserted you at last,
+call up what spirits you can muster, and find me why I shall not hang
+you for a spy, early in the morning."
+
+"_Tetragrammaton Adonai!_" muttered the warrior-magician in the holy
+gibberish of his art, with a voice of sepulchral hollowness, and with a
+countenance gleaming with indignation or enthusiasm. "In the name of
+God, Amen! I defy the devil, and am the servant of his enemy; and in the
+land of devils, of Apollyon in the air, Beelzebub on the earth, and
+Satan in men's hearts, I forswear and defy, contemn and denounce them;
+and I pray for, and foresee, the day when they shall tumble from the
+high places!"
+
+"All this thou mayst do, and all this thou mayst foresee," said the
+general; "but nevertheless thy wisdom will be more apparent to employ
+itself a little in the investigation of thine own fate; which, I promise
+thee, is approaching to a crisis."
+
+"I have read it in the stars, I have seen it in the smoke of waters and
+of blessed herbs, and I have heard it from the lips of dead men and the
+tongues of dreams," cried the professor of the occult sciences, with
+much emphasis. "But what is the fate of Botello, the swordsman, to that
+of the leaders of men, the conquerors of kings and great nations? I have
+read my own destinies; but why shouldst thou trifle the time to know
+them, when I can show thee the higher mysteries of thine own?"
+
+"Canst thou do so? By my faith then, I will have thee speak them very
+soon," said Narvaez. "But first, let me know what wert thou doing when
+thou wert found prowling this morning so near to my camp?"
+
+"Gathering the herbs for the suffumigation which shall tell me in what
+part of the world thou shalt lay thy bones!" said the magician,
+solemnly. "The moon, in the house Alchil, showed me many things, but not
+all; a thick smoke came over the crystal, and I saw not what I wanted; I
+slept under the cross, with a skull on my bosom, but it breathed nothing
+but clouds. Wherefore I knew, it should be only when the wolf spoke to
+the vulture, and the vulture to the red star, that Camael the angel
+should unlock the lips of destiny, and lead me whither I longed to
+follow."
+
+"I am ever bound to thee," said the general, with a manner in which an
+attempt at mockery was mingled with a natural touch of superstition,
+"for the extreme interest thou seemest to cherish in my fate and again I
+say to thee, I will immediately converse with thee on that subject. But
+at present, señor nigromante, I warn thee, it will be but wisdom, to
+confine thy rhapsodies within the limits of answers to such
+interrogatories as I shall propose thee.--Where lies thy master, the
+outcast and arch-rebel, my enemy?"
+
+"My _master_ is in heaven!" said Botello, with a devout and lofty
+earnestness, "and there is no outcast and rebel but he that dwelleth in
+the pit, under the foot of Michael; and _he_ is the enemy!"
+
+"Sirrah! I speak to thee of the knave Cortes," cried the general,
+angrily. "When wert thou last at his side? and where?"
+
+"At midnight,--on the river of Canoes, where he has rested, as thou
+knowest, for a night and a day."
+
+"Ay!" said the Biscayan fiercely; "within a league of my head-quarters,
+whither my clemency has suffered him to come."
+
+"Whither God and his good star have drawn him," said the magician.
+
+"And whence I will drive him to the rocks of the mountains, or the
+mangroves of the beach, ere thou art cured of thy wounds!"
+
+"Lo! my wounds are healed!" said Botello; "the hand that inflicted them
+is stiff and cold, and Hernan Cortes yet lies by the river! Ay, the holy
+unguent, blessed of the fat of a pagan's heart, hath dried the blood and
+glued the skin; and yet my captain, whose fate I have seen and spoken,
+even from the glory of noon to the long and sorrowful shadows of the
+evening, marshals his band within the sound of thy matin bell; and wo
+be to his foeman when he is nearer or further!"
+
+"Prattling fool," said the commander, "if thou hadst looked to the
+bright moon to-night, thou wouldst have seen how soon the cotton-trees
+of the river should be strung with thy leader and companions, and with
+thyself, as a liar and an impostor, in their midst!"
+
+"I looked," said the veteran, tranquilly, "and saw what will be seen,
+but not by _all_. There was thunder in the temple, and peace by the
+river, and more wailing than comes from the lips of the Penitent
+Knight."
+
+The angry impetuosity with which Narvaez was about to continue the
+conference, was interrupted by the impatience of the novice. He had
+listened with much disgust both to the mystic jargon of the soldier and
+the idle demands and bravadoes of the general. The interest with which
+he discovered how short a distance separated him from his kinsman, was
+increased to an irresistible excitement, when he heard the title with
+which, as the admiral had told him, the knight was distinguished among
+the invaders, on the lips of Botello. Rising therefore abruptly, he
+said,
+
+"Señor Narvaez, I have to beg your pardon, if, in my own impatience to
+be satisfied in a matter which I have much at heart, I am somewhat blind
+to the importance of this present controversy. If your excellency will
+do me the favour to examine the letters of the admiral, you will
+discover that it is not so much my purpose to lay claim to your
+hospitable entertainment, the proffer of which I acknowledge with much
+gratitude, as to request your permission to pass through the lines of
+your army, to join my kinsman the knight Calavar. Understanding,
+therefore, from the words of this lunatic, or enchanter, whichever he
+may be, that I am within the short distance of a league from my good
+knight, to whom all my allegiance is due, I see not wherefore I should
+not proceed to join him forthwith, instead of wasting the night in
+slumber. I must, therefore, crave of your excellency to grant me, to the
+camp of the señor Cortes, a guide, to whom I will, with my life and
+honour, guarantee a safe return;--or such instructions concerning my
+route, as will enable me to proceed alone--that is to say, with my
+attendants."
+
+The effect of this interruption and unexpected demand, on the
+countenances of all, was remarkable enough. The cavaliers present stared
+at the novice with amazement, and even a sort of dismay; and the
+secretary Fabueno, looking by chance at the captain Salvatierra,
+observed the visage of this worthy suddenly illuminated by a grin of
+delight. As for the general himself, nothing could be more unfeigned
+than his surprise, nothing more unquestionable than the displeasure
+which instantly began to darken his visage. He rose, thrust his hand
+into his belt, as if to give his fingers something to gripe, and drawing
+himself to his full height, said haughtily and severely,
+
+"When I invited the cavalier De Leste to share the shelter of this
+temple, I did not think I received a friend of the traitor Cortes or of
+any of his people; nor did I dream an adherent of this outlaw would dare
+to beard me at my head-quarters with so rash and audacious a request!"
+
+"The señor Narvaez has then to learn," said Amador, with a degree of
+moderation that could only be produced by a remembrance of his
+engagement to the admiral, and his promise to the secretary, not
+causelessly to provoke the anger of the general,--but nevertheless with
+unchanging decision, "that if I boast not to be the friend of Cortes,
+whom you call a traitor, I avouch myself to be very much the creature of
+mine own will; and that if I cannot be termed the adherent of an outlaw,
+I am at least a Spanish hidalgo, bent on the prosecution of my designs,
+and making requests more as the ceremonies of courtesy, than the tribute
+of humility. I will claim nothing more of your excellency than your
+excellency is, without claim, inclined to grant; and allowing therefore
+that you invited me to your lodgings under a mistaken apprehension of my
+character, I will straightway release you from the obligation, only
+previously desiring of your excellency to reconsider your expressions,
+wherein, as I think, was an innuendo highly unjust and offensive."
+
+"Now, by heaven!" exclaimed the Biscayan, with all the irascibility of
+his race, and the arrogant pride of his station, "I have happened upon a
+strange day, when a vagabond esquire, wandering through my jurisdiction,
+asks my permission to throw himself into the arms of my enemy; and when
+I admonish him a little of his rashness, rebukes me with insult and
+defiance!"
+
+"A very strange day indeed!" muttered a voice among the cavaliers, in
+which Amador, had he not been too much occupied with other
+considerations, might have recognized the tones of Salvatierra.
+
+"Biscayan!" said he, with an eye of fire, "I have given you all the
+respect, which, as a governor's governor, and a captain's captain, you
+had a right to demand; I have also done you the homage of a guest to his
+host, and of a gentleman to a reputed hidalgo; but neither as a governor
+nor commander, neither as a host nor a nobleman, have you the privilege
+to offend with impunity, or to insult without being called to a
+reckoning."
+
+"Is this another madman of the stock of Calavar, that the silly admiral
+hath sent me?" cried the enfuriated leader, snatching up a sword from
+the table, and advancing upon the novice.
+
+"Señor Panfilo!" cried Amador, confronting the general, and waving his
+hand with dignity, "unless thou force me by thine own violence, I cannot
+draw my sword upon thee on thine own floor, not even although thou add
+to thy wrongs a sarcasm on my knight and kinsman. Nevertheless I fling
+this glove at thy feet, in token that if thou art as valiant as thou art
+ill-bred, as ready to repair as to inflict an injury, I will claim of
+thee, as soon as may suit thy convenience, to meet me with weapons, and
+to answer thy manifold indignities."
+
+"_Dios santísimo!_" cried the commander, foaming with rage and stamping
+furiously on the floor. "What ho! swords and pikemen! shall I strike
+this _galofero_ braggart with my own hands? Arrest him!"
+
+"The blood of him that stays me, be on his own head!" said Amador,
+drawing his sword and striding to the entrance. "I will remember thee,
+uncourteous cavalier, when I see thee in a fitter place."
+
+The arm of the governor had been arrested by Duero; and in the confusion
+of the moment, though the door of the tower was instantly beset by a
+dozen gaping attendants, Don Amador would doubtless have passed through
+them without detention, notwithstanding the furious commands of Narvaez.
+But at the moment, when, as he waved his sword menacingly, the
+hesitating satellites seemed parting before him, Salvatierra stepped
+nimbly behind, and suddenly seizing his outstretched arm, and calling to
+the guards at the same time, in an instant Don Amador was disarmed and a
+prisoner. His rage was for a moment unspeakable; but it did not render
+him incapable of observing the faithful boldness of the secretary.
+
+"Señor general!" cried Lorenzo, though with a stammering voice, "if your
+excellency will read this letter to the end, your excellency will find
+my master recommends Don Amador as of a most noble and lofty family,
+and, at this moment, raised above arrest and detention, by being charged
+with authority from the Grand Master of Rhodes."
+
+The only answer of the general was a scowl and a wave of the hand, which
+instantly left Fabueno in the predicament of the cavalier. He was
+seized, and before he could follow the example of his patron, and draw
+his sabre, it was snatched from his inexperienced hand.
+
+All this passed in a moment; and before the neophyte could give
+utterance to the indignation which choked him, he was dragged, with
+Fabueno, from the sanctuary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+The dancers had fled from the terrace; the fire had smouldered away; but
+in the light of the moon, which shed a far lovelier radiance, Don
+Amador, as he was hurried to the steps, saw in place of the gay
+cavaliers, a few sentries striding in front of the towers, and among the
+artillery which frowned on either edge of the platform. Nevertheless, if
+his rage had left him inquisitive, he was not allowed time to indulge
+his observations. He was hurried down the steps, carried a few paces
+further, and instantly immured in the stone dwelling of some native
+chief, which, by the substitution of a door of plank for the cotton
+curtain, and other simple contrivances, had been easily converted into a
+prison.
+
+In the meanwhile, the rage of the governor burned with a fury that was
+not much lessened by the remonstrances of his officers; and to the
+counsel of Duero,--the personal secretary of Don Diego Velasquez,
+accompanying the expedition less as an adviser than as a spy over the
+general, and therefore necessarily held in some respect,--he answered
+only with heat and sarcasm.
+
+"I have ever found the señor Don Andres," he cried, without regarding
+the presence of Botello, "to be more friendly with the friends of Cortes
+than may seem fitting in the honourable and confidential secretary of
+Velasquez!"
+
+"I will not deny that such is my temper," said Duero; "nor will I
+conceal from you that such leniency springs less from affection than
+interest. Sure am I, that had your excellency, from the first, held out
+the arms of conciliation, instead of the banners of vengeance, at this
+moment, instead of being arrayed against you in desperate hostility, the
+forces of Cortes would have been found enrolled under your own
+standard, and Cortes himself among the humblest and faithfullest of your
+captains."
+
+"While I doubt that effect," said the general sharply, "I cannot but be
+assured of the strength of Don Andres's interest, while I listen to the
+whispers of his enemies."
+
+Duero coloured, but replied calmly:
+
+"It is not unknown to me, that certain ill-advised persons have charged
+me with being under the influence of a secret compact with Cortes,
+formed before his appointment to the command of the first army of
+invasion; whereby I was to share a full third of the profits of his
+enterprise. Without pretending to show the improbability of such an
+agreement, I will, for an instant, allow your excellency to take it for
+granted, in order that your excellency may give me credit for my present
+disinterestedness, in doing all I can to ruin my colleague; in which I
+reckon, as no slight matter, taking every opportunity to decoy away his
+followers."
+
+"If thou wilt show me in what manner submission to the whims and insults
+of this insolent boy could have detached any of the mutineers from
+Cortes, I will confess myself in error, and liberate him forthwith,"
+said the general.
+
+"The insult has been passed, the blow has been struck," said Duero
+gravely, "and unless your excellency chooses to measure swords with him
+immediately after his liberation, nothing can be gained by such a step.
+I should rather counsel your excellency to have the prison watched with
+a double guard. But, in arresting him, you have, besides giving deep
+offence to your colleague, the admiral, for ever won the hate and
+hostility of the knight of Rhodes; and when this is told him in the camp
+of Cortes, it will harden the hearts of all against us."
+
+"When it is told in the camp of Cortes," said Narvaez, with a bitter
+smile, "it shall be with mine own lips; and if I hang not upon a tree,
+afterwards, the knight Calavar himself, it will be more out of regard
+to his madness, than to the dignity of his knighthood. I will attack the
+rebel to-morrow!"
+
+"Your excellency is heated by anger," said Duero temperately; "or you
+would observe you have a follower of the rebel for a listener."
+
+"Ay! Botello!" cried the general, with a laugh of scorn. "He will carry
+my counsels to Cortes when the cony carries food to the serpent, and the
+sick ox to the carrion crow. Hark, sirrah,--thou hast read the fate of
+thy master: will I attack him to-morrow?"
+
+"Thou wilt not," said Botello, with an unmoved countenance.
+
+"Hah!" cried Narvaez; "art thou so sure of this that thou wilt pledge
+thy head on the prophecy? Thou shall live to be hanged at sunset, with
+thy old comrades for spectators."
+
+"Heaven has written another history for to-morrow," said Botello,
+gravely; "and I have read that as closely as the page of to-day; but
+what is for myself, is, and no man may know it: The fate in store for
+the vain pride and the quick anger, may, in part, be spoken."
+
+"Sirrah," said Narvaez, "remember, that though the vain pride might
+overlook one so contemptible as thyself, the quick anger is not yet
+allayed; and if thou wilt not have me beat thee in the morning, proceed
+forthwith to discourse of our destinies."
+
+"Blows shall be struck," said the magician, earnestly; "but whether upon
+my own head or another's, whether in this temple or another place,
+whether in the morning or the evening, I am not permitted to divulge.
+Repent of thy sins; call in a confessor, and pray; for wrath cometh, and
+sorrow is behind! By the spirits that live in the stars, by the elves
+that dwell in stones and shrubs, by the virtues that are caged in matter
+where the ignorant man findeth naught but ignorance, have I been made
+acquainted with many things appertaining to thy fate, but not all. If
+thou wilt, I will speak thee the things I am permitted."
+
+"Speak then," cried the general; "for whether thy knowledge be truth or
+lies, whether it come from the revelations of angels, or the diabolical
+instructions of fiends, I will listen without fear."
+
+"_Adonai Melech!_ under the heaven, and above the abyss,--with my hand
+on the cross, and the rosary in my bosom,--in Rome, near to the
+footsteps of his holiness, and with one who was his favourite
+astrologer, studied I mine art; and there is nothing in it that is not
+blessed," said Botello, with a solemn enthusiasm, that made a deep
+impression upon all.--"Give me a staff, that I may draw the curtain from
+this loop," he continued.
+
+The sword of a younger officer was instantly extended, the curtain
+removed, and the moon, climbing the blue hills of paradise, looked down
+into the apartment. The cavaliers stared at the astrologer and magician,
+for Botello was both, some with an unconcealed awe, and others, the
+general among the rest, with an endeavour at looks of contempt not in
+good character with the interest they betrayed in all his proceedings.
+He raised his eyes to the beautiful luminary--enough to create by her
+mystic splendour the elements of superstition in the breast of a
+rhapsodist,--crossed himself devoutly twice or thrice, mumbled certain
+inexplicable words, and then said aloud, with a mournful emphasis,
+
+"Wo to him that sits in the high place, when the moon shines from the
+house Allatha! But the time has not come; and I dare not speak the hour
+of its visitation."
+
+"And what shall it advantage me to know my peril, if I have not such
+knowledge as may enable me to prevent it?" demanded Narvaez, with a
+frown.
+
+"And what would it benefit thee to know the time of thy peril," said the
+astrologer, "when God has not given thee the power to avert it? What is
+written must be fulfilled; what is declared must be accomplished.
+Listen--the queen of night is in the eighteenth mansion; and under that
+influence, discord is sown in the hearts of men, sedition comes to the
+earth, and conspiracy hatches under the green leaf."
+
+The general turned quickly upon his officers, and surveyed them with an
+eye of suspicion. They looked blankly one upon another, until Duero,
+laughing in a forced and unnatural manner, cried,
+
+"Why should we listen to this madman, if we are so affected by his
+ravings? Señor general, you will straightway look upon us all as
+traitors!"
+
+"There have been villains about us before," muttered the general, "but I
+will not take the moon's word for it; and the more especially that I
+must receive it through this man's interpretation."
+
+"It is the influence, too, that is good for the friendless captive,"
+continued the magician; "and many a heart that beats under bonds
+to-night, will leap in freedom to-morrow."
+
+"Every way this is bad for us," said Duero, banteringly. "I would advise
+your excellency to clap chains on the legs of De Leste and the scribe,
+who are, I think, saving the few rogues of Cortes who have craved to
+enter into our service, the only prisoners in our possession."
+
+"And dost thou think this gibberish will move me to any such
+precaution?" cried Narvaez, with a compelled smile. "Thou canst not
+believe I listen to it for aught but diversion?"
+
+"Surely not, if your excellency says so. But still may we guard the
+prisoners, without fear of being laughed at for our superstition,--as
+long as we have faith in the discretion of all present."
+
+"Guard them thyself, if thou wilt," said the general; "I am not moved
+enough for such condescension.--Continue thy mummeries, Botello," he
+went on, "and when thou art done with the moon, of which I am heartily
+tired, I will look for thee to introduce me to some essence that speaks
+a clearer language."
+
+"What wouldst thou have?" cried the astrologer; "what plainer language
+wouldst thou have spoken? In the house Allatha is written the defection
+of friends, the dethronement of princes, the fall of citadels in a
+siege."
+
+"Villain and caitiff! dost thou dare to insinuate that this citadel of
+Zempoala is in a state of siege?" cried the Biscayan, with a ferocious
+frown.
+
+"I speak of the things that are to come;" said Botello. "What more than
+this wilt thou have?"
+
+"It will doubtless be well," interrupted Duero, significantly, "to
+evacuate this city in the morning. By encamping in the fields, we can
+certainly avoid the danger of a besieged citadel."
+
+"Dost thou gibe me, Don Andres?" said Narvaez, with a brow on which
+jealousy struggled with rage.
+
+The secretary of Velasquez laid his hand on his heart, with a gesture of
+respectful deprecation.
+
+"Ay! I see thou art stirred by these phantasms!" cried the governor,
+with a harsh laugh, looking from Duero to the other cavaliers. "What
+means this, my masters? Do ye all stare as if ye had got among you a
+dead Samuel, telling ye of your deaths on the morrow? Cheer up,--for,
+by'r lady, I intend, if this old fellow's command of the black art runs
+so far, to divert you with a more horrible companion. What sayest thou,
+Botello? It is whispered thou canst raise devils, and force them to
+speak to thee!"
+
+"Ay!" said Botello, with a ghastly grin, staring the general in the
+face, until the latter faltered before him. "Wilt thou adventure then so
+far? Canst _thou_, whose eyes tremble at the gaze of a living creature,
+think to look upon the face of a fallen angel? Hast thou confessed
+to-day, and been absolved? hast thou been free, since the sunrise, of
+thoughts of treachery and feelings of wrath? The pentacle and the circle
+the consecrated sword and the crucifix, the sign of the cross and the
+muttered paternoster, will not protect the unshriven sinner from the
+claws of a raised demon."
+
+"If thou canst raise him," said Narvaez stoutly, "do so, and quickly. I
+fortify myself in the name of God and the Holy Ones, against all spirits
+and devils. It will be much satisfaction to my curiosity to look upon
+one of the accursed."
+
+"They are about us in the air--they are at our elbows and ears," said
+Botello; "and it needs but a spell to be spoken to bring them before us.
+But wo to him that hath thought a sin to day, when the Evil One looks on
+him!"
+
+"Señor Narvaez," cried Duero, with a most expressive and contagious
+alarm, "if it be your inclination to raise the devil, you must indulge
+it alone. For my part, I confess there have been, this day, certain
+sinful thoughts about my bosom, which have unfitted me for such an
+interview; and--I care not who knows it--my valour has in it so little
+of the fire of faith, I would sooner, at any moment, speak with ten men
+than one devil. God be with you, señor,--I wish you a good evening."
+
+"Tarry, Duero; stay, cavaliers!" cried Narvaez, losing much of his own
+dread in the contemplation of the apprehension of others. "Why, you are
+such a knot of sinners as I dreamed not I had about me! Faith, I am
+ashamed of you, and of you in particular, Duero; for I thought thy
+shrewdness would have seen in this knave's attempt to frighten us from
+the exhibition, an excellent evidence of his inability to make it."
+
+"I could show thee more than thou couldst see," said Botello, "and, I
+know, more things will come to thee than thou _shall_ see. I know, with
+all thy vaunting, thou wouldst perish in the gaze of an angel of hell;
+for thy heart would be the heart of a boy, and it flutters already, even
+at the thought of the spectacle.--I will show thee an essence thou
+mayest look upon without alarm."
+
+"Do so," said Narvaez, sternly; "and remember, while saying what may be
+necessary by way of explanation, that thou speakest to the chief and
+governor of these lands, who will whip thy head from thy neck, in spite
+of all the devils, if thou discoursest not with more becoming
+reverence."
+
+"My fate is written!" cried Botello, with neither indignation or alarm;
+and drawing calmly from his bosom an implement of his art, he advanced
+to the light, and displayed it freely to the cavaliers. It was, or
+seemed to be, an antique jewel of rock-crystal, not bigger than a
+pigeon's egg, set in the centre of a triangular disk of gold, on which
+last, were engraved many unknown characters and figures. Crossing
+himself twice or thrice, the enchanter swung it by a little silver chain
+to which it was pendent, in the full blaze of the lamp; so that either
+of the persons present might have handled it, had any been so disposed.
+But, in truth, the superstition of an age for which no marvel was too
+gross, no miracle too wonderful, was more or less shared by all; and
+they merely surveyed it at a distance with curiosity and fear.
+
+"This," said the magician,--"a gem more precious to the wise than the
+adamant of the East, but in the hands of the unfaithful, more pernicious
+than the tooth of a viper,--is the prison-house of an essence that was
+once powerful among the spirits of night. The great Agrippa wedged him
+in this stone; and from Agrippa, when I rested at his feet in the holy
+city, did I receive the inestimable gift.--Kalidon-Sadabath! the night
+is thy season, the midnight thy time of power! The lord of men calls
+thee from thy prison-house, the armed man calls thee with the sword--Lo!
+he wakes from his slumber, and will image out the destiny of the
+seeker!"
+
+The cavaliers, starting, gazed behind them with fear, as if expecting to
+behold some mighty fiend rising shadowy from the floor; but no
+intelligence more lofty or more ignoble than themselves was visible in
+the sanctuary. They bent their eyes upon the crystal, and beheld, some
+with surprise and others with deep awe, a little drop as of some black
+liquid, glittering in the very centre of the jewel.
+
+The haughty soldiers who would have rushed with cries of joy upon an
+army of infidels, shrank away with murmurs of hesitation, when Botello
+extended the talisman towards them. But they mistook the gesture of the
+magician; his arm was outstretched more to display the wonder than to
+part with it. He surveyed it himself a moment with much satisfaction;
+then turning to Narvaez, he said,
+
+"Lay thy hand upon the cross of thy sword, say a paternoster over in thy
+heart, and thou shalt be protected from the mischief of this
+inquisition, while I tell thee what I behold in the face of
+Kalidon-Sadabath."
+
+"With your favour," cried Narvaez, suddenly and boldly snatching the
+enchanted crystal from the hands of Botello, "I will choose rather to
+see his visage myself, than trust to your interpretations; and as for
+the protection, I can con over a paternoster while I am looking: though,
+why it needs to bestow so much piety upon this juggler's gewgaw, is more
+than I can understand."
+
+"Say at least the prayer," cried Botello, earnestly, "for neither
+enchanted crystal nor consecrated gold can hold the strong spirit from
+the wicked and self-sufficient."
+
+"I have much trust in the saints, and in myself," said the governor,
+coolly, greatly assured and inspirited by the harmless appearance of the
+little mystery. "Nevertheless, I will follow your counsel, in the matter
+of the prayer,--the more readily that it will keep my mind from
+wandering to more important affairs; and because, in part, I am somewhat
+burdened with the sin of neglecting such duties, when there is more
+occasion for them."
+
+He drew the lamp to him, grasped the crystal firmly in his hands, and
+bending over it so closely that his warm breath sullied its lustre,
+regarded it with a fixed attention. The cavaliers noted the proceeding
+with interest; they gazed now at the jewel almost concealed in his
+grasp, and now at the general, as his lips muttered over the inaudible
+prayer.--Suddenly, and before he had half accomplished the task, they
+observed his brows knit, and his lip fall; his eye dilated with a stare
+of terror,--a deadly paleness came over his visage,--and starting up and
+loosing the talisman from his grasp, he exclaimed wildly,
+
+"By heaven, there is a living creature in the stone!"
+
+The sorcerer caught the magical implement as it fell from the hands of
+Narvaez; and throwing himself upon his knees, while the cavaliers looked
+on in mute astonishment, exclaimed:--
+
+"Forget not the prayer! and be content to hear what is revealed by the
+imp of the crystal. Kalidon-Sadabath! He flingeth abroad his arms, and
+is in wrath and trouble!"
+
+"It is true," said Narvaez, looking to his officers in perturbation.
+"While I looked into the shining stone, the black drop increased in
+size, and grew into the similitude of a being, whose arms were tossed
+out as if in agony, while spots of fire gathered round his visage!"
+
+"Say the prayer, if thou wilt not die miserably before the time that is
+otherwise ordained!" cried Botello with a stern voice, that was
+remarkable enough, to be addressed by one of his station to the proud
+and powerful commander. "Once, twice--Ay! is there no more to be
+reckoned by thee, Sadabath? Once, twice--Yea, as the star sayeth, so
+sayest thou--Once, twice!"
+
+"What sayest thou?" said Narvaez, ceasing the prayer he had resumed, to
+question the oraculous adept.
+
+"To thy prayer! Listen, and ask not.--Ay! thou speakest in mystery! I
+turn thee to the north, which thou knowest not, and the south, where
+thou hadst thy dwelling,--to the east, which thou abhorrest, and to the
+west, where was thy dark chamber; to the heaven, whose light thou lovest
+not,--to the pit under the earth, where thou wast a wanderer,--and to
+man's heart, which was pleasanter to thee than the bonds of the crystal.
+In the name of the Seven that are of power under the earth, and of the
+Seven that are mighty above, I call to thee, Kalidon-Sadabath, the
+bright star that is quenched! In shadows, in fire and smoke,--in thunder
+and with spears--with blows and with bloodshed, thou speakest, and I
+hear thee!"
+
+"_I_ hear nothing save thy accursed croaking, worse than that of the
+crows of Biscay," cried Narvaez, hotly. "If thy devil have no more
+intelligible gabble, cast him out, and call another."
+
+"He speaks not, but by images and phantasms pictured on the
+crystal.--Now listen, for thy story cometh. I see a great house on
+fire--"
+
+"Ay, I shall perish then in a conflagration!" said the governor,
+hastily. "I have ever had a horror of burning houses."
+
+"The smoke eddies, the flame roars, and one sitteth blindfold under the
+eaves, with the flakes and cinders falling about him, which he sees
+not."
+
+"If thou meanest, that I shall rest, in that stupid state, under such
+peril, thy devil Sadabath is a liar, and I defy him!"
+
+"And he that takes thee by the hand," cried Botello, without regarding
+the interruptions,--"is he thy friend?"
+
+"Ay, answer me that question," said the governor; "for if I am to be led
+out of the fire by a foeman, I will straightway forswear my friends, and
+give my heart to the magnanimous."
+
+"Thou doest him obeisance!" cried the magician, with extraordinary
+emphasis--
+
+"Villain!" exclaimed the general.
+
+"Thou placest thy neck upon the earth, and he tramples it!"
+
+"Liar and traitor!" roared the Biscayan, spurning the magician with his
+foot, and, in his fury, snatching up a weapon to despatch him.
+
+"Why shouldst thou stain thy hand with the blood of the dotard?" cried
+Duero, interposing for a second time between the intemperate commander
+and the object of his anger. "He is a madman, incapable of understanding
+what he says; and were he even sane, and speaking the truth, your
+commands to have him entertain you with his mummeries, should have
+ensured him against your anger."
+
+"Very true," said Narvaez, with a scowl; "I was a fool to strike
+him.--Trample on my neck! Thou grizzly and cheating villain!--Go!
+begone!--Thy devil, though he cannot tell thee what awaits thee in the
+morning, may show thee what thou deservest."
+
+"I deserved not to be spurned," said Botello tranquilly, after having
+gathered up his enchanted crystal, and raised himself to his feet; "and
+the dishonour will fall not on the side that was bruised, but on the
+limb that was raised against it.--Once already, to-day, have I cursed
+the man that struck me in my captivity; and he lies a corse on his
+couch."
+
+"It is true," said a young cavalier, shuddering. "I inquired after
+Caboban, when I came from the prison with Botello--he was dead!"
+
+"I will curse no more to-day," said the magician, sorrowfully; "for it
+is a sin upon the soul to kill with maledictions; and, moreover, thou,
+that hast done me this wrong, wilt suffer enough, without a new
+retribution!"
+
+The general waved his hand angrily and impatiently, and Botello was led
+away, followed by most of the cavaliers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+When Don Amador found himself alone in the prison with Fabueno; with no
+other prospect before him than that of remaining therein till it might
+please the stars to throw open the doors, the rage that was too
+philosophic to quarrel with stone walls, gradually subsided into a
+tranquil indignation. Nay, so much command of himself did he regain,
+that hearing his companion bewailing his fate in a manner somewhat
+immoderate, as if regarding his incarceration as the prelude to a more
+dismal destiny, he opened his lips to give him comfort.
+
+"I must counsel thee, friend Lorenzo," he said, "to give over this vain
+and very boyish lamentation, as being entirely unworthy the spirit I
+beheld thee display in presence of that Biscayan boar. The insult and
+shame of our present imprisonment are what thou dost not share; and
+therefore thou shouldst not be grieved on that account. And, doubtless,
+as thou wert arrested less because thou wert in fault, than because this
+foolish governor was in a passion, he will liberate thee, when he cools
+in the morning."
+
+"I have no such hope," said Fabueno, piteously. "Don Panfilo is a most
+bitter and unforgiving man, sudden in his wrath, inexorable in his
+vengeance; and he has already indulged his fury at the expense of men so
+much more elevated and powerful than myself, that I am in great fear he
+will give me to some heavy punishment, for daring to oppose his
+humours."
+
+"Know, Lorenzo," said the novice, "that, in that opposition, thou didst
+show thyself possessed of a spirit which has won my respect; and unless
+thou dost already repent thy boldness, I will confess I am very grateful
+to thee, that thou didst grasp thy sword in my cause. For which reason,
+when we are again free, I will beseech the admiral to grant thee thy
+wish, and immediately receive thee into my service, as a pupil in war."
+
+"And how is your worship to be freed?" said Lorenzo, disconsolately.
+"Sure am I, Don Panfilo will no more regard your worship's honour and
+dignity than he did the privileges of the licentiate Vasques de Ayllon,
+the agent of the holy monks of San Geronimo, and, what is more, an
+_oidor_ of the king himself, whom, notwithstanding all these titles, he
+imprisoned and banished, for thwarting him in a small matter."
+
+"I have, in my own present situation, a sufficient and
+never-to-be-forgotten proof of his violence and injustice," said Amador.
+"Nevertheless, I entertain hopes of being soon at freedom; for if some
+lucky opportunity do not enable me myself to break my bonds, I am
+assured, the news of this most causeless and tyrannical outrage will, in
+some way, be carried to the ears of my kinsman, the knight Calavar;
+after which, I shall be very confident of liberation, and, after
+liberation, as I may add, of satisfaction on the body of my wronger.
+But, before we give ourselves up to despondence, let us see in what
+manner we may be able to help ourselves. We should at least look a
+little to the various entrances that seem to lead into this dungeon."
+
+The apartment was spacious, but low; a narrow casement opened on one
+side, at the distance of six feet from the floor, and admitted the
+moonbeams, by which the captives were enabled to conduct their
+examination. The door, through which they had entered, was strongly
+barricaded on the outside. A passage leading to the interior, was
+similarly secured, and equally impassable. The neophyte, with a sigh,
+turned to the casement. A thick grating defended it, and shut out all
+hopes of escape.
+
+"We can do nothing, unless assisted from without," said Amador.--"I
+would to heaven, I had kept my knaves at my side! With such a wary
+servant as Baltasar at my back, and so faithful a desperado as Lazaro at
+my side, I should have made another sort of departure from that abhorred
+tower. The varlets are perhaps sleeping in security, without a thought
+of their master. Nay, by my faith, it is not probable they should give
+themselves to rest, without being made acquainted with my instructions
+for the night. Perhaps they may be lurking in the neighbourhood, ready
+to hear my call, and to obey it! At all events, señor secretary, I would
+thou couldst mount to those iron stanchions, and take note of what is
+passing on the outside."
+
+"_Iron!_" cried the secretary quickly: "by San Iago of Compostella! a
+thought strikes me. I know well, señor, that in these lands, iron has
+almost the value of gold, and is too scarce to be wasted on the defences
+of a temporary dungeon, where it might be stolen too, at the first
+opportunity, by the Indians."
+
+"Dost thou mean to say, that these bars are of wood?" demanded Amador.
+
+"Indeed, I think so, señor; and if I had but a knife or dagger, and the
+means of climbing into the window, I would warrant to be at liberty
+before morning."
+
+"Here is a poniard, of which the villains forgot to divest me," said
+Amador. "Strike it against the stanchions:--if they be of wood, we have
+much hope of freeing ourselves."
+
+The secretary did as he was directed. He raised himself a-tiptoe, and
+the sharp weapon buried itself in the flimsy barrier.
+
+"If I had but something to stand on," he cried eagerly, "how soon might
+we not be free!"
+
+"There is neither stool nor chair in this vile den," said Don Amador;
+"but I will not shame to give thee the support of my shoulder, and the
+more readily, that I think thy slight frame would be incapable of
+supporting my own greater weight.--Pause not," he continued, observing
+that Fabueno hesitated: "If thy foot be near my neck, I shall know it is
+not the foot of an enemy.--I will kneel to take thee on my back, as the
+Saracen camel does to his master.--Stretch thyself to thy full height,
+so as to cut through the tops of the bars; after which, without further
+carving, thou canst easily wrench them from their places."
+
+Fabueno submitted to the will of the novice, and Amador rising without
+much effort under his weight, he was soon in a position to operate to
+advantage.
+
+"Why dost thou falter?" demanded the novice, as Lorenzo, after making
+one or two gashes in the wood, suddenly ceased his labour.
+
+"Señor," replied the secretary, in a low voice, "there is a guard at a
+little distance, sitting under the shadow of the pyramid. A cavalier
+stands in advance, watching--It is the captain Salvatierra!"
+
+"May heaven strike me with pains and death," cried Amador, with an
+abrupt ardour, that nearly tumbled the secretary from his station, "if I
+do not covet the blood of that false and cowardly traitor! who, after
+hiding his wrath under the cloak of magnanimity and religion, was the
+first to seize upon me, and that from behind!"
+
+"What is to be done, señor?" demanded Fabueno, in a whisper. "He will
+discover me; and even if I can remove the grating, there will be no
+possibility to descend without observation."
+
+"Cut through the wood as silently as thou canst," said Amador; "and
+then, when the window is open, I will myself spring to the earth, and so
+occupy the dastard's notice, that thou shall escape without peril. Cut
+on, and fear not."
+
+The secretary obeyed, but had not yet divided a single stake, when
+suddenly a noise was heard as of the clattering of armour, as well as
+the voice of Salvatierra exclaiming furiously,
+
+"To your bows, ye vagabonds! Quick and hotly! Drive your shafts through
+and through! Shoot!"
+
+"Descend!" said Amador.
+
+But before the secretary could follow his counsel, here came four
+cross-bow shafts rattling violently into the window; and Fabueno, with a
+loud cry, sprang, or rather fell, to the floor.
+
+"Have the knaves struck thee?" demanded Amador, as he raised the
+groaning youth in his arms.
+
+"Ay, señor!" replied the youth, faintly, "I shall never see the golden
+kings of Mexico!"
+
+"Be of better heart," said Amador, leading him to where the moonlight
+shone brightest on the floor. "Art thou struck in the body?--If thou
+diest, be certain I will revenge thee.--Where art thou hurt?"
+
+"I know not," replied Lorenzo, piteously; "but I know I shall die.--O
+heaven! this is a pang more bitter than death!--Must I die?"
+
+"Be comforted," said the novice, cheeringly; "the arrow has only pierced
+thy arm! I will snap it asunder, and withdraw it. Fear not: there is no
+peril in such hurt; and I will bear witness thou hast won it most
+honourably."
+
+"Will I not die then?" cried Fabueno, with joy. "Pho! it was the first
+time I was ever hurt, and I judged of the wound only by the agony. Pho,
+indeed! 'tis but a scratch!"
+
+"Thou bearest it valiantly," said Amador, binding his scarf round the
+wound; "and I have no doubt thou wilt make a worthy soldier.--But what
+is now to be done? If thou thinkest thou hast strength to support me for
+a minute or two, I will clamber to the window myself, and remove the
+bars, without fear the arrows of these varlets can do me much harm
+through my armour."
+
+"They are not above three-score yards distant," said Fabueno, "and,
+señor, I feel a little faint. I know not, moreover, how I could escape,
+even if your honour should be so lucky as to reach the ground."
+
+"I should not have forsaken thee, Lorenzo," said the cavalier, giving
+over, with a sigh, all hope of escape. "There is nothing more to be
+done.--The foul fiend seize the knave that struck thee, and the dastard
+that commanded the shot! I would to heaven I had beaten him
+soundly.--How feelest thou now? If thou canst sleep, it will be well."
+
+"I have no more pain," said the secretary, "but feel a sort of
+exhaustion, which will doubtless be relieved by rest."
+
+"Sleep then," said Amador, "and have a care that thy wounded member be
+not oppressed by the weight of thy body. I will myself presently follow
+thy example. If aught should occur to disturb thee, even though it
+should be but the pain of thy hurt, scruple not to arouse me."
+
+The neophyte watched till persuaded the secretary was asleep; then
+devoutly repeating a prayer, he stretched himself on his hard mat with
+as much tranquillity as if reposing on a goodly bed in his own
+mountain-castle, and was soon lost to his troubles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+The cavalier was roused from his slumbers by a cause at first
+incomprehensible. The moonlight had vanished from the prison, and deep
+obscurity had succeeded; but in the little light remaining, he saw, as
+he started up, the figures of several men, one of whom had been tugging
+at his shoulder, and now whispered to him, as he instinctively grasped
+at his dagger,
+
+"Peace, cavalier! I am a friend, and I give you liberty."
+
+"I will thank thee for the gift, when I am sure I enjoy it," said the
+neophyte, already on his feet; "I remember thy voice--thou art one of
+the followers of the knave Narvaez?"
+
+"I am one who laments, without extenuating, the folly of the general,"
+said the voice of Duero. "But tarry not to question. Hasten,--thy horse
+is ready."
+
+"Where is the youth Fabueno? It is not in my power to desert the
+secretary."
+
+"Here, señor!" whispered Lorenzo. "I am ready."
+
+"Ah, friend Fabueno! I am glad to hear thee speak so cheerily;--it
+assures me thy wound does not afflict thee.--And my varlets, señor?"
+
+"They wait for thee, Don Amador. Delay not: the door is open. The
+magician will guide thee to thy kinsman.--Commend me to Cortes; and if
+thou art at any time found fighting on the pyramid of Zempoala,
+remember that Duero is not thine enemy."
+
+"By heaven, I should think I dream!" said Amador. "Stay, señor! I would
+thank thee for thy honourable and most noble benevolence; and, in
+addition, would tax thy charity in favour of a certain Moor----"
+
+"_Tetragrammaton!_ thou pratest as if thou wert among thy friends in
+Christendom! and of infidels too, as if there were no Christians to be
+thought of!" said a voice, in which Amador instantly recognised the
+tones of the enchanter. "I said, the captive should be freed; but never
+a jot that he should not be reduced to bonds again by his own folly!--Be
+silent, and follow me."
+
+The neophyte had collected his scattered senses, and instantly assuming
+the prudence, which, he now understood, was necessary to his safety, he
+issued from the prison. The moon was sinking behind the vast and
+majestic peaks of the interior. A deep shadow lay over the great square,
+on one side of which stood the dungeon; and only on the top of the
+principal tower trembled a lingering ray. A silence still deeper than
+the darkness, invested the Indian city; and Amador could distinctly hear
+the foot-fall of a sentinel as he strode to and fro over the terrace of
+the pyramid. He looked to that quarter, whence, as he judged, had come
+the shafts which had so nearly robbed him of his fellow-prisoner. The
+crossbowmen slept on their post, in the mild and quiet air, at the base
+of the temple.
+
+"Give me thy hand, Fabueno," said Amador, drawing his poniard again from
+the sheath. "I will shield thee from the dogs this time. And now that I
+snuff the breath of freedom! I think it will need a craftier knave's
+trick than that of Salvatierra, to deprive me of it a second time."
+
+Following the magician, as he stole cautiously along, the brothers in
+misfortune crept on with a stealthy pace, under the shadows of buildings
+and trees; till, exchanging the more exposed openness of the square for
+the safer gloom of a street, they advanced with greater assurance and
+rapidity. The stone dwellings of the Tlatoani gave place to the earthen
+and wicker cabins of the suburbs.--The gray glimpses of morning had not
+yet visited the east, when they reached the extreme edge of the town,
+and betook themselves to the covert of a clump of trees, under which, in
+the figures that were there visible, Don Amador recognised with joy his
+war-horse and his followers.
+
+"Rejoice in silence," said Botello, interrupting his raptures; "for
+there is an ear at no great distance very ready to hear thee. Mount and
+be ready.--Señor secretary, thy sorrel is tied to the mimosa.--You can
+look to your equipments a little, while I see if heaven will not confirm
+the fate of visions; for I dreamed I should ride back to Cortes on a
+good roan charger to-day."
+
+The magician disappeared, and Amador, scarcely suppressing his ardour,
+when he found that not only his attendants and horses, but even the
+well-fleshed sword wrested from him in the evening, was in readiness to
+be restored to him, grasped it with exultation, and sprang into the
+saddle. Then passing towards Fabueno, and finding that his arm caused
+him much pain in the act of mounting, he assisted him to ascend with his
+own hand; a condescension that went to the heart of the secretary. From
+Fabueno also he learned, in a few words, somewhat of the secret of their
+liberation. Less than an hour after Amador had fallen asleep, and while
+Lorenzo was still kept awake by the pain of his wound, the door of the
+prison was opened, and Botello thrust in; who comforted the secretary
+with a mystic, but still an unequivocal assurance of freedom before
+sunrise; and commanded him not to wake the novice, but to follow his
+example--he would need invigoration from slumber to support the toils of
+the coming day. What previous understanding might have existed between
+the enchanter and the señor Duero, he knew not; but, certain he was,
+Botello had predicted a speedy deliverance for all; and all were now
+delivered.
+
+"I have often considered," said the novice, thoughtfully, "that the
+existence of magical powers, either for the purposes of prediction or
+enchantment, was incompatible with the known goodness and wisdom of God;
+for surely if the power to foresee would have added any thing to the
+happiness of man, God would not have denied it to men generally. And as
+for the powers of enchantment, as they can only be used for good or bad
+purposes, it seems to me that to employ them for the first, would be to
+accuse the Divinity of an insufficient benevolence; while to exercise
+them for the last, would imply a supposition that heaven had not all men
+equally under its protection. This, therefore, is my opinion; though I
+must confess that, sometimes, when governed more by passion or
+imagination than by reason, I have had my misgivings on the subject.
+Nevertheless, good Fabueno, in this particular case of Botello, I must
+advise thee not too much to abuse thy credulity; for, I think, all
+circumstances go to show, he grounded his prophecy of our deliverance
+more on a knowledge of the resolutions of the good señor Duero than on
+the revelations of stars or spirits. Yet must I confess," continued
+Amador, "that this very goodness of Duero, implying, as it truly does, a
+state of opposition and rebellion to the will of the uncivil Narvaez,
+his general, is so very miraculous, as almost itself to look like
+magic."
+
+Before the secretary could reply, the sound of hoofs was heard
+approaching; and Botello, as they discovered by his voice, rode up to
+the trees.
+
+"The dream was true, the imp that speaks to slumber was not a liar!" he
+cried, exultingly. "We leave the jailor afoot; and Kalidon-Sadabath
+shall swing on a galloping horse. God is over all, by night and by
+day, afoot and on horse, in battle and in flight, Amen!--Now ride,
+and Santiago for Spain!"--He shouted this sudden cry with a voice
+that amazed Amador, after his often-repeated injunctions for
+silence,--"Santiago for Spain! San Pedro for the Invaders! and San Pablo
+for flying prisoners! Whip and spur, guide and cheer! and rocks and
+thorns spread over the path of pursuers!"
+
+As Don Amador anticipated, the shout of the lunatic, for such he began
+to esteem Botello, was carried even to the head-quarters of the
+Biscayan. An arquebuse was discharged from the pyramid, and, as the
+fugitives began their flight, the flourish of a trumpet in one quarter
+of the town, and the roll of a drum in another, convinced them that the
+alarm had been given, and was spreading from post to post in a manner
+that might prove exceedingly inconvenient. The cavalier pressed to the
+side of Botello,--an achievement of some little difficulty, for he
+perceived his guide was well mounted.
+
+"Señor Magico," he cried, as he galloped in company with him, "dost thou
+know thou couldst not have fallen upon a better plan to oppose our
+flight, and perhaps reduce us again to bonds, than by the indulgence of
+this same untimely and obstreperous shouting?"
+
+"Trust in God, and fear not," replied the magician. "This day shalt thou
+look upon the face of Cortes; and though the enemy follow us, yet shall
+his pursuit be vain and unlucky."
+
+"I will allow that such may be the termination," said Amador; "yet,
+notwithstanding, can I perceive no advantage in being pursued; but much
+that is to be deprecated, inasmuch as we shall exhaust that strength of
+our horses in our hurry, which might have been reserved for a more
+honourable contingency."
+
+"Your valour will by-and-by perceive there is more wisdom than looks to
+the moment," said Botello, coolly, without slacking his pace: "and,
+provided you can keep your followers from swerving from the path, and
+that inexperienced youth from falling out of his saddle, I will, with
+my head, answer for your safety."
+
+Amador dropped behind a little: Lazaro and Baltasar required no
+instructions to keep them in the neighbourhood of their master; and the
+secretary, though complaining that he rode in pain, professed himself
+able to keep up with the party. From his henchmen, as he rode, Don
+Amador obtained but little to unravel the mystery of his escape. The two
+attendants had been quartered alone in a deserted building, in the
+garden of which they were instructed to provide for their steeds. They
+had been roused by a cavalier, who commanded them to follow him to their
+master, in token of whose authority he showed them the well-known blade
+of the novice. He had conducted them to the grove, and left them, with
+charges to remain, as they had done, in tranquillity, until the
+appearance of Don Amador.
+
+At the dawn of day, the neophyte became convinced he had ridden more
+than the distance which, he supposed, separated the camps of the rival
+generals; and wondering at the absence of all signs of life in the
+forest through which he was passing, he again betook himself to Botello.
+
+The magician had halted on the brow of an eminence, where, though the
+dense wood, as well as the obscurity of the hour, greatly contracted the
+sphere of vision, he looked back as if striving to detect the figures of
+pursuers among the thick shadows. The shouts of men were heard far
+behind; but this circumstance, instead of filling the mind of Botello
+with alarm, gave, on the contrary, to his countenance an expression of
+great satisfaction.
+
+"We are pursued, enchanter; and yet, I perceive neither tent nor
+out-post of thy friends, to give us refuge from our enemies," said Don
+Amador.
+
+"Let them come," cried Botello, tranquilly: "It is worse for the stag,
+when the pack is scattered; but better for the kite, when the pheasants
+have broke the covey."
+
+"There may be much wisdom in thy tropes, as well as in thine actions,"
+said the novice; "yet am I slow to discover it in either. Whether we are
+to be considered the stag or the hounds, the hawk or the pheasants,
+entirely passes my comprehension; but sure am I that, in either case,
+our safety may be considered quite as metaphorical as thy speech. I
+understood from thee, last night, and I remember it very well, because
+it was that communication which exasperated me into a quarrel with the
+governor,--that the river whereon Cortes was encamped, was but a league
+from Zempoala; yet am I persuaded we have galloped twice that distance."
+
+"He travels no straight road who creeps through the country of a
+foeman," said Botello, resuming his journey, though at a more moderate
+gait than before; "and Don Amador should be content, if he can avoid the
+many scouts and vedettes that infest the path, by riding thrice the two
+leagues he has compassed already."
+
+"Fogoso is strong, and, it seems to me, his spirit revives at every new
+step he takes through these fresh forests," said the cavalier; "yet even
+for his sake, were there no other reason, would I be fain to pick the
+shortest road that leads to the camp of Cortes. I am greatly concerned
+about my young friend, the secretary, who, as thou hast doubtless
+learned, was last night shot through the arm with an arrow, by those
+knaves who kept watch at the window of the prison; and therefore, for
+his sake, am I desirous to find a resting place as soon as possible. If
+I should give thee my counsel, (a thing I am loath to do, as thou
+seemest experienced in all the intricacies of this woody wilderness, in
+which I am a stranger,) it would be, to forsake all these crooked and
+endless by-ways without delay, and strike upon the shortest path,
+without consideration of any small party of scouts we might meet. For,
+even excluding the wounded Fabueno, we are here together four strong
+men, armed, and well mounted, who, fighting our way to freedom, would
+doubtless be an over-match for twice the number of enemies."
+
+"The youth must learn the science of a soldier," said Botello, "and
+suffering is the first letter of its alphabet. Happy will he be if, in
+the life he covets, he encounter no more agony than he shall endure
+to-day. When we have time to rest, I will anoint his arm with a salve
+more powerful than the unguents of a physician.--What I do, señor, and
+whither I guide, are best; as you will acknowledge, when the journey is
+over. Why should your honour desire to exchange blows with poor scouts?
+I shall win better thanks of the knight Calavar, when I conduct you to
+him unharmed.--Faster, señor--the pursuers are gaining on us."
+
+The neophyte gave the rein to Fogoso, and greatly inflamed by the
+mention of his kinsman's name, rode by the side of Botello, to demand of
+him such intelligence of the knight as it might be in his power to
+impart. Little more, however, had the astrologer to communicate than
+Amador had already acquired. The knight Calavar was in the camp of
+Cortes, among the most honoured of his followers, if such he could be
+called, who divided the perils, without claiming to share the profits of
+the campaign, and fought less when he was commanded or entreated than
+when moved by his own wayward impulses. That he was in good bodily
+health, was also another point on which Botello was able to satisfy
+curiosity; and as he made no mention of another subject, on which Don
+Amador scrupled to speak, he was glad to believe the distractions of the
+new world had given some relief to the mental maladies of his kinsman.
+
+A very little circumstance served, however, almost at the same moment to
+reveal one of his own infirmities. As the morning dawned, and objects
+were seen more distinctly, he began to bend an eye of observation on the
+horse which Botello rode,--a spirited beast, as he had already
+determined, by many evidences of fleetness and mettle. When he came to
+regard it more closely, he perceived, by signs not to be mistaken, that
+it was no other than the animal which had, the day before, caracoled
+under the weight of Salvatierra. Botello grinned, when an exclamation
+made him acquainted with the thoughts of the cavalier. To the demand
+where and how he had obtained possession of the charger, the answer was
+brief and significant. The captain Salvatierra, like many other officers
+of Narvaez, preferred rather to waste the moonlight nights with the
+olive-cheeked Dalilahs of the suburbs, than with enemies and prisoners,
+even though they might be men of such merit and distinction as Don
+Amador. This was a peculiarity with which (he did not say whether by the
+instrumentality of his art, or the intervention of human agents,)
+Botello had contrived to become acquainted; and being also apprised of
+Salvatierra's favourite retreat, which was at no great distance from the
+grove wherein Don Amador had found his followers, he did not hesitate to
+deprive him of so superfluous an appendage as his charger.
+
+"By St. John!" cried the neophyte, in a heat, "I would have bestowed
+upon thee more cruzadoes than thou canst gain by a month's exercise of
+thine art, hadst thou but made me acquainted with his hiding-place. I
+now know, the man who could strike a boy, and attack one he hated from
+behind, is a most execrable caitiff, more worthy of misprision than
+revenge; but despite all this, I should have begun this day's labours
+with more tranquillity and self-approval, had I but enjoyed two moments
+of conference with him previously."
+
+"Your worship may have a day for acquitting scores with him more
+conveniently than you could have done this morning," said Botello.
+
+"Hark'ee, Botello," cried Amador, eagerly--"It is thy absolute opinion
+we are at this moment pursued,--is it not?"
+
+"I do not doubt it--I hear shouts behind, ever and anon."
+
+"I will tell thee what I will do," continued the neophyte: "I will tarry
+here with Lazaro and Baltasar: thou, if thou thinkest fit, canst advance
+with the secretary--I should be loath to bring him into combat before
+his wound is healed, and before Lazaro has given him some instructions
+in the management of his arms----"
+
+"All this thou wilt do then," said Botello, interrupting him, "on the
+presumption that Salvatierra is among the pursuers? Your worship may
+satisfy yourself, the vigilant cavalier is, at this moment, either
+abiding the reproof of Narvaez for his negligence, or biting his thumbs
+with disgust, as, among mounted captains, he walks through the streets
+of Zempoala. Horses are not in this land so plentiful as rabbits; and I
+thank the blessed influences, which have given to me so good a friend
+this day," he went on, patting the neck of the steed,--"so very good,
+that, until there comes a new fleet from Cuba, the captain Salvatierra
+will be scarce able to follow after his charger. This may satisfy your
+honour on one point. As to another, I beg to assure you, Don Amador,
+that I am no lying juggler, selling my revelations for money. I tell
+what is told me, when I am moved by the spirit that is given to dwell
+within me; and neither real of silver nor doubloon of gold can otherwise
+buy me to open my lips!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+To the surprise, and much also to the dissatisfaction, of Don Amador,
+the noon-day sun still found him struggling, with his companions, among
+the rocks and forests. It seemed to him, from a review of his journey,
+that he had been doubling and turning, for the whole morning, like a boy
+at blindman's-buff, within a circle of a few leagues; and though he
+could not, upon the closest inspection, detect a single tree or brook
+which he remembered to have passed before, he shrewdly suspected it was
+Botello's intention to make him well acquainted with the forest, before
+dismissing him from its depths. It was however vain to wonder, and
+equally fruitless to complain. For the whole morning, at different
+intervals, he was assured, sometimes from hearing their shouts in the
+thicket, sometimes from beholding them from a hill-top crossing an
+opposing eminence, that his pursuers were close at his heels: of which
+fact, and the necessity it presented to move with becoming caution, the
+enchanter took advantage in the construction of his answers to every
+remonstrance. At length, perhaps two hours after noon, the travellers
+approached a hill, whence, as Botello assured them, they might look down
+upon the River of Canoes. This was the more agreeable intelligence,
+since the day was intolerably hot, and they almost longed for the
+bursting of a tempest which had been brooding in the welkin for the last
+half hour, the drenching of which, as they thought, would be far more
+sufferable than the combustion of sunshine. They reached the hill, and
+from its bushy and stony side, looked down upon the valley, where the
+river, or, more properly speaking, the rivulet, went foaming and
+fretting over its rugged channel. On the hither side of the stream, the
+vale was bare and sandy, and on the other, though doubtless partaking of
+the same character, the trees which bordered upon the water, making
+divers agreeable groves, entirely shut out the view, so that Don Amador
+saw not, as he had fondly anticipated, the encampment of the invader of
+Mexico, and the resting-place of his kinsman. But if he beheld not what
+he so much desired to see, he surveyed another spectacle, which caused
+him no little wonder. At a short distance, and almost at the bottom of
+the hill, he was struck with the unexpected apparition of the army of
+Narvaez, drawn out in order of battle, as if awaiting the approach of a
+foe, and commanding the passage of the river. He rubbed his eyes with
+astonishment; but there was no delusion in the view.
+
+"Señor," said Botello, in a low voice, as if reading his thoughts, "you
+marvel to see this army, which we left sleeping at the temple, arrived
+at the river before us; but you forget Zempoala lies only a league from
+the river."
+
+"Let us descend, and cross to the other side," said Amador, impatiently.
+"I see the very spot where sits the knave Narvaez on his horse; and if
+the valiant Cortes have it in intention, as I do not doubt, to give him
+battle, I should sharply regret to watch the conflict from this
+hill-side."
+
+"I told Narvaez, himself," said the magician, with a sort of triumph,
+"he should not join battle with Cortes to-day; and he shall not!--When
+the time comes, Don Amador may join in the combat, if he will.--Be
+content, señor: we cannot stir from this hill without being observed,
+and captured or slain. The thunder roars, the bolt glitters in the
+heaven; the storm that levels the tall ceibas, will open us a path
+presently, even through that angry army."
+
+Almost while Botello spoke, and before the cavalier could add words to
+the disinclination with which he regarded so untimely a delay, there
+burst such a thunderbolt over his head, as made Fogoso, in common with
+every other horse in the party, cower to the earth, as if stricken by
+its violence. This was immediately followed by a succession of separate
+explosions and of multisonous volleys, less resembling the furious roar
+of the ordnance of a great army than of the artillery of volcanoes; and
+it became immediately necessary for each man to dismount, and allay, as
+he could, the frantic terrors of his charger. In the midst of this
+sublime prelude, the rushing of a mighty wind was added to the orchestre
+of the elements; and, in an instant, the face of day, the black vapours
+above and the varied valley below, were hidden in a cloud of dust, sand,
+and leaves, stripped in a moment from the plains and the forest; and in
+an instant also, the army of Narvaez was snatched from the eyes of the
+cavalier. Presently, also, came another sound, heard even above the peal
+of the thunder and the rush of the wind; the roar of a great rain,
+booming along like a moving cataract, was mingled with the harsh music
+of nature; and Don Amador looked anxiously round for some place of
+shelter. Happily, though no cavern welcomed them into its gloomy
+security, there was a spot hard by, where certain tall and massive rocks
+lay so jammed and wedged together, as to present most of the
+characteristics of a chamber, except that there was wanting the fourth
+side, as well as the roof, unless indeed the outstretched branches of
+the great trees that grew among these fragments, might have been
+considered a suitable canopy. A spring bubbled up from among these mossy
+ruins, giving nourishment to a thick growth of brambles and weeds, which
+added their own tangled covert to the stouter shelter of the rocks and
+trunks. Into this nook the party, guided by Botello, to whom it seemed
+not unfamiliar, penetrated forthwith; and here they found themselves, in
+a great measure, sheltered from the rain. Here also, taking advantage of
+a period of inactivity, and at the instigation of Don Amador, who
+perceived with solicitude the visage of the secretary covered not only
+with languor, but flushed with fatigue and fever, the enchanter set
+about relieving the distresses of the youth. He removed the bandage and
+garment, examined the wound, bathed the inflamed member in the cool
+waters of the fountain; and having thus commenced proceedings with so
+reasonable a preliminary, he drew a little silver vessel from his
+wallet, containing the unguent 'blessed,' as he had before said, 'of the
+fat of a pagan's heart,' and which, as may be repeated to those who
+might doubt the efficacy of so remarkable a compound, was not only much
+used, but highly commended by the Christian soldiers of that day in
+America. The magician commanded Fabueno to repeat a paternoster as
+slowly and devoutly as possible, (for none of Botello's conjurations
+were conducted without the appearance of deep devotion;) and mumbling
+himself another, or perhaps repeating some superstitious invocation, he
+applied the ointment, previously spread over green leaves, to the wound;
+and when it was again bound up, the secretary declared its anguish was
+much mitigated, as well as his whole body greatly refreshed.
+
+Don Amador regarded the youth for a moment with much grave kindness; and
+then said,--
+
+"I owe this man so much gratitude for the good he seems to have, and
+doubtless has, done thee, whom I now, Fabueno,--at least until I can
+receive instructions from my kinsman, the admiral,--must esteem as being
+my ward and follower, that I am unwilling to offend him by seeming to
+throw any discredit on his remedy. Nevertheless I am not less bound to
+instruct thee with counsel, than to repay him with thanks; for which
+reason I must charge thee to remember, that, when any miracle of a very
+unusual or unnecessary character is wrought upon thyself, much more of
+it may possibly be the product of thine own imagination, than of that
+agent which seems to thee to be the only cause."
+
+"Faith will work miracles, but fancy will not!" said Botello, gravely.
+
+"If I were a better philosopher, good Botello," said Don Amador, "I
+would attempt to show thee how that which thou callest faith, is, in
+such a case as this, nothing but imagination in very fervent action,
+differing as much from that calm assurance which constitutes true faith,
+as doth a potter's pitcher gilded to resemble true gold, from a golden
+pitcher; which difference, in the latter case, may be instantly
+detected, by ringing them. And here I may tell thee, Botello, by way of
+continuing the figure, that, as the earthen vessel will really tinkle
+more pleasantly than the vessel of gold, so also will the excited
+imagination give forth a sound so much more captivating than the
+tranquil utterance of belief, that, in attempting to distinguish between
+them, men are often seduced into error. Nevertheless, I will not quarrel
+with thee on this subject, for I perceive thou art religious; and what
+thy religion does not blame in thee, I have no right to censure."
+
+This was a degree of liberality doubtless produced rather by the amiable
+feeling of gratitude than any natural tolerance of disposition or
+education; for the neophyte was in all respects a representative of the
+nobler spirits of his age, in whom the good qualities inherited from
+nature were dashed, and sometimes marred, by the tenets of a bad
+philosophy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+This discourse of the novice, together with the magical unction of the
+wound, occupied so much time, that when it was finished, the storm had
+in a great measure passed away; and Botello, either feeling his
+inability to reply to it with an allegory of equal beauty, or despairing
+to overcome the scepticism of the cavalier, instead of answering, rose
+from his seat, and led the way to the post on the hill-side, which they
+had lately deserted.
+
+Drops of rain still occasionally fell from the heavens, or were whirled
+by the passing gusts from the boughs; the clouds still careered
+menacingly in the atmosphere; and though the sunbeams ever and anon
+burst through their rent sides, and glimmered with splendour on the
+shivered tops and lacerated roots of many a fallen tree, it was still
+doubtful at what moment the capricious elements might resume their
+conflict. The river, that was before a brook, now rolled along a turbid
+torrent, and seemed, every moment, to augment in volume and fury, as its
+short-lived tributaries poured down their foaming treasures from the
+hills----
+
+"The boy to his bed, and the fool to his fire-side!" cried the
+enchanter, with a sudden exultation, as, pointing down the hill, he
+disclosed to the cavalier the valley deprived of its late visiters. The
+armed men of Cadmus had not risen from the soil with a more magical
+celerity than had the soldiers of Narvaez vanished: the valley was
+silent and solitary. "I said the tempest should open for us a path!"
+continued Botello; "and lo! the spirit which was given to me does not
+lie!"
+
+"I must confess," quoth Don Amador, with surprise, "you have in this
+instance, as in several others, verified your prediction. What juggler's
+trick is this? Where is the hound Narvaez?"
+
+"Galloping back to Zempoala, to amuse himself with the dancers on the
+pyramid," said Botello, with a grin of saturnine delight. "He came out
+against Cortes, and his heart failed him in the tempest: he loves
+better, and so do his people, the comfort of the temple, than the strife
+of these tropical elements. Wo be to him who would contend with a strong
+man, when he hides his head from the shower! He shall vapour in the
+morning, but tremble when the enemy comes to him in dreams!"
+
+"And I am to understand, then," said Amador, with a voice of high scorn
+and displeasure, "that these effeminate hinds, after drawing out their
+forces in the face of an enemy, have taken to their heels, like village
+girls in a summer festival, at the dashing of rain?"
+
+"It is even so," said Botello: "they are now hiding themselves in their
+quarters; while those veterans who awaited them beyond the river, stand
+yet to their arms, and blush even to look for the shelter of a tree."
+
+"Let us descend, then," said the cavalier, "and join them without delay;
+for I believe those men of Cortes are true soldiers, and I long to make
+their acquaintance."
+
+"It is needful we do so, and that quickly," said the astrologer; "for
+this river, though by midnight it shall again be shrunk to a fairy
+brook, will, in an hour, be impassable."
+
+It required not many moments to convey the party to the banks of the
+stream; but when they had reached it, it was apparent, it could not be
+forded without peril. Its channel was wild and rocky; fallen and
+shivered trees fringed its borders with a bristling net-work, over and
+among which the current raved with a noisy turbulence. The cavalier
+regarded it with solicitude; but perceiving that the magician was urging
+his horse into it without hesitation, he prepared forthwith to follow
+his example. He saw, however, that the secretary faltered; and feeling
+as much pity for his inexperience, as commiseration for the helplessness
+to which, as he supposed, the arrow-hurt had reduced him, he rode up to
+him with words of comfort and encouragement.
+
+"Thou perceivest," he said, "that Botello goes into the water without
+fear. Thou shall pass, Lorenzo, without danger; for besides placing
+Lazaro on one side of thee, I will myself take station on the other. If
+thou shouldst, by any mischance, find thyself out of depth, all that
+thou canst do, will be to trust the matter to thy horse, who is
+doubtless too sagacious to thrust himself into any superfluous jeopardy.
+Be of good heart: this is a small matter: thou wilt one day, perhaps, if
+thou continuest to desire the life and fame of a soldier, have to pass a
+more raging torrent than this, and that, too, in the teeth of an enemy."
+
+The secretary blushed at his fears, and willing to retrieve his
+character, dashed into the flood with an alacrity that carried him
+beyond his patron. For a moment he advanced steadily and securely, at
+the heels of Botello; but becoming alarmed at the sight of a tree
+surging down towards him, he veered a little from the direction, and
+instantly found his horse swimming under him. Before Lazaro or the
+cavalier could approach to his aid, his discomposure got so much the
+better of his discretion, that he began to jerk and pull at the reins
+in such a manner as to infuse some of his own disorder into the steed.
+Don Amador beheld the sorrel nag not only plunging and rearing in the
+water, but turning his head down the stream, and swimming with the
+current.
+
+"Give thy horse the reins, and perplex him not, Lorenzo!" he cried,
+urging the dauntless Fogoso to his rescue; "jerk not, pull not, or thou
+wilt be in great danger."
+
+But before the secretary could obey the voice of Don Amador, and before
+the latter could reach him, the hand of Lazaro had grasped the bridle,
+and turned the animal's head to the bank.
+
+"Suppose thou wert in the midst of a company of fighting spearmen,
+instead of this spluttering gutter," said the man-at-arms, in his ear,
+"wouldst thou distract thy beast in this school-boy fashion?"
+
+The contemptuous composure of the soldier did more to restore the
+spirits of Fabueno, than the counsels of the cavalier; and yielding up
+the guidance of himself as well as his animal, to Lazaro, he was soon
+out of danger.
+
+In the meanwhile, Don Amador, in his hurry to give the secretary relief,
+had taken so little note of his own situation, that when he beheld his
+ward in safety, he discovered that he was himself even more disagreeably
+situated. A few yards below him was a cluster of rocks, against which,
+as he discerned at a glance, it would be fatal to be dashed, but which
+he saw not how he could avoid, inasmuch as the bank above them was so
+palisaded by the sharp and jutting boughs of a prostrate tree, that it
+seemed impossible he could effect a landing there. While balancing in
+doubt, at a time when doubt, as he well knew, was jeopardy, he heard a
+voice suddenly crying to him from the bank,
+
+"What ho, señor! holla! 'Ware the rocks, and spur on: your hope is in
+the tree-top."
+
+While Don Amador instinctively obeyed this command, and urged his steed
+full towards the threatening branches, he raised his head, and perceived
+a cavalier on a dun horse riding into the water, above the rocks hard by
+the tree, as if to convince him of the practicability of the passage,
+and the shallowness of the water. This unknown auxiliary stretched forth
+his hand, and doing to Amador the service rendered by Lazaro to the
+secretary, the neophyte instantly found himself in safety, and ascending
+the bank of the river. Not till his charge was on dry land, did the
+stranger relax his hand; and then perhaps the sooner, that Don Amador
+seized it with a most cordial gripe, and while he held it, said,
+fervently,--
+
+"I swear to thee, cavalier! I believe thou hast saved me from a great
+danger, if thou hast not absolutely preserved my life: for which good
+deed, besides giving thee my most unfeigned present thanks, I avow
+myself, till the day of my death, enslaved under the necessity to
+requite thee with any honourable risk thou canst hereafter impose."
+
+While Don Amador spoke, he perused the countenance and surveyed the
+figure of his deliverer. He was a man in the prime and midway of life,
+tall and long-limbed, but with a breadth of shoulders and development of
+muscle that proved him, as did the grasp with which he assisted the
+war-horse from the flood, to possess great bodily strength. His face was
+handsome and manly, though with rather delicate features; and a very
+lofty and capacious forehead shone among thin black locks, and under a
+velvet cap worn in a negligent manner, with a medal of a saint draggling
+loosely from it. His beard was black and thin, like his hair, and Amador
+plainly perceived through it the scar of a sword-cut between the chin
+and mouth. His garments were of a fine and dark cloth, without much
+ornament; but his _fanfarrona_, as it was called in the language of the
+cavaliers, was a gold chain of at least thrice the weight and bigness of
+the neophyte's, linked round his neck, and supporting a pendant of
+Christ and the Virgin; and in addition, Don Amador saw on a finger of
+the hand he grasped, a diamond ring of goodly size and lustre. Such was
+the valiant gentleman, who won the friendship of the neophyte not less
+by his ready good will than by his excellent appearance; although this
+last qualification was perhaps not displayed to advantage, inasmuch as
+his whole attire and equipments, as well as the skin and armour of his
+horse, were dripping with wet, as if both had been lately plunged into
+the river or exposed to all the rigour of the storm. He replied to Don
+Amador's courtesies with a frank and open countenance, and a laugh of
+good humour, as if entirely unconscious of any discomfort from his
+reeking condition, or of any merit in the service he had rendered.
+
+"I accept thy offers of friendship," he said, "and very heartily, señor.
+But I vow to thee, when I helped thee out of the stream, I thought I
+should have had to give thee battle the next moment, as a sworn friend
+of Don Panfilo, the Biscayan."
+
+"How little justice there was in that suspicion," said Amador, "you will
+know when I tell you, that, at this moment, next to the satisfaction of
+finding some opportunity to requite your true service, I know of no
+greater pleasure the saints could send me than a fair opportunity to
+cross swords with this ill-mannered general, in serious and mortal
+arbitrement. Know, señor, I am at this moment a captive escaped out of
+the hands of that most dishonourable and unworthy person, seeking my
+way, with my followers, under guidance of a certain conjurer called
+Botello to the camp of the valiant señor Don Hernan Cortes and I rejoice
+in this rencounter the more, because I am persuaded you are yourself a
+true friend of that much-respected commander."
+
+"Ay, by my conscience! you may say so," cried the blithe cavalier; "and
+I would to heaven Cortes had many more friends that love him so well as
+my self. But come, señor; you are hard by his head-quarters.--Yet, under
+favour, let us, before seeking them, say a word to Botello, who, with
+your people, I perceive, has crossed the river."
+
+A few steps of their horses brought the two cavaliers into contact with
+the travellers, with whom Don Amador beheld some half-a-dozen strangers,
+all of hidalgo appearance, on horseback, and dripping with wet like his
+new friend, but, unlike him, armed to the teeth with helm, mail, and
+buckler.
+
+"How now, Botello, _mi querido_?" he cried, as he rode in among the
+party; "what news from my brother Narvaez! and what conjuration wert
+thou enacting, while he was scampering away before the bad weather?"
+
+"Nothing but good, señor!" said Botello, baring his head, and bending it
+to the saddle.
+
+The neophyte was surprised at this mark of homage in the enchanter, whom
+he had found, though neither rude nor presumptuous, not over-burthened
+with servility. Looking round to the other hidalgos, he discovered that
+they all kept their eyes upon his companion with looks of the deepest
+respect. At the same moment, and as the truth entered his mind, he
+caught the eye of his deliverer, and perceived at once, in this stately
+though unarmed cavalier, the person of the renowned Cortes himself. For
+a moment, it seemed as if the general were disposed to meet the
+disclosure with a grave and lofty deportment suitable to his rank; but
+as Don Amador raised his hand to his casque with a gesture of reverence,
+a smile crept over his visage, which was instantly succeeded by a
+good-humoured and familiar laugh.
+
+"Thou seest, señor!" he cried, "we will be masking at times, even
+without much regard either for our enemies or the weather. But trust me,
+caballero, you are welcome; and doubtless not only to myself, but to
+these worthier gentlemen, my friends." And here the general pronounced
+the names of Sandoval, of De Morla, of De Leon, De Olid, and
+others,--all, as was afterwards proved, men of great note among the
+invaders of Mexico. The neophyte saluted them with courtesy, and then,
+turning to the general, said:--
+
+"I am myself called Amador de Leste, a poor hidalgo of Cuenza, a novice
+of the order of St. John of the Holy Hospital, and kinsman of the knight
+Gines Gabriel de Calavar, to seek whom am I come to this land of Mexico,
+and to the tents of your excellency."
+
+All bowed with great respect at this annunciation; and Cortes himself,
+half raising his drooping cap, said:--
+
+"I doubly welcome the cavalier De Leste; and whether he come to honour
+me with the aid of his good sword, or to rob me of the true friendship
+of the knight Calavar, still am I most glad to see him: and glad am I
+that heaven has sent us a kinsman to watch by the side of the good
+knight. Señor," continued the general, anticipating the questions of the
+neophyte, "if you will moderate your impatience a little, until I fulfil
+my duties with my mad friend here, the astrologer, I will be rejoiced in
+person to conduct you to your kinsman."
+
+The courteous manners of Hernan Cortes did more to mollify the ardour of
+the novice than could any degree of stateliness. He smothered his
+impatience, though it was burning with a stronger and an increasing
+flame; while the general proceeded to confer with the magician.
+
+"How is it, Magico mio?" he cried. "I had a deserter this morning, who
+told me thou hadst been entrapped,--that my brother Narvaez had
+cudgelled thee with his own hands, and had some thoughts of hanging
+thee."
+
+"Such is, in part, the truth," said Botello, tranquilly. "He was
+incensed at the stars, and struck me with his foot, because the Spirit
+of the Crystal gave not an answer to his liking."
+
+"Ay, indeed!" cried Cortes, curiously; "and Kalidon hath been speaking
+to him! What said Kalidon-Sadabath of Narvaez?"
+
+"He said that, to-night," replied Botello, with his most solemn
+emphasis, "the foot of Cortes should be on the pyramid, and that,
+to-morrow, the Biscayan should do homage to his rival."
+
+"Ay! and Kalidon told him all this?" said Cortes, quickly, and, as
+Amador thought, angrily.
+
+"He told only that which it was fitting the Biscayan should know," said
+Botello, significantly; "he told him that which brought his forces into
+the field to-day, so that they shall sleep more soundly for their
+labours to-night; and yet he told him, no blow should be struck in the
+field. He showed him many such things; but he told him not, in manner as
+it was written in the heaven and figured in the stone, that to-night
+should his enemy creep upon him as he slept blind and besotted, and
+while his best friends guided the assailant to his bed-side."
+
+"Ay, by my conscience!" cried Cortes, turning with meaning looks to his
+companions; "this Kalidon reads men's thoughts; for it was but an half
+hour since, when I beheld these delicate warriors turning their backs to
+the gust, that I vowed in my heart, I would, to-night, give them a
+lesson for their folly. What thinkest thou, son Sandoval? Will thy
+sun-burnt, lazy fellows of the Rich City march to Zempoala by night?"
+
+"Ay, by night or by day,--whenever they are bidden," said the
+sententious stripling, who, at this early period of the campaign and of
+his life, was not only the favourite of the general, but his second in
+fame. As Don Amador listened to his rough voice, and surveyed his bold
+and frank countenance adorned with a curly beard and hair, both of amber
+hue, he bethought him of the story of the heralds summoning him to
+surrender his post into their hands, and receiving an answer which they
+digested in the nets of the Tlamémé, on the road to Tenochtitlan.
+
+"And thou, Juan Velasquez de Leon," said the general, turning to a young
+and powerfully framed cavalier, with a red beard and fierce countenance,
+who, besides being clad in a heavier coat of mail than any other
+present, was more bountifully bedecked with golden chains, and who sat
+on a noble gray mare,--"What sayest thou? Wilt thou play me a bout with
+Narvaez, the captain of thy kinsman, the governor Velasquez?"
+
+"Ay, by my beard, I will!" replied De Leon, with a thick ferocious
+voice, suiting the action to the word, and wringing the rain-drops from
+the beard he had invoked; "for, though I love the governor, I love not
+his dog; and if this godly enchanter will assure me the stars are
+favourable to the enterprise, I will be the last man to say, our two
+hundred and fifty men are no match for the thousand curs that bark at
+the heels of the Biscayan."
+
+"It is written that, if we attack to-night, we shall prevail," said
+Botello.
+
+"If _I_ am permitted to say anything in a matter of such importance,"
+said the neophyte, "I can aver, that if the people of Narvaez design to
+revel away this night, as they did the last, their commanders trifling
+with jugglers and rope-dancers, their guards sleeping on their posts, or
+straying away into the suburbs, as we discovered them when we escaped at
+dawn, it is an opinion which I formed on the spot, that some ten or
+fifteen score of resolute men may take them by surprise, and utterly
+vanquish them."
+
+"I respect the opinion of Don Amador," said Cortes, "as well as the
+counsels of Kalidon-Sadabath and the stars, which have never yet told me
+a falsehood. But how comes it, Botello? Hast thou been flying since
+dawn? I cannot understand the necessity thou wert under to lead my
+worthy friend Don Amador so long a ramble; and moreover I perceive that,
+though yesterday thou wert constrained to trudge upon foot, thou art,
+to-day, master of a steed that may almost compare with Motacila, the
+wag-tail, of my son Sandoval."
+
+"I stole the beast from the captain of the watch, Salvatierra, while he
+kept guard over us at some distance in the fields," said the magician,
+while all the cavaliers laughed heartily at the explanation; "and as
+for the long day's travel,--when I found myself upon a good horse, I
+thought I could do no better than give the alarm, and draw a party in
+pursuit, and so entangle them among the woods, or wear them out with
+fatigue, that they should make little opposition when we came to attack
+their comrades at midnight."
+
+"A shrewd and most laudable device!" cried Cortes, with unconcealed
+delight: "I have ever found thee as good a soldier as astrologer; and if
+the fates be as favourable to thee as I am myself, Botello, I can
+promise thee many an acre of maize fields or gold mountains, to
+recompense thy services."
+
+"It must be as it is written," said Botello, gravely. "Many a peril
+shall encompass me; but I know that, in the worst, as it has been
+revealed to me, I shall be rescued out of it on the wings of eagles!"
+
+"Amen!" cried Cortes, "for the day of miracles is not over. If the
+señor De Leste," he continued, "claim to discharge his just anger for
+his imprisonment on my brother Narvaez, I will invite him to such a post
+of honour as shall be most likely to gratify his longings. And after
+that, if my very noble friend be inclined to exercise some of that skill
+in naval warfare which he has doubtless acquired among the knights of
+Rhodes, I will rejoice to entrust to him the attack upon the fleet of
+Cavallero."
+
+"Señor," said Amador, "though I burn to assist you in the attack on
+Narvaez, I must first receive the command of my knight Don Gabriel. I am
+not so eager to draw sword upon the admiral; for know, valiant Don
+Hernan, I have discovered in Cavallero a kinsman of my mother. And
+señor," continued the neophyte, "I am now reminded of a message which he
+charged me to deliver to your excellency, wherein he begs to assure you,
+that, though fate has arrayed him as your enemy, he cannot forget the
+friendship of his former life."
+
+"Ay!" cried Cortes briskly, "does the excellent admiral say me that?"
+
+"He bade me also avow to you, that, though it became him not, as an
+officer of Velasquez, to hold any communications with you, except those
+of simple form and courtesy, he should be well rejoiced when heaven has
+removed the obstruction, and left him at liberty to meet you with former
+friendship and confidence."
+
+"By my conscience," cried the general, turning to his officers, and
+exchanging meaning and joyous glances with them, "though these be
+tidings which Kalidon hath not revealed, yet are they of such pleasant
+import, that I shall ever thank Don Amador for being the bearer of them.
+Eh, my masters!" he exclaimed; "did I not tell you, when we left
+Tenochtitlan in gloom, we should return to it in merriment? that when we
+sank our rotten fleet among the surges of Villa Rica, heaven should send
+us another and a better? Let us move on, and spread these good news
+through the camp----"
+
+The neophyte perceived, by the exultation of the general, that he had
+been in a manner cajoled by Cavallero; but he was not sorry to think his
+kinsman should rather prefer to command his fleet as the ally of Cortes
+than as the friend of Narvaez.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+The sun was declining fast, when the travellers made their way to the
+camp of Cortes. The River of Canoes ran through a fertile valley; but
+this was of no great extent, and towards its upper termination, the
+scene of the events of the day, it was arid and broken with rocks.
+Immediately beyond the river, in a place made strong by rocks and
+bushes, impenetrable to cavalry, and affording the safest covert to his
+arquebusiers and crossbowmen, the wary rival of Narvaez had pitched his
+quarters. Temporary huts of boughs and fresh-woven mats were seen
+withering among the green shadows, and from these ascended the smoke of
+fires, at which the soldiers were dressing their evening meal. But in
+advance of this primitive encampment, dripping with rain like their
+commanders, yet standing to their arms with a patient and grave
+constancy, as if still in readiness for an enemy, Don Amador beheld the
+forces of Cortes. They had a weather-beaten and veteran appearance; most
+of them were apparelled in the escaupil, cut in separate pieces
+resembling cumbrous plate-armour, and occasionally so hacked by the
+weapons of the natives, that the white lining gaped out somewhat
+ludicrously from its darker covering. Those arrayed in a better
+investment, had their morions and breast-plates commonly covered with
+rust, as if kept too much occupied with perils by night and day to allow
+leisure for burnishing them. Nevertheless, they looked like disciplined
+and experienced soldiers. Amador observed that few of them had
+fire-arms; the cross-bow, the sword, and the great lance of Chinantla,
+with its long double head of bright copper, were almost their only arms;
+but they handled them as if well acquainted with their value. Behind
+this advanced guard, under the shelter of the rocks and bushes, he
+remarked several officers, a few of them mounted, as well as divers
+groups of Indian menials; and, as his ear caught a low exclamation from
+the general, he turned his eyes, and beheld the object of his long and
+painful search.
+
+Under the shadow of a tall tree, remote from the rest, and attended only
+by a single armed follower,--on a coal-black horse, heavily harnessed,
+which stood under his weight with a tranquillity as marble-like as his
+own, sat the knight of Calavar. He was in full armour, but the iron
+plates were rusted on his body, and in many places shattered. The plumes
+were broken and disordered on his helmet; the spear lay at the feet of
+his steed; his buckler was in the hands of his attendant; and instead of
+the red tabard which was worn in a season of war by the brothers of his
+order, the black mantle of peace, with its great white cross, hung or
+drooped heavily from his shoulders. His beaver was up, and his
+countenance, wan and even ghastly, was fully revealed. The ravages of an
+untimely age were imprinted upon his aspect; yet, notwithstanding the
+hollow cheeks and grizzled beard, the brow furrowed with a thousand
+wrinkles, the lips colourless and contracted into an expression of deep
+pain, he presented the appearance of a ruin majestic in its decay. His
+hands were clasped, and lay on the pommel of the saddle, and, together
+with his whole attitude and air, indicated a state of the most profound
+and sorrowful abstraction. In truth, he seemed the prey of thoughts,
+many and deep; and it scarcely needed the simple and touching legend,
+_Miserere mei, Deus!_ which usurped the place of a scutcheon or other
+device on his shield, to know that if fame sat on his saddle, sorrow
+rested under his bosom.
+
+No sooner had the neophyte beheld this gloomy apparition, than, with a
+loud cry, he threw himself from his horse; and, rushing forward, he
+seized the relaxed hand of the figure, and pressed it to his lips with
+reverence and affection. But the knight, not yet roused from his revery,
+or struggling vainly with imperfect recollections, looked only into his
+face with a wistful stare.
+
+"Patron and cousin! my friend and my father!" cried the novice,
+passionately, "do you not know me? I am Amador!"
+
+"Amador!" muttered the knight, with a troubled look and a tone of
+perplexity. "Very well,--to-morrow--to-morrow!"
+
+"He will not understand you now," said the general. "He is often in
+these trances."
+
+"Mi padre! mi amigo!" cried the youth, vehemently, without regarding the
+interruption of the commander, "will you not know me? I am Amador!
+Look,--here is Baltasar, old Baltasar! your servant and favourite, that
+has been at your side ever from the days of the Alpujarras to the fall
+of Rhodes."
+
+"The Alpujarras!" echoed the knight, with a deep sigh. "Wo is
+me!--miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+"He will recollect us _now_," said Baltasar, who had also descended, and
+who testified his fidelity by a tear that glittered in his ancient eye.
+"I never knew that word fail to call him out of his mood, though I have
+often known it fling him into one.--Master! I am Baltasar; and here is
+your honour's kinsman, Don Amador!"
+
+"Ay! is it so indeed? I thought I was dreaming," said the knight: "Art
+thou here indeed, my son Amador? Give me thy brows, for I am rejoiced to
+find thee in the world again." And stooping and flinging his arms round
+his neck, he kissed the forehead of the neophyte, with a parental
+affection.
+
+"This, my masters," said Cortes, in an under voice, "is not a spectacle
+for us. Let us pass on, and arrange proceedings for the attack." And,
+with his suite, he instantly departed.
+
+"And how dost thou prosper at Almeria?" continued Calavar, mildly, and
+without any incoherence of manner, though it was evident his thoughts
+were far away. "Hast thou found me any brave hearts, who will march with
+me against the infidels of Barbary?"
+
+"Dear knight and patron," said Amador, "we are not now in Spain, but in
+the heathen lands of Mexico."
+
+"Ay! Dios mio, I had forgotten that!" said Don Gabriel, with a
+bewildered air.
+
+"Whither I have come," said the novice, "to beg your pardon for my
+negligence and desertion, and never more to part from your side."
+
+"I remember me now," said the knight, slowly and sadly. "Wo is me! a
+sore infirmity is on my brain; and sometimes I am not master of my own
+acts. But I remember thee, my friend: I remember that, in an evil hour
+of forgetfulness, I forsook thee, to come to this unknown land. But I
+beg thy pardon, my son;--the dark mood took me from thee, and in truth I
+knew it not."
+
+The tears came into the eyes of Amador, as he listened to the
+self-accusation of his kinsman, and remembered how much the blame should
+rest on his own momentary defection.
+
+"It is _I_ that must bear the reproach, and _I_ that must look for
+forgiveness," he cried. "But I will never need to be rebuked or forgiven
+again; for I swear, dear kinsman, I will follow thee truly now, until my
+death."
+
+"And thou hast left the fair hills of Spain, thy true friends, and thy
+lady-love," said Calavar, with a mournful voice, "to follow me over the
+wide seas and the hostile deserts? I welcome thee with gratitude, for
+thy love is great, and thy task will be bitter. I welcome thee well,
+Amador, but surely it is with sorrow; for I heard thou hadst won the
+love of a noble and virtuous lady; and heaven forbid I should not lament
+to sever thee, in thy youth, from the enjoyment of thy affection."
+
+A flush of shame and pain mantled the countenance of the devoted novice,
+as he replied,--
+
+"I confess I have much need of thy forbearance, dear knight; but they
+did me wrong, who said I could forget thee for the love of woman. I
+acknowledge no duty that is not to thee, and no passion but that of
+serving thee with constancy and truth. But I am sent to thee not more by
+the impulses of my own love, than by the commands of his most eminent
+highness, the Grand Master, who leaves it to thyself, as a well-beloved
+and much-trusted follower of the holy order, whether thou wilt remain
+fighting the infidels of this new world, or return at thy pleasure to
+the island Malta, which his majesty the king and emperor, Don Carlos of
+Spain and Austria, hath promised to bestow upon the good knights, the
+defenders of Christendom."
+
+"Among the infidels of the new world, then," said Calavar, casting his
+eyes meekly to heaven; "for I know that what poor service I may yet
+render the faith, must be rendered soon; and if God uphold me, I will
+render it truly and well. But thou, Amador my son, my faithful and my
+beloved! I adjure thee that, when my task is finished, thou return to
+the land of thy birth, and give thyself to a life of virtue, and, if
+possible, of peace. Watch well the creatures that are in thy breast, for
+among them are devils, which, if thou do not chain them, will rend thee.
+Check thy wrath, fetter thy fury," continued the knight, vehemently;
+"and when thou drawest thy sword, call on God, that it may not fall
+unjustly; for when blood is shed that should not have been shed, it
+lives on the soul for ever--Ay de mi! Miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+Don Amador feared, as he listened with a superstitious reverence to the
+adjurations of the knight, that he was about to relapse into his gloomy
+stupor; but he was deceived. The lips of Calavar muttered on for a
+moment, as if continuing to repeat the solemn and impassioned appeal of
+the psalmist: and then, making the sign of the cross on his breast, he
+turned again to the novice with a kind of dismal cheer, and said:--
+
+"I welcome thee again to this land, Amador. And Baltasar--What now,
+Baltasar? is it possible I should forget thee? I am glad to look upon
+thy loyal countenance; thine old friend Marco will rejoice to fight
+again at thy side.--If I do not err, this is thy henchman, Lazaro:--I
+greet thee well, Lazaro: be very true to thy master, and forget not thy
+religion. And this youth that rests behind thee--if he be thy follower,
+my son, he shall share thy welcome."
+
+"I recommend the youth Fabueno to thy kindness," said Amador, well
+pleased to perceive his kinsman so collected. "He is the secretary of
+the admiral Cavallero, who claims to be related to your honour, and
+sends you the assurance of his love. I have been constrained, without
+yet knowing the pleasure of his excellency, to receive the youth into
+my protection; and this I did the more cheerfully, that he was my
+fellow-sufferer in the camp of Narvaez, and did, for my sake, very
+courageously expose himself to the painful shot of a cross-bow, which
+now maims his right arm."
+
+"If he have suffered for thee, my friend, I will not forget him," said
+the knight; "and I am rejoiced for his sake that now, in this season of
+peace, we may cure his wound before we call upon him to endure another."
+
+The countenance of Don Amador fell; he thought the knight's dream of
+peace denoted that he was sinking again into abstraction.
+
+"Call this not the season of peace," he cried. "The commander Cortes is
+resolute to fall upon his enemy, Narvaez, the enemy of honour; and it
+needs we should burnish up our arms, to give him help."
+
+Calavar looked seriously at the youth, and touching his black mantle
+with an expressive gesture, said:--
+
+"It is the time of peace, my son,--the time of peace for those that
+follow the good St. John. I remember me now, that Cortes came down from
+the mountains, to fight the man Narvaez and his host: but these are not
+infidels, but Christians."
+
+"Cousin," said the cavalier, warmly, "though this man have the name, yet
+do I very much doubt if he possess any of the religion of a Christian;
+and I have to assure you, I have endured such causeless indignities at
+his hands, such as direct insult, violent seizure, and shameful
+imprisonment, as can only be washed away with his blood."
+
+"Wo's me! wo's me!" cried the knight: "the blood that is poured in
+anger, will not flow like water; it will not dry like water; nor will
+water, though blessed by the holy priest in the church, wash its crust
+from the hand! Thou seest," he cried, extending his gauntleted member,
+and gazing piteously into the face of his heated kinsman--"thou seest,
+that though, for thrice five years, I have washed it in brook and font,
+in the river that flows from the land of the Cross, and in the brine of
+the sea, it oozes still from between the scales, like a well that must
+trickle for ever, and will not be hidden.--Thou art very wroth with me,
+heaven!--Miserere mei, Domine!"
+
+Don Amador was greatly shocked and grieved, that his imprudent obstinacy
+had so nearly again recalled the distraction of his kinsman. But it
+needed not many expressions of gentleness and submission, to divert the
+current of his thoughts. The appearance of the young and devoted
+follower had come to the spirit of the penitent knight, like a cool
+breeze over the temples of a fevered man; and having once been roused
+from his gloom, he could not be long insensible to the excitement of his
+presence. He cast an eye of kindness and affection on the youth, and
+obeying, as one who had been long accustomed to such control, the humble
+suggestion of Marco, he turned to the tents of the encampment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The sun had not yet set, when the ray, stealing through the vapours that
+gathered among the distant peaks, beheld the señor Cortes and his little
+army crossing the River of Canoes. A quarter-league above his encampment
+was the very ford which had given him passage, when, with a force short
+of five hundred men, and a few score of wild Totonacs, taken with him
+less as warlike auxiliaries than as beasts of burthen and hostages for
+the fidelity of their tribe, he set out to cross mountains of snow and
+fire, rocky deserts and foaming rivers, in the invasion of an empire,
+whose limits, as well as its resources and power, were utterly unknown.
+Here the stream was more shallow than at that spot where it had been the
+fate of Don Amador to ford it; the flood had also in a measure
+subsided; and while the mounted individuals passed it with ease, the
+waters came not above the breasts of the footmen. Don Amador rode at the
+side of his knight, and though chafing with discontent at the thought
+that he should share no part in the brave deeds of the coming night, and
+be but a looker-on, while strangers were robbing him of his vengeance,
+yet did he conceal his troubles, lest the exhibition of them should give
+new pain to his unhappy kinsman. The three attendants were behind, and
+Fabueno, though evidently regarding the knight Calavar with a deep and
+superstitious awe, rode not far from his patron.
+
+The rivulet was crossed, and the hardy desperadoes who were now marching
+with spears to attack a foe of five times their own number, fortified
+with cannon on an eminence, gathered about their leader as he sat his
+horse on the bank, as if expecting his final instructions and
+encouragement. He surveyed them not only with gravity but with
+complacency, and smiling as if in derision of their weakness,--for they
+did not number much over two hundred and fifty men,--he said, with
+inimitable dryness:--
+
+"My good friends and companions! you are now about to fight a battle,
+the issue of which will depend very much on your own conduct; and I have
+to inform you, that if, as seems reasonable enough, you are vanquished,
+there is not a man of you that shall not hang at some corner of Zempoala
+to-morrow!"
+
+A murmur running through the whole crew, marked the disgust of all at
+this unsavoury exordium.
+
+"The reasons for this opinion," continued the leader, gravely, "both as
+to the probable fate of the battle and of yourselves in the event of
+your being beaten, I shall have no trouble in speaking; only that, like
+one who knows how to use the butt as well as the blade of his lance, I
+shall discourse first of the hinder part of my argument; that is to say,
+of the very great certainty with which a gibbet shall reward every man
+who, this night, handles his weapon too tenderly. Know, then, my good
+brothers, that, at this moment, though you very loyally and truly avow
+yourselves the soldiers of his majesty, our king and master, it hath
+somehow entered into the head of the general Narvaez, the lieutenant of
+his majesty's governor, to consider you as villain rebels and
+traitors;--an imputation so exceedingly preposterous and eccentric,
+that, were we in a Christian land, you should not be required to deny
+it; but, standing as you do, with no better present judge than your
+accuser, it is certain your innocence could not be made apparent to his
+majesty, until after the gallinazas had picked the last morsel from your
+bones; at which time, as I think you will agree with me, a declaration
+of your true loyalty would not be a matter of much consequence to any of
+you."
+
+Again a murmur, accompanied by sundry ferocious looks and savage
+interjections, testified the discontent of the adventurers.
+
+"What I say, is the truth," continued Cortes, adopting the scowl which
+darkened the visages of all, extending his drawn sabre above his head,
+and speaking with a fierce and resolute indignation: "In the face of
+that heaven, which has seen us, for its honour and glory, devote
+ourselves to pain and peril, landing friendless and unaided, save by its
+own divine countenance, on the shores of bitter and murderous
+barbarians, overthrowing their bloody idols, and even in the chief
+sanctuaries of their diabolic superstition, on the palaces of their
+emperors and the pyramids of their gods, erecting the standard of the
+crucified Saviour,--I say, even in the face of that heaven that has seen
+us do these things that will immortalize us on earth and glorify us in
+heaven, the man Narvaez has dared to call us traitors to our king and
+faith, has denounced us more as infidel Moors, than as Christian
+Spaniards, and declaring war upon us with sword, fire, and free rope,
+has sworn to give us to the death of caitiffs and felons!"
+
+The answer to this passionate appeal was loud and furious. The
+cavaliers clashed their swords upon their bucklers, the footmen drove
+their spears into the soil, and, foaming with rage, swore they would
+thus answer the calumny in the heart of their enemy.
+
+"Does it need I should give you more proof of the bloody and insolent
+violence of Narvaez?" said the general. "He hath set a price upon my
+head, and on the head of my loyal friend Sandoval, as though we were
+vile bandits and assassins."
+
+"What needs more words?" cried the young captain, thus referred to. "He
+shall have my head for the three thousand crowns, if he can take it."
+
+"How it happens he has not thought any other head in this company worth
+buying," said the commander, with an adroit bitterness, "is an insult he
+must himself explain."
+
+There was not a cavalier present that did not swear, in his heart, he
+would avenge such forbearance with the full swing of his weapon.
+
+"It must be now manifest," continued Cortes, with composure, "that
+defeat will be the warrant and assurance of a gallows-death to all that
+may render themselves prisoners. And having convinced you of this, I may
+now betake me to the first article of my discourse, as one that concerns
+the possibility of your defeat. It is quite probable," he went on to
+say, with an irony more effectual than the most encouraging argument of
+hope, "that being but two hundred and fifty strong, and enfeebled by
+your divers battles with the Tlascalans, and the knavish herds of
+Cholula, you will be easily beaten by a thousand men, who, besides being
+fond of the valiant diversions of Indian dancers, and the martial
+delights of house shelter and soft beds, have hardened their bodies, and
+perfected their knowledge of arms, among the plantain patches of Cuba;
+and who, in addition, are of so magnanimous a turn, that they would, the
+half of them, at this moment, rather join your ranks than draw sword
+against you. But why do I talk thus? A live dog is better than a dead
+lion,--and a score of waking men, better than a hundred sleepers. Know,
+then, ye grumbling and incensed companions, if ye _will_ conquer this
+man that comes with a rope, ye may. Botello hath shown me how the stars
+are propitious, and how the Spirit of the Crystal hath promised us
+success. Heaven fights on our side, for we fight for heaven;--St. Paul
+will be with us, for we contend for the privilege to convert the
+heathen;--and Santiago will not forget us, for with every thrust of our
+spears, we strike a brave blow for Spain!"
+
+"Let us on!" cried all, with a shout of exultation; "We will conquer!"
+
+"Nay!" cried the general, with a mock discretion. "Rush not too eagerly
+on danger. Let us wait a day for those two thousand brown varlets of
+Chinantla, whom the loitering Barrientos conducts hitherward; for though
+it be somewhat dishonourable to share a triumph with Indian soldiers,
+yet will they doubtless make that triumph the more certain."
+
+"We will win it ourselves!" cried the excited desperadoes.
+
+"Ye will have hotter work than ye think," said Cortes; "and surely I
+believe ye will take to your heels, like the old Arrowauks of Cuba,
+leaving me to die at the pyramid--For I swear you, if ye force me to
+conduct you to Zempoala, I will not come from it alive, unless as its
+master!"
+
+"Let it be proclaimed death to any one that turns his back!" cried an
+hundred voices.
+
+"Ay then, ye mad valiant rogues! ye shall have your wish!" cried Cortes,
+yielding to an excitement he had not easily suppressed, rising in his
+stirrups and looking round him with that fiery and fanatical enthusiasm
+which was the true secret of his greatness, and which left him not for a
+moment even in the darkest and most perilous hour of his enterprise. "We
+will march to Zempoala, with God in our hearts, and the name of the Holy
+Spirit on our lips; and remembering that, under such influence, we
+scattered the tens of thousands that beset us on the plains of
+Tlascala, we will show this dog of a Biscayan what it is to oppose the
+arms of heaven,--Amen!"
+
+And _Amen_ was uttered fiercely and frantically by the adventurers, as
+they prepared to follow their leader. But a wave of his hand checked
+their ardour for a moment; a few words explained the order of attack,
+and the duties of the several leaders, of whom the young Sandoval was
+appointed to the most honourable and dangerous task,--to seize the
+artillery by a coup-de-main, and thus give passage for De Leon in the
+assault of the towers, while Cortes himself should stand by with a
+chosen body of reserve, to witness the valour of his captains, and give
+assistance where it might be needed. Again, when the announcement of
+these orders seemed to have taken the restraint from the ardour of his
+followers, the general checked them. A huge and rugged cross of
+cotton-wood raised its mouldering bulk before them on their path,--a
+holy landmark, raised by the piety of the invader, nine months before,
+while on his march to Tenochtitlan.
+
+"Under the cross will we commend ourselves to God, and prepare ourselves
+for battle," said the leader, riding forward, and dismounting. His
+example was followed by all the cavaliers, who, together with the
+footmen, knelt upon the dank grass, and baring their heads, prepared for
+the rites of penitence and absolution. None knelt with a more devout
+submission than the knight of Calavar; none exposed with more humility
+their youthful heads to the evening breeze than did he his
+silver-touched locks and withered temples; and none, as the holy
+chaplain dictated the act of general confession and contrition, echoed
+his words with a more fervent sincerity. Under the rude crucifix in the
+desert, knelt those men who were about to imbrue their hands in blood,
+and that the blood of their countrymen.
+
+The words of penitence were said, the rite of absolution pronounced; and
+the followers of Cortes rose to their feet, with their hearts full of
+conquest. But before the helm was buckled and the horse mounted, there
+came on the twilight air, from the towers of Zempoala, the sound of the
+vesper-bell of Narvaez.
+
+"It is long since we have worshipped at the sound of a Christian bell,"
+said Cortes, again flinging himself on his knees. "God speaks to us in
+the omen. We have not forgotten, among infidel savages, that we are
+Christians!"
+
+As if those tones were rung in the chapel of a brother, instead of the
+barracks of an enemy, and as if to join that enemy in one act of piety,
+before springing upon him, sword in hand, all again knelt down; and the
+Ave-Marias of two hostile armies, on the brink of engagement, went up to
+heaven together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+Hard by to the town of Zempoala ran a little brook, coursing through
+agreeable meadows, and here and there skirted by green forests. In a
+wood that overshadowed this current,--but at the distance of a quarter
+league from it,--lay concealed the forces of Hernan Cortes, waiting
+patiently for the time when the squadrons of Narvaez, satiated with the
+sports of their tawny neighbours, should, additionally, recompense the
+exploits of the day with the oblivion of slumber. They had watched with
+contempt, and with joy (for they perceived in such spectacle, a symptom
+of the infatuated security of their enemies,) the great fire that
+lighted the diversions of the evening, blazing on the pyramid; until it
+began to die away, as did many of the sounds of revelry, that, in the
+still hour of the night, were borne to their ears. But it was not until
+their spies brought word that the last brand was flinging its decaying
+lustre over the eaves of the towers, that they were bidden to arise,
+cross the stream, and array for battle.
+
+In deep silence--for they knew there were sentinels on the path--they
+reached and forded the rivulet: trooper and footman passed over, and
+were ranked under their several leaders, and all seemed in readiness for
+the assault.
+
+Still, however, the knight of Calavar sat motionless on his sable steed,
+as if all unaware of the tempest of war that was brewing; and Don Amador
+beheld, with a pang of unutterable grief and vexation, the departure of
+those bold spirits to the scene of strife and honour, in which he was to
+have no share. As he sat fuming and frowning, now on the point of urging
+his kinsman for permission to follow, now reproaching himself in bitter
+reprehension, as if the unuttered wish might recall some of those
+thoughts of misery which so often perplexed the brain of the crazed
+knight, he heard the foot-fall of a horse, and perceived a cavalier
+riding towards him. To his grief was superadded a pang of shame, as he
+saw in this individual the person of Cortes himself, and conceived the
+object of his return.
+
+"I am loath to see that the noble Calavar still abides by the black
+mantle," he said, as if content to waste no arguments on the knight;
+"but if the very valiant Don Amador de Leste be desirous to repay upon
+Narvaez the injuries done to his honour, or if he be minded to bestow
+upon me that great favour whereof he spoke on the River of Canoes, there
+can never come a better opportunity than this present: and for the
+services he may render me personally, as well as a most loyal cause,
+this night, by leading his followers with me to the pyramid, I shall
+ever remain in thankful remembrance."
+
+The words stuck in the throat of the novice, as he replied, "I am the
+slave of my kinsman: I burn to follow you--but my knight must command."
+
+He turned to Calavar, with a look of despair; but the night which
+concealed it from the eye, could not preserve the reproach from the ear.
+
+"Stay thou by my side, Amador, my son," said Calavar, sorrowfully; "and
+let no man that follows thee or me, think to draw his sword this night;
+for we are the followers of St. John, and may not contend with a
+Christian, except in self-preservation."
+
+"God shield thee, sir knight," cried the general, anxiously; "every man
+who strikes with us to-night, strikes for his own life: victory
+preserves us, and defeat conducts us to the scaffold; and I am free to
+confess to _thee_, what I dared not speak to my companions, that unless
+every man does his duty, and God looks kindly upon all, I know not how
+soon we may be under the foot of our enemy."
+
+"I have not refused thee my sword," said the knight calmly, "when an
+infidel stood in thy path; nor will I, when such opposition is again
+made."
+
+"But thy noble and valiant kinsman, and thy people," said the general,
+hastily: "they long to divide the honour of this combat, and they have
+no vows to restrain them. Every sword to-night is as valuable as a Cid's
+right arm."
+
+"Tempt them not! delude them not into the commission of a great sin,
+that will fill their future days with remorse," said Calavar, earnestly.
+But before he could add any thing further, the report of an arquebuse
+from the front filled the forest with its roar, and Cortes, plunging the
+spur into his charger, was instantly borne out of sight.
+
+"For God's sake!" cried Amador, with despairing entreaty, "let us cross
+the brook, and follow these brave men a little, though we join not in
+the battle."
+
+"I will not refuse thee so much as that," said the knight, with some
+little animation, which was perhaps caused by the martial associations
+of the explosion. "It is not forbidden us at least to look on; and by so
+doing, heaven may perchance allow us the happiness to save some wretched
+life."
+
+In a moment the little party had crossed the brook and spurring their
+horses hard, followed, as they thought, in the path of their late
+companion. But, though the moon frequently displayed her resplendent
+visage through loop-holes in the scudding clouds, the many clumps of
+trees that dotted over the meadows in the environs of Zempoala, so
+confounded the vision, that they had reached the very suburbs, without
+yet obtaining a view of the adventurers. Indeed it had so happened, that
+not being provided with a guide acquainted with the various approaches
+to the town, they fell upon one entirely different from that trodden by
+the assailants. Not doubting however that they were following closely
+upon their rear, they pushed boldly on through a deserted street,
+echoing loudly to the clatter of their steps; nor did they discover
+their error until, to their great surprise, they found themselves
+issuing upon the great square, in full view of the temple.
+
+They paused an instant in confusion.--No tumult of shouts or fire-arms
+came from the sanctuaries; a deep silence brooded over the city as with
+wings; in fact, no sound broke the solemn tranquillity of midnight, save
+one which was the evidence and representative of peace. The faint
+twangling of a lute, mingling with the sweet tones of a youthful voice,
+came from the chief tower; to hear which the sentinels had doubtless
+stolen from their posts among the cannon, which were now seen frowning
+in solitude on the verge of the platform.
+
+Before Don Amador could take time to ponder on the infatuated
+recklessness of the Biscayan general, or bethink him much of the young
+Moor of Fez, whose voice it was, he did not doubt, that sounded so
+plaintively from the tower, and which, by some inexplicable principle of
+association, instantly wafted his spirit to Granada, and wrung it with a
+sharp and sudden anguish,--the clattering of a horseman riding furiously
+up a neighbouring street, roused him from the imperfect revery; and his
+heart waxed hot and fierce, as the loud cry, _Arma! Arma! A las armas!_
+burst from the lips of the flying sentry. In a moment of time this
+faithful watchman was seen dashing across the square; and as he flung
+himself from his steed, and rushed up the steps of the pyramid, still
+shouting the alarm at the top of his voice, there was heard another
+sound following at his heels, in which the practised ear of the neophyte
+detected the tramp of footmen, pursuing with the speed of death. In a
+moment, also, ceased the lute and the voice of the singer; torches
+flashed suddenly from the doors of the towers; and as their light shot
+over the open square, there was seen a hurried mass of men running in
+confusion over the area of the pyramid. But the same flash that revealed
+this spectacle, disclosed also the wild figures and hostile visages of
+the men of Cortes, rushing to the assault, and sending forth a shout,
+that made the whole town ring and tremble to its foundations.
+
+It was not in the nature of man to see these sights and hear these
+sounds with composure; and accordingly Don Amador had no sooner
+dismounted and flung the reins of Fogoso into the hands of Lazaro, than
+he perceived the knight of Calavar, on foot, at his side. He turned an
+inflamed, and perhaps a rebellious eye on his kinsman; but the
+countenance of Calavar was bent on his own, with a ghastly placidity;
+and as the hand of the knight was laid on his shoulder, as if to
+restrain his fury, the youth groaned in bitterness and anger.
+
+"By heaven!" he cried, "I see the very face of Sandoval, as he darts at
+the steps!--O my friend! my father!"
+
+"Shed no blood!" said the knight, with a hollow, but stern and vehement
+voice. "The avenger will follow thee by night and by day, at prayers and
+in battle--Shed no blood!"
+
+"We are alone, too!" cried Amador, with ungovernable fire, as he found
+that Marco, Lazaro, and Baltasar, after flinging the reins of their
+horses round the shrubs that grew at the corner, had vanished from his
+side. "Even the varlets may strike at the knave who has wronged me; yet
+may I not raise my hand!"
+
+"Shed no blood!" reiterated Don Gabriel, in a sort of frenzy: "Forget
+thy rage, forswear thy fury! slay thyself, but strike not in
+vengeance!--Miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+All these wild words, though they take moments to record, were the
+utterance of an instant; and while the piteous plaint of the knight
+Calavar still winged its way to heaven, and before Amador could reply a
+single word, the shouts of the assailants, as they rushed up the steps,
+were met by the roar of a cannon discharged by a skilful hand,
+illumining tree and tower with a hideous glare, and flinging death and
+havoc among their ranks. But the foot of desperation was on the earth of
+the temple; and before another piece of artillery could answer to the
+hollow thunder of the hills, the spear of Chinantla was drinking the
+blood of the cannoniers. At this moment, and while even the young
+Fabueno grasped the sword in his feeble hands, and turned his pale face
+to the battle,--while Amador gnashed his teeth with rage,--there rose
+from the platform, above the shouts and yells of the combatants, a
+shriek as though of a woman struck by the spear of some ferocious
+dastard.--If the blow of an enemy had fallen upon his cheek, the young
+cavalier could not have started from the grasp of his kinsman, and drawn
+his sword, with a more irresistible impulse. But, in truth, the same cry
+that inflamed his own brain, went also to the heart of Calavar; and when
+he dashed up the pyramid with furious haste, as if to the rescue of a
+sworn friend, the knight of Rhodes, drawing his weapon, followed
+fiercely after.
+
+The scene that awaited the neophyte on the platform, though composed of
+men writhing together in thick affray, did not dwell an instant on his
+eye. It had caught, as if by providential direction, in the very chaos
+of combat, the figure that had sent forth the cry of affliction; and as
+he bestrid the body of Abdalla, and caught up the childish minstrel from
+his person, he shivered with a single stroke of his sabre, the spear
+that, in a moment, would have pinned to the earth both father and son.
+
+"Dog of a conjurer!" he cried, as he discovered the person of Botello in
+the discomfited slayer, and prepared, while the terrified stripling
+clung convulsively to his body, to shield him from the weapons of
+others; "dog of a conjurer! thy cruelty cancels thy services, and I will
+cleave thee for a viper!"
+
+"What is written is written--God be thanked! I knew not 'twas a boy."
+And in an instant Botello vanished among the combatants.
+
+"I thought thee a woman, thou scared varlet!--Cheer up, Abdalla!--they
+shall not harm thee.--Father! my knight and my father! wilt thou protect
+my boy, that I have saved, and his sire, the Christian Moor?" cried
+Amador, as he perceived the knight stand staring wildly at his side. "I
+leave them to thee.--Surely there may be other lives to save!" And thus
+concealing his excitement in what seemed an excuse for his disobedience,
+and without waiting for an answer, he rushed instantly into the thickest
+of the combat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+When Don Amador fled from the side of Calavar, the instinct of his
+vengeance carried him to the spot where it seemed most likely to be
+gratified. The chief tower, as well as the two others, was invested; but
+in the crowd of musketeers and crossbowmen who stood valiantly at its
+door, repelling the assailants, he not only heard the voice, but very
+plainly perceived the tall figure, of his enemy, Don Panfilo. Infuriated
+at the sight, he rushed forwards, and calling out with an indiscreet
+vigour that drew both the attention of that general and the thickest
+shots of his companions, he quickly found himself in a situation of
+great jeopardy. Though bullet and cross-bow shaft fell harmless from his
+mail of proof, the thrust of some half a score partisans aimed at his
+shining and exposed breast, beat down the insufficient defence of his
+buckler, and hurled him instantly to the ground. But the voice with
+which he had challenged the Biscayan had been heard by friends as well
+as enemies; and as his faithful Lazaro dashed aside the most threatening
+weapon, the shield of another friend was extended over his body, and he
+found himself raised by the hand of Cortes.
+
+"I knew my valiant friend would not desert me, this night!" cried the
+commander. "But risk thyself no further. We will sack these towers,
+without the loss of so invaluable a life.--What ho! yield thee,
+Narvaez!" he exclaimed, with a voice heard above the din; "yield thee up
+a prisoner, or thine own cannon shall bury thee under the temple!"
+
+"_El Espíritu Santo_, and on!" cried fifty eager men, as they rushed by
+their leader, and drove the followers of Narvaez into the sanctuary.
+They vanished; but the pikes and muskets bristling through the curtain,
+checked the audacity of the besiegers at the door; and the voice of
+Sandoval was heard exclaiming from behind, "Clear for the cannon, and
+stand aside!" when suddenly a fire-brand dashed by some unseen hand to
+the roof, lodged among the palm-leaves, and in a moment the whole
+superstructure was in flames.
+
+"Spare your powder, and stand by for the rats!" cried Lazaro, for it was
+he who had achieved this cunning and well-timed exploit; "Basta! So we
+catch rabbits in La Mancha!"
+
+"An hundred crowns to the knave of the fire-brand!" cried Cortes,
+exultingly;--"and three thousand paid in gold, to him who lays the first
+hand on Narvaez!--Burn, fire! smother, smoke! the night is ours!"
+
+"Ay! Don Panfilo! I await thee!" exclaimed Amador, as the rushing
+descent of beams and embers drove the besieged from the temple, and
+again discovered the person of his wronger. He sprang towards the
+commander, who, however hot and foolish of temper, now bore himself like
+a courageous soldier, and struck fast and fiercely at his foes, while
+shouting good cheer to his friends. But before Don Amador could well
+reach him, he saw the unfortunate man struck down, and in the act of
+being transfixed by many spears. Magnanimity--for the fury of a brave
+man cannot live without opposition--took the place of wrath; and no
+sooner did he hear Don Panfilo exclaim, with a piteous voice, "_Dios
+mio!_ I am slain, and mine eye is struck out forever!" than he rushed to
+his assistance, and seemed resolved to perform in his service the same
+act of valour with which he had befriended Abdalla. Again, too, as he
+caught an outstretched arm, did he find himself confronted with Botello:
+but this time the magician's arm was extended in the office of mercy;
+and as he raised the vanquished general, and displayed his countenance,
+covered with blood oozing from his right eye, he exclaimed with a
+triumphal solemnity: "I saw him blindfold; and lo, his eye is blinded
+with blood!--Victory! victory! Á Dios, á Cristo, y al Espíritu Santo,
+gracias! gloria y gracias! Amen!--Victory!"
+
+Loud was the shout with which the besiegers responded to the cry of the
+magician; and the disordered and unavailing shots from the other towers
+were lost in the uproar of voices exclaiming, "Viva Cortes, el soldado
+verdadero! Viva Don Carlos, el rey! Viva el Espíritu Santo! el Espíritu
+Santo santísimo!"
+
+"Away with him!" cried Cortes. "Guard thy prisoner, magico mio,--thou
+hast won the prize.--Leave shouting, ye rebel hounds, and bring up the
+cannon!--What ho, ye rogues of the towers! will ye have quarter and
+friendship, or flames and cannonballs? Point the ordnance against the
+flank towers. Bury me the knaves that resist us longer.--In the name of
+God and the emperor, fire!"
+
+But this measure was unnecessary. The shout of triumph, with which the
+assailants proclaimed the capture of the Biscayan, was carried to every
+ear in the adoratories; and it was at this instant that the besieged, as
+much bewildered by the surprise as discomfited by the fury of the
+attack, disheartened, too, by the misadventure of their general, looked
+from the loops of their strong-holds, and made that famous blunder of
+converting the host of _cucujos_, or fire-flies, into a multitude of
+match-locks; whereby their hearts were turned to water, and their
+assurance of victory humbled to the hope of capitulation.
+
+At the very moment that Don Amador, foiled in the gratification of his
+passions in one quarter, turned to indulge them in another, and rushed
+with increasing animation to that tower, around which he heard many
+voices echoing the name of Salvatierra, he beheld that worthy captain
+issue from the door, fling his weapon to the earth, and stretch out his
+arms, as if beseeching for quarter.
+
+"Oh thou thing of a white liver!" cried the young cavalier, with extreme
+disgust, "hast thou not the spirit to strike me one blow? I would I had
+brought thee the boy Jacinto, to inflame thy valour a little. Thou wilt
+fight me a boy!"
+
+As the neophyte thus gave vent to his indignation, he felt his arm
+touched, and, turning round, he beheld the secretary, holding a sword
+ornamented with drops of blood, and otherwise looking as though he had
+commenced his pupilage in a manner that would not shame his instructor.
+
+"Well done, Fabueno!" he exclaimed, encouragingly: "thou lookest like a
+soldier already. I am glad thine arm is so strong."
+
+"I struck but one blow, señor, and I believe I have killed a man! God
+forgive me!" he cried, in more affright than elation,--"I am not sure I
+did right; for the very moment I struck the blow, my arm twinged with a
+most horrible pang; which was perhaps a judgment on me, for striking a
+man who had done me no wrong."
+
+"These things must not be thought of too much," said Don Amador,
+hastily; "in battle, we must look upon all opponents as our sworn
+enemies, at least so long as they keep to their feet. But the battle is
+over--I will have thy wound looked to by some better surgeon than this
+crazy conjurer."
+
+"Señor," said Fabueno, "I sought you out, not to trouble you with my
+pains, but to recall you to the knight, your kinsman, who is in some
+difficulty with certain men, about the Moor, that may end in blows, and
+never a henchman but old Marco by the good Don Gabriel."
+
+Amador followed the secretary instantly, and found his kinsman--not
+unprotected, however, for both Marco and Baltasar were at his
+side--surrounded by several men speaking with loud and fierce voices,
+among which he quickly detected the tones of the master of the
+Incarnation.
+
+"I say, and I aver," cried this man, as the neophyte approached, "the
+two knaves, both father and son, are my slaves, as can be proved by
+these runagate men, my sailors; and no man shall have them from me,
+without payment of my price."
+
+"Ay! we can bear witness to that," said his companions. "These are true
+pagan slaves, captured in a fight at sea, out of a Barbary pirate;--very
+honest, lawful slaves: and though we have deserted our captain, to fight
+these other pagans, we will not see him robbed of his property."
+
+To the great joy of Don Amador, he observed that his kinsman was calm
+and collected, and though he spoke with his usual voice of affliction,
+his answer was still full of dignity and gravity.
+
+"The Moor that is a Christian cannot be enslaved; neither can he be
+bought and sold--and these claim to be both _Gazies_, Christian
+Moriscos. I guard them at the desire of their protector, who can
+assuredly support their claims; in which event thou must cease thy
+importunity, and think of them no more."
+
+"They are my slaves, and I will have them!" said the master,
+ferociously. "I meet nothing but robbers in these lands; but robber
+peasant, or robber knight, neither shall wrong me for naught."
+
+"Thou base and covetous cur!" said Amador, advancing before the sailor,
+"if thou usest no better language, I will strike thy head from thy
+shoulders! Dost thou remember me, sirrah? Did not the admiral satisfy
+thee in this matter? and dost thou follow me still, like a blood-hound,
+after the prey that is not thine?"
+
+"Calm thy rage, son Amador," said the knight. "Thou hast done a good act
+to-night, in saving the lives of this poor child and his father, and
+thou shall not want my aid to preserve their freedom. But let us not
+quarrel: enough Christian blood has already been shed, and a woful sight
+will the sun see, when he presently rises. Let us go before Cortes: he
+shall judge between this man, and these creatures whom thou hast rescued
+from destruction."
+
+"I ask nothing but justice and my right," grumbled the master, somewhat
+pacified by the angry bearing of the neophyte--for this was a more
+commanding argument than the mildness of Calavar.
+
+He fell back, and without further contention, though with a lowering
+look, followed the two cavaliers and the Moriscos in search of Don
+Hernan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+The morn, which by this time was breaking over the sea, was ushered in
+with a thousand sounds of triumph; and the drums of the vanquished
+rolled in concert with the trumpets of the victors. In truth, saving to
+the wounded and broken-spirited Biscayan, and some few cavaliers who
+had remained faithful to him and to his employer, the change of others
+from rivalry to subjection, was a circumstance more of gratulation than
+regret; as was proved by the ready alacrity with which they betook
+themselves to the audience of their conqueror.
+
+In the gilded and feather-broidered chair in which he had first seen the
+person of the unlucky Narvaez, Don Amador de Leste now perceived the
+figure of the Conqueror, a rich mantle of an orange hue thrown over his
+shoulders, his head bare, but his heel resting on a certain footstool or
+ball of variegated feathers, and altogether preserving an appearance of
+singular, but superb state. His valiant and well-beloved officers stood
+ranked on either side, and on either side, also, his resolute followers
+were displayed, as if performing the duties of a body-guard. In this
+situation of pride, he prepared to receive the congratulations or the
+griefs of his enemies; and, as if to add still further to the imposing
+magnificence of the ceremony, at that moment, as a wild roar of conches
+and drums mingling with the wilder shouts of human beings, burst over
+the city, a great multitude of native warriors from the province of
+Chinantla, marching in regular and alternate files of spearmen and
+archers, and glittering with feathers and brilliant cotton garments,
+strode upon the square, and dividing upon either side of the pyramid,
+halted only when they had surrounded it with their warlike and most
+romantic array. The spectacle was no more surprising to the people of
+Narvaez than to those friends of Cortes, who had not before looked upon
+an Indian army, among whom Don Amador was one. He regarded the
+picturesque barbarians with much admiration; though his eye soon
+wandered from them to dwell upon the leader, and the ceremonious part he
+was then enacting. He sat in his chair like a monarch, and though, at
+times, when some conquered cavalier more honoured, or better beloved,
+than others, approached, he arose, and even extended his arms with a
+friendly embrace, in the greater number of instances he was content to
+pronounce some simple words of compliment, and present his hand to be
+kissed,--a mark of homage reverentially rendered by all.
+
+It did not become Don Amador, though he surveyed these proceedings with
+some little contempt, as indicating on the one side, too much arrogance,
+and on the other, too much humility, to interrupt them, in which
+persuasion, he stood patiently aside, with his company, watching until
+such moment when he might approach with propriety. Being thus a witness
+of the degree of friendliness which characterized the receptions, as
+well as the many petitions which the comers made to be accredited and
+enrolled among the general's true friends and followers, he began to
+lose somewhat of the wonder with which he had regarded the suddenness
+and facility of the victory. It was apparent, that most of the officers
+of Narvaez had long made up their minds to devote themselves to the
+service of his enemy; and when they had paid their compliments to Don
+Hernan, they dropped among his officers, as if joining old friends and
+comrades.
+
+It gave the neophyte some pain, when at the conclusion of these
+ceremonies, he beheld the Biscayan led forward in chains, (for he was
+heavily ironed,) to salute his rival. His casque was off; a bandage
+covered his eye; his face was very pale; and he strode forward with an
+uncertain gait, as if feeble from the loss of blood, or agitated by
+shame and despair. Nevertheless, he spoke with a firm and manly voice,
+when he found himself confronted with his vanquisher.
+
+"Thou mayest congratulate thyself, Cortes," said the fallen chief. "Thy
+star has the ascendant, thy fate is superior; and so much do I admire my
+own misfortune, that I could compliment thee upon it, did I not know it
+was wrought less by the valour of my enemies, than the perfidy of my
+friends."
+
+"Thou doest thyself, as well as all others, a great wrong to say so,
+brother Narvaez," said the victor, gravely; "and it would better become
+thee magnanimously to confess thou art beaten by thine own fault, rather
+than to follow the example of little-minded men, and lay the blame upon
+others."
+
+"I confess that I _am_ beaten," said the captive;--"and that the shame
+of my defeat will last longer than my grave. But I aver to God, and I
+maintain in thy teeth, though I am but a captive in thy hands, that this
+victory is altogether so miraculous, it could not have happened unless
+by the corruption of my people."
+
+"To heaven and my good soldiers, it is all owing," said Cortes,
+composedly: "and so little miraculous, my brother, do I myself esteem
+it, after having twice or thrice beaten thirty thousand Tlascalans, at a
+time, all valiant men, that I vow to thee on my conscience, I cannot do
+other than consider this triumph as altogether the least of my
+achievements in Mexico."
+
+"It must be so, since you say it," responded Narvaez, his breast heaving
+under the sarcasm, with a bitter and suffocating pang; "yet it matters
+not. Let the glory be ever so little, the shame is not the less
+notorious; and though thou scornest thy reward of fame, I will not fly
+from mine own recompense of contempt.--What more is expected of me? Dios
+mio! I cannot, like the rest, kiss thy hand, and take upon me the oaths
+of service. I am thy prisoner!"
+
+"Had I been thine," said Cortes, gravely, "thou wouldst have fulfilled
+thy word, and hanged me, wouldst thou not?"
+
+"What matters it?" replied the unfortunate man, with a firm voice.
+"Doubtless, if the passion that beset me at the time of the
+proclamation, had lasted after a victory, I should have been as good as
+my word: for which reason I will anticipate thy excuses, and assure thee
+out of mine own mouth, thou wilt but retaliate fairly, to dismiss me to
+the same fate."
+
+"Thou canst not understand the moderation thou hast not practised," said
+Cortes rising, and speaking with dignity. "The foolish rage that
+provoked thee to set a price upon my head, I remember not; the madness
+that proclaimed these true and most loyal men for rebels and traitors,
+must be passed by, as other hallucinations: but as, in doing this, thou
+hast greatly injured and jeoparded the interests of thy master the king,
+thou art worthy to suffer the death of a rebellious subject, for as such
+thou hast acted. Nevertheless, I will do thee a grace thou wouldst not
+accord to me; I will conceive, that, however traitorous have been thy
+actions, thou mayest have been faithful at heart,--mistaken, but not
+disloyal: in which thought, I give thee thy life, and will recommend
+thee into the hands of his majesty for judgment and mercy."
+
+The conqueror waved his hand, and Narvaez was led away:--to terminate,
+in after years, a life of mischance by a death of misery, among those
+ruder tribes of the North who are but now vanishing from the borders of
+the Mississippi, and to add his melancholy tale to the gloomy histories
+of De Leon and De Soto.
+
+"What will my noble and thrice-honoured friend, Don Amador de Leste?"
+cried Cortes, as he perceived the neophyte approaching him. "We should
+be good friends, señor; for I owe thee much, and we have been in peril
+together."
+
+"Twice, I thank your excellency," said Amador, "you have done me the
+office of a true cavalier; for which I will not now trifle the time to
+thank you, inasmuch as my arm is henceforth unshackled, and I can write
+my gratitude better with it, than with my tongue. What I have now to
+require, is that your excellency will judge between me and this fellow,
+the master of a ship, in the matter of a Moor called Abdalla, otherwise
+Esclavo de la Cruz, and his son Jacinto; both of whom being Christian
+Moors, though captured in a Barbary vessel, this man doth claim to be
+his slaves; I, on the other hand, as their vowed protector and champion,
+upholding them to be free, and in the condition of wards to his majesty
+the king."
+
+"They are my slaves," said the master--but a frown from the general
+instantly closed his lips.
+
+"It is well for the Moor," said Cortes, as, at his command, Abdalla
+approached, followed by Jacinto: "it is well for the Moor that he has so
+powerful a protector as Don Amador; for otherwise, having discovered it
+was his accursed hand shot off the falcon which destroyed me four brave
+men and maimed as many more, I had resolved to hang him like a hound,
+this very morning!"
+
+"There is no better cannonier in all your excellency's train," said the
+master, who, however likely to be robbed of his property, could not
+check the impulse to praise it.
+
+"I fired the cannon with the fear of death in my eyes, if I refused,"
+said Abdalla, humbly; "and my lord should as well be wroth with the
+linstock as with myself."
+
+"Say not a word, sirrah Moor," said Cortes; "for the favour of Don
+Amador having saved thy life, I have nothing further to do, but to judge
+thy claims to liberty; the which if thou establish, I will not scruple
+to employ thee in mine own service."
+
+"The freedom of these twain," said Amador, "was recognised by his
+excellency, the admiral Cavallero; and I thought he had satisfied this
+ship-master."
+
+"His excellency, the admiral, protested he would represent the matter to
+the governor Velasquez," said the surly captain; "and I was content to
+abide his decision. But my sailors, hearing there was more gold to be
+gathered among these hills than on the sea, deserted me; and not having
+the means to carry my ship to Cuba, I was fain to follow after them;
+hoping the excellent cavaliers would do me justice, and pay me for my
+captives."
+
+"Sirrah," said the general, "wert thou with Narvaez, or with me, in this
+battle?"
+
+"With neither," said the sailor. "I arrived at night-fall; and not being
+able to make my way to Narvaez, I slept off my fatigue in a hut below,
+till roused by the din of this siege; coming forth to behold which, I
+discovered my slaves, and straightway claimed them: and my sailors
+yonder will witness I won them in fair fight."
+
+"The Moriscos are Christians, and therefore not thy property," said the
+commander; "and if they were, being taken out of the camp of an enemy,
+they should be reckoned spoils of war, and for that reason, my
+possessions, and not thine. Cease therefore thy demands; follow thy
+sailors, if thou wilt,--for on the lakes of Mexico, I shall have
+employment for thy best skill; and if, in time, I discover thee
+faithful, and this Moor as dexterous as thou representest, I will,
+without allowing thee any right to the same, give thee very good guerdon
+for his services."
+
+The master, concealing his dissatisfaction, retired.
+
+"I hoped," said Amador, "your excellency might be persuaded to send
+Abdalla and the boy to Spain."
+
+"I am loath to say to Don Amador, that may not be," replied Cortes. "As
+a good Christian, Abdalla will doubtless rejoice to fight the infidel;
+and as for his boy, if there be no other cavalier willing to advance him
+to the honours of a page, I will myself receive him. I hear he is a good
+musician; and I want a playmate for my little Orteguilla, whom I left
+dancing boleros before the emperor Montezuma."
+
+The fame of Jacinto as a lutist and singer, had already spread among the
+cavaliers; and his appearance was at the same time so prepossessing,
+that many of them stepped forward, and avowed themselves ready to
+receive him into service. Don Amador himself, now for the first time
+perusing his countenance at leisure, and moved as much by its beauty as
+by its air of grief and destitution, added himself to the number; and it
+seemed as if the claims of the various applicants might lead to heat and
+misunderstanding. The cap of Jacinto had fallen from his head, and long
+ringlets, such as greatly stirred the envy of the younger cavaliers,
+fell over his fair brow and exceedingly beautiful countenance. His
+delicately chiseled lips, parted in alarm and anxiety, moved and played
+with an ever-varying expressiveness; while his large black eyes, in
+which brilliancy was mingled with a pensive gentleness, rolled from
+general to cavalier, from Amador to his father, with a wild solicitude.
+
+The difficulty was terminated at last by Don Hernan.
+
+"I vow by my conscience," said he, "I like the boy's face well; but I
+will not oppose my wishes to those of worthier gentlemen here present.
+In my opinion, no man hath so fair a claim to the boy as Don Amador de
+Leste, who first befriended him; and not doubting that, herein, the boy
+will agree with me, I propose the election of a master to be left to
+himself, or, what is the same thing, to his father, as a measure equally
+agreeable to all. Choose, therefore, Abdalla, between these cavaliers
+and thy benefactor; for it is not possible the stripling can remain with
+thyself."
+
+Abdalla bent his troubled eyes around the assembly; and Amador, not
+doubting his choice, regarded him with a benignant encouragement. Long
+did the Almogavar survey him, now with eagerness, as if about to throw
+himself at his feet and beseech his protection, and now faltering with
+hesitation and doubt. Amador, mistaking the cause of his embarrassment,
+prepared to reassure him; when the eyes of the Moor, wandering away from
+himself, fell upon the figure of Don Gabriel standing hard by. The same
+hesitation that disturbed him before, again beset him; but it lasted not
+long. Amid the clouds of dejection and distraction that characterised
+the countenance of the knight of Rhodes, there shone a ray of
+benevolence as if the emanation of a fixed and constant principle; and
+Abdoul al Sidi, as he remarked it, forgot that Calavar was the slayer of
+his people.
+
+"If my lord, my very noble lord," he said, bending to the earth, "will
+hear the prayer of his servant, and waste his charity on so great a
+wretch as Abdoul, there is no one of all this noble assembly to whose
+benevolent protection Abdoul would sooner confide his helpless and
+sinless child."
+
+The cavaliers stared; yet Abdalla had not erred, when he reckoned on the
+humanity of Calavar.
+
+The knight received the hand of Jacinto from his father, and regarding
+him with a paternal kindness, said,--
+
+"For the sake of Him who did not scorn to protect little children, I
+will receive this boy into my arms, and protect him with my best
+strength, both from sorrow, and the sin that is the parent of sorrow."
+
+"And I may see him sometimes?" said the Moor, lingering, though the
+general had motioned him away.
+
+"Surely I keep him from harm, not from the love of his father."
+
+"I commend thee to heaven, my child," said the Almogavar, embracing him.
+"Confide in thy master, remember thy father, and pray often.--Farewell!"
+
+But the boy, with a cry that drew the commiseration of all present,
+threw himself into Abdalla's arms, and clasping him as if forever, wept
+on his bosom.
+
+"Thy master waits thee, my child!" said Abdalla, disengaging his hands,
+and again leading him to Calavar. "Be wise and faithful, and remember,
+if not always in thy presence, I shall not often be far from thy side."
+
+The stripling once more kissed the lips of the Morisco, and then
+checking his lamentations, as his father left him, wrapped his cloak
+round his head, as if to hide his tears, and stood by the knight in
+silence.
+
+While this incident was passing, the attention of Cortes was attracted
+by two Indians differing much in equipment from the warriors of
+Chinantla, but still of a soldier-like bearing, who, in company with two
+or three of his chief cavaliers, hastily approached him, and conferred
+with him through the medium of an interpreter. A cloud came over his
+countenance; he arose, and smote his hands together with fury.
+
+"What, ho, cavaliers!" he cried; "we must think of other matters than
+crying babes and jingling pages. I thank God for this victory, for never
+came one more opportunely; and ye, true friends, who have, this moment,
+protested your allegiance, prepare now to make it more manifest. Sharpen
+your swords, saddle your horses; for to-day we must march to
+Tenochtitlan!"
+
+A murmur of surprise ran through the multitude that thronged the
+pyramid; and Amador forgot both the boy, and the touch of indignation
+with which he had seen him transferred to another, though his kinsman,
+as he pressed towards the excited general.
+
+"Know ye, friends and brothers!" continued Cortes, "that the devil has,
+at last, waked up in the infidel city; blood has been shed,--the blood
+of Spaniards as well as of pagan Mexicans,--and, at this moment,
+Alvarado is besieged in the palace by the whole hordes of the valley;
+and he swears to me, by these Tlascalan messengers, that unless I render
+him speedy assistance, he must die of starvation, or perish under the
+sword of the barbarians. So God speed us to the Venice of the New World,
+the Babylon of the mountains! The gold shall not be snatched out of our
+hands, nor the fame blotted from our histories: we have this good day
+numbers enow to chase the imps from the islands, and to tumble the gods
+from their temples; and so will we, in the name of God and St. Peter,
+Amen!--God speed us to Tenochtitlan!"
+
+The shout that answered this pious and valiant rhapsody from the pyramid
+and the square, gave note of the zeal with which his followers, both old
+and new, were prepared to second the resolution of their leader.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+A history of moral epidemics, drawn up by a philosophic pen, would add
+much to our knowledge of the mysteries of human character and human
+power, as well as of the probable contingencies of human destiny. In the
+prosecution of such a subject, besides tracing the development of those
+little causes which, in former days, have spread their effects from man
+to man, until whole communities have laboured under a disease resulting
+in revolutions of the most stupendous nature, we should, doubtless,
+perceive many of those points of susceptibility and chains of impulsion,
+which render men the creatures of change; and which, being definitely
+understood and wisely influenced, might at once put it in the power of
+philanthropists to govern the operations of reform in such manner as to
+avoid the evils of ill-considered innovation. Religion and liberty have
+both come to us as diseases; and the propagation of them throughout the
+lands of the heathen and the slave, is yet a measure of pain and peril,
+because we have not considered, or not yet learned, how to address
+ourselves to infirmity. What man will not say, that the enthusiasm which
+cumbered the sands of Syria with the blood of the Crusaders, might not,
+if properly directed, have brought light and happiness to all Europe? or
+that the fever, which has left the revolution of France a horror on the
+page of history, might not, under the guidance of a less speculative
+philosophy, have covered her valleys and filled her cities with security
+and peace? Enthusiasm comes and goes; and because we know not enough of
+its weak and governable qualities to direct it in the paths of justice
+and virtue, it is allowed yet to fill the world with wrong and misery;
+and, misapplied to the purposes of glory, avarice, and fanaticism, the
+engine which God has given us to advance our civilization, is still the
+preserver of barbarism.
+
+In the facility with which the aboriginal empires of America were
+subverted by a handful of hotheaded Spaniards, mankind has been willing
+to find a proof of the savage imperfection of their institutions. In the
+case of Mexico, at least, this testimony is deceptive. If we remember
+that the tribes of Anahuac, like the other races of America, were
+struggling against obstacles which did not impede the advancement of
+other nations, we shall be surprised at the point of civilization they
+had reached. Heaven had denied all the useful domestic animals to
+America. The bison, which is perhaps not altogether untameable, roamed
+only over the prairies and the forest lands of the north, among tribes
+that were yet in the bottom class of humanity. The horse and the ass
+added not their strength to the labours of man, and the little llama,
+bearing the burden of its master over the icy Cordilleras of the south,
+was but a poor substitute for the camel of the desert, to which it has
+been compared. Accident, or the knowledge of a thousand years, can alone
+teach men the use of that metal which will bring him civilization, when
+gold will not buy it; but the discovery even of the properties of iron
+will soon follow the invention of an alphabet, however rude or
+hieroglyphic. The Mexicans could already record and perpetuate their
+discoveries. Without the aid of iron and domestic animals, they were
+advancing in refinement. Civilization had dawned, and was shedding a
+light, constantly augmenting, over their valleys; and, apart from these
+deficiencies, saving only, perhaps, additionally, in the article of
+religion, which was not yet purged of its abominations, (and which,
+_perhaps_, flung more annual victims on the altars than did, in after
+days, even the superstition of their conquerors, in Spain,) the Mexican
+empire was not far behind some of the monarchies of Europe in that
+method, purpose, and stability of institutions, both political and
+domestic, which are esteemed the evidences of civilization.
+
+A moral epidemic nerved the arm of the invaders, another paralyzed the
+strength of the invaded. Superstition covered the Spaniard with armour
+stronger than his iron mail, and left the Mexican naked and defenceless;
+and, in addition, the disease of disaffection, creeping from the
+extremities to the centre of the empire, added its weight to the
+lethargy of religious fear. When Hernan Cortes set out on his march, the
+second time, against Tenochtitlan, believing that God had chosen him to
+be a scourge to the misbeliever, he knew well that thousands and tens of
+thousands of malecontents were burning to join his standard. Mexico was
+the Rome of the New World,--a compound of hostile elements, an union of
+tribes and states subdued and conjoined by the ambition of a single
+city, but not yet so closely cemented as to defy the shocks of a Gothic
+irruption. What might have been the condition of the empire of
+Montezuma, if the divine ray which conducted the Genoese pilot over the
+Atlantic, had been reserved for an adventurer of the present day, it is
+impossible to determine; but, it is quite clear, its condition was such
+at the time of the invasion, that, had not the indecision of its
+monarch, founded on such a conjuncture of coincidences as might have
+confounded a more enlightened prince, entirely repressed its powers of
+resistance, no armies, raised by the Spanish colonists, or even by their
+European master, could have penetrated beyond the shores; and the
+destiny of Cortes would have been written in letters as few and as
+obscure as those which have recorded the fate of Valdivia among the less
+refined, but better united Araucanians of Chili.
+
+The heart of the leader was bold, the spirits of his confederates full
+of resolution and hope; and notwithstanding the evil intelligence that
+their victims were wakening to a knowledge of their strength, and
+confirming their audacity in the blood they had already shed, the united
+followers of Narvaez and Hernan Cortes began their march over the
+mountains with alacrity and joy.
+
+The novelties and wonders that were each day disclosed, were remarked by
+no one with more satisfaction than by Don Amador de Leste. He rejoiced
+when, ascending among the mountains, the fens and sand-hills of the
+coast were exchanged for picturesque lakes and romantic crags; when the
+oak woods and pine forests began to stretch their verdant carpets over
+the hill-sides; when, standing among the colossal ruins of some shivered
+peak, he cast his eye over glen and valley, glittering with verdure and
+fertility, far away to the majestic ridges over whose hazy sides tumbled
+the foamy fall, or crept the lazy cloud, while among their gorges
+glistened the distant cones of snow. Now he admired the ferns, lifting
+their arborescent heads, like palms, among other strange trees; now, as
+he exchanged the luxuriant slopes for those volcanic deserts which strew
+the base of Perote with lava and cinders, he beheld the broad nopal, and
+the gigantic maguey, rearing their massive leaves over the fissures,
+while a scorched forest withered and rotted above. Sometimes, while
+pursuing his weary way over these mountain _paramos_, or deserts, he
+advanced bewildered, as what seemed a fair and spacious lake withdrew
+its vapoury waters from before him, and revealed a parched and barren
+expanse of sand. The journey was an alternation of mountain and valley,
+forest and plain, with sometimes a pleasant little Indian village, and,
+twice or thrice, a town of no mean magnitude and splendour, rising in
+pleasant nooks among the horrors of the waste.
+
+Over this rugged region it was not possible to drag the ordnance and
+heavy stores, with which Cortes was now abundantly provided, without
+much labour and delay; and it was not until about the time of the summer
+solstice, more than a month after the fall of Zempoala, that, at the
+close of a pleasant day, the new invaders laid their eyes, for the first
+time, on Tlascala,--the capital of that warlike republic, which, for the
+singular object, as certain historians have conjectured, of preserving
+an enemy to exercise their armies, as well as to furnish victims for
+their gods, the Mexican monarchs permitted to subsist in the heart of
+their empire.
+
+The slowness of their march was productive of many advantages to those
+particular individuals, whose adventures it is the object of this
+history to record. It gave to Don Amador an opportunity to make the
+acquaintance of many of his new companions, among whom were some not
+unworthy his friendship. The services of the señor Duero were remembered
+not without gratitude; and although he reflected, at times, with some
+unreasonable disgust, that these denoted as much treachery to a friend
+as humanity to a stranger, the attentions of that cavalier were so
+sedulously continued, that he could not well refuse him his regard. The
+taciturn but ever-resolute Sandoval,--the lofty and savage, but not the
+less courteous De Leon,--the fiery De Olid,--the daring De Ordaz, who,
+thirsting to accomplish exploits not dreamed of by his confederates, had
+clambered among the snowy pinnacles and burning caverns of the great
+Volcan, and had thereby won the right, confirmed to him afterwards by
+the Spanish king, to carry a fire-mountain for his arms;--these, as well
+as divers others of no mean renown, so recommended themselves to the
+esteem of the neophyte, that he dismissed much of his preconceived
+contempt, and began to consider himself among honourable and estimable
+cavaliers. But to none of them did his spirit turn with so much
+confidence and affection as to Don Francisco de Morla, a young hidalgo
+of his own native town, greatly beloved throughout the army, as a man of
+honour and tried courage. In this cavalier a modest carriage was united
+to great gayety of disposition, and a warm heart, governed by gentleness
+of temper. A milder enthusiasm than that which beset his comrades,
+softened him to the barbarians, in whose land he was more desirous to
+consider himself a guest than an enemy; and without lacking any
+sincerity of devotion to his own faith, he seemed to regard the
+ferocious superstitions of the natives with less abhorrence than pity.
+He had followed at the side of Cortes from Tobasco to Zempoala; and,
+being as observant as brave, was not only able to acquaint Don Amador
+with the marvellous events of the invasion,--its perils, sufferings, and
+triumphs,--but could also instruct him in many of the remarkable
+characteristics of the land and the people.
+
+The effects of this delay on the knight of Rhodes were equally
+beneficial, though differently wrought. The paroxysms of lethargy, as
+well as the fits of distraction, which, as Don Amador learned from the
+faithful Marco, had been many and ungovernable, whenever the excitement
+of battle was over, began to vanish under the interest of the society,
+and the influence of the careful government of the neophyte; who, from
+long acquaintance with his kinsman's eccentricities, had acquired a
+power to soothe them. But if such was the influence of Don Amador, the
+power of the little Moorish page over his moody moments was still more
+remarkable. The sorrows of Jacinto vanished with the capriciousness of
+childhood; and perceiving that, in the long and toilsome march, he was
+never so far separated from his father that he might not look to see him
+at night-fall, he quickly recovered his spirits. Then, as if to express
+his gratitude to the good knight who protected him, he studied, with
+wonderful diligence and address, how best to please and divert him. With
+a thousand pretty stories, chosen with such discretion and prattled with
+such eloquence, as often surprised the neophyte;--with countless songs,
+which no one could sing with more sweetness, or accompany with more
+skill on the lute,--he would seduce the knight from his gloom, and cheat
+him out of his melancholy. No dagger shone so brightly as that polished
+by the hand of Jacinto; no plume of feathers waved with more grace than
+that set by the young Moor on the casque of Don Gabriel. If a
+tiger-flower glittered on the path, if a chirimoya put forth its fruit
+by the wayside, before the knight could turn his eyes upon them, they
+were in his hand; and Jacinto smiled with delight, as he received the
+thanks of his patron. The benevolence of Don Gabriel soon changed to
+affection; he almost smiled--not so much with joy as with love--when,
+sometimes, the boy sat at his feet at evening, and sang with fervour a
+hymn to the Virgin; he was troubled if, by chance, Jacinto strayed from
+his sight; and Don Amador sometimes found himself beset by a sort of
+jealousy, when he perceived, or thought he perceived, this stripling
+robbing him of the heart of his kinsman. But to do Don Amador justice,
+it needed not many suggestions of his honour or pride to rid him of such
+envious emotions. The zeal of the boy in the service of Calavar, as he
+confessed, deserved much of his own gratitude; to which should be added
+many acknowledgements of the satisfaction with which he himself listened
+to his instrument and voice. If the boy sang with alacrity at the wish
+of Calavar, he was not less ready to obey the command of the neophyte.
+Nevertheless, Don Amador fancied this obedience was rendered less from
+love than duty: he thought the stripling looked on him with fear,
+sometimes with dislike; and he was persuaded that (though on occasions
+of difficulty,--when a thunderstorm met them on a hill, or a torrent
+roared over the path,--Jacinto chose rather to fly to him for
+protection, than to remain by the side of the knight,) he was oftener
+disposed to shrink from his kindness. This troubled Don Amador, for he
+loved the boy well; and often he said to himself, "I have saved this
+urchin from a beating, and, as I may add, from the imminent danger of
+being speared like a frog;--I have given him gentle words, as also
+praises for his singing, which is indeed very excellent; I have helped
+him over divers rivers, and a thousand times offered him a seat on
+Fogoso's crupper, which it was his own fault, or his own cowardice, he
+did not accept; in short, I have helped him out of countless troubles,
+and was, besides, the first to befriend him in these lands--without
+reckoning what protection I have given to his father, Sidi Abdalla;--and
+yet the lad loves me not. It is a pity he was not born of Christian
+parents;--ingratitude runs in Moorish blood!"
+
+So thought Don Amador, a thousand times; but a thousand times, as his
+displeasure waxed hot at the unthankfulness of the lad, it was
+dissipated by some little circumstance or another. Once, when he was in
+a talkative mood, and desirous to have Jacinto at his side, he was so
+displeased at his evident wish to escape, as to vent his displeasure in
+a reprimand. The boy ran to his side, kissed his hand, and raised his
+eyes, suffused with tears, to the countenance of his preserver.--The
+cavalier never rebuked him again. On two or three occasions, also,
+greatly to his surprise, he caught the stripling weeping; which was the
+more wonderful, since he seemed not only reconciled, but greatly pleased
+with his state of easy servitude. On all such occasions, he excused
+himself with such persuasive simplicity, as not only to remove all
+suspicions of discontent, but greatly to increase the affection of the
+neophyte. He was a favourite as well with the men-at-arms, as with their
+masters; and Don Amador often reflected with wonder, how quickly he had
+wound himself into the hearts of all. "If I could persuade myself into a
+belief of magic," he pondered, "I should think him a truer conjurer than
+Botello. What Botello prophesied concerning Narvaez, is very remarkable;
+yet, when a man is prognosticating all his life, it is hard if he do not
+sometimes blunder upon the truth. Truly he blundered wrong about
+Lorenzo's arm, which is not yet well healed; and I vow to St. John, I
+thought, one time, it would have gangrened. But as to Jacinto, he has
+enchanted my knight's heart. I have ever thought _he_ abhorred the
+Moors, and surely he slew great numbers in the war of the Alpujarras. As
+for myself, I was born with a natural detestation of the Moorish race;
+and I never before knew but one that I did not hate at first sight."
+Here he sighed dolefully. "But this boy I love; yet loves he not me.--I
+have heard of philters and love-medicines; and surely, as many drugs
+attack the stomach, brain, and other parts, there is no reason some
+should not be found to affect the heart!"
+
+But while the neophyte thus marvelled and reasoned, Jacinto stole still
+deeper into his favour; and at the end of a day's march, Don Amador was
+oftener found sitting at the door of some Indian cabin, or under the
+shade of its flower-garden, listening with Calavar to the lays of the
+young musician, than sharing the martial sports of his companions, or
+even superintending the warlike exercises of his ward, Fabueno.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+To those invaders who had not yet witnessed with their own eyes the
+peculiar wonders of the interior, the approach to Tlascala was full of
+surprise and interest. As the sun sank, the four hills on which lay the
+republican city, and the pyramids and towers that crowned them, sent
+their long shadows over the plain to the feet of the cavaliers; and in
+the gloom, they beheld a vast multitude,--the armies of the four tribes
+which composed the nation, under their several banners, glittering with
+feathers, and marching in regular divisions to the sound of wild music,
+as well as a host of women and children waving knots of flowers, and
+uttering cries of welcome,--advancing to do them honour. Don Amador
+forgot the valiant appearance of the warriors of Chinantla, while gazing
+on the superior splendour of the armed Tlascalans. These warlike people,
+in imitation of their Christian confederates, had learned to divide
+their confused throngs into squadrons and companies, ranked under
+separate leaders, and now approached in what seemed well-ordered
+columns. Bunches of red and white feathers waved among their long
+locks, and ornamented their wickered shields; the short tunic of
+_nequen_, a coarse white cloth of the maguey, left their muscular and
+well-sculptured limbs free for action; and as they strode along,
+brandishing their swords of obsidian, (the _maquahuitl_,--a heavy
+bludgeon, armed on either side with blades of volcanic glass,) or
+whirling in their slings those missiles of hardened copper armed with
+sharp horns, which were capable of piercing the toughest armour,--and
+ever and anon, mingling their fierce cries with the savage sound of drum
+and flute, they made a show not more remarkable than glorious. At the
+head of each division, under his peculiar standard, (the image of some
+bird of prey, or wild beast, very gorgeously decorated,) marched each
+chieftain, with the great plume of distinction, or _penacho_, as it was
+called, rising full two feet above his head, and nodding with a more
+than barbarous magnificence. Thus appareled and thus displayed, they
+advanced to the head of the Christian army, and dividing on either side,
+so as to surround the Spanish host with a guard of honour, each
+individual, from the naked slinger to the feather-crowned chief, did
+homage to the Christian general, by touching the earth with his hand,
+and then kissing the humbled member; while at the same moment, a number
+of priests with black robes and hair trailing almost to the ground,
+waved certain pots of incense before him, as if to a demigod; a mark of
+distinction which they afterwards extended to the cavaliers that
+surrounded him. The religious ire of Don Amador de Leste was inflamed,
+when it became his turn to receive this fragrant compliment; and looking
+down fiercely upon the innocent censer-bearer, and somewhat forgetting
+that Castilian was not the language of the realm, he cried;--
+
+"What dost thou mean, thou pagan dog! to smoke me in this idolatrous
+manner, who am neither a god nor a saint?"
+
+"Señor," said De Morla, who sat at his side, "be not offended at this
+mark of reverence, which the customs of the country cause to be rendered
+to every man of dignity; and which is a harmless compliment, and no
+idolatrous homage, as was first thought among us. Thou wilt presently
+see them smoke their own generals and senatorial lawgivers, the last of
+whom thou mayest see yonder approaching us in a group;--those old men
+with the feather fans in their hands."
+
+As De Morla predicted, the priests were no sooner done smoking their
+Christian visiters, than they turned to do similar reverence to their
+own dignitaries; and Don Amador's concern was soon changed to admiration
+to behold with what lofty state these noble savages received the tribute
+due to their rank.
+
+"This fellow with the red plume, and the sword that seems heavy enough
+for a giant's battle-axe," he cried,--"the knave over whom they hold a
+great, white bird like an ostrich?--He must needs be a king! He bends to
+Cortes, like an emperor doing courtesy to some brother monarch."
+
+"That," said De Morla, "is Xicotencal, of the tribe of the White-Bird,
+the most famous general of the Tlascalans, and, in fact, the
+captain-in-chief of all their armies. He is not less valiant than
+famous, and not less arrogant than valiant; and at this moment, beshrew
+me, I think he would rather be knocking his bludgeon over our heads, out
+of pure love of war, than kissing his fingers in friendship. This is the
+man who commanded the armies which fought us on our first approach; and
+truly I may say, he fought us so well, that had he not been commanded by
+the senators, who are the civil rulers of Tlascala, to make peace with
+us, there is much suspicion we should have seen heaven sooner than the
+vale of Mexico. For, señor, after having supplied us with food, as
+scorning to be assisted in his victory by famine, which was somewhat
+pressing with us, he fell upon us to win it in person; and I must
+confess, as will be recorded in history, he quite broke and confounded,
+and would have utterly destroyed us, had it not been for a providential
+mutiny in his camp in the very midst of his triumph; whereby we had time
+to rally, and take advantage of his distresses. The same good fortune
+might have been his, another time, without so inconvenient an
+interruption. But it seems the senators of Tlascala only made war on us,
+to prove whether or not we were valiant men, and worthy to be received
+as their allies, according to our wish; which being now proved to their
+satisfaction, they ordered the war to be ended, and welcomed us as
+friends. There never were more valiant men than these soldiers of
+Tlascala."
+
+"Of a surety," said Don Amador, "I begin to think the captain Gomez of
+the caravel was somewhat mistaken as to the courage of these
+barbarians."
+
+"Thou seest the second chief,--he of the green penacho, with whom Cortes
+confers so very courteously! That is Talmeccahua, chief of the tribe
+Tizatlan, a very young warrior, but second in fame only to Xicotencal;
+and being more docile and friendly, he is much a favourite with our
+general, and doubtless will be selected to accompany us to the great
+city. Of those reverend old senators I could also give you an account;
+but we who are soldiers, care not for lawgivers. It is enough to assure
+you, that they are the rulers of Tlascala; and that though these proud
+people, the commoners, call themselves free republicans, they are to all
+intents and purposes the servants of many masters; a sort of freedom
+somewhat more questionable than that of a nation governed by one king.
+Thou seest, they kiss their hands to us, as we enter their city. For my
+part, I think them rogues to love us, their truest enemies, better than
+their domestic rivals, the people of Tenochtitlan. Wo betide them, who
+help us to conquer their foes, when their foes _are_ conquered!"
+
+As De Morla spoke, Don Amador found himself entering the city of
+Tlascala. Twilight had darkened over the hills, and in the obscurity,
+(for the moon had not yet risen) he perceived long masses of houses,
+not very lofty, but strong, on the terraced roofs of which stood many
+human beings, chiefly women and children, who waved a multitude of
+torches, and, as they sung what De Morla told him were songs of welcome,
+threw flowers down upon their guests.
+
+Flambeaux were also carried before them in the streets; and with this
+sort of pomp, they were ushered to a great building with extensive
+courts, sufficient to lodge the whole army, which was assigned them for
+their quarters.
+
+While the cannoniers were arranging the artillery, the officers of the
+guard choosing their watchmen, and preparations were made to hold a
+conference with the chiefs of the republic, the neophyte was invited by
+De Morla to accompany him to a pyramid on one of the four hills, whence,
+as he assured him, was a noble prospect of those huge mountains which
+separated them from the valley of Tenochtitlan. Don Amador looked about
+him for his kinsman. He had retired with the chaplain of the army, in
+some sudden disorder of spirit, for prayer or confession; and Don Amador
+sighed, as he bethought him that yearly, about the time of midsummer,
+the knight's disease seemed to reach its intensest point.
+
+"If thou couldst but sing to him that holy song of the Virgin, written
+many years back by the priest of Hita,
+
+    Quiero seguir á ti, Flor de las flores!"
+
+said Don Amador to the Moorish page, (for it was Jacinto who gave him
+this information,) "I have no doubt thou wouldst do him more good than
+the reverend father Olmedo; for, though I know not why it should be so,
+he ever seems to me more troubled than relieved by confession."
+
+"It was a song chanted the evening before that had thrown the knight's
+spirit into disorder; and Baltasar had commanded him never to sing
+again;" so said Jacinto.
+
+"Baltasar is an ass! though very zealous for his master," said the
+neophyte in a heat, "and thinks there is nothing comforts my kinsman's
+heart, save the clanging of swords and bucklers; whereas, I know very
+well, thy ditties are true medicine to him; and, with heaven's blessing,
+thou shall sing him very many more."
+
+"Let the boy follow with us," said De Morla: "I like his piping well;
+and methinks, if he have not forgotten that tender love-song about the
+Christian knight who adored a pagan Morisca, I can listen to it again
+with much good will, as I look towards the mountains of Montezuma."
+
+"I am loath to have him away, for perhaps my good knight may call for
+him when the confession is over; and there is something raw in this
+night air, that may be prejudicial to the youth."
+
+"_Yo seguiré á mi señor_--I will follow my master," said Jacinto, with
+simplicity. "My lord the knight bade me this night to remain by the side
+of my lord, lest some evil should happen to me among the infidels."
+
+"Take up thine instrument then," said the neophyte, "for thou seemest
+to-night to remain by me in good will; and I am ever glad to have thy
+foolish company, when such is the case. If thou wilt carry a torch also,
+'tis very well: 'twill be some half hour yet ere moonrise."
+
+The two cavaliers, followed by the page bearing a torch, as well as his
+lute, strode through the streets, which were still thronged with their
+savage allies, as in a gala-day, singing and shouting; many of whom,
+from affection or curiosity, seemed disposed to add themselves to the
+little party. Nevertheless, such inquisitive individuals were easily
+repelled by De Morla pointing in the direction he was pursuing, and
+pronouncing a few words in their language, the effect of which, as Don
+Amador observed, was always to check their ardour, and cover their
+visages, when these could be seen, with sadness and awe.
+
+"I tell them," said De Morla, in answer to the inquiries of the
+neophyte, "that we are going to the hill to look upon the
+fire-mountain, Popocatepetl; and why they are so stricken with
+superstition at the name, I will explain to thee when we reach the
+temple."
+
+The temple was soon reached. The city,--a congregation of cabins and
+rude stone dwellings, of vast size,--lying on the prolonged base of a
+great mountain, reared its principal sanctuaries on the spurs of this
+elevation, on the highest of which stood that consecrated to the god of
+the air. This was an earthen pyramid, huge and lofty, surmounted by
+towers such as Don Amador had seen at Zempoala. As the friends
+approached this, the deep silence that surrounded it was broken by the
+voices of men speaking vehemently in a strange tongue; and as they
+advanced, they beheld two or three figures glide behind the pyramid, as
+if to escape observation. This would not perhaps have attracted the
+notice of the neophyte, had not his companion exclaimed,--
+
+"Sidi, the cannonier, again! plotting his knaveries with the two Moorish
+slaves of Cortes! There is some villany in the wind: I have twice or
+thrice seen Abdalla in close conference with these two varlets, and he
+is often seen talking with his other countrymen that we have in the
+army. I will represent this matter to the general; for there can no good
+come of such secret proceedings.--I have all along distrusted that
+infidel cannonier to have some mischief in him."
+
+"Please my lord, my father is no infidel," said Jacinto, trembling,
+perhaps as much at his presumption in contradicting a noble hidalgo, as
+at the presumed danger of his parent,--"no infidel, but a Christian
+Moor; as the good padre Olmedo will witness to my lord."
+
+"Young page," said De Morla, pleasantly, "I should not have said so
+grievous a thing of thy father, but that I forgot thou wert in hearing.
+I will grant thee Abdalla to be a good Christian, if the padre say so;
+but, if thou art as much of a wit as a singer, tell me, how is it thy
+father is found so often skulking about by night, in company with the
+Moorish slaves, who are yet unbelievers, instead of resting with
+Christian soldiers?"
+
+"Though the Moors be slaves and Mahometans," said the page, with much of
+the submissiveness of his father, though recovering from his
+trepidation, "they were born in the same land with my father, and are
+his countrymen. As for the Christian soldiers, they will not forget,
+that though a Christian, he was born of the poor Moriscos: and, my lord
+knows, it is hard to rest with those who hate us."
+
+"I should give thee a ducat for thy argument," said De Morla,
+good-humouredly, "but that I know thou art so unsophisticated as to
+prefer sweet praise to gold; and I intend soon to bestow some of that
+upon thee. Thy oration has utterly persuaded me I have wronged Abdalla;
+in token of my penitence for which, I will relieve thee of the burthen
+of the torch, whilst thou art climbing up these steps, which are none of
+the smoothest nor shortest."
+
+"Take thou my hand, Jacinto," said the novice, benevolently; "for, as my
+friend says, these steps are indeed very rugged; and I am willing to
+show thee, that though thou art of Moorish blood, I myself do by no
+means either hate or despise thee."
+
+The page humbly and hesitatingly placed his hand in the grasp of Don
+Amador, and ascending at his side, soon stood on the summit of the
+pyramid.
+
+Here, besides two towers of stone that reared their lofty bulk over
+head, the novice perceived in advance of them, two great urns of rude
+workmanship, each apparently carved out of a solid block of stone, and
+each glowing with the remains of a fire not yet extinguished,--though no
+priests stood by, to guard and replenish them.--They had forsaken their
+altars, to join in the festivities of the evening.
+
+"Let us break these idolatrous censers!" said Don Amador, "for my blood
+boils to look upon them."
+
+"Nay," said the moderate De Morla, "let us wait for heaven's own time,
+as is strenuously advised by our wise and holy chaplain, who must know
+better than ourselves how to attack the impieties of the land. We have
+ever found these heathens more easily converted by gentle persuasions
+than by violent assaults on their prejudices; and father Olmedo has
+shown us how persecution strengthens instead of overturning an abused
+superstition. He has also proved to the satisfaction of most of us, that
+it is our bounden duty to subdue the arms of the pagans, and leave their
+faith to be conquered by the good priests who will follow in our
+path.--Turn, señor, from these pigmy vases to the great censers, which
+God has himself raised to his majesty!"
+
+As De Morla spoke, he turned from the altars, and Don Amador, following
+with his eyes the direction in which he pointed, beheld a spectacle
+which instantly drove from his mind the thought of the idolatrous urns.
+Far away in the south-west, at the distance of eight or ten leagues,
+among a mass of hills that upheld their brows in gloomy obscurity, a
+colossal cone elevated its majestic bulk to heaven, while the snows
+which invested its resplendent sides, glittered in the fires that
+crowned its summit. A pillar of smoke, of awful hue and volume, rose to
+an enormous altitude above its head, and then parting and spreading on
+either side through the serene heaven, lay still and solemn, like a
+funeral canopy, over its radiant pedestal. From the crater, out of which
+issued this portentous column, arose also, time by time, great flames
+with a sort of lambent playfulness, in strange and obvious contrast with
+their measureless mass and power; while ever and anon globes of fire,
+rushing up through the pillar of vapour, as through a transparent
+cylinder, burst at the top, and spangled the grim canopy with stars. No
+shock creeping through the earth, no heavy roar stealing along the
+atmosphere, attested the vigour of this sublime furnace; but all in
+silence and solemn tranquillity, the spectacle went on,--now darkling,
+now waxing temporarily into an oppressive splendour, as if for the
+amusement of those shadowy phantoms who seemed to sit in watch upon the
+neighbouring peaks.
+
+"This is indeed," said Don Amador, reverently; "if God should require an
+altar of fire, such a high place as might be meeter for his worship than
+any shrine raised by the hands of man. God is very great and powerful!
+The sight of such a spectacle doth humble me in mine own thoughts: for
+what is man, though full of vanity and arrogance, in the sight of Him
+who builds the fire-mountains?"
+
+"Padre Olmedo," said his companion, "will ask you, what is this
+fire-mountain, though to the eye so majestic, and to appearance so
+eternal, to the creeping thing whose spark of immortality will burn on,
+when the flames of yonder volcano are quenched forever?"
+
+"It is very true," said the neophyte, "the mountains burn away, the sea
+wastes itself into air, but the soul that God has given us consumes not.
+The life of the body passes away like these flames; the vitality that is
+in the spirit, is a gift that heaven has not extended to the stars!"
+
+"My friend," said De Morla, willing to pass to more interesting
+discussions, "will now perceive for what reason it was that the
+Tlascalans were dismayed and sorrowful when I pronounced the name of
+Popocatepetl. The name signifies the Mountain of Smoke; for this great
+chimney, though ever pouring forth dark vapours, has not often been
+known to kindle into flames. The present eruption, beginning about the
+time of our descent upon the coast, has ever since continued; and was
+considered to have heralded our appearance. The Tlascalans, though as
+securely fettered under the sway of their senators, as are the people of
+Anahuac under their kings, are, as I told thee, very intolerant of such
+chiefs as carry the open names of masters. Nay, so bitterly do they
+detest all tyrants, that they have constructed a fable, which they now
+believe as a truth,--namely, that the souls of such persons are
+concocted and elaborated among the flames of yonder awful crater;
+whence, at the times of eruptions, they are sent forth, in the shape of
+meteors and fire-balls, to afflict and desolate the world. The globes
+that fall back into the cavity, they think, are despots recalled by
+their relenting gods; whereas, those that fall beyond the brim and roll
+down the sides of the mountain, are tyrants let loose upon them without
+restraint. This being their belief, it may seem strange to you, they
+have conceived so preposterous an affection for ourselves, who are much
+liker to prove their tyrants than any of the lords of Anahuac; but yet,
+so savage is their detestation of these native kings, that, though
+nightly terrified with the spectacle of so many fiery tyrants flying
+through the air, they seem quite to have lost sight of the danger of
+entrusting their liberties to our care."
+
+"I hope," said Don Amador, "we have come to rid them of the bondage of
+idolatry, not to reduce them to a new slavery."
+
+"We will see that by-and-by," said De Morla. "We broke the chains of
+superstition in the islands, but we followed them with more galling
+fetters; and what better fate awaits the good Montezuma, is more than I
+can tell."
+
+"Dost thou call that savage emperor the good Montezuma?" demanded the
+novice.
+
+"I cannot do otherwise," said De Morla, mildly, "A thousand times might
+he have swept us from the face of the earth; for his armies are
+numberless. A grain of sand from the hand of each of his warriors, would
+have covered us with a mountain. But age has come to him with a disgust
+of blood; and all his actions have proved him rather a humane host than
+a barbarous destroyer. I must confess, we have repaid his gentleness and
+beneficence both with perfidy and cruelty; yet, notwithstanding all
+this, and notwithstanding that he is sorely afflicted by our harshness,
+such is the goodness of his heart, that he will not permit his people to
+do us any injury, nor, by any violence, rescue him out of our hands."
+
+"I have heard another story from Don Hernan," said Amador: "and, truly,
+I thought these ferocious assaults upon the garrison left with the señor
+Alvarado in the city, were proof enough of his deceitful malice."
+
+"I will not take upon me to contradict what is averred by Don Hernan,"
+said De Morla. "But, señor, we have had other representations of these
+tumults, by envoys from Montezuma himself, which, if Cortes had not
+refused to hear them, would have entirely changed the nature of our
+belief. I have myself spoken with these ambassadors," continued the
+young cavalier earnestly, "some of whom were sent to us at Zempoala, and
+others have met us at divers places since, though without being
+hearkened to,--and having no inducements to remain in a rage, like
+Cortes himself, I was very easily persuaded, to my shame, that the fault
+lay all on the side of the garrison.--Señor, for the sake of lucre, we
+have done many unjust things! We were received with all hospitality by
+Montezuma, the great lord of Tenochtitlan; he gave us a palace to live
+in, supplied us with food and raiment, and enriched us with many costly
+presents. We repaid all this kindness, by seizing him, in a moment of
+confidence, and conveying him to our dwelling, where we have kept him
+ever since a prisoner, forcing him, by the fear of death, to submit to
+many indignities unworthy his high rank and benevolent character; and
+once even forcing him to sit in chains and witness the cruel execution
+of some of his own officers for a certain crime in which he could have
+had no part. He forgave us this, as well as other insults, and, while we
+were absent against Zempoala, preserved his promise sacred, to remain in
+ward of Alvarado until our return. Now, señor, you shall hear the truth
+of the assault, of which so much is said by Cortes, as fully proving the
+iniquitous duplicity of the captive emperor. While we were gone, there
+occurred the anniversary of the great festival of Mexitli, the war-god,
+in which it is customary for all the nobles, arrayed in their richest
+attire, to dance on the terrace of the great pyramid, before the
+emperor. Alvarado, dreading lest such an assemblage of chiefs, heated,
+as we well knew them to be, on account of the imprisonment of their
+king, might encourage them to rescue him from his thrall, refused to let
+the _Mitotes_, (for so they call this ceremony,) be danced on the
+temple; and, at his invitation, the Tlatoani assembled in the court-yard
+of the palace which Montezuma gave us for our quarters; and here the
+rite began. Now, señor," continued De Morla, speaking indignantly, "you
+will blush to hear, that our Christian garrison were so inflamed with
+cupidity at the sight of the rich and precious jewels, with which their
+guests were decorated, that they resolved to possess them, though at the
+cost of blood-guiltiness; and falling upon these poor unsuspicious and
+unarmed revellers, when wearied with the dance, and calling out
+'_Treason!_' as if to justify themselves, though there was no treason,
+except that in their own hearts, they butchered all that could not leap
+the high walls, and rifled the corses, even in the sight of the emperor.
+This, as you may well believe, excited the people to fury, and drove
+them to vengeance. They assaulted the palace, killed many of the
+perfidious garrison, and would have destroyed all, but that Montezuma,
+whom they call the traitor and murderer, moved by the intreaties and
+excuses of Alvarado, commanded them to retire; and such are their love
+and subjection to this monarch, that they instantly obeyed him, and have
+remained in peace ever since, waiting the return and the judgment of Don
+Hernan.--And Don Hernan will doubtless command us to give them justice,
+by slaying as many as shall dare to demand it."
+
+"By heaven!" said Don Amador, "if this be the truth, there are more
+barbarians than those who worship pagan idols; and I vow to God, if I
+find thy narrative well confirmed, I will draw no sword, not even at the
+bidding of my knight Calavar, on the people of Tenochtitlan. Were I even
+sworn, like a vowed knight of Rhodes, to keep no peace with the
+infidel, I could not fight in an unjust cause."
+
+"I am glad to hear you say so," said De Morla, frankly; "for I have
+often, ever since I have been assured of the friendly and docile
+character of the Mexicans, been persuaded it would be wiser, as well as
+juster, to teach them than to destroy. Your favour will find the nobles
+very civilized; and surely their daughters, if converted to the true
+faith, would make more honourable wives for Spanish hidalgos than the
+Moorish ladies of our own land."
+
+A sigh came from the lips of Jacinto, as he heard this narrative, to
+which he had listened with boyish interest, terminated with a slur so
+degrading to his people. But his mortification was appeased by Don
+Amador, exclaiming with great emphasis,--
+
+"That these Mexican princesses may make very good wives, when true
+Christians, I can well believe; but I have my doubts whether they have
+any such superiority over the Moorish ladies of Granada, who possess the
+religion of Christ. I have, once or twice, known very noble Moriscas,
+honoured among the wives of Granada as much as those who boasted the
+pure blood of Castile; and for myself, without pretending to say I shall
+ever condescend to such a marriage, I may aver, that I have seen at
+least one fair maiden, and she of no very royal descent, whom,--that is,
+if I had loved her,--I should not have scorned to wed. But these things
+go by fate: a Christian Moor is perhaps as much regarded by heaven as a
+Christian Spaniard; and surely there are some of them very lovely to
+look on, and with most angelical eyes!"
+
+The gentle cavalier smiled in his own conceits, as he listened to the
+argument of his friend; but, without answering it, he said,--
+
+"While we have the authority of the Cid Ramon of Leon before our eyes, I
+am much disposed to agree with Don Amador; for the Cid adored an
+infidel, and why should not we love proselytes? Come, now, my pretty
+page: of all thy ballads, I like best that which treats of the loves of
+Cid Ramon; and if thou hast not forgotten it, I shall rejoice to hear
+thee chant it once more, while we sit under the tower and gaze on the
+fire-mountain, that looks down on Mexico."
+
+The boy agreed with unusual alacrity, and sitting down at the feet of
+the cavaliers, on the flags that surrounded the sanctuary, with the
+torch stuck in the earth near him, he tuned his instrument with a
+willing hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+Lighted not more by the torch at his feet than by the flames that
+crested the distant mountain, the Moorish boy struck the lute with a
+skilful touch, whispered, rather than wailed, the little burthen that
+kept alive the memory of the Alhambra, and then sang the following
+Romance;--a ballad that evidently relates to the fate of Mohammed
+Almosstadir, king of Seville, dethroned by the famous Yussef ben Taxfin,
+Emir of Morocco. In the wars of the Moorish kings of Spain with Alfonso
+VI. of Leon, about the year 1090, the Christian monarch prevailing, his
+infidel enemies invited Yussef to their assistance. The emir obeyed the
+call; but having fought one or two battles with Alfonso, contented
+himself with turning his arms on his confederates, and dethroning
+them,--Mohammed Almosstadir among the number. It is recorded, that his
+chivalrous enemy, the king Alfonso, moved by the distresses of Mohammed,
+sent an army of twenty thousand men to assist him against Yussef; but in
+the obscurity of the historic legends of that day, nothing can be
+discovered in relation to the devout condition of "kissing the cross,"
+nor, indeed, of the name or fate of the leader of the Spanish army. We
+should know nothing of the good Cid, but for the ballad, which was
+doubtless of very antique origin; though the simple burthen, _Me acuerdo
+de ti, Granada_! commemorative of the fall of the Moorish city, must
+have been added four hundred years after; perhaps by the singer from
+whom Jacinto had learned it.
+
+          ROMANCE OF CID RAMON.
+
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+    Cid Ramon spurr'd his good steed fast,
+      His thousand score were near;
+    And from Sevilla's walls aghast,
+      The watchmen fled with fear:
+    For Afric's Emir lay around,
+      The town was leaguer'd sore,
+    And king Mohammed wept with shame
+      To be a king no more.
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    The Emir's powers were round and nigh,
+      Like locusts on the sward;
+    And when Cid Ramon spurr'd his steed,
+      They struck him fast and hard.
+    "But," quoth the Cid, "a knight am I,
+      With crucifix and spear;
+    And for Mohammed ride I on,
+      And for his daughter dear."--
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Cheer up, dark king, and wail no more,
+      Let tears no longer flow;
+    Of Christian men a thousand score
+      Have I to smite thy foe.
+    The king Alfonso greets thee well:
+      Kiss thou the cross, and pray;
+    And ere thou say'st the Ave o'er,
+      The Emir I will slay."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Or let the African be slain,
+      Or let the Emir slay,
+    I will not kiss the cross of Christ,
+      Nor to his Mother pray.
+    A camel-driver will I live,
+      With Yussef for my lord,
+    Or ere I kiss the Christian's cross,
+      To win the Christian's sword."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Mohammed, now thou griev'st me much--
+      Alfonso is my king:
+    But let Suleya kiss the cross,
+      And let her wear the ring.
+    The crucifix the bride shall bear,
+      Her lord shall couch the spear;
+    And still I'll smite thy foe for thee,
+      And for thy daughter dear."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    Then up Suleya rose, and spoke,--
+      "I love Cid Ramon well;
+    But not to win his heart or sword,
+      Will I my faith compel.
+    With Yussef, cruel though he be,
+      A bond-maid will I rove,
+    Or ere I kiss the Christian's cross,
+      To win the Christian's love."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Suleya! now thou griev'st me much--
+      A thousand score have I;
+    But, saving for a Christian's life,
+      They dare not strike or die.
+    Alfonso is my king, and thus
+      Commands my king to me:
+    But, for that Christian, _all_ shall strike,
+      If my true love she be."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Ill loves the love, who, ere he loves,
+      Demands a sacrifice:
+    Who serves myself, must serve my sire,
+      And serve without a price.
+    Let Yussef come with sword and spear,
+      To fetter and to rend;
+    I choose me yet a Moorish foe
+      Before a Christian friend!"--
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Ill loves the love, who pins his love
+      Upon a point of creed;
+    And balances in selfish doubt,
+      At such a time of need.
+    His heart is loosed, his hands untied,
+      And he shall yet be free
+    To wear the cross, and break the ring,
+      Who will not die for me!"
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    The Emir's cry went up to heaven:
+      Cid Ramon rode away--
+    "Ye may not fight, my thousand score,
+      For Christian friend to-day.
+
+    But tell the king, I bide his hest,
+      Albeit my heart be sore;
+    Of all his troops, I give but _one_
+      To perish for the Moor."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    The Emir's cry went up to heaven;
+      His howling hosts came on;
+    Down fell Sevilla's tottering walls,--
+      The thousand score were gone.
+    And at the palace-gate, in blood,
+      The Arab Emir raves;
+    He sat upon Mohammed's throne,
+      And look'd upon his slaves.
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "The lives of all that faithful be,
+      This good day, will I spare;
+    But wo betide or kings or boors,
+      That currish Christians are!"--
+    Up rode Cid Ramon bleeding fast;
+      The princess wept to see;--
+    "No cross was kiss'd, no prayer was said,
+      But still I die for thee!"
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    The Moorish maid she kiss'd the cross,
+      She knelt upon her knee;--
+    "I kiss the cross, I say the prayer,
+      Because thou diest for me.
+    To buy thy thousand score of swords,
+      I would not give my faith;
+    But now I take the good cross up,
+      To follow thee in death."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Holy Maria! Come to us,
+      And take us to the blest;
+    In the true blood of love and faith,
+      Receive us to thy rest!"--
+    The Emir struck in bitter wrath,
+      Sharp fell the Arab blade;
+    And Mary took the Cid to heaven,
+      And bless'd the Christian maid.
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+"I like that ballad well," said De Morla, with a pensive sigh, when the
+singer had finished, "and, to my thought, no handsome maiden, though
+such always makes the best ballad-singer, could have trolled it with a
+more tender and loving accent than Jacinto. 'The Moorish maid,'" he
+continued, humming the words in a sentimental manner,--
+
+    "The Moorish maid she kiss'd the cross,
+    She knelt upon her knee.--
+
+To my mind, it would read better, if we could say, 'The Mexican maid.'--
+
+    The Mexican maid she kiss'd the cross--
+
+But, pho upon it! that spoils the metre.--Is it not thy opinion, señor,
+the princess Suleya would have shown more true love as well as wisdom,
+to have kissed the cross _before_ the Cid came to his death-gasp?"
+
+"By my faith, I cannot doubt it," said Don Amador; "yet, considering
+that she avowed herself a proselyte, when the sword of that accursed
+Emir was suspended over her head, and so provoked and endured the death
+of a martyr for Don Ramon's sake, it must be acknowledged she acted as
+became a loving and truly devout lady. But what I chiefly esteem in
+this ditty, is the magnanimous art with which the Cid Ramon both
+preserved his faith to his king, and devoted himself to death for his
+mistress,--a reconciliation of duties which some might have considered
+impracticable, or, at least, highly objectionable."
+
+"Amigo querido mio," cried De Morla, grasping the neophyte's hand, and
+speaking with a voice half comical, half serious, "if thou livest a
+hundred years longer than myself, thou wilt hear some such mournful
+madrigal as this sung in memory of my foolish self; only that, in place
+of a Moorish Infanta, thou wilt hear the name of a Mexican princess; and
+Minnapotzin will doubtless be immortalized along with De Morla."
+
+"Minnapotzin!" exclaimed Don Amador, with a stare rendered visible
+enough by the distant flashings of the volcano. "I swear to thee, my
+brother, I understand not a word thou art saying!"
+
+"To make the matter clear to thee then," said De Morla, with forced
+gayety, "conceive me for a moment to be the Cid of whom we have been
+singing; and imagine my Suleya to be wandering by the lake side in the
+figure of a certain Minnapotzin, received to our holy faith under the
+name of Doña Benita,--a princess among these poor barbarians."
+
+"Dost thou indeed love one of these strange maidens, then?--and is she
+baptized in our holy faith?" demanded Don Amador, with much interest.
+"If she be worthy of thee, Francisco, I pray heaven to make thee happy
+with her."
+
+"Now, may I die!" cried De Morla, grasping Don Amador's hand warmly, "if
+I did not fear thou wouldst either censure or laugh at me,--or perhaps
+turn thy ridicule upon Benita,--a wrong I never could have forgiven
+thee. For I protest to thee, there is no such gentle and divine being in
+all the world beside. I make thee my confidant, hermano mio, because I
+shall have much need of thy friendship and counsel; for though I come
+not, like Cid Ramon, with 'a thousand score' to rescue her pagan
+father, sure am I, I cannot love the princess, and yet be blind to the
+miseries of the king."
+
+"Assuredly," said Don Amador, "I will aid thee, and, for thy sake, both
+the fair princess and her unconverted sire, wherever, in so doing, I may
+not oppose my allegiance and religion."
+
+"I will not claim any sacrifice," said De Morla, "unless so much as will
+rob thee of thy prejudices against this deluded people. In fact, I
+desire thee more as a confidant, than as an abettor; for there is
+nothing to oppose my happiness, saving the present uncertainty of the
+relations betwixt ourselves and the Mexicans. Minnapotzin is a
+Christian;--I dare be sworn, the Cid was not better beloved than
+myself;--and Cortes hath himself promised to ask the consent of our
+Christian king to the marriage, as soon as Montezuma has properly
+confirmed his vassalage. No, there is nothing to oppose me," continued
+De Morla, with a sudden sadness, "saving only this uncertainty I have
+spoken of,--and the darkness that hangs over my own destiny."
+
+"I vow to thee, I am as much in the dark as before," said Don Amador.
+
+"In good faith, my friend," said the young cavalier, with a faint smile,
+"it is promised me, I shall die very much like Don Ramon. Did I never
+tell thee what Botello hath prophesied?"
+
+"Not a jot," said the neophyte. "But I trust thou puttest no faith in
+that worthy madman?"
+
+"How can I help it?" said De Morla, seriously. "He has foretold nothing
+that has not been accomplished, from the quarrel of Cortes with the
+Adelantado Velasquez, even to the fall of Zempoala."
+
+"I have reflected on this prediction with regard to Zempoala, as well as
+all others whereof I have heard," said the neophyte, with a sagacious
+nod, "and I have settled in mine own mind that there is nothing in them
+beyond the operation of a certain cunning, mingled with a boldness which
+will hazard any thing in prognostic. Much credit is given to Botello
+for having, as I am informed, predicted, even before the embarkation of
+Cortes, the rupture between him and his governor that afterwards ensued.
+Now, any man, acquainted with the unreasonable rashness and hot jealousy
+of the governor, might have foretold a quarrel; and I see not how it
+could have been otherwise. So also, as I may say, I did myself, in a
+manner, foretell the disaster of Narvaez, as soon as I perceived his
+foolish negligence, in choosing rather to divert his soldiers with
+legerdemain dances than to set them about his city as sentinels. The
+victory comes not to the indiscreet general."
+
+"All this might have been conjectured, but not with so many surprising
+particulars," said the cavalier. "How could Botello have predicted,
+that, though Narvaez should sally out against us, no blow should be
+struck by daylight?"
+
+"Marry, I know not; unless upon a conviction that Cortes was too wise to
+meet his enemy on the plain; and from a personal assurance, that the
+rocks wherein the general had pitched his camp, were utterly
+unassailable."
+
+"How could he have guessed that flames should drive the Biscayan from
+the tower?"
+
+"Did he guess that, indeed?" said the neophyte, staring. "He could not
+have known that; for the brand was thrown by mine own rogue Lazaro, who,
+I know, was not his confederate."
+
+"How could he have averred that Narvaez should lose his eye, and come
+blindfold to his conqueror?"
+
+"Is it very certain Botello foretold _that_?" demanded Don Amador, his
+incredulity shaking.
+
+"The señor Duero was present, as well as several other honourable
+cavaliers, and all confirm the story," said De Morla. "Nay, I could give
+thee a thousand instances of the marvellous truths he has spoken; and so
+well is Cortes convinced of his singular faculty, that he will do no
+deed of importance, without first consulting the magician."
+
+"When my head is very cool," said Amador, musingly, "I find no
+difficulty to persuade myself that the existence of the faculty of
+soothsaying is incredible, because subversive of many of the wise
+provisions of nature; yet I will not take upon me to contradict what I
+do not know. And surely also, I may confess, I have heard of certain
+wonderful predictions made by astrologers, which are very difficult to
+be explained, unless by admission of their powers."
+
+"What Botello has said to me," said De Morla, with a hurried voice, "has
+been in part fulfilled, though spoken in obscure figures. He told me,
+long since, that I should be reduced to bondage, 'at such time as I
+should behold a Christian cross hanging under a pagan crown.' This I
+esteemed a matter for mirth; 'for how,' said I, 'shall I find a pagan
+wearing a crucifix? and how shall I submit to be a captive among strange
+and cruel idolaters, when I have the power to die fighting?' But I have
+seen the cross on the bosom of one who wears the gold coronet of a
+king's daughter; and now I know that my heart is in slavery!"
+
+Don Amador pondered over this annunciation; but while he deliberated,
+his friend continued,--
+
+"When Botello told me this, he added other things,--not many but
+dark,--to wit, as I understood it, 'that I should perish miserably with
+my enslaver,' and, what is still more remarkable, with an infidel priest
+to say the mass over my body! Señor, these things are uncomfortable to
+think on; but I vow to heaven, if I am to die in the arms of
+Minnapotzin, I shall perish full as happily as did Cid Ramon in the
+embraces of Suleya!"
+
+De Morla concluded his singular story with a degree of excitement and
+wildness that greatly confounded Don Amador; and before the neophyte
+could summon up arguments enough to reply, a voice from the bottom of
+the pyramid was heard pronouncing certain words, in a tongue entirely
+unknown to him, but among which he thought he recognised the name of
+Minnapotzin. He was not mistaken. De Morla started, saying, hastily,--
+
+"I am called, señor. This is the voice of one of the envoys of
+Montezuma, with whom I have certain things to say concerning Doña
+Benita. I will return to thee in an instant." And so saying, he
+descended the stairs of the mound, and was straightway out of sight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+The moon had now risen, and was mingling her lustre with the blaze of
+the volcano. The shouts of revelry came less frequently from the city,
+and, one by one, the torches vanished from the house-tops and the
+streets. A pleasant quiet surrounded the deserted temple; a few embers,
+only, glowed in the sacred urns; but the combined light of the luminary
+and the mountain covered the terrace with radiance, and fully revealed
+the few objects which gave it the interest of life. In this light, as
+Don Amador turned to his youthful companion, he beheld the eyes of the
+page suffused with tears.
+
+"How is it, Jacinto?--What ails thee?" he cried. "I vow to heaven, I am
+as much concerned at thy silly griefs, as though thou wert mine own
+little brother Rosario, who is now saying his prayers at Cuenza. Art
+thou weary? I will immediately conduct thee to our quarters. Is there
+any thing that troubles thee? Thou shouldst make me thy confidant; for
+surely I love thee well."
+
+"Señor mio! I am not weary, and I am not grieved," said the stripling,
+with simplicity, as the good-natured cavalier took him by the hand, to
+give him comfort. "I wept for pity of the good Don Francisco and the
+poor Minnapotzin; for surely it is a pity if they must die!"
+
+"Thou art a silly youth to lament for evils that have not yet happened,"
+said Amador.
+
+"But besides, señor," said the page, "when Don Francisco made me sad, I
+looked at the moon, and I thought how it was rising on my country!"
+
+"It is now in the very noon of night, both in thy land and mine," said
+the neophyte, touched by the simple expression, and leading the boy
+where the planet could be seen without obstruction;--"it is now midnight
+over Fez, as well as Castile; and, perhaps, some of our friends, in both
+lands, are regarding this luminary, at this moment, and thinking of
+_us_."
+
+The page sighed deeply and painfully:
+
+"I have no friends,--no, neither in Fez nor in Spain," he said; "and,
+save my father, my master, and my good lord, none here. There is none of
+my people left, but my father; and we are alone together!"
+
+"Say not, alone," said Amador, with still more kindness,--for as Jacinto
+made this confession of his destitute condition, the tears fell fast and
+bitterly from his eyes. "Say not, alone; for, I repeat to thee, I have
+come, I know not by what fascination, to love thee as well as if thou
+wert my own little brother; and there shall no wrong come to thee, or
+thy father, while I live to be thy friend."
+
+Jacinto kissed the hand of the cavalier, and said,--
+
+"I did not cry for sorrow, but only for thinking of my country."
+
+"Thou shouldst think no more of Fez; for its people are infidels, and
+thou a Christian."
+
+"I thought of Granada,--for that is the land of Christians; and I longed
+to be among the mountains where my mother was born."
+
+"Thou shalt live there yet, if God be merciful to us," said the
+cavalier: "for when there is peace in this barbarous clime, I will take
+thee thither for a playmate to Rosario. But now that we are here alone,
+let us sit by the tower, and while I grow melancholy, bethinking me of
+that same land of Granada, which I very much love, I will have thee sing
+me some other pretty ballad of the love of a Christian knight for a
+Moorish lady;--or I care not if thou repeat the romance of the Cid: I
+like it well--'Me acuerdo de ti'--'me acuerdo de ti'--" And the
+neophyte seemed, while he murmured over the burthen, as if about to
+imitate the pensiveness of De Morla.
+
+"If my lord choose," said the page, "I would rather tell him a story of
+Granada, which is about a Christian cavalier, very noble and brave, and
+a Christian Morisca, that loved him."
+
+"A Christian Morisca!" said Amador; "and she loved the cavalier?--I will
+hear that story. And it happened in Granada too?"
+
+"In one of the Moorish towns, but not in the royal city.--It was in the
+town Almeria."
+
+"In the town Almeria!" echoed Amador, eagerly. "Thou canst tell me
+nothing of Almeria that will not give me both pain and pleasure, for
+therein--But pho! a word doth fill the brain with memories!--Is it an
+ancient story?"
+
+"Not very ancient, please my lord: it happened since the fall of
+Granada."
+
+"It is strange that I never heard it, then; for I dwelt full two months
+in this same town; and 'tis not yet forty years since the siege."
+
+"Perhaps it is not _true_," said the stripling, innocently; "and, at the
+best, 'tis not remarkable enough to have many repeaters. 'Tis a very
+foolish story."
+
+"Nevertheless, I am impatient to hear it."
+
+"There lived in that town," said Jacinto, "a Moorish orphan--"
+
+"A girl?" demanded the neophyte.
+
+"A Moorish maiden,--of so obscure a birth, that she knew not even the
+name that had been borne by her parents; but nevertheless, señor, her
+parents, as was afterwards found out, were of the noblest blood of
+Granada. She was protected and reared in the family of a benevolent
+lady, who, being descended of a Moorish parent, looked with pity on the
+poor orphan of the race of her mother. When this maiden was yet in her
+very early youth, there came a noble cavalier of Castile--"
+
+"A Castilian!" demanded Don Amador, with extraordinary vivacity,--"Art
+thou a conjurer?--What was his name?"
+
+"I know not," said Jacinto.
+
+"Thou learnest thy stories, then, only by the half," said the neophyte,
+with a degree of displeasure that amazed the youth. "And, doubtless,
+thou wert forgetful also to acquire the name of the Moorish orphan?"
+
+"Señor," said the page, discomposed at the heated manner of his patron,
+"the Moorish maiden was called Leila."
+
+"Leila!" cried the neophyte, starting to his feet, and seizing Jacinto
+by the arm--"Canst thou tell me aught of Leila?"
+
+"Señor!" murmured Jacinto, in affright.
+
+"Leila, the Morisca, in the house of the señora Doña Maria de
+Montefuerte!" exclaimed Don Amador, wildly. "Dost thou know of her fate?
+Did she sleep under the surges of the bay? Was she ravished away by
+those exile dogs of the mountains?--Now, by heaven, if thou canst tell
+me any thing of that Moorish maid, I will make thee richer than the
+richest Moor of Granada!"
+
+At this moment, while Jacinto, speechless with terror, gazed on his
+patron, as doubting if his senses had not deserted him, a step rung on
+the earth of the terrace, and De Morla stood at his side.
+
+The voice of his friend recalled the bewildered wits of the neophyte; he
+stared at Jacinto, and at De Morla; a deep hue of shame and confusion
+flushed over his brow; and perceiving that his violence had again thrown
+the page into tears, he kissed him benevolently on the forehead, and
+said, as tranquilly as he could,--
+
+"A word will make fools of the wisest! I think I was dreaming, while
+thou wert at thy story. Be not affrighted, Jacinto: I meant not to scold
+thee--I was disturbed.--Next--next," he added, with a grievous shudder,
+"I shall be as mad as my kinsman!"
+
+"My brother! I am surprised to see thee in this emotion," said De
+Morla.
+
+"It is nothing," responded Amador, hastily and gloomily: "I fear there
+is a natural infirmity in the brains of all my family. I was moved, by
+an idle story of Jacinto, into the recollection of a certain sorrowful
+event, which, one day, perhaps, I will relate to thee.--But let us
+return to our quarters.--The air comes down chilly from the
+mountains--It is time we were sleeping."
+
+The friends retired from the temple, leaving the torch sticking in the
+platform; for the moon was now so high as to afford a better
+illumination. They parted at the quarters; but Don Amador, after
+satisfying himself that the knight of Rhodes was slumbering on his
+pallet, drew Jacinto aside to question him further of the orphan of
+Almeria. His solicitude was, however, doomed to a disappointment; the
+page was evidently impressed with the fear, that Don Amador was not
+without some of the weakness of Calavar; and adroitly, though with great
+embarrassment, avoided exciting him further.
+
+"It is a foolish story, and I am sorry it displeased my lord," said he,
+when commanded to continue the narrative.
+
+"It displeased me not--I knew a Moorish maid of that name in Almeria,
+who was also protected by a Christian lady; and, what was most
+remarkable, this Christian lady was of Moorish descent, like her of whom
+thou wert speaking; and, like the Leila of _thy_ story, the Leila of my
+own memory vanished away from the town before----"
+
+"Señor," cried Jacinto, "I did not say she vanished away from Almeria:
+_that_ did not belong to the story."
+
+"Ay, indeed! is it so? Heaven guard my wits! what made me think it?--And
+thy Leila lived in Almeria very recently?"
+
+"Perhaps ten or fifteen years ago----"
+
+"Pho!--Into what folly may not an ungoverned fancy lead us?--Ten or
+fifteen years ago!--And thou never heardst of the Leila that dwelt in
+that town within a twelve-month?"
+
+"_I_, señor?" cried Jacinto, with surprise.
+
+"True--how is it possible thou couldst?--Thou hast, this night, stirred
+me as by magic. I know not by what sorcery thou couldst hit upon that
+name!"
+
+"It was the name of the lady," said Jacinto, innocently.
+
+"Ay, to be sure!--There is one Mary in heaven, and a thousand on
+earth--why should there not be many Leilas?--Did I speak harshly to
+thee, Jacinto? Thou shouldst not kiss my hand, if I did; for no
+impatience or grief could excuse wrath to one so gentle and unoffending.
+Good night--get thee to thy bed, and forget not to say thy prayers."
+
+So saying, and in such disorder of spirits as the page had never before
+witnessed in him, Don Amador retired.
+
+Jacinto was left standing in a narrow passage, or corridor, on which
+opened a long row of chambers with curtained doors, wherein slept the
+soldiers, crowded thickly together. In the gallery, also, at a distance,
+lay several dusky lumps, which, by the gleaming of armour about them,
+were seen to be the bodies of soldiers stretched fast asleep. As the boy
+turned to retire in the direction of the open portal, it was darkened by
+the figure of a man, entering with a cautious and most stealthy step. He
+approached, and by his voice, (for there was not light enough yielded by
+the few flambeaux stuck against the wall, to distinguish features,)
+Jacinto recognised his father.
+
+"I sought thee, my child!" he whispered, "and saw thee returning with
+the hidalgos.--The watchmen sleep as well as the cannoniers.--It is as I
+told thee--art thou ready?"
+
+"Dear father!"--stammered the page.
+
+"Speak not above thy breath!--The curs, that are hungering after the
+blood of the betrayed Mexicans, would not scorn to blunt their appetites
+on the flesh of the Moor. Have thyself in readiness at a moment's
+warning: Our destinies are written--God will not always frown upon us!"
+
+"Dear father!" muttered Jacinto, "we are of the Spaniards' faith, and we
+will go back to our country."
+
+"It cannot be!--never can it be!" said Abdalla, in tones that were not
+the less impressive for being uttered in a whisper. "The hills of thy
+childhood, the rivers of thy love--they are passed away from
+thee;--think of them no more;--never more shalt thou see them! In the
+land of barbarians, heaven has willed that we should live and die; and
+be thou reconciled to thy fate, for it shall be glorious! We live not
+for ourselves; God brings us hither, and for great ends! To night, did
+I--Hah!"--(One of the sleepers stirred in the passage.)--"Seek some
+occasion to speak with me, to-morrow, on the march," whispered Abdalla
+in the page's ear; and then, with a gesture for silence, he immediately
+retired.
+
+"_Fuego! Quien pasea alli?_" grumbled the voice of Lazaro, as he raised
+his head from the floor. "_Fu! el muchacho!_--I am ever dreaming of that
+cursed Turk, that was at my weasand, when Baltasar brained him with the
+boll of his cross-bow. _Laus tibi, Christe!_--I have a throat left for
+snoring." And comforting himself with this assurance, before Jacinto had
+yet vanished from the passage, the man-at-arms again slumbered on his
+mat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+In the prosecution of his purpose, our historian, the worthy Don
+Cristobal Ixtlilxochitl, though ever adhering to his 'neglected
+cavaliers' with a generous constancy, is sometimes seduced into the
+description of events and scenes of a more general character, not very
+necessarily connected with his main object, and which those very authors
+whom he censures, have made the themes of much prolix writing. The
+difficulties that beset an historian are ever very great; nor is the
+least of them found in the necessity of determinating how much, or _how
+little_, he is called upon to record; for though it seems but reasonable
+he should take it for granted that his readers are entirely unacquainted
+with the matters he is narrating, and therefore that he should say all
+that can be said, this is a point in which all readers will not entirely
+agree with him. Those who have acquired a smattering of his subject,
+will be offended, if he presume to reinstruct them. For our own part,
+not recognizing the right of the ignorant to be gratified at the expense
+of the more learned, we have studied as much as is possible, so to
+curtail the exuberances of our original as to present his readers
+chiefly with what they cannot know; for which reason, it will be found,
+we have eschewed many of the memorable incidents of this famous
+campaign, in which none of the neglected conquerors bore a considerable
+part; as well as all those minute descriptions which retard the progress
+of the history. We therefore despatch in a word the glories of the
+morning that dawned over Tlascala, the gathering together of the
+Spaniards, who, upon review, were found to muster full thirteen hundred
+men, and their savage allies, two thousand in number, commanded, as had
+been anticipated, by Talmeccahua of the tribe Tizatlan.
+
+Amid the roar of trumpets and drums, and the shouts of a vast people,
+the glittering and feathered army departed from Tlascala, and pursuing
+its way through those rich savannas covered with the smiling corn and
+the juicy aloe, which had gained for this valley its name of the Land of
+Bread, proceeded onwards towards the holy city, Cholula.
+
+What rocky plains were crossed and what rough sierras surmounted, it
+needs not to detail: before night-fall, the whole army moved over the
+meadows that environ Cholula; and there, where now the traveller sees
+naught but a few wretched natives squatting among their earthen cabins,
+the adventurers beheld a city of great size, with more than four hundred
+lofty white towers shining over its spacious dwellings. The magnificent
+mountains that surrounded it--the sublime Popocatepetl, still breathing
+forth its lurid vapours,--the forbidding Iztaccihuatl, or the White
+Woman, looking like the shattered ruins of some fallen planet, vainly
+concealing their deformities under a vestment of snow,--the sharp and
+serrated Malinche,--and last (and seen with not the less interest that
+it intercepted the view towards home,)--the kingly Orizaba, looking
+peaceful and grand in the east,--made up such a wall of beauty and
+splendour as does not often confine the valleys of men. But there is one
+mountain in that singular scene, which human beings will regard with
+even more interest than those peaks which soar so many weary fathoms
+above it: the stupendous Teocalli--the _Monte hecho á manos_, (for it
+was piled up by the hands of human beings,)--reared its huge bulk over
+the plain; and, while looking on the stately cypresses that shadowed its
+gloomy summit, men dreamed, as they dream yet, of the nations who raised
+so astonishing an evidence of their power, without leaving any
+revealment of their fate. Whence came they? whither went they? From the
+shadows--back to the shadows.--The farce of ambition, the tragedy of
+war, so many thousand times repeated in the three great theatres that
+divided the old world, were performed with the same ceremonies of guilt
+and misery, with the same glory and the same shame, in a fourth, of
+which knowledge had not dreamed. The same superstitions which heaped up
+the pyramids and the Parthenon, were at work on the Teocallis of
+America; and the same pride which built a Babylon to defy the assaults
+of time, gave to his mouldering grasp the tombs and the palaces of
+Palenque. The people of Tenochtitlan and Cholula worshipped their
+ancient gods among the ruined altars of an older superstition.
+
+Great crowds issued from this city--the Mecca of Anahuac--to witness
+the approach of the Spaniards; but although they bore the same features,
+and the same decorations, though perhaps of a better material, with the
+Tlascalans, it was observed by Don Amador, that they displayed none of
+the joy and triumph, with which his countrymen had been ushered into
+Tlascala. In place of these, their countenances expressed a dull
+curiosity; and though they kissed the earth and flung the incense, as
+usual, in their manner of salutation, they seemed impelled to these
+ceremonies more by fear than affection. He remarked also with some
+surprise, that when they came to extend their compliments to the
+allies,--the Tlascalans, from their chief down to the meanest warrior,
+requited them only with frowns. All these peculiarities were explained
+to him by De Morla:
+
+"In ancient days," said the cavalier, "the Cholulans were a nation of
+republicans, like the Tlascalans, and united with them in a fraternal
+league against their common enemies, the Mexicans. In course of time,
+however, the people of the holy city were gained over by the bribes or
+promises of the foe; and entering into a secret treaty, they obeyed its
+provisions so well, as to throw off the mask on the occasion of a great
+battle, wherein they perfidiously turned against their friends, and,
+aided by the Mexicans, defeated them with great slaughter. From that
+day, they have remained the true vassals of Mexico; and, from that day,
+the Tlascalans have not ceased to regard them with the most deadly and
+unrelenting hatred."
+
+"The hatred is just; and I marvel they do not fall upon these base
+knaves forthwith!" said Amador.
+
+"It is the command of Don Hernan, that Tlascala shall now preserve her
+wrath for Tenochtitlan; and such is his influence, that, though he
+cannot allay the heart-burnings, yet can he, with a word, restrain the
+hands of his allies. Concerning the gloomy indifference of these
+people," continued De Morla, "as now manifested, it needs only to inform
+you how we discovered, or, rather, (for I will not afflict you with the
+details,) how we punished a similar treachery, wherein they meditated
+our own destruction, more than half a year ago, when we entered their
+town, on our march to Mexico. Having discovered their plot to destroy
+us, we met them with a perfidious craft which might have been rendered
+excusable by their own, had we, like them, been demi-barbarians; but
+which, as we are really civilized and Christian men, I cannot help
+esteeming both dishonest and atrocious. We assembled their nobles and
+priests in the court of the building we occupied; and having closed the
+gates, and charged them once or twice with their guilt, we fell upon
+them; and some of them having escaped and roused the citizens, we
+carried the war into the streets, and up to the temples: and so well did
+we prosper that day, and the day that followed, (for we fought them
+during two entire days,) that, with the assistance of our Tlascalans, of
+whom we had an army with us, we slaughtered full six thousand of them,
+and that without losing the life of a single Spaniard."
+
+"Dios mio!" cried Don Amador, "we had not so many killed in all the
+siege of Rhodes! Six thousand men! I am not certain that even treachery
+could excuse the destruction of so many lives."
+
+"It was a bloody and most awful spectacle," said De Morla, with feeling.
+"We drove the naked wretches (I say naked, señor, for we gave them no
+time to arm;) to the pyramids, especially to that which holds the altar
+of their chief god,--the god of the air; and here, señor, it was
+melancholy, to see the miserable desperation with which they died; for,
+having, at first, refused them quarter, they declined to receive it,
+when pity moved us afterwards to grant it. About the court of this
+pyramid there were many wooden buildings, as well as tabernacles of the
+like material among the towers, on the top. These we fired; and thus
+attacked them with arms and flames. What ruin the fire failed to inflict
+on the temple, they accomplished with their own hands; for, señor,
+having a superstitious belief, that, the moment a sacrilegious hand
+should tear away the foundations of their great temple, floods should
+burst out from the earth to whelm the impious violator, they began to
+raze it with their own hands; willing, in their madness, to perish by
+the wrath of their god, so that their enemies should perish with them. I
+cannot express to you the horrible howls, with which they beheld the
+fragments fall from the walls of the pyramid, without calling up the
+watery earthquake; then, indeed, with these howls, they ran to the
+summit, and crazily pitched themselves into the burning towers, or flung
+themselves from the dizzy top,--as if, in their despair, thinking that
+even their gods had deserted them!"
+
+"It was an awful chastisement, and, I fear me, more awful than just,"
+said Amador. "After this, it is not wonderful the men of Cholula should
+not receive us with joy."
+
+Many evidences of the horrors of that dreadful day were yet revealed, as
+Don Amador entered into the city. The marks of fire were left on various
+houses of stone, and, here and there, were vacuities, covered with
+blackened wrecks, where, doubtless, had stood more humble and
+combustible fabrics.
+
+The countenance of Cortes was observed to be darkened by a frown, as he
+rode through this well-remembered scene of his cruelty; but perhaps he
+thought less of remorse and penitence, than of the spirit of hatred and
+desperation evinced by his victims,--as if, in truth, the late
+occurrences at Mexico had persuaded him, that a similar spirit was
+waking and awaiting him there.--It was in his angry moment, and just as
+he halted at the portals of a large court-yard, wherein stood the palace
+he had chosen for his quarters, that two Indians, of an appearance
+superior to any Don Amador had yet seen, and followed by a train of
+attendants bearing heavy burthens, suddenly passed from the crowd of
+Cholulans, and approached the general.
+
+"Señor," said De Morla, in a low voice, to his friend, "observe these
+new ambassadors;--they are of the noblest blood of the city; the
+elder,--he that hath the gold grains hanging to his nostrils, in token
+that he belongs to the order of _Teuctli_, or Princes by Merit, is one
+of the lords of the Four Quarters of Mexico--the quarter Tlatelolco,
+wherein is our garrison. His name, Itzquauhtzin, will be, to you,
+unpronounceable. The youth that bears himself so loftily, is no less
+than a nephew of the king himself; and the scarlet fillet around his
+hair, denotes that he has arrived at the dignity of what we should call
+a chief commander,--a military rank that not even the king can claim,
+without having performed great actions in the field. 'Tis a sore day for
+Montezuma, when he sends us such princely ambassadors.--I will press
+forward, and do the office of interpreter; for destiny, love, and my
+mother wit, together, have given me more of the Mexican jargon, than any
+of my companions."
+
+As the ambassadors approached, Don Amador had leisure to observe them.
+Both were of good stature and countenance; their loins were girt with
+tunics of white cotton cloth, studded and bordered with bunches of
+feathers, and hanging as low as the knee; and over the shoulders of both
+were hung large mantles of many brilliant colours, curiously interwoven,
+their ends so knotted together in front, as to fall down in graceful
+folds, half concealing the swarthy chest. Their sandals were secured
+with scarlet thongs, crossed and gartered to the calf. Their raven
+locks, which were of great length, were knotted together, in a most
+fantastic manner, with ribands, from the points of which, on the head of
+the elder, depended many little ornaments, that seemed jewels of gold
+and precious stones; while from the fillets, that braided the hair of
+the younger, besides an abundance of the same ornaments, there were many
+tufts of crimson cotton-down, swinging to and fro in the wind. In
+addition to these badges of military distinction, (for every tuft, thus
+worn, was the reward and evidence of some valiant exploit,) this young
+prince--he seemed not above twenty-five years old--wore, as had been
+noticed by De Morla, the red fillet of the House of Darts,--an order,
+not so much of nobility as of knighthood, entitling its possessor to the
+command of an army. His bearing was, indeed, lofty, but not disdainful;
+and though, when making his obeisance, he neither stooped so low, nor
+kissed his hand with so much humility, as his companion, this seemed to
+proceed more from a consciousness of his own rank, than from any
+disrespect to the Christian leader.
+
+"What will these dogs with me now?" cried Cortes, at whose feet, (for he
+had dismounted,) the attendants had thrown their burthens, and were
+proceeding to display their contents. "Doth Montezuma think to appease
+me for the blood of my brothers? and pay for Spanish lives with robes of
+cotton and trinkets of gold?--What say the hounds?"
+
+"They say," responded De Morla to his angry general, "that the king
+welcomes you back again to his dominions, to give him reparation for the
+slaughter of his people."
+
+"Hah!" exclaimed the leader, fiercely. "Doth he beard me with complaint,
+when I look for penitence and supplication?"
+
+"In token of his love, and of his assured persuasion that you now return
+to punish the murderers of his subjects, and then to withdraw your
+followers from his city for ever," said De Morla, giving his attention
+less to Cortes than to the lord of Tlatelolco, "he sends you these
+garments, to protect the bodies of your new friends from the snows of
+Ithualco, as well as----"
+
+"The slave!" cried Don Hernan, spurning the pack that lay at his foot,
+and scattering its gaudy textures over the earth: "If he give me no mail
+to protect my friends from the knives of his assassins, I will trample
+even upon his false heart, as I do upon his worthless tribute!"
+
+"Shall I translate your excellency's answer word for word?" said De
+Morla, tranquilly. "If it be left to myself, I should much prefer
+veiling it in such palatable language, as my limited knowledge will
+afford."
+
+But the scowling general had already turned away, as if to humble the
+ambassadors with the strongest evidence of contempt, and to prove the
+extremity of his displeasure; and it needed no interpretation of words
+to convince the noble savages of the futileness of their ministry. The
+lord of Tlatelolco bowed again to the earth, and again kissed his hand,
+as if in humble resignation, while the retreating figure of Don Hernan
+vanished under the low door of his dwelling; but the younger envoy,
+instead of imitating him, drew himself proudly up, and looked after the
+general with a composure, that changed, as Don Amador thought, to a
+smile. But if such a mark of satisfaction--for it bore more the
+character of elation than contempt,--did illuminate the bronzed visage
+of the prince, it remained not there for an instant. He cast a quiet and
+grave eye upon the curious cavaliers who surrounded him, and then
+beckoning his attendants from their packs, he strode, with his
+companion, composedly away.
+
+"In my mind," said the neophyte, following him with his eye, and rather
+soliloquizing than addressing himself to any of the neighbouring
+cavaliers, "there was more of dignity and contempt in the smile of that
+heathen prince, than in all the rage of my friend Don Hernan."
+
+"Truly, he is a very proper-looking and well-demeanoured knave," said
+the voice of Duero. "But the general has some deep policy at the bottom
+of all this anger."
+
+"By my faith, I think so, now for the first time!" exclaimed the
+neophyte; "for, although unable to see the drift of such a stratagem, I
+cannot believe that the señor Cortes would adopt a course, that seems to
+savour so much of injustice, without a very discreet and politic
+object."
+
+Here the discourse of the cavaliers was cut short by the sudden
+appearance of Fabueno the secretary.
+
+"What wilt thou, Lorenzo?" said his patron. "Has Lazaro again refused to
+tilt with thee? I very much commend the zeal with which thou pursuest
+thine exercises; but thou shouldst remember, that Lazaro may, sometimes,
+be weary after a day's march."
+
+"Señor, 'tis not _that_," said the secretary. "But just now, as Baltasar
+told me, he saw the page Jacinto very rudely haled away by one of
+Cortes's grooms; and I thought your favour might be glad to know, for
+the boy seemed frighted."
+
+"I will straightway see that no wrong be done him, even by the general,"
+said Amador, quickly, moving toward the door into which he had seen
+Cortes enter. "I marvel very much that my good knight did not protect
+him."
+
+"Señor," said Fabueno, "the knight is in greater disorder to-day than
+yesterday. He took no note of anybody, when we came to this palace; but
+instantly concealed himself in some distant chamber, where, a soldier
+told me, he was scourging himself."
+
+"Thou shouldst not talk, with the soldiers, of Calavar," said Amador,
+with a sigh. "Get thee to Marco. If my kinsman need me, I will presently
+be with him."
+
+Thus saying, he discharged the secretary at the door; and those servants
+who guarded it, not presuming to deny admittance to a man of such rank,
+he was immediately ushered into the presence of Cortes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+
+In a low but spacious apartment, the walls and floor of which were both
+covered with mats, the neophyte found Don Hernan, attended by Sandoval
+and one or two other cavaliers, busy, to all appearance, in the
+examination of the page and a Moorish slave of Cortes's own household,
+whom he seemed to confront with the other. It needed no more than the
+tears which Amador discovered on the cheeks of the youth, to rouse him
+to a feeling very like anger.
+
+"Señor," said he, stepping forward to the side of Jacinto, and looking
+gravely on his judge, "I have exercised the privilege of a master,--or
+rather, as I should say, of a servant,--for this boy is in the ward of
+Don Gabriel, whom I myself follow,--to enter into your presence, without
+the ceremony of a previous request; for which liberty, if it offend you,
+I ask your pardon. But I was told the boy Jacinto was dragged away by
+one of your excellency's menials; and I claim, as asking in the stead of
+his master, to know for what offence?"
+
+"By my conscience, for none at all!" said Cortes, courteously; "at
+least, for none of his own commission. And had he truly been guilty,
+both of treason and desertion, I should have pardoned him, for the
+precocious shrewdness of his answers. Señor," continued the general, "it
+was my intention to beseech your presence at this examination; and
+nothing but the suddenness of it, as well as the present defection among
+my servants, could have caused me to defer the invitation for a moment.
+By my conscience, you have a treasure of wisdom, in this boy!"
+
+This was an assurance Don Amador did by no means deny: for, in addition
+to the singular address with which he adapted himself to the humours of
+the knight, he had seen in Jacinto many other evidences of a discretion
+so much in advance of his years, as to cause him no little wonder; added
+to which, the incident of the past night, in which the page had stumbled
+upon a name, and indeed (for the after explanations had not removed the
+first impression,) a story, which he did not remember to have breathed
+to any living creature, had attached to the youth a sort of respect that
+bordered almost on superstition. But Don Hernan gave the cavalier no
+time for reflections.
+
+"Señor Don Amador," said he, "the fault, if there be any, which we are
+now striving to investigate, lies, not in the page, but in his father,
+Sidi Abdalla, the cannonier; who is charged by my varlet here, this
+unconverted heathen, to be meditating, if not now engaged in the
+accomplishment of a very heinous, and yet, let me add, for your
+satisfaction, a very improbable conspiracy. This is charged to be
+nothing less than desertion from our standard, with a design to throw
+himself into the arms of the enemy; and what makes the matter worse,
+allowing it for a moment to be credible, is, that he plots to carry away
+with him all his countrymen who are slaves with us, in number, I think,
+somewhat above half a score."
+
+"This is, assuredly," said Don Amador, "a very vile offence; for which,
+if guilty, I must needs allow, the Sidi deserves to suffer. Yet, I agree
+with your excellency, the design seems quite as incredible as its
+accomplishment must be impossible."
+
+"No one," said Cortes, "could have shown this with better argument than
+this same weeping boy; for, 'First,' said he, ''tis wrong to receive the
+accusation of an unconverted man against a Christian;' and such an
+infidel hound is Yacub,--whom I will, at some future day, give over to
+be burned for his idolatry; but, at present, I cannot spare so precious
+a servant, for he is an excellent cook, and a good maker of arrow-heads
+for the crossbowmen.--In addition to this argument, señor," continued
+the general, "the boy advances me another of still more force; 'For
+how,' says he, shrewdly, 'would my father leave his Christian masters
+and protectors, to go over to savages, whose language he cannot
+understand, and who would sacrifice him as a victim to their detestable
+gods?'--which gods may heaven sink into the pit, whence they came! and I
+say, Amen!--Now, though one part of this argument is answered by the
+subtle art of Yacub; for whether he have Yacub or any other Moor who
+hath picked up something of the tongue, to interpret for him, or
+whether he have no interpreter at all, it is not the less certain, that,
+the moment he entrusts himself into the power of the barbarians, that
+moment will he be clapped into a great cage like a wild beast, and
+devoured what time he is fat enough for the maws of their diabolical
+divinities; I say, nevertheless, for that very reason, it is not
+probable Abdalla should be so besotted a fool."
+
+"Please your highness," said Yacub, with the obstinacy of one who
+presumed on his master's indulgence, or on the strength of his cause,
+"he urged me, last night, at the pyramid of Tlascala; and this noble
+gentleman, as well as this boy, saw me in his company."
+
+Don Amador started, as he perceived the eyes of Yacub fastened on him,
+as well as those of every other individual in the chamber. The look that
+Jacinto gave him was one of terror and beseeching earnestness.
+
+"Señor," said he, hesitating a little, "though what I have to say, may,
+in part, confirm the charge of this fellow, I cannot scruple to speak
+it; and though I may not aver, on mine own knowledge, that I beheld,
+last night, either this man Yacub, or his countryman, Abdalla, yet must
+I admit that I saw, stealing by the basis of that heathen temple, three
+men, whom my friend De Morla, who accompanied me, pronounced to be the
+cannonier and two of your excellency's servants."--Jacinto wrung his
+hands.--"But what passed between them," the cavalier went on, "whether
+they were hatching a plot, or discoursing together of their hard fate,
+as would seem reasonable for men like them, that have neither friends
+nor country, I cannot take upon me to pronounce; though, from what I
+know of Abdalla, as a courageous and honest man, I am fain to think,
+their communication could not have been of an evil nature."
+
+"He said," muttered the treacherous Moor, "that provided he had but some
+one to interpret for him, he had no fear of the Mexicans; but could
+promise us much favour and wealth from their kings, by virtue of
+certain arts possessed by his son; and thereby he hinted the boy was an
+enchanter."
+
+All started at this sudden announcement, and none more than Don Amador
+de Leste; for though, as he had said himself, he was, in his cooler
+moments, very sceptical in affairs of magic, this incredulity was no
+consequence either of nature or education; and besides the shock that
+had been given to his doubts by the disclosures of De Morla, the story
+of Jacinto, so unaccountably begun, and so abruptly terminated, had made
+a deeper impression on his mind, than such a trifle should.--Its
+importance had been imputed by his own feelings; but either he did not
+remember, or he knew not that.--He stared at Jacinto, who stood pale as
+death and trembling, now rolling his eyes wildly on Don Hernan, and now
+on his patron. Before the latter could summon composure to answer, he
+was relieved by the general saying, humorously--
+
+"I cannot doubt that this little caitiff _is_ an enchanter, because he
+has the faculty of exciting both admiration and pity in an eminent
+degree; and, though I doubt the power of such a charm over the ears of
+barbarians that delight in the thunder of wooden drums, and the yelling
+uproar of sea-shell trumpets, yet I can believe, for it has been told me
+by good judges, that the art with which he touches his lute, is as
+magical as it is marvellous."
+
+The boy clasped his hands in delight, and seemed as if he would have
+thrown himself at the feet of his judge.
+
+"Wherefore, my most worthy and honoured friend," continued Cortes, "have
+no fear that I will rob thee of so serviceable a henchman. I could not
+burn so pretty a log in the fire that was kindled for one who had sold
+his soul; and I cannot, by allowing the claims of a rival to lawful
+magic, kill my astrologer Botello with envy."
+
+"He has a talisman round his neck, wherein is a devil, that I have
+overheard him talking to!" said the resolute Yacub.
+
+"Thou art an ass," said Cortes, laughing at the trepidation of Jacinto;
+for he again turned pale, and lifted his hands to his neck, as if both
+to confess and guard his treasure. "'Tis some gewgaw, given him by his
+mother, or, perhaps, by some sweetheart wench;--for these Moorish boys
+are in love when a Christian urchin is yet in his grammar.--Señor,"--he
+addressed himself to the neophyte,--"you may perceive that the very
+grossness of Yacub's credulity has destroyed the force of his testimony;
+for he who can believe such a junior as this to be a conjurer, will give
+credit to any other ridiculous imagination. I will now confess to you,
+that, beside these charges, which are already answered, there is only
+one more circumstance against Abdalla; and that is, that at the very
+moment of our halt, and while engaged in the audience with those
+ambassadors, (whom I treated somewhat harshly, but for a cunning
+purpose, which you will soon understand,) he vanished away, in company
+with another dog of my household called Ayub; and hath not been since
+seen. Nevertheless, I attach no more importance to this matter than to
+the others; but, I swear to heaven, if he be caught stealing turkeys, or
+any such trumpery things from these villains of Cholula, I will give him
+to the bastinado!"
+
+"Señor," said Amador, earnestly, "the Sidi is of too magnanimous a
+nature to steal turkeys."
+
+"I will take Don Amador's word for it, then. But I see the page is still
+in some mortal fright, as dreading, if he remain longer in our presence,
+lest some new accusation should be brought against him."
+
+"If Jacinto be absolved from censure, and is no longer desired by your
+excellency, I will withdraw him from your presence; and, thanking you,
+señor, for the mildness with which you have questioned him, I will beg
+your permission to take my own leave."
+
+Don Hernan bowed low, as the neophyte withdrew with Jacinto; he waved
+his hand to Yacub, and the Moor immediately retired.
+
+"What think ye now, my masters?" he cried, as soon as these were out of
+hearing;--"Is it possible this stupid cannonier hath either the wit or
+the spirit to hatch me a brood of treason, to help the kites of Mexico?"
+
+"If he have," said Sandoval, "he should hang."
+
+"Very true, son Gonzalo," said the general; "for in our condition, to be
+suspected, should be a crime worthy death, especially in so contemptible
+a creature as a Moor.--Didst thou observe what mortal consternation
+beset our worthy and very precise friend, Don Amador, when Yacub called
+his boy a conjurer?"
+
+"I think, that should be examined into," said Sandoval; "for if he be,
+'twill be well to give him to Botello, as a pupil; lest Botello should
+be, some day, knocked on the head, as is not improbable, from his ever
+thrusting it into jeopardy, and we be left without a diviner."
+
+"By my conscience, 'tis well thought on," said Cortes, laughing, "for
+this boy, if he had but as good a reputation, is much superior in
+docility, as well as shrewder in apprehension; whereas Botello hath such
+a thick-head enthusiasm for his art, as to be somewhat unmanageable;
+and, every now and then, he prophesies me all wrong; as was the case,
+when he anointed the wound of De Leste's secretary, and stupidly told
+him 'twould be well in a few hours: and yet, all the camp knew, the lad
+was near losing his arm."
+
+"Botello excuses himself there," said Sandoval, "by protesting that his
+injunctions were disobeyed, especially that wherein he charged the youth
+not to touch his weapon for twenty-four hours; whereas he killed a man,
+that very night, on the pyramid, very courageously, as I
+witnessed,--though the man was hurt before; for I had charged him with
+my own partisan."
+
+"Amigo mio," said Cortes, abruptly, "in the matter of these Moors, I
+must have thine aidance. I know not how it may have entered into the
+brain of such a boor, to suppose he could make himself useful to the
+frowning infidels in Tenochtitlan; but I would sooner give them a dead
+lion than a living dog. If thou hast any very cunning and discreet
+rogues among thy fighting men, send them, in numbers of two and three,
+secretly about the city; and especially charge some that they watch at
+the gate that opens to Mexico."
+
+"I will do so," said Sandoval, "and I will myself hunt about the town
+till I find the rascal.--Shall I kill him?"
+
+"If it appear to thee he is deserting, let him be slain in the act. As
+for Ayub, if he be found in the cannonier's company, bring me him alive:
+I will hang him for an example; for in his death shall no intercessor be
+offended. I have no doubt, that, for the boy's sake, both Don Amador and
+Calavar would beg for Abdalla, if he were brought a prisoner; and it
+would grieve me to deny them. Kill _him_, then, my son, if thou findest
+him, and art persuaded he is a deserter."
+
+With this charge, very emphatically pronounced, and very composedly
+received, the friends separated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+During the whole time of the march from Tlascala to Cholula, an unusual
+gloom lay upon the spirits of Calavar; and so great was his abstraction,
+that, though pursuing his way with a sort of instinct, he remained as
+insensible to the presence of his kinsman as to the attentions of his
+followers. He rode at a distance from the rear of the army; and such was
+the immobility of his limbs and features, saving when, stung by some
+secret thought, he raised his ghastly eyes to heaven, that a stranger,
+passing him on the path, might have deemed that his grave charger moved
+along under the weight of a stiffened corse, not yet disrobed of its
+arms, rather than that of a living cavalier. When the army halted at
+noon to take food, he retired, with his attendants, to the shadow of a
+tree; where, without dismounting, or receiving the fruits which Jacinto
+had gathered, to tempt him to eat, he sat in the same heavy stupor,
+until the march was resumed. Neither food nor water crossed his lips,
+during the entire day; nor did the neophyte suffer any to be proffered
+him, when he came to reflect that this day was an anniversary, which the
+knight was ever accustomed to observe with the most ascetic abstinence
+and humiliation. For this reason, also, though lamenting the necessity
+of such an observance, he neither presumed himself to vex his kinsman
+with attentions, nor suffered any others to intrude upon his privacy,
+excepting, indeed, the Moorish page, whose gentle arts were so wont to
+dispel the gathering clouds. But this day, even Jacinto failed to
+attract his notice; and, despairing of the power of any thing but time,
+to terminate the paroxysm, he ceased his efforts, and contented himself
+with keeping a distant watch on all Don Gabriel's movements, lest some
+disaster might happen to him on the journey. No sooner, as had been
+hinted by Fabueno, had the army arrived at its quarters in the sacred
+city, than the knight betook him to the solitude of a chamber in the
+very spacious building; where, after a time, he so far shook off his
+lethargy, as to desire the presence of the chaplain, with whom he had
+remained ever since, engaged in his devotions. Hither, guided by Marco,
+came now Don Amador, conducting Jacinto. The interview with Cortes had
+swallowed up more than an hour, and when the neophyte stood before the
+curtained door of his kinsman, a light, flashing through the irregular
+folds, dispelled the darkness of the chamber. As he paused for an
+instant, he heard the low voice of the priest, saying,
+
+"Sin no more with doubt.--_Spera in Deo_: grace is in heaven, and mercy
+knoweth no bounds.--_Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus._"
+
+A few other murmurs came to his ear; and then the chaplain, pushing
+aside the curtain, issued from the apartment.
+
+"Heaven be with thee, my son," he said to Amador; "thy kinsman is
+greatly disordered, but not so much now as before."
+
+"Is it fitting I should enter, father?"
+
+"Thy presence may be grateful to him; but surely," he continued, in an
+under voice, "it were better for the unhappy knight, if he were among
+the priests and physicians of his own land. A sore madness afflicts him:
+he thinks himself beset with spectres.--I would thou hadst him in
+Spain!"
+
+"If heaven grant us that grace!" said Amador, sorrowfully.--"But he
+believes that God will call him to his rest, among the heathen.--Tarry
+thou at the door, Jacinto," he went on, when the father had departed;
+"have thyself in readiness, with thy lute, for perhaps he may be
+prevailed upon to hear thee sing; in which case, I have much hope, the
+evil spirit will depart from him."
+
+He passed into the chamber: the knight was on his knees before a little
+crucifix, which he had placed on a massive Indian chair; but though he
+beat his bosom with a heavy hand, no sound of prayer came from his lips.
+Don Amador placed himself at his side, and stood in reverential silence,
+until his kinsman, heaving a deep sigh, rose up, and turning his haggard
+countenance towards him, said,--
+
+"Neither penance nor prayer, neither the remorse of the heart nor the
+benediction of the priest, can wipe away the sorrow that comes from sin.
+God alone is the forgiver;--but God will not _always_ forgive!"
+
+"Say not so, my father," cried Amador, earnestly; "for it is a deep
+crime to think that heaven is not ever merciful."
+
+"Keep thyself free from the stain of blood-guiltiness," said Don
+Gabriel, with a manner so mild, that the neophyte had good hope the fit
+had indeed left him, "and mercy will not be denied thee.--Have I not
+afflicted thee, my friend?" he continued faintly. "Thou wilt have much
+to forgive me; but not long. I will remember, in my death hour, that
+thou hast not forsaken me."
+
+"Never will I again leave thee!" said Amador, fervently. "I forgot thee
+once; and besides the pang of contrition for that act, heaven punished
+me with a grief, that I should not have known, had I remained by thy
+side. But now, my father, wilt thou not eat and drink, and suffer
+Jacinto to sing to thee?"
+
+"I may neither eat nor drink this night," said Calavar; "but methinks I
+can hear the innocent orphan chant the praises of the Virgin; for to
+such she will listen!"
+
+Amador strode to the door; but Jacinto had vanished--He had stolen away,
+the moment that his patron entered.
+
+"Perhaps he has gone to fetch his instrument. Run thou in search of him,
+Marco, and bid him hasten."
+
+Before the novice could again address himself to his kinsman, Marco
+returned. The page was not to be found; the sentinel at the door had
+seen him pass into the court-yard, but whether he had re-entered or not,
+he knew not;--he had not noted.
+
+"Is it possible," thought Don Amador, "that the boy could so wilfully
+disobey me? Perhaps the general hath sent for him again: for,
+notwithstanding all his protestations of satisfaction, it seemed to me,
+that, while he spoke, there was still a something lurking in his eye,
+which boded no good to Abdalla. I will look for the boy myself."
+
+He charged Marco to remain by his lord, sought an audience with the
+general, whom he found engaged in earnest debate with Duero, De Leon,
+and other high officers. Don Hernan satisfied him that he had not sent
+for Jacinto,--that he had not thought of Abdalla; and with an apology
+for his intrusion, the novice instantly withdrew.
+
+"The story is true!" said Cortes with a frown, "and that pestilent young
+cub of heathenism has fled to give the traitor warning. But he that
+passes, unquestioned, at the gate where Sandoval stands the watchman,
+must have the devil for his leader, or, at least, his companion. I hope
+he will not murder the boy; for he is a favourite with Calavar, a subtle
+knave, a good twangler; and it is natural he should play me even a
+knave's trick for his father!"
+
+In the meanwhile, after hunting in vain about the different quarters of
+the building, as well as the court-yard, for the vanished Jacinto, the
+novice returned to the chamber of his kinsman. But Calavar also had
+disappeared,--not, indeed, in disorder, but in great apparent
+tranquillity; and he had commanded Marco not to follow him.
+
+"He has gone to the fields," muttered Amador; "such is his practice at
+this season: but there is no good can come of solitude. I know not what
+to think of that boy; but assuredly, this time, it will be but my duty
+to censure him." And so saying, Don Amador also passed into the open
+air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+It was late in the night; a horizontal moon flung the long shadows of
+the houses over the wide streets of Cholula, when the knight Calavar,
+wrapped in his black mantle, strode along through the deserted city.
+With no definite object before him, unless to fly, or perhaps to give
+way, in solitude, to the bitter thoughts that oppressed him, he suffered
+himself to be guided as much by accident as by his wayward impulses; and
+as he passed on, at every step, some mutation of his fancies, or some
+trivial incident on the way, conspired to recall his disorder. Now, as a
+bat flitted by, or an owl flew, hooting, from its perch among some of
+those ruins, which yet raised their broken and blackened walls, in
+memory of the cruelty of his countrymen, the knight started aghast, and
+a mortal fear came over him; for, in these sounds and sights, his
+disturbed senses discovered the signs of the furies that persecuted him;
+and even the night-breeze, wailing round some lonely corner, or
+whispering among the shrubbery of a devastated garden, seemed to him the
+cries of haunting spirits.
+
+"Miserere mei, Deus!" muttered Don Gabriel, as a tree, bowing away from
+the wind, let down a moonbeam through a fissure on his path--"the white
+visage will not leave me!--Heavy was the sin, heavy is the punishment!
+for even mine own fancies are become my chastisers."
+
+Thus, at times, conscious, in part, of his infirmity, and yet yielding
+ever, with the feebleness of a child, to the influence of unreal
+horrors, he wandered about, sometimes driven from his path by what
+seemed a gaunt spectre flitting before him, sometimes impelled onwards
+by a terror that followed behind: thus he roved about, he knew not
+whither, until he found himself, by chance, in the neighbourhood of the
+great temple, the scene of the chief atrocities enacted on that day
+which has been called, by a just metonymy, the Massacre of Cholula. Here
+it was, as had been mentioned by De Morla, that the miserable natives,
+huddled together in despair, had made their last cry to their gods, and
+perished under the steel and flames of the Christians; and the memorials
+of their fate were as plainly written as if the tragedy had been the
+work of the previous day. No carcasses, indeed, lay crowded among the
+ruins, no embers smouldered on the square; weeds had grown upon the
+place of murder, as if fattening on the blood that had besprinkled their
+roots; life had utterly vanished from the spot; and it presented the
+appearance of a desert in the bosom of a populous city.
+
+A great wall, running round the temple, had enclosed it in a large
+court, once covered with the houses of priests and devotees. The wall
+was shattered and fallen, the dwellings burned and demolished; and the
+pyramid, itself crumbling into ruins, lay like the body of some huge
+monster among its severed and decaying members. The flags of stone,
+tumbled by the victims, in their fury, from its sides and terraces,
+though they had not called up the subterraneous rivers, had exposed the
+perishable earth, that composed the body of the mound, to the
+vicissitudes of the weather; and, under the heavy tropical rains, it was
+washing rapidly away. The sanctuaries yet stood on the summit, but with
+their walls mutilated, and their roofs burnt; and they served only to
+make the horror picturesque. A wooden cross of colossal dimensions,
+raised by the conquerors, in impious attestation that God had aided them
+in the labour of slaughter, flung high its rugged arms, towering above
+the broken turrets, and gave the finish of superstition to the monument
+of wrath. It was a place of ruins, dark, lugubrious, and forbidding; and
+as Don Gabriel strode among the massive fragments, he found himself in a
+theatre congenial with his gloomy and wrecking spirit.
+
+It was not without many feelings of dismay that he plunged among the
+ruins; for his imagination converted each shattered block into a living
+phantasm. But still he moved on, as if urged by some irresistible
+impulse, entangling himself in the labyrinth of decay, until he scarcely
+knew whither to direct his steps. Whether it was reality, or some
+coinage of his brain, that presented the spectacle, he knew not; but he
+was arrested in his toilsome progress by the apparition of several
+figures rising suddenly among the ruins, and as suddenly vanishing.
+
+"Heaven pity me!" he cried: "They come feathered like the fiends of the
+infidel! But I care not, so they bring no more the white face, that is
+so ghastly!--And yet, this is her day!--this is her day!"
+
+Perhaps it was his imagination, that decked out the spectres with such
+ornaments; but a less heated spectator might have discovered in them,
+only the figures of strolling savages. With his spirits strongly
+agitated, his brain excited for the reception of any chimera, he
+followed the direction in which these figures seemed to have vanished:
+and this bringing him round a corner of the pyramid, into the moonshine,
+he instantly found himself confronted with a spectacle that froze his
+blood with horror. In a spot, where the ruins had given space for the
+growth of weeds and grass, and where the vision could not be so easily
+confounded,--illuminated by the moonbeams as if by the lustre of the
+day,--he beheld a figure, seemingly of a woman, clad in robes of white
+of an oriental habit, full before him, and turning upon him a
+countenance as wan as death.
+
+"Miserere mei, Deus!" cried the knight, dropping on his knees, and
+bowing his forehead to the earth. "If thou comest to persecute me yet, I
+am here, and I have not forgot thee!"
+
+The murmur, as of a voice, fell on his ear, but it brought with it no
+intelligence. He raised his eye;--dark shadows flitted before him; yet
+he saw nothing save the apparition in white: it stood yet in his view;
+and still the pallid visage dazzled him with its unnatural radiance and
+beauty.
+
+"Miserere mei! miserere mei!" he cried, rising to his feet, and
+tottering forwards. "I live but to lament thee, and I breathe but to
+repent! Speak to me, daughter of the Alpujarras! speak to me, and let me
+die!"
+
+As he spoke, the vision moved gently and slowly away. He rushed
+forwards, but with knees smiting together; and, as the white visage
+turned upon him again, with its melancholy loveliness, and with a
+gesture as of warning or terror, his brain spun round, his sight failed
+him, and he fell to the earth in a deep swoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+Motion is the life of the sea: the surge dashes along in its course,
+while the watery particles that gave it bulk and form, remain in their
+place to renew and continue the coming billows, heaving to each
+successive oscillation, but not departing with it. Thus the mind,--an
+ocean more vast and unfathomable than that which washes our
+planet,--fluctuates under the impulses of its stormy nature, and passes
+not away, until the last agitation, like that which shall swallow up the
+sea, or convert its elements into a new matter, lifts it from its
+continent, and introduces it to a new existence. Emotion is its life,
+each surge of which seems to bear it leagues from its resting-place; and
+yet it remains passively to abide and figure forth the influence of new
+commotions.--Thus passed the billow through the spirit of Calavar; and
+when it had vanished, the spirit ceased from its tumult, subsided, and
+lay in tranquillity to await other shocks,--for others were
+coming.--When he awoke from his lethargy, his head was supported on the
+knee of a human being, who chafed his temple and hands, and bowed his
+body as well as his feeble strength allowed, to recall the knight to
+life. Don Gabriel raised his eyes to this benignant and ministering
+creature; and in the disturbed visage, that hung over his own,
+thought,--for his mind was yet wandering,--he beheld the pallid features
+of the vision.
+
+"I know thee, and I am ready!" cried Don Gabriel. "Pity me and forgive
+me;--for I die at thy feet, as thou didst at mine!"
+
+"Señor mio! I am Jacinto," exclaimed the page, (for it was he,)
+frightened at the distraction of the knight;--"thy page, thy poor page,
+Jacinto."
+
+"Is it so indeed?" said Calavar, surveying him wildly.--"And the spectre
+that did but now smite me to the earth!--hath she left me?"
+
+"Dear master, there is no spectre with us," said the Moorish boy. "We
+are alone among the ruins."
+
+"God be thanked!" said the knight, vehemently, "for if I should look on
+it more, I should die.--Yet would that I could!--would that I could! for
+in death there is peace,--in the grave there is forgetfulness!--This
+time, was it no delusion either of the senses or the brain: mine
+eye-sight was clear, my head sane, and I saw it, as I see mine own
+despair!--Pray for me, boy!" he continued, falling on his knees, and
+dragging the page down beside him; "pray for me!" he cried, gazing
+piteously at the youth; "pray for me! God will listen to _thy_ prayers,
+for thou art innocent, and I am miserable. Pray that God may forgive me,
+and suffer me to die;--for this is the day of my sin!"
+
+"Dear master," said the page, trembling, "let us return to our friends."
+
+"Thou wilt not pray? thou wilt not beseech God for me?" said Calavar,
+mournfully. "Thou wilt be merciful, when thou knowest my misery! Heaven
+sends thee for mine intercessor. I confess to thee, as to heaven, for
+thou art without sin. Manhood brings guile and impurity, evil deeds and
+malign thoughts; but a child is pure in the eyes of God; and the prayers
+of his lips will be as incense, when wrath turns from the beseeching of
+men. Hear thou my sin; and then, if heaven bid thee not to curse, then
+pray for me, boy!--then pray for me!"
+
+In great perturbation, for he knew not how to check the knight's
+distraction, and feared its increasing violence, Jacinto knelt, staring
+at him, his hands fettered in the grasp of his master; who, returning
+his gaze with such looks of wo and contrition, as a penitent may give to
+heaven, said wildly, yet not incoherently,--
+
+"Deeply dyed with sin am I, and sharply scourged with retribution! Age
+comes upon me before its time, but brings me nothing but memory--nothing
+but memory!--Gray hairs and wrinkles, disease and feebleness, are the
+portions of my manhood: for my youth was sinful, and guilt has made me
+old! Oh that I might see the days, when I was like to thee!--when I was
+like to thee, Jacinto!--when I knew innocence, and offended not God. But
+the virtues of childhood weigh not in the balance against the crimes of
+after years: as the child dieth, heaven opens to him; as the man
+sinneth, so doth he perish.--Miserere mei, Deus! and forgive me my day
+in the Alpujarras!"
+
+As Don Gabriel pronounced the name of those mountains, wherein, Jacinto
+knew, his father had drawn the first breath of life, and around which
+was shed, for every Moor, such interest as belongs to those places where
+our fathers have fought and bled, the page began to listen with
+curiosity, although his alarm had not altogether subsided.
+
+"Long years have passed; many days of peril and disaster have come and
+gone; and yet I have not forgotten the Alpujarras!" cried Calavar,
+shivering as he uttered the word; "for there did joy smile, and hope
+sicken, and fury give me to clouds and darkness forever. Those hills
+were the haunts of thy forefathers, Jacinto; and there, after the royal
+city had fallen, and Granada was ruled by the monarchs of Spain, they
+fled for refuge, all those noble Moriscos, who were resolute to die in
+their own mistaken faith, as well,--in after years,--as many others, who
+had truly embraced the religion of Christ, but were suspected by the
+bigoted of our people, and persecuted with rigour. How many wars were
+declared against those unhappy fugitives,--now to break down the last
+strong hold of the infidel, and now to punish the suspected
+Christian,--thou must know, if thy sire be a true Moor of Granada. In
+mine early youth, and in one of the later crusades, that were proclaimed
+against those misguided mountaineers, went I, to win the name and the
+laurels of a cavalier. Would that I had never won them, or that they had
+come to me dead on the battle-field! Know, then, Jacinto, that my
+nineteenth summer had not yet fled from me, when I first drew my sword
+in conflict with men; but if I won me reputation, at that green age, it
+was because heaven was minded to show me, that shame and sorrow could
+come as early. In those days, the royal and noble blood of Granada had
+not been drawn from every vein; many of the princely descendants of the
+Abencerrages, the Aliatars, the Ganzuls, and the Zegris, still dwelt
+among the mountains; and, forgetting their hereditary feuds, united
+together in common resistance against the Spaniards. With such men for
+enemies, respected alike for their birth and their valour, the war was
+not always a history of rapine and barbarity; and sometimes there
+happened such passages of courtesy and magnanimity between the Christian
+and Moorish cavaliers, as recalled the memory of the days of chivalry
+and honour. Among others, who made experience of the heroic greatness of
+mind of the infidel princes, was I myself; for, in a battle, wherein the
+Moors prevailed against us, I was left wounded and unhorsed, on the
+field, to perish, or to remain a prisoner in their hands. In that
+melancholy condition, while I commended my soul to God, as not thinking
+I could escape from death, a Moorish warrior of majestic appearance and
+a soul still more lofty, approached, and had pity on my helplessness,
+instead of slaying me outright, as I truly expected. 'Thou art noble,'
+said he, 'for I have seen thy deeds; and though, this day, thou hast
+shed the blood of a Zegri, thou shalt not perish like a dog. Mount my
+horse and fly, lest the approaching squadrons destroy thee; and in
+memory of this deed, be thou sometimes merciful to the people of
+Alharef.' Then knew I, that this was Alharef ben-Ismail, the most noble
+of the Zegris,--a youth famous, even among the Spaniards, for his
+courage and humanity; and in gratitude and love, for he was a Christian
+proselyte, I pledged him my faith, and swore with him the vows of a true
+friendship. How I have kept mine oath, Alharef!" he cried, lifting his
+eyes to the spangled heaven, "thou knowest;--for sometimes _thou_ art
+with my punisher!"
+
+The knight paused an instant, in sorrowful emotion, while Jacinto, borne
+by curiosity beyond the bounds of fear, bent his head to listen; then
+making the sign of the cross, and repeating his brief prayer, the
+cavalier resumed his narrative.
+
+"As my ingratitude was greater than that of other men, so is my sin; for
+another act of benevolence shall weigh against me for ever!--Why did I
+not die with my people, when the smiles of perfidy conducted us to the
+hills, and the sword was drawn upon us sleeping? That night, there was
+but one escaped the cruel and bloody stratagem; and I, again, owed my
+life to the virtues of a Moor. Pity me, heaven! for thou didst send me
+an angel, and I repaid thy mercy with the thankfulness of a
+fiend!--Know, then, Jacinto, that, in the village wherein was devised
+and accomplished the murder of my unsuspecting companions, dwelt one
+that now liveth in heaven. Miserere mei! miserere mei! for she was noble
+and fair, and wept at the baseness of her kindred!--She covered the
+bleeding cavalier with her mantle, concealed him from the fury that was
+unrelenting; and when she had healed his wounds, guided him, in secret,
+from the den of devils, and dismissed him in safety near to the camp of
+his countrymen. Know thou now, boy, that this maiden was Zayda, the
+flower of all those hills, and the star that made them dearer to me than
+the heaven that was above them; and more thought I of those green peaks
+and shady valleys that encompassed my love, than the castle of my sire,
+or the church wherein rested the bones of my mother. Miserere mei!
+miserere mei! for the faith that was pledged was broken! my lady slept
+in the arms of Alharef, and my heart was turned to blackness!--Now thou
+shalt hear me, and pray for me," continued Don Gabriel, with a look of
+the wildest and intensest despair, "for my sin is greater than I can
+bear! Now shalt thou hear how I cursed those whom I had sworn to love;
+how I sharpened my sword, and with vengeance and fury, went against the
+village of my betrayers. Oh God! how thou didst harden our hearts, when
+we gave their houses to the flames, and their old men and children to
+swords and spears! when we looked not at misery, and listened not to
+supplication, but slew! slew! slew! as though we struck at beasts, and
+not at human creatures! 'Thou sworest an oath!' cried Alharef. I
+laughed; for I knew I should drink his blood! 'Be merciful to my
+people!' he cried,--and I struck him with my sabre. Oho!" continued the
+knight, springing to his feet, wringing the page's hands, and glaring at
+him with the countenance of a demon, "when he fled from me bleeding, my
+heart was full of joy, and I followed him with yells of
+transport!--_This_ is the day, I tell thee! this is the day, and the
+hour! for night could not hide him!--And Zayda! ay, Zayda! Zayda!--when
+she shielded him with her bosom, when she threw herself before
+him--Miserere mei, Deus! miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+"And Zayda?" cried the page, meeting his gaze with looks scarcely less
+expressive of wildness.
+
+"Curse me, or pray for me," said the knight,--"for I slew her!"
+
+The boy recoiled: Don Gabriel fell on his knees, and, with a voice husky
+and feeble as a child's, cried,
+
+"I know, now, that thou cursest me, for thou lookest on me with horror!
+The innocent will not pray for the guilty! the pure and holy have no
+pity for devils. Curse me then, for her kindred vanished from the earth,
+and she with them!--curse me, for I left not a drop of her blood flowing
+in human veins, and none in her's!--curse me, for I am her murderer, and
+I have not forgot it!--curse me, for God has forsaken me, and nightly
+her pale face glitters on me with reproach!--curse me, for I am
+miserable!"
+
+While Don Gabriel still grovelled on the earth, and while the page stood
+yet regarding him with terror, suddenly there came to the ears of both,
+the shouts of soldiers, mingled with the roar of firelocks: and, as
+three or four cross-bow shafts rattled against the sides of the pyramid,
+there were visible in the moonlight as many figures of men running among
+the ruins, new leaping over, now darting around the fragments, as if
+flying for their lives from a party of armed men, who were seen rushing
+after them on the square. The knight rose, bewildered, and, as if in the
+instinct of protection, again grasped the hand of the page. But now the
+emotions which had agitated the master, seemed transferred to his
+follower; and Jacinto, trembling and struggling, cried,--
+
+"Señor mio, let me loose! For the sake of heaven, for the sake of the
+Zayda whom you slew, let me go!--for they are murdering my father!"
+
+But Don Gabriel, in the confusion of his mind, still retained his grasp,
+and very providentially, as it appeared; for at that very moment, a
+voice was heard exclaiming,--
+
+"Hold! shoot not _there_: 'tis the Penitent Knight!--Aim at the fliers.
+Follow and shoot!--follow and shoot!"
+
+Immediately the party of pursuers rushed up to the pair, one of whom
+paused, while the others, in obedience to his command, continued the
+chase, ever and anon sending a bolt after the fugitives.
+
+"On, and spare not, ye knaves!" cried Sandoval, for it was this cavalier
+who now stood at the side of the knight of Rhodes. "On, and shoot! on
+and shoot! and see that ye bring me the head of the Moor! Oho, my merry
+little page!" he cried, regarding Jacinto; "you have been playing Sir
+_Quimichin_, Sir Rat and Sir Spy? A cunning little brat, faith; but
+we'll catch thy villain father, notwithstanding!"
+
+The page bowed his head and sobbed, but was silent; and Don Gabriel,
+rallying his confused spirits a little, said,--
+
+"I know not what you mean, señor. We are no spies, but very miserable
+penitents."
+
+"Oh, sir knight, I crave your pardon," said Sandoval, without noticing
+the eccentric portion of his confession, "I meant not to intrude upon
+your secrecy, but to catch Abdalla, the deserter; of whom, and of whose
+rogueries, not doubting that this boy has full knowledge, I must beg
+your permission to conduct him to the general."
+
+"Surely," said Calavar mildly, "if Jacinto have offended, I will not
+strive to screen him from examination, but only from punishment. I
+consent you shall lead him to Cortes; and I will myself accompany you."
+
+"It is enough, noble knight, if thou wilt thyself condescend to conduct
+him," said the cavalier; "whereby I shall be left in freedom to follow a
+more urgent duty. God save you, sir knight;--I leave the boy in your
+charge."--So saying, Sandoval pursued hastily after his companions; and
+Calavar leading the page, now no longer unwilling, (for the Almogavar,
+with his companions, was long since out of sight,) pursued his
+melancholy way to the quarters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+While these occurrences were transpiring, Don Amador de Leste, in search
+of the knight, had rambled through the streets, and following, very
+naturally, the only path with which he was acquainted, soon found
+himself issuing from that gate by which he had entered from Tlascala.
+The domination of the Spaniards had interrupted many of the civil, as
+well as the religious, regulations of the Cholulans; and, with their
+freedom, departed that necessity and habit of vigilance, which had
+formerly thronged their portals with watchmen. No Indian guards,
+therefore, were found at the gate; and the precautions of the general
+had not carried his sentinels to this neglected and seemingly secure
+quarter. The neophyte passed into the fields, and though hopeless, in
+their solitudes, of discovering the retreat of the penitent, was seduced
+to prolong his walk by the beauty of the night and by the many pensive
+thoughts to which it gave birth. How many times his reflections carried
+him back to the land of his nativity, to the surges that washed the Holy
+Land, to the trenches of Rhodes to the shores of Granada, need not be
+here related, nor, if he gave many sighs to the strange sorrow and
+stranger destiny of his kinsman, is it fitting such emotions should be
+recorded. He wandered about, lost in his musings, until made sensible,
+by the elevation of the moon, that he had trespassed upon the hour of
+midnight. Roused by this discovery from his reveries, he returned upon
+his path, and had arrived within view of the gate, when he was arrested
+by the sudden appearance of four men, running towards him at a rapid
+gait, and presenting to his vision the figures of Indian warriors. No
+sooner had these fugitives approached near enough to perceive an armed
+cavalier intercepting the road, than they paused, uttering many quick
+and, to him, incomprehensible exclamations. But, though he understood
+not their language, he was admonished, by their actions, of the
+necessity of drawing his sword and defending himself from attack; for
+the foremost, hesitating no longer than to give instructions to his
+followers, instantly advanced upon him, flourishing a heavy axe of
+obsidian. Somewhat surprised at the audacity of this naked barbarian,
+but in no wise daunted at the number of his supporters, the cavalier
+lifted his trusty Bilboa, fully resolved to teach him such a lesson as
+would cause him to remember his temerity for ever; but, almost at the
+same moment, his wrath vanished, for he perceived, in this assailant,
+the young ambassador of the preceding evening; and, remembering the
+words of De Morla, he felt reluctant to injure one of the princes of the
+unhappy house of Montezuma.
+
+"Prince!" said he, elevating his voice, but forgetting his want of an
+interpreter, "drop thy sword, and pass by in peace; for _I_ have not yet
+declared war against thy people, and I am loath to strike thee."
+
+But the valiant youth, misconceiving or disregarding both words and
+gestures, only approached with the more determination, and swung his
+bulky weapon over his head, as if in the act of smiting, when one of his
+followers, exclaiming eagerly, "Ho, Quauhtimotzin! forbear!" sprang
+before him, and revealed to Don Amador the countenance of the Moor
+Abdalla.
+
+"Thou art safe, señor!" cried the Almogavar, "and heaven be thanked for
+this chance, that shows thee I have not forgotten thy benefits!"
+
+The assurance of Abdalla was presently confirmed; for the young prince,
+seeing the action of the Moor, lowered his weapon, and merely surveying
+the cavalier with an earnest look, passed by him on his course, and was
+followed by the two others. Meanwhile Don Amador, regarding the
+Almogavar, said,--
+
+"I know not, good Sidi,--notwithstanding this present service, for which
+I thank thee,--not so much because thou hast stepped between me and
+danger, (for, it must be apparent to thee, I could, with great ease,
+have defended myself from such feeble assailants,) but because thou hast
+freed me from the necessity of hurting this poor prince;--I say,
+notwithstanding all this, Abdalla, I know not whether I should not now
+be bound to detain thee, and compel thee to return to the general; for
+it is not unknown to me, that thou art, at this moment, a deserter and
+traitor."
+
+"Señor!" said the Moor, withdrawing a step, as if fearing lest the
+cavalier would be as good as his word, "my treason is against my
+misfortunes, and I desert only from injustice; and if my noble lord
+knows thus much, he knows also, that to detain me, would be to give me
+to the gallows."
+
+"I am not certain," said Don Amador, "that my intercession would not
+save thy life; unless thou hast been guilty of more crimes than I have
+heard."
+
+"Guilty of nothing but misfortune!" said the Moor, earnestly; "guilty of
+nothing but the crimes of others, and of griefs, which are reckoned
+against me for sins!--"
+
+"Guilty," said the cavalier, gravely, "of treating in secret with these
+barbarians, who are esteemed the enemies of thy Christian friends; and
+guilty of seducing into the same crime thy countrymen, the Moriscos; one
+of whom, I am persuaded, did but now pass me with the Indians, and one
+of whom, also, hath charged thee with tempting him."
+
+"Señor," said Abdalla, hurriedly, "I cannot now defend myself from these
+charges, for I hear my enemies in pursuit."
+
+"And guilty," added Don Amador, with severity, "as I think, of deserting
+thine own flesh and blood,--thy poor and friendless boy, Abdalla!"
+
+The Almogavar flung himself at the feet of the cavalier, saying,
+wildly,--
+
+"My flesh and blood! and friendless indeed! unless thou wilt continue to
+protect him. Señor, for the love of heaven, for the sake of the mother
+who bore you, be kind and true to my boy! Swear thou wilt protect him
+from malice and wrong; for it was his humanity to thy kinsman, the
+knight, that has robbed him of his father."
+
+"Dost thou confess, thou wert about to steal him from his protector?
+Now, by heavens, Moor, this is but an infidel's ingratitude!"
+
+"Señor!" said Abdalla, "you reproached me for forsaking him; and now you
+censure me for striving not to forsake him! But the sin is mine, not
+Jacinto's. I commanded him to follow me, señor; and he would have obeyed
+me, had he not found thy knight Calavar swooning among the ruins. He
+tarried to give him succour, and thus was lost; for the soldiers came
+upon him."
+
+"Is this so, indeed? My kinsman left swooning! Thou wert but a knave,
+not to tell me this before."
+
+"The knight is safe--he has robbed me of my child," said Abdalla,
+throwing himself before the neophyte. "Go not, señor, till thou hast
+promised to requite his humanity with the truest protection."
+
+"Surely he shall have that, without claiming it."
+
+"Ay, but promise me! swear it to me!" cried the Moor, eagerly. "Don
+Hernan will be awroth with him. The cavaliers will call him mine
+accomplice."
+
+"They will do the boy no wrong," said Amador; "and I know not why thou
+shouldst ask me the superfluity of an oath."
+
+"Señor, I am a father, and my child is in a danger of which thou knowest
+not! For the love of God, give me thy vows thou wilt not suffer my child
+to be wronged!"
+
+"I promise thee this; but acquaint me with this new and unknown peril.
+If it be the danger of an accusation of witchcraft, I can resolve thee,
+that that is not regarded by the general."
+
+"Señor, my pursuers are nigh at hand," cried Abdalla, "and I must fly! A
+great danger besets Jacinto, and thou canst preserve him. Swear to me,
+thou wilt not wrong him, and suffer me to depart."
+
+"Wrong him!" said the cavalier. "Thou art beside thyself.--Yet, as it
+does appear to me, that the soldiers are approaching us, I will give
+thee this very unreasonable solace.--I swear to thee very devoutly,
+that, while heaven leaves me my sword and arm, and the power to protect,
+no one shall, in any way, or by any injustice, harm or wrong the boy
+Jacinto."
+
+"I will remember thy promise, and thee!" cried the Almogavar, seizing
+his hand and kissing it.
+
+"Tarry, Abdalla. Reflect;--thou rushest on many dangers. Return, and I
+will intercede for thy pardon."
+
+But the Moor, running with great speed after his companions, was almost
+already out of sight; and Don Amador, musing, again turned his face
+towards Cholula.
+
+"If I meet these soldiers," he soliloquized, "I must, in honour,
+acquaint them with the path of the Moor; whereby Abdalla may be
+captured, and put to death on the spot. I am resolute, I cannot, by
+utterly concealing my knowledge of this event, maintain the character of
+a just and honest gentleman; yet, it appears to me, my duty only compels
+me to carry my information to the general. This will I do, and by
+avoiding the pursuers, preserve the obligations of humanity to the
+fugitive, without any forfeit of mine honour."
+
+Thus pondering, and walking a little from the path, until the pursuers
+had passed him, he returned to the quarters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+
+The day that followed after the flight of Abdoul-al-Sidi, beheld the
+army of Cortes crossing that ridge which extends like a mighty curtain,
+between the great volcano and the rugged Iztaccihuatl; and many a hardy
+veteran shivered with cold and discontent, as sharp gusts, whirling rain
+and snow from the inhospitable summits, prepared him for the contrast of
+peace and beauty which is unfolded to the traveller, when he looks down
+from the mountains to the verdant valley of Mexico. Even at the present
+day, when the axe has destroyed the forest; when the gardens of
+flowers--the cultivation of which, with a degree of passionate affection
+that distinguished the Mexicans from other races, seemed to impart a
+tinge of poetry to their character, and mellow their rougher traits with
+the hues of romance,--when these flower gardens have vanished from the
+earth; when the lakes have receded and diminished, and, with them, the
+fair cities that once rose from their waters, leaving behind them
+stagnant pools and saline deserts; even now, under all these
+disadvantages, the prospect of this valley is of such peculiar and
+astonishing beauty as, perhaps, can be nowhere else equalled among the
+haunts of men. The providence of the Spanish viceroys in constructing a
+road more direct and more easy of passage, to the north of the great
+mountains, has robbed travellers of the more spirit-stirring impressions
+which introduced them to the spectacle, when pursuing the ancient
+highway of the Mexicans. It ascends among gloomy defiles, at the
+entrance of which stand, on either hand, like stupendous towers guarding
+the gate of some Titan strong-hold, the two grandest pinnacles of the
+interior. It conducts you among crags and ravines, among clouds and
+tempests, now sheltering you under a forest of oaks and pines, now
+exposing you to the furious blasts that howl along the ridges. A few
+dilapidated hamlets of Indians, if they occasionally break the solitude,
+destroy neither the grandeur nor solemnity of the path. You remember, on
+this deserted highway, that you are treading in the steps of Cortes.
+
+As the army proceeded, Don Amador, alive to every novelty, took notice
+that, regularly, at short distances from each other, not excepting even
+in the wildest and loneliest places, there were certain low and rude but
+strong cabins of stone built by the wayside, but without inhabitants.
+These, he was told, were the houses that were always constructed by the
+Mexican kings on such friendless routes, to shelter the exposed
+traveller. He thought such benignant provision betokened some of the
+humaner characteristics of civilization, and longed eagerly to make
+acquaintance with those nobler institutions which might be presented
+below. This desire was not the less urgent, that the frozen winds,
+penetrating his mailed armour, made him shiver like a coward on the back
+of his war-horse. He felt also much concern for his kinsman, who rode at
+his side with a visage even wanner and more wo-begone than ordinary. But
+in the deep and death-like abstraction that invested his spirits, Don
+Gabriel was as insensible to the assaults of the blast, as to the
+solicitude of his friend. The page Jacinto, moreover, caused him no
+little thought; for the flight of his father, though this had exposed
+him neither to the anger nor inquiries of Don Hernan, (who affected to
+treat the desertion of the Moors as an affair of little consequence,
+save to themselves,) had left the boy so dejected and spiritless, that,
+as he trudged along between the two cavaliers, he seemed to follow more
+with the instinct of a jaded house-dog, than with the alacrity of a
+faithful servant. To the pity of his young master he returned but a
+forced gratitude, and to his benevolent counsel that he should ride
+behind Lazaro, he rendered the oft-repeated excuse, 'Señor mio, I am
+afraid of horses; and 'tis better to walk than ride over these cold
+hills.'
+
+"There is much wisdom in what thou sayest, as I begin now to perceive,"
+said Amador, dismounting and giving his steed to Lazaro: "'tis better to
+be over-warm with marching on foot, than turned into an icicle on
+horseback. My father!" he said, gently and affectionately, to Calavar,
+"wilt thou not descend, and warm thyself a little with exercise?" But
+the knight only replied with a melancholy and bewildered stare, which
+convinced the novice that entreaty and argument upon this subject, as,
+at present, upon all others, would be alike unavailing. Sighing
+therefore, and, with a gesture, directing Baltasar to assume his station
+at the side of Don Gabriel, he took the page by the hand, and removing
+to a little distance from the group as well as from all other persons,
+he walked on, entering into discourse with Jacinto.
+
+"I do not marvel at thee, Jacinto," he said, "nor can I altogether
+censure thee, for grieving thus at the flight of thy father. Nor will I,
+as was, last night, my resolve, reprimand thee for leaving me, contrary
+to my bidding, at the chamber of my good knight; for, besides finding
+thee in grief enough at present, I perceive thou wert instigated to this
+disobedience by anxiety for thy parent, which would have excused in thee
+a greater fault. But let me ask thee, not so much as a master as a
+friend, two or three questions.--First, Jacinto," he continued, "art
+thou dissatisfied with thy service? or with thy master, who loves thee
+as well as myself?"
+
+"Service--master!--Señor!" said the boy, confused.
+
+"I demand of thee, art thou discontented with thy duties, or grieved by
+any unkindness which has been manifested to thee by thy master, or by
+any of us, who are his followers?"
+
+"I cannot be discontented with my duties," said the boy, a little
+cheerfully, for it was not possible long to withstand the benevolence of
+his patron;--"I cannot be discontented with my duties; for, in truth, it
+seems to me, there are none imposed upon me, except such as are prompted
+by my own fancies. I am very skilless in the customs of service, never
+having been in service before; yet, señor, I like it so well, that with
+such masters, methinks, I could remain a contented servant to the end of
+my days. That is,--that is"--But here the page interrupted himself
+abruptly. "As for any unkindness, I own with gratitude, I have never
+received from my lord, from my master, nor from his people, any thing
+but great favour, as well as forgiveness for all my faults."
+
+"Thou answerest well," said the novice gravely. "I did not apprehend
+anybody could treat thee rudely, except Lazaro, who is a rough fellow in
+his ways, and being in some sort a wit, is oft betrayed into saying
+sharp things, in order that people may laugh at them. Nevertheless,
+Lazaro has a good heart; for which reason I pardon many of his freedoms;
+but, I vow to thee, though he is a brave soldier, and albeit it is
+opposed to all my feelings and principles to degrade a serving-man by
+blows, nevertheless, had I found him venting his wit upon thee, I should
+have been tempted to strike him even with the hardest end of my lance."
+
+"I never had a better friend than Lazaro," said the page, with a faint
+smile; "and I love him well, for he affects my singing, and praises me
+more than anybody else. Then, as for Marco and Baltasar, though they
+delight more in cleaning armour than listening to a lute;--and as for
+the secretary, señor Lorenzo, who cares for nothing but tilting with any
+one who will take the trouble to unhorse him,--they are all good-natured
+to me, and they never scold me."
+
+"This, then, being the case," said Amador, "and allowing thy first and
+most natural obedience to be to thy father, rather than to a master, how
+dost thou excuse to thyself the intention of deserting the service of
+thy friends, without demanding permission, or at least acquainting us
+with thy desires."
+
+"Señor!" exclaimed Jacinto, surprised and embarrassed.
+
+"It is known to me, that such was thy resolution," said the cavalier,
+with gravity; "for it was so confessed to me, last night, by thy father.
+But, indeed, though I cannot avoid expressing my displeasure at such
+intention, which seems to me both treacherous and ungrateful, I led thee
+aside less to scold thee, than to give thee intelligence of Abdalla, I
+myself being, as I think, the last Christian that beheld him."
+
+"Oh, señor! and he escaped unharmed?" cried the boy.
+
+"Verily without either bruise or wound, save that which was made on his
+soul, when I reproached him for deserting thee."
+
+"I am deserted by all!" exclaimed Jacinto, clasping his hands.
+
+"For the thousandth time, I tell thee, no!" said his patron: "And thy
+father made it apparent to me he abandoned thee unwillingly; nor would
+he leave me, though the pursuers were approaching fast, until he had
+exacted of me the very superfluous vow, that I would give thee a double
+protection from all wrong and injustice. Dry thy tears: I have already
+obtained of Cortes a promise of full pardon for Abdalla, when he returns
+to us, as doubtless he will, at Tenochtitlan."
+
+"I hope so! I pray he may!" said Jacinto, hurriedly; "or what, oh! what
+shall become of us!"
+
+"I will have him sought out, and by-and-by take thee, and him along, to
+Cuenza. 'Tis hard by to Granada."
+
+The boy remained silent, and Amador continued:--
+
+"Thy father also showed me, that it was thy faithful love, in remaining
+by my kinsman during a swoon, which prevented thee from escaping with
+him. This, though it does not remove the fault of thy design, entirely
+forces me to pardon it; and indeed, Abdalla did as much as acknowledge
+thou wert averse to the plan."
+
+"Señor, I was: for though our degradation was great, I knew not how much
+greater it might be among the pagans."
+
+"Degradation! dost thou talk of degradation! In good faith, thou
+surprisest me!"
+
+"Señor," said the boy, proudly, "though you will deride such vanity in
+poor barbarians of the desert, yet did we ever think ourselves, who had
+always been free and unenslaved, debased by servitude. At least, my
+father thought so; and I myself, though speedily solaced by the kindness
+which was shown me, could not but sometimes think it had been better to
+have perished with my father in the sea, along with our unhappy people,
+than to remain as I was,--and as I am,--a _servant_ in the house of my
+master!"
+
+"A silly boy art thou, Jacinto," said Amador, surveying him with
+surprise: "for, first, thy office as the page of a most noble and
+renowned knight, is such a one as would be coveted by any grandee's son,
+however noble, who aspired to the glory of arms and knighthood; and I
+admonish thee, that, had not his infirmity driven Don Gabriel from Spain
+entirely without the knowledge of his servants, thou shouldst have seen
+the son of a very proud and lofty nobleman attending him in the very
+quality which thou thinkest so degrading. I did myself, though very
+nearly related to him, and though sprung of such blood as acknowledges
+none superior, not even in the king that sits on the throne, enter first
+into his service in the same quality of page; and, trust me, I esteemed
+it great honour. In the second place, I marvel at thee, having already
+confessed that thy service is both light and pleasant."
+
+"It is even so, señor," said the boy, meekly, "and I am not often so
+foolish as to repent me. It was not because I thought so yesternight,
+but because my father bade me, that I strove to escape from it; for he
+was in danger, or feared he was, and it was my duty to follow him
+without repining."
+
+"I come now to ask thee another question," said the neophyte. "By what
+good fortune was it, that thou stumbledst upon my kinsman, among the
+ruins of that profane pyramid?"
+
+"It was there, señor, that the princes met us."
+
+"Hah! Oh, then, thou wert plotting with my bold prince, hah! Faith, a
+very valiant pagan! and in no wise resembling the varlets of Cuba. If
+thou knowest aught of these men that may concern our leader to know, it
+will be thy duty to report the same to him Jacinto, and that without
+delay."
+
+"Nothing, señor," said the page, hastily. "I discovered that my father
+was to fly with the ambassadors; that he was to seek them at the
+pyramid; and it was there we found my master swooning."
+
+"Didst thou see aught there that was remarkable, or in any way
+inexplicable?"
+
+"I saw my lord fainting, my father and the princes flying, and the
+soldiers pursuing and shooting both with cross-bow and musket."
+
+"'Tis already," said the cavalier, turning his eye askaunt to Don
+Gabriel, "yet I know not by what revealment, whispered through the army,
+that my kinsman saw a spectre,--some devilish fiend, that, in the moment
+of his doubt, struck him to the earth!"
+
+"Ay!" said Jacinto, turning towards the knight, and eyeing him with a
+look of horror; "he thought 'twas Zayda, whom he slew so barbarously
+among the Alpujarras!"
+
+The cavalier laid his hand upon Jacinto's shoulder, sternly,--
+
+"What art thou saying?--what art thou thinking? Hast thou caught some of
+the silly fabrications of the soldiers? I warn thee to be guarded, when
+thou speakest of thy master."
+
+"He confessed it to me!" said the page, trembling but not at the anger
+of his patron. "He killed her with his own hands, when she screened
+from his cruel rage her husband Alharef, his vowed and true friend!"
+
+"Peace!--thou art mad!--'Twas the raving of his delirium.--There is no
+such being as Zayda."
+
+"There is not, but there _was_," said Jacinto, mournfully.
+
+"And how knowest thou that?" demanded Amador, quickly. "Thou speakest as
+if she had been thy kinswoman. Art thou indeed a conjuror? There is no
+dark and hidden story, with which thou dost not seem acquainted!"
+
+"She was of my tribe," said Jacinto, mildly, though tremulously,
+returning the steadfast gaze of his patron: "I have heard my father
+speak of her, for she was famous among the mountains. Often has he
+repeated to me her sorrowful story,--how she drew upon herself the anger
+of her tribe, by preserving their foe, and how their foe repaid her
+by--oh heaven! by murdering her! Often have I heard of Zayda; but I knew
+not 'twas Calavar who killed her!"
+
+"Can this be true?" said Amador, looking blankly towards his unconscious
+kinsman. "Is it possible my father can have stained his soul with so
+foul, so deadly, so fearful a crime! And he confessed it to thee? to
+thee, a boy so foolish and indiscreet that thou hast already babbled it
+to another?"
+
+"I could not help speaking it _this_ time," said Jacinto, humbled at the
+reproach; "but if my lord will forgive me, I will never speak it more."
+
+"I do forgive thee, Jacinto, as I hope heaven will my father. This then
+is the sin unabsolved, the action of wrath, the memory of sorrow, that
+has slain the peace of my kinsman? May heaven have pity on him, for it
+has punished him with a life of misery. I forgive thee, Jacinto: speak
+of this no more; think of it no more; let it be forgotten--now and for
+ever,--Amen!--I have but one more question to ask thee; and this I am,
+in part, driven to by thy admission of the most wondrous fact, that Don
+Gabriel confessed to _thee_ his secret. Many of thine actions have
+filled me with wonder; thy knowledge is, for thy years, inexplicable;
+and thou minglest with thy boyish simplicity the shrewdness of years.
+Dost thou truly obtain thy knowledge by the practice of those arts,
+which so many allow to be possessed by Botello?"
+
+"Señor!" exclaimed the boy, startled by the abruptness of the question.
+
+"Art thou, indeed, an enchanter, as Yacub charged thee to be?--Give me
+to understand, for it is fitting I should know."
+
+The exceeding and earnest gravity with which the cavalier repeated the
+question, dispelled as well the grief as the fears of the page. He cast
+his eyes to the earth, but this action did not conceal the humour that
+sparkled in them, while he replied,--
+
+"If I were older, and had as much acquaintance with the people as
+Botello, I think I could prophesy as well as he; especially if my lord
+Don Hernan would now and then give me a hint or two concerning his
+designs and expectations, such as, it has been whispered, he sometimes
+vouchsafes to Botello. I have no crystal-imp like him indeed, but I
+possess one consecrated gem that can call me up, at any time, a thousand
+visions. It seems to me, too, that I can recall the dead; for once or
+twice I have done it, though very much to my own marvelling."
+
+"Thou art an enigma," said Don Amador. "What thou sayest of Botello,
+assures me the more of thy subtle and penetrating observation; what thou
+sayest of thyself, seems to me a jest; and yet it hath a singular
+accordance, as well with my own foolish fancies and the charges of that
+Moorish menial, as with the events of the two last nights. Either there
+is, indeed, something very supernatural in thy knowledge, or the
+delirium of my kinsman is a disease of the blood, which is beginning to
+assail my own brain. God preserve me from madness! Hearken in thine ear,
+(and fear not to answer me:)--Hadst thou any thing to do with the
+raising of the phantom thou callest Zayda?--or is it the confusion of my
+senses, that causes me to suspect thee of the agency?"
+
+"Señor!" said the boy, in alarm, "you cannot think I was serious?"
+
+"What didst thou mean, then, by acknowledging the possession of that
+consecrated and vision-raising jewel?"
+
+"I meant," responded the youth, sadly, "that, being a gift associated
+with all the joys of my happiest days, I never look at it, or pray over
+it, without being beset by recollections, which may well be called
+visions; for they are representations of things that have passed away."
+
+"And the story of Leila?--Pho--'tis an absurdity!--I have heard that the
+cold which freezes men to death, begins by setting them to sleep. Sleep
+brings dreams; and dreams are often most vivid and fantastical, before
+we have yet been wholly lost in slumber. Perhaps 'tis this most biting
+and benumbing blast, that brings me such phantoms. Art thou not very
+cold?"
+
+"Not very, señor: methinks we are descending; and now the winds are not
+so frigid as before."
+
+"I would to heaven, for the sake of us all, that we were descended yet
+lower; for night approaches, and still we are stumbling among these
+clouds, that seem to separate us from earth, without yet advancing us
+nearer to heaven."
+
+While the cavalier was yet speaking, there came from the van of the
+army, very far in the distance, a shout of joy, that was caught up by
+those who toiled in his neighbourhood, and continued by the squadrons
+that brought up the rear, until finally lost among the echoes of remote
+cliffs. He pressed forward with the animation shared by his companions,
+and, still leading Jacinto, arrived, at last, at a place where the
+mountain dipped downwards with so sudden and so precipitous a declivity,
+as to interpose no obstacle to the vision. The mists were rolling away
+from his feet in huge wreaths, which gradually, as they became thinner,
+received and transmitted the rays of an evening sun, and were lighted up
+with a golden and crimson radiance, glorious to behold, and increasing
+every moment in splendour. As this superb curtain was parted from before
+him, as if by cords that went up to heaven, and surged voluminously
+aside, he looked over the heads of those that thronged the side of the
+mountain beneath, and saw, stretching away like a picture touched by the
+hands of angels, the fair valley imbosomed among those romantic hills,
+whose shadows were stealing visibly over its western slopes, but leaving
+all the eastern portion dyed with the tints of sunset. The green plains
+studded with yet greener woodlands; the little mountains raising their
+fairy-like crests; the lovely lakes, now gleaming like floods of molten
+silver, where they stretched into the sunshine, and now vanishing away,
+in a shadowy expanse, under the gloom of the growing twilight; the
+structures that rose, vaguely and obscurely, here from their verdant
+margins, and there from their very bosom, as if floating on their placid
+waters, seeming at one time to present the image of a city crowned with
+towers and pinnacles, and then again broken by some agitation of the
+element, or confused by some vapour swimming through the atmosphere,
+into the mere fragments and phantasms of edifices,--these, seen in that
+uncertain and fading light, and at that misty and enchanting distance,
+unfolded such a spectacle of beauty and peace as plunged the neophyte
+into a revery of rapture. The trembling of the page's hand, a deep sigh
+that breathed from his lips, recalled him to consciousness, without
+however dispelling his delight.
+
+"By the cross which I worship!" he cried, "it fills me with amazement,
+to think that this cursed and malefactious earth doth contain a spot
+that is so much like to paradise! Now do I remember me of the words of
+the señor Gomez, that 'no man could conceive of heaven, till he had
+looked upon the valley of Mexico,'--an expression which, at that time, I
+considered very absurd, and somewhat profane; yet, if I am not now
+mistaken, I shall henceforth, doubtless, when figuring to my imagination
+the seats of bliss, begin by thinking of this very prospect."
+
+"It is truly a fairer sight than any we saw in Florida, most noble
+señor," said a voice hard by.
+
+The cavalier turned, and with not less satisfaction than surprise, (for
+the delight of the moment had greatly warmed his heart,) beheld, in the
+person of the speaker, the master of the caravel.
+
+"Oho! señor Capitan!" cried Don Amador, stretching out his hand to the
+bowing commander. "I vow, I am as much rejoiced to see thee, as if we
+had been companions together in war. What brings thee hither to look on
+these inimitable landscapes? Art thou come, to disprove thy accounts of
+the people of Tenochtitlan? I promise thee, I have heard certain
+stories, and seen certain sights, which greatly shake my faith in thy
+representations.--What news dost thou bring me of my kinsman, the
+admiral?"
+
+"Señor," said the master, "the stars have a greater influence over our
+destinies, than have our desires. It seems to me, that that very
+astonishing victory of the most noble and right valiant señor, Don
+Hernan, at Zempoala, did utterly turn the brains of all the sailors in
+the fleet: and his excellency the admiral having declared himself a
+friend to the conqueror, they were all straightway seized with such an
+ambition to exchange the handspike for the halbert, and mine own
+thirteen vagabonds among them, that, in an hour's time after the news,
+my good caravel was as well freed of men as ever I have known her
+cleared of rats, after a smoking of brimstone. So, perceiving the folly
+of remaining in her alone, and receiving the assurance from my knaves
+that, if I went with them, I should be their captain, and his excellency
+consenting to the same, I forthwith armed myself with these rusty
+plates, (wherein you may see some of the dints battered by the red
+devils of Florida,) and was converted into a soldier,--the captain of
+the smallest company in this goodly army, and perhaps the most cowardly;
+for never did I before hear men grumble with such profane discontent, as
+did these same knaves, this very day, at the cold airs of the mountain.
+If they will fight, well; if they will not, and anybody else will, may I
+die the death of a mule, if I will not make them; for one hath a better
+and stronger command in an army than in a ship. Last night I came to
+that great town they call Cholula, and was confirmed in my command by
+the general.--His excellency, the admiral, bade me commend his love to
+your worship; and hearing that you have enlisted his secretary into your
+service, sends, by me, a better suit of armour for the youth, and prays
+your favour will have him in such keeping, that he shall be cured of his
+fit of valour, without the absolute loss of life, or his right hand,
+which last would entirely unfit him for returning to his ancient
+duties,--as, by my faith! so would the former. But, by'r lady, my
+thoughts run somewhat a wool-gathering at this prospect; for I see very
+clearly, 'tis a rich land here, that hath such admirable cities; and, I
+am told, we shall have blows enow, by and by, with the varlets in the
+valley. Nevertheless, I am ready to wager my soul against a cotton
+neck-piece, that, if these infidels have half the spirit of the savages
+of Florida, we shall be beaten, and sent to heaven, Amen!--that is, for
+the matter of heaven, and not the beating!"
+
+"I applaud thy resolution, mine ancient friend," said the cavalier, "and
+methinks thou art more vigorous, both of body and mind, on land than
+thou wert at sea. I will, by and by, send the secretary to receive the
+armour, and will not forget his excellency's bidding, as far as is
+possible. But let us not, by conversation, distract our thoughts from
+this most lovely spectacle; for I perceive it will be soon enveloped in
+darkness; and how know we, we shall ever look upon it again?"
+
+Thus terminating the interview, the neophyte, as he descended, watched
+the unchanging yet ever beautiful picture, till the sun buried himself
+among the mountains, and the shadows of night curtained it in obscurity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+
+Passing the night in a little hamlet on the mountain side, the army was
+prepared, at the dawn of the following day, to resume its march. But the
+events of this march being varied by nothing but the change of prospect,
+and the wonder of those by whom the valley was seen for the first time,
+we will not imitate the prolixity of our authority, the worthy Don
+Cristobal, but despatch, in a word, the increasing delight and
+astonishment with which Don Amador de Leste, after having satiated his
+appetite with views of lake and garden, surveyed the countless villages
+and towns of hewn stone that rose, almost at every moment, among them. A
+neck of land now separates the lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco; and the
+retreat of the waters has left their banks deformed with fens and
+morasses, wherein the wild-duck screams among waving reeds and
+bulrushes. Originally, these basins were united in one long and lovely
+sheet of water, divided indeed, yet only by a causey built by the hands
+of man, which is now lost in the before-mentioned neck, together with
+its sluices and bridges, as well as a beautiful little city, that lay
+midway between the two shores, called by the Spaniards Venezuela,
+(because rising, like its aristocratic godmother, from among the
+waters,) until they discovered that this was a peculiarity presented by
+dozens of other cities in the valley. Here was enjoyed the spectacle of
+innumerable canoes, paddled, with corn and merchandise, from distant
+towns, or parting with a freight of flowers from the _chinampas_, or
+floating gardens. But this was a spectacle disclosed by other cities of
+greater magnitude and beauty; and when, from the streets of the royal
+city Iztapalapan, the army issued at once upon the broad and straight
+dike that stretched for more than two leagues in length, a noble
+highway, through the salt floods of Tezcuco; when the neophyte beheld
+islands rocking like anchored ships in the water, the face of the lake
+thronged with little piraguas, and the air alive with snowy gulls; when
+he perceived the banks of this great sheet, as far as they could be
+seen, lined with villages and towns; and especially when he traced far
+away in the distance, in the line of the causeway, such a multitude of
+high towers and shadowy pyramids looming over the waters, as denoted the
+presence of a vast city,--he was seized with a species of awe at the
+thought of the marvellous ways of God, who had raised up that mighty
+empire, all unknown to the men of his own hemisphere, and now revealed
+it, for the accomplishment of a destiny which he trembled to imagine. He
+rode at the head of the army, in a post of distinction, by the side of
+Cortes, and fell moved to express some of the strange ideas which
+haunted him; but looking on the general attentively, he perceived about
+his whole countenance and figure an expression of singular gloom,
+mingled with such unusual haughtiness, as quickly indisposed him to
+conversation.
+
+The feelings that struggled in the bosom of the Conqueror were, at this
+instant, akin to those of the destroyer, as he sat upon 'the Assyrian
+mount,' overlooking the walls of Paradise, almost lamenting, and yet
+excusing to himself, the ruin he was about to bring upon that heavenly
+scene. Perhaps 'horror and doubt' for a moment distracted his thoughts;
+for no one knew better than he the uncertain chances and tremendous
+perils of the enterprise, or mused with more fear upon the probable and
+most sanguinary resistance of his victims, as foreboded by the tumults
+that followed after the late massacre. But when he cast his eye backward
+on the causey, and beheld the long train of foot and horse following at
+his beck; the many cannons, which, as they were dragged along, opened
+their brazen throats towards the city; the rows of spears and arquebuses
+bristling, and the banners flapping, over the heads of his people, and
+behind them the feathered tufts of his Tlascalans; and heard the music
+of his trumpets swell from the dike to the lake, from the lake to the
+shores, and die away, with pleasant echoes, among the hills; when he
+surveyed and listened to these things, and contrasted with them the
+imperfect weapons and naked bodies of his adversaries; the weakness of
+their institutions; the feebleness of their princes; the general
+disorganization of the people; and counted the guerdon of wealth and
+immortal renown that should wait upon success; he stifled at once his
+apprehensions and his remorse, ceased to remember that those, whose
+destruction he meditated, were, to him, 'harmless innocence,' and
+satisfied himself, almost with the arguments of the fiend, that--
+
+                        Public reason just,
+    Honour and empire, with revenge enlarged,
+    By conquering this new world, compels me now
+    To do what else, though damn'd, I should abhor.
+
+Triumph and regret were at once dividing his bosom; he knew he was a
+destroyer, but felt he should be a conqueror.
+
+There were many things in Don Hernan, which notwithstanding the
+gratitude and the desires of the neophyte, prevented the latter from
+bestowing upon him so much affection as he gave to one or two of his
+followers. The spirit of the leader was wholly, and, for his station,
+necessarily, crafty; and this very quality raised up a wall between him
+and one who was of so honourable a nature that he knew no concealment.
+The whole schemes and aims of the general were based upon such a
+foundation of fraud and injustice, that, he well knew, he could not,
+without expecting constant and vexatious opposition, give his full
+confidence to any truly noble spirit; and the same wisdom that estranged
+him from the lofty, taught him to keep aloof from the base. While artful
+enough to make use of the good qualities of the one, and the bad
+principles of the other class, he was satisfied with their respect; he
+cared not for their friendship. It was enough to him, that he had
+zealous and obedient followers: his situation allowed him no friends;
+and he had none. Of all the valiant cavaliers who shared with him the
+perils and the rewards of the invasion, there was not one who, after
+peace had severed the bonds of companionship, did not, at the first
+frown of fortune, or the first invitation of self-interest, array
+himself in arms against his leader.
+
+While the general gave himself up to his proud and gloomy imaginings,
+the novice of Rhodes again cast his eyes over the lake. It seemed to
+him, that, notwithstanding the triumphant blasts of the trumpet, the
+neighing of horses, and the multitudinous tread of the foot-soldiers, as
+well as the presence of so many canoes on the water, there was an air of
+sadness and solitude pervading the whole spectacle. The new soldiers
+were perhaps impressed with an awe like his own, at the strange
+prospect; the veterans were, doubtless, revolving in their minds some of
+the darker contingencies, over which their commander was brooding. Their
+steps rung heavily on the stone mole; and as the breeze curled up the
+surface of the lake into light billows, and tossed them against the
+causeway, Don Amador fancied, they approached and dashed at his feet
+with a certain sullen and hostile voice of warning. He thought it
+remarkable, also, that, among the throngs of canoes, there rose no
+shouts of welcome: the little vessels, forming a fleet on either side of
+the dike, were paddled along, at the distance of two or three hundred
+yards, so as to keep pace with the army; and the motion of the rowers,
+and the gleaming of their white garments, might have given animation, as
+well as picturesqueness, to the scene, but for the death-like silence
+that was preserved among them. The novelty of everything about the
+cavalier gave vigour to his imagination--he thought these paddling
+hordes resembled the flight of ravens that track the steps of a wounded
+beast in the desert,--or a shoal of those ravenous monsters that scent a
+pestilence on the deep, and swim by the side of the floating hospital,
+waiting for their prey.
+
+"What they mean, I know not," mused the cavalier. "After what De Morla
+has told me, I shall be loath to slay any of them; but if they desire to
+make a dinner of me, I swear to St. John! I will carve their brown
+bodies into all sorts of dishes, before I submit my limbs to the
+imprisonment of their most damnable maws! And yet, poor infidels!
+methinks they have some cause, after that affair of the festival, to
+look upon us with fear, if not with wrath; for if a garrison of an
+hundred men could be prompted to do them such a foul and murderous
+wrong, there is much reason to apprehend this well-appointed thousand
+might be, with as little provocation and warning, incited to work them a
+still more deadly injury. I would, however, that they might shout a
+little, were it only to make me feel more like a man awake; for, at
+present, it seems to me, that I am dreaming all these things which I am
+looking at!"
+
+The wish of the cavalier was not obeyed; and many a suspicious glance
+was cast, both by soldier and officer, to the dumb myriads paddling on
+their flanks; for it could not be denied, though no one dared to give
+utterance to such a suggestion, that were these countless barbarians
+provided with arms, as was perhaps the case, and could they but conceive
+the simple expedient of landing both in front and rear, and thus cut off
+their invaders from the city and the shore, and attack them at the same
+time, with good heart, in this insulated and very disadvantageous
+position, there was no knowing how obscure a conjecture the historian
+might hazard for the story of their fate. But this suspicion was also
+proved to be groundless; no sort of annoyance was practised, none indeed
+was meditated. The thousands that burthened the canoes, had issued from
+their canals to indulge a stupid curiosity, or, perhaps, under an
+impulse which they did not understand, to display to their enemies the
+long banquet of slaughter which fate was preparing for them.
+
+The army reached, at last, a point where another causeway of equal
+breadth, and seemingly of equal length, coming from the south-west, from
+the city Cojohuacan, ruled by a king, (the brother and feudatory of
+Montezuma,) terminated in the dike of Iztapalapan. At the point of
+junction was a sort of military work, consisting of a bastion, a strong
+wall, and two towers, guarding the approach to the imperial city. It was
+known by the name of Xoloc, (or, as it should be written in our tongue,
+Holoc,) and was in after times made famous by becoming the head-quarters
+of Cortes, during the time of the siege. It stood at the distance of
+only half a league from the city; and from hence could be plainly seen,
+not only the huge pyramids, with their remarkable towers rising aloft,
+but the low stone fabrics whereon, among the flowers (for every roof was
+a terrace, and every terrace a garden,) stood the gloomy citizens,
+watching the approach of the Christian army.
+
+At this point of Xoloc, at a signal of the general, every drum was
+struck with a lusty hand, every trumpet filled with a furious blast, and
+the Christians and Tlascalans, shouting together, while two or three
+falconets were at the same time discharged, there rose such a sudden and
+mighty din as startled the infidels in their canoes, and conveyed to the
+remotest quarters of Tenochtitlan, the intelligence of the advance of
+its masters.
+
+Scarcely had the echoes of this uproar died away on the lake, when
+there came, faintly indeed, but full of joyous animation, the response
+of the Christian garrison; and as the army resumed its march, they
+repeated their shouts loudly and blithely, for they now perceived, by
+the waving of banners and the glittering of spears, that their friends,
+rescued, as they all understood, by their presence, from the fear of a
+miserable death, were coming forth to meet them. Two or three mounted
+cavaliers were seen to separate themselves from this little and distant
+band, and gallop forwards, while the causeway rung to the sound of their
+hoofs. Don Amador, being in advance, was able, as they rushed forwards
+with loud and merry halloos, to observe their persons, as well as the
+reception they obtained from Don Hernan. His eye was attracted to him
+who seemed to be their leader, and who, he already knew, was Don Pedro
+de Alvarado, a cavalier that had no rival (the gallant Sandoval
+excepted,) in fame and in the favour of his general. He was in the prime
+of life, of a most noble stature, and of a countenance so engaging and
+animated, that this, in addition to the constant splendour of his
+apparel, whether the gilded mail of a warrior, or the costly vestments
+of a courtier,--had won him from the Mexicans themselves the flattering
+title of _Tonatiuh_, or the Sun; a compliment which his friends did not
+scruple to perpetuate, nor he to encourage. He rode immediately up to
+Cortes, and stretching out his hand, said gayly, and indeed,
+affectionately,--
+
+"Long life to thee, Cortes! I welcome thee as my saint. God be praised
+for thy coming--Amen! Thou hast snatched me from a most ignoble and
+hound-like death; for Sir Copilli, the emperor, has been starving me!"
+
+Don Hernan took the hand of the cavalier, and eyeing him steadfastly and
+sternly, while his old companions gathered around, said with a most
+pointed asperity,--
+
+"My friend Alvarado! thou hast done me, as well as these noble
+cavaliers, thy friends, and also thy lord the king, a most grievous
+wrong; for, by the indulgence of thy hot wrath and indiscretion, thou
+hast, as I may say, dashed the possession of this empire out of our
+hands: and much blood shall be shed, and many Christian lives sacrificed
+in a war that might have been spared us, before we can remedy the
+consequences of thy rashness!"
+
+A deep gloom that darkened to a scowl, instantly gathered over the
+handsome visage of Don Pedro; and snatching his hand roughly away, he
+drew himself up, and prepared to reply to his general with wrath, and
+perhaps with defiance. But it was no part of the policy of Cortes to
+carry his anger further than might operate warningly on the officer and
+on those around; for which reason, offering his hand again, as if not
+noticing the discontent of his lieutenant, he said, with an artful
+appearance of sincerity,
+
+"I have often thought how thou mightest have been spared the necessity
+of slaying these perfidious and plotting hounds; and it seems to me,
+even now, if thou couldst, by shutting thyself in thy quarters and
+avoiding a contest, have submitted to the foolish imputations some might
+have cast on thee, of acting from fear rather than from prudence, this
+killing of the nobles might have been avoided. I say, some, indeed,
+might have accused thee of being in fear, hadst thou not killed the
+knaves that were scheming thine own destruction; but this is an
+aspersion which _thou_ couldst have borne with as little injury as any
+other brave cavalier in this army, being second to none in a high and
+well-deserved reputation; and so well am I persuaded that none could
+have better than thyself withstood the uncommon dangers of thy command
+in this treasonable city, that I should have excused any precaution of
+peace, that might have seemed cowardly to others. Nevertheless, I must
+own, thou wert forced to do as thou hast done; for no brave man can
+submit to be thought capable of fear; and, I know, 'twas this thought
+alone, that drove thee out to kill the nobles."
+
+No cloud in those tropical skies could have vanished more suddenly in
+the sunbeam, than did the frown of Alvarado at these complimentary words
+of his general. He caught the hand that was still proffered, shook it
+heartily, kissed it, and said,--his whole countenance beaming with
+delight and pride,--
+
+"I thank your excellency for this just consideration of my actions, and
+this expression of a true excuse for what seems, and what perhaps may
+have been, a great indiscretion. Your excellency, and these noble
+señores, my friends, would have esteemed me a coward, had I sat securely
+and quietly in the palace, watching, without attempting to forestall,
+the conspiracy of the lords of Mexico; and I have great hopes, when I
+have permission to explain all these things to your excellency, though I
+do not much plume myself on wisdom, but rather on fighting, (which is
+the only thing I have ever studied with diligence,) that you will say I
+acted as wisely as, in such case, was possible."
+
+"I have no doubt of it," said Cortes, smiling, as he rode
+onwards.--"But, nevertheless, there is more wisdom in thy knocks than in
+thy noddle," he muttered to himself.--The shame of the reproof, though
+dispelled by the flattery of the rebuker, did not wholly disappear from
+the bosom of Alvarado. A word of sarcasm will live longer than the
+memory of a benefit. Alvarado was, in after days, a traitor to his
+general.
+
+But without now giving himself leisure for consideration, the cavalier
+addressed himself to his old companions; and even, (for his joy at being
+so rescued out of peril, warmed his heart to all,) made up with much
+satisfaction to the knight Calavar. But since the confession at Cholula,
+the distemper of Don Gabriel had visibly increased; and his fits of
+abstraction were becoming, every hour, so frequent and so profound, as
+to cause the greatest alarm and anxiety to his kinsman. He neither heard
+nor saw the salutations of Don Pedro; nor indeed did he seem at all
+sensible to any part of the strange scene that surrounded him. Foiled in
+this attempt, the courteous and vivacious soldier turned himself to Don
+Amador, as presenting the appearance of a noble and gallant hidalgo, and
+would speedily have been on a footing of the most perfect friendship
+with him, had it not been that the neophyte still freshly remembered the
+story of the massacre, and met his advances with a frigid haughtiness.
+
+"By'r lady!" said the offended cavalier, "it seems to me that the devil,
+or the cold mountain, has got into the bosoms of all; for here am I,
+with my heart at this moment as warm as a pepper-pod, or a black cloak
+in the sunshine, and ready to love everybody, old and young, vile and
+virtuous, base and gentle; and yet everybody, notwithstanding, meets me
+with a most frosty unconcern. I swear to thee, valiant cavalier,
+whosoever thou art, my breast is open to thee, and I crave thy
+affection; for, besides perceiving that thou art assuredly an hidalgo, I
+see thou hast a Moorish page at thy side, with a lute at his back; and
+if his pipe be half so good as his face, I cannot live without being thy
+friend; for I love music!"
+
+Jacinto shrunk away from his admirer, alarmed as much at the suddenness
+of his praise, as at the many evolutions of the lance, which, by way of
+gesticulation, he flourished about him in a very vigorous manner. But
+Don Amador, greatly amused at the freedom, and, in spite of himself,
+gained by the frankness, of Don Pedro, replied with good-humour.
+
+"Señor," said he, "I am Amador de Leste, of the castle Del Alcornoque,
+near to Cuenza; and having heard certain charges against you, in the
+matter of the Mexican nobles, I replied to you, perhaps, with prejudice.
+Nevertheless, what the general has said, does, in some sort, seem to
+lessen the force of the charge; and if you will, at your leisure,
+condescend to satisfy my doubts, as I begin to be assured you can, I
+will not hesitate to receive your friendship, and to tender you my own
+in return. Only, previous to which, I must beg of you to turn your
+lance-point another way, so that the boy Jacinto, who is somewhat afraid
+of its antics, may be enabled to walk again at my side."
+
+"Señor Don Amador de Leste," said the soldier, taking this speech in
+good part, "I avow myself satisfied with your explanation, and so
+determined to pursue your friendship, (inasmuch as I have not heard any
+good singing since the little Orteguilla, the page of the Indian
+emperor, or, what is the same thing, of Cortes, lost his voice in a
+quinsy,) that I will give you the whole history of the nobles, their
+atrocious conspiracy and their just punishment, as soon as we have
+leisure in our quarters. And now, if you will have the goodness to ride
+with me a little in advance, I will have much satisfaction, as I
+perceive you are a stranger, to introduce you to this great and
+wonderful city, Tenochtitlan, of which I have been, as I may say, in
+some sort, the king, for two long and tumultuous months; and I swear to
+you, no king ever clutched upon a crown with more good will and joy than
+do I, this moment, abdicate my authority."
+
+Thus invited by his courteous and jocund friend, the neophyte rode
+onwards so as to reach the heels of Cortes, just as the garrison,
+inspired by the sight of their leader, broke their ranks, and rushed
+forwards to salute him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+
+The soldiers of Alvarado differed in no wise from those veterans whom
+Don Amador had found standing to their arms on the banks of the River of
+Canoes; only that they presented, notwithstanding their loudly vented
+delight, a care-worn and somewhat emaciated appearance,--the consequence
+of long watches, perpetual fears, and, in part, of famine. They broke
+their ranks, as has been said, as soon as they beheld their general, and
+surrounded him with every expression of affection; and, while stretching
+forth their hands with cries of gratitude and joy, invoked many
+execrations on their imperial prisoner, the helpless Montezuma, as the
+cause of all their sufferings. Among them, Don Amador took notice of one
+man, who, though armed and habited as a Spaniard, seemed, in most other
+respects, an Indian, and of a more savage race than any he had yet seen;
+for his face, hands, and neck were tattooed with the most fantastic
+figures, and his motions were those of a barbarian. This was Geronimo de
+Aguilar, a companion of Balboa, who, being wrecked on the coast of
+Yucatan, had been preserved as a slave, and finally, adopted as a
+warrior, among the hordes of that distant land; from which he was
+rescued by Don Hernan,--happily to serve as the means of communication,
+through the medium of another and more remarkable interpreter, with the
+races of Mexico. This other interpreter, who approached the general with
+the dignified gravity of an Indian princess, and was received with
+suitable respect, was no less a person than that maid of Painalla, sold
+by an unfeeling parent a slave to one of the chieftains of Tobasco,
+presented by him to Cortes, and baptized in the faith under the
+distinguished title of the señora Doña Marina; who, by interpreting to
+Aguilar, in the language of Yucatan, the communications that were made
+in her native tongue, thus gave to Cortes the means of conferring with
+her countrymen, until her speedy acquisition of the Castilian language
+removed the necessity of such tedious intervention. But at this period,
+many Spaniards had acquired a smattering of her tongue, and could play
+the part of interpreters; and, for this reason, Doña Marina will make no
+great figure in this history. Other annalists have sufficiently
+immortalized her beauty, her wisdom, and her fidelity; and it has been
+her good fortune, continued even to this day, to be distinguished with
+such honours as have fallen to the lot of none of her masters. Her
+Christian denomination, Marina, converted by her countrymen into
+_Malintzin_, (a title that was afterwards scornfully applied by them to
+Cortes himself,) and this again, in modern days, corrupted by the
+Creoles into _Malinche_, has had the singular fate to give name both to
+a mountain and a divinity: the sierra of Tlascala is now called the
+mountain of Malinche; and the descendants of Montezuma pay their
+adorations to the Virgin, under the title of Malintzin.
+
+Don Amador de Leste, attended by De Morla, as well as his new
+acquaintance, Alvarado, was able to understand, as well as admire, many
+of the wonders of the city, as he now, for the first time, planted his
+foot on its imperial streets.
+
+The retreat of the salt waters of Tezcuco has left the present
+republican city of Mexico a full league west of the lake. In the days of
+Montezuma, it stood upon an island two miles removed from the western
+shore, with which it communicated by the dike or _calzada_ of
+Tlacopan,--now called Tacuba. The causeway of Iztapalapan, coming from
+the South, seven miles in length, passed over the island and through the
+city, and was continued in a line three miles further to the northern
+shore, and to the city Tepejacac, where now stand the church and the
+miraculous picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Besides these three great
+causeways, constructed with inconceivable labour, there were two
+others,--that of Cojohuacan, which, as we have mentioned, terminated in
+the greater one of Iztapalapan, at the military point Xoloc, a half
+league from the city; and that, a little south-ward of the dike of
+Tacuba, which conveyed, in aqueducts of earthenware, the pure waters of
+Chapoltepec to the temples and squares of the imperial city. The island
+was circular, saving that a broad angle or peninsula ran out from the
+north-west, and a similar one from the opposite point of the compass: it
+was a league in diameter; but the necessities of the people, after
+covering this ample space with their dwellings, extended them far into
+the lake; and perhaps as many edifices stood, on piles, in the water as
+on the land. The causeways of Iztapalapan and Tacuba, intersecting each
+other in the heart of the island, divided the city into four convenient
+quarters, to which a fifth was added, some few generations before, when
+the little kingdom of Tlatelolco, occupying the north-western peninsula,
+was added to Tenochtitlan. On this peninsula and in this quarter of
+Tlatelolco, stood the palace of an ancient king, which the munificence
+of Montezuma had presented to Cortes for a dwelling, and which the
+invader, six days after the gift, by an act of as much treachery as
+daring, converted into the prison of his benefactor.
+
+The appearance of this vast and remarkable city so occupied the mind of
+the neophyte, that, as he rode staring along, he gave but few thoughts,
+and fewer words, either to his kinsman or the page. It was sunset, and
+in the increasing obscurity, he gazed, as if on a scene of magic, on
+streets often having canals in the midst, covered alike with bridges and
+empty canoes; on stone houses, low indeed, but of a strong and imposing
+structure, over the terraces of which waved shrubs and flowers; and on
+high turrets, which, at every vista, disclosed their distant pinnacles.
+But he remarked also, and it was mentioned by the cavaliers at his side
+as a bad omen, that neither the streets, the canals, nor the house-tops
+presented the appearance of citizens coming forth to gaze upon them. A
+few Indians were now and then seen skulking at a distance in the
+streets, raising their heads from a half-concealed canoe, or peering
+from a terrace among the shrubs. He would have thought the city
+uninhabited, but that he knew it contained as many living creatures,
+hidden among its retreats, as some of the proudest capitals of
+Christendom. Even the great square, the centre of life and of devotion,
+was deserted; and the principal pyramid, a huge and mountainous mass,
+consecrated to the most sanguinary of deities, though its sanctuaries
+were lighted by the ever-blazing urns, and though the _town_ of temples
+circumscribed by the great Coatepantli, or _Wall of Serpents_, which
+surrounded this Mexican Olympus, sent up the glare of many a devotional
+torch,--yet did it seem, nevertheless, to be inhabited by beings as
+inanimate as those monstrous reptiles which writhed in stone along the
+infernal wall. In this light, and in that which still played in the
+west, Don Amador marvelled at the structure of the pyramid, and cursed
+it as he marvelled. It consisted of five enormous platforms, faced with
+hewn stone, and mounted by steps so singularly planned, that, upon
+climbing the first story, it was necessary to walk entirely round the
+mass, before arriving at the staircase which conducted to the second.
+The reader may conceive of the vast size of this pagan temple by being
+apprised, that, to ascend it, the votaries were compelled, in their
+perambulations, to walk a distance of full ten furlongs, as well as to
+climb a hundred and fourteen different steps. He may also comprehend the
+manner in which the stairways were contrived, by knowing that the first,
+ascending _laterally_ from the corner, was just as broad as the first
+platform was wider than the second; leaving thus a sheer and continuous
+wall from the ground to the top of the second terrace, from the bottom
+of the second to the top of the third, and so on, in like manner, to the
+top.
+
+But the pyramid, crowned with altars and censers, the innumerable
+temples erected in honour of nameless deities at its foot, and the
+strange and most hideous Coatepantli, were not the only objects which
+excited the abhorrence of the cavalier. Without the wall, and a few
+paces in advance of the great gate which it covered as a curtain, rose a
+rampart of earth or stone, oblong and pyramidal, but truncated,
+twenty-five fathoms in length at the base, and perhaps thirty feet in
+height. At either end of this tumulus, was a tower of goodly altitude,
+built, as it seemed at a distance and in the dim light, of some
+singularly rude and uncouth material; and between them, occupying the
+whole remaining space of the terrace, was a sort of frame-work or cage
+of slender poles, on all of which were strung thickly together, certain
+little globes, the character of which Don Amador could not penetrate,
+until fully abreast of them. Then, indeed, he perceived, with horror,
+that these globes were the skulls of human beings, the trophies of ages
+of superstition; and beheld, in like manner, that the towers which
+crowned the Golgotha, (or _Huitzompan_, as it was called in the Mexican
+tongue,) were constructed of the same dreadful materials, cemented
+together with lime. The malediction which he invoked upon the builders
+of the ghastly temple, was unheard; for the spectacle froze his blood
+and paralyzed his tongue.
+
+It was not yet dark, when, having left these haunts of idolatry, Don
+Amador found himself entering into the court-yard of a vast, and yet not
+a very lofty, building,--the palace of Axajacatl; wherein, with drums
+beating, and trumpets answering joyously to the salute of their friends,
+stood those individuals of the garrison who had remained to watch over
+their prisoners and treasures. The weary and the curious, thronging
+together impatiently at the gate, mingling with the garrison and some
+two thousand faithful Tlascalans, who had been left by Cortes as their
+allies, and who now rushed forward to salute the viceroy of their gods,
+as some had denominated Don Hernan, made such a scene of confusion,
+that, for a moment, the neophyte was unable to ride into the yard. In
+that moment, and while struggling both to appease the unquiet of Fogoso,
+and to drive away the feathered herd that obstructed him, his arm was
+touched, and, looking down, he beheld Jacinto at his side, greatly
+agitated, and seemingly striving to disengage himself from the throng.
+
+"Give me thy hand," cried Don Amador, "and I will pull thee out of this
+rabble to the back of Fogoso."
+
+But the page, though he seized upon the hand of his patron, and covered
+it with kisses, held back, greatly to the surprise of Don Amador, who
+was made sensible that hot tears were falling with the kisses.
+
+"I swear to thee, my boy! that I will discover thy father for thee, if
+it be possible for man to find him," said the cavalier, diving at once,
+as he thought, to the cause of this emotion.
+
+But before he had well done speaking, the press thickening around him,
+drew the boy from his side; and when he had, a moment after, disengaged
+himself, Jacinto was no longer to be seen. Not doubting, however, that
+he was entangled in the mass, and would immediately appear, he called
+out to him to follow; and riding slowly up to Cortes, he had his whole
+attention immediately absorbed by the spectacle of the Indian emperor.
+
+Issuing from the door of the palace, surrounded as well by Spanish
+cavaliers as by the nobles, both male and female, of his own household,
+who stood by him,--the latter, at least,--with countenances of the
+deepest veneration,--he advanced a step to do honour to the dismounting
+general.
+
+In the light of many torches, held by the people about him, Don Amador,
+as he flung himself from his horse, could plainly perceive the person
+and habiliments of the pagan king. He was of good stature, clad in white
+robes, over which was a huge mantle of crimson, studded with emeralds
+and drops of gold, knotted on his breast, or rather on his shoulder, so
+as to fall, when he raised his arm, in careless but very graceful folds;
+his legs were buskined with gilded leather; his head covered with the
+_copilli_, or crown, (a sort of mitre of plate-gold, graved and chased
+with certain idolatrous devices,) from beneath which fell to his
+shoulders long and thick locks of the blackest hair. He did not yet seem
+to have passed beyond the autumn of life. His countenance, though of the
+darkest hue known among his people, was good, somewhat long and hollow,
+but the features well sculptured; and a gentle melancholy, a
+characteristic expression of his race, deepened, perhaps, in gloom, by a
+sense of his degradation, gave it a something that interested the
+beholder.
+
+In the abruptness with which he was introduced to the regal barbarian,
+Don Amador had no leisure to take notice of his attendants, all princely
+in rank, and, two or three of them, the kings of neighbouring cities: he
+only observed that their decorations were far from being costly and
+ostentatious;--a circumstance, which, he did not then know, marked the
+greatness of their respect. In the absurd grandeur which attached to the
+person of their monarch, no distinction of inferior ranks was allowed to
+be traced, during the time of an audience; and in his majestic presence,
+a vassal king wore the coarse garments of a slave. So important was
+esteemed the observance of this courtly etiquette, that, at the first
+visit made him, in his palace, by the Spaniards, the renowned Cortes and
+his proud officers did not refuse to throw off their shoes, and cover
+their armour with such humble apparel as was offered them. But those
+days were passed; the king of kings was himself the vassal of a king's
+vassal. Yet notwithstanding this, it had been, up to this time, the
+policy of Don Hernan to soften the captivity, and engage the affections,
+of the monarch, by such marks of reverence as might still allow him to
+dream he possessed the grandeur, along with the state, of a king. Before
+this day, Cortes had never been known to pass his prisoner, without
+removing his cap or helmet; and indeed, such had been so long the habit
+of his cavaliers, that all, as they now dismounted, fell to doffing
+their casques without delay, until the action of their leader taught
+them a new and unexpected mode of salutation.
+
+The weak spirit of Montezuma had yielded to the arts of the Spaniard;
+and forgetting the insults of past days, the loss of his empire, and the
+shame of his imprisonment, he had already conceived a species of
+affection for his wronger. Cortes had no sooner, therefore, leaped from
+his horse, than the emperor, with outstretched arms, and with his
+sadness yielding to a smile, advanced to meet him.
+
+"Dog of a king!" said the invader, with a ferocious frown, "dost thou
+starve and murder my people, and then offer me the hand of friendship?
+away with thee! I defy thee, and thou shalt see that I can punish!" Thus
+saying, and thrusting the king rudely aside, he stepped into the palace.
+
+A wild cry of lamentation, at this insult (it needed no interpretation)
+to their king, burst from the lips of all the Mexicans; and the
+Spaniards themselves were not less panic-struck. The gentle manners of
+Montezuma, and his munificence, (for he was in the daily habit of
+enriching them with costly presents,) had endeared him to most of his
+enemies; and even the soldiers of the garrison, who had so lately
+accused him of endeavouring to famish them, had no belief in the justice
+of their charges. Many of them therefore, both soldiers and hidalgos,
+indignant and grieved at the wanton insult, had their sympathies
+strongly excited, when they beheld the monarch roll his eyes upon them
+with a haggard smile, in which pride was struggling vainly with a bitter
+sense of humiliation. De Morla and several others rushed forwards to
+atone, by caresses, for the crime of their general. But it was too late;
+the king threw his mantle over his head, and without the utterance of
+any complaint, passed, with his attendants, into his apartments. His
+countenance was never more, from that day, seen to wear a smile.
+
+Don Amador de Leste was greatly amazed and shocked by this rudeness; and
+it was one of many other circumstances, which, by lessening his respect
+for the general, contributed to weaken his friendship and undermine his
+gratitude. But he had no time to indulge his indignation. He was
+startled by a loud cry, or rather a shriek, from the lips of the knight
+Calavar; and running to the gate, beheld, in the midst of a confused
+mass of men, rushing to and fro, and calling out as if to secure an
+assassin, his kinsman lying, to all appearance dead, in the arms of his
+attendants.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+
+The first thought of the young cavalier was, that Don Gabriel had been
+basely and murderously struck by some felon hand; an apprehension of
+which he was, in part, immediately relieved by the protestations of
+Baltasar, but which was not entirely removed until he had assisted to
+carry the knight into a chamber of the palace, and beheld him open his
+eyes and roll them wildly round him, like one awaking from a dream of
+night-mare.
+
+"I say," muttered Baltasar, as he raised the head of the distracted man,
+and beckoned to clear the room of many idle personages who had thrust
+themselves in, "he was hurt by no mortal man, for I stood close at his
+side, and there is not a drop of blood on his body. 'Twas one of the
+accursed ghosts, whom may St. John sink down to hell; for they are ever
+persecuting us."
+
+"Mortal man, or immortal fiend," whispered Lazaro, knitting his brows,
+but looking greatly frighted, "I saw him running away, the moment the
+knight screeched; and, I will take my oath, he had such a damnable
+appearance as belongs to nothing but the devil, or one of these pagan
+gods, who are all devils. Had he been a man, I should have slain him,
+for I struck at him with my spear!"
+
+"Miserere mei!" groaned the knight, rising to his feet, "they are all
+unearthed,--Zayda at the temple, and _he_ in the palace!"
+
+Don Amador trembled, when he heard his kinsman pronounce the name of
+Zayda, for he remembered the words of Jacinto. Nevertheless he said, "be
+not disturbed, my father; for we are none here but thy servants."
+
+"Ay!" said the knight, looking gloomily but sanely to his friend; "I
+afflict thee with my folly; but I know _now_ that it will end.--Let the
+boy Jacinto sing to me the song of the Virgin; I will pray and sleep."
+
+Don Amador looked round, and Jacinto not being present, began to
+remember that the page had been separated from him in the crowd, and
+that he had not seen him since the moment of separation. None of the
+attendants had noticed him enter the court-yard; and a superstitious
+fear was mingled with his anxiety, when Don Gabriel, casting his eyes to
+heaven, said, with a deep groan,--
+
+"The time beginneth, the flower is broken, and now I see how each branch
+shall fall, and the trunk that is blasted, shall be left, naked, to
+perish! Seek no more for the boy," he went on to Amador, with a grave
+placidity, which, coupled with the extravagance of his words, gave the
+youth reason to fear that his mind, wavering under a thousand shocks,
+had at last settled down for ever in the calm of insanity,--"seek for
+the good child no more, for he is now in heaven. And lament not thou, my
+son Amador, that thou shalt speedily follow him; for thy heart is yet
+pure, thy soul unstained, and grace shall not be denied thee!"
+
+"Jacinto is not dead, my father," said the neophyte earnestly; "and if
+thou wilt suffer Baltasar to remove thy corslet, and make thee a couch
+under yonder canopy, I will fetch him to thee presently, and he shall
+sing thee to sleep."
+
+"Remove the armour indeed," muttered Don Gabriel, submitting passively,
+"for now there is no more need of aught but the crucifix, prayers, and
+the grave. Poor children! that shall die before the day of canker, what
+matters it? I lament ye not,--ye shall sleep in peace!"
+
+Thus murmuring out his distractions, in which his servants perceived
+nothing but the influence of some supernatural warning that boded them
+calamity, the knight allowed himself to be disarmed and laid upon a
+couch on a raised platform at the side of the chamber, over which the
+voluminous arras that covered the walls, were festooned into a sort of
+not inelegant tester.
+
+Meanwhile, the neophyte, beckoning Lazaro with him, and charging him to
+make good search throughout the palace for the page, began to address
+himself to the same duty. And first, attracted by the lights and by the
+sounds of many voices coming from a neighbouring apartment, he advanced
+to the door, where he was suddenly arrested by the appearance of a
+Mexican of very majestic stature, though clad in the same humble robes
+which had covered the attendants of Montezuma, issuing from the chamber,
+followed by a throng of cavaliers, among whom was the general himself.
+At the side of Cortes stood a boy, in stature resembling Jacinto; and in
+whom, for a moment, Don Amador thought he had discovered the object of
+his desires. But this agreeable delusion was instantly put to flight,
+when he heard Don Hernan address him by the name of Orteguilla, and saw
+that he exercised the functions of an interpreter.
+
+"Tell me this knave, my merry _muchacho_," said the general,--"tell me
+this knave, (that is to say, this royal prince,) Cuitlahuatzin, that I
+discharge him from captivity, under the assurance that he shall, very
+faithfully, and without delay, command his runagate people to bring me
+corn to the market; of which it is not fitting we should be kept in want
+longer than to-morrow. And give him to understand, that I hold, as the
+hostage of his good faith and compliance, the dog Montezuma; (translate
+_that_, the king his brother:) who shall be made to suffer the penalty
+of any neglect, on his part, to furnish me with the afore-mentioned
+necessary provision."
+
+The little Orteguilla, in part acquainted with the Mexican tongue, did
+as he was directed; and the prince Cuitlahuatzin, (or, as it should be
+pronounced in English speech, Quitlawátzin,) receiving and understanding
+the direction, bowed his head to Cortes with stately humility, and
+immediately withdrew.
+
+Not discovering or hearing aught of Jacinto in this throng, Don Amador
+continued his search in other parts of the palace, the court-yard, and
+even the neighbouring street; but with such indifferent success, that,
+when stumbling upon Lazaro, and made acquainted that he had been equally
+unfortunate, he began to entertain the most serious fears for the fate
+of the boy.
+
+"Perhaps he was carried off by the spectre," muttered Lazaro,
+superstitiously, "as his worship Don Gabriel as much as hinted."
+
+"Or perhaps," said the neophyte, with a thrill of horror, "by some of
+those bloody cannibals, to be devoured! And I remember now, that there
+were many savages about me at the time; though I thought them
+Tlascalans. I would to heaven, I had speared the knaves that came
+between us; but I swear to St. John of the Desert, if they have truly
+robbed me of the boy, and for that diabolical purpose, I will pursue
+their whole race with a most unrelenting vengeance."
+
+At this moment, the cavalier was startled by a sudden "Hark!" from
+Lazaro, and heard, at a distance in the street, though objects were lost
+in the darkness, a great tumult as of men in affray, and plainly
+distinguished a voice crying aloud, "Arma! arma! and Christian men, for
+the love of God, to the rescue of Christians beset by infidels!"
+
+"Draw thy sword, Lazaro, and follow!" cried the cavalier, "for these are
+other victims; and, with God's favour, we _will_ rescue them!"
+
+Thus exclaiming, and without a moment thinking of the unknown perils
+among which he was rushing, he ran rapidly in the direction of the
+cries, and straightway beheld, a little in advance of a great crowd of
+people, a group consisting of four or five persons, several of them
+women in strange attire, who stood shrieking with terror, while at their
+feet rolled three or four on the ground in close and murderous combat.
+The cries of one of these prostrate figures bespoke him a Spaniard, and
+while one sinewy pagan seemed to hold him upon the earth, another stood
+with his uplifted weapon, in the very act of despatching him. At this
+moment, Don Amador rushed forwards, and shouting his war-cry, _Dios, y
+buena esperanza!_ (that is, 'God and good cheer!') struck the menacing
+savage a blow that sent him yelling away, and seized upon the other by
+the shoulder to stab him; when, suddenly, the Spaniard rose to his feet,
+with a leap that tumbled the infidel to the earth, and showed him to be
+already dead, cried aloud, in the well-remembered voice of the
+magician,--
+
+"Tetragrammaton! thou wert a good shield, though a bloody one, sir
+carcass!--Save the princesses, and fly, or we are all dead men!--Arma!
+arma! to the rescue!"
+
+Thus shouting, and seizing upon one of the women, while Don Amador
+snatched the arm of the other, (for he perceived, they were like to be
+cut off by the approaching crowd,) the sorcerer, with his rescuers, ran
+towards the palace. His cries had reached the quarters; and presently
+they were surrounded by a hundred soldiers and cavaliers bearing lights,
+in the glare of which Don Amador had scarce time to note the countenance
+of his new ward, before she was locked in the arms of De Morla.
+
+"Minnapotzin! Benita!" cried the joyous cavalier. "Amigo mio! thou hast
+saved my princess!"
+
+"Stop not to prate and be happy; for the storm comes!" exclaimed
+Botello. "To the palace, all of ye! and to the cannon! for were you five
+hundred men, there are wolves enow at your heels to devour you!"
+
+Thus admonished, and perceiving, in fact, that a vast, though silent
+multitude was approaching, all were fain to fly, and in an instant they
+were crowding into the gates of the court-yard.
+
+"This comes of insulting the king!" cried a voice from the melée, as
+Cortes, shouting out to clear the gates, was seen himself assisting to
+draw a piece of artillery to the opening.
+
+"I see naught,--I hear nothing," cried the general, affecting not to
+remark this reproach, (which was indeed just; for it was this
+over-refinement of policy, spread with wonderful celerity throughout the
+city, which dashed the last scale from the eyes of the Mexicans,
+convinced them that their monarch was indeed a slave, and let loose the
+long-imprisoned current of fury.) "I see nought, I hear nought; and my
+brave Rolands have been flying from shadows!"
+
+"Say not so; the town is alive," cried the magician. "The hounds set on
+me, as I was bringing, at your excellency's command, these princesses
+from Tacuba; and it was only through the mercy of God, my good star, an
+Indian that I killed for a buckler, and the help of this true cavalier,
+(whose fate, out of gratitude, I will reveal to him to-morrow,) that we
+were not all killed by the way:--for small reverence did the false
+traitors show to the maidens."
+
+"Clear the way, then. Discharge me the piece, Catalan, true cannonier!"
+said Cortes, "and we will see what our foes look like, so near to
+midnight."
+
+The match was applied, the palace shook to the roar,--and the blaze,
+illumining the street to a great distance, disclosed it, to the surprise
+of all, entirely deserted.
+
+"I will aver upon mine oath," said Don Amador, "that the street was but
+now full of people; but where they have hidden, or whither they have
+fled, wholly passes my comprehension."
+
+"Hidden, surely, in their beds," cried the general, loudly and
+cheerfully, for he perceived the crowds about him were panic-struck.
+"They set on Botello, doubtless, because they thought he was haling away
+the princesses with violence; and, convinced of their error, they have
+now gone to their rest,--a mark of wisdom in which I would advise all
+here to follow their example."
+
+Thus cheered by their leader, the soldiers began to disperse; and
+Amador, musing painfully on the mysterious fate of the page, was
+accosted by Cortes, who, drawing him aside, said,--
+
+"It has been told me, señor, that your Moorish boy has made his escape."
+
+"His escape!" echoed the novice, in surprise. "He did indeed vanish away
+from me, and I know not how, though much do I fear, in a manner that it
+shocks me to think on. I was about to ask of your excellency, as the boy
+is a true Christian, as well as a most faithful servant, for such
+counsel and assistance as might enable me, this night, to rescue him out
+of the hands of the cannibals; for it would be a sin on the souls of us
+all, should we suffer him to come to harm."
+
+"And are you so well persuaded of his faith, as to believe him incapable
+of treachery?" demanded Don Hernan, earnestly: "Thou forgettest, he has
+a father concealed among these infidels."
+
+"Ay! by my faith!" cried Amador, joyously; "I thought not of that
+before. And yet, and yet----" Here his countenance fell. "How should he
+be so mad, as to leave us in this strange and huge city, with any hope
+of discovering Abdalla?"
+
+"I can resolve thee that," said Cortes: "for it is avouched to me by
+Yacub, that he saw this wretch (whom may heaven return to me for
+punishment, for he is a most subtle, daring, and dangerous traitor,)
+this very knave Abdalla, at thy horse's heels; but he could not believe
+'twas he, until made acquainted with the flight of the page."
+
+"Ay! now I see it;" said Amador; "and I remember that he wept, as he
+held my hand, as if grieving to desert me. But, methinks, 'twill be well
+to seek him out, and reclaim him. Will your excellency allow me the
+services of any score or two of men, who, for love or gold, may be
+induced to follow me in the search?"
+
+"I will answer thee in thine own words," said Cortes: "Where wouldst
+thou look in this strange and huge city, with any hope of discovering
+him? Be content, señor; the boy is with the fox, his father. _That_
+should convince thee, he is in present safety. And señor, I will tell
+thee, what I conceal from my people, (for thou art a soldier, and,
+therefore, as discreet as fearless,) that I would not, this night,
+despatch an hundred men a mile from the palace, without looking to have
+half of them slain outright by the rebels that are around us!"
+
+"And dost thou think," said Amador, "that these besotted, naked madmen,
+would dare to assail so many?"
+
+"You will see, by my conscience!" cried the general, with a grim and
+anxious smile. "Sleep with thine armour at thy side; and forget not thy
+buckler, for I have known a Tlascalan arrow pierce through a good
+Biscayan gorget; and they say, the Mexicans can shoot as well. Let not
+any noise arouse thee, unless it be that of a trumpet. I would have thee
+sleep well, my friend; for I know not how soon I may need thy strong
+arm, and encouraging countenance!"
+
+Thus darkly and imperfectly apprising the novice of his fears, (for now,
+indeed, a demon had roused a thousand apprehensions in his breast,) the
+general departed; and Don Amador disconsolately pursued his way to the
+chamber of the knight of Rhodes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+
+When Don Amador returned to the chamber, he was rejoiced to find his
+kinsman asleep, and not offended that the faithful Marco and Baltasar
+were both nodding, as they sat at his side. He threw himself softly on a
+cot of mats, covered with robes of fine cotton, over which was a little
+canopy,--such being the beds of the better orders of Mexico. The crowded
+state of the palace (for it is recorded, that the number of Totonac and
+Tlascalan allies, who remained in the garrison with Alvarado, now
+swelled the army of Cortes to nearly nine thousand men,) left him no
+other choice; and he felt, that his presence was perhaps necessary, in
+the unhappy condition of his knight. He was mindful to obey the counsels
+of Don Hernan, and lie with his weapons ready to be grasped at the first
+alarm; and he remembered also the hint that had been given him, not to
+be surprised at such tumults, when he heard a sound, continued
+throughout the greater part of the night, as of heavy instruments
+knocking against the court-yard wall, convincing him as well of the
+military vigilance and preparations, as of the fears of his general. In
+addition to this disturbance, he was often startled by moans and wild
+expressions, coming from the lips of the sleeping knight, showing him
+that even slumber brought no repose to his distempered spirit. But,
+above all, (and this made manifest the hold that the Moorish boy had got
+upon his affections,) he was troubled with thoughts of Jacinto; and
+often, as the angel of sleep began to flutter over his eyelids, she was
+driven away, by some sudden and painfully intense conception of the
+great peril which must surround the friendless lad, now that the events
+of the evening proved him to be in the midst, and doubtless in the
+power, of an enraged multitude, to whom every stranger was an enemy.
+Often, too, as he was sinking into slumber, the first voice of dreams
+would cry to him in the tones of Jacinto, or the silent enchanter would
+bring before his eyes the spectacle of the boy, confined in the cage of
+victims, or dragged away, by the hands of ferocious priests, to the
+place of sacrifice. These distractions kept him tossing about in great
+restlessness, for a long time; and it was not until the sounds of the
+workmen in the yard were no longer heard, and until a deep silence
+pervaded the palace, that he was able to drown his torments in sleep.
+
+He was roused from slumber by a painful dream, and fancying it must be
+now approaching the time of dawn, he stole softly to the bed-side of
+Calavar, without disturbing the attendants. A taper of myrtle-wax,
+burning on a little pedestal hard by, disclosed to him the countenance
+of the knight, contracted with pain, and flushed as if with fever, but
+still chained in repose. He stepped noiselessly away, and gathering his
+sword and a few pieces of armour in his hands, left the apartment.
+
+From the door of the palace, he could see, dimly,--for it was not yet
+morning,--that vast numbers of Tlascalans were lying asleep in the
+court-yard among the horses, while many sentinels were stalking about in
+silent watchfulness. He was now able, likewise, to understand the cause
+of the heavy knocking, which had annoyed him. The gates were closed; but
+in three rude embrasures, which had been broken in the wall by the
+workmen, frowned as many pieces of ordnance, commanding the street by
+which he had approached the palace.
+
+Entering this again, and attracted by the distant murmur of voices, he
+discovered a staircase at the end of a passage, ascending which, he
+immediately found himself on the terraced roof of the building. And now
+he could perceive the exposed condition of the royal citadel, as well as
+the preparations made to sustain it, in the event of a siege.
+
+The palace, itself, extended over a great piece of ground, in the form
+of a square, the walled sides of which were continuous, but the centre
+divided by rows of structures that crossed each other, into many little
+courts. The buildings were all low, consisting, indeed, of but one
+floor, except that, in the centre, were several chambers on the roofs of
+others, that might be called turrets or observatories. The terraces were
+so covered with flowers and shrubs, that they seemed a garden. This mass
+of houses was surrounded on all sides by a spacious court, confined by a
+wall six or eight feet high, running entirely round the whole. The
+palace, with its outer court, did not yet occupy all of the great square
+upon which it stood. It was a short bow-shot from the battlements to
+the houses, which lined the four sides of the square. Opposite to each
+side or front of the fabric, was a great street, along which the eye, in
+full daylight, could traverse, till arrested by the surrounding lake.
+Directly opposite, likewise, to each of these streets, as Don Amador
+soon discovered, the careful general had caused to be broken as many
+embrasures as he had seen on the quarter of the principal entrance; and,
+now, there were no less than twelve pieces of artillery (with those who
+served them sleeping in cloaks hard by,) looking with formidable
+preparation down the yawning and silent approaches.
+
+The neophyte had not yet given a moment to these observations, when he
+perceived on the top of one of the turrets, a group of cavaliers, who,
+being relieved against the only streak of dawn that tinged the eastern
+skies, were plainly seen, gesticulating with great earnestness, as if
+engaged in important debate. He approached this turret, and mounting the
+ladder that ascended it, was assisted to the roof by the hand of Cortes.
+
+"I give you good cheer, and much praise for your early rising, Don
+Amador," cried the general, with an easy courtesy and pleasant voice,
+which did not however, conceal from the novice, that he was really
+affected by anxiety and even alarm; "for this, besides convincing me,
+that no one is more ready than thyself for a valiant bout with an enemy,
+will give thee an opportunity to note in what way these pagan Mexicans
+advance to assault; a matter of which I am myself ignorant, though
+assured by my friend Alvarado, that nothing can be more warlike to look
+upon."
+
+"I vow to God, and to Saint Peter, who cut off a knave's ear," said Don
+Pedro, "that there are no such besotted, mad, dare-devils in all the
+world beside, as you shall quickly see; and I swear to you, in addition,
+my friends, I did sometimes think, of a morning, the very devils that
+dwell in the pit, were let loose upon me. But fear not: with my poor
+five-score, and the seven thousand Indians, who should not be counted
+against more than one hundred Christians, I felt no prick of dismay,
+except when I thought of starvation; and with the force that now aids
+us, 'twill be but a boy's pastime, to kill ten thousand of the bold
+lunatics, each day, before breakfast."
+
+To this valiant speech, which was characteristic of Alvarado,--as
+notorious for boasting as for bravery,--Don Amador replied,
+complacently,--
+
+"To my mind, nothing could be stronger than this citadel against such
+enemies as we may have, especially since the placing of those cannon
+opposite to the great streets,--a precaution which should be commended.
+Nevertheless, noble cavaliers, it does not appear to me, that we are in
+any immediate peril of assault: the infidels are not yet arisen."
+
+"Cast thine eye down yonder street!" said Cortes with a low voice, "keep
+it fixed intently, for two or three moments, on the shadows, and tell me
+what thou seest among them. And, while thou art so doing, do not shame
+to hold thy buckler a little over thy face; for, now and then, methinks,
+I have seen on yonder house-tops something unlike to rose-buds, glancing
+among the bushes."
+
+"By my faith," said Don Amador, hastily, "it does seem to me, that there
+are men stirring afar in the street,--nay, a great body of them, and
+doubtless clad in white,--ay, I perceive them now! But I thought 'twas a
+dim mist, creeping up from the lake."
+
+"If thou wilt look to the other three streets," said Cortes, knitting
+his brows, and scowling around him, "thou wilt see other such vapours
+gathering about us. Thus do they surround stags, in the sierras of
+Salamanca! but, sometimes, the hunters have found more wolves than deer
+among their quarry; and, by my conscience, so will the dogs of Mexico
+find their prey, this day, when they come a-hunting against
+Castilians!--Hah! did I not warn thee well?" cried the general, as an
+arrow, shot from a distant terrace, and by some unseen hand, struck
+against the guarding shield with such violence as to shiver its stone
+head into a thousand fragments. "'Ware such Cupids; for, when they miss
+the heart, they are content to rankle among the ribs. What say ye now,
+my masters? The knaves are coming nearer! Such big rain-drops do not
+long fall one by one, but show how soon the flood will follow. Cover
+yourselves! for by my conscience, that was another, though it fell
+short. I see the house it comes from; and I will reward the messenger
+shortly with such a cannon-shot as shall leave him houseless.--How now,
+_mi trompetero_! art thou nodding? Wake me thy bugle, and let the
+sleepers look on the white clouds!"
+
+A trumpeter, who stood ready at the base of the turret, instantly wound
+a loud blast on his instrument. It was answered immediately by others
+from every part of the court and the building; and, as if by magic, the
+dead silence of the palace was straightway exchanged for the loud din
+and confusion of thousands rising and springing to their arms. During
+this tumult, Cortes descended from the turret.
+
+Don Amador, fascinated by the spectacle, (for now, the light of dawn,
+increasing every moment, fully convinced the most sceptical, that
+countless barbarians were thronging in the streets, and advancing
+against the palace,) remained for a time on the terrace in company with
+others, surveying their approach, and kindling into ardour. The four
+streets were blocked up with their dusky bodies, for they seemed nearly
+naked; and answering the drums and bugles of the Spaniards with the
+hollow sound of their huge tabours, and the roaring yells of great
+conches, and adding to these the uproar of their voices, and, what
+greatly amazed the neophyte, the shrill and piercing din of loud
+whistling, they pressed onwards, not fast indeed, but fearlessly, until
+they began to pour like a flood upon the open square. Nevertheless, and
+notwithstanding their very menacing appearance, not a bow was yet bent,
+nor a stone or dart discharged against the Christians; and they were
+arraying, or rather grouping themselves, (for they seemed to preserve no
+peculiar order,) about the square, as if rather to support some
+peaceable demand with a show of strength, than to make an absolute
+attack, when the neophyte beheld Don Hernan, clad in complete armour,
+spring upon a cannon, and thence to the top of the wall, and wave his
+hand towards them with an air of imposing dignity. The vast herds
+stilled their cries, and immediately Malintzin, guarded by two soldiers
+who held shields before her, was seen to ascend and stand by the side of
+her master.
+
+"Ask me these hounds," cried the general, with a voice that seemed meant
+by its loudness to strike the infidels with awe, "wherefore they leave
+their beds, and come, like howling wolves, to disturb me in my dwelling?
+What is their desire? and wherefore have they not come with baskets of
+corn, rather than with slings and arrows?"
+
+The clear voice of Doña Marina was instantly heard addressing the
+multitude; and was followed by a shout such as may come from thrice a
+thousand score men, wherein, and among other inexplicable sounds, Don
+Amador heard the word _Tlatoani! Tlatoani!_ repeated with accents in
+which intreaty seemed mingled with fury. He could not discover the
+meaning of these cries from the imperfect Castilian, and the low voice,
+with which Malintzin interpreted them. But he could conjecture their
+signification, by the reply of Cortes.
+
+"Tell the traitorous dogs," he exclaimed, sternly, "that their princes
+have avowed themselves the vassals of my master, the great monarch of
+Spain; that their lord and king, Montezuma, is my friend and contented
+guest, and will therefore remain in my dwelling. Tell them also, he
+charges them to disperse, throw by their arms, and return laden with
+corn and meat. And add, moreover, that, if they do not immediately obey
+this command, the thunders which God has given me to punish them, shall
+be let loose upon them, and scatter their corses and their city into the
+air. Tell we them _this_, and plainly; and, hark'ee, cannoniers! stand
+fast to your linstocks!"
+
+No sooner was this haughty and threatening answer made known to the
+barbarians, than they uttered a yell so loud and universal that the
+palace, and the earth under it, seemed to shake with the din; and
+immediately every quarter of the edifice was covered with arrows,
+stones, and other missiles, shot off with extraordinary violence and
+fury.
+
+Don Amador prepared to descend, but paused an instant to observe the
+effect of the artillery, for he heard the strong tones of the general
+shouting, "Now cannoniers! to your duty, and show yourselves men!"
+
+The very island trembled, when twelve cannon, discharged nearly at the
+same moment, opened their fiery throats, and, aimed full among the
+multitude, poured innumerable death into their ranks. The island
+trembled, but not so the naked barbarians of Tenochtitlan. If the
+screams of a thousand wretches, mangled by that explosion, rose on the
+morning air, they were speedily drowned by the war-cries of survivors;
+and before the smoke had cleared away, the bloody gaps were filled, and
+the infuriated multitudes were rushing with savage intrepidity full upon
+the mouths of the artillery.
+
+Don Amador hesitated no longer. He ran down the staircase, paused a
+moment at the side of Calavar, whom he found raving in a low delirium,
+for he was burned by fever,--paused only long enough to charge Marco not
+to leave him, no not even for a moment,--and snatching up and rapidly
+donning the remaining pieces of his armour, immediately found himself in
+the court-yard, among the combatants.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+
+The neophyte had been informed by his friend De Morla, as a proof of the
+degree of civilization reached by the Mexicans, that their armies were
+formed with method, and as regularly divided and commanded as those of
+Christendom,--each tribe displaying under a peculiar banner,
+representing the arms, or, as we should say of our Northern bands, the
+_totem_, of the race, and each tribe separated into squadrons and
+companies, led by subalterns of precisely ascertained rank and power. He
+perceived none of these marks of discipline among the assailants; and,
+while properly appreciating their devoted courage, was obliged to
+consider them no better than a furious and confused mob. He was right:
+the _warriors_ of Mexico had not yet appeared, and these wild creatures,
+who came ungeneralled and unadvised to the attack, were no more than the
+common citizens, fired by the distresses of their king, and rushing to
+his aid, without any bond of connexion or government, save the unanimity
+of their fury. The violence with which they leaped to the attack,
+carried them to the gates of the court, and to the mouths of the
+artillery, where they fell under the spears of the Spaniards, or were
+scattered like chaff at each murderous discharge of the cannon. Added to
+this, the Tlascalans, animated by their ancient hatred, and the presence
+of him whom they esteemed almost a god, clambered upon the wall, and
+with their clubs and lances did bloody execution on the multitudes
+below. The Tlascalans were, indeed, almost the only persons of the
+garrison who suffered much loss; for the Spaniards, cased in iron and
+escaupil, and fenced behind the wall, or the battlements of the terrace,
+discharged their cross-bows and muskets, and handled their long spears,
+in comparative safety.
+
+The din of yells and screams, mingled with the crash of arquebuses and
+the sharp clang of steel cross-bows, was, in itself, infernal; while the
+peals of artillery, served with such skill and constancy, that, every
+half-minute, there was one or other discharged from some quarter of the
+palace, leaving, at each discharge, a long avenue of death among the
+crowds, converted what might have seemed a scene of elysium into a
+spectacle of hell. No man could reckon, no man could imagine, the
+slaughter made by the besieged army, among their foes, in the short
+space of half an hour. But the sun rose, and still found the infatuated
+barbarians rushing,--now with shouts of defiance, and now with mournful
+cries, as if calling upon their imprisoned king,--to add yet another and
+another layer to the bloody ridges growing in the paths of the
+cannon-shot.
+
+All this time, the captive monarch, unseen by his people, though quickly
+detected by the sharp eye of Cortes, sat in one of the turrets,
+witnessing the devoted love of his people, and feeling, with sharp
+pangs, that he had not deserved it. And now too (for the suddenness of
+the punishment had convinced him of the impolicy of the fault,) did Don
+Hernan himself feel a touch of compunction for the wanton injury he had
+done his prisoner; and, fearing lest the work of this day should be but
+the prelude of a storm it might not be in his power to allay, he sent to
+him De Morla, a cavalier whom more than others he seemed to favour, to
+persuade him, if indeed he might be persuaded, to exercise his
+authority, and by commanding his people to disperse, preserve them from
+that destruction, which, the general avowed, he was loath to bring upon
+them.
+
+No smile lit the countenance of Montezuma, at the appearance of his
+favourite; and to the demand of Don Hernan, he replied, with dignity,
+yet with a bitter sorrow,--
+
+"The _Teuctli_," (so they called Don Hernan, not because they esteemed
+him a divinity, but a great prince, this being the title of one of the
+classes of nobility,) "has made me a slave: my subjects are his. Let
+the king govern his people."
+
+So saying, and immediately descending from the roof, he shut himself in
+his apartments, and resolutely refused to admit another messenger to his
+presence.
+
+"And the dog denies me, then!" cried Cortes, when this answer was
+repeated to him. "He says the truth: he _is_ my slave; his people are
+mine; and I will straightway convince them of their subjection. To
+horse, to horse, brave cavaliers!" he shouted aloud. "Let it not be
+said, we wasted powder on miserable naked Indians, when we have swords
+to strike them on the neck, and horses' hoofs to tread them to the
+earth!"
+
+No one was more ready to obey this call, than Don Amador de Leste. He
+had stood upon the wall, occasionally striking down some furious
+assailant with his spear, but oftener cheering others with his voice,
+and yet remaining more as a spectator than a combatant, disdaining to
+strike, except when personally attacked, until his blood was heated by
+the spectacle.
+
+"Mount, now, my knave Lazaro! and perhaps we shall find my poor Jacinto,
+among these outrageous infidels. Get thee to horse, Fabueno; for to-day
+thou shalt see what it is to be a soldier!"
+
+Fogoso stood, in his mail, like the steed of a true knight, champing the
+bit and whinnying, for he longed to be in the midst of the combat; and
+loud was the sound of his neighing, when he felt the weight of his
+master, and turned his fierce eyes towards the gate.
+
+Before the cavaliers, forming three abreast, (as many as could at once
+pass through the gates,) loosing their sabres in the scabbards, and
+couching their spears, had yet received the signal to dash upon the
+opposing herds, there came from the great pyramid, which was seen
+rearing its mountainous mass above the houses of the square, the sound
+as of a horn, sad and solemn, but of so mighty a tone, that it swelled
+distinctly over all the din of the battle, and sent a boding fear to the
+heart of the Christians. They knew, or they thought it the sacred bugle
+of Mexitli, sounded only during the festivals of that ferocious deity,
+or on the occasion of a great battle, when, it was supposed, that
+Mexitli himself spoke to his children, and bade them die bravely. There
+was not a Spaniard present, who had not heard that the effect of this
+consecrated trumpet, so sparingly used, was to nerve even the vanquished
+with new spirit, and those fighting with additional rage; and that the
+meanest Mexican, however overpowered, thought not of retreat, when thus
+cheered by his god. The surprise of all was therefore great, when, at
+the first blast, the Mexicans ceased their cries, and stood as if turned
+into statues; and they were still more amazed, when, as the brazen
+instrument again poured its lugubrious roar over the city, the
+barbarians, responding with a mournful shriek, turned their backs upon
+the besieged, and instantly began to fly. A third blast was sounded, and
+nothing was seen upon the great square, or the four streets, save heaps
+of carcasses, and piles of human beings, writhing in the death-agony.
+
+"Here is diabolical magic!" cried Cortes, joyfully. "There are more
+signals made by that accursed horn than we have heard of; and it seems
+to me, Huitzilopochtli may be sometimes a coward! Nevertheless, we will
+look a little into the mystery; for I perceive shining cloaks, as well
+as priestly gowns, on the temple, which we will make claim to; for
+doubtless the traitor Cuitlahuatzin is under one of them.--Take thou thy
+party, Sandoval, and scour me the streets that lie eastward. We meet at
+the temple!--For ourselves, my masters! we are fifty horse, and three
+hundred foot, all good Christian men; for in this work we shall need no
+Tlascalans. Let us go, in the name of God, and God will be with
+us.--Only, 'tis my counsel and command, that we keep together, with our
+eyes wide open, lest we should have company not so much to our liking."
+
+The cavaliers cheered, as they rode from the gates,--and, with a savage
+delight, urged their horses over the piles of dead, or smote some dying
+struggler with the spear,--an amusement in which they were occasionally
+imitated by the foot-soldiers, who followed at their heels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+
+The same solitude, which had covered the city the preceding evening, now
+seemed again to invest it. Corses were here and there strown in the
+street, as of fugitives dying in their flight; and once a wounded man
+was seen staggering blindly along, as if wholly insensible to the
+approach of his foes. The sight of this solitary wretch did more to
+disarm the fury of Don Amador, than did the spectacle of thousands lying
+dead on the square; and certain grievous reflections, such as sometimes
+assailed him, after a battle, were beginning to intrude upon his mind,
+when a cavalier, darting forward with a loud cry, and couching his
+lance, as if at a worthier enemy, thrust the wounded barbarian through
+the body, and killed him on the spot. A few hidalgos, and most of the
+footmen, rewarded this feat of dexterity with a loud cheer; but there
+were many, who, like the neophyte, met the triumphant looks of the
+champion, Alvarado, with glances of infinite disgust and frowning
+disdain.
+
+As the party approached the neighbourhood of the great temple, they
+began to perceive in the streets groups of men, who, being altogether
+unarmed, commonly fled at the first sight of the Christians; though,
+sometimes, they stood aside, with submissive and dejected countenances,
+as if awaiting any punishment the Teuctli might choose to inflict upon
+them. But Cortes, reading in this humility the proofs of penitence, or
+willing to suppose that these men had not shared in the hostilities of
+the day, commanded his followers not to attack them; and thus
+restrained, they rode slowly and cautiously onwards, their fury
+gradually abating, and the fears which had been excited by the late
+assault, giving place to the hope, that it indicated no general spirit,
+and no deep-laid plan, of insurrection.
+
+The groups of Mexicans increased, both in numbers and frequency, as the
+Christians proceeded, but still they betrayed no disposition to make use
+of the arms, which were sometimes seen in their hands; and the
+Spaniards, regulating their own conduct by that of the barbarians, rode
+onwards with so pacific an air, that a stranger, arriving that moment in
+the city, might have deemed them associated together on the most
+friendly terms, and proceeding in company, to take part in some general
+festivity. Nevertheless, the same stranger would have quickly observed,
+that these friends, besides keeping as far separated as the streets
+would allow, and even, where that was possible, removing from each
+other's presence, entirely, eyed each other, at times, with looks of
+jealousy, which became more marked as the Mexicans grew more numerous.
+In truth, the feelings which had so quickly passed from rage to
+tranquillity, were now in danger of another revulsion; and many an eye
+was riveted on the countenance of the general, as if to read a
+confirmation of the common anxiety, as, ever and anon, it turned from
+the prospect of multitudes in front, to the spectacle of crowds
+gathering, at a distance, on the rear.
+
+"All that is needful," whispered, rather than spoke, Don Hernan, though
+his words were caught by every ear, "is to trust in God, and our sharp
+spears. There is, doubtless, some idolatrous rite about to be enacted in
+the temple, which draws these varlets thitherward; and the gratitude
+with which they remember our exploits of this morning, will account for
+their present hang-dog looks. If they mean any treachery, such as a
+decoy and ambuscado, why, by my conscience! we must e'en allow them
+their humour, and punish them, when 'tis made manifest. I counsel my
+friends to be of good heart; for, I think, the dogs have had fighting
+enough to-day. Nevertheless, I will not quarrel with any man, who keeps
+his hands in readiness, and puts his eyes and ears to their proper
+uses."
+
+As if to set them an example, Don Hernan now began to look about him
+with redoubled vigilance; and it was remarked that he passed no house,
+without eyeing its terrace keenly and steadfastly, as if dreading more
+to discover an enemy in such places than in the street. This was, in
+fact, a situation from which an enemy might annoy the Spaniards with the
+greatest advantage, and at the least risk.
+
+The houses of this quarter were evidently inhabited by the rich, perhaps
+by the nobles, of Mexico. They were of solid stone, spacious, and
+frequently of two floors, lofty, and their terraces crowned with
+battlements and turrets. Each stood separated from its neighbour by a
+little garden or alley, and sometimes by a narrow canal, which crossed
+the great street, and was furnished with a strong wooden bridge of such
+width that five horsemen could pass it at a time. Often, too, the
+dwelling of some man of power stood so far back, as to allow the canal
+to be carried quite round it, without infringing upon the street; but
+more frequently it was fronted only with a little bed of flowers. The
+stones of which such structures were composed, were often sculptured
+into rude reliefs representing huge serpents, which twined in a
+fantastic and frightful manner about the windows and doors, as if to
+protect them from the invasion of robbers. Indeed, these were almost the
+only defences; for the green bulrush lying across the threshold, could
+deter none but a Mexican from entering; and, perhaps, none but a
+barbarian would have seen, in the string of cacao berries, or of little
+vessels of earthenware, hanging at the door, the bell to announce his
+visitation. A curtain commonly hung flapping at the entrance; but
+neither plank nor bar gave security to the sanctity of the interior.
+
+Notwithstanding the fears of the general, he beheld no Mexicans lurking
+among the terraces, or peering from the windows, but his anxiety was not
+the less goading for that reason; for having now drawn nigh to the great
+square, it seemed to him that he had, at last, thrust himself into that
+part of the city, where all the multitudes of Tenochtitlan were
+assembled to meet him,--and whether for purposes of pacification or
+vengeance, he dared not inquire.
+
+The appearance of things, as the party issued upon the square, and faced
+the House of Skulls, was indeed menacing. That enormous pyramid, which
+Don Amador had surveyed, with awe, in the gloom of evening, was now
+concealed under a more impressive veil;--it was invested and darkened by
+a cloud of human beings, which surged over its vast summit, and rolled
+along its huge sides like a living storm. The great court that
+surrounded it, was also filled with barbarians; for though the
+Coatepantli, or Wall of Serpents, with its monstrous battlements and
+gloomy towers, concealed them from the eye, there came such a hum of
+voices from behind, as could not have been produced alone, even by the
+myriads that covered the temple. In addition to these, the great square
+itself was alive with Mexicans; and the sudden sight of them brought a
+thrill of alarm into the heart of the bravest cavalier.
+
+The people of Tenochtitlan, thus, as it were, hunted by their invaders,
+even to their sanctuaries, turned upon them with frowns, yet parted away
+from before them in deep silence. Nevertheless, at this spectacle, the
+Christians came to an immediate stand, in doubt whether to entangle
+themselves further, or to take counsel of their fears, and retreat,
+without delay, to their quarters. While they stood yet hesitating, and
+in some confusion, suddenly, and with a tone that pierced to their
+inmost souls, there came a horrid shriek from the top of the pyramid;
+and fifty Castilian voices exclaimed, "A sacrifice! a human
+sacrifice!--and under the cross of Christ, that we raised on the
+temple!"
+
+"The place of God is defiled by the rites of hell!" cried Cortes,
+furiously, his apprehensions vanishing, at once, before his fanaticism.
+"Set on, and avenge! Couch your lances, draw your swords; and if any
+resist, call on God, and slay!" So saying, he drew his sword, spurred
+his dun steed, and rushed towards the temple.
+
+The half-naked herds fled, yelling, away from the infuriated Christian,
+opening him a free path to the walls; and had that fearful cry been
+repeated, there is no doubt he would have led his followers even within
+the Coatepantli, though at the risk of irretrievable and universal
+destruction. Before, however, he had yet reached the wall, he had time
+for reflection; and, though greatly excited, he could no longer conceal
+from himself the consequences of provoking the pagans at their very
+temple, and during the worship of their god. He was, at this moment,
+well befriended, and numerously, indeed; but at a distance from the
+garrison, without cannon, and almost without musketry, surrounded by
+enemies whom the eye could not number, and who had not feared to assail
+him, even when fortified in a situation almost impregnable, and assisted
+by three times his present force, as well as several thousand bold
+Tlascalans; and in addition to all these disadvantages, there came
+neither such sound of trumpet, nor such distant commotion among the
+Indians, as might admonish him of the approach of Sandoval.
+
+He checked his horse, and waving to his followers to halt, again cast
+his eyes around on the multitude as if to determine in what manner to
+begin his retreat, for he felt that this measure could be no longer
+delayed. The Mexicans gazed upon him with angry visages, but still in
+silence. Not an arm was yet raised; and they seemed prepared to give him
+passage, whichever way he might choose to direct his course.
+
+While hesitating an instant, Don Hernan perceived a stir among the
+crowds, close under the Wall of Serpents, accompanied by a low but
+general murmur of voices; and immediately the eyes of the pagans were
+turned from him towards the Coatepantli, as if to catch a view of some
+sight still more attractive and important. His first thought was, that
+these movements indicated the sudden presence of Sandoval and his party;
+a conceit that was, however, immediately put to flight by the events
+which ensued.
+
+The murmurs of the multitude were soon stilled, and the pagans that
+covered the pyramid were seen to cast their eyes earnestly down to the
+square, as the sound of many flutes, and other soft wind-instruments,
+rose on the air, and crept, not unmusically, along the Wall of Serpents,
+and thence to the ears of the Spaniards. Before these had yet time to
+express their wonder at the presence of such peaceful music amidst a
+scene of war and sacrifice, the crowds slowly parted asunder, and they
+plainly beheld (for the Mexicans had opened a wide vista to the
+principal gate,) a procession, seemingly of little children, clad in
+white garments, waving pots of incense, conducted by priests, in gowns
+of black and flame colour, and headed by musicians and men bearing
+little flags, issue from the throng, and bend their steps towards the
+savage portal. In the centre of the train, on a sort of litter, very
+rich and gorgeous, borne on men's shoulders, and sheltered by a royal
+canopy of green and crimson feathers, stood a figure, which might have
+been some maiden princess, arrayed for the festival, or, as she seemed
+to one or two of the more superstitious Castilians, some fiendish
+goddess, conjured up by the diabolical arts of the priests, to add the
+inspiration of her presence to the wild fury of her adorers. She stood
+erect, her body concealed in long flowing vestments of white, on which
+were embroidered serpents, of some green material; in her hand she held
+a rod, imitative of the same reptile; and on her forehead was a coronet
+of feathers, surrounding what seemed a knot of little snakes, writhing
+round a star, or sun, of burnished gold.
+
+As this fair apparition was carried through their ranks, between the
+great wall and the House of Skulls, the Mexicans were seen to throw
+themselves reverently on the earth, as if to a divinity; and those that
+stood most remote, no sooner beheld her, than they bowed their heads
+with the deepest humility.
+
+Meanwhile, the Spaniards gazed on with both admiration and wonder, until
+the train had reached the open portal; at which place, and just as she
+was about to be concealed from them for ever, the divinity, priestess,
+or princess, whichever she was, turned her body slowly round, and
+revealed to them a face of a paler hue than any they had yet seen in the
+new world, and, as they afterwards affirmed, of the most incomparable
+and ravishing beauty. At this sight, all uttered exclamations of
+surprise, which were carried to the ears of the vision: but Don Amador
+de Leste, fetching a cry that thrilled through the hearts of all, broke
+from the ranks, as if beset by some sudden demon, and dashed madly
+towards the apparition.
+
+Before the Spaniards could recover from their astonishment, the members
+of the procession,--deity, priests, censer-bearers, and musicians,--with
+loud screams vanished under the portals; and the infidels, starting up
+in a rage that could be suppressed no longer, rushed upon the novice, to
+avenge, in his blood, the insult he had offered to their deity.
+
+"Quick, a-God's name! and rescue!" cried Cortes, "for the young man is
+mad!"
+
+There seemed grounds for this imputation; for, besides the inexplicable
+folly of his first act, Don Amador appeared now, for a moment, to be
+lost in such a maze, that blows of the heavy maquahuitl were rained upon
+his stout armour, and several furious hands had clutched not only upon
+his spear, but upon himself, to drag him from the saddle, before he
+bethought him to draw his sword and defend his life. But his sword was,
+at last, drawn, his fit dispelled; and before his countrymen had yet
+reached him, he was dealing such blows around him, and so urging his
+courageous steed upon the assailants, as quickly to put himself out of
+the danger of immediate death.
+
+The passions of the multitude, restrained, for a moment, by their
+superstition or their rulers, were now fully and unappeasably roused;
+and with yells that came at once from the pyramid, from the temple yard,
+from the great square, and the neighbouring streets, they rushed upon
+the Christians, surrounding them, and displaying such ferocious
+determination, as left them but small hopes of escape.
+
+"God and Spain! honour and fame!" cried Alvarado, spearing a barbarian
+at each word, "what do you think of my Mexicans now, true friends?"
+
+His cheer was lost in the roar of screams; and nothing but the voice of
+Don Hernan, well known to be as clear and powerful in battle as the
+trumpet which he invoked, was heard pealing above the din.
+
+"Now show yourselves Spaniards and soldiers, and strike for the blood of
+Christ!--Ho, trumpeter! thy flourish! and find me where lags my lazy
+Gonzalo?"
+
+As he spoke, he fought; for so violent had been the attack of the
+infidels, that they were mingled among, and fighting hand to hand with
+the Christians,--a confused and sanguinary chaos. Scarcely, indeed, had
+the trumpeter time to wind his instrument, before it was struck out of
+his hand by a brawny savage; and the same blow which robbed him of it,
+left the arm that held it a shattered and useless member. The blast,
+however, had sounded; and, almost instantaneously, it was answered by a
+bugle, afar indeed, and blown hurriedly as if the musician were in as
+much jeopardy as his fellow, but still full of joy and good cheer to the
+Christian combatants.
+
+"Close and turn!--Footmen, to your square!" cried Cortes; "and, valiant
+cavaliers, charge me now as though ye fought against devils, with angels
+for your lookers-on!"
+
+"To the temple! to the temple!" cried Amador, with a voice rivalling the
+general's in loudness, and turning in a frenzy towards the pyramid, down
+whose sides the infidels were seen rushing with frantic speed.
+
+But the head of Fogoso was seized by two friendly followers, and while
+Don Amador glared fiercely at the pale but not affrighted secretary, he
+heard, on the other side, the tranquil voice of Lazaro:
+
+"Master," said the faithful servant, "if we separate from our friends,
+we are dead men; and Don Gabriel is left without a kinsman in this land
+of demoniacs."
+
+"Close, and turn, I bid ye!" cried Cortes, furiously. "Heed not the
+wolves that are fast to your sides. Charge on the herds, charge on the
+herds! and over-throw with the weight of your hoofs! Charge, I bid ye;
+and care not though ye should find your lances striking against the
+breast of Sandoval. Charge on the herds!--charge on the herds!"
+
+So saying, Don Hernan set an example, followed by the cavaliers; and as
+the fifty horsemen spurred violently upon the mob, shouting and
+cheering, the naked multitudes quailed from before them, though only to
+gather again on their flanks with renewed desperation.
+
+"Will ye desert us that are afoot?" cried voices from behind, with
+dolorous cries.
+
+"Ho, Sandoval! art thou sleeping?"
+
+"Santiago! and God be thanked!--'tis the voice of the general!" cried
+Sandoval, in the distance. His voice came from the surge of battle, like
+the cheer of a sailor who recks not for the tempest. It filled the
+cavaliers with joy.
+
+"Good heart now, brave hearts!" shouted Cortes; "for my son Sandoval
+answers me! Rein me round and charge me back to the infantry!"
+
+Backwards galloped the fifty cavaliers, strewing the earth with trampled
+pagans; and the footmen shouted with delight, as they again beheld their
+leader. But the relief and the joy were only momentary.
+
+"Fight ye, my dogs! and slay your own sheep! Be firm; wall yourselves
+with spears; and presently ye shall be lookers-on.--Sweep the square
+again, brave cavaliers! Goad flanks! couch spears! and, this time, let
+me see the red face of my lieutenant!"
+
+Turning, and shouting with a louder cheer, (for the experience of the
+two first charges had warned the Mexicans of their destructive efficacy,
+and they now recoiled with a more visible alarm,) the cavaliers again
+rushed through their foes like a whirlwind; and brushing them aside, as
+the meteor brushes the fogs of evening, they dashed onwards, until their
+shouts were loudly re-echoed, and they found themselves confronted with
+Don Gonzalo and his party.
+
+The greetings of the friends were brief and few, for the same myriads,
+attacking with the same frenzied desperation, invested them with a
+danger that did not seem to diminish.
+
+"Bring thy foot in front," cried Cortes, "and, while they follow me,
+charge thou behind them. Be quick, and be brave. March fast, ye idle
+spearmen: and stare not, for these are not devils, but men!--God and
+Spain!--Santiago, and at them again, peerless cavaliers!--We fight for
+Christ and immortal honour!"
+
+The valiant band of cavaliers again turned at the voice of their leader,
+and again they swept the corse-encumbered square, rushing to the relief
+of their own infantry. Following the counsel he had given to Sandoval,
+the wary general passed by his foot-soldiers, and bidding them march
+boldly forwards, and join themselves with the infantry of Don Gonzalo,
+he charged the infidels from their rear with a fury they could not
+resist; and then rushing backwards with equal resolution, discovered the
+foot-soldiers in the position in which it had been his aim to place
+them. The united infantry, full seven hundred men in number, were now
+protected, both in front and rear, by a band of cavalry; their flanks
+looking, on one side, to the temple, and, on the other, to a great
+street that opened opposite. Arranging them, at a word, in two lines,
+standing back to back, and seconding himself the manoeuvre which he
+dictated to Sandoval, the general swept instantly to that flank which
+bordered on the Wall of Serpents, while Gonzalo rode to the other. Thus
+arranged, the little army presented the figure of a hollow square, or
+rather of a narrow parallelogram, the chief sides of which, were made by
+double rows of spearmen, and the smaller by bands of horsemen. Thus
+arranged, too, the Christians fought with greater resolution and
+success; for, parting at once from a common centre, the infantry drove
+the assailants from before them on two sides, while the cavalry carried
+death and horror to the others; until, at a given signal, all again fell
+back to their position, and presented a wall altogether inexpugnable to
+the weak though untiring savages.
+
+It was the persuasion of Don Hernan, that, in this advantageous
+position, he could, in a short time, so punish his enemies, as to teach
+them the folly of contending with Christian men, and perhaps end the war
+in a day. But, for a full hour, he repeated his charges, now pinning his
+foes against the wall, or the steps of the House of Skulls, now falling
+back to breathe; and, at each charge, adding to the number of the dead,
+until their corses literally obstructed his path, and left it nearly
+impassable. At every charge, too, his cavaliers waxed more weary, and
+struck more faintly, while the horses obeyed the spur and voice with
+diminishing vigour; and it seemed that they must soon be left unable,
+from sheer fatigue, to continue the work of slaughter. The pagans
+perished in crowds at each charge, and at each volley of bow-shots; but
+neither their spirit, nor their numbers, seemed to decrease. Their yells
+were as loud, their countenances as bold, their assaults as violent as
+at first; and the Spaniards beheld the sun rising high in the heavens,
+without any termination to their labours, or their sufferings. Twenty
+Christians already lay dead on the square, or had been dragged, perhaps,
+while yet breathing, to be sacrificed on the pyramid. This was a
+suspicion that shocked the souls of many; for, twice or thrice, they
+heard, among the crowds, who still stood on the lofty terrace, shooting
+arrows down on the square, such shouts of triumphant delight as, they
+thought, could be caused by nothing but the immolation of a victim.
+
+Grief and rage lay heavily on the heart of Cortes; but though the
+apprehension, that, if much longer over-worn by combat, his followers
+might be left unable even to fly, added its sting to the others, shame
+deterred him, for a time, from giving the mortifying order. Harassed,
+and even wounded, (for a defective link in his mail had yielded to an
+arrow-head, and the stone was buried in his shoulder,) he nevertheless
+preserved a good countenance; cheered his people with the assurance of
+victory; fought on, exposing himself like the meanest of his soldiers;
+and several times, at the imminent risk of his life, rescued certain
+foot-soldiers from the consequences of their foolhardiness.
+
+There was among the infantry, a man of great courage and strength, by
+the name of Lezcano, whose only weapon was a huge two-handed sword, the
+valiant use of which had gained him among his companions, the title of
+_Dos Manos_, or Two-Hands. No spearman of his company advanced to the
+charge with more readiness than did this fellow with his gigantic
+weapon, and none retreated with more constant reluctance. Indeed, he
+commonly fell back so leisurely as to draw three or four foes upon him
+at once; and it seemed to be his pleasure, to meet these in such a way,
+as should call for the praises of his companions. His daring, that day,
+would have left him with the additional name of the bravest of the
+brave, had it been tempered with a little discretion. But inflamed by
+the encomiums of his comrades, and not less by the complimentary rebukes
+of his captain, his rashness knew no bounds; and twice or thrice he
+thrust himself into situations of peril, from which he was rescued with
+great difficulty. He had been saved once by Don Hernan. It was his fate,
+a second time, to draw the notice of the general; who, falling back on
+the infantry, beheld him beset by a dozen foes, surrounded, and using
+his great scimitar furiously, yet, as it seemed, in vain; for he was
+unhelmed.
+
+"What ho, Don Amador!" cried Cortes to the cavalier, who was at his
+side, "let us rescue _Dos Manos_, the mad!"
+
+In an instant of time, the two hidalgos had reached the group, and
+raised their voices in encouragement, while each struck down a savage.
+At that moment, and while Lezcano elevated his scimitar, to ward off the
+blow of a maquahuitl, the massive blade, shivered as if by a
+thunderbolt, fell to the earth; but, before it reached it, the sharp
+glass of the Indian sword had entered his brain. The cavaliers struck
+fast and hard, on either hand; the barbarians fled; but, Lezcano, the
+Two-handed, lay rolling his eyes to heaven, his head cloven to the
+mouth.
+
+"If we slay a thousand foes for every Christian man that dies, yet shall
+we be vanquished!" said Cortes, turning an eye of despair on his
+companion, and speaking the feelings he had concealed from all others.
+Indeed, he seemed to rejoice that destiny had given him one follower, to
+whom he might unbosom himself without the apprehension of creating
+alarm--he hesitated not to relieve himself of his grief to Don Amador;
+for he knew him to be inaccessible to fear. "Be of good heart, my
+friend. I have drawn thee into a den of devils. We must retreat, or
+die."
+
+"I will advance or retreat, as thou wilt," said Amador, with a visage,
+in which Don Hernan now for the first time, beheld an expression so wild
+and ghastly, that he was reminded of Calavar. "It matters nothing--here
+or at the palace! But it is my duty to assure thee of mine own
+persuasion: Retreat may bring us relief--there is no victory for us,
+to-day."
+
+"God help thee! art thou wounded?" cried Cortes.
+
+"A little hurt by the skilless hand of Fabueno," said the novice,
+tranquilly, "who, not yet being perfected in the use of the spear,
+thrust his weapon into my back, while aiming at the throat of a
+cacique.--But that is not it. I have, this day, seen a sight, which
+convinces me we are among magicians and devils; and persuades me, along
+with certain other recent occurrences, that the time of some of us is
+reckoned. Therefore I say to thee, I will advance with thee or retreat,
+as thou thinkest best. To me it matters not. But my counsel is, to fly.
+We may save others."
+
+"It is needful," replied Don Hernan, mournfully.--He gave his orders to
+certain officers; and the retreat was commenced in the order in which
+they had fought,--that is to say, the infantry, drawing their lines
+closer together, and facing to the flank, began to march down the
+street, preceded by Sandoval, charging the opponents from the front,
+while Cortes and his band, at intervals, rushing back upon the pursuers,
+kept the triumphant barbarians from the rear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+
+The distance between the great temple and the palace of Axajacatl was by
+no means great; though Cortes, for the purpose of prying into many
+streets, had led his followers against it by a long and circuitous
+course,--a plan which had been followed by Don Gonzalo, though in
+another direction. Indeed they were not so far separated, but that a
+strong bowman or a good slinger might, from the top of the pyramid,
+drive his missile upon the roof of the garrison, to the great injury of
+the besieged, as was, afterwards, fully made manifest. The distance,
+therefore, to be won by the retreating Spaniards, was small; but it took
+them hours to accomplish it. It seemed as if the infidels, fearing lest
+their foes might escape out of their hands, if they slackened their
+efforts for a moment, were resolved to effect their destruction at any
+cost, while they were still at a distance from succour. They pressed
+ferociously and rapidly on the fugitives; they gained their front; and
+thus encompassed them with a compact mass of human beings, against which
+the cavaliers charged, as against a stone wall; slaying and trampling,
+indeed, but without penetrating it for more than a few yards. Each step
+gained by the van, was literally carved by the cavalry, as out of a
+rock; while the utmost exertions of Don Hernan could do nothing more
+than preserve his rear band in the attitude of a dike, slowly moving
+before the shocks of a flood, which it could not repel.
+
+In addition to these alarming circumstances, there were others now
+developed, of a not less serious aspect. The canals that, in two or
+three places, intersected the street, were swarming with canoes, from
+which the savages discharged their arrows with fatal aim, or sprang, at
+once, upon the footmen, striking with spear and maquahuitl, and were
+driven back only after the most strenuous efforts. They had destroyed
+the bridges, and the canals could only be passed by renewing them with
+such planks as the infantry could tear from the adjoining houses, and
+hastily throw over the water,--a work of no less suffering than time and
+labour. Besides all this, the annoyance which Don Hernan had first
+dreaded, was now practised by the crafty barbarians. The terraces were
+covered with armed men, who, besides discharging their darts and arrows
+down upon the exposed soldiers, tore away, with levers, the stones from
+the battlements, and hurled them full upon the heads of their enemies.
+
+The sound of drums and conches, the fierce yells, the whistling, the
+dying screams, the loud and hurried prayers, the neighing of horses--and
+now and then the shriek of some beast mangled by a rough spear,--the
+rattling of arrow-heads, the clang of clubs upon iron bucklers, the
+heavy fall of a huge stone crushing a footman to the earth, the plunging
+of some wounded wretch strangling in a ditch, and the roar of cannon at
+the palace, showing that the battle was universal,--these together, now
+made up such a chorus of hellish sounds as Don Amador confessed to
+himself he had never heard before, not even among the horrors of Rhodes,
+when sacked by other infidels, then esteemed the most valiant in the
+world. But to these dismal tumults others were speedily added, when
+Cortes, raging with a fury that increased with his despair, commanded
+the footmen to fire every house, whose top afforded footing to the
+ferocious foe,--a command that was obeyed with good will, and with
+dreadful effect; for though, from the nature of its materials, and the
+isolated condition of each structure, it was not possible to produce a
+general conflagration, yet the great quantity of cotton robes, of dry
+mats, and of resinous woods about each house, left it so combustible,
+that the application of a torch to the door-curtains, or the casting of
+a fire-brand into the interior, instantly enveloped it in flames. Among
+these, when they burst through the roofs of light rafters, and the
+thatching of dried reeds, the pagan warriors perished miserably; or,
+flinging themselves desperately down, were either dashed to pieces, or
+transfixed by the lances of the Spaniards.
+
+But the same agent which so dreadfully paralyzed the efforts of the
+Mexican, brought suffering scarcely less disastrous to the Christian
+ranks. They were stifled with the smoke, they were scorched by the
+flames of the burning houses; and, ever and anon, some frantic
+barbarian, perishing among the fires of his dwelling, and seeking to
+inflict a horrid vengeance, grasped, even in his death-gasp, a flaming
+rafter in his arms, and sprang down with it upon his foes, maiming and
+scorching where he did not kill.
+
+Thus fighting, and thus resisted, weary and despairing, their bodies
+covered with blood, their garments sometimes burning, the Spaniards at
+last gained the square that surrounded the palace; and fighting their
+way through the herds that invested it, (for, almost at the same moment
+that they had been attacked at the temple, the quarters were again
+assailed,) and shouting to the cannoniers, lest they should fire on
+them, they placed their feet in the court-yard, and thanked God for this
+respite to their sufferings.
+
+It was a respite from death, for behind the stone wall they were
+comparatively secure; but not a respite from labour. The Mexicans abated
+not a jot of their ardour. The same herds that covered the square at
+dawn, were again yelling at the gates, and with the same unconquerable
+fury; and the soldiers, already fainting with fatigue, with famine, and
+thirst, (for they had taken no refreshment since the preceding evening,)
+were fain to purchase, painfully, a temporary safety, by standing to the
+walls, and keeping the savages at bay, as they could.
+
+The artillery thundered, the cross-bows twanged, the arquebuses added
+their destructive volleys to the other warlike noises; but the Mexicans,
+disregarding these sounds, as well as the havoc made among their ranks,
+rushed, in repeated assaults, against the walls, and, sometimes, with
+such violence, that they drove the besieged from the gate, and entered
+pell-mell with them into the court-yard. Then, indeed, ensued a scene of
+murder; for the Christians, flying again to the portal, cut off the
+retreat of such desperadoes, and slew them within the walls, without
+loss, and almost at their leisure.
+
+On such occasions, no one showed more spirit in attacking, or more fury
+in slaying, than the young secretary. The suit of goodly armour sent him
+by the admiral, and his rapid proficiency in the practice of arms, had
+inflamed his vanity; and he burned to approve himself worthy the
+companionship of cavaliers. The native conscientiousness which filled
+him with horror at the sight of the first blood shed, the first life
+destroyed, by his hand, had vanished as a dream; for it is the
+excellence of war, that, while developing our true nature, and
+remaining, itself, as the link which binds man to his original state of
+barbarism, it preserves him the delights of a savage, without entirely
+depriving him of the pleasures of civilization. The right of shedding
+blood, mankind enjoy in common with brutes; and, doubtless, a
+conformable philosophy will not frown on the privilege, so long as the
+loss of it would contract our circle of enjoyments. There is something
+poetical in the diabolism of a fiend, and as much that is splendid in
+the ferocity of a tiger; and though these two qualities be the chief
+elements of heroism, they bring with them such accompaniments of
+splendour and sentiment, that he would rob the world of half its glory,
+as well as much of its poetry, who should destroy the race of the great,
+and leave mankind to the dull innocence of peace.--There are more
+millions of human beings, the victims of war, rotting under the earth,
+than now move on its surface.
+
+The pain of wounds had also produced a new effect in the bosom of
+Lorenzo; for, instead of cooling his courage, it now inflamed his rage,
+and helped to make him valiant. The mild and feeling boy was quite
+transformed into a heartless ruffian; and so great had become his love
+of slaughter, and so unscrupulous his manner of gratifying it, that,
+once or twice, Don Amador noticed him, and would have censured him
+sharply, but that his attention was immediately absorbed by the
+necessity of self-defence. The cavaliers had dismounted, and the
+neophyte fought at the gates on foot. In the midst of an assault, in
+which the defenders had been driven back, but which disgrace they were
+now repairing, he beheld his ward struggling with a wounded savage, who
+grasped his knees and hand, but in intreaty, not hostility; and greatly
+was Don Amador shocked, when he beheld the secretary disengage his arm,
+and, with a shout of triumph, plunge his steel into the throat of the
+supplicating barbarian.
+
+"Art thou a devil, Lorenzo?" cried the cavalier, indignantly. "That was
+a knave's and a coward's blow! Thou shalt follow me no longer."
+
+While he spoke, and left himself unguarded, a gigantic pagan, taking
+advantage of his indiscretion, leaped suddenly upon him, and struck him
+such a blow with a maquahuitl, as, but for the strength of his casque,
+would have killed him outright. As it was, the shock so stunned him, as
+to leave him for a moment, incapable of defence. In that moment, the
+savage, uttering a loud yell, sprang forward to repeat the blow, or to
+drag him off a prisoner; when Fabueno, perceiving the extremity of his
+patron, and fired with the opportunity of proving his valour, rushed
+between them, and with a lucky blow on the naked neck of the Mexican,
+instantly despatched him.
+
+"A valiant stroke, Lorenzo!" said the neophyte, losing somewhat of his
+heat, as he recovered his wits. "But it does not entirely wipe out the
+shame of the other. Moderate thy wrath, curb thy fury, and remember that
+cruelty is the mark of a dastard. Strike me no more foes that cry for
+mercy!"
+
+As his anger had been changed into approbation, so now were his censures
+abruptly ended by exclamations of surprise. For at that instant,
+Fabueno, grasping his arm with one hand, and with the other pointing a
+little to one side, turned upon him a countenance full of alarm. He
+looked around, and beheld with amazement, his kinsman, Don Gabriel,
+entirely unarmed, except with sword and buckler, mingled with the
+combatants, shouting a feeble war-cry, striking faintly, and, indeed,
+preserved less by his courage than his appearance, from the bludgeons of
+the infidels. His grizzly locks (for he was entirely bare-headed,) fell
+over his hollow and bloodless cheeks, whereon glittered, black and
+hideous, a single gout of gore. His face was like the face of the dead;
+and the savages recoiled from before him, as if from a spirit rousing
+from Mictlan, the world of gloom, to call them down to his dark
+dwelling.
+
+In a moment the neophyte, followed by Fabueno, and Lazaro, who answered
+to his call, and Marco, who seemed to have been separated by the melée
+from his master, was at the side of Calavar. The mind of the knight was
+wholly gone; and he seemed as if, at the point of death, raised from his
+couch by the clamours of the contest, and urged into it by the instinct
+of long habit, or by the goadings of madness.
+
+He submitted patiently, and without words, to the gentle violence of his
+kinsman, and was straightway carried to his apartment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+
+After much search and persuasion, a surgeon was found and induced to
+visit the knight. He despatched his questions almost in a word, for he
+was a fighting Bachelor, and burned with impatience to return to the
+contest. He mingled hastily a draught, which he affirmed to be of
+wondrous efficacy in composing disordered minds to sleep, gave a few
+simple directions, and excusing his haste in the urgency of his other
+occupations, both military and chirurgical, he immediately departed.
+
+"Marco!" said the neophyte, when the draught was administered, and Don
+Gabriel laid on the couch, "thou deservest the heaviest punishment for
+leaving thy master an instant, though, as thou sayest, while fast
+asleep. Remain by him now, and be more faithful. As for thee, Lorenzo,"
+he continued, to the secretary, who stood panting at his side, "there
+is good reason thou shouldst share the task of Marco, were it only to
+repose thee a little; but more need is it, that thou suffer thy blood to
+cool, and reflect, with shame, that thou hast, this day, cancelled all
+thy good deeds, by killing a prostrate and beseeching foe. Remain,
+therefore, to assist Marco; and by-and-by I will come to thee, and
+declare whether or not thou shalt draw thy sword again to-day."
+
+And thus leaving his kinsman to the care of the two followers, and
+beckoning Lazaro along, Don Amador returned to the court-yard and the
+conflict.
+
+The history of the remainder of the day (it was now noon,) is a weary
+tale of blood. Wounds could not check, nor slaughter subdue, the
+animosity of the besiegers; and the Spaniards, tired even of killing,
+hoped no longer for victory over men who seemed to fight with no object
+but to die, and who rushed up as readily to the mouth of a cannon, whose
+vent was already blazing under the linstock, as to the spears that
+bristled with fatal opposition at the gates.
+
+But night came at last, and with it a hope to end the sufferings that
+were already intolerable. The hope was vain. The barbarians, apparently
+incapable of fatigue, or perhaps yielding their places to fresh
+combatants, continued the assault even with increasing vigour and
+boldness. They rushed against the court-wall with heavy beams,--rude
+battering-rams,--with which they thought to shake it to its foundations,
+and thus deprive the Christians of their greatest safeguard. In certain
+spots they succeeded; and the soldiers cursed the day of their birth, as
+the ruins fell crashing to the ground, and they saw themselves reduced
+to the alternative of filling the breaches with their bodies, or
+remaining to perish where they stood. It is true, that in this kind of
+defence, as well as under other urgent difficulties, they received good
+and manly aid from their numerous allies, the Tlascalans, who fought,
+during the whole day, with a spirit and cheerfulness that put many a
+repining Castilian to shame. But these, though battling equally for
+their lives, were incapable of withstanding long the unexampled violence
+of the assaults; and it was soon found that the naked bodies of the
+Tlascalans offered but slight impediment to the frenzied Mexicans.
+
+The Spaniards, in the expedient used to drive the citizens from their
+house-tops, had taught them a mode of warfare which they were not slow
+to adopt. The palace was of a solid structure, and seemed to bid
+defiance to flames. But the same cedars that finished the interior of
+meaner houses, formed its floors and ceilings; every chamber was covered
+with mats, and most of them were hung with the most inflammable kind of
+tapestry. In addition to this, the five thousand Tlascalans, who had
+been left with Alvarado, and who slept in the court-yard, besides
+strewing the earth with rushes--their humble couches--had constructed
+along the walls of the palace itself, many rude arbours, or rather
+kennels, of reeds from the lake, to shelter them from the vicissitudes
+of the rainy season, which had, already, in part, set in. And, to crown
+all, the cavaliers, whose horses, as they well knew, were each worth a
+thousand Tlascalans, had caused stalls to be constructed for them,
+wherein they were better protected from the weather, than their
+fellow-animals, the allies. With these arrangements, the Mexicans were
+well acquainted.
+
+No sooner, therefore, had they succeeded in beating down several
+breaches in the wall, and found that they could sometimes drive the
+besieged from them, than they made trial of the expedient. They rushed
+together against the walls in a general assault, waving firebrands and
+torches, which those who forced their way through the breaches, applied
+to the stalls and arbours, or scattered over the beds of the Tlascalans.
+The dying incendiary, pierced with a dozen spears, ended his life with a
+laugh of joy, as he beheld the flames burst ruddily up to his brand.
+
+The misery of the Spaniards was now complete. They were parched with
+thirst. The sweet fountains of Chapoltepec gushed only over the square
+of the temple. A well, dug by Alvarado, in his extremity, furnished a
+meager supply of water, and that so brackish, that even the brutes
+turned from it in disgust, till forced to drink, by pangs that would
+allow them to be fastidious no longer. The nearest canal, conducting the
+briny waters of Tezcuco, was shut out by ramparts of savages. The
+Spaniards, with one universal voice, sent up a cry of despair, as they
+beheld the flames run over the court, the stalls, the kennels, and up
+the palace walls, and knew not how to extinguish them. The cry was
+answered from without, with such yells of exultation, as froze their
+blood; and in the glare of the sudden conflagration, they saw the
+barbarians rushing again to the attack, darting through the breaches,
+and leaping over the walls.
+
+In this strait, beset at once by two foes, equally irresistible, equally
+pitiless, they struck about them blindly and despairingly, cursing their
+fate, their folly, and the leader who had seduced them from their island
+homes, to die a death so ignoble and so dreadful.
+
+For a moment, the spirit of the general sunk, and turning to Don Amador,
+whose fate it was again to be at his side, he said, with a ghastly
+countenance, rendered hideous by the infernal glare,--
+
+"We die the death of foxes in a hole, very noble friend! Commend thy
+soul to God, and choose thy death; for we have no water to quench this
+hell!"
+
+"God help my kinsman and father, and all is one!" said Amador, with a
+desperate calmness. "The flames are hot, but the grave is cold."
+
+"_The grave is cold!_" shouted Cortes, with the voice of a madman. "Live
+in my heart for ever! Cold grave, moist earth! and Santiago, who strikes
+for a true Christian, speaks in thy words!--What ho, mad Spaniards!" he
+continued, shouting aloud, and running as he spoke round the palace;
+"earth quenches flames, like water! Swords and hands to the task; and he
+works best, who delves as at the grave of his foeman!"
+
+If there was obscurity in the words of the general, it was dispelled by
+his actions; for, dashing the rushes aside, he loosened the damp soil
+with his sabre, and flung the clods lustily on the nearest flames. Loud
+and joyous were the shouts of his people, as hope dawned upon them with
+the happy idea; and, in a moment, the hands of many thousand men were
+tearing up the earth of the court, and casting it on the flames, while
+the savages, confidently expecting the result of their stratagem,
+intermitted their efforts for awhile, leaving the gates and breaches
+nearly unguarded.
+
+It is probable, that even this poor resource, in the hands of so great a
+multitude of men, toiling with the zeal of desperation, might have
+sufficed to quell the flames. But, as if heaven had at last taken pity
+on their sufferings, and vouchsafed a miracle for their relief, there
+came, almost at the same moment, the pattering of rain-drops, which were
+quickly followed by a heavenly deluge; and as the flames vanished under
+it, the Christians fell upon their knees, and, with devout ardour,
+offered up thanks to the Providence, that had so marvellously preserved
+them.
+
+They sprang from their knees, with bolder hearts, as the Mexicans again
+advanced to the assault. But this was the last attack. As if satisfied
+with the toils of the day, or commanded by some unknown ruler, the
+barbarians, uttering a mournful scream, suddenly departed.--They were
+heard during the night; and in the morning, when the waning moon shone
+dimly through the rack, were seen stirring about the square, but in no
+great numbers; and as they did not attempt any annoyance, but seemed
+engaged in dragging away the dead, Don Hernan forbade his sentinels to
+molest them.
+
+The guards were set, and the over-worn soldiers retired, at last, to
+throw their wounded bodies on their pallets. But throughout the whole
+night, the noises of men repairing the breaches, and constructing
+certain military engines, assured those who were too sore or too fearful
+to sleep, that the leader they had cursed was sacrificing a second night
+to the duties of his station.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+
+Don Amador sought out the apartment of his kinsman, with a troubled
+heart. A deep dejection, in part the effect of extreme fatigue, but
+caused more by the strange and melancholy events of the last twenty-four
+hours, weighed upon his spirits, and had increased, ever since the
+spectacle of the divinity, notwithstanding the bustle and excitement of
+the conflicts which ensued.
+
+In the passage, before he had yet reached the chamber, he stumbled upon
+Fabueno. The secretary looked confused and abashed, as if caught in a
+dereliction of duty; but before the cavalier could upbraid him, he
+commenced his excuses.
+
+'The opiate was strong; the knight was in a deep slumber,' he said;
+'and, as Marco was sitting at his side, he thought he might leave him
+for a moment, to discover wherefore the soldiers had ceased fighting. He
+hoped his noble patron would pardon him: he would presently return.'
+
+"Seek thy pleasure now, Lorenzo," said the novice, with a heavy sigh.
+"Return when thou wilt,--or not at all, if thou preferrest to rest with
+thy companions of last night. I will now, myself, watch by Don Gabriel."
+
+His head sunk upon his breast, as he went on, for his heart was full of
+painful reflections. Near the door of the chamber, he was roused by a
+step, and looking up, he beheld the padre Olmedo approaching.
+
+"Holy father, it rejoices me to see thee," he said "I had, indeed,
+thoughts to seek thee out, and claim thy benevolent counsels and
+aidance, but that I deemed me there were many among the wounded, and
+perchance the dying, who had stronger claims on thy good offices."
+
+"Thou art not hurt, my son?"
+
+"I have a scratch, made by the unlucky spear of a friend, but no harm
+from the enemy," said the cavalier. "I had indeed a blow also on the
+head, that made my brain ring; but both, I had quite forgotten. I am
+well enough in body, reverend father; and perhaps may be relieved in
+mind, if thou wilt vouchsafe me thy ghostly counsels."
+
+The good Bartolomé, making a gesture of assent, followed the youth into
+the chamber.
+
+The knight was, as Fabueno had declared, lost in a deep and, his kinsman
+was pleased to see, a placid, slumber; but Marco, instead of watching,
+lay sleeping full as soundly, hard by. This circumstance seemed to
+embarrass the cavalier.
+
+"Father," said he, "I thought no less than to find the serving-man
+awake; and it was my intent to discharge him a moment from the chamber,
+not fearing that what I might say to thee, would disturb my afflicted
+friend. But I have not the heart to break the rest of this old man,--a
+very faithful servant,--who closes not his eyes, except when to keep
+them open would no longer be of service to Don Gabriel."
+
+"He sleeps as soundly as his master," murmured the priest. "A good
+conscience lies under his rough breast, or it would not heave so
+gently."
+
+"My father breathes gently, too," said Amador, mournfully.
+
+"May heaven restore him," said the padre. "His guilt lies deeper in his
+imagination than in his soul."
+
+"Dost thou think so indeed, father?" said Amador warmly, though in a low
+voice.
+
+The father started--"The history of thy kinsman is not unknown to
+thee?"
+
+"What I know is but little, save that my friend is the unhappiest of
+men," said the novice. "But heaven forbid I should seek to fathom the
+secrets of the confessional. I was rejoiced to hear thee say, my kinsman
+was not so miserable as he deems himself; for indeed I have begun to
+think there is something in the blood that courses in both our veins, so
+inclined to distemperature, that a small sin may bring us the pains of
+deep guilt, and a light sorrow pave the way to madness."
+
+The knight and the man-at-arms lay in a slumber not to be broken by the
+whispers of confession. The father retired to the remotest corner of the
+apartment, and Don Amador knelt humbly and penitentially at his feet. A
+little taper shed a flickering ray over his blanched and troubled
+forehead, as he bent forward to kiss the crucifix, extended by the
+confessor.
+
+"Buen padre," said he, "the sins I have to confess, I know thou wilt
+absolve, for they are sins of a hot blood, and not a malicious heart. I
+have been awroth with those who wronged me, and thirsted to shed their
+blood. For this I repent me. But the sins of pride and vanity are deep
+in my heart. I look about me for those acts of darkness, which should
+have caused the grief wherewith I am afflicted; but, in my self-conceit,
+I cannot find them. And yet they must exist; for I am beset with devils,
+or bewitched!"
+
+The father gazed uneasily from the penitent to the sleeping knight; but
+the look of suspicion was unnoticed.
+
+"We are all, as I may say, my son, beset by devils in this infidel land.
+They are worshipped on the altars of the false gods, and they live in
+the hearts of the idolaters. But if thou hast no heavy sin on thy soul,
+these are such devils as thou canst better exorcise with the sword, than
+I, perhaps, with prayers. I think, indeed, thou hast no such guilt; and,
+therefore, no cause for persecution."
+
+"Holy father, I thought so myself, till late. But cast thine eyes on
+Don Gabriel. Thou seest him, once the noblest of his species, yet, now,
+the shadow and vapour of a man,--a wreck of reason,--a living
+death,--for his mind hath left him. This I say to thee with much
+anguish. I could strike another who said it; but it is true--He is a
+lunatic!--It is I that have robbed him of reason. This is my sin; and I
+feel that it is heavy."
+
+"Thou ravest, good youth. Thy love and devotion are well known; and he
+hath, out of his own mouth, assured me, that thy affection surpasses the
+love of man. Rest thee content. A deeper cause than this, and one
+wherein thou hast no part, has afflicted him. An accident of war,
+tortured, by a moody imagination, into wilful guilt, hath turned him
+into this ruin."
+
+"It _was_ an accident, then, and no murder!" said the cavalier,
+joyously, though still in a whisper. "I thank God that my father is
+unstained with the blood of a woman."
+
+"I may not repeat to thee secrets revealed only to God," said the
+confessor; "but this much may I say, to allay thy fears,--that the blow
+which destroyed a friend, was meant for a foe; for rage veiled his eyes,
+and the steel was in the hands of a madman. This will assure thee, that
+thou hast had no agency in his affliction, but hast ever proved his
+truest comfort."
+
+"This indeed is the truth," murmured the novice, "and this convinces me,
+that by robbing him of his comfort, I gave him up to the persecution of
+those thoughts and memories, which have destroyed him. When I fought by
+his side at Rhodes, when I followed at his back through Spain, his
+malady was gentle. It brought him often fits of gloom, sometimes moments
+of delirium; he was unhappy, father, but not mad. I had acquired the art
+to keep the evil spirit from him; and, while I remained by him, he was
+well. I left him,--at his command, indeed, but he did not command me to
+forget him. The servant slept, and the sick man perished. While I was
+gone, his infirmity returned; and the madness that brought him to this
+infidel world, though I follow him, I am not able to remove. I found him
+changed; and, by my neglect, he is left incurable."
+
+"I think, indeed, as thou sayest," replied the confessor, mildly, "there
+is something in thy blood, as well as in Calavar's, which inclines to
+convert what is a light fault, into a weighty sin. Thou wrongest
+thyself: this present misery is but the natural course of disease, and
+thou hast no reason to upbraid thyself with producing it."
+
+"Father, so thought I, myself, till lately," said the cavalier,
+solemnly; "for we have ever in our hearts some lying spirit, that
+glosses over our faults with excuses, and deludes us from remorse. But
+it has been made manifest to me, by strange revealments and
+coincidences, by griefs of my own as well as of others, that my neglect
+was a grievous sin, not yet forgiven. And verily, now do I believe, that
+had I remained true to my knight, much sorrow would have been spared to
+both him and me."
+
+"I cannot believe that thy unfaithfulness was a wrong of design," said
+the father. "If it be, make me acquainted with it, and despair not of
+pardon. Thou wert parted from the knight at his own command?"
+
+"To gather him followers for the crusade meditated against the infidels
+of Barbary," said the novice,--"a brave and pious enterprise, from which
+the emperor was quickly diverted by other projects. This change being
+proclaimed, there remained nothing for me to do, but, like a faithful
+friend and servant, to return to my kinsman. Had I done so, what present
+affliction and disturbing memories might not have been prevented! Know,
+father, for I tell thee the truth, that it was my fortune, or rather my
+unhappiness, to discover, at the sea-port in which I sojourned, a
+Moorish maiden, of so obscure, and, doubtless, so base, a birth, that
+even the noble lady who gave her protection, knew not the condition of
+her parents. Yet, notwithstanding this baseness of origin, and the great
+pride of my own heart, (for truly I am come of the noblest blood in the
+land!) I was so gained upon by the beauty and excellent worth of this
+maiden, (for I swear to thee, her superior lives not in the world!) that
+I forgot even that she was the daughter of an idolater, and loved her."
+
+"A Moorish infidel!" said the confessor. "It is not possible thou
+couldst pledge thy faith to an unbeliever?"
+
+"Holy father," said Don Amador, "this sin was at least spared me. The
+maiden was a Christian, tenderly nurtured in all the doctrines of our
+faith, and almost ignorant that the race from which she drew her blood,
+knew any other; and, father, I thought, until this day, that the soul of
+Leila dwelt among the seraphs. Moreover, if the plighting of troth be
+sinful, I am again innocent; for, before I had spoken of love, she was
+snatched away from me."
+
+"She is dead, then?" demanded the padre.
+
+"Surely, I think so," said the cavalier, mournfully; "yet I know not the
+living creature that wots of her fate. Father! the sin of deserting my
+kinsman was first visited to me through her; and because I was a sinner,
+Leila perished.--_How_, father, I cannot tell thee. She vanished away by
+night,--carried off, as some averred, by certain Moorish exiles, who,
+that night, set sail for Barbary; or, as others dreamed, murdered by
+some villain, and cast into the sea; for the veil she wore, was found
+the day after, dashed ashore by the surf. But, whether she be dead, or
+yet living, again I say, I know not; though I affirm on the cross which
+I hold in my hand, I beheld her this day, or some fiend in her likeness,
+under the similitude of a priestess, or a divinity, I know not which,
+carried on the shoulders of the infidels, and by them worshipped!"
+
+The confessor started back in alarm, surveying the excited features of
+the penitent, and again cast his eyes towards Don Gabriel. Then, laying
+his hand on the head of the cavalier, he said, gently, but warningly,--
+
+"Cast such thoughts from thee, lest thou become like to thy kinsman!"
+
+"Ay!" cried the cavalier, clasping his hands, and turning an eye of
+horror on the father,--"thou speakest confirmation of mine own fears;
+for I have said to myself, this is a frenzy, and therefore I have come,
+at last, to be like my kinsman! The thing that I have seen, is _not_;
+and the reason that made me a man, has fled from me!"
+
+"Nay, I meant not that," said the padre, endeavouring to soothe the
+agitation he had, in part, caused. "I desired only to have thee guard
+thyself against the effects of thy fancy, which is, at present, greatly
+over-excited. I believe that thou didst indeed see some pagan maiden,
+strongly resembling the Moorish Leila;--a circumstance greatly aided by
+the similarity of hue between the two races."
+
+"And dost thou think," said the cavalier, his indignation rising in
+spite of his grief, "that the adored and most angelic Leila could, in
+any wise, resemble the coarse maids of this copper-tinted, barbarous
+people? I swear to thee, she was fairer than the Spanish girls of
+Almeria, and a thousand times more beautiful!"
+
+"In this I will not contend with thee," said the father, benignantly,
+well satisfied that anger should take the place of a more perilous
+passion. "But I may assure thee, that, among the princesses of the royal
+household, whom, I think, thou hast not yet seen, there are many
+wondrous lovely to look upon; and, to show thee that even a barbarian
+may resemble a Christian, it is only needful to mention that when, at
+our first coming to these shores, the portrait of Cortes, done by an
+Indian painter, was carried to Montezuma, he sent to us, by the next
+messengers, with rich presents, a noble of his court so strongly
+resembling Don Hernan, both in figure and visage, that we were all
+filled with amazement."
+
+"Well, indeed, thou speakest to me words of comfort," said Don Amador,
+more composedly, though still very sadly; "but I would to heaven I might
+look again on this woman, or this fiend, for I know not if she may not
+be a devil! In truth, I thought I beheld a spectre, when she turned her
+eyes upon me; and, oh father! you may judge my grief, when thus
+thinking, and beholding her a spirit worshipped by idolaters, I knew she
+must be of the accursed!"
+
+"I have heard of this woman from others who beheld her," said the
+father, "and, I doubt not, she is a mortal woman, esteemed holy, because
+a priestess, and therefore received by the people with those marks of
+respect, which thou didst mistake for adoration. It was reported to me,
+that she was of marvellous great beauty."
+
+"Marvellous, indeed!" said the youth. "But, father, here is another
+circumstance that greatly troubled me; and, in good sooth, it troubles
+me yet. It is known to thee that my kinsman had, until yesternight, a
+little page,--a Moorish boy, greatly beloved by us both. As for myself,
+I loved him because he was of the race of Leila; and I protest to thee,
+unnatural as it may seem, I bore not for my young brother a greater
+affection than for this most unlucky urchin. A foolish fellow charged
+him to be an enchanter; and sometimes I bethink me of the accusation,
+and suppose he has given me magical love-potions. Last night he was
+snatched away, I cannot say how; but what is very wonderful, my kinsman
+and two of his people saw, almost at the same moment, a terrific
+phantom. Father, you smile! If it were not for my sorrow, I could smile
+too, and at myself; for greatly am I changed, since I set foot on this
+heathen land. A month since, I held a belief in ghosts and witchcraft to
+be absurd, and even irreligious. At this moment, there is no menial in
+this palace more given over to doubts and fears, and more superstitious.
+Is not this the first breathing of that horrible malady?"
+
+"It is the first perplexity of a scene of novelty and excitement.
+Fatigue doth itself produce a temporary distraction, as is very evident
+when we come to fling our over-worn bodies on our couches, to sleep.
+This is the land of devils, because of idolaters; and I may not deny,
+that the fiends have here greater power to haunt us with supernatural
+apparitions, than in the lands of our true religion. Yet it is not well
+to yield too ready a belief to such revelations; for heaven will not
+permit them, without a purpose. Rather think that the infirmity of thy
+kinsman, and the ignorance of his people, were deluded by an accidental
+deception, which a cooler observer might have penetrated, than by any
+real vision. But what wert thou saying of the Moorish page?"
+
+"Father," said Amador, earnestly, "at the moment, when the train that
+surrounded that wonderful priestess, alarmed to see me rush towards
+them, (for that supernatural resemblance did greatly move me,) fled into
+the temple, I heard the voice of Jacinto screaming aloud among the
+infidels, as if, that moment, offered by them a victim to their accursed
+divinities."
+
+"God be with his soul, if it be so!" said the confessor, "for barbarous
+and bloody in their fanaticism are the reprobates of Tenochtitlan. Yet I
+would have thee, even in this matter, to be of good heart; for it is
+believed among us, that Abdalla, his father, has been received into the
+service of the Mexican nobles, to teach them how to resist our arts, and
+how to compass our destruction; and it must be evident, that for that
+traitor's sake, they will spare his boy, stolen away from us, as it
+appears to me to be proven, by the knave Abdalla himself. But think thou
+no more of the boy. He was born to inherit the perfidy of his race;
+deception and ingratitude have rendered him unworthy of thy care; and
+if, some day, the nobles should yield him to the priests for a victim,
+it will be but a just punishment for his baseness. Give thy mind to
+other thoughts, and refresh thy body with sleep; for much need have we
+of all the assistance thou canst now render us. Sleep, and prepare for
+other combats; for this day is but the prologue of a tragedy, whose end
+may be more bloody and dreadful than we have yet imagined. Thy soul is
+without stain, and heaven absolves thee of sin. Brood over no more
+gloomy thoughts; believe that Providence overshadows thee; sleep in
+tranquillity; and be prepared for the morning."
+
+The good father concluded the rite of absolution with a blessing
+parental and holy, and stole away from the chamber. Don Amador sighed
+heavily, but with a relieved mind, as he rose from his knees. He gazed
+upon the marble features of the sleeping knight, smoothed the covering
+softly and tenderly about his emaciated frame, and then crept to his own
+couch. His thoughts were many and wild, but exhaustion brought slumber
+to his eyelids; and starting, ever and anon, at some elfin
+representation of the captive page, or the lost maid of Almeria, bending
+over him with eyes of wo, he fell, at last, into a sleep, so profound,
+that it was no longer disturbed by visions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+
+At the earliest dawn, Don Amador arose from his couch, refreshed, but
+not reanimated, by slumber. An oppressive gloom lay at his heart, with
+the feeling of physical weight; and without yet yielding to any definite
+apprehension, he was conscious of some presentiment, or vague foreboding
+of sorrow. The taper had expired on the pedestal, but an obscure light,
+the first beam of morning, guided him to the bed-side of his kinsman.
+The form of Baltasar was added to that of Marco on the floor; and the
+serving-men slept as soundly as their master. He bent a moment over Don
+Gabriel, and though unable to perceive his countenance in the gloom, he
+judged, by the calmness of his breathing, that the fever had abated.
+"Heaven grant that the delirium may have departed with it!" he muttered
+to himself, "and that my poor friend may look upon me rationally once
+more! If we are to perish under the knives of these unwearying
+barbarians, as now seems to me somewhat more than possible, better will
+it be for my kinsman's soul, that he die with the name of God on his
+lips, instead of those of the spirits which torment him."
+
+While the cavalier gave way to such thoughts, he heard very distinctly,
+though at a great distance, such sounds as convinced him that 'the
+unwearying barbarians' were indeed rousing again for another day of
+battle. He armed himself with the more haste that he heard also in the
+passage, the sound of feet, as if the garrison had been already
+summoned, and were hurrying to the walls.
+
+As he passed from the apartment, he found himself suddenly in the midst
+of a group of cavaliers, one of whom grasped his hand, and pressing it
+warmly, whispered in his ear, "I will not forget that I owe thee the
+life of Benita!--Come with me, my friend, and thou shalt see how pride
+is punished with shame, and injustice with humiliation."
+
+"I thought," said Don Amador, "that we were about to be attacked, and
+that my friends were running to the defence."
+
+"Such is the case," said De Morla. "The millions are again advancing
+against the palace, and we go to oppose them, though not to the walls.
+We have raised devils, and we run to him we have most wronged, and most
+despised, to lay them. In an instant, you will hear the shrieks of the
+combatants. If we find no other way to conquer them than with our arms,
+wo betide us all!--for we are worn and feeble, and we know our fate."
+
+Several of the cavaliers had lights in their hands, but the chamber,
+into which Don Amador followed them, was lit with a multitude of
+torches, chiefly of the knots of resinous wood, burning with a smoky
+glare, and scattering around a rich odour. The scene disclosed to the
+neophyte, was imposing and singular. The apartment was very spacious,
+and, indeed, lofty, and filled with human beings, most of them Mexican
+nobles of the highest rank, and of both sexes, who stood around their
+monarch, as in a solemn audience, leaving a space in front, which was
+occupied by the most distinguished of the Spaniards, among whom was Don
+Hernan himself. A little platform, entirely concealed under cushions of
+the richest feathers, supported the chair, (it might have been called,
+the throne,) on which sat the royal captive, closely invested by those
+members of his family who shared his imprisonment. A king of Cojohuacan,
+his brother, stood at his back, and at either side were two of his
+children, two sons and two daughters, all young, and one of them,--a
+princess,--scarce budding into womanhood. Their attire, in obedience to
+the law's of the court, was plain, and yet richer than the garments of
+the nobles. But it was their position near the king, the general
+resemblance of their features, and the anxious eyes which they kept ever
+bent on the royal countenance, which pointed them out as the offspring
+of Montezuma.
+
+As for Montezuma himself, though he sat on his chair like an emperor, it
+was more like a monarch of statuary than of flesh and blood. The
+Christian general stood before him, dictating to the interpreter Marina,
+the expressions which he desired to enter the ear of his prisoner; but,
+though speaking with as much respect as earnestness, the Indian ruler
+seemed neither to hear nor to see him. His eye was indeed fixed on Don
+Hernan, but yet fixed as on vacancy; and the lip, fallen in a ghastly
+contortion, the rigid features, the abstracted stare, the right hand
+pressed upon his knee, while the left lay powerless and dead over the
+cushions of his chair, as he bent a little forward, as if wholly
+unconscious of the presence of his people and his foes, made it manifest
+to all, that his thoughts were absorbed in the contemplation of his own
+abasement.
+
+The neophyte heard the words of Don Hernan.
+
+"Tell his royal majesty, the king," said the general, with an accent no
+longer resembling that which had fixed the barb in the bosom of his
+prey, "that it mislikes me to destroy his people, like so many dumb
+beasts; and yet to this end am I enforced by their madness and his
+supineness. Bid him direct his subjects to lay down their arms, and
+assail me no further; otherwise shall I be constrained to employ those
+weapons which God has given me, until this beauteous island is converted
+into a charnel-house and hell, and the broad lake of Tezcuco into the
+grave of his whole race!"
+
+The mild and musical voice of Marina repeated the wish in the language
+of Anahuac; and all eyes were bent on the monarch, as she spoke. But not
+a muscle moved in the frame or the visage of Montezuma.
+
+"Is the knave turned to stone, that he hears not?" muttered the chief.
+"Speak thou, my little Orteguilla. Repeat what thou hast heard, and see
+if thine antics will not arouse the sleeper."
+
+The youthful page stepped up to the king, seized his hand, which he
+strove to raise to his lips, and looking up in his face, with an
+innocent air, endeavoured to engage his attention. This boy had, from
+the first days of imprisonment, been a favourite with Montezuma; and
+being very arch and cunning, Don Hernan did not scruple to place him as
+a spy about the king, under colour of presenting him as a servant. In
+common, Montezuma was greatly diverted with his boyish tricks, and
+especially with his blundering efforts to catch the tongue of Mexico.
+But there was no longer left in the bosom of the degraded prince, a
+chord to vibrate to merriment. Habit, however, had not yet lost its
+hold; and as the boyish voice stammered out the accustomed tones, he
+gradually turned his eyes from the person of the general, and fixed
+them on the visage of Orteguilla. But as he gazed, his brows contracted
+into a gloomier frown, he laid his hand on the prattler's shoulder, and
+no sooner had the urchin ceased speaking, than he thrust him sternly,
+though not violently, away. Then drawing himself erect, he folded his
+arms on his bosom, and without uttering a word, fixed his eyes on the
+face of Cortes, and there calmly and sorrowfully maintained them.
+
+"This is, doubtless, a lethargy," said the general; "but it suits not
+our present occasions to indulge it. Where is my friend, De Morla? He
+was wont to have much influence with this humorous man."
+
+"I am here," said De Morla, stepping forward; "and if you demand it, I
+will speak to the king; though with no hopes of persuading him to show
+us any kindness."
+
+As De Morla spoke, Don Amador, who had followed him to the side of
+Cortes, observed one of the princesses turn from her sire, and look
+eagerly towards his friend. In this maiden, he doubted not, he perceived
+the fair Minnapotzin; and he ceased to wonder at the passion of his
+countryman, when he discovered with his own eyes how little her beauty
+had been overrated. Though of but small stature, her figure, as far as
+it could be perceived through the folds of peculiar vestments, was
+exceedingly graceful. The cymar was knotted round her bosom with a
+modest girdle, and left bare two arms prettily moulded, on which shone
+bracelets of gold, fantastically wrought. Her hair was long, and fell,
+braided with strings of the same metal, on her shoulders, on which also
+was a necklace of little emeralds alternating with crystals, and
+suspending a silver crucifix of Spanish workmanship. These were her only
+decorations. Her skin was rather dark than tawny, and the tinge of
+beautifying blood was as visible on her cheeks as on those of the maids
+of Andalusia. Her features were very regular; and two large eyes, in
+which a native timidity struggled with affection at the sight of her
+Christian lover, rendered her countenance as engaging as it was lovely.
+She hung upon De Morla's accents with an air of the deepest interest, as
+he expressed, in imperfect language, the desires of his general.
+
+As he spoke, the infidel king surveyed him with a frown,--a notice that
+he now extended to all the Christians present, but without deigning to
+reply. It was evident that he understood the desires of his jailor, and
+equally plain that he had resolved to disregard them. The angry spot
+darkened on the brow of Cortes; and he was about to degrade the captive
+with still more violent marks of his displeasure; when, at this moment,
+the roar of his artillery, mingled with the shouts of the besiegers,
+suddenly shook the palace to its foundations, and drowned his voice in
+the shrieks of the women.
+
+Montezuma started to his feet, and cast a look upon Cortes, in which
+horror did not wholly conceal a touch of ferocious satisfaction. His
+people were, indeed, falling under those terrific explosions, like
+leaves before the mountain gust; but well he read in the dismayed
+visages of the Spaniards, that fate was, at last, avenging his injuries
+on the oppressors.
+
+"Speak _thou_ to thy father, my Benita!" cried De Morla, in her own
+language, to the terrified princess, "and let him stay the work of
+blood; for none but he has the power. Tell him, we desire peace, repent
+the wrongs we have done him, and will redress them. If he will regain
+his liberty and his empire,--if he will save his people, his children,
+and himself, from one common and fearful destruction, let him forget
+that we have done him wrong, and pronounce the words of peace."
+
+The Indian maiden threw herself at the feet of the king, and bathing his
+hands with tears, repeated the charge of the cavalier.
+
+Montezuma gazed upon her with sorrow, and upon his other children; then
+looking coldly to Don Hernan, he said, with a tranquil voice, while
+Doña Marina rapidly interpreted his expressions,--
+
+"What will the Teuctli have? He commands a captive to shield him from
+the darts of free warriors: Montezuma is a prisoner. He calls upon me to
+quiet a raging people: Montezuma has no people. He commands me to regain
+my liberty: the Mexican that hath been once a slave, can be a freeman no
+more. He bids me save my children: I have none! they are servants in the
+house of a stranger.--He that is in bonds, hath no offspring!"
+
+While he spoke, the din increased, as if the yelling assailants were
+pressing up to the very walls of the palace; and many cavaliers,
+incapable of remaining longer inactive, and despairing of his
+assistance, rushed from the apartment to join in the combat.
+
+"Why does he waste time in words?" cried Cortes. "At every moment, there
+are slain a thousand of his subjects!"
+
+"If there were twenty thousand," said the captive, assuming, at last,
+the dignity that became his name, and speaking with a stately anger,
+"and if but one Christian lay dead among them, Montezuma should not
+mourn the loss. Happier would he be, left with the few and mangled
+remnants, with his throne on the grave of the strangers, than, this
+moment, were he restored to his millions, with the children of the East
+abiding by him in friendship.--Thou callest upon me to appease _my_
+people. Thou knowest that they are thine. Why should they not listen to
+_thee_?"
+
+"Ay, why should they not?" said Don Hernan, speaking rather to himself,
+than to Montezuma, and flinging sarcasms on his own head. "By my
+conscience, I know not; for though I was somewhat conceited, to grasp at
+the sceptre so early, I think I may hold it with as much dignity as any
+infidel, were he a Turkish sultan.--Hearken, Montezuma; thou art
+deceived: thy people are not mine, but thine, and through thee, as his
+sworn vassal, the subjects of my master, the king of Spain. Confirm thy
+vassalage to him, by tribute, be true to thy allegiance, and remain on
+thy throne for ever; and, if such be thy desire, I will straightway
+withdraw my army from the empire, so that thou mayest reign according to
+thine own barbarous fancies."
+
+"I trust thee not," said the king, "for already hast thou deceived me! I
+revoke my vows of vassalage; for he that has no kingdom, cannot be a
+king's deputy.--Do thy worst," continued the monarch, with increasing
+boldness, no longer regarding the furious looks of Don Hernan, and
+learning, at last, to deserve the respect of his foes. "Do thy worst:
+Thou hast degraded me with chains, and with words of insult; nothing
+more canst thou do, but kill! Kill me, then, if thou wilt; and in
+Mictlan will I rejoice, for I know that my betrayers shall follow me!
+Yes!" he added, with wild energy, "I know that, at this moment, your
+heart is frozen with fear, and your blood turned to water, seeing that
+revenge has reached you, and that your doom is death! The wronger of the
+lords of Tenochtitlan has learned to tremble before its basest herds;
+and let him tremble,--for the basest of them shall trample upon his
+body!"
+
+"Am I menaced by this traitor to his allegiance?" cried Cortes.
+
+"Señor," said De Morla, "let us trifle the time with no more deception.
+There is no one of our people, who does not perceive that we can
+maintain our post in this city no longer, and that we cannot even escape
+from it, without the permission of our foes. This knows Montezuma, as
+well as ourselves. Why incense him, why strive to cajole him further?
+Let us tell him the truth, and buy safety by restoring, at once, what we
+cannot keep; and what, otherwise, we must yield up with our lives."
+
+"Ay, faith,--it cannot be denied: we are even caught in a net of our own
+twisting. Tell the knave what thou wilt. We will leave his accursed
+island.--But how soon we may return, to claim the possessions of our
+master, thou needst not acquaint him. But, by my conscience, return we
+will, and that right briefly!"
+
+A thousand different expressions agitated the visage of Montezuma, while
+listening to the words of De Morla. Now a flash of joy lit his dusky
+features; now doubt covered them with double gloom; and now he frowned
+with a dark resolution, as if conceiving the fate of the Christians, if
+left to themselves, still caged in their bloody prison. The memory of
+all he had suffered, mingled with the imagination of all the vengeance
+he might enjoy, covered his countenance with a mingled rage and
+exultation. While he hesitated, his eye fell upon his children, for all
+had thrown themselves at his feet; and he beheld them, in fancy, paying
+the penalty of his ferocity. The stern eye of Cortes was upon him; and
+he thought he read, in its meaning lustre, the punishment which awaited
+his refusal.
+
+"Will the Teuctli depart from me," he cried, eagerly, "if I open a path
+for him through my incensed people?"
+
+"I will depart from him," replied Don Hernan, "if his people throw down
+their arms, and disperse."
+
+"They will listen to me no more!" exclaimed Montezuma, suddenly clasping
+his hands, with a look and accent of despair, "for I am no longer their
+monarch. The gods of Anahuac have rejected the king that has submitted
+to bonds; a great prophetess has risen from Mictlan, bearing the will of
+the deities; and, by the bloody pool Ezapan, that washes the wounds of
+the penitent, the people have heard her words, and sworn faith to a new
+ruler, beloved by heaven, and reverenced by themselves. They have seen
+the degradation of Montezuma, and Cuitlahuatzin is now the king of
+Mexico!"
+
+"He speaks of the strange priestess we saw at the temple," said De
+Morla. "It is, indeed, said among all the Mexicans, (but how they have
+heard of her, I know not,) that she has been sent by the gods, to
+dethrone our prisoner, and destroy the Christians."
+
+"Thou art deceived," said Cortes, to the monarch, without regarding this
+explanation; "there is no king, but thyself, acknowledged by thy people;
+and, at this moment, they are fighting to rescue thee from what they
+falsely consider bondage;--falsely I say, for thou knowest, thou art my
+guest, and not my prisoner,--free to depart whenever thou wilt,--that
+is, whenever thou wilt exert thy authority to appease the insurrection.
+It is their mad love for thee, that reduces us to extremity."
+
+"And thou swearest, then," cried Montezuma, catching eagerly at the
+suggestion and the hope, "thou swearest, that thou wilt depart from my
+empire, if I appease this bloody tumult?"
+
+"I swear, that I will depart from thy city," said the crafty Spaniard;
+"and I swear, that I hope to depart from thy empire--one day, at least,
+when I am its master." He muttered the last words to himself.
+
+"Give me my robes--I will speak to my people!"
+
+No sooner was this speech interpreted, than the Spaniards present
+uttered exclamations of pleasure; and some of them running out with the
+news to their companions, the court-yard soon rung with their shouts.
+Despair, at once, gave place to joy; and even to many of those who had
+been most sick of battle, the relief came, with such revulsions of
+feeling, that they seemed loath to lose the opportunity of slaying.
+
+"Quick to your pieces! charge, and have at the yelling imps!" cried
+divers voices, "for presently we shall have no more fighting!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+
+The cannoniers, moved by this new feeling, discharged their last volley
+with good will, and, at the same moment, the crossbowmen and musketeers
+shot off their pieces from the wall and the terraces. The four sides of
+the palace were thus, at the same instant, sheeted with flame; and the
+effect of the combined discharge was incalculably great and fatal among
+the dense bodies of besiegers. As they staggered, and fell back a
+little, to recover from their confusion, the mounted men, who had placed
+themselves in readiness for the final charge, rushed at once, spear in
+hand, on the disordered multitude, dealing death at every thrust, and
+almost at every tramp of their chargers.
+
+It was precisely at this moment, that the Indian emperor, arrayed in the
+pompous and jewelled robes, in which he was wont to preside at the
+greater festivals of the gods, with the _Copilli_ on his head, and the
+golden buskins on his feet, preceded by a noble bearing the three rods
+of authority, and attended by half a dozen valiant cavaliers, (of whom
+the neophyte was one,) holding their bucklers in readiness to protect
+him from any ill-directed missile,--stepped upon the terrace and
+advanced towards the battlements. The spectacle that presented itself in
+the dawning light, was, to him at least, grievous and horrid. The earth
+of the square, and the dwellings that surrounded it, were torn by the
+cannon-shots, and many of the houses had tumbled into ruins. From this
+height, also, could be seen the blackened wrecks, which marked the path
+of the army, returning, the previous day, from the temple. But a more
+sorrowful sight was presented to the unfortunate monarch, in the
+prospect of his people, great numbers already lying dead on the furrowed
+square, while the survivors were falling fast under the lances of the
+horsemen.
+
+Don Hernan enjoyed for a moment, with malicious satisfaction, the
+exclamations of grief, with which his prisoner beheld this sight; for it
+was his pleasure to believe, that Montezuma was himself the planner of
+the insurrection. Then, giving a sign to a trumpeter, who was with the
+party, to wind a retreat, the horsemen instantly reined round their
+steeds, and galloped back to the court-yard. With a loud yell of
+triumph, the Mexicans, thinking their pursuers fled from fear, prepared
+to follow them, and poised their weapons as a prelude to the assault. At
+that critical period, the cavaliers moved aside from their prisoner, and
+he stood confronted with his people. The great cry with which the
+barbarians beheld their monarch, had something in it that was touching,
+for it expressed a childish joy; but there was something still more
+affecting in the result, to those whose hearts were not utterly steeled,
+when they beheld the universal multitude, as with one accord, fling
+themselves upon their knees, and, dropping their weapons and pronouncing
+the name of the king, extend their hands towards him, as to a father.
+
+"Is it possible then," muttered, or rather thought, Don Amador de Leste,
+smothering a sudden pang of remorse, "that these blood-thirsty
+barbarians are only seeking our lives, to liberate their king? Surely,
+we do a great sin, to slay them for their love.--I would that my knight,
+my people, and myself, were fighting the Turks again."
+
+The sudden change from the furious tumult of war to such stillness as
+belongs to midnight, was impressive and even awful; and solemn looks,
+both from his subjects and his foes, from those who fought in the
+court-yard, and those who manned the roof and the turrets, were bent on
+the royal captive, as he stepped upon the battlement, and addressed
+himself to his people.
+
+"My children!" said Montezuma, for so his words were rapidly interpreted
+by De Morla,--"if ye are shedding your blood, to convince me of your
+affection, know that I feel its constancy, without approving its
+rashness. Though I be a prisoner----" He paused, for the word stuck in
+his throat, and groans and lamentations showed how unpalatable it was to
+his subjects. "Though I be a prisoner with the Teuctli, yet have you to
+know, it is, in a great measure, with mine own consent; and, at this
+moment, I remain not by enforcement, but by choice."
+
+The unhappy monarch, by so expressing his address as to steer clear of
+offence to the Spaniards, (for well he knew they dreaded lest his
+confessions should still more inflame the citizens,) committed the more
+fatal error of displeasing his people. A murmur of indignation ran
+through the mass, when Montezuma, with his own lips, confirmed his
+abasement. Several rose, frowning, to their feet, and a young man,
+parting quickly from the crowd, advanced so near to the palace, that his
+features could be plainly distinguished. He was of noble stature,
+countenance, and mien, evidently of the highest order of nobility, and
+enjoyed the distinction of a principality in the House of Darts, as was
+shown by the red fillet in his hair, suspending the tufts of honour. His
+trunk and shoulders were invested in a coat of armour, either of scales
+of copper or of leather, richly gilt, bordered at the bottom with
+lambrequins of green and red feathers. His limbs were naked, saving only
+the bright sandals on his feet, and the glittering bracelets on his
+arms. His left arm supported a light buckler, doubtless of wicker-work,
+though painted with many bright and fantastic colours; and, from the
+bottom of it, waved a broad penacho, as well as a bulky maquahuitl,
+which he held in his left hand, while balancing a copper javelin in his
+right. A tall plume of the most splendid hues nodded majestically on his
+head.
+
+As this bold and noble-looking youth stepped up to the very mouths of
+the cannon, and raised his fiery eyes to the king, Don Amador de Leste
+thought that he recognized in him the princely ambassador of
+Cholula,--the young fugitive, who had been so ready to dispute the path
+with him, under the walls of the holy city.
+
+"Dost _thou_ say this, thou that wert once their lord, to the people of
+Mexitli?" said the young prince, (for, as has been recorded by other
+historians, it was the valiant Quauhtimotzin, the nephew of the king,
+who now so sharply rebuked him.) "Dost _thou_ indeed confess, son of
+Axajacatl! that thou art, by thine own consent, the friend of a
+perfidious stranger? by thine own choice, O conqueror of many nations!
+the serf and slave of him who is the brother of Tlascala? Then art thou,
+indeed, what we have called thee,--the slayer of thy people,--for this
+blood has flown at thy bidding; a traitor to thy throne,--for thou hast
+surrendered it to a master; an apostate to thy gods,--for thou hast shut
+thine ears, when they called upon thee for vengeance. Miserable
+king!--and yet a king no more! When thy people wept to see thee
+degraded, thou gavest them up to slaughter; and while they come to
+restore thee to thy rights, thou confessest, that thou lovest these less
+than the shame of captivity! Know then, that, for thy baseness, the gods
+have pronounced thee unworthy to be their viceroy, and thy people have
+confirmed the decree. We break the rods of authority; we trample upon
+the robes of state: and Montezuma is no longer a king in Tenochtitlan!"
+
+The unhappy monarch trembled, while he listened to this insulting
+denunciation, for he felt that he had deserved it. But his people still
+lay prostrate on the earth; and, hoping that they shared not the
+indignation of his kinsman, he elevated his voice again, and spoke
+sternly:--
+
+"Why doth Quauhtimotzin forget that he is the son of my brother, and my
+slave? Is the young man that smiles in jewels, wiser than he that hath
+gray hairs? and the people that delve in canals and build up the
+temples, have they more cunning than the king who councils with the
+spirits at the altar? Know that what has been done, has been done
+wisely, for it was according to the will of heaven; and heaven, which
+has tried our fidelity, is about to reward it with happiness and peace.
+The strangers have promised to depart from us: throw down your arms, and
+let them be gone."
+
+"And wilt thou," said the prince, elevating his voice to a still angrier
+pitch, "who hast been so many times deluded, counsel us to listen to
+their lies? O fallen Montezuma! thou leaguest with them against us. Wilt
+thou suffer them to escape, when we have them enclosed in nets, as the
+birds that sing in thy gardens? O degraded chief! thou hast not the
+courage to desire the blood of them that have dethroned thee! Thou art
+not he that was Montezuma; thy words are the words of a Christian; thou
+speakest with the lips of a slave, and the heart of a woman; thou art a
+Spaniard, and thy fate shall be the fate of a Spaniard! Cuitlahuatzin is
+our king; and we strike thee as a foeman!"
+
+As the prince concluded his indignant oration, he swung round his head
+the javelin, which, all this time, he had balanced in his hand, and
+launched it, with all his force, full at the breast of Montezuma. The
+shield of the novice, quickly interposed before the body of the king,
+arrested the sharp weapon, and it fell, innocuous, on the terrace. At
+the same moment, the Mexicans all sprang to their feet, with loud cries,
+as if giving way to repressed fury, and brandished their arms. The
+bucklers of the cavaliers were instantly extended before the monarch, to
+protect him from the dreaded missiles. But, as if desperation had robbed
+him of his fears, and restored to him, for his last hour, some share of
+that native spirit which had elevated him to the throne, he pushed them
+immediately aside, and raising himself to his full height, and spreading
+forth his arms, gazed majestically, though with a ghastly countenance,
+on his people. The words of mingled intreaty and command were already on
+his lips, but they were lost even to the Spaniards who stood by, in the
+thunder of shouts coming from twenty thousand voices; and the warning
+cry of Cortes was equally unheard, bidding the Spaniards to "Save the
+king!" The shields were interposed, however, without command, and caught
+many of the missiles,--stones, arrows, and darts,--which fell like a
+shower on the group,--but not all. An arrow pierced the right arm, a
+stone maimed the right leg, and another, striking upon the left temple
+of the abandoned monarch, crushed the bone in upon the brain; and he
+fell into the arms of the cavaliers, like a dead man.
+
+The cannoniers, at that moment, seeing the returning rage of the
+barbarians, shot off their pieces. But the battle was done. No sooner
+had the Mexicans beheld their monarch fall under the blows of their own
+weapons, than they changed their cries of fury to lamentations; and
+throwing down their arms, as if seized with a panic, they fled from the
+square, leaving it to the Christians and the dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+
+In great grief and consternation of mind, the cavaliers carried the king
+to his apartments, and added their own sharp regrets to the tears of his
+children, when the surgeon pronounced his wounds mortal. Even the señor
+Cortes did not disdain to heave a sigh over the mangled form of his
+prisoner; for, in his death, he perceived his innocence, and remembered
+his benefactions; and, in addition, he felt, that, in the loss of
+Montezuma, he was deprived of the strongest bulwark against the
+animosity of his people.
+
+"I have done this poor infidel king a great wrong," he said, with a
+remorse that might have been real, and yet, perhaps, was assumed, to
+effect a purpose on his followers; "for now, indeed, it is plain, he
+could not have been unfaithful to us, or he would not thus have
+perished. I call God to witness, that I had no hand in his death; and I
+aver to yourselves, noble cavaliers, that, when I have seemed to treat
+him with harshness and injustice, I have done so for the good of my
+companions, and the advantage of our king; for barbarians, being, in
+some sort, children, are to be governed by that severity which is
+wholesome to infancy. Nevertheless, I do not wholly despair of his life;
+for there are some score or two lusty fellows in the garrison, who have
+had their skulls cracked, and are none the worse for the affliction. I
+trust much in thy skill, señor _boticario_," he continued, addressing
+the surgeon; "and I promise thee, if thou restore Montezuma to his life
+and wits, I will, on mine own part, bestow upon thee this golden chain
+and crucifix, valued at ninety pesos, besides recommending thee,
+likewise, to the gratitude of my brother captains, and the favourable
+notice of his majesty, our king,--whom God preserve ever from the wrath
+and impiety of such traitorous subjects as have laid our Montezuma low!
+I leave him in thy charge. As for ourselves, valiant and true friends,
+it being now apparent to you, that we have none but ourselves to look to
+for safety, and even food, (the want of which latter would, doubtless,
+create many loud murmurs, were it not for the jeopardy of the former,) I
+must recommend you to betake you to your horses, and accompany me in a
+sally which it is needful now to make, both for the sake of
+reconnoitring the dikes, and gathering food.--What now, Botello!" he
+cried, observing the enchanter pressing through the throng; "what doest
+thou here?--Thou never madest me a prophecy of this great mishap!"
+
+"I never cast the horoscope, nor called upon Kalidon-Sadabath, to
+discover the fate of any but a Christian man," said Botello, gravely;
+"for what matters it _what_ is the fate of a soul predoomed to flames,
+whether it part with violence, or in peace? I have sought out the
+destiny of his people, because I thought, some day, they should be
+baptised in the faith; but I never cast me a spell for the king."
+
+"Wilt thou adventure thine art in his behalf, and tell me whether he
+shall now live or die?"
+
+"It needs no conjuration to discover that," said the magician, pointing
+significantly to the broken temple. "The king will die, and that before
+we are released from our thraldom. But hearken, señor," he continued,
+solemnly, "I have sought out the fate that concerns us more nearly. Last
+night, while others buried their weariness in sleep, and their sorrows
+in the dreams of home, I watched in solitude, with prayers and fasting,
+working many secret and godly spells, and conversing with the spirits
+that came to the circle----"
+
+The wounded monarch was forgotten, for an instant, by the cavaliers, in
+their eagerness to gather the revelations of the conjurer; for
+scepticism, like pride, was yielding before the increasing difficulties
+of their situation, and they grasped at hope and encouragement, coming
+from what quarter soever.
+
+"And what have the spirits told thee, then?" demanded the general,
+meaningly.--"Doubtless, that, although there be a cloud about us now,
+there shall sunshine soon burst from it; and that, if we depart from
+this city, it will only be like the antique battering ram, pulled back
+from a wall, that it may presently return against it with tenfold
+violence."
+
+"I have not questioned so far," replied Botello earnestly. "I know, that
+we must fly. What is to come after, is in the hands of God, and has not
+been revealed. Death lies in store for many, but safety for some. The
+celestial aspects are unfavourable, the conjunctions speak of suffering
+and blood;--dreams are dark, Kalidon is moody, and the fiends prattle in
+riddles. Day after day, the gloom shall be thicker, the frowns of fate
+more menacing, retreat more hopeless. Never before found I so many black
+days clustered over the earth! In all this period, there is but one
+shining hour; and if we seize not that, heaven receive us! for, beyond
+that, there is nothing but death.--On the fifth day from this, at
+midnight, a path will be opened to us on the causeway; for then, from
+the house Alpharg, doth the moon break the walls of prisons, and light
+fugitives to the desert. But after that, I say to thee again, very noble
+señor, all is hopelessness, all is wo!--starvation in the palace, and
+shrieking sacrifices on the temple!"
+
+"On the fifth night, then," said Cortes, gravely, "if the fates so will
+it, we must take our departure,--provided we die not of famine, on the
+fourth. I would the devils that thou hast in command, had revealed thee
+some earlier hour, or some good means of coming at meat and drink. Get
+thee to thy horoscopes again, thy prayers and thy suffumigations; and
+see if thou hast not, by any mischance, overlooked some favourable
+moment for to-morrow, or the day after."
+
+"It cannot be," said Botello; "my art has disclosed me no hope; but,
+without art, I can see that, to-morrow, the news of Montezuma's death,
+(for surely he is now dying,) will fill the causeways with mountaineers,
+and cover the lake with navigators, all coming to avenge it."
+
+"I like thy magic better than thy mother wit," said Don Hernan, with a
+frown. "Give me what diabolical comfort thou canst to the soldiers; but
+croak no common-sense alarms into their ears."
+
+"I have nothing to do with the magic that is diabolic," said the
+offended enchanter. "God is my stay, and the fiends I curse! If I have
+fears, I speak them not, save to those who may handle them for wise
+purposes. This, which I have said, will surely be the fate of to-morrow;
+and the besiegers will come, in double numbers, to the walls. What I
+have to speak of to-day, may be of as much moment, though revealed to me
+neither by star nor spirit.--The Mexicans are struck with horror, having
+slain their king; they hide them in their houses, or they run, mourning,
+to the temples; the soldiers are fresh, and the streets are empty. What
+hinders, that we do not gird on our packs, and, aiming for the near and
+short dike of Tacuba, which I so lately traversed, with the king's
+daughters, make good our retreat this moment?"
+
+"By Santiago!" cried Cortes, quickly, "this is a soldier's thought, and
+honoured shalt thou be for conceiving it. What ho, Sandoval, my friend!
+get the troops in readiness. Prepare thy litters for the sick and
+wounded;--have all ready at a moment's warning. In the meanwhile, I will
+scour the western streets, and if all promise well, will return to
+conduct the retreat in person."
+
+"We can carry with us," said Botello, "the wounded king, and his sons
+and daughters; and if it chance we should be followed, we will do as the
+tiger-hunter does with the cubs, when the dam pursues him,--fling a
+prisoner, ever and anon, on the path, to check the fury of our
+persecutors.--The king will be better than a purse of gold."
+
+"Ay! now thou art my sage soldier again!" said the general. "Get thee to
+the men, and comfort them. Apothecary, look to the emperor; see that he
+have the best litter.--Forget not thy drugs and potions. And now,
+Christian cavaliers, and brothers, be of good heart.--Let us mount
+horse, and look at the dike of Tacuba."
+
+The officers, greatly encouraged at the prospect of so speedy a release
+from their sufferings, followed the general from the apartment. Their
+elation was not shared by Don Amador de Leste. He rejoiced, for his
+kinsman's sake, that he was about to bear him from the din and privation
+of a besieged citadel; but he remembered that the Moorish boy must be
+left behind to perish; and it seemed to him, in addition, that certain
+mystic ties, the result of a day's adventure, which began to bind his
+thoughts to the pagan city, were, by the retreat, to be severed at once,
+and for ever.
+
+But if his gloom was increased by such reflections, It was, in part,
+dispelled, when he reached the chamber of his kinsman. The delirium had
+vanished, and the knight sat on his couch, feeble, indeed, and greatly
+dejected, but quite in his senses. He turned an eye of affection on the
+youth, and with his trembling hand grasped Don Amador's.
+
+"I have been as one that slept, dreaming my dreams," he said, "while
+thou hast been fighting the infidel. Strange visions have beset me; but
+thanks be to heaven! they have passed away; and, by-and-by, I will be
+able to mount and go forth with thee; and we will fight, side by side,
+as we have done before, among the Mussulmans."
+
+"Think not of that, my father," said the novice, "for thou art very
+feeble. I would, indeed, thou hadst but the strength, this day, to sit
+on the saddle; for we are about to retreat from Tenochtitlan.
+Nevertheless, Baltasar shall have thy couch placed on a litter, which we
+can secure between two horses."
+
+"Speakest thou of retreating?" exclaimed Don Gabriel.
+
+"It is even so, my friend. The numbers, the fury, and the unabating
+exertions of the Mexicans, are greater than we looked for. We have lost
+many men, are reduced to great extremities for food, altogether
+dispirited, and now left so helpless, by the disaster of the king, that
+we have no hope but in flight."
+
+"Is the king hurt?--and by a Spaniard?"
+
+"Wounded by the stones and arrows of his own people, and now dying. And,
+it is thought, we can depart to best advantage, while the Mexicans are
+repenting the impiety that slew him."
+
+"And we must retreat?"
+
+"If we can;--a matter which we, who are mounted, are about to determine,
+by riding to the nearest causeway. This, dear father, will give Marco
+and Baltasar time to prepare thee. I will leave Lazaro and the secretary
+to assist them. Presently, we will return; and when we march, be it
+unopposed, or yet through files of the enemy, I swear to thee I will
+ride ever at thy side."
+
+"And my boy?--my loving little page, Jacinto?" exclaimed the knight,
+anxiously: "Hath he returned to us? I have a recollection, that he was
+stolen away. 'Twill be a new sin to me, if he come to harm through my
+neglect."
+
+"Let us think no more of Jacinto," said the novice with a sigh. "If he
+be living, he is now in the hands of Abdalla, his father, who has
+deserted from us, and is supposed to be harboured by the Mexicans. God
+is over all--we can do him no good--God will protect him!"
+
+Don Gabriel eyed his kinsman sorrowfully, saying,
+
+"Evil follows in my path, and overtakes those who follow after me. Every
+day open I mine eyes upon a new grief. I loved this child very well;
+and, for my punishment, he is taken from me. I love thee, also, Amador,
+whom I may call my son; for faithful and unwearying art thou; and,
+belike, the last blow will fall, when _thou_ art snatched away. Guard
+well thy life, for it is the last pillar of my own!"
+
+A few moments of affection, a few words of condolence, were bestowed
+upon Don Gabriel; and then the novice left him, to accompany the
+cavaliers to the causeway.
+
+As he was stepping from the palace door into the court-yard, his arm was
+caught by the magician, who, looking into his face with exceeding great
+solemnity, said,--
+
+"Ride not thou with the cavaliers to-day, noble gentleman. Thou art
+unlucky."
+
+A faint smile lit the countenance of the youth. It was soon followed by
+a sigh.
+
+"This is, indeed, a truth, which no magic could make more manifest than
+has the history of much of my life. I am unfortunate; yet not in affairs
+of war;--being now, as you see, almost the only man in this garrison,
+who is not, in part, disabled by severe wounds. Yet why should I not
+ride with my friends?"
+
+"Because thou wilt bring them trouble, and thyself misery.--I cannot
+say, señor," added Botello, with grave earnestness, "that thou didst
+absolutely save my life, when thou broughtest me succour in the street;
+seeing that this is under the influence of a destiny, well known to me,
+which man cannot alter.--It was not possible those savages could slay
+me. Nevertheless, my gratitude is as strong, for thy good will was as
+great. I promised to read thee thy fortune; but in the troubles which
+beset me, I could not perfect thy horoscope. All I have learned is, that
+a heavy storm hangs over thee; and that, if thou art not discreet, thy
+last hour is nigh, and will be miserable. The very night of thy good and
+noble service, I dreamed that we were surrounded by all the assembled
+Mexicans, making with them a contract of peace; to which they were about
+swearing, when they laid their eyes upon thee, and straightway were
+incensed, at the sight, as at the call of a trumpet, to attack us. Thou
+knowest, that it was thy rash attack on the accursed prophetess, which
+brought the knaves upon us! Thrice was this vision repeated to me: twice
+has it been confirmed--once at the temple, and, but a moment since, on
+the roof. Hadst _thou_ not stood before the king with thy shield, the
+rage of the Mexicans would not have destroyed him! Therefore, go not
+out, now; for he that brings mischief, twice, to his friends, will, the
+third time, be involved in their ruin!"
+
+The neophyte stared at Botello, who pronounced these fantastic
+adjurations with the most solemn emphasis. His heart was heavy, or their
+folly would have amused him.
+
+"Be not alarmed, Botello," he said, good-humouredly,--"I will be very
+discreet. My conscience absolves me of all agency in the king's hurts;
+and if I did, indeed, draw on the attack at the pyramid, as I am by no
+means certain, I only put match to the cannon, which, otherwise, might
+have been aimed at us more fatally. I promise thee to be rash no
+more,--no, not even though I should again behold the marvellous
+prophetess, who, as Montezuma told us, has risen from his pagan hell."
+
+The enchanter would have remonstrated further; but, at this moment, the
+trumpet gave signal that the cavaliers were departing, and Don Amador
+stayed neither to argue nor console. He commanded the secretary, whom
+he found among the throng, to return to Don Gabriel; and Lorenzo
+reluctantly obeyed. Lazaro was already with the knight.
+
+Thus, without personal attendants, Don Amador mounted, this day, among
+the cavaliers, prepared to disprove the enchanter's predictions, or to
+consummate his destiny.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+
+The sufferings of the Spaniards in the streets, when returning from the
+pyramid, had admonished the general of the necessity of devising some
+plan of protection against those citizens who fought from the
+house-tops, whenever constrained to attempt a second sortie.
+Accordingly, the artisans, in obedience to his commands, had spent the
+preceding night in the construction of certain wooden turrets,
+sufficiently lofty to overlook the commoner houses, and strong enough to
+bid defiance to the darts of the enemy. They were framed of timbers and
+planks, torn from different parts of the palace. Each was two stories in
+height, and, in addition, was furnished with a guard, or battlement over
+the roof, breast-high, behind which, some half a score musketeers might
+ensconce themselves to advantage, while nearly as many crossbowmen could
+be concealed in either chamber, discharging their weapons from narrow
+loop-holes. A little falconet was also placed in the upper chamber. They
+were mounted on gun-carriages, and meant to be drawn by the Indian
+allies. They were called at first _mantas_, or blankets; but afterwards
+were nicknamed _burros_,--either because they were such silly
+protections as might have been devised by the most stupid of animals,
+which is one signification of the word, or, because the cannon-wheels,
+revolving under the mass, reminded the soldiers of the great wheel of a
+mill, which is another meaning. One of these machines had been
+completed, and was now ordered to be taken out,--not from any
+apprehension that it might be needed, but because it appeared to the
+sagacious general, that, if fate should imprison him longer in
+Tenochtitlan, the present was the best opportunity to instruct his
+soldiers in the management of it.
+
+It was already lumbering slowly and clumsily over the broken square,
+drawn by some two hundred Tlascalans, and well manned with soldiers,
+when Don Amador passed from the gates. As the cavaliers rode by, its
+little garrison, vastly delighted with their safe and lazy quarters,
+greeted them with a merry cheer, the gayest and most sonorous strain of
+which was sounded by those who defended the roof. As Don Amador looked
+curiously up, he was hailed by a voice not yet forgotten, and beheld,
+perched among others, whom he seemed to command, on the very top of the
+manta, the master of the caravel.
+
+"I give you a good day, noble Don Amador!" said this commander, with a
+grin. "I am not now aboard of such a bark as the little Sangre de
+Cristo; but, for navigating through a beleagured city, especially among
+such cut-throats as we have here in Tenochtitlan, perhaps a better ship
+could not be invented."
+
+"Thou art then resolved," said the cavalier, with a smile, "that this
+people is not far behind the race of Florida?"
+
+"Ay! I cannot but believe it; and I ask their pardon, for having so
+greatly belied them," said the captain; "for more ferocious devils than
+these, never saw I;--they dwell not among the lagoons of the north."
+
+"And dost thou remember thy wager?" said Don Amador, losing the little
+gayety that was on his visage, at the recollection.
+
+"Concerning my soul, (which heaven have in keeping!) and the cotton
+neck-piece?" cried the sailor, with a grim look.--"Ay, by my faith, I
+do. If we fly this day, the first part of the venture is accomplished;
+for true valour must acknowledge a defeat, as well as boast a victory.
+And if we do not, I am even ready to wager over again for the second,
+touching heaven. Three more such days as yesterday, and God bless us
+all! But it is a good death to die, fighting the heathen! At the worst,
+I have cheated the devil;--for the padre Olmedo absolved me this
+morning."
+
+Don Amador rode forward, relapsing into gloom.
+
+The streets were, for a time, deserted and silent, as if the inhabitants
+had fled from the island; and when, now and then, the cavaliers halted,
+to deliberate on their course, to list for the cries of human voices, or
+to watch the progress of the tottering manta, already far behind, the
+sound of shrubs rustling together on the terraces, came to their ears
+with the melancholy cadences of a desert. Sometimes, indeed, in these
+pauses, they heard, from the recesses of a dwelling, which otherwise
+seemed forsaken, faint groans, as of a wounded foeman dying without
+succour; and, occasionally, to these were added the low sobs of women,
+lamenting a sire or brother. But they had approached the limits of the
+island, and almost within view of the causeway, without yet beholding an
+enemy, when a warning gesture from the hands of Don Hernan, at the
+front, brought them to a halt; and, as they stood in silence, they
+heard, coming faintly on the breeze, and, as it seemed, from a street
+which crossed their path, a little in advance, such sounds of flutes and
+tabours as had, the day before, conducted the mysterious priestess to
+the pyramid.
+
+Don Amador's heart beat with a strange agitation as he listened; and he
+burned again to look on the countenance of this divine representative of
+a pagan divinity. Whether it was the dejection of his spirits which gave
+its own character to the music; or whether indeed this was now breathed
+from the lips of mourners, he thought not to inquire; but others were
+struck with the wild sadness of the strain, and gazed inquisitively
+upon one another, as if to gather its meaning. While they thus exchanged
+looks, and awaited the issue of the event, the sounds approached,
+growing louder, but losing none of their melancholy; and a train of
+priests, in long black robes, and with downcast eyes, followed by boys
+with smoking censers, at last stole on their view, slowly crossing the
+street on which they had halted. At this moment, and just as the
+prophetess (for it was she who stood, as before, under the feathered
+canopy, carried by the devotees,) came into sight, the roar of a cannon,
+bellowing afar from the palace, startled the cavaliers from their
+tranquillity; and, in the assurance of new conflicts, destroyed, at
+once, their hope of peaceful escape. This explosion, as was afterwards
+discovered, was rather the cause than the consequence of hostilities;
+for the Mexicans, after the sortie of Cortes, approaching the citadel in
+great numbers, to beseech the body of their king, not doubting that he
+was slain, the Spaniards had mistaken their grief for renewing rage, and
+immediately fired upon them.
+
+A furious scowl darkened the visage of Don Hernan, as this distant
+discharge swept away his hopes; and rising on his stirrups, he cried to
+his companions,
+
+"Let us seize the person of this accursed priestess,--demon, or
+woman,--who profanes the holiness of Our Lady, and incenses the hearts
+of the rabble! On, and be quick; for 'tis an easy prize, and may replace
+the emperor!"
+
+Until this moment, the train, casting their eyes neither to the right
+nor left, and raising them not even at the roar of the cannon, had been
+ignorant of the presence of the Spaniards. But when the harsh voice of
+the Christian drowned the breathings of the flutes, they paused, looking
+towards him in affright; and again, for an instant, the lustrous eyes of
+the prophetess fell upon the visage of Don Amador. His heart heaved with
+a sickening sensation; and the impulse which had before driven to flight
+his better judgment, assailed him anew with violence. His voice shouted
+with the rest, but it uttered the name of Leila; and, as if, indeed, he
+beheld the lost maid of Almeria, or her phantom, he spurred towards the
+prophetess full as madly as when she vanished, before, under the Wall of
+Serpents. But the train, scattering at once, fled in horror from the
+Spaniards, escaping into the neighbouring houses. The object of the
+outrage, nevertheless, seemed in the power of the cavaliers; for though
+the bearers deserted her not they fled but slowly under their burden.
+
+But there were protectors nigh, of whom the Spaniards had not dreamed;
+and even Cortes himself reined back his horse with dismay, when,
+suddenly, there sprang from the intersecting street a multitude of armed
+nobles, interposing their bodies between him and his victim; and his
+eye, running an instant down the street, beheld them followed by a
+myriad of pagans without end.
+
+"Back to the manta!" cried the general, hastily; "for these dogs are
+armed, and the men of the turret have no aid!--Hark! hear ye not the
+howls? Rein round, and back! They are slaying my Tlascalans!"
+
+Before the neophyte could recover from his confusion of mind, he found
+himself turned round and borne along with the mass of galloping
+horsemen. The Mexicans uttered a cry, as with one impulse, and followed
+furiously after.
+
+In the crowd of thought that distracted him, Don Amador remembered the
+words of Botello, and believed that he was, indeed, labouring under some
+enchantment, which made him a misfortune to his friends. But not long
+had he leisure for such meditations. The loud yells of combatants, and
+the sounds of arquebuses, in front, increased at each step; and, quickly
+turning an angle in the street, he found himself in the midst of
+conflict.
+
+An immense herd of men had surrounded the manta, and were engaged hand
+to hand with the Tlascalans who drew it; while the Spaniards on its top
+defended themselves, at a disadvantage, from many Mexicans, stationed on
+the terrace of a lofty house, the dwelling of some superb Tlatoani. So
+near indeed was the turret to the walls of this edifice, and so high
+above it was the latter, that the huge stones tumbled from the
+battlements, fell with great certainty on its roof, crushing the men of
+the caravel, and beating down both the wooden parapet and the platform.
+At the same time, certain savages, with long poles, struck at the
+defenders, and thrusting the points of their weapons into its breaches,
+endeavoured to topple it to the ground. As it rocked thus to and fro,
+the violent motion entirely prevented the little garrison from making
+use of their arms; and with wild cries to their friends, to seize the
+ropes, dropped by the Tlascalans, and drag the manta from the palace,
+they were seen holding by its sides as well as they could, receiving,
+without returning, the blows of their adversaries. The necessity of
+obeying their prayer was seen more plainly than the means; for the crowd
+of mingled Tlascalans and Mexicans that surrounded the crazy machine,
+was impenetrable; and had it been so, the appearance of the manta,
+threatening each moment to fall, would have deterred the boldest from
+approaching its dangerous vicinity.
+
+As it was, the cavaliers gave what aid they could. They thrust their
+spears into the mass of Indians, shouting to the Tlascalans to disengage
+themselves from the enemy. But these shouts, if the allies did not
+indeed receive them rather as encouragement to fight the more fiercely,
+dissolved not the bloody melée into its components of friend and foe;
+and many a Tlascalan died, that day, pierced through the heart by
+spears, which their bearers thought were thrust through the breasts of
+Mexicans.
+
+In the meanwhile, the heavy burro was shaken still more violently; and
+Don Amador, looking up, beheld the master of the caravel alone on the
+top, (for his sailors were already slain) grasping despairingly at a
+fragment of the parapet; while stones and darts were showered upon him
+from the adjoining terrace, and a heavy pole, aimed by a lusty
+barbarian, struck him with merciless severity. His countenance was pale,
+his eye haggard, and his honourable scars now livid, and almost black,
+were relieved, like fresh wounds, on his ghastly brow. His helmet had
+fallen to the ground; and the sight of his gray hairs shaking over his
+scarred front, as he was tossed up and down, like one bound hand and
+foot on the back of a wild animal, inflamed the neophyte with both rage
+and pity.
+
+"Loose thy hold! drop upon the Indians, and take thy chance among them!"
+he cried at the top of his voice. "What ho! friend Gomez! wilt thou lie
+there, and perish?"
+
+It seemed as if the voice of the cavalier had not passed unheard; for
+the wretched man was seen to raise himself on his knees, and look down
+to the fighting men below, as if meditating a leap; when suddenly a
+great stone fell on the platform with a crashing noise, and, at the same
+moment, the manta, lurching like an ill-ballasted ship before a
+hurricane, staggered over its balance, and fell with a tremendous shock
+to the ground. The neophyte thought not of the miserable combatants,
+crushed in its fall. He beheld the voyager, at the instant of its
+destruction, hurled from the ruin, as if from some mighty balista of
+ancient days, clear over the heads of the Indians, and dashed, a mangled
+and hideous corse, almost at his feet.
+
+"God pity thee!" he cried, with a shudder; "thy words are made good, thy
+wager is won,--and the saints that died for the faith, take thee to
+paradise!"
+
+"Do ye hear! Ho! to your lances, and back upon the wolves that are
+behind us!" cried the trumpet-voice of Don Hernan. The neophyte turned,
+and clapping spurs to Fogoso, charged, with the cavaliers, upon those
+squadrons which had pursued them;--but, like his companions, he checked
+his horse with surprise, and no little consternation, when he beheld in
+what manner the infidels were prepared to receive them. The street was
+packed with their bodies, as far as the eye could see; and darts and
+swords of obsidian were seen flashing above the heads of the most
+distant multitude; but he perceived that those combatants who stood in
+front, stretching from wall to wall, were armed with long spears,
+mostly, indeed, with wooden points, sharpened, and fire-hardened, though
+some few were seen with copper blades, full a yard in length, which they
+handled with singular and menacing address. Thus, no sooner did the
+cavaliers approach them, than those of the first rank, dropping, like
+trained soldiers, to their knees, planted the buts of their weapons on
+the ground, while those held by others behind, were thrust over the
+shoulders of the kneelers, and presented, together, such a wall of
+bristling spines, as caused the bravest to hesitate.
+
+"Have we Ottomies of the hills here!" cried Don Hernan, aghast. "Or are
+these weapons, and this mode of using them, the teaching of the traitor
+Moor?"
+
+A loud shout, mingled with laughs of fierce derision, testified the
+triumph of the barbarians; and Cortes, stung with fury, though
+hesitating to attack, called for his musketeers, to break the line of
+opponents.
+
+"Our musketeers are in heaven! carried up in the fiend of a burro!"
+cried Alvarado, waving his sword, and eyeing the vaunting herd. "Before
+the days of saltpetre, true men were wont to shoot their foes without
+it.--All that is to be done, is to conceive we are hunting foxes, and
+leaping over a farmer's wall. Soho! Saladin, mouse! And all that are
+brave gentlemen, follow me! Hah!"
+
+As he concluded, the madcap soldier spurred his steed Saladin, and,
+uttering a war-cry, dashed fearlessly on the spearmen. Before he had yet
+parted from his companions, Don Amador de Leste, fired, in spite of his
+melancholy, by the boldness of the exploit, and unwilling to be outdone
+by a cavalier of the islands, brushed up to his side, and spurring
+Fogoso at the same moment, the two hidalgos straightway vaulted among
+the barbarians.
+
+The show of resolution maintained by the exulting spearmen, while the
+Christians stood yet at a distance, vanished when they beheld those
+animals, which they always regarded with a superstitious awe, rushing
+upon them with eyes of fury, and feet of thunder. To this faltering,
+perhaps, it was owing, that the two Dons were not instantly slain; for,
+though the heavy armour that guarded the chests and loins of the steeds,
+could repel the thrust of a wooden spear as well as the corslets of
+their riders, no such protection sheathed their bellies; and had they
+been there pierced, their masters must instantly have perished. As it
+was, however, the front rank recoiled, and when it closed again, the
+cavaliers were seen wielding their swords, (for in such a melée their
+spears were useless,) and striking valiantly about them, but entirely
+surrounded.
+
+"Shall we be thus shamed, my masters?" cried Don Hernan,
+sharply. "Methinks there are two _more_ such cavaliers in this
+company?--Santiago, and at them!"
+
+Thus saying, and, with a word, inflaming their pride, he leaped against
+the foe, followed by all the horsemen.
+
+The two leaders in this desperate assault had vanished,--swallowed up,
+as it were, in the vortex of contention; and it was not until his
+friends heard the voice of Alvarado exclaiming, wildly, as if in
+extremity, "Help me, De Leste, true friend! for I am unhorsed! Help me,
+or the hell-hounds will have me to the temple!"--that they were
+convinced the young men were living.
+
+"Be of good heart!" cried Don Amador, (for he was at his side,) drawing
+his sabre, with a dexterous sleight, over the sinewy arms that clutched
+his companion, and releasing, without doing him harm. "If thou art
+disarmed, draw my dagger from the sheath and use it; and fear not that I
+will leave thee, till rescued by others."
+
+"Who gets my sword, takes the arm along with it!" cried Alvarado,
+grasping again his chained weapon, and dealing fierce blows, as he
+spoke. "I will remember the act--Ho! false friends! forsworn soldiers!
+condemned Christians! why leave ye us unsupported?"
+
+"Courage, and strike well! we are near," answered Don Hernan. "Press on,
+friends; trample the curs to death! Join we our true cavaliers; and then
+sweep back for victory!"
+
+"Where goest thou, now, mad Amador?" they heard the voice of Alvarado
+exclaiming; "Return: thy horse is shoed with piraguas; but mine sticks
+fast in this bog of flesh. Return; for, by heaven, I can follow thee no
+further!"
+
+"Come on, as thou art a true man; for I am sore beset, and wounded!"
+These words, from the lips of the neophyte, came yet through the din of
+yells; but it seemed to those who listened, that there was feebleness in
+the voice that uttered them.
+
+"Onward!" cried Cortes, with a voice of thunder, and urging his dun
+steed furiously over the trampled barbarians; "the young man shall not
+perish!"
+
+A wolf-hound, weary and spent with the chase, suddenly surrounded by a
+whole pack of the destroyers he has been tracking, and falling under the
+fangs of his quarry, may figure the condition of Don Amador de Leste,
+surrounded and seized upon by the enemy. Nothing but the vigour of
+powerful and fiery-spirited steeds could have carried the two cavaliers
+so far into a crowd of warriors almost compacted. While the neophyte
+gave assistance to his friend, a dozen blows of the maquahuitl were
+rained upon his body; and so closely was he invested immediately after,
+(when, as Alvarado reined in his steed to await the rest, the two
+cavaliers were separated,) that he thought no longer of warding off
+blows; but giving himself up to smiting, he trusted to the strength of
+his mail for protection. But the heavy bludgeons bruised where they
+could not wound; and his armour being, at last, broken by the fury of
+the blows, the sharp glass penetrated to his flesh, and he began to
+bleed. He cast his eye over his shoulder, for his strength was failing;
+but the plume of Don Pedro waved at a distance behind, and the shouts of
+Cortes seemed to come from afar. He turned his horse's head, to retreat;
+but half a dozen savages, emboldened by this symptom of defeat, clutched
+upon the bridle; and the hand he raised to smite at them, was seized by
+as many others. It was at this moment that he called out to his
+companion, in the words we have recorded; but the answer, if answer were
+made, was drowned in the savage yells of exultation, with which his foes
+beheld him in their power. He collected all his energies, struggled
+violently, and striking the rowels deep, and animating Fogoso with his
+voice, hoped, by one bound, to spring clear of his capturers. The
+gallant steed vaulted on high, but fell again to the earth, under the
+weight of the many that clung to him: and a dozen new hands were added
+to those that already throttled the rider.
+
+"Rescue me, if ye be men!" he cried, with a voice that prevailed over
+the uproar.--The cry was echoed by twenty Christian voices hard by, and
+a gleam of hope entered into his heart. Another furious struggle,
+another plunge of Fogoso, and he thought that the hands of his enemies
+were at last unclenching. A bright weapon flashed before his eyes--It
+was steel, and therefore the falchion of a friend!--It fell upon his
+helmet with irresistible weight; his brain spun, his eyes darkened, and
+he fell, or rather was dragged, like a dead man, from his horse. But ere
+his eyes had yet closed, their last glance was fixed on the visage of
+the striker; and the sting of benefits forgotten was added to the
+bitterness of death, when, in this, he perceived the features of
+Abdalla, the Moor.
+
+In an instant more, the barbarians parted in terror before the great
+Teuctli.
+
+"Where art thou, De Leste?" he cried. "We are here, to rescue thee!"
+
+As he spoke, there sprang, with a fierce bound, from among the Mexicans,
+the well-known bay, Fogoso, his foamy sides streaked with gore, the
+stirrups rattling against his armed flanks, the reins flying in the
+air,--but no rider on the saddle.
+
+"By heaven, false friends! craven gentlemen! you have lost the bravest
+of your supporters!" cried Don Hernan. "On! for he may yet live: on! for
+we will avenge him!"
+
+The band, resolute now in their wrath, plunged fiercely through the mob.
+They struck down many enemies,--they trampled upon many corses; but,
+among them, they found not the body of De Leste.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+
+Whether it was that this attack was caused by an ebullition of popular
+fury, which yielded to some mysterious and religious revulsion of
+feeling, or whether, indeed, the leaders of the barbarians, persuaded of
+the madness of fighting the Christians hand to hand, and resolved to
+conquer them rather by famine than arms, had called off their
+forces,--was a secret the Spaniards could never penetrate. No sacred
+horn was sounded on the pyramid; but, in the very midst of what seemed
+their triumph, when the cavaliers were nearly exhausted and despairing,
+it became manifest that the Mexicans were giving way, and vanishing, not
+one by one, but in great clusters, from the field.
+
+The Christians had no longer the spirit to pursue. They found the street
+open; and, dashing through the few foemen that lingered on the field,
+they made their way good to the palace. Before they reached it, they
+were joined by a powerful detachment, sent out to their assistance. They
+returned together. At the gate of the court-yard, stood Baltasar,
+Lazaro, and the secretary, looking eagerly for the appearance of Don
+Amador. His horse was led by a cavalier, whose countenance was more
+dejected than the rest. It was De Morla; and as he flung the bridle to
+Lazaro, he said,--
+
+"Hadst _thou_ been with thy master, this thing had not happened; for,
+though a serving-man, thou wouldst have remained behind him, when a
+cavalier deserted."
+
+"Dost thou accuse _me_ of deserting the noble youth?" said Alvarado,
+fiercely. "God forbid, I should shed Christian blood! but, with my
+sword's point, I will prove upon thy body, that thou liest!"
+
+"And upon thine," said De Morla, with calm indignation, "I will make
+good the charge I have uttered, that thou didst abandon in extremity,
+when he called upon thee for aid, the man who had just preserved thine
+own life."
+
+"Are there not deaths enow among the infidels?" cried Cortes, angrily,
+"that ye must lust after one another's blood?--Peace! and be ye friends,
+lamenting our valiant companion together; for, De Morla, thou doest a
+wrong to Alvarado; and, Don Pedro, thou art a fool, to quarrel with the
+peevishness of a mourning friend."
+
+The secretary listened to the cavaliers with a face of horror; not a
+word said Lazaro, but as he wiped the foam from the steed, and, with it,
+the blood of his master, he eyed Don Pedro with a dark and vindictive
+scowl. As for Baltasar, his rugged features quivered, and he did not
+hesitate to stand in the way of the Tonatiuh, saying,--
+
+"If any cavalier have, indeed, been false to my young lord, I, who am
+but a serving-man, will make bold to say, he has played false to a
+gentleman who would have perilled his life for any Christian in need;
+and the act, though it be answered to man, God will not forgive.--Who
+will tell this to my master, Don Gabriel?"
+
+Alvarado, extremely enraged, had raised his spear to strike the old
+soldier; but he dropped his arm, at the last words, and said with great
+mildness,--
+
+"Thou art a fool to say this.--I lament thy lord; I loved him, and I did
+not desert him----"
+
+For the remainder of that day, the garrison were left in peace. No foes
+appeared on the square; but, twice or thrice, when parties were sent out
+to reconnoitre, they were met, at a distance from the palace, by herds
+of Mexicans, and driven back to their quarters.
+
+The desperate situation of the army was now evident to the dullest
+comprehension. The barbarians had removed from the reach of the
+artillery, and drawn, with their bodies, a line of circumvallation round
+their victims, patiently waiting for the moment, when famine should
+bring them a secure vengeance. All day, there were seen, on the top of
+the pyramid, priests and nobles, now engaged in some rite of devotion,
+and now looking down, on the besieged, like vultures on their prey; but
+without attempting any annoyance.
+
+The murmurs of the garrison, exasperated by despair and want of food,
+were loud and stern; but Don Hernan received them only with biting
+sarcasms. He bade those who were most mutinous, to depart if they would;
+and laughed scornfully at their confessions of inability. To those who
+cried for food, he answered by pointing grimly to the stone walls, and
+the carcasses that lay on the square; or he counselled them to seek it
+among their foes. In truth, the general knew their helplessness, and in
+the bitterness of his heart at being thus foiled and jeoparded, he did
+not scruple to punish their discontent, by disclosing the full misery of
+their situation. They were dependent upon him for life and hope, and he
+suffered this dependence to be made apparent. He revealed to them no
+scheme of relief or escape; for, in fact, he had framed none. He was,
+himself, as desperate as the rest, seeing nothing before him but
+destruction, and not knowing how to avoid it; and what measures he did
+take, during these sorrowful hours, were rather expedients to divert his
+thoughts, than plans to diminish the general distress.
+
+Notwithstanding the memorable fate of the burro, and the disinclination
+of the soldiers to die the death of its garrison, he obstinately
+commanded those which were unfinished to be completed, with some
+additional contrivances to increase their strength and mobility. He sent
+out parties to ransack the deserted houses in the vicinity, for
+provisions, though hopeless of obtaining any; and he set the idlers to
+mending their armour of escaupil, and the smiths to making arrow-heads,
+as if still determined rather to fight than fly. He held no councils
+with his officers, for he knew they had no projects to advise; and the
+desperate resort over which he pondered, of sallying out with his whole
+force, and cutting his way through the opposing foe, was too full of
+horror to be yet spoken. Moreover, while Montezuma yet lived, he could
+not think his situation entirely hopeless. The surgeon, upon a
+re-examination of the king's wounds, had formed a more favourable
+prognostic; and this was strengthened, when Montezuma at last awoke from
+stupor, and recovered the possession of his intellects. It was told him,
+indeed, that the royal Indian, as if resuming his wits only to cast them
+away again, had no sooner become sensible of his condition, and
+remembered that his wounds had been inflicted by his people, than he
+fell into a frenzy of grief and despair, tearing away the bandages from
+his body, and calling upon his gods to receive him into Tlacopan, the
+place of caverns and rivers, where wandered those who died the death of
+the miserable. Don Hernan imagined that these transports would soon rave
+themselves away, and persuaded himself that his captive, yielding at
+last to the natural love of life, would yet remain in his hands, the
+hostage of safety, and perhaps the instrument of authority.
+
+Sorrow dwelt in the palace of Axajacatl; but her presence was more
+deeply acknowledged in the chamber of Calavar. From the lips of
+Baltasar,--and the rude veteran wept, when he narrated the fall of the
+young cavalier, whom he had himself first taught the knowledge of
+arms,--Don Gabriel learned the fate of his kinsman. But he neither wept
+like Baltasar, nor joined in the loud lamentations of Marco. His eyes
+dilated with a wild expression, his lip fell, he drooped his head on his
+breast, and clasping his hands over his heart, muttered an
+unintelligible prayer,--perhaps the ejaculation which so often, and so
+piteously, expressed his desolation. Then falling down upon his couch,
+and turning his face to the wall, he remained for the whole day and
+night without speaking a word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+
+The fate of Don Amador de Leste, though so darkly written in the hearts
+of his companions, was not yet brought to a close. Some of his late
+friends deemed only that he had been overpowered and slain; but others,
+better acquainted with the customs of the foe, shuddered over the
+assurance of a death yet more awful. They knew that the pride of the
+Mexican warrior was, not to slay, but to capture; as if, indeed, these
+demi-barbarians made war less for the glory of taking life, than for the
+honour of offering it in sacrifice to the gods. Such, in truth, was the
+case; and to this circumstance was it owing that the Christians were not
+utterly destroyed, in any one encounter in the streets of Tenochtitlan.
+The fury of their foes was such as may be imagined in a people goaded to
+desperation by atrocious tyranny and insult, and fighting with foreign
+oppressors at their very firesides; yet, notwithstanding the deadly
+feeling of vengeance at their hearts, they never forgot their duties to
+their faith; and they forbore to kill, in the effort to take prisoner.
+Twice or thrice, at least, in the course of the war that followed after
+these events, the life of Cortes, himself, was in their hands; and the
+thrust of a javelin, or the stroke of a bludgeon, would have freed them
+from the destroyer. But they neither struck nor thrust; they strove to
+bear him off alive, as the most acceptable offering they could carry to
+the temple; thus always giving his followers an opportunity to rescue
+him out of their grasp. Every captive thus seized and retained, died a
+death too terrible for description; and high or low,--the base boor, and
+the noble hidalgo, alike,--expiated, on the stone of sacrifice, the
+wrongs done to the religion of Mexitli.
+
+Knowing so much of the customs of Anahuac, and not having discovered his
+body, the more experienced cavaliers were convinced that Don Amador de
+Leste had not yet enjoyed the happiness of death; they persuaded
+themselves that he had been taken alive, and was preserved for
+sacrifice. Many a Castilian eye, that afternoon, was cast upon the
+pyramid, watching the steps, and eagerly examining the persons of all
+who ascended.--But no victim was seen borne upon their shoulders----
+
+When the cavalier of Cuenza opened his eyes, after the stunning effects
+of the blow were over, it was in a confusion of mind, which the objects
+about him, or, perhaps, the accession of a hot fever,--the result of
+many severe wounds and contusions,--soon converted into delirium. He
+lay,--his armour removed,--on a couch in a spacious apartment, but so
+darkened, that he could not distinguish the countenances of two or three
+dusky figures which seemed to bend over him. His thoughts were still in
+the battle; and, in these persons, he perceived nothing less than
+Mexican warriors still clutching at his body. He started up, and calling
+out, "Ho, Fogoso! one leap more for thy master," caught fiercely at the
+nearest of the individuals. But he had overrated his strength; and,
+almost before a hand was laid upon him, he fell back, fainting, on the
+bed.
+
+"Dost _thou_ strike me, too, false villain?" he again exclaimed, as his
+distempered eyes pictured, in one silent visage, the features of
+Abdalla. "Be thou accursed for thy ingratitude, and live in hell for
+ever!"
+
+A murmur of voices, followed by the sound of retreating steps, was
+heard; and in the silence which ensued, his fancy became more
+disordered, presenting him phantasms still more peculiar.
+
+"Is this death?" he muttered, "and lie I now in the world of shadows?
+God be merciful to me a sinner! Pity and pardon me, O Christ, for I have
+fought for thy faith. Take me from this place of blackness, and let me
+look on the light of bliss!"
+
+A gentle hand was laid upon his forehead, a low sigh breathed on his
+cheek; and suddenly a light, flashing up as from some expiring cresset,
+revealed to his wondering eyes the face and figure of the mysterious
+prophetess.
+
+"O God! art thou indeed a fiend? and dost thou lead me, from the land of
+infidels, to the prison-house of devils?" he cried, again starting up,
+clasping his hands, and gazing wildly on the vision. "Speak to me, thou
+that livest not; for I know, thou art Leila!"
+
+As he uttered these incoherent words, the figure, bending a little away,
+and fastening upon his own, eyes of strange meaning, in which pity
+struggled with terror, seemed, gradually, to fade into the air; until,
+as suddenly as it had flashed into brightness, the light vanished, and
+all was left in darkness.
+
+From this moment, the thoughts of the cavalier wandered with tenfold
+wildness; and he fell into a delirium, which presented, as long as it
+lasted, a succession of exciting images. Now he struggled, in the hall
+of his own castle of Alcornoque, or the Cork-tree, with the false
+Abdalla, the knee of the Almogavar on his breast, and the Arab poniard
+at his throat--while all the time, the perfidious Jacinto stood by,
+exhorting his father to strike; now he stood among burning sands,
+fighting with enraged fiends, over the dead body of his knight, Calavar,
+to protect the beloved corse from their fiery fingers; now the vanished
+Leila sat weeping by his side, dropping upon his fevered lips the juice
+of pleasant fruits, or now she came to him in the likeness of the pagan
+Sibyl, beckoning him away, with melancholy smiles, to a distant bay;
+while, ever, when he strove to rise and follow, the page Jacinto,
+converted into a giant, and brandishing a huge dagger, held him back
+with a lion's strength and ferocity.
+
+With such chimeras, and a thousand others, equally extravagant,
+disturbing his brain, he passed through many hours; and then, as a
+torpor like that of death gradually stole over him, benumbing his
+deranged faculties, the same gentle hand, the same low suspiration,
+which had soothed him before, but without the countenance which had
+maddened, returned to him, and made pleasant the path to annihilation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+
+From a deep slumber, that seemed, indeed, death, for it was dreamless,
+the cavalier, at last, awoke, somewhat confused, but no longer
+delirious; and, though greatly enfeebled, entirely free from fever. A
+yellow sunbeam,--the first or the last glimmering of day, he knew not
+which,--played through a narrow casement, faintly illuminating the
+apartment, and falling especially upon a low table at his side, whereon,
+among painted and gilded vessels of strange form, he perceived his
+helmet, and other pieces of armour as well as a lute, of not less
+remembered workmanship. He raised his eyes to the attendant, who sat
+musing, hard by, and, with a thrill and exclamation of joy, beheld the
+Moorish page, Jacinto.
+
+"Is it thou, indeed, my dear knave Jacinto! whom I thought in the maws
+of infidels?" he cried, starting up. "And how art thou; and how is thy
+lord, Don Gabriel, to-day? Tell me, where hast thou been, these two
+troubled days? and how didst thou return? By my faith, this last bout
+was somewhat hard, and I have slept long!"
+
+"Leave not thy couch, and speak not too loud, noble master," said the
+page, kneeling, and kissing his hand,--"for thou art sick and wounded,
+and here only art thou safe."
+
+"Ay, now indeed!" said Don Amador, with a sudden and painful
+consciousness of his situation, "I remember me. I was struck down, and
+made a prisoner. What good angel brought me into thy company? Thanks be
+to heaven! for my hurts are not much; and I will rescue thee from
+captivity."
+
+"I am not a captive, señor," said the boy, gently.
+
+"Are we, then, in the palace?--Where are our friends?--Am I not a
+prisoner?"
+
+"Señor, we are far from the palace of Axajacatl. But grieve not; for
+here thou art with thy servants."
+
+"Thou speakest to me in riddles," said the novice, with a disturbed and
+bewildered countenance. "Have I been dreaming? Am I enchanted? Am I
+living, and in my senses?"
+
+"The saints be praised, thou art indeed," said the page, fervently;
+"though, both nights, and all day, till the blessed potion set thee
+asleep, I had no hopes thou wouldst ever recover."
+
+"Both nights!" echoed Don Amador, fixing his eyes inquiringly on the
+boy; "Has a night--have two nights passed over me, and wert thou, then,
+with me, during it all?--Ha! Was it thine acts of sorcery, which brought
+me those strange and melancholy visions? Didst _thou_ conjure up to me
+the image of Leila?--That priestess, that very supernatural
+prophetess--By heaven! as I see thee, so saw I her standing at my
+bed-side, in some magical light, which straightway turned to darkness.
+Didst thou not see her? Tell me boy, art thou indeed an enchanter?
+Prepare me thy spells again, reveal me her fate, and let me look on the
+face of Leila!"
+
+As the cavalier spoke, he strove in his eagerness to rise from the
+couch.
+
+"Señor," said the page, a little pleasantly, "if thou wilt have me
+satisfy thy questions, thou must learn to acknowledge me as thy
+physician and jailor; and give me such obedience as thou wouldst,
+formerly, have claimed of me. Rise not up, speak not aloud, and give not
+way to the fancies of fever; for here are no priestesses, and no Leilas.
+I will sing to thee, if that will content thee with bondage. But now
+thou must remain in quiet, and be healed of thy wounds."
+
+"I tell thee, my boy Jacinto," went on the cavalier, "wounds or no
+wounds, jailed or not jailed, I am in a perplexity of mind, which, if
+thou art able, I must command, or, what is the same thing, beseech thee
+to remove. First, therefore, what house is this? and where is it?
+(whether on the isle Mexico, the lake side, the new world, or the old,
+or, indeed, in any part of the earth at all?) Secondly, how got'st thou
+into it? Thirdly, how came I hither myself?--and especially, what good
+Christian did snatch my body out of the paws of those roaring lions, the
+Mexicans, when I was hit that foul and assassin-like blow by--by----"
+
+"Señor," said the page, not doubting but that his patron had paused for
+want of breath, "to answer all these questions, is more than I am
+allowed. All that I can say, is, that if prudent and obedient, (I say
+obedient, noble and dear master," continued the boy archly, "for now you
+are my prisoner,) you are safer in this dungeon than are your Spanish
+friends in their fortress,--reduced to captivity, indeed, but preserved
+from destruction----"
+
+"By the false, traitorous, and most ungrateful knave, Abdalla, thy
+father!" exclaimed the neophyte, with a loud and stern voice; for just
+as he had hesitated to wound the ears of the boy, he beheld, slowly
+stalking into the apartment, and eyeing him over Jacinto's shoulder, the
+Almogavar himself; and the epithets of indignation burst at once from
+his lips. Jacinto started back, alarmed; but Abdalla approached, and
+regarding the wounded cavalier with an unmoved countenance, motioned the
+boy to retire.--In an instant the Moor of Barbary and the Spaniard of
+Castile were left alone together.
+
+"Shall I repeat my words, thou base and cut-throat infidel?" cried Don
+Amador, rising so far as to place his feet on the floor, though still
+sitting on the platform which supported his mattress, and speaking with
+the most cutting anger. "Was it not enough, that thou wert a renegade to
+the rest, but thou must raise thy Judas-hand against thy benefactor?"
+
+"My benefactor indeed!" said Abdoul calmly, and with the most musical
+utterance of his voice. "Though I wear the livery of the pagans;" (He
+had on an armed tunic, somewhat similar to that of Quauhtimotzin, though
+without a plume to his head, and looked not unlike to a Mexican warrior
+of high degree;) "and though I am, by birth, the natural enemy of thee
+and thine, yet have I not forgot that thou _art_ my benefactor! I
+remember, that, when a brutal soldier struck at me with his lance, thy
+hand was raised to protect me from the shame; I remember, when a
+thousand weapons were darting at my prostrate body on the pyramid of
+Zempoala, that thou didst not disdain to preserve me; I remember, that,
+when I fled from the anger of Don Hernan, thou offeredst me thine
+intercession. Señor, I have forgotten none of this; nor have I
+forgotten," he went on, with earnest gratitude, "that, to these favours,
+thou didst add the greater ones, of shielding my feeble child from
+stripes, from ruin, and perhaps from death. This have I not forgotten,
+this can I never forget! The name of Spaniard is a curse on my ears; I
+hate thy people, and, when God gives me help, I will slay, even to the
+last man! but I remember, that thou art my benefactor, and the
+benefactor of my child."
+
+"And dost thou think," said the neophyte, "that these oily words will
+blind me to thy baseness? or that they can deceive me into belief, when
+thy actions have so foully belied them? Cursed art thou, misbelieving
+Moor! an ingrate and apostate; and, had I no cause, in mine own person,
+to know thy perfidy, it should be enough to blazon thy villany, that
+thou hast, on thine own confession, deserted the standard of Christ, and
+the arms of Spain, to enlist in the ranks of their pagan foes!"
+
+"The standard of Christ," said the Moor, with emphasis, "waves not over
+the heads of the Spaniards, but the banner of a fiend, bloody, unjust,
+and accursed, whom they call by His holy name, and who bids them to
+defile and destroy; while the Redeemer proclaimeth only good-will and
+peace to all men. Have thy good heart and thy strong mind been so
+deluded? Canst thou, in truth, believe, that these oppressors of a
+harmless people, these slayers, who raise the cross of heaven on the
+place of blood, and call to God for approval, when their hands are
+smoking with the blood of his creatures, are the followers of Christ the
+peaceful, Christ the just, Christ the holy? These friends whom thou hast
+followed, are not Christians; and God, whom they traduce and belie in
+all their actions, has given them over to the punishment of hypocrites
+and blasphemers, to sufferings miserable and unparalleled, to deaths
+dreadful and memorable! May it be accomplished,--Amen!"
+
+"Dost thou speak this to _me_, vile Almogavar! of my friends and
+countrymen? Dost thou curse them thus in my presence, most unworthy
+apostate?"
+
+"Sorrowful be their doom, and quickly may it come upon them!" cried
+Abdalla, with ferocious fervour, "for what are they, that it should not
+be just? and what am I, that I should not pray that it be accomplished?
+I remember the days of Granada! I remember the sack of the Alhambra! I
+remember the slaughter of the Alpujarras! and I have not forgotten the
+mourning exiles, driven from those green hills, to die among the sands
+of Africa, the clime of their fathers, but to them a land of strangers!
+I remember me how the lowly were given to the scourge, and the princely
+to the fires of Inquisitors,--our children to spears, our wives to
+ravishers and murderers!--Cursed be they that did these things, even to
+the last generation!"
+
+The cavalier was amazed and confounded at the vehement and lofty
+indignation of the Morisco; and as the form of Abdoul-al-Sidi swelled
+with wrath, and his countenance darkened under the gloomy recollection,
+he seemed to Don Amador rather like one of those mountain princes, who
+had defied the conquerors, to the last, among the Alpujarras, than a
+poor herdsman of Fez, deriving his knowledge, and his fury, only from
+the incitations of exiles. His embarrassment was also increased by a
+secret consciousness, that the Moor had cause for his hate and his
+denunciations. He answered him, however, with a severe voice:--
+
+"In these ills and sufferings, _thou_ hadst no part, unless thou hast
+lied to me; having been a child of the desert, afar from the sufferers
+of Granada."
+
+"I _lied_ to thee, then," said Abdalla, elevating his figure, and
+regarding the cavalier with proud tranquillity. "From the beginning to
+the end, was I a chief among the mourners and rebels,--the first to
+strike, as I am now the last to curse, the oppressor,--a child of the
+desert, only when I had no more to suffer among the Alpujarras; and thou
+mayst know, now, that my fury is as deep as it is just,--for the poor
+Abdalla is no Almogavar of Barbary, but a Zegri of Granada!"
+
+"A Zegri of Granada!" cried Don Amador, with surprise.
+
+"A Zegri of Granada, and a prince among Zegris!" said the Moor, with a
+more stately look, though with a voice of the deepest sorrow; "one whose
+fathers have given kings to the Alhambra, but who hath lived to see his
+child a menial in the house of his foe, and both child and father
+leagued with, and lost among, the infidels of a strange land, in a world
+unknown!"
+
+"I thought, by heaven!" said the cavalier, eyeing the apostate with a
+look almost of respect, "that that courage of thine in the pirate rover,
+did argue thee to be somewhat above the stamp of a common boor; and
+therefore, but more especially in regard of thy boy, did I give thee
+consideration myself, and enforce it, as well as I could, to be yielded
+by others. But, by the faith which thou professest, sir Zegri! be thou
+ignoble or regal in thy condition, I have not forgotten that, by the
+blow which has made me (as it seems to me, I am,) thy prisoner, thou
+hast shown thyself unworthy of nobility; and I tell thee again, with
+disgust and indignation, that thou hast done the act of a base and most
+villanous caitiff!"
+
+"Dost thou still say so?" replied the Zegri, mildly. "I have
+acknowledged, that no gratitude can repay thy benefactions; this do I
+still confess; and yet have I done all to requite thee. Thou lookest on
+me with amazement. What is my crime, noble benefactor?"
+
+"What is thy crime? Art _thou_ bewitched, too?--Slave of an ingrate,
+didst thou not, when I was already overpowered, smite me down with thine
+own weapon?"
+
+"I did,--heaven be thanked!" said the Moor, devoutly.
+
+"Dost thou acknowledge it, and thank heaven too?" said the incensed
+cavalier.
+
+"I acknowledge it, and I thank heaven!" said Abdalla, firmly. "Thou
+saidst, thou wert already overpowered. Wert thou not in the hands of the
+Mexicans, beyond all hope of rescue?"
+
+"Doubtless, I was," replied the neophyte; "for Cortes was afar, and
+Alvarado full three spears' length behind. Nevertheless, I did not
+despair of maintaining the fight, until my friends came up to my
+relief."
+
+"Thou wert a captive!" cried the Zegri, impetuously,--"a living captive
+in the hands of Mexicans! Dost thou know the fate of a prisoner in such
+hands?"
+
+"By my faith," said Don Amador, "I have heard, they put their prisoners
+to the torture."
+
+"They sacrifice them to the gods!" cried the Moor. "And the death," he
+continued, his swarthy visage whitening with horror, "the death is of
+such torment and terror as thou canst not conceive; but _I_ can, for I
+have seen it! Now hear me: I saw my benefactor a captive, and I knew his
+life would end on the stone of sacrifice, offered up, like that of a
+beast, to false and fiendish gods! I say, I saw thee thus; I knew this
+should be thy doom; and I did all that my gratitude taught me, to save
+thee. I struck thee down, knowing, that if I slew thee, the blow would
+be that of a true friend, and that thou shouldst die like a soldier, not
+like a fatted sheep. Heaven, however, gave me all that I had dared to
+hope: I harmed thee not; and yet the Mexicans believed that death had
+robbed them of a victim. I harmed thee not; and the heathens suffered me
+to drag away what seemed a corse; but which lived, and was _my
+benefactor_,--the saviour of myself, and the protector of my child!"
+
+As Abdalla concluded these words, spoken with much emphasis and feeling,
+a tear glistened in his eye; and the neophyte, starting up and eagerly
+grasping his hand, exclaimed,--
+
+"Now, by heaven! I see all the wisdom and truth of thy friendship; and I
+beg thy pardon for whatever insulting words my folly has caused me to
+speak. And, now that I know the blow was struck for such a purpose, I
+confess to thee, as thou saidst thyself, it would have been true
+gratitude and love, though it had killed me outright."
+
+"I have done thee even more service than this," said the Zegri, calmly;
+"but, before I speak it, I must demand of thee, as a Christian and
+honourable soldier, to confess thyself my just and true captive."
+
+"Thy captive!" cried Don Amador. "Dost thou hold me then as a prisoner,
+and not as a guest and friend? Dost thou check my thankfulness in the
+bud, and cancel thy services, by making me thy thrall?"
+
+"I will not answer thy demands," said Abdalla. "I call upon thee, as a
+noble and knightly soldier, fairly captured, in open war, by my hands,
+to acknowledge thyself my captive; and, as such, in all things, justly
+at my disposition."
+
+"If thou dost exact it of me," said the cavalier, regarding him with
+much surprise and sorrow, "I must, as a man of honour, so acknowledge
+myself. But I began to think better of thee, Abdalla!"
+
+"And, as a prisoner, to whose honour is confided the charge of his own
+keeping, thou engagest to remain in captivity, without abusing the
+confidence which allows such license, by any efforts to escape?"
+
+"Dost thou demand this much of me?" said Don Amador, with mortified and
+dejected looks. "If thou art thyself resolved to remain in the
+indulgence of thy treason, thou surely wilt not think to keep me from my
+friends, in their difficulties? and especially from my poor kinsman; who
+is now greatly disordered, and chiefly, I think, because thou hast
+robbed him of Jacinto."
+
+"This am I not called upon to answer," said Abdalla, gravely. "I only
+demand of thee, what thou knowest thou canst not honourably refuse,--thy
+knightly gage, to observe the rules of captivity, until such time as I
+may think proper to absolve and free thee."
+
+"Sir Almogavar, or sir Zegri, or whatsoever thou art," said the
+cavalier, folding his arms, and surveying his jailor sternly, "use the
+powers which thou hast, thy chains, and thy magical arts; for I believe
+thou dealest with the devil;--get me ready thy fetters, and thy dungeon.
+Thou hast the right so to use me, and I consent to the same; but I will
+gage thee no word to keep in bonds, inglorious and at ease, while my
+friends are in peril. However great the service thou hast done to me, I
+perceive thou art a traitor. I command thee, therefore, that thou have
+me chained and immured forthwith; for, with God's will and help, I will
+escape from thee as soon as possible, and especially, whensoever my
+friends come to assist me."
+
+"I grant thee this privilege, when thy friends come near to us," said
+Abdalla, coolly, "whether thou art chained or not. It is not possible
+thou canst escape, otherwise, at all. Thou art far from the palace,
+ignorant of the way, and, besides, divided from it by a wall of
+Mexicans, who cannot be numbered. What I ask thee, is for thy good, and
+for the good of myself, and Jacinto. If thou leave this house, thou wilt
+be immediately seized, and carried to the stone of sacrifice."
+
+Don Amador shuddered, but said,--
+
+"I trust in God! and the thought of this fate shall not deter me."
+
+"Go then, if thou wilt," said the Zegri, haughtily. "The service I have
+done thee, has not yet released me from thy debt; and thou canst yet
+command me. Begone, if thou art resolute: the door is open; I oppose
+thee not. Preserve thy life, if thou canst; and when thou art safe at
+the garrison, remember, that Abdoul-al-Sidi, and the boy Jacinto, have
+taken thy place on the altar of victims."
+
+"What dost thou mean? I understand thee not.--What meanest thou?"
+
+"Even that thou canst not escape, without the same being made known to
+the Mexicans; and that it cannot be made known to this vindictive
+people, that I have robbed them of their prey, without the penalty of my
+own life, and that of Jacinto, being immediately executed. When thou
+fliest, the father and the son perish."
+
+"Dost thou speak me this in good faith?" said the cavalier, greatly
+troubled. "God forbid I should bring harm to thee, and especially to the
+boy. If I give thee my gage,--thou wilt not hold me bound to refrain
+from joining my friends, should I be so fortunate as to see them pass
+by, and am persuaded, the Mexicans will not discover thou hast harboured
+me?"
+
+"If they pass by, I will myself open the doors," said Abdalla; "for I
+protest to thee, I keep thee here only to ensure thy security."
+
+"Hark'ee, sir Moor--Don Hernan is about to retreat. Dost thou intend I
+shall remain in captivity--a single victim among the barbarians--while
+my countrymen are flying afar, perhaps returning to Christendom?"
+
+"I swear to thee, señor," said the Zegri, earnestly, "that, when the
+Spaniards fly from this city, thou shalt be free to fly with them. I
+repeat, I make thee a prisoner, to prevent thy becoming a victim."
+
+"And what hinders that we do not fly together to the palace? Thy
+knowledge may conduct us through the streets by night; and, with my
+head, I will engage thee a free pardon, and friendly reception."
+
+"God hath commissioned me to the work, and it shall go on!" said the
+Moor, with solemn emphasis. "I know that thou couldst not save me from
+the fury of Don Hernan: he would grant thee my life at midnight, and, on
+the morrow, thou wouldst find me dead in the court-yard. Fly, if thou
+wilt, and leave me to perish by the hands of Mexicans: Spaniards shall
+drink my blood no more!"
+
+"I give thee my gage," said the cavalier, "with this understanding,
+then, that I am free to fly, whenever I may do so without perilling thy
+life, and the life of Jacinto."
+
+"And thou wilt hold to this pledge, like a true cavalier?" demanded
+Abdalla, quickly.
+
+"Surely, I cannot break my plighted word!"
+
+"God be thanked!" cried the Zegri, grasping the hand of the cavalier,
+"for, by this promise, thou hast saved thy life! Remain here; Jacinto
+shall be thy jailor, thy companion, thy servant. Be content with thy
+lot, and thank God; for thou art the only brand plucked out of the
+burning, while all the rest shall perish.--God be praised!--I save my
+benefactor!"
+
+With these exclamations of satisfaction, Abdalla departed from the
+chamber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+
+The cavalier pondered, in perplexity, over the words of Abdalla; and,
+the longer he reflected, the more he began to lament his captivity, and
+doubt the wisdom of his gage.
+
+"It is apparent to me," he soliloquized, "that my countrymen are in
+greater jeopardy than I before apprehended, and that it has been the
+plot of this subtle Moor, (whom I confess, however, to have something
+elevated and noble in his way of thinking, and much gratitude of heart,
+though of a mistaken character,) to keep me out of harm's way, while the
+Mexicans are murdering my companions. Heaven forgive me my rash parole,
+if this be true; for such safety becomes dishonour and ignominy. I will
+talk with him further on the subject; and if I find he hath thus schemed
+to preserve me, at such a price of degradation, I will straightway
+revoke my engagement, as being wrung from me by deceit, and quite
+impossible to be fulfilled.--I marvel where loiters the boy, Jacinto?
+Methinks I could eat something now, for I know not how long it is since
+I have tasted food:--an orange, or a bunch of grapes, were not
+amiss.--But, heaven save me! I have heard oranges do not grow in this
+land; and, perhaps these poor Moriscos are no better off than my friends
+at the palace. God help them! for the Mexicans fight like Turks; and,
+once or twice, that evening of the conflagration, I thought I had got me
+again into the trenches of Rhodes; and as for those knaves that wounded
+me, never did I see more valiant devils. I am glad I left my knight so
+possessed of his wits.--That Botello doth seem very clearly to have
+apprehended my fate, though the mishap be not so miserable as death.
+Truly, there did, a third time, war come out of peace; and yet, I assure
+myself, that, this time, it was brought about by Don Hernan rushing
+against that supernatural creature, that looks on me in the street, and
+eyes me even by my bed-side."
+
+The cavalier was startled from his revery by a light step, and as the
+curtain was drawn aside from the door, he almost thought, for an
+instant, that he beheld the visage of the priestess, peering through its
+folds. A second glance, however, showed him the features of the Moorish
+page, who came in, bearing a little basket of fruits and Indian
+confections, as if anticipating his wants. These Jacinto placed before
+him, and then sat down at his feet.
+
+For a few moments, Don Amador, in the satisfaction of the boy's presence
+forgot many of his perplexities; but observing, at last, that Jacinto's
+smiles were ever alternating with looks of distress and alarm, and that,
+sometimes, he surveyed his imprisoned master with eyes of great
+wildness, the cavalier began again to recur to his condition, to the
+mysteries which surrounded him, and especially to the suspicions, which
+so often attributed to the page the possession of magical arts.
+
+"Thou saidst, Jacinto," he abruptly exclaimed, after thrusting aside the
+almost untasted food, and regarding the boy with a penetrating look,
+"that thou wert for the two last nights at my bed-side?--God be good to
+me! for 'tis an evil thing to be benighted so long!"
+
+"Señor, I was."
+
+"And, during all that time, I was entirely dispossessed of my wits?"
+
+"Señor mio, yes. But, now, heaven be thanked your honour will recover!"
+
+"And, thou art sure, I did not labour more under enchantment than
+fever?"
+
+The page smiled, but very faintly, and without replying.
+
+"To me, it seems no longer possible to doubt," said the cavalier, "that
+I have been, divers times, of late, entirely bewitched; and that thou
+hast had some agency in my delusions."
+
+Jacinto smiled more pleasantly, and seemed to forget the secret thoughts
+which had agitated him.
+
+"Dost thou," demanded the cavalier, "know aught of a certain
+supernatural priestess, that goes about the streets of this town, in
+pagan processions, followed by countless herds of nobles and warriors?"
+
+The page hesitated, while replying--
+
+"I have indeed heard of such a creature, and--I may say,--I have seen
+her."
+
+"Thou hast seen her!--Is she mortal?"
+
+"Surely, I think so, noble señor," replied Jacinto, with increasing
+embarrassment.
+
+"For my part," said the novice, with a deep sigh and a troubled aspect,
+"I am almost quite convinced, that she is a spectre, and an inhabitant
+of hell, sent forth upon the earth to punish me with much affliction,
+and, perhaps, with madness. For I think she is the spirit of Leila; and
+her appearance in the guise of a pagan goddess, or pagan priestess,--the
+one or the other,--shows me, that she whom I loved, dwells not with
+angels, but with devils. This is a thought," continued the cavalier,
+mournfully, "that burns my heart as with a coal; and if God spare my
+life, and return me to mine own land, I will devote my estates to buy
+masses for her soul; for surely she cannot have fallen from sin into
+irreparable wo, but only into a punishment for some heresy, the fault of
+bad instruction, which may be expiated."
+
+Jacinto regarded the distressed visage of his patron with concern, and
+with indecision, as if impelled, and yet afraid, to speak what might
+remove his anguish. Then, at last, moved by affection, and looking up
+with arch confidence to Don Amador, he said,--
+
+"Señor, I can relieve you of this unhappiness. This is no spirit, but a
+woman, as I know full well, for I am in the secret.--I am not sure that
+it will not offend my father, to divulge such a secret to any Spaniard:
+yet can its revealment prejudice none. Know, señor, and use not this
+confession to my father's injury, that all this interlude of the
+prophetess, devised by the Mexican nobles and priests, with my father's
+counsel and aid, is a scheme to inflame the people with fresh devotion
+and fury against the Spaniards, your countrymen. For, being very
+superstitious and credulous, the common people are easily persuaded that
+their gods have sent them a messenger, to encourage and observe their
+valour; as, it is fabled, they have done in former days. The prophetess
+is but a puppet in their hands."
+
+The cavalier eyed the young speaker steadfastly, until Jacinto cast his
+looks to the earth.
+
+"Set this woman before me; let me look upon her," he said, gravely, and
+yet with earnestness.
+
+The page returned his gaze with one of confusion, and even affright.
+
+"Thou wilt not think to deceive me," continued his patron, "after
+confiding to me so much? Know thou, that it will rejoice me, relieving
+my mind of many pangs, to find that thy words are true, and to look upon
+this most beauteous, and, to my eyes, this most supernatural, barbarian.
+If she be a living creature, thou hast it in thy power to produce her,
+for she dwells in this house. I say this, Jacinto, on strong persuasion
+of the fact, for last night I beheld her, and did almost touch her!"
+
+"Señor," said the boy, briskly, "that was one of the fancies of thy
+delirium. It was my poor self thou wert looking on. Twenty times, or
+more, didst thou call to me, as being the prophetess; and as often
+didst thou see in me some other strange creature. Now, I was my lord Don
+Gabriel, your worship's kinsman; now, some lady that your honour loved;
+now, an angel, bringing you succour in battle; now, my lord's little
+brother; now, his enemy;--and, twice or thrice, I was my own poor self,
+only that I was killing my lord with a dagger,--as if I could do any
+wrong to my master!"
+
+"Is this the truth, indeed?" said the cavalier, dolorously. "I could
+have sworn, that I saw that woman, and that I was very sane, when I saw
+her. As for the after-visions, I can well believe, that they were the
+phantasms of fever, being very extravagant, and but vaguely
+remembered.--Thou deniest, then, that thou hast the power of casting
+spells?"
+
+The page smiled merrily, for he perceived his patron was relieved of one
+irrational distress, and, banteringly, replied,--
+
+"I will not say _that_;--I can do many things my lord would not think,
+and I know many he would not dream."
+
+The cavalier was too sad and too simple-minded to jest.
+
+"I believe thee," he said, seriously; "for, in every thing, thou art a
+miracle and mystery. Why is it, that thou hast obtained such a command
+over my affections? Why is it, that I have come to regard thee, not as a
+boy, young and foolish, but as one ripe in years and wisdom? It must
+needs be, because thou derivest thy power and thy knowledge from those
+astral and magical arts, which I once esteemed so vain; for I remember
+me, that, at thy years, I was, myself, not half so much advanced in
+intelligence and art, but was, on the contrary, quite a dull and foolish
+boy."
+
+"It all comes of my music," said the page: "for that is a talent which
+matures faster than any other, and drags others along with it; besides
+giving one great skill in touching hearts. Your worship remembers how
+soon young David gained the love of the Jewish king, and how he would
+have cured him of his melancholy, but that Saul had a bad heart. Now, my
+lord seems, to me, to have, like this king, an evil spirit troubling
+him; and perhaps, if he will let me, I can sing it away, with the ballad
+of the Knight and the Page; for my lord's heart is good."
+
+"The Knight and the Page? I have never heard thee sing that," said Don
+Amador, somewhat indifferently. "What is it about?"
+
+"It is about a brave cavalier, that loved a noble lady, who loved him;
+but being made to believe her false to her vows, he went to the wars to
+die, followed by a little page, whom he thought the only true friend he
+had left in the world."
+
+"By my faith," said Don Amador, regarding the boy kindly, "in this
+respect, methinks, I am, at present, somewhat like that knight; for
+thou, that art, likewise, a little page, seemest to be the only friend I
+have left in the world--that is, in this city,--that is to say, in this
+part of it; for I have much confidence in the love of several at the
+palace, notwithstanding that I think some others were a little backward
+in supporting me, when beset, that evil day, by the barbarians.--Was he
+a Spanish knight? and of what parts?"
+
+"Of the Sierra Morena, at some place where the Jucar washes its foot."
+
+"In good truth!" cried the cavalier, "that is the very river that rolls
+by Cuenza; and herein, again, is there another parallel.--But I should
+inform thee, that, when the mountain reaches so far as the Jucar, and
+runs up along its course, it is then called the Sierra of Cuenza, and
+not Morena. But this is a small matter. I shall be as glad to hear of
+the knight of Jucar, as of one of my ancestors."
+
+"He resembled my lord still more," said the page, "for he had fallen,
+fighting the infidel, very grievously wounded; and his little page
+remained at his side, to share his fate."
+
+"That _I_ have, in a manner, fallen, and, as I may say, fighting the
+infidel, is true; but by no means can it be said, that I am grievously
+wounded. These cuts, that I have on my body, are but such scratches as
+one might make with a thorn; and, were it not for my head, which doth
+ever and anon ring much like to a bell, and ache somewhat immoderately,
+I should think myself well able to go out fighting again; not at all
+regarding my feebleness, which is not much, and my stiff joints, which a
+little exercise would greatly reduce into suppleness."
+
+"It was the resemblance of my lord's situation to the knight of Jucar's,
+that reminded me of the roundelay," said Jacinto, taking up his lute,
+and stringing it into accord; "and now your worship shall represent the
+wounded knight, and I the young page that followed him.--But your
+worship should suppose me, instead of being a boy, to be a woman in
+disguise."
+
+"A woman in disguise!" said the cavalier: "Is the page, then, the false
+mistress? There should be very good cause to put a woman in disguise;
+for, besides that it robs her, to appearance, if not absolutely, of the
+natural delicacy of her sex, it forces her to be a hypocrite. A
+deceitful woman is still more odious than a double-faced man."
+
+"But this lady had great cause," said Jacinto, "seeing that love and
+sorrow, together, forced her into the henchman's habit, as my lord will
+presently see."
+
+So saying, with a pleasant smile, the minstrel struck the lute, and sang
+the following little
+
+            ROMANCE OF THE KNIGHT AND THE PAGE.
+
+                          1.
+
+    A Christian knight, in the Paynim land,
+      Lay bleeding on the plain;
+    The fight was done, and the field was won,
+      But not by the Christian train:
+    The cross had vail'd to the crescent,
+      The Moorish shouts rose high,--
+    '_Lelilee! Lelilee!_'--but the Christian knight
+      Sent up a sadder cry.
+    "My castle lies on Morena's top,
+      Jucar is far away:----
+    My lady will rue for her vows untrue
+      But God be good for aye!----
+    Young page! thou followest well;
+      These dog-howls heed not thou."--
+    '_Lelilee! Lelilee!_'----
+      "Get thee hence to my lady now.
+    Tell her this blood, that pours a flood,
+      My heart's true faith doth prove--
+    My corse to earth, my sighs to thee,--
+      My heart to my lady love!"
+
+                          2.
+
+    The page, he knelt at the Christian's side,
+      And sorely sobb'd he then:
+    "The faithless love can truer prove
+      Than hosts of faithful men.
+    The cross has vail'd to the crescent,
+      The Moorish shouts are high,"----
+    '_Lelilee! Lelilee!_'--"but the love untrue
+      Hath yet another cry.
+    Thy castle lies on Morena's top,
+      Jucar is far away;
+    But dies the bride at her true lord's side,--
+      Now God be good for aye!
+    The page that followeth well,
+      Repeats the unbroken vow"--
+    '_Lelilee! Lelilee!_'--
+      "Oh, look on thy lady now!
+    For now this blood, that pours a flood,
+      Doth show her true love's plight.----
+    My soul to God, my blood to thine----
+      My life for my dying knight."
+
+"Is that _all_?" said the cavalier, when Jacinto had warbled out the
+last line. "There should have been another stanza, to explain what was
+the cause of separation, as well as how it happened that the lady came
+to follow the knight, as a servant; neither of which circumstances is
+very manifest."
+
+"Señor," said Jacinto, "if all the story had been told, it would have
+made a book. It is clear, that an evil destiny separated the pair, and
+that love sent the lady after her lord."
+
+"Be thou a conjuror or not," said Don Amador, musingly, "thou hast the
+knack ever to hit upon subjects, as well in thy songs as in thy stories,
+which both provoke my curiosity, and revive my melancholy. _My_ castle,
+as I may say, doth 'lie on Morena's top,'--that is to say, on the ridge
+of Cuenza;--and Jucar is, indeed, 'far away;' but heaven hath left me no
+lady-love, either to die with me among the infidels, by whom I am made
+to bleed, or to lament me at home. An evil destiny (_how_ evil I know
+not, and yet do I dread, more dark than that which prevails with a
+jealous heart,) hath separated me from one whom I loved,--and,
+doubtless, hath separated me for ever." The cavalier sighed deeply, bent
+his eyes for a moment on the ground, and then raising them, with a
+solemn look, to the page, said abruptly, "I have come to be persuaded,
+altogether beyond the contradiction of my reason, that thou hast,
+somehow, and, perhaps, by magical arts, obtained a knowledge of the
+history of my past life. If thou knowest aught of the fate of Leila, the
+lamented maid of Almeria, I adjure thee to reveal thy knowledge, and
+without delay! Thou shakest thy head.--Wherefore didst thou refuse to
+finish the story of her who bore her name, and who dwelt in the same
+city?"
+
+"My lord will be angry with me," said the page, rising in some
+perturbation,--"I have deceived him!"
+
+"I am sorry to know thou couldst be, in any way, guilty of deceit,
+though I do readily forgive thee; charging thee, however, at all times,
+to remember, that any deceitfulness is but a form of mendacity, and
+therefore as mean and degrading as it is sinful.--In what hast thou
+deceived me?"
+
+"When I told my lord the story of Leila, and perceived how it disturbed
+him," said Jacinto, with a faltering voice, "I repented me, and told him
+a thing that was not true, to appease him. The Leila of whom I spoke,
+had dwelt in Almeria within a year past; and, perhaps, she was the maid
+that my lord remembered."
+
+As the page made this confession, Don Amador sprang eagerly to his feet,
+and, as he seized the speaker's arm, cried, with much agitation,--
+
+"Dost thou tell me the truth? and does she live? God be praised for
+ever! doth the maiden live?"
+
+"She lived, when my father brought me from Barbary--"
+
+"Heaven be thanked! I will ransom her from the infidels, though I give
+myself up to captivity as the price!"
+
+"Señor," said the page, sorrowfully, "you forget that you are now a
+prisoner in another world."
+
+The cavalier smote his breast, crying, "It is true! and the revealment
+comes too late!--Silly boy!" he continued, reproachfully, "why didst
+thou delay telling me this, until this time, when it can only add to my
+griefs? Why didst thou not speak it, at Tlascala, that I might have
+departed forthwith from the land, to her rescue?"
+
+"My lord would not have deserted his kinsman, Don Gabriel?"
+
+"True again!" exclaimed Don Amador, with a pang. "I could not have left
+my knight, even at the call of Leila. But now will I go to Don Gabriel,
+and confessing to him my sorrow, will prevail upon him straightway to
+depart with me; for here, it must be plain to him, as it is to me, that
+God is not with us.
+
+"Alas! señor," said the page, "it is not possible that you should go to
+Don Gabriel, nor that you should ever more leave this heathen land."
+
+"Dost thou confess, then," demanded the novice, "that Abdalla has
+deceived me, and that I am held to perpetual captivity?"
+
+"Señor," said the boy, clasping his hands, and weeping bitterly, "we
+shall never more see Spain, nor any land but this. The fate of Don
+Hernan, and of all his men, is written; they are in a net from which
+they cannot escape; and we, who are spared, obtain our lives only at the
+price of expatriation. My father remembered his protector,--my lord is
+saved; but he shares our exile!"
+
+At this confirmation of his worst suspicions, the countenance of Don
+Amador darkened with despair and horror.
+
+"And Abdalla, thy father, has plotted this foul, traitorous, and most
+bloody catastrophe? And he thinks, that, for my life's sake, I will
+divide with him the dishonour and guilt of my preservation?"
+
+"My lord knows not the wrongs of my father," said Jacinto, mournfully,
+"or he would not speak of him so harshly."
+
+"Thy father is a most traitor-like and backsliding villain," said Don
+Amador, "and this baseness in him should entirely cancel in thee the
+bonds of affection and duty; for thou art not of his nature. Hark thee,
+then, boy: it is my purpose straightway to depart from this house, and
+this durance. I desire to save thee from the fate of a pagan's slave.
+Better will it be for thee, if thou shouldst die with me, in the attempt
+to reach the palace, (and I swear to thee, I will protect thee to the
+last moment of my life,) than remain in Tenochtitlan, after thy
+Christian friends have left it, or after they are slain. It is my hope,
+and, indeed, my belief, that, when the valiant general, Don Hernan,
+comes to be persuaded of his true condition, he will, immediately, and
+at any cost, cut his way out of this most accursed city. In this manner
+will we escape, and thou shall find, in me, a father who will love thee
+not less truly, and more in fashion of a Christian, than the apostate
+Zegri."
+
+"If my lord could but protect my father from the anger of Don Hernan,
+and prevail upon him to return with my lord!" said Jacinto, eagerly.
+
+"I have already proposed this to him, and, in his fury, he denies me."
+
+"Heaven help us then!" cried Jacinto, "for there is no other hope; and
+we must dwell with the barbarians!"
+
+"Dost thou think, that I will rest here, when they are murdering Don
+Gabriel?--Hark thee! what knave has stolen away my sword?--Know, that I
+will straightway make my escape, and carry thee along with me; for God
+would not forgive me, did I leave thee abandoned to barbarians, to the
+eternal loss and perdition of thy soul. I say to thee again, thou shalt
+accompany me."
+
+"I will remain with my father!" said the boy, stepping back, and
+assuming some of that dignity and decision, which the neophyte had so
+lately witnessed in Abdalla; "and so will my lord, likewise; for my lord
+has given him a pledge, which he cannot forfeit."
+
+"Miserable wretch that I am!" said the cavalier;--"in either case, I am
+overwhelmed with dishonour. My gage was sinful, and the infraction of it
+will be shame. Bring me hither Abdalla; I will revoke my promise to him
+in person; and, after that, I can depart, without disgrace."
+
+"Thou canst not escape, without shedding blood, at least," said the boy,
+with a pale and yet determined countenance, "for, first, thou must slay
+my father, who saved thee from the death of sacrifice. If thou goest, in
+his absence, then must my lord strike down the son;--for with what
+strength I have, I will prevent him!"
+
+The amazement with which the warlike cavalier heard these words, and
+beheld the stripling throw himself manfully before the door of the
+apartment, entirely disconcerted him for a moment. Before he could find
+words to express his anger, or perhaps derision, the page, with a sudden
+revulsion of feeling, ran from the door, and flinging himself at his
+patron's feet, embraced his knees, weeping and exclaiming, with much
+passion,
+
+"O my dear master! be not incensed with me: for I am but weak and silly,
+and I have no friends but my father and thee! If thou takest me from my
+father, then shall he be left childless, to live and to die alone; if
+thou goest without us, we shall be deserted to perish without a friend;
+for no one has smiled on us but my lord; and if thou goest while my
+father is absent, he will curse me, and I will curse myself,--for thou
+must needs die in the streets!"
+
+The novice was touched, not so much by the last and undeniable
+assurance, as by the pathetic appeal of the Morisco.
+
+"Be comforted, Jacinto," he cried; "for now, indeed, it appears to me,
+that, whether I had passed my gage or not, I could not take advantage of
+the weakness of such a jailor, and fly, without the greatest shame. And,
+in addition, it seems to me inhuman and unjust, that I should think of
+escaping, without doing my best to snatch thee and thy father also,
+(whose sinfulness does, in this case, at least, spring from affection,)
+out of thraldom. Be thou therefore content: I will remain thy patient
+prisoner, until such time as Abdalla returns; hoping that I can, then,
+advance such remonstrance and argument, as shall convert him from his
+purpose, and cause him to repent what wrongs he has already done Don
+Hernan, and to accept his mercy, which I do again avow myself ready to
+secure with my life, and even with my honour. But I warn thee, that I
+can by no means remain a captive, while my friends are given up to
+destruction."
+
+"Señor," said Jacinto, rising, "there is a hope they will be spared, if
+the king should recover; for greatly have the Mexicans mourned the rage
+which wounded their monarch. If he live, and again command peace, there
+will be peace; and all of us may yet be happy."
+
+"God grant that this may be so!" said the cavalier, catching at the
+hope. "I will therefore remain with thee a little; for if my friends be
+not starved outright, I have no fear but that they can easily maintain
+themselves a week in the palace."
+
+"And besides, señor," said the page, returning to his playful manner,
+"if you were to leave me, how should you hear more of the maid of
+Almeria?"
+
+"Of Leila?" cried the cavalier, forgetting at once his honour and his
+friends; "now do I remember me, that you have not yet told me how you
+acquired your most blessed and blissful knowledge. Heaven forgive me! I
+did not think it possible,--but, I believe, I had entirely forgotten
+her! How comest thou to know aught of her? Answer me quickly, and be
+still more quick to tell me all you know."
+
+"Will not my lord be satisfied with my knowledge, without seeking after
+the means of acquiring it?" demanded the page, hesitatingly.
+
+"If, indeed," said Don Amador, solemnly, "thou hast obtained it by the
+practice of that land of magic which is forbidden, though my curiosity
+will not permit me to eschew its revelations, yet must I caution thee,
+from this time henceforth, to employ it no more; for, herein, dost thou
+peril thy soul. But, if it be by those arts, which are not in themselves
+sinful, thou shouldst not be ashamed to confess them; for the habit of
+concealment is the first step in the path of deception; and I have
+already assured thee, that a deceiver is, as one may say, a lie in the
+face of his Maker. But of this I will instruct thee more fully
+hereafter: at present, I burn with an unconquerable desire to hear thee
+speak of Leila."
+
+"But how know I," said the page, again hesitating, "that she of whom I
+speak, is the Leila after whom it pleases my lord to inquire?--And why
+indeed, now that I think of it, should my lord inquire at all after one
+of a persecuted and despised race?"
+
+"Wilt thou still torment me? Have I not told thee that I forgot her
+origin, and loved her?"
+
+"And did she love my lord back again?"
+
+"Thou askest me what I cannot with certainty answer," replied the
+cavalier, "for she was snatched away from me, before I had yet overcome
+the natural scruples of my pride to discourse of love to one who seemed
+so much beneath the dignity of my birth and fortunes."
+
+"And my lord gave her no cause to think she had obtained favour in his
+eyes?"
+
+"In this thou dost not err; for, saving some gifts, which were, indeed,
+more the boons of a patron than the tribute of a lover, I did nothing to
+address me to her affections. In all things, as I may say, I did rather
+assume the character of one who would befriend and protect her from
+wrong, than of a man seeking after her love."
+
+"But, if she accepted my lord's gifts, she must have loved him," said
+Jacinto.
+
+"They were very trifles," rejoined the cavalier, "saving only one,
+indeed, which, as she must have perceived, could not have been more
+properly bestowed than upon one so innocent and friendless as herself.
+This was a very antique and blessed jewel,--a cross of rubies,--fetched
+by mine ancestor, Don Rodrigo of Arragon, more than three hundred years
+ago, from the Holy Land, after having been consecrated upon the
+Sepulchre itself. It was thought to be a talisman of such heavenly
+efficacy, in the hands of an unspotted virgin, that no harm could ever
+come to her, who wore it upon her neck. For mine own part, though I
+could tell thee divers stories of its virtue, recorded in our house, yet
+was I ever inclined to think, that a natural purity of heart was, in all
+cases, a much better protection of innocence than even a holy talisman.
+Nevertheless, when I beheld this orphan Moor, I bethought me of the
+imputed virtues of those rubies; and I put them upon her neck, as
+thinking her friendless condition gave her the strongest claim to all
+such blessed protection."
+
+"A cross of rubies!" cried the page; "it is she!"
+
+"And thou canst tell me of her resting-place? and of her present
+condition?" cried the overjoyed cavalier. "I remember, that, at the
+temple of Tlascala, thou didst aver, that, notwithstanding the apparent
+baseness of her origin, it had been discovered that she was descended of
+very noble parentage!"
+
+"What I _can_ tell thee, and what I _will_," said Jacinto, gravely,
+"will depend upon thine own actions. If thou leavest this place, without
+my father's consent, hope not that thou shalt know any thing more than
+has been spoken. If thou art content to remain a little time in
+captivity, and to yield me the obedience which I demand, thou shalt
+find, that a child of a contemned race may possess wisdom unknown to men
+of happier degrees. Thou hast acknowledged thyself the captive of my
+father; wilt thou promise obedience to me?"
+
+Don Amador surveyed the boy with a bewildered stare:
+
+"It is possible," said he, "that I am yet dreaming, for it seemeth to me
+very absurd, that thou, who art a boy, and wert but yesterday a servant,
+shouldst make such a demand of subjection to a man and a cavalier, and,
+as I may say, also, thy master."
+
+"My lord will not think I would have him become a servant," said
+Jacinto. "The subjection I require, is for the purpose of securing him
+that gratification of his curiosity, which he has sought,--and thus only
+can he obtain it. In all other respects, I remain myself the slave of my
+lord."
+
+"Provided thou wilt demand me nothing dishonourable nor irreligious,
+(and now, that I know, from thy father's confession, that thou art of
+noble descent, I can scarcely apprehend in thee any meanness,) I will
+make thee such a promise," said Don Amador. "But I must beseech thee,
+not to torment me with delay."
+
+"My lord shall not repent his goodness," said the page, with a happy
+countenance; "for when he thinks not of it, his wishes shall be
+gratified. But, at present, let him be at peace, and sleep; for the
+time has not yet come. I claim, now, the first proof of my lord's
+obedience. Let him eat of this medicinal confection, and, by a little
+rest, dispel the heats of fever, which are again returning to him."
+
+"I declare to thee," said Don Amador, "I am very well; and this fever is
+caused by suspense, and not disease."
+
+"Thou must obey," said the page. "While thou art sleeping, I will
+inquire for thee the fate of Leila; for it is yet wrapped in darkness,
+and it cannot be discovered but by great efforts."
+
+The cavalier obeyed the injunctions of his young jailer, ate of the
+confection, and, Jacinto leaving the apartment, he yielded to exhaustion
+and drowsiness, and notwithstanding his eager and tormenting curiosity,
+soon fell fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+
+Gloom and fear still beset the garrison at the palace of Axajacatl; and
+the mutiny of soldiers, and fierce feuds among the cavaliers, were added
+to other circumstances of distress. Those ancient veterans, who had
+followed Don Hernan, from the first day of invasion, and who had shared
+with him so many privations and perils, were, in general, still true to
+their oaths of obedience, and preserved through all trials, an apparent,
+if not a real composure of spirit, as well as a firm reliance on the
+wisdom of their leader. But the followers of Narvaez, uninured to
+combat, and but lately acquainted with suffering--their sanguine
+expectations of conquest without danger, and of wealth without labour,
+changed to a mere hope of disgraceful escape, and that hope, as they all
+felt, founded, not in reason, but imagination,--turned their murmurs
+into the most bitter execrations, and these again into menaces. The
+officers, too, rendered peevish by discontent, and reckoning each the
+discomfiture of his neighbour as the evidence of feebleness or fear,
+spoke to one another with sarcasms, and even sometimes to Don Hernan
+himself with disrespect. The self-command of the general, however, never
+deserted him; he rebuked insult with tranquil indignation, and so far
+prevailed over his fiery subordinates, as to compose most of their
+quarrels, without suffering them to be submitted to the ordeal of
+honour. One feud had arisen, nevertheless, which his skill could not
+allay; and all that he could effect by remonstrance, and even
+supplication, was an agreement of the parties to postpone its final
+arbitrement, until such time as the providence of heaven should conduct
+them afar from Tenochtitlan. The wrath engendered in the bosom of the
+Tonatiuh, by the angry reproaches of De Morla, after their return from
+the battle of the Manta, had been inflamed by a new circumstance, which,
+though of a trivial nature, the pride of Alvarado and the resentment of
+his opponent had converted into an affair of importance.
+
+There was among the many kinswomen of Montezuma, who shared his
+captivity, (for the policy of the general had reduced nearly all the
+royal blood to bonds,) a certain young maiden, a daughter of the lord of
+Colhuacan, and therefore a niece of the king; who, in the general
+partition which the nobler of the cavaliers had, in prospective, made of
+the Indian princesses, had fallen to the lot of Alvarado. In those days
+of legitimacy, there was some degree of divinity allowed to hedge the
+person of even a barbaric monarch; and happy was the hidalgo, who, by
+obtaining a royal maid for his wife, could rank himself, in imaginary
+dignity, with the princes of Christendom. At the present moment, the
+companions of Cortes had rather made their selections, than endeavoured
+to commend themselves to the favour of their mistresses;--dropping,
+thereby, so much of their reverence for royalty, as not to suppose the
+existence of any will, or opposition, in the objects of their desire.
+The Doña Engracia, (her native title has entirely escaped the
+historians,) was, therefore, beloved by Don Pedro; but, not having been
+made acquainted with the hidalgo's flame, she stooped, at the first
+promptings of affection, to a destiny less brilliant and lofty. Her
+heart melted at the handsome visage of the young Fabueno; and the
+secretary, flattered by the love of so noble a maiden, and emboldened by
+his success in arms, did not scruple to become the rival of the
+Tonatiuh. The rage of Don Pedro would have chastised, in blood, the
+presumption of such a competitor; but De Morla, remembering the novice,
+did not hesitate, for his sake, to befriend his servant; and, when he
+avowed himself the champion of Lorenzo, he dreamed that he was about to
+avenge the fall of his brother-in-arms.
+
+The result of this opposition to the humours of Alvarado, was a quarrel,
+so fierce and unappeasable, that, as has been said, all which the
+general could effect, was a postponement of conflict; and when Don Pedro
+surrendered the princess to her plebeian lover, it was with the
+assurance, that, as soon as the army had left the city and lake, he
+should reckon her ransom out of the life-blood of his companion.
+
+The discovery of the unfaithfulness of his betrothed, (for, in this
+light did the cavaliers regard the captive princesses,) had been made
+the preceding evening; and the angry contest of the cavaliers, and the
+arrangements for combat, occurred at the moment while Don Amador was
+lamenting the backwardness of his friends to support him, when he became
+a captive.
+
+To allay the heart-burnings of his officers, who had arrayed themselves,
+according to their friendships, on either side, the general caused his
+trumpets to sound, and bade all to prepare for an expedition of peril.
+He had, all along, eyed the great pyramid, frowning over his fortress,
+with peculiar anxiety. This was caused, in part, by his consciousness of
+the advantage it would give his enemies, as soon as they should dare to
+profane its sanctity, by making it the theatre of conflict. This very
+morning, it was made apparent, by the presence of many barbarians
+thronging up its sides, and by an occasional arrow or stone discharged
+from its top, that the Mexicans were aware of its usefulness. In
+addition to this cause for attempting to gain possession of it, the
+leader was moved by a vague hope, that, once master of the holiest of
+temples, he might obtain the same advantages, through the superstition
+of his foes, which he had lately possessed, in the person of Montezuma,
+through their reverence for the king. He meditated an assault, and
+resolved to attempt it, before the pyramid should be covered with
+Mexicans.
+
+The strength of the army, both horse and foot, was straightway displayed
+upon the square; and the war-worn Christians once more marched against
+the triumphing infidel.
+
+The knight of Calavar, sitting on his sable steed, with an air of more
+life than was ordinary, appeared in this band; and the three
+serving-men, with the secretary, followed at his back.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+
+In his sleep, the wounded cavalier was no longer a captive. Memory and
+imagination, acting together, bore him to the shores of the
+Mediterranean; and as he trode the smooth beach, his eye wandered, with
+transport, to the blue Alpujarras, stretching dimly in the interior. But
+not long did he gaze on those mountains, which intercepted the view of
+his distant castle. He stepped joyously along over the sands, obeying
+the voices and gestures of his conductors; for, it seemed to him, that
+his hands were grasped, the one by the page Jacinto, the other by the
+priestess of Mexico, both of whom urged him on with smiles, while
+pointing to a group of palm-trees, under which reclined the long-lost
+maid of Almeria. The cross of rubies shone upon her breast, and her
+downcast eyes regarded it with a gaze of sadness; but, ever and anon, as
+the cavalier vainly strove to approach, and called to her with his
+voice, they were raised upon him in tears; and the hand of Leila was
+uplifted, with a melancholy gesture, towards heaven. With such a vision,
+repeated many times in his brain, varied only by changes of place, (for
+now the scene was transferred to the deserts of Barbary, now the fair
+vales of Rhodes, and now the verdant borders of Tezcuco,) he struggled
+through many hours of torture; and, at last, awoke, as a peal of
+thunder, bursting on the scene, drove, terrified away, as well his
+guides as the maid of his memory.
+
+As he started from his couch, confused and bewildered, the thunder
+seemed still to roll, with distant murmurs, over the city. His practised
+ear detected, in these peals, the explosions of artillery, mingled with
+volleys of musketry; but for awhile, in his disorder, he was unable to
+account for them; and in a few moments they ceased.--Night had succeeded
+to day; no taper burned on the table, and scarcely enough light shone
+through the narrow casement into the apartment, to show him that he
+occupied it alone.
+
+His lips were parched with thirst; he strode to the table, and finding
+nothing thereon to allay the burnings of fever, he called faintly on
+Jacinto. No answer was made to the call; he seemed to be the only tenant
+of the house; and yet he fancied that the deep silence, which succeeded
+his exclamation, was broken by distant and feeble lamentations. He
+listened attentively; the sounds were repeated, but yet with so low a
+tone, that they would have escaped him entirely, had not his senses been
+sharpened by fever.
+
+Obeying his instincts of benevolence, rather than his reason, for this
+had not yet recovered from the disorder of slumber, he stepped from the
+chamber; and, following not so much the sounds, which had become nearly
+inaudible, as a light that gleamed at a little distance, he found
+himself soon at the door of an apartment, through the curtain of which
+streamed the radiance.
+
+The image of Leila, surveying the cross of rubies, had not yet departed
+from his imagination, when he pushed aside the flimsy arras, and stood
+in the room; and his feelings of amazement and rapture, of mingled joy
+and terror, may be imagined, when he beheld, at the first glance, what
+seemed the incarnation of his vision.--Before a little stool, which
+supported a taper of some vegetable substance, burning with odours and
+smoke, there knelt, or seemed to kneel, a maiden of exquisite beauty,
+whose Moorish character might have been imagined in her face, but not
+detected in her garments, for these were of Spanish fashion. The light
+of the taper streamed full upon her visage, from which it was not two
+feet removed, and showed it to be bathed in tears. Her eyes were fixed
+upon some jewel held in her hands, close to the light, which was
+attached, by a chain of gold, to her neck; and the same look which
+revealed to Don Amador the features of the maid of Almeria, showed him,
+in this jewel, the well-known and never to be forgotten cross of rubies.
+The cavalier stood petrified; a smothered ejaculation burst from his
+lips, and his gaze was fixed upon the vision as on a basilisk.
+
+At his sudden exclamation, the maiden raised her eyes, gazed at him an
+instant, as he stood trembling with awe and delight; and the next
+moment,--whether it was that she struck the light out with her hand, or
+whether the taper and the figure were alike spectral, and snatched away
+by the same enchantment which had brought them into existence,--the
+chamber was left in darkness, and the pageant of loveliness and sorrow
+had vanished entirely away.
+
+No sooner had this unlooked for termination been presented, than Don
+Amador recovered his strength, and, with a cry of grief, rushed towards
+the spot so lately occupied by the vision. The stool still stood on the
+floor, but no maiden knelt by it. A faint gleam of dusky light shone
+suddenly on the opposite wall, and then as suddenly disappeared. It had
+not been lost to the cavalier; he approached it; his outstretched hands
+struck upon a curtain hung before another door, which admitted him into
+a passage, where a pleasant breeze, burdened with many perfumes, as from
+a garden, puffed on his cheeks. The sound of steps, echoing at the end
+of the gallery, and the gleaming of a light, struck at once upon his
+ears and eyes; he rushed onwards, with a loud cry, gained the door,
+which, he doubted not, would again reveal to him the blessed vision, and
+the next moment found himself arrested by the Zegri.
+
+Behind Abdalla stood the slave Ayub, bearing a torch, whose light shone
+equally on the indignant visage of the renegade Moor, and the troubled
+aspect of his captive.
+
+"Hath the señor forgot that he made me a vow?" cried Abdalla, sternly:
+"and that, in this effort to escape, he covers himself with dishonour?"
+
+To this reproach, Don Amador replied only by turning a bewildered and
+stupified stare on his host; and the Zegri, reading in this the evidence
+of returning delirium, relaxed the severity of his countenance, and
+spoke with a gentler voice.
+
+"My lord does not well," he said, "to leave his chamber, while the fever
+still burns him."
+
+He took the cavalier by the arm, and Don Amador suffered himself to be
+led to his apartment. There, seating himself on the couch, he surveyed
+the Moor with a steadfast and yet disturbed look, not at all regarding
+the words of sympathy pronounced by his jailer. At last, rousing
+himself, and muttering a sort of prayer, he said,
+
+"Are ye all enchanters? or am I mad? for either this thing is the
+fabrication of lunacy, or the illusion of unearthly art!"
+
+"Of what does my lord speak?" said the Moor, mildly, and soothingly. "He
+should not think of dreams."
+
+"Dost thou say, dreams?" cried the cavalier, with a laugh. "Surely mine
+eyes are open, and I see thee. Dost thou not profess thyself flesh and
+blood?"
+
+The Moor regarded his captive with uneasiness, thinking that his wits
+had fled.
+
+"My noble patron does not ask me of his countrymen and friends," he
+said, willing to divert his prisoner's thoughts. "This day, did I behold
+his followers, and, in addition, his kinsman, the knight of Calavar."
+
+At this name, the neophyte became more composed. He eyed the speaker
+more attentively, and now remarked, that, besides the leathern mail
+which he wore in the manner of the Mexicans, his chest was defended by
+an iron corslet, which, as well as the plumes of his tunic, was spotted
+with blood. As the Moor spoke, Don Amador perceived him to lay upon the
+table, along with the torch, which he had taken from Ayub, a sword dyed
+with the same gory ornament; and he started to his feet, with a feeling
+of fierce wrath, which entirely dispelled his stupefaction, when he
+recognized in this, his own vanished weapon.
+
+"Knave of a Zegri!" he cried, "hast thou used my glave on Spaniards, my
+friends and brothers?".
+
+"When I struck thee the blow which saved thy life," said Abdalla,
+calmly, "I was left without a weapon; for the steel shivered upon thy
+casque. I borrowed the sword, which, to thee, was useless, and I return
+it, not dishonoured, for it has drunk the blood of those who are, in the
+eyes of heaven, idolaters and assassins. I give it back to thee, and
+will not again use it, even in a just and righteous combat; for, thanks
+be to God! it has been the means of providing me a store, which I hope
+to increase into an armoury."
+
+"Thou avowest this to me? and with exultation?" said the cavalier,
+passing at once, in the excitement of anger, from the effects, and even
+the remembrance, of the vision.
+
+"If my lord will listen," replied Abdalla, not unrejoiced at the change,
+and willing to confirm the sanity of the prisoner, "he shall hear what
+good blows this rich and very excellent weapon hath this day struck. A
+better never smote infidel or Christian."
+
+"I will hear what thou hast to say," said the novice, with a stern
+accent; "and, wondering what direful calamity shall befall thee, for
+having thus profaned and befouled the sword of a Christian soldier, I
+hope thou wilt tell me of such things as will prove to me that God has
+punished the same, if not upon thy head, yet, at least, upon the heads
+of divers of thy godless companions."
+
+"There are many of the godless, both heathen and Christian, who have
+slept the sleep of death this day," said Abdalla, knitting his brows
+with the ardour of a soldier; "many shall die to-morrow, some the next
+day, but few on the last--for who shall remain to perish? Every day do I
+look down from the pyramid, and hearken to the groans of those who
+destroyed Granada; and every day, though the lamentings be wilder and
+louder, yet are they fewer. Heaven be thanked! a few days more, and not
+a bone shall be left to whiten on the square, that does not speak of
+vengeance for the Alpujarras!"
+
+"Moor!" said the frowning Spaniard, "have a care that thy ferocious and
+very unnatural triumph do not cause me to forget that I am thy prisoner.
+It was, perhaps, proper, that thou shouldst fly from Don Hernan, seeing
+that the slanders of very base caitiffs had prejudiced thee, and left
+thy life in jeopardy; perhaps, also, the necessity to gain the favour of
+Mexicans for thyself and Jacinto, by fighting with them against their
+foes, may, in part, extenuate the sin of such impiety; but I warn thee,
+thou leapest wantonly into superfluous crime, when, instead of mourning
+thy cruel fate, thou rejoicest over the blood thou art shedding."
+
+"Whose fault is it? and who shall account for my crime?" said the Zegri,
+with energy. "I came to these shores against my will; when I landed upon
+the sands of Ulua, my heart was in the peace of sorrow. I besought those
+who held me in unjust bondage, to discharge me with my boy: had they
+done so, then had I left them, and no Spaniard should have mourned for
+his oppression; the wrongs of Granada had not been repaid in Mexico. My
+prayers were met with mockery; the Zegri that hath sat in the seat of
+kings, was doomed to be the bearer of a match-stick; and the boy, whose
+blood runs redder and purer than that in the veins of the proudest
+cavalier of all, was degraded into the service of a menial, in the house
+of the bitterest enemy of his people! What was left for me? To choose
+between slavery and exile, contempt and revenge.--The señor thinks that
+the base Yacub belied me: Yacub spoke the truth. From the moment when I
+perceived I could not escape from the land, then did I know, that God
+had commissioned me to the work of revenge; and I resolved it should be
+mighty. I meditated the flight I have accomplished, the treason I have
+committed, the revenge I have obtained. I saw that I should remain in
+wo, with benighted barbarians; but I saw, also, that I should be afar
+from Spaniards. God be thanked! It was bitter to be parted, for ever,
+from the land of my birth, and the people of my love; but it is goodly
+and pleasant, to see the Castilian perish in misery, and remember
+Granada!"
+
+Throughout the whole of this harangue, Don Amador de Leste preserved a
+countenance of inflexible gravity.
+
+"Sir Zegri," said he, with a sigh, when it was concluded, "I perceive,
+that heaven hath erected a wall between us, to keep us for ever asunder.
+Whether thy bitter hatred of Spaniards be just or not, whether thy
+appetite for revenge be allowable or accurst, still is it apparent,
+that, while thou indulgest the one, and seekest to gratify the other, it
+is impossible I should remain with thee on any terms, except those of
+enmity and defiance; for those whom thou hatest, and dost so bloodily
+destroy, they are my countrymen. I love thy boy, but thee I detest. And
+now, having discovered that thou art of very noble blood, and being
+impelled to punish on thee the very grievous and unpardonable wrongs,
+which thou art doing to my country, I beg thou wilt release me from my
+parole, and fetch hither one of those swords which thou hast rifled from
+Spanish corses, I arming myself with my own weapon, here befouled with
+Spanish blood. We will discharge upon each other, the obligations we are
+under, thou to hate and slay Spaniards, and I to punish the haters and
+slayers of the same; for it is quite impossible I can live longer in
+peace, suffering thee to destroy my friends. Fetch hither, therefore, a
+sword, and let us end this quarrel with the life of one or the other;
+and, to ease thee of any anxiety thou mayest have, in regard to Jacinto,
+I solemnly assure thee, that, if thou fall, I will myself take thy
+place, and remain a father to him to the end of my days."
+
+As the cavalier made this extraordinary proposal, Abdalla surveyed him,
+first with surprise, then with gloomy regret; and when he had finished,
+with a glistening eye. Before Don Amador had yet done speaking, the
+Zegri unbuckled his corslet, and, flinging it on the floor, at the last
+word, said, with mild and reproachful dignity,--
+
+"Behold! thy sword is within reach, and my breast is naked. What hinders
+that thou shouldst not strike me at once? Thou speakest of Jacinto--It
+is enough that thy hand saved him from the blow of thy countryman: at
+that moment, I said, in my heart, though I spoke it not, 'Thou hast
+bought my life.' If thou wilt have it, it is thine. If thou hadst killed
+my father, I could not aim at thine!"
+
+"Of a truth," said the cavalier, moodily, "I should not slay thee out of
+mere anger, but duty: yet I would that thou mightest be prevailed upon
+to assault me, so as to enforce me into rage; for, I say to thee again,
+so long as thy hostile acts continue, I must very violently abhor thee."
+
+"They will not continue long," said Abdalla. "After a few days, there
+will remain in my bosom no feeling but gratitude; and, then, my lord
+shall see, that the fury which has slain all others, has been his own
+security."
+
+"Of this," said Don Amador, "I will have a word to speak with thee anon.
+At present, I am desirous, that thou shouldst relate to me the fate of
+this day's battle, which I am the more anxious to know, since thou hast
+spoken the name of Calavar."
+
+"I am loath to obey thee," said the Zegri, struggling with the fierce
+satisfaction that beset him at the thought, "for it may again excite
+thee to anger."
+
+"Nevertheless, I will listen to thy story, with such composure as I can,
+as to a thing, it may be needful for me to know; after which, I have
+myself a matter of which it is quite essential I should acquaint thee."
+
+Thus commanded, the Moor obeyed; and his eyes sparkled, as he conned
+over in his mind the events of a day so dreadful to the Spaniards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+
+"Yesterday, when thou wert sleeping," said the Zegri, "or lay as one
+that slept----"
+
+"That day, then," muttered Amador, "is a blank in my existence! and
+very grievous it is, to think that so great a space of so short a
+period as life, should be lost in a stony lethargy.--It seems to me,
+that that blow thou gavest me, was somewhat rounder than was
+needful.--Nevertheless, I am not angry, but grateful."
+
+"Yesterday was a day of comparative peace," continued the Zegri. "The
+Spaniards shut themselves in their citadel, preparing for the greater
+exploit of to-day. It was evident to the dullest of the nobles, that Don
+Hernan had cast an evil eye on the temple."
+
+"Did he so?" cried the cavalier. "It was the thought of a good
+Christian: and, methinks, my countrymen had not been judged with so many
+of these present torments, if they had sooner torn down that strong-hold
+of the devil, which is detestable in the eye of heaven."
+
+"To-day, they marched against it," said Abdalla, "with all their force,
+both of Spaniards and Tlascalans; and, I will say for them, that they
+marched well, fought boldly, and revenged their own heavy losses, in the
+blood of many barbarians, as well on the pyramid as in the temple-yard
+and the streets. They came against us, with four such turrets, moving on
+wheels----"
+
+"Is it possible," cried Amador, "that the general was not sufficiently
+warned of the inefficacy of those engines, by the doleful fate of the
+manta, that day, when it was my mishap to be vanquished?--I shall
+remember the death of the ship-master, Gomez, to the end of my
+life.--Twice or thrice, did I long to be with him among the
+fire-worshippers, who must be a very strange people. But the Mexicans
+are very valiant."
+
+"Of a truth, they are," said the Zegri. "I will not detain my lord with
+the account of the battle in the streets, wherein the mantas were again,
+in great part, destroyed; nor will I relate, with what suffering the
+Castilians won their way to the Wall of Serpents, and the temple-yard.
+It was here, that I beheld my lord's kinsman, the knight of Calavar,
+unhorsed, and in the hands of the infidel----"
+
+"Accursed assassin!" cried the neophyte, springing to his feet, "and
+hast thou kept me in bonds, that my knight should perish thus, without
+succour?"
+
+"The foe of Granada did not perish, and he was not without succour,"
+said the Zegri, loftily. "When his steed, slipping on the polished
+stones, with which that yard is paved, fell to the earth, and many
+savage hands were fastened on his body, there was a friend hard by, who
+raised both the knight and charger, and preserved them from
+destruction."
+
+"Give me the name of that most noble friend," cried Don Amador,
+ardently,--"for, I swear, I will reckon this act to him, in my
+gratitude, as the salvation of my own life. Tell me, what true Christian
+was he?"
+
+"One," said Abdalla, calmly, "who hated him as the slayer of his people,
+but remembered that he repented his evil acts with misery and
+distraction,--one, who abhorred him for these deeds of sin, and yet
+loved him, because he was, like his kinsman, the protector of childhood
+and feebleness."
+
+"I doubt not, that _thou_ wert the man," said the cavalier, faltering,
+"and, therefore, I return thee my thanks. But I would have thee know,
+that, whatever blood was improperly shed by my kinsman, was shed by
+accident and not design; for, no man is more incapable of cruelty than
+the noble knight, Don Gabriel. But, this shows me, that thou art really
+of lofty blood; for none but a magnanimous soul can render justice to a
+hated enemy."
+
+"Why should I dwell upon the conflict in the yard?" continued the Moor,
+hastily. "Through the flames of the many chapels, that filled it,--with
+shouts and the roar of muskets,--the Christians, ever victorious, and
+yet ever conquered even by victory, rushed against the steps of the
+pyramid, disregarding the stones tumbled on them from the terraces, the
+darts flung down from the little barbicans or niches in the wall, and
+the flaming logs shot down, endwise, from the steps. Terrace after
+terrace, stair after stair, were won; and the Christians stood, at last,
+on the summit, fighting hand to hand with the four thousand nobles who
+defended it. My lord cannot think, that even these numbers of naked men
+could long withstand a thousand Christians, robed in iron, and
+infuriated by desperation. Score after score were slain, and tumbled
+from the top; the flames burst from the altar of Mexitli,--the priest
+died in the sanctuary, the Tlatoani at the downfallen urns; and, in an
+hour's time, the Spaniards were masters of the pyramid."
+
+"Thanks be to heaven, which fought with them!" cried Amador, devoutly.
+"And thus may the infidel fall!"
+
+"Does not my lord pity the wretches, who die for their country?" said
+the Zegri, reproachfully. "This is not a war of heaven against hell, but
+of tyranny against freedom.--I did see some sights, this day, upon the
+pyramid, which caused me to remember those noble Roman generals, who, in
+ancient times, were wont to devote themselves to death, for the good of
+the state. At the very moment when the condition of the Mexicans was
+most dreadful, when, despairing of the usefulness of longer resistance,
+they rushed frantically upon the Spanish spears, transfixing themselves
+by their own act, or flung themselves from the pyramid, to be dashed to
+pieces below,--at this moment, I beheld, with mine own eyes, two very
+young and noble Tlatoani, to whom I had myself just shown a means of
+escape, rush upon Don Hernan, who fought very valiantly throughout the
+day. They cast away their arms, flung themselves at his feet, as if to
+supplicate for mercy; and having thus thrown the general off his guard,
+they seized him, on a sudden, in their arms, and hurried him to the edge
+of the terrace. From that dizzy brink they strove to drag him, willing,
+themselves, to die dreadfully, so that the great enemy of Tenochtitlan
+should fall with them. But the strength of boys yielded to the iron
+grasp of the Christian; and, flinging them from him like drops of water,
+or gouts of blood from his wounded hand, he beheld them fall miserably
+to the earth,--dead, but not yet avenged."
+
+"Thanks be to God again!" cried the cavalier, warming with excitement;
+"for, though these youths met their death very bravely, they were guilty
+of a most vile treachery; for which, death was but a just punishment.
+And so, my true and excellent friends did win this battle? By heaven! it
+galls me to the marrow, to think that I lie here idle, while such things
+are doing around me!"
+
+"They won the temple top," said Abdalla, with a laugh of scorn, "that
+they might look down from that height, and behold themselves surrounded
+by an hundred thousand men, who were busy slaying their Tlascalan
+slaves, and waiting for the masters. Very plainly did I hear their cries
+of despair at that sight; and these were goodly music. For myself, I
+escaped, as did some few others, by dropping from terrace to terrace,
+upon the dead bodies, which, being tumbled, in great numbers, from the
+top, lay, in some places, in such heaps along the galleries, as greatly
+to lessen the dangers of a fall. Well were the Mexicans revenged for
+this slaughter," continued the Moor, his eyes glittering with ferocious
+transport, "when the Spaniards descended, to cut their way to the
+quarters, encumbered with captive priests, and such provisions as they
+had gathered in the chapels. How many fell in the squares and streets,
+how many were suffocated in the canals,--how few were able to pierce
+through the myriads that invested the palace, (for, all this time, had
+there been thousands assailing the weak garrison, and tearing down the
+court-yard wall)--why should I speak of these? It is enough, that the
+gain of the pyramid,--lost as soon as gained,--cost them irreparable wo;
+and that the wounded fugitives (for the Mexican glass drank of the blood
+of all,) now lie in their desolate house, their court-walls prostrate,
+the buttresses of their palace cracked by fire, their steeds unfed and
+starving, their ammunition expended--hopeless and helpless, calling to
+the leaders who cannot relieve, the saints who will not hear, and
+waiting only for death. Death then! for it cometh; death! for it is
+inevitable; death! for it is just; and death! for it repays the wrongs
+of Granada!"
+
+As the triumphing Moor concluded his fiery oration, the cavalier, whose
+excitement was raised to the last pitch, and whose indignation and
+remorse were alike kindled by a full knowledge of the condition of his
+countrymen, cried aloud,--
+
+"Hark thee, sir Moor! with these friends, thus reduced to extremity and
+despairing, it is needful I should straightway join myself, to endure
+what they endure, to suffer as they suffer, to die as they die. I refuse
+to save my life, when the forfeit of it to an honourable purpose, may
+relieve them of their distresses. I repent me of the gage which I gave
+thee, I revoke my promise of captivity, and am, therefore, free to make
+my escape; which I hereby attempt,--peacefully if I can,--but warning
+thee, if thou oppose, it shall be at the peril of thy life!"
+
+So saying, the cavalier snatched up the sword from the table, and sprang
+towards the door. So quickly, indeed, did he act, and so much did he
+take his jailer by surprise, that he had nearly arrived at the curtain,
+before Abdalla had time to intercept him. His brain was in a ferment of
+passion, and the various excitements of the evening had inflamed him
+again into fever; so, that, in the fury of the moment, when the Zegri
+leaped before him, endeavouring to catch him in his arms, he forgot
+every thing but his purpose, and the necessity of escaping. He caught
+the Moor by the throat, and struggling violently, raised the crimson
+steel to strike. The life of Abdalla seemed not to have a moment's
+purchase,--the weapon was already descending on his naked head,
+when,--at that very instant,--the curtain was drawn from the door, and
+dimly, but yet beyond all shadow of doubt, in the light of the torch,
+the cavalier beheld the pale visage of the maid of Almeria, shining over
+the shoulders of the Moor.
+
+The sword fell from his hand, and his whole frame shook, as, with wild
+eyes, he returned the gaze of the vision. The Zegri, amazed, yet not
+doubting that this sudden change was the mere revolution of delirium,
+took instant advantage of it, snatched the leathern strap from the lute
+of Jacinto; and when the curtain, falling again, had concealed the
+spectral countenance, the arms of the cavalier were bound tightly behind
+him. This was a superfluous caution. His strength had been supplied by
+fury, and the instant that this had subsided, the exhaustion of two
+days' illness returned; and had not his spirits been otherwise unmanned,
+he would now have been as a boy in the hands of Abdalla.
+
+The Moor conducted him to the couch, on which he suffered himself to be
+placed without opposition, and without speaking a word. His whole
+faculties seemed lost in a sudden and profound stupor; and Abdalla began
+to fear that, in his prisoner, he had found, in more respects than one,
+a true representative of his kinsman, Don Gabriel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+
+A certain degree of monotony prevails among all the vicissitudes of
+life, and even the most exciting events fail, after a time, to interest.
+A paucity of incidents will not much sooner disgust us with the pages of
+history, than the most abundant stores of plots and battles, triumphs
+and defeats, if too liberally dispensed;--for these are composed of the
+same elements, and have, on the whole, the same wearisome identity of
+character. For this reason, though the many battles fought in the
+streets of Mexico, during the seven days which intervened betwixt the
+second coming and the second departure of Cortes, have something in them
+both of interest and novelty, we have not dared to recount them in full,
+nor, indeed, to mention all of them; being satisfied to touch only
+such, and, in truth, only such parts of such, as, in themselves, have
+each some peculiar variety of characteristic. We pass by, with a word,
+the increased sufferings of the Christians,--their murmurs and
+lamentations,--their despair and frenzy.
+
+The day that followed after the fatal victory of the pyramid, brought
+its battles like others. That day it became apparent that the last fibre
+which bound hope to the palace wall, was about snapping--it was known to
+all, that the Indian monarch was expiring. The prediction of Botello had
+made all acquainted with the day on which a retreat might be
+accomplished. That day was drawing nigh; but the impatience of the
+soldiers, and the anxiety of the officers to prepare, or, at least, to
+reconnoitre, the path of retreat, again drove them from their quarters.
+A weak, but well chosen and trusty garrison was left in charge of the
+palace; while Don Hernan, with all the forces that could be spared of
+his reduced army, sallied from the court-yard, and fought his way to the
+dike of Iztapalapan.
+
+In this exploit, new difficulties were to be overcome, and new proofs
+were exhibited of the sagacity and determination of the barbarians.
+Besides the obstacles offered by the ditches, robbed of their bridges,
+the Mexicans had heaped together across the streets, the fragments of
+their demolished houses, thus forming barriers, which were not passed
+without the greatest labour and suffering. Nevertheless, the Spaniards
+persevered, and not only gained the causeway, but approached nigh to
+Iztapalapan, before a Tlascalan messenger, creeping in disguise through
+the crowds of enemies, recalled them to the palace, which was furiously
+assailed, and in imminent danger of being carried by storm.
+
+It is not to be supposed, that this attempt on the great dike, and the
+return, were effected without the most bloody opposition. The lake
+suddenly swarmed with canoes full of fighting men, and when Don Hernan
+again turned his face towards Tenochtitlan, he beheld the causeway
+covered with warriors, who, besides disputing his passage with
+unappeasable rage, broke, as well as they could, the bridges over the
+sluices, seven in number, wherein were mingled the floods of Chalco and
+Tezcuco. His valour, however, or his good fortune, prevailed; and by
+night-fall he reached the square of Axajacatl, and fell with renewed
+fury upon the savages who still struggled with the garrison. When he had
+carved his way through them, and had directed the exertions of his
+united forces against the besiegers, who still raved, like wolves,
+around him, he gave some thought to those companions, whose fate it had
+been, to lay their bodies on the causeway, or to take their rest, with
+such exequies as could be rendered in the lamentations of men expecting
+each instant to share their fate, under the salt bosom of Tezcuco.
+
+It became known, that, among these unhappy victims, was the knight of
+Calavar,--but how slain, or where entombed, no one could relate. From
+the day of the loss of his kinsman, he had been reckoned by all,
+entirely insane. He held communion with none, not even his attendants;
+but casting aside his abstraction, and resuming his armour, he was
+present in every conflict which ensued, fighting with an ardour, fury,
+and recklessness, as astonishing as they were maniacal. All that was
+remembered of his fate, this day, was, that, when at the farthest part
+of the causeway the trumpets were ordered to sound a retreat, he was
+seen, without attendants, for they were wedged fast in the melée,
+dashing onwards amid the dusky crowds that came rushing upon the front
+from the suburbs of Iztapalapan. Cortes had, himself, called to the
+knight to return, and not doubting that he would extricate himself
+without aid, had then given all his attention to the Mexicans attacking
+on the rear. This was known; it was known also that Don Gabriel had not
+returned: beyond this, all was mystery and gloom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+
+Two hours after night-fall, and while the Spaniards were still engaged
+in close battle with the besiegers, who, this night, seemed as if their
+rage was never to be appeased, the cavalier Don Amador de Leste rested
+in his chamber, (the Moorish boy sitting dejected at his feet,) now
+starting up with cries of grief and impatience, as the continued
+explosions of artillery admonished him of the straits of his friends,
+and now, as these seemed to die away and be followed by silence, giving
+his mind to other not less exciting thoughts, and questioning the page
+of the events of the past day.
+
+"Not now, not now,--ask me not _now_!" replied the page, with great
+emotion to one of his demands; "for now can I think of naught but my
+father. It is not his custom to leave me so long by night, even when the
+battle continues. Heaven protect him! for at any moment, he may die; and
+what then am I, in this land, and among this people? Would to heaven we
+had perished in Spain,--nay, in Barbary,--in the sea along with our
+friends; for, then, might we have died together!"
+
+"Give not way to this passion," said the cavalier, with an attempt at
+consolation, which drove not the gloom from his own countenance; "for
+thou knowest, that, whatever evil may happen to Abdalla, I will myself
+befriend thee."
+
+"My father is slain!" cried Jacinto, wringing his hands, "or long since
+would he have been with us."
+
+"If this be the case," said Amador, with grave benevolence, "and I will
+not deny that Abdalla doth keep his life in constant jeopardy, it
+plainly shows, that I am bound to make a father's effort to protect
+thee, and thou to follow my counsels. Hark!" he exclaimed, as a furious
+cannonade, seemingly of all the pieces shot off together, brought its
+roar and its tremor to his prison-house,--"dost thou not hear how
+ferocious is the combat, at this moment? Know, Jacinto, that every
+explosion seems like a petard fastened to and bursting upon mine own
+bosom,--so very great are the shock and pang of mind with which, at such
+time, I bethink me of the condition of my countrymen. Much longer I
+cannot endure my captivity; I have resolved that it shall end, even, if
+that be needful, by the breach of my solemn vow; for, I am persuaded,
+the dishonour and compunction which must follow upon that, will be but
+light, compared with the great ignominy of my present inactivity, and
+the unspeakable remorse which rends my vitals, while submitting to it.
+But I can by no means escape, while thou art left alone to be my jailer;
+if I escape by force of arms, it shall be when thy father is here to
+oppose me. I counsel thee, however, as thinking, with thee, that Abdalla
+may be dead----"
+
+Here Jacinto burst into the most bitter lamentations.
+
+"Be not thus afflicted; for I speak to thee only of a possibility which
+may be feared, and not of a certainty to be mourned. What I mean is,
+that this possibility should be enough to release thee, as well as
+myself, from this house; for if Abdalla be really deceased, it must be
+evident to thee, nothing could be more foolish, and even dangerous, than
+to remain in it alone; seeing that, if we be not found out and murdered
+by the Mexicans, we must surely expect to be starved. Guided by the
+sounds of battle, we can easily find our way to the palace; and perhaps,
+by wrapping ourselves in some of these cotton curtains, we may make our
+way through the herds of Mexicans, without notice, as being mistaken for
+some of their fellow-combatants. Once arrived within earshot of the
+palace, I have no fear but that we shall be very safe; and I pledge my
+vow to thee, that I will so faithfully guard thee on the way, that no
+weapon shall strike thee, that has not first pierced my own bosom."
+
+The page clasped his hands, and regarded his master with looks in which
+affection struggled with despair.
+
+"But if my father should live--oh, if my father should live! and
+returning to this desolate house, should find that his child has
+deserted him!"
+
+"If he live," said the cavalier, "then shall he know, that thou hast
+taken the only step to preserve him from destruction, both temporal and
+eternal. I will not rest, till I have procured for him a free pardon; I
+will hold thee as a hostage, which, in addition to the assurance of
+forgiveness, will speedily bring him into the garrison: for, knowing his
+love to thee, I know he cannot live without thee. Besides, I will
+obtain, for I will demand it, permission for him to return with thee to
+Spain; and if my knight consent, we will depart together; for now I am
+convinced that heaven doth fight against us, even to upholding the
+godless heathen. Let us therefore depart, making our trust in God, who
+will cover us, this night, as with shields, to protect our weakness."
+
+"Alas, alas!" cried the boy, faltering with grief and fear, "my lord is
+sick and wounded, feeble and helpless."
+
+"That I have not all the vigour, which, a few days since, was mine,"
+said the cavalier, snatching up his sword, and brandishing it, once or
+twice, in the air, as if to make trial of his strength, "I cannot deny.
+Nevertheless, I am stronger than yesterday; and besides, while placing
+great reliance on the protection of heaven, I shall trust less to my
+weapon than to such disguises as it may be in our power to adopt. With
+these figured curtains wrapped about us, and, if there be any feathers
+about the house, a bunch or two tied to our heads, I have no doubt, we
+can delude the Mexican fighting men, and, in the tumult of battle, pass
+through their ranks, entirely unmolested."
+
+While the page hesitated and wept, visibly struggling between his wishes
+and his fears, there occurred a sudden interruption in the cannonade;
+and, in the dead silence that followed, both heard the sound of rapid
+footsteps approaching the door, accompanied by smothered groans.
+
+The page started--In an instant, the steps were heard in the passage,
+followed by a heavy sound, as of a man falling upon the floor.
+
+"Oh God! my father! my poor father!" cried Jacinto, springing to the
+door.
+
+He was arrested by the arm of the neophyte, who plainly distinguished,
+along with the groans that came from the passage, a noise as if the
+sufferer were struggling to his feet; and in a moment after, as he
+pushed aside the curtain, to go out himself, the slave Ayub, covered
+with blood, rushed by him into the apartment, and again fell prostrate.
+
+"My father, Ayub! my father?" cried the page, kneeling at his side.
+
+"Allah il Allah! praised be God, for now I am safe!" said the Morisco,
+raising on his arm, and, though his whole frame shook as in the ague of
+death, regarding the pair with the greatest exultation. "I thought they
+had shot me through the liver with a bullet; but Allah be praised! 'twas
+naught but an arrow. Help me up, noble señor--Eh? ay? Trim the taper a
+little, and give me a morsel of drink."
+
+"Thou sayest naught of my father, Ayub?" said Jacinto, eagerly and yet
+with mortal fear,--for he knew by the gesture of Don Amador, as he
+ceased his unavailing attempt to lift the wounded man, but more by the
+countenance of Ayub himself, that he was a dying man.
+
+"How can I speak without light?" cried the Moor, with a sort of chuckle.
+"Trim the torch, trim the torch, and let me see where these boltheads be
+rankling.--Praise be to Allah, for I thought myself a dead man!"
+
+"Wilt thou not speak to me of my father?" exclaimed Jacinto, in agony.
+
+"A brave night! a brave night!" muttered Ayub, fumbling at his
+garments--"Valiant unbelievers!--Praised be God--The Wali----"
+
+"Ay, the Wali! the Wali, thy master!" cried Jacinto, his voice dwindling
+to a hoarse and terrified whisper;--"my father, thy master, Ayub?"
+
+"The Wali----Hah!" exclaimed the unbeliever, roused by the distant
+explosions;--"At it yet, brave pagans? Roar, cannon! Shout, infidel!
+shout and whistle--shout, whistle, and kill!--Save me the Wali, save me
+the Wali!"
+
+"Oh heaven, Ayub!--thou sayest nothing of him,--of my father!"
+
+"They took him a prisoner--but we'll have him again!--Lelilee!
+Lelilee!--Strike fast, pagan!--A brave day for Granada!"
+
+At these words, Jacinto seemed not less like to die than the fugitive.
+But as he neither fell to the floor, nor screamed, Don Amador still held
+fast to Ayub, who was now struggling in the most fearful convulsions,
+and yet, strange to hear, still uttering broken expressions of joy.
+
+"A prisoner, a prisoner!--A little drink, for the sake of Allah!" he
+cried, incoherently. "Ha, ha! one runs not so far with a bullet in the
+liver!--Now they are at it! now they are killing the great señores!
+now, they murder 'em!--Great joy! a great sight for a Moor!
+great--great--great revenge!--Many days agone--Great--great revenge!
+says the Wali--They killed my mother--Great revenge--great--great--Oho!
+great revenge for Granada!"
+
+With these accents on his lips, mingled with sounds of laughter, and
+horrid contortions of countenance, the infidel Moor, (for such was
+Ayub,) sprang suddenly to his knees; and flinging abroad his arms, and
+uttering a yell of agony, fell back instantly upon the floor, quivered a
+moment, and then lay a disfigured corse.
+
+"Dost thou see, Jacinto!" said Don Amador, taking the shivering boy by
+the arm. "Ayub is dead, and thy father a prisoner. If thou wilt save the
+life of Abdalla, the Wali, (I never before knew that Abdalla, though
+noble, was of this dignity--but this shall help me to plead for him;)
+get thyself instantly in readiness, and let us begone."
+
+The page turned a tearless countenance on his patron, and replied, with
+a tranquillity that seemed to come from desperation,--
+
+"I will go with my lord, for I have no friend now but him,--I will go
+with my lord, to look upon my father's dead body; for I know the
+Spaniards will not spare his life a moment,--I will go with my
+lord,--and would that I had gone sooner! for now, it is too late."
+
+As Jacinto pronounced these words, he began to weep anew, though
+hearkening passively to the instructions of the cavalier.
+
+"If thou canst find me any plumes," said Amador, "fetch them to me
+straight; and if thou hast about the house, any Mexican garment, which
+thou canst wear, haste thou to don it. As for myself, I will first arm,
+and then robe me in the tunic of this poor dead misbeliever. Be of good
+heart, I charge thee--God will protect us."
+
+"There are robes enough, both for my lord and me," said the sobbing
+boy,--"and shrouds too--It is too late.--But I can die with my lord!"
+
+"Why, that is spoken with more valour than I thought thou hadst," said
+the cavalier. "But bring me the robes, without thinking of thy shrouds;
+and be very quick, for I must have thee to buckle some of these straps
+of my jambeux."
+
+The page took up a little taper that lay near the flambeau, and,
+shuddering as he passed by the body, instantly departed on his errand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+
+When the boy returned, bearing a bundle of garments, and two or three
+such crests as were worn by the nobler Mexicans, in time of war, the
+cavalier had more than half-armed himself. He sighed, as he flung the
+habergeon over his shoulders, to find the many rents made among the
+Flemish links by the Mexican glass; but he sighed more, when he
+discovered how greatly his bodily powers were enfeebled, by feeling,
+almost for the first time in his life, the oppressive weight of the
+mail. Nevertheless, the cannon still roared at the palace, every moment
+was expediting the doom of Abdalla, perhaps, also, that of his friends
+and kinsman; and he seized upon cuish and greave, gauntlet and helm,
+with activity and eagerness.
+
+"What is that huge mantle thou placest upon the table?" he demanded of
+the page, without relaxing in his efforts.
+
+"A _tilmatli_, or Indian cloak, large enough to hide my lord's armour,"
+replied Jacinto, hurriedly. "If the Mexicans should see the gleaming of
+but a single link, death on the spot, or, still more horrid, on the
+pyramid, will be the fate of my lord."
+
+"Now that I know, that such would be the consequence of captivity," said
+the cavalier, fiercely, "I swear to God and St. John, I will die
+fighting--that is, if it please heaven, that I shall be struck no more
+blows that overpower without killing."
+
+"And this great penacho," said the boy, "I will tie to my lord's crest,
+so that it shall entirely veil the helmet. I have fastened some of the
+red tufts among the feathers, whereby the pagans may think my lord is a
+war-chief, and noble, if they should see them."
+
+"Of all boys that I have ever yet seen, thou art by far the shrewdest
+and wisest," said Don Amador with complacency, but without ceasing a
+moment to do on his armour, "What disguise hast thou provided for
+thyself?"
+
+"A garment," said Jacinto, "which, being flung about my body and hooded
+over my head, will cause the Mexicans to think me a woman devoted to the
+service of one of their gods."
+
+"A most damnable delusion," said the novice, "and I would thou hadst
+fallen upon some other device. But, perhaps, thou hadst no choice; and,
+now that I think of it, thy small stature, and very smooth and handsome
+visage, will, perhaps, suit this disguise better than another. If there
+be any sin in assuming it, heaven will allow the necessity, and forgive
+the commission. Quick, and don it,--for I would have thee tighten these
+greave-straps, before I pull on my boots."
+
+"It will but encumber me: I will fling it over me in the passage," said
+Jacinto, kneeling, and endeavouring, with an unsteady hand, to perform
+the office required of him.
+
+"Be of good heart, I charge thee, and tremble not. Thou art unused to
+this service; but think not, though thou beest the son of a Moorish
+Wali, of the noblest blood, that this duty can dishonour thee. I have
+performed it myself, times without number, to my good knight, Don
+Gabriel. I would thou wert somewhat stronger, though. Fear not to pull
+with all thy strength. I have shrunk somewhat with the fever,--greatly
+to the disparagement of my leg,--and the strap is of the stiffest."
+
+"It is stiffened with my lord's blood!" said the page, trembling more,
+but succeeding, at last, in securing it. Then rising, and knotting a
+broad and shadowy plume over his patron's helmet, so as, in a great
+measure, to conceal the gleaming iron, he assisted to fasten it. There
+remained nothing, then, for the cavalier, but to arrange the tilmatli
+about his person; a feat, in which, with the aid of the page, he
+succeeded so well, as quite to hide his martial equipments, without yet
+depriving him of the power, in case of necessity, of using the sword,
+which he held naked in his hand.
+
+"Thy woman's weeds! Why dost thou hesitate, Jacinto?" he cried,
+prepared, and now eager to make his departure. "Thou thinkest of thy
+lute? By my faith, I shall be loath thou shouldst lose it, for much good
+has it done, and yet may do, to Don Gabriel. I will bear it under my
+arm."
+
+"Think not of the lute," said Jacinto, sorrowfully. "What need have we
+now of music? It will but overburden my lord, whose hands should be
+free; and in mine, it would only serve to expose the deception of my
+apparel."
+
+"Cast it aside, then; and now, in God's name, let us depart!"
+
+Jacinto stepped, faltering, up to the body of Ayub, lying stiff and
+cold, the countenance, illuminated by the slanting torch-light, still
+mingling a grin of exultation with the contortion of the death-agony. A
+tear dropped upon the swarthy cheek, and a deep sob burst from the bosom
+of Jacinto, when he gazed his last upon the dead Morisco.
+
+"Why dost thou tarry to weep?" said Amador, impatiently.--"Ayub was an
+infidel."
+
+"My lord does not know how those who have not many friends, can value
+the few," said the page. "This man was faithful to my father; and
+therefore do I lament him, as one whose loss is a sore misfortune; and,
+infidel though he were, yet was he of the faith of my ancestors."
+
+"Remember, however, that, while thou weepest over a dead friend of
+Abdalla, thou deprivest him of the services of a living one."
+
+Thus rebuked, Jacinto moved rapidly into the passage, and flinging, as
+he went, the garment he held about his person, stepped with the cavalier
+into the street.
+
+A thick scud, threatening rain, careered over the heaven, and the smoke
+of cannon, mingling with the mists of the lake, covered the city with a
+gloom so deep, that Don Amador could not easily distinguish the
+peculiar habiliments of his companion. Nevertheless, he could well
+believe that his appearance was that of an Indian maiden. He bade
+Jacinto to take him by the hand, adding an injunction, under all
+circumstances that might arise, to maintain his grasp. To this, Jacinto
+answered,--
+
+"Let it not be so,--at least, not until we are so environed, as to be in
+danger of separating. My lord must now consent to be guided by me." (He
+spoke with singular coolness, as if restored, by the urgency of the
+occasion, to all that self-command and discretion, which had so often
+excited the wonder of his patron.) "I will walk a little before; and if
+the people should approach, let my lord take no notice, but follow
+calmly in my steps, as though he were a great noble, disdaining to look
+upon his inferiors. Be not amazed at what may happen, and, especially,
+do not speak a word until close by the Spaniards."
+
+"Dost thou mean," said the cavalier, suddenly struck with the memory of
+the vision, not yet accounted for by the page,--"dost thou mean to
+practise any arts of magic? for if so----"
+
+"I beseech my lord not to speak," said the boy, with a hurried voice;
+"for, if a word be heard, neither valour nor magic can save us from
+destruction. By-and-by, my lord shall see the wisdom of this counsel;
+and all that is strange in its consequences, shall be explained to him."
+
+Thus speaking, Jacinto strode forwards, and Don Amador, wondering, yet
+yielding to his instructions, followed in silence.
+
+The cannon still roared at the palace, and the shouts of the infuriated
+combatants were plainly heard, in the intervals of the discharges; so
+that, as the cavalier had hinted, there could be no difficulty in
+determining their path. Nevertheless, it appeared to him, that Jacinto
+walked forwards with the boldness and certainty of one familiar with the
+streets he was treading.
+
+For a time, their course lay through a street entirely deserted; but,
+by-and-by, passing into one of greater magnitude, they beheld shadowy
+masses, now of single figures, now of groups, darting about, many of
+them with lights, as if flying, some from the scene of combat, and
+others, like themselves, approaching it. It was apparent that this
+street was one of the four great avenues leading to the square of
+Axajacatl; for no sooner had the two Christians stepped upon it, than
+the sounds of conflict came to them with tenfold loudness; and they
+could behold, ever and anon, as the deadly discharges burst from the
+artillery, the flames flashing luridly up through the mists, like the
+jets of a distant volcano.
+
+With the consciousness that he now trod a principal street, Don Amador
+became aware that he was, of a certainty, advancing full upon the mouth
+of, at least, one piece of ordnance; and, as Jacinto paused suddenly, as
+if dismayed at his peril, (for at that moment a ruddy flame shot out of
+the mist, and a falconet bellowed down the street,) he approached the
+boy, and said,--
+
+"For thy sake, Jacinto,--(it does not become me to say for my own;
+though I confess some repugnance to advance thus on the cannon of my
+friends,)--I should wish thou couldst find some other path, not so much
+exposed to be raked as this."
+
+"Speak not,--we have no choice," muttered the boy. "But God be thanked!
+the bullet that strikes my lord, will first pass through my own body."
+
+This little expression of devotion was pronounced with an earnestness
+that touched the heart of the cavalier; and he was about to utter his
+satisfaction, when a gesture of Jacinto, who immediately began to resume
+his pace, warned him into silence. The usefulness of the caution was
+soon made manifest; for two or three Mexicans suddenly brushed by,
+though without seeming to notice them. An instant after, there passed
+several groups, bearing wounded men in their arms; and, by-and-by, while
+every moment seemed to surround them yet more with isolated
+individuals, there came a party in some numbers, uttering lamentations,
+as if over the body of a great noble. Several of these bore torches in
+their hands, wherewith they were enabled to descry the pair; and Don
+Amador's heart beat quick, as he saw three or four detach themselves
+from the group, and run forwards, as if to make sure of a prey. He
+grasped at his weapon, invoked his saint, and moved quickly up to
+Jacinto, to give him what protection he could. But, at the very moment
+when he feared the worst, he was amazed to behold the barbarians come to
+a dead halt, and, at the waving of Jacinto's hand, part from before him
+with countenances of reverence and fear. The same remarkable change was
+observed in those who composed the party bearing the corse, with the
+addition of new marks of homage; for, leaving the body in the hands of a
+few, they seemed about to follow the page in a tumultuous procession,
+until he turned round, waving his hand again; at which gesture, nearly
+all immediately fell on their knees, and so remained until he passed.
+All this time, the wondering cavalier was conscious that he was himself
+unregarded.
+
+Little by little, while the screams and cannon-shots grew louder at each
+step, Don Amador perceived that the groups began to grow into crowds,
+and then into dense masses, every moment; while, every moment, also, it
+became still more apparent, that his guide exercised some powerful,
+though, to him, inscrutable, influence, over the mob; for, no sooner did
+their torches reveal his figure, than all were straightway seized with
+admiration, falling upon their knees, or returning on their path, and
+following him towards the battle.
+
+The gestures of Jacinto served no longer to repel them; and in a few
+moments there were hundreds of men, their numbers increasing at each
+step, who pressed after him eagerly, though reverentially,--uttering, at
+first, low murmurs, and then, at last, shouts of joy and triumph. These
+reaching the ears and drawing the attention of others in front, they, in
+turn, added their respect to the homage of the rest.
+
+However surprising, and, indeed, confounding, this notice, and these
+salutations, to Don Amador, they were far from agreeable; for the train
+followed so close upon his heels, that he dreaded, every moment, lest
+some derangement of his mantle or plumes might expose to their gaze the
+hidden ensigns of a Christian. Greatly was he rejoiced, therefore, when
+the steady and persevering advance of the page had carried him so deeply
+into the crowd, that it was scarcely practicable for more than one or
+two individuals, at a time, to look upon him, and quite impossible that
+the noisy train should follow. He ceased, therefore, to lament his
+proximity to the cannon-mouths, which still, at intervals, flung death
+among the besiegers; for he thought that in that alone there was safety.
+His desire, in this particular, was soon gratified; for he was, at last,
+wedged, with the page, among a mass of men so dense and so disordered,
+that he no longer feared a scrutiny. He was in sight of the palace, his
+foot planted upon the square, and but a few paces separated from his
+friends and his knight.
+
+In the flash of the arquebuses, but more particularly in the fiendish
+glare of the cannon, when disemboguing their contents upon the
+barbarians, he beheld the terraces covered with his countrymen,
+resisting as they could, and with every shot from the musket, every bolt
+from the arbalist, adding a life to the reckoning of their revenge, and
+yet fainting with fatigue over a slaughter which had no end. The square
+was filled with men, as with a sea, and when the fiery flashes of the
+ordnance lit it up as with a momentary conflagration, the commotion
+following upon each, made him think of those surges of fire which roll
+in the crater of a volcano, and of the billows of blood that dash upon
+the shores of hell. A more infernal spectacle could not, indeed, have
+been imagined; and when the harsh yells of the pagan myriads were
+added, the tophet was complete, and man appeared,--as he yet
+appears,--the destroyer and the demoniac.
+
+This spectacle, however horrible it might have been to one accustomed to
+look upon man as the image of his maker, and the blow struck at the life
+of man, as a stroke aimed at the face of God, had the effect to stir the
+blood of Don Amador de Leste to such a degree, that, had he not been
+checked by the cold hand and the deadly pale visage of his companion, he
+would have followed the impulse of his valour, uncovered his weapon,
+and, shouting a war-cry, dashed at once upon the throat of the nearest
+infidel. The look of Jacinto recalled him to his senses; he made him a
+signal to clutch upon his mantle and follow, and then plunged again into
+the gory crowd.
+
+The tempest, both physical and mental, which beset all that rout of
+pagans, reduced the intelligence of each to but two objects of
+thought,--his enemy and himself. Not one turned to wonder or observe,
+when the strong shoulders--strong from excitement--of the cavalier
+thrust him aside, or the hard touch of an iron-cased elbow crushed into
+his bosom; nor, perhaps, was a look cast upon the effeminate figure,
+that seemed a girl, at the back of this impetuous stranger. Thus, then,
+unresisted and disregarded, the cavalier made his way, step by step,
+taking advantage of every moment when the barbarians gave way before an
+explosion of artillery, or a charge of the garrison,--hoping, at each
+effort, to issue upon the open space betwixt the besiegers and the
+besieged, and, at each, arrested by a denser crowd,--speaking words of
+encouragement to the horror-struck page, for well he knew he might speak
+without fear in such a din,--and, feeling, at each moment, his strength
+melting away, like burning wax, under the prolonged exertion. He toiled
+for his life, for the life of the boy, perhaps for the life of Don
+Gabriel; but human nature could not sustain the struggle much longer.
+Despair came to his heart, for he knew not how far he stood from the
+palace wall, and felt that he could labour no more. His eye darkened, as
+he looked back to Jacinto,--the boy was swooning where he stood.
+
+"God be merciful to us both! But, at least, thou shalt die in my arms,
+poor boy!" he muttered, making one more effort, and raising the page
+from the earth. "God be merciful to us,--but especially to this child,
+for he is sinless, and, I fear me, fatherless."
+
+At this moment, a dreadful scream burst from the lips of all around the
+novice, and immediately he felt himself borne back by the barbarians as
+they recoiled, seemingly, from a charge of cavalry. The thought was
+hope, and hope again renewed his strength. He planted his feet firmly on
+the earth, and with his elbow and shoulder dashed aside the fleeing
+pagans, pressed the senseless boy to his heart, raised his voice in a
+shout, and the next moment stood free from the herd, ten feet from the
+muzzle of a cannon, from which the Mexicans had been recoiling. His eye
+travelled along the tube;--the magician Botello stood on the broken wall
+at its side, and the linstock he held in his hand was descending to the
+vent.
+
+"For the love of God, hold!" shouted the cavalier, "or you will kill
+Christian men!"
+
+The match fell to the earth, and the cavalier sprang forward. But if his
+voice had reached the ears of friends, it had not escaped the organs of
+foes. A dozen savages, forgetful of their fears, sprang instantly
+towards him, endeavouring to lay hold upon him. A back-handed blow of
+his weapon loosed the grasp of the most daring, and the hands of others
+parted along with the flimsy disguise of Jacinto. He left this in their
+grasp, tottered forward, and the next moment, as the cannon belched
+forth its death upon the pursuing herds, stood in the court-yard of the
+palace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+
+As the cavalier sprang among his countrymen almost fainting with
+exhaustion, he loosened, with as much discretion as dexterity, the knot
+of the tilmatli, and dropped it to the earth, so that he might not be
+mistaken for a foe. The sudden gleam of his armour, and the sight of his
+wan visage, struck all those who had rushed against him with horror.
+Among the foremost of all, was the man-at-arms Lazaro, who no sooner
+perceived that he had raised his trusty espada against what he doubted
+not was the spectre of the novice, than he fell upon his knees, yelling
+aloud,
+
+"Jesu Maria! my master! my master's ghost!" with other such exclamations
+of terror.
+
+At this moment, the page revived in the arms of his patron, but only to
+add to the cry of Lazaro a shriek so wild and heart-piercing, that it
+drove all other sounds from the ears of Don Amador. The cavalier
+observed the cause of this cry, and again his eye lighted up with the
+fires of passion. A group of soldiers, agitated by some tumult, which
+had no part in the conflict around, stood against the palace wall, under
+a casement, from which was projected a bundle of partisans. Round this
+extempore gibbet was fixed a rope, one end of which being pulled at by
+those below, the cavalier beheld, shooting up above the heads of the
+mass, a human being, to all appearance, bound hand and foot; and in the
+blackened and horribly convulsed countenance of the sufferer, he
+perceived the features of Abdalla, the Wali.
+
+With a bound, that carried him at once into their midst, and with a
+rapidity that prevented opposition he rushed up to the wall, and before
+the Morisco was elevated above his reach, struck the halter with his
+weapon. The Zegri fell to the earth;--the executioners looked upon the
+visage of his bold preserver, and being persuaded, like Lazaro, that the
+very ghastly apparition before them was nothing less than the ghost of
+an hidalgo, universally reckoned dead, they recoiled in affright. Before
+they had recovered from their confusion, the culprit rose to his feet,
+glared a moment on the cavalier, and then springing away, was instantly
+lost among the combatants. A wild and exulting cry of "Moro! Moro!
+Tlatoani Moro!" rose among the barbarians; and the Spaniards knew that
+their prey was beyond pursuit.
+
+"Santos santísimos! Holy Mother of heaven! grace upon all, and Amen! if
+thou beest a living creature, speak,--or I will smite thee for a devil!"
+
+These words came from the lips of Alvarado, who had himself commanded
+the body of hangmen, and who now, though his teeth chattered with
+terror, advanced his rapier towards the bosom of his late companion. As
+he gazed and menaced, Don Amador, yielding, at last, to the consequences
+of labours altogether above his enfeebled powers, sunk swooning to the
+earth; and Jacinto, rushing from the crowd, flung himself upon his body.
+
+"Viva! praise God, and let the cry go round; for we have saved the noble
+De Leste!" shouted Don Pedro, with a voice of joy, raising the senseless
+cavalier. "Now shall ye hear from his own mouth, ye caitiffs that have
+belied me, that I played not the foul companion. Viva! I swear it
+rejoices me to behold thee!--Why, thou little rascal traitor, art thou
+here, too! It was God's will thy vagabond father should purchase me my
+brother; for which reason, I am not incensed he has escaped me. One day
+is as good as another for hanging.--How now, my noble friend! art thou
+hurt beyond speaking! God's lid! but I would hug thee, if thou didst not
+look so dismal!"
+
+All this time, the neophyte surveyed the astounded visages around him
+with a bewildered eye; and, doubtless, his obtuse senses could not, at
+that moment of clamour, detect the accents of Don Pedro.
+
+"Tetragrammaton! did I not tell thee the truth?" cried the harsh voice
+of Botello.
+
+"Master! dear master!" exclaimed Lazaro, as he embraced the knees of the
+novice.
+
+"Thanks be to God! the noble señor has escaped!" shouted the secretary.
+
+"God be praised! but would it had been yesterday! for then might it have
+been better for Don Gabriel."
+
+The name of his kinsman, spoken by the well-known voice of Baltasar,
+dispelled at once the dreamy trance of the cavalier.
+
+"How fares my noble kinsman?" he cried.
+
+The head of Baltasar fell on his breast, and a loud groan came from his
+fellow-servitor. Don Amador looked to the Tonatiuh, and witnessed the
+change from blithe joy to gloomy hesitation, which instantly marked his
+handsome aspect; the face of Fabueno darkened; and the magician strode
+away.
+
+"Clear for me, if ye will not speak!" said the cavalier, with sudden
+sternness; "for there is no sight of wo I cannot now look upon."
+
+He grasped the arm of Jacinto, and pushing into the palace, made his way
+toward the chamber of the knight.--The hand of devastation had been upon
+the walls of the passage; beams and planks had been torn away to supply
+the materials for the mantas and other martial engines; and Don Amador
+no longer knew the apartment of his kinsman. A dim light, and a low
+sound of wailing, came from a curtained door. Before the secretary and
+the other attendants who followed, could intercept him, he stepped into
+the room.
+
+The sight that awaited him instantly fastened his attention. He was in
+the chamber of Montezuma, and the captive monarch lay on the bed of
+death. Around the low couch knelt his children, and behind were the
+princes of the empire, gazing with looks of awe on the king. In front
+were several Spanish cavaliers, unhelmed and silent; and Cortes himself,
+bare-headed and kneeling, gazed with a countenance of remorse on his
+victim; while the priest Olmedo stood hard by, vainly offering, through
+the medium of Doña Marina and the cavalier De Morla, the consolations
+of religion.
+
+The king struggled in a kind of low delirium, in the arms of a man of
+singular and most barbarous appearance. This was a Mexican of gigantic
+stature, robed in a hooded mantle of black; but the cowl had fallen from
+his head, and his hair, many feet in length, plaited and twisted with
+thick cords, fell like cables over his person and that of the dying
+king. This was the high-priest of Mexico, taken prisoner at the battle
+of the temple.
+
+The countenance of Montezuma was changed by suffering and the
+death-throe; and yet, from their hollow depths, his eyes shot forth
+beams of extraordinary lustre. As he struggled, he muttered; and his
+broken exclamations being interpreted, were found to be the lamentations
+of a crushed spirit and a broken heart.
+
+"Bid the Teuctli depart," were some of the words which Don Amador
+caught, as rendered by the lips of Marina: "before he came, I was a king
+in Mexico.--But the son of the gods," he went on, with a hoarse and
+rattling laugh, "shall find that there are gods in Mexico, who shall
+devour the betrayer! They roar in the heavens, they thunder among the
+mountains,"--(the continued peals of artillery, shaking the fabric of
+the palace, mingled with his dreams, and gave a colour to them)--"they
+speak under the earth, and it trembles at their shouting. Ometeuctli,
+that dwelleth in the city of heaven, Tlaloc, that swimmeth on the great
+dark waters, Tonatricli and Meztli, the kings of day and night, and
+Mictlanteuctli, the ruler of hell,--all of them speak to their people;
+they look upon the strangers that destroy in their lands, and they say
+to me, 'Thou art the king, and they shall perish!'--Wo! wo! wo!" he
+continued, with an abrupt transition to abasement and grief; "they look
+upon me and laugh, for I have no people! In the face of all, I was made
+a slave; and, when they had spit upon me, they struck me as they strike
+the slave; so struck my people. Come, then, thou that dwellest among
+the rivers of night; for, among the rivers, with those who die the death
+of shame, shall I inhabit. Did not Mexico strike me, and shout for joy?
+Wo, wo! for my people have deserted me! and, in their eyes, the king is
+a slave!"
+
+"Put thy lips to this emblem of salvation," said the Spanish priest,
+extending his crucifix, eagerly; "curse thy false gods, which are
+devils; acknowledge Christ to be thy master; and part,--not to dwell
+among the rivers of hell, which are of fire, but in the seats of bliss,
+the heaven of the just and happy."
+
+"I spit upon thy accursed image!" said the monarch, rousing, with
+indignation, into temporary sanity, and endeavouring to suit the action
+to the word; "I spit upon thy cross, for it is the god of liars and
+deceivers! of robbers and murderers! of betrayers and enslavers! I curse
+thy god, and I spit upon him!"
+
+All the Spaniards present recoiled with horror at the impiety, which was
+too manifest in the act to need interpretation; and some, in the moment,
+half drew their swords, as if to punish it by despatching the dying man
+at once. But they looked again on the king, and knew that this sin was
+the sin of madness.
+
+As they started back, the person of De Leste, whom, in their fixed
+attention to Montezuma, none of them had yet perceived, was brought into
+the view of the monarch. His glittering eye fell upon the penacho, which
+the cavalier had not yet thought to remove from his helmet, and which
+yet drooped, with its badges of rank, over his forehead. A laugh, that
+had in it much of the simple exultation of childhood, burst from the
+king's lips; and, raising himself on the couch, he pointed at the ruddy
+symbols of distinction. The cavaliers, following the gesture with their
+eyes, beheld, with great agitation, their liberated companion; and even
+Cortes, himself, started to his feet, with an invocation to his saint,
+when his eye fell upon the apparition.
+
+The words of Amador,--"Fear me not, for I live,"--though not lost, were
+unanswered; for, notwithstanding that many of the cavaliers immediately
+seized upon his hands, to express their joy, they instantly cast their
+regards again upon Montezuma, as not having the power to withdraw them
+for a moment from him.
+
+"Say what they will," muttered the king, still eyeing the penacho with
+delight, "I, also, am of the House of Darts; and in Tlascala and
+Michoacan, and among the Otomies of the hills, have I won me the tassels
+of renown. Before I was a king, I was a soldier: so will I gather on me
+the armour of a general, and drive the Teuctli from my kingdom. Ho,
+then, what ho! Cuitlahuatzin! and thou, son of my brother,
+Quauhtimotzin! that are greater in war than the sons of my body, get ye
+forth your armies, and sound the horns of battle! Call upon the gods,
+and smite! on Mexitli the terrible, on Painalton the swift! call them,
+that they may see ye strike, and behold your valour! Call them, for
+Montezuma will fight at your side, and they shall know that he is
+valiant!"
+
+The struggles of the king, as he poured forth these wild exclamations,
+were like convulsions. But suddenly, and while the Spaniards thought he
+was about to expire in his fury, the contortions passed from his
+countenance, his lips fell, his eyes grew dim, and his voice was turned
+to a whisper of lamentation.
+
+"I sold my people for the smile of the Teuctli; I bartered my crown for
+the favour of the Christian; I gave up my fame for the bonds of a
+stranger; and now what am I? I betrayed my children--and what are they?
+Let it not be written in the books of history,--blot the name of
+Montezuma from the list of kings; let it not be taught to them that are
+to follow.--Tlaloc, I come!--Let it be forgotten."
+
+Suddenly, as he concluded, and as if the fiend of the world of waters he
+had invoked, had clutched upon him, he was seized with a dreadful
+convulsion, and as his limbs writhed about in the agony, his eyes,
+dilating with each struggle, were fixed with a stony and basilisk glare
+upon those of Cortes; and thus,--his gaze fixed to the last on his
+destroyer,--he expired.
+
+When the neophyte beheld the last quiver cease in the body, and knew by
+the loud wail of the Mexicans, that Montezuma was no more, he looked
+round for Don Hernan; but the general had stolen from the
+apartment.--The visage of Cortes revealed not the workings of his mind;
+but his heart spoke to his conscience, and his soul recorded the
+confession;--"I have wronged thee, pagan king;--but thy vengeance
+cometh!"
+
+Don Amador's arm was touched by his friend De Morla.
+
+"In the chamber of death," said the cavalier, sadly, "thou mightest best
+hear of death: but I cannot discourse to thee, while Minnapotzin is
+mourning. Let us depart, brother."
+
+Don Amador motioned to the page, and followed his friend out of the
+apartment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+
+On the following morning, it was known to all the garrison, that they
+were, at night, to depart from Tenochtitlan. The joy, however, that
+might have followed the announcement, was brief; for, at the same moment
+that the exhausted Christians were roused from slumber and bidden to
+prepare, the warders sent down word from the turrets, that their enemies
+were again approaching. The shrewdest of all could perceive no other
+mode of retreat than by cutting their way through the besiegers; and it
+required but little consideration in the dullest, to disclose the
+manifold dangers of such an expedient. They manned the walls and the
+court-yard, therefore, with but little alacrity, and awaited the
+Mexicans in sullen despair.
+
+But Don Hernan, quick to perceive, and resolute to employ the subtle
+devices of another, had not forgotten the words of Botello, when that
+worthy counselled him to make such use of Montezuma and his children, as
+had been made of the golden apples, by Hippomenes, when contending in
+the race with the daughter of Schoeneus.
+
+The Mexicans advanced, as usual, with whistling and shouts, filling the
+square with uproar; and, as usual, the cannoniers stood to their pieces,
+and the Tlascalans to their spears; but before a dart had been yet
+discharged, those who looked down from the battlements, beheld a funeral
+procession issue from the court-yard.
+
+A bier, constructed rudely of the handles of partisans, but its rudeness
+in a measure concealed by the rich robes of state flung over it, was
+borne on the shoulders of six native nobles, all of them of high degree
+in Tenochtitlan. It supported the body of the emperor, which was covered
+only by the tilmatli, leaving the countenance exposed to view. The royal
+sandals were on his feet, and the copilli, with the three sceptres, lay
+upon his breast. The pagan priest in his sable garment, his face covered
+by the cowl, and his head bending so low, that his hideous locks swept
+the earth, stepped upon the square, chanting a low and mournful requiem;
+and the bearers, stalking slowly and sorrowfully under their burden,
+followed after.
+
+The murmurs were hushed in the palace; and the square, so lately filled
+with the savage shouts of the enemy, became suddenly as silent as the
+grave. The monotonous accents of the priest were alone heard, conveying
+to the Mexicans, in the hymn that ushered a spirit into the presence of
+the deities, the knowledge of the death of their king.
+
+For awhile, the barbarians stood in stupid awe; but, at last, as the
+train approached them, and they perceived with their own eyes the
+swarthy features of their monarch fixed in death, they uttered a cry of
+grief, low indeed, and rather a moan than a lament, but which, being
+caught and continued by the voices of many thousand men, was heard in
+the remotest parts of the city. They parted before the corse of one, to
+whom, before the days of his degradation, they had been accustomed to
+look as to an incarnate divinity. They fell upon their knees, and bowed
+their faces to the earth, as he was carried through them; and again the
+Spaniards beheld the impressive spectacle, of a great multitude
+prostrate in the dust, as if in the act of adoration.
+
+When the bearers and the body were alike concealed from their view, the
+Mexicans rose, and turning towards the palace, brandished their weapons
+with fierce gestures, and many exclamations of hatred, against the
+destroyers of their king. For a moment, Cortes doubted if his expedient
+had not served rather to increase, than to divert, the fury of his
+opponents; and he beckoned from his stand on the terrace, to the
+cannoniers, to prepare their matches. But an instant after, he revoked
+the command: the Mexicans were retiring; a great army was suddenly
+converted into a funeral train, and thus they departed from the square,
+after the body of their ruler, without striking a blow at the invader.
+
+This circumstance reassured the garrison; and the prospect of speedy
+release from intolerable suffering and from destruction, wrought such a
+change over all, that visages, emaciated by famine, and haggard from
+despair, were lit up with smiles; and songs and laughter re-echoed
+through chambers, which, but the night before, had resounded with
+prayers, groans, and curses. Nothing was now thought of but the bread
+and fruits of Tlascala, the mines and fandangos of Cuba; and many a
+sedate and sullen veteran clapped his hands with a sudden joy, as he
+bethought him of the urchins sporting in the limpid Estero, or climbing
+the palm that grew at his cabin door. Escape from the miseries which
+had environed them, and the privilege to discourse for life of the
+marvels of Tenochtitlan,--of the beauty of its valleys, the magnificence
+of its cities, the wealth of its rulers, the ferocious valour of its
+citizens,--to wondering listeners, were the only offsets thought of to
+the many labours, sufferings, and risks of the campaign. The little
+property amassed by each--the share of Montezuma's presents, and the
+spoils stripped from the dead, were stored, along with such trifles as
+might add the interest of locality to legends of battle, in the sacks of
+the soldiers. All made their preparations, and all made them in hope.
+
+The only melancholy men in the palace, that day, were Cortes and Don
+Amador de Leste. The latter remembered his knight, falling ingloriously
+and alone on the causeway; and the general pondered over the griefs of
+defeated ambition.
+
+But whatever were the pangs of Don Hernan, he forgot not the duties of a
+general. Besides other precautions, he caused his carpenters to
+construct a portable bridge of sufficient strength to support the weight
+of his heaviest artillery, and yet, not so ponderous but that it might
+be carried on the shoulders of some half a hundred strong men. This he
+provided, fearing lest the barbarians had destroyed the bridges not only
+of the great dike of Iztapalapan, but of that of Tacuba, on which it was
+his determination to attempt his flight, and which, running westward
+from the island, was, as has been intimated, but two miles in length.
+
+In accordance with the advice of the necromancer, the hour of departing
+was put off until midnight,--a period of time which had the double
+advantage of being recommended by Botello, and of ensuring the least
+molestation. Each individual, therefore, made his preparations, and
+looked forward to that hour.
+
+The melancholy that oppressed the spirits of the neophyte, was so great,
+that he betrayed little curiosity either to acquaint himself with the
+events which had occurred during his captivity, or even to inquire
+further into the mysterious knowledge and acts of the page. But, however
+indisposed to conversation, he could not resist the attentions of De
+Morla. From him he learned the imputation he had cast on the valour and
+gratitude of Alvarado; a charge which the novice removed, by
+magnanimously confessing, that his own indiscretion had carried him
+beyond the reach of Don Pedro, who should be in no wise held accountable
+for his misfortune. He heard with more interest, and even smiled with
+good-natured approbation, at the story of Fabueno's fortune; but a frown
+darkened on his visage, when De Morla pictured the anger and domineering
+fury of the Tonatiuh; and this was not diminished, when his friend
+confessed himself the champion of the secretary, announced that Cortes
+had sanctioned the quarrel, and claimed of him the offices of a friend.
+
+"If blood must be shed in this quarrel," he said, "it must be apparent
+to you, my very noble and generous friend, (for, surely, your kindness
+to Lorenzo merits this distinction,)--it must be apparent, I say, that I
+am he who is called upon to shed it. The youth is my own follower; for
+which reason, I am bound to give him protection, and support him in all
+his just rights, whereof one, I think, is to love any woman who may
+think fit to give him her affections, whether she be a princess or
+peasant. I must, therefore, after repeating to thee my thanks for thy
+very distinguished generosity, require thee to yield up thy right to do
+battle with Don Pedro, if battle must, indeed, be done,--though I have
+hopes that his good sense will enforce him to surrender the maid,
+without the necessity of bloodshed."
+
+"I cannot yield to thee, hermano mio," said De Morla, quickly; "for
+there is deadly feud betwixt the Tonatiuh and myself; and were he to
+fight thee a dozen times over, still should he, of a necessity, measure
+weapons with me."
+
+"It doth not appear to me, how this difference can call for more than
+one combat; and, as I have told thee, I think it can be composed,
+provided thou allowest me to assume thy place, entirely without
+conflict."
+
+"Know thou, my friend," said De Morla, "that I have already, in the
+matter of thy fall and capture, at the fight of the manta, charged
+Alvarado with many terms of opprobrium and insult; for which reason, a
+duello has become very inevitable."
+
+"Having already heard from myself," said Don Amador, with gravity, "that
+Don Pedro cannot justly incur reproach for my mishap, thou canst do
+nothing else, as a true cavalier, but instantly withdraw thy charges,
+and make him the reparation of apology; after which, there will remain
+no need of enmity."
+
+"Thou speakest the truth!" said De Morla, impetuously; "and I am but a
+knave, to have said, or even thought, except at the moment when I was
+grieved and imbittered by thy supposed death, that Don Pedro could
+demean himself, in any battle, like a craven. I freely avow, and will
+justly bear witness, that he is a most unexceptionable cavalier. So far,
+I am impelled to pronounce by simple veracity. But yet is there mortal,
+though concealed, feud betwixt us."
+
+The neophyte looked on his friend with surprise; seeing which, De Morla
+took him by the arm, and said, with great heat,--
+
+"I have come to hear, by an accident, that Don Pedro did once, ('tis now
+many months ago,) in the wantonness of his merriment, fling certain
+aspersions upon the innocence of Benita; a crime that I could not have
+forgiven even in thee, amigo querido, hadst thou been capable of such
+baseness. I now confess to thee, without having divulged the same to any
+one else, that this circumstance did greatly inflame my anger, and that,
+from that moment, I have sought out some means to quarrel with Alvarado,
+and so slay him, without involving the fame of Minnapotzin: for it is
+clear to me, as it must be to any lover, who doth truly reverence his
+mistress, that to associate her name with a quarrel, would be at once to
+darken it with the shadow of suspicion. If I should say to Alvarado,
+'Thou hast maligned my mistress, thou cur, and therefore I will fight
+thee,' then should he, for the credit of his honour, aver that he spoke
+the truth; and whether he lived or died, the maiden should still be the
+sufferer. I have, therefore, resolved, that my cause of vengeance shall
+be concealed; and thou wilt see that the present pretext is the
+honourable cloak I have been so long seeking. This I confess to thee;
+but I adjure thee to keep my counsel."
+
+There was a degree of lofty delicacy and disinterestedness in this
+revealment, which chimed so harmoniously with the refined honour of Don
+Amador, that he grasped De Morla's hand, and, instead of opposing
+further remonstrance, assured him, both of his approval and his
+determination to aid him, as a true brother in arms, in the conflict.
+
+"But how comes it, my friend," he demanded, with a faint smile, "thou
+darest look so far into futurity, for such employment? Hast thou forgot
+the prophecy of Botello? Methinks, to be fulfilled at all, the
+consummation should come shortly; for, with this night, we finish the
+war in Mexico."
+
+"For a time, señor mio," said De Morla. "Though the griefs of Montezuma
+be over, (heaven rest his soul, for he was the father of Minnapotzin!)
+the pangs of his race are not yet all written. I will abide with Don
+Hernan; and if Botello do not lie, thou shalt yet see me sleep on the
+pyramid."
+
+"Heaven forbid!" cried Amador. "I would rather thou wouldst follow mine
+own resolutions, and, for once, show Botello that he hath cast a wrong
+figure."
+
+"Dost thou mean to desert us?"
+
+"My kinsman sleeps in the lake," said the novice, sadly; "the tie that
+bound me to this fair new world is therefore broken. In mine own heart,
+I have no desires to fight longer with these infidels, who cannot
+injure the faith of Christ, nor invade the churches of Christendom. The
+Turks are a better enemy for a true believer; and, if I put not up my
+sword altogether, it shall be drawn, hereafter, on them. The little
+page, whom I have, by a miracle, recovered, I will convey with me to
+Cuenza, after having, in like manner, recovered his father, (a very
+noble Morisco,) or been otherwise assured of his death. I would greatly
+persuade thee, having made the princess thy wife, to follow with me to
+thy native land. 'My castle lies on Morena's top,'--" continued the
+cavalier, insensibly falling upon the melody of the Knight and the Page,
+and beginning to muse on the singer, and to mutter, "Surely Jacinto is
+the most wonderful of boys!"
+
+"My patrimony is worn out," said De Morla, without regarding the sudden
+revery of his friend; "and I give it to my younger brothers. By peace or
+war, somehow or other, this land of Mexico will be, one day, conquered;
+and, then, a principality in Anahuac will count full as nobly as a
+sheep-hill in Castile. I abide by Don Hernan. But let us be gone to the
+treasury: I hear the ingots chinking, and thou hast not yet looked upon
+our spoils."
+
+The exchequer thus alluded to, and to which De Morla speedily conducted
+his friend, was the sleeping apartment of the general. Of the wealth
+that was there displayed,--the stores of golden vessels and of precious
+stones, as well as of ingots melted from the tribute-dust long since
+wrung from the unhappy Montezuma,--it needs not to speak. The whole
+treasury of an avaricious king, a predecessor of the late captive,
+walled up in former days, and discovered by a happy chance, was there
+displayed among the meaner gleanings of conquest. An hundred men, as Don
+Amador entered, were grasping at the glittering heaps, while the voice
+of Don Hernan was heard gravely saying,--
+
+"The king's fifth, here partitioned and committed to the trust of his
+true officers, we must defend with our lives; but while granting to all
+Christian men in this army, free permission to help themselves here as
+they like, I solemnly warn them of the consequences, should we, as
+mayhap my fear may prove true, be attacked this night, while making our
+way through the city. The richest man shall thereby purchase the
+quickest death.--The wise soldier will leave these baubles, till we come
+back again to reclaim them. This night, I will insure the life of none
+who carries too rich a freight in his pockets."
+
+He spoke with a serious emphasis, and some of the older veterans,
+raising their heads, and eyeing his countenance steadfastly for a
+moment, flung down the riches they had grasped, and silently retired
+from the apartment. But many others bore about their persons a prince's
+ransom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+
+At midnight, the Mexican spy, looking over the broken wall, beheld in
+the court-yard which it environed, a scene of singular devotion;--or
+rather he caught with his ears--for the grave was not blacker than that
+midnight--the smothered accents of supplication. The Christians were
+upon their knees, listening, with a silence broken only by the fretful
+champing of steeds, and the suppressed moans of wounded men, to a
+prayer, pronounced in a whispering voice, wherein the father Olmedo
+implored of Heaven to regard them in pity, to stupify the senses of
+their enemies, and surround his servants with the shields of mercy, so
+that, this night, they might walk out of the city which was their
+prison-house, and from the island which had been their charnel,
+oppressed no more by the weight of His anger.
+
+The prostrate soldiers, to that moment, full of confident hope, and not
+anticipating the danger of any opposition, hearkened with solicitude to
+the humble and earnest supplication; and when the padre besought the
+deity to endow their arms with strength, and their hearts with courage,
+to sustain the toils, and perhaps the perils, of retreat, they were
+struck with a vague but racking fear. The petition which was meant to
+embolden, deprived them of hope; and they rose from their vain
+devotions, in unexpected horror.
+
+The gloom that invested the ruinous palace, prevailed equally over the
+pagan city. No torch shone from the casements or house-tops, no taper
+flickered in the streets; and the urns of fire on the neighbouring
+pyramid, the only light visible,--save, now and then, a ghastly gleam of
+lightning bursting up from the south,--burned with a dull and sickened
+glare, as if neglected by their watchers. A silence, in character with
+the obscurity, reigned over the slumbering city; and when, at last, the
+steps of those who bore the ponderous bridge, and the creaking of
+artillery wheels, were-heard ringing and rolling over the square, the
+sounds smote on the hearts of all like the tolling of distant funeral
+bells.
+
+The plan of retreat, determined after anxious deliberation, and
+carefully made known to all, was adopted with readiness, as these
+footsteps and this rolling sound of wheels,--the only signals
+made,--were heard; each man knew his place, and, without delay, assumed
+it. In little more than half an hour, the whole train of invaders,
+Christian principals and Tlascalan abettors, was in motion, creeping,
+with the slow and stealthy pace of malefactors, over the street that led
+to the dike of Tacuba. Few glances were sent back to the palace, as
+those dim sheets of lightning, flashing up over the path they were
+pursuing, revealed obscurely, ever and anon, its broken and deserted
+turrets. Its gloomy pile associated nothing but the memory of disaster
+and grief. Fearful looks, however were cast upon the dusky fabrics on
+either side of the street, as if the fugitives apprehended that each
+creak of a wheel, each clattering of horses' hoofs, or the rattling of
+armour, might draw the infidel from his slumbers; and many an ear was
+directed anxiously towards the van, in fear lest the trumpet should, at
+last, be sounded, with the signal of enemies already drawn up, a
+thousand deep, on the path they were treading. But no sounds were heard,
+save those which denoted the continued progress of their own bands; no
+wakeful barbarian was seen lurking in the streets; and hope again slowly
+returned to the bosoms of the tremblers.
+
+Before they had yet reached the borders of the island, the night became
+still more dark than at their outset; for the lightning grew fainter at
+each flash, and finally sank beneath the horizon, to continue its lurid
+gambols among the depths of the South Sea. This was witnessed with
+secret satisfaction; for, with these treacherous scintillations,
+departed the dread that many felt, lest they should betray the march of
+the army.
+
+It has been mentioned, that the people of Tenochtitlan had not only
+covered the surface of the island with their dwellings, but had extended
+them, on foundations of piles, into the lake, wherever the shallowness
+of the water permitted. This was especially the case in the
+neighbourhood of the great dikes; in which places, not only single
+houses, but entire blocks, deserving the name of suburbs, were
+constructed. Such a suburb jutted out, for some distance, along the
+causeway of Tacuba.
+
+The van of the army had already passed beyond the furthest of these
+black and silent structures, and yet no just cause existed to suppose
+the retreat had been discovered; though many men of sharper ears or
+fainter hearts than their fellows, had averred that they could, at
+times, distinguish, on the rear, a dull sound, as of men moving behind
+them in heavy masses. The wiser, however, were satisfied, that no such
+sounds could prevail even over the subdued noise of their own
+footsteps; but some of these bent their ears anxiously towards the
+front, as if afraid of danger in that quarter. The reason of this was
+not concealed. All day, sounds of lamentation had been heard coming from
+the dike, upon which they were now marching, or from its neighbourhood.
+It was rumoured, that the cemetery of the Mexican kings lay on the hill
+of Chapoltepec, under the huge and melancholy cypresses, which
+overshadow that green promontory; and that there, this day, Montezuma
+had been laid among his ancestors. A whole people had gone forth to
+lament him; and how many of the mourners might be now returning by the
+causeway, was a question which disturbed the reflections of all.
+
+But this apprehension was dispelled, when the front of the army had
+reached the first of the three ditches which intersected the dike of
+Tacuba. Its bridge was removed and gone, and the deep water lay
+tranquilly in the chasm. The foe, relying on this simple precaution, had
+left the dike to its solitude; and the expedient for continuing the
+imprisonment of the Spaniards, was the warrant of their security.
+
+A little breeze, dashing occasionally drops of rain, began to puff along
+the lake, as the bridge-bearers deposited their burden over the abyss.
+This was not the labour of a moment; the heavy artillery, which still
+preceded the train of discomfited slayers, like a troop of jackals in
+the path of other destroyers, required that the ponderous frame should
+be adjusted with the greatest care. While the carriers, assisted by a
+body of Tlascalans, who slipped into the ditch and swam to the opposite
+side, were busy with their work, the long train of fugitives behind,
+halted, and remained silent with expectation. The rumbling of the wood
+over the flags of the causeway, the suppressed murmurs of the labourers,
+and, now and then, the dropping of some stone loosened by their feet,
+into the ditch,--added to the sighs of the breeze, whispering faintly
+over casque and spear,--were the only sounds that broke the dismal quiet
+of the scene; and there was something in these, as well as in the
+occurrence itself, which caused many to think of the characteristics of
+a funeral;--the mute and solemn expectation of the lookers-on,--the
+smothered expressions of the few,--and the occasional rattle of clods,
+dropping, by accident, upon the coffin.
+
+The bridge was, at last, fixed, and the loud clang of hoofs was heard,
+as Cortes, himself, made trial of its strength. The breath of those
+behind, came more freely, when these sounds reached their ears; and they
+waited impatiently till the advance of those who preceded them, should
+give motion to their own ranks.
+
+The post of Don Amador de Leste had been assigned, at his own demand, in
+the vanguard,--which was a force consisting of twenty horsemen, two
+hundred foot, and ten times that number of Tlascalan warriors, commanded
+by Sandoval, the valiant; and, up to this moment, he had ridden at that
+leader's side, without much thought of unhealed wounds and feebleness,
+willing, and fully prepared, to divide the danger and the honour of any
+difficulty, which might be presented. But being now convinced, by the
+sign we have mentioned,--that is to say, the removal of the original
+bridge,--that no enemies lay in wait on the causeway, he descended from
+the back of Fogoso, giving the rein to Lazaro, and commanding him to
+proceed onward with the party. In this, he was, perhaps, not so much
+governed by a desire to escape the tedium of riding in company with the
+ever taciturn Sandoval, as to be nearer to the forlorn boy, Jacinto, who
+had, until this moment, trudged along at his side. Some little curiosity
+to witness the passage of the rout of fugitives, had also its influence;
+for, taking the page by the hand, he led him to the edge of the bridge,
+where he could observe every thing without inconvenience, and without
+obstructing the course of others.
+
+The dike of Tacuba was, like that of Iztapalapan, of stone, and so
+broad, that ten horsemen could easily ride on it abreast. Its base was
+broad, shelving, and rugged, and the summit was, perhaps, six feet above
+the surface of the water.
+
+The thunder of the twenty horsemen, as they rode over the bridge,
+interrupted the consolation which the neophyte was about to give to
+Jacinto; who, hanging closely to his patron's arm, yet looked back
+towards the city, with many sobs for his exiled father. In the gloomy
+obscurity of the hour, the cavaliers of the van, as they passed, seemed
+rather like spectres than men;--in an instant of time, they were hidden
+from sight among the thick shadows in front. Not less phantom-like
+appeared the two hundred foot, stealing over the chasm, and vanishing
+like those who had preceded them. Then came the two thousand Tlascalans,
+their broken and drooping plumes rustling over their dusky backs, as
+they strode onwards, with steps quickened, but almost noiseless.
+
+After these, came the cannon,--eighteen pieces of different sizes,
+dragged by rows of pagans, commanded by the gunners. The bridge groaned
+under their weight; and a murmur of joy crept over the compacted
+multitude behind, when they had counted them, one by one, rumbling over
+the sonorous wood, and knew that the last had crossed in safety.
+
+Much time was necessarily occupied in the passage of these cumbrous
+instruments; and an interval of several minutes was allowed to intervene
+betwixt the passage of each, while the cannoniers were looking to the
+condition of the bridge and the ropes.
+
+It was on these occasions, that the greatest quiet prevailed; for, then,
+even breath was hushed in suspense; and it was on these occasions also,
+that the ears of the neophyte were struck by a sound, which had not,
+perhaps, at that time, attracted the attention of any other person. The
+breeze, which occasionally whispered on his cheek, was so light, as
+scarcely to disturb the serenity of the lake; and yet, it appeared to
+him, notwithstanding all this, that, in these moments of calm, he could
+plainly distinguish, upon either hand, and at a little distance, the
+rippling of water, as if agitated by a moderate wind. He strained his
+eyes, endeavouring to pierce the gloom, and unravel the cause of this
+singular commotion,--but wholly in vain. The circle of vision was
+circumscribed into the narrowest bounds; and wo betide the infidel, who,
+fishing in the lake, that night, should fall from his canoe in slumber,
+and be parted from it but twenty feet, in his confusion.--The cavalier
+looked up to the heavens; but the few drops discharged from their stony
+vault, pattered with a sound almost inaudible upon the water. While he
+was yet wondering, he heard the voice of one passing him, say to a
+comrade,--
+
+"Art thou not wroth, Iago, man, to give up yonder rich town to the
+kites, and this fair water to the ducks of Mexico?"
+
+This trivial question gave, at once, a new colour to his thoughts, for
+he remembered what millions of wild fowl brooded every night on the
+lakes; and, almost ashamed that he should have yielded a moment to the
+suggestions of fear, he turned, once more, to watch the progress of the
+army.
+
+The centre division consisted of but an hundred Christian footmen, and
+half a score cavaliers; but two thousand Tlascalans were added to it,
+and it was commanded by Cortes in person; who, having ridden across the
+bridge, as has been said, to prove its strength, now waited for the
+coming of his party, beyond the breach. Along with this division, were
+conducted the prisoners, and the king's spoil,--the latter being carried
+on the backs of wounded steeds, unfit for other service, as well as on
+the shoulders of Tlamémé. The prisoners, comprising all the family of
+Montezuma, whom evil fortune had thrown into the hands of Don Hernan,
+were environed by the hereditary foes of their race, but protected from
+any secret stroke of malice, by three or four cavaliers who rode with
+them.
+
+Among these few horsemen, the neophyte perceived one, across whose
+saddle-bow there sat what seemed a female, enveloped in thick mantles.
+In this cavalier, he thought, by the murmur of the voice with which he
+addressed his muffled companion, that he detected his friend, the señor
+De Morla.
+
+"Is it thou, Francisco, my brother?" he whispered, inclining towards the
+cavalier; "and hast thou Benita thus under thy protection?"
+
+"I thank heaven, yes!" replied De Morla. "But what doest thou on foot,
+and so far removed from the van? Has Fogoso cast thee again? I prythee,
+walk thou by me a little.--Dost thou remember thy promise?"
+
+"Surely, I do: but speak not of it now; for, this moment, my heart is
+very heavy, and I cannot think with pleasure of a contest with Christian
+man. I will presently follow thee."
+
+"Speak me not what I have told thee to mortal man, for the sake of her
+whom I hold in my arms, and who already owes thee a life. To-morrow," he
+continued, exultingly, as he passed,--"to-morrow we shall tread upon the
+lake side; and, then, God be with him who strikes for the honour and
+innocence of woman!"
+
+"Art _thou_ there too, Lorenzo?" said the novice, perceiving the
+secretary riding at the heels of the young cavalier of Cuenza, and
+burthened in like manner with the freight of affection. "Guard thy
+princess well, and have great care of the bridge, and the rough edge of
+the dike; for thy horsemanship is not yet so perfect as De Morla's, nor
+can thy charger at all compare with the chestnut gelding. Ride on with
+care, and God be thy speed!"
+
+The centre of the army was, at last, over the bridge. The neophyte cast
+his eye to the black mass of the rear-guard, which contained the greater
+part of the troops, both Christian and allied, commanded by Velasquez de
+Leon and the Tonatiuh; the latter of whom, to show his affection for the
+island of which he had been, as he said, a king, and to prove his
+contempt for his late subjects, chose to ride the very last man in the
+army; while De Leon conducted the front of the division. The latter,
+stern, decided, and self-willed in all cases, deferred, for a moment, to
+give the signal to march, in order that the centre might be well cleared
+of the bridge; but more, perhaps, from a natural love of tyranny, to
+torture with delay the spirits of his impatient followers.
+
+In this moment of quiet, the sounds, which Don Amador had forgotten,
+were repeated with more distinctness than at first; but still they were
+of so vague a character, that he could not be certain they were produced
+by any cause more important than the diving and flapping of water-fowl.
+Nevertheless, feeling a little uneasiness, he clasped the hand of
+Jacinto tighter in his own, and strode with him over the bridge. He
+paused again, when he had crossed, and was about to give his whole
+attention to the mysterious sounds; when, suddenly, he was amazed and
+startled by the spectre of a man, rising up as from the lake, and
+springing on the causeway close by his side.
+
+He drew his sword, demanding quickly, but with perturbation,--
+
+"Who and what art thou, that comest thus from the depths of the waters?"
+
+"Tetragrammaton! peace!--Dost thou not hear?"
+
+"Hear what, sir conjurer? Hast thou been listening likewise to the wild
+fowl. By my troth, I thought thou wert a spirit!"
+
+"Wild fowl!" muttered Botello, with a horse-laugh. "Such wild fowl as
+eat carrion, and flap the water like crocodiles.--Hah! dost thou not
+hear? Lay thine ear upon the causeway at the water's edge--But thou hast
+not time. Get thee to thy horse, and delay not; and if thou seest
+Cortes, or any other discreet cavalier, bid him draw and be ready. I
+said, that some should escape, but not _all_!--God be with thee! follow
+quickly, and sheath not thy sword."
+
+"Surely, this time, thou art mad, Botello! Here are no foes."
+
+But the remonstrance of the cavalier was cut short by the instant flight
+of the magician; and ere the words were out of his mouth, a horseman,
+crossing the bridge, and riding up to him, said sternly,--
+
+"Who art thou, Sir Knave and Sir Witless! that babblest thus aloud, in
+time of peril, contrary to----"
+
+"I am thy very good friend, señor De Leon," said the novice, abruptly;
+"and, waiving any difficulty which might spring from the heat of thy
+words, if duly considered, I think fit to assure thee, that I have but
+just parted from the necromancer, Botello; by whom I am advised to bid
+thee, as well as all other discreet officers whom I may see, to draw
+sword, and remain in readiness for a foe; there being certain sounds on
+the water, which, in his opinion, are ominous of evil. For myself, I bid
+God guard thee, meaning, in person, to join the van, as soon as
+possible."
+
+The cavaliers parted,--De Leon riding back to his party, without
+uttering a word; and Don Amador, with the page, stepping forwards so
+fleetly, as soon to find himself among the Tlascalans of the centre.
+Through these he made his way, ever and anon casting his eye to the
+lake, and looking for the tokens of a foe, but without perceiving
+anything at all unusual. He gained the midst of this band of allies,
+reached the side of his friend, and laid his hand on De Morla's arm. A
+low wailing voice came from the folds of the garments, which veiled the
+countenance of Minnapotzin; and some strong agitation shook the frame of
+his friend.
+
+"Think not of love _now_, my brother!" cried the neophyte, hurriedly;
+"but be warned that thou art in danger, and Minnapotzin with thee. It is
+thought, that enemies are at hand."
+
+Having thus spoken, and without waiting for an answer, Don Amador, still
+urging Jacinto along, endeavoured to make his way through the dense
+bodies of Tlascalans, which separated him from Don Hernan. He reached
+their front, he stepped upon the little space left between them and the
+general, and placed his eyes upon Cortes. But before he had yet spoken,
+it seemed as if the whole moving mass of the army had been converted
+into marble, on the causeway; for instantly, as if with one consent, the
+train came to a dead halt, and a cry, low, but breathed from the hearts
+of men struck with mortal dread, rose from the van to the rear, in one
+universal groan.
+
+The cavalier turned where all eyes were turned, and beheld a sudden
+pyramid of fire, like one of the many gushes of flame he had already
+seen in this volcanic land, save that the blaze was steadier, shoot up,
+from a vast height in the air, over the distant city, and plunge its
+sanguine point against the heavens; while, at the same moment, its lurid
+mass, reflected and reversed on the lake, darted over the water to his
+feet, in a path of blood,--as if Mexitli, the Terrible God, had, at
+last, roused from slumber, and couched his gigantic spear against the
+slayers of his children. The blaze illumined the lake far round, and,
+shining on the casques of cavaliers and the plumes of Tlascalans,
+disclosed the whole line of the army, stretched along the calzada. In an
+instant more, the neophyte, petrified with awe, perceived that this
+mighty bale-fire was kindled on the top of the great temple; and, in the
+strong and glaring line, which it struck out upon the water, there was
+revealed a mass of living objects, floating, like birds, upon the
+element, yet speckled with the human colours of Mexico. At the same
+moment, and while his eye yet wavered between the flaming pillar and the
+moving objects on the water, there came from the pyramid a sound, heard
+once before, and never more to be forgotten. The horn of the gods was
+winded;--the doleful and dismal note came booming with hideous uproar
+over the waters; and before the hills had caught up its echoes, the
+whole lake, right and left, in front and on the rear, rang, roared, and
+trembled, under the yells of an hundred thousand infidels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII.
+
+
+The situation of the Spaniards, at that moment, though sufficiently
+frightful to every one, was yet known, in all its horrors, only to the
+leaders of the van. As hope is ever independent of judgment, ever
+unreasonable and unreflective, the absence of the bridge, at the first
+sluice, was not enough to persuade the fugitives, that the passage of
+the second might be equally interrupted. But, at the moment when the
+signal-fire was kindled on the temple, Sandoval had already reached this
+ditch, and perceived that its bridge was also demolished, and, as it
+seemed, very recently too; for there yet remained a huge timber lying
+across the chasm,--left, as he feared, rather as some decoy and trap,
+than, as was more probable, deserted suddenly by workmen, scared from
+their labours by the approach of the Spaniards.
+
+The three ditches divided the dike into four portions, of as many
+furlongs in extent. On the second of these portions was concentrated the
+whole retreating army, its front resting upon a sluice of great depth,
+passable by footmen, (for the great beam was soon discovered to be
+sound,) but not by the horse and artillery, without the portable bridge,
+which yet rested over the first breach. This second obstacle being
+overcome, it was apparent, that a third would still remain to be
+surmounted; and the passage of both was to be effected in the presence,
+and in the midst, of a great enemy.
+
+As we have said, the beacon-light, shooting up from the pyramid, and
+continuing to burn with intensity, brought light, where all, before, was
+darkness; and revealed such innumerable fleets of canoes, hovering on
+both flanks, as the novice had not seen, even on that day when he first
+trode upon a dike of Mexico. But the spirit that then slumbered, was now
+awake; and as the rowers responded, with their wild cries, to the roar
+of the sacred trumpet, they struck the water furiously with their
+paddles, until the whole lake seemed to boil up with a spray of fire;
+and thus they rushed madly against the causeway.
+
+The novice cast his eye upon the general. The ruddy glare of the beacon
+could not change the deadly pallor that covered his cheeks; but,
+nevertheless, with this ghastly countenance turned to the foe, he cried
+out, cheerily, or, at least, firmly, to those immediately in advance,--
+
+"Who ho, cannoniers! your quoins and handspikes, your horns and matches!
+and show me your throats to the lake-rats!" Then, raising his voice to
+its trumpet-tones, he continued, as if giving counsel and command to
+all: "Be bold and fearless, and strike for the honour of God, brave
+Christians! Soho! De Leon, valiant brother! and thou, Alvarado,
+matchless cavalier! raise me the bridge, and be quick; for here we need
+it."
+
+The voices of other officers were heard, faintly mingled with the din,
+but not long; every moment the shouts of the Mexicans, continued without
+intermission, became louder, and their canoes were plunging nearer to
+the causeway.
+
+A pang rent the bosom of Don Amador:
+
+"I must get me to my companions," he cried, to Jacinto, "and what can I
+do for thee this night, young page that I love?"
+
+"I will follow thee," said the page, tremulously; "I will die with my
+lord."
+
+"Would that I had thee but upon the back of Fogoso! for methinks that
+even De Morla should not strike more truly for Minnapotzin than would I,
+this night, for thee."
+
+"Where goest thou, De Leste?" cried Cortes, as the novice pushed by.
+"Pause--thou art best among the cannoniers."
+
+A dreadful yell, at that moment, drowned the general's voice: but one
+still more dreadful was heard, when, as the pagans drew breath to repeat
+the cry, the Christians in front heard the rear-guard exclaiming, with
+loud and bitter shrieks, "The bridge!--the bridge!--it is fast and
+immoveable!"--The weight of the horses and artillery had sunk it deep
+into the chasm, and no human strength could stir it from its foundation.
+
+These words and sights were all the occurrences of a moment. There was
+neither time for observation nor lamentation. The infidels on the water
+rushed to the attack with the same fury which had so often driven them
+upon the spears of the garrison; and, not less by their cries than their
+apparent numbers, it was made obvious that the whole strength of the
+great city was gathered together for this undertaking; for those who had
+caught a little of their language, could distinguish the different
+quarters of the island encouraging each other with cries of "Ho,
+Tlatelolco! shall Majotla strike first at the foe?--Alzacualco! on; for
+Tecpan is swift and mirthful.--On, ho! for Mexitli is speaking; on, for
+our gods are on the temple, and they hunger for the Teuctli!" The line
+of the army was full half a mile in length; but, as far as it stretched,
+and further than the eye could penetrate beyond either extremity, a
+triple row of canoes, on each side of the causeway, was seen closing
+upon it with the speed and fury of breakers, dashing against a stranded
+ship.
+
+"_Now_, cannoniers!" cried Don Hernan, elevating his voice above the
+tumult, when the rushing masses were within but a few paces of the
+causey; "_now_ to your linstocks, and touch in the name of God!"
+
+The damp gunpowder sparkled and hissed on the vents, but did not fail
+the Christians in their need. The roar of the volley was like the peal
+of an earthquake; and, right and left, as eighteen horizontal columns of
+fire darted from the engines, the lake boiled up with a new fury,
+fragments of canoes and the bodies of men were seen flung up into the
+air, and yells of agony which chilled the blood, bore witness to the
+dreadfulness of the slaughter.
+
+"Quick, and again!" cried Don Hernan, eagerly. "Shoot fast, and shoot
+well; and know that I will shortly be back with ye.--Ho, Sandoval! why
+dost thou loiter? plunge into the ditch, and swim. Rest where thou art,
+De Leste; for thou art too weak for battle. Give thine aid to the
+cannoniers."
+
+The confused and huddled Tlascalans, who formed the rear of Sandoval's
+party, shouted at the cry of the Teuctli, and made way for him. A
+cavalier, bearing a burthen in his arms, spurred after, with a mad
+impetuosity, which rendered him regardless of the many naked wretches he
+trampled to the earth: it was De Morla. The example thus set by the
+apparent flight of the two hidalgos, was followed by others; and the
+allies were broken by the hoofs of Christians, while still enduring the
+arrows, that came like a driving rain from the lake.
+
+Meanwhile, it was evident, though the cannon, recharged and shot off
+again with extraordinary quickness, served to keep the part of the
+causeway where they stood free from assailants, that they had effected a
+landing, perhaps, both in front and rear,--certainly on the
+latter,--where they were already engaged, hand to hand, with the
+Spaniards. The thunder of the explosions did not conceal from the novice
+the shrieks of his countrymen. His blood boiled with fury:
+
+"Come with me, Jacinto," he cried. "We will reach Fogoso; and then I can
+do my duty to my friends, and smite these accursed murderers, without
+deserting thee."
+
+He dragged the trembling page after him; he darted among the cannoniers,
+and passed the artillery. He reached the Tlascalans, who followed the
+van,--but havoc was already among their ranks. As he gained them, he
+perceived the shelving sides of the causeway lined with canoes, from
+which were springing up, like locusts, a cloud of Mexicans, brandishing
+their glassy maces, and rushing with the yells of wolves upon their
+ancient foes. Barbarians were mingled with barbarians in one hideous
+mass of slaughter, impassable and impenetrable.
+
+His heart sunk within him. "I have prejudiced thy life, as well as my
+own, this night," he said. "Would that I had never left the back of
+Fogoso!"
+
+Before he had yet time to resolve whether to return to the cannoniers,
+or to make one more effort to pierce the bloody mass, he was descried by
+the crew of a piragua, which, that moment, was urged upon the dike with
+such violence, that it was split in twain by the shock. The eager
+warriors rushed up the ascent with a shriek of exultation, and
+brandished their spears. The neophyte retreated; but neither the
+rapidity of his steps, nor the keenness of his blows, would, perhaps,
+have availed against their numbers, enfeebled as he was, and trammelled
+by the grasp of the affrighted Jacinto, had not a party of Spanish
+footmen, flying from the rear, come that moment to his aid. These,
+though they forced the barbarians to give way, were, in their turn,
+driven back upon the cannon; and Don Amador was fain to follow them.
+
+The audacity of the foe seemed still to increase rather than diminish;
+and, twice or thrice, efforts were made by certain valiant madmen among
+them, to spring to land immediately in the mouths of the cannon. These
+were instantly speared by the many desperate Spaniards, who, flying from
+their posts in the rear, which were now known to be in extremity, took
+refuge among the artillery, as the only place of safety, and there
+fought with better resolution.
+
+In the meanwhile, the efforts of the enemy still remaining unabated, the
+prisoners and many of the rear-guard pressing wildly forward, and Don
+Hernan and most of the officers having fled to the front, from which
+they had not returned, the gunners were themselves seized with a panic;
+and, without regarding the death on which they were thus rushing, began
+to leave their pieces, and fly. The representations of Don Amador served
+to arrest some of them, and other soldiers taking their places at the
+guns, they yielded passively to his instructions; and he found himself,
+at once, in the post of a commander.
+
+The many bitter reflections that harrowed his own bosom, he spoke not,
+and sharply he reprimanded others, who were yielding to despair.
+Whatever might be the difficulty of advancing, he felt that such a
+measure was become indispensable, as promising the only hope of
+salvation: for every instant the clamours increased on the rear, as if,
+there, the barbarians had attacked in the greatest numbers, and were
+approaching nearer to the cannon, flushed with slaughter and victory. He
+instructed the gunners in what manner they should rush forwards with
+their charged pieces, pointed obliquely, so as to sweep the sides of the
+dike, shoot them off, when arrested by too determined a front of
+resistance, and, loading quickly, take advantage of the confusion
+following each discharge, so as to gain as much ground as possible,
+while still manfully fighting. He hoped, thus, besides succouring the
+Tlascalans in front, and giving room for the rear-guard to follow, to
+reach the second ditch, where, as he had heard, the beam still gave
+passage to the footmen, but where his most sanguine wishes could point
+him out no other hope than to stand by the cannon till relieved, or
+abandon them and fly, as, it seemed to him, all had done, who had
+already crossed the breach.
+
+He animated the gunners with his voice, and with his actions; and so
+great was the effect of the discharges on the Indians landing, that the
+artillerymen were able to rush forwards perhaps a score yards, after
+each volley; thus convincing all of the wisdom of the measure, and the
+probability of escape.
+
+Two circumstances, however, greatly diminished the exultation, which the
+cavalier would have otherwise felt at the success of his stratagem.
+Though the Tlascalans in front ever responded to the shouts of his
+gunners, and though each discharge seemed to bring him nearer to them,
+yet ever, when a volley was preceded by the loud "_Viva!_" meant to
+encourage the allies, the answer seemed to come from the same distance,
+and the mass of feathered warriors, lit up by the discharge, disclosed
+the bodies of none but frowning Mexicans. The other circumstance was
+still more appalling; the space behind, left vacant by his advance, was
+occupied no longer by foot or horse, by treasure-bearer or prisoner, by
+Spanish musketeer or Tlascalan spearman. A few dusky groups could be
+seen running to and fro, behind; but yet they seemed rather to rush
+backwards than to follow after.
+
+"God save the rear-guard!" he muttered, "for it is surely
+surrounded.--On, brave cannoniers! Cortes shall not be ignorant of your
+deeds this night, and Don Carlos, the emperor, shall know of your fame."
+
+The shout, with which the cannoniers again poured forth the deadly
+volley, was repeated with victorious energy, when the Mexicans,
+scattered by the discharge, or leaping to avoid it, into the water,
+parted away from before them; and they found themselves, suddenly, upon
+the brink of the second ditch. The great beam lay in its place; but the
+dark water in the chasm was filled and agitated by the bodies of men,
+wounded and suffocating. The white tunic of the Mexican was confounded
+with the plume of a Christian cavalier; the red arm of an
+infidel,--Tlascalan or foeman,--shook by the side of a Castilian spear;
+the white visages of dead men rolled on the necks of drowning horses;
+bales of rich cotton stuffs,--lances dancing up and down like the leaded
+bulrushes of children,--armour of escaupil,--garments, and bodies of
+dying and dead,--were floating together in such horrible confusion, that
+the water seemed to heave and bubble as with a living corruption.
+
+The sight of the ditch and the beam clear of enemies, fired the
+cannoniers with new hopes; and in the frenzy of their joy, they would
+instantly have dropped their fuses and handspikes, and taken to flight,
+had it not been that Don Amador flung himself upon the beam, and
+striking the first man dead, commanded them still to stand to their
+pieces.
+
+"Base caitiffs are ye all," he cried, "who, thus having the victory, and
+the lives of half the army, in your hands, should so desert your posts,
+in the midst of triumph! Wheel round half your pieces, and sweep the
+causey sides behind;--for I hear the coming of friends. Would ye give up
+your pieces to infidels? They are your safety!"
+
+The reproof of the cavalier, the sight of their dead comrade, and the
+sword which had punished him, still commanding the narrow pathway, the
+voices of Christians behind, but, more than all, the manifest truth of
+the declaration, that their safety depended on their remaining by the
+artillery, turned the gunners, at once, from their purpose; and their
+resolution received a new confirmation, when a Christian voice was heard
+shouting in the front, as if of some cavalier, heading a band of
+returning friends, and, when, the next moment, a Spanish soldier was
+seen to run towards them, leap on the beam, and then spring from it to
+the causeway.
+
+"Santiago, and shoot on!" cried the overjoyed gunners; "for Cortes is
+coming!"
+
+"What, ho, knave Lazaro!" cried the novice, as the blaze of the
+discharge showed him in the new comer, the countenance of his henchman.
+"Where goest thou? Wherefore hast thou left the horses? And where is Don
+Hernan?"
+
+"Master! dear master, is it thou?" cried Lazaro, with such a shout of
+joy as drowned even the yells of death about him. "Quick, for the love
+of God! over the beam, with all these varlets,--for life! for life! for
+Don Hernan is fled, and all the cavaliers!"
+
+"Peace, thou villain!--Heed not this trembling fool," exclaimed Amador,
+quickly. "You hear!--the last ditch is bridged and free, and ye can, at
+any moment, reach the firm land, as the cavaliers have done.--Give me
+another volley or two, for God, for the honour of Spain, and for your
+friends, who are fast approaching. We will march together with the
+whole rear, to ensure safety. Quick!--See ye not how yonder fiends are
+rushing into your muzzles? Viva! A bold shot for St. James, and our
+people!"
+
+The cavalier turned to Lazaro: he was bleeding, and he cast a look of
+despair on his master.
+
+"Why art thou idle? thou wert bred to the linstock, sirrah. Show thyself
+a Christian man and true.--Hark! hearest thou not? 'Tis the shout of De
+Leon! Bravely, bold hearts! the rear-guard is nigh.--Hah! halon, halon!
+Don Pedro!"
+
+"'Tis the voice of the secretary!" cried Lazaro; "and God help me, but
+he cries for succour!"
+
+"Ho, señor! señor Don Amador! for the love of Christ!"--the wild shout
+of Fabueno, for the neophyte could no longer doubt it was he, was
+suddenly interrupted: the shrill shriek of a woman succeeded; and, then,
+every thing was lost in a hurricane of yells, so intermingled that no
+one could say whether they came from Christians or pagans.
+
+"Stay--drop thy match,--hold me this boy, as thou holdest thy life, and
+suffer none to pass the beam----"
+
+"For the sake of the cross thou adorest, the maiden thou lovest!" cried
+the terrified boy, clinging to the cavalier, "leave me not, oh leave me
+not, in this horror, to die alone! The Mexicans will kill me, for I have
+now no gown of a priestess to protect me----"
+
+Notwithstanding the boiling excitement of the novice, these last words
+filled his brain with strange thoughts, but still so confused that they
+were more like the momentary phantasms of delirium, than the proper
+suggestions of reason. But whatever they were, they were instantly
+driven out of his mind, by another cry from Fabueno, seemingly hard by,
+but so feeble and wailing, that a less acute ear might have supposed it
+came from a considerable distance.
+
+He shook the boy off, flung him into the arms of Lazaro, crying, "Answer
+his safety with thy life!--with thy life!" and immediately darted
+through the cannoniers, and retraced his steps on the causeway.
+
+By this time, the fire on the pyramid had attained its greatest
+brilliancy, and the wind having died entirely away, it projected its
+lofty spire to heaven, and burned with a tranquillity which seemed to
+leave it motionless; while its reflection on that part of the lake which
+shared not in the agitations of conflict, produced a spectacle of peace
+in singular contrast with the horrible scene of carnage, that moment
+represented on the causeway. The light it shed, though it made objects
+visible even as far as the second ditch, did not illuminate the furthest
+part of the dike; and there, whatever deed of death might be presented,
+was hidden from the eyes of all but the actors themselves.
+
+Raising his voice aloud, and running towards the nearest group, Don
+Amador sought out the secretary. But this group, before he had yet
+reached it, started away, and fled, with loud cries, towards the city,
+or to where the tumult was greatest; and he knew by their shouts of
+'Tlatelolco! ho, Tlatelolco!' that they were Mexicans. On the spot they
+had thus deserted, the novice stumbled over the body of a man, his
+throat cut from ear to ear, his cotton armour torn to pieces; and from
+the shreds, as the carcass rolled under his foot, there fell out,
+rattling and jingling on the stones, divers vessels of gold and jewels,
+such as had been grasped in the treasury.
+
+Without pausing to survey this victim of covetousness, the cavalier ran
+on; and, hearing many Christian voices, ringing now with curses, now
+with prayers, and now with shouts of triumph, he called out at the top
+of his voice,--
+
+"On, brothers! on to the artillery! advance!--Strike well, and
+forward!--Ho, Lorenzo! comrade! where art thou? and why answerest thou
+not?"
+
+A gurgling sound, as of one suffocating in the flood, drew his eye to
+the lake almost under his feet. The water rippled, as if lately
+disturbed by the falling of some heavy body; and just where the circling
+waves washed sluggishly up the shelving dike, there lay a white mass
+like a human figure, the head and shoulders buried in the tide. The wash
+of the ripple stirred the garments, and, in part, the corse, so that it
+still seemed to be living; but when the novice had caught it up, he
+beheld the visage of a very youthful girl, her forehead cloven by a
+sword of obsidian, and the broken weapon wedged fast in the brain. At
+the same instant, the water parted hard by, and there rose up a dark
+object, that seemed the back of a horse, across which lay the body of a
+man in bright armour, the legs upwards, but the head and breast
+ingulfed. For an instant, this dreary sight was presented; but, slowly,
+the steed, whose nostrils were still under water, as if held down by the
+grasp of the dead rider, rolled over on his side, and the body, slipping
+off the other way, sunk headlong and silently into the flood, followed
+presently by the horse; and the next moment the waters were at rest.
+
+"God rest thee, Lorenzo!" cried the novice, laying down the corse of
+Eugracia. "Thy life and thy hopes, thy ambition and thy love, are ended
+together--but now can I not lament thee!"
+
+He started up, as the causeway suddenly shook with the tramp of hoofs,
+and a cavalier, without spear or helm, dashed madly by. Almost at the
+moment of passing, whether it was that the strength of the fugitive had
+suddenly given out, or whether, as seemed more probable, a flight of
+arrows had been sent in pursuit, and struck both horse and rider, the
+steed made a fierce bound into the air; and then pursued his course,
+masterless.
+
+"Follow onwards, ye men of the rear!" cried the novice, struck with a
+sudden horror; for now he became conscious that the artillery had been,
+for several moments, silent; and when he looked after the flying steed,
+though he could not, at that distance, perceive any thing, he could hear
+fierce voices mingling together in strife; and presently the riderless
+horse, as if driven back by a wall of foes, returned, passing him again
+with the speed of the wind.
+
+The limbs of the cavalier were nerved with the strength of fury; for he
+thought he heard the screams of Jacinto, ascending with the harsher
+cries of the gunners; and scarcely did that frightened charger fly more
+swiftly from the battle, than he himself now back to it.
+
+"Thy duty, knave Lazaro!" he cried. "The boy!--save the boy!"
+
+"Don Amador! oh Amador! Don Amador!" came to his ears, in a voice that
+rent his heart.
+
+"I come! I come!" shouted the cavalier, redoubling his exertions, but
+not his speed, for that was at the highest.
+
+"Oh heaven, Amador! Amador!----"
+
+In his distraction, the neophyte confounded two voices into one; and
+while he replied to one, his thoughts flew to another.
+
+"I come! Answer me--where art thou? I am here:--where art thou!"
+
+As he uttered these words, he sprang through the artillery, which was
+without servers,--among bodies which were lifeless,--and stood
+alone,--for there was no living creature there but himself,--on the
+borders of the sluice, the beam over which was broken off in the middle,
+and the further portion, only, left standing in its place.
+
+He cast his amazed and affrighted eye from the water, heaving as before
+with the struggles of dying men, to the corpse on whose bosom he was
+standing.--In the grinning countenance, covered with blood, and horribly
+mutilated by a blow which had pierced through the mouth, jaws, and
+throat, to the severed spine, he beheld the features of Lazaro, fixed in
+death; and looked wildly at his side, to discover the body of the page.
+No corse of Jacinto was there; but, on the ground, where he had stood,
+on the spot where he had charged him to stand, the novice perceived a
+jewel, catching a ray from the distant fire, glittering red, as with
+blood, and held by a golden chain to which it was attached, in the
+death-grasp of the henchman. He snatched it from the earth and from the
+hand of the dead and looking on it with a stare of horror, beheld the
+holy and never to be forgotten cross of rubies.
+
+With that sight, the scales fell from his eyes, and a million of wild
+thoughts beset his brain. The magical knowledge of the page, coupled
+with his childish and effeminate youth,--his garments, so fitted to
+disguise,--his scrupulous modesty,--his tears, his terrors, his
+affection, and his power over the mind of the cavalier,--the garb of the
+priestess, so lately acknowledged,--the vision in the house of the Wali,
+Abdalla,--the cross of jewels, doubtless snatched from the neck of
+Jacinto, when barbarians were tearing him from the faithful Lazaro,--all
+these came to the brain of the cavalier with the blaze and the shock of
+a cannon, suddenly discharged at his ears. He looked again to the corses
+about him--they were those of the gunners; to the ditch--it writhed no
+more; and then, uttering the name of Leila, he sunk, in a stupor, to the
+earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX.
+
+
+While these scenes of blood were passing in the centre of the army, and
+a hideous mystery concealed the fate of the rear, the condition of the
+advanced guard, though not altogether hopeless, was scarce less
+terrific. When the forces of Sandoval, comprising many of the followers,
+both common soldiers and captains, of Narvaez, were made acquainted with
+the fate of the bridge, and beheld the vast number of foes that impelled
+their canoes towards the further bank of the second ditch, as if to
+secure the passage, they waited not for directions to cross over, by
+swimming. They imitated the example of their commander, Sandoval, who,
+leaping from his horse, and leading him into the water, passed over by
+the beam, while still holding and guiding the swimming animal. This mode
+of proceeding being necessarily very slow, and the barbarians rushing,
+in the meanwhile, against them with unspeakable fury, the impatience of
+the cavaliers became so great, that many of them spurred their steeds
+down the sides of the dike, and thus, swimming them along by the beam,
+passed to the other side. Divers of the footmen, seduced by the example,
+leaped, in like manner, into the lake; and the Tlascalans, at all times
+less formidable opponents than their armed allies, being, at the same
+moment, violently assaulted, sprang also into the water, so that it
+became alive with the bodies of man and horse,--as if a herd of caymans,
+such as haunt the lower rivers of that climate, were disporting and
+battling in the tide. While thus embarrassed and entangled together in
+the water, the swimmers were set upon by the Mexicans, who, pushing
+their canoes among them, and handling their heavy paddles, as well as
+war-clubs, despatched them, almost without labour, and with roars of
+exultation.
+
+It was at this instant of confusion, and while those Tlascalans who
+still remained on the dike, contended but feebly with the augmenting
+assailants, that Don Hernan, followed closely by De Morla, and others,
+dashed over friend and foe, and reached the ditch. The scene of horror
+there disclosed, the miserable shrieks of Christian comrades, perishing
+in the gap and the neighbouring parts of the lake, the increasing yells
+of infidels behind, touched the stout heart of Cortes with fear. He
+descended from his steed, sprang upon the beam, and crossed, crying out,
+at the same time, to those who followed,--
+
+"Hold, cavaliers! Wait ye here for the artillery: leave not this gap to
+the murderers. Fight ye here well, and ye shall have help from the van."
+
+So saying, he sprang again upon his horse. De Morla was at his heels,
+bearing Minnapotzin in his arms, but on foot: the chestnut gelding was
+left drowning in the sluice, entangled and sinking under the weight of a
+dozen men, who had seized upon him, in their terror.
+
+"God forgive thee, cavalier!" cried Cortes, as he caught the eye of
+Francisco; "for, for this barbarian puppet, thou playest the coward, and
+leavest thy friend to perish, without the aid of a blow!"
+
+De Morla answered not, but, with a ghastly smile, uncovered and pointed
+at the features of the unconscious princess.
+
+"If she be dead," cried the general, "give her body to the waters of her
+native lake; if she live, commit her to the care of the Tlascalans; then
+call on thy saints and show that thou art not a craven!"
+
+Then, without waiting for an answer, Don Hernan spurred onwards,
+striking down, almost at every step,--for the whole causeway was
+beset,--some luckless savage; and, now and then, in his desperation,
+smiting at the hands of certain of his own countrymen, who strove to
+arrest the galloping steed, and spring behind him.
+
+He reached the third and last ditch; it was bridge-less, like the
+others, and, like the others, a theatre of disorder and massacre. The
+pillar of fire, here, revealed its figure but luridly and faintly,
+through the thick mists and the cannon-smoke, sluggishly driving over
+the lake; but he thought he could trace, in the distant gloom, in front,
+the outline of those rugged hills, which lie along the western borders
+of the lake. He turned his face backwards to the city; a tempest of
+yells--the pagan shouts of victory, and the last cries of Spaniards to
+God,--came mingling on a gust, that waved the distant flame to and fro,
+like a sword of fire in the hands of some colossal fiend. A bolt of ice
+smote through his bosom; and when he plunged into the sluice, and,
+rising on the opposite bank, drove the sharp spurs into the flanks of
+his charger, no man, of all the army, fled with more craven horror than
+himself.
+
+An hour afterwards, the moon, diminished to the thinnest crescent, crept
+with a sickly and cadaverous visage, to the summit of the eastern hills,
+and peeped down into the valley, preceding the dawn that was soon to
+look upon its scenes of death.
+
+At this moment of moonrise, those few Christians who had escaped from
+the battle, were grouped at the end of the dike, deliberating, in
+unspeakable agitation, upon the course they were to pursue. Many advised
+that they should instantly resume their flight, and trust to their speed
+to put them, before morning, beyond the reach of their merciless
+enemies; some insisted upon remaining, to give help to such wretches as,
+ever and anon, made their way from the causeway, and, with tears of joy
+and loud thanks-givings, threw themselves among their friends; a few,
+more honourable, or more insane, among whom were Sandoval and Don
+Christobal de Olid, (a very valiant cavalier, to whom other histories
+have been juster than this,) demanded, with stern reproaches, that their
+leader should conduct them again to the combat, which was still raging
+on the lake, and rescue their countrymen out of that fiery furnace, or,
+at once, honourably and justly, perish with them.
+
+"Is there one here, who, if I refuse this most mad counsel, will say I
+do it from fear?" demanded the general, with a voice broken by agony and
+despair. "What I do, I do for the good of heaven, the king, and
+yourselves. If I suffer you to return, then will ye perish, Spain lose
+an appanage worthy the first-born of an emperor, and, in that accursed
+city, God be daily grieved by the sight of idolatry and sacrifice. By
+remaining where we are, we shall save many lives; and this land of milk
+and honey, of corn and of gold, though now torn from us for our sins,
+will be yet the guerdon of our resolution. I aver and protest, that if
+we return to the hell that is on the lake, we shall be lost, to a man.
+Is there one, then, who says I remain here from fear?"
+
+Notwithstanding the deep grief and agitation which gave their tone to
+the words of the general, there was mingled withal a touch of such
+sternness, as forbade even the boldest to reply. Great, therefore, was
+the surprise of all, when a hollow and broken voice murmured, in answer,
+from the causeway,--
+
+"There is ONE,--there are an hundred,--there _have been_ (but now they
+are not,) a thousand men, who say that, this night, Cortes hath proved a
+craven, a deserter of his friends, a traitor to his king, a betrayer of
+his God,--and, therefore, a villain!"
+
+As these words were uttered, there staggered up the bank, on which the
+party rested, a figure, seemingly of a cavalier, but his armour so rent
+and demolished, as, in many places, to leave his body naked. His helmet
+was gone, and his locks, dripping with water and blood, fell over his
+breast, leaving their crimson stains on the white mantle muffling the
+body of some slighter figure, which he bore in his arms.
+
+"I forgive thee, De Morla!" cried the general, rushing forwards, and
+then recoiling, as Don Francisco deposited the burden at his feet, and,
+removing the cloth reeking with water as with gore, disclosed to the
+view of all, gently touched by the ray of that wasted and melancholy
+moon, the countenance of the dead princess. "Who hath struck the
+daughter of Montezuma?--who hath done this deed?"
+
+"He who hath smitten the hearts of a thousand Christians, by leading
+them into peril, and deserting them in their need!" said the cavalier,
+with a tranquillity that struck all with terror, for it was unnatural;
+"he, who commanded me to fling, while living, this child of a murdered
+king into the lake, or upon the spears of Tlascalans, and then get me
+back to the foe, that he might himself fly in safety!"
+
+"Thou art mad, Francisco! and thou doest me foul injustice!" said Don
+Hernan, hurriedly. "I fled not; nor did I bid thee do aught but entrust
+this hapless maiden to some strong band of allies, thou being thyself
+on foot, and, therefore, incompetent to protect her."
+
+"You called me craven, too!" said the cavalier, with a hoarse laugh,
+raising his voice aloud. "Thou liest!--I am braver than thou; for my
+body is covered with wounds--from the crown to the sole, there is no
+part but is mangled;--and yet thou hast not a limb but is untouched! You
+call me craven! God smite you with punishment, for you are _all_
+cravens, knaves, and murderers together! You wait on the banks, while we
+are dying, and you call us cravens! God will do us right! God will
+avenge us! God will hear our prayers! and so God curse you all, and keep
+your bones for the maws of infidels!"
+
+Thus speaking, and concluding with the voice of a madman, the young
+cavalier cast a look on the dead princess, and, uttering a horrid
+scream, ran back, distracted, to the causeway.
+
+"In the name of God, on!" exclaimed an hundred voices; "we are _not_
+cravens and murderers, and Spaniards shall not fall unaided!"
+
+Don Hernan himself, stung by the sarcasms of the unhappy and
+well-beloved cavalier, was the first to clap spurs to his horse; and
+again the thunder of cavalry, and the quick tread of footmen moving in
+order, were heard on the dike of Tacuba.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LX.
+
+
+Thousands of infuriated and exulting savages had, in the meanwhile,
+landed from their canoes at the second ditch, raised their cries of
+triumph over the abandoned artillery, and struck, with a rage not to be
+appeased by death, the Christian corses which lay so thick among them.
+But, while living invaders remained, either in the front or rear, they
+tarried not long, to waste their malice on the dead.
+
+The cavalier Don Amador, when he made the marvellous discovery, detailed
+in a preceding chapter, and perceived that the fair and lamented being
+of his dreams, heaven had permitted so long to walk by his side, in this
+new and strange world,--revealing her to his eyes only at the moment
+when destined to be snatched from them for ever,--felt, at that instant
+of discovery as if all the ties which bound him to existence, were at
+once dissevered. Rage at his blindness, furious compunctions of remorse
+for his negligence, and an agony of grief at the supposed dreadful fate
+of the maiden, were mingled with a sort of wild indignation against the
+providence which, by veiling his eyes, and shutting his ears to the
+suggestions of his heart, (for, surely, from the moment he looked upon
+the page, his affections were given him,) had robbed him of his
+mistress. It was not, therefore, wonderful, that such a conflict of
+mind, acting upon a body weakened by previous wounds and sickness, and
+exhausted by present exertions, should have thrown him across the body
+of Lazaro, himself, to all appearance, full as lifeless. And thus he
+lay, for half an hour, insensible to the battle, which was now drawing
+nigh to the ditch, and now leaving it to its charnel solitude.
+
+He was recalled to life, by feeling some one tug forcibly at the sacred
+jewel, which he retained throughout his lethargy, with the same instinct
+which had preserved it in the death-grasp of the henchman. More lucky
+than Lazaro, yet scarce more happy, this violence woke up the sleeping
+energies of life; and he raised his head, though only to stare about him
+with a bewildered look of unconsciousness.
+
+"God be thanked!" exclaimed a Christian voice in his ear, as a friendly
+hand seized him by the shoulder; "lead or gold, glass or precious stone,
+never was cross of Christ picked up on the wayside, but good fortune
+followed after it! What ho, señor! up and away! The things that I spoke
+of, have come to pass. Kalidon-Sadabath dances in the Crystal; he loves
+the smell of blood!--Up! arise and away, for thine hour is not come."
+
+The cavalier arose, and stared at the friendly magician; which Botello
+seeing, and supposing he was now fully restored to his wits, this
+lunatic of another sort seized him by the arm, and, dragging him towards
+the water, said,--
+
+"Fear not; if thou hast not the skill of a crocodile, know that I can
+bear thee across the channel; and that the more easily that it is
+already choked with corses, and no Mexicans nigh to oppose us."
+
+The neophyte broke from his companion, and with wild cries of _Leila!
+Leila!_ ran towards the cannon.
+
+"God save thee! art thou mad? Dost thou call upon woman or devil? This
+is no place for girls; and never heard I of imp called Leila."
+
+"Thou knowest not my wretchedness, Botello," said Don Amador. "Let me
+look again, if her body be not here.--Hah!" he cried, struck with a
+sudden thought, and turning quickly to the conjurer. "Thou art a
+magician, and knowest of the dead as well as the living. I have decried
+thine art, but now I acknowledge thy wisdom. Behold this rubied
+cross--oh heaven! that I should hold it in my hand, and know, that, but
+a moment since, it was on the neck of Leila! Look, enchanter; this jewel
+came from the neck of a woman, whom but now I left standing on this
+brink. Call her from the dead, if she have perished; or show me what
+path she hath trodden, if she be living; and I will reward thee, though
+I give thee the half of my patrimony.--A woman, I tell thee! Wilt thou
+not believe me? Half my estate, but to look upon her!"
+
+It was manifest, even to the unhappy novice himself, that Botello
+regarded him as a madman. But nevertheless he replied earnestly, "Here
+is no place for conjurations: there be devils enough about us already.
+Tarry not here; for this will neither benefit thee, nor her of whom thou
+speakest. Spring into the ditch,--rush with me to the main; and, then,
+what thou seekest, thou shalt know. Courage, courage! Dost thou not see
+yonder star, that creeps up by the dim moon, under the rack, dimmer even
+than the dim moon? Under that star, came I into earth: and while it
+shineth in that conjunction, the dart of a savage cannot wound me,--no,
+not though it strike me upon the naked brow!--Hark! dost thou not hear?
+The fragments of the rear-guard are approaching. Let us swim this abyss
+before they reach us, lest we be entangled among them. Hesitate not: we
+will go together, for I see thou art worn and feeble; and I remember
+that thou gavest me succour in the streets of Mexico."
+
+The neophyte had yielded, with a sort of captive-like and despairing
+submission, to the will of Botello; and was descending with him moodily
+to the water, when suddenly the latter paused, listening to a Christian
+shout in the distance, as of one approaching them from the shore.
+
+"Hark! it is repeated!--Viva! They come from the main: they have beaten
+the cubs of darkness--Viva! viva! Santiago, and quick, valiant friends!"
+
+The joyous shouts of Botello were re-echoed, though only by a single
+voice. Yet this was evidently approaching, and with great rapidity.
+
+During the whole time of the resuscitation of Don Amador, and of his
+dialogue with the enchanter, the causeway in the neighbourhood of the
+ditch had been free from foes, but only because it was free from
+Christians; and the lake in the vicinity was equally solitary. But now
+as they stood listening to the shouts, the two companions could perceive
+the lake, some distance in front, on both sides of the dike, boiling up
+in foam under canoes impelled towards them with extraordinary violence,
+seemingly upon the flank of the party from which proceeded the cry. But
+whatever was the speed of the canoes, it seemed to be unequal to that of
+the Christian; whose shouts wild and loud, and now almost incessantly
+repeated, grew shriller and nearer every moment.
+
+"On, valiant friends! on!--heed not the pagans; on!" shouted Botello, as
+the canoes cut the water within an hundred paces of the ditch. "Thanks
+be to God! I see them! Hah! good! and here--Hark to his voice! how
+cheery!--here comes the valorous De Morla!"
+
+As he spoke, the figure of De Morla, outstripping the wind, was seen
+running towards the ditch, while some of the arrows shot after him by
+the pursuers, and passing him, fell even at the feet of the expectant
+pair.
+
+The sight of his friend kindled the ardour of Don Amador. He shouted
+aloud,
+
+"On, valiant brother!--It is I! thy sworn friend of Cuenza!"
+
+To this speech, De Morla answered with a yell, that chilled the heart of
+his townsman; and running without a moment's hesitation, and without
+slackening his speed, to the end of the broken beam, where it overhung
+the middle of the sluice, he sprang from it, as if assisted by its
+elasticity, to so great a height into the air, that, it was plain, he
+would clear the chasm in the bound. As he leaped, he waved his sword,
+and uttered a scream; a cloud of arrows at the same time whistled
+through the atmosphere; and when he reached the ground, twenty of these
+deadly missiles were sticking in his body.
+
+The neophyte raised up his head; one arrow was in his brain:--it snapped
+off, as the head rolled on Amador's arm. A thrill and a gasp were the
+last and only manifestations of suffering. The next instant, the body of
+De Morla rolled down the shelving plane of the ditch, and sunk, with a
+few bubbles, among a hundred of his countrymen, already sepulchred
+therein.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXI.
+
+
+Meantime the reappearance of the barbarians seemed to cut off the last
+hope of escape from Amador and his companion; but the magician,
+answering the cavalier's sullen look of despair with a laugh, and
+pointing to the little star, which still made its way up the cloudy arch
+along with the moon, said, dragging him at the same time towards the
+artillery,
+
+"What the spirits say, is true! All this said they, of De Morla.--May he
+rest with God--Amen! Fear not; be of good heart:--while the star shines,
+there is hope,--and hope for both; for though I have not yet read thy
+fate in full, still, while thou art at my side, thou canst be in no
+great peril. At the worst, and when the worst comes, it is written, that
+eagles shall come down from heaven, and bear me away on their
+backs.--Hast thou never a flint and dry tinder, to light me a linstock?
+Here hath some knavish gunner left his piece charged, and the grains of
+sulphur still heaped up from rimbase to cascable. A good roar now might
+do marvels.--Quick! they are upon us.--Fling thee under the wheels, and
+look but as dead as thou didst erewhile, till the cut-throats be
+passed.--Hah! 'fore God, dost thou hear?" he exclaimed, suddenly leaping
+up.--"Kalidon, soho, brave imp! and thou shalt be a-galloping
+yet!--Hearest thou that shout, like the clang of a bugle on a
+hill-top?--'Tis Cortes! and he cometh!"
+
+It was even as the magician had said. From the moment that De Morla took
+the fatal leap, the rowers ceased paddling in their canoes, as if
+certain of his fate, or unwilling to follow so feeble a prey, and
+remained huddled together, as though they awaited the approach of a more
+tempting quarry. They had not perceived the two companions. Just as
+Botello was about to creep under a falconet, around whose wheels the
+corses lay very thick, the strong voice of Cortes was heard rising over
+the din, which, at some quarter or other of the causeway, was kept up
+incessantly during the whole conflict. It echoed again, sustained and
+strengthened by the voices of a considerable party.
+
+"They approach!" said Botello. "They are a-horse too; I hear the
+trampling. God quicken the rear! Methought there were many who followed
+me."
+
+"Hark!" cried the cavalier. "The foul knaves desert us! their voices are
+weaker; they fly again to the land!"
+
+"Here's that which shall fetch them back, if they be men!" exclaimed
+Botello, catching up a port-fuse not yet extinguished, striking it on
+his arm to shake off the ashes, and whirling it in the air till it
+glowed and almost blazed. "It will show them, there be some living yet;
+and, with God's blessing, will scatter yon ambushed heathen like
+plashing water-drops. _Ojala!_ and all ye fiends of air and water, of
+earth and of hell, that are waiting for pagan souls, carry my hail-shot
+true, and have at your prey!"
+
+So saying, the conjurer applied the match. The roar of the explosion was
+succeeded not only by the yells of Mexicans, dying in their broken
+canoes, or paddling away from so dangerous a vicinity, but by Spanish
+shouts, both on the rear and in front.
+
+"On, brave hearts!" cried Cortes; "there be bold knaves yet at the
+ordnance!"
+
+The next moment the little band of horse that headed the relief, sprang
+into the lake, and swimming aside, so as to avoid the sunken bodies, and
+the bales still floating in the ditch, crossed over to the cannon; while
+a large body of men, arranged with such order, that they blocked up the
+whole causeway from side to side, came marching up from the rear,
+fighting as they fled, and still valiantly resisting the multitudes that
+pursued both on the dike and in the water.
+
+"Thanks be to God!" cried Don Hernan, rejoiced that so many lived, and
+yet appalled at the numbers and ferocious determination of the foes, who
+still, like venomous insects following the persecuted herd, pursued
+whithersoever the Christians fled. "Art thou alive, De Leon?--Praised be
+St. James, who listened to my prayer! Turn ye now, and let us succour
+the rest."
+
+"They are in heaven," said De Leon, with a faint voice, for he was
+severely wounded, as indeed were all his crew. "Push on, in the name of
+God, all who can swim.--The others must perish."
+
+"Hold! stay!" exclaimed Cortes. "Fling the cannon into the
+sluice.--Think not of the enemy. Heave over my good falconets: they will
+make a bridge for ye all."
+
+The wounded footmen seized upon the guns, with the energy of despair;
+and flinging over the ropes to that company of their fellow infantry who
+had followed Don Hernan, and now stood on the opposite side, the pieces
+were pushed and dragged into the water, and, together with the mass of
+corses already deposited in that fatal chasm, made such a footing for
+the infantry as enabled many to pass in safety. Among these was Don
+Amador de Leste, his hand grasped by the faithful magician, who
+perceived that he was sunk into such sluggishness of despair, that he
+must have perished, if left to himself.
+
+It is not to be supposed that this passage was effected without
+opposition and loss. On the contrary, the barbarians redoubled their
+exertions; and while many rested at a distance, shooting whole clouds of
+arrows, others pushed their canoes boldly up to the gap, and there slew
+many taken at such disadvantage.
+
+Nevertheless, the passage was at last effected, and the footmen, joining
+themselves to their fellows, and forming, as before, twenty deep,
+followed the horsemen towards the shore.
+
+"Hold!" shouted Botello, when the party was about to start. "Save your
+captain, ye knaves of the rear!--Save De Leon! the valiant Velasquez!"
+
+A few, roused by this cry, and heedless of the shafts shot at them,
+rushed back to the brink, and beheld the wounded and forgotten captain,
+in the water, struggling in the arms of two brawny barbarians, who
+strove to drag him into a canoe. While his followers stood hesitating,
+not knowing how to give him aid, the little vessel, agitated by his
+struggles, which were tremendous, suddenly overset, and captive and
+capturers fell together into the water. The two warriors were presently
+seen swimming towards a neighbouring canoe; and De Leon, strangling
+under the flood, heaved not his last groan on the gory block of
+sacrifice.
+
+The fugitives paused not to lament; they resumed their march, and gained
+the last ditch.
+
+The events of that march, and of the passage of that ditch, are, like
+the others, a series of horrors. Enough has been narrated to picture out
+the dreadful punishment of men who acknowledged no rights but those of
+power, and preferred to rob a weak and childish race with insult and
+murder, rather than to subdue them, as could have been done, by the arts
+of peace. In the sole incident which remains to be mentioned, we record
+the fate of an individual whose influence had been felt through most of
+the events of the invasion, in many cases beneficially, but, in this,
+disastrously enough. This was the enchanter, Botello,--a man just shrewd
+enough to deceive himself; which is, in other words, to say, that he
+mingled in his own person so much cunning with so much credulity, that
+the former was ever the victim of the latter. The devoutness of his own
+belief in the efficacy of his arts, was enough to secure them the
+respect and reverence of the common herd, as well as of better men, in
+an age of superstition. How much confidence was given to them by Cortes,
+does not clearly appear in the older historians; but it is plain, he
+turned them to great advantage, and had the art sometimes to make the
+stars, as well as Kalidon of the Crystal, furnish revelations of his own
+hinting; and, it is suspected, not without grounds, that this very
+nocturnal flight, projected originally under the impression that the
+barbarians would not go into battle after night-fall, and, when the
+later events of the siege had disproved this hope, still persisted in
+from the persuasion that no Mexican would handle a weapon on the day of
+an emperor's burial, was conceived in the brain of the general before it
+was counselled by the lips of Botello.
+
+At all events, the enchanter did not, this night, manifest any doubt in
+his own powers. With a strange and yet natural inconsistency, he seemed
+to rejoice over the slaughter of his countrymen, as over the
+confirmation of his predictions. Twice or thrice, at least, he muttered,
+and once even in the thick of combat, to Don Amador, by whose side he
+ever walked, at the head of the retreating party,--
+
+"I said, this night we should retreat--we have retreated: I said, there
+should be death for many, and safety for some--the many are at rest,
+(God receive their souls, and angels carry them to the seats of
+bliss!)--and some of us are saved."
+
+"Be not over-quick in thy consummations," said Amador. "We are here now
+at the third ditch, which is both wide and deep, and no bodies to bridge
+it; and seest thou not how the yelling curs are paddling in to oppose
+us?"
+
+"Bodies enow!" cried the enchanter. "To-morrow, at midday, when the sun
+is hottest, ye shall see corses lying along on both sides of the causey,
+like the corks of a fisherman's net; and at the ditches, they will come
+up like ants out of the earth, when a dead caterpillar falls at their
+door. Yet say I, we shall be saved, and thou shalt see it; for I
+remember how thou didst carve the back of that knave that lay on me in
+the streets of Mexico; and I will carve a dozen for thee in like manner,
+ere dawn, on this causeway."
+
+"Boast no more: such confidence offends heaven; for thy life hangs here
+as loosely as another's."
+
+"The star! the star!" cried Botello, "the dim little star! is it not
+shining? The morning comes after it, and the eagles are waking on the
+hills. They will snuff the battle, they will shriek to the vultures, to
+the crows, and the gallinazas, and down will they come together to the
+lake-side and the lake. At eventide, ye will see dead men floating about
+in the wind, and on the breast of each a feeding raven; but devils shall
+be perched on the corses of the heathen!"
+
+"Heaven quit me of thy wild words, for they sound to me unnatural and
+damnable, as though spoken by one of those same demons thou thinkest
+of.--Speak no more.--Look to thy life; for it is in jeopardy."
+
+"Hast thou not seen me in the battle? and, lo you now, I have not a
+scratch!" said the enthusiast. "I have fought on the dike, when there
+were twelve men of us, good men, bold and true: eleven were slain, but
+here am I untouched by flint, unbruised by stone, unhurt by arrow. I
+fought three screeching infidels in the water, hard by to where two
+valiant cavaliers were pulled off their horses, and so smothered; and
+yet strangled I my heathens, without horse to help, or friend to say God
+speed me. The life that is charmed is invulnerable; the star shines, the
+eagle leaves her nest, and Kalidon-Sadabath laughs in the
+crystal.--Viva! Lo now, how Sandoval, the valiant, will scatter me yon
+imps in the boats! He spurs into the water; Catalan the Left-handed,
+Juan of Salamanca, Torpo the Growler, Ferdinand of Bilboa, and De Olid
+the Devil's Ketch, they spring after him!--There they go! Dance,
+Kalidon! thy brothers shall have souls, to be fetched up from the mud as
+one rakes up clams of a fish-day. Crowd hell with damned
+heathens:--there be more to follow!"
+
+Never before had such life possessed the spirits of Botello. He stood on
+the edge of the causey, shouting loud vivas, as the bold cavaliers
+rushed among the canoes that blocked up the sluice. The novice, though
+shocked at such untimely exultation, was not able to avoid it; for he
+was enfeebled, and Botello held him with a fast and determined gripe.
+
+"Unhand me, conjurer," he cried, "and I will swim the ditch."
+
+"Tarry a little, till the path be made clear: thou wilt be murdered
+else."
+
+"I shall be murdered, if I remain here; and so wilt thou.--Hah! did that
+shaft hurt thee?"
+
+"Never a jot; how could it? There flies not the arrow this night, there
+waves not the bludgeon, that can shed my blood."
+
+"Art thou besotted?--God forgive thee!--this is impiety."
+
+The magician held his peace; for about this time, the Mexicans, knowing
+that this band, diminished, disordered, and divided by the ditch into
+two feeble parties, was the sole remaining fragment of oppression, and
+determined that no invader should escape alive, rushed upon the causeway
+on all sides with such savage violence as seemed irresistible. Those who
+had not yet crossed, broke in affright, and flung themselves into the
+sluice with such speed, that, in a few moments, Don Amador began to
+think that he and Botello were the only Christians left.
+
+"Why dost thou hold me, madman?" he cried. "Let me free."
+
+"Hark! dost thou not hear?--there are Christian men behind us," said
+Botello.--"Courage! What if these devils be thicker than the thoughts of
+sin in man's heart, fiercer than conscience, deadlier than remorse; yet
+shall we pass them unharmed.--Patience! 'Tis the voice of a Spaniard, I
+tell thee, and behind!"
+
+"It is in front:--hark! 'tis Don Hernan!"
+
+"It is behind, and it is the cry of Alvarado! Let us return, and give
+him aid. Ho, ye that fly! return! the Tonatiuh is shouting behind us:
+will ye desert him?--Return, return!"
+
+Before Amador could remonstrate, the lunatic, for at this moment, more
+than any other, Botello seemed to deserve the name, had dragged him to
+the top of the dike, where he stood exposed to the view and the shots
+of the foe. A thousand arrows were aimed at the pair.
+
+"Thou art a dead man!" said Amador.
+
+"Dost thou not see the star?" cried the magician, impatiently. "Not a
+bird hath yet flapped her wing, not an eagle hath fled from her cliff;
+and my star, my star----"
+
+As he spoke, he let go his hold of the cavalier, to point exultingly at
+the diminutive luminary. At that very instant, an arrow, aimed close at
+hand, struck the neophyte on the breast, entering the mail at a place
+rent by blows of a previous day, and, without wounding him, forced its
+way out through links hitherto uninjured.
+
+"Hah!" said the cavalier, as the arm of Botello fell heavily on his
+shoulder.--"Art thou taught wisdom and humility, at last? Let us
+descend, and swim."
+
+As he moved, he became sensible that the shaft was still sticking in his
+hauberk. He grasped the feathered notch--the head was in the
+astrologer's heart. The stout wood snapped, as Botello fell. It struck
+him in the moment of his greatest hope. He dropped down a dead man.
+
+While Amador stood confounded and struck with horror, he was seized, he
+knew not by whom, and suddenly found himself dragged through the water.
+Before he could well commend his soul to heaven, for he thought himself
+in the hands of the enemy, he beheld himself on firm land, while the
+voice of Cortes shouted in his ear,--
+
+"Rouse thee, and die not like a sleeper! Hold me by the hand, and my
+good horse shall drag thee through the melée--I would sooner that my arm
+were hacked off than that thou shouldst sleep in the accursed lake:
+enough of thy blood rests in it, with Don Gabriel."
+
+"Ay," thought the unhappy cavalier, "enough of my blood, and all of my
+heart. Don Gabriel, De Morlar, Lazaro, Lorenzo, and--ay, and Leila!
+Better that I were with them!"
+
+A sudden cry from beyond the ditch interrupted his griefs.
+
+"Pause, pause!" cried the voice. "Leave me not!--I am nigh!--I am
+Alvarado!"
+
+The cavaliers looked back at these words, and beheld a man come flying,
+as it were, through the air over the ditch, perched on the top of a long
+Chinantlan spear, the bottom of which was hidden in the water. He fell
+quite clear of the sluice, after making a leap which even his comrades,
+who had not individually seen it, held impossible for mortal man, and
+which, even to this day, has preserved to the spot the name of the
+Salto, or leap, of Alvarado.
+
+The appearance of the Tonatiuh was hailed with shouts of joy; and the
+Spaniards, receiving it as a good omen, closed their ranks, and slowly,
+for every inch was contested, fought their way to the shore. When they
+trode upon the firm ground, the little star had vanished in the gray
+beams of morning; and a thick mist rising up from the water like a
+curtain, concealed from the eyes of the fugitives, along with the
+accursed signal-fire, the fatal towers and temples of Mexico.
+
+Thus closed a night of horror and wo, memorable as the _Noche Triste_,
+or Melancholy Night, of Mexican history, and paralleled perhaps, in
+modern days, if we consider the loss of the retreating army as compared
+with its numbers, only by the famous and most lamentable passage of the
+Berezina. More than four thousand Tlascalans, and five hundred
+Spaniards, were left dead on the causeway, or in the lake. Of the
+prisoners, but two or three escaped; two sons and as many daughters of
+Montezuma, with five tributary kings, as well as many princes and
+nobles, perished. All the cannon were utterly lost, left to rust and rot
+in the salt flood that had so often resounded to their roar; and of more
+than an hundred proud war-steeds that champed the bit so fiercely at
+midnight, scarce twenty jaded hacks snuffed the breath of morning.
+
+With this broken and lamenting force, with foes still hanging on his
+rear, and ever flying from his front, Cortes set out to seek a path, by
+new and unknown mountains, to the distant Tlascala. He turned his eyes
+but once towards the lake,--the pagan city was hidden among the mists,
+and the shouts of victorious Mexicans came but faintly to the ear. He
+beat his breast, and shedding such tears as belong to defeated hopes and
+the memory of the dead, resumed his post at the head of the fugitives.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXII.
+
+
+We draw a curtain over the events of the first five days of flight,
+wherein the miserable fugitives, contending, at once, with fatigue,
+famine, and unrelenting foes, stole by night, and through darkling
+by-ways, along the northern borders of the fair valley, from which they
+were thus ignominiously, and, as it seemed, for ever, expelled. Of the
+twenty mounted men, each, like a Red-Cross Knight, in the ancient days
+of the order, bore a wounded companion on his crupper; and Don Amador,
+himself, on a jaded beast that had belonged to Marco,--for Fogoso had
+been lost or killed in the melée,--thus carried the only remaining
+servant of himself and his knight,--the ancient Baltasar. Other mangled
+wretches were borne on the backs of Tlascalans, in rudely constructed
+litters.
+
+In this manner, the ruined and melancholy band pursued its way, by
+lake-side and hill, over morass and river, ever pursued and insulted by
+bodies of barbarians, and frequently attacked; till, on the evening of
+the fifth day, they flung their weary forms to sleep in the City (as it
+may be called) of Pyramids, among those mouldering and cactus-covered
+mounds, which the idolatry of a forgotten age reared to the divinity of
+the greater and lesser luminaries of heaven, on the field Micoatl, that
+is to say, the Plain of Death. The visitor of San Juan de Teotihuacan
+still perceives these gigantic barriers, rising among the hundreds of
+smaller mounds--the Houses of the Stars--which strew the consecrated
+haunts, and, perhaps, conceal the sepulchres, of a holozoic people.
+
+At sunrise, the Spaniards arose, ascended the mountain of Aztaquemacan,
+at the north-eastern border of the valley, and prepared, with a joyous
+expectation, which had not been diminished even by the significant and
+constantly-repeated threats of the pursuers, to descend into the
+friendly land of the Tlascalans, by way of the vale of Otumba. For the
+last two days, the name of this valley had been continually on the lips
+of the Mexicans, following on the rear; and their cries, as interpreted
+by Marina, who survived the horrors of the Melancholy Night, intimated,
+plainly enough, that the work of revenge, so dreadfully commenced upon
+the lake, was to be consummated in the gorges of the mountains.
+Nevertheless, the Spaniards, in the alacrity of spirit, which the
+prospect of soon ending their sufferings in the Land of Bread, produced,
+forgot these menaces, or regarded them as the idle bravados of impotent
+fury; and clambered upwards, with increasing hope, until they reached
+the crest of a ridge, and looked down the slope to the wished-for
+valley. The sight which they beheld, will be described in another place.
+It remains, now, to return to an individual, whose fate has long been
+wrapped in mystery.
+
+At the moment when the Spaniards approached the highest part of the
+ravine, by which, alone, they could pass, in that quarter, from the vale
+of Tenochtitlan, there lay, in a wild and savage nook of the mountain,
+which went shelving upwards on the right hand, and at so short a
+distance, that had a bugle been winded in the army, it must have reached
+his ears,--one who had been a companion in many of their battles and
+sufferings. A number of huge rocks fallen ages ago, and rolled from some
+distant pinnacle, were heaped together on a broad and inclined shelf,
+and enclosed a space of ground so regular in form, and yet so rudely
+bounded by those sprawling barriers, that it looked to the imagination
+not unlike the interior of some stupendous temple, built by a barbaric
+people, and overwhelmed, many ages before, by some great convulsion. One
+side was formed by a cliff, in whose shivered side yawned the entrance
+of a black and dismal cavern, while the broken masses of rock themselves
+formed the others. Among, and over these, where they lay in contact with
+the cliff, there rushed a torrent, which, in the times of drought, might
+have been a meager and chattering rivulet, making its way, merrily,
+through gap and hollow, but which, now, swollen by the summer rains,
+came raving and roaring over the rocks, broken by them into a series of
+foaming cascades; and, then, shooting over a corner of the enclosure,
+and, darting through the opposite wall, it went, thundering, down the
+mountain. A few stunted trees stretched their withered limbs among these
+savage masses; and the noontide sun, peeping down into the nook, and
+lighting up a part of the cliff, fell pleasantly on the mosses and
+Alpine flowers, which ornamented its shelving floor, tinting, with
+momentary rainbows, the mists that hung over the fall. A sable steed,
+without bridle or halter, and much the worse for such primitive
+stabling, but yet, to all appearance, the relic of a once noble
+war-horse, wandered, at liberty, through the enclosure, cropping the few
+plants which bedecked it, or drinking from the little pools, at the side
+of the torrent; while, at the mouth of the cave, at the foot of a wooden
+crucifix of the rudest description, lay sleeping the figure of his
+master. A stained and tattered garment of leather, investing his limbs,
+was not altogether hidden under a black mantle, which partly covered his
+body. The head of the sleeper lay on his right arm, and this embraced
+the foot of the cross, so that the grizzly locks, which fell from his
+forehead, rested against, and almost twined around, the holy wood.
+
+The sunbeam played, unregarded, on his withered cheeks, and flickered
+over a heap of rusted armour, both of man and horse, which lay hard by,
+shining, also, with a fierce lustre, upon what appeared a scarlet
+surcoat, hung, like a banner, on the point of a knightly lance, which
+rested against the side of the cliff.
+
+Disease, as well as age, had furrowed the cheeks, and wasted the form of
+the slumberer; famine seemed to have been at work, as well as all other
+privations incident to a habitation in the desert; and there was, in his
+whole appearance, such an air of extreme and utter misery, as would have
+moved the pity of any beholder. Nevertheless, he slept on, regardless of
+the roaring fall, and heedless of the fierce sunbeam, in such
+tranquillity as augured, at least, a momentary suspension of suffering.
+
+As the sun stole up to the meridian, another human creature was suddenly
+added to the scene. The browsing war-horse pricked his ears, and
+snorted, as if to do the duty of a faithful sentinel, and convey to his
+master a note of alarm, as certain dried branches crackled among the
+rocks of the wall, and a stone, loosened as by a footstep, fell,
+rattling, down their sides, and buried itself in the pool, at the base
+of the fall. But the anchorite, for such the solitude of his dwelling,
+the poverty of his raiment, and, more than all, the little rugged cross
+which he embraced, caused him to appear, heard not these sounds; he
+slept on, lulled by the accustomed roar of the water-fall; and the steed
+was left alone, to watch the approach of the stranger.
+
+Presently, he was seen dragging himself up the rocks, by the aid of a
+drooping bough; and when he had reached their top, he rested for a
+moment, still clinging to the branch, as if worn out with toil, as was,
+indeed, made apparent by the youth and feebleness of his appearance. He
+cast a haggard and uninterested eye on the romantic torrent leaping and
+foaming at his feet, and seemed to hesitate whether he should descend
+into the prison-like enclosure, or retrace his steps, and retreat as he
+had come. But, suddenly, his gaze fell upon the steed, and he started
+with surprise at a sight so unexpected. The sagacious animal whinnied
+loudly, as if with recognition; and the youth, devoutly crossing
+himself, looked, with an agitation that denoted terror, on the red
+garment, the cross, and the human figure that still lay sleeping, or,
+perhaps, as he thought, dead, under its holy shadow. Then, as if
+resolved, he hastened to descend from the rugged fragments, and seeking
+where he might safely cross the brook, over the stones that obstructed
+its bed, he at last stood at the side of the good steed, which snuffed
+at him a moment with joy, and, then, gambolling about a little, fell to
+cropping the plants again, satisfied that the comer was a friend.
+
+The youth stole up tremblingly to the side of the sleeper, and seemed
+shocked at his emaciated and neglected appearance. He stooped as if to
+awake him, and then started back, wringing his hands, in fear and grief.
+He bent over him again;--a smile passed like a beam over the countenance
+of the recluse, and a murmur escaped his lips, of which the youth caught
+only a few broken syllables:
+
+"Though I shed thy blood," were the words he distinguished, "yet did I
+not aim at thee; and, therefore, hast thou forgiven me, for the sin was
+the sin of frenzy. Thou pardonest me, too, Alharef, for thou art, also,
+of the angels. It is good to walk with thee through the seats of
+bliss."
+
+A tear fell upon the cheek of the knight Calavar,--for it was, indeed,
+he; but it fell like the spray-drop, or the gentle dew; and it was not
+until the hand of the youth touched his shoulder, that he awoke and rose
+feebly to his feet.
+
+"Whoever thou art," said the unfortunate devotee, "thou breakest the
+only dream of happiness that hath visited my slumbers, for long and many
+years, and callest me from the paradise that filled me with bliss, to
+the earth which is the wheel whereon I am broken--Miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+"Alas, my lord!"
+
+"Art thou sent back to bid me prepare?" cried Don Gabriel, starting
+wildly, at the voice of the intruder. "Lo! I have flung me off the
+harness of war, and devoted me to penance in the wilderness, giving my
+body to sleep on the earth and in caves, drinking of the wild floods,
+and eating of the tough roots, with the earth-worm; while I sleep, my
+heart is scourged within me; whilst I wake, I pray,--and I pray that I
+may sleep for ever. Know, therefore, Jacinto! thou that dwellest in
+paradise! that I am ready, and that I thank heaven, I am called, at
+last; for weary has been my life, and long my repentance."
+
+"Alas, my lord, I live like thyself; and I call upon thee, that thou
+mayest continue to live. I thought, indeed, that thou wert dead, and so
+thought, and yet think, thy friends,--who are now in great peril."
+
+"God snatched me from the hands of the heathen," said the knight, "and
+brought me to this place, that I might seek for peace. For, oh! my heart
+was but filled with scorpions, that stung me day and night, and my head
+strewn with coals, ever burning and tormenting, whilst I sat in the
+infidel city, and remembered how he that hath been my son, was slain by
+murderers in the streets, because he loved me! All that loved me have
+perished, and (wo betide the hand that struck, and is not yet withered!)
+two under mine own steel. Yea, Alharef, thou art remembered! and, Zayda,
+thou art not forgotten! Then came the blow to thee, dear seraph! and
+thou wert carried off by the angry spirit of Alharef, who defied me at
+the palace-gate, and, in the temple-yard, raised me to my feet, and bade
+me think of Zayda. Verily, I remember her, and my heart is black with
+recollection! Then fell the bolt upon my boy,--he that was matchless in
+honour and love, peerless in war, incomparable in truth!--Would that the
+barbarous knives had struck my bosom, instead of thine, Amador! would
+that thou wert now upon thy gallant bay, shaking thy lance, and shouting
+the cry of the Hospital, and I in thy place, mouldering in the streets
+of Mexico! I lay on my couch, whilst thou wert calling to me for aid; I
+slept while thou wert dying.--Cursed be thy foundations, pagan city!
+ruin fall upon thy towers, havoc ride howling through thy palaces, and
+lamentations come up from thy lakes and gardens! for he that was the
+last and first, the loving and beloved, rots like a dog upon thy
+pavement!"
+
+"Noble and dear master," said Jacinto, "in this, at least, thou art
+mistaken. My dear lord, thy kinsman, perished not that day in the
+streets; for I myself did watch by his sick couch, and see him, after
+thou hadst departed, return in safety to the palace."
+
+"Dost thou say so?--He died not in the streets? Praised be God, for this
+his goodness!" cried Don Gabriel, falling on his knees. "My sin, then,
+hath not been visited on the guileless and true! My son Amador yet
+liveth!"
+
+He looked to the page, and now, for the first time, observed, as far as
+this could be seen through his thickly padded garments, that the form of
+Jacinto was greatly attenuated; his cheeks were hollow and colourless,
+and his countenance altered, as by some such grief as had been at work
+in his own bosom. He seemed, too, to be very feeble. But, if such were
+the appearances of sorrow on his visage, they assumed a yet more
+striking character of agony and despair, when the knight's words of joy
+fell on his ear. His face grew paler than death, he trembled like a
+linden leaf, and his lips scarcely obeyed their function, when he
+replied, with a faint and fruitless effort at calmness,--
+
+"I will not deceive my lord; no, heaven be my stay! I will not deceive
+my lord. Though my friend,--my patron,--my protector,--the noble
+Amador,--fell not in the streets, but returned to his people, yet is his
+fate wrapped in mystery,--in darkness and in fear. That night, that
+dreadful night!--O heaven! the causey covered with men, shrieking and
+cursing, stabbing and rending! the lake choked with corses, and with
+dying men still contending, and suffocating, each in the grasp of a
+drowning foe!--But I think not of that, I think not of that!--Who lived?
+who died? We searched for the body of my lord, but found it not: he was
+not with those they led to the pyramid; his corse floated not among the
+hundreds, which befouled the lake: yet did they discover his goodly
+war-horse on the water-side,--his surcoat was dragged from a ditch,
+among cannon, under whose heavy bulk lay many bodies, which the Indians
+strove to push up with poles--but my lord's body rose not among them.
+And yet, he sleeps in the lake,--yes, he sleeps in the lake! for how
+could he escape that night, and I no more by his side?"
+
+As Jacinto spoke, he wept and sobbed bitterly, giving himself up to
+despair. But not so the knight: he listened, somewhat bewildered, to the
+confused narration of an event, in which he had shared no part; but
+catching the idea, at last, and mingling it with another, the fruit of
+his very distempered mind, he said, quickly, and almost joyously,--
+
+"Dry thy tears; for now I perceive that my son is not dead, but liveth;
+and straightway we will go forth, and seek him!" Jacinto regarded the
+knight with a melancholy look. He noticed the incredulity, and resumed,
+with much devout emphasis,--"But a moment since, before thou camest into
+this den, mine eyes were opened upon paradise; it was vouchsafed to me,
+who must never hope to enjoy such spectacle again,--no, _desdichado de
+mi_! never again, never again,--to look upon the golden city of God;
+wherein I walked, with all those whom, in my life, I had loved, and who
+were dead. There saw I, among the saints and seraphim, my father, who
+fell in arms at the sack of Alhama; my mother, who died giving me birth;
+together with all the friends of my childhood, who perished early:
+there, also, I beheld Alharef and Zayda, the murdered and the
+blest,--with all others that were truly dead. Now thou wilt see, how God
+opened mine eyes in this trance; for, though I wept thee, dear child, as
+truly believing thou wert deceased, yet thee I saw not among the
+blissful, where thou must have been, hadst thou been discarded from
+earth, as I thought thee. And I remember me, too, and great joy it is to
+remember, that my son Amador was not among those saints; for which
+reason, heaven makes it manifest to us, that he lives. Now, therefore,
+let us go forth from this desert, and seek him. Though mine eyes are
+sealed among these hills, and my feet stumble upon the rocks, yet will
+heaven point us out a path to Mexico!"
+
+"Alas! my lord need not seek so far," said the page. "The pagans are now
+alone in the city, having driven out their enemies, with terrible
+slaughter.--Never more will the Spaniards return to it!"
+
+"Ay, now, I remember me!" said the knight, catching up some of his
+battered armour, as he spoke. "This defence, that I had thought for ever
+rejected, must I again buckle on. I remember me, thou spokest of a night
+of retreat by the causeway, very dreadful and bloody. Ay! and thou
+saidst thou wert at Amador's side!--How was it, that thou wert taken
+from him, and didst yet live?"
+
+"My father Abdalla," said Jacinto, sorrowfully, "my father, by chance,
+heard me cry at the ditch, when my lord, Don Amador, was gone; and he
+saved me in his canoe."
+
+"Thy father? thy father, Abdalla?--I remember me of Abdalla," said the
+knight, touching his brow. "There is a strange mystery in Abdalla. I am
+told--that is, I heard from my poor Marco--that Abdalla, the Moor, did
+greatly abhor me, even to the seeking of my life."
+
+"He wronged him!" said the page: "whatever was my father's hatred of my
+lord, he never sought to do him a wrong!"
+
+"Strange!" muttered Don Gabriel; "thou acknowledgest he hated me, then?
+Wherefore should he, whom I have not injured, hate me? And wherefore,
+after confiding thyself to my good keeping?"
+
+"Let me not deceive my lord," said Jacinto, sadly, but firmly: "My
+father entrusted his child to him he hated, because he knew him just and
+honourable; and my father did receive great wrong, as well as other
+unhappy Moors, of my lord, in the Alpujarras----"
+
+The knight dropped the dinted cuishes which he had snatched up, and,
+clasping his hands wildly, exclaimed,--
+
+"Miserere mei, Deus! my sin is inexpiable, and my torment endless; for,
+in the Alpujarras, did I slay him whom I had sworn to love, and deface,
+with a murderous sword, the loveliest of thine images!"
+
+"Dear my lord," said Jacinto, shocked and grieved at his agitation;
+"forget this, for thy sin is not what thou thinkest, and it has been
+already forgiven thee. Zayda hath seen, from heaven, the greatness of
+thy grief, and she intercedes for thee with our Holy Mother."
+
+"She follows me on earth, she comes to me in visions!" cried Don
+Gabriel, vehemently. "Rememberest thou not the night of Cholula? Then
+stood she before me, as thou dost; and, with face of snow and finger of
+wrath, she reminded me of my malefaction."
+
+"My lord is deceived--this was no spectre, but a living woman," said
+Jacinto, hurriedly.
+
+The knight stared, aghast.
+
+"If I make it appear to my lord," continued the page, "that this was,
+indeed, no phantom sent to reproach, but a living creature, haply
+resembling her of whom he speaks, and, therefore, easily mistaken, in
+the gloom, for one of whom my lord thought, in his delirious
+moment,--will it not satisfy my lord, that he is not persecuted, but
+forgiven?"
+
+"If thou canst speak aught to remove one atom and grain from this
+mountain of misery, which weighs upon my heart," said Calavar,
+earnestly, "I adjure thee that thou speak it. Many times have I thought
+that she whom I slew, stood at my side; but yet had I hopes, and a
+partial belief, that these were the visions of my disease; for my mind
+is sometimes very sorely distracted. What I saw at Cholula, was beyond
+such explication,--very clearly and vividly represented, and seen by me
+when my thoughts were not disordered."
+
+"Let my lord be content, and know that this was a living creature, as I
+have said, and no apparition: let him do on his armour; and, by-and-by,
+all shall be revealed to him."
+
+"Speak to me now," said the knight.
+
+"Not now! not now!" interrupted Jacinto; "for, at this moment, the
+myriads of vengeful fiends who seek for the blood of my lord, Don
+Amador, if he be yet living, are rushing upon the poor fugitives. Doth
+not my lord hear?--Hark!"
+
+"'Tis a trumpet! it blasteth for a charge of horse!" cried Calavar, as
+the distant sound came echoing up the mountain, even over the roar of
+the fall.--The ancient war-horse heard the remembered note, and pricking
+his ears, neighed loudly and fiercely, running to a gap in the wall, as
+if to seek the contest, till recalled by the voice of his master.
+
+"The infidels are then at hand, and they do battle with Christians?"
+exclaimed Don Gabriel, the fire of chivalry again flashing from his eye,
+and almost driving away the thought of Zayda. "Buckle me these straps,
+and see that thou art speedy; for this brooks not delay. God hath called
+me to this mountain, that I should be ready to do battle with the
+heathen, in defence of the holy cross, which is my sworn vow; and in
+the fulfilment of the same, I pray God that I may die.--Sound again,
+brave heart! smite me the godless fast and well; for presently I shall
+be with ye, striking for the faith!--Why, how thou loiterest, young
+knave! Be speedy, for my son Amador is with the Christian host; and,
+this day, heaven wills that I shall bring him succour."
+
+"Alas! my lord," cried the page, "I would that I could give my life to
+aid him; but my fingers are skilless and feeble."
+
+"Thou art a godly boy, and well do I love thee. Buckle me as thou canst,
+and care not to buckle well; for, in this fight, God will be my armour.
+Buckle me, therefore, as thou canst; and, while thou art thus engaged,
+give me to know, what good angel brought thee to be my messenger."
+
+"I followed my sire," said the trembling Jacinto, "with the forces of
+Mexico, that were sent to join the mountain bands, and cut off the
+fugitives; and, being commanded to rest me on the hill till the battle
+was over, I lost myself; which, with my great grief of heart, caused me
+to seek some nook wherein I might die. For truly, now, unless my lord
+Amador be living, I care not myself for life."
+
+"The forces of Mexico! be they many? and these dogs of the hills, are
+they in numbers?"
+
+"Countless as the drops of spray which the breeze flings over us," said
+Jacinto, with much perturbation, "so that nothing, but the goodness of
+God, can rescue the Spaniards out of their hands, and conduct them forth
+on the path so blocked up by their bodies. The Mexicans are many
+thousands in number, and triumphing still in the thought of their horrid
+victory on the lake. They swear that no Spaniard shall escape them, this
+day."
+
+"I swear, myself," said Calavar, fiercely, "and heaven will listen to
+the vow of a Christian, though one sinful and miserable, that, this day,
+even they themselves, the godless pagans, shall be scattered as dust
+under our footsteps!--Quick--my war-coat! and now, my good lance, that
+hath drunk the blood of the heathen! _Santa Madre de Dios! Señora
+beatificada!_ the infidel shall fall under the cross, and the true
+believer rejoice in his slaughter!"
+
+With such exclamations of fervour, the spirit of youthful days
+returning, at each blast of the trumpet, which was still winded at
+intervals, the knight ceased doing on his armour, and then, with
+Jacinto's feeble assistance, caparisoned his impatient steed. When this
+was done, he bade the page to follow him; and, riding through one of the
+many gaps in the colossal wall, began to descend the mountain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIII.
+
+
+The midday sun was illuminating the peaks, and darting its beams into
+the narrowest and darkest ravines of these mountains, when Don Hernan,
+at the head of his little army, rode to the crest of a hill, and looked
+down upon the narrow, but beautiful valley of Tonan, opening on the
+fields of Otompan,--or, as the name has been more euphonically rendered
+by Spaniards, Otumba. The level vale itself, as well as the hills on
+both sides, as far up, at least, as the gentleness of their slope
+allowed such cultivation, was sprinkled with maize fields, which, being
+now at their utmost point of luxuriance, covered such places with
+intense verdure; while the green forests, that here and there
+overshadowed the upper ridges, with flowery cliffs protruding from their
+waving tops, added the charm of solitude to the pleasant prospect of
+human habitation. But there was one accidental beauty at present
+revealed, which, however disagreeable and even terrible to the leader,
+he could not but acknowledge, in his heart, to surpass all the others.
+
+At the cry with which the general beheld this phenomenon, his followers
+rushed up to his side, and perceived the whole valley, as it
+seemed,--beginning at the bottom of the ridge they now stood upon, and
+extending not only from hill to hill, but as far as the eye could
+see,--filled, and indeed blocked up, with enemies. The white and scarlet
+hues of their garments, the plumes of divers colours waving on their
+heads like a sea of feathers, over whose surging surface there passed
+here a bright sunbeam and there the shadow of a cloud,--the glittering
+of copper spears, of volcanic falchions, and of jewels, (for this day,
+the pagans decorated themselves, as for a triumph, in their richest
+array,) produced a scene which was indeed both glorious and terrific.
+Through this human flood, Don Hernan knew he must conduct his weary and
+despairing people; but without daring to hope that the hand which had
+parted the Sea of the Desert from before the steps of the Israelites,
+would open, for him, a path through this equally fearful obstruction.
+
+The Christians gathered round their leader in silence. The loud roar of
+shouts, sounding from below, as if a whole world shrieked at once, shook
+the mountain under their feet; but they replied not.--Every man was, at
+that moment, commending his soul to his Maker; for each knew there was
+no path of escape, except though that valley, and felt in addition,
+that, perhaps, not even the whole army, fresh, well-appointed, full of
+spirits and resolution, as when, on St. John's day, it entered the city
+of the lake, could have made any impression on such a multitude,
+displayed in such a position. The very extremity of the case was the
+best counsel to meet it with fortitude; every man considered his life
+already doomed beyond respite, and, with such consciousness, looked
+forward to his fate, with tranquillity. Their sufferings by famine and
+fatigue on the road, though the mutinous and lamenting fugitives did not
+then know it, had better prepared them to encounter such a battle-field,
+than a series of victories, with spoils of gold and bread; for these
+torments having already rendered their lives burdensome, they were not
+greatly frighted at the prospect of ending them. These causes, then,
+added to the fury of fanaticism, never entirely at rest in the bosom of
+the invaders, will account for their resolution, and even impatience, to
+attack an army, rated by many of the conquerors, at two hundred thousand
+men. Had they been happier men, they would not have rushed upon such
+manifest destruction.
+
+The priest Olmedo stretched forth his arm, holding a crucifix: Christian
+and Tlascalan knelt down upon the flinty ridge, and mingled together
+sullen prayers.
+
+As they rose, the ever-composed Sandoval cried out, emphatically,--
+
+"Now, my merry men all, gentlemen hidalgos and gentlemen commoners, God
+hath, this day, given us a great opportunity to signalize our
+valour;"--which was all the oration it occurred to his imagination to
+make. The soldiers looked upon him with a gloomy indifference. Then out
+spoke the hotheaded Alvarado:
+
+"There be, to my reckoning, in yonder plain," he said, with a grin of
+desperation, "some five hundred thousand men; we have, of our own body,
+some four hundred and fifty Christian soldiers, and we may count the two
+thousand Tlascalans, here at our heels, for fifty more; which just
+leaves us a thousand dogs apiece to fight in yonder vale. If we gain the
+victory over such odds, never believe me, if we be not clapped down in
+books by that German enchanter Faust, who hath invented a way of making
+them in such numbers, as being more heroical men than either Don
+Alejandro, the great emperor of Egypt, or some other country,--or Don
+Rodrigo himself, who was much greater than any such dog of a heathen
+king. This much I will say, that never before had starving men such a
+chance of dying like knights of renown; and as, doubtless, God will send
+us some fifty or an hundred thousand angels, to fight on our side, we
+may chance stumble on a victory: in hope of which, or in the certainty,
+on the other hand, of going to heaven, I say, Santiago, and at them! for
+their bodies are covered with gold and jewels!"
+
+"God will help us!" cried Cortes; "and my friend Alvarado hath very
+justly said, that there is a rich spoil, in that valley, for victors.
+Though there be here, perhaps, fifty thousand men, or more, yet are they
+infidels, and, therefore, but as sparrows and gnats before the face of
+God's soldiers. There are, also, acres of very sweet corn in the valley;
+and, beyond yon yelling herds, are the gates of Tlascala. But let it not
+be thought, I will, this day, compel the sword of any Christian. Yonder
+are the hill-tops;--there are dens enow, wherein one may give his bones
+to wild-cats, and there be tall cliffs from which they who prefer such
+end, may throw themselves, and straightway be beyond the reach of
+battle. For myself, though but one man follow me, yet will I descend to
+that plain, walk through that multitude, and marshalling an hundred
+thousand Tlascalans, after I have rested me a little, return, by the
+same path we are now treading, to the gates of Mexico, to revenge upon
+such as yonder scum, the death of my brothers, who are in heaven, as
+well as to lay claim to those rich lands and mines of gold, which are
+our right, and which it is yet our destiny to overmaster. If ye be
+minded to disperse and starve among the hills, let me be acquainted with
+your resolution; if ye will fight like soldiers and Christians, speak
+out your good thoughts, and, in God's name, let us begin!"
+
+"We will fight!" muttered the desperate men.
+
+At this moment, some strong clear voice from the company began to
+pronounce the words of the chant, _Kyrie Eleison_, and the rest joining
+in, Cortes gave the signal to descend; and thus they went slowly down
+towards the host, invoking mercy and singing the praises of God, and
+waxing in boldness and fanaticism as they sang, until the neighbouring
+rocks rang with the loud and solemn echoes of devotion.
+
+Whatever was the piety of Don Hernan, it did not, however, prevent his
+taking all the steps which could be expected of a general in such a
+situation; and one while joining, loudly, with others in the chant, and
+at another, pausing to give deliberate instructions to his officers, he
+arranged the order and expedients of battle, before the wild anthem was
+concluded. His instructions were simple, and related but to one point.
+He counselled no one to be valiant, for he knew the veriest coward in
+the ranks would be compelled to deeds of heroism that day. He only
+commanded, that the little troop of horse should form five deep, and
+follow him whithersoever he might lead, and that the footmen should keep
+their ranks close, and follow after the horse. He knew, as, indeed, did
+most of his followers, that the orders conveyed to a Mexican army by a
+Mexican general, instead of being transmitted, from division to
+division, by messengers, were directly communicated to all by the
+general himself, through the medium of the great banner, which he bore
+in his own hands, and, from the lofty litter on which he was carried,
+kept ever displayed to the eyes of his warriors. A few simple motions of
+this royal telegraph, sufficed to convey all the directions which a
+barbarous commander was required to bestow upon a barbarous army. Among
+these, the vailing or dropping the standard, was the well-known signal
+of retreat; and whether it might be lowered by the general himself, or
+struck from his hands by some fortunate foe, still it was equally
+certain, that, in either case, his followers would immediately, upon
+seeing it fall, betake themselves to flight.--When Cortes eyed this
+immense multitude, he calculated the chances of victory, not by the
+probabilities of routing it, but by those of making his way to the great
+banner.
+
+The imperial standard, which, in the tongue of Mexico, bore the horribly
+uncouth title of _Tlahunmatlaxopilli_, was conspicuously visible, even
+from the mountain Aztaquemacan, which the Spaniards were now descending.
+In the centre of the pagan army was a group of warriors, made remarkable
+by the height and splendour of their penachos, the glittering of their
+jewelled decorations, and the sheen of their copper lances, the blades
+of which, like some that had been seen in Mexico, were full a yard in
+length, and polished so that they shone like gold. These were the
+guards,--a body of young nobles,--which surrounded the person of the
+general, to protect the banner from violence. In the centre of this
+group, upon a litter of almost imperial gorgeousness, stood the stately
+barbarian, bearing on a long pike-staff the standard, which was a sort
+of net-work, made of chains of gold,--and, therefore, a more significant
+emblem of the object of conquest, and the fate of subjugation, than any
+banner of a Christian nation, even at this day. A few white feathers,
+waving amongst the links, kept it ever conspicuous.
+
+As Don Hernan descended, he explained to the horsemen his design to
+merge every other object in that of seizing the Mexican standard; a
+project which met the concurrence of each.
+
+"All that I have now to say to you," he added, when approaching the base
+of the hill, "is, to charge with me at half-speed, and take no thought
+of slaying. Those of you, who have ever endured the bastinado of a
+pedagogue, will remember, that Julius Cæsar, or some such knave of a
+paynim, it matters not who, being opposed in some civil war, to certain
+cohorts of young gallants and hidalgos of Rome, directed his archers to
+spare the lives, but to let fly at the faces, of these lady-puppets;--a
+counsel of infinite wisdom; for, I remember, that in my youth, until I
+got this gash o' the chin from a gentleman of Saragossa, which somewhat
+spoils the beauty of my beard, I had a mortal aversion to fight with any
+man much given to striking at the face. What I have to advise,
+therefore, is, that you will imitate the wisdom of that same Roman
+hound, and lance your spears full at the eyes of all who may oppose you.
+I have given charge to the footmen to finish our work: while they are
+slaughtering such curs as are not satisfied with scratched faces, we
+will make free with yon same knave of the gold net. Let it be
+reckoned--and 'tis worth a king's ransom--the prize of him who
+overthrows the general.--Hark! hear ye how the infidels shout!--Are ye
+ready? In the name of God, the Virgin, and Santiago, have at them now
+like men! Amen!--_Santiago! Santiago!_"
+
+Thus shouting his war-cry, for now the horsemen had reached the bottom
+of the hill, Don Hernan couched his spear, with four cavaliers at his
+side, of whom Don Amador de Leste was one, and, followed by all the
+others, dashed furiously at the first ranks of the Mexicans, who were
+already rushing against him.
+
+The savages sprang aside, flinging their javelins and swords at the hot
+Christians, and raining arrows on their armed bodies; but ever, though
+thus expressing their hostility, yielding rank after rank before the
+irresistible charge; until it became apparent to the most doubting, that
+they might succeed, at last, in reaching the banner. They, therefore,
+redoubled their exertions, shouted the names of their saints, and aiming
+continually at the eyes of the foe, made such progress, that they were
+already almost, as it seemed, within reach of the prize, when a yell of
+the Indians of more than ordinary loudness, echoed by the infantry with
+exclamations of alarm, brought them to a sudden stand.
+
+They had penetrated deeply into the mass; but it was as a noble ship
+ploughs her way through billows, which yield and divide, only to unite
+again in her wake, and roar after in pursuit. From their lofty seats,
+they could overlook the multitude, and behold how quickly the path they
+had carved, was filled up by screaming barbarians, rushing turbulently
+after them; while others dashed in like numbers, and with equal
+ferocity, upon the footmen, now left far behind.
+
+As they looked thus over their shoulders, they paused with surprise, and
+even perturbation; for they perceived, furiously descending the slope of
+the hill on the left hand, against the infantry which was already sorely
+beset, what seemed a Christian cavalier in black armour, mounted on a
+noble bay horse, and couching a lance like a trained soldier, only that,
+behind him, there followed, with savage yells, a band of several
+thousand Indians, bearing the well-known colours of Tenochtitlan itself.
+
+"God be our stay!" cried the general, looking aghast at this astonishing
+apparition; "have we here an infidel god, in very deed, risen up against
+us, and riding a-horse like a Christian man? Avoid thee, Satan! and all
+good saints spurn thee again to the pit, from which thou comest!"
+
+"'Tis Mexitli himself!" cried one.
+
+"'Tis the devil!" said another.
+
+"Look!" exclaimed Don Pedro, "he rushes down upon the footmen, like a
+rock, tumbled from the hill-top; and hark! heard ever man such horrible
+voice? 'Tis Mahound! 'tis Satan!--Now all good angels befriend us!"
+
+"For my part," said Don Amador de Leste--
+
+But before his words had yet been heard by any of his companions, they
+were cut short by such loud and thrilling cries of joy from the infantry
+as equally confounded the cavaliers.
+
+"_Elo! Santiago! elo! nuestro buen amigo, el valoroso Santiago!_"--that
+is to say, "Lo, St. James! behold, our good friend, the valiant St.
+James!"--burst from the lips of the footmen, in a frenzy of triumph.
+
+The cavaliers looked again, but to the opposite mountain, and beheld
+upon that, as upon the other, an armed and mounted cavalier descending
+with lance in rest, and with the speed of thunder, as if rushing to a
+tournay with him of the black armour, but without being followed by any
+one, excepting a single youth, who staggered far behind.
+
+At this sight, the cavaliers uttered loud cries of joy, not doubting
+that St. James had indeed come to rescue them from the claws of the
+accursed Mexitli, as they began to consider the black phantom.
+
+"Our saint fights for us!" cried Cortes; "On! leave the black fiend to
+him!--On, and let him behold our valour. The standard, ho!--Santiago is
+nigh! The standard, the standard!"
+
+The sight of the second apparition seemed to have smitten the pagans
+with as much terror as the view of their own champion had infused into
+the Spaniards. The young nobles who surrounded the banner, looked to the
+vision with awe; and ere they had yet recovered from their confusion,
+the Christian cavaliers, elated and invigorated, fell upon them with
+such violence as left the long copper lances useless in their hands.
+
+"On, and quick!" shouted Don Hernan, "or the knavish colour-man will
+spring from his perch, and so rob ye of the gold. On, ho! on!--Hah,
+infidel! art thou not mine own?"
+
+As he uttered these last words, he rose on his stirrups, stretched over
+his horse's neck, and handling his heavy spear as one would an ordinary
+javelin, launched it with all his force at the chief. There was never a
+better mark; for the barbarian, instead of showing, as Cortes had
+hinted, any desire to desert his litter, advanced to its very verge; and
+while he balanced the staff and its weighty crest with his left hand,
+whirled manfully a short dart round his head, looking all the while at
+the great Teuctli. There never was a better mark,--for his breast,
+covered with a flimsy hauberk of skins, on which were sewed thin plates
+of gilded copper, was fully exposed;--there never was a better aim.
+Before the dart had left his grasp, the spear of Don Hernan smote him on
+the chest, and piercing copper and bone alike, hurled him backwards,
+with the standard, out of the litter.
+
+The cavaliers shouted victory, and trampling down the litter-bearers,
+and the young nobles, as these began to fly, looked eagerly for the
+prize.
+
+"Have the knaves robbed us?--Hah! mad John of Salamanca, _thou_ pickest
+my pocket of these crowns, dost thou?"
+
+These words of Don Hernan were addressed to a young hidalgo, who, the
+moment he had perceived the spear of Cortes take effect, had flung
+himself from his pied steed, rushed upon the downfallen infidel, and
+striking his sword into his throat, tore from him the badges of
+authority.
+
+"He who strikes the quarry," said the elated youth, flinging both plume
+and golden net over the neck of his general's horse, "has the true claim
+to the trophy."
+
+"Keep them thyself, for thou hast won them; and if Don Carlos be of
+mind, brave Juan, thou shalt mount them for thy coat of arms. Soho, De
+Leste! where art thou?--I thought this prize should have been thine!"
+
+"De Leste has gone mad," said Alvarado.--"Shall we chase the runagates?
+See how they scamper!"
+
+The words of Alvarado were true. No sooner had the golden banner fallen
+from its height, and been lost among the combatants, than there rose a
+dismal yell over the whole valley, and the vast multitudes, those near
+at hand, and those afar, alike, began to fly, and in the utmost
+confusion.
+
+"Victory! praise be to God! to God and our noble St. James!" cried
+Cortes, with a shout, that thrilled to the hearts of the flying pagans.
+"Follow not the knaves: leave them to the foot--to the allies and our
+mighty champion, the Saint!--Soho, De Leste! return. Follow not after
+the knaves."
+
+"'Tis De Olid," cried Don Pedro, "that halloos the hunt's-up. I tell
+thee, De Leste is mad!"
+
+"Back to our Champion!" said Cortes.--"Hah! what saidst thou of De
+Leste?"
+
+"That he is gone mad,--raving, besottishly, and very blasphemously mad;
+and that he deserted us, the moment he saw thee fling thy spear."
+
+"God forbid the youth should prove to be as was his kinsman, before his
+death-day," said Cortes; "for a more gallant and sufficient soldier,
+though somewhat self-willed, have I never beheld.--Mad, sayst thou?"
+
+"He swore to me, first," said Alvarado, with a devout shrug, "that that
+paynim god, Mexitli, descending the hill yonder, was mounted on his own
+good horse, Fogoso; which seems to me not unreasonable; for Fogoso was,
+in some sense, the best charger lost that night, (which God punish to
+the heathen for ever!) and, doubtless, Huitzilopochtli, if determined to
+go out a pricking, like a Christian knight-errant, would be wise enough
+to pick up the best ghost of Christian horse. And, secondly," continued
+Don Pedro, crossing himself, "he swore that his most holy valour,
+Santiago, who came down from the hill-top to help us, was no more than
+the ghost of his kinsman, the knight Calavar, who was drowned, horse and
+all, in the salt lake, near to Iztapalapan!--But ho! halon! let us
+follow the hunt!"
+
+"Ha, my masters!" cried Don Hernan; "let us return, and fathom this
+marvel, for it may bode us much to know. But stay--I will not rob ye of
+pastime. As many of ye as will, spur after the hounds, and aid the
+Tlascalans."
+
+So saying, and the foes now being scattered in flight over the
+neighbouring hills, the general returned towards the infantry; while the
+cavaliers, shouting, as if in a boar-chase, urged their steeds up the
+hills, in pursuit of the fugitives.
+
+Thus was fought, and thus won, a battle, in which four hundred and fifty
+Spaniards, aided by a handfull of Tlascalans, contended with a host of
+such incredible numbers, that, to this day, men remember it with wonder,
+and would reject it as a fable, were it not that the testimony of a
+thousand facts has placed it beyond the reach of question.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIV.
+
+
+What Alvarado had reported of Don Amador was true. The neophyte averred,
+that, dead or alive,--a spectre or a creature of flesh and blood,--the
+steed, bestridden by the sable phantom, and urged with such fury against
+the footmen, was neither less nor more than his own good beast, Fogoso;
+and he declared, with even more impetuosity, as Don Pedro had related,
+that the figure, descending the opposite hill, was the knight of
+Calavar, on his ancient war-horse,--an apparition, perhaps, but no St.
+James,--unless this heavenly patron had condescended to appear in the
+likeness of a knight so valiant and so pious. Strange fancies beset him,
+and so great was his impatience to resolve the marvel, that he scarce
+waited to behold the general balance his good spear, before he turned
+his horse, and spurred furiously backward.
+
+Meanwhile, the black horseman descended with such violence upon the
+footmen, as threatened their instant destruction, his fierce eyes, as
+the Christians thought, gleaming with the fires of hell; so that,
+notwithstanding the sudden relief coming in the person of the supposed
+saint, they were seized with horror, and gave way before him. At the
+moment when he rushed among them, uttering what seemed the _Lelilee_ of
+another land, he was encountered by his celestial opponent, whose strong
+voice shouted out--"God and St. John! and down with thee, paynim demon!"
+
+The shock of two such steeds, both of great weight, each bearing a man
+cased in thick armour, each urged on by the impetus of descent from the
+hills, and meeting, midway, in a narrow valley, was tremendous. At the
+moment of encounter, the sable rider perceived, for the first time, his
+opponent;--he checked his steed suddenly, and flung up his lance, as if
+to avoid a contest. But the precaution came too late--his rising lance
+struck the casque of his adversary, tearing it off, and revealing the
+grim visage and grizzly locks of the knight of Calavar; while, at the
+same moment, the spear of Don Gabriel, aimed with as much skill as
+determination, smote the enemy on the lower part of the corslet, and
+piercing it as a buckler of ice, penetrated, at once, to the bowels and
+spine. The shock that unseated the riders, was shared by the steeds, and
+horse and man rolled together on the earth.
+
+The loud cry of "Calavar! the Penitent Knight! the valiant Don Gabriel!"
+set up by the bewildered and awe-struck infantry, reached the ears of
+the novice. He spurred on with new ardour, and reaching the footmen just
+as they divided in pursuit of the flying barbarians, he sprung from his
+horse, and beheld his kinsman lying senseless, and as it appeared to
+him, lifeless, in the arms of the wounded Baltasar.
+
+"In the name of heaven, and Amen! what is this? and what do I see?" he
+cried. "Oh heaven, is this my knight?--and doth he live?"
+
+"He lives," said Baltasar, "and he feels as of flesh and blood; and yet
+did he die on the lake-side. God forgive us our sins! for neither heaven
+nor hell will hold the dead!"
+
+Just at that moment, the knight opened his eyes, and rolled them on his
+kinsman,--but his kinsman regarded him not. A low moaning voice of one
+never to be forgotten, fell on the ear of the novice, as he gazed on his
+friend; and starting up, he beheld, hard by, the page Jacinto, lying on
+the body of Abdalla, from whose head he had torn the helm, and now
+strove, with feeble fingers, to remove the broken and blood-stained
+corslet.
+
+"Jacinto!--Leila!" cried Amador, with a voice of rapture, flinging
+himself at her side, (for now, though the garments of escaupil still
+concealed the figure of the Moorish maid, the disguise could be
+continued no longer.) The joy of the cavalier vanished, for the maiden
+replied only with lamentations; while the Zegri fixed upon him an eye,
+in which the stony hardness of death was mingled with the fires of
+human passion.
+
+"Place my head upon thine arm, cavalier!" said Abdalla, faintly, "and
+let me look upon him who has slain me."
+
+"Oh, my father! my father!" cried the Moorish girl.
+
+"God forbid that thou shouldst die, even for the sake of the maiden I
+love," exclaimed Amador, eagerly, supporting his head. "Thou art a Wali,
+a Christian, and the father of her that dwells in my heart. Live,
+therefore; for though thou have neither land nor people, neither home
+nor friends, neither brother nor champion, yet am I all to thee; for I
+crave the love of thy daughter."
+
+The maiden sobbed, and heard not the words of the cavalier; but the
+dying Moor eyed her with a look of joy, and then turning his gaze upon
+Amador, said,--
+
+"God be thy judge, as thou dealest truly with her, who, although the
+offspring of kings, is yet an orphan, landless, homeless, and friendless
+on the earth."
+
+"I swear to thee," said the novice,--"and I protest----"
+
+"Protest me nothing: hearken to my words, for they are few; the angel of
+death calls to me to come, and my moments fly from me like the
+blood-drops," said the Zegri. "Until the day, when I dreamed thou wert
+slumbering in the lake, I knew not of this that hath passed between ye.
+Had it been known to me, perhaps this death that comes to me, might not
+have come; for, what I did, I did for the honour and weal of my child,
+knowing that, in the hand of Spaniards, she was in the power of
+oppressors and villains. That I have struck for revenge, is true; I have
+shed the blood of Castilians and rejoiced, for therein I reckoned me the
+vengeance of Granada. Yet, had it been apparent to me, that the feeble
+maid, who, besides myself, knew no other protector of innocence in the
+world, could have claimed the love of an honourable cavalier, and
+enjoyed it without the shame of disguise and menial occupation, then had
+I submitted to my fate, and locked up in the darkness of my heart, the
+memory of the Alpujarras."
+
+"Who speaks of the Alpujarras?" cried the knight of Rhodes, staring
+wildly around; "who speaks of the Alpujarras?"
+
+"_I!_" said the Moor, with a firm voice, bending his eye on Don Gabriel,
+and striving, though in vain, for his nether limbs were paralyzed, to
+turn his body likewise; "_I_ Gabriel of Calavar, _I_ speak of the
+Alpujarras; and good reason have I to speak, and thou to listen; for I
+was of the mourning, and thou of the destroyers."
+
+"Pity me, heaven!" cried the knight, staring on the Moor, in the
+greatest disorder. "I have seen thee, and yet I know thee not."
+
+"Rememberest thou not the field of Zugar, and the oath sworn on the
+cross of a blood-stained sword, by the river-side?"
+
+"Hah!" cried Don Gabriel; "dost thou speak of mine oath?--mine oath to
+Alharef?"
+
+"And the town of Bucarcs, among the hills?" continued the Zegri, loudly,
+and with a frown made still more ghastly by approaching death; "dost
+thou remember the false and felon blow that smote the friend of
+Zugar,--and that, still falser and fouler, which shed the blood of
+Zayda, the beloved of the Alpujarras?"
+
+As the Wali spoke, the knight, as if uplifted by some supernatural
+power, rose to his feet, and approached the speaker, staring at him with
+eyes of horror. At the name of Zayda, he dropt on his knees crying,--
+
+"Miserere mei, Deus! I slew her! and thou that art Alharef, though
+struck down by the same sword, yet livest thou again to upbraid me!"
+
+"Struck down by thy steel, yet not then, but now!" exclaimed the Moor.
+"I live again, but not to upbraid thee--I am Alharef-ben-Ismail, and I
+forgive thee."
+
+At this name, already made of such painful interest to the novice, his
+astonishment was so great, that, as he started, he had nearly suffered
+the dying prince (for such were the Walis of Moorish Spain,) to fall to
+the earth. He caught him again in his arms, and turned his amazed eye
+from him to Don Gabriel, who, trembling in every limb, still stared with
+a distracted countenance on that of his ancient preserver.
+
+"I am Alharef, and, though dying, yet do I live," went on the Zegri,
+interrupted as much by the wails of his daughter, as by his own
+increasing agonies. "The sword wounded, but it slew not--it slew not
+_all_--Zayda fell, yet live I, to tell thee, thou art forgiven. Rash
+man! rash and most unhappy! thine anger was unjust; and therefore didst
+thou shed the blood of the good, the pure, the loving and the beautiful,
+and thereby cover thyself, and him that was thy true friend, with
+misery. When thou soughtest the love of Zayda, she was the betrothed of
+Alharef. Miserable art thou, Gabriel of Calavar! and therefore have I
+forgiven thee; miserable art thou, for I have watched thee by night, and
+looked upon thee by day, and seen that the asp was at work in thy bosom,
+and that the fire did not slumber. Great was thy sin, but greater is thy
+grief; and therefore doth Zayda, who is in heaven, forgive thee."
+
+"She pardons me not," murmured Don Gabriel, not a moment relaxing the
+steadfast eagerness of his stare. "At the pyramid of Cholula, on the
+anniversary of her death, she appeared to me in person, and, O God! with
+the beauty of her youth and innocence, yet robed in the blackness of
+anger!"
+
+"And have thine eyes been as dark as the looks of the lover?" cried
+Alharef. "Stand up, Zayda, the child of Zayda! or turn thy face upon
+Calavar, that his delusion may leave him."
+
+As he spoke, he lifted feebly the arm which embraced his child, removed
+the cap, and parted the thick clustering locks from her forehead.
+Still, however, did she look rather the effeminate boy, upon whom
+Calavar had been accustomed to gaze, than a woman;--for there is no
+effort of imagination stronger than that required to transform, in the
+mind, the object which preserves an unchanging appearance to the eye.
+Nevertheless, though such a transformation could not be imagined by Don
+Gabriel, there came, as he wistfully surveyed the pallid features of the
+maiden, strange visions and memories, which, every moment, associated a
+stronger resemblance between the living and the dead. He trembled still
+more violently, heavy dew-drops started from his brow, and he gazed upon
+the weeping girl as upon a basilisk.
+
+"Wherefore," continued the Zegri, speaking rapidly, but with broken
+accents,--"when I had resolved to fly to the pagans, as being men whom,
+I thought, God had commissioned me to defend from rapine and slavery. I
+resolved to take such advantage of their credulity, as might best enable
+me to befriend them,--I say, wherefore I resolved this, I need not
+speak. I protected my child, by recommending her to their superstition;
+and, had I fallen dead in the streets, still did I know, that reverence
+and fear would wait upon the steps of one whom I delivered to them as a
+messenger from heaven. In this light, I revealed her to the princes at
+the temple, when----"
+
+"It is enough!" muttered Don Gabriel, with the deep and agitated tones
+of sorrow; "I wake from a dream.--God forgive me! and thou art of the
+blood of Zayda? the child of her whom I slew?--Alharef forgives me; he
+says, that Zayda forgives me; but thou that art her child, dost _thou_
+forgive me?"
+
+"Father! dear father, she doth!" cried Amador, gazing with awe on the
+altered countenance of Alharef, and listening with grief to the moans of
+Zayda. "O holy padre!" he exclaimed, perceiving the priest Olmedo
+rising, at a little distance, from the side of a man, to whom he had
+been offering the last consolations of religion,--"Hither, father, for
+the love of heaven, and absolve the soul of a dying Christian!"
+
+"Is there a priest at my side?" said the Zegri, reviving from what
+seemed the lethargy of approaching dissolution, and looking eagerly into
+the face of the good Olmedo. Then, turning to Amador, he said solemnly,
+though with broken words, "Thou lovest the orphan Zayda?"
+
+"Heaven be my help, as I do," replied the cavalier.
+
+"And thou, Gabriel, that wert my friend, and standest in the light of
+this young man's parent,--dost thou consent that he shall espouse the
+daughter of Zayda, saved, while a piteous infant, by Christian men, from
+out the house of death?"
+
+The knight bowed his head on his breast, and strove to answer, but, in
+his agitation, could not speak a word.
+
+"Quick, father! for heaven's sake, quick!" cried Alharef, eagerly; "let
+me, ere I die, know that my child rests on the bosom of a husband.
+Quick! for the sand runs fast; and there is that in my bosom, which
+tells me of death. Love and honour thy bride; for thou hast the last and
+noblest relic of Granada. Take her--thou wert her protector from harsh
+words and the violence of blows. Quick, father, quick! quick, for mine
+eyes are glazing!"
+
+The strangely timed and hurried ceremony was hastened by the
+exclamations of Alharef; and the words of nuptial benediction were, at
+last, hurriedly pronounced.
+
+"I see thee not, my child!" muttered the Moor, immediately after. "My
+blessing to thee, Amador,--Gabriel, thou art forgiven.--Thine arm round
+my neck, Zayda; thy lips to mine. Would that I could see thee!--Get thee
+to Granada, with thy lord--to the tomb of thy mother--I will follow
+thee--Tarry not in this land of blood--I will be with thee; we have a
+power yet in the hills----"
+
+"Let the cross rest on thy lips, if thou diest a Christian," said the
+father.
+
+The novice drew the maiden aside; the Zegri pressed the sacred symbol to
+his lips, but still they muttered strangely of Granada.
+
+"I am of the faith of Christ, and Mahomet I defy. My people shall be
+followers of the cross, but they shall sweep away the false Spaniard, as
+the wind brushes away the leaves.--The Emir of Oran is prepared--the
+king of Morocco will follow.--A power in the hills--Ah!--We will creep,
+by night, to Granada--a brave blow!--Africa shall follow--Ha, ha!--Seize
+the gates! storm the Alhambra!--but spare life--kill no women!--Remember
+Zayda!----"
+
+With such wild words, accompanied by the faint cries of his daughter,
+the spirit of the Moor passed away, and Alharef-ben-Ismail lay dead in
+the land of strangers.
+
+Don Gabriel uttered a deep groan, and fell across the feet of his
+ancient friend.
+
+At this moment, Cortes descended from his horse, and, followed by other
+cavaliers, stepped up to the lamenting group.
+
+"And Calavar, the valiant, has been murdered by this traitor Moor!" he
+cried.
+
+"Señor Don Hernan," said the novice, sternly, and as he spoke, rising
+from the earth, and folding the Moorish maiden to his heart, "you speak
+of him who was Alharef-ben-Ismail, a Wali of Granada, driven by the
+injustice of our companions, and in part, by your own harshness, to take
+arms against you. As one that am now his representative, and, as I may
+say, his son, I claim for him the honourable burial of a Christian
+soldier; and, after that, will hold myself prepared, with sword and
+spear, to defend his memory from insult."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXV.
+
+
+A few words will finish the first part of the chronicle of Don
+Cristobal.
+
+The victory so marvellously gained, removed the last obstruction from
+the path of the Spaniards. The ensuing day beheld them entering the
+territories of their allies; and, in four days more, the chiefs of
+Tlascala ushered them, with songs of joy, into the republican city.
+
+Six days after this happy event, the novice of Rhodes sat by the
+death-bed of his kinsman.--From the moment when Calavar roused out of
+the fit of unconsciousness, into which he had fallen on the field of
+Otumba, his brain wandered with delirium; but it gave his young kinsman,
+as well as the faithful Baltasar, much relief to perceive, that his
+visions were oftener of a pleasant than a disagreeable character. Thus,
+the reappearance of Alharef, after such long seeming death, dwelt in his
+memory, without the recollection of his subsequent decease; and with
+this came the conceit that Zayda yet lived among the Alpujarras,
+restored, like the Wali, to life, and all forgetful of the wrongs he had
+done her. He prattled of returning now to Spain, and now to Rhodes, and
+now of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It is true, that,
+sometimes, dark thoughts crept to his brain, and agitated him with his
+former griefs; but these were ever chased away by the sight of Leila,
+whose countenance seemed to him as that of a holy seraph, sent from
+heaven, to bid him be of good cheer.
+
+On the fifth day, he recovered his senses, and being sensible of his
+approaching dissolution, assembled at his bed-side, after having
+received absolution, the padre Olmedo, and the few friends and followers
+whom heaven had spared him in this pagan land, being the young cavalier
+of Cuenza, the melancholy Zayda, or Leila, as Amador yet loved to call
+her, and Baltasar. The spear of Alharef had not harmed him; he was
+dying, the victim of a long remorse; or, rather, as it may be said, he
+expired, when the excitement of this passion no longer supported him.
+For, perhaps, the same thing may be said of many mental diseases, which
+is true of certain physical ones, to which a human constitution has been
+long accustomed; that is, they may obtain so vital a command over all
+its functions, as to become in themselves the elements, or at least the
+bulwarks, of life; so that, when they are arrested by some unskilful
+leech, death shall almost immediately follow the cure.
+
+"I have now called you, my children," he said, bending an eye of
+affection upon the pair, and speaking very feebly, "to give you such
+counsel as may be drawn from the history of my life. Its secrets are
+revealed to you, its pages all lie open; and as you read, your spirits
+will find their own instruction; for they will discover, that the
+indulgence of passion, especially the passion of anger, doth lodge a
+barb in the bosom, never to be plucked out, save by the hand of death.
+What I have to say, is rather of command than advice; and thou wilt
+listen to me, Amador, my son, for God hath given thee, in the person of
+this gentle Zayda, an argument of obedience, which will touch thy heart
+more eloquently than words.--Break thy sword, hack off thy spurs, cast
+thine armour into the sea, and think no more of war, unless to defend
+thy fire-side, and the altars of thy country, from the fury of
+invaders."
+
+The novice started with alarm.
+
+"Think not that I rave," said the knight. "I speak to thee with the
+wisdom that comes from the grave. Think no more of war; for war it is
+that rouses our passions; and passions have made me what I have been,
+and what I am. I cannot think _now_, (for, at this moment, methinks I
+stand in the presence of Him who abhorreth contention,) that He will
+pardon the shedding of any blood, except that which the necessity of
+self-preservation, and the defence of our country, enforce us to lavish.
+I repent me of that which I have poured, though even from the hearts of
+pagans; for pagans are still the sons of God, though walking in
+darkness, for which we should pity them, not slay. Thou hast drawn thy
+sword for glory; but the lives that are taken for fame, shall weigh upon
+the souls of men as murders;--for such they are. Thou drawest for
+religion:--give thy purse to the priest, and bid him convert with the
+cross; for the wrath of God will rest for ever upon him who maketh
+proselytes with the sword. Wo is me, that the delusions of glory and
+Christian zeal have stained me so deeply! Live for happiness, and thou
+shalt wrong none, neither man nor God, and, thus, happiness shall be
+awarded thee; live for honour, and thou shalt know, that heaven
+acknowledges none but that which is justice; live for peace, which is
+virtue; and for religion, which is goodness. Get thee to thy castle, to
+the lands which thou shalt inherit; plant thy vines and olives, relieve
+the unhappy, succour the distressed; and if thy young brother should
+pant for the barb and lance, teach him the history of thy kinsman. Be
+virtuous, be peaceful, be charitable, and be happy. When thou hearest of
+glory, bethink thee of the poor deluded creatures we have slain in this
+land; when thou art told of pious crusades, remember the days of the
+Alpujarras.--Would that my days were to pass again!"
+
+He paused, with exhaustion.
+
+"The noble knight," said the padre, "hath spoken much good and wholesome
+truth; nevertheless, in the matter of infidels, what he has counselled,
+is not well. For how is it written----"
+
+"Holy father," murmured Don Gabriel, "there be men enow who will obey
+thee in this matter, and without exhortation or argument. Defeat not my
+work; for I rob thee of but one. Let me think, that the son of my
+affection will dwell in peace, and thereby be clean in the eyes of God,
+and thus happy at his death-hour. Would that I might appear before my
+Maker, without the stain of blood!"
+
+With a few more such precepts of virtue, for grief and the hand of death
+had made his heart wise, Don Gabriel continued to address the novice. He
+spoke many words of kindness, also, to the old and faithful Baltasar,
+and was about to give his benediction to the child of Zayda, when a film
+came suddenly over his eyes:
+
+"Give me thy hand," he muttered, faintly and almost inarticulately; "I
+see thee not, but mine eyes are opened to Zayda. Where art thou, Amador,
+my son? Heaven is blissful--Alharef--Zayda--all--Miserere mei,
+Domine!"----Thus he murmured for a moment, his voice dwindling to a
+whisper; then his lips moved, but without yielding any sound, until, at
+last, it was apparent that he had expired, and yet so gently, that not
+even a spasm of muscle, or change of countenance, indicated the passage
+of his spirit.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Three days after this, at sunrise, the señor Cortes stood alone with Don
+Amador de Leste, on the terrace of the great dwelling in which he had
+quartered the remains of his army.
+
+"Thou leavest me then, De Leste?" he said, in a low voice, looking
+westward to the hills, beyond which lay the valley of the lakes.
+
+"Such is my purpose, very noble señor," said the cavalier, mildly, but
+firmly. "My horses are caparisoned in the court-yard, my little company
+is in waiting, my friends have been saluted, and nothing remains for me
+but to thank your excellency for your many manifestations of goodness to
+me and mine,--the living and the dead together,--and to pray your
+excellency wish me God speed."
+
+"And can you look upon yonder blue cliffs, and those snow-capt
+pinnacles," said Don Hernan, with a smothered voice, "and think of
+leaving the paradise they encompass, in the hands of the heathen?"
+
+"I know not," said Don Amador, "that it becomes me to intrude any advice
+upon your excellency. But you have already done deeds, as I am myself a
+witness, which will give you immortal fame, though you should proceed no
+farther in the impossible attempt to subjugate this very potent and
+wonderful empire."
+
+"It shall be mine!" said Cortes, smiting his hands together, and
+speaking with clenched teeth. "Though there were but an hundred men left
+with me,--nay, were there but ten,--I would sooner that they should see
+me rent under the tusks of the wild mountain hogs, than turning my back
+for ever against the city of Montezuma. Thou thinkest the case is
+desperate; yet, with those ten Christians, and the hundreds of thousands
+of disaffected barbarians, whom I will gather together, thou shalt hear,
+perhaps, ere thou art housed in thy mountain castle of Cuenza, that he
+whom thou leavest, is the lord of Mexico; and the valiant men who remain
+by him, the barons and counts of the great empire!"
+
+"With mine own hills of olive and cork, have I enough to content me,"
+said the novice, coldly.
+
+"And thou carest not to revenge thy friends, massacred so barbarously,
+that fatal night--Flames be on the soul of the enchanter for ever!"
+exclaimed the general, bursting into fury at the recollection.
+
+"I say, God pardon him!" replied Amador, "and God receive to his rest
+those friends, of whom you speak. I have naught to revenge; I lament
+their fate, which was dreadful; but I acknowledge that they were slain
+in honourable combat."
+
+"And thou carest not then to strike for the cause of Christ, and aid in
+the conversion of countless souls from perdition?"
+
+The cavalier regarded his general with a meaning eye. Cortes felt the
+reproof, and catching his hand, said, hastily,--
+
+"It is enough! thou hast a young and tender wife--Who would have dreamed
+that such a creature walked with us throughout that night? It is right,
+thou shouldst desire to bear her from these scenes of tumult, and not
+unnatural thou shouldst wish to share the peace and happiness to which
+thou art conducting her. For myself, I sometimes think of my own fair
+Doña in the island, and the pleasant sound of the surf, rolling, by
+night, on the beach under her lattice; but nevertheless, there are, in
+this same heathen clime, certain charms, which cause me to forget the
+fair Catalina, and my merry brats into the bargain."
+
+"For me," said the novice, sadly, "there is nothing in this land but
+melancholy. Alharef, sire of Zayda, sleeps under a rock at Otumba; and
+Calavar, whom I may call my father, since such he was to me, now rests
+in yon grove, on the hill-side. I have buried a faithful servant in the
+lake, and a good youth, whom I loved, an old follower of my knight, and
+a very dear friend. I shall think of the land with regret, yet must I
+leave it without a sigh. I have hopes to find me some conveyance to the
+islands, and there, thank heaven, it is not so difficult to light upon a
+trader of Seville bound on the homeward voyage."
+
+"If thou art, indeed, resolute to depart," said Cortes, "I have it in my
+power not only to wish thee God speed, but to give thee a good ship of
+my fleet at Ulua, commanded by thy very noble kinsman, which he will,
+doubtless, man to thy liking with choice sailors; and wherein, thou
+canst proceed instantly to Spain, without the tedious necessity of
+touching at Cuba."
+
+The eyes of the neophyte sparkled. Don Hernan smiled:
+
+"Assuredly," said he, "I am rejoiced to pleasure thee so much; and yet
+thou wilt thyself confer upon me a very ineffable obligation, by sailing
+in that same good ship, and taking charge of a certain letter I have
+here written to his majesty, our lord, Don Carlos, being the second
+despatch wherein I have presumed to acquaint him with the success of our
+arms, fighting in his cause, and in that of the holy church. If it may
+suit your convenience to bear the same, in person, to his imperial
+majesty, I hope you will have no cause to repent doing me so great a
+favour."
+
+"I will bear it to his majesty, in person," said the novice, taking the
+sealed packet, laying it upon his forehead in token of fealty, and then
+warmly grasping the general's hand: "I will do this with much
+satisfaction; and, in memory that thou hast, upon three several
+occasions, done me such personal service, as touches me to answer with a
+life's thankfulness, if there be any other act wherein I can pleasure
+thee, I pray thee command me to the same, without any reserve; for I
+will consider that thou dost thereby acquaint me with a way to testify
+my gratitude."
+
+"I thank you," said Don Hernan: "I have no commission with which I will
+dare further to trouble you. And yet, and yet,--and yet"--He hesitated a
+moment, and his lip slightly quivered; but instantly resuming an air of
+indifference, he continued, "If it should suit your good
+convenience,--that is, if you should prefer,--to travel rather by the
+hot mountains of Estremadura, than the barren ridges of La Mancha, while
+passing to the court at Madrid, I would crave of your goodness to
+inquire me out a certain village called Medellin, that lieth on the
+Guadiana, some few leagues above the city of Merida."
+
+"Were it an hundred leagues, and they of the rudest," said Amador, "I
+should be no less ready to do your bidding. But give me to know, when I
+am arrived at this same village of Medellin, in what I can pleasure
+you."
+
+"Inquire me out," said Cortes, "a certain old man, a poor hidalgo,
+called Martin Cortes, as also his wife, Catalina.--By my conscience,
+señor, they are my father and mother; and they will have some joy to
+hear you speak of me!"
+
+"Now, I vow to heaven!" cried Amador, struck by the sudden and
+impetuous tone of feeling, which Don Hernan strove to hide under a burst
+of gayety. "I am sorry they live not as far away as Pampeluna, at once;
+that I might show you the readiness with which I will be your messenger:
+for, herein, do I perceive, I shall be looked on by them as a good
+angel, sent to them from heaven."
+
+"Be not over-sanguine," said Cortes, affecting a laugh: "for, by my
+conscience, if you tell her not every thing to her liking, my mother
+hath somewhat of a shrewish way of admonishing you. Nevertheless, it is
+enough: it hath been some long years since they have heard of my
+whereabout and my what-about; since, sooth to say, I one day played them
+a dog's trick, and, a month after, was chasing the Indians in Cuba. It
+will greatly amaze them to hear I have not been absolutely hanged, as my
+mother oft-times promised me, for my sins; and, surely, they will stare
+at you, when you tell them I have been killing a great emperor, as some
+idle fellows have charged on me; whereas, you know yourself, having been
+so forward to shield him, that Montezuma was slain by his own people,--a
+murrain on them!"
+
+"I will bear witness to the truth, and I will say nothing that can give
+them pain."
+
+"I shall be much beholden to you," said Don Hernan, eagerly; "for my
+mother is somewhat more righteous than other women, and might be
+convinced, out of the mouths of some of my friends, that I am given to
+godless acts on occasions, which is very false and slanderous. I will
+beseech you to bear them certain curious jewels, and trifles of golden
+ware, the fabric of my good savages here, more as mementos of my
+gracelessness, than as presents of affection;--seeing that they are of
+no great value. They are such curiosities as will make mine old
+play-mates stare. Ah, the rascals! they were all better than I at their
+books, and somewhat less acquainted with the pedagogue's palm.--But
+pho!" he continued, suddenly dropping the tone of bagatelle, with which
+he had spoken, "I do but fool the time: your steed neighs in the
+court-yard, your lady looks up to the terrace--I will detain you no
+longer. The king's letter which you bear, will authorize you to demand
+of the admiral the best ship in our small navy, as also to have it
+sailored and provisioned to your mind; and therein you can voyage, at
+your good pleasure, to the Guadalquivir. I have presumed to order in
+waiting, subject to your command, a company of guides, consisting of
+four Castilian soldiers, ten Tlascalans, and thrice as many Totonacs of
+the coast, with whom you will take your own will as to speed, though I
+recommend you to submit to theirs, in the matter of the road. Commend me
+to your kinsman, the admiral, as also very truly to my parents; and if
+the emperor should see fit to express doubts of the success of this
+enterprise, in which I am engaged, tell him that I, Hernan Cortes, do
+say, and I gage my head for the fulfilment of the same, that the land
+shall be his,--all that lies between the two seas, and betwixt the
+narrow neck of Panama to the south, and the huge isle of Florida to the
+north: this I promise, and this I will fulfil.--And now, señor, giving
+you my thanks for the good deeds you have already done me, as well as
+those which you meditate, and wishing to your fair and noble wife a
+green path by land and a smooth way by sea, I do, very truly and
+devoutly, and from the bottom of my heart, pray you God speed!--Remember
+me; for you shall hear of me yet!"
+
+So saying, the two cavaliers descended and parted,--Don Amador de Leste
+to cross the seas, and, discharging the commands of his friend, both to
+the ancient hidalgo of Medellin and the great Charles of Austria, to
+seek for happiness in his castle of Alcornoque, in the society of his
+Moorish bride; and Hernan Cortes to ponder alone upon the fall of
+Tenochtitlan.
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+Of the secondary characters of this history, enough has been already
+narrated. Our respect, however, for the memory of the magician, Botello,
+requires that we should mention two circumstances in relation to his
+fate, and his chief and most mystical familiar. His unexpected death,
+instead of destroying his credit among those who survived the Noche
+Triste, gave him additional claims to respect, even in the grave; for
+when it was remembered, that the arrows which slew so many Spaniards,
+were adorned with the feathers of eagles, as well as other birds of
+prey, they perceived, in his fate, only a confirmation of the juggling
+subtlety of the fiends that 'palter with us in a double sense.' "Truly,"
+said they, "Botello was borne out of danger on the wings of eagles, as
+he prophesied, albeit he was borne to heaven." In after days, when
+Mexico had become the prey of the invader, the lake was dragged for the
+bones of the Christians who had fallen with him in the nocturnal
+retreat, which were then deposited, with many religious ceremonies, in
+ground consecrated for the purpose. In the last ditch, at the very spot
+where Botello had fallen, a fortunate fisherman hooked up the magic
+Crystal, the prison of Kalidon-Sadabath; who, greatly to the horror of
+the finder, began instantly, as of old, to dance, and curvet, and
+perform other diabolical antics, in his hands. No other conjurer in the
+army having the skill to interpret the motions of this mysterious imp,
+his crystal habitation was transmitted, along with divers Mexican
+rarities, to the shelves of the Escurial, where it was long viewed with
+wonder and respect, as an instrument contrived by the hands, and devoted
+to its unearthly uses by the skill, of the celebrated Cornelius Agrippa.
+A philosopher, who was thought, as was Feyjoó in later days, by his
+countrymen, to have too little consideration for vulgar prejudices,
+asserted, after attentive examination, that the marvellous crystal was
+nothing more than a piece of glass, hollowed by the maker into many
+singular cavities, wherein was deposited a coloured drop of some
+volatile liquor, which being, at any time, expanded by the heat of the
+breath, or of the hand, would instantly dart about, and assume the most
+fantastic shapes, according to the sinuous vacuities through which it
+happened to be impelled. This explanation was received with incredulity;
+but, nevertheless, Kalidon of the Crystal was treated with neglect, and,
+in course of time, entirely forgotten. We surmise, however, and the
+conjecture is not without argument, that the Enchanted Crystal,
+presented, half a century afterwards, by the angel Uriel to the famous
+English conjurer, Doctor Dee, was no other than this identical stone,
+filched by the angelic thief from its dusty repository, and given to him
+who best knew how to put it to its proper uses.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Late in the autumn of the following year, the señor Don Amador de Leste
+sat watching the sunset of a peaceful day, from a little bower, on a
+lawn in front of his castle Del Alcornoque. A clump of aged oaks flung
+their branches over a low, square, and mouldering tower,--the work of
+the Moorish masters of Spain many a long year back, and a fragment, as
+it seemed, of some ancient bath or fountain; for a body of pure water
+still made its way through the disjointed stones, and fell bubbling into
+a little basin beneath.
+
+The scene, as beheld from this spot, was one of enchanting beauty and
+repose. The fountain was, perhaps, midway on the slope of a long hill, a
+few rods in advance of the castle, (with which it was, indeed, connected
+by a somewhat neglected walk of orange trees,) whose irregular turrets
+and frowning battlements rose among groups of cork-trees, while a broken
+forest of these, extended behind, up to and over the crest of the hill.
+In front, the little valley, wherein was embosomed the silvery Jucar,
+was bounded now by sharp cliffs and jutting promontories, and now by
+green lawns, which ran sweeping upwards to the hill-tops on the opposite
+side. A hazy, smoky atmosphere, warmed into lustre by the sinking
+luminary, while it mellowed all objects into beauty, did not conceal
+from the eye the flocks of sheep which dotted the distant slopes, the
+cattle standing at the river-side, and the groups of peasantry, who
+adding their songs to the lowing of the herds and the cawing of a flight
+of crows, urged forward the burthened ass from the vine-tree. A
+monastery rose in the forest, a little village glimmered pleasantly on
+the river bank, under the shadow of a cliff; and over the ridges, which
+shut in the valley to the south, was seen the dim outline of those
+sierras of Morena, from which might be traced the peaks of the
+Alpujarras.
+
+Over this fair prospect, the young cavalier looked with pride, for it
+was the inheritance handed down to him by a long line of ancestors,--not
+snatched away by violence from vanquished Moors, but reclaimed from them
+by a bold knight, whose genealogical tree had been rooted in those
+hills, before Tarik, the Arab, had yet looked upon the Pillars of
+Hercules. He gazed on it also with joy, for he had learned to love
+peace; and this seemed the chosen abode of tranquillity.
+
+"It doth indeed appear to me, _now_," he muttered, "as if my past life
+were a foolish dream. There is a rapture in this quiet nook, a happiness
+in this prospect of loveliness and content, entirely beyond any pleasure
+which I ever experienced in my days of tumult and fame. What can there
+be, to add a further charm to this paradise?"
+
+Perhaps he muttered this interrogatory in the spirit of an improver and
+adorner of nature.--It was answered by the fall of a gentle footstep. He
+looked behind him, and beheld, standing at his back, pausing a moment
+with patient and yet dignified affection, the fair figure of a woman,
+who had no sooner caught his eye, than she smiled, and pointed to a
+female attendant, who bore in her arms, hard by, a sleeping infant. A
+cross of rubies glittered on the lady's breast.
+
+"If thou didst apprehend, Leila!" said the cavalier, with eyes of joy,
+"that I reckoned this hill-side a paradise, without thinking of thyself
+and my young Gabriel, thou didst most grievously wrong me; for I protest
+to thee, I never cease thinking of ye."
+
+"Never?" murmured the mild voice of the Moorish lady: "Heaven be
+praised!--But, sometimes, when thou lookest upon the sports of our
+little brother Rosario, it seems to me, thou dost forget us."
+
+"I vow to thee, my honoured and beloved lady," said the hidalgo,
+earnestly, "and, if thou wilt believe me the rather for that, I swear by
+the bright eyes of my young boy, that, since I discovered thou wert
+alive, and, especially, since thou hast been mine own Zayda, I have come
+to look with new eyes upon those things, which were the joys of my
+youth. Let us sit down upon this mossy stone; and, while we gaze a
+little upon Rosario, who, thou seest, is hacking the wooden Turk's-head
+on the knoll--Thou knowest, he did so gash my young plantations of
+olive-trees, that I was enforced to allow him this block, for his
+recreation----While we thus regard him, (for, of a truth, he is a most
+gallant boy, and of soldierly bearing,) I will discourse to thee in such
+manner, as to convince thee that I have utterly weeded from my bosom the
+foul plants of ambition, and that I am equally solicitous to cleanse the
+breast of my brother.--Hah! by my faith, what now?--Seest thou yonder
+ill-looking, lurking knave? I doubt me, he has been robbing my
+vineyard.--May I die, but the young varlet doth advance his sword
+against him! Well done, sir Hector!--And he knows not I am near, to give
+him aidance!--What ho, sirrah Rosario! put up thy sword--This is no
+robber."
+
+"It is a pilgrim--some poor pilgrim," exclaimed the lady:--"Rosario
+gives him his hand, and leads him towards us."
+
+It was even as the fair Doña had said. The youth Rosario, who had, at
+first, advanced valiantly towards the stranger, as if to question his
+right to walk so near the castle, was now seen to sink his weapon, speak
+a word or two to the comer, and then give him his hand, as if to conduct
+him to the cavalier.
+
+As they approached, Don Amador could perceive that the stranger had
+robed his figure in a cloak of the humblest texture; he was barefooted;
+he held a staff in his hand; and his great slouched hat was adorned with
+scallop-shells. He seemed a palmer, who had performed a long and painful
+pilgrimage; for, though obviously a young man, his frame was wasted, his
+beard long and haggard, and his cheeks were very thin and pale.
+
+"By my faith," said Don Amador, "this palmer hath speedily won the heart
+of my brother; for, thou seest, Rosario doth look into his face, as
+though he had got him the hand of some great knight from Judea.--I
+welcome you with peace and good-will, señor pilgrim; and my gates are
+open to you.--Art thou from Compostella or Loretto? Or, perhaps, thou
+comest even from the Holy Land?"
+
+While the cavalier spoke, the Moorish lady surveyed the features of the
+pilgrim with a surprise and agitation which drew the attention of Don
+Amador; but before he could speak, the pilgrim replied:
+
+"Not from the Holy Land, but from a land accurst,--from death and the
+grave, from the depths of the heathen lake and the maws of Mexicans----"
+
+At these words, the lady screamed, and Don Amador himself started
+aghast, as he listened to the voice of the speaker.
+
+"In the name of God, amen!" he cried, recoiling a step; "I know thy
+voice, and I saw thee perish!"
+
+"Pardon me, noble patron!" said the pilgrim, hastily; "I spoke but in
+figures; and therein I spoke not amiss, since I perceived that my noble
+lord looked upon me as one that was dead. Alas, señor, I live--I am
+your honour's poor ward and secretary, Fabueno."
+
+"Fabueno!" cried the cavalier, recovering himself a little: "If thou
+livest, thou liest; for Lorenzo is dead!"
+
+"Hast thou been lying, then, thou knave?" cried Rosario, with much
+indignation. "I will knock the cockles from thy cap; for thou saidst,
+thou hadst fought with the great Cortes, among the Indians!"
+
+"Alas, señor!" cried Lorenzo, "will you still think me dead? Have sorrow
+and misery so changed me, that your noble goodness cannot see, in this
+broken frame and this withered visage, your poor follower, Fabueno?"
+
+"By my troth, I am amazed! This hand is flesh and blood; this darkened
+brow and weeping eye--Pho! Look upon him, Zayda!--Thou livest,
+then?--God be praised! And thou sheddest tears, too? Never believe me,
+but I am rejoiced to see thee; and thou shalt dwell with me, till thy
+dying day--Heaven be thanked!--By what miracle wert thou revived, after
+being both killed and drowned? I'faith, thou didst greatly shock my
+lady.--'Tis wondrous, how soon she knew thee!"
+
+"Knew me?" exclaimed the secretary, gazing with a bewildered eye upon
+the lady.
+
+"Why, dost thou forget," cried the cavalier, catching the hand of Leila,
+over whose brow a faint colour rose at the remembrance,--"dost thou
+forget my dear and beloved page, Jacinto?"
+
+"Alas, madam," said Lorenzo, bending to the earth, "nothing but my
+confusion could have made me so blind; and this is more wondrous, too,
+since his excellency, Don Hernan, had made me acquainted with the
+happiness of my lord."
+
+"Speakest thou of Don Hernan?" cried the cavalier. "By my troth, I have
+an hundred thousand questions to ask thee; and I know not which to
+demand first. But thine own reappearance is so marvellous, that I must
+first question thee of that; and, afterward, thou shall speak to me of
+Don Hernan. How wert thou fished up?"
+
+"Fished up, señor!" said Lorenzo, sadly; "I know not well what your
+favour means. At that moment of distraction and horror," he went on,
+with a shudder, "when I called to you for succour----"
+
+"I heard you," said Amador, "and I ran to your assistance,--but, heaven
+forgive me! I cursed the act afterwards, when I discovered that it had
+lost me my poor Jacinto. Ah, señora mia! was there ever so dreadful a
+night?"
+
+"When I called," continued Fabueno, "I was then beset by the infidels.
+The princess--the poor princess, was slain in my arms, and my horse
+speared under me, so that we fell to the earth. Señor, I know not well
+what happened to me, then, for my mind fled from me: I only remember,
+that, as they flung me into a canoe, there came a cavalier, the valiant
+Don Francisco de Saucedo, as I found by his voice, to my assistance,
+shouting aloud. I think, he was slain on the spot; for I heard a
+plunging in the water, as if his horse had fallen into the lake."
+
+"It was he, then," said Don Amador, "whom I saw sink so miserably into
+the flood! Heaven give him rest!--I thought it was thyself."
+
+"Señor," continued the secretary, "I will not weary you, now, with all
+the particulars of my sorrow. When heaven restored me my reason, I found
+myself lying in a wicker den,--a cage of victims,--in the temple yard,
+under the pyramid; and I knew that I was saved, only to be made a
+sacrifice."
+
+"Heaven forefend!" cried Amador, while Zayda grew white with horror.
+
+"I tell you the truth, señor," said Fabueno, trembling in every limb.
+"There were more than thirty such cages around me, and in every one a
+wounded Spaniard, as I could both hear and see; and every day, there was
+one dragged out by the priests, and immolated.--I could hear their yells
+from the temple top.--Señor, these things drove me into a delirium,
+which must have lasted long; for when I came again to my wits, I looked
+out, and saw that the cages were empty--all but _one_. Then, I beheld
+the priests come to mine own dungeon, and debate over me. I tried to
+pray--but, in my fear, I swooned. When I looked forth again, they were
+dragging away my fellow-prisoner.--I knew that I should die upon the
+morrow.--That night, I fell into a frenzy, and with my teeth (for my
+arms were bound behind me,) I gnawed away the wooden bars of my cage.
+Heaven helped me! God gave me strength! and St. James, to whom I cried,
+sharpened my teeth as though they were edged with iron! So, by this
+miracle, I escaped; and, bound as I was, and beaten to the earth by a
+tempest which raved over the lake, I made my way, I know not how, by a
+causeway that lies to the north, until I had reached the shore of the
+lake. I hid me, by day, in groves and in marshes, and when the night
+came, I journeyed onward, though I knew not whither. What sufferings I
+endured from hunger and thirst, I will not weary you by recounting. Mine
+arms were still bound behind me; and when it was my good fortune to find
+a field of green maize, I could only seize upon the ears, like a beast,
+with my teeth. I strove, by rolling upon the earth, and rubbing against
+trees, to get rid of the thongs, but all in vain. This maddened me; and
+I thought that heaven had deserted me. But the good St. James showed me,
+one day, a place where the Indians had made a fire. I rekindled it with
+my breath, and when it began to blaze, I prayed and held my arms in the
+flames, until the green withes, wherewith I was bound, were burned
+asunder."
+
+"Good heaven!" cried Amador, starling from the stone on which he had
+seated himself, while Zayda bent forward, as if to snatch the poor youth
+from the flames, which still burned in her imagination;--"didst thou
+suffer all this horrible combustion? Or, perhaps, heaven vouchsafed thee
+a miracle, and scorched away the cords, without suffering the fire to
+do thee harm?"
+
+"Had I been there," said Rosario, doughtily, "I would have cut the
+thongs with my sword; and, then, I would have killed the bitter pagans
+that wronged thee!"
+
+"The miracle whereby I escaped from the cage, was more than my sins
+deserved," said the secretary, bending his head upon his bosom, and
+speaking with an agitated voice. "Heaven took not the pangs from the
+fire, but it gave me strength to bear them. I am here again, restored to
+my native land, and among Christian men--but mine arms are withered."
+
+"Were they hacked off at the shoulders," cried Amador, ardently, "ay,
+and thy legs into the bargain, yet will I so entertain thee here in my
+castle, that thou shall cease to lament them."
+
+"Nay," said the youth, looking with gratitude on the cavalier, "'tis not
+so bad as that, as my lord may see; for, though I may never more bear
+sword, yet I can carry the pilgrim's staff--ay, and I can raise them to
+my cheek, to brush away my thanks.--I have yet strength enough left to
+wield a pen; and, if my noble patron----"
+
+"Speak no more of this, good Lorenzo," said the Moorish lady, quickly
+and kindly. "My lord hath told thee thou art welcome; and I say to thee
+also, thou art very welcome."
+
+"By my troth, _I_ say so too," cried Rosario. "But after all, thou wilt
+be but pitiful, if thou hast not strength left to handle a sword. I
+hoped you should teach me a little; for old Baltasar is grum and
+crusty."
+
+"Peace, Hector! what art thou talking about?" said Don Amador.--"Think
+no more of thy misfortune, Lorenzo; but give me to know the rest of thy
+adventures."
+
+"They are spoken in a word," said the secretary. "When mine arms were
+freed, though so dreadfully scorched, I could travel with more peace of
+mind. I doubted not, that all the Christians had been slain on the
+lake; yet, I thought, if I could but reach the sea-coast, I might be,
+sometime, snatched out of the hands of the barbarians. Nevertheless,
+this hope deserted me, when I perceived that the land was covered with
+people; and, one day, finding a cave among the mountains, hard by to a
+water-fall, with a wooden cross stuck up at the mouth----"
+
+"Surely," said Zayda, "this was the cavern, wherein I found my lord, Don
+Gabriel."
+
+"I doubt it not, noble lady," said Fabueno, "but this I knew not then. I
+thought it was a retreat provided for me by the good St. James, who
+willed that there I should pass my life, under the shadow of that little
+crucifix. So there did I hide me, and, feeding upon roots and such
+living creatures as I could entrap, I remained in my hermitage a full
+year; until, one day, I heard a trumpet sounding at the bottom of the
+mountain; and running out in wonder, I beheld--thanks be to heaven! I
+beheld a company of Spanish soldiers marching up the hill. By these men,
+I was carried to Mexico, which was now fallen----"
+
+"Fallen, say'st thou?" cried Amador. "Is the infidel city fallen?"
+
+"Not the city only, but the empire," replied Fabueno; "and Cortes is now
+the lord of the great valley."
+
+"Thou shalt tell me of its fate; but first thou must rest and eat.--I
+remember me now of the words of Cortes."
+
+"His excellency," said Lorenzo, "commanded me to bear to your favour
+this little jewel, in token that he has made good a certain vaunt which
+he made you in Tlascala--the same being an emerald from the crown of
+Quauhtimotzin, the king."
+
+"Hah! my valiant ambassador at Tlascala? Hath he been the emperor?"
+
+"And to your noble lady, he craves permission to present this chain of
+gold, the manufacture of Mexican artists, since Mexico has become a
+Spanish city."
+
+"It is enough," said the cavalier; "I perceive that his genius is
+triumphant. I would that I might bear this news to his father, Don
+Martin, as I did the relation of his disasters. But come; let us retire.
+Why hast thou on these palmer weeds?"
+
+"I vowed to St. James, on the mountains of Mexico, in my great misery,
+that, if his good favour and protection should ever bless mine eyes with
+the sight of Christian man, I would make a pilgrimage, barefoot, to his
+holy shrine at Compostella. This it has been my good fortune already to
+accomplish, our ship having been driven, by a storm, into a port of
+Gallicia. Not thinking this penance enough for my sins, I resolved to
+continue my pains, and neither doff my pilgrim's cap, nor do on my
+shoes, until I had reached your favour's castle of the Cork-tree."
+
+"I welcome thee to it, again, and for thy life; and I congratulate thee,
+that thou art relieved of the love of war; wherein, thou wilt find, I
+have somewhat preceded thee. Enter, and be at peace.--When thou art
+rested a little, I shall desire of thee to speak,--for very impatient am
+I to know,--what circumstances of marvel and renown, of romance and
+chivalry, have distinguished the last days of Tenochtitlan."
+
+
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Calavar, by Robert Montgomery Bird</h1>
+<pre>
+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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Calavar</p>
+<p>       or The Knight of The Conquest, A Romance of Mexico</p>
+<p>Author: Robert Montgomery Bird</p>
+<p>Release Date: October 23, 2010  [eBook #34121]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CALAVAR***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by Julia Miller, Mary Meehan,<br />
+    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive/American Libraries<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/americana">http://www.archive.org/details/americana</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/calavartheknight00birdrich">
+      http://www.archive.org/details/calavartheknight00birdrich</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figleft">
+<img src="images/tp.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figright">
+<img src="images/front.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h1>CALAVAR</h1>
+
+<h2>OR THE KNIGHT OF THE CONQUEST</h2>
+
+<h3>A ROMANCE OF MEXICO</h3>
+
+<h3>By ROBERT MONTGOMERY BIRD</h3>
+<h4>AUTHOR OF "NICK OF THE WOODS," "THE INFIDEL," ETC.</h4>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Escucha pues, un rato, y diré cosas<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Estrañas y espantosas, poco á poco.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Garcilaso de la Vega.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>REDFIELD<br />
+110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.<br />
+Third Edition.</h4>
+
+<h4>1854</h4>
+
+<h4>Entered according to the act of Congress in the year 1834, by
+<span class="smcap">Carey, Lea, &amp; Blanchard</span>, in the clerk's office of the district
+court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania.</h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#PREFACE_TO_THE_NEW_EDITION">PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION.</a><br />
+<a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</a><br />
+<a href="#CALAVAR">CALAVAR.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">CHAPTER XLIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">CHAPTER XLIV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">CHAPTER XLV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI">CHAPTER XLVI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII">CHAPTER XLVII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII">CHAPTER XLVIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX">CHAPTER XLIX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_L">CHAPTER L.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LI">CHAPTER LI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LII">CHAPTER LII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LIII">CHAPTER LIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LIV">CHAPTER LIV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LV">CHAPTER LV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LVI">CHAPTER LVI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LVII">CHAPTER LVII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LVIII">CHAPTER LVIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LIX">CHAPTER LIX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LX">CHAPTER LX.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LXI">CHAPTER LXI.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LXII">CHAPTER LXII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LXIII">CHAPTER LXIII.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LXIV">CHAPTER LXIV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_LXV">CHAPTER LXV.</a><br />
+<a href="#CONCLUSION">CONCLUSION.</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PREFACE_TO_THE_NEW_EDITION" id="PREFACE_TO_THE_NEW_EDITION"></a>PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It is now thirteen years since the first publication of "Calavar,"
+which, apart from the ordinary objects of an author, was written chiefly
+with a view of illustrating what was deemed the most romantic and
+poetical chapter in the history of the New World; but partly, also, with
+the hope of calling the attention of Americans to a portion of the
+continent which it required little political forecast to perceive must,
+before many years, assume a new and particular interest to the people of
+the United States. It was a part of the original design to prepare the
+way for a history of Mexico, which the author meditated; a design which
+was, however, soon abandoned. There was then little interest really felt
+in Mexican affairs, which presented, as they have always done since the
+first insurrection of Hidalgo, a scene of desperate confusion, not
+calculated to elevate republican institutions in the opinions of the
+world. Even the events in Texas had not, at that time, attracted much
+attention. Mexico was, in the popular notion, regarded as a part of
+<i>South</i> America, the <i>alter ego</i> almost of Peru,&mdash;beyond the world, and
+the concerns of Americans. There was little thought, and less talk, of
+"the halls of the Montezumas;" and the ancient Mexican history was left
+to entertain school-boys, in the pages of Robertson.</p>
+
+<p>"Calavar" effected its more important purpose, as far as could be
+expected of a mere work of fiction. The revolution of Texas, which
+dismembered from the mountain republic the finest and fairest portion of
+her territory, attracted the eyes and speculations of the world; and
+from that moment, Mexico has been an object of regard. The admirable
+history of Prescott has rendered all readers familiar with the ancient
+annals of the Conquest; and now, with an American army thundering at the
+gates of the capital, and an American general resting his republican
+limbs on the throne of Guatimozin and the Spanish Viceroys, it may be
+believed that a more earnest and universal attention is directed towards
+Mexico than was ever before bestowed, since the time when Cortes
+conquered upon the same field of fame where Scott is now victorious.
+There is, indeed, a remarkable parallel between the invasions of the two
+great captains. There is the same route up the same difficult and lofty
+mountains; the same city, in the same most magnificent of valleys, as
+the object of attack; the same petty forces, and the same daring
+intrepidity leading them against millions of enemies, fighting in the
+heart of their own country; and finally, the same desperate fury of
+unequal armies contending in mortal combat on the causeways and in the
+streets of Mexico. We might say, perhaps, that there is the same purpose
+of conquest: but we do not believe that the American people aim at, or
+desire, the subjugation of Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>"Calavar" was designed to describe the first campaign, or first year, of
+Cortes in Mexico. It was written with an attempt at the strictest
+historical accuracy compatible with the requisitions of romance; and as
+it embraces, in a narrow compass, and&mdash;what was at least meant to be&mdash;a
+popular form, a picture of the war of 1520, which so many will like to
+contrast with that of 1847, the publishers have thought that its
+revival, in a cheap edition, would prove acceptable to the reading
+community. The republication has, indeed, been suggested and called for
+by numerous persons desirous to obtain copies of the book, which has
+been for some time out of print.</p>
+
+<p>The revival of the romance might have furnished its author an
+opportunity to remove many faults which, he is sensible, exist in it.
+Long dialogues might have been contracted, heavy descriptions lightened
+or expunged, and antiquated phraseology modernized, with undoubted
+benefit. But, after a respectful consideration of all critical
+suggestions, friendly or unfriendly, the author has not thought it of
+consequence to attempt the improvement of a work of so trivial and
+evanescent a character; and he accordingly commits it again to the world
+precisely as it was first committed, with all its faults&mdash;would he could
+say, its merits&mdash;unchanged; satisfied with any fate that may befall it,
+or any reception it may meet, which should either imply its having given
+some little pleasure, or imparted some little information, to its
+readers.</p>
+
+<p>R. M. B.</p>
+
+<p>Philadelphia.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Nature, and the memory of strange deeds of renown have flung over the
+valley of Mexico a charm more romantic than is attached to many of the
+vales of the olden world for though historic association and the spell
+of poetry have consecrated the borders of Leman and the laurel groves of
+Tempe, and Providence has touched both with the finger of beauty, yet
+does our fancy, in either, dwell upon objects which are not so much the
+adjuvants of romance as of sentiment; in both, we gather food rather for
+feeling than imagination,&mdash;we live over thoughts which are generated by
+memory, and our conceptions are the reproductions of experience. But
+poetry has added no plenary charm, history has cast no over-sufficient
+light on the haunts of Montezuma; on the Valley of Lakes, though filled
+with the hum of life, the mysteries of backward years are yet brooding;
+and the marvels of human destiny are whispered to our ears, in the sigh
+of every breeze,&mdash;in the rustling of every tree which it stirs on the
+shore, and in the sound of every ripple it curls up on the lake. One
+chapter only of its history (and that how full of marvels!) has been
+written, or preserved; the rest is a blank: a single chain of
+vicissitudes,&mdash;a few consecutive links in the concatenation of
+events,&mdash;have escaped; the rest is a secret, strange, captivating, and
+pregnant of possibilities. This is the proper field for romantic
+musings.</p>
+
+<p>So, at least, thought a traveller,&mdash;or, to speak more strictly, a
+rambler, whose idle wanderings from place to place, directed by ennui
+or whim, did not deserve the name of travels,&mdash;who sat, one pleasant
+evening of October, 183-, on the hill of Chapoltepec, regarding the
+spectacle which is disclosed from the summit of that fair promontory.</p>
+
+<p>The hum of the city came faintly to his ear; the church-towers flung
+their long shadows over the gardened roofs; the wildfowl flapped the
+white wing over the distant sheets of water, which stretched, in a
+chain, from Chalco to San Cristobal; the shouts of Indian boatmen were
+heard, at a distance, on the canal of La Viga, and the dark forms of
+others, trotting along the causeway that borders it, were seen returning
+to their huts among the <i>Chinampas</i>. Quiet stole over the valley; the
+lizard crept to his hole; the bat woke up in the ruined chambers of the
+viceroy's palace, that crowns the hill of Chapoltepec, or started away
+from his den among the leaves of those mossy, majestic, and indeed
+colossal, cypresses, which, at its base, overshadow the graves of Aztec
+kings and sultanas. At last, the vesper-bells sounded in the city, and
+the sun stooped under the western hills, leaving his rays still
+glittering, with such hues as are only seen in a land of mountains, on
+the grand peaks of Popocatepetl and the White Woman, the farthest but
+yet the noblest summits of all in that girdle of mountain magnificence,
+which seems to shut out Mexico from the rest of the world.</p>
+
+<p>As these bright tints faded into a mellow and harmonious lustre, casting
+a sort of radiant obscurity over vale and mountain, lake and steeple,
+the thoughts of the wanderer (for the romance of the spectacle and the
+hour had pervaded his imagination,) crept back to the ages of antiquity
+and to those mystic races of men, the earliest of the land, who had
+built their cities and dug their graves in this Alpine paradise, now
+possessed by a race of whom their world had not dreamed. He gazed and
+mused, until fancy peopled the scene around him with spectral life, and
+his spirit's eye was opened on spectacles never more to be revealed to
+the corporeal organ. It opened on the day when the land was a
+wilderness, shaking for the first time under the foot of a stranger; and
+he beheld, as in a vision, the various emigrations and irruptions into
+the vale, of men born in other climates. They came like the tides of
+ocean, and, as such, passed away,&mdash;like shadows, and so departed; the
+history of ages was compressed into the representation of a moment, and
+an hundred generations, assembled together as one people, rushed by in
+successive apparitions.</p>
+
+<p>First, over the distant ridges of Nochistongo, there stole, or seemed to
+steal, a multitude of men, worn with travel, yet bearing idols on their
+backs, in whose honour, for now they had reached their land of promise,
+they built huge pyramids, to outlive their gods and themselves; and,
+scattering over the whole plain, covered it at once with cornfields and
+cities. The historian (for this unknown race brought with it science as
+well as religion,) sat him in the grove, to trace the pictured annals of
+his age; the astronomer ascended to the tower, to observe the heavens,
+and calculate the seasons, of the new land; while the multitude,
+forgetting the austere climes of their nativity, sat down in peace and
+joy, under the vines and fruit-trees that made their place of habitation
+so beautiful. Thus they rested and multiplied, until the barbarians of
+the hills,&mdash;the earlier races, and perhaps the aborigines of the
+land,&mdash;descended to take counsel of their wisdom, and follow in the ways
+of civilization. Then came a cloud, bringing a pestilence, in whose hot
+breath the rivers vanished, the lakes turned to dust and the mountains
+to volcanoes, the trees crackled and fell as before a conflagration, and
+men lay scorched with the leaves, as thick and as dead, on the plain;
+and the few who had strength to fly, betook themselves to the hills and
+the seaside, to forget their miseries and their arts, and become
+barbarians.&mdash;Thus began, and thus ended, in Mexico, the race of
+<i>Toltecs</i>, the first and the most civilized of which Mexican
+hieroglyphics,&mdash;the legacy of this buried people to their
+successors,&mdash;have preserved the memory.</p>
+
+<p>But the rains fell at last, the lakes filled, the forests grew; and
+other tribes,&mdash;the <i>Chechemecs</i> and <i>Acolhuacans</i>, with others, many in
+number and strangers to each other,&mdash;coming from the same distant North,
+but bringing not the civilization of the first pilgrims, sat in their
+seats, and mingling together into one people, began, at last, after long
+seasons of barbarism, to emerge from the gloom of ignorance, and acquire
+the arts, and understand the destinies of man.</p>
+
+<p>To these came, by the same trodden path, a herd of men, ruder than any
+who had yet visited the southern valleys,&mdash;<i>Aztecs</i> in family, but
+called by their neighbours and foes, <i>Nahuatlacas</i>, or People of the
+Lakes,&mdash;consisting of many tribes, the chief of which was that which
+bore upon a throne of bulrushes an image of the god Mexitli, the
+Destroyer, from whom, in its days of grandeur, it took its name. From
+this crew of savages, the most benighted and blood-thirsty, and, at
+first, the feeblest of all,&mdash;so base that history presents them as the
+only nation of bondmen known to the region of Anahuac, and so sordid
+that, in the festivals of religion, they could provide for their deity
+only the poor offering of a knife and flower,&mdash;fated now to fight the
+battles of their task-masters, and now condemned to knead the bread of
+independence from the fetid plants and foul reptiles of the lake;&mdash;from
+this herd of barbarians, grew, as it seemed, in a moment's space, the
+vast, the powerful, and, in many respects, the magnificent empire of the
+Montezumas. In his mind's eye, the stranger could perceive the salt
+Tezcuco, restored to its ancient limits, beating again upon the porphyry
+hill on which he sat, and the City of the Island, with her hundred
+temples and her thousand towers, rising from the shadows, and heaving
+again with the impulses of nascent civilization. It was at this moment,
+when the travail of centuries was about to be recompensed, when the
+carved statue, the work of many successive Pygmalions, was beginning to
+breathe the breath, and feel the instincts of moral animation, that a
+mysterious destiny trampled upon the little spark, and crushed to atoms
+the body it was warming. From the eastern hills came the voice of the
+Old World&mdash;the sound of the battle-trumpet; the smoke of artillery
+rolled over the lake; and, in a moment more, the shout of conquest and
+glory was answered by the groan of a dying nation.</p>
+
+<p>As this revery ended in the brain of the stranger, and the conqueror and
+the captive of the vision vanished away together, he began to contrast
+in his mind the past condition of the new world with the present, and
+particularly of those two portions, which, at the time of their
+invasion, had outlived the barbarism of nature, and were teeming with
+the evidences of incipient greatness. As for this fair valley of Mexico,
+there was scarcely an object either of beauty or utility, the creation
+of Christian wants or Christian taste, to be seen, for which his memory
+could not trace a rival, or superior, which existed in the day of
+paganism. The maize fields, the maguey plantations, the orchards and
+flower-gardens, that beautify the plains and sweeping slopes,&mdash;these
+were here, long ages ago, with the many villages that glisten among
+them,&mdash;all indeed but the white church and steeple; the lakes which are
+now noisome pools,&mdash;were they not lovelier when they covered the
+pestilential fens, and when the rose-garden floated over their blue
+surface? The long rows of trees marking the line of the great
+<i>Calzadas</i>, or causeways, the approaches to Mezico, but poorly supply
+the place of aboriginal groves, the haunts of the doe and the
+centzontli, while the calzadas themselves, stretching along over bog and
+morass, have entirely lost the charm they possessed, when washed, on
+either side, by rolling surges; even the aqueducts, though they sprang
+not from arch to arch, over the valley, as at the present time, were not
+wanting; and where the church spires of the metropolis pierce the
+heaven, the sacred tabernacles of the gods rose from the summits of
+pyramids. The changes in the physical spectacle among the valleys of
+Peru were perhaps not much greater; but what happy mutations in the
+character and condition of man, what advance of knowledge and virtue,
+had repaid the havoc and horror which were let loose, three hundred
+years ago, on the lands of Montezuma and the Incas? The question was one
+to which the rambler could not conceive an answer without pain.</p>
+
+<p>'The ways of Providence,' he murmured, 'are indeed inscrutable; the
+designs of Him who layeth the corner-stone and buildeth up the fabric of
+destiny, unfathomable. Two mighty empires,&mdash;the only states which seemed
+to be leading the new world to civilization,&mdash;were broken, and at an
+expense of millions of lives, barbarously destroyed; and for what
+purpose? to what good end? How much better or happier are the present
+races of Peru and Mexico, than the past? Hope speaks in the breath of
+fancy&mdash;time may, perhaps, teach us the lesson of mystery; and these
+magnificent climates, now given up, a second time, to the sway of man in
+his darkest mood,&mdash;to civilized savages and Christian pagans,&mdash;may be
+made the seats of peace and wisdom; and perhaps, if mankind should again
+descend into the gloom of the middle ages, their inhabitants will
+preserve, as did the more barbarous nations in all previous
+retrogressions, the brands from which to rekindle the torches of
+knowledge, and thus be made the engines of the reclamation of a world.'</p>
+
+<p>The traveller muttered the conclusion of his speculations aloud, and,
+insensibly to himself, in the Spanish tongue, totally unconscious of the
+presence of a second person, until made aware of it by a voice
+exclaiming suddenly, as if in answer, and in the same language&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Right! very right! <i>pecador de mi!</i> sinner that I am, that <i>I</i> should
+not have thought it, for the honour of God and my country!"</p>
+
+<p>The voice was sharp, abrupt, and eager, but very quavering. The stranger
+turned, and perceived that the words came from a man dressed in a long
+loose surtout or gown of black texture, none of the newest, with a hat
+of Manilla grass, umbrageous as an oak-top. He looked old and infirm;
+his person was very meager; his cheeks were of a mahogany hue, and
+hollow, and the little hair that stirred over them in the evening
+breeze, was of a sable silvered: his eyes were large, restless,
+exceedingly bright, and irascible. He carried swinging in his hand,
+without seeming to use it much, (for, in truth, his gait was too
+irregular and capricious to admit such support,) a staff, to the head of
+which was tied a bunch of flowers; and he bore under his arm, as they
+seemed to the unpractised eye of the observer, a bundle of books, a
+cluster of veritable quartos, so antique and worn, that the string
+knotted round each, seemed necessary to keep together its dilapidated
+pages. The whole air of the man was unique, but not mean; and the
+traveller did not doubt, at the first glance, that he belonged to some
+inferior order of ecclesiastics, and was perhaps the curate of a
+neighbouring village.</p>
+
+<p>"Right! you have said the truth!" he continued, regarding the traveller
+eagerly, and, as the latter thought, with profound veneration; "I must
+speak with you, very learned stranger, for I perceive you are a
+philosopher. Very great thanks to you! may you live a thousand years! In
+a single word, you have revealed the secret that has been the enigma of
+a long life, made good the justice of heaven, and defended the fame of
+my country. God be thanked! I am grateful to your wisdom: you speak like
+a saint: you are a philosopher!"</p>
+
+<p>The traveller stared with surprise on the speaker; but though thus moved
+by the abruptness of the address, and somewhat inclined to doubt its
+seriousness, there was something so unusual in the mode and quality of
+the compliment as to mollify any indignation which he might have felt
+rising in his breast.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said he, "reverend father&mdash;for I perceive you are one of the
+clergy&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The poor licentiate, Cristobal Johualicahuatzin, curate of the parish
+of San Pablo de Chinchaluca," interrupted the ecclesiastic meekly, and
+in fact with the greatest humility.</p>
+
+<p>"Then, indeed, very excellent and worthy father Cristobal," resumed the
+stranger, courteously, "though I do not pretend to understand you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The padre raised his head; his meekness vanished; he eyed the traveller
+with a sharp and indignant frown:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Gachupin!</i>" he cried; "you are a man with two souls: you are wise and
+you are foolish, and you speak bad Spanish!&mdash;Why do you insult me?"</p>
+
+<p>The stranger stared at his new acquaintance with fresh amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Insult you, father!" he exclaimed. "I declare to you, I have, this
+moment, woke out of a revery; and I scarcely know what you have said or
+what I have answered, or what you are saying and what I am answering. If
+I have offended you, I ask your pardon."</p>
+
+<p>"Enough! right!" said the curate, with an air of satisfaction; "you are
+a philosopher; you are right. You were in a revery; you have done me no
+wrong. I have intruded upon your musings,&mdash;I beg your pardon. I thank
+you very heartily. You have instructed my ignorance, and appeased my
+repining; you have taught me the answer to a vast and painful riddle;
+and now I perceive why Providence hath given over my native land to
+seeming ruin, and permitted it to become a place of dust and sand, of
+dry-rot and death. The day of darkness shall come again,&mdash;it is coming;
+man merges again into gloom, and now we fall into the age of stone, when
+the hearts of men shall be as flint. This then shall be the valley of
+resuscitation, after it is first <i>plenus ossibus</i>, full of skeletons, an
+ossuary&mdash;a place of moral ossification. Here, then, shall the wind blow,
+the voice sound, the spirit move, the bone unite to his bone, the sinew
+come with the flesh, and light and knowledge, animating the mass into an
+army, send it forth to conquer the world;&mdash;not as an army of flesh, with
+drum and trump, sword and spear, banner and cannon, to kill and destroy,
+to ravage and depopulate; but as a phalanx of angels, with healing on
+their wings, to harmonize and enlighten, to pacify and adorn. Yes, you
+have taught me this, excellent sage! and you shall know my gratitude:
+for great joy is it to the child of Moteuczoma, to know there shall be
+an end to this desolation, this anarchy, this horror!</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Vigilare metu exanimis, noctesque diesque<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Formidare:&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Came I into the world to watch in sorrow and fear for ever? <i>Hijo mio!</i>
+give me thy hand; I love thee. The vale of Anahuac is not deformed for
+nothing; Christian man has ruined it, but not for a long season!"</p>
+
+<p>The Cura delivered this rhapsody with extreme animation; his eye
+kindled, he spoke with a rapid and confused vehemence; and the stranger
+began to doubt the stability of his understanding. He flung his bundle
+to the earth, and grasped the hand of the philosopher, who, until this
+moment, was ignorant of the depth of his own wisdom. While still in
+perplexity, unable to comprehend the strange character, or indeed the
+strange fancies to which he had given tongue, the padre looked around
+him with complacency on the scene, over which a tropical moon was rising
+to replace the luminary of day, and continued, with a gravity which
+puzzled as much as did his late vivacity,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is very true; I regret it no longer, but it cannot be denied: The
+cutting through yonder hill of Nochistongo has given the last blow in a
+system of devastation; the canal of Huehuetoca has emptied the golden
+pitcher of Moteuczoma. It has converted the valley into a desert, and
+will depopulate it.&mdash;Men cannot live upon salt."</p>
+
+<p>"A desert, father!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hijo mio! do you pretend to deny it?" cried the Cura, picking up his
+bundle, and thumping it with energy. "I aver, and I will prove it to
+your satisfaction, out of these books, which&mdash;But hold! Are you a spy?
+will you betray me? No; you are not of Mexico: the cameo on your breast
+bears the device of stars, the symbol of intellectual as well as
+political independence. I reverence that flag; I saw it, when your
+envoy, attacked by an infuriated mob, in his house in yonder very city,
+(I stole there in spite of them!) sprang upon the balcony, and waved it
+abroad in the street. Frenzy vanished at the sight: it was the banner of
+man's friend!&mdash;No! you are no fool with a free arm, a licentious tongue,
+and a soul in chains. Therefore, you shall look into these pages,
+concealed for years from the jealousy of misconstruction, and the penal
+fires of intolerance; and they shall convince you, that this hollow of
+the mountain, as it came from the hands of God, and as it was occupied
+by the children of nature, was the loveliest of all the vales of the
+earth; and that, since Christian man has laid upon it his innovating
+finger, its beauty has vanished, its charm decayed; and it has become a
+place fitting only for a den of thieves, a refuge for the snake and the
+water-newt, the wild-hog and the vulture!"</p>
+
+<p>"To my mind, father," said the American, no longer amazed at the
+extravagant expressions of the ecclesiastic, for he was persuaded his
+wits were disordered, "to my mind, it is still the most charming of
+valleys; and were it not that the folly and madness of its inhabitants,
+the contemptible ambition of its rulers, and the servile supineness of
+its people,&mdash;in fine, the general disorganization of all its elements,
+both social and political, have made it a sort of Pandemonium,&mdash;a spot
+wherein splendour and grandeur (at least the possibilities and rudiments
+of grandeur,) are mixed with all the causes of decline and perdition, I
+should be fain to dream away my life on the borders of its blue lakes,
+and under the shadow of its volcanic barriers."</p>
+
+<p>"True, true, true! you have said it!" replied the curate, eagerly; "the
+ambition of public men; the feverish servility of the people, forgetful
+of themselves, of their own rights and interests, and ever anxious to
+yoke themselves to the cars of demagogues, to the wires wherewith they
+may be worked as puppets, and giving their blood to aggrandize
+these&mdash;the natural enemies of order and justice, of reason and
+tranquillity; is not this enough to demoralize and destroy? What people
+is like mine? Wo for us! The bondmen of the old world wake from sleep
+and live, while we, in the blessed light of sunshine, wrap the mantle
+round our eyes, sleep, and perish! Revolution after revolution, frenzy
+after frenzy! and what do we gain? By revolution, other nations are
+liberated, but we, by revolution, are enslaved. 'Nil medium est'&mdash;is
+there no happy mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," said the American. "But let us not speak of this: it is
+galling to be able to inveigh against folly without possessing the
+medicament for its cure."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art an American of the North," said the Cura; "thy people are
+wise, thy rulers are servants, and you are happy! Why, then, art thou
+here? I thought thee a sage, but, I perceive, thou hast the rashness of
+youth. Art thou here to learn to despise thine own institutions? Why
+dost thou remain? the death-wind comes from the southern lakes"&mdash;(in
+fact, at this moment, the breeze from the south, rising with the moon,
+brought with it a mephitic odour, the effluvium of a bog, famous, even
+in Aztec days, as the breath of pestilence;) "the death-wind breathes on
+thee: even as this will infect thy blood, when it has entered into thy
+nostrils, disordering thy body, until thou learnest to loathe all that
+seems to thee now, in this scenery, to be so goodly and fair; so will
+the gusts of anarchy, rising from a distempered republic, disease thy
+imagination, until thou comest to be disgusted with the yet untainted
+excellence of thine own institutions, because thou perceivest the evils
+of their perversion. Arise, and begone; remain no longer with us; leave
+this land, and bear with thee to thine own, these volumes,&mdash;the poor
+remnants of another Sibylline library,&mdash;which will teach thee to
+appreciate and preserve, even as thy soul's ransom, the pure and
+admirable frame of government, which a beneficent power has suffered you
+to enjoy."</p>
+
+<p>"And what, then, are these?" demanded the traveller, curiously, laying
+his hand on the bundle, "which can teach Americans to admire the beauty
+of a republic, and yet are not given to thine own countrymen?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are," said the curate, "the fruits of years of reflection and
+toil, of deep research and profound speculation. They contain a history
+of Mexico, which, when they were perfect, that is, before my
+countrymen," (and here the Cura began to whisper, and look about him in
+alarm, as if dreading the approach of listeners,)&mdash;"before my
+countrymen were taught to fear them and to destroy, contained the
+chronicles of the land, from the time that the Toltecas were exiled from
+<i>Huehuetapallan</i>, more than twelve hundred years ago, down to the moment
+when Augustin climbed up to the throne, which Hidalgo tore from the
+Cachupins. A history wherein," continued the padre, with great
+complacency, "I flatter myself, though Mexicans have found much to
+detest, Americans will discover somewhat to approve."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it," said the rambler, "which your people have found so
+objectionable?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," said the padre, "and you shall be informed. In me,"&mdash;here he
+paused, and surveyed his acquaintance with as much majesty as he could
+infuse into his wasted figure and hollow countenance,&mdash;"in me you behold
+a descendant of Moteuczoma Xocojotzin."</p>
+
+<p>"Moteuczoma what?" exclaimed the traveller.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you so ignorant, then?" demanded the padre, in a heat, "that you
+must be told who was Moteuczoma Xocojotzin, that is, <i>the younger</i>,&mdash;the
+second of that name who reigned over Mexico?&mdash;the very magnificent and
+unfortunate emperor so basely decoyed into captivity, so ruthlessly
+oppressed and, as I may say, by a figure of speech, (for, literally, it
+is not true) so truculently slain, by the illustrious Don Hernan Cortes,
+the conqueror of Mexico? Perhaps you are also ignorant of the great
+names of Tizoc, of Xocotzin, and of Ixtlilxochitl?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt," replied the American, with courteous humility, "that
+in the histories of Mexico, which I have ever delighted to read,&mdash;in the
+books of De Solis, of Clavigero, of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, and
+especially in that of Dr. Robertson,&mdash;I have met these illustrious
+names; but you must allow, that, to one ignorant of the language, and of
+the mode of pronouncing such conglomerated grunts, it must be extremely
+difficult, if not wholly impossible, to rivet them in the memory."</p>
+
+<p>The curate snatched up his bundle, and surveyed the stranger with a look
+in which it was hard to tell whether anger or contempt bore the greater
+sway.</p>
+
+<p>"De Solis! Diaz! Clavigero! Robertson!" he at last exclaimed, irefully.
+"<i>Basta! demasiado?</i> What a <i>niño</i>, a little child, a <i>pobre Yankee</i>,
+have I fallen upon! That I should waste my words on a man who studies
+Mexican history out of the books of these jolterheads!"</p>
+
+<p>The padre was about to depart, without bestowing another word on the
+offender. The American was amused at the ready transition of the curate
+from deep reverence to the most unbounded contempt. He was persuaded the
+wits of the poor father were unsettled, and felt there was the greater
+need to humour and appease him: and, besides, he was curious to discover
+what would be the end of the adventure.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said he, with composure, "before you condemn me for acquiring
+my little knowledge from these books, you should put it in my power to
+read better."&mdash;The padre looked back.&mdash;"What information should be
+expected from incompetent writers? from jolterheads? When I have perused
+the histories of father Cristobal, it will then be <i>my</i> fault, if I am
+found ignorant of the names of his imperial ancestors."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ay de mi!</i>" said the curate, striking his forehead; "why did I not
+think of that before? <i>Santos santísimos!</i> I am not so quick-witted as I
+was before. I could forgive you more readily, had you not named to me
+that infidel Scotchman, who calls the superb Moteuczoma a savage, and
+all the Tlatoani, the great princes, and princesses, the people and all,
+barbarians! But what more could you expect of a heretic? I forgive you,
+my son&mdash;<i>you</i> are a Christian?"</p>
+
+<p>"A Christian, father; but not of the Catholic faith."</p>
+
+<p>"You will be damned!" said the curate, hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"A point of mere creed, perhaps I should say, mere form&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Say nothing about it; form or creed, ceremony or canon, you are in the
+way to be lost. Open your ears, unbind your eyes&mdash;hear, see, and
+believe!&mdash;Poor, miserable darkened creature! how can your heretical
+understanding be made to conceive and profit by the great principles of
+philosophy, when it is blind to the truths of religion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Reverend padre," said the traveller, drily, "my people are a people of
+heretics, and yours of Catholic believers. Which has better understood,
+or better practised, the principles of the philosophy you affect to
+admire?"</p>
+
+<p>The padre smote his forehead a second time: "The sneer is, in this case,
+just! The sin of the enlightened is greater than the crime of the
+ignorant, and so is the punishment: the chosen people of God were
+chastised with frequent bondage, and finally with expatriation and
+entire dispersion, for crimes, which, in heathen nations, were punished
+only with wars and famine. But let us not waste time in argument: as
+babes may be made the organs of wisdom, so may heretics be suffered as
+the instruments of worldly benefaction. What thou sayest, is true;
+unbelievers as ye are, ye will comprehend and be instructed by truths,
+which, in this land, would be misconceived and opposed; and from you may
+the knowledge you gain, be reflected back on my own people. In these
+books, which I commit to you for a great purpose, you will learn who
+were those worthies of whom I spoke. You will perceive how
+Ixtlilxochitl, the king of Tezcuco, was descended from the house that
+gave birth to Moteuczoma. This illustrious name inherit I from my
+mother. With its glory, it has conferred the penalty to be suspected,
+opposed, and trampled. Three historians of the name, my ancestors, have
+already written in vain; jealousy has locked up their works in darkness,
+in the veil of manuscript; the privilege of chronicling and perverting
+the history of the land is permitted only to Spaniards, to strangers, to
+Gachupins. Twenty years since, and more, the books I composed, wherein
+the truth was told, and the injustice of Spanish writers made manifest,
+were condemned by ignorance and bigotry to such flames as consumed, at
+Tezcuco, all the native chronicles of Anahuac. But what was written in
+my books, was also recorded in the brain; fire could not be put to my
+memory. Twenty years of secret labour have repaired the loss. Behold!
+here is my history; I give it to you.&mdash;My enemies must be content with
+the ashes!"</p>
+
+<p>The padre rubbed his hands with exultation, as the traveller surveyed
+the bundle.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should you fear a similar fate for these volumes, now?" said the
+latter. "Times are changed."</p>
+
+<p>"The times, but not the people. Hide them, let no man see them; or the
+pile will be kindled again; all will be lost&mdash;I cannot repair the loss a
+second time, for now I am old! Five years have I borne them with me,
+night and day, seeking for some one cunning and faithful, wise like
+thyself, to whom to commit them. I have found thee; thou art the man; I
+am satisfied: <i>buen provecho</i>, much good may they do you,&mdash;not you only,
+but your people,&mdash;not your people alone, but the world! Affection for
+country is love of mankind; true patriotism is philanthropy.&mdash;Five years
+have I borne them with me, by night and by day."</p>
+
+<p>"Really, I think that this betokened no great fear for their safety."</p>
+
+<p>The padre laughed. "Though the Gachupin and the bigot would rob me of a
+Spanish dissertation, yet neither would envy me the possession of a few
+rolls of hieroglyphics."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he knelt upon the ground, untied the string that secured
+one of the apparent volumes, and, beginning to unfold the MS., as one
+would a very nicely secured traveller's map, displayed, in the
+moonlight, a huge sheet of maguey paper, emblazoned in gaudy colours
+with all kinds of inexplicable devices. As he exhibited his treasure, he
+looked up for approbation to the American. The '<i>pobre Yankee</i>' surveyed
+him with a humorous look:</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said he, "you have succeeded to admiration, under this goodly
+disguise, not only in concealing your wisdom from the penetration of
+your countrymen, but, as I think, the whole world."</p>
+
+<p>The padre raised his finger to his nose very significantly, saying, with
+a chuckle of delight,&mdash;the delight of a diseased brain in the success of
+its cunning,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"This time, I knew I should throw dust in their eyes, even though they
+might demand, for their satisfaction, to look into my work. You
+perceive, that this volume, done up after the true manner of ancient
+Mexican books, unrolls from either end. The first pages, and the last,
+of each volume, contain duplicates of the first and the last chapters,
+done in Mexican characters: the rest is in Spanish, and, I flatter
+myself, in very choice Spanish. <i>Hoc ego rectè</i>&mdash;I knew what I was
+about.&mdash;One does not smuggle diamonds in sausages, without stuffing in
+some of the minced meat.&mdash;Here is the jewel!"</p>
+
+<p>So saying, and spreading the sheet at its full length, so as to discover
+his hidden records, the padre rose to his feet, and began to dance about
+with exultation.</p>
+
+<p>"And what am <i>I</i> to do with these volumes?" said the traveller, after
+pondering awhile over the manuscripts.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you to do with them? Dios mio! are you so stupid? Take them,
+hide them in your bosom, as you would the soul of some friend you were
+smuggling into paradise. Leave this land forthwith, on any pretence;
+bear them with you; translate them into your own tongue, and let them be
+given to the world. If they do not, after they have received the seal of
+your approbation, make their way back to this land, they will, at least,
+serve some few of the many objects, for which they were written: they
+will set the character of my great ancestors in its true light, and
+teach the world to think justly of the unfortunate people from whom I
+have the honour to be descended; and, in addition, they will open the
+eyes of men to some of the specks of barbarism which yet sully their own
+foreheads. As for my countrymen, were it even possible they could be
+persuaded to spare these pages, and to read them, they would read them
+in vain. They are a thousand years removed from civilization, and the
+wisdom of this book would be to them as folly. The barbaric romance
+which loiters about the brains even of European nations, is the pith and
+medulla of a Mexican head. The poetry of bloodshed, the sentiment of
+renown,&mdash;the first and last passion, and the true test, of the savage
+state,&mdash;are not yet removed from us. We are not yet civilized up to the
+point of seeing that reason reprobates, human happiness denounces, and
+God abhors, the splendour of contention. Your own people&mdash;the happiest
+and most favoured of modern days,&mdash;are, perhaps, not so backward."</p>
+
+<p>The heretic sighed.&mdash;The padre went on, and with the smile of
+generosity,&mdash;tying, at the same time, the string that secured the
+volume, and knotting it again into the bundle.</p>
+
+<p>"The profits which may accrue from the publication, I freely make over
+to you, as some recompense for the trouble of translation, and the
+danger you run in assuming the custody. Danger, I say,&mdash;heaven forbid I
+should not acquaint you, that the discovery of these volumes on your
+person, besides insuring their speedy and irretrievable destruction,
+will expose you to punishment, perhaps to the flames which will be
+kindled for them; and this the more readily, that you are an
+unbeliever.&mdash;Pray, my son, listen to me; suffer me to convert you.
+Alas! you shake your head!&mdash;What a pity, I am compelled to entrust this
+great commission to a man who refuses to be a Christian!"</p>
+
+<p>"Buen padre, let us say nothing about that: judge me not by the creed I
+profess, but by the acts I perform. Let us despatch this business: the
+moon is bright, but the air is raw and unwholesome. I would willingly do
+your bidding, not doubting that the world will be greatly advantaged
+thereby. But, father, here is the difficulty:&mdash;To do justice to your
+composition, I should, myself, possess the skill of an author; but,
+really, I feel my incompetency&mdash;I am no bookmaker."</p>
+
+<p>"And am I?" said the descendant of Moteuczoma, indignantly; "I am an
+historian!"</p>
+
+<p>"I crave your pardon;&mdash;but <i>I</i> am not."</p>
+
+<p>"And who said you were?" demanded the historian, with contempt. "Do I
+expect of you the qualifications or the labours of an historian? Do I
+ask you to write a book? to rake for records in dusty closets and wormy
+shelves? to decypher crabbed hands and mouldered prints? to wade through
+the fathers of stupidity, until your brain turns to dough, and your eyes
+to pots of glue? to gather materials with the labour of a pearl-diver,
+and then to digest and arrange, to methodise and elucidate, with the
+patient martyrdom of an almanac-maker? Who asks you this? Do I look for
+a long head, an inspired brain? a wit, a genius? <i>Ni por sueño</i>,&mdash;by no
+means. I ask you to read and render,&mdash;to translate;&mdash;to do the tailor's
+office, and make my work a new coat! Any one can do this!"</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said the traveller, "your arguments are unanswerable; do me
+the favour to send, or to bring, your production to the city, to the
+Calle&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Send! bring! <i>Se burla vm.?</i>" cried the padre, looking aghast. "Do you
+want to ruin me? Know, that by the sentence of the archbishop and the
+command of the viceroy, I am interdicted from the city: and know that I
+would sooner put my soul into the keeping of a parrot, than my books
+into the hands of a messenger!"</p>
+
+<p>"A viceroy, did you say, father? It has been many long years since a
+king's ape has played his delegated antics in Mexico. To please you,
+however, I will bear the sacred treasure in my own hands; earnestly
+desiring you, notwithstanding your fears, which are now groundless, and
+the prohibition, which must be at this period invalid, to do me the
+favour of a visit, in person, as soon as may suit your conveniency;
+inasmuch as there are many things I esteem needful to be&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The padre had seized on the hands of the speaker, in testimony of his
+delight; but before the latter had concluded his discourse, he was
+interrupted by a voice at a distance, calling, as it seemed, on the
+Cura; for this worthy, starting with fear, and listening a moment,
+suddenly took to his heels, and before the traveller could give vent to
+his surprise, was hidden among the shadows of the cypress trees.</p>
+
+<p>"May I die," said the philosopher, in no little embarrassment, "but this
+lunatic Cura has left me to lug away his lucubrations,&mdash;his
+hieroglyphical infants, for which I am to make new coats,&mdash;on my own
+shoulders! Well! I can but carry them to the city, and seek some means
+of restoring them to his friends, or commit them to a more fitting
+depository. Pray heaven I meet no drunken Indian, or debauched soldado
+on my way."</p>
+
+<p>By great good fortune, he was able, in a few days, with the assistance
+of a friendly Mexican, to solve the secret of the padre's confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen him then?" said the excellent Señor Don Andres
+Santa-Maria de Arcaboba, laughing heartily at the grave earnestness with
+which his heretical friend inquired after the eccentric padre. "He
+offered you his hieroglyphics? Ah, I perceive! No man passes scot-free
+the crazy Cura. Ever his books in his hand, much praise with the offer,
+and seven times seven maledictions when you refuse his bantlings."</p>
+
+<p>"He <i>is</i> crazy, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Demonios!</i> were you long finding it out? Ever since the old
+archbishop burned his first heathenish volumes, he has done naught
+but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon.&mdash;Burn his books?&mdash;the old archbishop?&mdash;Pray
+enlighten me a little on the subject of the good father's history.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis done in a moment," said Don Andres; "the only wonder is that he
+did not himself give you the story; that being, commonly, the prelude to
+his petition. The mother of Don Cristobal was an Indian <i>damisela</i>,
+delighting in the euphonical cognomen of Ixtlilxochitl; a name, which, I
+am told, belonged to some old pagan king or other, the Lord knows
+who&mdash;as for myself, I know nothing about it. But this set the padre mad,
+or, what's the same thing, it made him an historian.&mdash;'Tis a silly thing
+to trouble one's noddle about the concerns of our granddads: let them
+sleep! rest to their bones&mdash;<i>Asi sea!</i>&mdash;They made him a licenciado, and
+then Cura of some hacienda or other, out among the hills&mdash;I know nothing
+about it. He wrote a book, in which he proved that the old heathen
+Montezuma, the great Cacique, was a saint, and Hernan Cortes, who
+conquered the land, a sinner. It may be so&mdash;<i>Quien sabe?</i> who knows? who
+cares? This was before the revolution&mdash;that is, before the first: (we
+have had five hundred since;&mdash;I never counted them.) Somehow, the
+viceroy Vanegas took a dislike to the book, and so did the archbishop.
+They set their heads together, got the good old fathers of the
+Brotherhood&mdash;(We have no Brotherhood now,&mdash;neither religious nor social:
+every man is his own brother, as the king says in the English play.&mdash;Did
+you ever read Calderon?) They got the old fathers to vote it
+dangerous,&mdash;I suppose, because they did not understand it. So they
+burned it, and commanded Johualicahuatzin&mdash;(that's another Indian
+king&mdash;so he calls himself.&mdash;His father was the Señor Marhojo, a creole,
+a lieutenant in the viceroy's horse, a very worthy Christian, who was
+hanged somewhere, for sedition. But Cristobal writes after his mother's
+name, as being more royal.)&mdash;What was I saying? Oh, yes!&mdash;They ordered
+the licentiate back to his hacienda. Then, what became of him, the lord
+knows; I don't.&mdash;Then came Hidalgo, the valiant priest of Dolores, with
+his raggamuffin patriots,&mdash;(I don't mean any reflection, being a patriot
+myself, though no fighter; but Hidalgo had a horrid crew about him!)
+Where was I? Oh, ay,&mdash;Hidalgo came to knock the city about our ears; and
+Cristobal, being seized with a fit of blood-thirstiness, joins me the
+gang. They say, he came with an old sabre of flint&mdash;I don't know the
+name; it belonged to some king in the family. Then Calleja, whom they
+made viceroy&mdash;the devil confound him! (He cut my uncle's throat, with
+some fourteen thousand others, at Guanaxuato, one day, to save
+powder.)&mdash;Calleja chased Hidalgo to Aculco, and, there, he beat him.
+Cristobal's brother (he <i>had</i> a brother, a very fine young fellow, a
+patriot major;) was killed at Cristobal's side; Cristobal was knocked on
+the head,&mdash;somebody said, with his own royal weapon:&mdash;I don't
+know,&mdash;where's the difference? They broke his skull, and took him
+prisoner. <i>Y pues?</i> what then? Being a notorious crazy man, and very
+savagely mauled, they did not hang him. Ever since, he has been madder
+than ever. He writes histories, and, to save them from viceroys, (he
+takes all our presidents for viceroys: to my mind, they <i>are</i>; but
+that's nothing. You know Bustamente? a mighty great man: Santa Anna will
+beat him&mdash;but don't say so!) Well, to save his books from the
+president-viceroys, or viceroy-presidents, Cristobal offers them to
+every body he meets, with a petition to take them over the seas and
+publish them.&mdash;That's all!&mdash;The Indians at the hacienda love him, and
+take care of him.&mdash;Ha, ha! he caught you, did he? What did he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"He gave me his books," said the traveller.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Fuego!</i> you took them? Ha, ha! now will the poor padre die happy!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will return them to his relations."</p>
+
+<p>"Relations! they are all in heaven; he is the last of the
+Ixtlilxochitls! Ha, ha! I beg your pardon, amigo mio! I beg your
+pardon; but if you offer them to any body, never believe me, but folks
+will take you for Cristobal the Second, <i>el segundo maniatico</i>, or some
+one he has hired to do the work of donation. Ha, ha! cielo mio, pity me!
+say nothing about it;&mdash;burn them."</p>
+
+<p>"At least, let us look over them."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Olla podrida!</i> look over a beggar's back! a pedler's sack! or a
+dictionary!&mdash;Any thing reasonable. Burn them; or take them to America,
+to your North, and deposit them in a museum, as the commonplace books of
+Montezuma. <i>Vamos; que me manda vm.?</i> will you ride to the
+Alameda?&mdash;Pobre Cristobal! he will die happy&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The traveller returned to his own land: he bore with him the books of
+Cristobal. Twenty times did he essay to make examination of their
+contents, and twenty times did he yawn, in mental abandonment, over
+their chaotic pages,&mdash;not, indeed, that they seemed so <i>very</i> incoherent
+in style and manner, but because the cautious historian, as it seemed,
+with a madman's subtlety, had hit upon the device of so scattering and
+confusing the pages, that it was next to impossible that any one, after
+reading the first, should discover the clue to the second. Each volume,
+as has been hinted, consisted of a single great sheet, folded up in the
+manner of a pocket map; both sides were very carefully written over, the
+paragraphs clustered in masses or pages, but without numbers; and, but
+for the occurrence, here and there, of pages of hideous hieroglyphics,
+such as were never seen in a Christian book, the whole did not seem
+unlike to a printed sheet, before it is carried to the binder. The task
+of collating and methodising the disjointed portions, required, in the
+words of the padre himself, the devotedness which he had figured as 'the
+patient martyrdom of an almanac-maker;' it was entirely too much for the
+traveller. He laid the riddle aside for future investigation: but
+Cristobal was not forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>A year afterwards, in reading a Mexican gazette, which had fallen into
+his hands, his eye wandered to the little corner which appeals so
+placidly to the feelings of the contemplative,&mdash;the place of obituaries.
+His attention was instantly captivated by a name in larger characters
+than the others. Was it? could it be? Pobre Cristobal!&mdash;'<i>El Licenciado</i>
+Cristobal Santiago Marhojo y Ixtlilxochitl, <i>Cura de la Hacienda de</i>
+Chinchaluca, <i>ordinariamente llamado</i> El Maniatico Historiador'&mdash;&mdash;. The
+same! But what is this? the common immortality of a long paragraph?&mdash;The
+heretic rubbed his eyes. "Several MSS., historical memoirs, relating to
+the earlier ages of the Aztec monarchy, the work of his own hand, have
+been discovered; and a lucky accident revealing the expedient which he
+adopted to render them illegible, or at least inexplicable to common
+readers, they have been found to be in all respects sane and coherent,
+the work less of a madman than an eccentric but profound scholar. The
+pages are arranged like those in the form of the printer; and, being cut
+by a knife without unfolding&mdash;&mdash;" The heretic started up, and drew forth
+the long-neglected tomes.&mdash;"It is said that a North American, a year
+ago, received, and carried away, many of the volumes, which the
+eccentric clergyman was accustomed to offer to strangers. It is hoped,
+if this should meet his eye&mdash;&mdash;" 'Enough! if thy work be at all
+readable, departed padre, it shall have the new coat!'</p>
+
+<p>Great was the surprise of the philosopher, when having, at the
+suggestion of the gazetteer, cut the folded sheet of a volume, he beheld
+the chaos of history reduced to order. There they were, the annals of
+Aztecs and Toltecs, of Chechemecs and Chiapanecs, and a thousand other
+<i>Ecs</i>, from the death of Nezahualcojotl, the imperial poet, up to the
+confusion of tongues. "Here's a nut for the philosophers," quoth the
+traveller; "but now for a peep at Montezuma!&mdash;Poor Cristobal! what a
+wonderful big book you have made of it!"</p>
+
+<p>How many days and nights were given to the examination of the history,
+we do not think fit to record. It is enough, that the inheritor of this
+treasure discovered with satisfaction, that, if Cristobal had been mad,
+he had been mad after a rule,&mdash;dramatically so: he was sane in the right
+places. A thousand eccentricities were, indeed, imbodied in his work,
+the result, doubtless, of a single aberration, in which he persuaded
+himself that men were yet barbarians, and that civilization, even to the
+foremost of nations, was yet unknown. Under the influence of this
+conceit, he was constantly betrayed, for he was a philanthropist, into
+sharp animadversion upon popular morals; and he stigmatized as vices of
+the most brutal character, many of those human peculiarities which the
+world has consented to esteem the highest virtues. In other respects, he
+was sane, somewhat judicious, and, as far as could be expected in an
+historian, a teller of the truth.</p>
+
+<p>His work consisted of several divisions; it was, in fact, a series of
+annals, relating to different epochs. Of these, that volume which
+treated of the Conquest of Mexico, had the most charms for the
+traveller; and he thought it would possess the most interest for the
+world. It was this which he determined to introduce to the public. It
+differed greatly from common histories in one particular; it descended
+to minutiæ of personal adventure, and was, indeed, as much a general
+memoir of the great <i>Conquistadores</i> as a history of the fall of
+Tenochtitlan. Of this the writer was himself sensible; the running title
+of the division, as recorded in his own hand, being, "<i>Una Cronica de la
+Conquista de Megico, y Historia verdadera de los</i> Conquistadores,
+<i>particularmente de esos</i> Caballeros <i>á quienes descuidaron celebrar los
+Escritores Antiguos</i>. <i>Por Cristobal Johualicahuatzin Santiago Marhojo y
+Ixtlilxochitl</i>;"&mdash;that is to say, 'A Chronicle of the Conquest of
+Mexico, and true History of the Conquerors, especially of those
+Cavaliers who were neglected by the ancient authors.'</p>
+
+<p>The first portion of this,&mdash;for there were several,&mdash;treated of those
+events which occurred between the departure of the first army of
+invasion from Cuba, and its expulsion from Mexico, and this portion the
+executor of Cristobal resolved to present to the world.</p>
+
+<p>In pursuance of this resolution, he instituted a long and laborious
+comparison of the MS. with the most authentic printed histories; the
+result of which was a conviction, (which we beg the reader constantly to
+bear in mind,) that, although the good padre had introduced, and upon
+authority which his editor could not discover, the characters of certain
+worthy cavaliers, of whom he had never heard, the relation, in all other
+particulars, corresponded precisely with the narratives of the most
+esteemed writers. The events&mdash;the great and the minute alike&mdash;of the
+whole campaign were, in point of fact, identical with those chronicled
+by the best authors; and in no way did this history differ from others,
+except in the introduction of the above-mentioned forgotten or neglected
+cavaliers, such as the knight of Calavar and his faithful esquire, and
+in the recital of events strictly personal to them. It is true, the
+narrative was more diffuse, perhaps we should say, verbose; but
+Cristobal lived in an age of amplification. It was here alone that the
+traveller felt himself bound to take liberties with the original; for
+though the march of mind and the general augmentation of ideas, have
+made prolixity a common characteristic of each man in his own person,
+they have not made him more tolerant of it in another. He shaved,
+therefore, and he cut, he amputated and he compressed; and he felt the
+joy of an editor, when exercising the hydraulic press of the mind.</p>
+
+<p>This will be excused in him. He expunged as much of the philosophy as he
+could. The few principles at variance with worldly propensities, which
+he left in the book, must be referred to another responsibility.&mdash;The
+hallucinations of philanthropy are, at the worst, harmless.</p>
+
+<p>For the title adopted in this, the initial chronicle, he confesses
+himself answerable. The peculiar appetites of the literary community,
+the result of intellectual dyspepsia, require and justify empiricism in
+nomenclature. A good name is sugar and sweetmeats to a bad book. If it
+should be objected, that he has called the <i>Historia Verdadera</i> a
+romance, let it be remembered, that the world likes romance better than
+truth, as the booksellers can testify; and that the history of Mexico,
+under all aspects but that of fiction, is itself&mdash;&mdash;a romance.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;It was said by the learned Scaliger, of the Basque
+language, 'that those who spoke it were thought to understand
+one another,&mdash;a thing which he did not himself believe.' For
+fear that the reader, from the specimens of Mexican words he
+will meet in this history, should imagine that the Mexican
+tongue was not meant even to be <i>spoken</i>, we think fit to
+apprise him, that all such words are to be pronounced as they
+would be uttered by a Spaniard. In his language, for example,
+the G, when before the vowels E and I, the J always, and, in
+certain cases, the X, have the value of the aspirate. Thus, the
+name of the city, the chief scene of our history, has been
+spelled, at different times, <i>Mexico</i>, <i>Mejico</i>, and <i>Megico</i>;
+yet is always pronounced <i>May-he-co</i>. The sound of our W he
+represents by HU,&mdash;as <i>Huascar</i>, for Wascar; and, indeed, JU
+has nearly the same sound, as in <i>Juan</i>. The names
+Johualicahuatzin, Anahuac, Xocojotzin, Mexitli, and Chihuahua,
+pronounced Howalicawatzin, Anawac, Hocohotzin, Meheetlee, and
+Chewawa, will serve for examples. But this is a thing not to be
+insisted on, so much as the degree of belief which should be
+accorded to the relation.</p>
+
+<p>Esto importa poco á nuestro cuento: basta que en la narracion
+de el, no se salga un punto de la verdad.&mdash;<i>Don Quijote.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CALAVAR" id="CALAVAR"></a>CALAVAR.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the year of Grace fifteen hundred and twenty, upon a day in the month
+of May thereof, the sun rose over the islands of the new deep, and the
+mountains that divided it from an ocean yet unknown, and looked upon the
+havoc, which, in the name of God, a Christian people were working upon
+the loveliest of his regions. He had seen, in the revolution of a day,
+the strange transformations which a few years had brought upon all the
+climes and races of his love. The standard of Portugal waved from the
+minarets of the east; a Portuguese admiral swept the Persian Gulf, and
+bombarded the walls of Ormuz; a Portuguese viceroy held his court on the
+shores of the Indian ocean; the princes of the eastern continent had
+exchanged their bracelets of gold for the iron fetters of the invader;
+and among the odours of the Spice Islands, the fumes of frankincense
+ascended to the God of their new masters. He passed on his course: the
+breakers that dashed upon the sands of Africa, were not whiter than the
+squadrons that rolled among them; the chapel was built on the shore, and
+under the shadow of the crucifix was fastened the first rivet in the
+slavery of her miserable children. Then rose he over the blue Atlantic:
+the new continent emerged from the dusky deep; the ships of discoverers
+were penetrating its estuaries and straits, from the Isles of Fire even
+to the frozen promontories of Labrador; and the roar of cannon went up
+to heaven, mingled with the groans and blood of naked savages. But peace
+had descended upon the islands of America; the gentle tribes of these
+paradises of ocean wept in subjection over the graves of more than half
+their race; hamlets and cities were springing up in their valleys and on
+their coasts; the culverin bellowed from the fortress, the bell pealed
+from the monastery; and the civilization and vices of Europe had
+supplanted the barbarism and innocence of the feeble native. Still, as
+he careered to the west, new spectacles were displayed before him; the
+followers of Balboa had built a proud city on the shores, and were
+launching their hasty barks on the surges of the New Ocean; the hunter
+of the Fountain of Youth was perishing under the arrows of the wild
+warriors of Florida, and armed Spaniards were at last retreating before
+a pagan multitude. One more sight of pomp and of grief awaited him: he
+rose on the mountains of Mexico; the trumpet of the Spaniards echoed
+among the peaks; he looked upon the bay of Ulua, and, as his beams stole
+tremblingly over the swelling current, they fell upon the black hulls
+and furled canvas of a great fleet riding tranquilly at its moorings.
+The fate of Mexico was in the scales of destiny; the second army of
+invaders had been poured upon her shores. In truth, it was a goodly
+sight to look upon the armed vessels that thronged this unfrequented
+bay; for peacefully and majestically they slept on the tide, and as the
+morning hymn of the mariners swelled faintly on the air, one would have
+thought they bore with them to the heathen the tidings of great joy, and
+the good-will and grace of their divine faith, instead of the earthly
+passions which were to cover the land with lamentation and death.</p>
+
+<p>With the morning sunbeam, stole into the harbour one of those little
+caravels, wherein the men of those days dared the perils of unknown
+deeps, and sought out new paths to renown and fortune; and as she drew
+nigh to the reposing fleet, the hardy adventurers who thronged her deck,
+gazed with new interest and admiration on the shores of that empire,
+the fame of whose wild grandeur and wealth had already driven from
+their minds the dreams of Golconda and the Moluccas. No fortress frowned
+on the low islands, no city glistened among the sand-hills on shore: the
+surf rolled on the coast of an uninhabited waste: the tents of the
+armourer and other artisans, the palm-thatched sheds of the sick, and
+some heaps of military stores, covered with sails, and glimmering in the
+sun, were the only evidences of life on a beach which was, in after
+times, to become the site of a rich and bustling port. But beyond the
+low desert margin of the sea, and over the rank and lovely belt of
+verdure, which succeeded the glittering sand-hills, rose a rampart of
+mountains green with an eternal vegetation, over which again peered
+chain after chain, and crag after crag, with still the majestic Perote
+and the colossal Orizaba frowning over all, until those who had dwelt
+among the Pyrenees, or looked upon the Alps, as some of that adventurous
+company had done, dreamed what wealth should be in a land, whose first
+disclosure was so full of grandeur.</p>
+
+<p>Of the four-score individuals who crowded the decks of the little
+caravel, there was not one whose countenance, at that spectacle, did not
+betray a touch of the enthusiasm,&mdash;the mingled lust of glory and of
+lucre,&mdash;which had already transformed so many ruffians into heroes.
+Among this motley throng might be seen all sorts of martial madmen, from
+the scarred veteran who had fought the Moors under the walls of Oran, to
+the runagate stripling who had hanselled his sword of lath on the curs
+of Seville; from the hidalgo who remembered the pride of his ancestors,
+in the cloak of his grandsire, to the boor who dreamed of the crown of a
+pagan emperor, in a leather shirt and cork shoes: here was a brigand,
+who had cursed the Santa Hermandad of all Castile, and now rejoiced over
+a land where he could cut throats at his leisure; there a gray-haired
+extortioner, whom roguery had reduced to bankruptcy, but who hoped to
+repair his fortune by following the pack of man-hunters, and picking up
+the offals they despised, or cheating them of the prizes they had
+secured; here too was a holy secular, who came to exult over the
+confusion and destruction of all barbarians who should see nothing
+diviner in the crucifix than in their own idols. The greater number,
+however, was composed of debauched and decayed planters of the islands,
+who ceased to lament their narrow acres and decreasing bondmen, snatched
+away by the good fortune of some fellow-profligate, when they thought of
+territories for an estate, and whole tribes for a household. Indeed, in
+all the group, however elevated and ennobled, for the moment, by the
+excitement of the scene, and by the resolute impatience they displayed
+to rush upon adventures well known to be full of suffering and peril,
+there was but one whom a truly noble-hearted gentleman would have chosen
+to regard with respect, or to approach with friendship.</p>
+
+<p>This was a young cavalier, who, in propriety of habiliments, in
+excellence of person, and in nobleness of carriage, differed greatly
+from all: and, to say the truth, he himself seemed highly conscious of
+the difference, since he regarded all his fellow-voyagers, saving only
+his own particular and armed attendants, with the disdain befitting so
+distinguished a personage. His frame, tall and moderately athletic, was
+arrayed in hose and doublet of a dusky brown cloth, slashed with purple:
+his cap and cloak were of black velvet, and in the band of one, and on
+the shoulder of the other, were symbols of his faith and his
+profession,&mdash;the first being a plain crucifix of silver, and the second
+a cross of white cloth of eight points, inserted in the mantle. In
+addition to these badges of devotion, he wore a cross of gold, pointed
+like the former, and suspended to his neck by a chain of such length and
+massiveness, as to imbue his companions with high notions of his rank
+and affluence.</p>
+
+<p>The only point in which he exhibited any feeling in common with his
+companions, was in admiration of the noble prospect that stretched
+before him, and which was every moment disclosing itself with newer and
+greater beauty, as the wind wafted his little vessel nearer to it. His
+cheek flushed, his eye kindled, and smiting his hands together, in his
+ardour, he dropped so much of his dignity as to address many of his
+exclamations to the obsequious but not ungentle master.</p>
+
+<p>"By St. John! señor Capitan," he cried, with rapture, "this is a most
+noble land to be wasted upon savages!"</p>
+
+<p>"True, señor Don Amador," replied the thrice-honoured master; "a noble
+land, a rich land, a most glorious land; and, I warrant me, man has
+never before looked on its equal."</p>
+
+<p>"For my part," said the youth, proudly, "I have seen some lands, that,
+in the estimation of those who know better, may be pronounced divine;
+among which I may mention the Greek islands, the keys of the Nile, the
+banks of the Hellespont, and the hills of Palestine,&mdash;not to speak of
+Italy, and many divisions of our own country; yet, to be honest, I must
+allow I have never yet looked upon a land, which, at the first sight,
+impressed me with such strange ideas of magnificence."</p>
+
+<p>"What then will be your admiration, noble cavalier," said the captain,
+"when you have passed this sandy shore, and yonder rugged hills, and
+find yourself among the golden valleys they encompass! for all those who
+have returned from the interior, thus speak of them, and declare upon
+the gospels and their honour, no man can conceive properly of paradise,
+until he has looked upon the valleys of Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"I long to be among them," said the youth; "and the sooner I am mounted
+on my good steed, Fogoso, (whom God restore to his legs and his spirit,
+for this cursed ship has cramped both;) I say, the sooner I am mounted
+upon my good horse, and scattering this heathen sand from under his
+hoofs, the better will it be for myself, as well as for him. Hark'ee,
+good captain: I know not by what sort of miracle I shall surmount
+yonder tall and majestic pinnacles; but it will be some consolation,
+while stumbling among them, to be able at least to pronounce their
+names. What call you yon mountain to the north, with the huge,
+coffer-like crag on its summit?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your favour has even hit the name, in finding a similitude for the
+crag," said the captain. "The Indians call it by a name, which signifies
+the Square Mountain; but poor mariners like myself, who can scarce
+pronounce their prayers, much less the uncouth and horrible
+articulations of these barbarians, are content to call it the Coffer
+Mountain. It lies hard by the route to the great city; and is said to be
+such a desolate, fire-blasted spot as will sicken a man with horror."</p>
+
+<p>"And yon kingly monster," continued the cavalier, "that raises his snowy
+cone up to heaven, and mixes his smoke with the morning clouds,&mdash;that
+proudest of all,&mdash;what call you him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Spaniards have named him Orizaba," said the master; "but these godless
+Pagans, who cover every human object with some diabolical superstition,
+call that peak the Starry Mountain; because the light of his
+conflagration, seen afar by night, shines like to a planet, and is
+thought by them to be one of their gods, descending to keep watch over
+their empire."</p>
+
+<p>"A most heathenish and damning belief!" said the youth, with a devout
+indignation; "and I do not marvel that heaven has given over to bondage
+and destruction a race stained with such beastly idolatry. But
+nevertheless, señor Capitan, and notwithstanding that it is befouled
+with such impious heresies, I must say, that I have looked upon Mount
+Olympus, a mountain in Greece, whereon, they say, dwelt the accursed old
+heathen gods, (whom heaven confound!) before the time that our blessed
+Saviour hurled them into the Pit; and yet that mountain Olympus is but a
+hang-dog Turk's head with a turban, compared to this most royal Orizaba,
+that raiseth up his front like an old patriarch, and smokes with the
+glory of his Maker."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet they say," continued the captain, "that there is a mountain of
+fire even taller and nobler than this, and that hard by the great city.
+But your worship will see this for yourself, with many other wonders,
+when your worship fights the savages in the interior."</p>
+
+<p>"If it please Heaven," said the cavalier, "I will see this mountain, and
+those other wonders, whereof you speak; but as to fighting the savages,
+I must give you to know, that I cannot perceive how a man who has used
+his sword upon raging Mussulmans, with a sultan at their head, can
+condescend to draw it upon poor trembling barbarians, who fight with
+flints and fish-bones, and run away, a thousand of them together, from
+six not over-valiant Christians."</p>
+
+<p>"Your favour," said the captain, "has heard of the miserable poltroonery
+of the island Indians, who, truth to say, are neither Turks nor Moors of
+Barbary: but, señor Don Amador de Leste, you will find these dogs of
+Mexico to be another sort of people, who live in stone cities instead of
+bowers of palm-leaves; have crowned emperors, in place of feathered
+caciques; are marshalled into armies, with drums, banners, and generals,
+like Christian warriors; and, finally, go into battle with a most
+resolute and commendable good will. They will pierce a cuirass with
+their copper lances, crush an iron helmet with their hardened war-clubs,
+and,&mdash;as has twice or thrice happened with the men of Hernan
+Cortez,&mdash;they will, with their battle-axes of flint, smite through the
+neck of a horse, as one would pierce a yam with his dagger. Truly, señor
+caballero, these Mexicans are a warlike people."</p>
+
+<p>"What you tell me," said Don Amador, "I have heard in the islands; as
+well as that these same mountain Indians roast their prisoners with
+pepper and green maize, and think the dish both savoury and wholesome;
+all which matters, excepting only the last, which is reasonable enough
+of such children of the devil, I do most firmly disbelieve: for how,
+were they not cowardly caitiffs, could this rebellious cavalier, the
+valiant Hernan Cortes, with his six hundred mutineers, have forced his
+way even to the great city Tenochtitlan, and into the palace of the
+emperor? By my faith," and here the señor Don Amador twisted his finger
+into his right mustachio with exceeding great complacency, "these same
+Mexicans may be brave enemies to the cavaliers of the plantations, who
+have studied the art of war among the tribes of Santo Domingo and Cuba;
+but to a soldier who, as I said before, has fought the Turks, and that
+too at the siege of Rhodes, they must be even such chicken-hearted
+slaves as it would be shame and disgrace to draw sword upon."</p>
+
+<p>The master of the caravel regarded Don Amador with admiration for a
+moment, and then said, with much emphasis, "May I die the death of a
+mule, if I am not of your way of thinking, most noble Don Amador. To
+tell you the truth, these scurvy Mexicans, of whose ferocity and courage
+so much is said by those most interested to have them thought so, are
+even just such poor, spiritless, contemptible creatures as the Arrowauks
+of the isles, only that there are more of them; and, to be honest, I
+know nothing that should tempt a soldier and hidalgo to make war on
+them, except their gold, of which the worst that can be said is, first,
+that there is not much of it, and secondly, that there are too many
+hands to share it. There is neither honour nor wealth to be had in
+Tenochtitlan. But if a true soldier and a right noble gentleman, as the
+world esteems Don Amador de Leste, should seek a path worthy of himself,
+he has but to say the word, and there is one to be found from which he
+may return with more gold than has yet been gathered by any fortunate
+adventurer, and more renown than has been won by any other man in the
+new world: ay, by St. James, and diadems may be found there! provided
+one have the heart to contest for them with men who fight like the
+wolves of Catalonia, and die with their brows to the battle!"</p>
+
+<p>"Now by St. John of Jerusalem!" said Amador, kindling with enthusiasm,
+"that is a path which, as I am a true Christian and Castilian, I should
+be rejoiced to tread. For the gold of which you speak, it might come if
+it would, for gold is a good thing, even to one who is neither needy nor
+covetous; but I should be an idle hand to gather it. As for the diadems,
+I have my doubts whether a man, not born by the grace of God to inherit
+them, has any right to wear them, unless, indeed, he should marry a
+king's daughter: but here the kings are all infidels, and, I vow to
+Heaven, I would sooner burn at a stake, along with a Christian beggar,
+than sell my soul to perdition in the arms of any infidel princess
+whatever. But for the renown of subduing a nation of such valiant Pagans
+as those you speak of, and of converting them to the true faith! <i>that</i>
+is even such a thought as makes my blood tingle within me; and were I,
+in all particulars, the master of my own actions, I should say to you,
+Right worthy and courageous captain, (for truly from those honourable
+scars on your front and temple, and from your way of thinking, I esteem
+you such a man,) point me out that path, and, with the blessing of
+Heaven, I will see to what honour it may lead me."</p>
+
+<p>"Your favour," said the captain, "has heard of the great island,
+Florida, and of the renowned señor Don Ponce de Leon, its discoverer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of such names, both of isle and of man, I think," said Don
+Amador, "but, to say truth, señor comandante, you have here, in this new
+world, such a multitude of wonderful territories, and of heroic men,
+that, were I to give a month's labour to the study, I think I should not
+master the names of all of them. Truly, in Rhodes, where the poor
+knights of the Hospital stood at bay before Solyman <i>el Magnifico</i>, and
+did such deeds as the world had not heard of since the days of Leonidas
+and his brave knights of Sparta,&mdash;I say, even in Rhodes, where all men
+thought of their honour and religion, and never a moment of their blood,
+we heard not of so many heroes as have risen up here in this corner of
+the earth, in a few years' chasing of the wild Indians."</p>
+
+<p>"The señor Ponce de Leon," said the captain, without regarding the sneer
+of the proud soldier, "the señor Ponce de Leon, Adelantado of Bimini and
+of Florida, in search of the miraculous Fountain of Youth, which, the
+Indians say, lies somewhere to the north, landed eight years ago, with
+the crews of three ships, all of them bigger and better than this little
+rotten Sangre de Cristo, whereof I myself commanded one. Of the
+extraordinary beauty and fertility of the land of Florida, thus
+discovered, I will say nothing. Your favour will delight more to hear me
+speak of its inhabitants. These were men of a noble stature, and full of
+such resolution, that we were no sooner ashore, than they fell upon us;
+and I must say, we found we were now at variance with a people in no
+wise resembling those naked idiots of Cuba, or these cowardly hinds of
+Mexico. They cared not a jot for swordsman, arcubalister, or musketeer.
+To our rapiers they opposed their stone battle-axes, which gushed
+through the brain more like a thunderbolt than a Christian espada; no
+crossbowman could drive an arrow with more mortal aim and fury than
+could these wild archers with their horn bows, (for know, señor, they
+have, in that country of Florida, some prodigious animal, which yields
+them abundant material for their weapons;) and, what filled us with much
+surprise, and no little fear, instead of betaking themselves to their
+heels at the sound of our firelocks, as we looked for them to do, no
+sooner had they heard the roar of these arms, than they fetched many
+most loud and frightful yells, to express their contempt of our warlike
+din, and rushed upon us with such renewed and increasing violence, that,
+to be honest, as a Christian of my years should be, we were fain to
+betake ourselves to our ships with what speed and good fortune we
+could. And now, señor, you will be ashamed to hear that our courage was
+so much mollified by this repulse, and our fears of engaging further
+with such desperadoes so urgent and potent, that we straightway set
+sail, and, in the vain search for the enchanted Fountain, quite forgot
+the nobler objects of the voyage."</p>
+
+<p>"What you have said," quoth Don Amador, "convinces me that these savages
+of Florida are a warlike people, and worthy the wrath of a brave
+soldier; but you have said nothing of the ores and diadems, whereof, I
+think, you first spake, and which, heaven save the mark! by some strange
+mutation of mind, have made a deeper impression on my imagination than
+such trifles should."</p>
+
+<p>"We learned of some wounded captives we carried to the ships," continued
+the master, "as well, at least, as we could understand by their signs,
+that there was a vast country to the north-west, where dwelt nations of
+fire-worshippers, governed by kings, very rich and powerful, on the
+banks of a great river; and from some things we gathered, it was thought
+by many that the miraculous Fountain was in that land, and not in the
+island Bimini; and this think I myself, for, señor, I have seen a man
+who, with others, had slaked his thirst in every spring that gushes from
+that island, and, by my faith, he died of an apoplexy the day after his
+arrival in the Habana. Wherefore, it is clear, that marvellous Fountain
+must be in the country of the fire-worshippers. But notwithstanding all
+these things, señor, our commander Don Ponce, would resolve upon naught
+but to return to the Bahamas, where our ships were divided, each in
+search of the island called Bimini. It was my fortune to be despatched
+westward; and here, what with the aid of a tempest that blew from the
+east, and some little hankering of mine own appetites after that land of
+the fire-worshippers, I found myself many a league beyond where any
+Christian had ever navigated before, where a fresh and turbid current
+rolled through the deep, bearing the trunks of countless great trees,
+many of them scorched with fire: whereupon I knew that I was near to the
+object of my desires, which, however, the fears and the discontent of my
+crew prevented my reaching. I was even compelled to obey them, and
+conduct them to Cuba."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Capitan," said Amador, who had listened to the master's narrative
+with great attention, "I give you praise for your bold and most
+commendable daring in having sailed so far, and I condole with you for
+your misfortune in being compelled to abide the government of a crew of
+such runagate and false companions, whom I marvel exceedingly you did
+not hang, every man of 'em, to some convenient corner of your ship, as
+was the due of such disloyal knaves; but yet, credit me, I see not what
+this turbid and fresh flood, and what these floating trees, had to do
+with the gold and the diadems, of which you were speaking."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the Captain earnestly, "I have navigated the deep for,
+perhaps, more years than your favour has lived; and it was my fortune to
+be with the Admiral&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"With Colon!" cried the youth.</p>
+
+<p>"With his excellency, the admiral, Don Cristobal Colon, the discoverer
+of this new world!" replied the master proudly, "in his own good ship,
+when we sailed into the Serpent's Mouth, which, we knew not then, laved
+the shores of the great Continent; and I remember that when the admiral
+had beheld the trees floating in the current, and had tasted of the
+fresh water of that boiling gulf, he told us that these came from a
+great river rolling through a mighty continent. And, in after times, the
+words of the admiral were proved to be just; for there his captain, the
+young Pinzon, found the great river Oronoko."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no man," said Don Amador, "who more reverences the memory of
+the admiral than I; and I feel the more regard for yourself, that you
+have sailed with him on his discoveries. Moreover, I beg your pardon,
+insomuch as I have been slow to unravel your meaning. But now, I
+perceive, you think you had reached that river of the infidel
+fire-worshippers, whom God confound with fire and flame! as doubtless he
+will. And hath no man again sought the mouth of that river? I marvel you
+did not yourself make a second attempt."</p>
+
+<p>"I could not prevail upon any cavaliers, rich enough for the
+undertaking," said the master, "to league with me in it. Men liked not
+the spirit of the northern savages; and, in truth, there were a thousand
+other lands where the barbarians could be subdued with less peril, and,
+as they thought, with a better hope of gain. And yet, by our lady, that
+river bore with it the evidences of the wealth on its banks; for what
+were those scorched trees, but the relics of the fires with which the
+kings of the land were smelting their ores? and what quantity of gold
+must there not have been where such prodigious furnaces were kindled!"</p>
+
+<p>"By the mass!" said Amador, with ardour, "you speak the truth; it is
+even a most wonderful land; and if a few thousand pesoes would float an
+expedition, by my faith, I think I could find them."</p>
+
+<p>"A few thousand pesoes, and the countenance of such a leader as Don
+Amador de Leste, a knight of the holy and valiant order of San Juan&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A knight by right, but not by vow," said Don Amador, hastily: "I give
+you to understand, señor Capitan, that I am not a sworn brother of that
+most ancient, honourable, and knightly order, but an humble volunteer,
+attached, for certain reasons of my own, to them, and privileged by the
+consent of his most eminent highness, the Grand Master, to wear these
+badges, wherein I am arrayed, in acknowledgment that I did some service
+not unworthy knighthood in the trenches of Rhodes."</p>
+
+<p>"Your favour will not lead the less worthily for that," said the
+Captain; "I know an hundred cavaliers who would throw their ducats, as
+well as their arms, into the adventure prescribed by the señor Don
+Amador; and a thousand cross-bows, with three or four score
+arquebusiers, would flock to the standard as soon as we had preached
+through the islands a crusade to the fire-worshippers, and a pilgrimage
+to the Waters of Life."</p>
+
+<p>"And is it truly believed," said Amador, eagerly, "that such waters are
+to be found in these heathen lands?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who can doubt it?" said the Captain; "the Indians of the Bahamas have
+spoken of them for years; no Spaniard hath ever thought of questioning
+their existence; and at this moment, so great is the certainty of
+finding them, that my old leader, Don Ponce, is collecting round him men
+for a second expedition, with which he will depart I know not how soon.
+But I know Don Ponce; the draught of youth is not for him; he will seek
+the fountain on his great island of Florida, and find it not: it will
+bubble only to the lips of those who seek it near the great river of the
+great continent."</p>
+
+<p>"By heaven!" said Don Amador, "what might not a man do, who could drink
+of this miraculous fountain! A draught of it would have carried the
+great Alejandro so far into the East, as to have left but small work for
+the knaves of Portugal. And then our friends! Dios mio! we could keep
+our friends by us for ever! But hold, señor Capitan&mdash;a thought strikes
+me: have you ever heard the opinion of a holy clergyman on this subject?
+Is it lawful for a man to drink of such a fountain?"</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith," replied the master, "I have never heard priest or layman
+advance an argument against its lawfulness: and I know not how it should
+be criminal, since Providence hath given us the privilege to drink of
+any well, whose waters are not to our misliking."</p>
+
+<p>"For my part," said Amador, "I must say, I have my doubts whether
+Providence hath given us any such privilege; the exercise of which, in
+general, would greatly confound the world, by over-peopling it, and, in
+particular, would seem, in a measure, to put man in a condition to defy
+his Maker, and to defeat all the ends of divine goodness and justice:
+for how should a man be punished for his sins, who had in him the power
+of endless life? and how should a man keep from sinning, who had no fear
+of death and the devil? and, finally, how should we ever receive any of
+the benefits of the most holy atonement, after drinking such a
+life-preserving draught?&mdash;for it is my opinion, señor Capitan, no man
+would wish to go to heaven, who had the power of remaining on earth."</p>
+
+<p>"By my soul," said the captain earnestly, "this is a consideration which
+never occupied me before; and I shall take counsel upon it with the
+first holy man I meet."</p>
+
+<p>"At all events," said the cavalier, "there is inducement enough to make
+search after this river, were it only to fight the fire-worshippers,
+convert them to the true faith, and see what may be the curiosities of
+their land. Yet I must give you warning, it will rest with another whom
+I am now seeking, whether I may league with you in this enterprise or
+not. Give me his consent and leading, and I will take leave of these
+poor rogues of Tenochtitlan, as soon as I have looked a little upon
+their wonders; and then, with the blessing of God and St. John, have at
+the valiant fire-worshippers, with all my heart!&mdash;But, how now, señor
+Capitan? What means your pilot to cast anchor here among the fleet, and
+not carry us forthwith to the shore?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dare not proceed farther," said the captain, "without the authority
+of the señor Cavallero, admiral of this squadron, and governor of this
+harbour of San Juan de Ulua. It is necessary I should report myself to
+him for examination, on board the <i>Capitana</i>, and receive his
+instructions concerning my cargo and fellow-voyagers."</p>
+
+<p>"His instructions concerning your fellow-voyagers!" said Don Amador,
+sternly. "I, for one, am a voyager, who will receive no instructions for
+the government of my actions, neither myself nor by proxy; and, with
+God's blessing, I will neither ask permission to disembark, nor allow it
+to be asked for myself, or for my grooms; and the señor Cavallero, or
+any other señor, that thinks to stop me, had better grind both sides of
+his sword, by way of preparation for such folly."</p>
+
+<p>"Your favour has no cause for anger," said the master, moderately. "This
+is the custom and the law, and it becomes the more necessary to enforce
+it, in the present situation of things. Your favour will receive no
+check, but rather assistance; and it is only necessary to assure the
+admiral you do not come as a league and helpmate of the mutineer,
+Cortes, to receive free license, a safe-conduct, and perhaps, even
+guides, to go whithersoever you list throughout this empire. This,
+señor, is only a form of courtesy, such as one cavalier should expect of
+another, and no more."</p>
+
+<p>"Truly, then, if you assure me so," said Don Amador, complacently, "I
+will not refuse to go myself in person to his excellency, the admiral;
+and the more readily that, I fancy, from the name, there is some sort of
+blood-relationship between his excellency and myself. But, by heaven, I
+would rather, at present, be coursing Fogoso over yon glittering sand,
+than winding a bolero on my cousin's deck, though he were a king's
+admiral."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Don Amador de Leste was interrupted in the agreeable duty (the last to
+be performed in the little caravel,) of inquiring into the health and
+condition of his war-horse, Fogoso, by a summons, or, as it was more
+courteously expressed, an invitation, to attend the admiral on board his
+own vessel. Giving a thousand charges to his attendants, all of which
+were received with due deference and humility, he stepped into the boat,
+which, in a few moments, he exchanged for the decks of the
+Capitana,&mdash;not, however, without some doubt as to the degree of
+loftiness he should assume during the interview with his excellency, the
+admiral, his kinsman. His pride had already twice, or thrice, since his
+appearance among the islands of the New World, been incensed by the
+arrogant assumption of their petty dignitaries to inquire into, and
+control, the independence of his movements: and he remembered with high
+displeasure, that the royal adelantado of Cuba, the renowned Velasquez,
+a man of whom, as he was pleased to say, he had never heard so much as
+the name until he found himself within his territories, had not only
+dared to disregard the privileges of his birth and decorations, but had
+well-nigh answered his ire and menaces, by giving him to chains and
+captivity. Nor, when, at last, the pious exertions of the good friars of
+Santiago had allayed the growing storm, and appeased his own
+indignation, by urging the necessity their governor was under to examine
+into the character and objects of all persons, who, by declining to
+visit the new El Dorado under the authority of the commander, might
+reasonably be suspected of a desire to join his rebellious
+lieutenant,&mdash;not even then could the proud Amador forget that, whatever
+might be the excuse, his independence <i>had</i> been questioned, and might
+be again, by any inflated official whom he should be so unlucky as to
+meet. His doubt, however, in this case, was immediately dispelled by the
+degree of state and ceremony with which he was received on board the
+Capitana, and conducted to his excellency; and the last shadow of
+hesitation departed from his brow, when he beheld the admiral prepared
+to welcome him with such courtesy and deference as were only accorded to
+the most noble and favoured.</p>
+
+<p>"If I do not err," said the admiral, with a bow of great reverence, and
+a smile of prodigious suavity, "I behold, in the señor Don Amador de
+Leste, a gentleman of Valencia, whom I make free, as I shall be proud,
+to welcome as my countryman and kinsman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Almirante," replied Amador, with equal amenity, "my mother was a
+Valencian, and of the house of Cavallero. Wherefore, I take it for
+granted, we are in some sort related; but in what degree, I am not able
+to determine: nor do I think that a matter very important to be
+questioned into, since, in these savage corners of the earth, the
+farthest degree of consanguinity should draw men together as firmly as
+the closest."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, señor cavalier and kinsman," said the admiral: "affinity
+of any degree should be a claim to the intimacy and affection of
+brotherhood; and although this is the first time I have enjoyed the
+felicity to behold my right worthy and much honoured cousin, I welcome
+him with good will to such hospitalities as my poor bark and this
+barbarous clime can afford; marvelling, however, amid all my
+satisfaction, what strange fortune has driven him to exchange the
+knightly combats of Christendom for the ignoble campaigns of this wild
+hemisphere."</p>
+
+<p>"As to that, most noble and excellent cousin," said the cavalier, "I
+will not scruple to inform your excellency, together with all other
+matters, wherein, as my kinsman, you are entitled to question; previous
+to which, however, I must demand of your goodness to know how far your
+interrogatories are to bear the stamp of office and authority, the
+satisfaction of my mind on which point will materially affect the
+character of my answers."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely," said the admiral courteously, and seemingly with great
+frankness, "I will only presume to question you as a friend and
+relative, and, as such, no farther than it may suit your pleasure to
+allow. My office I will only use so far as it may enable me to assist
+you in your objects, if, as I will make bold to believe, you may need
+such assistance in this land of Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank your excellency," said Amador, now receiving and pressing the
+hand of the commander with much cordiality, "both for your offers of
+assistance, which, if I may need it, I will freely accept; and for your
+assurance you do not mean to trouble me with your authority:&mdash;a mark of
+extreme civility and good sense, which virtues, under your favour, I
+have not found so common among your fellow-commanders in these heathen
+lands, as I was led to expect."</p>
+
+<p>The admiral smiled pleasantly on his kinsman while replying, "I must beg
+your allowance for the presumption of my brothers in command, who, sooth
+to say, have had so much dealing with the wild Indians and rough
+reprobates of these regions as somewhat to have forgot their manners,
+when treating with gentlemen and nobles. My superior and governor, the
+worthy and thrice-honoured Velasquez, (whom God grant many and wiser
+counsellors!) is rather hot of head and unreasonable of temper; and has,
+doubtless, thrown some obstructions in the way of your visit to this
+disturbed land. But you should remember, that the junction of so brave a
+cavalier as Don Amador de Leste with the mutinous bands of the señor
+Cortes, is a thing to excite both dread and opposition."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember," said Amador, "that some such excuse was made for him, and
+that my assurance that my business had no more to do with that valiant
+rebel than with his own crabbed excellency, was no more believed than
+the assertion of any common hind: a piece of incredulity I shall take
+great pleasure, at some more convenient period, of removing, at my
+sword's point, from his excellency's body."</p>
+
+<p>"I am grieved you should have cause to complain of the governor," said
+the señor Cavallero; "and verily I myself cannot pretend to justify his
+rash and tyrannical opposition, especially in the matter of yourself;
+who, I take it for granted, come hither as the kinsman of the knight
+Calavar, to search out and remove that crack-brained cavalier from these
+scenes of tumult and danger."</p>
+
+<p>"The knight Calavar," said the young soldier sternly, "like other men,
+has his eccentricities and follies; but if God has smitten him with a
+sorer infirmity than others, he has left him so much strength of arm and
+resoluteness of heart, and withal has given him friends of so
+unhesitating a devotion, that it will always be wise to pronounce his
+name with the respect which his great worth and valiant deeds have
+proved to be his due."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely," said the admiral, good-humouredly, "it is my boast that I can
+claim, through yourself, to be distantly related to this most renowned
+and unhappy gentleman; and, while I would sharply rebuke a stranger for
+mentioning him with discourtesy, I held myself at liberty to speak of
+him with freedom to yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon then," said Amador, "if I took offence at your
+utterance of a word, which seemed to me to savour more of the heartless
+ridicule with which the world is disposed to remark a mental calamity,
+than the respectful pity which, it is my opinion, in such cases should
+be always accorded. Your excellency did right to suppose my business in
+this hemisphere was to seek out the knight Calavar; not, however, as you
+have hinted, to remove him from among the savages, (for I give you to
+understand, he is ever capable of being the guide and director of his
+own actions;) but to render him the dutiful service of his kinsman and
+esquire, and to submit myself to his will and government, whether it be
+to fight these rogues of Mexico, or any other heathens whatever."</p>
+
+<p>"I give you praise for your fidelity and affection," said the señor
+Cavallero, "which, I think, will stand the knight in good stead, if it
+be his pleasure to remain longer in this wild country. But tell me, Don
+Amador:&mdash;as a Cavallero of Valencia, I could not be ignorant of the
+misfortune of our very renowned cousin; yet was I never able to compass
+the cause of his melancholy. I remember that when he fleshed his boyish
+sword for the first time among the Moors of the Alpujarras, he was
+accounted not only of valour, but of discretion, far beyond his years.
+There was no patrimony in all Granada so rich and enviable as the
+lordship of Calavar; no nobleman of Spain was thought to have fairer and
+loftier prospects than the young Don Gines Gabriel de Calavar; none had
+greater reason to laugh and be merry, for before the beard had darkened
+on his lip, he had enjoyed the reputation of a brave soldier; yet, no
+sooner came he to man's estate, than, utterly disregarding the interests
+of his house and the common impulses of youth, he flung himself into the
+arms of the knights of Rhodes, vowed himself to toil and sorrow, and
+has, ever since, been remembered by those who knew him in his boyhood,
+as the saddest and maddest of men."</p>
+
+<p>"So much I have heard, and so much I know, of the good knight," said
+Amador, with a sigh; "little more can I add to the story, but that some
+calamity, the nature of which I never dared to inquire, suddenly wrought
+this change in him, even in the midst of his youth, and led him to
+devote his life to the cause of the faithful."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast heard it suggested," said Cavallero, significantly, "that, in
+the matter of the Alpujarras, his heart was hotter, and his hand redder
+than became a Christian knight, even when striking on the hearth of the
+Infidel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor cousin and admiral," said Amador decidedly, "in my soul, I
+believe you are uttering these suggestions only from a kinsman's concern
+for the honour and welfare of the party in question; and therefore do I
+make bold to tell you, the man who, in my hearing, asperses the knight
+Calavar, charging his grief of mind to be the fruit of any criminal or
+dishonourable deed, shall abide the issue of the slander as ruefully as
+if it had been cast on the ashes of my mother!"</p>
+
+<p>"So shall he win his deservings," said the commander. "Nevertheless doth
+Calavar himself give some cause for these foolish surmises, of which
+indiscreet persons have occasionally delivered themselves; for the
+evident misery of heart and distraction of head, the austere and
+penitential self-denial of his life, nay, the very ostentation of grief
+and contrition, which is written in his deportment and blazoned on his
+armour, and which has gained him, in these lands, the appellation of the
+Penitent Knight, seem almost to warrant the suspicion of an unquiet and
+remorseful conscience, brooding over the memory of an unabsolved crime.
+But I say this not so much to justify, as, in part, to excuse those idle
+impertinents, who are so free with their innuendoes. I have ever
+pondered with wonder on the secret of the brave knight's unrest; yet, I
+must confess to thee, I was struck with no less astonishment, when,
+returning from Nombre de Dios to Santiago, I heard that a famous Knight
+Hospitaller, and he no other than Don Gines Gabriel de Calavar, had
+arrived among the islands, frenzied with the opportunity of slaying
+pagans at his pleasure, and had already followed on the path of Cortes
+to Mexico. It gave me great pain, and caused me no little marvel, to
+find he had come and vanished with so little of the retinue of his rank,
+and of the attendance necessary to one in his condition, that two or
+three ignorant grooms were his only attendants."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt," said Amador, "I can allay your wonder as to these
+matters. Your excellency need not be told that the banner of the Turk
+now floats over the broken ramparts of Rhodes, and over the corses of
+those noble knights of San Juan, who defended them for more than two
+hundred years, and at last perished among their ruins. This is a
+catastrophe that has pealed over all Christendom like the roar of a
+funeral bell, and its sound has even pierced to these lands of twilight.
+No knight among all that band of warriors and martyrs, as I am myself a
+witness, did more brave and heroical actions throughout the black and
+bloody siege, than my lord and kinsman, Calavar. But the good and
+ever-gracious Saint, the patron of this most ancient and chivalric
+brotherhood, saved him, with a few other knights, out of the jaws of
+destruction, and restored him again to his own country. Rhodes was
+fallen, there was no longer a home for the destitute knights; they
+wandered over Europe, whithersoever their destinies listed, but
+particularly wheresoever there was an infidel to be slain. Our monarch
+of Spain contemplated a crusade among the Moors of Barbary, the
+descendants of that accursed&mdash;(why should I not say wretched? for they
+are exiles;)&mdash;that wretched race who had once o'ermastered our own
+beloved land; the knight Calavar entered into this project with
+alacrity, and set himself to such preparations as should win him good
+vengeance for the blood of his brothers lost at Rhodes. I did myself, in
+obedience to his will, betake me to the business of seeing what honest
+Christians might be prevailed on to fight under his banner; and while
+thus engaged, at a distance from my beloved lord, with, perhaps, as I
+should confess with shame, less energy and more sloth than were becoming
+in his follower, I suffered certain worldly allurements to step between
+me and my duty, and, for a time, almost forgot my renowned and unhappy
+kinsman. Now señor," continued the youth, with some little hesitation,
+and a deep sigh, "it is not necessary I should trouble you with any very
+particular account of my forgetfulness and stupidity: it was soon known
+that the enthusiasm of our king was somewhat abated touching the matter
+of the African crusade,&mdash;perhaps swallowed up in the interest wherewith
+he regarded the new world which God and the great Colon had given him;
+the enthusiasm of his subjects diminished in like manner: there was no
+more talk of Africa. This, señor, may perhaps in a measure excuse my own
+lethargy, but you may be assured I awoke out of it with shame and
+mortification, when I discovered that the good knight, left to himself,
+and deprived of that excitement of combat, or the hope of combat, so
+necessary to the well-being of his mind, had suddenly (doubtless, in one
+of those paroxysms of eccentricity,&mdash;or delirium, as I may call it to
+you,) departed from the land, and was now cleaving the surges that
+divided us from the new hemisphere. There was nothing left for me but to
+follow him in the first ship that sailed on the same adventure. This I
+have done: I have tracked my leader from Palos to Cuba; from Cuba to
+this barren coast; and now, with your good leave and aidance, I will
+take the last step of the pursuit, and render myself up to his authority
+in the barbaric city, Tenochtitlan."</p>
+
+<p>"I respect your motive, and praise your devotion, most worthy cousin,"
+said the admiral with much kindness; "and yet you must forgive me, if I
+dare to express to you some degree of pity. My long acquaintance with
+these countries, both of isle and main, has well instructed me what you
+have to expect among them; and I can truly conceive what sacrifices you
+have made for the good knight's sake. In any case, I beg leave to
+apprise you, you can command all my services, either to persist in
+seeking him, or to return to Spain. My advice is, that you leave this
+place forthwith, in a ship which I am to-morrow to despatch to
+Andalusia; return to your native land; betake yourself to those
+allurements, and that lethargy, which I can well believe may bring you
+happiness; commend yourself to your honourable lady-love, and think no
+more of the wild Calavar. Here, if you lose not life, before you have
+looked on your kinsman, as there is much fear, you must resolve to pass
+your days in such suffering and misery, and withal in ignoble warfare
+with naked savages, supported by such mean and desperate companions, as,
+I am sure, you were never born to."</p>
+
+<p>"What you counsel me," said Amador coolly, "is doubtless both wisdom and
+friendship; nevertheless, if your excellency will be good enough to
+reconsider your advice, you will perceive it involves such selfishness,
+meanness, and dishonour, as cannot be listened to with any propriety by
+a kinsman of the knight of Calavar. I do not say I come hither to
+condescend to this ignoble warfare,&mdash;though if it be worthy my good
+knight, <i>I</i> shall have no reason to scorn it. I bear with me, to my
+kinsman, the despatch of his most eminent highness, the Grand Master of
+the most illustrious order of San Juan, wherein, although it be
+recommended to him, if such warfare seem to him honourable and
+advantageous to the cause of Christ, to strike fast and well, it is, if
+such strife be otherwise, strongly urged on him to return without delay
+to Europe, and to the Isle of Malta; which, it is announced, our monarch
+of Spain will speedily give to the good knights. It is therefore,"
+continued the cavalier, "from the nature of things and of mine own will,
+clearly impossible I should follow your advice; in default of which, I
+must beg such other counsel and assistance of your excellency as your
+excellency may think needful to bestow; only premising, that as I have
+many a weary league of sand and mountain to compass, the sooner you
+benefit me with these good things the better."</p>
+
+<p>"Your journey will be neither so long nor so wearisome as you imagine,"
+said Cavallero: "but, I fear me, will present more obstructions than you
+may be prepared to encounter. I take it for granted, the governor
+Velasquez has furnished you with no commands to his general Don Panfilo
+de Narvaez, since he gave you none to myself."</p>
+
+<p>"This is even the fact," said Amador; "I entered the caravel which
+brought me here, as I thought, in defiance of his authority, and not
+without apprehensions of being obliged to cut off the ears of some dozen
+or two of his rogues, who might be ordered to detain me. Nevertheless, I
+left the island without a contest, and equally without aidance of any
+kind from this discourteous ruler."</p>
+
+<p>"I must give thee some counsel, then," said the admiral, "for I
+apprehend the governor did, very perfidiously as I esteem it, when he
+ceased his opposition, rest much hope on that of his general. Thou art
+acquainted with the character of Narvaez?"</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith, I am so ignorant of all matters appertaining to these
+climates, that, saving thine own, and the knight Calavar's, and one or
+two others which I acquired this morning, I am familiar only with those
+of two other persons,&mdash;to wit,&mdash;of Velasquez, whom I consider a very
+scurvy and ill-bred personage, and of Cortes, a man whom I hold in much
+esteem, ever since I heard he burned his fleet to keep his followers
+from running away, and made prisoner of the great Mexican emperor in his
+own capital. In addition to this, I know the aforesaid governor doth
+very hotly hate, and hath disgraced with the titles of rebel and outlaw,
+this same respectable and courageous Cortes; but for what reason, as I
+have been kept in somewhat too great a passion to inquire, I am yet
+altogether ignorant."</p>
+
+<p>"For one who may soon share an important part in the events of this
+region, I think thou showest a most princely indifference to them," said
+the admiral, smiling. "I will not say the safety, but the facility, with
+which thou mayest traverse these lands, will be greatly increased by
+knowing some little of their history; and that knowledge I will hasten
+to impart to thee, and with what brevity I can. If I should be led to
+speak with more freedom of certain persons than may seem fitting in an
+inferior and a colleague, I must beseech thee to remember I am doing so
+to a kinsman, and for his especial information and good. Know then,
+señor Don Amador, the person whom it pleased our viceroy, the son of
+Colon, to set over us, and whom it has since pleased his most devout
+majesty, the emperor, to confirm in the government of Cuba, and even to
+that to add the further dignity of ruler of the kings of Mexico, is, as
+I hinted to thee before, afflicted with so irascible a temper and so
+jealous a fancy, that, were I not restrained by the office I hold under
+him, I should say he was, at the least, as mad as any other man in his
+dominion. The desire of immortalizing himself by some great exploit
+would be commendable in him, were it not accompanied by the ambition to
+achieve it by the hands of another. Ever since the discovery of this
+fair empire of Montezuma by the señor Cordova, he has thirsted for the
+glory of subduing it; and has taken all the steps necessary to such a
+purpose, except the single one of attempting it in person;&mdash;an omission
+not in itself important, since there are an hundred other cavaliers more
+capable of the task, only that, besides the other munitions with which
+he furnishes his lieutenant, he follows him ever with so plentiful a
+store of distrust, that it is utterly impossible his officer should have
+a chance to immortalize him. After much seeking of a man whose ambition
+should extend no further than to the glory of winning a crown for the
+purpose of seeing his excellency wear it, he fixed upon the worthy
+hidalgo, Hernan Cortes, a gentleman of Medellin in Estremadura, and
+despatched him on the business of conquest. Now, no sooner was his
+general gone, than this jealous imagination, whereof I spake, instantly
+presented to his mind the image of Cortes as a conqueror, suddenly
+laying claim, before the emperor and the world, to the sole merit of the
+conquest; a spectacle so infinitely intolerable, that without delay he
+set himself at work to hinder Cortes from making any conquest at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely," said Amador, "this governor Velasquez is a fool, as well as a
+knave!"</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven have him in keeping! You should mention him with respect: but as
+you are speaking in the confidence of blood-relationship, I cannot take
+notice of your sarcasm," said the admiral. "The señor Cortes, however,"
+continued Cavallero, "was by no means disposed to second the disloyal
+frenzy of the governor: (disloyal I call it, since it threatened to
+deprive his majesty, the emperor Charles, of the opportunity of adding a
+new empire to his diadem.) On the other hand, Cortes was fully
+determined to do his duty, and thought the governor could do nothing
+better than to follow his example. But in the end, this same Cortes,
+though of as meek a temper as is desirable in the commander of an army,
+became greatly incensed at the sottish and grievous distrust of his
+governor; and calling his army together, and representing to them the
+foolish predicament in which his excellency had placed them, he threw
+down his truncheon with contempt, and told them that as Velasquez had
+left them without a leader, the wisest thing that remained for them was
+to find another as soon as possible: as for himself, he disdained to
+hold his commission longer under such a commander."</p>
+
+<p>"By heaven, a most proper-spirited and gallant gentleman!" cried Amador.
+"I honour him for the act, but chiefly for the contempt it argued of
+this jackfeather ruler."</p>
+
+<p>"I must beg of your favour," said the admiral, gravely, "to remember
+that his excellency is my chief and commander; though, in justice, I
+think you have some reason to censure him.&mdash;What remained for the army
+of Cortes, now no longer having a general? They were loath to leave the
+fair empire that appeared almost in their grasp, and enraged at the
+governor, who seemed determined to rob them of it. There was only one
+way to secure the conquest for their royal master: they absolved
+themselves of their allegiance to the governor, swore themselves the
+soldiers and subjects of the emperor alone, and erecting themselves
+into a colony, forthwith elected Cortes their governor and
+commander-in-chief; and despatched advice of the same to Don Carlos,
+with a petition for permission to pursue and conclude the conquest of
+Tenochtitlan in his name."</p>
+
+<p>"A very loyal, defensible, and, indeed, praiseworthy action," said Don
+Amador, with emphasis; "and I marvel your jealous governor did not stab
+himself forthwith, out of pure chagrin, to be so sharply and justly
+outwitted."</p>
+
+<p>"Instead of that," said the admiral, "boiling with vexation and rage,
+and devoting Cortes to the fiend who had first suggested him as a proper
+lieutenant, his excellency equipped a second army, more than twice as
+strong as that he had ordered Cortes to raise; and this, one would have
+thought, he would have commanded in person. But the old whim of
+conquering by lieutenants, and becoming famous by proxy, still beset the
+brain of his wisdom. He gave the command of an army of more than a
+thousand men to the señor Panfilo de Narvaez, a Biscayan, of
+whom the best I can say is, that he swore eternal fidelity to
+Velasquez,&mdash;resolving privately in his own mind that, as soon as he had
+subdued Cortes, he would follow his example, and throw off the authority
+of his distrustful commander."</p>
+
+<p>"I should call this treachery," said Amador, "but that I think the
+absurdity of the chief a full excuse for the defection of the follower."</p>
+
+<p>"The wisdom of the proceeding is now made manifest," continued the
+admiral. "It is scarce a month since it was my misfortune, as commander
+of the naval division of this expedition, to land the forces of Narvaez
+on this shore. Here I learned with much admiration, that Cortes,
+notwithstanding the meagerness of his army, had, absolutely, after
+certain bloody combats with savages on the wayside, marched into the
+great city, taken possession of the body of the barbarous emperor, and,
+through him, virtually, of all the lands which acknowledged his sway;
+and you may understand how much, as a true and reasonable subject of our
+Catholic monarch, I was afflicted to learn, in addition, that the
+sending of the new force by Velasquez, only served the purpose of
+snatching the conquest out of our hands. For Cortes, under a delusion
+which may be pardoned him, on account of its loyalty, regarding himself,
+in obedience to the command of his followers, as the only true
+representative and general of our king, and ourselves, by consequence,
+as traitors and rebels to his majesty, did forthwith resolve to drive us
+from the land; to do which, it was needful he should withdraw his forces
+from Tenochtitlan; and therefore, Tenochtitlan is lost."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou sayest, the señor Cortes hath an army not half so powerful as the
+Biscayan's?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, 'tis much short of five hundred men, and weakened by a year's
+campaign, and still further diminished by the necessity of maintaining a
+garrison in his port of Vera Cruz, which he doth humorously denominate
+the Rich City, and leaving another of more than a hundred men, with one
+of his best captains, in the goodly city, out of a hope, which I myself
+reckon both vain and foolish, still to retain possession of it."</p>
+
+<p>"And with this shattered and pitiful handful, which I think cannot
+exceed three hundred men," said Amador, "the brave Cortes is resolute to
+resist the Biscayan, and his thousand fresh combatants?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is even so," replied Cavallero.</p>
+
+<p>"I give him the praise of a most dauntless and heroic leader," cried
+Amador; "and I am eager to proffer him the hand of friendship."</p>
+
+<p>"Not only resolute to resist," said the admiral, "but, from the most
+undeniable tokens, impatient to attack; as, indeed, are all his people.
+As an evidence of which, I may tell thee, that Narvaez having quartered
+his host at an Indian city called Zempoala, within a few leagues of this
+aforesaid stockade and Rich City of the True Cross, he straightway
+despatched certain officers, military, civil, and religious, to demand
+the surrender of the same at the hands of the very young and very
+simple-minded señor, Don Gonzalo de Sandoval, its commandante. What
+answer, thinkest thou, was made by this foolish captain, so many leagues
+separated from his commander, and so far from all assistance? Faith, he
+flings me the envoys into certain bags of net-work, as one would live
+quails, and tossing them upon the backs of lusty savages, in lieu of
+asses, despatched them forthwith over the mountains to his general. And
+this is the only answer my colleague and most excellent friend the
+general Narvaez, ever received to his summons for the surrender of the
+Rich City of the True Cross."</p>
+
+<p>"A spirited and ever-to-be-commended youth, this same bold Sandoval,"
+said Amador earnestly; "and I begin to bethink me, I shall not be loath
+to remain for a time in the company of a leader, who hath such worthy
+spirits for his companions. But tell me, señor cavalier and cousin, hath
+Cortes yet struck a blow for his honour and his right?"</p>
+
+<p>"By our Lady, no," said the admiral: "and yet, upon reflection,"
+continued he, "I must confess, that though he has not yet drawn a
+Christian sabre on the Biscayan, he has done him much hurt with a
+certain weapon of gold, the use of which he learned at Mexico, and whose
+blows, by the operation of a kind of magic, have the virtue to paralyze
+the wrath, without spilling the blood, of an adversary."</p>
+
+<p>"This is a weapon of the devil!" said the young cavalier indignantly,
+"which I marvel much should be used by so worthy a soldier.
+Nevertheless, as it does not shed blood, the use of it may be
+justifiable in a contest between brothers and countrymen; wherein
+humanity and mercy are always more Christian qualities than the rage and
+blood-thirstiness of another warfare. But notwithstanding all this, if
+such enchanted arms (if such indeed exist, as I cannot believe,) be in
+vogue among the followers of Cortes, I swear to God and Saint John, I
+will eschew them as I would the gifts of the fiend; and, if compelled by
+the command of my good knight, to fight in their company, it shall be
+with such sword and spear as I can use with a free conscience, and an
+honest arm."</p>
+
+<p>"I commend your honourable resolution," said the admiral, amused with
+the literal straightforwardness of his kinsman, but without thinking fit
+to undeceive him; "but how long the cavalier Cortes will employ so
+bloodless a rapier, is more than I can determine. He now lies within a
+few leagues of my colleague, the Biscayan; and although apparently more
+ripe for negotiation than combat, I shall be much mistaken if he do not,
+at some convenient season, so fling his crew of desperadoes at the head
+of Narvaez, as shall make his excellency stare. Indeed there is now
+little hope of pacification; for Narvaez has very grievously insulted
+Cortes, by proclaiming him a rebel and an outlaw, and setting a price on
+his head; and such is his hotheadedness, that, it was but yesterday, he
+compelled me to ship to Cuba the king's <i>oidor</i>, Vasques, whom he had
+arrested for daring to speak to him of amicable treaty. I look daily for
+intelligence of a battle."</p>
+
+<p>"I vow to heaven!" said Amador, his eyes sparkling with animation, "I
+vow to heaven! I have no desire to mingle in a civil fray of any kind;
+but if these mad fellows must be e'en at it, I see no reason why I
+should not stand hard by, to be a witness of their bravery. Wherefore
+most excellent cousin, I must entreat of your favour to despatch me
+without delay, with such guides, or instructions, as will enable me to
+reach the Señor Cortes before the combat begins."</p>
+
+<p>"If it would suit thee as well to survey this spectacle from the camp of
+Narvaez," said Cavallero, "I could gratify thee without any difficulty.
+But I must apprise thee, that to reach Cortes, it will be necessary to
+pass the lines of Narvaez; and what obstructions he may choose to throw
+in thy way is more than I can very satisfactorily determine, though I
+may counsel thee how best to overcome them."</p>
+
+<p>"Please heaven," said Amador proudly, "he shall make me no opposition
+which he shall not answer to the cost of his body. For I am here, a free
+hidalgo of Spain, knowing no authority but the king's will and mine own;
+a neophyte (and, as I may add, a knight by right, though unsworn,) of
+the illustrious order of San Juan, bearing the instructions of his most
+eminent highness, the Grand Master, to a vowed knight, and therefore
+liable to the command of no other man, save only, as before excepted,
+the king; and he who thinks to hinder me in my passage, besides
+provoking the wrath of the aforesaid privileged order, must, as I said
+before, do it under the peril of mine own sword."</p>
+
+<p>"It would not become me to question your privileges, or the danger with
+which they might be invaded," said the admiral, "nor will I repeat to
+you in how little regard these matters may be had by a man who has
+presumed to arrest and imprison the representative of his majesty
+himself, and who, surrounded by an army, and separated from the sway of
+the laws, is beyond the present responsibility of any government but
+that of his own conscience. I can only remind you that, as an emissary
+of the holy order, you are doubly bound to avoid a quarrel with a
+Christian and countryman; especially when, as will presently be your
+case, you are in the lands of the infidel. I must beg to remind you,
+too, that the Biscayan, holding, as he believes, the authority of the
+king, and compelled to act as may seem to him necessary for the
+preservation of the king's interest, should be respected accordingly;
+and his humours, as well as his rightful commands, borne without anger
+or opposition."</p>
+
+<p>"May his majesty live a thousand years!" said the cavalier. "It is no
+part of my principle to oppose his pleasure; wherefore, if contesting
+the authority of this Biscayan general be such disloyalty, I will
+refrain from it; that is, as long as I can. But nevertheless, I will
+protest against any authority that may hinder my present journey."</p>
+
+<p>"Moderation, and the exercise of patience," said Cavallero, "will
+doubtless secure you from restraint and insult. It is quite necessary
+you report the object of your travel to the commander Narvaez; and even
+to desire his permission (a courtesy that has in it nothing of
+degradation) to continue your journey."</p>
+
+<p>"Doubtless," said Amador, sarcastically, "you will tell me, as did the
+señor Gomez, the captain of the caravel, that this submission of myself
+to his commands will be nothing more than the rendering of a customary
+compliment to his dignity. If there be any way by which I may pass by
+the camp of Narvaez, I shall be much bound to your excellency to inform
+me of it; and I will pursue it, be it ever so rough and long, with much
+more satisfaction than I can ever make my entreaties to him."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no other way," said the admiral. "The Indian city, Zempoala,
+where Narvaez has established his head-quarters, lies immediately on the
+path to the Villa Rica; and the scouts of Narvaez, occupying all the
+intermediate ground, render it impossible you should pass him without
+observation, or them without their leader's commands. I am now about to
+despatch to Narvaez certain reinforcements, in whose company I recommend
+you to travel, and with whom I will send such representations to the
+general as, I think, will secure you his instant permission and,
+doubtless, aid, to join your kinsman, the good knight, without delay.
+Only let me entreat of you, as your true friend and relation, not
+wantonly, by any overbearing pride, to exasperate the peevish temper of
+my colleague."</p>
+
+<p>"I will take your advice," said the cavalier, complacently, "and treat
+the Biscayan with as much respect as he may seem to deserve. Only, as it
+may be a long day's journey to this Zempoala, I must entreat your
+excellency to give orders for the instant debarkation of my horses and
+attendants, and permit me to follow them as soon as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"This shall be instantly done," said the admiral. "In the meanwhile, I
+must beg to entertain you with the sight of one of those personages who
+will be your companions on the journey."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+
+<p>At the signal of the admiral, an officer made his appearance, received
+certain commands, the most agreeable of which to the young cavalier were
+those in reference to his own liberation, and then immediately withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt now see, worthy cousin," said Cavallero, "a man, whom,
+although a base Moor and infidel, thou shouldst regard with some sort of
+admiration; since, from the reports of those who brought him hither, he
+is endowed with a spirit and pugnacity worthy even of a Christian."</p>
+
+<p>While the admiral spoke, the door of the cabin was darkened by the
+bodies of several men, who, at his beck, advanced, and stood full in the
+view of the neophyte. He perceived in these, besides two or three
+officers of the ship, nothing more, with a single exception, than the
+rough figures of ordinary sailors. This exception presented itself in
+the bronzed visage and wildly attired person of the Moor; and Amador
+almost started, when the bright eyes of the pagan rolled from the
+admiral to himself in a brief but most penetrating stare. In person, the
+Moor was somewhat above the ordinary stature, but his limbs, though
+hardy and active enough, were much attenuated. His face was emaciated
+and bony, and the long black locks falling wildly over it, gave it an
+appearance exceedingly haggard,&mdash;a character greatly augmented by the
+white eyeballs flashing like stars in its almost Nubian blackness.
+Something perhaps was to be allowed for the effect of his uncouth and
+savage attire, which was composed almost entirely of skins, seemingly of
+dogs or wolves, a portion of which encircled his loins as a tunic, while
+the remainder lay, like a cape or short cloak, about his shoulders.
+Under this latter garment, however, was a shirt of cotton, stained with
+bright colours; and a kerchief of similar material glittered, not so
+much like a turban as a fillet round his head. Rude sandals, strapped as
+high as the midleg with shreds cut from his cloak, completed the
+primitive costume of the barbarian.</p>
+
+<p>"This fellow," said the admiral, turning from him to one who seemed as
+chief of the seamen,&mdash;"this fellow is then the commander of that Sallee
+pirate, you took among the Canaries?"</p>
+
+<p>"Commander or not, I cannot say," said the sailor, with a shrug; "but
+chief varlet at the gun, as I am free to maintain; and freer was he at
+that same ordnance than was like to be safe for the good snow, <i>La
+Encarnacion</i>, as her ribs may yet testify. But the knave speaks Spanish;
+and if your excellency chooses to ask him, can tell you his rank and
+condition."</p>
+
+<p>"No commander&mdash;no pirate!" said the Moor, with a voice whose soft and
+harmonious accents contrasted strangely with his rude appearance. "No
+commander&mdash;no pirate," he repeated in good Castilian; "but a poor
+Morisco of Fez, voyaging in a harmless trader to the Gibbel-al-Tarik."</p>
+
+<p>"The Gibbel-al-Tarik," said the admiral, dryly, "would have been much
+beholden for the new visit of an infidel."</p>
+
+<p>"No commander, no pirate, no infidel!" said the Moor, earnestly; "but a
+poor shepherd of Fez, brought to a knowledge of the true faith, and
+driven from the home of his fathers for the exercise of it, to the land
+of his fathers' enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"Moor," said the admiral, composedly, "there are three reasons why I
+should not believe thee: First, because thou <i>art</i> a Moor, and therefore
+born to be a liar and deceiver; secondly, because, unless God should
+have worked a greater miracle for the good of a besotted heathen than he
+often vouchsafes to prayerful Christians, there is no possibility thou
+couldst be converted to the faith among the sands of Barbary; and
+thirdly, because the fact that thou art skilful in the management of
+ordnance, is sufficient proof thou canst not be an ignorant shepherd of
+Fez, whose hands are more commonly trained to the spear and arrow, than
+to the quoin and linstock."</p>
+
+<p>"He manages them," said the sailor, "as if he had been born with them in
+his hands; as I have made proof, sometimes, for my amusement, during the
+tedium of the voyage."</p>
+
+<p>"If my lord will listen to me," said the Moor eagerly, though humbly, "I
+will make it apparent that I speak nothing but the truth.&mdash;My father
+drew his first breath among the Almogavars of the desert; his son opened
+his eyes among the hills of Granada."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" cried the admiral; "thou art then one of the accursed tribe of
+mine own land!"</p>
+
+<p>"A Morisco of the Alpujarras," said the Moor, submissively; "whom, in my
+very early youth, it pleased my father to have baptized in the holy
+faith, as was the command of his most faithful and ever-blessed majesty,
+the king Fernando, the conqueror of the kings of Granada. This will
+show, my lord, that I speak the words of a Christian. As an Almogavar, I
+was born to be a soldier, and so trained to all arms of an Almogavar,
+the knife and dart, the spear and axe, the cross-bow and musket, as well
+as other weapons of Christians. This will show my lord how it came that
+I was found skilful at the cannon."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou speakest like a cunning and most honest man," said the admiral,
+gravely; "but all this revelation does not show me how an Almogavar of
+Granada became a herdsman of the desert; and, after that, how the
+herdsman of the desert was transformed into the gunner of a Sallee
+corsair, or, as thou callest her, a harmless trader, on her innocent
+voyage to Gibraltar."</p>
+
+<p>"May it please my lord," said the Almogavar, bending for a moment his
+troubled eyes on the admiral, as if to resolve himself whether or not
+these questions were put to him in mockery, and then casting them
+instantly on the floor; "may it please my lord to remember that after
+the fall of Granada and the subjugation of the Alpujarras, many Moors,
+Christian as well as pagan, preferring rather to lament their miseries
+at a distance than in their own enslaved country, chose to accept the
+merciful permission of the king, and withdrew from the land altogether.
+This did I, my lord's servant and slave. I fled to the country of my
+father; and although, there, I suffered many indignities and hardships,
+as well as constant peril, as being suspected to be an apostate to the
+faith of the land, I had been content to drag out a wearisome life, but
+for one grief that was sharper than others."</p>
+
+<p>"I will shrive thee as patiently as thy confessor," said the admiral;
+"but while thou art speaking the sharpest of thy calamities, it will be
+much proof to me of the sincerity of thy religion, if thou use language
+somewhat of the briefest."</p>
+
+<p>"My son," said the Moor, hurriedly, "my son, that was the lamp of my
+eye-sight, the perfume of my nostrils, the song and music of my soul,
+was in great danger to be led astray, and converted back to infidelity.
+To save him from the contagion of heathenism, I resolved to return to
+Granada, where, though he might grow up to bondage, he should be free
+from the thrall of darkness: it was better he should be a slave than an
+infidel. With these thoughts and these hopes in my heart, I embarked in
+the Sallee trader; when it was my hard fate to be arrested in my course
+by these men of the Canaries."</p>
+
+<p>"Thy course," said the admiral, "was none of the straightest; and how
+thou couldst find thy way to Gibraltar by way of the Fortunate Isles, is
+much more than my nautical experience can teach me to understand."</p>
+
+<p>"A great storm," said the Moor, with the deepest humility, "drove us
+from our course; and it was the will of God that when the tempest
+subsided, we should find ourselves beset by two strong ships, which
+nothing but the fears and desperation of our captain could have tempted
+him to think of resisting. We fought, and were subdued; the lives of my
+son and myself were preserved out of the horrors of that combat. The
+ships were traders of the Isles, bound to these new lands; they brought
+us hither; where there is nothing left us but to claim the privileges of
+our faith, acknowledge ourselves the thrall and bondmen of his majesty
+the king, and entreat of my lord to send us, when it may suit his good
+pleasure, to our homes and our altars in Granada."</p>
+
+<p>The Moor concluded his speech with a degree of eagerness approaching
+almost to vehemence. The admiral indifferently rejoined:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thy name is Abdalla&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"Abdoul al Sidi," said the Moor, hastily. "When my father gave me up to
+be baptized, he called me, in token of his true devotion and humility,
+Esclavo de la Cruz; but in my days of darkness I was known as Abdoul al
+Sidi, a poor Almogavar, but descended from the ancient lords of Fez."</p>
+
+<p>"Sidi Abdalla, or sir Slave of the Cross, whichever it may please you to
+be called," said the admiral, coolly, "in respect to your lordly descent
+and most dignified title, which I think no Christian has dared to assume
+since the days of the Cid Rodrigo, I will, before determining how far I
+can make your fate agreeable to your wishes, condescend to compare your
+story with that of the brave sailor, master of the Encarnacion, who
+captured you."</p>
+
+<p>"If I am to say any thing," said the master, gruffly, "it will be first
+to pronounce this same Abdalla, or Esclavo, as he calls himself, a
+hypocrite and knave not to be trusted. It is true there was a great
+storm, which might have driven his piratical galley into the
+neighbourhood of the Canaries; but that he showed any extraordinary
+ardour to escape, as long as my consort was out of sight, is a matter
+not to be believed. Trusting to his skill in the management of the great
+<i>mangonneau</i>, with which the galley was armed, and not doubting to
+cripple me with some lucky ball, before I could approach him, he fell to
+with right good will; and it was not until my consort joined in the
+melée that I was able to lay him aboard. Even then, when our crews were
+springing on his decks, and his fellow-pirates had fled in dismay below,
+I saw him, this very knave Abdalla, with mine own eyes, lay match to the
+last charge which thundered against us; immediately after which, with a
+most devilish spirit of desperation, he snatched up his boy, as one
+would a kitten, and springing to the opposite side, was in the act of
+dashing himself into the sea, when he was brought down by a
+pistol-shot."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought they would have murdered my poor Jacinto," said the
+Almogavar, in a low voice; "and, in my desperation, desired he should
+rather die the easy death of the deep, than be mangled by cruel
+daggers."</p>
+
+<p>"There was much fear of that," said the master; "for my sailors had
+marked him at the linstock with no great love. In faith, there were some
+five or six cutlasses aimed at his prostrate body; but I could not bear
+they should slay the boy, who lay on his breast; and therefore I
+commanded them to hold."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a right worthy and noble heart!" said Amador ardently,
+interrupting him; "for there is no reason a brave soldier, even in the
+heat of blood, and with a pagan under his foot, should strike at the
+life of a boy: and hadst thou done otherwise, I swear to thee, I was so
+much moved by the relation, I should have gone nigh to slay thee for thy
+barbarity!"</p>
+
+<p>"And besides, señor," said the master complacently, "I was beset with
+the idea, that if I preserved his life, and brought him to this land of
+Mexico, I might sell him at a good price as an able cannonier; such a
+man, as I had good reason to know, being worth the value of a dozen
+bloodhounds. And besides," he continued, without regarding the
+expression of disgust and contempt which drove the look of benevolence
+from the visage of the cavalier, "I had greater reason to applaud my
+clemency, when I discovered that the boy Jacinto, besides being a comely
+and very dexterous stripling, was so great a master of the Moorish
+lute, singing withal in a most agreeable manner, that I was well assured
+some noble cavalier among the invaders would not scruple, at any price,
+to have him for a page."</p>
+
+<p>"I am a Christian! the boy is a Christian!" cried the Moor, hurriedly;
+"and neither of us can be sold to bondage, except at the command of his
+most faithful and merciful majesty, the emperor and king; to whose
+gracious will and pleasure I desire, with my boy, to be rendered."</p>
+
+<p>"Good Cid," said the admiral, "that is a matter wherein, if his
+majesty's will were certainly known, thou shouldst not have to complain
+of our negligence; but, under present circumstances, we must make our
+own judgment the representative of the royal wisdom, and dispose of thee
+in such manner as we may think most conducive to his majesty's interest.
+We are resolute thou wilt serve him better by directing the thunders of
+his cannon against the heathen hordes of Mexico, than by cultivating his
+vines and fig-trees on the hills of Granada. We must send thee to the
+commander Narvaez, whom if thou please, he will doubtless advance thee
+to the command of a falconet, wherewith thou mayst divert many of thy
+Almogavar propensities for battle and bloodshed. As for the boy, it not
+appearing to me that the strumming of his strings, or the uplifting of
+his voice in ballad and redondilla, are, in any wise, necessary to the
+conquest of this barbarous empire, I may be able, if thou insistest upon
+that, to send him to Spain."</p>
+
+<p>"I take my lord at his word!" said Abdoul, trembling with eagerness and
+anxiety; "let the boy be sent to Spain&mdash;to Granada&mdash;to either of the
+ports Algeciras, Malaga, or Almeria; and he will find some friends
+there, to protect his youth and inexperience; while I submit to my
+harder fate in Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"To Almeria?" said Amador quickly. "I have myself some acquaintance with
+that town; and it may perhaps advantage thee to make me thy confidant,
+if there be any secret friend there thou wouldst send the boy to; or to
+take my counsel as to what Christians may be persuaded to show him
+kindness."</p>
+
+<p>The Moor regarded Amador for an instant with a disturbed but piercing
+eye. His answer was, however, prevented, by the admiral saying,</p>
+
+<p>"Sir Slave of the Cross, (With the consent of my very noble kinsman); to
+cut short all needless discussion on this subject, I may as well inform
+thee, first, that if thy boy be sent to Spain, it will not be to any
+port of thy choosing, but to such an one as may seem most fit to other
+persons, and which will most probably be the port of Seville; wherefrom
+thou canst better imagine than myself, how thy boy will be helped to
+Granada. In the second place, as I deem it but honesty to acquaint thee,
+if the youth be taken from this land, he will first be sent to the
+excellent señor, the honourable Don Diego Velasquez, governor of Cuba,
+to be disposed of by him as may seem most agreeable to his judgment; and
+I warn thee, if the lad be an adept at the lute, as is asserted, Don
+Diego will find him such employment in twangling to the ladies of our
+brave cavaliers, as will leave it uncertain how much sooner than
+doomsday he will bethink him to advance the poor youth on his voyage."</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough!" said the Moor with a gloomy countenance. "God is with
+us; and it may be better to have the boy among the perils of death than
+the seductions of pleasure. Let my boy stay with me, and I am content to
+follow my lord's bidding."</p>
+
+<p>He bowed his head upon his breast, and, at the signal of the admiral,
+was led away.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Capitan," continued Cavallero, addressing the master, who still
+lingered in the cabin, "I will satisfy thee for the armament thou hast
+brought, by acknowledgments, which thou must present to the governor.
+What more Moors hast thou brought with thee from the galley, capable of
+doing service in these exigencies?"</p>
+
+<p>"The father and son are all," replied the master. "The others, as I told
+your excellency, had fled below from the fury of my sailors. To make all
+sure, while rummaging about their cabin, we had fastened down the
+hatches. We had not picked up many things of value, before there was a
+sudden cry that the pirate was sinking. Whether this happened from a
+shot she may have received, or because the accursed runagates below had
+knocked a hole in her bottom, was more than was ever determined. The
+alarm sent us scampering to our own vessel; and in our hurry, as was
+natural enough, we forgot the infidels in the hold; so that, when she
+went down, which she did as soon as we were well clear of her, her crew
+went along with her.&mdash;But your excellency has not told me whether I am
+to receive pay for Sidi and the boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I swear to heaven," said the admiral, "thou hast no more heart than
+thine anchor! Thou shockest me with the detail of a catastrophe, which,
+though affecting the lives of nothing but heathen Moors, is nevertheless
+both dreadful and pitiable; and yet thou dost abruptly demand me, 'Shall
+I have payment for the two lives I saved?' Thou wilt have payment, if it
+please the governor; and not otherwise. Betake thee to thy ship: I will
+send thee thy warranties, and the sooner thou leavest with them the
+better."</p>
+
+<p>The master departed, and again Amador found himself alone with the
+admiral.</p>
+
+<p>"Cousin," said Cavallero, "I am now able to comply with your wishes. I
+should have been rejoiced to keep you a prisoner on board the Capitana
+for a few days; but I will not invite you, when I perceive you are so
+impatient for freedom. Your horses are doubtless at this moment rolling
+on the beach; your grooms are with them, either combing the sand from
+their manes, or scraping the sea-spots from your armour. A company of
+artisans, with a military escort, is on the eve of marching to the camp
+of Narvaez. I have given such commands as will secure you the company
+and friendly aidance of that escort; in addition to which, I will
+immediately send after you a trusty officer with despatches concerning
+yourself, to the general, and recommendations to him to assist you in
+joining your kinsman, the knight Calavar, without delay. You will easily
+reach Zempoala by night-fall. I beseech you to salute the general with
+courtesy; and to-morrow you will be in the arms of your leader."</p>
+
+<p>"I am so overjoyed," said the Cavalier, "at the thought of once more
+bestriding my poor Fogoso, and exchanging the stupid pitching of a ship
+for the bound of his gallop and curvet, that I know not how I can do
+otherwise than treat the Biscayan with urbanity."</p>
+
+<p>"A barge is ready to conduct you to the shore," continued the admiral,
+leading the young soldier to the side of the vessel. "I pray heaven to
+give you a prosperous journey, and to carry you with as much safety as
+honour through the weapons of the heathen multitude. Make my devoirs to
+his noble valour, the good knight of Rhodes; and say to the señor
+Cortes, that though fate has arrayed me against him as an enemy, I
+cannot forget the friendship of our past lives. Nay," continued
+Cavallero, with emphasis, "tell him, that though it does not become me,
+as an officer commissioned by Velasquez, to hold any communications with
+him excepting those of simple form and civility, I shall be well pleased
+when heaven has removed the obstruction, and left me at liberty to meet
+him with full friendship and confidence. This salutation," said the
+admiral significantly, "there is no reason thou shouldst impart to
+Narvaez; for he is distrustful and suspicious to that degree, that, I do
+not doubt, he would torture its harmlessness into a matured treason."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do your bidding," said Amador blithely, "both to the Biscayan,
+and the cavalier of Medellin. And now, with a thousand acknowledgments
+for your favour and assistance, and as many wishes for your weal and
+comfort, I bid you the farewell of a kinsman and true friend."</p>
+
+<p>And so saying, and heartily shaking the hand of his excellency, the
+young cavalier sprang into the boat, and was soon wafted to the beach.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The rapture with which Don Amador de Leste exchanged the confined decks
+of the caravel for the boundless sands of Ulua, and these again for the
+back of his impatient steed, was fully as great as he had promised
+himself. Profound was his joy to find the demon of ennui, which had
+beset the cribbed and confined charger as sorely as the cabined master,
+flying from his dilated nostrils, and giving place to the mettlesome
+ardour which had won him the title of the Fiery. The neigh that he sent
+forth was like the welcome of the battle; the fire that flashed in his
+eye was bright as the red reflection of a banner; and when he reared up
+under his rider, it was as if to paw down the opposition of crouching
+spearmen. A few snuffs of the morning breeze, a few bounds over the
+sandy hillocks, and the beast that had pined in stupefaction in a narrow
+stall on the sea, was converted into an animal fit for the seat of a
+warrior.</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier galloped about for a few moments, while his attendants made
+their preparations for the journey. Then returning, like a thoughtful
+leader, to inquire into their welfare, he beheld them with great
+satisfaction, both horse and man, in good condition to commence their
+adventurous campaign.</p>
+
+<p>The elder of his followers was a personage of years and gravity; a mass
+of grizzled locks fell from under his iron skull-cap, and a shaggy beard
+of the same reverend hue ornamented his cheeks and throat. He had seen
+long and sharp service, for besides the many scars that marked his
+swarthy visage, one of which, from its livid hue, seemed to have been
+won in recent combat, a sabre-cut, extending over his left cheek and
+brow, had darkened the sinister eye forever. But his frame, though
+somewhat short and squat, was robust and even gigantic in proportions;
+and the muscles springing under the narrow cuishes, which, together with
+a heavy breast-plate, made nearly the whole of his defensive armour, did
+not seem less of iron than their covering. He was truly a man-at-arms
+worthy to follow at the heels of a valiant cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>The second attendant, though armed with little more care than the
+former, had contrived, by the judicious distribution of riband-knots and
+sashes about his person, to assume a more gallant appearance: and in
+addition, he had the smoother features and gayer looks of youth. Both
+were provided with horses strong and not inactive; and both, as Amador
+returned, were busily engaged in disposing the mails and accoutrements
+of the cavalier about the bulky loins of their animals.</p>
+
+<p>"Hearken, Lazaro, thou varlet, that flingest my mailed shirt over thy
+crupper, as if it were a vile horse-cloth," he cried to the younger
+follower, "have more care what thou art doing. Give my helmet to
+Baltasar, and let him sling it, with my buckler, over his broad
+shoulders. I will not entrust thee with such matters; nor, by 'r lady,
+with my pistols neither."</p>
+
+<p>"If I may make bold to speak," said Baltasar, bending his eye bluffly,
+and with a sort of rude affection on his young lord, "I can advise a way
+to dispose of both casque and buckler more agreeably and usefully than
+on the back of either Lazaro or myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou meanest upon mine own, no doubt," said Amador: "I have ever found
+thee fonder of carrying the arms of a dead foeman than of a living
+master, though it were the knight Calavar himself."</p>
+
+<p>"That is very true," said the veteran, chuckling grimly at the
+compliment disguised in the sarcasm.</p>
+
+<p>"I am never loath to do such duty: because, then, my conscience tells me
+I am bearing arms which can no longer be of use to their owner."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou desirest now to intimate, that, if I were arrayed in my
+harness, I might put it to some use?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quien sabe? who knows?" said Baltasar, looking around him with an
+earnest eye. "We are now in a strange land, possessed by barbarians, who
+are good at spear and bow, and fonder of fighting from an ambuscado than
+on an open field; and with no true companions that I can see, to look
+that they be not lurking among yonder woodlands, some of which, I take
+it for granted, we have to pass. I should grieve sorely to see an arrow,
+even in a boy's hand, aimed at your honour's present hauberk of cloth
+and velvet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, thy wisdom will not perish for want of utterance," said Amador;
+"and, in very truth, I must own, it has sometimes stood me in good
+stead. I will therefore relieve thee of thy burthen, and Lazaro shall
+hang it to my own shoulders."</p>
+
+<p>He descended, and the linked surcoat soon invested his person.</p>
+
+<p>"I will also presume to recommend your honour to have these snapdragons
+hung to your saddle-bow," said Baltasar, extending the rude and
+ponderous pistols,&mdash;weapons then scarcely creeping into notice, but
+within twenty years, not uncommon in the hands of horsemen; "for if it
+should come to pass, that some cut-throat pagan should discharge a
+missile at us from the bushes, it will doubtless afford your honour much
+satisfaction to shoot him dead on the spot; a punishment that would not
+be so certain with the weapons in my own hands, or in Lazaro's. And
+before I could bring my cross-bow from my back, it is possible the knave
+might have another opportunity to do us mischief."</p>
+
+<p>"In this matter also," said Amador good-humouredly, "I will follow thy
+instructions. But, I give thee warning, there is something in the
+feeling of my hauberk under this raging sun, that admonishes me how soon
+my brain would seethe, as in a stew-pan, under the cover of a steel
+helmet. Wherefore I will have thee carry that in thine own hands, until,
+from the change of atmosphere, or the appearance of an enemy, I may see
+fit to alter my resolution."</p>
+
+<p>"I have ever found," said Baltasar, with the pertinacity of age, and,
+perhaps, of a favourite, "that, under a broiling sun, a well-polished
+casque of metal is something cooler than a cloth cap; a fact, the reason
+for which I do not myself understand, and which I should esteem too
+marvellous for belief, had I not oft-times put it to the proof."</p>
+
+<p>"There is even much truth in what thou art saying," quoth the cavalier,
+"and I have perhaps philosophy enough to explain the marvel to thee, but
+that I know philosophy is not much to thy liking. There must be a cold
+head, however, under the bright cap; otherwise, and with a brain as
+inflammable as my own, I am very well convinced that bright steel would
+be just as ignitible as dull iron." And so saying, he again bestrode the
+champing Fogoso.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be as your honour says," muttered the man-at-arms. "But, as we
+are all as well prepared now to begin our journey as we will be
+to-morrow, I would fain know of your favour whither lies our path, or
+where lags the jackanapes that is to guide us? I heard some talk in the
+caravel of a great troop of horse and foot, that was to accompany us;
+but unless it may have been the herd of vagabonds, who, a full hour
+since, took up their march along the sands, I know not where to look for
+them among these few tinkers and sailors that are strolling yonder among
+the huts of bamboo."</p>
+
+<p>"I have much reliance on the friendship and courtesy of my cousin, the
+admiral," said Amador hastily; "but I must confess, that, saving the
+appearance of yonder bridled horse, (which may be in waiting for the
+officer he told me of,) it looks very much, now, as if he had left me to
+mine own guidance. Nay, I wrong the worthy señor," he cried quickly, as
+turning with some doubt and indignation towards the ship, he beheld a
+boat leave her, and approach the shore with all the speed of oars; "the
+guide he promised me is, without doubt, in that barge; and the bridled
+horse, which, as I can perceive even at this distance, is none of the
+bravest, is the beast whereon he will keep us company."</p>
+
+<p>As Amador conjectured, the boat contained his promised companion, who
+instantly sprang upon the beach and on the caparisoned animal, and in a
+few moments was at the side of the cavalier. He was young and handsome,
+an adult in stature, but scarcely a man in deportment, for as he removed
+his cap to make the obeisance of an inferior, there was a strong
+tincture of confusion and trepidation in his countenance. This was
+perhaps owing, in part, to a consciousness of having merited a reprimand
+for over-delay, and in part also to his suddenly finding himself
+confronted with so warlike a personage as the neophyte. Amador of the
+caravel was a different person from Amador armed and mounted; and,
+indeed, as he sat on his noble bay, mailed and sworded, and with two
+goodly armsmen at his back, he was such a martial figure as might have
+moved an older messenger to reverence.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor caballero," said the youth, with a stammering voice, "my master
+and patron, the admiral, has appointed me, his secretary, to be your
+guide to the Indian city Zempoala; and I have to beg your pardon, if,
+waiting for the letters wherewith it was his excellency's will to charge
+me, and to make some needful preparation of my own, I have detained your
+favour somewhat longer than was agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ever bound to thank his excellency," said Amador; "and as I well
+suppose, your own preparations had some weighty relation to the business
+you have in charge, I will not take it upon me to express any
+dissatisfaction with your delay."</p>
+
+<p>"In truth," said the secretary, ingenuously, "I was loath to depart
+without such armour about me as should beseem the attendant of a true
+cavalier; in the fitting of which I fell into some perplexity, as not
+finding a corselet that did not, in some manner, incommode my ribs; and
+besides, the sabres were all so unwieldy and rough about the hilts, I
+was in some despair I should never find one to my liking."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor secretario," said Amador, with a smile of good-humoured contempt,
+surveying the youth, and observing the cuirass chosen with no discretion
+and donned without skill, "I am of opinion, that in the company of
+myself and my attendants, you will find no occasion for such troublesome
+apparel; and it is my advice, grounded on your admission of inexperience
+in such matters, that, should we, on our march, be beset by any enemies,
+you take post instantly behind my veteran Baltasar, whose broad breast
+will stand you in greater stead than your ill-chosen cuirass, and whose
+arm will do you better service than the sabre in your own hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the youth, colouring, "I am no soldier nor cavalier; I
+have ever had my breast more bruised by the scribe's table than the
+weight of a breast-plate, and my fingers have heretofore known more of
+the goose-quill than the sword. Nevertheless I am both willing and
+desirous to be placed where the knowledge of weapons may be obtained,
+and to encounter such risks as are the helpers to knowledge. It was from
+no lack of beseeching on mine own part, that his excellency has
+heretofore denied me permission to try my fate among the cavaliers
+ashore; nor should I have hoped that pleasure so early, but that I found
+his excellency was bent to do you honour, by making a confidential
+servant your attendant, and was therefore easily persuaded to give me
+the opportunity I have so long coveted, of looking a little into the
+strange sights of this marvellous land."</p>
+
+<p>"I am to understand then," said Amador gravely, "that his excellency,
+the admiral, has entrusted the charge of guiding me to Zempoala to an
+individual who has never before put foot on the wilderness that divides
+us from it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is true, señor," said the secretary, "that I have never been to
+Zempoala. But I hope your favour will not doubt me for that reason, nor
+take offence at the admiral. I am enjoined to conduct you to the
+reinforcement that set out an hour ago. Its tracks are plain enough
+along the beach; and as it is composed principally of footmen, there is
+no doubt we will overtake it before another hour has elapsed. I am
+confident I can lead your favour without difficulty to the party; among
+which are guides well acquainted with the country."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us set out then, in heaven's name," said the cavalier: "the day is
+wasting apace; the sun climbs high in the vault; and the sooner we are
+sheltered from its fury among some of yonder distant forests, the better
+will it be for us. St. John be our guide, and the Holy Virgin favour
+us.&mdash;Amen! Let us depart."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+
+<p>As the secretary anticipated, the tracks of the reinforcement were
+plainly discernible over the sandy downs and by the margins of the
+pestilent fens, which gave an air of desolation to this part of the
+Mexican coast, not much relieved by an occasional clump of palms, nor by
+the spectacle, here and there disclosed, of the broad ocean blackening
+among the low islets; though the hazy and verdant ramparts which
+stretched between these burning deserts and the imagined paradises of
+the interior, ever presented a field of refreshment and interest to the
+eyes of the travellers. The novelty of their situation, felt more or
+less intensely by all, was exciting: and many a dream of barbaric
+monarchs reposing on thrones of gold and emeralds, and canopied by
+flowers and feathers,&mdash;of dusky armies deploying among green valleys and
+on the borders of fair lakes,&mdash;and perhaps of themselves doing the work
+of heroes among these mystic multitudes,&mdash;wandered through their
+over-troubled fancies.</p>
+
+<p>Such visions flitted over the brain of Amador, but mingled with others,
+with which the past had more to do than the present; for, despite the
+eager longing with which he looked forward to a meeting with his good
+knight and kinsman, and, notwithstanding his impatient ardour to gaze
+with his own eyes upon those scenes which were filling the minds of men
+with wonder, he looked back from a sand-hill to the distant ships, and
+sighed, as, in an instant of time, his soul was borne from them, over
+the broad surges to the pleasant hills of Spain.</p>
+
+<p>But with the view of the squadron vanished his memory and his
+melancholy: the narrow belt of sand-hills along the coast had been
+exchanged for the first zone of vegetation; the mimosa afforded its
+shade; the breeze and the paroquet chattered together on its top; and
+when he came, at last, to journey among the shadows of a forest rich in
+magnificent and unknown trees and plants, with here a lagoon fringed
+with stately ceibas (the cotton-wood trees of Mexico) and gigantic
+canes, and there a water-course murmuring among palms and other tropical
+trees, he gave himself up to a complacent rapture. He remarked with
+satisfaction the bright plumage of water-fowl,&mdash;the egret, the pelican,
+the heron, and sometimes the flamingo, sporting among the pools; gazed
+with wonder after the little <i>picaflor</i>, or humming-bird, darting, like
+a sunbeam, from flower to flower; with still greater admiration listened
+to the song of the calandra and the cardinal, and to the magical
+<i>centzontli</i>,&mdash;the hundred-tongued,&mdash;as it caught and repeated, as if
+with a thousand voices, the thousand roundelays of other songsters
+scattered among the boughs; and it was not until the notes of a
+trumpet, swelling suddenly in the distance, invaded his reveries, that
+he roused from the voluptuous intoxication of such a scene.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the trumpet of the soldiers, señor!" cried the secretary,
+joyously; "and it rejoices me much, for I know not how much longer I
+could have followed their obscure tracks through this forest. And
+besides, I find, as I must in honesty confess, I have in me so little of
+the skill of a leader, that I would gladly submit to be led myself,
+especially by your worship, though it were to follow you to battle as an
+humble esquire."</p>
+
+<p>"I must commend your spirit, señor Lorenzo Fabueno," (for so the
+secretary had called himself,) "though I must needs believe your
+inexperience in all matters of war might render such an attempt
+exceedingly difficult, if not altogether impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the secretary, eagerly, "I have the wish, and doubtless
+the ability, in course of time, to learn all the duties, and to acquire
+some of the skill, of a soldier; and under so noble a leader as your
+favour, I am sure I should advance much faster than ever I did in the
+learning of a clerk. And, in addition to the little service I might
+render with my sword, I have such skill with the pen as might be of good
+use to your honour."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no certain assurance," said Amador, "that I shall have any
+occasion to use my own sword; it is utterly beyond my imagination to
+discover to what use I could put the inkhorn of a secretary; and
+finally, I know not how the course of events in these deserts may
+require me to add to the number of my associates. Nevertheless, señor
+Lorenzo, if it be the wish of his excellency the admiral, that his
+secretary should be transformed into a soldier, I see not how I can
+refuse to give my assistance to the conversion."</p>
+
+<p>"I know not why I should be dungeoned in a ship's cabin," said Lorenzo,
+with a sort of petulance, "when other youths are roaming at liberty
+among these brave hills; and gnawing a quill with disgust, when all my
+old schoolmates are carving out reputation with more manly implements. I
+am sure I was not born to slave forever at the desk."</p>
+
+<p>"This may be all true, as, in my opinion, it is both natural and
+reasonable," said Amador, with gravity; "for, it seems to me, man was
+brought into the world for a nobler purpose than to scribble on paper.
+Yet you have not made it apparent that the admiral's wishes are in this
+matter consonant with your own."</p>
+
+<p>"I know not that they are," replied the secretary, "but, as I now feel
+myself at liberty, with both horse and sword, I cannot help feeling that
+they ought to be. How I can ever have the heart to return to my bondage
+again, is more than I can tell; and I am confident, if it were your
+favour's desire he should grant me permission to follow you through this
+land, he would make no opposition, the more particularly that your
+favour is his kinsman."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt whether the consent would not be wrung from his courtesy; and I
+cannot well agree to rob him of one who may be a valuable servant.
+Neither, under such circumstances, can I think of encouraging you in
+your ardour, or recommending you, at present, to change your pursuits,
+for which you are better fitted than for mine. Nay," said the cavalier
+good-naturedly, observing the chagrin of the youth, "if you are
+resolutely bent on your purpose, it is my advice you make your petitions
+to his excellency; and when he has granted them, as doubtless he will,
+you can, with a free mind, seek the patronage of some cavalier engaged
+in these armies of invasion.&mdash;Hark! the trumpet sounds louder and
+nearer, and by my faith, I see on yonder rising ground the bodies of men
+and the glimmer of weapons! Spur thy horse a little; (and, I pr'ythee,
+fling thy shoulders a jot backwards, sitting erect and at ease; for I
+promise thee, this manner of riding, as if thou wouldst presently be
+hugging at thy nag's neck, is neither becoming nor advantageous;)&mdash;spur
+me up a little, and we will join company with them."</p>
+
+<p>The long and straggling train with which the travellers caught up, just
+as it issued from the forest upon an open tract of low sandy hills and
+plains, was composed of motley materials. A few mounted men, who, by
+their armour and bustling activity, seemed the leaders and commanders,
+were scattered among a horde of footmen, a portion of whom were armed
+and ranked as a company of military, but the greater part being the
+ordinary native labourers, who served the office of mules, and bore on
+their backs the burdens of the invaders. Some five or six score of these
+swarthy creatures, followed by a dozen Castilian crossbowmen and a
+single horseman, brought up the rear. They stalked in a line one after
+another, each bending to his burden; and in their uniformity of
+equipment, gait, muscular figures, and solemn visages, added not a
+little to the singularity of the spectacle. A narrow strip of some
+vegetable texture, so rude and coarse that it seemed rather a mat than a
+cloth, was wrapped round the loins of each, leaving their strong and
+tawny bodies otherwise naked. No sandal protected their soles from the
+heated soil; and no covering, save only the long and matted locks
+swinging about their countenances, defended their heads from the
+scorching sun. A huge basket of cane, the <i>petlacalli</i>, or <i>petaca</i> of
+the Spaniards, carelessly covered with matting, and evidently well
+charged with military stores and provision, weighed upon the shoulders
+of each, while it was connected by a broad strap to the forehead. Thus
+burthened, however, and thus exposed to a temperature which, as the day
+advanced, seemed, in the open plains, nearly intolerable to their
+Christian companions, they strode on with a slow but vigorous step, each
+bearing a knot of gay flowers or of brilliant feathers, wherewith he
+defended his face from insects, and perhaps, occasionally, his eyes from
+the dazzling reflection of the soil. These were the <i>Tlamémé</i>, or
+carriers of Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>The eye of Amador, though at first attracted by this singular train,
+dwelt with more surprise and curiosity on the crossbowmen, who were
+sweltering, in common with nearly every Christian of the party, under
+the thick and uncouth investment of the <i>escaupil</i>, a sort of armour
+which the invaders of Mexico had not disdained to borrow from their
+despised enemies. This consisted of nothing more than garments of
+woollen or cotton cloth, cut as much after the fashions of Spain as was
+possible, quilted so thickly with cotton as to be able to resist the
+arrow heads and lance-points of the Indians; which virtue, added to the
+facility with which it could be obtained and adapted to every part of
+the body, gave the escaupil a decided preference over the few pieces of
+iron mail which the poverty of the combatants denied them the power of
+extending to the whole frame. In truth, so common had become this
+armour, that there were few among the cavaliers of the conquest, except
+those leaders who despised so unknightly and so unsightly an attire, who
+were provided with any other. Nevertheless many distinguished captains
+concealed garments of this material under their iron armour; and the
+common soldiers of Cortes, after long experience, had fallen upon the
+plan of quilting it in pieces imitative of morions and breast-plates,
+which were far from being uncouth or unwieldy. But its efficacy, though
+strongly explained and urged by the secretary Fabueno, could not blind
+Don Amador to its ungainliness, as seen in the fashions of raw recruits;
+and even the solemn gravity of Baltasar was changed to a grin of
+ineffable derision, and the good-humoured vivacity of Lazaro to a laugh
+of contempt, when the secretary advised the cavalier to provide his
+followers with such coats of mail.</p>
+
+<p>"What thinkest thou, Lazaro, rogue?" said Don Amador, merrily. "Thou
+wert but a bitter groaner over the only cut it was ever thy good hap to
+meet: and that was by a fair and courteous pistol-shot, which hath
+something of an oily way about it: whereas these infidel flints and
+hard woods gash as painfully as an oyster-shell. What sayest thou? Shall
+I give thee an escaupil, to save thee from new lamentation?"</p>
+
+<p>"May your honour live a thousand years!" said the serving-man. "The
+tortoise to his shell, the Turk to his turban: heaven never thrust a
+hornet into the cocoon of a caterpillar, nor a lion into a sheep's skin.
+Wherefore I will keep my sting and my claws free from the cotton bags;
+the only merit of which is, that when a man is wounded in them, he has
+lint ever ready at his fingers."</p>
+
+<p>"For my part," said Baltasar, "I am, in this matter, much of Lazaro's
+way of thinking. Howsoever, please your favour, when I see these
+lubberly lumps fight more courageously than myself in my iron trifles, I
+will straightway change my mind on the subject."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold thy tongue, then," said the cavalier, "lest thou give offence to
+some of these worthy cotton-coats, who have, in no manner, furnished
+thee with cause for a quarrel."</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier rode on, followed closely by his attendants, courteously
+returning the salutations which were everywhere rendered to his apparent
+rank and martial appearance by the Spanish portion of the train; though
+not even the glitter of his mail, the proud tramp of his war-horse, nor
+the stout appearance of his followers, drew a glance from the Tlamémé.
+The dull apathy which the oppression of ages has flung over the spirits
+of Mexicans at the present epoch, had already been instilled into the
+hearts of this class of natives, which with some others, under the
+prevalence of the common feudalism of barbarians, were little better
+than bondmen. He rode slowly by them, admiring the sinewy bulk of their
+limbs, and the ease with which they moved under their heavy burdens.</p>
+
+<p>The van of the train was formed by a score of footmen, all arrayed in
+the escaupil, and all, with the exception of some five or six, who bore
+firelocks, armed with sword and spear. A cavalier of goodly presence,
+and well mounted, rode at their head; and Amador, thinking he perceived
+in him the tokens of gentle blood and manners, pressed forward to salute
+him. The ringing of Fogoso's heels arrested the attention of the leader,
+who, turning round and beholding the gallant array of the stranger,
+instantly returned upon his path, and met him with many courteous
+expressions. At the very moment of meeting, Amador's eye was attracted
+by a figure, which, in making way for the steed of the leader, had
+well-nigh been trodden under the hoofs of his own; and in which, when
+removed from this peril, he instantly remarked the spare person and
+haggard countenance of the Moor. Holding fast to the hand of the
+Almogavar, and indeed, for an instant, while the danger lasted, wrapped
+anxiously in his arms, was a boy, whose youth and terror might have won
+a second notice, had not the salutation of the officer immediately
+occupied his attention.</p>
+
+<p>"The señor Amador de Leste," said he&mdash;"Thou varlet of an infidel, I will
+strike thee with my lance!" (This menacing objurgation was addressed to
+the Moor, at the moment when, most endangered, he wavered with his boy
+between the horses.) "The señor Amador de Leste," he continued, as the
+Moor, recovering himself, cowered away, "will not be surprised to find
+his coming expected, and his presence welcomed, by the general Narvaez,
+or by his excellency's humble friend and captain, Juan Salvatierra."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Salvatierra, I give you good thanks," replied Amador; "and
+although I know not what avant-courier has proclaimed the approach of so
+obscure an individual as myself, I will not, for that reason, receive
+your courtesy less gratefully."</p>
+
+<p>"I have with me here," said Salvatierra, with a stately condescension,
+"several of your fellow-voyagers of the caravel; among whom it would
+have been strange indeed if any had forgotten the name of so honourable
+a companion."</p>
+
+<p>"Those cavaliers of the caravel," said Amador, dryly, "who condescend to
+claim me as a companion, do me thereby a greater honour than I am
+desirous to do myself. Sly companions are, as you may see, my two
+men-at-arms; to which we will at present add the young señor Fabueno,
+whom, as the secretary of his excellency the admiral Cavallero, I am not
+indisposed to acknowledge."</p>
+
+<p>There was something in the tone of the haughty and even arrogant
+neophyte, that might have nettled his new friend; but its only effect,
+beside bringing a little colour upon his rather pallid cheeks, was to
+rob his suavity of somewhat of its loftiness.</p>
+
+<p>"It is for hidalgos and cavaliers of knightly orders," he said, "and not
+for ignoble adventurers, to aspire to the fellowship of a valiant knight
+of San Juan."</p>
+
+<p>"I am no knight of San Juan," said Amador, "but a simple novice, who may
+one day claim admission to the illustrious order (by right of birth,) or
+not, as it may please the destinies and mine own humour. Nevertheless I
+have much pleasure to speak of the order and its valiant brothers, at
+every opportunity, and at the present moment I am moved to ask your
+favour, as relying much on your knowledge, what tidings have been last
+had of the good knight Calavar, an eminent branch of that most lordly,
+though thunder-stricken, stock."</p>
+
+<p>"Concerning the knight of Calavar," said Salvatierra blandly, "it is my
+grief to assure you that his madness&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Call it his melancholy! or his humour!" said Amador, sternly; "and let
+it be some mitigation to your surprise, if my correction sound like a
+rebuke, to know that I am his kinsman."</p>
+
+<p>Again did the colour mount into the cheeks of the cavalier, and again
+did his courtesy, or his discretion, get the better of the impulse that
+raised it.</p>
+
+<p>"The kinsman of that valiant and renowned gentleman," he said politely,
+"shall command me to any epithet he chooses. The señor De Leste will
+doubtless lament to hear that his kinsman, with an eccentricity scarce
+worthy his high birth and knightly dignity, still stoops to be the
+follower of an inferior and rebel, the outcast and proclaimed outlaw,
+Hernan Cortes."</p>
+
+<p>"As far as my own judgment is concerned in this matter, señor
+caballero," said Amador coolly, "I very much doubt whether I shall
+lament that circumstance at all. The knight Calavar will not disparage
+his dignity or his profession, by choosing to serve where a
+little-minded man might covet to command. Such a condescension in him,
+besides being a new proof of magnanimity and fidelity to his vows,
+whereby he is sworn never to make peace with the infidel, is only an
+evidence to me that the cavalier Cortes, whom you call a rebel and
+outlaw, must be a man worthy of much more respectful appellations; as
+indeed, methinks, your own reflections should show you must be the due
+of any associate of the knight of Calavar."</p>
+
+<p>The unaffected surprise, and even consternation, with which the follower
+of Narvaez heard the neophyte thus speak of his leader's enemy, might
+perhaps have urged Amador to the utterance of commendations still more
+unequivocal, had not his eye at that moment been caught by the shadow on
+the sand of a man striding nearer to the flanks of Fogoso than he had
+supposed any footman to be. His own position was near the side of the
+company of musketeers and spearmen mentioned before; his followers, not
+being willing to obtrude upon the privacy of the cavaliers, had fallen a
+little back; and the Morisco, as he took it for granted, was lagging
+some distance behind. His surprise was therefore not a little excited,
+when looking round, he beheld the Almogavar so close at his side as to
+be able to overhear all that was said, and drinking his words with an
+expression of the intensest interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Son of a dog!" cried Salvatierra, who beheld him at the same time, and
+who was not unwilling to vent some of the gall that Amador had raised
+in his bosom, upon so legitimate an object,&mdash;"I will see if I cannot
+teach thee how to thrust thyself among soldiers and hidalgos!"</p>
+
+<p>"Softly, señor Caballero!" cried Amador, observing the captain raising
+his lance; "strike not Abdalla; for I have it in my power to inform you,
+that, although in some sense your prisoner, and, to the eye of a
+stranger, a most helpless and wretched varlet, he has shown himself to
+be possessed of a spirit so worthy of respect, that you will do yourself
+foul shame to strike him."</p>
+
+<p>The lance of the cavalier was turned away from the shrinking Moor.</p>
+
+<p>"Don Amador de Leste shall command my weapon, whether it be to smite or
+to spare," said Salvatierra, smothering the rage which every word and
+action of the neophyte seemed fated to inspire, and advancing to the
+head of the train.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark'ee, Sidi Abdalla," continued Amador, beckoning complacently to the
+retiring Morisco, "it is not in my nature to see indignity of any kind
+heaped upon a man who hath not the power of vengeance, and especially a
+man who hath in him the virtue of courage, without raising a hand in his
+defence."</p>
+
+<p>"My lord speaks the truth," said Abdoul, with a subdued voice; "the
+Almogavar hath not the power of vengeance:&mdash;The strong man may strike
+him, the proud may trample, and he cannot resist; the cavalier may wound
+with the lance, the soldier may smite with the unthonged bow.&mdash;It is all
+one;&mdash;his head is bare, his breast open, his hand empty:&mdash;he can neither
+resist nor avenge."</p>
+
+<p>"By St. John of Jerusalem," said the cavalier warmly, moved to a
+stronger feeling for the friendless Morisco, "I remember, as was
+confessed by that beast of a Canary captain, that when thine enemies
+were on thy decks, and thy friends fled from thy side, (for which they
+deserved to sink to the bottom, as they did;) thou hadst the courage to
+discharge thy mangonneau into the victorious trader; for which reason
+chiefly, but partly because thou hast avowed thyself a Christian
+proselyte, I will take it upon me, as far as it may be in my power, to
+be thy protector and champion."</p>
+
+<p>"My lord is good," said the Moor, bending his head low on his breast;
+"and in the day of my death I will not forget his benevolence. The
+Almogavar was born to grief; trouble came at his first hour; his first
+breath was the sigh of Granada, his first cry was mingled with the
+groans of his enslaved people, his first look was on the tears of his
+father. Sorrow came in youth, anguish in manhood, and misery is in the
+footsteps of years. My lord is great and powerful; he protects me from
+the blow of a spear.&mdash;He can save me from a grief that strikes deeper
+than a thousand spears!"</p>
+
+<p>"As I am a true gentleman and Christian," said Amador, "I will hold to
+my word, to give thee protection and aid, as far as my power lies."</p>
+
+<p>"The feeble boy that totters over these scorching sands!" said the Moor,
+raising his eyes wistfully to the cavalier, and turning them for an
+instant with a look of unspeakable wildness to his son.&mdash;The cavalier
+looked back, in that momentary pause, and beheld the young Morisco. He
+seemed a boy of not more than twelve years. The soldier judged only from
+his stature, for a garment of escaupil of unusual thickness completely
+invested and concealed his figure; while his face drooping, as if from
+weariness, on his breast, was hidden by a cap slouching in disorder, and
+by long ringlets that fell in childish profusion over his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"The boy!" continued Abdalla, turning again to the neophyte, and raising
+his clasped hands as if in supplication. "Is it fit his tender years
+should be passed among the horrors of a camp? among the dangers of a
+wild war? among the vices and contaminations of a brutal soldiery? If it
+were possible,"&mdash;and here the voice of the Almogavar trembled with
+eagerness;&mdash;"if it were possible that boy could be sent to
+Granada,&mdash;nay, to Barbary,&mdash;anywhere, where, for his father's sake, he
+should be granted a refuge and asylum; then might the curse be uttered,
+the blow struck, and Abdoul, receiving it as the payment of his debt,
+would not call upon his lord for vengeance."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou heardest from the admiral," said Amador, "how impossible would be
+the gratification of such a wish; since, even were he parted from this
+shore, it rests with another, who, I can, upon mine own knowledge,
+assure thee, is not likely to help him on his way, whether he shall not
+waste his days among the planters of the islands; who, according to
+common report, are not a whit less wild and debauched than their friends
+here in Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"God is just!" cried the Moor, clasping his hands in despair.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless," continued Amador, "I will not fail to make thy petition,
+backed with my own request, to the señor Narvaez; and at the worst, it
+is not improbable some good cavalier may be found who will consent to
+receive him as a page, and treat him with kindness."</p>
+
+<p>"God is just!" reiterated the Moor, with a gloomy sorrow; "and the arrow
+of the savage may save him from the wrong of the Christian."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell thee again," said Amador, "I will not forget to do my best for
+his welfare, at the first opportunity. But tell me, Abdalla"&mdash;The
+Morisco was dropping behind: he returned.&mdash;"I had forgotten to ask thee
+a question for which I first called thee. I was speaking to this
+hot-tempered captain of the knight Calavar&mdash;By heaven! it was thus I saw
+thine eyes sparkle before! Is there any magic in the name, that it
+should move thee to such emotion?"</p>
+
+<p>"The knight Calavar," said the Morisco, "was among the conquerors of the
+Alpujarras; and how can I hear his name, and not bethink me of the black
+day of my country? His name is in our Moorish ballads; and when the
+orphan sings them, he mourns over the fate of his father."</p>
+
+<p>"That the knight Calavar did good service among those rebellious
+mountaineers, I can well believe," said the cavalier, hastily; "but that
+he did not temper his valour with mercy, is an assertion which no man
+can make to me with perfect safety. As to those ballads of which you
+speak, I am not certain if they be not the invention of some devilish
+magician, opposed to honourable war and glory; since it is their sole
+purpose to keep one thinking of certain sorrowful particulars, that may
+be a consequence of victory and conquest, such as tearful widows and
+destitute orphans; and I must declare, for mine own part, such is the
+mischievous tendency of these madrigals, that sometimes, after hearing
+them, I have had my imagination so enchanted, as to look with disgust at
+war, and almost to lament that I ever had struck at the life of a human
+being. I shall like well to have thy boy sing to me; but, as I will tell
+him beforehand, it must be of lovelorn knights, and of knights going to
+battle, and never a word about widows and orphans."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>At midday, the squadron, after having accomplished more than half the
+journey, halted for rest and refreshment on the banks of a little river,
+under the shade of pleasant trees. The Tlamémé threw down their bundles,
+and, apart from the rest, betook themselves to their frugal meal. A
+plaintain, a cake of maize, or a morsel of some of the nameless but
+delicious fruits of the clime, perhaps growing at their side, prepared
+them for the enjoyment of slumber; while the Spaniards, grouped among
+the trees, added to this simple repast the more substantial luxury of
+the <i>tasajo</i>, or jerked beef of the islands.</p>
+
+<p>As for the cavalier De Leste, not having bethought him to give orders
+for the preparation of such needful munitions, he was glad to accept the
+invitation of the captain Salvatierra to share his meal; and this he did
+the more readily, that, having entered into farther conversation with
+the leader, after the affair of the lance, it was the good fortune of
+this gentleman to stumble upon no more offensive topics. In addition to
+this, he observed with great satisfaction, that Salvatierra, preserving
+among his subalterns the stateliness which he had vailed to the
+neophyte, did not mean to trouble him with their society; and it was
+only at his express desire that the secretary Fabueno was admitted to
+partake of their repast. The excellent taste of the worthy commander, or
+perhaps the wisdom of his attendants, several of whom, both Christian
+and pagan, being in constant waiting, gave him an appearance of great
+rank and importance, had provided a stock of food, which, in variety and
+quantity, might have satisfied the hunger of half the squadron. Here,
+besides the heavenly anana, the grateful manioc, and other fruits and
+roots with which the cavalier had become acquainted in the islands, he
+was introduced to the royal chirimoya, the zapote, and other fruits as
+new as they were delicious. But, above all these delights with which
+Providence has so bountifully enriched the lands of Mexico, did Don
+Amador admire the appearance of certain fowls, which, though neither
+reeking nor smoking with their savoury juices, but drawn cold from their
+covering of green leaves, were of so agreeable a character as to fill
+his mind with transport.</p>
+
+<p>"Either this land is the very paradise of earth," said he, "or, señor
+Salvatierra, you have the most goodly purveyors among your household,
+that ever loaded the table of man. I will be much beholden to your
+favour to know the name of this fowl I am eating, which, from its bulk,
+one might esteem a goose, but which, I am sure, is no such contemptible
+creature."</p>
+
+<p>"That," said the leader, "is a sort of great pheasant, the name of which
+I have not yet schooled my organs to pronounce, but which, being taken
+among the hills and trained in the cottages of the Indians, becomes as
+familiar and loving as a dog; and is therefore always ready when its
+master is hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"By my life, then!" said Amador, "I am loath to eat it; for it seems to
+me, the creature that loves us is more worthy to be consecrated in the
+heart, than immolated to the cravings of the stomach. I will therefore
+desire to know something of that other featherless monster at your
+elbow, previous to determining upon its fitness for mastification."</p>
+
+<p>"Your favour need entertain no scruples about this bird," said the
+captain; "for although domesticated, and kept by the Indians about their
+houses in great flocks, it hath too much affection for itself to trouble
+itself much about its masters. It is a kind of peacock, and without
+possessing any of the resplendent beauty of that animal, it is endowed
+with all its vanity and pride; so that, when strutting about with its
+shaven head and long-gobbeted beard, its feathers ruffled in a majestic
+self-conceit, our soldiers have sometimes, for want of a better name,
+called it <i>el Turco</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"A better name could not have been invented," said the neophyte; "for if
+it be true, as is sometimes asserted by those who know better than
+myself, that heretics and infidels are the food of the devil, I know no
+morsel should be more agreeable to his appetite than one of those same
+pagans that give name to this foolish and savoury creature."</p>
+
+<p>The thoughts of Amador, as he sat testing the merits of the noble fowl,
+which is one among the many blessings America, in after days, scattered
+over the whole world, wandered from Mexico to Rhodes, from the peaceful
+enjoyment of his dinner to the uproar and horror of a siege, from a dead
+fowl to the turbaned Turk; and then, by a similar vagary, jumped at
+once from the magnificent infidel to the poor Morisco who had lately
+trod the desert at his side. As the image of Abdoul al Sidi entered his
+brain, he looked round and beheld the proselyte sitting with his boy in
+the shadow of a palm, remote from the rest; and a pang smote him, as he
+perceived, that, among the scores who sat glutting their appetites
+around, not one had dropped a morsel of food into the hands of the
+Almogavar or his child.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark'ee, Lazaro, thou gluttonous villain!" he cried, with a voice that
+instantly brought the follower, staring, to his side; "dost thou feed
+like a pelican, and yet refuse to share thy meal, as a pelican would,
+with a helpless fellow of thy race? Take me this lump of a Turk to Sidi
+Abdalla, and bid him feed his boy."</p>
+
+<p>"I will suggest to your favour," said the captain Salvatierra, with a
+grin, "that Lazaro be directed to bring the urchin hither, with his
+lute, of which it is said he is no mean master; and before he eats he
+shall sing us a song, which, thus, he will doubtless execute with more
+perfection than after he has gorged himself into stupidity or the
+asthma."</p>
+
+<p>"I agree to that, with all my heart," said the neophyte. "The boy can
+sing while we are eating, provided the poor fellow be not too hungry."</p>
+
+<p>Lazaro strode to the Moriscos; and in an instant, as they rose, Amador
+beheld the Sidi take the instrument from his own back where he had
+carried it, and put it into the hands of his offspring. The boy received
+it, and, as Amador thought, removed the gay covering, with a faltering
+hand. Nevertheless, in a few moments, this preparation was accomplished,
+and, with Abdalla, the stripling stood trembling from weariness or
+timidity at the side of the group.</p>
+
+<p>"Moor," said Salvatierra, before Amador had commenced his benevolent
+greeting, "the noble and valiant cavalier hath charitably commanded thou
+shouldst eat thy dinner at our feet; which whilst thou art doing, we
+will expect thy lad to entertain us with such sample of his skill in
+luting and singing as may make our own repast more agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>"That is, if the boy be not too hungry," said the good-natured neophyte.
+"I should blush to owe my pleasures to any torments of his own, however
+slight; and (as I know by some little famine wherewith we were afflicted
+at Rhodes,) there is no more intolerable anguish with which one can be
+cursed, than this same unhumoured appetite."</p>
+
+<p>"Jacinto will sing to my lord," said the Almogavar submissively.</p>
+
+<p>But Jacinto was seized with such a fit of trembling, as seemed for a
+time to leave him incapable; and when, at last, he had sufficiently
+subdued his terror, to begin tuning his instrument, he did it with so
+slow and so hesitating a hand, that Salvatierra lost patience, and
+reproved him harshly and violently.</p>
+
+<p>It happened, unluckily for the young Moor, that, at that moment, the eye
+of Amador wandered to Fogoso, and beheld him wallowing, with more of the
+spirit of a yeoman's hog than a warrior's charger, in a certain miry
+spot near to which he had been suffered to crop the green leaves. He
+called hastily and wrathfully to Lazaro, and, in his indignation,
+entirely lost sight of his dinner, his host, and the musician.</p>
+
+<p>"Whelp of a heathen!" said Salvatierra to the shrinking lad: "hast thou
+no more skill or manners, but to make this accursed jangling, to which
+there seems no end? Bestir thyself, or I will teach thee activity."</p>
+
+<p>The boy, frightened at the violence of the soldier, rose to his feet,
+and dropping his instrument in alarm clung to Abdalla. The wrath of the
+hot-tempered Salvatierra exceeded the bounds of decorum and of humanity.
+He had a twig in his hand, and with this he raised his arm to strike the
+unfortunate urchin. But just then the neophyte turned round, and beheld
+the act of tyranny.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor!" he cried, with a voice even more harsh and angry than his own,
+and seizing the uplifted hand with no ceremonious grasp,&mdash;"Señor! you
+will not so far forget your manhood as to do violence to the child? Know
+that I have taken him, for this journey, into my protection; know also,
+thou canst not inflict a stripe upon his feeble body, that will not
+degrade thee into the baseness of a hind, and that will not especially
+draw upon thee the inconvenience of mine own displeasure!"</p>
+
+<p>The heart of Salvatierra sunk before the flaming countenance of the
+cavalier: but observing that several of his nearest followers had taken
+note of the insult, and were grasping their arms, as if to avenge it, he
+said with an air of firmness,</p>
+
+<p>"The señor De Leste has twice or thrice taken occasion to requite my
+courtesies with such shame as is hard to be borne, and in particular by
+interfering with the just exercise of my authority; and I have to assure
+him, that when the duties of my office shall release me from restraint,
+his injuries shall not be unremembered."</p>
+
+<p>"If thou art a hidalgo," said the cavalier sternly, "thou hast the right
+to command me; if of ignoble blood, as from thy deportment to this
+trembling child, I am constrained to believe, I have, nevertheless,
+eaten of thy bread and salt, and cannot refuse to meet thee with such
+weapons and in such way as thou mayest desire; and to this obligation do
+I hold myself bound and fettered."</p>
+
+<p>Some half-dozen followers of the captain had crowded round their leader,
+and were lowering ominously and menacingly on the neophyte. Lazaro and
+Baltasar beheld the jeopardy of their master, and silently but
+resolutely placed themselves at his side; nay, even the youthful
+Fabueno, though seemingly bewildered, as if doubting on which side to
+array himself, had snatched up his bloodless sabre; and it seemed for an
+instant as if this unlucky rupture might end in blows. The señor
+Salvatierra looked from his followers to the angry hidalgo; the flush
+faded from his cheek; and it was remarked by some of his soldiers, not a
+little to his dispraise, that when, as if conquering his passion, he
+motioned them to retire, it was with a hurried hand and tremulous lip.</p>
+
+<p>"The señor de Leste is right," he said, with a disturbed voice; "I
+should have done myself dishonour to harm the boy; and although the
+reproof was none of the most gentle and honeyed, I can still thank him
+that it preserved me from the shame of giving too much rein to my
+ill-temper. I therefore forget the injury, as one that was merited,
+discharge my anger as causeless, and desiring rather to devote my blood
+to the subjugation of pagans, than to squander it in contest with a
+fellow-Christian, offer the hand of reconciliation and of friendship to
+Don Amador de Leste."</p>
+
+<p>There was an appearance of magnanimity in this confession of fault and
+offer of composition, that won upon the good opinion of the neophyte;
+and he frankly gave his hand to the captain. Then turning to the
+innocent cause of his trouble, who, during the time that there seemed
+danger of a conflict, had exhibited the greatest dismay, he found him
+sobbing bitterly in the arms of Abdalla.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor child!" said the benevolent cavalier, "thou art fitter to touch
+thy lute in the bower of a lady, than to wake it among these wild and
+troubled deserts. It is enough, Abdalla: conduct thy son to some shade,
+where he may eat and sleep; and when we renew our march, I will think of
+some device to spare his tender feet the pain of trudging longer over
+the sands."</p>
+
+<p>The Moor laid his hand on his heart, bowed with the deepest submission
+and gratitude, and led the boy away to a covert.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Didst thou observe, brother henchman," said Lazaro, as, after having
+completed his meal, and taken good note of the tethers of the horses, he
+threw himself on the ground by the side of Baltasar, as if to imitate
+the other members of the party, who were making what preparations they
+could for the indulgence of the siesta,&mdash;"Didst thou observe, I say, old
+sinner, that, this moment, we were like to have made experience of the
+virtue of cotton corslets? By my faith, this gentle master mine will not
+suffer our hands to be idle, so long as there be savages to curse the
+faith, or hidalgos to cross his humours. I am ever bound to the
+magnanimous señor commander, that he thought fit to swallow his wrath,
+and send me those black-browed vagabonds back to their dinner: for
+otherwise, I assure thee, there was much fear of our supping in
+purgatory."</p>
+
+<p>"For my part," said Baltasar, raising his head from the saddle, which
+served him for a pillow, and looking curiously round on the various
+groups, "I am of opinion, there was more discretion than dignity about
+that same captain, when he became so moderate of a sudden; for so sure
+as he was very foolish to get into a quarrel with the boy Amador, who, I
+am free to say, is no way unworthy to be a kinsman and esquire of my
+master the knight, so surely would the boy have dinged the feathers off
+his gilt casque with the first blow; and how much of his head might have
+followed the feathers, is more than I will take upon me to determine."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art so hungry after war," said Lazaro, "thou canst not perceive
+the valour of foregoing an opportunity of battle now and then. Hast thou
+never seen a man turn pale from anger, as well as cowardice?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of a truth, I have," said the veteran; "and, provided there be a steady
+countenance along with it, this sickly hue is ever a sight to be dreaded
+more than the woman's blush, which some men fall into in their anger.
+But a coward's mouth is always playing him dog's tricks: I have
+sometimes seen the nether lip shake in a brave man; but when the
+trembling is all up in the corners, as I have learned to know, after
+divers lessons, it is a sign the heart is in a flutter. There are
+doubtless certain strings, whereby the heart is fastened to the mouth;
+and it is when the corners are writhing about in this cowardly snaky
+manner, that the heart is drawn up further than is comfortable; a thing,
+as I have no doubt, may have sometimes happened to yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"If it have, may I become a Turk's slave!" said Lazaro, with great
+indignation; "and if it do, I hope it may be transformed, at that
+moment, from my own mouth to a dog's, to be made a dinner of!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art an ass to be in a passion, at any rate," said Baltasar,
+coolly, "and a very improbable idiot, to deny, in thy vain-glory, what
+has happened to braver men than thyself; and, which I am free to
+confess, has sometimes chanced to myself, especially in my youth, when I
+first went to fight the Moors; and, I very well remember, that besides
+perceiving there was a sort of emptiness under my ribs, on such
+occasions, I could feel my heart beating at the back of my throat as
+plainly as I ever felt the arrow-heads tapping about my buckler. But it
+always went to its place again, when we were come to close quarters."</p>
+
+<p>"May I die of the bastinado, if I ever felt any such thing!" said
+Lazaro, proudly. "I was born without any such gaingiving; and the only
+uncomfortable feeling I have had, under such circumstances, was a sort
+of cold creeping about the stomach, as if it were raining inside of me."</p>
+
+<p>"Or as if there was a cold air brewing in your gizzard!" said Baltasar,
+triumphantly. "That is the very same thing,&mdash;the emptiness, I was
+talking about; and if you never felt the beating in your throat, it was
+because your heart was in such a fit of fright as to have no power of
+beating left."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! that may be," said Lazaro, with a grin: "that beating is a business
+I keep for my arm, and when that is in service, my heart is ever wise
+enough to be quiet. But concerning the captain,&mdash;Dost thou really esteem
+him a coward?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who knows?" said the veteran. "A man may be once in fear, and
+strong-hearted ever after. Yet was there such a working about that
+cavalier's mouth, as made me think he longed to strike Don Amador, if he
+durst, and which still persuades he has some bitter thoughts about the
+matter of the insult: for, as you may remember, Don Amador said he was
+more of a hind than a hidalgo, with other such loving remarks as might
+stir a man's choler. For this reason, I am of opinion it will be good
+service of thee to thy master, to keep thine eyes open while he is
+taking his siesta, lest, mayhap, some mischief might come to him
+sleeping."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ever bound to your good-natured discretion," said Lazaro, with a
+laugh. "I have no doubt it would be more profitable to sit for an hour
+or two, watching the sunbeams stealing through the wood, than, for the
+same time, to slumber and snore, without any other amusement than an
+occasional buffeting of one's nose, to keep the flies off. I will
+therefore surrender this agreeable privilege to thyself, as being my
+senior and better; while I nap a little, and that so lightly, that if an
+emmet do but creep near my master, I shall hear the rustling of his
+footsteps. But hark'ee, Baltasar: there is much wit about thee, for an
+old man that has endured so many hard knocks; and ever, about once in an
+hundred times, I have found thy conjectures to be very reasonable. What
+is thy opinion concerning those infidel Moors under the bush yonder? and
+by what sort of magic dost thou suppose they have so wrought upon our
+commander, that he will neither suffer lance-shaft nor cane-twig to be
+laid upon them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, there they are!" said Baltasar, looking towards the father and son.
+"The boy lies with his head on Abdalla's knee, and Abdalla covers him
+with his skin mantle; and the mantle shakes, as if the boy were sobbing
+under it.&mdash;It is my opinion, the lad has been used to milder treatment
+than he seems likely to meet in these parts, unless Don Amador should
+see fit to take him into his own keeping; and it is also my opinion, if
+he be so much affected at the sight of a green twig, he will go nigh to
+die of terror at the flash of a savage's sword."</p>
+
+<p>"That is an opinion I have, in part, formed for myself," said the junior
+coolly: "and one that I think is shared in common with every other
+person in this quilted company, that has looked in the manikin's face."</p>
+
+<p>"It is as white," said Baltasar, "as that mountain top we saw from the
+caravel; whereas the children of common Moriscos are much the hue of my
+own weather-beaten boots."</p>
+
+<p>"The boy was in a most pestilent fright," said Lazaro, "and therefore
+somewhat more snowy than was natural; nevertheless, I have seen darker
+skins among the damsels of La Mancha."</p>
+
+<p>"And he is, in a manner, well figured and comely," said the veteran.</p>
+
+<p>"If thou hadst said he was such a Ganymede as might hold the wine-cup
+and trencher to a princess, I should have thought better of thine
+eye-sight. By cross and spear! he has such eyes as I shall be glad to
+find in any wench I may be predestined to marry."</p>
+
+<p>"And his hand," said Baltasar, "is as small as a hidalgo's son's. He
+hath an amiable countenance, and such gravity in it, when not disturbed,
+as belongs to older years; and he ever keeps it bent to the earth, as if
+to shun observation."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay; I see what thou art driving at," said Lazaro, significantly. "Thou
+thinkest Sidi Abdalla is some infidel prince of Granada&mdash;a Zegri or
+Abencerrage&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I think no such thing," said Baltasar, gruffly. "I have fought, myself,
+hand to hand, with a Zegri, while my young lord Gabriel was cleaving the
+head of another; to which knightly and majestic infidels the wretch Sidi
+bears such resemblance as, in comparison, doth the hedge-hog to a
+leopard."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art of opinion then, doubtless," said Lazaro, "that the boy
+Jacinto is some Christian nobleman's son, stolen in his infancy by Sidi,
+to be made a sacrifice to the devil?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am no such ass," said Baltasar, "to entertain any such notion."</p>
+
+<p>"A bird's flight by his feather, a beast's rage by his claw, and a man's
+thoughts by his tongue," said Lazaro; "but how I am to judge thee, is
+more than I know. What a-God's name, dost thou think then of these
+Christian heathens?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think nothing at all," said Baltasar, dryly: "I only wonder by what
+chance a Morisco boor came to have so tender and so handsome a boy."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, heaven be with thee, old oracle," said Lazaro, laying his head on
+his saddle: "If I should resolve thy wonder in my dreams, I will
+enlighten thee when I wake."</p>
+
+<p>The veteran gave a look to the horses,&mdash;to his master, who, by the
+attentions of the captain Salvatierra, had been enabled to enjoy the
+luxury of a hammock, slung between two trees,&mdash;to the Moor, who sat
+watching over his child,&mdash;to the Tlamémé, who slumbered by their
+packs,&mdash;to the Spaniards, who slept, as they had eaten, in groups,&mdash;to
+the few sentinels who stood nodding under the trees,&mdash;and then,
+dismissing all care, as if satisfied with the security of the motley
+encampment, he was not slow to follow the example of his companion.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Two or three hours before sunset, the sleepers were roused to renew
+their march. Horses were saddled and armour buckled, and Don Amador de
+Leste mounted his steed with great satisfaction at the thought of still
+further diminishing the distance that separated him from his knight. As
+the train began to ford the rivulet, he turned round and beckoned to
+Abdoul, who, with Jacinto, had taken the station assigned them behind
+the musketeers.</p>
+
+<p>"Sidi Abdalla," said he, "I have thought it a great shame that thy weary
+boy should trudge over these sands afoot, when such men as myself and my
+people are resting our lazy limbs on horseback. I have therefore given
+order to my soldier, Lazaro, to take the youth behind him; whereby much
+discomfort and suffering may be avoided."</p>
+
+<p>"My lord will scorn the thanks of the poor Morisco," said Abdoul,
+humbly. "Sleep, and the food which it pleased my noble lord to give to
+the boy, have so refreshed his strength and his spirits, that now, in
+the pleasant evening air, he will journey without pain, as he has often,
+of yore, in the deserts of Barbary. And let not my lord be displeased to
+know, that Jacinto will be of better heart at the side of his father,
+than on the saddle of my lord's servant."</p>
+
+<p>"If it be as thou sayest," said the cavalier, "I am content. Heaven
+forbid I should take him from thee, but for his good; which, doubtless,
+thou must know better how to compass than myself. Yet if he should at
+any time grow weary, make me acquainted with it, and Lazaro shall be
+still prepared to give him relief."</p>
+
+<p>The Moor bent his head to the ground, and fell back; while Amador,
+followed by his attendants and the secretary, rode to the head of the
+train.</p>
+
+<p>No occurrence of moment interrupted the monotony of the journey, until a
+thunderstorm, accompanied by rain, drove them for shelter into a
+forest, where their march was interrupted for a time. But with a
+capriciousness equal to the fury with which they had gathered, the
+clouds parted and vanished in the sunbeams; the earth was gladdened; the
+trees shook the liquid treasure from their leaves; a breeze came from
+the distant surges; and, resuming their path, the train and cavalcade
+went on their way rejoicing.</p>
+
+<p>As they advanced, and as the day declined, the country assumed a more
+agreeable aspect; the woods were thicker and more luxuriant; the
+mountains approached nearer to the sea, and the streams gambolled among
+piles of rocks, instead of creeping sluggishly through the sands; the
+flowers were more abundant, and the birds, resuming their songs,
+prepared their vespers for the sinking luminary. At last he set: the
+curlew wheeled his last flight; the plover sent his last whistle, from
+the air; and the stars, stealing out from the dusky arch, shed their
+celestial lustre over the path of the travellers. With these lamps of
+heaven, were also lit the torches of the cucujos,&mdash;those phosphorescent
+beetles, with which Don Amador had been made acquainted in the islands.
+But he did not the less admire the splendour of the spectacle, when he
+saw these resplendent insects glistening among the trees, or flashing by
+him like little meteors. The moon rose from the sea; and as her mellow
+radiance streamed over the tree tops, or sheeted itself on the sands,
+and as a thousand delicious scents came to the nostrils of the soldier,
+he thought he had never before, not even when watching the same planet
+in the calm bosom of the Levantine sea, looked upon a scene of more
+beautiful repose. The commander of the squadron had not, since the
+affair of the dinner, thought fit, frequently, to trouble Don Amador
+with his presence; but by the murmurs of satisfaction and curiosity
+which were breathed about him, the cavalier knew he was approaching the
+Indian city Zempoala. The party issued from the wood upon what seemed a
+fair waving plain, dotted, in certain places, with clumps of trees, and
+doubtless, in other spots, enriched with plantations of maize and
+bananas. In the distance, from a dark and shadowy mass, which might have
+been a lofty grove or a low hillock, and whose gloom was alike broken by
+the glare of insects and the flash of many flambeaux, arose three lofty
+towers, square and white, and glittering in the moonbeams as if covered
+over with plates of silver.</p>
+
+<p>"Zempoala!" whispered an hundred voices, as these gleaming fabrics came
+fairly into view. The languid horseman raised himself on his saddle; the
+foot-soldier strode onwards with a firmer and quicker step; and at each
+moment, as the three towers reflected the moonbeams with increasing
+brilliancy, more torches flickered and more structures were seen shining
+among the trees; and it was evident to Don Amador that he was
+approaching a city or town of no little magnitude.</p>
+
+<p>The secretary had pressed to his side, and overhearing his exclamations
+of surprise, took the liberty of addressing him.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," he cried, "they say this pagan city is bigger and lovelier than
+Seville. I have often before heard of the Silver Towers; for truly, when
+the men of Cortes first saw them, they thought they were built of blocks
+of plate, and rode forward to hack away some samples with their swords;
+whereupon, to their great shame and disappointment, they discovered the
+brilliance to be owing to a certain white and polished plaster, with
+which these barbarians have the art to beautify their temples."</p>
+
+<p>"Are these then the sanctuaries of the fiend?" said the neophyte,
+raising himself, and surveying the structures with a frown of infinite
+hostility: "It drives me to little esteem, to know that the señor
+Narvaez and his companions should rest in sight of these accursed
+places, without hurling them to the dust."</p>
+
+<p>"They are no longer the houses of devils," said Lorenzo: "Cortes, the
+great rebel, tore the idols from their altars, and putting an image of
+Our Blessed Lady in their place, consecrated them forthwith to the
+service of God."</p>
+
+<p>"I hear nothing of Cortes, that does not convince me he is a truly noble
+and faithful cavalier," said Amador, with emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"There can be no doubt of that," said the secretary; "nevertheless, if I
+may presume to advise your favour, I would beseech you not to mention
+the name of Cortes among these men of Narvaez; or at least, not with the
+respect which you may think his due."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou know," said Amador, addressing Fabueno so sternly, as to
+cause him instantly to repent his presumption: "dost thou know, that
+what thou art saying is of so base and boorish a spirit, that, if it be
+the true prompting of thy heart, thou art utterly unworthy to take upon
+thee the arms, as thou art wholly incapable of winning the fame, of a
+soldier? Know thou, for it is good thou shouldst be told, that all
+hypocrisy is the offspring of cowardice, and is therefore impossible to
+be practised by a brave man: know also, that when thou art deceiving
+man, thou art lying to God, which is an impiety not to be thought of by
+an honest man: and know, in conclusion, that when thou art called upon
+for thy opinion, if thou givest not that which is in thy heart, thou art
+guilty of that hypocrisy which is cowardice, and that deceit which is
+perjury."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your worship's pardon," said Lorenzo, abashed and confounded, and
+somewhat bewildered by the chivalrous and fantastic system of honour
+disclosed in the reproof of the cavalier. "I meant only to let your
+favour know, that there could be no travelling beyond this Indian city,
+without the good will of Narvaez and his officers, which might not be
+gained by commending their enemy. And moreover, señor, if you will
+suffer me to justify myself,&mdash;while I confess it would be both cowardly
+and impious, as your worship says, to conceal or alter a sentiment, when
+it is called for, yet was I thinking it could be in no wise
+dishonourable to retain in our own mind opinions <i>not</i> called for,
+particularly when they might be disagreeable to those upon whom they
+were thus, as I may say, forced."</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith, thou art, in a measure, very right," said Amador, "and I
+hereby recall any expressions which may have reflected on thy courage or
+thy religion; for, I perceive, thou wert only touching upon the
+obligation all men are under not to force their opinions upon others; an
+obligation of which I am myself so sensible, that, provided I am not
+called upon by the questions of these people, or the enforcements of
+mine own honour, I shall surely utter nothing to displease them. But
+canst thou tell me, señor secretario, how far from this town lies the
+commander, of whom we were speaking?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard, only at the distance of two or three leagues," replied
+Fabueno; "but I should think, considering the wisdom of Cortes, he would
+be fain to increase that distance, as soon as he came to know the
+strength of Narvaez. Your favour may see, by the many torches glimmering
+through the streets, and the many voices that go chanting up and down,
+that there is a goodly multitude with him."</p>
+
+<p>"I see, by the same tokens," said Amador, "he has a set of riotous,
+disorderly vagabonds, who seem to think they are keeping carnival in
+Christendom, rather than defending a camp among infidels: and, by St.
+John, I know not any very good reason, why the valiant Cortes might not,
+this instant, with his knot of brave men, steal upon the town, and
+snatch it out of the hands of the Biscayan. There is, neither out-post
+in the field, nor sentinel in the suburbs!"</p>
+
+<p>There seemed some grounds for this notion of the cavalier. As he
+approached nearer to Zempoala, there was audible a concert of sounds
+such as one would not have looked for in the camp of a good general. A
+great fire had been lit, as it appeared, among the Silver Towers, the
+ruddy reflection of which, mingled with the purer light of the moon,
+had given them so shining an appearance, even at a distance. In this
+neighbourhood, as Amador judged by the direction and variety of cries,
+was the chief place of the revellers; though in divers quarters of the
+town might be heard the voices, and sometimes the musical instruments,
+of idle soldiers, struggling in rivalry with the ruder songs and harsher
+instruments of the natives. Besides the bonfires among the temples,
+there was another in the quarter of the town which the train was just
+entering, and apparently upon the very street which they were to pass.
+The cavalier had, however, underrated the vigilance of the sentinels;
+for, just as he had concluded his denunciation, the trumpet with which
+Salvatierra announced his approach to his companions, was answered by a
+flourish from the fire; and there was straightway seen a group of armed
+men advancing to challenge the party. In fact, an out-post was stationed
+at the fire; the worthy warriors of which, in the absence of any
+important duties, had got together the means of amusement in the persons
+of certain Indian tumblers and merry-andrews, who were diverting them
+with feats of agility. Besides these tawny sons of joyance, there were
+others of the same race, whose business it was to add to the pleasures
+of the entertainment the din of the musical instruments common to
+barbarians; only, as it seemed to Amador, that if there was nothing
+superior in the tone or management of these which he now heard, they had
+an advantage, over those of the islanders, in being wrought with greater
+skill and ornamented with a more refined taste. Thus, of the little
+drums which were suspended to the necks of the musicians, and which were
+at least equal in sound to the labours of Europe, some were carved and
+painted in a very gay manner; while the flutes of cane, though not less
+monotonous than the pipes of other savages, had about them an air of
+elegance, from being furnished with pendants of rich flowers, or
+beautiful feathers.</p>
+
+<p>As Amador rode by, his attention was in a measure diverted from the
+tumblers by the agitation of Fogoso, who regarded neither the great fire
+nor the wild looking artists with friendship; and when, having subdued
+his alarm, he turned to gratify his wonder, his eye was caught by the
+appearance of the Moor, who had stolen to his side, and now stood with a
+countenance even more disturbed than when shrinking from the blow of
+Salvatierra, and with hands upraised and clasped, as if to beseech his
+notice.</p>
+
+<p>"My lord is benevolent to the friendless, and pitiful to the orphan," he
+cried anxiously, as soon as he perceived that Amador regarded him; "he
+has been the champion of the father, and the protector of the son; and
+when the heart's blood of Abdoul can requite his benefactor, Abdoul will
+not deny it."</p>
+
+<p>"Good Sidi," said Amador, "that I have protected both yourself and your
+son Jacinto, from unjust violence, is more than can be denied; but why
+it is needful to thank me so many times for the favour, is more than I
+can easily understand. I must therefore command you to find some more
+novel subject for conversation."</p>
+
+<p>"My lord is a knight of Rhodes," said Abdalla quickly, "and therefore by
+vow bound to charity, justice, pity, and all the other good virtues
+acknowledged as well by infidels as Christians?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am no knight; a novice of the order I may be called," said Amador,
+"but no knight; though," he added with a most dolorous sigh, "how soon I
+may take the vows after returning from the lands of Mexico, is more than
+I can pronounce. I have therefore not bound myself by oath to any of
+those virtues of which you spoke; but had you been born of a nobler
+blood than I can account that of the lord of Fez, you should have known,
+that, being a gentleman and a Christian, I cannot release myself from
+any of their natural obligations."</p>
+
+<p>"For myself," said Abdalla, "though insult and danger will come to me
+among these riotous soldiers, who are the enemies of my race, and these
+barbarians, who are surely the enemies of all, I can submit to my
+griefs; but Jacinto needs the arm of power to protect him. If my lord
+will take him to be his servant, he will be merciful to misfortune; the
+prayers of gratitude will ascend to heaven; and the love of a faithful
+boy will watch ever at his side like the vigilance of an armed
+follower."</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou content the boy should be parted from thee?" demanded Amador.
+"I know not how, among these strange lands and unknown wildernesses, I
+may be able to take that care of his tender years which should be the
+duty of a good master; nor, to tell thee the truth, do I know in what
+manner I can make use of his services&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let not my lord despise his skill," said the Almogavar, "because his
+fright and weariness palsied his hand, when he should have played before
+him. He hath good skill with the lute, and he has in his memory a
+thousand redondillas, with which he may divert the leisure of my lord.
+Besides this skill, he hath a fidelity which nothing can corrupt, and a
+loving heart which, once gained by kindness, no temptation can lure from
+his master: and in these qualities will I vouch for him with my head. I
+know not in truth," continued Abdalla, faltering, "since he has never
+before served a master, if he have any other qualifications. But he is
+quick to acquire, and perhaps&mdash;perhaps, he may soon learn to preserve
+the armour of my lord&mdash;yes, he will soon make himself useful to my
+lord."</p>
+
+<p>"The cleaning of my armour," said Amador, in a very matter-of-fact
+manner, "is a duty which belongs particularly to Lazaro; whose fidelity,
+as well as that of Baltasar, is of so unquestionable a character, that
+it fully meets all the exigencies of my course of life. I would
+therefore receive thy son chiefly out of a hope to be comforted, at
+times, with his music; and partly out of pity for his forlornness. He
+will doubtless serve me as a page and cup-bearer; in which capacity,
+promising to give him as much protection and kindness as may be in my
+power, I consent to receive him."</p>
+
+<p>"And my lord will permit that I shall often see him?" said Abdoul,
+eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely I must desire thou shouldst," said Amador, "if it were possible
+thou couldst be in the same army."</p>
+
+<p>Abdalla looked at the cavalier with a bewildered and confused
+countenance, as if not understanding him.</p>
+
+<p>"I must acquaint thee, good Sidi," said Amador, "with one fact, of which
+thou seemest ignorant, and which may wholly change thy desires in this
+matter. Thy destination is to this town of Zempoala, and mine to the
+very far city Tenochtitlan; thy fate is to submit thee into the hands of
+the general Narvaez, as thou hast heard, to serve him as a cannonier,
+while mine is to betake myself to the general Cortes, his sworn and most
+indomitable enemy. Thou mayest therefore inquire of thyself, if thy boy
+go with me, whether thou wilt ever again look upon him; a question that
+I cannot myself answer in a satisfactory manner. Make thy election,
+therefore, whether thou wilt keep him at thy side, or entrust him to my
+guardianship; being assured, that if the latter be thy desire, I will
+bid thee call him, and straightway take him into my keeping."</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot be!" said Abdalla, vehemently;&mdash;"I cannot trust him from my
+sight: it cannot be! God is just; and justice may come with misery!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus lamenting, Abdoul al Sidi retired from the side of the cavalier;
+and Amador, whose pity was not a little touched, suffered his image to
+be crowded from his mind by the new and strange spectacles which were
+now opening upon him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>While he still talked with the Morisco, Don Amador was able to cast his
+eyes about him, and to perceive on either side a great multitude of low
+houses of wickered cane, which seemed to him more to resemble gigantic
+baskets than the habitations of men; but which, even in these latter
+days, are found sufficient to protect the humble aborigines from the
+vicissitudes of that benignant clime. Each stood by itself in an
+enclosure of shrubs and flowers, and where it happened that the inmates
+were within, with torches or fires burning, the blaze, streaming through
+the wattled walls, illuminated every thing around, and disclosed the
+figures of the habitants moving about like shadows in the flame. Other
+buildings, equally humble in size, were constructed of less remarkable
+but not less romantic materials; and where the moonbeams fell over their
+earthen walls and palmy roofs, both were often concealed by such a
+drapery of vines and creeping flowers, perhaps the odoriferous vanilla
+and the beautiful convolvulus, as might have satisfied the longings of a
+wood-nymph. As he approached nearer to the centre of the town, these
+lowly and lovely cottages were exchanged for fabrics of stone, many of
+them of considerable size, and several with walls covered with the
+bright and silvery plaster which ornamented the temples. Each of these,
+the dwellings of the <i>Tlatoani</i>, or, as the Spaniards called them, in
+the language of Santo Domingo, the <i>Caciques</i> of the city,&mdash;stood alone
+in its garden of flowers, with vines trailing, and palm-trees bending
+over its roof, commonly in darkness, though sometimes the myrtle-taper
+of a fair Totonac, (for such was the name of this provincial people of
+the coast,) or the oily cresset of a Spanish captain, who had made his
+quarters wherever was a house to his fancy, might be seen gleaming from
+behind the curtains of cotton stuff, which were hung at the doors and
+windows. These sights had been seen by Amador, while yet engaged in
+conversation with Abdalla; but when the Morisco dropped sorrowfully
+away, he found himself on the great square of the city, immediately
+fronting the sanctuaries, and gazing upon a scene of peculiarly wild and
+novel character. The centre of the square was occupied by a broad, and
+indeed a vast platform of earth, raised to a height of eight or ten
+feet, ascended from all sides by half as many steps,&mdash;having the
+appearance of a low truncated pyramid, serving as a base to the three
+towers which crowned it. Upon its summit or terrace, immediately in
+advance of the towers, was kindled a great fire, the blaze of which,
+besides illuminating the temple itself and all the buildings which
+surrounded the square, fell upon sundry groups of Indian tumblers,
+engaged in feats of activity, as well as upon a host of cavaliers who
+surveyed them close at hand, and many throngs of common soldiers and
+natives who looked on at a distance from the square.</p>
+
+<p>Here the detachment was halted; the burthens of the Tlamémé were
+deposited on the earth; the horses were freed from their packs; and
+Amador, at the suggestion of Salvatierra, dismounted, and leaving Fogoso
+to the care of his attendants, and these again to the disposition of the
+captain, ascended the pyramid, followed by the secretary. He was
+somewhat surprised, when this worthy commander, whom he looked for to
+conduct him to the general, resuming much of the stately dignity he had
+found it inconvenient to support on the march, made him a low bow, and
+informed him with much gravity he would find the commander-in-chief
+either on the terrace among his officers, or at his head-quarters in the
+middle tower. The feeling of indignation which for a moment beset him,
+would have been expressed, had not Salvatierra with another bow retired,
+and had he not perceived, at the same moment, the young Fabueno draw
+from his girdle the letter which was doubtless to secure him the
+good-will of Narvaez. Checking therefore his anger, he straightway
+ascended the platform. Arrived at its summit, he now beheld the scene
+which he had imperfectly witnessed from below. The great fire, crackling
+and roaring, added the ruddy glare of a volcano to the pallid
+illumination of the moon; and in the combined light, the operations of
+the gymnasts and dancers, the athletes and jugglers, were as visible as
+if performed in the glitter of noon-day. For a moment Amador thought, as
+had been thought by all other Spaniards, when looking for the first time
+on the sports of these barbarous races, that he had got among a group of
+devils, or at least of devilish magicians; and he crossed himself with
+an instinctive horror, when he beheld, so to speak, three piles of men,
+each composed of three individuals, half-naked, standing one upon the
+head or shoulders of another, whirling about in a circle, and each, as
+he whirled, dancing on the head or shoulders of his supporter, and
+tossing abroad his <i>penacho</i>, or long plume of feathers, as if diverting
+himself on the solid earth. This spectacle entirely distracted his
+attention from others scarcely less worthy of observation,&mdash;as was
+indeed that, where two men see-sawed on a pole, in the air, and, as
+might be said, without support, except that which was occasionally
+rendered by the feet of a sinewy pagan, who lay on his back, and ever
+and anon, as the flying phantoms descended, spurned them again into the
+air. Such also was that magical dance of the cords, brought from the
+unknown tribes of the South, wherein a score of men, each holding to a
+rope of some brilliant colour, and each decorated with the feathers of
+the parrot and the flamingo, whirled in fleet gyrations round a
+garlanded post, till their cords were twisted together in a net of
+incomprehensible complexity, but which, before the observer had leisure
+to digest his amazement, were again unravelled in the rapid and
+mysterious evolutions of the dance. A thousand other such exhibitions,
+similar in novelty but different in character, were displayed at the
+same moment; but the eyes of the neophyte were lost to all but that
+which had first astounded him; and it was not till the voice of the
+secretary roused him from his bewitchment, that he collected his senses,
+and observed an officer of the household of the general standing before
+him, and doing him such reverence as was evidently the right of his
+dignity. It was then that Don Amador looked from the dancers to the
+cavaliers whom they were diverting. The fire flashed over the walls of
+the square and lofty towers up to the shelving thatch of palm-leaves,
+under which they were grouped, making, with the glitter of their
+half-armed persons, a suitable addition to the romance of the scene. In
+the centre of that group which lounged before the middle and loftiest
+tower, in a chair, or indeed, as it might be called, a throne, of such
+barbaric beauty as was known only to the magnificos of this singular
+people, sat a cavalier, tall and somewhat majestic of stature, with a
+ruddy beard, and yellow locks falling over an agreeable countenance; in
+whom, not so much from the character of his deportment and the quality
+of his decorations, as from the evident homage rendered him by the
+officers around, Don Amador did not doubt he beheld the Biscayan
+general. At the very moment when his eyes fell upon this smiling
+dignitary, he was himself perceived by the general; and Narvaez started
+up with a sort of confusion, as if ashamed to be discovered in such
+trivial enjoyment by so gallant a cavalier. In fact, the glittering
+casque of steel had supplanted the velvet cap on the head of the novice;
+and as he approached in full armour, clad also in the dignity with which
+he was wont to approach his fellows in rank, Don Amador presented a
+figure, to say the least, equally noble with that of the
+commander,&mdash;and, what was no slight advantage in those days, with the
+additional manifestation of high blood, such as was certainly less
+questionable in him than in Narvaez. It seemed for a moment, as if the
+general would have retreated into the temple, doubtless with the view of
+assuming a more stately character for the interview; but perceiving that
+Don Amador had already recognised him, and was advancing, he changed his
+purpose, and making a step forward to do honour to his visiter, he stood
+still to receive him. The eyes of all those gallant adventurers were
+turned from the dancers to the new-comer; but Don Amador, not much moved
+by such a circumstance, as indifferent to their curiosity as their
+admiration, approached with a stately gravity, and, making a courteous
+reverence to the general, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt it is my felicity at this present moment to offer my
+devoirs to the noble and very respected señor, the general Don Panfilo
+de Narvaez; on the presumption of which, I, Amador de Leste, of Cuenza,
+a novice of the holy hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, do not hesitate
+to claim the hospitalities, which, as an hidalgo of Spain, and kinsman
+of the noble señor, the admiral Cavallero, your excellency's
+confederate, I hold myself entitled to expect."</p>
+
+<p>"The very noble and valiant señor Don Amador de Leste shall not claim
+those hospitalities in vain," said the general, with a voice whose
+natural and voluminous harshness did not conceal an attempt at amenity;
+"and I hope he will not anticipate in them too little of the roughness
+of a soldier, by reason that he has seen us unbending a little from the
+toils of war to the foolish diversions of these ingenious barbarians."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not take upon me to judge either of the tactics or the
+recreations of your excellency," said Amador, very coolly. "I will only
+demand of your favour to accept, at this present moment, such
+protestations of respect as become me in my function of suitor; and, in
+especial, to accredit my companion, the secretary Fabueno, the messenger
+of the admiral, who is charged with certain letters to your excellency,
+of which, I believe, I am myself, in part, the subject."</p>
+
+<p>"I receive them with respect, and I welcome the very distinguished Don
+Amador with much joy," said Narvaez; "in token of which I must beg him
+to allow himself to be considered, at least so long as he honours my
+command with his presence, as my own peculiar guest: and that I may the
+sooner know in what it may be my happiness to do him service, I must
+entreat him to enter with me into my poor quarters."</p>
+
+<p>With such superb expressions of etiquette, the common compliments of an
+over-chivalrous age and people, Don Amador was ushered into the interior
+of the temple. A curtain of a certain strong and checkered matting, that
+served the purpose of a door, was pushed aside, and, entering with the
+general and two or three of his most favoured officers, he found himself
+in the heathen sanctuary. A table covered with brilliant drapery of
+cotton&mdash;a product of the country&mdash;and strewed over with pieces of
+armour, as well as with divers vessels wherein glowed some of the rich
+wines ripened by the breath of the Solano, contained also a great silver
+cresset filled with oil tempered with liquidambar, which, besides
+pervading the whole atmosphere with a delicious odour, shed abroad such
+a light as enabled Don Amador to survey the apartment. It was of good
+height, and spacious: the walls were hung with arras of a sombre-hued
+cotton, and the floor covered with thick matting. In one corner was a
+ladder, leading to the upper chambers. Two sides of it were occupied by
+a low platform, on which lay several mattresses stuffed with the down of
+the ceiba; over one of which, on a small altar of wood, illuminated by
+tapers of the myrtle wax, was a little image of the Virgin. In this
+chamber, the chief adoratory of the temple, where now flashed the
+weapons of the iconoclasts, stood once the altar of an idol, whose
+fiendish lips had been often died with the blood of human sacrifices.
+There were rude chairs about the table; and Amador, at the invitation of
+the general, did not hesitate to seat himself, and cast an eye of
+observation on his companions, while Narvaez, with the assistance of the
+secretary, proceeded to decipher the advices of the admiral.</p>
+
+<p>The individuals with whom Amador found himself in contact, were of a
+genteel and manly presence: and though evidently burning with desire to
+make the acquaintance of the novice of Rhodes, and certainly also with
+curiosity to know what strange event had cast him among themselves, had
+yet sufficient breeding to conceal their anxieties,&mdash;excepting one, who,
+although of riper years than the rest, and even of more gravity of
+deportment, was nevertheless twice or thrice guilty of a very
+inquisitive stare. This Don Amador did himself at last perceive, and
+felt greatly moved to discover the cause of so remarkable a scrutiny.
+Nevertheless, before he had resolved in what manner to commence the
+investigation, and before the general had well looked into the advices
+of the admiral, they were both interrupted in their purpose by the
+abrupt intrusion of an officer, who, approaching Narvaez, said something
+to him in a low voice, of which all that Amador could distinguish were
+the words, twice or thrice repeated, of <i>nigromante</i> and <i>astrologo</i>.
+The officer received a direction equally obscure with his information;
+and Amador observed that as Narvaez gave it, his face flushed over with
+some sudden excitement. The speculations of the neophyte were soon
+terminated. Before the curtain had yet closed upon the retreating
+officer, the cavalier whose curious looks had attracted his own
+attention, rose and addressed the general.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor general and governor," he cried, "I doubt whether this knavish
+impostor be worthy your attention. He is accounted both a liar and
+traitor, and he can tell us nothing that will not be spoken to deceive
+us."</p>
+
+<p>"The señor Don Andres de Duero cannot be better persuaded of the man's
+character than myself," said the general; "and he will not assure me
+that a good general can refuse to listen to any intelligence of his
+enemy, though it be brought by a traitor.&mdash;The noble Don Amador de Leste
+will pardon me, if I make so free with him, as in his presence to
+introduce and examine a prisoner, or deserter, I know not which, on
+matters which it concerns me as a commander to know. And moreover,"
+continued the Biscayan, with a laugh, "I know not what better diversion
+I can give my guest, than to make him acquainted with a man who pretends
+to read the mysteries of the stars by night, and to have a devil who
+gives him knowledge of men's destinies by daylight."</p>
+
+<p>Before Amador could reply to this appeal, the señor Duero spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely he can bring us no information of Cortes which we have not
+received at better hands; and as for his magical art, I think your
+excellency holds that in too much doubt and contempt to set much store
+by its crazy revelations."</p>
+
+<p>"What may be my doubt, and what my contempt for his art," said the
+general, "is more than I have yet resolved: only there is one thing of
+which I am quite certain, and that is, that, with the blessing of Our
+Holy and Immaculate Lady, I defy the devil and all his imps, whether
+they come at the bidding of a heathenish magician or a Christian
+enchanter; and, moreover, that if there be any knowledge to be gained of
+the devil, without jeopardy of soul, one is a fool not to receive it.
+Señor," continued Narvaez, addressing himself again to Amador, "I may as
+well tell you, that the magician Botello, whom you will presently
+behold, is a favourite soldier and chief enchanter to that infidel
+rebel, Cortes, (whom God confound, with all his mutinous friends and
+upholders, high and low, strong and feeble, Amen!)&mdash;I say, señor, his
+chief magician," continued the general, speaking so rapidly and
+impetuously, as utterly to prevent Don Amador from making the amendment
+he meditated to the curse, and insisting that Narvaez should revoke it,
+as far at least as it concerned his kinsman, the knight,&mdash;"his chief
+magician, by whose aid, it is supposed, the runagate desperado has been
+enabled to imprison the Indian emperor. And, knave or not Don Amador, it
+cannot be denied, that when struck down, after surrendering himself,
+this morning, by the currish soldier, Caboban, he cursed the smiter with
+'a short life and a long death;' which curse was fulfilled upon him on
+the instant; for striking Botello with his spear again, his horse
+plunged, threw him violently, and, falling, he was instantly spitted on
+the spear of a footman. He has been dying ever since; and sometime,
+doubtless, his agony will be over; but he is as good as a dead man now."</p>
+
+<p>"I am by no means certain," said Don Amador, "that there was any
+connexion between the curse of the magician and the calamity of the
+soldier; though, as it appears to me, heaven could not visit with
+judgment any one more righteously than the dastard who strikes an enemy
+after he has rendered himself a captive. Nevertheless, and though I am
+somewhat impatient your excellency should determine upon my own affairs,
+I have such respect for the superior claims of your duties, that I will
+willingly defer my anxiety until your excellency has examined the
+prisoner."</p>
+
+<p>There were several very meaning glances exchanged among the cavaliers at
+this speech, which seemed to imply a feeling of neglect and resentment
+on the part of the speaker; but Narvaez did not notice it, or if he did,
+the impression was immediately driven from his mind by the entrance of
+the enchanter, conducted by several soldiers and officers, among whom
+was the captain Salvatierra.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Amador surveyed the prisoner, though somewhat indifferently. He was, in
+figure and age, very much such a man as Baltasar, but in other respects
+very dissimilar. His face was wan, and even cadaverous; but this might
+have been the effect of the blows he had received from the dying
+soldier, as was made probable by the presence of several spots of blood
+encrusted over his visage. His cheeks were broad, and the bones
+prominent; his eyes very hollow, and expressive of a wild solemnity,
+mingled with cunning; his beard long and bushy, and only slightly
+grizzled, and a rugged mustache hung over his lips so as almost to
+conceal them. His apparel was of black cloth, none of the freshest, the
+principal garment of which was a long loose doublet, under which was
+buckled an iron breast-plate,&mdash;his only armour; for, instead of a
+morion, he wore a cloth hat of capacious brim, stuck round with the
+feathers of divers birds, as well as several medals of the saints,
+rudely executed in silver. Besides these fantastic decorations, he had
+suspended to his neck several instruments of the Cabala,&mdash;a pentacle of
+silver, and charms and talismans written over with mystical characters,
+as well as a little leathern pouch filled with various dried herbs and
+roots. This mystagogue, an agent of no little importance among many of
+the scenes of the Conquest, was led into the presence of the general,
+and approached him without betraying any signs of fear or embarrassment;
+nor, on the other hand, did he manifest any thing like audacity or
+presumption; but lifting his eyes to the visage of the Biscayan, he
+gazed upon him with a silent and grave earnestness, that seemed somewhat
+to disconcert the leader.</p>
+
+<p>"Sirrah sorcerer," said he, "since the devil has deserted you at last,
+call up what spirits you can muster, and find me why I shall not hang
+you for a spy, early in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Tetragrammaton Adonai!</i>" muttered the warrior-magician in the holy
+gibberish of his art, with a voice of sepulchral hollowness, and with a
+countenance gleaming with indignation or enthusiasm. "In the name of
+God, Amen! I defy the devil, and am the servant of his enemy; and in the
+land of devils, of Apollyon in the air, Beelzebub on the earth, and
+Satan in men's hearts, I forswear and defy, contemn and denounce them;
+and I pray for, and foresee, the day when they shall tumble from the
+high places!"</p>
+
+<p>"All this thou mayst do, and all this thou mayst foresee," said the
+general; "but nevertheless thy wisdom will be more apparent to employ
+itself a little in the investigation of thine own fate; which, I promise
+thee, is approaching to a crisis."</p>
+
+<p>"I have read it in the stars, I have seen it in the smoke of waters and
+of blessed herbs, and I have heard it from the lips of dead men and the
+tongues of dreams," cried the professor of the occult sciences, with
+much emphasis. "But what is the fate of Botello, the swordsman, to that
+of the leaders of men, the conquerors of kings and great nations? I have
+read my own destinies; but why shouldst thou trifle the time to know
+them, when I can show thee the higher mysteries of thine own?"</p>
+
+<p>"Canst thou do so? By my faith then, I will have thee speak them very
+soon," said Narvaez. "But first, let me know what wert thou doing when
+thou wert found prowling this morning so near to my camp?"</p>
+
+<p>"Gathering the herbs for the suffumigation which shall tell me in what
+part of the world thou shalt lay thy bones!" said the magician,
+solemnly. "The moon, in the house Alchil, showed me many things, but not
+all; a thick smoke came over the crystal, and I saw not what I wanted; I
+slept under the cross, with a skull on my bosom, but it breathed nothing
+but clouds. Wherefore I knew, it should be only when the wolf spoke to
+the vulture, and the vulture to the red star, that Camael the angel
+should unlock the lips of destiny, and lead me whither I longed to
+follow."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ever bound to thee," said the general, with a manner in which an
+attempt at mockery was mingled with a natural touch of superstition,
+"for the extreme interest thou seemest to cherish in my fate and again I
+say to thee, I will immediately converse with thee on that subject. But
+at present, señor nigromante, I warn thee, it will be but wisdom, to
+confine thy rhapsodies within the limits of answers to such
+interrogatories as I shall propose thee.&mdash;Where lies thy master, the
+outcast and arch-rebel, my enemy?"</p>
+
+<p>"My <i>master</i> is in heaven!" said Botello, with a devout and lofty
+earnestness, "and there is no outcast and rebel but he that dwelleth in
+the pit, under the foot of Michael; and <i>he</i> is the enemy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sirrah! I speak to thee of the knave Cortes," cried the general,
+angrily. "When wert thou last at his side? and where?"</p>
+
+<p>"At midnight,&mdash;on the river of Canoes, where he has rested, as thou
+knowest, for a night and a day."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" said the Biscayan fiercely; "within a league of my head-quarters,
+whither my clemency has suffered him to come."</p>
+
+<p>"Whither God and his good star have drawn him," said the magician.</p>
+
+<p>"And whence I will drive him to the rocks of the mountains, or the
+mangroves of the beach, ere thou art cured of thy wounds!"</p>
+
+<p>"Lo! my wounds are healed!" said Botello; "the hand that inflicted them
+is stiff and cold, and Hernan Cortes yet lies by the river! Ay, the holy
+unguent, blessed of the fat of a pagan's heart, hath dried the blood and
+glued the skin; and yet my captain, whose fate I have seen and spoken,
+even from the glory of noon to the long and sorrowful shadows of the
+evening, marshals his band within the sound of thy matin bell; and wo
+be to his foeman when he is nearer or further!"</p>
+
+<p>"Prattling fool," said the commander, "if thou hadst looked to the
+bright moon to-night, thou wouldst have seen how soon the cotton-trees
+of the river should be strung with thy leader and companions, and with
+thyself, as a liar and an impostor, in their midst!"</p>
+
+<p>"I looked," said the veteran, tranquilly, "and saw what will be seen,
+but not by <i>all</i>. There was thunder in the temple, and peace by the
+river, and more wailing than comes from the lips of the Penitent
+Knight."</p>
+
+<p>The angry impetuosity with which Narvaez was about to continue the
+conference, was interrupted by the impatience of the novice. He had
+listened with much disgust both to the mystic jargon of the soldier and
+the idle demands and bravadoes of the general. The interest with which
+he discovered how short a distance separated him from his kinsman, was
+increased to an irresistible excitement, when he heard the title with
+which, as the admiral had told him, the knight was distinguished among
+the invaders, on the lips of Botello. Rising therefore abruptly, he
+said,</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Narvaez, I have to beg your pardon, if, in my own impatience to
+be satisfied in a matter which I have much at heart, I am somewhat blind
+to the importance of this present controversy. If your excellency will
+do me the favour to examine the letters of the admiral, you will
+discover that it is not so much my purpose to lay claim to your
+hospitable entertainment, the proffer of which I acknowledge with much
+gratitude, as to request your permission to pass through the lines of
+your army, to join my kinsman the knight Calavar. Understanding,
+therefore, from the words of this lunatic, or enchanter, whichever he
+may be, that I am within the short distance of a league from my good
+knight, to whom all my allegiance is due, I see not wherefore I should
+not proceed to join him forthwith, instead of wasting the night in
+slumber. I must, therefore, crave of your excellency to grant me, to the
+camp of the señor Cortes, a guide, to whom I will, with my life and
+honour, guarantee a safe return;&mdash;or such instructions concerning my
+route, as will enable me to proceed alone&mdash;that is to say, with my
+attendants."</p>
+
+<p>The effect of this interruption and unexpected demand, on the
+countenances of all, was remarkable enough. The cavaliers present stared
+at the novice with amazement, and even a sort of dismay; and the
+secretary Fabueno, looking by chance at the captain Salvatierra,
+observed the visage of this worthy suddenly illuminated by a grin of
+delight. As for the general himself, nothing could be more unfeigned
+than his surprise, nothing more unquestionable than the displeasure
+which instantly began to darken his visage. He rose, thrust his hand
+into his belt, as if to give his fingers something to gripe, and drawing
+himself to his full height, said haughtily and severely,</p>
+
+<p>"When I invited the cavalier De Leste to share the shelter of this
+temple, I did not think I received a friend of the traitor Cortes or of
+any of his people; nor did I dream an adherent of this outlaw would dare
+to beard me at my head-quarters with so rash and audacious a request!"</p>
+
+<p>"The señor Narvaez has then to learn," said Amador, with a degree of
+moderation that could only be produced by a remembrance of his
+engagement to the admiral, and his promise to the secretary, not
+causelessly to provoke the anger of the general,&mdash;but nevertheless with
+unchanging decision, "that if I boast not to be the friend of Cortes,
+whom you call a traitor, I avouch myself to be very much the creature of
+mine own will; and that if I cannot be termed the adherent of an outlaw,
+I am at least a Spanish hidalgo, bent on the prosecution of my designs,
+and making requests more as the ceremonies of courtesy, than the tribute
+of humility. I will claim nothing more of your excellency than your
+excellency is, without claim, inclined to grant; and allowing therefore
+that you invited me to your lodgings under a mistaken apprehension of my
+character, I will straightway release you from the obligation, only
+previously desiring of your excellency to reconsider your expressions,
+wherein, as I think, was an innuendo highly unjust and offensive."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, by heaven!" exclaimed the Biscayan, with all the irascibility of
+his race, and the arrogant pride of his station, "I have happened upon a
+strange day, when a vagabond esquire, wandering through my jurisdiction,
+asks my permission to throw himself into the arms of my enemy; and when
+I admonish him a little of his rashness, rebukes me with insult and
+defiance!"</p>
+
+<p>"A very strange day indeed!" muttered a voice among the cavaliers, in
+which Amador, had he not been too much occupied with other
+considerations, might have recognized the tones of Salvatierra.</p>
+
+<p>"Biscayan!" said he, with an eye of fire, "I have given you all the
+respect, which, as a governor's governor, and a captain's captain, you
+had a right to demand; I have also done you the homage of a guest to his
+host, and of a gentleman to a reputed hidalgo; but neither as a governor
+nor commander, neither as a host nor a nobleman, have you the privilege
+to offend with impunity, or to insult without being called to a
+reckoning."</p>
+
+<p>"Is this another madman of the stock of Calavar, that the silly admiral
+hath sent me?" cried the enfuriated leader, snatching up a sword from
+the table, and advancing upon the novice.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Panfilo!" cried Amador, confronting the general, and waving his
+hand with dignity, "unless thou force me by thine own violence, I cannot
+draw my sword upon thee on thine own floor, not even although thou add
+to thy wrongs a sarcasm on my knight and kinsman. Nevertheless I fling
+this glove at thy feet, in token that if thou art as valiant as thou art
+ill-bred, as ready to repair as to inflict an injury, I will claim of
+thee, as soon as may suit thy convenience, to meet me with weapons, and
+to answer thy manifold indignities."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Dios santísimo!</i>" cried the commander, foaming with rage and stamping
+furiously on the floor. "What ho! swords and pikemen! shall I strike
+this <i>galofero</i> braggart with my own hands? Arrest him!"</p>
+
+<p>"The blood of him that stays me, be on his own head!" said Amador,
+drawing his sword and striding to the entrance. "I will remember thee,
+uncourteous cavalier, when I see thee in a fitter place."</p>
+
+<p>The arm of the governor had been arrested by Duero; and in the confusion
+of the moment, though the door of the tower was instantly beset by a
+dozen gaping attendants, Don Amador would doubtless have passed through
+them without detention, notwithstanding the furious commands of Narvaez.
+But at the moment, when, as he waved his sword menacingly, the
+hesitating satellites seemed parting before him, Salvatierra stepped
+nimbly behind, and suddenly seizing his outstretched arm, and calling to
+the guards at the same time, in an instant Don Amador was disarmed and a
+prisoner. His rage was for a moment unspeakable; but it did not render
+him incapable of observing the faithful boldness of the secretary.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor general!" cried Lorenzo, though with a stammering voice, "if your
+excellency will read this letter to the end, your excellency will find
+my master recommends Don Amador as of a most noble and lofty family,
+and, at this moment, raised above arrest and detention, by being charged
+with authority from the Grand Master of Rhodes."</p>
+
+<p>The only answer of the general was a scowl and a wave of the hand, which
+instantly left Fabueno in the predicament of the cavalier. He was
+seized, and before he could follow the example of his patron, and draw
+his sabre, it was snatched from his inexperienced hand.</p>
+
+<p>All this passed in a moment; and before the neophyte could give
+utterance to the indignation which choked him, he was dragged, with
+Fabueno, from the sanctuary.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The dancers had fled from the terrace; the fire had smouldered away; but
+in the light of the moon, which shed a far lovelier radiance, Don
+Amador, as he was hurried to the steps, saw in place of the gay
+cavaliers, a few sentries striding in front of the towers, and among the
+artillery which frowned on either edge of the platform. Nevertheless, if
+his rage had left him inquisitive, he was not allowed time to indulge
+his observations. He was hurried down the steps, carried a few paces
+further, and instantly immured in the stone dwelling of some native
+chief, which, by the substitution of a door of plank for the cotton
+curtain, and other simple contrivances, had been easily converted into a
+prison.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the rage of the governor burned with a fury that was
+not much lessened by the remonstrances of his officers; and to the
+counsel of Duero,&mdash;the personal secretary of Don Diego Velasquez,
+accompanying the expedition less as an adviser than as a spy over the
+general, and therefore necessarily held in some respect,&mdash;he answered
+only with heat and sarcasm.</p>
+
+<p>"I have ever found the señor Don Andres," he cried, without regarding
+the presence of Botello, "to be more friendly with the friends of Cortes
+than may seem fitting in the honourable and confidential secretary of
+Velasquez!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not deny that such is my temper," said Duero; "nor will I
+conceal from you that such leniency springs less from affection than
+interest. Sure am I, that had your excellency, from the first, held out
+the arms of conciliation, instead of the banners of vengeance, at this
+moment, instead of being arrayed against you in desperate hostility, the
+forces of Cortes would have been found enrolled under your own
+standard, and Cortes himself among the humblest and faithfullest of your
+captains."</p>
+
+<p>"While I doubt that effect," said the general sharply, "I cannot but be
+assured of the strength of Don Andres's interest, while I listen to the
+whispers of his enemies."</p>
+
+<p>Duero coloured, but replied calmly:</p>
+
+<p>"It is not unknown to me, that certain ill-advised persons have charged
+me with being under the influence of a secret compact with Cortes,
+formed before his appointment to the command of the first army of
+invasion; whereby I was to share a full third of the profits of his
+enterprise. Without pretending to show the improbability of such an
+agreement, I will, for an instant, allow your excellency to take it for
+granted, in order that your excellency may give me credit for my present
+disinterestedness, in doing all I can to ruin my colleague; in which I
+reckon, as no slight matter, taking every opportunity to decoy away his
+followers."</p>
+
+<p>"If thou wilt show me in what manner submission to the whims and insults
+of this insolent boy could have detached any of the mutineers from
+Cortes, I will confess myself in error, and liberate him forthwith,"
+said the general.</p>
+
+<p>"The insult has been passed, the blow has been struck," said Duero
+gravely, "and unless your excellency chooses to measure swords with him
+immediately after his liberation, nothing can be gained by such a step.
+I should rather counsel your excellency to have the prison watched with
+a double guard. But, in arresting him, you have, besides giving deep
+offence to your colleague, the admiral, for ever won the hate and
+hostility of the knight of Rhodes; and when this is told him in the camp
+of Cortes, it will harden the hearts of all against us."</p>
+
+<p>"When it is told in the camp of Cortes," said Narvaez, with a bitter
+smile, "it shall be with mine own lips; and if I hang not upon a tree,
+afterwards, the knight Calavar himself, it will be more out of regard
+to his madness, than to the dignity of his knighthood. I will attack the
+rebel to-morrow!"</p>
+
+<p>"Your excellency is heated by anger," said Duero temperately; "or you
+would observe you have a follower of the rebel for a listener."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! Botello!" cried the general, with a laugh of scorn. "He will carry
+my counsels to Cortes when the cony carries food to the serpent, and the
+sick ox to the carrion crow. Hark, sirrah,&mdash;thou hast read the fate of
+thy master: will I attack him to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt not," said Botello, with an unmoved countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" cried Narvaez; "art thou so sure of this that thou wilt pledge
+thy head on the prophecy? Thou shall live to be hanged at sunset, with
+thy old comrades for spectators."</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven has written another history for to-morrow," said Botello,
+gravely; "and I have read that as closely as the page of to-day; but
+what is for myself, is, and no man may know it: The fate in store for
+the vain pride and the quick anger, may, in part, be spoken."</p>
+
+<p>"Sirrah," said Narvaez, "remember, that though the vain pride might
+overlook one so contemptible as thyself, the quick anger is not yet
+allayed; and if thou wilt not have me beat thee in the morning, proceed
+forthwith to discourse of our destinies."</p>
+
+<p>"Blows shall be struck," said the magician, earnestly; "but whether upon
+my own head or another's, whether in this temple or another place,
+whether in the morning or the evening, I am not permitted to divulge.
+Repent of thy sins; call in a confessor, and pray; for wrath cometh, and
+sorrow is behind! By the spirits that live in the stars, by the elves
+that dwell in stones and shrubs, by the virtues that are caged in matter
+where the ignorant man findeth naught but ignorance, have I been made
+acquainted with many things appertaining to thy fate, but not all. If
+thou wilt, I will speak thee the things I am permitted."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak then," cried the general; "for whether thy knowledge be truth or
+lies, whether it come from the revelations of angels, or the diabolical
+instructions of fiends, I will listen without fear."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Adonai Melech!</i> under the heaven, and above the abyss,&mdash;with my hand
+on the cross, and the rosary in my bosom,&mdash;in Rome, near to the
+footsteps of his holiness, and with one who was his favourite
+astrologer, studied I mine art; and there is nothing in it that is not
+blessed," said Botello, with a solemn enthusiasm, that made a deep
+impression upon all.&mdash;"Give me a staff, that I may draw the curtain from
+this loop," he continued.</p>
+
+<p>The sword of a younger officer was instantly extended, the curtain
+removed, and the moon, climbing the blue hills of paradise, looked down
+into the apartment. The cavaliers stared at the astrologer and magician,
+for Botello was both, some with an unconcealed awe, and others, the
+general among the rest, with an endeavour at looks of contempt not in
+good character with the interest they betrayed in all his proceedings.
+He raised his eyes to the beautiful luminary&mdash;enough to create by her
+mystic splendour the elements of superstition in the breast of a
+rhapsodist,&mdash;crossed himself devoutly twice or thrice, mumbled certain
+inexplicable words, and then said aloud, with a mournful emphasis,</p>
+
+<p>"Wo to him that sits in the high place, when the moon shines from the
+house Allatha! But the time has not come; and I dare not speak the hour
+of its visitation."</p>
+
+<p>"And what shall it advantage me to know my peril, if I have not such
+knowledge as may enable me to prevent it?" demanded Narvaez, with a
+frown.</p>
+
+<p>"And what would it benefit thee to know the time of thy peril," said the
+astrologer, "when God has not given thee the power to avert it? What is
+written must be fulfilled; what is declared must be accomplished.
+Listen&mdash;the queen of night is in the eighteenth mansion; and under that
+influence, discord is sown in the hearts of men, sedition comes to the
+earth, and conspiracy hatches under the green leaf."</p>
+
+<p>The general turned quickly upon his officers, and surveyed them with an
+eye of suspicion. They looked blankly one upon another, until Duero,
+laughing in a forced and unnatural manner, cried,</p>
+
+<p>"Why should we listen to this madman, if we are so affected by his
+ravings? Señor general, you will straightway look upon us all as
+traitors!"</p>
+
+<p>"There have been villains about us before," muttered the general, "but I
+will not take the moon's word for it; and the more especially that I
+must receive it through this man's interpretation."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the influence, too, that is good for the friendless captive,"
+continued the magician; "and many a heart that beats under bonds
+to-night, will leap in freedom to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Every way this is bad for us," said Duero, banteringly. "I would advise
+your excellency to clap chains on the legs of De Leste and the scribe,
+who are, I think, saving the few rogues of Cortes who have craved to
+enter into our service, the only prisoners in our possession."</p>
+
+<p>"And dost thou think this gibberish will move me to any such
+precaution?" cried Narvaez, with a compelled smile. "Thou canst not
+believe I listen to it for aught but diversion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely not, if your excellency says so. But still may we guard the
+prisoners, without fear of being laughed at for our superstition,&mdash;as
+long as we have faith in the discretion of all present."</p>
+
+<p>"Guard them thyself, if thou wilt," said the general; "I am not moved
+enough for such condescension.&mdash;Continue thy mummeries, Botello," he
+went on, "and when thou art done with the moon, of which I am heartily
+tired, I will look for thee to introduce me to some essence that speaks
+a clearer language."</p>
+
+<p>"What wouldst thou have?" cried the astrologer; "what plainer language
+wouldst thou have spoken? In the house Allatha is written the defection
+of friends, the dethronement of princes, the fall of citadels in a
+siege."</p>
+
+<p>"Villain and caitiff! dost thou dare to insinuate that this citadel of
+Zempoala is in a state of siege?" cried the Biscayan, with a ferocious
+frown.</p>
+
+<p>"I speak of the things that are to come;" said Botello. "What more than
+this wilt thou have?"</p>
+
+<p>"It will doubtless be well," interrupted Duero, significantly, "to
+evacuate this city in the morning. By encamping in the fields, we can
+certainly avoid the danger of a besieged citadel."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou gibe me, Don Andres?" said Narvaez, with a brow on which
+jealousy struggled with rage.</p>
+
+<p>The secretary of Velasquez laid his hand on his heart, with a gesture of
+respectful deprecation.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! I see thou art stirred by these phantasms!" cried the governor,
+with a harsh laugh, looking from Duero to the other cavaliers. "What
+means this, my masters? Do ye all stare as if ye had got among you a
+dead Samuel, telling ye of your deaths on the morrow? Cheer up,&mdash;for,
+by'r lady, I intend, if this old fellow's command of the black art runs
+so far, to divert you with a more horrible companion. What sayest thou,
+Botello? It is whispered thou canst raise devils, and force them to
+speak to thee!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" said Botello, with a ghastly grin, staring the general in the
+face, until the latter faltered before him. "Wilt thou adventure then so
+far? Canst <i>thou</i>, whose eyes tremble at the gaze of a living creature,
+think to look upon the face of a fallen angel? Hast thou confessed
+to-day, and been absolved? hast thou been free, since the sunrise, of
+thoughts of treachery and feelings of wrath? The pentacle and the circle
+the consecrated sword and the crucifix, the sign of the cross and the
+muttered paternoster, will not protect the unshriven sinner from the
+claws of a raised demon."</p>
+
+<p>"If thou canst raise him," said Narvaez stoutly, "do so, and quickly. I
+fortify myself in the name of God and the Holy Ones, against all spirits
+and devils. It will be much satisfaction to my curiosity to look upon
+one of the accursed."</p>
+
+<p>"They are about us in the air&mdash;they are at our elbows and ears," said
+Botello; "and it needs but a spell to be spoken to bring them before us.
+But wo to him that hath thought a sin to day, when the Evil One looks on
+him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Narvaez," cried Duero, with a most expressive and contagious
+alarm, "if it be your inclination to raise the devil, you must indulge
+it alone. For my part, I confess there have been, this day, certain
+sinful thoughts about my bosom, which have unfitted me for such an
+interview; and&mdash;I care not who knows it&mdash;my valour has in it so little
+of the fire of faith, I would sooner, at any moment, speak with ten men
+than one devil. God be with you, señor,&mdash;I wish you a good evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Tarry, Duero; stay, cavaliers!" cried Narvaez, losing much of his own
+dread in the contemplation of the apprehension of others. "Why, you are
+such a knot of sinners as I dreamed not I had about me! Faith, I am
+ashamed of you, and of you in particular, Duero; for I thought thy
+shrewdness would have seen in this knave's attempt to frighten us from
+the exhibition, an excellent evidence of his inability to make it."</p>
+
+<p>"I could show thee more than thou couldst see," said Botello, "and, I
+know, more things will come to thee than thou <i>shall</i> see. I know, with
+all thy vaunting, thou wouldst perish in the gaze of an angel of hell;
+for thy heart would be the heart of a boy, and it flutters already, even
+at the thought of the spectacle.&mdash;I will show thee an essence thou
+mayest look upon without alarm."</p>
+
+<p>"Do so," said Narvaez, sternly; "and remember, while saying what may be
+necessary by way of explanation, that thou speakest to the chief and
+governor of these lands, who will whip thy head from thy neck, in spite
+of all the devils, if thou discoursest not with more becoming
+reverence."</p>
+
+<p>"My fate is written!" cried Botello, with neither indignation or alarm;
+and drawing calmly from his bosom an implement of his art, he advanced
+to the light, and displayed it freely to the cavaliers. It was, or
+seemed to be, an antique jewel of rock-crystal, not bigger than a
+pigeon's egg, set in the centre of a triangular disk of gold, on which
+last, were engraved many unknown characters and figures. Crossing
+himself twice or thrice, the enchanter swung it by a little silver chain
+to which it was pendent, in the full blaze of the lamp; so that either
+of the persons present might have handled it, had any been so disposed.
+But, in truth, the superstition of an age for which no marvel was too
+gross, no miracle too wonderful, was more or less shared by all; and
+they merely surveyed it at a distance with curiosity and fear.</p>
+
+<p>"This," said the magician,&mdash;"a gem more precious to the wise than the
+adamant of the East, but in the hands of the unfaithful, more pernicious
+than the tooth of a viper,&mdash;is the prison-house of an essence that was
+once powerful among the spirits of night. The great Agrippa wedged him
+in this stone; and from Agrippa, when I rested at his feet in the holy
+city, did I receive the inestimable gift.&mdash;Kalidon-Sadabath! the night
+is thy season, the midnight thy time of power! The lord of men calls
+thee from thy prison-house, the armed man calls thee with the sword&mdash;Lo!
+he wakes from his slumber, and will image out the destiny of the
+seeker!"</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers, starting, gazed behind them with fear, as if expecting to
+behold some mighty fiend rising shadowy from the floor; but no
+intelligence more lofty or more ignoble than themselves was visible in
+the sanctuary. They bent their eyes upon the crystal, and beheld, some
+with surprise and others with deep awe, a little drop as of some black
+liquid, glittering in the very centre of the jewel.</p>
+
+<p>The haughty soldiers who would have rushed with cries of joy upon an
+army of infidels, shrank away with murmurs of hesitation, when Botello
+extended the talisman towards them. But they mistook the gesture of the
+magician; his arm was outstretched more to display the wonder than to
+part with it. He surveyed it himself a moment with much satisfaction;
+then turning to Narvaez, he said,</p>
+
+<p>"Lay thy hand upon the cross of thy sword, say a paternoster over in thy
+heart, and thou shalt be protected from the mischief of this
+inquisition, while I tell thee what I behold in the face of
+Kalidon-Sadabath."</p>
+
+<p>"With your favour," cried Narvaez, suddenly and boldly snatching the
+enchanted crystal from the hands of Botello, "I will choose rather to
+see his visage myself, than trust to your interpretations; and as for
+the protection, I can con over a paternoster while I am looking: though,
+why it needs to bestow so much piety upon this juggler's gewgaw, is more
+than I can understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Say at least the prayer," cried Botello, earnestly, "for neither
+enchanted crystal nor consecrated gold can hold the strong spirit from
+the wicked and self-sufficient."</p>
+
+<p>"I have much trust in the saints, and in myself," said the governor,
+coolly, greatly assured and inspirited by the harmless appearance of the
+little mystery. "Nevertheless, I will follow your counsel, in the matter
+of the prayer,&mdash;the more readily that it will keep my mind from
+wandering to more important affairs; and because, in part, I am somewhat
+burdened with the sin of neglecting such duties, when there is more
+occasion for them."</p>
+
+<p>He drew the lamp to him, grasped the crystal firmly in his hands, and
+bending over it so closely that his warm breath sullied its lustre,
+regarded it with a fixed attention. The cavaliers noted the proceeding
+with interest; they gazed now at the jewel almost concealed in his
+grasp, and now at the general, as his lips muttered over the inaudible
+prayer.&mdash;Suddenly, and before he had half accomplished the task, they
+observed his brows knit, and his lip fall; his eye dilated with a stare
+of terror,&mdash;a deadly paleness came over his visage,&mdash;and starting up and
+loosing the talisman from his grasp, he exclaimed wildly,</p>
+
+<p>"By heaven, there is a living creature in the stone!"</p>
+
+<p>The sorcerer caught the magical implement as it fell from the hands of
+Narvaez; and throwing himself upon his knees, while the cavaliers looked
+on in mute astonishment, exclaimed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Forget not the prayer! and be content to hear what is revealed by the
+imp of the crystal. Kalidon-Sadabath! He flingeth abroad his arms, and
+is in wrath and trouble!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," said Narvaez, looking to his officers in perturbation.
+"While I looked into the shining stone, the black drop increased in
+size, and grew into the similitude of a being, whose arms were tossed
+out as if in agony, while spots of fire gathered round his visage!"</p>
+
+<p>"Say the prayer, if thou wilt not die miserably before the time that is
+otherwise ordained!" cried Botello with a stern voice, that was
+remarkable enough, to be addressed by one of his station to the proud
+and powerful commander. "Once, twice&mdash;Ay! is there no more to be
+reckoned by thee, Sadabath? Once, twice&mdash;Yea, as the star sayeth, so
+sayest thou&mdash;Once, twice!"</p>
+
+<p>"What sayest thou?" said Narvaez, ceasing the prayer he had resumed, to
+question the oraculous adept.</p>
+
+<p>"To thy prayer! Listen, and ask not.&mdash;Ay! thou speakest in mystery! I
+turn thee to the north, which thou knowest not, and the south, where
+thou hadst thy dwelling,&mdash;to the east, which thou abhorrest, and to the
+west, where was thy dark chamber; to the heaven, whose light thou lovest
+not,&mdash;to the pit under the earth, where thou wast a wanderer,&mdash;and to
+man's heart, which was pleasanter to thee than the bonds of the crystal.
+In the name of the Seven that are of power under the earth, and of the
+Seven that are mighty above, I call to thee, Kalidon-Sadabath, the
+bright star that is quenched! In shadows, in fire and smoke,&mdash;in thunder
+and with spears&mdash;with blows and with bloodshed, thou speakest, and I
+hear thee!"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> hear nothing save thy accursed croaking, worse than that of the
+crows of Biscay," cried Narvaez, hotly. "If thy devil have no more
+intelligible gabble, cast him out, and call another."</p>
+
+<p>"He speaks not, but by images and phantasms pictured on the
+crystal.&mdash;Now listen, for thy story cometh. I see a great house on
+fire&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, I shall perish then in a conflagration!" said the governor,
+hastily. "I have ever had a horror of burning houses."</p>
+
+<p>"The smoke eddies, the flame roars, and one sitteth blindfold under the
+eaves, with the flakes and cinders falling about him, which he sees
+not."</p>
+
+<p>"If thou meanest, that I shall rest, in that stupid state, under such
+peril, thy devil Sadabath is a liar, and I defy him!"</p>
+
+<p>"And he that takes thee by the hand," cried Botello, without regarding
+the interruptions,&mdash;"is he thy friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, answer me that question," said the governor; "for if I am to be led
+out of the fire by a foeman, I will straightway forswear my friends, and
+give my heart to the magnanimous."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou doest him obeisance!" cried the magician, with extraordinary
+emphasis&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Villain!" exclaimed the general.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou placest thy neck upon the earth, and he tramples it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Liar and traitor!" roared the Biscayan, spurning the magician with his
+foot, and, in his fury, snatching up a weapon to despatch him.</p>
+
+<p>"Why shouldst thou stain thy hand with the blood of the dotard?" cried
+Duero, interposing for a second time between the intemperate commander
+and the object of his anger. "He is a madman, incapable of understanding
+what he says; and were he even sane, and speaking the truth, your
+commands to have him entertain you with his mummeries, should have
+ensured him against your anger."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true," said Narvaez, with a scowl; "I was a fool to strike
+him.&mdash;Trample on my neck! Thou grizzly and cheating villain!&mdash;Go!
+begone!&mdash;Thy devil, though he cannot tell thee what awaits thee in the
+morning, may show thee what thou deservest."</p>
+
+<p>"I deserved not to be spurned," said Botello tranquilly, after having
+gathered up his enchanted crystal, and raised himself to his feet; "and
+the dishonour will fall not on the side that was bruised, but on the
+limb that was raised against it.&mdash;Once already, to-day, have I cursed
+the man that struck me in my captivity; and he lies a corse on his
+couch."</p>
+
+<p>"It is true," said a young cavalier, shuddering. "I inquired after
+Caboban, when I came from the prison with Botello&mdash;he was dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will curse no more to-day," said the magician, sorrowfully; "for it
+is a sin upon the soul to kill with maledictions; and, moreover, thou,
+that hast done me this wrong, wilt suffer enough, without a new
+retribution!"</p>
+
+<p>The general waved his hand angrily and impatiently, and Botello was led
+away, followed by most of the cavaliers.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Don Amador found himself alone in the prison with Fabueno; with no
+other prospect before him than that of remaining therein till it might
+please the stars to throw open the doors, the rage that was too
+philosophic to quarrel with stone walls, gradually subsided into a
+tranquil indignation. Nay, so much command of himself did he regain,
+that hearing his companion bewailing his fate in a manner somewhat
+immoderate, as if regarding his incarceration as the prelude to a more
+dismal destiny, he opened his lips to give him comfort.</p>
+
+<p>"I must counsel thee, friend Lorenzo," he said, "to give over this vain
+and very boyish lamentation, as being entirely unworthy the spirit I
+beheld thee display in presence of that Biscayan boar. The insult and
+shame of our present imprisonment are what thou dost not share; and
+therefore thou shouldst not be grieved on that account. And, doubtless,
+as thou wert arrested less because thou wert in fault, than because this
+foolish governor was in a passion, he will liberate thee, when he cools
+in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no such hope," said Fabueno, piteously. "Don Panfilo is a most
+bitter and unforgiving man, sudden in his wrath, inexorable in his
+vengeance; and he has already indulged his fury at the expense of men so
+much more elevated and powerful than myself, that I am in great fear he
+will give me to some heavy punishment, for daring to oppose his
+humours."</p>
+
+<p>"Know, Lorenzo," said the novice, "that, in that opposition, thou didst
+show thyself possessed of a spirit which has won my respect; and unless
+thou dost already repent thy boldness, I will confess I am very grateful
+to thee, that thou didst grasp thy sword in my cause. For which reason,
+when we are again free, I will beseech the admiral to grant thee thy
+wish, and immediately receive thee into my service, as a pupil in war."</p>
+
+<p>"And how is your worship to be freed?" said Lorenzo, disconsolately.
+"Sure am I, Don Panfilo will no more regard your worship's honour and
+dignity than he did the privileges of the licentiate Vasques de Ayllon,
+the agent of the holy monks of San Geronimo, and, what is more, an
+<i>oidor</i> of the king himself, whom, notwithstanding all these titles, he
+imprisoned and banished, for thwarting him in a small matter."</p>
+
+<p>"I have, in my own present situation, a sufficient and
+never-to-be-forgotten proof of his violence and injustice," said Amador.
+"Nevertheless, I entertain hopes of being soon at freedom; for if some
+lucky opportunity do not enable me myself to break my bonds, I am
+assured, the news of this most causeless and tyrannical outrage will, in
+some way, be carried to the ears of my kinsman, the knight Calavar;
+after which, I shall be very confident of liberation, and, after
+liberation, as I may add, of satisfaction on the body of my wronger.
+But, before we give ourselves up to despondence, let us see in what
+manner we may be able to help ourselves. We should at least look a
+little to the various entrances that seem to lead into this dungeon."</p>
+
+<p>The apartment was spacious, but low; a narrow casement opened on one
+side, at the distance of six feet from the floor, and admitted the
+moonbeams, by which the captives were enabled to conduct their
+examination. The door, through which they had entered, was strongly
+barricaded on the outside. A passage leading to the interior, was
+similarly secured, and equally impassable. The neophyte, with a sigh,
+turned to the casement. A thick grating defended it, and shut out all
+hopes of escape.</p>
+
+<p>"We can do nothing, unless assisted from without," said Amador.&mdash;"I
+would to heaven, I had kept my knaves at my side! With such a wary
+servant as Baltasar at my back, and so faithful a desperado as Lazaro at
+my side, I should have made another sort of departure from that abhorred
+tower. The varlets are perhaps sleeping in security, without a thought
+of their master. Nay, by my faith, it is not probable they should give
+themselves to rest, without being made acquainted with my instructions
+for the night. Perhaps they may be lurking in the neighbourhood, ready
+to hear my call, and to obey it! At all events, señor secretary, I would
+thou couldst mount to those iron stanchions, and take note of what is
+passing on the outside."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Iron!</i>" cried the secretary quickly: "by San Iago of Compostella! a
+thought strikes me. I know well, señor, that in these lands, iron has
+almost the value of gold, and is too scarce to be wasted on the defences
+of a temporary dungeon, where it might be stolen too, at the first
+opportunity, by the Indians."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou mean to say, that these bars are of wood?" demanded Amador.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, I think so, señor; and if I had but a knife or dagger, and the
+means of climbing into the window, I would warrant to be at liberty
+before morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a poniard, of which the villains forgot to divest me," said
+Amador. "Strike it against the stanchions:&mdash;if they be of wood, we have
+much hope of freeing ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>The secretary did as he was directed. He raised himself a-tiptoe, and
+the sharp weapon buried itself in the flimsy barrier.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had but something to stand on," he cried eagerly, "how soon might
+we not be free!"</p>
+
+<p>"There is neither stool nor chair in this vile den," said Don Amador;
+"but I will not shame to give thee the support of my shoulder, and the
+more readily, that I think thy slight frame would be incapable of
+supporting my own greater weight.&mdash;Pause not," he continued, observing
+that Fabueno hesitated: "If thy foot be near my neck, I shall know it is
+not the foot of an enemy.&mdash;I will kneel to take thee on my back, as the
+Saracen camel does to his master.&mdash;Stretch thyself to thy full height,
+so as to cut through the tops of the bars; after which, without further
+carving, thou canst easily wrench them from their places."</p>
+
+<p>Fabueno submitted to the will of the novice, and Amador rising without
+much effort under his weight, he was soon in a position to operate to
+advantage.</p>
+
+<p>"Why dost thou falter?" demanded the novice, as Lorenzo, after making
+one or two gashes in the wood, suddenly ceased his labour.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," replied the secretary, in a low voice, "there is a guard at a
+little distance, sitting under the shadow of the pyramid. A cavalier
+stands in advance, watching&mdash;It is the captain Salvatierra!"</p>
+
+<p>"May heaven strike me with pains and death," cried Amador, with an
+abrupt ardour, that nearly tumbled the secretary from his station, "if I
+do not covet the blood of that false and cowardly traitor! who, after
+hiding his wrath under the cloak of magnanimity and religion, was the
+first to seize upon me, and that from behind!"</p>
+
+<p>"What is to be done, señor?" demanded Fabueno, in a whisper. "He will
+discover me; and even if I can remove the grating, there will be no
+possibility to descend without observation."</p>
+
+<p>"Cut through the wood as silently as thou canst," said Amador; "and
+then, when the window is open, I will myself spring to the earth, and so
+occupy the dastard's notice, that thou shall escape without peril. Cut
+on, and fear not."</p>
+
+<p>The secretary obeyed, but had not yet divided a single stake, when
+suddenly a noise was heard as of the clattering of armour, as well as
+the voice of Salvatierra exclaiming furiously,</p>
+
+<p>"To your bows, ye vagabonds! Quick and hotly! Drive your shafts through
+and through! Shoot!"</p>
+
+<p>"Descend!" said Amador.</p>
+
+<p>But before the secretary could follow his counsel, here came four
+cross-bow shafts rattling violently into the window; and Fabueno, with a
+loud cry, sprang, or rather fell, to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Have the knaves struck thee?" demanded Amador, as he raised the
+groaning youth in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, señor!" replied the youth, faintly, "I shall never see the golden
+kings of Mexico!"</p>
+
+<p>"Be of better heart," said Amador, leading him to where the moonlight
+shone brightest on the floor. "Art thou struck in the body?&mdash;If thou
+diest, be certain I will revenge thee.&mdash;Where art thou hurt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know not," replied Lorenzo, piteously; "but I know I shall die.&mdash;O
+heaven! this is a pang more bitter than death!&mdash;Must I die?"</p>
+
+<p>"Be comforted," said the novice, cheeringly; "the arrow has only pierced
+thy arm! I will snap it asunder, and withdraw it. Fear not: there is no
+peril in such hurt; and I will bear witness thou hast won it most
+honourably."</p>
+
+<p>"Will I not die then?" cried Fabueno, with joy. "Pho! it was the first
+time I was ever hurt, and I judged of the wound only by the agony. Pho,
+indeed! 'tis but a scratch!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou bearest it valiantly," said Amador, binding his scarf round the
+wound; "and I have no doubt thou wilt make a worthy soldier.&mdash;But what
+is now to be done? If thou thinkest thou hast strength to support me for
+a minute or two, I will clamber to the window myself, and remove the
+bars, without fear the arrows of these varlets can do me much harm
+through my armour."</p>
+
+<p>"They are not above three-score yards distant," said Fabueno, "and,
+señor, I feel a little faint. I know not, moreover, how I could escape,
+even if your honour should be so lucky as to reach the ground."</p>
+
+<p>"I should not have forsaken thee, Lorenzo," said the cavalier, giving
+over, with a sigh, all hope of escape. "There is nothing more to be
+done.&mdash;The foul fiend seize the knave that struck thee, and the dastard
+that commanded the shot! I would to heaven I had beaten him
+soundly.&mdash;How feelest thou now? If thou canst sleep, it will be well."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no more pain," said the secretary, "but feel a sort of
+exhaustion, which will doubtless be relieved by rest."</p>
+
+<p>"Sleep then," said Amador, "and have a care that thy wounded member be
+not oppressed by the weight of thy body. I will myself presently follow
+thy example. If aught should occur to disturb thee, even though it
+should be but the pain of thy hurt, scruple not to arouse me."</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte watched till persuaded the secretary was asleep; then
+devoutly repeating a prayer, he stretched himself on his hard mat with
+as much tranquillity as if reposing on a goodly bed in his own
+mountain-castle, and was soon lost to his troubles.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The cavalier was roused from his slumbers by a cause at first
+incomprehensible. The moonlight had vanished from the prison, and deep
+obscurity had succeeded; but in the little light remaining, he saw, as
+he started up, the figures of several men, one of whom had been tugging
+at his shoulder, and now whispered to him, as he instinctively grasped
+at his dagger,</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, cavalier! I am a friend, and I give you liberty."</p>
+
+<p>"I will thank thee for the gift, when I am sure I enjoy it," said the
+neophyte, already on his feet; "I remember thy voice&mdash;thou art one of
+the followers of the knave Narvaez?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am one who laments, without extenuating, the folly of the general,"
+said the voice of Duero. "But tarry not to question. Hasten,&mdash;thy horse
+is ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the youth Fabueno? It is not in my power to desert the
+secretary."</p>
+
+<p>"Here, señor!" whispered Lorenzo. "I am ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, friend Fabueno! I am glad to hear thee speak so cheerily;&mdash;it
+assures me thy wound does not afflict thee.&mdash;And my varlets, señor?"</p>
+
+<p>"They wait for thee, Don Amador. Delay not: the door is open. The
+magician will guide thee to thy kinsman.&mdash;Commend me to Cortes; and if
+thou art at any time found fighting on the pyramid of Zempoala,
+remember that Duero is not thine enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"By heaven, I should think I dream!" said Amador. "Stay, señor! I would
+thank thee for thy honourable and most noble benevolence; and, in
+addition, would tax thy charity in favour of a certain Moor&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Tetragrammaton!</i> thou pratest as if thou wert among thy friends in
+Christendom! and of infidels too, as if there were no Christians to be
+thought of!" said a voice, in which Amador instantly recognised the
+tones of the enchanter. "I said, the captive should be freed; but never
+a jot that he should not be reduced to bonds again by his own folly!&mdash;Be
+silent, and follow me."</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte had collected his scattered senses, and instantly assuming
+the prudence, which, he now understood, was necessary to his safety, he
+issued from the prison. The moon was sinking behind the vast and
+majestic peaks of the interior. A deep shadow lay over the great square,
+on one side of which stood the dungeon; and only on the top of the
+principal tower trembled a lingering ray. A silence still deeper than
+the darkness, invested the Indian city; and Amador could distinctly hear
+the foot-fall of a sentinel as he strode to and fro over the terrace of
+the pyramid. He looked to that quarter, whence, as he judged, had come
+the shafts which had so nearly robbed him of his fellow-prisoner. The
+crossbowmen slept on their post, in the mild and quiet air, at the base
+of the temple.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me thy hand, Fabueno," said Amador, drawing his poniard again from
+the sheath. "I will shield thee from the dogs this time. And now that I
+snuff the breath of freedom! I think it will need a craftier knave's
+trick than that of Salvatierra, to deprive me of it a second time."</p>
+
+<p>Following the magician, as he stole cautiously along, the brothers in
+misfortune crept on with a stealthy pace, under the shadows of buildings
+and trees; till, exchanging the more exposed openness of the square for
+the safer gloom of a street, they advanced with greater assurance and
+rapidity. The stone dwellings of the Tlatoani gave place to the earthen
+and wicker cabins of the suburbs.&mdash;The gray glimpses of morning had not
+yet visited the east, when they reached the extreme edge of the town,
+and betook themselves to the covert of a clump of trees, under which, in
+the figures that were there visible, Don Amador recognised with joy his
+war-horse and his followers.</p>
+
+<p>"Rejoice in silence," said Botello, interrupting his raptures; "for
+there is an ear at no great distance very ready to hear thee. Mount and
+be ready.&mdash;Señor secretary, thy sorrel is tied to the mimosa.&mdash;You can
+look to your equipments a little, while I see if heaven will not confirm
+the fate of visions; for I dreamed I should ride back to Cortes on a
+good roan charger to-day."</p>
+
+<p>The magician disappeared, and Amador, scarcely suppressing his ardour,
+when he found that not only his attendants and horses, but even the
+well-fleshed sword wrested from him in the evening, was in readiness to
+be restored to him, grasped it with exultation, and sprang into the
+saddle. Then passing towards Fabueno, and finding that his arm caused
+him much pain in the act of mounting, he assisted him to ascend with his
+own hand; a condescension that went to the heart of the secretary. From
+Fabueno also he learned, in a few words, somewhat of the secret of their
+liberation. Less than an hour after Amador had fallen asleep, and while
+Lorenzo was still kept awake by the pain of his wound, the door of the
+prison was opened, and Botello thrust in; who comforted the secretary
+with a mystic, but still an unequivocal assurance of freedom before
+sunrise; and commanded him not to wake the novice, but to follow his
+example&mdash;he would need invigoration from slumber to support the toils of
+the coming day. What previous understanding might have existed between
+the enchanter and the señor Duero, he knew not; but, certain he was,
+Botello had predicted a speedy deliverance for all; and all were now
+delivered.</p>
+
+<p>"I have often considered," said the novice, thoughtfully, "that the
+existence of magical powers, either for the purposes of prediction or
+enchantment, was incompatible with the known goodness and wisdom of God;
+for surely if the power to foresee would have added any thing to the
+happiness of man, God would not have denied it to men generally. And as
+for the powers of enchantment, as they can only be used for good or bad
+purposes, it seems to me that to employ them for the first, would be to
+accuse the Divinity of an insufficient benevolence; while to exercise
+them for the last, would imply a supposition that heaven had not all men
+equally under its protection. This, therefore, is my opinion; though I
+must confess that, sometimes, when governed more by passion or
+imagination than by reason, I have had my misgivings on the subject.
+Nevertheless, good Fabueno, in this particular case of Botello, I must
+advise thee not too much to abuse thy credulity; for, I think, all
+circumstances go to show, he grounded his prophecy of our deliverance
+more on a knowledge of the resolutions of the good señor Duero than on
+the revelations of stars or spirits. Yet must I confess," continued
+Amador, "that this very goodness of Duero, implying, as it truly does, a
+state of opposition and rebellion to the will of the uncivil Narvaez,
+his general, is so very miraculous, as almost itself to look like
+magic."</p>
+
+<p>Before the secretary could reply, the sound of hoofs was heard
+approaching; and Botello, as they discovered by his voice, rode up to
+the trees.</p>
+
+<p>"The dream was true, the imp that speaks to slumber was not a liar!" he
+cried, exultingly. "We leave the jailor afoot; and Kalidon-Sadabath
+shall swing on a galloping horse. God is over all, by night and by day,
+afoot and on horse, in battle and in flight, Amen!&mdash;Now ride, and
+Santiago for Spain!"&mdash;He shouted this sudden cry with a voice that
+amazed Amador, after his often-repeated injunctions for
+silence,&mdash;"Santiago for Spain! San Pedro for the Invaders! and San Pablo
+for flying prisoners! Whip and spur, guide and cheer! and rocks and
+thorns spread over the path of pursuers!"</p>
+
+<p>As Don Amador anticipated, the shout of the lunatic, for such he began
+to esteem Botello, was carried even to the head-quarters of the
+Biscayan. An arquebuse was discharged from the pyramid, and, as the
+fugitives began their flight, the flourish of a trumpet in one quarter
+of the town, and the roll of a drum in another, convinced them that the
+alarm had been given, and was spreading from post to post in a manner
+that might prove exceedingly inconvenient. The cavalier pressed to the
+side of Botello,&mdash;an achievement of some little difficulty, for he
+perceived his guide was well mounted.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Magico," he cried, as he galloped in company with him, "dost thou
+know thou couldst not have fallen upon a better plan to oppose our
+flight, and perhaps reduce us again to bonds, than by the indulgence of
+this same untimely and obstreperous shouting?"</p>
+
+<p>"Trust in God, and fear not," replied the magician. "This day shalt thou
+look upon the face of Cortes; and though the enemy follow us, yet shall
+his pursuit be vain and unlucky."</p>
+
+<p>"I will allow that such may be the termination," said Amador; "yet,
+notwithstanding, can I perceive no advantage in being pursued; but much
+that is to be deprecated, inasmuch as we shall exhaust that strength of
+our horses in our hurry, which might have been reserved for a more
+honourable contingency."</p>
+
+<p>"Your valour will by-and-by perceive there is more wisdom than looks to
+the moment," said Botello, coolly, without slacking his pace: "and,
+provided you can keep your followers from swerving from the path, and
+that inexperienced youth from falling out of his saddle, I will, with
+my head, answer for your safety."</p>
+
+<p>Amador dropped behind a little: Lazaro and Baltasar required no
+instructions to keep them in the neighbourhood of their master; and the
+secretary, though complaining that he rode in pain, professed himself
+able to keep up with the party. From his henchmen, as he rode, Don
+Amador obtained but little to unravel the mystery of his escape. The two
+attendants had been quartered alone in a deserted building, in the
+garden of which they were instructed to provide for their steeds. They
+had been roused by a cavalier, who commanded them to follow him to their
+master, in token of whose authority he showed them the well-known blade
+of the novice. He had conducted them to the grove, and left them, with
+charges to remain, as they had done, in tranquillity, until the
+appearance of Don Amador.</p>
+
+<p>At the dawn of day, the neophyte became convinced he had ridden more
+than the distance which, he supposed, separated the camps of the rival
+generals; and wondering at the absence of all signs of life in the
+forest through which he was passing, he again betook himself to Botello.</p>
+
+<p>The magician had halted on the brow of an eminence, where, though the
+dense wood, as well as the obscurity of the hour, greatly contracted the
+sphere of vision, he looked back as if striving to detect the figures of
+pursuers among the thick shadows. The shouts of men were heard far
+behind; but this circumstance, instead of filling the mind of Botello
+with alarm, gave, on the contrary, to his countenance an expression of
+great satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"We are pursued, enchanter; and yet, I perceive neither tent nor
+out-post of thy friends, to give us refuge from our enemies," said Don
+Amador.</p>
+
+<p>"Let them come," cried Botello, tranquilly: "It is worse for the stag,
+when the pack is scattered; but better for the kite, when the pheasants
+have broke the covey."</p>
+
+<p>"There may be much wisdom in thy tropes, as well as in thine actions,"
+said the novice; "yet am I slow to discover it in either. Whether we are
+to be considered the stag or the hounds, the hawk or the pheasants,
+entirely passes my comprehension; but sure am I that, in either case,
+our safety may be considered quite as metaphorical as thy speech. I
+understood from thee, last night, and I remember it very well, because
+it was that communication which exasperated me into a quarrel with the
+governor,&mdash;that the river whereon Cortes was encamped, was but a league
+from Zempoala; yet am I persuaded we have galloped twice that distance."</p>
+
+<p>"He travels no straight road who creeps through the country of a
+foeman," said Botello, resuming his journey, though at a more moderate
+gait than before; "and Don Amador should be content, if he can avoid the
+many scouts and vedettes that infest the path, by riding thrice the two
+leagues he has compassed already."</p>
+
+<p>"Fogoso is strong, and, it seems to me, his spirit revives at every new
+step he takes through these fresh forests," said the cavalier; "yet even
+for his sake, were there no other reason, would I be fain to pick the
+shortest road that leads to the camp of Cortes. I am greatly concerned
+about my young friend, the secretary, who, as thou hast doubtless
+learned, was last night shot through the arm with an arrow, by those
+knaves who kept watch at the window of the prison; and therefore, for
+his sake, am I desirous to find a resting place as soon as possible. If
+I should give thee my counsel, (a thing I am loath to do, as thou
+seemest experienced in all the intricacies of this woody wilderness, in
+which I am a stranger,) it would be, to forsake all these crooked and
+endless by-ways without delay, and strike upon the shortest path,
+without consideration of any small party of scouts we might meet. For,
+even excluding the wounded Fabueno, we are here together four strong
+men, armed, and well mounted, who, fighting our way to freedom, would
+doubtless be an over-match for twice the number of enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"The youth must learn the science of a soldier," said Botello, "and
+suffering is the first letter of its alphabet. Happy will he be if, in
+the life he covets, he encounter no more agony than he shall endure
+to-day. When we have time to rest, I will anoint his arm with a salve
+more powerful than the unguents of a physician.&mdash;What I do, señor, and
+whither I guide, are best; as you will acknowledge, when the journey is
+over. Why should your honour desire to exchange blows with poor scouts?
+I shall win better thanks of the knight Calavar, when I conduct you to
+him unharmed.&mdash;Faster, señor&mdash;the pursuers are gaining on us."</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte gave the rein to Fogoso, and greatly inflamed by the
+mention of his kinsman's name, rode by the side of Botello, to demand of
+him such intelligence of the knight as it might be in his power to
+impart. Little more, however, had the astrologer to communicate than
+Amador had already acquired. The knight Calavar was in the camp of
+Cortes, among the most honoured of his followers, if such he could be
+called, who divided the perils, without claiming to share the profits of
+the campaign, and fought less when he was commanded or entreated than
+when moved by his own wayward impulses. That he was in good bodily
+health, was also another point on which Botello was able to satisfy
+curiosity; and as he made no mention of another subject, on which Don
+Amador scrupled to speak, he was glad to believe the distractions of the
+new world had given some relief to the mental maladies of his kinsman.</p>
+
+<p>A very little circumstance served, however, almost at the same moment to
+reveal one of his own infirmities. As the morning dawned, and objects
+were seen more distinctly, he began to bend an eye of observation on the
+horse which Botello rode,&mdash;a spirited beast, as he had already
+determined, by many evidences of fleetness and mettle. When he came to
+regard it more closely, he perceived, by signs not to be mistaken, that
+it was no other than the animal which had, the day before, caracoled
+under the weight of Salvatierra. Botello grinned, when an exclamation
+made him acquainted with the thoughts of the cavalier. To the demand
+where and how he had obtained possession of the charger, the answer was
+brief and significant. The captain Salvatierra, like many other officers
+of Narvaez, preferred rather to waste the moonlight nights with the
+olive-cheeked Dalilahs of the suburbs, than with enemies and prisoners,
+even though they might be men of such merit and distinction as Don
+Amador. This was a peculiarity with which (he did not say whether by the
+instrumentality of his art, or the intervention of human agents,)
+Botello had contrived to become acquainted; and being also apprised of
+Salvatierra's favourite retreat, which was at no great distance from the
+grove wherein Don Amador had found his followers, he did not hesitate to
+deprive him of so superfluous an appendage as his charger.</p>
+
+<p>"By St. John!" cried the neophyte, in a heat, "I would have bestowed
+upon thee more cruzadoes than thou canst gain by a month's exercise of
+thine art, hadst thou but made me acquainted with his hiding-place. I
+now know, the man who could strike a boy, and attack one he hated from
+behind, is a most execrable caitiff, more worthy of misprision than
+revenge; but despite all this, I should have begun this day's labours
+with more tranquillity and self-approval, had I but enjoyed two moments
+of conference with him previously."</p>
+
+<p>"Your worship may have a day for acquitting scores with him more
+conveniently than you could have done this morning," said Botello.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark'ee, Botello," cried Amador, eagerly&mdash;"It is thy absolute opinion
+we are at this moment pursued,&mdash;is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not doubt it&mdash;I hear shouts behind, ever and anon."</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell thee what I will do," continued the neophyte: "I will tarry
+here with Lazaro and Baltasar: thou, if thou thinkest fit, canst advance
+with the secretary&mdash;I should be loath to bring him into combat before
+his wound is healed, and before Lazaro has given him some instructions
+in the management of his arms&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"All this thou wilt do then," said Botello, interrupting him, "on the
+presumption that Salvatierra is among the pursuers? Your worship may
+satisfy yourself, the vigilant cavalier is, at this moment, either
+abiding the reproof of Narvaez for his negligence, or biting his thumbs
+with disgust, as, among mounted captains, he walks through the streets
+of Zempoala. Horses are not in this land so plentiful as rabbits; and I
+thank the blessed influences, which have given to me so good a friend
+this day," he went on, patting the neck of the steed,&mdash;"so very good,
+that, until there comes a new fleet from Cuba, the captain Salvatierra
+will be scarce able to follow after his charger. This may satisfy your
+honour on one point. As to another, I beg to assure you, Don Amador,
+that I am no lying juggler, selling my revelations for money. I tell
+what is told me, when I am moved by the spirit that is given to dwell
+within me; and neither real of silver nor doubloon of gold can otherwise
+buy me to open my lips!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>To the surprise, and much also to the dissatisfaction, of Don Amador,
+the noon-day sun still found him struggling, with his companions, among
+the rocks and forests. It seemed to him, from a review of his journey,
+that he had been doubling and turning, for the whole morning, like a boy
+at blindman's-buff, within a circle of a few leagues; and though he
+could not, upon the closest inspection, detect a single tree or brook
+which he remembered to have passed before, he shrewdly suspected it was
+Botello's intention to make him well acquainted with the forest, before
+dismissing him from its depths. It was however vain to wonder, and
+equally fruitless to complain. For the whole morning, at different
+intervals, he was assured, sometimes from hearing their shouts in the
+thicket, sometimes from beholding them from a hill-top crossing an
+opposing eminence, that his pursuers were close at his heels: of which
+fact, and the necessity it presented to move with becoming caution, the
+enchanter took advantage in the construction of his answers to every
+remonstrance. At length, perhaps two hours after noon, the travellers
+approached a hill, whence, as Botello assured them, they might look down
+upon the River of Canoes. This was the more agreeable intelligence,
+since the day was intolerably hot, and they almost longed for the
+bursting of a tempest which had been brooding in the welkin for the last
+half hour, the drenching of which, as they thought, would be far more
+sufferable than the combustion of sunshine. They reached the hill, and
+from its bushy and stony side, looked down upon the valley, where the
+river, or, more properly speaking, the rivulet, went foaming and
+fretting over its rugged channel. On the hither side of the stream, the
+vale was bare and sandy, and on the other, though doubtless partaking of
+the same character, the trees which bordered upon the water, making
+divers agreeable groves, entirely shut out the view, so that Don Amador
+saw not, as he had fondly anticipated, the encampment of the invader of
+Mexico, and the resting-place of his kinsman. But if he beheld not what
+he so much desired to see, he surveyed another spectacle, which caused
+him no little wonder. At a short distance, and almost at the bottom of
+the hill, he was struck with the unexpected apparition of the army of
+Narvaez, drawn out in order of battle, as if awaiting the approach of a
+foe, and commanding the passage of the river. He rubbed his eyes with
+astonishment; but there was no delusion in the view.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said Botello, in a low voice, as if reading his thoughts, "you
+marvel to see this army, which we left sleeping at the temple, arrived
+at the river before us; but you forget Zempoala lies only a league from
+the river."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us descend, and cross to the other side," said Amador, impatiently.
+"I see the very spot where sits the knave Narvaez on his horse; and if
+the valiant Cortes have it in intention, as I do not doubt, to give him
+battle, I should sharply regret to watch the conflict from this
+hill-side."</p>
+
+<p>"I told Narvaez, himself," said the magician, with a sort of triumph,
+"he should not join battle with Cortes to-day; and he shall not!&mdash;When
+the time comes, Don Amador may join in the combat, if he will.&mdash;Be
+content, señor: we cannot stir from this hill without being observed,
+and captured or slain. The thunder roars, the bolt glitters in the
+heaven; the storm that levels the tall ceibas, will open us a path
+presently, even through that angry army."</p>
+
+<p>Almost while Botello spoke, and before the cavalier could add words to
+the disinclination with which he regarded so untimely a delay, there
+burst such a thunderbolt over his head, as made Fogoso, in common with
+every other horse in the party, cower to the earth, as if stricken by
+its violence. This was immediately followed by a succession of separate
+explosions and of multisonous volleys, less resembling the furious roar
+of the ordnance of a great army than of the artillery of volcanoes; and
+it became immediately necessary for each man to dismount, and allay, as
+he could, the frantic terrors of his charger. In the midst of this
+sublime prelude, the rushing of a mighty wind was added to the orchestre
+of the elements; and, in an instant, the face of day, the black vapours
+above and the varied valley below, were hidden in a cloud of dust, sand,
+and leaves, stripped in a moment from the plains and the forest; and in
+an instant also, the army of Narvaez was snatched from the eyes of the
+cavalier. Presently, also, came another sound, heard even above the peal
+of the thunder and the rush of the wind; the roar of a great rain,
+booming along like a moving cataract, was mingled with the harsh music
+of nature; and Don Amador looked anxiously round for some place of
+shelter. Happily, though no cavern welcomed them into its gloomy
+security, there was a spot hard by, where certain tall and massive rocks
+lay so jammed and wedged together, as to present most of the
+characteristics of a chamber, except that there was wanting the fourth
+side, as well as the roof, unless indeed the outstretched branches of
+the great trees that grew among these fragments, might have been
+considered a suitable canopy. A spring bubbled up from among these mossy
+ruins, giving nourishment to a thick growth of brambles and weeds, which
+added their own tangled covert to the stouter shelter of the rocks and
+trunks. Into this nook the party, guided by Botello, to whom it seemed
+not unfamiliar, penetrated forthwith; and here they found themselves, in
+a great measure, sheltered from the rain. Here also, taking advantage of
+a period of inactivity, and at the instigation of Don Amador, who
+perceived with solicitude the visage of the secretary covered not only
+with languor, but flushed with fatigue and fever, the enchanter set
+about relieving the distresses of the youth. He removed the bandage and
+garment, examined the wound, bathed the inflamed member in the cool
+waters of the fountain; and having thus commenced proceedings with so
+reasonable a preliminary, he drew a little silver vessel from his
+wallet, containing the unguent 'blessed,' as he had before said, 'of the
+fat of a pagan's heart,' and which, as may be repeated to those who
+might doubt the efficacy of so remarkable a compound, was not only much
+used, but highly commended by the Christian soldiers of that day in
+America. The magician commanded Fabueno to repeat a paternoster as
+slowly and devoutly as possible, (for none of Botello's conjurations
+were conducted without the appearance of deep devotion;) and mumbling
+himself another, or perhaps repeating some superstitious invocation, he
+applied the ointment, previously spread over green leaves, to the wound;
+and when it was again bound up, the secretary declared its anguish was
+much mitigated, as well as his whole body greatly refreshed.</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador regarded the youth for a moment with much grave kindness; and
+then said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I owe this man so much gratitude for the good he seems to have, and
+doubtless has, done thee, whom I now, Fabueno,&mdash;at least until I can
+receive instructions from my kinsman, the admiral,&mdash;must esteem as being
+my ward and follower, that I am unwilling to offend him by seeming to
+throw any discredit on his remedy. Nevertheless I am not less bound to
+instruct thee with counsel, than to repay him with thanks; for which
+reason I must charge thee to remember, that, when any miracle of a very
+unusual or unnecessary character is wrought upon thyself, much more of
+it may possibly be the product of thine own imagination, than of that
+agent which seems to thee to be the only cause."</p>
+
+<p>"Faith will work miracles, but fancy will not!" said Botello, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"If I were a better philosopher, good Botello," said Don Amador, "I
+would attempt to show thee how that which thou callest faith, is, in
+such a case as this, nothing but imagination in very fervent action,
+differing as much from that calm assurance which constitutes true faith,
+as doth a potter's pitcher gilded to resemble true gold, from a golden
+pitcher; which difference, in the latter case, may be instantly
+detected, by ringing them. And here I may tell thee, Botello, by way of
+continuing the figure, that, as the earthen vessel will really tinkle
+more pleasantly than the vessel of gold, so also will the excited
+imagination give forth a sound so much more captivating than the
+tranquil utterance of belief, that, in attempting to distinguish between
+them, men are often seduced into error. Nevertheless, I will not quarrel
+with thee on this subject, for I perceive thou art religious; and what
+thy religion does not blame in thee, I have no right to censure."</p>
+
+<p>This was a degree of liberality doubtless produced rather by the amiable
+feeling of gratitude than any natural tolerance of disposition or
+education; for the neophyte was in all respects a representative of the
+nobler spirits of his age, in whom the good qualities inherited from
+nature were dashed, and sometimes marred, by the tenets of a bad
+philosophy.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>This discourse of the novice, together with the magical unction of the
+wound, occupied so much time, that when it was finished, the storm had
+in a great measure passed away; and Botello, either feeling his
+inability to reply to it with an allegory of equal beauty, or despairing
+to overcome the scepticism of the cavalier, instead of answering, rose
+from his seat, and led the way to the post on the hill-side, which they
+had lately deserted.</p>
+
+<p>Drops of rain still occasionally fell from the heavens, or were whirled
+by the passing gusts from the boughs; the clouds still careered
+menacingly in the atmosphere; and though the sunbeams ever and anon
+burst through their rent sides, and glimmered with splendour on the
+shivered tops and lacerated roots of many a fallen tree, it was still
+doubtful at what moment the capricious elements might resume their
+conflict. The river, that was before a brook, now rolled along a turbid
+torrent, and seemed, every moment, to augment in volume and fury, as its
+short-lived tributaries poured down their foaming treasures from the
+hills&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The boy to his bed, and the fool to his fire-side!" cried the
+enchanter, with a sudden exultation, as, pointing down the hill, he
+disclosed to the cavalier the valley deprived of its late visiters. The
+armed men of Cadmus had not risen from the soil with a more magical
+celerity than had the soldiers of Narvaez vanished: the valley was
+silent and solitary. "I said the tempest should open for us a path!"
+continued Botello; "and lo! the spirit which was given to me does not
+lie!"</p>
+
+<p>"I must confess," quoth Don Amador, with surprise, "you have in this
+instance, as in several others, verified your prediction. What juggler's
+trick is this? Where is the hound Narvaez?"</p>
+
+<p>"Galloping back to Zempoala, to amuse himself with the dancers on the
+pyramid," said Botello, with a grin of saturnine delight. "He came out
+against Cortes, and his heart failed him in the tempest: he loves
+better, and so do his people, the comfort of the temple, than the strife
+of these tropical elements. Wo be to him who would contend with a strong
+man, when he hides his head from the shower! He shall vapour in the
+morning, but tremble when the enemy comes to him in dreams!"</p>
+
+<p>"And I am to understand, then," said Amador, with a voice of high scorn
+and displeasure, "that these effeminate hinds, after drawing out their
+forces in the face of an enemy, have taken to their heels, like village
+girls in a summer festival, at the dashing of rain?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is even so," said Botello: "they are now hiding themselves in their
+quarters; while those veterans who awaited them beyond the river, stand
+yet to their arms, and blush even to look for the shelter of a tree."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us descend, then," said the cavalier, "and join them without delay;
+for I believe those men of Cortes are true soldiers, and I long to make
+their acquaintance."</p>
+
+<p>"It is needful we do so, and that quickly," said the astrologer; "for
+this river, though by midnight it shall again be shrunk to a fairy
+brook, will, in an hour, be impassable."</p>
+
+<p>It required not many moments to convey the party to the banks of the
+stream; but when they had reached it, it was apparent, it could not be
+forded without peril. Its channel was wild and rocky; fallen and
+shivered trees fringed its borders with a bristling net-work, over and
+among which the current raved with a noisy turbulence. The cavalier
+regarded it with solicitude; but perceiving that the magician was urging
+his horse into it without hesitation, he prepared forthwith to follow
+his example. He saw, however, that the secretary faltered; and feeling
+as much pity for his inexperience, as commiseration for the helplessness
+to which, as he supposed, the arrow-hurt had reduced him, he rode up to
+him with words of comfort and encouragement.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou perceivest," he said, "that Botello goes into the water without
+fear. Thou shall pass, Lorenzo, without danger; for besides placing
+Lazaro on one side of thee, I will myself take station on the other. If
+thou shouldst, by any mischance, find thyself out of depth, all that
+thou canst do, will be to trust the matter to thy horse, who is
+doubtless too sagacious to thrust himself into any superfluous jeopardy.
+Be of good heart: this is a small matter: thou wilt one day, perhaps, if
+thou continuest to desire the life and fame of a soldier, have to pass a
+more raging torrent than this, and that, too, in the teeth of an enemy."</p>
+
+<p>The secretary blushed at his fears, and willing to retrieve his
+character, dashed into the flood with an alacrity that carried him
+beyond his patron. For a moment he advanced steadily and securely, at
+the heels of Botello; but becoming alarmed at the sight of a tree
+surging down towards him, he veered a little from the direction, and
+instantly found his horse swimming under him. Before Lazaro or the
+cavalier could approach to his aid, his discomposure got so much the
+better of his discretion, that he began to jerk and pull at the reins
+in such a manner as to infuse some of his own disorder into the steed.
+Don Amador beheld the sorrel nag not only plunging and rearing in the
+water, but turning his head down the stream, and swimming with the
+current.</p>
+
+<p>"Give thy horse the reins, and perplex him not, Lorenzo!" he cried,
+urging the dauntless Fogoso to his rescue; "jerk not, pull not, or thou
+wilt be in great danger."</p>
+
+<p>But before the secretary could obey the voice of Don Amador, and before
+the latter could reach him, the hand of Lazaro had grasped the bridle,
+and turned the animal's head to the bank.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose thou wert in the midst of a company of fighting spearmen,
+instead of this spluttering gutter," said the man-at-arms, in his ear,
+"wouldst thou distract thy beast in this school-boy fashion?"</p>
+
+<p>The contemptuous composure of the soldier did more to restore the
+spirits of Fabueno, than the counsels of the cavalier; and yielding up
+the guidance of himself as well as his animal, to Lazaro, he was soon
+out of danger.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, Don Amador, in his hurry to give the secretary relief,
+had taken so little note of his own situation, that when he beheld his
+ward in safety, he discovered that he was himself even more disagreeably
+situated. A few yards below him was a cluster of rocks, against which,
+as he discerned at a glance, it would be fatal to be dashed, but which
+he saw not how he could avoid, inasmuch as the bank above them was so
+palisaded by the sharp and jutting boughs of a prostrate tree, that it
+seemed impossible he could effect a landing there. While balancing in
+doubt, at a time when doubt, as he well knew, was jeopardy, he heard a
+voice suddenly crying to him from the bank,</p>
+
+<p>"What ho, señor! holla! 'Ware the rocks, and spur on: your hope is in
+the tree-top."</p>
+
+<p>While Don Amador instinctively obeyed this command, and urged his steed
+full towards the threatening branches, he raised his head, and perceived
+a cavalier on a dun horse riding into the water, above the rocks hard by
+the tree, as if to convince him of the practicability of the passage,
+and the shallowness of the water. This unknown auxiliary stretched forth
+his hand, and doing to Amador the service rendered by Lazaro to the
+secretary, the neophyte instantly found himself in safety, and ascending
+the bank of the river. Not till his charge was on dry land, did the
+stranger relax his hand; and then perhaps the sooner, that Don Amador
+seized it with a most cordial gripe, and while he held it, said,
+fervently,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I swear to thee, cavalier! I believe thou hast saved me from a great
+danger, if thou hast not absolutely preserved my life: for which good
+deed, besides giving thee my most unfeigned present thanks, I avow
+myself, till the day of my death, enslaved under the necessity to
+requite thee with any honourable risk thou canst hereafter impose."</p>
+
+<p>While Don Amador spoke, he perused the countenance and surveyed the
+figure of his deliverer. He was a man in the prime and midway of life,
+tall and long-limbed, but with a breadth of shoulders and development of
+muscle that proved him, as did the grasp with which he assisted the
+war-horse from the flood, to possess great bodily strength. His face was
+handsome and manly, though with rather delicate features; and a very
+lofty and capacious forehead shone among thin black locks, and under a
+velvet cap worn in a negligent manner, with a medal of a saint draggling
+loosely from it. His beard was black and thin, like his hair, and Amador
+plainly perceived through it the scar of a sword-cut between the chin
+and mouth. His garments were of a fine and dark cloth, without much
+ornament; but his <i>fanfarrona</i>, as it was called in the language of the
+cavaliers, was a gold chain of at least thrice the weight and bigness of
+the neophyte's, linked round his neck, and supporting a pendant of
+Christ and the Virgin; and in addition, Don Amador saw on a finger of
+the hand he grasped, a diamond ring of goodly size and lustre. Such was
+the valiant gentleman, who won the friendship of the neophyte not less
+by his ready good will than by his excellent appearance; although this
+last qualification was perhaps not displayed to advantage, inasmuch as
+his whole attire and equipments, as well as the skin and armour of his
+horse, were dripping with wet, as if both had been lately plunged into
+the river or exposed to all the rigour of the storm. He replied to Don
+Amador's courtesies with a frank and open countenance, and a laugh of
+good humour, as if entirely unconscious of any discomfort from his
+reeking condition, or of any merit in the service he had rendered.</p>
+
+<p>"I accept thy offers of friendship," he said, "and very heartily, señor.
+But I vow to thee, when I helped thee out of the stream, I thought I
+should have had to give thee battle the next moment, as a sworn friend
+of Don Panfilo, the Biscayan."</p>
+
+<p>"How little justice there was in that suspicion," said Amador, "you will
+know when I tell you, that, at this moment, next to the satisfaction of
+finding some opportunity to requite your true service, I know of no
+greater pleasure the saints could send me than a fair opportunity to
+cross swords with this ill-mannered general, in serious and mortal
+arbitrement. Know, señor, I am at this moment a captive escaped out of
+the hands of that most dishonourable and unworthy person, seeking my
+way, with my followers, under guidance of a certain conjurer called
+Botello to the camp of the valiant señor Don Hernan Cortes and I rejoice
+in this rencounter the more, because I am persuaded you are yourself a
+true friend of that much-respected commander."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by my conscience! you may say so," cried the blithe cavalier; "and
+I would to heaven Cortes had many more friends that love him so well as
+my self. But come, señor; you are hard by his head-quarters.&mdash;Yet, under
+favour, let us, before seeking them, say a word to Botello, who, with
+your people, I perceive, has crossed the river."</p>
+
+<p>A few steps of their horses brought the two cavaliers into contact with
+the travellers, with whom Don Amador beheld some half-a-dozen strangers,
+all of hidalgo appearance, on horseback, and dripping with wet like his
+new friend, but, unlike him, armed to the teeth with helm, mail, and
+buckler.</p>
+
+<p>"How now, Botello, <i>mi querido</i>?" he cried, as he rode in among the
+party; "what news from my brother Narvaez! and what conjuration wert
+thou enacting, while he was scampering away before the bad weather?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing but good, señor!" said Botello, baring his head, and bending it
+to the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte was surprised at this mark of homage in the enchanter, whom
+he had found, though neither rude nor presumptuous, not over-burthened
+with servility. Looking round to the other hidalgos, he discovered that
+they all kept their eyes upon his companion with looks of the deepest
+respect. At the same moment, and as the truth entered his mind, he
+caught the eye of his deliverer, and perceived at once, in this stately
+though unarmed cavalier, the person of the renowned Cortes himself. For
+a moment, it seemed as if the general were disposed to meet the
+disclosure with a grave and lofty deportment suitable to his rank; but
+as Don Amador raised his hand to his casque with a gesture of reverence,
+a smile crept over his visage, which was instantly succeeded by a
+good-humoured and familiar laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou seest, señor!" he cried, "we will be masking at times, even
+without much regard either for our enemies or the weather. But trust me,
+caballero, you are welcome; and doubtless not only to myself, but to
+these worthier gentlemen, my friends." And here the general pronounced
+the names of Sandoval, of De Morla, of De Leon, De Olid, and
+others,&mdash;all, as was afterwards proved, men of great note among the
+invaders of Mexico. The neophyte saluted them with courtesy, and then,
+turning to the general, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am myself called Amador de Leste, a poor hidalgo of Cuenza, a novice
+of the order of St. John of the Holy Hospital, and kinsman of the knight
+Gines Gabriel de Calavar, to seek whom am I come to this land of Mexico,
+and to the tents of your excellency."</p>
+
+<p>All bowed with great respect at this annunciation; and Cortes himself,
+half raising his drooping cap, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I doubly welcome the cavalier De Leste; and whether he come to honour
+me with the aid of his good sword, or to rob me of the true friendship
+of the knight Calavar, still am I most glad to see him: and glad am I
+that heaven has sent us a kinsman to watch by the side of the good
+knight. Señor," continued the general, anticipating the questions of the
+neophyte, "if you will moderate your impatience a little, until I fulfil
+my duties with my mad friend here, the astrologer, I will be rejoiced in
+person to conduct you to your kinsman."</p>
+
+<p>The courteous manners of Hernan Cortes did more to mollify the ardour of
+the novice than could any degree of stateliness. He smothered his
+impatience, though it was burning with a stronger and an increasing
+flame; while the general proceeded to confer with the magician.</p>
+
+<p>"How is it, Magico mio?" he cried. "I had a deserter this morning, who
+told me thou hadst been entrapped,&mdash;that my brother Narvaez had
+cudgelled thee with his own hands, and had some thoughts of hanging
+thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Such is, in part, the truth," said Botello, tranquilly. "He was
+incensed at the stars, and struck me with his foot, because the Spirit
+of the Crystal gave not an answer to his liking."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, indeed!" cried Cortes, curiously; "and Kalidon hath been speaking
+to him! What said Kalidon-Sadabath of Narvaez?"</p>
+
+<p>"He said that, to-night," replied Botello, with his most solemn
+emphasis, "the foot of Cortes should be on the pyramid, and that,
+to-morrow, the Biscayan should do homage to his rival."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! and Kalidon told him all this?" said Cortes, quickly, and, as
+Amador thought, angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"He told only that which it was fitting the Biscayan should know," said
+Botello, significantly; "he told him that which brought his forces into
+the field to-day, so that they shall sleep more soundly for their
+labours to-night; and yet he told him, no blow should be struck in the
+field. He showed him many such things; but he told him not, in manner as
+it was written in the heaven and figured in the stone, that to-night
+should his enemy creep upon him as he slept blind and besotted, and
+while his best friends guided the assailant to his bed-side."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by my conscience!" cried Cortes, turning with meaning looks to his
+companions; "this Kalidon reads men's thoughts; for it was but an half
+hour since, when I beheld these delicate warriors turning their backs to
+the gust, that I vowed in my heart, I would, to-night, give them a
+lesson for their folly. What thinkest thou, son Sandoval? Will thy
+sun-burnt, lazy fellows of the Rich City march to Zempoala by night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by night or by day,&mdash;whenever they are bidden," said the
+sententious stripling, who, at this early period of the campaign and of
+his life, was not only the favourite of the general, but his second in
+fame. As Don Amador listened to his rough voice, and surveyed his bold
+and frank countenance adorned with a curly beard and hair, both of amber
+hue, he bethought him of the story of the heralds summoning him to
+surrender his post into their hands, and receiving an answer which they
+digested in the nets of the Tlamémé, on the road to Tenochtitlan.</p>
+
+<p>"And thou, Juan Velasquez de Leon," said the general, turning to a young
+and powerfully framed cavalier, with a red beard and fierce countenance,
+who, besides being clad in a heavier coat of mail than any other
+present, was more bountifully bedecked with golden chains, and who sat
+on a noble gray mare,&mdash;"What sayest thou? Wilt thou play me a bout with
+Narvaez, the captain of thy kinsman, the governor Velasquez?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, by my beard, I will!" replied De Leon, with a thick ferocious
+voice, suiting the action to the word, and wringing the rain-drops from
+the beard he had invoked; "for, though I love the governor, I love not
+his dog; and if this godly enchanter will assure me the stars are
+favourable to the enterprise, I will be the last man to say, our two
+hundred and fifty men are no match for the thousand curs that bark at
+the heels of the Biscayan."</p>
+
+<p>"It is written that, if we attack to-night, we shall prevail," said
+Botello.</p>
+
+<p>"If <i>I</i> am permitted to say anything in a matter of such importance,"
+said the neophyte, "I can aver, that if the people of Narvaez design to
+revel away this night, as they did the last, their commanders trifling
+with jugglers and rope-dancers, their guards sleeping on their posts, or
+straying away into the suburbs, as we discovered them when we escaped at
+dawn, it is an opinion which I formed on the spot, that some ten or
+fifteen score of resolute men may take them by surprise, and utterly
+vanquish them."</p>
+
+<p>"I respect the opinion of Don Amador," said Cortes, "as well as the
+counsels of Kalidon-Sadabath and the stars, which have never yet told me
+a falsehood. But how comes it, Botello? Hast thou been flying since
+dawn? I cannot understand the necessity thou wert under to lead my
+worthy friend Don Amador so long a ramble; and moreover I perceive that,
+though yesterday thou wert constrained to trudge upon foot, thou art,
+to-day, master of a steed that may almost compare with Motacila, the
+wag-tail, of my son Sandoval."</p>
+
+<p>"I stole the beast from the captain of the watch, Salvatierra, while he
+kept guard over us at some distance in the fields," said the magician,
+while all the cavaliers laughed heartily at the explanation; "and as
+for the long day's travel,&mdash;when I found myself upon a good horse, I
+thought I could do no better than give the alarm, and draw a party in
+pursuit, and so entangle them among the woods, or wear them out with
+fatigue, that they should make little opposition when we came to attack
+their comrades at midnight."</p>
+
+<p>"A shrewd and most laudable device!" cried Cortes, with unconcealed
+delight: "I have ever found thee as good a soldier as astrologer; and if
+the fates be as favourable to thee as I am myself, Botello, I can
+promise thee many an acre of maize fields or gold mountains, to
+recompense thy services."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be as it is written," said Botello, gravely. "Many a peril
+shall encompass me; but I know that, in the worst, as it has been
+revealed to me, I shall be rescued out of it on the wings of eagles!"</p>
+
+<p>"Amen!" cried Cortes, "for the day of miracles is not over. If the
+señor De Leste," he continued, "claim to discharge his just anger for
+his imprisonment on my brother Narvaez, I will invite him to such a post
+of honour as shall be most likely to gratify his longings. And after
+that, if my very noble friend be inclined to exercise some of that skill
+in naval warfare which he has doubtless acquired among the knights of
+Rhodes, I will rejoice to entrust to him the attack upon the fleet of
+Cavallero."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said Amador, "though I burn to assist you in the attack on
+Narvaez, I must first receive the command of my knight Don Gabriel. I am
+not so eager to draw sword upon the admiral; for know, valiant Don
+Hernan, I have discovered in Cavallero a kinsman of my mother. And
+señor," continued the neophyte, "I am now reminded of a message which he
+charged me to deliver to your excellency, wherein he begs to assure you,
+that, though fate has arrayed him as your enemy, he cannot forget the
+friendship of his former life."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" cried Cortes briskly, "does the excellent admiral say me that?"</p>
+
+<p>"He bade me also avow to you, that, though it became him not, as an
+officer of Velasquez, to hold any communications with you, except those
+of simple form and courtesy, he should be well rejoiced when heaven has
+removed the obstruction, and left him at liberty to meet you with former
+friendship and confidence."</p>
+
+<p>"By my conscience," cried the general, turning to his officers, and
+exchanging meaning and joyous glances with them, "though these be
+tidings which Kalidon hath not revealed, yet are they of such pleasant
+import, that I shall ever thank Don Amador for being the bearer of them.
+Eh, my masters!" he exclaimed; "did I not tell you, when we left
+Tenochtitlan in gloom, we should return to it in merriment? that when we
+sank our rotten fleet among the surges of Villa Rica, heaven should send
+us another and a better? Let us move on, and spread these good news
+through the camp&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte perceived, by the exultation of the general, that he had
+been in a manner cajoled by Cavallero; but he was not sorry to think his
+kinsman should rather prefer to command his fleet as the ally of Cortes
+than as the friend of Narvaez.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The sun was declining fast, when the travellers made their way to the
+camp of Cortes. The River of Canoes ran through a fertile valley; but
+this was of no great extent, and towards its upper termination, the
+scene of the events of the day, it was arid and broken with rocks.
+Immediately beyond the river, in a place made strong by rocks and
+bushes, impenetrable to cavalry, and affording the safest covert to his
+arquebusiers and crossbowmen, the wary rival of Narvaez had pitched his
+quarters. Temporary huts of boughs and fresh-woven mats were seen
+withering among the green shadows, and from these ascended the smoke of
+fires, at which the soldiers were dressing their evening meal. But in
+advance of this primitive encampment, dripping with rain like their
+commanders, yet standing to their arms with a patient and grave
+constancy, as if still in readiness for an enemy, Don Amador beheld the
+forces of Cortes. They had a weather-beaten and veteran appearance; most
+of them were apparelled in the escaupil, cut in separate pieces
+resembling cumbrous plate-armour, and occasionally so hacked by the
+weapons of the natives, that the white lining gaped out somewhat
+ludicrously from its darker covering. Those arrayed in a better
+investment, had their morions and breast-plates commonly covered with
+rust, as if kept too much occupied with perils by night and day to allow
+leisure for burnishing them. Nevertheless, they looked like disciplined
+and experienced soldiers. Amador observed that few of them had
+fire-arms; the cross-bow, the sword, and the great lance of Chinantla,
+with its long double head of bright copper, were almost their only arms;
+but they handled them as if well acquainted with their value. Behind
+this advanced guard, under the shelter of the rocks and bushes, he
+remarked several officers, a few of them mounted, as well as divers
+groups of Indian menials; and, as his ear caught a low exclamation from
+the general, he turned his eyes, and beheld the object of his long and
+painful search.</p>
+
+<p>Under the shadow of a tall tree, remote from the rest, and attended only
+by a single armed follower,&mdash;on a coal-black horse, heavily harnessed,
+which stood under his weight with a tranquillity as marble-like as his
+own, sat the knight of Calavar. He was in full armour, but the iron
+plates were rusted on his body, and in many places shattered. The plumes
+were broken and disordered on his helmet; the spear lay at the feet of
+his steed; his buckler was in the hands of his attendant; and instead of
+the red tabard which was worn in a season of war by the brothers of his
+order, the black mantle of peace, with its great white cross, hung or
+drooped heavily from his shoulders. His beaver was up, and his
+countenance, wan and even ghastly, was fully revealed. The ravages of an
+untimely age were imprinted upon his aspect; yet, notwithstanding the
+hollow cheeks and grizzled beard, the brow furrowed with a thousand
+wrinkles, the lips colourless and contracted into an expression of deep
+pain, he presented the appearance of a ruin majestic in its decay. His
+hands were clasped, and lay on the pommel of the saddle, and, together
+with his whole attitude and air, indicated a state of the most profound
+and sorrowful abstraction. In truth, he seemed the prey of thoughts,
+many and deep; and it scarcely needed the simple and touching legend,
+<i>Miserere mei, Deus!</i> which usurped the place of a scutcheon or other
+device on his shield, to know that if fame sat on his saddle, sorrow
+rested under his bosom.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had the neophyte beheld this gloomy apparition, than, with a
+loud cry, he threw himself from his horse; and, rushing forward, he
+seized the relaxed hand of the figure, and pressed it to his lips with
+reverence and affection. But the knight, not yet roused from his revery,
+or struggling vainly with imperfect recollections, looked only into his
+face with a wistful stare.</p>
+
+<p>"Patron and cousin! my friend and my father!" cried the novice,
+passionately, "do you not know me? I am Amador!"</p>
+
+<p>"Amador!" muttered the knight, with a troubled look and a tone of
+perplexity. "Very well,&mdash;to-morrow&mdash;to-morrow!"</p>
+
+<p>"He will not understand you now," said the general. "He is often in
+these trances."</p>
+
+<p>"Mi padre! mi amigo!" cried the youth, vehemently, without regarding the
+interruption of the commander, "will you not know me? I am Amador!
+Look,&mdash;here is Baltasar, old Baltasar! your servant and favourite, that
+has been at your side ever from the days of the Alpujarras to the fall
+of Rhodes."</p>
+
+<p>"The Alpujarras!" echoed the knight, with a deep sigh. "Wo is
+me!&mdash;miserere mei, Deus!"</p>
+
+<p>"He will recollect us <i>now</i>," said Baltasar, who had also descended, and
+who testified his fidelity by a tear that glittered in his ancient eye.
+"I never knew that word fail to call him out of his mood, though I have
+often known it fling him into one.&mdash;Master! I am Baltasar; and here is
+your honour's kinsman, Don Amador!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! is it so indeed? I thought I was dreaming," said the knight: "Art
+thou here indeed, my son Amador? Give me thy brows, for I am rejoiced to
+find thee in the world again." And stooping and flinging his arms round
+his neck, he kissed the forehead of the neophyte, with a parental
+affection.</p>
+
+<p>"This, my masters," said Cortes, in an under voice, "is not a spectacle
+for us. Let us pass on, and arrange proceedings for the attack." And,
+with his suite, he instantly departed.</p>
+
+<p>"And how dost thou prosper at Almeria?" continued Calavar, mildly, and
+without any incoherence of manner, though it was evident his thoughts
+were far away. "Hast thou found me any brave hearts, who will march with
+me against the infidels of Barbary?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear knight and patron," said Amador, "we are not now in Spain, but in
+the heathen lands of Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! Dios mio, I had forgotten that!" said Don Gabriel, with a
+bewildered air.</p>
+
+<p>"Whither I have come," said the novice, "to beg your pardon for my
+negligence and desertion, and never more to part from your side."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember me now," said the knight, slowly and sadly. "Wo is me! a
+sore infirmity is on my brain; and sometimes I am not master of my own
+acts. But I remember thee, my friend: I remember that, in an evil hour
+of forgetfulness, I forsook thee, to come to this unknown land. But I
+beg thy pardon, my son;&mdash;the dark mood took me from thee, and in truth I
+knew it not."</p>
+
+<p>The tears came into the eyes of Amador, as he listened to the
+self-accusation of his kinsman, and remembered how much the blame should
+rest on his own momentary defection.</p>
+
+<p>"It is <i>I</i> that must bear the reproach, and <i>I</i> that must look for
+forgiveness," he cried. "But I will never need to be rebuked or forgiven
+again; for I swear, dear kinsman, I will follow thee truly now, until my
+death."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou hast left the fair hills of Spain, thy true friends, and thy
+lady-love," said Calavar, with a mournful voice, "to follow me over the
+wide seas and the hostile deserts? I welcome thee with gratitude, for
+thy love is great, and thy task will be bitter. I welcome thee well,
+Amador, but surely it is with sorrow; for I heard thou hadst won the
+love of a noble and virtuous lady; and heaven forbid I should not lament
+to sever thee, in thy youth, from the enjoyment of thy affection."</p>
+
+<p>A flush of shame and pain mantled the countenance of the devoted novice,
+as he replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I confess I have much need of thy forbearance, dear knight; but they
+did me wrong, who said I could forget thee for the love of woman. I
+acknowledge no duty that is not to thee, and no passion but that of
+serving thee with constancy and truth. But I am sent to thee not more by
+the impulses of my own love, than by the commands of his most eminent
+highness, the Grand Master, who leaves it to thyself, as a well-beloved
+and much-trusted follower of the holy order, whether thou wilt remain
+fighting the infidels of this new world, or return at thy pleasure to
+the island Malta, which his majesty the king and emperor, Don Carlos of
+Spain and Austria, hath promised to bestow upon the good knights, the
+defenders of Christendom."</p>
+
+<p>"Among the infidels of the new world, then," said Calavar, casting his
+eyes meekly to heaven; "for I know that what poor service I may yet
+render the faith, must be rendered soon; and if God uphold me, I will
+render it truly and well. But thou, Amador my son, my faithful and my
+beloved! I adjure thee that, when my task is finished, thou return to
+the land of thy birth, and give thyself to a life of virtue, and, if
+possible, of peace. Watch well the creatures that are in thy breast, for
+among them are devils, which, if thou do not chain them, will rend thee.
+Check thy wrath, fetter thy fury," continued the knight, vehemently;
+"and when thou drawest thy sword, call on God, that it may not fall
+unjustly; for when blood is shed that should not have been shed, it
+lives on the soul for ever&mdash;Ay de mi! Miserere mei, Deus!"</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador feared, as he listened with a superstitious reverence to the
+adjurations of the knight, that he was about to relapse into his gloomy
+stupor; but he was deceived. The lips of Calavar muttered on for a
+moment, as if continuing to repeat the solemn and impassioned appeal of
+the psalmist: and then, making the sign of the cross on his breast, he
+turned again to the novice with a kind of dismal cheer, and said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I welcome thee again to this land, Amador. And Baltasar&mdash;What now,
+Baltasar? is it possible I should forget thee? I am glad to look upon
+thy loyal countenance; thine old friend Marco will rejoice to fight
+again at thy side.&mdash;If I do not err, this is thy henchman, Lazaro:&mdash;I
+greet thee well, Lazaro: be very true to thy master, and forget not thy
+religion. And this youth that rests behind thee&mdash;if he be thy follower,
+my son, he shall share thy welcome."</p>
+
+<p>"I recommend the youth Fabueno to thy kindness," said Amador, well
+pleased to perceive his kinsman so collected. "He is the secretary of
+the admiral Cavallero, who claims to be related to your honour, and
+sends you the assurance of his love. I have been constrained, without
+yet knowing the pleasure of his excellency, to receive the youth into
+my protection; and this I did the more cheerfully, that he was my
+fellow-sufferer in the camp of Narvaez, and did, for my sake, very
+courageously expose himself to the painful shot of a cross-bow, which
+now maims his right arm."</p>
+
+<p>"If he have suffered for thee, my friend, I will not forget him," said
+the knight; "and I am rejoiced for his sake that now, in this season of
+peace, we may cure his wound before we call upon him to endure another."</p>
+
+<p>The countenance of Don Amador fell; he thought the knight's dream of
+peace denoted that he was sinking again into abstraction.</p>
+
+<p>"Call this not the season of peace," he cried. "The commander Cortes is
+resolute to fall upon his enemy, Narvaez, the enemy of honour; and it
+needs we should burnish up our arms, to give him help."</p>
+
+<p>Calavar looked seriously at the youth, and touching his black mantle
+with an expressive gesture, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is the time of peace, my son,&mdash;the time of peace for those that
+follow the good St. John. I remember me now, that Cortes came down from
+the mountains, to fight the man Narvaez and his host: but these are not
+infidels, but Christians."</p>
+
+<p>"Cousin," said the cavalier, warmly, "though this man have the name, yet
+do I very much doubt if he possess any of the religion of a Christian;
+and I have to assure you, I have endured such causeless indignities at
+his hands, such as direct insult, violent seizure, and shameful
+imprisonment, as can only be washed away with his blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Wo's me! wo's me!" cried the knight: "the blood that is poured in
+anger, will not flow like water; it will not dry like water; nor will
+water, though blessed by the holy priest in the church, wash its crust
+from the hand! Thou seest," he cried, extending his gauntleted member,
+and gazing piteously into the face of his heated kinsman&mdash;"thou seest,
+that though, for thrice five years, I have washed it in brook and font,
+in the river that flows from the land of the Cross, and in the brine of
+the sea, it oozes still from between the scales, like a well that must
+trickle for ever, and will not be hidden.&mdash;Thou art very wroth with me,
+heaven!&mdash;Miserere mei, Domine!"</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador was greatly shocked and grieved, that his imprudent obstinacy
+had so nearly again recalled the distraction of his kinsman. But it
+needed not many expressions of gentleness and submission, to divert the
+current of his thoughts. The appearance of the young and devoted
+follower had come to the spirit of the penitent knight, like a cool
+breeze over the temples of a fevered man; and having once been roused
+from his gloom, he could not be long insensible to the excitement of his
+presence. He cast an eye of kindness and affection on the youth, and
+obeying, as one who had been long accustomed to such control, the humble
+suggestion of Marco, he turned to the tents of the encampment.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The sun had not yet set, when the ray, stealing through the vapours that
+gathered among the distant peaks, beheld the señor Cortes and his little
+army crossing the River of Canoes. A quarter-league above his encampment
+was the very ford which had given him passage, when, with a force short
+of five hundred men, and a few score of wild Totonacs, taken with him
+less as warlike auxiliaries than as beasts of burthen and hostages for
+the fidelity of their tribe, he set out to cross mountains of snow and
+fire, rocky deserts and foaming rivers, in the invasion of an empire,
+whose limits, as well as its resources and power, were utterly unknown.
+Here the stream was more shallow than at that spot where it had been the
+fate of Don Amador to ford it; the flood had also in a measure
+subsided; and while the mounted individuals passed it with ease, the
+waters came not above the breasts of the footmen. Don Amador rode at the
+side of his knight, and though chafing with discontent at the thought
+that he should share no part in the brave deeds of the coming night, and
+be but a looker-on, while strangers were robbing him of his vengeance,
+yet did he conceal his troubles, lest the exhibition of them should give
+new pain to his unhappy kinsman. The three attendants were behind, and
+Fabueno, though evidently regarding the knight Calavar with a deep and
+superstitious awe, rode not far from his patron.</p>
+
+<p>The rivulet was crossed, and the hardy desperadoes who were now marching
+with spears to attack a foe of five times their own number, fortified
+with cannon on an eminence, gathered about their leader as he sat his
+horse on the bank, as if expecting his final instructions and
+encouragement. He surveyed them not only with gravity but with
+complacency, and smiling as if in derision of their weakness,&mdash;for they
+did not number much over two hundred and fifty men,&mdash;he said, with
+inimitable dryness:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My good friends and companions! you are now about to fight a battle,
+the issue of which will depend very much on your own conduct; and I have
+to inform you, that if, as seems reasonable enough, you are vanquished,
+there is not a man of you that shall not hang at some corner of Zempoala
+to-morrow!"</p>
+
+<p>A murmur running through the whole crew, marked the disgust of all at
+this unsavoury exordium.</p>
+
+<p>"The reasons for this opinion," continued the leader, gravely, "both as
+to the probable fate of the battle and of yourselves in the event of
+your being beaten, I shall have no trouble in speaking; only that, like
+one who knows how to use the butt as well as the blade of his lance, I
+shall discourse first of the hinder part of my argument; that is to say,
+of the very great certainty with which a gibbet shall reward every man
+who, this night, handles his weapon too tenderly. Know, then, my good
+brothers, that, at this moment, though you very loyally and truly avow
+yourselves the soldiers of his majesty, our king and master, it hath
+somehow entered into the head of the general Narvaez, the lieutenant of
+his majesty's governor, to consider you as villain rebels and
+traitors;&mdash;an imputation so exceedingly preposterous and eccentric,
+that, were we in a Christian land, you should not be required to deny
+it; but, standing as you do, with no better present judge than your
+accuser, it is certain your innocence could not be made apparent to his
+majesty, until after the gallinazas had picked the last morsel from your
+bones; at which time, as I think you will agree with me, a declaration
+of your true loyalty would not be a matter of much consequence to any of
+you."</p>
+
+<p>Again a murmur, accompanied by sundry ferocious looks and savage
+interjections, testified the discontent of the adventurers.</p>
+
+<p>"What I say, is the truth," continued Cortes, adopting the scowl which
+darkened the visages of all, extending his drawn sabre above his head,
+and speaking with a fierce and resolute indignation: "In the face of
+that heaven, which has seen us, for its honour and glory, devote
+ourselves to pain and peril, landing friendless and unaided, save by its
+own divine countenance, on the shores of bitter and murderous
+barbarians, overthrowing their bloody idols, and even in the chief
+sanctuaries of their diabolic superstition, on the palaces of their
+emperors and the pyramids of their gods, erecting the standard of the
+crucified Saviour,&mdash;I say, even in the face of that heaven that has seen
+us do these things that will immortalize us on earth and glorify us in
+heaven, the man Narvaez has dared to call us traitors to our king and
+faith, has denounced us more as infidel Moors, than as Christian
+Spaniards, and declaring war upon us with sword, fire, and free rope,
+has sworn to give us to the death of caitiffs and felons!"</p>
+
+<p>The answer to this passionate appeal was loud and furious. The
+cavaliers clashed their swords upon their bucklers, the footmen drove
+their spears into the soil, and, foaming with rage, swore they would
+thus answer the calumny in the heart of their enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"Does it need I should give you more proof of the bloody and insolent
+violence of Narvaez?" said the general. "He hath set a price upon my
+head, and on the head of my loyal friend Sandoval, as though we were
+vile bandits and assassins."</p>
+
+<p>"What needs more words?" cried the young captain, thus referred to. "He
+shall have my head for the three thousand crowns, if he can take it."</p>
+
+<p>"How it happens he has not thought any other head in this company worth
+buying," said the commander, with an adroit bitterness, "is an insult he
+must himself explain."</p>
+
+<p>There was not a cavalier present that did not swear, in his heart, he
+would avenge such forbearance with the full swing of his weapon.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be now manifest," continued Cortes, with composure, "that
+defeat will be the warrant and assurance of a gallows-death to all that
+may render themselves prisoners. And having convinced you of this, I may
+now betake me to the first article of my discourse, as one that concerns
+the possibility of your defeat. It is quite probable," he went on to
+say, with an irony more effectual than the most encouraging argument of
+hope, "that being but two hundred and fifty strong, and enfeebled by
+your divers battles with the Tlascalans, and the knavish herds of
+Cholula, you will be easily beaten by a thousand men, who, besides being
+fond of the valiant diversions of Indian dancers, and the martial
+delights of house shelter and soft beds, have hardened their bodies, and
+perfected their knowledge of arms, among the plantain patches of Cuba;
+and who, in addition, are of so magnanimous a turn, that they would, the
+half of them, at this moment, rather join your ranks than draw sword
+against you. But why do I talk thus? A live dog is better than a dead
+lion,&mdash;and a score of waking men, better than a hundred sleepers. Know,
+then, ye grumbling and incensed companions, if ye <i>will</i> conquer this
+man that comes with a rope, ye may. Botello hath shown me how the stars
+are propitious, and how the Spirit of the Crystal hath promised us
+success. Heaven fights on our side, for we fight for heaven;&mdash;St. Paul
+will be with us, for we contend for the privilege to convert the
+heathen;&mdash;and Santiago will not forget us, for with every thrust of our
+spears, we strike a brave blow for Spain!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let us on!" cried all, with a shout of exultation; "We will conquer!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay!" cried the general, with a mock discretion. "Rush not too eagerly
+on danger. Let us wait a day for those two thousand brown varlets of
+Chinantla, whom the loitering Barrientos conducts hitherward; for though
+it be somewhat dishonourable to share a triumph with Indian soldiers,
+yet will they doubtless make that triumph the more certain."</p>
+
+<p>"We will win it ourselves!" cried the excited desperadoes.</p>
+
+<p>"Ye will have hotter work than ye think," said Cortes; "and surely I
+believe ye will take to your heels, like the old Arrowauks of Cuba,
+leaving me to die at the pyramid&mdash;For I swear you, if ye force me to
+conduct you to Zempoala, I will not come from it alive, unless as its
+master!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let it be proclaimed death to any one that turns his back!" cried an
+hundred voices.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay then, ye mad valiant rogues! ye shall have your wish!" cried Cortes,
+yielding to an excitement he had not easily suppressed, rising in his
+stirrups and looking round him with that fiery and fanatical enthusiasm
+which was the true secret of his greatness, and which left him not for a
+moment even in the darkest and most perilous hour of his enterprise. "We
+will march to Zempoala, with God in our hearts, and the name of the Holy
+Spirit on our lips; and remembering that, under such influence, we
+scattered the tens of thousands that beset us on the plains of
+Tlascala, we will show this dog of a Biscayan what it is to oppose the
+arms of heaven,&mdash;Amen!"</p>
+
+<p>And <i>Amen</i> was uttered fiercely and frantically by the adventurers, as
+they prepared to follow their leader. But a wave of his hand checked
+their ardour for a moment; a few words explained the order of attack,
+and the duties of the several leaders, of whom the young Sandoval was
+appointed to the most honourable and dangerous task,&mdash;to seize the
+artillery by a coup-de-main, and thus give passage for De Leon in the
+assault of the towers, while Cortes himself should stand by with a
+chosen body of reserve, to witness the valour of his captains, and give
+assistance where it might be needed. Again, when the announcement of
+these orders seemed to have taken the restraint from the ardour of his
+followers, the general checked them. A huge and rugged cross of
+cotton-wood raised its mouldering bulk before them on their path,&mdash;a
+holy landmark, raised by the piety of the invader, nine months before,
+while on his march to Tenochtitlan.</p>
+
+<p>"Under the cross will we commend ourselves to God, and prepare ourselves
+for battle," said the leader, riding forward, and dismounting. His
+example was followed by all the cavaliers, who, together with the
+footmen, knelt upon the dank grass, and baring their heads, prepared for
+the rites of penitence and absolution. None knelt with a more devout
+submission than the knight of Calavar; none exposed with more humility
+their youthful heads to the evening breeze than did he his
+silver-touched locks and withered temples; and none, as the holy
+chaplain dictated the act of general confession and contrition, echoed
+his words with a more fervent sincerity. Under the rude crucifix in the
+desert, knelt those men who were about to imbrue their hands in blood,
+and that the blood of their countrymen.</p>
+
+<p>The words of penitence were said, the rite of absolution pronounced; and
+the followers of Cortes rose to their feet, with their hearts full of
+conquest. But before the helm was buckled and the horse mounted, there
+came on the twilight air, from the towers of Zempoala, the sound of the
+vesper-bell of Narvaez.</p>
+
+<p>"It is long since we have worshipped at the sound of a Christian bell,"
+said Cortes, again flinging himself on his knees. "God speaks to us in
+the omen. We have not forgotten, among infidel savages, that we are
+Christians!"</p>
+
+<p>As if those tones were rung in the chapel of a brother, instead of the
+barracks of an enemy, and as if to join that enemy in one act of piety,
+before springing upon him, sword in hand, all again knelt down; and the
+Ave-Marias of two hostile armies, on the brink of engagement, went up to
+heaven together.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Hard by to the town of Zempoala ran a little brook, coursing through
+agreeable meadows, and here and there skirted by green forests. In a
+wood that overshadowed this current,&mdash;but at the distance of a quarter
+league from it,&mdash;lay concealed the forces of Hernan Cortes, waiting
+patiently for the time when the squadrons of Narvaez, satiated with the
+sports of their tawny neighbours, should, additionally, recompense the
+exploits of the day with the oblivion of slumber. They had watched with
+contempt, and with joy (for they perceived in such spectacle, a symptom
+of the infatuated security of their enemies,) the great fire that
+lighted the diversions of the evening, blazing on the pyramid; until it
+began to die away, as did many of the sounds of revelry, that, in the
+still hour of the night, were borne to their ears. But it was not until
+their spies brought word that the last brand was flinging its decaying
+lustre over the eaves of the towers, that they were bidden to arise,
+cross the stream, and array for battle.</p>
+
+<p>In deep silence&mdash;for they knew there were sentinels on the path&mdash;they
+reached and forded the rivulet: trooper and footman passed over, and
+were ranked under their several leaders, and all seemed in readiness for
+the assault.</p>
+
+<p>Still, however, the knight of Calavar sat motionless on his sable steed,
+as if all unaware of the tempest of war that was brewing; and Don Amador
+beheld, with a pang of unutterable grief and vexation, the departure of
+those bold spirits to the scene of strife and honour, in which he was to
+have no share. As he sat fuming and frowning, now on the point of urging
+his kinsman for permission to follow, now reproaching himself in bitter
+reprehension, as if the unuttered wish might recall some of those
+thoughts of misery which so often perplexed the brain of the crazed
+knight, he heard the foot-fall of a horse, and perceived a cavalier
+riding towards him. To his grief was superadded a pang of shame, as he
+saw in this individual the person of Cortes himself, and conceived the
+object of his return.</p>
+
+<p>"I am loath to see that the noble Calavar still abides by the black
+mantle," he said, as if content to waste no arguments on the knight;
+"but if the very valiant Don Amador de Leste be desirous to repay upon
+Narvaez the injuries done to his honour, or if he be minded to bestow
+upon me that great favour whereof he spoke on the River of Canoes, there
+can never come a better opportunity than this present: and for the
+services he may render me personally, as well as a most loyal cause,
+this night, by leading his followers with me to the pyramid, I shall
+ever remain in thankful remembrance."</p>
+
+<p>The words stuck in the throat of the novice, as he replied, "I am the
+slave of my kinsman: I burn to follow you&mdash;but my knight must command."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to Calavar, with a look of despair; but the night which
+concealed it from the eye, could not preserve the reproach from the ear.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay thou by my side, Amador, my son," said Calavar, sorrowfully; "and
+let no man that follows thee or me, think to draw his sword this night;
+for we are the followers of St. John, and may not contend with a
+Christian, except in self-preservation."</p>
+
+<p>"God shield thee, sir knight," cried the general, anxiously; "every man
+who strikes with us to-night, strikes for his own life: victory
+preserves us, and defeat conducts us to the scaffold; and I am free to
+confess to <i>thee</i>, what I dared not speak to my companions, that unless
+every man does his duty, and God looks kindly upon all, I know not how
+soon we may be under the foot of our enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not refused thee my sword," said the knight calmly, "when an
+infidel stood in thy path; nor will I, when such opposition is again
+made."</p>
+
+<p>"But thy noble and valiant kinsman, and thy people," said the general,
+hastily: "they long to divide the honour of this combat, and they have
+no vows to restrain them. Every sword to-night is as valuable as a Cid's
+right arm."</p>
+
+<p>"Tempt them not! delude them not into the commission of a great sin,
+that will fill their future days with remorse," said Calavar, earnestly.
+But before he could add any thing further, the report of an arquebuse
+from the front filled the forest with its roar, and Cortes, plunging the
+spur into his charger, was instantly borne out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>"For God's sake!" cried Amador, with despairing entreaty, "let us cross
+the brook, and follow these brave men a little, though we join not in
+the battle."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not refuse thee so much as that," said the knight, with some
+little animation, which was perhaps caused by the martial associations
+of the explosion. "It is not forbidden us at least to look on; and by so
+doing, heaven may perchance allow us the happiness to save some wretched
+life."</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the little party had crossed the brook and spurring their
+horses hard, followed, as they thought, in the path of their late
+companion. But, though the moon frequently displayed her resplendent
+visage through loop-holes in the scudding clouds, the many clumps of
+trees that dotted over the meadows in the environs of Zempoala, so
+confounded the vision, that they had reached the very suburbs, without
+yet obtaining a view of the adventurers. Indeed it had so happened, that
+not being provided with a guide acquainted with the various approaches
+to the town, they fell upon one entirely different from that trodden by
+the assailants. Not doubting however that they were following closely
+upon their rear, they pushed boldly on through a deserted street,
+echoing loudly to the clatter of their steps; nor did they discover
+their error until, to their great surprise, they found themselves
+issuing upon the great square, in full view of the temple.</p>
+
+<p>They paused an instant in confusion.&mdash;No tumult of shouts or fire-arms
+came from the sanctuaries; a deep silence brooded over the city as with
+wings; in fact, no sound broke the solemn tranquillity of midnight, save
+one which was the evidence and representative of peace. The faint
+twangling of a lute, mingling with the sweet tones of a youthful voice,
+came from the chief tower; to hear which the sentinels had doubtless
+stolen from their posts among the cannon, which were now seen frowning
+in solitude on the verge of the platform.</p>
+
+<p>Before Don Amador could take time to ponder on the infatuated
+recklessness of the Biscayan general, or bethink him much of the young
+Moor of Fez, whose voice it was, he did not doubt, that sounded so
+plaintively from the tower, and which, by some inexplicable principle of
+association, instantly wafted his spirit to Granada, and wrung it with a
+sharp and sudden anguish,&mdash;the clattering of a horseman riding furiously
+up a neighbouring street, roused him from the imperfect revery; and his
+heart waxed hot and fierce, as the loud cry, <i>Arma! Arma! A las armas!</i>
+burst from the lips of the flying sentry. In a moment of time this
+faithful watchman was seen dashing across the square; and as he flung
+himself from his steed, and rushed up the steps of the pyramid, still
+shouting the alarm at the top of his voice, there was heard another
+sound following at his heels, in which the practised ear of the neophyte
+detected the tramp of footmen, pursuing with the speed of death. In a
+moment, also, ceased the lute and the voice of the singer; torches
+flashed suddenly from the doors of the towers; and as their light shot
+over the open square, there was seen a hurried mass of men running in
+confusion over the area of the pyramid. But the same flash that revealed
+this spectacle, disclosed also the wild figures and hostile visages of
+the men of Cortes, rushing to the assault, and sending forth a shout,
+that made the whole town ring and tremble to its foundations.</p>
+
+<p>It was not in the nature of man to see these sights and hear these
+sounds with composure; and accordingly Don Amador had no sooner
+dismounted and flung the reins of Fogoso into the hands of Lazaro, than
+he perceived the knight of Calavar, on foot, at his side. He turned an
+inflamed, and perhaps a rebellious eye on his kinsman; but the
+countenance of Calavar was bent on his own, with a ghastly placidity;
+and as the hand of the knight was laid on his shoulder, as if to
+restrain his fury, the youth groaned in bitterness and anger.</p>
+
+<p>"By heaven!" he cried, "I see the very face of Sandoval, as he darts at
+the steps!&mdash;O my friend! my father!"</p>
+
+<p>"Shed no blood!" said the knight, with a hollow, but stern and vehement
+voice. "The avenger will follow thee by night and by day, at prayers and
+in battle&mdash;Shed no blood!"</p>
+
+<p>"We are alone, too!" cried Amador, with ungovernable fire, as he found
+that Marco, Lazaro, and Baltasar, after flinging the reins of their
+horses round the shrubs that grew at the corner, had vanished from his
+side. "Even the varlets may strike at the knave who has wronged me; yet
+may I not raise my hand!"</p>
+
+<p>"Shed no blood!" reiterated Don Gabriel, in a sort of frenzy: "Forget
+thy rage, forswear thy fury! slay thyself, but strike not in
+vengeance!&mdash;Miserere mei, Deus!"</p>
+
+<p>All these wild words, though they take moments to record, were the
+utterance of an instant; and while the piteous plaint of the knight
+Calavar still winged its way to heaven, and before Amador could reply a
+single word, the shouts of the assailants, as they rushed up the steps,
+were met by the roar of a cannon discharged by a skilful hand,
+illumining tree and tower with a hideous glare, and flinging death and
+havoc among their ranks. But the foot of desperation was on the earth of
+the temple; and before another piece of artillery could answer to the
+hollow thunder of the hills, the spear of Chinantla was drinking the
+blood of the cannoniers. At this moment, and while even the young
+Fabueno grasped the sword in his feeble hands, and turned his pale face
+to the battle,&mdash;while Amador gnashed his teeth with rage,&mdash;there rose
+from the platform, above the shouts and yells of the combatants, a
+shriek as though of a woman struck by the spear of some ferocious
+dastard.&mdash;If the blow of an enemy had fallen upon his cheek, the young
+cavalier could not have started from the grasp of his kinsman, and drawn
+his sword, with a more irresistible impulse. But, in truth, the same cry
+that inflamed his own brain, went also to the heart of Calavar; and when
+he dashed up the pyramid with furious haste, as if to the rescue of a
+sworn friend, the knight of Rhodes, drawing his weapon, followed
+fiercely after.</p>
+
+<p>The scene that awaited the neophyte on the platform, though composed of
+men writhing together in thick affray, did not dwell an instant on his
+eye. It had caught, as if by providential direction, in the very chaos
+of combat, the figure that had sent forth the cry of affliction; and as
+he bestrid the body of Abdalla, and caught up the childish minstrel from
+his person, he shivered with a single stroke of his sabre, the spear
+that, in a moment, would have pinned to the earth both father and son.</p>
+
+<p>"Dog of a conjurer!" he cried, as he discovered the person of Botello in
+the discomfited slayer, and prepared, while the terrified stripling
+clung convulsively to his body, to shield him from the weapons of
+others; "dog of a conjurer! thy cruelty cancels thy services, and I will
+cleave thee for a viper!"</p>
+
+<p>"What is written is written&mdash;God be thanked! I knew not 'twas a boy."
+And in an instant Botello vanished among the combatants.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought thee a woman, thou scared varlet!&mdash;Cheer up, Abdalla!&mdash;they
+shall not harm thee.&mdash;Father! my knight and my father! wilt thou protect
+my boy, that I have saved, and his sire, the Christian Moor?" cried
+Amador, as he perceived the knight stand staring wildly at his side. "I
+leave them to thee.&mdash;Surely there may be other lives to save!" And thus
+concealing his excitement in what seemed an excuse for his disobedience,
+and without waiting for an answer, he rushed instantly into the thickest
+of the combat.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Don Amador fled from the side of Calavar, the instinct of his
+vengeance carried him to the spot where it seemed most likely to be
+gratified. The chief tower, as well as the two others, was invested; but
+in the crowd of musketeers and crossbowmen who stood valiantly at its
+door, repelling the assailants, he not only heard the voice, but very
+plainly perceived the tall figure, of his enemy, Don Panfilo. Infuriated
+at the sight, he rushed forwards, and calling out with an indiscreet
+vigour that drew both the attention of that general and the thickest
+shots of his companions, he quickly found himself in a situation of
+great jeopardy. Though bullet and cross-bow shaft fell harmless from his
+mail of proof, the thrust of some half a score partisans aimed at his
+shining and exposed breast, beat down the insufficient defence of his
+buckler, and hurled him instantly to the ground. But the voice with
+which he had challenged the Biscayan had been heard by friends as well
+as enemies; and as his faithful Lazaro dashed aside the most threatening
+weapon, the shield of another friend was extended over his body, and he
+found himself raised by the hand of Cortes.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew my valiant friend would not desert me, this night!" cried the
+commander. "But risk thyself no further. We will sack these towers,
+without the loss of so invaluable a life.&mdash;What ho! yield thee,
+Narvaez!" he exclaimed, with a voice heard above the din; "yield thee up
+a prisoner, or thine own cannon shall bury thee under the temple!"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>El Espíritu Santo</i>, and on!" cried fifty eager men, as they rushed by
+their leader, and drove the followers of Narvaez into the sanctuary.
+They vanished; but the pikes and muskets bristling through the curtain,
+checked the audacity of the besiegers at the door; and the voice of
+Sandoval was heard exclaiming from behind, "Clear for the cannon, and
+stand aside!" when suddenly a fire-brand dashed by some unseen hand to
+the roof, lodged among the palm-leaves, and in a moment the whole
+superstructure was in flames.</p>
+
+<p>"Spare your powder, and stand by for the rats!" cried Lazaro, for it was
+he who had achieved this cunning and well-timed exploit; "Basta! So we
+catch rabbits in La Mancha!"</p>
+
+<p>"An hundred crowns to the knave of the fire-brand!" cried Cortes,
+exultingly;&mdash;"and three thousand paid in gold, to him who lays the first
+hand on Narvaez!&mdash;Burn, fire! smother, smoke! the night is ours!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! Don Panfilo! I await thee!" exclaimed Amador, as the rushing
+descent of beams and embers drove the besieged from the temple, and
+again discovered the person of his wronger. He sprang towards the
+commander, who, however hot and foolish of temper, now bore himself like
+a courageous soldier, and struck fast and fiercely at his foes, while
+shouting good cheer to his friends. But before Don Amador could well
+reach him, he saw the unfortunate man struck down, and in the act of
+being transfixed by many spears. Magnanimity&mdash;for the fury of a brave
+man cannot live without opposition&mdash;took the place of wrath; and no
+sooner did he hear Don Panfilo exclaim, with a piteous voice, "<i>Dios
+mio!</i> I am slain, and mine eye is struck out forever!" than he rushed to
+his assistance, and seemed resolved to perform in his service the same
+act of valour with which he had befriended Abdalla. Again, too, as he
+caught an outstretched arm, did he find himself confronted with Botello:
+but this time the magician's arm was extended in the office of mercy;
+and as he raised the vanquished general, and displayed his countenance,
+covered with blood oozing from his right eye, he exclaimed with a
+triumphal solemnity: "I saw him blindfold; and lo, his eye is blinded
+with blood!&mdash;Victory! victory! Á Dios, á Cristo, y al Espíritu Santo,
+gracias! gloria y gracias! Amen!&mdash;Victory!"</p>
+
+<p>Loud was the shout with which the besiegers responded to the cry of the
+magician; and the disordered and unavailing shots from the other towers
+were lost in the uproar of voices exclaiming, "Viva Cortes, el soldado
+verdadero! Viva Don Carlos, el rey! Viva el Espíritu Santo! el Espíritu
+Santo santísimo!"</p>
+
+<p>"Away with him!" cried Cortes. "Guard thy prisoner, magico mio,&mdash;thou
+hast won the prize.&mdash;Leave shouting, ye rebel hounds, and bring up the
+cannon!&mdash;What ho, ye rogues of the towers! will ye have quarter and
+friendship, or flames and cannonballs? Point the ordnance against the
+flank towers. Bury me the knaves that resist us longer.&mdash;In the name of
+God and the emperor, fire!"</p>
+
+<p>But this measure was unnecessary. The shout of triumph, with which the
+assailants proclaimed the capture of the Biscayan, was carried to every
+ear in the adoratories; and it was at this instant that the besieged, as
+much bewildered by the surprise as discomfited by the fury of the
+attack, disheartened, too, by the misadventure of their general, looked
+from the loops of their strong-holds, and made that famous blunder of
+converting the host of <i>cucujos</i>, or fire-flies, into a multitude of
+match-locks; whereby their hearts were turned to water, and their
+assurance of victory humbled to the hope of capitulation.</p>
+
+<p>At the very moment that Don Amador, foiled in the gratification of his
+passions in one quarter, turned to indulge them in another, and rushed
+with increasing animation to that tower, around which he heard many
+voices echoing the name of Salvatierra, he beheld that worthy captain
+issue from the door, fling his weapon to the earth, and stretch out his
+arms, as if beseeching for quarter.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh thou thing of a white liver!" cried the young cavalier, with extreme
+disgust, "hast thou not the spirit to strike me one blow? I would I had
+brought thee the boy Jacinto, to inflame thy valour a little. Thou wilt
+fight me a boy!"</p>
+
+<p>As the neophyte thus gave vent to his indignation, he felt his arm
+touched, and, turning round, he beheld the secretary, holding a sword
+ornamented with drops of blood, and otherwise looking as though he had
+commenced his pupilage in a manner that would not shame his instructor.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done, Fabueno!" he exclaimed, encouragingly: "thou lookest like a
+soldier already. I am glad thine arm is so strong."</p>
+
+<p>"I struck but one blow, señor, and I believe I have killed a man! God
+forgive me!" he cried, in more affright than elation,&mdash;"I am not sure I
+did right; for the very moment I struck the blow, my arm twinged with a
+most horrible pang; which was perhaps a judgment on me, for striking a
+man who had done me no wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"These things must not be thought of too much," said Don Amador,
+hastily; "in battle, we must look upon all opponents as our sworn
+enemies, at least so long as they keep to their feet. But the battle is
+over&mdash;I will have thy wound looked to by some better surgeon than this
+crazy conjurer."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said Fabueno, "I sought you out, not to trouble you with my
+pains, but to recall you to the knight, your kinsman, who is in some
+difficulty with certain men, about the Moor, that may end in blows, and
+never a henchman but old Marco by the good Don Gabriel."</p>
+
+<p>Amador followed the secretary instantly, and found his kinsman&mdash;not
+unprotected, however, for both Marco and Baltasar were at his
+side&mdash;surrounded by several men speaking with loud and fierce voices,
+among which he quickly detected the tones of the master of the
+Incarnation.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, and I aver," cried this man, as the neophyte approached, "the
+two knaves, both father and son, are my slaves, as can be proved by
+these runagate men, my sailors; and no man shall have them from me,
+without payment of my price."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! we can bear witness to that," said his companions. "These are true
+pagan slaves, captured in a fight at sea, out of a Barbary pirate;&mdash;very
+honest, lawful slaves: and though we have deserted our captain, to fight
+these other pagans, we will not see him robbed of his property."</p>
+
+<p>To the great joy of Don Amador, he observed that his kinsman was calm
+and collected, and though he spoke with his usual voice of affliction,
+his answer was still full of dignity and gravity.</p>
+
+<p>"The Moor that is a Christian cannot be enslaved; neither can he be
+bought and sold&mdash;and these claim to be both <i>Gazies</i>, Christian
+Moriscos. I guard them at the desire of their protector, who can
+assuredly support their claims; in which event thou must cease thy
+importunity, and think of them no more."</p>
+
+<p>"They are my slaves, and I will have them!" said the master,
+ferociously. "I meet nothing but robbers in these lands; but robber
+peasant, or robber knight, neither shall wrong me for naught."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou base and covetous cur!" said Amador, advancing before the sailor,
+"if thou usest no better language, I will strike thy head from thy
+shoulders! Dost thou remember me, sirrah? Did not the admiral satisfy
+thee in this matter? and dost thou follow me still, like a blood-hound,
+after the prey that is not thine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Calm thy rage, son Amador," said the knight. "Thou hast done a good act
+to-night, in saving the lives of this poor child and his father, and
+thou shall not want my aid to preserve their freedom. But let us not
+quarrel: enough Christian blood has already been shed, and a woful sight
+will the sun see, when he presently rises. Let us go before Cortes: he
+shall judge between this man, and these creatures whom thou hast rescued
+from destruction."</p>
+
+<p>"I ask nothing but justice and my right," grumbled the master, somewhat
+pacified by the angry bearing of the neophyte&mdash;for this was a more
+commanding argument than the mildness of Calavar.</p>
+
+<p>He fell back, and without further contention, though with a lowering
+look, followed the two cavaliers and the Moriscos in search of Don
+Hernan.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The morn, which by this time was breaking over the sea, was ushered in
+with a thousand sounds of triumph; and the drums of the vanquished
+rolled in concert with the trumpets of the victors. In truth, saving to
+the wounded and broken-spirited Biscayan, and some few cavaliers who
+had remained faithful to him and to his employer, the change of others
+from rivalry to subjection, was a circumstance more of gratulation than
+regret; as was proved by the ready alacrity with which they betook
+themselves to the audience of their conqueror.</p>
+
+<p>In the gilded and feather-broidered chair in which he had first seen the
+person of the unlucky Narvaez, Don Amador de Leste now perceived the
+figure of the Conqueror, a rich mantle of an orange hue thrown over his
+shoulders, his head bare, but his heel resting on a certain footstool or
+ball of variegated feathers, and altogether preserving an appearance of
+singular, but superb state. His valiant and well-beloved officers stood
+ranked on either side, and on either side, also, his resolute followers
+were displayed, as if performing the duties of a body-guard. In this
+situation of pride, he prepared to receive the congratulations or the
+griefs of his enemies; and, as if to add still further to the imposing
+magnificence of the ceremony, at that moment, as a wild roar of conches
+and drums mingling with the wilder shouts of human beings, burst over
+the city, a great multitude of native warriors from the province of
+Chinantla, marching in regular and alternate files of spearmen and
+archers, and glittering with feathers and brilliant cotton garments,
+strode upon the square, and dividing upon either side of the pyramid,
+halted only when they had surrounded it with their warlike and most
+romantic array. The spectacle was no more surprising to the people of
+Narvaez than to those friends of Cortes, who had not before looked upon
+an Indian army, among whom Don Amador was one. He regarded the
+picturesque barbarians with much admiration; though his eye soon
+wandered from them to dwell upon the leader, and the ceremonious part he
+was then enacting. He sat in his chair like a monarch, and though, at
+times, when some conquered cavalier more honoured, or better beloved,
+than others, approached, he arose, and even extended his arms with a
+friendly embrace, in the greater number of instances he was content to
+pronounce some simple words of compliment, and present his hand to be
+kissed,&mdash;a mark of homage reverentially rendered by all.</p>
+
+<p>It did not become Don Amador, though he surveyed these proceedings with
+some little contempt, as indicating on the one side, too much arrogance,
+and on the other, too much humility, to interrupt them, in which
+persuasion, he stood patiently aside, with his company, watching until
+such moment when he might approach with propriety. Being thus a witness
+of the degree of friendliness which characterized the receptions, as
+well as the many petitions which the comers made to be accredited and
+enrolled among the general's true friends and followers, he began to
+lose somewhat of the wonder with which he had regarded the suddenness
+and facility of the victory. It was apparent, that most of the officers
+of Narvaez had long made up their minds to devote themselves to the
+service of his enemy; and when they had paid their compliments to Don
+Hernan, they dropped among his officers, as if joining old friends and
+comrades.</p>
+
+<p>It gave the neophyte some pain, when at the conclusion of these
+ceremonies, he beheld the Biscayan led forward in chains, (for he was
+heavily ironed,) to salute his rival. His casque was off; a bandage
+covered his eye; his face was very pale; and he strode forward with an
+uncertain gait, as if feeble from the loss of blood, or agitated by
+shame and despair. Nevertheless, he spoke with a firm and manly voice,
+when he found himself confronted with his vanquisher.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou mayest congratulate thyself, Cortes," said the fallen chief. "Thy
+star has the ascendant, thy fate is superior; and so much do I admire my
+own misfortune, that I could compliment thee upon it, did I not know it
+was wrought less by the valour of my enemies, than the perfidy of my
+friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou doest thyself, as well as all others, a great wrong to say so,
+brother Narvaez," said the victor, gravely; "and it would better become
+thee magnanimously to confess thou art beaten by thine own fault, rather
+than to follow the example of little-minded men, and lay the blame upon
+others."</p>
+
+<p>"I confess that I <i>am</i> beaten," said the captive;&mdash;"and that the shame
+of my defeat will last longer than my grave. But I aver to God, and I
+maintain in thy teeth, though I am but a captive in thy hands, that this
+victory is altogether so miraculous, it could not have happened unless
+by the corruption of my people."</p>
+
+<p>"To heaven and my good soldiers, it is all owing," said Cortes,
+composedly: "and so little miraculous, my brother, do I myself esteem
+it, after having twice or thrice beaten thirty thousand Tlascalans, at a
+time, all valiant men, that I vow to thee on my conscience, I cannot do
+other than consider this triumph as altogether the least of my
+achievements in Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be so, since you say it," responded Narvaez, his breast heaving
+under the sarcasm, with a bitter and suffocating pang; "yet it matters
+not. Let the glory be ever so little, the shame is not the less
+notorious; and though thou scornest thy reward of fame, I will not fly
+from mine own recompense of contempt.&mdash;What more is expected of me? Dios
+mio! I cannot, like the rest, kiss thy hand, and take upon me the oaths
+of service. I am thy prisoner!"</p>
+
+<p>"Had I been thine," said Cortes, gravely, "thou wouldst have fulfilled
+thy word, and hanged me, wouldst thou not?"</p>
+
+<p>"What matters it?" replied the unfortunate man, with a firm voice.
+"Doubtless, if the passion that beset me at the time of the
+proclamation, had lasted after a victory, I should have been as good as
+my word: for which reason I will anticipate thy excuses, and assure thee
+out of mine own mouth, thou wilt but retaliate fairly, to dismiss me to
+the same fate."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou canst not understand the moderation thou hast not practised," said
+Cortes rising, and speaking with dignity. "The foolish rage that
+provoked thee to set a price upon my head, I remember not; the madness
+that proclaimed these true and most loyal men for rebels and traitors,
+must be passed by, as other hallucinations: but as, in doing this, thou
+hast greatly injured and jeoparded the interests of thy master the king,
+thou art worthy to suffer the death of a rebellious subject, for as such
+thou hast acted. Nevertheless, I will do thee a grace thou wouldst not
+accord to me; I will conceive, that, however traitorous have been thy
+actions, thou mayest have been faithful at heart,&mdash;mistaken, but not
+disloyal: in which thought, I give thee thy life, and will recommend
+thee into the hands of his majesty for judgment and mercy."</p>
+
+<p>The conqueror waved his hand, and Narvaez was led away:&mdash;to terminate,
+in after years, a life of mischance by a death of misery, among those
+ruder tribes of the North who are but now vanishing from the borders of
+the Mississippi, and to add his melancholy tale to the gloomy histories
+of De Leon and De Soto.</p>
+
+<p>"What will my noble and thrice-honoured friend, Don Amador de Leste?"
+cried Cortes, as he perceived the neophyte approaching him. "We should
+be good friends, señor; for I owe thee much, and we have been in peril
+together."</p>
+
+<p>"Twice, I thank your excellency," said Amador, "you have done me the
+office of a true cavalier; for which I will not now trifle the time to
+thank you, inasmuch as my arm is henceforth unshackled, and I can write
+my gratitude better with it, than with my tongue. What I have now to
+require, is that your excellency will judge between me and this fellow,
+the master of a ship, in the matter of a Moor called Abdalla, otherwise
+Esclavo de la Cruz, and his son Jacinto; both of whom being Christian
+Moors, though captured in a Barbary vessel, this man doth claim to be
+his slaves; I, on the other hand, as their vowed protector and champion,
+upholding them to be free, and in the condition of wards to his majesty
+the king."</p>
+
+<p>"They are my slaves," said the master&mdash;but a frown from the general
+instantly closed his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"It is well for the Moor," said Cortes, as, at his command, Abdalla
+approached, followed by Jacinto: "it is well for the Moor that he has so
+powerful a protector as Don Amador; for otherwise, having discovered it
+was his accursed hand shot off the falcon which destroyed me four brave
+men and maimed as many more, I had resolved to hang him like a hound,
+this very morning!"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no better cannonier in all your excellency's train," said the
+master, who, however likely to be robbed of his property, could not
+check the impulse to praise it.</p>
+
+<p>"I fired the cannon with the fear of death in my eyes, if I refused,"
+said Abdalla, humbly; "and my lord should as well be wroth with the
+linstock as with myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Say not a word, sirrah Moor," said Cortes; "for the favour of Don
+Amador having saved thy life, I have nothing further to do, but to judge
+thy claims to liberty; the which if thou establish, I will not scruple
+to employ thee in mine own service."</p>
+
+<p>"The freedom of these twain," said Amador, "was recognised by his
+excellency, the admiral Cavallero; and I thought he had satisfied this
+ship-master."</p>
+
+<p>"His excellency, the admiral, protested he would represent the matter to
+the governor Velasquez," said the surly captain; "and I was content to
+abide his decision. But my sailors, hearing there was more gold to be
+gathered among these hills than on the sea, deserted me; and not having
+the means to carry my ship to Cuba, I was fain to follow after them;
+hoping the excellent cavaliers would do me justice, and pay me for my
+captives."</p>
+
+<p>"Sirrah," said the general, "wert thou with Narvaez, or with me, in this
+battle?"</p>
+
+<p>"With neither," said the sailor. "I arrived at night-fall; and not being
+able to make my way to Narvaez, I slept off my fatigue in a hut below,
+till roused by the din of this siege; coming forth to behold which, I
+discovered my slaves, and straightway claimed them: and my sailors
+yonder will witness I won them in fair fight."</p>
+
+<p>"The Moriscos are Christians, and therefore not thy property," said the
+commander; "and if they were, being taken out of the camp of an enemy,
+they should be reckoned spoils of war, and for that reason, my
+possessions, and not thine. Cease therefore thy demands; follow thy
+sailors, if thou wilt,&mdash;for on the lakes of Mexico, I shall have
+employment for thy best skill; and if, in time, I discover thee
+faithful, and this Moor as dexterous as thou representest, I will,
+without allowing thee any right to the same, give thee very good guerdon
+for his services."</p>
+
+<p>The master, concealing his dissatisfaction, retired.</p>
+
+<p>"I hoped," said Amador, "your excellency might be persuaded to send
+Abdalla and the boy to Spain."</p>
+
+<p>"I am loath to say to Don Amador, that may not be," replied Cortes. "As
+a good Christian, Abdalla will doubtless rejoice to fight the infidel;
+and as for his boy, if there be no other cavalier willing to advance him
+to the honours of a page, I will myself receive him. I hear he is a good
+musician; and I want a playmate for my little Orteguilla, whom I left
+dancing boleros before the emperor Montezuma."</p>
+
+<p>The fame of Jacinto as a lutist and singer, had already spread among the
+cavaliers; and his appearance was at the same time so prepossessing,
+that many of them stepped forward, and avowed themselves ready to
+receive him into service. Don Amador himself, now for the first time
+perusing his countenance at leisure, and moved as much by its beauty as
+by its air of grief and destitution, added himself to the number; and it
+seemed as if the claims of the various applicants might lead to heat and
+misunderstanding. The cap of Jacinto had fallen from his head, and long
+ringlets, such as greatly stirred the envy of the younger cavaliers,
+fell over his fair brow and exceedingly beautiful countenance. His
+delicately chiseled lips, parted in alarm and anxiety, moved and played
+with an ever-varying expressiveness; while his large black eyes, in
+which brilliancy was mingled with a pensive gentleness, rolled from
+general to cavalier, from Amador to his father, with a wild solicitude.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty was terminated at last by Don Hernan.</p>
+
+<p>"I vow by my conscience," said he, "I like the boy's face well; but I
+will not oppose my wishes to those of worthier gentlemen here present.
+In my opinion, no man hath so fair a claim to the boy as Don Amador de
+Leste, who first befriended him; and not doubting that, herein, the boy
+will agree with me, I propose the election of a master to be left to
+himself, or, what is the same thing, to his father, as a measure equally
+agreeable to all. Choose, therefore, Abdalla, between these cavaliers
+and thy benefactor; for it is not possible the stripling can remain with
+thyself."</p>
+
+<p>Abdalla bent his troubled eyes around the assembly; and Amador, not
+doubting his choice, regarded him with a benignant encouragement. Long
+did the Almogavar survey him, now with eagerness, as if about to throw
+himself at his feet and beseech his protection, and now faltering with
+hesitation and doubt. Amador, mistaking the cause of his embarrassment,
+prepared to reassure him; when the eyes of the Moor, wandering away from
+himself, fell upon the figure of Don Gabriel standing hard by. The same
+hesitation that disturbed him before, again beset him; but it lasted not
+long. Amid the clouds of dejection and distraction that characterised
+the countenance of the knight of Rhodes, there shone a ray of
+benevolence as if the emanation of a fixed and constant principle; and
+Abdoul al Sidi, as he remarked it, forgot that Calavar was the slayer of
+his people.</p>
+
+<p>"If my lord, my very noble lord," he said, bending to the earth, "will
+hear the prayer of his servant, and waste his charity on so great a
+wretch as Abdoul, there is no one of all this noble assembly to whose
+benevolent protection Abdoul would sooner confide his helpless and
+sinless child."</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers stared; yet Abdalla had not erred, when he reckoned on the
+humanity of Calavar.</p>
+
+<p>The knight received the hand of Jacinto from his father, and regarding
+him with a paternal kindness, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"For the sake of Him who did not scorn to protect little children, I
+will receive this boy into my arms, and protect him with my best
+strength, both from sorrow, and the sin that is the parent of sorrow."</p>
+
+<p>"And I may see him sometimes?" said the Moor, lingering, though the
+general had motioned him away.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely I keep him from harm, not from the love of his father."</p>
+
+<p>"I commend thee to heaven, my child," said the Almogavar, embracing him.
+"Confide in thy master, remember thy father, and pray often.&mdash;Farewell!"</p>
+
+<p>But the boy, with a cry that drew the commiseration of all present,
+threw himself into Abdalla's arms, and clasping him as if forever, wept
+on his bosom.</p>
+
+<p>"Thy master waits thee, my child!" said Abdalla, disengaging his hands,
+and again leading him to Calavar. "Be wise and faithful, and remember,
+if not always in thy presence, I shall not often be far from thy side."</p>
+
+<p>The stripling once more kissed the lips of the Morisco, and then
+checking his lamentations, as his father left him, wrapped his cloak
+round his head, as if to hide his tears, and stood by the knight in
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>While this incident was passing, the attention of Cortes was attracted
+by two Indians differing much in equipment from the warriors of
+Chinantla, but still of a soldier-like bearing, who, in company with two
+or three of his chief cavaliers, hastily approached him, and conferred
+with him through the medium of an interpreter. A cloud came over his
+countenance; he arose, and smote his hands together with fury.</p>
+
+<p>"What, ho, cavaliers!" he cried; "we must think of other matters than
+crying babes and jingling pages. I thank God for this victory, for never
+came one more opportunely; and ye, true friends, who have, this moment,
+protested your allegiance, prepare now to make it more manifest. Sharpen
+your swords, saddle your horses; for to-day we must march to
+Tenochtitlan!"</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of surprise ran through the multitude that thronged the
+pyramid; and Amador forgot both the boy, and the touch of indignation
+with which he had seen him transferred to another, though his kinsman,
+as he pressed towards the excited general.</p>
+
+<p>"Know ye, friends and brothers!" continued Cortes, "that the devil has,
+at last, waked up in the infidel city; blood has been shed,&mdash;the blood
+of Spaniards as well as of pagan Mexicans,&mdash;and, at this moment,
+Alvarado is besieged in the palace by the whole hordes of the valley;
+and he swears to me, by these Tlascalan messengers, that unless I render
+him speedy assistance, he must die of starvation, or perish under the
+sword of the barbarians. So God speed us to the Venice of the New World,
+the Babylon of the mountains! The gold shall not be snatched out of our
+hands, nor the fame blotted from our histories: we have this good day
+numbers enow to chase the imps from the islands, and to tumble the gods
+from their temples; and so will we, in the name of God and St. Peter,
+Amen!&mdash;God speed us to Tenochtitlan!"</p>
+
+<p>The shout that answered this pious and valiant rhapsody from the pyramid
+and the square, gave note of the zeal with which his followers, both old
+and new, were prepared to second the resolution of their leader.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A history of moral epidemics, drawn up by a philosophic pen, would add
+much to our knowledge of the mysteries of human character and human
+power, as well as of the probable contingencies of human destiny. In the
+prosecution of such a subject, besides tracing the development of those
+little causes which, in former days, have spread their effects from man
+to man, until whole communities have laboured under a disease resulting
+in revolutions of the most stupendous nature, we should, doubtless,
+perceive many of those points of susceptibility and chains of impulsion,
+which render men the creatures of change; and which, being definitely
+understood and wisely influenced, might at once put it in the power of
+philanthropists to govern the operations of reform in such manner as to
+avoid the evils of ill-considered innovation. Religion and liberty have
+both come to us as diseases; and the propagation of them throughout the
+lands of the heathen and the slave, is yet a measure of pain and peril,
+because we have not considered, or not yet learned, how to address
+ourselves to infirmity. What man will not say, that the enthusiasm which
+cumbered the sands of Syria with the blood of the Crusaders, might not,
+if properly directed, have brought light and happiness to all Europe? or
+that the fever, which has left the revolution of France a horror on the
+page of history, might not, under the guidance of a less speculative
+philosophy, have covered her valleys and filled her cities with security
+and peace? Enthusiasm comes and goes; and because we know not enough of
+its weak and governable qualities to direct it in the paths of justice
+and virtue, it is allowed yet to fill the world with wrong and misery;
+and, misapplied to the purposes of glory, avarice, and fanaticism, the
+engine which God has given us to advance our civilization, is still the
+preserver of barbarism.</p>
+
+<p>In the facility with which the aboriginal empires of America were
+subverted by a handful of hotheaded Spaniards, mankind has been willing
+to find a proof of the savage imperfection of their institutions. In the
+case of Mexico, at least, this testimony is deceptive. If we remember
+that the tribes of Anahuac, like the other races of America, were
+struggling against obstacles which did not impede the advancement of
+other nations, we shall be surprised at the point of civilization they
+had reached. Heaven had denied all the useful domestic animals to
+America. The bison, which is perhaps not altogether untameable, roamed
+only over the prairies and the forest lands of the north, among tribes
+that were yet in the bottom class of humanity. The horse and the ass
+added not their strength to the labours of man, and the little llama,
+bearing the burden of its master over the icy Cordilleras of the south,
+was but a poor substitute for the camel of the desert, to which it has
+been compared. Accident, or the knowledge of a thousand years, can alone
+teach men the use of that metal which will bring him civilization, when
+gold will not buy it; but the discovery even of the properties of iron
+will soon follow the invention of an alphabet, however rude or
+hieroglyphic. The Mexicans could already record and perpetuate their
+discoveries. Without the aid of iron and domestic animals, they were
+advancing in refinement. Civilization had dawned, and was shedding a
+light, constantly augmenting, over their valleys; and, apart from these
+deficiencies, saving only, perhaps, additionally, in the article of
+religion, which was not yet purged of its abominations, (and which,
+<i>perhaps</i>, flung more annual victims on the altars than did, in after
+days, even the superstition of their conquerors, in Spain,) the Mexican
+empire was not far behind some of the monarchies of Europe in that
+method, purpose, and stability of institutions, both political and
+domestic, which are esteemed the evidences of civilization.</p>
+
+<p>A moral epidemic nerved the arm of the invaders, another paralyzed the
+strength of the invaded. Superstition covered the Spaniard with armour
+stronger than his iron mail, and left the Mexican naked and defenceless;
+and, in addition, the disease of disaffection, creeping from the
+extremities to the centre of the empire, added its weight to the
+lethargy of religious fear. When Hernan Cortes set out on his march, the
+second time, against Tenochtitlan, believing that God had chosen him to
+be a scourge to the misbeliever, he knew well that thousands and tens of
+thousands of malecontents were burning to join his standard. Mexico was
+the Rome of the New World,&mdash;a compound of hostile elements, an union of
+tribes and states subdued and conjoined by the ambition of a single
+city, but not yet so closely cemented as to defy the shocks of a Gothic
+irruption. What might have been the condition of the empire of
+Montezuma, if the divine ray which conducted the Genoese pilot over the
+Atlantic, had been reserved for an adventurer of the present day, it is
+impossible to determine; but, it is quite clear, its condition was such
+at the time of the invasion, that, had not the indecision of its
+monarch, founded on such a conjuncture of coincidences as might have
+confounded a more enlightened prince, entirely repressed its powers of
+resistance, no armies, raised by the Spanish colonists, or even by their
+European master, could have penetrated beyond the shores; and the
+destiny of Cortes would have been written in letters as few and as
+obscure as those which have recorded the fate of Valdivia among the less
+refined, but better united Araucanians of Chili.</p>
+
+<p>The heart of the leader was bold, the spirits of his confederates full
+of resolution and hope; and notwithstanding the evil intelligence that
+their victims were wakening to a knowledge of their strength, and
+confirming their audacity in the blood they had already shed, the united
+followers of Narvaez and Hernan Cortes began their march over the
+mountains with alacrity and joy.</p>
+
+<p>The novelties and wonders that were each day disclosed, were remarked by
+no one with more satisfaction than by Don Amador de Leste. He rejoiced
+when, ascending among the mountains, the fens and sand-hills of the
+coast were exchanged for picturesque lakes and romantic crags; when the
+oak woods and pine forests began to stretch their verdant carpets over
+the hill-sides; when, standing among the colossal ruins of some shivered
+peak, he cast his eye over glen and valley, glittering with verdure and
+fertility, far away to the majestic ridges over whose hazy sides tumbled
+the foamy fall, or crept the lazy cloud, while among their gorges
+glistened the distant cones of snow. Now he admired the ferns, lifting
+their arborescent heads, like palms, among other strange trees; now, as
+he exchanged the luxuriant slopes for those volcanic deserts which strew
+the base of Perote with lava and cinders, he beheld the broad nopal, and
+the gigantic maguey, rearing their massive leaves over the fissures,
+while a scorched forest withered and rotted above. Sometimes, while
+pursuing his weary way over these mountain <i>paramos</i>, or deserts, he
+advanced bewildered, as what seemed a fair and spacious lake withdrew
+its vapoury waters from before him, and revealed a parched and barren
+expanse of sand. The journey was an alternation of mountain and valley,
+forest and plain, with sometimes a pleasant little Indian village, and,
+twice or thrice, a town of no mean magnitude and splendour, rising in
+pleasant nooks among the horrors of the waste.</p>
+
+<p>Over this rugged region it was not possible to drag the ordnance and
+heavy stores, with which Cortes was now abundantly provided, without
+much labour and delay; and it was not until about the time of the summer
+solstice, more than a month after the fall of Zempoala, that, at the
+close of a pleasant day, the new invaders laid their eyes, for the first
+time, on Tlascala,&mdash;the capital of that warlike republic, which, for the
+singular object, as certain historians have conjectured, of preserving
+an enemy to exercise their armies, as well as to furnish victims for
+their gods, the Mexican monarchs permitted to subsist in the heart of
+their empire.</p>
+
+<p>The slowness of their march was productive of many advantages to those
+particular individuals, whose adventures it is the object of this
+history to record. It gave to Don Amador an opportunity to make the
+acquaintance of many of his new companions, among whom were some not
+unworthy his friendship. The services of the señor Duero were remembered
+not without gratitude; and although he reflected, at times, with some
+unreasonable disgust, that these denoted as much treachery to a friend
+as humanity to a stranger, the attentions of that cavalier were so
+sedulously continued, that he could not well refuse him his regard. The
+taciturn but ever-resolute Sandoval,&mdash;the lofty and savage, but not the
+less courteous De Leon,&mdash;the fiery De Olid,&mdash;the daring De Ordaz, who,
+thirsting to accomplish exploits not dreamed of by his confederates, had
+clambered among the snowy pinnacles and burning caverns of the great
+Volcan, and had thereby won the right, confirmed to him afterwards by
+the Spanish king, to carry a fire-mountain for his arms;&mdash;these, as well
+as divers others of no mean renown, so recommended themselves to the
+esteem of the neophyte, that he dismissed much of his preconceived
+contempt, and began to consider himself among honourable and estimable
+cavaliers. But to none of them did his spirit turn with so much
+confidence and affection as to Don Francisco de Morla, a young hidalgo
+of his own native town, greatly beloved throughout the army, as a man of
+honour and tried courage. In this cavalier a modest carriage was united
+to great gayety of disposition, and a warm heart, governed by gentleness
+of temper. A milder enthusiasm than that which beset his comrades,
+softened him to the barbarians, in whose land he was more desirous to
+consider himself a guest than an enemy; and without lacking any
+sincerity of devotion to his own faith, he seemed to regard the
+ferocious superstitions of the natives with less abhorrence than pity.
+He had followed at the side of Cortes from Tobasco to Zempoala; and,
+being as observant as brave, was not only able to acquaint Don Amador
+with the marvellous events of the invasion,&mdash;its perils, sufferings, and
+triumphs,&mdash;but could also instruct him in many of the remarkable
+characteristics of the land and the people.</p>
+
+<p>The effects of this delay on the knight of Rhodes were equally
+beneficial, though differently wrought. The paroxysms of lethargy, as
+well as the fits of distraction, which, as Don Amador learned from the
+faithful Marco, had been many and ungovernable, whenever the excitement
+of battle was over, began to vanish under the interest of the society,
+and the influence of the careful government of the neophyte; who, from
+long acquaintance with his kinsman's eccentricities, had acquired a
+power to soothe them. But if such was the influence of Don Amador, the
+power of the little Moorish page over his moody moments was still more
+remarkable. The sorrows of Jacinto vanished with the capriciousness of
+childhood; and perceiving that, in the long and toilsome march, he was
+never so far separated from his father that he might not look to see him
+at night-fall, he quickly recovered his spirits. Then, as if to express
+his gratitude to the good knight who protected him, he studied, with
+wonderful diligence and address, how best to please and divert him. With
+a thousand pretty stories, chosen with such discretion and prattled with
+such eloquence, as often surprised the neophyte;&mdash;with countless songs,
+which no one could sing with more sweetness, or accompany with more
+skill on the lute,&mdash;he would seduce the knight from his gloom, and cheat
+him out of his melancholy. No dagger shone so brightly as that polished
+by the hand of Jacinto; no plume of feathers waved with more grace than
+that set by the young Moor on the casque of Don Gabriel. If a
+tiger-flower glittered on the path, if a chirimoya put forth its fruit
+by the wayside, before the knight could turn his eyes upon them, they
+were in his hand; and Jacinto smiled with delight, as he received the
+thanks of his patron. The benevolence of Don Gabriel soon changed to
+affection; he almost smiled&mdash;not so much with joy as with love&mdash;when,
+sometimes, the boy sat at his feet at evening, and sang with fervour a
+hymn to the Virgin; he was troubled if, by chance, Jacinto strayed from
+his sight; and Don Amador sometimes found himself beset by a sort of
+jealousy, when he perceived, or thought he perceived, this stripling
+robbing him of the heart of his kinsman. But to do Don Amador justice,
+it needed not many suggestions of his honour or pride to rid him of such
+envious emotions. The zeal of the boy in the service of Calavar, as he
+confessed, deserved much of his own gratitude; to which should be added
+many acknowledgements of the satisfaction with which he himself listened
+to his instrument and voice. If the boy sang with alacrity at the wish
+of Calavar, he was not less ready to obey the command of the neophyte.
+Nevertheless, Don Amador fancied this obedience was rendered less from
+love than duty: he thought the stripling looked on him with fear,
+sometimes with dislike; and he was persuaded that (though on occasions
+of difficulty,&mdash;when a thunderstorm met them on a hill, or a torrent
+roared over the path,&mdash;Jacinto chose rather to fly to him for
+protection, than to remain by the side of the knight,) he was oftener
+disposed to shrink from his kindness. This troubled Don Amador, for he
+loved the boy well; and often he said to himself, "I have saved this
+urchin from a beating, and, as I may add, from the imminent danger of
+being speared like a frog;&mdash;I have given him gentle words, as also
+praises for his singing, which is indeed very excellent; I have helped
+him over divers rivers, and a thousand times offered him a seat on
+Fogoso's crupper, which it was his own fault, or his own cowardice, he
+did not accept; in short, I have helped him out of countless troubles,
+and was, besides, the first to befriend him in these lands&mdash;without
+reckoning what protection I have given to his father, Sidi Abdalla;&mdash;and
+yet the lad loves me not. It is a pity he was not born of Christian
+parents;&mdash;ingratitude runs in Moorish blood!"</p>
+
+<p>So thought Don Amador, a thousand times; but a thousand times, as his
+displeasure waxed hot at the unthankfulness of the lad, it was
+dissipated by some little circumstance or another. Once, when he was in
+a talkative mood, and desirous to have Jacinto at his side, he was so
+displeased at his evident wish to escape, as to vent his displeasure in
+a reprimand. The boy ran to his side, kissed his hand, and raised his
+eyes, suffused with tears, to the countenance of his preserver.&mdash;The
+cavalier never rebuked him again. On two or three occasions, also,
+greatly to his surprise, he caught the stripling weeping; which was the
+more wonderful, since he seemed not only reconciled, but greatly pleased
+with his state of easy servitude. On all such occasions, he excused
+himself with such persuasive simplicity, as not only to remove all
+suspicions of discontent, but greatly to increase the affection of the
+neophyte. He was a favourite as well with the men-at-arms, as with their
+masters; and Don Amador often reflected with wonder, how quickly he had
+wound himself into the hearts of all. "If I could persuade myself into a
+belief of magic," he pondered, "I should think him a truer conjurer than
+Botello. What Botello prophesied concerning Narvaez, is very remarkable;
+yet, when a man is prognosticating all his life, it is hard if he do not
+sometimes blunder upon the truth. Truly he blundered wrong about
+Lorenzo's arm, which is not yet well healed; and I vow to St. John, I
+thought, one time, it would have gangrened. But as to Jacinto, he has
+enchanted my knight's heart. I have ever thought <i>he</i> abhorred the
+Moors, and surely he slew great numbers in the war of the Alpujarras. As
+for myself, I was born with a natural detestation of the Moorish race;
+and I never before knew but one that I did not hate at first sight."
+Here he sighed dolefully. "But this boy I love; yet loves he not me.&mdash;I
+have heard of philters and love-medicines; and surely, as many drugs
+attack the stomach, brain, and other parts, there is no reason some
+should not be found to affect the heart!"</p>
+
+<p>But while the neophyte thus marvelled and reasoned, Jacinto stole still
+deeper into his favour; and at the end of a day's march, Don Amador was
+oftener found sitting at the door of some Indian cabin, or under the
+shade of its flower-garden, listening with Calavar to the lays of the
+young musician, than sharing the martial sports of his companions, or
+even superintending the warlike exercises of his ward, Fabueno.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>To those invaders who had not yet witnessed with their own eyes the
+peculiar wonders of the interior, the approach to Tlascala was full of
+surprise and interest. As the sun sank, the four hills on which lay the
+republican city, and the pyramids and towers that crowned them, sent
+their long shadows over the plain to the feet of the cavaliers; and in
+the gloom, they beheld a vast multitude,&mdash;the armies of the four tribes
+which composed the nation, under their several banners, glittering with
+feathers, and marching in regular divisions to the sound of wild music,
+as well as a host of women and children waving knots of flowers, and
+uttering cries of welcome,&mdash;advancing to do them honour. Don Amador
+forgot the valiant appearance of the warriors of Chinantla, while gazing
+on the superior splendour of the armed Tlascalans. These warlike people,
+in imitation of their Christian confederates, had learned to divide
+their confused throngs into squadrons and companies, ranked under
+separate leaders, and now approached in what seemed well-ordered
+columns. Bunches of red and white feathers waved among their long
+locks, and ornamented their wickered shields; the short tunic of
+<i>nequen</i>, a coarse white cloth of the maguey, left their muscular and
+well-sculptured limbs free for action; and as they strode along,
+brandishing their swords of obsidian, (the <i>maquahuitl</i>,&mdash;a heavy
+bludgeon, armed on either side with blades of volcanic glass,) or
+whirling in their slings those missiles of hardened copper armed with
+sharp horns, which were capable of piercing the toughest armour,&mdash;and
+ever and anon, mingling their fierce cries with the savage sound of drum
+and flute, they made a show not more remarkable than glorious. At the
+head of each division, under his peculiar standard, (the image of some
+bird of prey, or wild beast, very gorgeously decorated,) marched each
+chieftain, with the great plume of distinction, or <i>penacho</i>, as it was
+called, rising full two feet above his head, and nodding with a more
+than barbarous magnificence. Thus appareled and thus displayed, they
+advanced to the head of the Christian army, and dividing on either side,
+so as to surround the Spanish host with a guard of honour, each
+individual, from the naked slinger to the feather-crowned chief, did
+homage to the Christian general, by touching the earth with his hand,
+and then kissing the humbled member; while at the same moment, a number
+of priests with black robes and hair trailing almost to the ground,
+waved certain pots of incense before him, as if to a demigod; a mark of
+distinction which they afterwards extended to the cavaliers that
+surrounded him. The religious ire of Don Amador de Leste was inflamed,
+when it became his turn to receive this fragrant compliment; and looking
+down fiercely upon the innocent censer-bearer, and somewhat forgetting
+that Castilian was not the language of the realm, he cried;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What dost thou mean, thou pagan dog! to smoke me in this idolatrous
+manner, who am neither a god nor a saint?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said De Morla, who sat at his side, "be not offended at this
+mark of reverence, which the customs of the country cause to be rendered
+to every man of dignity; and which is a harmless compliment, and no
+idolatrous homage, as was first thought among us. Thou wilt presently
+see them smoke their own generals and senatorial lawgivers, the last of
+whom thou mayest see yonder approaching us in a group;&mdash;those old men
+with the feather fans in their hands."</p>
+
+<p>As De Morla predicted, the priests were no sooner done smoking their
+Christian visiters, than they turned to do similar reverence to their
+own dignitaries; and Don Amador's concern was soon changed to admiration
+to behold with what lofty state these noble savages received the tribute
+due to their rank.</p>
+
+<p>"This fellow with the red plume, and the sword that seems heavy enough
+for a giant's battle-axe," he cried,&mdash;"the knave over whom they hold a
+great, white bird like an ostrich?&mdash;He must needs be a king! He bends to
+Cortes, like an emperor doing courtesy to some brother monarch."</p>
+
+<p>"That," said De Morla, "is Xicotencal, of the tribe of the White-Bird,
+the most famous general of the Tlascalans, and, in fact, the
+captain-in-chief of all their armies. He is not less valiant than
+famous, and not less arrogant than valiant; and at this moment, beshrew
+me, I think he would rather be knocking his bludgeon over our heads, out
+of pure love of war, than kissing his fingers in friendship. This is the
+man who commanded the armies which fought us on our first approach; and
+truly I may say, he fought us so well, that had he not been commanded by
+the senators, who are the civil rulers of Tlascala, to make peace with
+us, there is much suspicion we should have seen heaven sooner than the
+vale of Mexico. For, señor, after having supplied us with food, as
+scorning to be assisted in his victory by famine, which was somewhat
+pressing with us, he fell upon us to win it in person; and I must
+confess, as will be recorded in history, he quite broke and confounded,
+and would have utterly destroyed us, had it not been for a providential
+mutiny in his camp in the very midst of his triumph; whereby we had time
+to rally, and take advantage of his distresses. The same good fortune
+might have been his, another time, without so inconvenient an
+interruption. But it seems the senators of Tlascala only made war on us,
+to prove whether or not we were valiant men, and worthy to be received
+as their allies, according to our wish; which being now proved to their
+satisfaction, they ordered the war to be ended, and welcomed us as
+friends. There never were more valiant men than these soldiers of
+Tlascala."</p>
+
+<p>"Of a surety," said Don Amador, "I begin to think the captain Gomez of
+the caravel was somewhat mistaken as to the courage of these
+barbarians."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou seest the second chief,&mdash;he of the green penacho, with whom Cortes
+confers so very courteously! That is Talmeccahua, chief of the tribe
+Tizatlan, a very young warrior, but second in fame only to Xicotencal;
+and being more docile and friendly, he is much a favourite with our
+general, and doubtless will be selected to accompany us to the great
+city. Of those reverend old senators I could also give you an account;
+but we who are soldiers, care not for lawgivers. It is enough to assure
+you, that they are the rulers of Tlascala; and that though these proud
+people, the commoners, call themselves free republicans, they are to all
+intents and purposes the servants of many masters; a sort of freedom
+somewhat more questionable than that of a nation governed by one king.
+Thou seest, they kiss their hands to us, as we enter their city. For my
+part, I think them rogues to love us, their truest enemies, better than
+their domestic rivals, the people of Tenochtitlan. Wo betide them, who
+help us to conquer their foes, when their foes <i>are</i> conquered!"</p>
+
+<p>As De Morla spoke, Don Amador found himself entering the city of
+Tlascala. Twilight had darkened over the hills, and in the obscurity,
+(for the moon had not yet risen) he perceived long masses of houses,
+not very lofty, but strong, on the terraced roofs of which stood many
+human beings, chiefly women and children, who waved a multitude of
+torches, and, as they sung what De Morla told him were songs of welcome,
+threw flowers down upon their guests.</p>
+
+<p>Flambeaux were also carried before them in the streets; and with this
+sort of pomp, they were ushered to a great building with extensive
+courts, sufficient to lodge the whole army, which was assigned them for
+their quarters.</p>
+
+<p>While the cannoniers were arranging the artillery, the officers of the
+guard choosing their watchmen, and preparations were made to hold a
+conference with the chiefs of the republic, the neophyte was invited by
+De Morla to accompany him to a pyramid on one of the four hills, whence,
+as he assured him, was a noble prospect of those huge mountains which
+separated them from the valley of Tenochtitlan. Don Amador looked about
+him for his kinsman. He had retired with the chaplain of the army, in
+some sudden disorder of spirit, for prayer or confession; and Don Amador
+sighed, as he bethought him that yearly, about the time of midsummer,
+the knight's disease seemed to reach its intensest point.</p>
+
+<p>"If thou couldst but sing to him that holy song of the Virgin, written
+many years back by the priest of Hita,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Quiero seguir á ti, Flor de las flores!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>said Don Amador to the Moorish page, (for it was Jacinto who gave him
+this information,) "I have no doubt thou wouldst do him more good than
+the reverend father Olmedo; for, though I know not why it should be so,
+he ever seems to me more troubled than relieved by confession."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a song chanted the evening before that had thrown the knight's
+spirit into disorder; and Baltasar had commanded him never to sing
+again;" so said Jacinto.</p>
+
+<p>"Baltasar is an ass! though very zealous for his master," said the
+neophyte in a heat, "and thinks there is nothing comforts my kinsman's
+heart, save the clanging of swords and bucklers; whereas, I know very
+well, thy ditties are true medicine to him; and, with heaven's blessing,
+thou shall sing him very many more."</p>
+
+<p>"Let the boy follow with us," said De Morla: "I like his piping well;
+and methinks, if he have not forgotten that tender love-song about the
+Christian knight who adored a pagan Morisca, I can listen to it again
+with much good will, as I look towards the mountains of Montezuma."</p>
+
+<p>"I am loath to have him away, for perhaps my good knight may call for
+him when the confession is over; and there is something raw in this
+night air, that may be prejudicial to the youth."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Yo seguiré á mi señor</i>&mdash;I will follow my master," said Jacinto, with
+simplicity. "My lord the knight bade me this night to remain by the side
+of my lord, lest some evil should happen to me among the infidels."</p>
+
+<p>"Take up thine instrument then," said the neophyte, "for thou seemest
+to-night to remain by me in good will; and I am ever glad to have thy
+foolish company, when such is the case. If thou wilt carry a torch also,
+'tis very well: 'twill be some half hour yet ere moonrise."</p>
+
+<p>The two cavaliers, followed by the page bearing a torch, as well as his
+lute, strode through the streets, which were still thronged with their
+savage allies, as in a gala-day, singing and shouting; many of whom,
+from affection or curiosity, seemed disposed to add themselves to the
+little party. Nevertheless, such inquisitive individuals were easily
+repelled by De Morla pointing in the direction he was pursuing, and
+pronouncing a few words in their language, the effect of which, as Don
+Amador observed, was always to check their ardour, and cover their
+visages, when these could be seen, with sadness and awe.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell them," said De Morla, in answer to the inquiries of the
+neophyte, "that we are going to the hill to look upon the
+fire-mountain, Popocatepetl; and why they are so stricken with
+superstition at the name, I will explain to thee when we reach the
+temple."</p>
+
+<p>The temple was soon reached. The city,&mdash;a congregation of cabins and
+rude stone dwellings, of vast size,&mdash;lying on the prolonged base of a
+great mountain, reared its principal sanctuaries on the spurs of this
+elevation, on the highest of which stood that consecrated to the god of
+the air. This was an earthen pyramid, huge and lofty, surmounted by
+towers such as Don Amador had seen at Zempoala. As the friends
+approached this, the deep silence that surrounded it was broken by the
+voices of men speaking vehemently in a strange tongue; and as they
+advanced, they beheld two or three figures glide behind the pyramid, as
+if to escape observation. This would not perhaps have attracted the
+notice of the neophyte, had not his companion exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Sidi, the cannonier, again! plotting his knaveries with the two Moorish
+slaves of Cortes! There is some villany in the wind: I have twice or
+thrice seen Abdalla in close conference with these two varlets, and he
+is often seen talking with his other countrymen that we have in the
+army. I will represent this matter to the general; for there can no good
+come of such secret proceedings.&mdash;I have all along distrusted that
+infidel cannonier to have some mischief in him."</p>
+
+<p>"Please my lord, my father is no infidel," said Jacinto, trembling,
+perhaps as much at his presumption in contradicting a noble hidalgo, as
+at the presumed danger of his parent,&mdash;"no infidel, but a Christian
+Moor; as the good padre Olmedo will witness to my lord."</p>
+
+<p>"Young page," said De Morla, pleasantly, "I should not have said so
+grievous a thing of thy father, but that I forgot thou wert in hearing.
+I will grant thee Abdalla to be a good Christian, if the padre say so;
+but, if thou art as much of a wit as a singer, tell me, how is it thy
+father is found so often skulking about by night, in company with the
+Moorish slaves, who are yet unbelievers, instead of resting with
+Christian soldiers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Though the Moors be slaves and Mahometans," said the page, with much of
+the submissiveness of his father, though recovering from his
+trepidation, "they were born in the same land with my father, and are
+his countrymen. As for the Christian soldiers, they will not forget,
+that though a Christian, he was born of the poor Moriscos: and, my lord
+knows, it is hard to rest with those who hate us."</p>
+
+<p>"I should give thee a ducat for thy argument," said De Morla,
+good-humouredly, "but that I know thou art so unsophisticated as to
+prefer sweet praise to gold; and I intend soon to bestow some of that
+upon thee. Thy oration has utterly persuaded me I have wronged Abdalla;
+in token of my penitence for which, I will relieve thee of the burthen
+of the torch, whilst thou art climbing up these steps, which are none of
+the smoothest nor shortest."</p>
+
+<p>"Take thou my hand, Jacinto," said the novice, benevolently; "for, as my
+friend says, these steps are indeed very rugged; and I am willing to
+show thee, that though thou art of Moorish blood, I myself do by no
+means either hate or despise thee."</p>
+
+<p>The page humbly and hesitatingly placed his hand in the grasp of Don
+Amador, and ascending at his side, soon stood on the summit of the
+pyramid.</p>
+
+<p>Here, besides two towers of stone that reared their lofty bulk over
+head, the novice perceived in advance of them, two great urns of rude
+workmanship, each apparently carved out of a solid block of stone, and
+each glowing with the remains of a fire not yet extinguished,&mdash;though no
+priests stood by, to guard and replenish them.&mdash;They had forsaken their
+altars, to join in the festivities of the evening.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us break these idolatrous censers!" said Don Amador, "for my blood
+boils to look upon them."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay," said the moderate De Morla, "let us wait for heaven's own time,
+as is strenuously advised by our wise and holy chaplain, who must know
+better than ourselves how to attack the impieties of the land. We have
+ever found these heathens more easily converted by gentle persuasions
+than by violent assaults on their prejudices; and father Olmedo has
+shown us how persecution strengthens instead of overturning an abused
+superstition. He has also proved to the satisfaction of most of us, that
+it is our bounden duty to subdue the arms of the pagans, and leave their
+faith to be conquered by the good priests who will follow in our
+path.&mdash;Turn, señor, from these pigmy vases to the great censers, which
+God has himself raised to his majesty!"</p>
+
+<p>As De Morla spoke, he turned from the altars, and Don Amador, following
+with his eyes the direction in which he pointed, beheld a spectacle
+which instantly drove from his mind the thought of the idolatrous urns.
+Far away in the south-west, at the distance of eight or ten leagues,
+among a mass of hills that upheld their brows in gloomy obscurity, a
+colossal cone elevated its majestic bulk to heaven, while the snows
+which invested its resplendent sides, glittered in the fires that
+crowned its summit. A pillar of smoke, of awful hue and volume, rose to
+an enormous altitude above its head, and then parting and spreading on
+either side through the serene heaven, lay still and solemn, like a
+funeral canopy, over its radiant pedestal. From the crater, out of which
+issued this portentous column, arose also, time by time, great flames
+with a sort of lambent playfulness, in strange and obvious contrast with
+their measureless mass and power; while ever and anon globes of fire,
+rushing up through the pillar of vapour, as through a transparent
+cylinder, burst at the top, and spangled the grim canopy with stars. No
+shock creeping through the earth, no heavy roar stealing along the
+atmosphere, attested the vigour of this sublime furnace; but all in
+silence and solemn tranquillity, the spectacle went on,&mdash;now darkling,
+now waxing temporarily into an oppressive splendour, as if for the
+amusement of those shadowy phantoms who seemed to sit in watch upon the
+neighbouring peaks.</p>
+
+<p>"This is indeed," said Don Amador, reverently; "if God should require an
+altar of fire, such a high place as might be meeter for his worship than
+any shrine raised by the hands of man. God is very great and powerful!
+The sight of such a spectacle doth humble me in mine own thoughts: for
+what is man, though full of vanity and arrogance, in the sight of Him
+who builds the fire-mountains?"</p>
+
+<p>"Padre Olmedo," said his companion, "will ask you, what is this
+fire-mountain, though to the eye so majestic, and to appearance so
+eternal, to the creeping thing whose spark of immortality will burn on,
+when the flames of yonder volcano are quenched forever?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is very true," said the neophyte, "the mountains burn away, the sea
+wastes itself into air, but the soul that God has given us consumes not.
+The life of the body passes away like these flames; the vitality that is
+in the spirit, is a gift that heaven has not extended to the stars!"</p>
+
+<p>"My friend," said De Morla, willing to pass to more interesting
+discussions, "will now perceive for what reason it was that the
+Tlascalans were dismayed and sorrowful when I pronounced the name of
+Popocatepetl. The name signifies the Mountain of Smoke; for this great
+chimney, though ever pouring forth dark vapours, has not often been
+known to kindle into flames. The present eruption, beginning about the
+time of our descent upon the coast, has ever since continued; and was
+considered to have heralded our appearance. The Tlascalans, though as
+securely fettered under the sway of their senators, as are the people of
+Anahuac under their kings, are, as I told thee, very intolerant of such
+chiefs as carry the open names of masters. Nay, so bitterly do they
+detest all tyrants, that they have constructed a fable, which they now
+believe as a truth,&mdash;namely, that the souls of such persons are
+concocted and elaborated among the flames of yonder awful crater;
+whence, at the times of eruptions, they are sent forth, in the shape of
+meteors and fire-balls, to afflict and desolate the world. The globes
+that fall back into the cavity, they think, are despots recalled by
+their relenting gods; whereas, those that fall beyond the brim and roll
+down the sides of the mountain, are tyrants let loose upon them without
+restraint. This being their belief, it may seem strange to you, they
+have conceived so preposterous an affection for ourselves, who are much
+liker to prove their tyrants than any of the lords of Anahuac; but yet,
+so savage is their detestation of these native kings, that, though
+nightly terrified with the spectacle of so many fiery tyrants flying
+through the air, they seem quite to have lost sight of the danger of
+entrusting their liberties to our care."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope," said Don Amador, "we have come to rid them of the bondage of
+idolatry, not to reduce them to a new slavery."</p>
+
+<p>"We will see that by-and-by," said De Morla. "We broke the chains of
+superstition in the islands, but we followed them with more galling
+fetters; and what better fate awaits the good Montezuma, is more than I
+can tell."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou call that savage emperor the good Montezuma?" demanded the
+novice.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot do otherwise," said De Morla, mildly, "A thousand times might
+he have swept us from the face of the earth; for his armies are
+numberless. A grain of sand from the hand of each of his warriors, would
+have covered us with a mountain. But age has come to him with a disgust
+of blood; and all his actions have proved him rather a humane host than
+a barbarous destroyer. I must confess, we have repaid his gentleness and
+beneficence both with perfidy and cruelty; yet, notwithstanding all
+this, and notwithstanding that he is sorely afflicted by our harshness,
+such is the goodness of his heart, that he will not permit his people to
+do us any injury, nor, by any violence, rescue him out of our hands."</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard another story from Don Hernan," said Amador: "and, truly,
+I thought these ferocious assaults upon the garrison left with the señor
+Alvarado in the city, were proof enough of his deceitful malice."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not take upon me to contradict what is averred by Don Hernan,"
+said De Morla. "But, señor, we have had other representations of these
+tumults, by envoys from Montezuma himself, which, if Cortes had not
+refused to hear them, would have entirely changed the nature of our
+belief. I have myself spoken with these ambassadors," continued the
+young cavalier earnestly, "some of whom were sent to us at Zempoala, and
+others have met us at divers places since, though without being
+hearkened to,&mdash;and having no inducements to remain in a rage, like
+Cortes himself, I was very easily persuaded, to my shame, that the fault
+lay all on the side of the garrison.&mdash;Señor, for the sake of lucre, we
+have done many unjust things! We were received with all hospitality by
+Montezuma, the great lord of Tenochtitlan; he gave us a palace to live
+in, supplied us with food and raiment, and enriched us with many costly
+presents. We repaid all this kindness, by seizing him, in a moment of
+confidence, and conveying him to our dwelling, where we have kept him
+ever since a prisoner, forcing him, by the fear of death, to submit to
+many indignities unworthy his high rank and benevolent character; and
+once even forcing him to sit in chains and witness the cruel execution
+of some of his own officers for a certain crime in which he could have
+had no part. He forgave us this, as well as other insults, and, while we
+were absent against Zempoala, preserved his promise sacred, to remain in
+ward of Alvarado until our return. Now, señor, you shall hear the truth
+of the assault, of which so much is said by Cortes, as fully proving the
+iniquitous duplicity of the captive emperor. While we were gone, there
+occurred the anniversary of the great festival of Mexitli, the war-god,
+in which it is customary for all the nobles, arrayed in their richest
+attire, to dance on the terrace of the great pyramid, before the
+emperor. Alvarado, dreading lest such an assemblage of chiefs, heated,
+as we well knew them to be, on account of the imprisonment of their
+king, might encourage them to rescue him from his thrall, refused to let
+the <i>Mitotes</i>, (for so they call this ceremony,) be danced on the
+temple; and, at his invitation, the Tlatoani assembled in the court-yard
+of the palace which Montezuma gave us for our quarters; and here the
+rite began. Now, señor," continued De Morla, speaking indignantly, "you
+will blush to hear, that our Christian garrison were so inflamed with
+cupidity at the sight of the rich and precious jewels, with which their
+guests were decorated, that they resolved to possess them, though at the
+cost of blood-guiltiness; and falling upon these poor unsuspicious and
+unarmed revellers, when wearied with the dance, and calling out
+'<i>Treason!</i>' as if to justify themselves, though there was no treason,
+except that in their own hearts, they butchered all that could not leap
+the high walls, and rifled the corses, even in the sight of the emperor.
+This, as you may well believe, excited the people to fury, and drove
+them to vengeance. They assaulted the palace, killed many of the
+perfidious garrison, and would have destroyed all, but that Montezuma,
+whom they call the traitor and murderer, moved by the intreaties and
+excuses of Alvarado, commanded them to retire; and such are their love
+and subjection to this monarch, that they instantly obeyed him, and have
+remained in peace ever since, waiting the return and the judgment of Don
+Hernan.&mdash;And Don Hernan will doubtless command us to give them justice,
+by slaying as many as shall dare to demand it."</p>
+
+<p>"By heaven!" said Don Amador, "if this be the truth, there are more
+barbarians than those who worship pagan idols; and I vow to God, if I
+find thy narrative well confirmed, I will draw no sword, not even at the
+bidding of my knight Calavar, on the people of Tenochtitlan. Were I even
+sworn, like a vowed knight of Rhodes, to keep no peace with the
+infidel, I could not fight in an unjust cause."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to hear you say so," said De Morla, frankly; "for I have
+often, ever since I have been assured of the friendly and docile
+character of the Mexicans, been persuaded it would be wiser, as well as
+juster, to teach them than to destroy. Your favour will find the nobles
+very civilized; and surely their daughters, if converted to the true
+faith, would make more honourable wives for Spanish hidalgos than the
+Moorish ladies of our own land."</p>
+
+<p>A sigh came from the lips of Jacinto, as he heard this narrative, to
+which he had listened with boyish interest, terminated with a slur so
+degrading to his people. But his mortification was appeased by Don
+Amador, exclaiming with great emphasis,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"That these Mexican princesses may make very good wives, when true
+Christians, I can well believe; but I have my doubts whether they have
+any such superiority over the Moorish ladies of Granada, who possess the
+religion of Christ. I have, once or twice, known very noble Moriscas,
+honoured among the wives of Granada as much as those who boasted the
+pure blood of Castile; and for myself, without pretending to say I shall
+ever condescend to such a marriage, I may aver, that I have seen at
+least one fair maiden, and she of no very royal descent, whom,&mdash;that is,
+if I had loved her,&mdash;I should not have scorned to wed. But these things
+go by fate: a Christian Moor is perhaps as much regarded by heaven as a
+Christian Spaniard; and surely there are some of them very lovely to
+look on, and with most angelical eyes!"</p>
+
+<p>The gentle cavalier smiled in his own conceits, as he listened to the
+argument of his friend; but, without answering it, he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"While we have the authority of the Cid Ramon of Leon before our eyes, I
+am much disposed to agree with Don Amador; for the Cid adored an
+infidel, and why should not we love proselytes? Come, now, my pretty
+page: of all thy ballads, I like best that which treats of the loves of
+Cid Ramon; and if thou hast not forgotten it, I shall rejoice to hear
+thee chant it once more, while we sit under the tower and gaze on the
+fire-mountain, that looks down on Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>The boy agreed with unusual alacrity, and sitting down at the feet of
+the cavaliers, on the flags that surrounded the sanctuary, with the
+torch stuck in the earth near him, he tuned his instrument with a
+willing hand.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Lighted not more by the torch at his feet than by the flames that
+crested the distant mountain, the Moorish boy struck the lute with a
+skilful touch, whispered, rather than wailed, the little burthen that
+kept alive the memory of the Alhambra, and then sang the following
+Romance;&mdash;a ballad that evidently relates to the fate of Mohammed
+Almosstadir, king of Seville, dethroned by the famous Yussef ben Taxfin,
+Emir of Morocco. In the wars of the Moorish kings of Spain with Alfonso
+VI. of Leon, about the year 1090, the Christian monarch prevailing, his
+infidel enemies invited Yussef to their assistance. The emir obeyed the
+call; but having fought one or two battles with Alfonso, contented
+himself with turning his arms on his confederates, and dethroning
+them,&mdash;Mohammed Almosstadir among the number. It is recorded, that his
+chivalrous enemy, the king Alfonso, moved by the distresses of Mohammed,
+sent an army of twenty thousand men to assist him against Yussef; but in
+the obscurity of the historic legends of that day, nothing can be
+discovered in relation to the devout condition of "kissing the cross,"
+nor, indeed, of the name or fate of the leader of the Spanish army. We
+should know nothing of the good Cid, but for the ballad, which was
+doubtless of very antique origin; though the simple burthen, <i>Me acuerdo
+de ti, Granada</i>! commemorative of the fall of the Moorish city, must
+have been added four hundred years after; perhaps by the singer from
+whom Jacinto had learned it.</p>
+
+<h4>ROMANCE OF CID RAMON.</h4>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Cid Ramon spurr'd his good steed fast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">His thousand score were near;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And from Sevilla's walls aghast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The watchmen fled with fear:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For Afric's Emir lay around,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The town was leaguer'd sore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And king Mohammed wept with shame<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To be a king no more.<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The Emir's powers were round and nigh,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Like locusts on the sward;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when Cid Ramon spurr'd his steed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They struck him fast and hard.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"But," quoth the Cid, "a knight am I,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With crucifix and spear;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And for Mohammed ride I on,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And for his daughter dear."&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Cheer up, dark king, and wail no more,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Let tears no longer flow;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of Christian men a thousand score<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Have I to smite thy foe.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The king Alfonso greets thee well:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Kiss thou the cross, and pray;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And ere thou say'st the Ave o'er,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Emir I will slay."<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Or let the African be slain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or let the Emir slay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I will not kiss the cross of Christ,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nor to his Mother pray.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A camel-driver will I live,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With Yussef for my lord,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or ere I kiss the Christian's cross,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To win the Christian's sword."<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Mohammed, now thou griev'st me much&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Alfonso is my king:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But let Suleya kiss the cross,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And let her wear the ring.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The crucifix the bride shall bear,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her lord shall couch the spear;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And still I'll smite thy foe for thee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And for thy daughter dear."<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Then up Suleya rose, and spoke,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"I love Cid Ramon well;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But not to win his heart or sword,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Will I my faith compel.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With Yussef, cruel though he be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A bond-maid will I rove,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or ere I kiss the Christian's cross,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To win the Christian's love."<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Suleya! now thou griev'st me much&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A thousand score have I;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But, saving for a Christian's life,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They dare not strike or die.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Alfonso is my king, and thus<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Commands my king to me:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But, for that Christian, <i>all</i> shall strike,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">If my true love she be."<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Ill loves the love, who, ere he loves,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Demands a sacrifice:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who serves myself, must serve my sire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And serve without a price.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Let Yussef come with sword and spear,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To fetter and to rend;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I choose me yet a Moorish foe<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Before a Christian friend!"&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Ill loves the love, who pins his love<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Upon a point of creed;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And balances in selfish doubt,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">At such a time of need.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His heart is loosed, his hands untied,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And he shall yet be free<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To wear the cross, and break the ring,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who will not die for me!"<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The Emir's cry went up to heaven:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Cid Ramon rode away&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"Ye may not fight, my thousand score,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For Christian friend to-day.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But tell the king, I bide his hest,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Albeit my heart be sore;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of all his troops, I give but <i>one</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To perish for the Moor."<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The Emir's cry went up to heaven;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">His howling hosts came on;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Down fell Sevilla's tottering walls,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The thousand score were gone.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And at the palace-gate, in blood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Arab Emir raves;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He sat upon Mohammed's throne,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And look'd upon his slaves.<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The lives of all that faithful be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">This good day, will I spare;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But wo betide or kings or boors,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That currish Christians are!"&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Up rode Cid Ramon bleeding fast;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The princess wept to see;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"No cross was kiss'd, no prayer was said,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But still I die for thee!"<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The Moorish maid she kiss'd the cross,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">She knelt upon her knee;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"I kiss the cross, I say the prayer,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Because thou diest for me.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To buy thy thousand score of swords,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I would not give my faith;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But now I take the good cross up,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To follow thee in death."<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Holy Maria! Come to us,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And take us to the blest;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In the true blood of love and faith,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Receive us to thy rest!"&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Emir struck in bitter wrath,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Sharp fell the Arab blade;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And Mary took the Cid to heaven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And bless'd the Christian maid.<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">I remember thee, Granada!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"I like that ballad well," said De Morla, with a pensive sigh, when the
+singer had finished, "and, to my thought, no handsome maiden, though
+such always makes the best ballad-singer, could have trolled it with a
+more tender and loving accent than Jacinto. 'The Moorish maid,'" he
+continued, humming the words in a sentimental manner,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The Moorish maid she kiss'd the cross,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">She knelt upon her knee.&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>To my mind, it would read better, if we could say, 'The Mexican maid.'&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The Mexican maid she kiss'd the cross&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But, pho upon it! that spoils the metre.&mdash;Is it not thy opinion, señor,
+the princess Suleya would have shown more true love as well as wisdom,
+to have kissed the cross <i>before</i> the Cid came to his death-gasp?"</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith, I cannot doubt it," said Don Amador; "yet, considering
+that she avowed herself a proselyte, when the sword of that accursed
+Emir was suspended over her head, and so provoked and endured the death
+of a martyr for Don Ramon's sake, it must be acknowledged she acted as
+became a loving and truly devout lady. But what I chiefly esteem in
+this ditty, is the magnanimous art with which the Cid Ramon both
+preserved his faith to his king, and devoted himself to death for his
+mistress,&mdash;a reconciliation of duties which some might have considered
+impracticable, or, at least, highly objectionable."</p>
+
+<p>"Amigo querido mio," cried De Morla, grasping the neophyte's hand, and
+speaking with a voice half comical, half serious, "if thou livest a
+hundred years longer than myself, thou wilt hear some such mournful
+madrigal as this sung in memory of my foolish self; only that, in place
+of a Moorish Infanta, thou wilt hear the name of a Mexican princess; and
+Minnapotzin will doubtless be immortalized along with De Morla."</p>
+
+<p>"Minnapotzin!" exclaimed Don Amador, with a stare rendered visible
+enough by the distant flashings of the volcano. "I swear to thee, my
+brother, I understand not a word thou art saying!"</p>
+
+<p>"To make the matter clear to thee then," said De Morla, with forced
+gayety, "conceive me for a moment to be the Cid of whom we have been
+singing; and imagine my Suleya to be wandering by the lake side in the
+figure of a certain Minnapotzin, received to our holy faith under the
+name of Doña Benita,&mdash;a princess among these poor barbarians."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou indeed love one of these strange maidens, then?&mdash;and is she
+baptized in our holy faith?" demanded Don Amador, with much interest.
+"If she be worthy of thee, Francisco, I pray heaven to make thee happy
+with her."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, may I die!" cried De Morla, grasping Don Amador's hand warmly, "if
+I did not fear thou wouldst either censure or laugh at me,&mdash;or perhaps
+turn thy ridicule upon Benita,&mdash;a wrong I never could have forgiven
+thee. For I protest to thee, there is no such gentle and divine being in
+all the world beside. I make thee my confidant, hermano mio, because I
+shall have much need of thy friendship and counsel; for though I come
+not, like Cid Ramon, with 'a thousand score' to rescue her pagan
+father, sure am I, I cannot love the princess, and yet be blind to the
+miseries of the king."</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly," said Don Amador, "I will aid thee, and, for thy sake, both
+the fair princess and her unconverted sire, wherever, in so doing, I may
+not oppose my allegiance and religion."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not claim any sacrifice," said De Morla, "unless so much as will
+rob thee of thy prejudices against this deluded people. In fact, I
+desire thee more as a confidant, than as an abettor; for there is
+nothing to oppose my happiness, saving the present uncertainty of the
+relations betwixt ourselves and the Mexicans. Minnapotzin is a
+Christian;&mdash;I dare be sworn, the Cid was not better beloved than
+myself;&mdash;and Cortes hath himself promised to ask the consent of our
+Christian king to the marriage, as soon as Montezuma has properly
+confirmed his vassalage. No, there is nothing to oppose me," continued
+De Morla, with a sudden sadness, "saving only this uncertainty I have
+spoken of,&mdash;and the darkness that hangs over my own destiny."</p>
+
+<p>"I vow to thee, I am as much in the dark as before," said Don Amador.</p>
+
+<p>"In good faith, my friend," said the young cavalier, with a faint smile,
+"it is promised me, I shall die very much like Don Ramon. Did I never
+tell thee what Botello hath prophesied?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a jot," said the neophyte. "But I trust thou puttest no faith in
+that worthy madman?"</p>
+
+<p>"How can I help it?" said De Morla, seriously. "He has foretold nothing
+that has not been accomplished, from the quarrel of Cortes with the
+Adelantado Velasquez, even to the fall of Zempoala."</p>
+
+<p>"I have reflected on this prediction with regard to Zempoala, as well as
+all others whereof I have heard," said the neophyte, with a sagacious
+nod, "and I have settled in mine own mind that there is nothing in them
+beyond the operation of a certain cunning, mingled with a boldness which
+will hazard any thing in prognostic. Much credit is given to Botello
+for having, as I am informed, predicted, even before the embarkation of
+Cortes, the rupture between him and his governor that afterwards ensued.
+Now, any man, acquainted with the unreasonable rashness and hot jealousy
+of the governor, might have foretold a quarrel; and I see not how it
+could have been otherwise. So also, as I may say, I did myself, in a
+manner, foretell the disaster of Narvaez, as soon as I perceived his
+foolish negligence, in choosing rather to divert his soldiers with
+legerdemain dances than to set them about his city as sentinels. The
+victory comes not to the indiscreet general."</p>
+
+<p>"All this might have been conjectured, but not with so many surprising
+particulars," said the cavalier. "How could Botello have predicted,
+that, though Narvaez should sally out against us, no blow should be
+struck by daylight?"</p>
+
+<p>"Marry, I know not; unless upon a conviction that Cortes was too wise to
+meet his enemy on the plain; and from a personal assurance, that the
+rocks wherein the general had pitched his camp, were utterly
+unassailable."</p>
+
+<p>"How could he have guessed that flames should drive the Biscayan from
+the tower?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did he guess that, indeed?" said the neophyte, staring. "He could not
+have known that; for the brand was thrown by mine own rogue Lazaro, who,
+I know, was not his confederate."</p>
+
+<p>"How could he have averred that Narvaez should lose his eye, and come
+blindfold to his conqueror?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it very certain Botello foretold <i>that</i>?" demanded Don Amador, his
+incredulity shaking.</p>
+
+<p>"The señor Duero was present, as well as several other honourable
+cavaliers, and all confirm the story," said De Morla. "Nay, I could give
+thee a thousand instances of the marvellous truths he has spoken; and so
+well is Cortes convinced of his singular faculty, that he will do no
+deed of importance, without first consulting the magician."</p>
+
+<p>"When my head is very cool," said Amador, musingly, "I find no
+difficulty to persuade myself that the existence of the faculty of
+soothsaying is incredible, because subversive of many of the wise
+provisions of nature; yet I will not take upon me to contradict what I
+do not know. And surely also, I may confess, I have heard of certain
+wonderful predictions made by astrologers, which are very difficult to
+be explained, unless by admission of their powers."</p>
+
+<p>"What Botello has said to me," said De Morla, with a hurried voice, "has
+been in part fulfilled, though spoken in obscure figures. He told me,
+long since, that I should be reduced to bondage, 'at such time as I
+should behold a Christian cross hanging under a pagan crown.' This I
+esteemed a matter for mirth; 'for how,' said I, 'shall I find a pagan
+wearing a crucifix? and how shall I submit to be a captive among strange
+and cruel idolaters, when I have the power to die fighting?' But I have
+seen the cross on the bosom of one who wears the gold coronet of a
+king's daughter; and now I know that my heart is in slavery!"</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador pondered over this annunciation; but while he deliberated,
+his friend continued,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"When Botello told me this, he added other things,&mdash;not many but
+dark,&mdash;to wit, as I understood it, 'that I should perish miserably with
+my enslaver,' and, what is still more remarkable, with an infidel priest
+to say the mass over my body! Señor, these things are uncomfortable to
+think on; but I vow to heaven, if I am to die in the arms of
+Minnapotzin, I shall perish full as happily as did Cid Ramon in the
+embraces of Suleya!"</p>
+
+<p>De Morla concluded his singular story with a degree of excitement and
+wildness that greatly confounded Don Amador; and before the neophyte
+could summon up arguments enough to reply, a voice from the bottom of
+the pyramid was heard pronouncing certain words, in a tongue entirely
+unknown to him, but among which he thought he recognised the name of
+Minnapotzin. He was not mistaken. De Morla started, saying, hastily,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I am called, señor. This is the voice of one of the envoys of
+Montezuma, with whom I have certain things to say concerning Doña
+Benita. I will return to thee in an instant." And so saying, he
+descended the stairs of the mound, and was straightway out of sight.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The moon had now risen, and was mingling her lustre with the blaze of
+the volcano. The shouts of revelry came less frequently from the city,
+and, one by one, the torches vanished from the house-tops and the
+streets. A pleasant quiet surrounded the deserted temple; a few embers,
+only, glowed in the sacred urns; but the combined light of the luminary
+and the mountain covered the terrace with radiance, and fully revealed
+the few objects which gave it the interest of life. In this light, as
+Don Amador turned to his youthful companion, he beheld the eyes of the
+page suffused with tears.</p>
+
+<p>"How is it, Jacinto?&mdash;What ails thee?" he cried. "I vow to heaven, I am
+as much concerned at thy silly griefs, as though thou wert mine own
+little brother Rosario, who is now saying his prayers at Cuenza. Art
+thou weary? I will immediately conduct thee to our quarters. Is there
+any thing that troubles thee? Thou shouldst make me thy confidant; for
+surely I love thee well."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor mio! I am not weary, and I am not grieved," said the stripling,
+with simplicity, as the good-natured cavalier took him by the hand, to
+give him comfort. "I wept for pity of the good Don Francisco and the
+poor Minnapotzin; for surely it is a pity if they must die!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a silly youth to lament for evils that have not yet happened,"
+said Amador.</p>
+
+<p>"But besides, señor," said the page, "when Don Francisco made me sad, I
+looked at the moon, and I thought how it was rising on my country!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is now in the very noon of night, both in thy land and mine," said
+the neophyte, touched by the simple expression, and leading the boy
+where the planet could be seen without obstruction;&mdash;"it is now midnight
+over Fez, as well as Castile; and, perhaps, some of our friends, in both
+lands, are regarding this luminary, at this moment, and thinking of
+<i>us</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The page sighed deeply and painfully:</p>
+
+<p>"I have no friends,&mdash;no, neither in Fez nor in Spain," he said; "and,
+save my father, my master, and my good lord, none here. There is none of
+my people left, but my father; and we are alone together!"</p>
+
+<p>"Say not, alone," said Amador, with still more kindness,&mdash;for as Jacinto
+made this confession of his destitute condition, the tears fell fast and
+bitterly from his eyes. "Say not, alone; for, I repeat to thee, I have
+come, I know not by what fascination, to love thee as well as if thou
+wert my own little brother; and there shall no wrong come to thee, or
+thy father, while I live to be thy friend."</p>
+
+<p>Jacinto kissed the hand of the cavalier, and said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I did not cry for sorrow, but only for thinking of my country."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shouldst think no more of Fez; for its people are infidels, and
+thou a Christian."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought of Granada,&mdash;for that is the land of Christians; and I longed
+to be among the mountains where my mother was born."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt live there yet, if God be merciful to us," said the
+cavalier: "for when there is peace in this barbarous clime, I will take
+thee thither for a playmate to Rosario. But now that we are here alone,
+let us sit by the tower, and while I grow melancholy, bethinking me of
+that same land of Granada, which I very much love, I will have thee sing
+me some other pretty ballad of the love of a Christian knight for a
+Moorish lady;&mdash;or I care not if thou repeat the romance of the Cid: I
+like it well&mdash;'Me acuerdo de ti'&mdash;'me acuerdo de ti'&mdash;" And the
+neophyte seemed, while he murmured over the burthen, as if about to
+imitate the pensiveness of De Morla.</p>
+
+<p>"If my lord choose," said the page, "I would rather tell him a story of
+Granada, which is about a Christian cavalier, very noble and brave, and
+a Christian Morisca, that loved him."</p>
+
+<p>"A Christian Morisca!" said Amador; "and she loved the cavalier?&mdash;I will
+hear that story. And it happened in Granada too?"</p>
+
+<p>"In one of the Moorish towns, but not in the royal city.&mdash;It was in the
+town Almeria."</p>
+
+<p>"In the town Almeria!" echoed Amador, eagerly. "Thou canst tell me
+nothing of Almeria that will not give me both pain and pleasure, for
+therein&mdash;But pho! a word doth fill the brain with memories!&mdash;Is it an
+ancient story?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very ancient, please my lord: it happened since the fall of
+Granada."</p>
+
+<p>"It is strange that I never heard it, then; for I dwelt full two months
+in this same town; and 'tis not yet forty years since the siege."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it is not <i>true</i>," said the stripling, innocently; "and, at the
+best, 'tis not remarkable enough to have many repeaters. 'Tis a very
+foolish story."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, I am impatient to hear it."</p>
+
+<p>"There lived in that town," said Jacinto, "a Moorish orphan&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A girl?" demanded the neophyte.</p>
+
+<p>"A Moorish maiden,&mdash;of so obscure a birth, that she knew not even the
+name that had been borne by her parents; but nevertheless, señor, her
+parents, as was afterwards found out, were of the noblest blood of
+Granada. She was protected and reared in the family of a benevolent
+lady, who, being descended of a Moorish parent, looked with pity on the
+poor orphan of the race of her mother. When this maiden was yet in her
+very early youth, there came a noble cavalier of Castile&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A Castilian!" demanded Don Amador, with extraordinary vivacity,&mdash;"Art
+thou a conjurer?&mdash;What was his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know not," said Jacinto.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou learnest thy stories, then, only by the half," said the neophyte,
+with a degree of displeasure that amazed the youth. "And, doubtless,
+thou wert forgetful also to acquire the name of the Moorish orphan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the page, discomposed at the heated manner of his patron,
+"the Moorish maiden was called Leila."</p>
+
+<p>"Leila!" cried the neophyte, starting to his feet, and seizing Jacinto
+by the arm&mdash;"Canst thou tell me aught of Leila?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor!" murmured Jacinto, in affright.</p>
+
+<p>"Leila, the Morisca, in the house of the señora Doña Maria de
+Montefuerte!" exclaimed Don Amador, wildly. "Dost thou know of her fate?
+Did she sleep under the surges of the bay? Was she ravished away by
+those exile dogs of the mountains?&mdash;Now, by heaven, if thou canst tell
+me any thing of that Moorish maid, I will make thee richer than the
+richest Moor of Granada!"</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, while Jacinto, speechless with terror, gazed on his
+patron, as doubting if his senses had not deserted him, a step rung on
+the earth of the terrace, and De Morla stood at his side.</p>
+
+<p>The voice of his friend recalled the bewildered wits of the neophyte; he
+stared at Jacinto, and at De Morla; a deep hue of shame and confusion
+flushed over his brow; and perceiving that his violence had again thrown
+the page into tears, he kissed him benevolently on the forehead, and
+said, as tranquilly as he could,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A word will make fools of the wisest! I think I was dreaming, while
+thou wert at thy story. Be not affrighted, Jacinto: I meant not to scold
+thee&mdash;I was disturbed.&mdash;Next&mdash;next," he added, with a grievous shudder,
+"I shall be as mad as my kinsman!"</p>
+
+<p>"My brother! I am surprised to see thee in this emotion," said De
+Morla.</p>
+
+<p>"It is nothing," responded Amador, hastily and gloomily: "I fear there
+is a natural infirmity in the brains of all my family. I was moved, by
+an idle story of Jacinto, into the recollection of a certain sorrowful
+event, which, one day, perhaps, I will relate to thee.&mdash;But let us
+return to our quarters.&mdash;The air comes down chilly from the
+mountains&mdash;It is time we were sleeping."</p>
+
+<p>The friends retired from the temple, leaving the torch sticking in the
+platform; for the moon was now so high as to afford a better
+illumination. They parted at the quarters; but Don Amador, after
+satisfying himself that the knight of Rhodes was slumbering on his
+pallet, drew Jacinto aside to question him further of the orphan of
+Almeria. His solicitude was, however, doomed to a disappointment; the
+page was evidently impressed with the fear, that Don Amador was not
+without some of the weakness of Calavar; and adroitly, though with great
+embarrassment, avoided exciting him further.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a foolish story, and I am sorry it displeased my lord," said he,
+when commanded to continue the narrative.</p>
+
+<p>"It displeased me not&mdash;I knew a Moorish maid of that name in Almeria,
+who was also protected by a Christian lady; and, what was most
+remarkable, this Christian lady was of Moorish descent, like her of whom
+thou wert speaking; and, like the Leila of <i>thy</i> story, the Leila of my
+own memory vanished away from the town before&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," cried Jacinto, "I did not say she vanished away from Almeria:
+<i>that</i> did not belong to the story."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, indeed! is it so? Heaven guard my wits! what made me think it?&mdash;And
+thy Leila lived in Almeria very recently?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps ten or fifteen years ago&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Pho!&mdash;Into what folly may not an ungoverned fancy lead us?&mdash;Ten or
+fifteen years ago!&mdash;And thou never heardst of the Leila that dwelt in
+that town within a twelve-month?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i>, señor?" cried Jacinto, with surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"True&mdash;how is it possible thou couldst?&mdash;Thou hast, this night, stirred
+me as by magic. I know not by what sorcery thou couldst hit upon that
+name!"</p>
+
+<p>"It was the name of the lady," said Jacinto, innocently.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, to be sure!&mdash;There is one Mary in heaven, and a thousand on
+earth&mdash;why should there not be many Leilas?&mdash;Did I speak harshly to
+thee, Jacinto? Thou shouldst not kiss my hand, if I did; for no
+impatience or grief could excuse wrath to one so gentle and unoffending.
+Good night&mdash;get thee to thy bed, and forget not to say thy prayers."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, and in such disorder of spirits as the page had never before
+witnessed in him, Don Amador retired.</p>
+
+<p>Jacinto was left standing in a narrow passage, or corridor, on which
+opened a long row of chambers with curtained doors, wherein slept the
+soldiers, crowded thickly together. In the gallery, also, at a distance,
+lay several dusky lumps, which, by the gleaming of armour about them,
+were seen to be the bodies of soldiers stretched fast asleep. As the boy
+turned to retire in the direction of the open portal, it was darkened by
+the figure of a man, entering with a cautious and most stealthy step. He
+approached, and by his voice, (for there was not light enough yielded by
+the few flambeaux stuck against the wall, to distinguish features,)
+Jacinto recognised his father.</p>
+
+<p>"I sought thee, my child!" he whispered, "and saw thee returning with
+the hidalgos.&mdash;The watchmen sleep as well as the cannoniers.&mdash;It is as I
+told thee&mdash;art thou ready?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear father!"&mdash;stammered the page.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak not above thy breath!&mdash;The curs, that are hungering after the
+blood of the betrayed Mexicans, would not scorn to blunt their appetites
+on the flesh of the Moor. Have thyself in readiness at a moment's
+warning: Our destinies are written&mdash;God will not always frown upon us!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear father!" muttered Jacinto, "we are of the Spaniards' faith, and we
+will go back to our country."</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot be!&mdash;never can it be!" said Abdalla, in tones that were not
+the less impressive for being uttered in a whisper. "The hills of thy
+childhood, the rivers of thy love&mdash;they are passed away from
+thee;&mdash;think of them no more;&mdash;never more shalt thou see them! In the
+land of barbarians, heaven has willed that we should live and die; and
+be thou reconciled to thy fate, for it shall be glorious! We live not
+for ourselves; God brings us hither, and for great ends! To night, did
+I&mdash;Hah!"&mdash;(One of the sleepers stirred in the passage.)&mdash;"Seek some
+occasion to speak with me, to-morrow, on the march," whispered Abdalla
+in the page's ear; and then, with a gesture for silence, he immediately
+retired.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Fuego! Quien pasea alli?</i>" grumbled the voice of Lazaro, as he raised
+his head from the floor. "<i>Fu! el muchacho!</i>&mdash;I am ever dreaming of that
+cursed Turk, that was at my weasand, when Baltasar brained him with the
+boll of his cross-bow. <i>Laus tibi, Christe!</i>&mdash;I have a throat left for
+snoring." And comforting himself with this assurance, before Jacinto had
+yet vanished from the passage, the man-at-arms again slumbered on his
+mat.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the prosecution of his purpose, our historian, the worthy Don
+Cristobal Ixtlilxochitl, though ever adhering to his 'neglected
+cavaliers' with a generous constancy, is sometimes seduced into the
+description of events and scenes of a more general character, not very
+necessarily connected with his main object, and which those very authors
+whom he censures, have made the themes of much prolix writing. The
+difficulties that beset an historian are ever very great; nor is the
+least of them found in the necessity of determinating how much, or <i>how
+little</i>, he is called upon to record; for though it seems but reasonable
+he should take it for granted that his readers are entirely unacquainted
+with the matters he is narrating, and therefore that he should say all
+that can be said, this is a point in which all readers will not entirely
+agree with him. Those who have acquired a smattering of his subject,
+will be offended, if he presume to reinstruct them. For our own part,
+not recognizing the right of the ignorant to be gratified at the expense
+of the more learned, we have studied as much as is possible, so to
+curtail the exuberances of our original as to present his readers
+chiefly with what they cannot know; for which reason, it will be found,
+we have eschewed many of the memorable incidents of this famous
+campaign, in which none of the neglected conquerors bore a considerable
+part; as well as all those minute descriptions which retard the progress
+of the history. We therefore despatch in a word the glories of the
+morning that dawned over Tlascala, the gathering together of the
+Spaniards, who, upon review, were found to muster full thirteen hundred
+men, and their savage allies, two thousand in number, commanded, as had
+been anticipated, by Talmeccahua of the tribe Tizatlan.</p>
+
+<p>Amid the roar of trumpets and drums, and the shouts of a vast people,
+the glittering and feathered army departed from Tlascala, and pursuing
+its way through those rich savannas covered with the smiling corn and
+the juicy aloe, which had gained for this valley its name of the Land of
+Bread, proceeded onwards towards the holy city, Cholula.</p>
+
+<p>What rocky plains were crossed and what rough sierras surmounted, it
+needs not to detail: before night-fall, the whole army moved over the
+meadows that environ Cholula; and there, where now the traveller sees
+naught but a few wretched natives squatting among their earthen cabins,
+the adventurers beheld a city of great size, with more than four hundred
+lofty white towers shining over its spacious dwellings. The magnificent
+mountains that surrounded it&mdash;the sublime Popocatepetl, still breathing
+forth its lurid vapours,&mdash;the forbidding Iztaccihuatl, or the White
+Woman, looking like the shattered ruins of some fallen planet, vainly
+concealing their deformities under a vestment of snow,&mdash;the sharp and
+serrated Malinche,&mdash;and last (and seen with not the less interest that
+it intercepted the view towards home,)&mdash;the kingly Orizaba, looking
+peaceful and grand in the east,&mdash;made up such a wall of beauty and
+splendour as does not often confine the valleys of men. But there is one
+mountain in that singular scene, which human beings will regard with
+even more interest than those peaks which soar so many weary fathoms
+above it: the stupendous Teocalli&mdash;the <i>Monte hecho á manos</i>, (for it
+was piled up by the hands of human beings,)&mdash;reared its huge bulk over
+the plain; and, while looking on the stately cypresses that shadowed its
+gloomy summit, men dreamed, as they dream yet, of the nations who raised
+so astonishing an evidence of their power, without leaving any
+revealment of their fate. Whence came they? whither went they? From the
+shadows&mdash;back to the shadows.&mdash;The farce of ambition, the tragedy of
+war, so many thousand times repeated in the three great theatres that
+divided the old world, were performed with the same ceremonies of guilt
+and misery, with the same glory and the same shame, in a fourth, of
+which knowledge had not dreamed. The same superstitions which heaped up
+the pyramids and the Parthenon, were at work on the Teocallis of
+America; and the same pride which built a Babylon to defy the assaults
+of time, gave to his mouldering grasp the tombs and the palaces of
+Palenque. The people of Tenochtitlan and Cholula worshipped their
+ancient gods among the ruined altars of an older superstition.</p>
+
+<p>Great crowds issued from this city&mdash;the Mecca of Anahuac&mdash;to witness
+the approach of the Spaniards; but although they bore the same features,
+and the same decorations, though perhaps of a better material, with the
+Tlascalans, it was observed by Don Amador, that they displayed none of
+the joy and triumph, with which his countrymen had been ushered into
+Tlascala. In place of these, their countenances expressed a dull
+curiosity; and though they kissed the earth and flung the incense, as
+usual, in their manner of salutation, they seemed impelled to these
+ceremonies more by fear than affection. He remarked also with some
+surprise, that when they came to extend their compliments to the
+allies,&mdash;the Tlascalans, from their chief down to the meanest warrior,
+requited them only with frowns. All these peculiarities were explained
+to him by De Morla:</p>
+
+<p>"In ancient days," said the cavalier, "the Cholulans were a nation of
+republicans, like the Tlascalans, and united with them in a fraternal
+league against their common enemies, the Mexicans. In course of time,
+however, the people of the holy city were gained over by the bribes or
+promises of the foe; and entering into a secret treaty, they obeyed its
+provisions so well, as to throw off the mask on the occasion of a great
+battle, wherein they perfidiously turned against their friends, and,
+aided by the Mexicans, defeated them with great slaughter. From that
+day, they have remained the true vassals of Mexico; and, from that day,
+the Tlascalans have not ceased to regard them with the most deadly and
+unrelenting hatred."</p>
+
+<p>"The hatred is just; and I marvel they do not fall upon these base
+knaves forthwith!" said Amador.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the command of Don Hernan, that Tlascala shall now preserve her
+wrath for Tenochtitlan; and such is his influence, that, though he
+cannot allay the heart-burnings, yet can he, with a word, restrain the
+hands of his allies. Concerning the gloomy indifference of these
+people," continued De Morla, "as now manifested, it needs only to inform
+you how we discovered, or, rather, (for I will not afflict you with the
+details,) how we punished a similar treachery, wherein they meditated
+our own destruction, more than half a year ago, when we entered their
+town, on our march to Mexico. Having discovered their plot to destroy
+us, we met them with a perfidious craft which might have been rendered
+excusable by their own, had we, like them, been demi-barbarians; but
+which, as we are really civilized and Christian men, I cannot help
+esteeming both dishonest and atrocious. We assembled their nobles and
+priests in the court of the building we occupied; and having closed the
+gates, and charged them once or twice with their guilt, we fell upon
+them; and some of them having escaped and roused the citizens, we
+carried the war into the streets, and up to the temples: and so well did
+we prosper that day, and the day that followed, (for we fought them
+during two entire days,) that, with the assistance of our Tlascalans, of
+whom we had an army with us, we slaughtered full six thousand of them,
+and that without losing the life of a single Spaniard."</p>
+
+<p>"Dios mio!" cried Don Amador, "we had not so many killed in all the
+siege of Rhodes! Six thousand men! I am not certain that even treachery
+could excuse the destruction of so many lives."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a bloody and most awful spectacle," said De Morla, with feeling.
+"We drove the naked wretches (I say naked, señor, for we gave them no
+time to arm;) to the pyramids, especially to that which holds the altar
+of their chief god,&mdash;the god of the air; and here, señor, it was
+melancholy, to see the miserable desperation with which they died; for,
+having, at first, refused them quarter, they declined to receive it,
+when pity moved us afterwards to grant it. About the court of this
+pyramid there were many wooden buildings, as well as tabernacles of the
+like material among the towers, on the top. These we fired; and thus
+attacked them with arms and flames. What ruin the fire failed to inflict
+on the temple, they accomplished with their own hands; for, señor,
+having a superstitious belief, that, the moment a sacrilegious hand
+should tear away the foundations of their great temple, floods should
+burst out from the earth to whelm the impious violator, they began to
+raze it with their own hands; willing, in their madness, to perish by
+the wrath of their god, so that their enemies should perish with them. I
+cannot express to you the horrible howls, with which they beheld the
+fragments fall from the walls of the pyramid, without calling up the
+watery earthquake; then, indeed, with these howls, they ran to the
+summit, and crazily pitched themselves into the burning towers, or flung
+themselves from the dizzy top,&mdash;as if, in their despair, thinking that
+even their gods had deserted them!"</p>
+
+<p>"It was an awful chastisement, and, I fear me, more awful than just,"
+said Amador. "After this, it is not wonderful the men of Cholula should
+not receive us with joy."</p>
+
+<p>Many evidences of the horrors of that dreadful day were yet revealed, as
+Don Amador entered into the city. The marks of fire were left on various
+houses of stone, and, here and there, were vacuities, covered with
+blackened wrecks, where, doubtless, had stood more humble and
+combustible fabrics.</p>
+
+<p>The countenance of Cortes was observed to be darkened by a frown, as he
+rode through this well-remembered scene of his cruelty; but perhaps he
+thought less of remorse and penitence, than of the spirit of hatred and
+desperation evinced by his victims,&mdash;as if, in truth, the late
+occurrences at Mexico had persuaded him, that a similar spirit was
+waking and awaiting him there.&mdash;It was in his angry moment, and just as
+he halted at the portals of a large court-yard, wherein stood the palace
+he had chosen for his quarters, that two Indians, of an appearance
+superior to any Don Amador had yet seen, and followed by a train of
+attendants bearing heavy burthens, suddenly passed from the crowd of
+Cholulans, and approached the general.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said De Morla, in a low voice, to his friend, "observe these
+new ambassadors;&mdash;they are of the noblest blood of the city; the
+elder,&mdash;he that hath the gold grains hanging to his nostrils, in token
+that he belongs to the order of <i>Teuctli</i>, or Princes by Merit, is one
+of the lords of the Four Quarters of Mexico&mdash;the quarter Tlatelolco,
+wherein is our garrison. His name, Itzquauhtzin, will be, to you,
+unpronounceable. The youth that bears himself so loftily, is no less
+than a nephew of the king himself; and the scarlet fillet around his
+hair, denotes that he has arrived at the dignity of what we should call
+a chief commander,&mdash;a military rank that not even the king can claim,
+without having performed great actions in the field. 'Tis a sore day for
+Montezuma, when he sends us such princely ambassadors.&mdash;I will press
+forward, and do the office of interpreter; for destiny, love, and my
+mother wit, together, have given me more of the Mexican jargon, than any
+of my companions."</p>
+
+<p>As the ambassadors approached, Don Amador had leisure to observe them.
+Both were of good stature and countenance; their loins were girt with
+tunics of white cotton cloth, studded and bordered with bunches of
+feathers, and hanging as low as the knee; and over the shoulders of both
+were hung large mantles of many brilliant colours, curiously interwoven,
+their ends so knotted together in front, as to fall down in graceful
+folds, half concealing the swarthy chest. Their sandals were secured
+with scarlet thongs, crossed and gartered to the calf. Their raven
+locks, which were of great length, were knotted together, in a most
+fantastic manner, with ribands, from the points of which, on the head of
+the elder, depended many little ornaments, that seemed jewels of gold
+and precious stones; while from the fillets, that braided the hair of
+the younger, besides an abundance of the same ornaments, there were many
+tufts of crimson cotton-down, swinging to and fro in the wind. In
+addition to these badges of military distinction, (for every tuft, thus
+worn, was the reward and evidence of some valiant exploit,) this young
+prince&mdash;he seemed not above twenty-five years old&mdash;wore, as had been
+noticed by De Morla, the red fillet of the House of Darts,&mdash;an order,
+not so much of nobility as of knighthood, entitling its possessor to the
+command of an army. His bearing was, indeed, lofty, but not disdainful;
+and though, when making his obeisance, he neither stooped so low, nor
+kissed his hand with so much humility, as his companion, this seemed to
+proceed more from a consciousness of his own rank, than from any
+disrespect to the Christian leader.</p>
+
+<p>"What will these dogs with me now?" cried Cortes, at whose feet, (for he
+had dismounted,) the attendants had thrown their burthens, and were
+proceeding to display their contents. "Doth Montezuma think to appease
+me for the blood of my brothers? and pay for Spanish lives with robes of
+cotton and trinkets of gold?&mdash;What say the hounds?"</p>
+
+<p>"They say," responded De Morla to his angry general, "that the king
+welcomes you back again to his dominions, to give him reparation for the
+slaughter of his people."</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" exclaimed the leader, fiercely. "Doth he beard me with complaint,
+when I look for penitence and supplication?"</p>
+
+<p>"In token of his love, and of his assured persuasion that you now return
+to punish the murderers of his subjects, and then to withdraw your
+followers from his city for ever," said De Morla, giving his attention
+less to Cortes than to the lord of Tlatelolco, "he sends you these
+garments, to protect the bodies of your new friends from the snows of
+Ithualco, as well as&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The slave!" cried Don Hernan, spurning the pack that lay at his foot,
+and scattering its gaudy textures over the earth: "If he give me no mail
+to protect my friends from the knives of his assassins, I will trample
+even upon his false heart, as I do upon his worthless tribute!"</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I translate your excellency's answer word for word?" said De
+Morla, tranquilly. "If it be left to myself, I should much prefer
+veiling it in such palatable language, as my limited knowledge will
+afford."</p>
+
+<p>But the scowling general had already turned away, as if to humble the
+ambassadors with the strongest evidence of contempt, and to prove the
+extremity of his displeasure; and it needed no interpretation of words
+to convince the noble savages of the futileness of their ministry. The
+lord of Tlatelolco bowed again to the earth, and again kissed his hand,
+as if in humble resignation, while the retreating figure of Don Hernan
+vanished under the low door of his dwelling; but the younger envoy,
+instead of imitating him, drew himself proudly up, and looked after the
+general with a composure, that changed, as Don Amador thought, to a
+smile. But if such a mark of satisfaction&mdash;for it bore more the
+character of elation than contempt,&mdash;did illuminate the bronzed visage
+of the prince, it remained not there for an instant. He cast a quiet and
+grave eye upon the curious cavaliers who surrounded him, and then
+beckoning his attendants from their packs, he strode, with his
+companion, composedly away.</p>
+
+<p>"In my mind," said the neophyte, following him with his eye, and rather
+soliloquizing than addressing himself to any of the neighbouring
+cavaliers, "there was more of dignity and contempt in the smile of that
+heathen prince, than in all the rage of my friend Don Hernan."</p>
+
+<p>"Truly, he is a very proper-looking and well-demeanoured knave," said
+the voice of Duero. "But the general has some deep policy at the bottom
+of all this anger."</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith, I think so, now for the first time!" exclaimed the
+neophyte; "for, although unable to see the drift of such a stratagem, I
+cannot believe that the señor Cortes would adopt a course, that seems to
+savour so much of injustice, without a very discreet and politic
+object."</p>
+
+<p>Here the discourse of the cavaliers was cut short by the sudden
+appearance of Fabueno the secretary.</p>
+
+<p>"What wilt thou, Lorenzo?" said his patron. "Has Lazaro again refused to
+tilt with thee? I very much commend the zeal with which thou pursuest
+thine exercises; but thou shouldst remember, that Lazaro may, sometimes,
+be weary after a day's march."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor, 'tis not <i>that</i>," said the secretary. "But just now, as Baltasar
+told me, he saw the page Jacinto very rudely haled away by one of
+Cortes's grooms; and I thought your favour might be glad to know, for
+the boy seemed frighted."</p>
+
+<p>"I will straightway see that no wrong be done him, even by the general,"
+said Amador, quickly, moving toward the door into which he had seen
+Cortes enter. "I marvel very much that my good knight did not protect
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said Fabueno, "the knight is in greater disorder to-day than
+yesterday. He took no note of anybody, when we came to this palace; but
+instantly concealed himself in some distant chamber, where, a soldier
+told me, he was scourging himself."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shouldst not talk, with the soldiers, of Calavar," said Amador,
+with a sigh. "Get thee to Marco. If my kinsman need me, I will presently
+be with him."</p>
+
+<p>Thus saying, he discharged the secretary at the door; and those servants
+who guarded it, not presuming to deny admittance to a man of such rank,
+he was immediately ushered into the presence of Cortes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In a low but spacious apartment, the walls and floor of which were both
+covered with mats, the neophyte found Don Hernan, attended by Sandoval
+and one or two other cavaliers, busy, to all appearance, in the
+examination of the page and a Moorish slave of Cortes's own household,
+whom he seemed to confront with the other. It needed no more than the
+tears which Amador discovered on the cheeks of the youth, to rouse him
+to a feeling very like anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said he, stepping forward to the side of Jacinto, and looking
+gravely on his judge, "I have exercised the privilege of a master,&mdash;or
+rather, as I should say, of a servant,&mdash;for this boy is in the ward of
+Don Gabriel, whom I myself follow,&mdash;to enter into your presence, without
+the ceremony of a previous request; for which liberty, if it offend you,
+I ask your pardon. But I was told the boy Jacinto was dragged away by
+one of your excellency's menials; and I claim, as asking in the stead of
+his master, to know for what offence?"</p>
+
+<p>"By my conscience, for none at all!" said Cortes, courteously; "at
+least, for none of his own commission. And had he truly been guilty,
+both of treason and desertion, I should have pardoned him, for the
+precocious shrewdness of his answers. Señor," continued the general, "it
+was my intention to beseech your presence at this examination; and
+nothing but the suddenness of it, as well as the present defection among
+my servants, could have caused me to defer the invitation for a moment.
+By my conscience, you have a treasure of wisdom, in this boy!"</p>
+
+<p>This was an assurance Don Amador did by no means deny: for, in addition
+to the singular address with which he adapted himself to the humours of
+the knight, he had seen in Jacinto many other evidences of a discretion
+so much in advance of his years, as to cause him no little wonder; added
+to which, the incident of the past night, in which the page had stumbled
+upon a name, and indeed (for the after explanations had not removed the
+first impression,) a story, which he did not remember to have breathed
+to any living creature, had attached to the youth a sort of respect that
+bordered almost on superstition. But Don Hernan gave the cavalier no
+time for reflections.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Don Amador," said he, "the fault, if there be any, which we are
+now striving to investigate, lies, not in the page, but in his father,
+Sidi Abdalla, the cannonier; who is charged by my varlet here, this
+unconverted heathen, to be meditating, if not now engaged in the
+accomplishment of a very heinous, and yet, let me add, for your
+satisfaction, a very improbable conspiracy. This is charged to be
+nothing less than desertion from our standard, with a design to throw
+himself into the arms of the enemy; and what makes the matter worse,
+allowing it for a moment to be credible, is, that he plots to carry away
+with him all his countrymen who are slaves with us, in number, I think,
+somewhat above half a score."</p>
+
+<p>"This is, assuredly," said Don Amador, "a very vile offence; for which,
+if guilty, I must needs allow, the Sidi deserves to suffer. Yet, I agree
+with your excellency, the design seems quite as incredible as its
+accomplishment must be impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"No one," said Cortes, "could have shown this with better argument than
+this same weeping boy; for, 'First,' said he, ''tis wrong to receive the
+accusation of an unconverted man against a Christian;' and such an
+infidel hound is Yacub,&mdash;whom I will, at some future day, give over to
+be burned for his idolatry; but, at present, I cannot spare so precious
+a servant, for he is an excellent cook, and a good maker of arrow-heads
+for the crossbowmen.&mdash;In addition to this argument, señor," continued
+the general, "the boy advances me another of still more force; 'For
+how,' says he, shrewdly, 'would my father leave his Christian masters
+and protectors, to go over to savages, whose language he cannot
+understand, and who would sacrifice him as a victim to their detestable
+gods?'&mdash;which gods may heaven sink into the pit, whence they came! and I
+say, Amen!&mdash;Now, though one part of this argument is answered by the
+subtle art of Yacub; for whether he have Yacub or any other Moor who
+hath picked up something of the tongue, to interpret for him, or
+whether he have no interpreter at all, it is not the less certain, that,
+the moment he entrusts himself into the power of the barbarians, that
+moment will he be clapped into a great cage like a wild beast, and
+devoured what time he is fat enough for the maws of their diabolical
+divinities; I say, nevertheless, for that very reason, it is not
+probable Abdalla should be so besotted a fool."</p>
+
+<p>"Please your highness," said Yacub, with the obstinacy of one who
+presumed on his master's indulgence, or on the strength of his cause,
+"he urged me, last night, at the pyramid of Tlascala; and this noble
+gentleman, as well as this boy, saw me in his company."</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador started, as he perceived the eyes of Yacub fastened on him,
+as well as those of every other individual in the chamber. The look that
+Jacinto gave him was one of terror and beseeching earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said he, hesitating a little, "though what I have to say, may,
+in part, confirm the charge of this fellow, I cannot scruple to speak
+it; and though I may not aver, on mine own knowledge, that I beheld,
+last night, either this man Yacub, or his countryman, Abdalla, yet must
+I admit that I saw, stealing by the basis of that heathen temple, three
+men, whom my friend De Morla, who accompanied me, pronounced to be the
+cannonier and two of your excellency's servants."&mdash;Jacinto wrung his
+hands.&mdash;"But what passed between them," the cavalier went on, "whether
+they were hatching a plot, or discoursing together of their hard fate,
+as would seem reasonable for men like them, that have neither friends
+nor country, I cannot take upon me to pronounce; though, from what I
+know of Abdalla, as a courageous and honest man, I am fain to think,
+their communication could not have been of an evil nature."</p>
+
+<p>"He said," muttered the treacherous Moor, "that provided he had but some
+one to interpret for him, he had no fear of the Mexicans; but could
+promise us much favour and wealth from their kings, by virtue of
+certain arts possessed by his son; and thereby he hinted the boy was an
+enchanter."</p>
+
+<p>All started at this sudden announcement, and none more than Don Amador
+de Leste; for though, as he had said himself, he was, in his cooler
+moments, very sceptical in affairs of magic, this incredulity was no
+consequence either of nature or education; and besides the shock that
+had been given to his doubts by the disclosures of De Morla, the story
+of Jacinto, so unaccountably begun, and so abruptly terminated, had made
+a deeper impression on his mind, than such a trifle should.&mdash;Its
+importance had been imputed by his own feelings; but either he did not
+remember, or he knew not that.&mdash;He stared at Jacinto, who stood pale as
+death and trembling, now rolling his eyes wildly on Don Hernan, and now
+on his patron. Before the latter could summon composure to answer, he
+was relieved by the general saying, humorously&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot doubt that this little caitiff <i>is</i> an enchanter, because he
+has the faculty of exciting both admiration and pity in an eminent
+degree; and, though I doubt the power of such a charm over the ears of
+barbarians that delight in the thunder of wooden drums, and the yelling
+uproar of sea-shell trumpets, yet I can believe, for it has been told me
+by good judges, that the art with which he touches his lute, is as
+magical as it is marvellous."</p>
+
+<p>The boy clasped his hands in delight, and seemed as if he would have
+thrown himself at the feet of his judge.</p>
+
+<p>"Wherefore, my most worthy and honoured friend," continued Cortes, "have
+no fear that I will rob thee of so serviceable a henchman. I could not
+burn so pretty a log in the fire that was kindled for one who had sold
+his soul; and I cannot, by allowing the claims of a rival to lawful
+magic, kill my astrologer Botello with envy."</p>
+
+<p>"He has a talisman round his neck, wherein is a devil, that I have
+overheard him talking to!" said the resolute Yacub.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art an ass," said Cortes, laughing at the trepidation of Jacinto;
+for he again turned pale, and lifted his hands to his neck, as if both
+to confess and guard his treasure. "'Tis some gewgaw, given him by his
+mother, or, perhaps, by some sweetheart wench;&mdash;for these Moorish boys
+are in love when a Christian urchin is yet in his grammar.&mdash;Señor,"&mdash;he
+addressed himself to the neophyte,&mdash;"you may perceive that the very
+grossness of Yacub's credulity has destroyed the force of his testimony;
+for he who can believe such a junior as this to be a conjurer, will give
+credit to any other ridiculous imagination. I will now confess to you,
+that, beside these charges, which are already answered, there is only
+one more circumstance against Abdalla; and that is, that at the very
+moment of our halt, and while engaged in the audience with those
+ambassadors, (whom I treated somewhat harshly, but for a cunning
+purpose, which you will soon understand,) he vanished away, in company
+with another dog of my household called Ayub; and hath not been since
+seen. Nevertheless, I attach no more importance to this matter than to
+the others; but, I swear to heaven, if he be caught stealing turkeys, or
+any such trumpery things from these villains of Cholula, I will give him
+to the bastinado!"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said Amador, earnestly, "the Sidi is of too magnanimous a
+nature to steal turkeys."</p>
+
+<p>"I will take Don Amador's word for it, then. But I see the page is still
+in some mortal fright, as dreading, if he remain longer in our presence,
+lest some new accusation should be brought against him."</p>
+
+<p>"If Jacinto be absolved from censure, and is no longer desired by your
+excellency, I will withdraw him from your presence; and, thanking you,
+señor, for the mildness with which you have questioned him, I will beg
+your permission to take my own leave."</p>
+
+<p>Don Hernan bowed low, as the neophyte withdrew with Jacinto; he waved
+his hand to Yacub, and the Moor immediately retired.</p>
+
+<p>"What think ye now, my masters?" he cried, as soon as these were out of
+hearing;&mdash;"Is it possible this stupid cannonier hath either the wit or
+the spirit to hatch me a brood of treason, to help the kites of Mexico?"</p>
+
+<p>"If he have," said Sandoval, "he should hang."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true, son Gonzalo," said the general; "for in our condition, to be
+suspected, should be a crime worthy death, especially in so contemptible
+a creature as a Moor.&mdash;Didst thou observe what mortal consternation
+beset our worthy and very precise friend, Don Amador, when Yacub called
+his boy a conjurer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think, that should be examined into," said Sandoval; "for if he be,
+'twill be well to give him to Botello, as a pupil; lest Botello should
+be, some day, knocked on the head, as is not improbable, from his ever
+thrusting it into jeopardy, and we be left without a diviner."</p>
+
+<p>"By my conscience, 'tis well thought on," said Cortes, laughing, "for
+this boy, if he had but as good a reputation, is much superior in
+docility, as well as shrewder in apprehension; whereas Botello hath such
+a thick-head enthusiasm for his art, as to be somewhat unmanageable;
+and, every now and then, he prophesies me all wrong; as was the case,
+when he anointed the wound of De Leste's secretary, and stupidly told
+him 'twould be well in a few hours: and yet, all the camp knew, the lad
+was near losing his arm."</p>
+
+<p>"Botello excuses himself there," said Sandoval, "by protesting that his
+injunctions were disobeyed, especially that wherein he charged the youth
+not to touch his weapon for twenty-four hours; whereas he killed a man,
+that very night, on the pyramid, very courageously, as I
+witnessed,&mdash;though the man was hurt before; for I had charged him with
+my own partisan."</p>
+
+<p>"Amigo mio," said Cortes, abruptly, "in the matter of these Moors, I
+must have thine aidance. I know not how it may have entered into the
+brain of such a boor, to suppose he could make himself useful to the
+frowning infidels in Tenochtitlan; but I would sooner give them a dead
+lion than a living dog. If thou hast any very cunning and discreet
+rogues among thy fighting men, send them, in numbers of two and three,
+secretly about the city; and especially charge some that they watch at
+the gate that opens to Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do so," said Sandoval, "and I will myself hunt about the town
+till I find the rascal.&mdash;Shall I kill him?"</p>
+
+<p>"If it appear to thee he is deserting, let him be slain in the act. As
+for Ayub, if he be found in the cannonier's company, bring me him alive:
+I will hang him for an example; for in his death shall no intercessor be
+offended. I have no doubt, that, for the boy's sake, both Don Amador and
+Calavar would beg for Abdalla, if he were brought a prisoner; and it
+would grieve me to deny them. Kill <i>him</i>, then, my son, if thou findest
+him, and art persuaded he is a deserter."</p>
+
+<p>With this charge, very emphatically pronounced, and very composedly
+received, the friends separated.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>During the whole time of the march from Tlascala to Cholula, an unusual
+gloom lay upon the spirits of Calavar; and so great was his abstraction,
+that, though pursuing his way with a sort of instinct, he remained as
+insensible to the presence of his kinsman as to the attentions of his
+followers. He rode at a distance from the rear of the army; and such was
+the immobility of his limbs and features, saving when, stung by some
+secret thought, he raised his ghastly eyes to heaven, that a stranger,
+passing him on the path, might have deemed that his grave charger moved
+along under the weight of a stiffened corse, not yet disrobed of its
+arms, rather than that of a living cavalier. When the army halted at
+noon to take food, he retired, with his attendants, to the shadow of a
+tree; where, without dismounting, or receiving the fruits which Jacinto
+had gathered, to tempt him to eat, he sat in the same heavy stupor,
+until the march was resumed. Neither food nor water crossed his lips,
+during the entire day; nor did the neophyte suffer any to be proffered
+him, when he came to reflect that this day was an anniversary, which the
+knight was ever accustomed to observe with the most ascetic abstinence
+and humiliation. For this reason, also, though lamenting the necessity
+of such an observance, he neither presumed himself to vex his kinsman
+with attentions, nor suffered any others to intrude upon his privacy,
+excepting, indeed, the Moorish page, whose gentle arts were so wont to
+dispel the gathering clouds. But this day, even Jacinto failed to
+attract his notice; and, despairing of the power of any thing but time,
+to terminate the paroxysm, he ceased his efforts, and contented himself
+with keeping a distant watch on all Don Gabriel's movements, lest some
+disaster might happen to him on the journey. No sooner, as had been
+hinted by Fabueno, had the army arrived at its quarters in the sacred
+city, than the knight betook him to the solitude of a chamber in the
+very spacious building; where, after a time, he so far shook off his
+lethargy, as to desire the presence of the chaplain, with whom he had
+remained ever since, engaged in his devotions. Hither, guided by Marco,
+came now Don Amador, conducting Jacinto. The interview with Cortes had
+swallowed up more than an hour, and when the neophyte stood before the
+curtained door of his kinsman, a light, flashing through the irregular
+folds, dispelled the darkness of the chamber. As he paused for an
+instant, he heard the low voice of the priest, saying,</p>
+
+<p>"Sin no more with doubt.&mdash;<i>Spera in Deo</i>: grace is in heaven, and mercy
+knoweth no bounds.&mdash;<i>Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>A few other murmurs came to his ear; and then the chaplain, pushing
+aside the curtain, issued from the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven be with thee, my son," he said to Amador; "thy kinsman is
+greatly disordered, but not so much now as before."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it fitting I should enter, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thy presence may be grateful to him; but surely," he continued, in an
+under voice, "it were better for the unhappy knight, if he were among
+the priests and physicians of his own land. A sore madness afflicts him:
+he thinks himself beset with spectres.&mdash;I would thou hadst him in
+Spain!"</p>
+
+<p>"If heaven grant us that grace!" said Amador, sorrowfully.&mdash;"But he
+believes that God will call him to his rest, among the heathen.&mdash;Tarry
+thou at the door, Jacinto," he went on, when the father had departed;
+"have thyself in readiness, with thy lute, for perhaps he may be
+prevailed upon to hear thee sing; in which case, I have much hope, the
+evil spirit will depart from him."</p>
+
+<p>He passed into the chamber: the knight was on his knees before a little
+crucifix, which he had placed on a massive Indian chair; but though he
+beat his bosom with a heavy hand, no sound of prayer came from his lips.
+Don Amador placed himself at his side, and stood in reverential silence,
+until his kinsman, heaving a deep sigh, rose up, and turning his haggard
+countenance towards him, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Neither penance nor prayer, neither the remorse of the heart nor the
+benediction of the priest, can wipe away the sorrow that comes from sin.
+God alone is the forgiver;&mdash;but God will not <i>always</i> forgive!"</p>
+
+<p>"Say not so, my father," cried Amador, earnestly; "for it is a deep
+crime to think that heaven is not ever merciful."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep thyself free from the stain of blood-guiltiness," said Don
+Gabriel, with a manner so mild, that the neophyte had good hope the fit
+had indeed left him, "and mercy will not be denied thee.&mdash;Have I not
+afflicted thee, my friend?" he continued faintly. "Thou wilt have much
+to forgive me; but not long. I will remember, in my death hour, that
+thou hast not forsaken me."</p>
+
+<p>"Never will I again leave thee!" said Amador, fervently. "I forgot thee
+once; and besides the pang of contrition for that act, heaven punished
+me with a grief, that I should not have known, had I remained by thy
+side. But now, my father, wilt thou not eat and drink, and suffer
+Jacinto to sing to thee?"</p>
+
+<p>"I may neither eat nor drink this night," said Calavar; "but methinks I
+can hear the innocent orphan chant the praises of the Virgin; for to
+such she will listen!"</p>
+
+<p>Amador strode to the door; but Jacinto had vanished&mdash;He had stolen away,
+the moment that his patron entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he has gone to fetch his instrument. Run thou in search of him,
+Marco, and bid him hasten."</p>
+
+<p>Before the novice could again address himself to his kinsman, Marco
+returned. The page was not to be found; the sentinel at the door had
+seen him pass into the court-yard, but whether he had re-entered or not,
+he knew not;&mdash;he had not noted.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible," thought Don Amador, "that the boy could so wilfully
+disobey me? Perhaps the general hath sent for him again: for,
+notwithstanding all his protestations of satisfaction, it seemed to me,
+that, while he spoke, there was still a something lurking in his eye,
+which boded no good to Abdalla. I will look for the boy myself."</p>
+
+<p>He charged Marco to remain by his lord, sought an audience with the
+general, whom he found engaged in earnest debate with Duero, De Leon,
+and other high officers. Don Hernan satisfied him that he had not sent
+for Jacinto,&mdash;that he had not thought of Abdalla; and with an apology
+for his intrusion, the novice instantly withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>"The story is true!" said Cortes with a frown, "and that pestilent young
+cub of heathenism has fled to give the traitor warning. But he that
+passes, unquestioned, at the gate where Sandoval stands the watchman,
+must have the devil for his leader, or, at least, his companion. I hope
+he will not murder the boy; for he is a favourite with Calavar, a subtle
+knave, a good twangler; and it is natural he should play me even a
+knave's trick for his father!"</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, after hunting in vain about the different quarters of
+the building, as well as the court-yard, for the vanished Jacinto, the
+novice returned to the chamber of his kinsman. But Calavar also had
+disappeared,&mdash;not, indeed, in disorder, but in great apparent
+tranquillity; and he had commanded Marco not to follow him.</p>
+
+<p>"He has gone to the fields," muttered Amador; "such is his practice at
+this season: but there is no good can come of solitude. I know not what
+to think of that boy; but assuredly, this time, it will be but my duty
+to censure him." And so saying, Don Amador also passed into the open
+air.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was late in the night; a horizontal moon flung the long shadows of
+the houses over the wide streets of Cholula, when the knight Calavar,
+wrapped in his black mantle, strode along through the deserted city.
+With no definite object before him, unless to fly, or perhaps to give
+way, in solitude, to the bitter thoughts that oppressed him, he suffered
+himself to be guided as much by accident as by his wayward impulses; and
+as he passed on, at every step, some mutation of his fancies, or some
+trivial incident on the way, conspired to recall his disorder. Now, as a
+bat flitted by, or an owl flew, hooting, from its perch among some of
+those ruins, which yet raised their broken and blackened walls, in
+memory of the cruelty of his countrymen, the knight started aghast, and
+a mortal fear came over him; for, in these sounds and sights, his
+disturbed senses discovered the signs of the furies that persecuted him;
+and even the night-breeze, wailing round some lonely corner, or
+whispering among the shrubbery of a devastated garden, seemed to him the
+cries of haunting spirits.</p>
+
+<p>"Miserere mei, Deus!" muttered Don Gabriel, as a tree, bowing away from
+the wind, let down a moonbeam through a fissure on his path&mdash;"the white
+visage will not leave me!&mdash;Heavy was the sin, heavy is the punishment!
+for even mine own fancies are become my chastisers."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, at times, conscious, in part, of his infirmity, and yet yielding
+ever, with the feebleness of a child, to the influence of unreal
+horrors, he wandered about, sometimes driven from his path by what
+seemed a gaunt spectre flitting before him, sometimes impelled onwards
+by a terror that followed behind: thus he roved about, he knew not
+whither, until he found himself, by chance, in the neighbourhood of the
+great temple, the scene of the chief atrocities enacted on that day
+which has been called, by a just metonymy, the Massacre of Cholula. Here
+it was, as had been mentioned by De Morla, that the miserable natives,
+huddled together in despair, had made their last cry to their gods, and
+perished under the steel and flames of the Christians; and the memorials
+of their fate were as plainly written as if the tragedy had been the
+work of the previous day. No carcasses, indeed, lay crowded among the
+ruins, no embers smouldered on the square; weeds had grown upon the
+place of murder, as if fattening on the blood that had besprinkled their
+roots; life had utterly vanished from the spot; and it presented the
+appearance of a desert in the bosom of a populous city.</p>
+
+<p>A great wall, running round the temple, had enclosed it in a large
+court, once covered with the houses of priests and devotees. The wall
+was shattered and fallen, the dwellings burned and demolished; and the
+pyramid, itself crumbling into ruins, lay like the body of some huge
+monster among its severed and decaying members. The flags of stone,
+tumbled by the victims, in their fury, from its sides and terraces,
+though they had not called up the subterraneous rivers, had exposed the
+perishable earth, that composed the body of the mound, to the
+vicissitudes of the weather; and, under the heavy tropical rains, it was
+washing rapidly away. The sanctuaries yet stood on the summit, but with
+their walls mutilated, and their roofs burnt; and they served only to
+make the horror picturesque. A wooden cross of colossal dimensions,
+raised by the conquerors, in impious attestation that God had aided them
+in the labour of slaughter, flung high its rugged arms, towering above
+the broken turrets, and gave the finish of superstition to the monument
+of wrath. It was a place of ruins, dark, lugubrious, and forbidding; and
+as Don Gabriel strode among the massive fragments, he found himself in a
+theatre congenial with his gloomy and wrecking spirit.</p>
+
+<p>It was not without many feelings of dismay that he plunged among the
+ruins; for his imagination converted each shattered block into a living
+phantasm. But still he moved on, as if urged by some irresistible
+impulse, entangling himself in the labyrinth of decay, until he scarcely
+knew whither to direct his steps. Whether it was reality, or some
+coinage of his brain, that presented the spectacle, he knew not; but he
+was arrested in his toilsome progress by the apparition of several
+figures rising suddenly among the ruins, and as suddenly vanishing.</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven pity me!" he cried: "They come feathered like the fiends of the
+infidel! But I care not, so they bring no more the white face, that is
+so ghastly!&mdash;And yet, this is her day!&mdash;this is her day!"</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it was his imagination, that decked out the spectres with such
+ornaments; but a less heated spectator might have discovered in them,
+only the figures of strolling savages. With his spirits strongly
+agitated, his brain excited for the reception of any chimera, he
+followed the direction in which these figures seemed to have vanished:
+and this bringing him round a corner of the pyramid, into the moonshine,
+he instantly found himself confronted with a spectacle that froze his
+blood with horror. In a spot, where the ruins had given space for the
+growth of weeds and grass, and where the vision could not be so easily
+confounded,&mdash;illuminated by the moonbeams as if by the lustre of the
+day,&mdash;he beheld a figure, seemingly of a woman, clad in robes of white
+of an oriental habit, full before him, and turning upon him a
+countenance as wan as death.</p>
+
+<p>"Miserere mei, Deus!" cried the knight, dropping on his knees, and
+bowing his forehead to the earth. "If thou comest to persecute me yet, I
+am here, and I have not forgot thee!"</p>
+
+<p>The murmur, as of a voice, fell on his ear, but it brought with it no
+intelligence. He raised his eye;&mdash;dark shadows flitted before him; yet
+he saw nothing save the apparition in white: it stood yet in his view;
+and still the pallid visage dazzled him with its unnatural radiance and
+beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"Miserere mei! miserere mei!" he cried, rising to his feet, and
+tottering forwards. "I live but to lament thee, and I breathe but to
+repent! Speak to me, daughter of the Alpujarras! speak to me, and let me
+die!"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, the vision moved gently and slowly away. He rushed
+forwards, but with knees smiting together; and, as the white visage
+turned upon him again, with its melancholy loveliness, and with a
+gesture as of warning or terror, his brain spun round, his sight failed
+him, and he fell to the earth in a deep swoon.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Motion is the life of the sea: the surge dashes along in its course,
+while the watery particles that gave it bulk and form, remain in their
+place to renew and continue the coming billows, heaving to each
+successive oscillation, but not departing with it. Thus the mind,&mdash;an
+ocean more vast and unfathomable than that which washes our
+planet,&mdash;fluctuates under the impulses of its stormy nature, and passes
+not away, until the last agitation, like that which shall swallow up the
+sea, or convert its elements into a new matter, lifts it from its
+continent, and introduces it to a new existence. Emotion is its life,
+each surge of which seems to bear it leagues from its resting-place; and
+yet it remains passively to abide and figure forth the influence of new
+commotions.&mdash;Thus passed the billow through the spirit of Calavar; and
+when it had vanished, the spirit ceased from its tumult, subsided, and
+lay in tranquillity to await other shocks,&mdash;for others were
+coming.&mdash;When he awoke from his lethargy, his head was supported on the
+knee of a human being, who chafed his temple and hands, and bowed his
+body as well as his feeble strength allowed, to recall the knight to
+life. Don Gabriel raised his eyes to this benignant and ministering
+creature; and in the disturbed visage, that hung over his own,
+thought,&mdash;for his mind was yet wandering,&mdash;he beheld the pallid features
+of the vision.</p>
+
+<p>"I know thee, and I am ready!" cried Don Gabriel. "Pity me and forgive
+me;&mdash;for I die at thy feet, as thou didst at mine!"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor mio! I am Jacinto," exclaimed the page, (for it was he,)
+frightened at the distraction of the knight;&mdash;"thy page, thy poor page,
+Jacinto."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it so indeed?" said Calavar, surveying him wildly.&mdash;"And the spectre
+that did but now smite me to the earth!&mdash;hath she left me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear master, there is no spectre with us," said the Moorish boy. "We
+are alone among the ruins."</p>
+
+<p>"God be thanked!" said the knight, vehemently, "for if I should look on
+it more, I should die.&mdash;Yet would that I could!&mdash;would that I could! for
+in death there is peace,&mdash;in the grave there is forgetfulness!&mdash;This
+time, was it no delusion either of the senses or the brain: mine
+eye-sight was clear, my head sane, and I saw it, as I see mine own
+despair!&mdash;Pray for me, boy!" he continued, falling on his knees, and
+dragging the page down beside him; "pray for me!" he cried, gazing
+piteously at the youth; "pray for me! God will listen to <i>thy</i> prayers,
+for thou art innocent, and I am miserable. Pray that God may forgive me,
+and suffer me to die;&mdash;for this is the day of my sin!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear master," said the page, trembling, "let us return to our friends."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt not pray? thou wilt not beseech God for me?" said Calavar,
+mournfully. "Thou wilt be merciful, when thou knowest my misery! Heaven
+sends thee for mine intercessor. I confess to thee, as to heaven, for
+thou art without sin. Manhood brings guile and impurity, evil deeds and
+malign thoughts; but a child is pure in the eyes of God; and the prayers
+of his lips will be as incense, when wrath turns from the beseeching of
+men. Hear thou my sin; and then, if heaven bid thee not to curse, then
+pray for me, boy!&mdash;then pray for me!"</p>
+
+<p>In great perturbation, for he knew not how to check the knight's
+distraction, and feared its increasing violence, Jacinto knelt, staring
+at him, his hands fettered in the grasp of his master; who, returning
+his gaze with such looks of wo and contrition, as a penitent may give to
+heaven, said wildly, yet not incoherently,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Deeply dyed with sin am I, and sharply scourged with retribution! Age
+comes upon me before its time, but brings me nothing but memory&mdash;nothing
+but memory!&mdash;Gray hairs and wrinkles, disease and feebleness, are the
+portions of my manhood: for my youth was sinful, and guilt has made me
+old! Oh that I might see the days, when I was like to thee!&mdash;when I was
+like to thee, Jacinto!&mdash;when I knew innocence, and offended not God. But
+the virtues of childhood weigh not in the balance against the crimes of
+after years: as the child dieth, heaven opens to him; as the man
+sinneth, so doth he perish.&mdash;Miserere mei, Deus! and forgive me my day
+in the Alpujarras!"</p>
+
+<p>As Don Gabriel pronounced the name of those mountains, wherein, Jacinto
+knew, his father had drawn the first breath of life, and around which
+was shed, for every Moor, such interest as belongs to those places where
+our fathers have fought and bled, the page began to listen with
+curiosity, although his alarm had not altogether subsided.</p>
+
+<p>"Long years have passed; many days of peril and disaster have come and
+gone; and yet I have not forgotten the Alpujarras!" cried Calavar,
+shivering as he uttered the word; "for there did joy smile, and hope
+sicken, and fury give me to clouds and darkness forever. Those hills
+were the haunts of thy forefathers, Jacinto; and there, after the royal
+city had fallen, and Granada was ruled by the monarchs of Spain, they
+fled for refuge, all those noble Moriscos, who were resolute to die in
+their own mistaken faith, as well,&mdash;in after years,&mdash;as many others, who
+had truly embraced the religion of Christ, but were suspected by the
+bigoted of our people, and persecuted with rigour. How many wars were
+declared against those unhappy fugitives,&mdash;now to break down the last
+strong hold of the infidel, and now to punish the suspected
+Christian,&mdash;thou must know, if thy sire be a true Moor of Granada. In
+mine early youth, and in one of the later crusades, that were proclaimed
+against those misguided mountaineers, went I, to win the name and the
+laurels of a cavalier. Would that I had never won them, or that they had
+come to me dead on the battle-field! Know, then, Jacinto, that my
+nineteenth summer had not yet fled from me, when I first drew my sword
+in conflict with men; but if I won me reputation, at that green age, it
+was because heaven was minded to show me, that shame and sorrow could
+come as early. In those days, the royal and noble blood of Granada had
+not been drawn from every vein; many of the princely descendants of the
+Abencerrages, the Aliatars, the Ganzuls, and the Zegris, still dwelt
+among the mountains; and, forgetting their hereditary feuds, united
+together in common resistance against the Spaniards. With such men for
+enemies, respected alike for their birth and their valour, the war was
+not always a history of rapine and barbarity; and sometimes there
+happened such passages of courtesy and magnanimity between the Christian
+and Moorish cavaliers, as recalled the memory of the days of chivalry
+and honour. Among others, who made experience of the heroic greatness of
+mind of the infidel princes, was I myself; for, in a battle, wherein the
+Moors prevailed against us, I was left wounded and unhorsed, on the
+field, to perish, or to remain a prisoner in their hands. In that
+melancholy condition, while I commended my soul to God, as not thinking
+I could escape from death, a Moorish warrior of majestic appearance and
+a soul still more lofty, approached, and had pity on my helplessness,
+instead of slaying me outright, as I truly expected. 'Thou art noble,'
+said he, 'for I have seen thy deeds; and though, this day, thou hast
+shed the blood of a Zegri, thou shalt not perish like a dog. Mount my
+horse and fly, lest the approaching squadrons destroy thee; and in
+memory of this deed, be thou sometimes merciful to the people of
+Alharef.' Then knew I, that this was Alharef ben-Ismail, the most noble
+of the Zegris,&mdash;a youth famous, even among the Spaniards, for his
+courage and humanity; and in gratitude and love, for he was a Christian
+proselyte, I pledged him my faith, and swore with him the vows of a true
+friendship. How I have kept mine oath, Alharef!" he cried, lifting his
+eyes to the spangled heaven, "thou knowest;&mdash;for sometimes <i>thou</i> art
+with my punisher!"</p>
+
+<p>The knight paused an instant, in sorrowful emotion, while Jacinto, borne
+by curiosity beyond the bounds of fear, bent his head to listen; then
+making the sign of the cross, and repeating his brief prayer, the
+cavalier resumed his narrative.</p>
+
+<p>"As my ingratitude was greater than that of other men, so is my sin; for
+another act of benevolence shall weigh against me for ever!&mdash;Why did I
+not die with my people, when the smiles of perfidy conducted us to the
+hills, and the sword was drawn upon us sleeping? That night, there was
+but one escaped the cruel and bloody stratagem; and I, again, owed my
+life to the virtues of a Moor. Pity me, heaven! for thou didst send me
+an angel, and I repaid thy mercy with the thankfulness of a
+fiend!&mdash;Know, then, Jacinto, that, in the village wherein was devised
+and accomplished the murder of my unsuspecting companions, dwelt one
+that now liveth in heaven. Miserere mei! miserere mei! for she was noble
+and fair, and wept at the baseness of her kindred!&mdash;She covered the
+bleeding cavalier with her mantle, concealed him from the fury that was
+unrelenting; and when she had healed his wounds, guided him, in secret,
+from the den of devils, and dismissed him in safety near to the camp of
+his countrymen. Know thou now, boy, that this maiden was Zayda, the
+flower of all those hills, and the star that made them dearer to me than
+the heaven that was above them; and more thought I of those green peaks
+and shady valleys that encompassed my love, than the castle of my sire,
+or the church wherein rested the bones of my mother. Miserere mei!
+miserere mei! for the faith that was pledged was broken! my lady slept
+in the arms of Alharef, and my heart was turned to blackness!&mdash;Now thou
+shalt hear me, and pray for me," continued Don Gabriel, with a look of
+the wildest and intensest despair, "for my sin is greater than I can
+bear! Now shalt thou hear how I cursed those whom I had sworn to love;
+how I sharpened my sword, and with vengeance and fury, went against the
+village of my betrayers. Oh God! how thou didst harden our hearts, when
+we gave their houses to the flames, and their old men and children to
+swords and spears! when we looked not at misery, and listened not to
+supplication, but slew! slew! slew! as though we struck at beasts, and
+not at human creatures! 'Thou sworest an oath!' cried Alharef. I
+laughed; for I knew I should drink his blood! 'Be merciful to my
+people!' he cried,&mdash;and I struck him with my sabre. Oho!" continued the
+knight, springing to his feet, wringing the page's hands, and glaring at
+him with the countenance of a demon, "when he fled from me bleeding, my
+heart was full of joy, and I followed him with yells of
+transport!&mdash;<i>This</i> is the day, I tell thee! this is the day, and the
+hour! for night could not hide him!&mdash;And Zayda! ay, Zayda! Zayda!&mdash;when
+she shielded him with her bosom, when she threw herself before
+him&mdash;Miserere mei, Deus! miserere mei, Deus!"</p>
+
+<p>"And Zayda?" cried the page, meeting his gaze with looks scarcely less
+expressive of wildness.</p>
+
+<p>"Curse me, or pray for me," said the knight,&mdash;"for I slew her!"</p>
+
+<p>The boy recoiled: Don Gabriel fell on his knees, and, with a voice husky
+and feeble as a child's, cried,</p>
+
+<p>"I know, now, that thou cursest me, for thou lookest on me with horror!
+The innocent will not pray for the guilty! the pure and holy have no
+pity for devils. Curse me then, for her kindred vanished from the earth,
+and she with them!&mdash;curse me, for I left not a drop of her blood flowing
+in human veins, and none in her's!&mdash;curse me, for I am her murderer, and
+I have not forgot it!&mdash;curse me, for God has forsaken me, and nightly
+her pale face glitters on me with reproach!&mdash;curse me, for I am
+miserable!"</p>
+
+<p>While Don Gabriel still grovelled on the earth, and while the page stood
+yet regarding him with terror, suddenly there came to the ears of both,
+the shouts of soldiers, mingled with the roar of firelocks: and, as
+three or four cross-bow shafts rattled against the sides of the pyramid,
+there were visible in the moonlight as many figures of men running among
+the ruins, new leaping over, now darting around the fragments, as if
+flying for their lives from a party of armed men, who were seen rushing
+after them on the square. The knight rose, bewildered, and, as if in the
+instinct of protection, again grasped the hand of the page. But now the
+emotions which had agitated the master, seemed transferred to his
+follower; and Jacinto, trembling and struggling, cried,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Señor mio, let me loose! For the sake of heaven, for the sake of the
+Zayda whom you slew, let me go!&mdash;for they are murdering my father!"</p>
+
+<p>But Don Gabriel, in the confusion of his mind, still retained his grasp,
+and very providentially, as it appeared; for at that very moment, a
+voice was heard exclaiming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Hold! shoot not <i>there</i>: 'tis the Penitent Knight!&mdash;Aim at the fliers.
+Follow and shoot!&mdash;follow and shoot!"</p>
+
+<p>Immediately the party of pursuers rushed up to the pair, one of whom
+paused, while the others, in obedience to his command, continued the
+chase, ever and anon sending a bolt after the fugitives.</p>
+
+<p>"On, and spare not, ye knaves!" cried Sandoval, for it was this cavalier
+who now stood at the side of the knight of Rhodes. "On, and shoot! on
+and shoot! and see that ye bring me the head of the Moor! Oho, my merry
+little page!" he cried, regarding Jacinto; "you have been playing Sir
+<i>Quimichin</i>, Sir Rat and Sir Spy? A cunning little brat, faith; but
+we'll catch thy villain father, notwithstanding!"</p>
+
+<p>The page bowed his head and sobbed, but was silent; and Don Gabriel,
+rallying his confused spirits a little, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I know not what you mean, señor. We are no spies, but very miserable
+penitents."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir knight, I crave your pardon," said Sandoval, without noticing
+the eccentric portion of his confession, "I meant not to intrude upon
+your secrecy, but to catch Abdalla, the deserter; of whom, and of whose
+rogueries, not doubting that this boy has full knowledge, I must beg
+your permission to conduct him to the general."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely," said Calavar mildly, "if Jacinto have offended, I will not
+strive to screen him from examination, but only from punishment. I
+consent you shall lead him to Cortes; and I will myself accompany you."</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough, noble knight, if thou wilt thyself condescend to conduct
+him," said the cavalier; "whereby I shall be left in freedom to follow a
+more urgent duty. God save you, sir knight;&mdash;I leave the boy in your
+charge."&mdash;So saying, Sandoval pursued hastily after his companions; and
+Calavar leading the page, now no longer unwilling, (for the Almogavar,
+with his companions, was long since out of sight,) pursued his
+melancholy way to the quarters.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>While these occurrences were transpiring, Don Amador de Leste, in search
+of the knight, had rambled through the streets, and following, very
+naturally, the only path with which he was acquainted, soon found
+himself issuing from that gate by which he had entered from Tlascala.
+The domination of the Spaniards had interrupted many of the civil, as
+well as the religious, regulations of the Cholulans; and, with their
+freedom, departed that necessity and habit of vigilance, which had
+formerly thronged their portals with watchmen. No Indian guards,
+therefore, were found at the gate; and the precautions of the general
+had not carried his sentinels to this neglected and seemingly secure
+quarter. The neophyte passed into the fields, and though hopeless, in
+their solitudes, of discovering the retreat of the penitent, was seduced
+to prolong his walk by the beauty of the night and by the many pensive
+thoughts to which it gave birth. How many times his reflections carried
+him back to the land of his nativity, to the surges that washed the Holy
+Land, to the trenches of Rhodes to the shores of Granada, need not be
+here related, nor, if he gave many sighs to the strange sorrow and
+stranger destiny of his kinsman, is it fitting such emotions should be
+recorded. He wandered about, lost in his musings, until made sensible,
+by the elevation of the moon, that he had trespassed upon the hour of
+midnight. Roused by this discovery from his reveries, he returned upon
+his path, and had arrived within view of the gate, when he was arrested
+by the sudden appearance of four men, running towards him at a rapid
+gait, and presenting to his vision the figures of Indian warriors. No
+sooner had these fugitives approached near enough to perceive an armed
+cavalier intercepting the road, than they paused, uttering many quick
+and, to him, incomprehensible exclamations. But, though he understood
+not their language, he was admonished, by their actions, of the
+necessity of drawing his sword and defending himself from attack; for
+the foremost, hesitating no longer than to give instructions to his
+followers, instantly advanced upon him, flourishing a heavy axe of
+obsidian. Somewhat surprised at the audacity of this naked barbarian,
+but in no wise daunted at the number of his supporters, the cavalier
+lifted his trusty Bilboa, fully resolved to teach him such a lesson as
+would cause him to remember his temerity for ever; but, almost at the
+same moment, his wrath vanished, for he perceived, in this assailant,
+the young ambassador of the preceding evening; and, remembering the
+words of De Morla, he felt reluctant to injure one of the princes of the
+unhappy house of Montezuma.</p>
+
+<p>"Prince!" said he, elevating his voice, but forgetting his want of an
+interpreter, "drop thy sword, and pass by in peace; for <i>I</i> have not yet
+declared war against thy people, and I am loath to strike thee."</p>
+
+<p>But the valiant youth, misconceiving or disregarding both words and
+gestures, only approached with the more determination, and swung his
+bulky weapon over his head, as if in the act of smiting, when one of his
+followers, exclaiming eagerly, "Ho, Quauhtimotzin! forbear!" sprang
+before him, and revealed to Don Amador the countenance of the Moor
+Abdalla.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art safe, señor!" cried the Almogavar, "and heaven be thanked for
+this chance, that shows thee I have not forgotten thy benefits!"</p>
+
+<p>The assurance of Abdalla was presently confirmed; for the young prince,
+seeing the action of the Moor, lowered his weapon, and merely surveying
+the cavalier with an earnest look, passed by him on his course, and was
+followed by the two others. Meanwhile Don Amador, regarding the
+Almogavar, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I know not, good Sidi,&mdash;notwithstanding this present service, for which
+I thank thee,&mdash;not so much because thou hast stepped between me and
+danger, (for, it must be apparent to thee, I could, with great ease,
+have defended myself from such feeble assailants,) but because thou hast
+freed me from the necessity of hurting this poor prince;&mdash;I say,
+notwithstanding all this, Abdalla, I know not whether I should not now
+be bound to detain thee, and compel thee to return to the general; for
+it is not unknown to me, that thou art, at this moment, a deserter and
+traitor."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor!" said the Moor, withdrawing a step, as if fearing lest the
+cavalier would be as good as his word, "my treason is against my
+misfortunes, and I desert only from injustice; and if my noble lord
+knows thus much, he knows also, that to detain me, would be to give me
+to the gallows."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not certain," said Don Amador, "that my intercession would not
+save thy life; unless thou hast been guilty of more crimes than I have
+heard."</p>
+
+<p>"Guilty of nothing but misfortune!" said the Moor, earnestly; "guilty of
+nothing but the crimes of others, and of griefs, which are reckoned
+against me for sins!&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Guilty," said the cavalier, gravely, "of treating in secret with these
+barbarians, who are esteemed the enemies of thy Christian friends; and
+guilty of seducing into the same crime thy countrymen, the Moriscos; one
+of whom, I am persuaded, did but now pass me with the Indians, and one
+of whom, also, hath charged thee with tempting him."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said Abdalla, hurriedly, "I cannot now defend myself from these
+charges, for I hear my enemies in pursuit."</p>
+
+<p>"And guilty," added Don Amador, with severity, "as I think, of deserting
+thine own flesh and blood,&mdash;thy poor and friendless boy, Abdalla!"</p>
+
+<p>The Almogavar flung himself at the feet of the cavalier, saying,
+wildly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My flesh and blood! and friendless indeed! unless thou wilt continue to
+protect him. Señor, for the love of heaven, for the sake of the mother
+who bore you, be kind and true to my boy! Swear thou wilt protect him
+from malice and wrong; for it was his humanity to thy kinsman, the
+knight, that has robbed him of his father."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou confess, thou wert about to steal him from his protector?
+Now, by heavens, Moor, this is but an infidel's ingratitude!"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor!" said Abdalla, "you reproached me for forsaking him; and now you
+censure me for striving not to forsake him! But the sin is mine, not
+Jacinto's. I commanded him to follow me, señor; and he would have obeyed
+me, had he not found thy knight Calavar swooning among the ruins. He
+tarried to give him succour, and thus was lost; for the soldiers came
+upon him."</p>
+
+<p>"Is this so, indeed? My kinsman left swooning! Thou wert but a knave,
+not to tell me this before."</p>
+
+<p>"The knight is safe&mdash;he has robbed me of my child," said Abdalla,
+throwing himself before the neophyte. "Go not, señor, till thou hast
+promised to requite his humanity with the truest protection."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely he shall have that, without claiming it."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, but promise me! swear it to me!" cried the Moor, eagerly. "Don
+Hernan will be awroth with him. The cavaliers will call him mine
+accomplice."</p>
+
+<p>"They will do the boy no wrong," said Amador; "and I know not why thou
+shouldst ask me the superfluity of an oath."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor, I am a father, and my child is in a danger of which thou knowest
+not! For the love of God, give me thy vows thou wilt not suffer my child
+to be wronged!"</p>
+
+<p>"I promise thee this; but acquaint me with this new and unknown peril.
+If it be the danger of an accusation of witchcraft, I can resolve thee,
+that that is not regarded by the general."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor, my pursuers are nigh at hand," cried Abdalla, "and I must fly! A
+great danger besets Jacinto, and thou canst preserve him. Swear to me,
+thou wilt not wrong him, and suffer me to depart."</p>
+
+<p>"Wrong him!" said the cavalier. "Thou art beside thyself.&mdash;Yet, as it
+does appear to me, that the soldiers are approaching us, I will give
+thee this very unreasonable solace.&mdash;I swear to thee very devoutly,
+that, while heaven leaves me my sword and arm, and the power to protect,
+no one shall, in any way, or by any injustice, harm or wrong the boy
+Jacinto."</p>
+
+<p>"I will remember thy promise, and thee!" cried the Almogavar, seizing
+his hand and kissing it.</p>
+
+<p>"Tarry, Abdalla. Reflect;&mdash;thou rushest on many dangers. Return, and I
+will intercede for thy pardon."</p>
+
+<p>But the Moor, running with great speed after his companions, was almost
+already out of sight; and Don Amador, musing, again turned his face
+towards Cholula.</p>
+
+<p>"If I meet these soldiers," he soliloquized, "I must, in honour,
+acquaint them with the path of the Moor; whereby Abdalla may be
+captured, and put to death on the spot. I am resolute, I cannot, by
+utterly concealing my knowledge of this event, maintain the character of
+a just and honest gentleman; yet, it appears to me, my duty only compels
+me to carry my information to the general. This will I do, and by
+avoiding the pursuers, preserve the obligations of humanity to the
+fugitive, without any forfeit of mine honour."</p>
+
+<p>Thus pondering, and walking a little from the path, until the pursuers
+had passed him, he returned to the quarters.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The day that followed after the flight of Abdoul-al-Sidi, beheld the
+army of Cortes crossing that ridge which extends like a mighty curtain,
+between the great volcano and the rugged Iztaccihuatl; and many a hardy
+veteran shivered with cold and discontent, as sharp gusts, whirling rain
+and snow from the inhospitable summits, prepared him for the contrast of
+peace and beauty which is unfolded to the traveller, when he looks down
+from the mountains to the verdant valley of Mexico. Even at the present
+day, when the axe has destroyed the forest; when the gardens of
+flowers&mdash;the cultivation of which, with a degree of passionate affection
+that distinguished the Mexicans from other races, seemed to impart a
+tinge of poetry to their character, and mellow their rougher traits with
+the hues of romance,&mdash;when these flower gardens have vanished from the
+earth; when the lakes have receded and diminished, and, with them, the
+fair cities that once rose from their waters, leaving behind them
+stagnant pools and saline deserts; even now, under all these
+disadvantages, the prospect of this valley is of such peculiar and
+astonishing beauty as, perhaps, can be nowhere else equalled among the
+haunts of men. The providence of the Spanish viceroys in constructing a
+road more direct and more easy of passage, to the north of the great
+mountains, has robbed travellers of the more spirit-stirring impressions
+which introduced them to the spectacle, when pursuing the ancient
+highway of the Mexicans. It ascends among gloomy defiles, at the
+entrance of which stand, on either hand, like stupendous towers guarding
+the gate of some Titan strong-hold, the two grandest pinnacles of the
+interior. It conducts you among crags and ravines, among clouds and
+tempests, now sheltering you under a forest of oaks and pines, now
+exposing you to the furious blasts that howl along the ridges. A few
+dilapidated hamlets of Indians, if they occasionally break the solitude,
+destroy neither the grandeur nor solemnity of the path. You remember, on
+this deserted highway, that you are treading in the steps of Cortes.</p>
+
+<p>As the army proceeded, Don Amador, alive to every novelty, took notice
+that, regularly, at short distances from each other, not excepting even
+in the wildest and loneliest places, there were certain low and rude but
+strong cabins of stone built by the wayside, but without inhabitants.
+These, he was told, were the houses that were always constructed by the
+Mexican kings on such friendless routes, to shelter the exposed
+traveller. He thought such benignant provision betokened some of the
+humaner characteristics of civilization, and longed eagerly to make
+acquaintance with those nobler institutions which might be presented
+below. This desire was not the less urgent, that the frozen winds,
+penetrating his mailed armour, made him shiver like a coward on the back
+of his war-horse. He felt also much concern for his kinsman, who rode at
+his side with a visage even wanner and more wo-begone than ordinary. But
+in the deep and death-like abstraction that invested his spirits, Don
+Gabriel was as insensible to the assaults of the blast, as to the
+solicitude of his friend. The page Jacinto, moreover, caused him no
+little thought; for the flight of his father, though this had exposed
+him neither to the anger nor inquiries of Don Hernan, (who affected to
+treat the desertion of the Moors as an affair of little consequence,
+save to themselves,) had left the boy so dejected and spiritless, that,
+as he trudged along between the two cavaliers, he seemed to follow more
+with the instinct of a jaded house-dog, than with the alacrity of a
+faithful servant. To the pity of his young master he returned but a
+forced gratitude, and to his benevolent counsel that he should ride
+behind Lazaro, he rendered the oft-repeated excuse, 'Señor mio, I am
+afraid of horses; and 'tis better to walk than ride over these cold
+hills.'</p>
+
+<p>"There is much wisdom in what thou sayest, as I begin now to perceive,"
+said Amador, dismounting and giving his steed to Lazaro: "'tis better to
+be over-warm with marching on foot, than turned into an icicle on
+horseback. My father!" he said, gently and affectionately, to Calavar,
+"wilt thou not descend, and warm thyself a little with exercise?" But
+the knight only replied with a melancholy and bewildered stare, which
+convinced the novice that entreaty and argument upon this subject, as,
+at present, upon all others, would be alike unavailing. Sighing
+therefore, and, with a gesture, directing Baltasar to assume his station
+at the side of Don Gabriel, he took the page by the hand, and removing
+to a little distance from the group as well as from all other persons,
+he walked on, entering into discourse with Jacinto.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not marvel at thee, Jacinto," he said, "nor can I altogether
+censure thee, for grieving thus at the flight of thy father. Nor will I,
+as was, last night, my resolve, reprimand thee for leaving me, contrary
+to my bidding, at the chamber of my good knight; for, besides finding
+thee in grief enough at present, I perceive thou wert instigated to this
+disobedience by anxiety for thy parent, which would have excused in thee
+a greater fault. But let me ask thee, not so much as a master as a
+friend, two or three questions.&mdash;First, Jacinto," he continued, "art
+thou dissatisfied with thy service? or with thy master, who loves thee
+as well as myself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Service&mdash;master!&mdash;Señor!" said the boy, confused.</p>
+
+<p>"I demand of thee, art thou discontented with thy duties, or grieved by
+any unkindness which has been manifested to thee by thy master, or by
+any of us, who are his followers?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot be discontented with my duties," said the boy, a little
+cheerfully, for it was not possible long to withstand the benevolence of
+his patron;&mdash;"I cannot be discontented with my duties; for, in truth, it
+seems to me, there are none imposed upon me, except such as are prompted
+by my own fancies. I am very skilless in the customs of service, never
+having been in service before; yet, señor, I like it so well, that with
+such masters, methinks, I could remain a contented servant to the end of
+my days. That is,&mdash;that is"&mdash;But here the page interrupted himself
+abruptly. "As for any unkindness, I own with gratitude, I have never
+received from my lord, from my master, nor from his people, any thing
+but great favour, as well as forgiveness for all my faults."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou answerest well," said the novice gravely. "I did not apprehend
+anybody could treat thee rudely, except Lazaro, who is a rough fellow in
+his ways, and being in some sort a wit, is oft betrayed into saying
+sharp things, in order that people may laugh at them. Nevertheless,
+Lazaro has a good heart; for which reason I pardon many of his freedoms;
+but, I vow to thee, though he is a brave soldier, and albeit it is
+opposed to all my feelings and principles to degrade a serving-man by
+blows, nevertheless, had I found him venting his wit upon thee, I should
+have been tempted to strike him even with the hardest end of my lance."</p>
+
+<p>"I never had a better friend than Lazaro," said the page, with a faint
+smile; "and I love him well, for he affects my singing, and praises me
+more than anybody else. Then, as for Marco and Baltasar, though they
+delight more in cleaning armour than listening to a lute;&mdash;and as for
+the secretary, señor Lorenzo, who cares for nothing but tilting with any
+one who will take the trouble to unhorse him,&mdash;they are all good-natured
+to me, and they never scold me."</p>
+
+<p>"This, then, being the case," said Amador, "and allowing thy first and
+most natural obedience to be to thy father, rather than to a master, how
+dost thou excuse to thyself the intention of deserting the service of
+thy friends, without demanding permission, or at least acquainting us
+with thy desires."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor!" exclaimed Jacinto, surprised and embarrassed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is known to me, that such was thy resolution," said the cavalier,
+with gravity; "for it was so confessed to me, last night, by thy father.
+But, indeed, though I cannot avoid expressing my displeasure at such
+intention, which seems to me both treacherous and ungrateful, I led thee
+aside less to scold thee, than to give thee intelligence of Abdalla, I
+myself being, as I think, the last Christian that beheld him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, señor! and he escaped unharmed?" cried the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Verily without either bruise or wound, save that which was made on his
+soul, when I reproached him for deserting thee."</p>
+
+<p>"I am deserted by all!" exclaimed Jacinto, clasping his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"For the thousandth time, I tell thee, no!" said his patron: "And thy
+father made it apparent to me he abandoned thee unwillingly; nor would
+he leave me, though the pursuers were approaching fast, until he had
+exacted of me the very superfluous vow, that I would give thee a double
+protection from all wrong and injustice. Dry thy tears: I have already
+obtained of Cortes a promise of full pardon for Abdalla, when he returns
+to us, as doubtless he will, at Tenochtitlan."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so! I pray he may!" said Jacinto, hurriedly; "or what, oh! what
+shall become of us!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will have him sought out, and by-and-by take thee, and him along, to
+Cuenza. 'Tis hard by to Granada."</p>
+
+<p>The boy remained silent, and Amador continued:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thy father also showed me, that it was thy faithful love, in remaining
+by my kinsman during a swoon, which prevented thee from escaping with
+him. This, though it does not remove the fault of thy design, entirely
+forces me to pardon it; and indeed, Abdalla did as much as acknowledge
+thou wert averse to the plan."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor, I was: for though our degradation was great, I knew not how much
+greater it might be among the pagans."</p>
+
+<p>"Degradation! dost thou talk of degradation! In good faith, thou
+surprisest me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the boy, proudly, "though you will deride such vanity in
+poor barbarians of the desert, yet did we ever think ourselves, who had
+always been free and unenslaved, debased by servitude. At least, my
+father thought so; and I myself, though speedily solaced by the kindness
+which was shown me, could not but sometimes think it had been better to
+have perished with my father in the sea, along with our unhappy people,
+than to remain as I was,&mdash;and as I am,&mdash;a <i>servant</i> in the house of my
+master!"</p>
+
+<p>"A silly boy art thou, Jacinto," said Amador, surveying him with
+surprise: "for, first, thy office as the page of a most noble and
+renowned knight, is such a one as would be coveted by any grandee's son,
+however noble, who aspired to the glory of arms and knighthood; and I
+admonish thee, that, had not his infirmity driven Don Gabriel from Spain
+entirely without the knowledge of his servants, thou shouldst have seen
+the son of a very proud and lofty nobleman attending him in the very
+quality which thou thinkest so degrading. I did myself, though very
+nearly related to him, and though sprung of such blood as acknowledges
+none superior, not even in the king that sits on the throne, enter first
+into his service in the same quality of page; and, trust me, I esteemed
+it great honour. In the second place, I marvel at thee, having already
+confessed that thy service is both light and pleasant."</p>
+
+<p>"It is even so, señor," said the boy, meekly, "and I am not often so
+foolish as to repent me. It was not because I thought so yesternight,
+but because my father bade me, that I strove to escape from it; for he
+was in danger, or feared he was, and it was my duty to follow him
+without repining."</p>
+
+<p>"I come now to ask thee another question," said the neophyte. "By what
+good fortune was it, that thou stumbledst upon my kinsman, among the
+ruins of that profane pyramid?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was there, señor, that the princes met us."</p>
+
+<p>"Hah! Oh, then, thou wert plotting with my bold prince, hah! Faith, a
+very valiant pagan! and in no wise resembling the varlets of Cuba. If
+thou knowest aught of these men that may concern our leader to know, it
+will be thy duty to report the same to him Jacinto, and that without
+delay."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, señor," said the page, hastily. "I discovered that my father
+was to fly with the ambassadors; that he was to seek them at the
+pyramid; and it was there we found my master swooning."</p>
+
+<p>"Didst thou see aught there that was remarkable, or in any way
+inexplicable?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw my lord fainting, my father and the princes flying, and the
+soldiers pursuing and shooting both with cross-bow and musket."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis already," said the cavalier, turning his eye askaunt to Don
+Gabriel, "yet I know not by what revealment, whispered through the army,
+that my kinsman saw a spectre,&mdash;some devilish fiend, that, in the moment
+of his doubt, struck him to the earth!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" said Jacinto, turning towards the knight, and eyeing him with a
+look of horror; "he thought 'twas Zayda, whom he slew so barbarously
+among the Alpujarras!"</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier laid his hand upon Jacinto's shoulder, sternly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What art thou saying?&mdash;what art thou thinking? Hast thou caught some of
+the silly fabrications of the soldiers? I warn thee to be guarded, when
+thou speakest of thy master."</p>
+
+<p>"He confessed it to me!" said the page, trembling but not at the anger
+of his patron. "He killed her with his own hands, when she screened
+from his cruel rage her husband Alharef, his vowed and true friend!"</p>
+
+<p>"Peace!&mdash;thou art mad!&mdash;'Twas the raving of his delirium.&mdash;There is no
+such being as Zayda."</p>
+
+<p>"There is not, but there <i>was</i>," said Jacinto, mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>"And how knowest thou that?" demanded Amador, quickly. "Thou speakest as
+if she had been thy kinswoman. Art thou indeed a conjuror? There is no
+dark and hidden story, with which thou dost not seem acquainted!"</p>
+
+<p>"She was of my tribe," said Jacinto, mildly, though tremulously,
+returning the steadfast gaze of his patron: "I have heard my father
+speak of her, for she was famous among the mountains. Often has he
+repeated to me her sorrowful story,&mdash;how she drew upon herself the anger
+of her tribe, by preserving their foe, and how their foe repaid her
+by&mdash;oh heaven! by murdering her! Often have I heard of Zayda; but I knew
+not 'twas Calavar who killed her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Can this be true?" said Amador, looking blankly towards his unconscious
+kinsman. "Is it possible my father can have stained his soul with so
+foul, so deadly, so fearful a crime! And he confessed it to thee? to
+thee, a boy so foolish and indiscreet that thou hast already babbled it
+to another?"</p>
+
+<p>"I could not help speaking it <i>this</i> time," said Jacinto, humbled at the
+reproach; "but if my lord will forgive me, I will never speak it more."</p>
+
+<p>"I do forgive thee, Jacinto, as I hope heaven will my father. This then
+is the sin unabsolved, the action of wrath, the memory of sorrow, that
+has slain the peace of my kinsman? May heaven have pity on him, for it
+has punished him with a life of misery. I forgive thee, Jacinto: speak
+of this no more; think of it no more; let it be forgotten&mdash;now and for
+ever,&mdash;Amen!&mdash;I have but one more question to ask thee; and this I am,
+in part, driven to by thy admission of the most wondrous fact, that Don
+Gabriel confessed to <i>thee</i> his secret. Many of thine actions have
+filled me with wonder; thy knowledge is, for thy years, inexplicable;
+and thou minglest with thy boyish simplicity the shrewdness of years.
+Dost thou truly obtain thy knowledge by the practice of those arts,
+which so many allow to be possessed by Botello?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor!" exclaimed the boy, startled by the abruptness of the question.</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou, indeed, an enchanter, as Yacub charged thee to be?&mdash;Give me
+to understand, for it is fitting I should know."</p>
+
+<p>The exceeding and earnest gravity with which the cavalier repeated the
+question, dispelled as well the grief as the fears of the page. He cast
+his eyes to the earth, but this action did not conceal the humour that
+sparkled in them, while he replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If I were older, and had as much acquaintance with the people as
+Botello, I think I could prophesy as well as he; especially if my lord
+Don Hernan would now and then give me a hint or two concerning his
+designs and expectations, such as, it has been whispered, he sometimes
+vouchsafes to Botello. I have no crystal-imp like him indeed, but I
+possess one consecrated gem that can call me up, at any time, a thousand
+visions. It seems to me, too, that I can recall the dead; for once or
+twice I have done it, though very much to my own marvelling."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art an enigma," said Don Amador. "What thou sayest of Botello,
+assures me the more of thy subtle and penetrating observation; what thou
+sayest of thyself, seems to me a jest; and yet it hath a singular
+accordance, as well with my own foolish fancies and the charges of that
+Moorish menial, as with the events of the two last nights. Either there
+is, indeed, something very supernatural in thy knowledge, or the
+delirium of my kinsman is a disease of the blood, which is beginning to
+assail my own brain. God preserve me from madness! Hearken in thine ear,
+(and fear not to answer me:)&mdash;Hadst thou any thing to do with the
+raising of the phantom thou callest Zayda?&mdash;or is it the confusion of my
+senses, that causes me to suspect thee of the agency?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor!" said the boy, in alarm, "you cannot think I was serious?"</p>
+
+<p>"What didst thou mean, then, by acknowledging the possession of that
+consecrated and vision-raising jewel?"</p>
+
+<p>"I meant," responded the youth, sadly, "that, being a gift associated
+with all the joys of my happiest days, I never look at it, or pray over
+it, without being beset by recollections, which may well be called
+visions; for they are representations of things that have passed away."</p>
+
+<p>"And the story of Leila?&mdash;Pho&mdash;'tis an absurdity!&mdash;I have heard that the
+cold which freezes men to death, begins by setting them to sleep. Sleep
+brings dreams; and dreams are often most vivid and fantastical, before
+we have yet been wholly lost in slumber. Perhaps 'tis this most biting
+and benumbing blast, that brings me such phantoms. Art thou not very
+cold?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very, señor: methinks we are descending; and now the winds are not
+so frigid as before."</p>
+
+<p>"I would to heaven, for the sake of us all, that we were descended yet
+lower; for night approaches, and still we are stumbling among these
+clouds, that seem to separate us from earth, without yet advancing us
+nearer to heaven."</p>
+
+<p>While the cavalier was yet speaking, there came from the van of the
+army, very far in the distance, a shout of joy, that was caught up by
+those who toiled in his neighbourhood, and continued by the squadrons
+that brought up the rear, until finally lost among the echoes of remote
+cliffs. He pressed forward with the animation shared by his companions,
+and, still leading Jacinto, arrived, at last, at a place where the
+mountain dipped downwards with so sudden and so precipitous a declivity,
+as to interpose no obstacle to the vision. The mists were rolling away
+from his feet in huge wreaths, which gradually, as they became thinner,
+received and transmitted the rays of an evening sun, and were lighted up
+with a golden and crimson radiance, glorious to behold, and increasing
+every moment in splendour. As this superb curtain was parted from before
+him, as if by cords that went up to heaven, and surged voluminously
+aside, he looked over the heads of those that thronged the side of the
+mountain beneath, and saw, stretching away like a picture touched by the
+hands of angels, the fair valley imbosomed among those romantic hills,
+whose shadows were stealing visibly over its western slopes, but leaving
+all the eastern portion dyed with the tints of sunset. The green plains
+studded with yet greener woodlands; the little mountains raising their
+fairy-like crests; the lovely lakes, now gleaming like floods of molten
+silver, where they stretched into the sunshine, and now vanishing away,
+in a shadowy expanse, under the gloom of the growing twilight; the
+structures that rose, vaguely and obscurely, here from their verdant
+margins, and there from their very bosom, as if floating on their placid
+waters, seeming at one time to present the image of a city crowned with
+towers and pinnacles, and then again broken by some agitation of the
+element, or confused by some vapour swimming through the atmosphere,
+into the mere fragments and phantasms of edifices,&mdash;these, seen in that
+uncertain and fading light, and at that misty and enchanting distance,
+unfolded such a spectacle of beauty and peace as plunged the neophyte
+into a revery of rapture. The trembling of the page's hand, a deep sigh
+that breathed from his lips, recalled him to consciousness, without
+however dispelling his delight.</p>
+
+<p>"By the cross which I worship!" he cried, "it fills me with amazement,
+to think that this cursed and malefactious earth doth contain a spot
+that is so much like to paradise! Now do I remember me of the words of
+the señor Gomez, that 'no man could conceive of heaven, till he had
+looked upon the valley of Mexico,'&mdash;an expression which, at that time, I
+considered very absurd, and somewhat profane; yet, if I am not now
+mistaken, I shall henceforth, doubtless, when figuring to my imagination
+the seats of bliss, begin by thinking of this very prospect."</p>
+
+<p>"It is truly a fairer sight than any we saw in Florida, most noble
+señor," said a voice hard by.</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier turned, and with not less satisfaction than surprise, (for
+the delight of the moment had greatly warmed his heart,) beheld, in the
+person of the speaker, the master of the caravel.</p>
+
+<p>"Oho! señor Capitan!" cried Don Amador, stretching out his hand to the
+bowing commander. "I vow, I am as much rejoiced to see thee, as if we
+had been companions together in war. What brings thee hither to look on
+these inimitable landscapes? Art thou come, to disprove thy accounts of
+the people of Tenochtitlan? I promise thee, I have heard certain
+stories, and seen certain sights, which greatly shake my faith in thy
+representations.&mdash;What news dost thou bring me of my kinsman, the
+admiral?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the master, "the stars have a greater influence over our
+destinies, than have our desires. It seems to me, that that very
+astonishing victory of the most noble and right valiant señor, Don
+Hernan, at Zempoala, did utterly turn the brains of all the sailors in
+the fleet: and his excellency the admiral having declared himself a
+friend to the conqueror, they were all straightway seized with such an
+ambition to exchange the handspike for the halbert, and mine own
+thirteen vagabonds among them, that, in an hour's time after the news,
+my good caravel was as well freed of men as ever I have known her
+cleared of rats, after a smoking of brimstone. So, perceiving the folly
+of remaining in her alone, and receiving the assurance from my knaves
+that, if I went with them, I should be their captain, and his excellency
+consenting to the same, I forthwith armed myself with these rusty
+plates, (wherein you may see some of the dints battered by the red
+devils of Florida,) and was converted into a soldier,&mdash;the captain of
+the smallest company in this goodly army, and perhaps the most cowardly;
+for never did I before hear men grumble with such profane discontent, as
+did these same knaves, this very day, at the cold airs of the mountain.
+If they will fight, well; if they will not, and anybody else will, may I
+die the death of a mule, if I will not make them; for one hath a better
+and stronger command in an army than in a ship. Last night I came to
+that great town they call Cholula, and was confirmed in my command by
+the general.&mdash;His excellency, the admiral, bade me commend his love to
+your worship; and hearing that you have enlisted his secretary into your
+service, sends, by me, a better suit of armour for the youth, and prays
+your favour will have him in such keeping, that he shall be cured of his
+fit of valour, without the absolute loss of life, or his right hand,
+which last would entirely unfit him for returning to his ancient
+duties,&mdash;as, by my faith! so would the former. But, by'r lady, my
+thoughts run somewhat a wool-gathering at this prospect; for I see very
+clearly, 'tis a rich land here, that hath such admirable cities; and, I
+am told, we shall have blows enow, by and by, with the varlets in the
+valley. Nevertheless, I am ready to wager my soul against a cotton
+neck-piece, that, if these infidels have half the spirit of the savages
+of Florida, we shall be beaten, and sent to heaven, Amen!&mdash;that is, for
+the matter of heaven, and not the beating!"</p>
+
+<p>"I applaud thy resolution, mine ancient friend," said the cavalier, "and
+methinks thou art more vigorous, both of body and mind, on land than
+thou wert at sea. I will, by and by, send the secretary to receive the
+armour, and will not forget his excellency's bidding, as far as is
+possible. But let us not, by conversation, distract our thoughts from
+this most lovely spectacle; for I perceive it will be soon enveloped in
+darkness; and how know we, we shall ever look upon it again?"</p>
+
+<p>Thus terminating the interview, the neophyte, as he descended, watched
+the unchanging yet ever beautiful picture, till the sun buried himself
+among the mountains, and the shadows of night curtained it in obscurity.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Passing the night in a little hamlet on the mountain side, the army was
+prepared, at the dawn of the following day, to resume its march. But the
+events of this march being varied by nothing but the change of prospect,
+and the wonder of those by whom the valley was seen for the first time,
+we will not imitate the prolixity of our authority, the worthy Don
+Cristobal, but despatch, in a word, the increasing delight and
+astonishment with which Don Amador de Leste, after having satiated his
+appetite with views of lake and garden, surveyed the countless villages
+and towns of hewn stone that rose, almost at every moment, among them. A
+neck of land now separates the lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco; and the
+retreat of the waters has left their banks deformed with fens and
+morasses, wherein the wild-duck screams among waving reeds and
+bulrushes. Originally, these basins were united in one long and lovely
+sheet of water, divided indeed, yet only by a causey built by the hands
+of man, which is now lost in the before-mentioned neck, together with
+its sluices and bridges, as well as a beautiful little city, that lay
+midway between the two shores, called by the Spaniards Venezuela,
+(because rising, like its aristocratic godmother, from among the
+waters,) until they discovered that this was a peculiarity presented by
+dozens of other cities in the valley. Here was enjoyed the spectacle of
+innumerable canoes, paddled, with corn and merchandise, from distant
+towns, or parting with a freight of flowers from the <i>chinampas</i>, or
+floating gardens. But this was a spectacle disclosed by other cities of
+greater magnitude and beauty; and when, from the streets of the royal
+city Iztapalapan, the army issued at once upon the broad and straight
+dike that stretched for more than two leagues in length, a noble
+highway, through the salt floods of Tezcuco; when the neophyte beheld
+islands rocking like anchored ships in the water, the face of the lake
+thronged with little piraguas, and the air alive with snowy gulls; when
+he perceived the banks of this great sheet, as far as they could be
+seen, lined with villages and towns; and especially when he traced far
+away in the distance, in the line of the causeway, such a multitude of
+high towers and shadowy pyramids looming over the waters, as denoted the
+presence of a vast city,&mdash;he was seized with a species of awe at the
+thought of the marvellous ways of God, who had raised up that mighty
+empire, all unknown to the men of his own hemisphere, and now revealed
+it, for the accomplishment of a destiny which he trembled to imagine. He
+rode at the head of the army, in a post of distinction, by the side of
+Cortes, and fell moved to express some of the strange ideas which
+haunted him; but looking on the general attentively, he perceived about
+his whole countenance and figure an expression of singular gloom,
+mingled with such unusual haughtiness, as quickly indisposed him to
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>The feelings that struggled in the bosom of the Conqueror were, at this
+instant, akin to those of the destroyer, as he sat upon 'the Assyrian
+mount,' overlooking the walls of Paradise, almost lamenting, and yet
+excusing to himself, the ruin he was about to bring upon that heavenly
+scene. Perhaps 'horror and doubt' for a moment distracted his thoughts;
+for no one knew better than he the uncertain chances and tremendous
+perils of the enterprise, or mused with more fear upon the probable and
+most sanguinary resistance of his victims, as foreboded by the tumults
+that followed after the late massacre. But when he cast his eye backward
+on the causey, and beheld the long train of foot and horse following at
+his beck; the many cannons, which, as they were dragged along, opened
+their brazen throats towards the city; the rows of spears and arquebuses
+bristling, and the banners flapping, over the heads of his people, and
+behind them the feathered tufts of his Tlascalans; and heard the music
+of his trumpets swell from the dike to the lake, from the lake to the
+shores, and die away, with pleasant echoes, among the hills; when he
+surveyed and listened to these things, and contrasted with them the
+imperfect weapons and naked bodies of his adversaries; the weakness of
+their institutions; the feebleness of their princes; the general
+disorganization of the people; and counted the guerdon of wealth and
+immortal renown that should wait upon success; he stifled at once his
+apprehensions and his remorse, ceased to remember that those, whose
+destruction he meditated, were, to him, 'harmless innocence,' and
+satisfied himself, almost with the arguments of the fiend, that&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">Public reason just,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Honour and empire, with revenge enlarged,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By conquering this new world, compels me now<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To do what else, though damn'd, I should abhor.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Triumph and regret were at once dividing his bosom; he knew he was a
+destroyer, but felt he should be a conqueror.</p>
+
+<p>There were many things in Don Hernan, which notwithstanding the
+gratitude and the desires of the neophyte, prevented the latter from
+bestowing upon him so much affection as he gave to one or two of his
+followers. The spirit of the leader was wholly, and, for his station,
+necessarily, crafty; and this very quality raised up a wall between him
+and one who was of so honourable a nature that he knew no concealment.
+The whole schemes and aims of the general were based upon such a
+foundation of fraud and injustice, that, he well knew, he could not,
+without expecting constant and vexatious opposition, give his full
+confidence to any truly noble spirit; and the same wisdom that estranged
+him from the lofty, taught him to keep aloof from the base. While artful
+enough to make use of the good qualities of the one, and the bad
+principles of the other class, he was satisfied with their respect; he
+cared not for their friendship. It was enough to him, that he had
+zealous and obedient followers: his situation allowed him no friends;
+and he had none. Of all the valiant cavaliers who shared with him the
+perils and the rewards of the invasion, there was not one who, after
+peace had severed the bonds of companionship, did not, at the first
+frown of fortune, or the first invitation of self-interest, array
+himself in arms against his leader.</p>
+
+<p>While the general gave himself up to his proud and gloomy imaginings,
+the novice of Rhodes again cast his eyes over the lake. It seemed to
+him, that, notwithstanding the triumphant blasts of the trumpet, the
+neighing of horses, and the multitudinous tread of the foot-soldiers, as
+well as the presence of so many canoes on the water, there was an air of
+sadness and solitude pervading the whole spectacle. The new soldiers
+were perhaps impressed with an awe like his own, at the strange
+prospect; the veterans were, doubtless, revolving in their minds some of
+the darker contingencies, over which their commander was brooding. Their
+steps rung heavily on the stone mole; and as the breeze curled up the
+surface of the lake into light billows, and tossed them against the
+causeway, Don Amador fancied, they approached and dashed at his feet
+with a certain sullen and hostile voice of warning. He thought it
+remarkable, also, that, among the throngs of canoes, there rose no
+shouts of welcome: the little vessels, forming a fleet on either side of
+the dike, were paddled along, at the distance of two or three hundred
+yards, so as to keep pace with the army; and the motion of the rowers,
+and the gleaming of their white garments, might have given animation, as
+well as picturesqueness, to the scene, but for the death-like silence
+that was preserved among them. The novelty of everything about the
+cavalier gave vigour to his imagination&mdash;he thought these paddling
+hordes resembled the flight of ravens that track the steps of a wounded
+beast in the desert,&mdash;or a shoal of those ravenous monsters that scent a
+pestilence on the deep, and swim by the side of the floating hospital,
+waiting for their prey.</p>
+
+<p>"What they mean, I know not," mused the cavalier. "After what De Morla
+has told me, I shall be loath to slay any of them; but if they desire to
+make a dinner of me, I swear to St. John! I will carve their brown
+bodies into all sorts of dishes, before I submit my limbs to the
+imprisonment of their most damnable maws! And yet, poor infidels!
+methinks they have some cause, after that affair of the festival, to
+look upon us with fear, if not with wrath; for if a garrison of an
+hundred men could be prompted to do them such a foul and murderous
+wrong, there is much reason to apprehend this well-appointed thousand
+might be, with as little provocation and warning, incited to work them a
+still more deadly injury. I would, however, that they might shout a
+little, were it only to make me feel more like a man awake; for, at
+present, it seems to me, that I am dreaming all these things which I am
+looking at!"</p>
+
+<p>The wish of the cavalier was not obeyed; and many a suspicious glance
+was cast, both by soldier and officer, to the dumb myriads paddling on
+their flanks; for it could not be denied, though no one dared to give
+utterance to such a suggestion, that were these countless barbarians
+provided with arms, as was perhaps the case, and could they but conceive
+the simple expedient of landing both in front and rear, and thus cut off
+their invaders from the city and the shore, and attack them at the same
+time, with good heart, in this insulated and very disadvantageous
+position, there was no knowing how obscure a conjecture the historian
+might hazard for the story of their fate. But this suspicion was also
+proved to be groundless; no sort of annoyance was practised, none indeed
+was meditated. The thousands that burthened the canoes, had issued from
+their canals to indulge a stupid curiosity, or, perhaps, under an
+impulse which they did not understand, to display to their enemies the
+long banquet of slaughter which fate was preparing for them.</p>
+
+<p>The army reached, at last, a point where another causeway of equal
+breadth, and seemingly of equal length, coming from the south-west, from
+the city Cojohuacan, ruled by a king, (the brother and feudatory of
+Montezuma,) terminated in the dike of Iztapalapan. At the point of
+junction was a sort of military work, consisting of a bastion, a strong
+wall, and two towers, guarding the approach to the imperial city. It was
+known by the name of Xoloc, (or, as it should be written in our tongue,
+Holoc,) and was in after times made famous by becoming the head-quarters
+of Cortes, during the time of the siege. It stood at the distance of
+only half a league from the city; and from hence could be plainly seen,
+not only the huge pyramids, with their remarkable towers rising aloft,
+but the low stone fabrics whereon, among the flowers (for every roof was
+a terrace, and every terrace a garden,) stood the gloomy citizens,
+watching the approach of the Christian army.</p>
+
+<p>At this point of Xoloc, at a signal of the general, every drum was
+struck with a lusty hand, every trumpet filled with a furious blast, and
+the Christians and Tlascalans, shouting together, while two or three
+falconets were at the same time discharged, there rose such a sudden and
+mighty din as startled the infidels in their canoes, and conveyed to the
+remotest quarters of Tenochtitlan, the intelligence of the advance of
+its masters.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the echoes of this uproar died away on the lake, when
+there came, faintly indeed, but full of joyous animation, the response
+of the Christian garrison; and as the army resumed its march, they
+repeated their shouts loudly and blithely, for they now perceived, by
+the waving of banners and the glittering of spears, that their friends,
+rescued, as they all understood, by their presence, from the fear of a
+miserable death, were coming forth to meet them. Two or three mounted
+cavaliers were seen to separate themselves from this little and distant
+band, and gallop forwards, while the causeway rung to the sound of their
+hoofs. Don Amador, being in advance, was able, as they rushed forwards
+with loud and merry halloos, to observe their persons, as well as the
+reception they obtained from Don Hernan. His eye was attracted to him
+who seemed to be their leader, and who, he already knew, was Don Pedro
+de Alvarado, a cavalier that had no rival (the gallant Sandoval
+excepted,) in fame and in the favour of his general. He was in the prime
+of life, of a most noble stature, and of a countenance so engaging and
+animated, that this, in addition to the constant splendour of his
+apparel, whether the gilded mail of a warrior, or the costly vestments
+of a courtier,&mdash;had won him from the Mexicans themselves the flattering
+title of <i>Tonatiuh</i>, or the Sun; a compliment which his friends did not
+scruple to perpetuate, nor he to encourage. He rode immediately up to
+Cortes, and stretching out his hand, said gayly, and indeed,
+affectionately,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Long life to thee, Cortes! I welcome thee as my saint. God be praised
+for thy coming&mdash;Amen! Thou hast snatched me from a most ignoble and
+hound-like death; for Sir Copilli, the emperor, has been starving me!"</p>
+
+<p>Don Hernan took the hand of the cavalier, and eyeing him steadfastly and
+sternly, while his old companions gathered around, said with a most
+pointed asperity,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My friend Alvarado! thou hast done me, as well as these noble
+cavaliers, thy friends, and also thy lord the king, a most grievous
+wrong; for, by the indulgence of thy hot wrath and indiscretion, thou
+hast, as I may say, dashed the possession of this empire out of our
+hands: and much blood shall be shed, and many Christian lives sacrificed
+in a war that might have been spared us, before we can remedy the
+consequences of thy rashness!"</p>
+
+<p>A deep gloom that darkened to a scowl, instantly gathered over the
+handsome visage of Don Pedro; and snatching his hand roughly away, he
+drew himself up, and prepared to reply to his general with wrath, and
+perhaps with defiance. But it was no part of the policy of Cortes to
+carry his anger further than might operate warningly on the officer and
+on those around; for which reason, offering his hand again, as if not
+noticing the discontent of his lieutenant, he said, with an artful
+appearance of sincerity,</p>
+
+<p>"I have often thought how thou mightest have been spared the necessity
+of slaying these perfidious and plotting hounds; and it seems to me,
+even now, if thou couldst, by shutting thyself in thy quarters and
+avoiding a contest, have submitted to the foolish imputations some might
+have cast on thee, of acting from fear rather than from prudence, this
+killing of the nobles might have been avoided. I say, some, indeed,
+might have accused thee of being in fear, hadst thou not killed the
+knaves that were scheming thine own destruction; but this is an
+aspersion which <i>thou</i> couldst have borne with as little injury as any
+other brave cavalier in this army, being second to none in a high and
+well-deserved reputation; and so well am I persuaded that none could
+have better than thyself withstood the uncommon dangers of thy command
+in this treasonable city, that I should have excused any precaution of
+peace, that might have seemed cowardly to others. Nevertheless, I must
+own, thou wert forced to do as thou hast done; for no brave man can
+submit to be thought capable of fear; and, I know, 'twas this thought
+alone, that drove thee out to kill the nobles."</p>
+
+<p>No cloud in those tropical skies could have vanished more suddenly in
+the sunbeam, than did the frown of Alvarado at these complimentary words
+of his general. He caught the hand that was still proffered, shook it
+heartily, kissed it, and said,&mdash;his whole countenance beaming with
+delight and pride,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I thank your excellency for this just consideration of my actions, and
+this expression of a true excuse for what seems, and what perhaps may
+have been, a great indiscretion. Your excellency, and these noble
+señores, my friends, would have esteemed me a coward, had I sat securely
+and quietly in the palace, watching, without attempting to forestall,
+the conspiracy of the lords of Mexico; and I have great hopes, when I
+have permission to explain all these things to your excellency, though I
+do not much plume myself on wisdom, but rather on fighting, (which is
+the only thing I have ever studied with diligence,) that you will say I
+acted as wisely as, in such case, was possible."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt of it," said Cortes, smiling, as he rode
+onwards.&mdash;"But, nevertheless, there is more wisdom in thy knocks than in
+thy noddle," he muttered to himself.&mdash;The shame of the reproof, though
+dispelled by the flattery of the rebuker, did not wholly disappear from
+the bosom of Alvarado. A word of sarcasm will live longer than the
+memory of a benefit. Alvarado was, in after days, a traitor to his
+general.</p>
+
+<p>But without now giving himself leisure for consideration, the cavalier
+addressed himself to his old companions; and even, (for his joy at being
+so rescued out of peril, warmed his heart to all,) made up with much
+satisfaction to the knight Calavar. But since the confession at Cholula,
+the distemper of Don Gabriel had visibly increased; and his fits of
+abstraction were becoming, every hour, so frequent and so profound, as
+to cause the greatest alarm and anxiety to his kinsman. He neither heard
+nor saw the salutations of Don Pedro; nor indeed did he seem at all
+sensible to any part of the strange scene that surrounded him. Foiled in
+this attempt, the courteous and vivacious soldier turned himself to Don
+Amador, as presenting the appearance of a noble and gallant hidalgo, and
+would speedily have been on a footing of the most perfect friendship
+with him, had it not been that the neophyte still freshly remembered the
+story of the massacre, and met his advances with a frigid haughtiness.</p>
+
+<p>"By'r lady!" said the offended cavalier, "it seems to me that the devil,
+or the cold mountain, has got into the bosoms of all; for here am I,
+with my heart at this moment as warm as a pepper-pod, or a black cloak
+in the sunshine, and ready to love everybody, old and young, vile and
+virtuous, base and gentle; and yet everybody, notwithstanding, meets me
+with a most frosty unconcern. I swear to thee, valiant cavalier,
+whosoever thou art, my breast is open to thee, and I crave thy
+affection; for, besides perceiving that thou art assuredly an hidalgo, I
+see thou hast a Moorish page at thy side, with a lute at his back; and
+if his pipe be half so good as his face, I cannot live without being thy
+friend; for I love music!"</p>
+
+<p>Jacinto shrunk away from his admirer, alarmed as much at the suddenness
+of his praise, as at the many evolutions of the lance, which, by way of
+gesticulation, he flourished about him in a very vigorous manner. But
+Don Amador, greatly amused at the freedom, and, in spite of himself,
+gained by the frankness, of Don Pedro, replied with good-humour.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said he, "I am Amador de Leste, of the castle Del Alcornoque,
+near to Cuenza; and having heard certain charges against you, in the
+matter of the Mexican nobles, I replied to you, perhaps, with prejudice.
+Nevertheless, what the general has said, does, in some sort, seem to
+lessen the force of the charge; and if you will, at your leisure,
+condescend to satisfy my doubts, as I begin to be assured you can, I
+will not hesitate to receive your friendship, and to tender you my own
+in return. Only, previous to which, I must beg of you to turn your
+lance-point another way, so that the boy Jacinto, who is somewhat afraid
+of its antics, may be enabled to walk again at my side."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Don Amador de Leste," said the soldier, taking this speech in
+good part, "I avow myself satisfied with your explanation, and so
+determined to pursue your friendship, (inasmuch as I have not heard any
+good singing since the little Orteguilla, the page of the Indian
+emperor, or, what is the same thing, of Cortes, lost his voice in a
+quinsy,) that I will give you the whole history of the nobles, their
+atrocious conspiracy and their just punishment, as soon as we have
+leisure in our quarters. And now, if you will have the goodness to ride
+with me a little in advance, I will have much satisfaction, as I
+perceive you are a stranger, to introduce you to this great and
+wonderful city, Tenochtitlan, of which I have been, as I may say, in
+some sort, the king, for two long and tumultuous months; and I swear to
+you, no king ever clutched upon a crown with more good will and joy than
+do I, this moment, abdicate my authority."</p>
+
+<p>Thus invited by his courteous and jocund friend, the neophyte rode
+onwards so as to reach the heels of Cortes, just as the garrison,
+inspired by the sight of their leader, broke their ranks, and rushed
+forwards to salute him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The soldiers of Alvarado differed in no wise from those veterans whom
+Don Amador had found standing to their arms on the banks of the River of
+Canoes; only that they presented, notwithstanding their loudly vented
+delight, a care-worn and somewhat emaciated appearance,&mdash;the consequence
+of long watches, perpetual fears, and, in part, of famine. They broke
+their ranks, as has been said, as soon as they beheld their general, and
+surrounded him with every expression of affection; and, while stretching
+forth their hands with cries of gratitude and joy, invoked many
+execrations on their imperial prisoner, the helpless Montezuma, as the
+cause of all their sufferings. Among them, Don Amador took notice of one
+man, who, though armed and habited as a Spaniard, seemed, in most other
+respects, an Indian, and of a more savage race than any he had yet seen;
+for his face, hands, and neck were tattooed with the most fantastic
+figures, and his motions were those of a barbarian. This was Geronimo de
+Aguilar, a companion of Balboa, who, being wrecked on the coast of
+Yucatan, had been preserved as a slave, and finally, adopted as a
+warrior, among the hordes of that distant land; from which he was
+rescued by Don Hernan,&mdash;happily to serve as the means of communication,
+through the medium of another and more remarkable interpreter, with the
+races of Mexico. This other interpreter, who approached the general with
+the dignified gravity of an Indian princess, and was received with
+suitable respect, was no less a person than that maid of Painalla, sold
+by an unfeeling parent a slave to one of the chieftains of Tobasco,
+presented by him to Cortes, and baptized in the faith under the
+distinguished title of the señora Doña Marina; who, by interpreting to
+Aguilar, in the language of Yucatan, the communications that were made
+in her native tongue, thus gave to Cortes the means of conferring with
+her countrymen, until her speedy acquisition of the Castilian language
+removed the necessity of such tedious intervention. But at this period,
+many Spaniards had acquired a smattering of her tongue, and could play
+the part of interpreters; and, for this reason, Doña Marina will make no
+great figure in this history. Other annalists have sufficiently
+immortalized her beauty, her wisdom, and her fidelity; and it has been
+her good fortune, continued even to this day, to be distinguished with
+such honours as have fallen to the lot of none of her masters. Her
+Christian denomination, Marina, converted by her countrymen into
+<i>Malintzin</i>, (a title that was afterwards scornfully applied by them to
+Cortes himself,) and this again, in modern days, corrupted by the
+Creoles into <i>Malinche</i>, has had the singular fate to give name both to
+a mountain and a divinity: the sierra of Tlascala is now called the
+mountain of Malinche; and the descendants of Montezuma pay their
+adorations to the Virgin, under the title of Malintzin.</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador de Leste, attended by De Morla, as well as his new
+acquaintance, Alvarado, was able to understand, as well as admire, many
+of the wonders of the city, as he now, for the first time, planted his
+foot on its imperial streets.</p>
+
+<p>The retreat of the salt waters of Tezcuco has left the present
+republican city of Mexico a full league west of the lake. In the days of
+Montezuma, it stood upon an island two miles removed from the western
+shore, with which it communicated by the dike or <i>calzada</i> of
+Tlacopan,&mdash;now called Tacuba. The causeway of Iztapalapan, coming from
+the South, seven miles in length, passed over the island and through the
+city, and was continued in a line three miles further to the northern
+shore, and to the city Tepejacac, where now stand the church and the
+miraculous picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Besides these three great
+causeways, constructed with inconceivable labour, there were two
+others,&mdash;that of Cojohuacan, which, as we have mentioned, terminated in
+the greater one of Iztapalapan, at the military point Xoloc, a half
+league from the city; and that, a little south-ward of the dike of
+Tacuba, which conveyed, in aqueducts of earthenware, the pure waters of
+Chapoltepec to the temples and squares of the imperial city. The island
+was circular, saving that a broad angle or peninsula ran out from the
+north-west, and a similar one from the opposite point of the compass: it
+was a league in diameter; but the necessities of the people, after
+covering this ample space with their dwellings, extended them far into
+the lake; and perhaps as many edifices stood, on piles, in the water as
+on the land. The causeways of Iztapalapan and Tacuba, intersecting each
+other in the heart of the island, divided the city into four convenient
+quarters, to which a fifth was added, some few generations before, when
+the little kingdom of Tlatelolco, occupying the north-western peninsula,
+was added to Tenochtitlan. On this peninsula and in this quarter of
+Tlatelolco, stood the palace of an ancient king, which the munificence
+of Montezuma had presented to Cortes for a dwelling, and which the
+invader, six days after the gift, by an act of as much treachery as
+daring, converted into the prison of his benefactor.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of this vast and remarkable city so occupied the mind of
+the neophyte, that, as he rode staring along, he gave but few thoughts,
+and fewer words, either to his kinsman or the page. It was sunset, and
+in the increasing obscurity, he gazed, as if on a scene of magic, on
+streets often having canals in the midst, covered alike with bridges and
+empty canoes; on stone houses, low indeed, but of a strong and imposing
+structure, over the terraces of which waved shrubs and flowers; and on
+high turrets, which, at every vista, disclosed their distant pinnacles.
+But he remarked also, and it was mentioned by the cavaliers at his side
+as a bad omen, that neither the streets, the canals, nor the house-tops
+presented the appearance of citizens coming forth to gaze upon them. A
+few Indians were now and then seen skulking at a distance in the
+streets, raising their heads from a half-concealed canoe, or peering
+from a terrace among the shrubs. He would have thought the city
+uninhabited, but that he knew it contained as many living creatures,
+hidden among its retreats, as some of the proudest capitals of
+Christendom. Even the great square, the centre of life and of devotion,
+was deserted; and the principal pyramid, a huge and mountainous mass,
+consecrated to the most sanguinary of deities, though its sanctuaries
+were lighted by the ever-blazing urns, and though the <i>town</i> of temples
+circumscribed by the great Coatepantli, or <i>Wall of Serpents</i>, which
+surrounded this Mexican Olympus, sent up the glare of many a devotional
+torch,&mdash;yet did it seem, nevertheless, to be inhabited by beings as
+inanimate as those monstrous reptiles which writhed in stone along the
+infernal wall. In this light, and in that which still played in the
+west, Don Amador marvelled at the structure of the pyramid, and cursed
+it as he marvelled. It consisted of five enormous platforms, faced with
+hewn stone, and mounted by steps so singularly planned, that, upon
+climbing the first story, it was necessary to walk entirely round the
+mass, before arriving at the staircase which conducted to the second.
+The reader may conceive of the vast size of this pagan temple by being
+apprised, that, to ascend it, the votaries were compelled, in their
+perambulations, to walk a distance of full ten furlongs, as well as to
+climb a hundred and fourteen different steps. He may also comprehend the
+manner in which the stairways were contrived, by knowing that the first,
+ascending <i>laterally</i> from the corner, was just as broad as the first
+platform was wider than the second; leaving thus a sheer and continuous
+wall from the ground to the top of the second terrace, from the bottom
+of the second to the top of the third, and so on, in like manner, to the
+top.</p>
+
+<p>But the pyramid, crowned with altars and censers, the innumerable
+temples erected in honour of nameless deities at its foot, and the
+strange and most hideous Coatepantli, were not the only objects which
+excited the abhorrence of the cavalier. Without the wall, and a few
+paces in advance of the great gate which it covered as a curtain, rose a
+rampart of earth or stone, oblong and pyramidal, but truncated,
+twenty-five fathoms in length at the base, and perhaps thirty feet in
+height. At either end of this tumulus, was a tower of goodly altitude,
+built, as it seemed at a distance and in the dim light, of some
+singularly rude and uncouth material; and between them, occupying the
+whole remaining space of the terrace, was a sort of frame-work or cage
+of slender poles, on all of which were strung thickly together, certain
+little globes, the character of which Don Amador could not penetrate,
+until fully abreast of them. Then, indeed, he perceived, with horror,
+that these globes were the skulls of human beings, the trophies of ages
+of superstition; and beheld, in like manner, that the towers which
+crowned the Golgotha, (or <i>Huitzompan</i>, as it was called in the Mexican
+tongue,) were constructed of the same dreadful materials, cemented
+together with lime. The malediction which he invoked upon the builders
+of the ghastly temple, was unheard; for the spectacle froze his blood
+and paralyzed his tongue.</p>
+
+<p>It was not yet dark, when, having left these haunts of idolatry, Don
+Amador found himself entering into the court-yard of a vast, and yet not
+a very lofty, building,&mdash;the palace of Axajacatl; wherein, with drums
+beating, and trumpets answering joyously to the salute of their friends,
+stood those individuals of the garrison who had remained to watch over
+their prisoners and treasures. The weary and the curious, thronging
+together impatiently at the gate, mingling with the garrison and some
+two thousand faithful Tlascalans, who had been left by Cortes as their
+allies, and who now rushed forward to salute the viceroy of their gods,
+as some had denominated Don Hernan, made such a scene of confusion,
+that, for a moment, the neophyte was unable to ride into the yard. In
+that moment, and while struggling both to appease the unquiet of Fogoso,
+and to drive away the feathered herd that obstructed him, his arm was
+touched, and, looking down, he beheld Jacinto at his side, greatly
+agitated, and seemingly striving to disengage himself from the throng.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me thy hand," cried Don Amador, "and I will pull thee out of this
+rabble to the back of Fogoso."</p>
+
+<p>But the page, though he seized upon the hand of his patron, and covered
+it with kisses, held back, greatly to the surprise of Don Amador, who
+was made sensible that hot tears were falling with the kisses.</p>
+
+<p>"I swear to thee, my boy! that I will discover thy father for thee, if
+it be possible for man to find him," said the cavalier, diving at once,
+as he thought, to the cause of this emotion.</p>
+
+<p>But before he had well done speaking, the press thickening around him,
+drew the boy from his side; and when he had, a moment after, disengaged
+himself, Jacinto was no longer to be seen. Not doubting, however, that
+he was entangled in the mass, and would immediately appear, he called
+out to him to follow; and riding slowly up to Cortes, he had his whole
+attention immediately absorbed by the spectacle of the Indian emperor.</p>
+
+<p>Issuing from the door of the palace, surrounded as well by Spanish
+cavaliers as by the nobles, both male and female, of his own household,
+who stood by him,&mdash;the latter, at least,&mdash;with countenances of the
+deepest veneration,&mdash;he advanced a step to do honour to the dismounting
+general.</p>
+
+<p>In the light of many torches, held by the people about him, Don Amador,
+as he flung himself from his horse, could plainly perceive the person
+and habiliments of the pagan king. He was of good stature, clad in white
+robes, over which was a huge mantle of crimson, studded with emeralds
+and drops of gold, knotted on his breast, or rather on his shoulder, so
+as to fall, when he raised his arm, in careless but very graceful folds;
+his legs were buskined with gilded leather; his head covered with the
+<i>copilli</i>, or crown, (a sort of mitre of plate-gold, graved and chased
+with certain idolatrous devices,) from beneath which fell to his
+shoulders long and thick locks of the blackest hair. He did not yet seem
+to have passed beyond the autumn of life. His countenance, though of the
+darkest hue known among his people, was good, somewhat long and hollow,
+but the features well sculptured; and a gentle melancholy, a
+characteristic expression of his race, deepened, perhaps, in gloom, by a
+sense of his degradation, gave it a something that interested the
+beholder.</p>
+
+<p>In the abruptness with which he was introduced to the regal barbarian,
+Don Amador had no leisure to take notice of his attendants, all princely
+in rank, and, two or three of them, the kings of neighbouring cities: he
+only observed that their decorations were far from being costly and
+ostentatious;&mdash;a circumstance, which, he did not then know, marked the
+greatness of their respect. In the absurd grandeur which attached to the
+person of their monarch, no distinction of inferior ranks was allowed to
+be traced, during the time of an audience; and in his majestic presence,
+a vassal king wore the coarse garments of a slave. So important was
+esteemed the observance of this courtly etiquette, that, at the first
+visit made him, in his palace, by the Spaniards, the renowned Cortes and
+his proud officers did not refuse to throw off their shoes, and cover
+their armour with such humble apparel as was offered them. But those
+days were passed; the king of kings was himself the vassal of a king's
+vassal. Yet notwithstanding this, it had been, up to this time, the
+policy of Don Hernan to soften the captivity, and engage the affections,
+of the monarch, by such marks of reverence as might still allow him to
+dream he possessed the grandeur, along with the state, of a king. Before
+this day, Cortes had never been known to pass his prisoner, without
+removing his cap or helmet; and indeed, such had been so long the habit
+of his cavaliers, that all, as they now dismounted, fell to doffing
+their casques without delay, until the action of their leader taught
+them a new and unexpected mode of salutation.</p>
+
+<p>The weak spirit of Montezuma had yielded to the arts of the Spaniard;
+and forgetting the insults of past days, the loss of his empire, and the
+shame of his imprisonment, he had already conceived a species of
+affection for his wronger. Cortes had no sooner, therefore, leaped from
+his horse, than the emperor, with outstretched arms, and with his
+sadness yielding to a smile, advanced to meet him.</p>
+
+<p>"Dog of a king!" said the invader, with a ferocious frown, "dost thou
+starve and murder my people, and then offer me the hand of friendship?
+away with thee! I defy thee, and thou shalt see that I can punish!" Thus
+saying, and thrusting the king rudely aside, he stepped into the palace.</p>
+
+<p>A wild cry of lamentation, at this insult (it needed no interpretation)
+to their king, burst from the lips of all the Mexicans; and the
+Spaniards themselves were not less panic-struck. The gentle manners of
+Montezuma, and his munificence, (for he was in the daily habit of
+enriching them with costly presents,) had endeared him to most of his
+enemies; and even the soldiers of the garrison, who had so lately
+accused him of endeavouring to famish them, had no belief in the justice
+of their charges. Many of them therefore, both soldiers and hidalgos,
+indignant and grieved at the wanton insult, had their sympathies
+strongly excited, when they beheld the monarch roll his eyes upon them
+with a haggard smile, in which pride was struggling vainly with a bitter
+sense of humiliation. De Morla and several others rushed forwards to
+atone, by caresses, for the crime of their general. But it was too late;
+the king threw his mantle over his head, and without the utterance of
+any complaint, passed, with his attendants, into his apartments. His
+countenance was never more, from that day, seen to wear a smile.</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador de Leste was greatly amazed and shocked by this rudeness; and
+it was one of many other circumstances, which, by lessening his respect
+for the general, contributed to weaken his friendship and undermine his
+gratitude. But he had no time to indulge his indignation. He was
+startled by a loud cry, or rather a shriek, from the lips of the knight
+Calavar; and running to the gate, beheld, in the midst of a confused
+mass of men, rushing to and fro, and calling out as if to secure an
+assassin, his kinsman lying, to all appearance dead, in the arms of his
+attendants.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The first thought of the young cavalier was, that Don Gabriel had been
+basely and murderously struck by some felon hand; an apprehension of
+which he was, in part, immediately relieved by the protestations of
+Baltasar, but which was not entirely removed until he had assisted to
+carry the knight into a chamber of the palace, and beheld him open his
+eyes and roll them wildly round him, like one awaking from a dream of
+night-mare.</p>
+
+<p>"I say," muttered Baltasar, as he raised the head of the distracted man,
+and beckoned to clear the room of many idle personages who had thrust
+themselves in, "he was hurt by no mortal man, for I stood close at his
+side, and there is not a drop of blood on his body. 'Twas one of the
+accursed ghosts, whom may St. John sink down to hell; for they are ever
+persecuting us."</p>
+
+<p>"Mortal man, or immortal fiend," whispered Lazaro, knitting his brows,
+but looking greatly frighted, "I saw him running away, the moment the
+knight screeched; and, I will take my oath, he had such a damnable
+appearance as belongs to nothing but the devil, or one of these pagan
+gods, who are all devils. Had he been a man, I should have slain him,
+for I struck at him with my spear!"</p>
+
+<p>"Miserere mei!" groaned the knight, rising to his feet, "they are all
+unearthed,&mdash;Zayda at the temple, and <i>he</i> in the palace!"</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador trembled, when he heard his kinsman pronounce the name of
+Zayda, for he remembered the words of Jacinto. Nevertheless he said, "be
+not disturbed, my father; for we are none here but thy servants."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" said the knight, looking gloomily but sanely to his friend; "I
+afflict thee with my folly; but I know <i>now</i> that it will end.&mdash;Let the
+boy Jacinto sing to me the song of the Virgin; I will pray and sleep."</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador looked round, and Jacinto not being present, began to
+remember that the page had been separated from him in the crowd, and
+that he had not seen him since the moment of separation. None of the
+attendants had noticed him enter the court-yard; and a superstitious
+fear was mingled with his anxiety, when Don Gabriel, casting his eyes to
+heaven, said, with a deep groan,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The time beginneth, the flower is broken, and now I see how each branch
+shall fall, and the trunk that is blasted, shall be left, naked, to
+perish! Seek no more for the boy," he went on to Amador, with a grave
+placidity, which, coupled with the extravagance of his words, gave the
+youth reason to fear that his mind, wavering under a thousand shocks,
+had at last settled down for ever in the calm of insanity,&mdash;"seek for
+the good child no more, for he is now in heaven. And lament not thou, my
+son Amador, that thou shalt speedily follow him; for thy heart is yet
+pure, thy soul unstained, and grace shall not be denied thee!"</p>
+
+<p>"Jacinto is not dead, my father," said the neophyte earnestly; "and if
+thou wilt suffer Baltasar to remove thy corslet, and make thee a couch
+under yonder canopy, I will fetch him to thee presently, and he shall
+sing thee to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Remove the armour indeed," muttered Don Gabriel, submitting passively,
+"for now there is no more need of aught but the crucifix, prayers, and
+the grave. Poor children! that shall die before the day of canker, what
+matters it? I lament ye not,&mdash;ye shall sleep in peace!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus murmuring out his distractions, in which his servants perceived
+nothing but the influence of some supernatural warning that boded them
+calamity, the knight allowed himself to be disarmed and laid upon a
+couch on a raised platform at the side of the chamber, over which the
+voluminous arras that covered the walls, were festooned into a sort of
+not inelegant tester.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the neophyte, beckoning Lazaro with him, and charging him to
+make good search throughout the palace for the page, began to address
+himself to the same duty. And first, attracted by the lights and by the
+sounds of many voices coming from a neighbouring apartment, he advanced
+to the door, where he was suddenly arrested by the appearance of a
+Mexican of very majestic stature, though clad in the same humble robes
+which had covered the attendants of Montezuma, issuing from the chamber,
+followed by a throng of cavaliers, among whom was the general himself.
+At the side of Cortes stood a boy, in stature resembling Jacinto; and in
+whom, for a moment, Don Amador thought he had discovered the object of
+his desires. But this agreeable delusion was instantly put to flight,
+when he heard Don Hernan address him by the name of Orteguilla, and saw
+that he exercised the functions of an interpreter.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me this knave, my merry <i>muchacho</i>," said the general,&mdash;"tell me
+this knave, (that is to say, this royal prince,) Cuitlahuatzin, that I
+discharge him from captivity, under the assurance that he shall, very
+faithfully, and without delay, command his runagate people to bring me
+corn to the market; of which it is not fitting we should be kept in want
+longer than to-morrow. And give him to understand, that I hold, as the
+hostage of his good faith and compliance, the dog Montezuma; (translate
+<i>that</i>, the king his brother:) who shall be made to suffer the penalty
+of any neglect, on his part, to furnish me with the afore-mentioned
+necessary provision."</p>
+
+<p>The little Orteguilla, in part acquainted with the Mexican tongue, did
+as he was directed; and the prince Cuitlahuatzin, (or, as it should be
+pronounced in English speech, Quitlawátzin,) receiving and understanding
+the direction, bowed his head to Cortes with stately humility, and
+immediately withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>Not discovering or hearing aught of Jacinto in this throng, Don Amador
+continued his search in other parts of the palace, the court-yard, and
+even the neighbouring street; but with such indifferent success, that,
+when stumbling upon Lazaro, and made acquainted that he had been equally
+unfortunate, he began to entertain the most serious fears for the fate
+of the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he was carried off by the spectre," muttered Lazaro,
+superstitiously, "as his worship Don Gabriel as much as hinted."</p>
+
+<p>"Or perhaps," said the neophyte, with a thrill of horror, "by some of
+those bloody cannibals, to be devoured! And I remember now, that there
+were many savages about me at the time; though I thought them
+Tlascalans. I would to heaven, I had speared the knaves that came
+between us; but I swear to St. John of the Desert, if they have truly
+robbed me of the boy, and for that diabolical purpose, I will pursue
+their whole race with a most unrelenting vengeance."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, the cavalier was startled by a sudden "Hark!" from
+Lazaro, and heard, at a distance in the street, though objects were lost
+in the darkness, a great tumult as of men in affray, and plainly
+distinguished a voice crying aloud, "Arma! arma! and Christian men, for
+the love of God, to the rescue of Christians beset by infidels!"</p>
+
+<p>"Draw thy sword, Lazaro, and follow!" cried the cavalier, "for these are
+other victims; and, with God's favour, we <i>will</i> rescue them!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus exclaiming, and without a moment thinking of the unknown perils
+among which he was rushing, he ran rapidly in the direction of the
+cries, and straightway beheld, a little in advance of a great crowd of
+people, a group consisting of four or five persons, several of them
+women in strange attire, who stood shrieking with terror, while at their
+feet rolled three or four on the ground in close and murderous combat.
+The cries of one of these prostrate figures bespoke him a Spaniard, and
+while one sinewy pagan seemed to hold him upon the earth, another stood
+with his uplifted weapon, in the very act of despatching him. At this
+moment, Don Amador rushed forwards, and shouting his war-cry, <i>Dios, y
+buena esperanza!</i> (that is, 'God and good cheer!') struck the menacing
+savage a blow that sent him yelling away, and seized upon the other by
+the shoulder to stab him; when, suddenly, the Spaniard rose to his feet,
+with a leap that tumbled the infidel to the earth, and showed him to be
+already dead, cried aloud, in the well-remembered voice of the
+magician,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Tetragrammaton! thou wert a good shield, though a bloody one, sir
+carcass!&mdash;Save the princesses, and fly, or we are all dead men!&mdash;Arma!
+arma! to the rescue!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus shouting, and seizing upon one of the women, while Don Amador
+snatched the arm of the other, (for he perceived, they were like to be
+cut off by the approaching crowd,) the sorcerer, with his rescuers, ran
+towards the palace. His cries had reached the quarters; and presently
+they were surrounded by a hundred soldiers and cavaliers bearing lights,
+in the glare of which Don Amador had scarce time to note the countenance
+of his new ward, before she was locked in the arms of De Morla.</p>
+
+<p>"Minnapotzin! Benita!" cried the joyous cavalier. "Amigo mio! thou hast
+saved my princess!"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop not to prate and be happy; for the storm comes!" exclaimed
+Botello. "To the palace, all of ye! and to the cannon! for were you five
+hundred men, there are wolves enow at your heels to devour you!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus admonished, and perceiving, in fact, that a vast, though silent
+multitude was approaching, all were fain to fly, and in an instant they
+were crowding into the gates of the court-yard.</p>
+
+<p>"This comes of insulting the king!" cried a voice from the melée, as
+Cortes, shouting out to clear the gates, was seen himself assisting to
+draw a piece of artillery to the opening.</p>
+
+<p>"I see naught,&mdash;I hear nothing," cried the general, affecting not to
+remark this reproach, (which was indeed just; for it was this
+over-refinement of policy, spread with wonderful celerity throughout the
+city, which dashed the last scale from the eyes of the Mexicans,
+convinced them that their monarch was indeed a slave, and let loose the
+long-imprisoned current of fury.) "I see nought, I hear nought; and my
+brave Rolands have been flying from shadows!"</p>
+
+<p>"Say not so; the town is alive," cried the magician. "The hounds set on
+me, as I was bringing, at your excellency's command, these princesses
+from Tacuba; and it was only through the mercy of God, my good star, an
+Indian that I killed for a buckler, and the help of this true cavalier,
+(whose fate, out of gratitude, I will reveal to him to-morrow,) that we
+were not all killed by the way:&mdash;for small reverence did the false
+traitors show to the maidens."</p>
+
+<p>"Clear the way, then. Discharge me the piece, Catalan, true cannonier!"
+said Cortes, "and we will see what our foes look like, so near to
+midnight."</p>
+
+<p>The match was applied, the palace shook to the roar,&mdash;and the blaze,
+illumining the street to a great distance, disclosed it, to the surprise
+of all, entirely deserted.</p>
+
+<p>"I will aver upon mine oath," said Don Amador, "that the street was but
+now full of people; but where they have hidden, or whither they have
+fled, wholly passes my comprehension."</p>
+
+<p>"Hidden, surely, in their beds," cried the general, loudly and
+cheerfully, for he perceived the crowds about him were panic-struck.
+"They set on Botello, doubtless, because they thought he was haling away
+the princesses with violence; and, convinced of their error, they have
+now gone to their rest,&mdash;a mark of wisdom in which I would advise all
+here to follow their example."</p>
+
+<p>Thus cheered by their leader, the soldiers began to disperse; and
+Amador, musing painfully on the mysterious fate of the page, was
+accosted by Cortes, who, drawing him aside, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It has been told me, señor, that your Moorish boy has made his escape."</p>
+
+<p>"His escape!" echoed the novice, in surprise. "He did indeed vanish away
+from me, and I know not how, though much do I fear, in a manner that it
+shocks me to think on. I was about to ask of your excellency, as the boy
+is a true Christian, as well as a most faithful servant, for such
+counsel and assistance as might enable me, this night, to rescue him out
+of the hands of the cannibals; for it would be a sin on the souls of us
+all, should we suffer him to come to harm."</p>
+
+<p>"And are you so well persuaded of his faith, as to believe him incapable
+of treachery?" demanded Don Hernan, earnestly: "Thou forgettest, he has
+a father concealed among these infidels."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! by my faith!" cried Amador, joyously; "I thought not of that
+before. And yet, and yet&mdash;&mdash;" Here his countenance fell. "How should he
+be so mad, as to leave us in this strange and huge city, with any hope
+of discovering Abdalla?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can resolve thee that," said Cortes: "for it is avouched to me by
+Yacub, that he saw this wretch (whom may heaven return to me for
+punishment, for he is a most subtle, daring, and dangerous traitor,)
+this very knave Abdalla, at thy horse's heels; but he could not believe
+'twas he, until made acquainted with the flight of the page."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! now I see it;" said Amador; "and I remember that he wept, as he
+held my hand, as if grieving to desert me. But, methinks, 'twill be well
+to seek him out, and reclaim him. Will your excellency allow me the
+services of any score or two of men, who, for love or gold, may be
+induced to follow me in the search?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will answer thee in thine own words," said Cortes: "Where wouldst
+thou look in this strange and huge city, with any hope of discovering
+him? Be content, señor; the boy is with the fox, his father. <i>That</i>
+should convince thee, he is in present safety. And señor, I will tell
+thee, what I conceal from my people, (for thou art a soldier, and,
+therefore, as discreet as fearless,) that I would not, this night,
+despatch an hundred men a mile from the palace, without looking to have
+half of them slain outright by the rebels that are around us!"</p>
+
+<p>"And dost thou think," said Amador, "that these besotted, naked madmen,
+would dare to assail so many?"</p>
+
+<p>"You will see, by my conscience!" cried the general, with a grim and
+anxious smile. "Sleep with thine armour at thy side; and forget not thy
+buckler, for I have known a Tlascalan arrow pierce through a good
+Biscayan gorget; and they say, the Mexicans can shoot as well. Let not
+any noise arouse thee, unless it be that of a trumpet. I would have thee
+sleep well, my friend; for I know not how soon I may need thy strong
+arm, and encouraging countenance!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus darkly and imperfectly apprising the novice of his fears, (for now,
+indeed, a demon had roused a thousand apprehensions in his breast,) the
+general departed; and Don Amador disconsolately pursued his way to the
+chamber of the knight of Rhodes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Don Amador returned to the chamber, he was rejoiced to find his
+kinsman asleep, and not offended that the faithful Marco and Baltasar
+were both nodding, as they sat at his side. He threw himself softly on a
+cot of mats, covered with robes of fine cotton, over which was a little
+canopy,&mdash;such being the beds of the better orders of Mexico. The crowded
+state of the palace (for it is recorded, that the number of Totonac and
+Tlascalan allies, who remained in the garrison with Alvarado, now
+swelled the army of Cortes to nearly nine thousand men,) left him no
+other choice; and he felt, that his presence was perhaps necessary, in
+the unhappy condition of his knight. He was mindful to obey the counsels
+of Don Hernan, and lie with his weapons ready to be grasped at the first
+alarm; and he remembered also the hint that had been given him, not to
+be surprised at such tumults, when he heard a sound, continued
+throughout the greater part of the night, as of heavy instruments
+knocking against the court-yard wall, convincing him as well of the
+military vigilance and preparations, as of the fears of his general. In
+addition to this disturbance, he was often startled by moans and wild
+expressions, coming from the lips of the sleeping knight, showing him
+that even slumber brought no repose to his distempered spirit. But,
+above all, (and this made manifest the hold that the Moorish boy had got
+upon his affections,) he was troubled with thoughts of Jacinto; and
+often, as the angel of sleep began to flutter over his eyelids, she was
+driven away, by some sudden and painfully intense conception of the
+great peril which must surround the friendless lad, now that the events
+of the evening proved him to be in the midst, and doubtless in the
+power, of an enraged multitude, to whom every stranger was an enemy.
+Often, too, as he was sinking into slumber, the first voice of dreams
+would cry to him in the tones of Jacinto, or the silent enchanter would
+bring before his eyes the spectacle of the boy, confined in the cage of
+victims, or dragged away, by the hands of ferocious priests, to the
+place of sacrifice. These distractions kept him tossing about in great
+restlessness, for a long time; and it was not until the sounds of the
+workmen in the yard were no longer heard, and until a deep silence
+pervaded the palace, that he was able to drown his torments in sleep.</p>
+
+<p>He was roused from slumber by a painful dream, and fancying it must be
+now approaching the time of dawn, he stole softly to the bed-side of
+Calavar, without disturbing the attendants. A taper of myrtle-wax,
+burning on a little pedestal hard by, disclosed to him the countenance
+of the knight, contracted with pain, and flushed as if with fever, but
+still chained in repose. He stepped noiselessly away, and gathering his
+sword and a few pieces of armour in his hands, left the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>From the door of the palace, he could see, dimly,&mdash;for it was not yet
+morning,&mdash;that vast numbers of Tlascalans were lying asleep in the
+court-yard among the horses, while many sentinels were stalking about in
+silent watchfulness. He was now able, likewise, to understand the cause
+of the heavy knocking, which had annoyed him. The gates were closed; but
+in three rude embrasures, which had been broken in the wall by the
+workmen, frowned as many pieces of ordnance, commanding the street by
+which he had approached the palace.</p>
+
+<p>Entering this again, and attracted by the distant murmur of voices, he
+discovered a staircase at the end of a passage, ascending which, he
+immediately found himself on the terraced roof of the building. And now
+he could perceive the exposed condition of the royal citadel, as well as
+the preparations made to sustain it, in the event of a siege.</p>
+
+<p>The palace, itself, extended over a great piece of ground, in the form
+of a square, the walled sides of which were continuous, but the centre
+divided by rows of structures that crossed each other, into many little
+courts. The buildings were all low, consisting, indeed, of but one
+floor, except that, in the centre, were several chambers on the roofs of
+others, that might be called turrets or observatories. The terraces were
+so covered with flowers and shrubs, that they seemed a garden. This mass
+of houses was surrounded on all sides by a spacious court, confined by a
+wall six or eight feet high, running entirely round the whole. The
+palace, with its outer court, did not yet occupy all of the great square
+upon which it stood. It was a short bow-shot from the battlements to
+the houses, which lined the four sides of the square. Opposite to each
+side or front of the fabric, was a great street, along which the eye, in
+full daylight, could traverse, till arrested by the surrounding lake.
+Directly opposite, likewise, to each of these streets, as Don Amador
+soon discovered, the careful general had caused to be broken as many
+embrasures as he had seen on the quarter of the principal entrance; and,
+now, there were no less than twelve pieces of artillery (with those who
+served them sleeping in cloaks hard by,) looking with formidable
+preparation down the yawning and silent approaches.</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte had not yet given a moment to these observations, when he
+perceived on the top of one of the turrets, a group of cavaliers, who,
+being relieved against the only streak of dawn that tinged the eastern
+skies, were plainly seen, gesticulating with great earnestness, as if
+engaged in important debate. He approached this turret, and mounting the
+ladder that ascended it, was assisted to the roof by the hand of Cortes.</p>
+
+<p>"I give you good cheer, and much praise for your early rising, Don
+Amador," cried the general, with an easy courtesy and pleasant voice,
+which did not however, conceal from the novice, that he was really
+affected by anxiety and even alarm; "for this, besides convincing me,
+that no one is more ready than thyself for a valiant bout with an enemy,
+will give thee an opportunity to note in what way these pagan Mexicans
+advance to assault; a matter of which I am myself ignorant, though
+assured by my friend Alvarado, that nothing can be more warlike to look
+upon."</p>
+
+<p>"I vow to God, and to Saint Peter, who cut off a knave's ear," said Don
+Pedro, "that there are no such besotted, mad, dare-devils in all the
+world beside, as you shall quickly see; and I swear to you, in addition,
+my friends, I did sometimes think, of a morning, the very devils that
+dwell in the pit, were let loose upon me. But fear not: with my poor
+five-score, and the seven thousand Indians, who should not be counted
+against more than one hundred Christians, I felt no prick of dismay,
+except when I thought of starvation; and with the force that now aids
+us, 'twill be but a boy's pastime, to kill ten thousand of the bold
+lunatics, each day, before breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>To this valiant speech, which was characteristic of Alvarado,&mdash;as
+notorious for boasting as for bravery,&mdash;Don Amador replied,
+complacently,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"To my mind, nothing could be stronger than this citadel against such
+enemies as we may have, especially since the placing of those cannon
+opposite to the great streets,&mdash;a precaution which should be commended.
+Nevertheless, noble cavaliers, it does not appear to me, that we are in
+any immediate peril of assault: the infidels are not yet arisen."</p>
+
+<p>"Cast thine eye down yonder street!" said Cortes with a low voice, "keep
+it fixed intently, for two or three moments, on the shadows, and tell me
+what thou seest among them. And, while thou art so doing, do not shame
+to hold thy buckler a little over thy face; for, now and then, methinks,
+I have seen on yonder house-tops something unlike to rose-buds, glancing
+among the bushes."</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith," said Don Amador, hastily, "it does seem to me, that there
+are men stirring afar in the street,&mdash;nay, a great body of them, and
+doubtless clad in white,&mdash;ay, I perceive them now! But I thought 'twas a
+dim mist, creeping up from the lake."</p>
+
+<p>"If thou wilt look to the other three streets," said Cortes, knitting
+his brows, and scowling around him, "thou wilt see other such vapours
+gathering about us. Thus do they surround stags, in the sierras of
+Salamanca! but, sometimes, the hunters have found more wolves than deer
+among their quarry; and, by my conscience, so will the dogs of Mexico
+find their prey, this day, when they come a-hunting against
+Castilians!&mdash;Hah! did I not warn thee well?" cried the general, as an
+arrow, shot from a distant terrace, and by some unseen hand, struck
+against the guarding shield with such violence as to shiver its stone
+head into a thousand fragments. "'Ware such Cupids; for, when they miss
+the heart, they are content to rankle among the ribs. What say ye now,
+my masters? The knaves are coming nearer! Such big rain-drops do not
+long fall one by one, but show how soon the flood will follow. Cover
+yourselves! for by my conscience, that was another, though it fell
+short. I see the house it comes from; and I will reward the messenger
+shortly with such a cannon-shot as shall leave him houseless.&mdash;How now,
+<i>mi trompetero</i>! art thou nodding? Wake me thy bugle, and let the
+sleepers look on the white clouds!"</p>
+
+<p>A trumpeter, who stood ready at the base of the turret, instantly wound
+a loud blast on his instrument. It was answered immediately by others
+from every part of the court and the building; and, as if by magic, the
+dead silence of the palace was straightway exchanged for the loud din
+and confusion of thousands rising and springing to their arms. During
+this tumult, Cortes descended from the turret.</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador, fascinated by the spectacle, (for now, the light of dawn,
+increasing every moment, fully convinced the most sceptical, that
+countless barbarians were thronging in the streets, and advancing
+against the palace,) remained for a time on the terrace in company with
+others, surveying their approach, and kindling into ardour. The four
+streets were blocked up with their dusky bodies, for they seemed nearly
+naked; and answering the drums and bugles of the Spaniards with the
+hollow sound of their huge tabours, and the roaring yells of great
+conches, and adding to these the uproar of their voices, and, what
+greatly amazed the neophyte, the shrill and piercing din of loud
+whistling, they pressed onwards, not fast indeed, but fearlessly, until
+they began to pour like a flood upon the open square. Nevertheless, and
+notwithstanding their very menacing appearance, not a bow was yet bent,
+nor a stone or dart discharged against the Christians; and they were
+arraying, or rather grouping themselves, (for they seemed to preserve no
+peculiar order,) about the square, as if rather to support some
+peaceable demand with a show of strength, than to make an absolute
+attack, when the neophyte beheld Don Hernan, clad in complete armour,
+spring upon a cannon, and thence to the top of the wall, and wave his
+hand towards them with an air of imposing dignity. The vast herds
+stilled their cries, and immediately Malintzin, guarded by two soldiers
+who held shields before her, was seen to ascend and stand by the side of
+her master.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask me these hounds," cried the general, with a voice that seemed meant
+by its loudness to strike the infidels with awe, "wherefore they leave
+their beds, and come, like howling wolves, to disturb me in my dwelling?
+What is their desire? and wherefore have they not come with baskets of
+corn, rather than with slings and arrows?"</p>
+
+<p>The clear voice of Doña Marina was instantly heard addressing the
+multitude; and was followed by a shout such as may come from thrice a
+thousand score men, wherein, and among other inexplicable sounds, Don
+Amador heard the word <i>Tlatoani! Tlatoani!</i> repeated with accents in
+which intreaty seemed mingled with fury. He could not discover the
+meaning of these cries from the imperfect Castilian, and the low voice,
+with which Malintzin interpreted them. But he could conjecture their
+signification, by the reply of Cortes.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell the traitorous dogs," he exclaimed, sternly, "that their princes
+have avowed themselves the vassals of my master, the great monarch of
+Spain; that their lord and king, Montezuma, is my friend and contented
+guest, and will therefore remain in my dwelling. Tell them also, he
+charges them to disperse, throw by their arms, and return laden with
+corn and meat. And add, moreover, that, if they do not immediately obey
+this command, the thunders which God has given me to punish them, shall
+be let loose upon them, and scatter their corses and their city into the
+air. Tell we them <i>this</i>, and plainly; and, hark'ee, cannoniers! stand
+fast to your linstocks!"</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was this haughty and threatening answer made known to the
+barbarians, than they uttered a yell so loud and universal that the
+palace, and the earth under it, seemed to shake with the din; and
+immediately every quarter of the edifice was covered with arrows,
+stones, and other missiles, shot off with extraordinary violence and
+fury.</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador prepared to descend, but paused an instant to observe the
+effect of the artillery, for he heard the strong tones of the general
+shouting, "Now cannoniers! to your duty, and show yourselves men!"</p>
+
+<p>The very island trembled, when twelve cannon, discharged nearly at the
+same moment, opened their fiery throats, and, aimed full among the
+multitude, poured innumerable death into their ranks. The island
+trembled, but not so the naked barbarians of Tenochtitlan. If the
+screams of a thousand wretches, mangled by that explosion, rose on the
+morning air, they were speedily drowned by the war-cries of survivors;
+and before the smoke had cleared away, the bloody gaps were filled, and
+the infuriated multitudes were rushing with savage intrepidity full upon
+the mouths of the artillery.</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador hesitated no longer. He ran down the staircase, paused a
+moment at the side of Calavar, whom he found raving in a low delirium,
+for he was burned by fever,&mdash;paused only long enough to charge Marco not
+to leave him, no not even for a moment,&mdash;and snatching up and rapidly
+donning the remaining pieces of his armour, immediately found himself in
+the court-yard, among the combatants.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The neophyte had been informed by his friend De Morla, as a proof of the
+degree of civilization reached by the Mexicans, that their armies were
+formed with method, and as regularly divided and commanded as those of
+Christendom,&mdash;each tribe displaying under a peculiar banner,
+representing the arms, or, as we should say of our Northern bands, the
+<i>totem</i>, of the race, and each tribe separated into squadrons and
+companies, led by subalterns of precisely ascertained rank and power. He
+perceived none of these marks of discipline among the assailants; and,
+while properly appreciating their devoted courage, was obliged to
+consider them no better than a furious and confused mob. He was right:
+the <i>warriors</i> of Mexico had not yet appeared, and these wild creatures,
+who came ungeneralled and unadvised to the attack, were no more than the
+common citizens, fired by the distresses of their king, and rushing to
+his aid, without any bond of connexion or government, save the unanimity
+of their fury. The violence with which they leaped to the attack,
+carried them to the gates of the court, and to the mouths of the
+artillery, where they fell under the spears of the Spaniards, or were
+scattered like chaff at each murderous discharge of the cannon. Added to
+this, the Tlascalans, animated by their ancient hatred, and the presence
+of him whom they esteemed almost a god, clambered upon the wall, and
+with their clubs and lances did bloody execution on the multitudes
+below. The Tlascalans were, indeed, almost the only persons of the
+garrison who suffered much loss; for the Spaniards, cased in iron and
+escaupil, and fenced behind the wall, or the battlements of the terrace,
+discharged their cross-bows and muskets, and handled their long spears,
+in comparative safety.</p>
+
+<p>The din of yells and screams, mingled with the crash of arquebuses and
+the sharp clang of steel cross-bows, was, in itself, infernal; while the
+peals of artillery, served with such skill and constancy, that, every
+half-minute, there was one or other discharged from some quarter of the
+palace, leaving, at each discharge, a long avenue of death among the
+crowds, converted what might have seemed a scene of elysium into a
+spectacle of hell. No man could reckon, no man could imagine, the
+slaughter made by the besieged army, among their foes, in the short
+space of half an hour. But the sun rose, and still found the infatuated
+barbarians rushing,&mdash;now with shouts of defiance, and now with mournful
+cries, as if calling upon their imprisoned king,&mdash;to add yet another and
+another layer to the bloody ridges growing in the paths of the
+cannon-shot.</p>
+
+<p>All this time, the captive monarch, unseen by his people, though quickly
+detected by the sharp eye of Cortes, sat in one of the turrets,
+witnessing the devoted love of his people, and feeling, with sharp
+pangs, that he had not deserved it. And now too (for the suddenness of
+the punishment had convinced him of the impolicy of the fault,) did Don
+Hernan himself feel a touch of compunction for the wanton injury he had
+done his prisoner; and, fearing lest the work of this day should be but
+the prelude of a storm it might not be in his power to allay, he sent to
+him De Morla, a cavalier whom more than others he seemed to favour, to
+persuade him, if indeed he might be persuaded, to exercise his
+authority, and by commanding his people to disperse, preserve them from
+that destruction, which, the general avowed, he was loath to bring upon
+them.</p>
+
+<p>No smile lit the countenance of Montezuma, at the appearance of his
+favourite; and to the demand of Don Hernan, he replied, with dignity,
+yet with a bitter sorrow,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The <i>Teuctli</i>," (so they called Don Hernan, not because they esteemed
+him a divinity, but a great prince, this being the title of one of the
+classes of nobility,) "has made me a slave: my subjects are his. Let
+the king govern his people."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, and immediately descending from the roof, he shut himself in
+his apartments, and resolutely refused to admit another messenger to his
+presence.</p>
+
+<p>"And the dog denies me, then!" cried Cortes, when this answer was
+repeated to him. "He says the truth: he <i>is</i> my slave; his people are
+mine; and I will straightway convince them of their subjection. To
+horse, to horse, brave cavaliers!" he shouted aloud. "Let it not be
+said, we wasted powder on miserable naked Indians, when we have swords
+to strike them on the neck, and horses' hoofs to tread them to the
+earth!"</p>
+
+<p>No one was more ready to obey this call, than Don Amador de Leste. He
+had stood upon the wall, occasionally striking down some furious
+assailant with his spear, but oftener cheering others with his voice,
+and yet remaining more as a spectator than a combatant, disdaining to
+strike, except when personally attacked, until his blood was heated by
+the spectacle.</p>
+
+<p>"Mount, now, my knave Lazaro! and perhaps we shall find my poor Jacinto,
+among these outrageous infidels. Get thee to horse, Fabueno; for to-day
+thou shalt see what it is to be a soldier!"</p>
+
+<p>Fogoso stood, in his mail, like the steed of a true knight, champing the
+bit and whinnying, for he longed to be in the midst of the combat; and
+loud was the sound of his neighing, when he felt the weight of his
+master, and turned his fierce eyes towards the gate.</p>
+
+<p>Before the cavaliers, forming three abreast, (as many as could at once
+pass through the gates,) loosing their sabres in the scabbards, and
+couching their spears, had yet received the signal to dash upon the
+opposing herds, there came from the great pyramid, which was seen
+rearing its mountainous mass above the houses of the square, the sound
+as of a horn, sad and solemn, but of so mighty a tone, that it swelled
+distinctly over all the din of the battle, and sent a boding fear to the
+heart of the Christians. They knew, or they thought it the sacred bugle
+of Mexitli, sounded only during the festivals of that ferocious deity,
+or on the occasion of a great battle, when, it was supposed, that
+Mexitli himself spoke to his children, and bade them die bravely. There
+was not a Spaniard present, who had not heard that the effect of this
+consecrated trumpet, so sparingly used, was to nerve even the vanquished
+with new spirit, and those fighting with additional rage; and that the
+meanest Mexican, however overpowered, thought not of retreat, when thus
+cheered by his god. The surprise of all was therefore great, when, at
+the first blast, the Mexicans ceased their cries, and stood as if turned
+into statues; and they were still more amazed, when, as the brazen
+instrument again poured its lugubrious roar over the city, the
+barbarians, responding with a mournful shriek, turned their backs upon
+the besieged, and instantly began to fly. A third blast was sounded, and
+nothing was seen upon the great square, or the four streets, save heaps
+of carcasses, and piles of human beings, writhing in the death-agony.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is diabolical magic!" cried Cortes, joyfully. "There are more
+signals made by that accursed horn than we have heard of; and it seems
+to me, Huitzilopochtli may be sometimes a coward! Nevertheless, we will
+look a little into the mystery; for I perceive shining cloaks, as well
+as priestly gowns, on the temple, which we will make claim to; for
+doubtless the traitor Cuitlahuatzin is under one of them.&mdash;Take thou thy
+party, Sandoval, and scour me the streets that lie eastward. We meet at
+the temple!&mdash;For ourselves, my masters! we are fifty horse, and three
+hundred foot, all good Christian men; for in this work we shall need no
+Tlascalans. Let us go, in the name of God, and God will be with
+us.&mdash;Only, 'tis my counsel and command, that we keep together, with our
+eyes wide open, lest we should have company not so much to our liking."</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers cheered, as they rode from the gates,&mdash;and, with a savage
+delight, urged their horses over the piles of dead, or smote some dying
+struggler with the spear,&mdash;an amusement in which they were occasionally
+imitated by the foot-soldiers, who followed at their heels.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The same solitude, which had covered the city the preceding evening, now
+seemed again to invest it. Corses were here and there strown in the
+street, as of fugitives dying in their flight; and once a wounded man
+was seen staggering blindly along, as if wholly insensible to the
+approach of his foes. The sight of this solitary wretch did more to
+disarm the fury of Don Amador, than did the spectacle of thousands lying
+dead on the square; and certain grievous reflections, such as sometimes
+assailed him, after a battle, were beginning to intrude upon his mind,
+when a cavalier, darting forward with a loud cry, and couching his
+lance, as if at a worthier enemy, thrust the wounded barbarian through
+the body, and killed him on the spot. A few hidalgos, and most of the
+footmen, rewarded this feat of dexterity with a loud cheer; but there
+were many, who, like the neophyte, met the triumphant looks of the
+champion, Alvarado, with glances of infinite disgust and frowning
+disdain.</p>
+
+<p>As the party approached the neighbourhood of the great temple, they
+began to perceive in the streets groups of men, who, being altogether
+unarmed, commonly fled at the first sight of the Christians; though,
+sometimes, they stood aside, with submissive and dejected countenances,
+as if awaiting any punishment the Teuctli might choose to inflict upon
+them. But Cortes, reading in this humility the proofs of penitence, or
+willing to suppose that these men had not shared in the hostilities of
+the day, commanded his followers not to attack them; and thus
+restrained, they rode slowly and cautiously onwards, their fury
+gradually abating, and the fears which had been excited by the late
+assault, giving place to the hope, that it indicated no general spirit,
+and no deep-laid plan, of insurrection.</p>
+
+<p>The groups of Mexicans increased, both in numbers and frequency, as the
+Christians proceeded, but still they betrayed no disposition to make use
+of the arms, which were sometimes seen in their hands; and the
+Spaniards, regulating their own conduct by that of the barbarians, rode
+onwards with so pacific an air, that a stranger, arriving that moment in
+the city, might have deemed them associated together on the most
+friendly terms, and proceeding in company, to take part in some general
+festivity. Nevertheless, the same stranger would have quickly observed,
+that these friends, besides keeping as far separated as the streets
+would allow, and even, where that was possible, removing from each
+other's presence, entirely, eyed each other, at times, with looks of
+jealousy, which became more marked as the Mexicans grew more numerous.
+In truth, the feelings which had so quickly passed from rage to
+tranquillity, were now in danger of another revulsion; and many an eye
+was riveted on the countenance of the general, as if to read a
+confirmation of the common anxiety, as, ever and anon, it turned from
+the prospect of multitudes in front, to the spectacle of crowds
+gathering, at a distance, on the rear.</p>
+
+<p>"All that is needful," whispered, rather than spoke, Don Hernan, though
+his words were caught by every ear, "is to trust in God, and our sharp
+spears. There is, doubtless, some idolatrous rite about to be enacted in
+the temple, which draws these varlets thitherward; and the gratitude
+with which they remember our exploits of this morning, will account for
+their present hang-dog looks. If they mean any treachery, such as a
+decoy and ambuscado, why, by my conscience! we must e'en allow them
+their humour, and punish them, when 'tis made manifest. I counsel my
+friends to be of good heart; for, I think, the dogs have had fighting
+enough to-day. Nevertheless, I will not quarrel with any man, who keeps
+his hands in readiness, and puts his eyes and ears to their proper
+uses."</p>
+
+<p>As if to set them an example, Don Hernan now began to look about him
+with redoubled vigilance; and it was remarked that he passed no house,
+without eyeing its terrace keenly and steadfastly, as if dreading more
+to discover an enemy in such places than in the street. This was, in
+fact, a situation from which an enemy might annoy the Spaniards with the
+greatest advantage, and at the least risk.</p>
+
+<p>The houses of this quarter were evidently inhabited by the rich, perhaps
+by the nobles, of Mexico. They were of solid stone, spacious, and
+frequently of two floors, lofty, and their terraces crowned with
+battlements and turrets. Each stood separated from its neighbour by a
+little garden or alley, and sometimes by a narrow canal, which crossed
+the great street, and was furnished with a strong wooden bridge of such
+width that five horsemen could pass it at a time. Often, too, the
+dwelling of some man of power stood so far back, as to allow the canal
+to be carried quite round it, without infringing upon the street; but
+more frequently it was fronted only with a little bed of flowers. The
+stones of which such structures were composed, were often sculptured
+into rude reliefs representing huge serpents, which twined in a
+fantastic and frightful manner about the windows and doors, as if to
+protect them from the invasion of robbers. Indeed, these were almost the
+only defences; for the green bulrush lying across the threshold, could
+deter none but a Mexican from entering; and, perhaps, none but a
+barbarian would have seen, in the string of cacao berries, or of little
+vessels of earthenware, hanging at the door, the bell to announce his
+visitation. A curtain commonly hung flapping at the entrance; but
+neither plank nor bar gave security to the sanctity of the interior.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the fears of the general, he beheld no Mexicans lurking
+among the terraces, or peering from the windows, but his anxiety was not
+the less goading for that reason; for having now drawn nigh to the great
+square, it seemed to him that he had, at last, thrust himself into that
+part of the city, where all the multitudes of Tenochtitlan were
+assembled to meet him,&mdash;and whether for purposes of pacification or
+vengeance, he dared not inquire.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of things, as the party issued upon the square, and faced
+the House of Skulls, was indeed menacing. That enormous pyramid, which
+Don Amador had surveyed, with awe, in the gloom of evening, was now
+concealed under a more impressive veil;&mdash;it was invested and darkened by
+a cloud of human beings, which surged over its vast summit, and rolled
+along its huge sides like a living storm. The great court that
+surrounded it, was also filled with barbarians; for though the
+Coatepantli, or Wall of Serpents, with its monstrous battlements and
+gloomy towers, concealed them from the eye, there came such a hum of
+voices from behind, as could not have been produced alone, even by the
+myriads that covered the temple. In addition to these, the great square
+itself was alive with Mexicans; and the sudden sight of them brought a
+thrill of alarm into the heart of the bravest cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Tenochtitlan, thus, as it were, hunted by their invaders,
+even to their sanctuaries, turned upon them with frowns, yet parted away
+from before them in deep silence. Nevertheless, at this spectacle, the
+Christians came to an immediate stand, in doubt whether to entangle
+themselves further, or to take counsel of their fears, and retreat,
+without delay, to their quarters. While they stood yet hesitating, and
+in some confusion, suddenly, and with a tone that pierced to their
+inmost souls, there came a horrid shriek from the top of the pyramid;
+and fifty Castilian voices exclaimed, "A sacrifice! a human
+sacrifice!&mdash;and under the cross of Christ, that we raised on the
+temple!"</p>
+
+<p>"The place of God is defiled by the rites of hell!" cried Cortes,
+furiously, his apprehensions vanishing, at once, before his fanaticism.
+"Set on, and avenge! Couch your lances, draw your swords; and if any
+resist, call on God, and slay!" So saying, he drew his sword, spurred
+his dun steed, and rushed towards the temple.</p>
+
+<p>The half-naked herds fled, yelling, away from the infuriated Christian,
+opening him a free path to the walls; and had that fearful cry been
+repeated, there is no doubt he would have led his followers even within
+the Coatepantli, though at the risk of irretrievable and universal
+destruction. Before, however, he had yet reached the wall, he had time
+for reflection; and, though greatly excited, he could no longer conceal
+from himself the consequences of provoking the pagans at their very
+temple, and during the worship of their god. He was, at this moment,
+well befriended, and numerously, indeed; but at a distance from the
+garrison, without cannon, and almost without musketry, surrounded by
+enemies whom the eye could not number, and who had not feared to assail
+him, even when fortified in a situation almost impregnable, and assisted
+by three times his present force, as well as several thousand bold
+Tlascalans; and in addition to all these disadvantages, there came
+neither such sound of trumpet, nor such distant commotion among the
+Indians, as might admonish him of the approach of Sandoval.</p>
+
+<p>He checked his horse, and waving to his followers to halt, again cast
+his eyes around on the multitude as if to determine in what manner to
+begin his retreat, for he felt that this measure could be no longer
+delayed. The Mexicans gazed upon him with angry visages, but still in
+silence. Not an arm was yet raised; and they seemed prepared to give him
+passage, whichever way he might choose to direct his course.</p>
+
+<p>While hesitating an instant, Don Hernan perceived a stir among the
+crowds, close under the Wall of Serpents, accompanied by a low but
+general murmur of voices; and immediately the eyes of the pagans were
+turned from him towards the Coatepantli, as if to catch a view of some
+sight still more attractive and important. His first thought was, that
+these movements indicated the sudden presence of Sandoval and his party;
+a conceit that was, however, immediately put to flight by the events
+which ensued.</p>
+
+<p>The murmurs of the multitude were soon stilled, and the pagans that
+covered the pyramid were seen to cast their eyes earnestly down to the
+square, as the sound of many flutes, and other soft wind-instruments,
+rose on the air, and crept, not unmusically, along the Wall of Serpents,
+and thence to the ears of the Spaniards. Before these had yet time to
+express their wonder at the presence of such peaceful music amidst a
+scene of war and sacrifice, the crowds slowly parted asunder, and they
+plainly beheld (for the Mexicans had opened a wide vista to the
+principal gate,) a procession, seemingly of little children, clad in
+white garments, waving pots of incense, conducted by priests, in gowns
+of black and flame colour, and headed by musicians and men bearing
+little flags, issue from the throng, and bend their steps towards the
+savage portal. In the centre of the train, on a sort of litter, very
+rich and gorgeous, borne on men's shoulders, and sheltered by a royal
+canopy of green and crimson feathers, stood a figure, which might have
+been some maiden princess, arrayed for the festival, or, as she seemed
+to one or two of the more superstitious Castilians, some fiendish
+goddess, conjured up by the diabolical arts of the priests, to add the
+inspiration of her presence to the wild fury of her adorers. She stood
+erect, her body concealed in long flowing vestments of white, on which
+were embroidered serpents, of some green material; in her hand she held
+a rod, imitative of the same reptile; and on her forehead was a coronet
+of feathers, surrounding what seemed a knot of little snakes, writhing
+round a star, or sun, of burnished gold.</p>
+
+<p>As this fair apparition was carried through their ranks, between the
+great wall and the House of Skulls, the Mexicans were seen to throw
+themselves reverently on the earth, as if to a divinity; and those that
+stood most remote, no sooner beheld her, than they bowed their heads
+with the deepest humility.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the Spaniards gazed on with both admiration and wonder, until
+the train had reached the open portal; at which place, and just as she
+was about to be concealed from them for ever, the divinity, priestess,
+or princess, whichever she was, turned her body slowly round, and
+revealed to them a face of a paler hue than any they had yet seen in the
+new world, and, as they afterwards affirmed, of the most incomparable
+and ravishing beauty. At this sight, all uttered exclamations of
+surprise, which were carried to the ears of the vision: but Don Amador
+de Leste, fetching a cry that thrilled through the hearts of all, broke
+from the ranks, as if beset by some sudden demon, and dashed madly
+towards the apparition.</p>
+
+<p>Before the Spaniards could recover from their astonishment, the members
+of the procession,&mdash;deity, priests, censer-bearers, and musicians,&mdash;with
+loud screams vanished under the portals; and the infidels, starting up
+in a rage that could be suppressed no longer, rushed upon the novice, to
+avenge, in his blood, the insult he had offered to their deity.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick, a-God's name! and rescue!" cried Cortes, "for the young man is
+mad!"</p>
+
+<p>There seemed grounds for this imputation; for, besides the inexplicable
+folly of his first act, Don Amador appeared now, for a moment, to be
+lost in such a maze, that blows of the heavy maquahuitl were rained upon
+his stout armour, and several furious hands had clutched not only upon
+his spear, but upon himself, to drag him from the saddle, before he
+bethought him to draw his sword and defend his life. But his sword was,
+at last, drawn, his fit dispelled; and before his countrymen had yet
+reached him, he was dealing such blows around him, and so urging his
+courageous steed upon the assailants, as quickly to put himself out of
+the danger of immediate death.</p>
+
+<p>The passions of the multitude, restrained, for a moment, by their
+superstition or their rulers, were now fully and unappeasably roused;
+and with yells that came at once from the pyramid, from the temple yard,
+from the great square, and the neighbouring streets, they rushed upon
+the Christians, surrounding them, and displaying such ferocious
+determination, as left them but small hopes of escape.</p>
+
+<p>"God and Spain! honour and fame!" cried Alvarado, spearing a barbarian
+at each word, "what do you think of my Mexicans now, true friends?"</p>
+
+<p>His cheer was lost in the roar of screams; and nothing but the voice of
+Don Hernan, well known to be as clear and powerful in battle as the
+trumpet which he invoked, was heard pealing above the din.</p>
+
+<p>"Now show yourselves Spaniards and soldiers, and strike for the blood of
+Christ!&mdash;Ho, trumpeter! thy flourish! and find me where lags my lazy
+Gonzalo?"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he fought; for so violent had been the attack of the
+infidels, that they were mingled among, and fighting hand to hand with
+the Christians,&mdash;a confused and sanguinary chaos. Scarcely, indeed, had
+the trumpeter time to wind his instrument, before it was struck out of
+his hand by a brawny savage; and the same blow which robbed him of it,
+left the arm that held it a shattered and useless member. The blast,
+however, had sounded; and, almost instantaneously, it was answered by a
+bugle, afar indeed, and blown hurriedly as if the musician were in as
+much jeopardy as his fellow, but still full of joy and good cheer to the
+Christian combatants.</p>
+
+<p>"Close and turn!&mdash;Footmen, to your square!" cried Cortes; "and, valiant
+cavaliers, charge me now as though ye fought against devils, with angels
+for your lookers-on!"</p>
+
+<p>"To the temple! to the temple!" cried Amador, with a voice rivalling the
+general's in loudness, and turning in a frenzy towards the pyramid, down
+whose sides the infidels were seen rushing with frantic speed.</p>
+
+<p>But the head of Fogoso was seized by two friendly followers, and while
+Don Amador glared fiercely at the pale but not affrighted secretary, he
+heard, on the other side, the tranquil voice of Lazaro:</p>
+
+<p>"Master," said the faithful servant, "if we separate from our friends,
+we are dead men; and Don Gabriel is left without a kinsman in this land
+of demoniacs."</p>
+
+<p>"Close, and turn, I bid ye!" cried Cortes, furiously. "Heed not the
+wolves that are fast to your sides. Charge on the herds, charge on the
+herds! and over-throw with the weight of your hoofs! Charge, I bid ye;
+and care not though ye should find your lances striking against the
+breast of Sandoval. Charge on the herds!&mdash;charge on the herds!"</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Don Hernan set an example, followed by the cavaliers; and as
+the fifty horsemen spurred violently upon the mob, shouting and
+cheering, the naked multitudes quailed from before them, though only to
+gather again on their flanks with renewed desperation.</p>
+
+<p>"Will ye desert us that are afoot?" cried voices from behind, with
+dolorous cries.</p>
+
+<p>"Ho, Sandoval! art thou sleeping?"</p>
+
+<p>"Santiago! and God be thanked!&mdash;'tis the voice of the general!" cried
+Sandoval, in the distance. His voice came from the surge of battle, like
+the cheer of a sailor who recks not for the tempest. It filled the
+cavaliers with joy.</p>
+
+<p>"Good heart now, brave hearts!" shouted Cortes; "for my son Sandoval
+answers me! Rein me round and charge me back to the infantry!"</p>
+
+<p>Backwards galloped the fifty cavaliers, strewing the earth with trampled
+pagans; and the footmen shouted with delight, as they again beheld their
+leader. But the relief and the joy were only momentary.</p>
+
+<p>"Fight ye, my dogs! and slay your own sheep! Be firm; wall yourselves
+with spears; and presently ye shall be lookers-on.&mdash;Sweep the square
+again, brave cavaliers! Goad flanks! couch spears! and, this time, let
+me see the red face of my lieutenant!"</p>
+
+<p>Turning, and shouting with a louder cheer, (for the experience of the
+two first charges had warned the Mexicans of their destructive efficacy,
+and they now recoiled with a more visible alarm,) the cavaliers again
+rushed through their foes like a whirlwind; and brushing them aside, as
+the meteor brushes the fogs of evening, they dashed onwards, until their
+shouts were loudly re-echoed, and they found themselves confronted with
+Don Gonzalo and his party.</p>
+
+<p>The greetings of the friends were brief and few, for the same myriads,
+attacking with the same frenzied desperation, invested them with a
+danger that did not seem to diminish.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring thy foot in front," cried Cortes, "and, while they follow me,
+charge thou behind them. Be quick, and be brave. March fast, ye idle
+spearmen: and stare not, for these are not devils, but men!&mdash;God and
+Spain!&mdash;Santiago, and at them again, peerless cavaliers!&mdash;We fight for
+Christ and immortal honour!"</p>
+
+<p>The valiant band of cavaliers again turned at the voice of their leader,
+and again they swept the corse-encumbered square, rushing to the relief
+of their own infantry. Following the counsel he had given to Sandoval,
+the wary general passed by his foot-soldiers, and bidding them march
+boldly forwards, and join themselves with the infantry of Don Gonzalo,
+he charged the infidels from their rear with a fury they could not
+resist; and then rushing backwards with equal resolution, discovered the
+foot-soldiers in the position in which it had been his aim to place
+them. The united infantry, full seven hundred men in number, were now
+protected, both in front and rear, by a band of cavalry; their flanks
+looking, on one side, to the temple, and, on the other, to a great
+street that opened opposite. Arranging them, at a word, in two lines,
+standing back to back, and seconding himself the man&oelig;uvre which he
+dictated to Sandoval, the general swept instantly to that flank which
+bordered on the Wall of Serpents, while Gonzalo rode to the other. Thus
+arranged, the little army presented the figure of a hollow square, or
+rather of a narrow parallelogram, the chief sides of which, were made by
+double rows of spearmen, and the smaller by bands of horsemen. Thus
+arranged, too, the Christians fought with greater resolution and
+success; for, parting at once from a common centre, the infantry drove
+the assailants from before them on two sides, while the cavalry carried
+death and horror to the others; until, at a given signal, all again fell
+back to their position, and presented a wall altogether inexpugnable to
+the weak though untiring savages.</p>
+
+<p>It was the persuasion of Don Hernan, that, in this advantageous
+position, he could, in a short time, so punish his enemies, as to teach
+them the folly of contending with Christian men, and perhaps end the war
+in a day. But, for a full hour, he repeated his charges, now pinning his
+foes against the wall, or the steps of the House of Skulls, now falling
+back to breathe; and, at each charge, adding to the number of the dead,
+until their corses literally obstructed his path, and left it nearly
+impassable. At every charge, too, his cavaliers waxed more weary, and
+struck more faintly, while the horses obeyed the spur and voice with
+diminishing vigour; and it seemed that they must soon be left unable,
+from sheer fatigue, to continue the work of slaughter. The pagans
+perished in crowds at each charge, and at each volley of bow-shots; but
+neither their spirit, nor their numbers, seemed to decrease. Their yells
+were as loud, their countenances as bold, their assaults as violent as
+at first; and the Spaniards beheld the sun rising high in the heavens,
+without any termination to their labours, or their sufferings. Twenty
+Christians already lay dead on the square, or had been dragged, perhaps,
+while yet breathing, to be sacrificed on the pyramid. This was a
+suspicion that shocked the souls of many; for, twice or thrice, they
+heard, among the crowds, who still stood on the lofty terrace, shooting
+arrows down on the square, such shouts of triumphant delight as, they
+thought, could be caused by nothing but the immolation of a victim.</p>
+
+<p>Grief and rage lay heavily on the heart of Cortes; but though the
+apprehension, that, if much longer over-worn by combat, his followers
+might be left unable even to fly, added its sting to the others, shame
+deterred him, for a time, from giving the mortifying order. Harassed,
+and even wounded, (for a defective link in his mail had yielded to an
+arrow-head, and the stone was buried in his shoulder,) he nevertheless
+preserved a good countenance; cheered his people with the assurance of
+victory; fought on, exposing himself like the meanest of his soldiers;
+and several times, at the imminent risk of his life, rescued certain
+foot-soldiers from the consequences of their foolhardiness.</p>
+
+<p>There was among the infantry, a man of great courage and strength, by
+the name of Lezcano, whose only weapon was a huge two-handed sword, the
+valiant use of which had gained him among his companions, the title of
+<i>Dos Manos</i>, or Two-Hands. No spearman of his company advanced to the
+charge with more readiness than did this fellow with his gigantic
+weapon, and none retreated with more constant reluctance. Indeed, he
+commonly fell back so leisurely as to draw three or four foes upon him
+at once; and it seemed to be his pleasure, to meet these in such a way,
+as should call for the praises of his companions. His daring, that day,
+would have left him with the additional name of the bravest of the
+brave, had it been tempered with a little discretion. But inflamed by
+the encomiums of his comrades, and not less by the complimentary rebukes
+of his captain, his rashness knew no bounds; and twice or thrice he
+thrust himself into situations of peril, from which he was rescued with
+great difficulty. He had been saved once by Don Hernan. It was his fate,
+a second time, to draw the notice of the general; who, falling back on
+the infantry, beheld him beset by a dozen foes, surrounded, and using
+his great scimitar furiously, yet, as it seemed, in vain; for he was
+unhelmed.</p>
+
+<p>"What ho, Don Amador!" cried Cortes to the cavalier, who was at his
+side, "let us rescue <i>Dos Manos</i>, the mad!"</p>
+
+<p>In an instant of time, the two hidalgos had reached the group, and
+raised their voices in encouragement, while each struck down a savage.
+At that moment, and while Lezcano elevated his scimitar, to ward off the
+blow of a maquahuitl, the massive blade, shivered as if by a
+thunderbolt, fell to the earth; but, before it reached it, the sharp
+glass of the Indian sword had entered his brain. The cavaliers struck
+fast and hard, on either hand; the barbarians fled; but, Lezcano, the
+Two-handed, lay rolling his eyes to heaven, his head cloven to the
+mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"If we slay a thousand foes for every Christian man that dies, yet shall
+we be vanquished!" said Cortes, turning an eye of despair on his
+companion, and speaking the feelings he had concealed from all others.
+Indeed, he seemed to rejoice that destiny had given him one follower, to
+whom he might unbosom himself without the apprehension of creating
+alarm&mdash;he hesitated not to relieve himself of his grief to Don Amador;
+for he knew him to be inaccessible to fear. "Be of good heart, my
+friend. I have drawn thee into a den of devils. We must retreat, or
+die."</p>
+
+<p>"I will advance or retreat, as thou wilt," said Amador, with a visage,
+in which Don Hernan now for the first time, beheld an expression so wild
+and ghastly, that he was reminded of Calavar. "It matters nothing&mdash;here
+or at the palace! But it is my duty to assure thee of mine own
+persuasion: Retreat may bring us relief&mdash;there is no victory for us,
+to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"God help thee! art thou wounded?" cried Cortes.</p>
+
+<p>"A little hurt by the skilless hand of Fabueno," said the novice,
+tranquilly, "who, not yet being perfected in the use of the spear,
+thrust his weapon into my back, while aiming at the throat of a
+cacique.&mdash;But that is not it. I have, this day, seen a sight, which
+convinces me we are among magicians and devils; and persuades me, along
+with certain other recent occurrences, that the time of some of us is
+reckoned. Therefore I say to thee, I will advance with thee or retreat,
+as thou thinkest best. To me it matters not. But my counsel is, to fly.
+We may save others."</p>
+
+<p>"It is needful," replied Don Hernan, mournfully.&mdash;He gave his orders to
+certain officers; and the retreat was commenced in the order in which
+they had fought,&mdash;that is to say, the infantry, drawing their lines
+closer together, and facing to the flank, began to march down the
+street, preceded by Sandoval, charging the opponents from the front,
+while Cortes and his band, at intervals, rushing back upon the pursuers,
+kept the triumphant barbarians from the rear.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The distance between the great temple and the palace of Axajacatl was by
+no means great; though Cortes, for the purpose of prying into many
+streets, had led his followers against it by a long and circuitous
+course,&mdash;a plan which had been followed by Don Gonzalo, though in
+another direction. Indeed they were not so far separated, but that a
+strong bowman or a good slinger might, from the top of the pyramid,
+drive his missile upon the roof of the garrison, to the great injury of
+the besieged, as was, afterwards, fully made manifest. The distance,
+therefore, to be won by the retreating Spaniards, was small; but it took
+them hours to accomplish it. It seemed as if the infidels, fearing lest
+their foes might escape out of their hands, if they slackened their
+efforts for a moment, were resolved to effect their destruction at any
+cost, while they were still at a distance from succour. They pressed
+ferociously and rapidly on the fugitives; they gained their front; and
+thus encompassed them with a compact mass of human beings, against which
+the cavaliers charged, as against a stone wall; slaying and trampling,
+indeed, but without penetrating it for more than a few yards. Each step
+gained by the van, was literally carved by the cavalry, as out of a
+rock; while the utmost exertions of Don Hernan could do nothing more
+than preserve his rear band in the attitude of a dike, slowly moving
+before the shocks of a flood, which it could not repel.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to these alarming circumstances, there were others now
+developed, of a not less serious aspect. The canals that, in two or
+three places, intersected the street, were swarming with canoes, from
+which the savages discharged their arrows with fatal aim, or sprang, at
+once, upon the footmen, striking with spear and maquahuitl, and were
+driven back only after the most strenuous efforts. They had destroyed
+the bridges, and the canals could only be passed by renewing them with
+such planks as the infantry could tear from the adjoining houses, and
+hastily throw over the water,&mdash;a work of no less suffering than time and
+labour. Besides all this, the annoyance which Don Hernan had first
+dreaded, was now practised by the crafty barbarians. The terraces were
+covered with armed men, who, besides discharging their darts and arrows
+down upon the exposed soldiers, tore away, with levers, the stones from
+the battlements, and hurled them full upon the heads of their enemies.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of drums and conches, the fierce yells, the whistling, the
+dying screams, the loud and hurried prayers, the neighing of horses&mdash;and
+now and then the shriek of some beast mangled by a rough spear,&mdash;the
+rattling of arrow-heads, the clang of clubs upon iron bucklers, the
+heavy fall of a huge stone crushing a footman to the earth, the plunging
+of some wounded wretch strangling in a ditch, and the roar of cannon at
+the palace, showing that the battle was universal,&mdash;these together, now
+made up such a chorus of hellish sounds as Don Amador confessed to
+himself he had never heard before, not even among the horrors of Rhodes,
+when sacked by other infidels, then esteemed the most valiant in the
+world. But to these dismal tumults others were speedily added, when
+Cortes, raging with a fury that increased with his despair, commanded
+the footmen to fire every house, whose top afforded footing to the
+ferocious foe,&mdash;a command that was obeyed with good will, and with
+dreadful effect; for though, from the nature of its materials, and the
+isolated condition of each structure, it was not possible to produce a
+general conflagration, yet the great quantity of cotton robes, of dry
+mats, and of resinous woods about each house, left it so combustible,
+that the application of a torch to the door-curtains, or the casting of
+a fire-brand into the interior, instantly enveloped it in flames. Among
+these, when they burst through the roofs of light rafters, and the
+thatching of dried reeds, the pagan warriors perished miserably; or,
+flinging themselves desperately down, were either dashed to pieces, or
+transfixed by the lances of the Spaniards.</p>
+
+<p>But the same agent which so dreadfully paralyzed the efforts of the
+Mexican, brought suffering scarcely less disastrous to the Christian
+ranks. They were stifled with the smoke, they were scorched by the
+flames of the burning houses; and, ever and anon, some frantic
+barbarian, perishing among the fires of his dwelling, and seeking to
+inflict a horrid vengeance, grasped, even in his death-gasp, a flaming
+rafter in his arms, and sprang down with it upon his foes, maiming and
+scorching where he did not kill.</p>
+
+<p>Thus fighting, and thus resisted, weary and despairing, their bodies
+covered with blood, their garments sometimes burning, the Spaniards at
+last gained the square that surrounded the palace; and fighting their
+way through the herds that invested it, (for, almost at the same moment
+that they had been attacked at the temple, the quarters were again
+assailed,) and shouting to the cannoniers, lest they should fire on
+them, they placed their feet in the court-yard, and thanked God for this
+respite to their sufferings.</p>
+
+<p>It was a respite from death, for behind the stone wall they were
+comparatively secure; but not a respite from labour. The Mexicans abated
+not a jot of their ardour. The same herds that covered the square at
+dawn, were again yelling at the gates, and with the same unconquerable
+fury; and the soldiers, already fainting with fatigue, with famine, and
+thirst, (for they had taken no refreshment since the preceding evening,)
+were fain to purchase, painfully, a temporary safety, by standing to the
+walls, and keeping the savages at bay, as they could.</p>
+
+<p>The artillery thundered, the cross-bows twanged, the arquebuses added
+their destructive volleys to the other warlike noises; but the Mexicans,
+disregarding these sounds, as well as the havoc made among their ranks,
+rushed, in repeated assaults, against the walls, and, sometimes, with
+such violence, that they drove the besieged from the gate, and entered
+pell-mell with them into the court-yard. Then, indeed, ensued a scene of
+murder; for the Christians, flying again to the portal, cut off the
+retreat of such desperadoes, and slew them within the walls, without
+loss, and almost at their leisure.</p>
+
+<p>On such occasions, no one showed more spirit in attacking, or more fury
+in slaying, than the young secretary. The suit of goodly armour sent him
+by the admiral, and his rapid proficiency in the practice of arms, had
+inflamed his vanity; and he burned to approve himself worthy the
+companionship of cavaliers. The native conscientiousness which filled
+him with horror at the sight of the first blood shed, the first life
+destroyed, by his hand, had vanished as a dream; for it is the
+excellence of war, that, while developing our true nature, and
+remaining, itself, as the link which binds man to his original state of
+barbarism, it preserves him the delights of a savage, without entirely
+depriving him of the pleasures of civilization. The right of shedding
+blood, mankind enjoy in common with brutes; and, doubtless, a
+conformable philosophy will not frown on the privilege, so long as the
+loss of it would contract our circle of enjoyments. There is something
+poetical in the diabolism of a fiend, and as much that is splendid in
+the ferocity of a tiger; and though these two qualities be the chief
+elements of heroism, they bring with them such accompaniments of
+splendour and sentiment, that he would rob the world of half its glory,
+as well as much of its poetry, who should destroy the race of the great,
+and leave mankind to the dull innocence of peace.&mdash;There are more
+millions of human beings, the victims of war, rotting under the earth,
+than now move on its surface.</p>
+
+<p>The pain of wounds had also produced a new effect in the bosom of
+Lorenzo; for, instead of cooling his courage, it now inflamed his rage,
+and helped to make him valiant. The mild and feeling boy was quite
+transformed into a heartless ruffian; and so great had become his love
+of slaughter, and so unscrupulous his manner of gratifying it, that,
+once or twice, Don Amador noticed him, and would have censured him
+sharply, but that his attention was immediately absorbed by the
+necessity of self-defence. The cavaliers had dismounted, and the
+neophyte fought at the gates on foot. In the midst of an assault, in
+which the defenders had been driven back, but which disgrace they were
+now repairing, he beheld his ward struggling with a wounded savage, who
+grasped his knees and hand, but in intreaty, not hostility; and greatly
+was Don Amador shocked, when he beheld the secretary disengage his arm,
+and, with a shout of triumph, plunge his steel into the throat of the
+supplicating barbarian.</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou a devil, Lorenzo?" cried the cavalier, indignantly. "That was
+a knave's and a coward's blow! Thou shalt follow me no longer."</p>
+
+<p>While he spoke, and left himself unguarded, a gigantic pagan, taking
+advantage of his indiscretion, leaped suddenly upon him, and struck him
+such a blow with a maquahuitl, as, but for the strength of his casque,
+would have killed him outright. As it was, the shock so stunned him, as
+to leave him for a moment, incapable of defence. In that moment, the
+savage, uttering a loud yell, sprang forward to repeat the blow, or to
+drag him off a prisoner; when Fabueno, perceiving the extremity of his
+patron, and fired with the opportunity of proving his valour, rushed
+between them, and with a lucky blow on the naked neck of the Mexican,
+instantly despatched him.</p>
+
+<p>"A valiant stroke, Lorenzo!" said the neophyte, losing somewhat of his
+heat, as he recovered his wits. "But it does not entirely wipe out the
+shame of the other. Moderate thy wrath, curb thy fury, and remember that
+cruelty is the mark of a dastard. Strike me no more foes that cry for
+mercy!"</p>
+
+<p>As his anger had been changed into approbation, so now were his censures
+abruptly ended by exclamations of surprise. For at that instant,
+Fabueno, grasping his arm with one hand, and with the other pointing a
+little to one side, turned upon him a countenance full of alarm. He
+looked around, and beheld with amazement, his kinsman, Don Gabriel,
+entirely unarmed, except with sword and buckler, mingled with the
+combatants, shouting a feeble war-cry, striking faintly, and, indeed,
+preserved less by his courage than his appearance, from the bludgeons of
+the infidels. His grizzly locks (for he was entirely bare-headed,) fell
+over his hollow and bloodless cheeks, whereon glittered, black and
+hideous, a single gout of gore. His face was like the face of the dead;
+and the savages recoiled from before him, as if from a spirit rousing
+from Mictlan, the world of gloom, to call them down to his dark
+dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment the neophyte, followed by Fabueno, and Lazaro, who answered
+to his call, and Marco, who seemed to have been separated by the melée
+from his master, was at the side of Calavar. The mind of the knight was
+wholly gone; and he seemed as if, at the point of death, raised from his
+couch by the clamours of the contest, and urged into it by the instinct
+of long habit, or by the goadings of madness.</p>
+
+<p>He submitted patiently, and without words, to the gentle violence of his
+kinsman, and was straightway carried to his apartment.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>After much search and persuasion, a surgeon was found and induced to
+visit the knight. He despatched his questions almost in a word, for he
+was a fighting Bachelor, and burned with impatience to return to the
+contest. He mingled hastily a draught, which he affirmed to be of
+wondrous efficacy in composing disordered minds to sleep, gave a few
+simple directions, and excusing his haste in the urgency of his other
+occupations, both military and chirurgical, he immediately departed.</p>
+
+<p>"Marco!" said the neophyte, when the draught was administered, and Don
+Gabriel laid on the couch, "thou deservest the heaviest punishment for
+leaving thy master an instant, though, as thou sayest, while fast
+asleep. Remain by him now, and be more faithful. As for thee, Lorenzo,"
+he continued, to the secretary, who stood panting at his side, "there
+is good reason thou shouldst share the task of Marco, were it only to
+repose thee a little; but more need is it, that thou suffer thy blood to
+cool, and reflect, with shame, that thou hast, this day, cancelled all
+thy good deeds, by killing a prostrate and beseeching foe. Remain,
+therefore, to assist Marco; and by-and-by I will come to thee, and
+declare whether or not thou shalt draw thy sword again to-day."</p>
+
+<p>And thus leaving his kinsman to the care of the two followers, and
+beckoning Lazaro along, Don Amador returned to the court-yard and the
+conflict.</p>
+
+<p>The history of the remainder of the day (it was now noon,) is a weary
+tale of blood. Wounds could not check, nor slaughter subdue, the
+animosity of the besiegers; and the Spaniards, tired even of killing,
+hoped no longer for victory over men who seemed to fight with no object
+but to die, and who rushed up as readily to the mouth of a cannon, whose
+vent was already blazing under the linstock, as to the spears that
+bristled with fatal opposition at the gates.</p>
+
+<p>But night came at last, and with it a hope to end the sufferings that
+were already intolerable. The hope was vain. The barbarians, apparently
+incapable of fatigue, or perhaps yielding their places to fresh
+combatants, continued the assault even with increasing vigour and
+boldness. They rushed against the court-wall with heavy beams,&mdash;rude
+battering-rams,&mdash;with which they thought to shake it to its foundations,
+and thus deprive the Christians of their greatest safeguard. In certain
+spots they succeeded; and the soldiers cursed the day of their birth, as
+the ruins fell crashing to the ground, and they saw themselves reduced
+to the alternative of filling the breaches with their bodies, or
+remaining to perish where they stood. It is true, that in this kind of
+defence, as well as under other urgent difficulties, they received good
+and manly aid from their numerous allies, the Tlascalans, who fought,
+during the whole day, with a spirit and cheerfulness that put many a
+repining Castilian to shame. But these, though battling equally for
+their lives, were incapable of withstanding long the unexampled violence
+of the assaults; and it was soon found that the naked bodies of the
+Tlascalans offered but slight impediment to the frenzied Mexicans.</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniards, in the expedient used to drive the citizens from their
+house-tops, had taught them a mode of warfare which they were not slow
+to adopt. The palace was of a solid structure, and seemed to bid
+defiance to flames. But the same cedars that finished the interior of
+meaner houses, formed its floors and ceilings; every chamber was covered
+with mats, and most of them were hung with the most inflammable kind of
+tapestry. In addition to this, the five thousand Tlascalans, who had
+been left with Alvarado, and who slept in the court-yard, besides
+strewing the earth with rushes&mdash;their humble couches&mdash;had constructed
+along the walls of the palace itself, many rude arbours, or rather
+kennels, of reeds from the lake, to shelter them from the vicissitudes
+of the rainy season, which had, already, in part, set in. And, to crown
+all, the cavaliers, whose horses, as they well knew, were each worth a
+thousand Tlascalans, had caused stalls to be constructed for them,
+wherein they were better protected from the weather, than their
+fellow-animals, the allies. With these arrangements, the Mexicans were
+well acquainted.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner, therefore, had they succeeded in beating down several
+breaches in the wall, and found that they could sometimes drive the
+besieged from them, than they made trial of the expedient. They rushed
+together against the walls in a general assault, waving firebrands and
+torches, which those who forced their way through the breaches, applied
+to the stalls and arbours, or scattered over the beds of the Tlascalans.
+The dying incendiary, pierced with a dozen spears, ended his life with a
+laugh of joy, as he beheld the flames burst ruddily up to his brand.</p>
+
+<p>The misery of the Spaniards was now complete. They were parched with
+thirst. The sweet fountains of Chapoltepec gushed only over the square
+of the temple. A well, dug by Alvarado, in his extremity, furnished a
+meager supply of water, and that so brackish, that even the brutes
+turned from it in disgust, till forced to drink, by pangs that would
+allow them to be fastidious no longer. The nearest canal, conducting the
+briny waters of Tezcuco, was shut out by ramparts of savages. The
+Spaniards, with one universal voice, sent up a cry of despair, as they
+beheld the flames run over the court, the stalls, the kennels, and up
+the palace walls, and knew not how to extinguish them. The cry was
+answered from without, with such yells of exultation, as froze their
+blood; and in the glare of the sudden conflagration, they saw the
+barbarians rushing again to the attack, darting through the breaches,
+and leaping over the walls.</p>
+
+<p>In this strait, beset at once by two foes, equally irresistible, equally
+pitiless, they struck about them blindly and despairingly, cursing their
+fate, their folly, and the leader who had seduced them from their island
+homes, to die a death so ignoble and so dreadful.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, the spirit of the general sunk, and turning to Don Amador,
+whose fate it was again to be at his side, he said, with a ghastly
+countenance, rendered hideous by the infernal glare,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"We die the death of foxes in a hole, very noble friend! Commend thy
+soul to God, and choose thy death; for we have no water to quench this
+hell!"</p>
+
+<p>"God help my kinsman and father, and all is one!" said Amador, with a
+desperate calmness. "The flames are hot, but the grave is cold."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>The grave is cold!</i>" shouted Cortes, with the voice of a madman. "Live
+in my heart for ever! Cold grave, moist earth! and Santiago, who strikes
+for a true Christian, speaks in thy words!&mdash;What ho, mad Spaniards!" he
+continued, shouting aloud, and running as he spoke round the palace;
+"earth quenches flames, like water! Swords and hands to the task; and he
+works best, who delves as at the grave of his foeman!"</p>
+
+<p>If there was obscurity in the words of the general, it was dispelled by
+his actions; for, dashing the rushes aside, he loosened the damp soil
+with his sabre, and flung the clods lustily on the nearest flames. Loud
+and joyous were the shouts of his people, as hope dawned upon them with
+the happy idea; and, in a moment, the hands of many thousand men were
+tearing up the earth of the court, and casting it on the flames, while
+the savages, confidently expecting the result of their stratagem,
+intermitted their efforts for awhile, leaving the gates and breaches
+nearly unguarded.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable, that even this poor resource, in the hands of so great a
+multitude of men, toiling with the zeal of desperation, might have
+sufficed to quell the flames. But, as if heaven had at last taken pity
+on their sufferings, and vouchsafed a miracle for their relief, there
+came, almost at the same moment, the pattering of rain-drops, which were
+quickly followed by a heavenly deluge; and as the flames vanished under
+it, the Christians fell upon their knees, and, with devout ardour,
+offered up thanks to the Providence, that had so marvellously preserved
+them.</p>
+
+<p>They sprang from their knees, with bolder hearts, as the Mexicans again
+advanced to the assault. But this was the last attack. As if satisfied
+with the toils of the day, or commanded by some unknown ruler, the
+barbarians, uttering a mournful scream, suddenly departed.&mdash;They were
+heard during the night; and in the morning, when the waning moon shone
+dimly through the rack, were seen stirring about the square, but in no
+great numbers; and as they did not attempt any annoyance, but seemed
+engaged in dragging away the dead, Don Hernan forbade his sentinels to
+molest them.</p>
+
+<p>The guards were set, and the over-worn soldiers retired, at last, to
+throw their wounded bodies on their pallets. But throughout the whole
+night, the noises of men repairing the breaches, and constructing
+certain military engines, assured those who were too sore or too fearful
+to sleep, that the leader they had cursed was sacrificing a second night
+to the duties of his station.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Don Amador sought out the apartment of his kinsman, with a troubled
+heart. A deep dejection, in part the effect of extreme fatigue, but
+caused more by the strange and melancholy events of the last twenty-four
+hours, weighed upon his spirits, and had increased, ever since the
+spectacle of the divinity, notwithstanding the bustle and excitement of
+the conflicts which ensued.</p>
+
+<p>In the passage, before he had yet reached the chamber, he stumbled upon
+Fabueno. The secretary looked confused and abashed, as if caught in a
+dereliction of duty; but before the cavalier could upbraid him, he
+commenced his excuses.</p>
+
+<p>'The opiate was strong; the knight was in a deep slumber,' he said;
+'and, as Marco was sitting at his side, he thought he might leave him
+for a moment, to discover wherefore the soldiers had ceased fighting. He
+hoped his noble patron would pardon him: he would presently return.'</p>
+
+<p>"Seek thy pleasure now, Lorenzo," said the novice, with a heavy sigh.
+"Return when thou wilt,&mdash;or not at all, if thou preferrest to rest with
+thy companions of last night. I will now, myself, watch by Don Gabriel."</p>
+
+<p>His head sunk upon his breast, as he went on, for his heart was full of
+painful reflections. Near the door of the chamber, he was roused by a
+step, and looking up, he beheld the padre Olmedo approaching.</p>
+
+<p>"Holy father, it rejoices me to see thee," he said "I had, indeed,
+thoughts to seek thee out, and claim thy benevolent counsels and
+aidance, but that I deemed me there were many among the wounded, and
+perchance the dying, who had stronger claims on thy good offices."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art not hurt, my son?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have a scratch, made by the unlucky spear of a friend, but no harm
+from the enemy," said the cavalier. "I had indeed a blow also on the
+head, that made my brain ring; but both, I had quite forgotten. I am
+well enough in body, reverend father; and perhaps may be relieved in
+mind, if thou wilt vouchsafe me thy ghostly counsels."</p>
+
+<p>The good Bartolomé, making a gesture of assent, followed the youth into
+the chamber.</p>
+
+<p>The knight was, as Fabueno had declared, lost in a deep and, his kinsman
+was pleased to see, a placid, slumber; but Marco, instead of watching,
+lay sleeping full as soundly, hard by. This circumstance seemed to
+embarrass the cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said he, "I thought no less than to find the serving-man
+awake; and it was my intent to discharge him a moment from the chamber,
+not fearing that what I might say to thee, would disturb my afflicted
+friend. But I have not the heart to break the rest of this old man,&mdash;a
+very faithful servant,&mdash;who closes not his eyes, except when to keep
+them open would no longer be of service to Don Gabriel."</p>
+
+<p>"He sleeps as soundly as his master," murmured the priest. "A good
+conscience lies under his rough breast, or it would not heave so
+gently."</p>
+
+<p>"My father breathes gently, too," said Amador, mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>"May heaven restore him," said the padre. "His guilt lies deeper in his
+imagination than in his soul."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou think so indeed, father?" said Amador warmly, though in a low
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>The father started&mdash;"The history of thy kinsman is not unknown to
+thee?"</p>
+
+<p>"What I know is but little, save that my friend is the unhappiest of
+men," said the novice. "But heaven forbid I should seek to fathom the
+secrets of the confessional. I was rejoiced to hear thee say, my kinsman
+was not so miserable as he deems himself; for indeed I have begun to
+think there is something in the blood that courses in both our veins, so
+inclined to distemperature, that a small sin may bring us the pains of
+deep guilt, and a light sorrow pave the way to madness."</p>
+
+<p>The knight and the man-at-arms lay in a slumber not to be broken by the
+whispers of confession. The father retired to the remotest corner of the
+apartment, and Don Amador knelt humbly and penitentially at his feet. A
+little taper shed a flickering ray over his blanched and troubled
+forehead, as he bent forward to kiss the crucifix, extended by the
+confessor.</p>
+
+<p>"Buen padre," said he, "the sins I have to confess, I know thou wilt
+absolve, for they are sins of a hot blood, and not a malicious heart. I
+have been awroth with those who wronged me, and thirsted to shed their
+blood. For this I repent me. But the sins of pride and vanity are deep
+in my heart. I look about me for those acts of darkness, which should
+have caused the grief wherewith I am afflicted; but, in my self-conceit,
+I cannot find them. And yet they must exist; for I am beset with devils,
+or bewitched!"</p>
+
+<p>The father gazed uneasily from the penitent to the sleeping knight; but
+the look of suspicion was unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>"We are all, as I may say, my son, beset by devils in this infidel land.
+They are worshipped on the altars of the false gods, and they live in
+the hearts of the idolaters. But if thou hast no heavy sin on thy soul,
+these are such devils as thou canst better exorcise with the sword, than
+I, perhaps, with prayers. I think, indeed, thou hast no such guilt; and,
+therefore, no cause for persecution."</p>
+
+<p>"Holy father, I thought so myself, till late. But cast thine eyes on
+Don Gabriel. Thou seest him, once the noblest of his species, yet, now,
+the shadow and vapour of a man,&mdash;a wreck of reason,&mdash;a living
+death,&mdash;for his mind hath left him. This I say to thee with much
+anguish. I could strike another who said it; but it is true&mdash;He is a
+lunatic!&mdash;It is I that have robbed him of reason. This is my sin; and I
+feel that it is heavy."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou ravest, good youth. Thy love and devotion are well known; and he
+hath, out of his own mouth, assured me, that thy affection surpasses the
+love of man. Rest thee content. A deeper cause than this, and one
+wherein thou hast no part, has afflicted him. An accident of war,
+tortured, by a moody imagination, into wilful guilt, hath turned him
+into this ruin."</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>was</i> an accident, then, and no murder!" said the cavalier,
+joyously, though still in a whisper. "I thank God that my father is
+unstained with the blood of a woman."</p>
+
+<p>"I may not repeat to thee secrets revealed only to God," said the
+confessor; "but this much may I say, to allay thy fears,&mdash;that the blow
+which destroyed a friend, was meant for a foe; for rage veiled his eyes,
+and the steel was in the hands of a madman. This will assure thee, that
+thou hast had no agency in his affliction, but hast ever proved his
+truest comfort."</p>
+
+<p>"This indeed is the truth," murmured the novice, "and this convinces me,
+that by robbing him of his comfort, I gave him up to the persecution of
+those thoughts and memories, which have destroyed him. When I fought by
+his side at Rhodes, when I followed at his back through Spain, his
+malady was gentle. It brought him often fits of gloom, sometimes moments
+of delirium; he was unhappy, father, but not mad. I had acquired the art
+to keep the evil spirit from him; and, while I remained by him, he was
+well. I left him,&mdash;at his command, indeed, but he did not command me to
+forget him. The servant slept, and the sick man perished. While I was
+gone, his infirmity returned; and the madness that brought him to this
+infidel world, though I follow him, I am not able to remove. I found him
+changed; and, by my neglect, he is left incurable."</p>
+
+<p>"I think, indeed, as thou sayest," replied the confessor, mildly, "there
+is something in thy blood, as well as in Calavar's, which inclines to
+convert what is a light fault, into a weighty sin. Thou wrongest
+thyself: this present misery is but the natural course of disease, and
+thou hast no reason to upbraid thyself with producing it."</p>
+
+<p>"Father, so thought I, myself, till lately," said the cavalier,
+solemnly; "for we have ever in our hearts some lying spirit, that
+glosses over our faults with excuses, and deludes us from remorse. But
+it has been made manifest to me, by strange revealments and
+coincidences, by griefs of my own as well as of others, that my neglect
+was a grievous sin, not yet forgiven. And verily, now do I believe, that
+had I remained true to my knight, much sorrow would have been spared to
+both him and me."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot believe that thy unfaithfulness was a wrong of design," said
+the father. "If it be, make me acquainted with it, and despair not of
+pardon. Thou wert parted from the knight at his own command?"</p>
+
+<p>"To gather him followers for the crusade meditated against the infidels
+of Barbary," said the novice,&mdash;"a brave and pious enterprise, from which
+the emperor was quickly diverted by other projects. This change being
+proclaimed, there remained nothing for me to do, but, like a faithful
+friend and servant, to return to my kinsman. Had I done so, what present
+affliction and disturbing memories might not have been prevented! Know,
+father, for I tell thee the truth, that it was my fortune, or rather my
+unhappiness, to discover, at the sea-port in which I sojourned, a
+Moorish maiden, of so obscure, and, doubtless, so base, a birth, that
+even the noble lady who gave her protection, knew not the condition of
+her parents. Yet, notwithstanding this baseness of origin, and the great
+pride of my own heart, (for truly I am come of the noblest blood in the
+land!) I was so gained upon by the beauty and excellent worth of this
+maiden, (for I swear to thee, her superior lives not in the world!) that
+I forgot even that she was the daughter of an idolater, and loved her."</p>
+
+<p>"A Moorish infidel!" said the confessor. "It is not possible thou
+couldst pledge thy faith to an unbeliever?"</p>
+
+<p>"Holy father," said Don Amador, "this sin was at least spared me. The
+maiden was a Christian, tenderly nurtured in all the doctrines of our
+faith, and almost ignorant that the race from which she drew her blood,
+knew any other; and, father, I thought, until this day, that the soul of
+Leila dwelt among the seraphs. Moreover, if the plighting of troth be
+sinful, I am again innocent; for, before I had spoken of love, she was
+snatched away from me."</p>
+
+<p>"She is dead, then?" demanded the padre.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, I think so," said the cavalier, mournfully; "yet I know not the
+living creature that wots of her fate. Father! the sin of deserting my
+kinsman was first visited to me through her; and because I was a sinner,
+Leila perished.&mdash;<i>How</i>, father, I cannot tell thee. She vanished away by
+night,&mdash;carried off, as some averred, by certain Moorish exiles, who,
+that night, set sail for Barbary; or, as others dreamed, murdered by
+some villain, and cast into the sea; for the veil she wore, was found
+the day after, dashed ashore by the surf. But, whether she be dead, or
+yet living, again I say, I know not; though I affirm on the cross which
+I hold in my hand, I beheld her this day, or some fiend in her likeness,
+under the similitude of a priestess, or a divinity, I know not which,
+carried on the shoulders of the infidels, and by them worshipped!"</p>
+
+<p>The confessor started back in alarm, surveying the excited features of
+the penitent, and again cast his eyes towards Don Gabriel. Then, laying
+his hand on the head of the cavalier, he said, gently, but warningly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Cast such thoughts from thee, lest thou become like to thy kinsman!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay!" cried the cavalier, clasping his hands, and turning an eye of
+horror on the father,&mdash;"thou speakest confirmation of mine own fears;
+for I have said to myself, this is a frenzy, and therefore I have come,
+at last, to be like my kinsman! The thing that I have seen, is <i>not</i>;
+and the reason that made me a man, has fled from me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, I meant not that," said the padre, endeavouring to soothe the
+agitation he had, in part, caused. "I desired only to have thee guard
+thyself against the effects of thy fancy, which is, at present, greatly
+over-excited. I believe that thou didst indeed see some pagan maiden,
+strongly resembling the Moorish Leila;&mdash;a circumstance greatly aided by
+the similarity of hue between the two races."</p>
+
+<p>"And dost thou think," said the cavalier, his indignation rising in
+spite of his grief, "that the adored and most angelic Leila could, in
+any wise, resemble the coarse maids of this copper-tinted, barbarous
+people? I swear to thee, she was fairer than the Spanish girls of
+Almeria, and a thousand times more beautiful!"</p>
+
+<p>"In this I will not contend with thee," said the father, benignantly,
+well satisfied that anger should take the place of a more perilous
+passion. "But I may assure thee, that, among the princesses of the royal
+household, whom, I think, thou hast not yet seen, there are many
+wondrous lovely to look upon; and, to show thee that even a barbarian
+may resemble a Christian, it is only needful to mention that when, at
+our first coming to these shores, the portrait of Cortes, done by an
+Indian painter, was carried to Montezuma, he sent to us, by the next
+messengers, with rich presents, a noble of his court so strongly
+resembling Don Hernan, both in figure and visage, that we were all
+filled with amazement."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, indeed, thou speakest to me words of comfort," said Don Amador,
+more composedly, though still very sadly; "but I would to heaven I might
+look again on this woman, or this fiend, for I know not if she may not
+be a devil! In truth, I thought I beheld a spectre, when she turned her
+eyes upon me; and, oh father! you may judge my grief, when thus
+thinking, and beholding her a spirit worshipped by idolaters, I knew she
+must be of the accursed!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of this woman from others who beheld her," said the
+father, "and, I doubt not, she is a mortal woman, esteemed holy, because
+a priestess, and therefore received by the people with those marks of
+respect, which thou didst mistake for adoration. It was reported to me,
+that she was of marvellous great beauty."</p>
+
+<p>"Marvellous, indeed!" said the youth. "But, father, here is another
+circumstance that greatly troubled me; and, in good sooth, it troubles
+me yet. It is known to thee that my kinsman had, until yesternight, a
+little page,&mdash;a Moorish boy, greatly beloved by us both. As for myself,
+I loved him because he was of the race of Leila; and I protest to thee,
+unnatural as it may seem, I bore not for my young brother a greater
+affection than for this most unlucky urchin. A foolish fellow charged
+him to be an enchanter; and sometimes I bethink me of the accusation,
+and suppose he has given me magical love-potions. Last night he was
+snatched away, I cannot say how; but what is very wonderful, my kinsman
+and two of his people saw, almost at the same moment, a terrific
+phantom. Father, you smile! If it were not for my sorrow, I could smile
+too, and at myself; for greatly am I changed, since I set foot on this
+heathen land. A month since, I held a belief in ghosts and witchcraft to
+be absurd, and even irreligious. At this moment, there is no menial in
+this palace more given over to doubts and fears, and more superstitious.
+Is not this the first breathing of that horrible malady?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the first perplexity of a scene of novelty and excitement.
+Fatigue doth itself produce a temporary distraction, as is very evident
+when we come to fling our over-worn bodies on our couches, to sleep.
+This is the land of devils, because of idolaters; and I may not deny,
+that the fiends have here greater power to haunt us with supernatural
+apparitions, than in the lands of our true religion. Yet it is not well
+to yield too ready a belief to such revelations; for heaven will not
+permit them, without a purpose. Rather think that the infirmity of thy
+kinsman, and the ignorance of his people, were deluded by an accidental
+deception, which a cooler observer might have penetrated, than by any
+real vision. But what wert thou saying of the Moorish page?"</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said Amador, earnestly, "at the moment, when the train that
+surrounded that wonderful priestess, alarmed to see me rush towards
+them, (for that supernatural resemblance did greatly move me,) fled into
+the temple, I heard the voice of Jacinto screaming aloud among the
+infidels, as if, that moment, offered by them a victim to their accursed
+divinities."</p>
+
+<p>"God be with his soul, if it be so!" said the confessor, "for barbarous
+and bloody in their fanaticism are the reprobates of Tenochtitlan. Yet I
+would have thee, even in this matter, to be of good heart; for it is
+believed among us, that Abdalla, his father, has been received into the
+service of the Mexican nobles, to teach them how to resist our arts, and
+how to compass our destruction; and it must be evident, that for that
+traitor's sake, they will spare his boy, stolen away from us, as it
+appears to me to be proven, by the knave Abdalla himself. But think thou
+no more of the boy. He was born to inherit the perfidy of his race;
+deception and ingratitude have rendered him unworthy of thy care; and
+if, some day, the nobles should yield him to the priests for a victim,
+it will be but a just punishment for his baseness. Give thy mind to
+other thoughts, and refresh thy body with sleep; for much need have we
+of all the assistance thou canst now render us. Sleep, and prepare for
+other combats; for this day is but the prologue of a tragedy, whose end
+may be more bloody and dreadful than we have yet imagined. Thy soul is
+without stain, and heaven absolves thee of sin. Brood over no more
+gloomy thoughts; believe that Providence overshadows thee; sleep in
+tranquillity; and be prepared for the morning."</p>
+
+<p>The good father concluded the rite of absolution with a blessing
+parental and holy, and stole away from the chamber. Don Amador sighed
+heavily, but with a relieved mind, as he rose from his knees. He gazed
+upon the marble features of the sleeping knight, smoothed the covering
+softly and tenderly about his emaciated frame, and then crept to his own
+couch. His thoughts were many and wild, but exhaustion brought slumber
+to his eyelids; and starting, ever and anon, at some elfin
+representation of the captive page, or the lost maid of Almeria, bending
+over him with eyes of wo, he fell, at last, into a sleep, so profound,
+that it was no longer disturbed by visions.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>At the earliest dawn, Don Amador arose from his couch, refreshed, but
+not reanimated, by slumber. An oppressive gloom lay at his heart, with
+the feeling of physical weight; and without yet yielding to any definite
+apprehension, he was conscious of some presentiment, or vague foreboding
+of sorrow. The taper had expired on the pedestal, but an obscure light,
+the first beam of morning, guided him to the bed-side of his kinsman.
+The form of Baltasar was added to that of Marco on the floor; and the
+serving-men slept as soundly as their master. He bent a moment over Don
+Gabriel, and though unable to perceive his countenance in the gloom, he
+judged, by the calmness of his breathing, that the fever had abated.
+"Heaven grant that the delirium may have departed with it!" he muttered
+to himself, "and that my poor friend may look upon me rationally once
+more! If we are to perish under the knives of these unwearying
+barbarians, as now seems to me somewhat more than possible, better will
+it be for my kinsman's soul, that he die with the name of God on his
+lips, instead of those of the spirits which torment him."</p>
+
+<p>While the cavalier gave way to such thoughts, he heard very distinctly,
+though at a great distance, such sounds as convinced him that 'the
+unwearying barbarians' were indeed rousing again for another day of
+battle. He armed himself with the more haste that he heard also in the
+passage, the sound of feet, as if the garrison had been already
+summoned, and were hurrying to the walls.</p>
+
+<p>As he passed from the apartment, he found himself suddenly in the midst
+of a group of cavaliers, one of whom grasped his hand, and pressing it
+warmly, whispered in his ear, "I will not forget that I owe thee the
+life of Benita!&mdash;Come with me, my friend, and thou shalt see how pride
+is punished with shame, and injustice with humiliation."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought," said Don Amador, "that we were about to be attacked, and
+that my friends were running to the defence."</p>
+
+<p>"Such is the case," said De Morla. "The millions are again advancing
+against the palace, and we go to oppose them, though not to the walls.
+We have raised devils, and we run to him we have most wronged, and most
+despised, to lay them. In an instant, you will hear the shrieks of the
+combatants. If we find no other way to conquer them than with our arms,
+wo betide us all!&mdash;for we are worn and feeble, and we know our fate."</p>
+
+<p>Several of the cavaliers had lights in their hands, but the chamber,
+into which Don Amador followed them, was lit with a multitude of
+torches, chiefly of the knots of resinous wood, burning with a smoky
+glare, and scattering around a rich odour. The scene disclosed to the
+neophyte, was imposing and singular. The apartment was very spacious,
+and, indeed, lofty, and filled with human beings, most of them Mexican
+nobles of the highest rank, and of both sexes, who stood around their
+monarch, as in a solemn audience, leaving a space in front, which was
+occupied by the most distinguished of the Spaniards, among whom was Don
+Hernan himself. A little platform, entirely concealed under cushions of
+the richest feathers, supported the chair, (it might have been called,
+the throne,) on which sat the royal captive, closely invested by those
+members of his family who shared his imprisonment. A king of Cojohuacan,
+his brother, stood at his back, and at either side were two of his
+children, two sons and two daughters, all young, and one of them,&mdash;a
+princess,&mdash;scarce budding into womanhood. Their attire, in obedience to
+the law's of the court, was plain, and yet richer than the garments of
+the nobles. But it was their position near the king, the general
+resemblance of their features, and the anxious eyes which they kept ever
+bent on the royal countenance, which pointed them out as the offspring
+of Montezuma.</p>
+
+<p>As for Montezuma himself, though he sat on his chair like an emperor, it
+was more like a monarch of statuary than of flesh and blood. The
+Christian general stood before him, dictating to the interpreter Marina,
+the expressions which he desired to enter the ear of his prisoner; but,
+though speaking with as much respect as earnestness, the Indian ruler
+seemed neither to hear nor to see him. His eye was indeed fixed on Don
+Hernan, but yet fixed as on vacancy; and the lip, fallen in a ghastly
+contortion, the rigid features, the abstracted stare, the right hand
+pressed upon his knee, while the left lay powerless and dead over the
+cushions of his chair, as he bent a little forward, as if wholly
+unconscious of the presence of his people and his foes, made it manifest
+to all, that his thoughts were absorbed in the contemplation of his own
+abasement.</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte heard the words of Don Hernan.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell his royal majesty, the king," said the general, with an accent no
+longer resembling that which had fixed the barb in the bosom of his
+prey, "that it mislikes me to destroy his people, like so many dumb
+beasts; and yet to this end am I enforced by their madness and his
+supineness. Bid him direct his subjects to lay down their arms, and
+assail me no further; otherwise shall I be constrained to employ those
+weapons which God has given me, until this beauteous island is converted
+into a charnel-house and hell, and the broad lake of Tezcuco into the
+grave of his whole race!"</p>
+
+<p>The mild and musical voice of Marina repeated the wish in the language
+of Anahuac; and all eyes were bent on the monarch, as she spoke. But not
+a muscle moved in the frame or the visage of Montezuma.</p>
+
+<p>"Is the knave turned to stone, that he hears not?" muttered the chief.
+"Speak thou, my little Orteguilla. Repeat what thou hast heard, and see
+if thine antics will not arouse the sleeper."</p>
+
+<p>The youthful page stepped up to the king, seized his hand, which he
+strove to raise to his lips, and looking up in his face, with an
+innocent air, endeavoured to engage his attention. This boy had, from
+the first days of imprisonment, been a favourite with Montezuma; and
+being very arch and cunning, Don Hernan did not scruple to place him as
+a spy about the king, under colour of presenting him as a servant. In
+common, Montezuma was greatly diverted with his boyish tricks, and
+especially with his blundering efforts to catch the tongue of Mexico.
+But there was no longer left in the bosom of the degraded prince, a
+chord to vibrate to merriment. Habit, however, had not yet lost its
+hold; and as the boyish voice stammered out the accustomed tones, he
+gradually turned his eyes from the person of the general, and fixed
+them on the visage of Orteguilla. But as he gazed, his brows contracted
+into a gloomier frown, he laid his hand on the prattler's shoulder, and
+no sooner had the urchin ceased speaking, than he thrust him sternly,
+though not violently, away. Then drawing himself erect, he folded his
+arms on his bosom, and without uttering a word, fixed his eyes on the
+face of Cortes, and there calmly and sorrowfully maintained them.</p>
+
+<p>"This is, doubtless, a lethargy," said the general; "but it suits not
+our present occasions to indulge it. Where is my friend, De Morla? He
+was wont to have much influence with this humorous man."</p>
+
+<p>"I am here," said De Morla, stepping forward; "and if you demand it, I
+will speak to the king; though with no hopes of persuading him to show
+us any kindness."</p>
+
+<p>As De Morla spoke, Don Amador, who had followed him to the side of
+Cortes, observed one of the princesses turn from her sire, and look
+eagerly towards his friend. In this maiden, he doubted not, he perceived
+the fair Minnapotzin; and he ceased to wonder at the passion of his
+countryman, when he discovered with his own eyes how little her beauty
+had been overrated. Though of but small stature, her figure, as far as
+it could be perceived through the folds of peculiar vestments, was
+exceedingly graceful. The cymar was knotted round her bosom with a
+modest girdle, and left bare two arms prettily moulded, on which shone
+bracelets of gold, fantastically wrought. Her hair was long, and fell,
+braided with strings of the same metal, on her shoulders, on which also
+was a necklace of little emeralds alternating with crystals, and
+suspending a silver crucifix of Spanish workmanship. These were her only
+decorations. Her skin was rather dark than tawny, and the tinge of
+beautifying blood was as visible on her cheeks as on those of the maids
+of Andalusia. Her features were very regular; and two large eyes, in
+which a native timidity struggled with affection at the sight of her
+Christian lover, rendered her countenance as engaging as it was lovely.
+She hung upon De Morla's accents with an air of the deepest interest, as
+he expressed, in imperfect language, the desires of his general.</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, the infidel king surveyed him with a frown,&mdash;a notice that
+he now extended to all the Christians present, but without deigning to
+reply. It was evident that he understood the desires of his jailor, and
+equally plain that he had resolved to disregard them. The angry spot
+darkened on the brow of Cortes; and he was about to degrade the captive
+with still more violent marks of his displeasure; when, at this moment,
+the roar of his artillery, mingled with the shouts of the besiegers,
+suddenly shook the palace to its foundations, and drowned his voice in
+the shrieks of the women.</p>
+
+<p>Montezuma started to his feet, and cast a look upon Cortes, in which
+horror did not wholly conceal a touch of ferocious satisfaction. His
+people were, indeed, falling under those terrific explosions, like
+leaves before the mountain gust; but well he read in the dismayed
+visages of the Spaniards, that fate was, at last, avenging his injuries
+on the oppressors.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak <i>thou</i> to thy father, my Benita!" cried De Morla, in her own
+language, to the terrified princess, "and let him stay the work of
+blood; for none but he has the power. Tell him, we desire peace, repent
+the wrongs we have done him, and will redress them. If he will regain
+his liberty and his empire,&mdash;if he will save his people, his children,
+and himself, from one common and fearful destruction, let him forget
+that we have done him wrong, and pronounce the words of peace."</p>
+
+<p>The Indian maiden threw herself at the feet of the king, and bathing his
+hands with tears, repeated the charge of the cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>Montezuma gazed upon her with sorrow, and upon his other children; then
+looking coldly to Don Hernan, he said, with a tranquil voice, while
+Doña Marina rapidly interpreted his expressions,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What will the Teuctli have? He commands a captive to shield him from
+the darts of free warriors: Montezuma is a prisoner. He calls upon me to
+quiet a raging people: Montezuma has no people. He commands me to regain
+my liberty: the Mexican that hath been once a slave, can be a freeman no
+more. He bids me save my children: I have none! they are servants in the
+house of a stranger.&mdash;He that is in bonds, hath no offspring!"</p>
+
+<p>While he spoke, the din increased, as if the yelling assailants were
+pressing up to the very walls of the palace; and many cavaliers,
+incapable of remaining longer inactive, and despairing of his
+assistance, rushed from the apartment to join in the combat.</p>
+
+<p>"Why does he waste time in words?" cried Cortes. "At every moment, there
+are slain a thousand of his subjects!"</p>
+
+<p>"If there were twenty thousand," said the captive, assuming, at last,
+the dignity that became his name, and speaking with a stately anger,
+"and if but one Christian lay dead among them, Montezuma should not
+mourn the loss. Happier would he be, left with the few and mangled
+remnants, with his throne on the grave of the strangers, than, this
+moment, were he restored to his millions, with the children of the East
+abiding by him in friendship.&mdash;Thou callest upon me to appease <i>my</i>
+people. Thou knowest that they are thine. Why should they not listen to
+<i>thee</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, why should they not?" said Don Hernan, speaking rather to himself,
+than to Montezuma, and flinging sarcasms on his own head. "By my
+conscience, I know not; for though I was somewhat conceited, to grasp at
+the sceptre so early, I think I may hold it with as much dignity as any
+infidel, were he a Turkish sultan.&mdash;Hearken, Montezuma; thou art
+deceived: thy people are not mine, but thine, and through thee, as his
+sworn vassal, the subjects of my master, the king of Spain. Confirm thy
+vassalage to him, by tribute, be true to thy allegiance, and remain on
+thy throne for ever; and, if such be thy desire, I will straightway
+withdraw my army from the empire, so that thou mayest reign according to
+thine own barbarous fancies."</p>
+
+<p>"I trust thee not," said the king, "for already hast thou deceived me! I
+revoke my vows of vassalage; for he that has no kingdom, cannot be a
+king's deputy.&mdash;Do thy worst," continued the monarch, with increasing
+boldness, no longer regarding the furious looks of Don Hernan, and
+learning, at last, to deserve the respect of his foes. "Do thy worst:
+Thou hast degraded me with chains, and with words of insult; nothing
+more canst thou do, but kill! Kill me, then, if thou wilt; and in
+Mictlan will I rejoice, for I know that my betrayers shall follow me!
+Yes!" he added, with wild energy, "I know that, at this moment, your
+heart is frozen with fear, and your blood turned to water, seeing that
+revenge has reached you, and that your doom is death! The wronger of the
+lords of Tenochtitlan has learned to tremble before its basest herds;
+and let him tremble,&mdash;for the basest of them shall trample upon his
+body!"</p>
+
+<p>"Am I menaced by this traitor to his allegiance?" cried Cortes.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said De Morla, "let us trifle the time with no more deception.
+There is no one of our people, who does not perceive that we can
+maintain our post in this city no longer, and that we cannot even escape
+from it, without the permission of our foes. This knows Montezuma, as
+well as ourselves. Why incense him, why strive to cajole him further?
+Let us tell him the truth, and buy safety by restoring, at once, what we
+cannot keep; and what, otherwise, we must yield up with our lives."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, faith,&mdash;it cannot be denied: we are even caught in a net of our own
+twisting. Tell the knave what thou wilt. We will leave his accursed
+island.&mdash;But how soon we may return, to claim the possessions of our
+master, thou needst not acquaint him. But, by my conscience, return we
+will, and that right briefly!"</p>
+
+<p>A thousand different expressions agitated the visage of Montezuma, while
+listening to the words of De Morla. Now a flash of joy lit his dusky
+features; now doubt covered them with double gloom; and now he frowned
+with a dark resolution, as if conceiving the fate of the Christians, if
+left to themselves, still caged in their bloody prison. The memory of
+all he had suffered, mingled with the imagination of all the vengeance
+he might enjoy, covered his countenance with a mingled rage and
+exultation. While he hesitated, his eye fell upon his children, for all
+had thrown themselves at his feet; and he beheld them, in fancy, paying
+the penalty of his ferocity. The stern eye of Cortes was upon him; and
+he thought he read, in its meaning lustre, the punishment which awaited
+his refusal.</p>
+
+<p>"Will the Teuctli depart from me," he cried, eagerly, "if I open a path
+for him through my incensed people?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will depart from him," replied Don Hernan, "if his people throw down
+their arms, and disperse."</p>
+
+<p>"They will listen to me no more!" exclaimed Montezuma, suddenly clasping
+his hands, with a look and accent of despair, "for I am no longer their
+monarch. The gods of Anahuac have rejected the king that has submitted
+to bonds; a great prophetess has risen from Mictlan, bearing the will of
+the deities; and, by the bloody pool Ezapan, that washes the wounds of
+the penitent, the people have heard her words, and sworn faith to a new
+ruler, beloved by heaven, and reverenced by themselves. They have seen
+the degradation of Montezuma, and Cuitlahuatzin is now the king of
+Mexico!"</p>
+
+<p>"He speaks of the strange priestess we saw at the temple," said De
+Morla. "It is, indeed, said among all the Mexicans, (but how they have
+heard of her, I know not,) that she has been sent by the gods, to
+dethrone our prisoner, and destroy the Christians."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art deceived," said Cortes, to the monarch, without regarding this
+explanation; "there is no king, but thyself, acknowledged by thy people;
+and, at this moment, they are fighting to rescue thee from what they
+falsely consider bondage;&mdash;falsely I say, for thou knowest, thou art my
+guest, and not my prisoner,&mdash;free to depart whenever thou wilt,&mdash;that
+is, whenever thou wilt exert thy authority to appease the insurrection.
+It is their mad love for thee, that reduces us to extremity."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou swearest, then," cried Montezuma, catching eagerly at the
+suggestion and the hope, "thou swearest, that thou wilt depart from my
+empire, if I appease this bloody tumult?"</p>
+
+<p>"I swear, that I will depart from thy city," said the crafty Spaniard;
+"and I swear, that I hope to depart from thy empire&mdash;one day, at least,
+when I am its master." He muttered the last words to himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me my robes&mdash;I will speak to my people!"</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was this speech interpreted, than the Spaniards present
+uttered exclamations of pleasure; and some of them running out with the
+news to their companions, the court-yard soon rung with their shouts.
+Despair, at once, gave place to joy; and even to many of those who had
+been most sick of battle, the relief came, with such revulsions of
+feeling, that they seemed loath to lose the opportunity of slaying.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick to your pieces! charge, and have at the yelling imps!" cried
+divers voices, "for presently we shall have no more fighting!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The cannoniers, moved by this new feeling, discharged their last volley
+with good will, and, at the same moment, the crossbowmen and musketeers
+shot off their pieces from the wall and the terraces. The four sides of
+the palace were thus, at the same instant, sheeted with flame; and the
+effect of the combined discharge was incalculably great and fatal among
+the dense bodies of besiegers. As they staggered, and fell back a
+little, to recover from their confusion, the mounted men, who had placed
+themselves in readiness for the final charge, rushed at once, spear in
+hand, on the disordered multitude, dealing death at every thrust, and
+almost at every tramp of their chargers.</p>
+
+<p>It was precisely at this moment, that the Indian emperor, arrayed in the
+pompous and jewelled robes, in which he was wont to preside at the
+greater festivals of the gods, with the <i>Copilli</i> on his head, and the
+golden buskins on his feet, preceded by a noble bearing the three rods
+of authority, and attended by half a dozen valiant cavaliers, (of whom
+the neophyte was one,) holding their bucklers in readiness to protect
+him from any ill-directed missile,&mdash;stepped upon the terrace and
+advanced towards the battlements. The spectacle that presented itself in
+the dawning light, was, to him at least, grievous and horrid. The earth
+of the square, and the dwellings that surrounded it, were torn by the
+cannon-shots, and many of the houses had tumbled into ruins. From this
+height, also, could be seen the blackened wrecks, which marked the path
+of the army, returning, the previous day, from the temple. But a more
+sorrowful sight was presented to the unfortunate monarch, in the
+prospect of his people, great numbers already lying dead on the furrowed
+square, while the survivors were falling fast under the lances of the
+horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>Don Hernan enjoyed for a moment, with malicious satisfaction, the
+exclamations of grief, with which his prisoner beheld this sight; for it
+was his pleasure to believe, that Montezuma was himself the planner of
+the insurrection. Then, giving a sign to a trumpeter, who was with the
+party, to wind a retreat, the horsemen instantly reined round their
+steeds, and galloped back to the court-yard. With a loud yell of
+triumph, the Mexicans, thinking their pursuers fled from fear, prepared
+to follow them, and poised their weapons as a prelude to the assault. At
+that critical period, the cavaliers moved aside from their prisoner, and
+he stood confronted with his people. The great cry with which the
+barbarians beheld their monarch, had something in it that was touching,
+for it expressed a childish joy; but there was something still more
+affecting in the result, to those whose hearts were not utterly steeled,
+when they beheld the universal multitude, as with one accord, fling
+themselves upon their knees, and, dropping their weapons and pronouncing
+the name of the king, extend their hands towards him, as to a father.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible then," muttered, or rather thought, Don Amador de Leste,
+smothering a sudden pang of remorse, "that these blood-thirsty
+barbarians are only seeking our lives, to liberate their king? Surely,
+we do a great sin, to slay them for their love.&mdash;I would that my knight,
+my people, and myself, were fighting the Turks again."</p>
+
+<p>The sudden change from the furious tumult of war to such stillness as
+belongs to midnight, was impressive and even awful; and solemn looks,
+both from his subjects and his foes, from those who fought in the
+court-yard, and those who manned the roof and the turrets, were bent on
+the royal captive, as he stepped upon the battlement, and addressed
+himself to his people.</p>
+
+<p>"My children!" said Montezuma, for so his words were rapidly interpreted
+by De Morla,&mdash;"if ye are shedding your blood, to convince me of your
+affection, know that I feel its constancy, without approving its
+rashness. Though I be a prisoner&mdash;&mdash;" He paused, for the word stuck in
+his throat, and groans and lamentations showed how unpalatable it was to
+his subjects. "Though I be a prisoner with the Teuctli, yet have you to
+know, it is, in a great measure, with mine own consent; and, at this
+moment, I remain not by enforcement, but by choice."</p>
+
+<p>The unhappy monarch, by so expressing his address as to steer clear of
+offence to the Spaniards, (for well he knew they dreaded lest his
+confessions should still more inflame the citizens,) committed the more
+fatal error of displeasing his people. A murmur of indignation ran
+through the mass, when Montezuma, with his own lips, confirmed his
+abasement. Several rose, frowning, to their feet, and a young man,
+parting quickly from the crowd, advanced so near to the palace, that his
+features could be plainly distinguished. He was of noble stature,
+countenance, and mien, evidently of the highest order of nobility, and
+enjoyed the distinction of a principality in the House of Darts, as was
+shown by the red fillet in his hair, suspending the tufts of honour. His
+trunk and shoulders were invested in a coat of armour, either of scales
+of copper or of leather, richly gilt, bordered at the bottom with
+lambrequins of green and red feathers. His limbs were naked, saving only
+the bright sandals on his feet, and the glittering bracelets on his
+arms. His left arm supported a light buckler, doubtless of wicker-work,
+though painted with many bright and fantastic colours; and, from the
+bottom of it, waved a broad penacho, as well as a bulky maquahuitl,
+which he held in his left hand, while balancing a copper javelin in his
+right. A tall plume of the most splendid hues nodded majestically on his
+head.</p>
+
+<p>As this bold and noble-looking youth stepped up to the very mouths of
+the cannon, and raised his fiery eyes to the king, Don Amador de Leste
+thought that he recognized in him the princely ambassador of
+Cholula,&mdash;the young fugitive, who had been so ready to dispute the path
+with him, under the walls of the holy city.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost <i>thou</i> say this, thou that wert once their lord, to the people of
+Mexitli?" said the young prince, (for, as has been recorded by other
+historians, it was the valiant Quauhtimotzin, the nephew of the king,
+who now so sharply rebuked him.) "Dost <i>thou</i> indeed confess, son of
+Axajacatl! that thou art, by thine own consent, the friend of a
+perfidious stranger? by thine own choice, O conqueror of many nations!
+the serf and slave of him who is the brother of Tlascala? Then art thou,
+indeed, what we have called thee,&mdash;the slayer of thy people,&mdash;for this
+blood has flown at thy bidding; a traitor to thy throne,&mdash;for thou hast
+surrendered it to a master; an apostate to thy gods,&mdash;for thou hast shut
+thine ears, when they called upon thee for vengeance. Miserable
+king!&mdash;and yet a king no more! When thy people wept to see thee
+degraded, thou gavest them up to slaughter; and while they come to
+restore thee to thy rights, thou confessest, that thou lovest these less
+than the shame of captivity! Know then, that, for thy baseness, the gods
+have pronounced thee unworthy to be their viceroy, and thy people have
+confirmed the decree. We break the rods of authority; we trample upon
+the robes of state: and Montezuma is no longer a king in Tenochtitlan!"</p>
+
+<p>The unhappy monarch trembled, while he listened to this insulting
+denunciation, for he felt that he had deserved it. But his people still
+lay prostrate on the earth; and, hoping that they shared not the
+indignation of his kinsman, he elevated his voice again, and spoke
+sternly:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Why doth Quauhtimotzin forget that he is the son of my brother, and my
+slave? Is the young man that smiles in jewels, wiser than he that hath
+gray hairs? and the people that delve in canals and build up the
+temples, have they more cunning than the king who councils with the
+spirits at the altar? Know that what has been done, has been done
+wisely, for it was according to the will of heaven; and heaven, which
+has tried our fidelity, is about to reward it with happiness and peace.
+The strangers have promised to depart from us: throw down your arms, and
+let them be gone."</p>
+
+<p>"And wilt thou," said the prince, elevating his voice to a still angrier
+pitch, "who hast been so many times deluded, counsel us to listen to
+their lies? O fallen Montezuma! thou leaguest with them against us. Wilt
+thou suffer them to escape, when we have them enclosed in nets, as the
+birds that sing in thy gardens? O degraded chief! thou hast not the
+courage to desire the blood of them that have dethroned thee! Thou art
+not he that was Montezuma; thy words are the words of a Christian; thou
+speakest with the lips of a slave, and the heart of a woman; thou art a
+Spaniard, and thy fate shall be the fate of a Spaniard! Cuitlahuatzin is
+our king; and we strike thee as a foeman!"</p>
+
+<p>As the prince concluded his indignant oration, he swung round his head
+the javelin, which, all this time, he had balanced in his hand, and
+launched it, with all his force, full at the breast of Montezuma. The
+shield of the novice, quickly interposed before the body of the king,
+arrested the sharp weapon, and it fell, innocuous, on the terrace. At
+the same moment, the Mexicans all sprang to their feet, with loud cries,
+as if giving way to repressed fury, and brandished their arms. The
+bucklers of the cavaliers were instantly extended before the monarch, to
+protect him from the dreaded missiles. But, as if desperation had robbed
+him of his fears, and restored to him, for his last hour, some share of
+that native spirit which had elevated him to the throne, he pushed them
+immediately aside, and raising himself to his full height, and spreading
+forth his arms, gazed majestically, though with a ghastly countenance,
+on his people. The words of mingled intreaty and command were already on
+his lips, but they were lost even to the Spaniards who stood by, in the
+thunder of shouts coming from twenty thousand voices; and the warning
+cry of Cortes was equally unheard, bidding the Spaniards to "Save the
+king!" The shields were interposed, however, without command, and caught
+many of the missiles,&mdash;stones, arrows, and darts,&mdash;which fell like a
+shower on the group,&mdash;but not all. An arrow pierced the right arm, a
+stone maimed the right leg, and another, striking upon the left temple
+of the abandoned monarch, crushed the bone in upon the brain; and he
+fell into the arms of the cavaliers, like a dead man.</p>
+
+<p>The cannoniers, at that moment, seeing the returning rage of the
+barbarians, shot off their pieces. But the battle was done. No sooner
+had the Mexicans beheld their monarch fall under the blows of their own
+weapons, than they changed their cries of fury to lamentations; and
+throwing down their arms, as if seized with a panic, they fled from the
+square, leaving it to the Christians and the dead.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In great grief and consternation of mind, the cavaliers carried the king
+to his apartments, and added their own sharp regrets to the tears of his
+children, when the surgeon pronounced his wounds mortal. Even the señor
+Cortes did not disdain to heave a sigh over the mangled form of his
+prisoner; for, in his death, he perceived his innocence, and remembered
+his benefactions; and, in addition, he felt, that, in the loss of
+Montezuma, he was deprived of the strongest bulwark against the
+animosity of his people.</p>
+
+<p>"I have done this poor infidel king a great wrong," he said, with a
+remorse that might have been real, and yet, perhaps, was assumed, to
+effect a purpose on his followers; "for now, indeed, it is plain, he
+could not have been unfaithful to us, or he would not thus have
+perished. I call God to witness, that I had no hand in his death; and I
+aver to yourselves, noble cavaliers, that, when I have seemed to treat
+him with harshness and injustice, I have done so for the good of my
+companions, and the advantage of our king; for barbarians, being, in
+some sort, children, are to be governed by that severity which is
+wholesome to infancy. Nevertheless, I do not wholly despair of his life;
+for there are some score or two lusty fellows in the garrison, who have
+had their skulls cracked, and are none the worse for the affliction. I
+trust much in thy skill, señor <i>boticario</i>," he continued, addressing
+the surgeon; "and I promise thee, if thou restore Montezuma to his life
+and wits, I will, on mine own part, bestow upon thee this golden chain
+and crucifix, valued at ninety pesos, besides recommending thee,
+likewise, to the gratitude of my brother captains, and the favourable
+notice of his majesty, our king,&mdash;whom God preserve ever from the wrath
+and impiety of such traitorous subjects as have laid our Montezuma low!
+I leave him in thy charge. As for ourselves, valiant and true friends,
+it being now apparent to you, that we have none but ourselves to look to
+for safety, and even food, (the want of which latter would, doubtless,
+create many loud murmurs, were it not for the jeopardy of the former,) I
+must recommend you to betake you to your horses, and accompany me in a
+sally which it is needful now to make, both for the sake of
+reconnoitring the dikes, and gathering food.&mdash;What now, Botello!" he
+cried, observing the enchanter pressing through the throng; "what doest
+thou here?&mdash;Thou never madest me a prophecy of this great mishap!"</p>
+
+<p>"I never cast the horoscope, nor called upon Kalidon-Sadabath, to
+discover the fate of any but a Christian man," said Botello, gravely;
+"for what matters it <i>what</i> is the fate of a soul predoomed to flames,
+whether it part with violence, or in peace? I have sought out the
+destiny of his people, because I thought, some day, they should be
+baptised in the faith; but I never cast me a spell for the king."</p>
+
+<p>"Wilt thou adventure thine art in his behalf, and tell me whether he
+shall now live or die?"</p>
+
+<p>"It needs no conjuration to discover that," said the magician, pointing
+significantly to the broken temple. "The king will die, and that before
+we are released from our thraldom. But hearken, señor," he continued,
+solemnly, "I have sought out the fate that concerns us more nearly. Last
+night, while others buried their weariness in sleep, and their sorrows
+in the dreams of home, I watched in solitude, with prayers and fasting,
+working many secret and godly spells, and conversing with the spirits
+that came to the circle&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The wounded monarch was forgotten, for an instant, by the cavaliers, in
+their eagerness to gather the revelations of the conjurer; for
+scepticism, like pride, was yielding before the increasing difficulties
+of their situation, and they grasped at hope and encouragement, coming
+from what quarter soever.</p>
+
+<p>"And what have the spirits told thee, then?" demanded the general,
+meaningly.&mdash;"Doubtless, that, although there be a cloud about us now,
+there shall sunshine soon burst from it; and that, if we depart from
+this city, it will only be like the antique battering ram, pulled back
+from a wall, that it may presently return against it with tenfold
+violence."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not questioned so far," replied Botello earnestly. "I know, that
+we must fly. What is to come after, is in the hands of God, and has not
+been revealed. Death lies in store for many, but safety for some. The
+celestial aspects are unfavourable, the conjunctions speak of suffering
+and blood;&mdash;dreams are dark, Kalidon is moody, and the fiends prattle in
+riddles. Day after day, the gloom shall be thicker, the frowns of fate
+more menacing, retreat more hopeless. Never before found I so many black
+days clustered over the earth! In all this period, there is but one
+shining hour; and if we seize not that, heaven receive us! for, beyond
+that, there is nothing but death.&mdash;On the fifth day from this, at
+midnight, a path will be opened to us on the causeway; for then, from
+the house Alpharg, doth the moon break the walls of prisons, and light
+fugitives to the desert. But after that, I say to thee again, very noble
+señor, all is hopelessness, all is wo!&mdash;starvation in the palace, and
+shrieking sacrifices on the temple!"</p>
+
+<p>"On the fifth night, then," said Cortes, gravely, "if the fates so will
+it, we must take our departure,&mdash;provided we die not of famine, on the
+fourth. I would the devils that thou hast in command, had revealed thee
+some earlier hour, or some good means of coming at meat and drink. Get
+thee to thy horoscopes again, thy prayers and thy suffumigations; and
+see if thou hast not, by any mischance, overlooked some favourable
+moment for to-morrow, or the day after."</p>
+
+<p>"It cannot be," said Botello; "my art has disclosed me no hope; but,
+without art, I can see that, to-morrow, the news of Montezuma's death,
+(for surely he is now dying,) will fill the causeways with mountaineers,
+and cover the lake with navigators, all coming to avenge it."</p>
+
+<p>"I like thy magic better than thy mother wit," said Don Hernan, with a
+frown. "Give me what diabolical comfort thou canst to the soldiers; but
+croak no common-sense alarms into their ears."</p>
+
+<p>"I have nothing to do with the magic that is diabolic," said the
+offended enchanter. "God is my stay, and the fiends I curse! If I have
+fears, I speak them not, save to those who may handle them for wise
+purposes. This, which I have said, will surely be the fate of to-morrow;
+and the besiegers will come, in double numbers, to the walls. What I
+have to speak of to-day, may be of as much moment, though revealed to me
+neither by star nor spirit.&mdash;The Mexicans are struck with horror, having
+slain their king; they hide them in their houses, or they run, mourning,
+to the temples; the soldiers are fresh, and the streets are empty. What
+hinders, that we do not gird on our packs, and, aiming for the near and
+short dike of Tacuba, which I so lately traversed, with the king's
+daughters, make good our retreat this moment?"</p>
+
+<p>"By Santiago!" cried Cortes, quickly, "this is a soldier's thought, and
+honoured shalt thou be for conceiving it. What ho, Sandoval, my friend!
+get the troops in readiness. Prepare thy litters for the sick and
+wounded;&mdash;have all ready at a moment's warning. In the meanwhile, I will
+scour the western streets, and if all promise well, will return to
+conduct the retreat in person."</p>
+
+<p>"We can carry with us," said Botello, "the wounded king, and his sons
+and daughters; and if it chance we should be followed, we will do as the
+tiger-hunter does with the cubs, when the dam pursues him,&mdash;fling a
+prisoner, ever and anon, on the path, to check the fury of our
+persecutors.&mdash;The king will be better than a purse of gold."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! now thou art my sage soldier again!" said the general. "Get thee to
+the men, and comfort them. Apothecary, look to the emperor; see that he
+have the best litter.&mdash;Forget not thy drugs and potions. And now,
+Christian cavaliers, and brothers, be of good heart.&mdash;Let us mount
+horse, and look at the dike of Tacuba."</p>
+
+<p>The officers, greatly encouraged at the prospect of so speedy a release
+from their sufferings, followed the general from the apartment. Their
+elation was not shared by Don Amador de Leste. He rejoiced, for his
+kinsman's sake, that he was about to bear him from the din and privation
+of a besieged citadel; but he remembered that the Moorish boy must be
+left behind to perish; and it seemed to him, in addition, that certain
+mystic ties, the result of a day's adventure, which began to bind his
+thoughts to the pagan city, were, by the retreat, to be severed at once,
+and for ever.</p>
+
+<p>But if his gloom was increased by such reflections, It was, in part,
+dispelled, when he reached the chamber of his kinsman. The delirium had
+vanished, and the knight sat on his couch, feeble, indeed, and greatly
+dejected, but quite in his senses. He turned an eye of affection on the
+youth, and with his trembling hand grasped Don Amador's.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been as one that slept, dreaming my dreams," he said, "while
+thou hast been fighting the infidel. Strange visions have beset me; but
+thanks be to heaven! they have passed away; and, by-and-by, I will be
+able to mount and go forth with thee; and we will fight, side by side,
+as we have done before, among the Mussulmans."</p>
+
+<p>"Think not of that, my father," said the novice, "for thou art very
+feeble. I would, indeed, thou hadst but the strength, this day, to sit
+on the saddle; for we are about to retreat from Tenochtitlan.
+Nevertheless, Baltasar shall have thy couch placed on a litter, which we
+can secure between two horses."</p>
+
+<p>"Speakest thou of retreating?" exclaimed Don Gabriel.</p>
+
+<p>"It is even so, my friend. The numbers, the fury, and the unabating
+exertions of the Mexicans, are greater than we looked for. We have lost
+many men, are reduced to great extremities for food, altogether
+dispirited, and now left so helpless, by the disaster of the king, that
+we have no hope but in flight."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the king hurt?&mdash;and by a Spaniard?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wounded by the stones and arrows of his own people, and now dying. And,
+it is thought, we can depart to best advantage, while the Mexicans are
+repenting the impiety that slew him."</p>
+
+<p>"And we must retreat?"</p>
+
+<p>"If we can;&mdash;a matter which we, who are mounted, are about to determine,
+by riding to the nearest causeway. This, dear father, will give Marco
+and Baltasar time to prepare thee. I will leave Lazaro and the secretary
+to assist them. Presently, we will return; and when we march, be it
+unopposed, or yet through files of the enemy, I swear to thee I will
+ride ever at thy side."</p>
+
+<p>"And my boy?&mdash;my loving little page, Jacinto?" exclaimed the knight,
+anxiously: "Hath he returned to us? I have a recollection, that he was
+stolen away. 'Twill be a new sin to me, if he come to harm through my
+neglect."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us think no more of Jacinto," said the novice with a sigh. "If he
+be living, he is now in the hands of Abdalla, his father, who has
+deserted from us, and is supposed to be harboured by the Mexicans. God
+is over all&mdash;we can do him no good&mdash;God will protect him!"</p>
+
+<p>Don Gabriel eyed his kinsman sorrowfully, saying,</p>
+
+<p>"Evil follows in my path, and overtakes those who follow after me. Every
+day open I mine eyes upon a new grief. I loved this child very well;
+and, for my punishment, he is taken from me. I love thee, also, Amador,
+whom I may call my son; for faithful and unwearying art thou; and,
+belike, the last blow will fall, when <i>thou</i> art snatched away. Guard
+well thy life, for it is the last pillar of my own!"</p>
+
+<p>A few moments of affection, a few words of condolence, were bestowed
+upon Don Gabriel; and then the novice left him, to accompany the
+cavaliers to the causeway.</p>
+
+<p>As he was stepping from the palace door into the court-yard, his arm was
+caught by the magician, who, looking into his face with exceeding great
+solemnity, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ride not thou with the cavaliers to-day, noble gentleman. Thou art
+unlucky."</p>
+
+<p>A faint smile lit the countenance of the youth. It was soon followed by
+a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"This is, indeed, a truth, which no magic could make more manifest than
+has the history of much of my life. I am unfortunate; yet not in affairs
+of war;&mdash;being now, as you see, almost the only man in this garrison,
+who is not, in part, disabled by severe wounds. Yet why should I not
+ride with my friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because thou wilt bring them trouble, and thyself misery.&mdash;I cannot
+say, señor," added Botello, with grave earnestness, "that thou didst
+absolutely save my life, when thou broughtest me succour in the street;
+seeing that this is under the influence of a destiny, well known to me,
+which man cannot alter.&mdash;It was not possible those savages could slay
+me. Nevertheless, my gratitude is as strong, for thy good will was as
+great. I promised to read thee thy fortune; but in the troubles which
+beset me, I could not perfect thy horoscope. All I have learned is, that
+a heavy storm hangs over thee; and that, if thou art not discreet, thy
+last hour is nigh, and will be miserable. The very night of thy good and
+noble service, I dreamed that we were surrounded by all the assembled
+Mexicans, making with them a contract of peace; to which they were about
+swearing, when they laid their eyes upon thee, and straightway were
+incensed, at the sight, as at the call of a trumpet, to attack us. Thou
+knowest, that it was thy rash attack on the accursed prophetess, which
+brought the knaves upon us! Thrice was this vision repeated to me: twice
+has it been confirmed&mdash;once at the temple, and, but a moment since, on
+the roof. Hadst <i>thou</i> not stood before the king with thy shield, the
+rage of the Mexicans would not have destroyed him! Therefore, go not
+out, now; for he that brings mischief, twice, to his friends, will, the
+third time, be involved in their ruin!"</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte stared at Botello, who pronounced these fantastic
+adjurations with the most solemn emphasis. His heart was heavy, or their
+folly would have amused him.</p>
+
+<p>"Be not alarmed, Botello," he said, good-humouredly,&mdash;"I will be very
+discreet. My conscience absolves me of all agency in the king's hurts;
+and if I did, indeed, draw on the attack at the pyramid, as I am by no
+means certain, I only put match to the cannon, which, otherwise, might
+have been aimed at us more fatally. I promise thee to be rash no
+more,&mdash;no, not even though I should again behold the marvellous
+prophetess, who, as Montezuma told us, has risen from his pagan hell."</p>
+
+<p>The enchanter would have remonstrated further; but, at this moment, the
+trumpet gave signal that the cavaliers were departing, and Don Amador
+stayed neither to argue nor console. He commanded the secretary, whom
+he found among the throng, to return to Don Gabriel; and Lorenzo
+reluctantly obeyed. Lazaro was already with the knight.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, without personal attendants, Don Amador mounted, this day, among
+the cavaliers, prepared to disprove the enchanter's predictions, or to
+consummate his destiny.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The sufferings of the Spaniards in the streets, when returning from the
+pyramid, had admonished the general of the necessity of devising some
+plan of protection against those citizens who fought from the
+house-tops, whenever constrained to attempt a second sortie.
+Accordingly, the artisans, in obedience to his commands, had spent the
+preceding night in the construction of certain wooden turrets,
+sufficiently lofty to overlook the commoner houses, and strong enough to
+bid defiance to the darts of the enemy. They were framed of timbers and
+planks, torn from different parts of the palace. Each was two stories in
+height, and, in addition, was furnished with a guard, or battlement over
+the roof, breast-high, behind which, some half a score musketeers might
+ensconce themselves to advantage, while nearly as many crossbowmen could
+be concealed in either chamber, discharging their weapons from narrow
+loop-holes. A little falconet was also placed in the upper chamber. They
+were mounted on gun-carriages, and meant to be drawn by the Indian
+allies. They were called at first <i>mantas</i>, or blankets; but afterwards
+were nicknamed <i>burros</i>,&mdash;either because they were such silly
+protections as might have been devised by the most stupid of animals,
+which is one signification of the word, or, because the cannon-wheels,
+revolving under the mass, reminded the soldiers of the great wheel of a
+mill, which is another meaning. One of these machines had been
+completed, and was now ordered to be taken out,&mdash;not from any
+apprehension that it might be needed, but because it appeared to the
+sagacious general, that, if fate should imprison him longer in
+Tenochtitlan, the present was the best opportunity to instruct his
+soldiers in the management of it.</p>
+
+<p>It was already lumbering slowly and clumsily over the broken square,
+drawn by some two hundred Tlascalans, and well manned with soldiers,
+when Don Amador passed from the gates. As the cavaliers rode by, its
+little garrison, vastly delighted with their safe and lazy quarters,
+greeted them with a merry cheer, the gayest and most sonorous strain of
+which was sounded by those who defended the roof. As Don Amador looked
+curiously up, he was hailed by a voice not yet forgotten, and beheld,
+perched among others, whom he seemed to command, on the very top of the
+manta, the master of the caravel.</p>
+
+<p>"I give you a good day, noble Don Amador!" said this commander, with a
+grin. "I am not now aboard of such a bark as the little Sangre de
+Cristo; but, for navigating through a beleagured city, especially among
+such cut-throats as we have here in Tenochtitlan, perhaps a better ship
+could not be invented."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art then resolved," said the cavalier, with a smile, "that this
+people is not far behind the race of Florida?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay! I cannot but believe it; and I ask their pardon, for having so
+greatly belied them," said the captain; "for more ferocious devils than
+these, never saw I;&mdash;they dwell not among the lagoons of the north."</p>
+
+<p>"And dost thou remember thy wager?" said Don Amador, losing the little
+gayety that was on his visage, at the recollection.</p>
+
+<p>"Concerning my soul, (which heaven have in keeping!) and the cotton
+neck-piece?" cried the sailor, with a grim look.&mdash;"Ay, by my faith, I
+do. If we fly this day, the first part of the venture is accomplished;
+for true valour must acknowledge a defeat, as well as boast a victory.
+And if we do not, I am even ready to wager over again for the second,
+touching heaven. Three more such days as yesterday, and God bless us
+all! But it is a good death to die, fighting the heathen! At the worst,
+I have cheated the devil;&mdash;for the padre Olmedo absolved me this
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador rode forward, relapsing into gloom.</p>
+
+<p>The streets were, for a time, deserted and silent, as if the inhabitants
+had fled from the island; and when, now and then, the cavaliers halted,
+to deliberate on their course, to list for the cries of human voices, or
+to watch the progress of the tottering manta, already far behind, the
+sound of shrubs rustling together on the terraces, came to their ears
+with the melancholy cadences of a desert. Sometimes, indeed, in these
+pauses, they heard, from the recesses of a dwelling, which otherwise
+seemed forsaken, faint groans, as of a wounded foeman dying without
+succour; and, occasionally, to these were added the low sobs of women,
+lamenting a sire or brother. But they had approached the limits of the
+island, and almost within view of the causeway, without yet beholding an
+enemy, when a warning gesture from the hands of Don Hernan, at the
+front, brought them to a halt; and, as they stood in silence, they
+heard, coming faintly on the breeze, and, as it seemed, from a street
+which crossed their path, a little in advance, such sounds of flutes and
+tabours as had, the day before, conducted the mysterious priestess to
+the pyramid.</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador's heart beat with a strange agitation as he listened; and he
+burned again to look on the countenance of this divine representative of
+a pagan divinity. Whether it was the dejection of his spirits which gave
+its own character to the music; or whether indeed this was now breathed
+from the lips of mourners, he thought not to inquire; but others were
+struck with the wild sadness of the strain, and gazed inquisitively
+upon one another, as if to gather its meaning. While they thus exchanged
+looks, and awaited the issue of the event, the sounds approached,
+growing louder, but losing none of their melancholy; and a train of
+priests, in long black robes, and with downcast eyes, followed by boys
+with smoking censers, at last stole on their view, slowly crossing the
+street on which they had halted. At this moment, and just as the
+prophetess (for it was she who stood, as before, under the feathered
+canopy, carried by the devotees,) came into sight, the roar of a cannon,
+bellowing afar from the palace, startled the cavaliers from their
+tranquillity; and, in the assurance of new conflicts, destroyed, at
+once, their hope of peaceful escape. This explosion, as was afterwards
+discovered, was rather the cause than the consequence of hostilities;
+for the Mexicans, after the sortie of Cortes, approaching the citadel in
+great numbers, to beseech the body of their king, not doubting that he
+was slain, the Spaniards had mistaken their grief for renewing rage, and
+immediately fired upon them.</p>
+
+<p>A furious scowl darkened the visage of Don Hernan, as this distant
+discharge swept away his hopes; and rising on his stirrups, he cried to
+his companions,</p>
+
+<p>"Let us seize the person of this accursed priestess,&mdash;demon, or
+woman,&mdash;who profanes the holiness of Our Lady, and incenses the hearts
+of the rabble! On, and be quick; for 'tis an easy prize, and may replace
+the emperor!"</p>
+
+<p>Until this moment, the train, casting their eyes neither to the right
+nor left, and raising them not even at the roar of the cannon, had been
+ignorant of the presence of the Spaniards. But when the harsh voice of
+the Christian drowned the breathings of the flutes, they paused, looking
+towards him in affright; and again, for an instant, the lustrous eyes of
+the prophetess fell upon the visage of Don Amador. His heart heaved with
+a sickening sensation; and the impulse which had before driven to flight
+his better judgment, assailed him anew with violence. His voice shouted
+with the rest, but it uttered the name of Leila; and, as if, indeed, he
+beheld the lost maid of Almeria, or her phantom, he spurred towards the
+prophetess full as madly as when she vanished, before, under the Wall of
+Serpents. But the train, scattering at once, fled in horror from the
+Spaniards, escaping into the neighbouring houses. The object of the
+outrage, nevertheless, seemed in the power of the cavaliers; for though
+the bearers deserted her not they fled but slowly under their burden.</p>
+
+<p>But there were protectors nigh, of whom the Spaniards had not dreamed;
+and even Cortes himself reined back his horse with dismay, when,
+suddenly, there sprang from the intersecting street a multitude of armed
+nobles, interposing their bodies between him and his victim; and his
+eye, running an instant down the street, beheld them followed by a
+myriad of pagans without end.</p>
+
+<p>"Back to the manta!" cried the general, hastily; "for these dogs are
+armed, and the men of the turret have no aid!&mdash;Hark! hear ye not the
+howls? Rein round, and back! They are slaying my Tlascalans!"</p>
+
+<p>Before the neophyte could recover from his confusion of mind, he found
+himself turned round and borne along with the mass of galloping
+horsemen. The Mexicans uttered a cry, as with one impulse, and followed
+furiously after.</p>
+
+<p>In the crowd of thought that distracted him, Don Amador remembered the
+words of Botello, and believed that he was, indeed, labouring under some
+enchantment, which made him a misfortune to his friends. But not long
+had he leisure for such meditations. The loud yells of combatants, and
+the sounds of arquebuses, in front, increased at each step; and, quickly
+turning an angle in the street, he found himself in the midst of
+conflict.</p>
+
+<p>An immense herd of men had surrounded the manta, and were engaged hand
+to hand with the Tlascalans who drew it; while the Spaniards on its top
+defended themselves, at a disadvantage, from many Mexicans, stationed on
+the terrace of a lofty house, the dwelling of some superb Tlatoani. So
+near indeed was the turret to the walls of this edifice, and so high
+above it was the latter, that the huge stones tumbled from the
+battlements, fell with great certainty on its roof, crushing the men of
+the caravel, and beating down both the wooden parapet and the platform.
+At the same time, certain savages, with long poles, struck at the
+defenders, and thrusting the points of their weapons into its breaches,
+endeavoured to topple it to the ground. As it rocked thus to and fro,
+the violent motion entirely prevented the little garrison from making
+use of their arms; and with wild cries to their friends, to seize the
+ropes, dropped by the Tlascalans, and drag the manta from the palace,
+they were seen holding by its sides as well as they could, receiving,
+without returning, the blows of their adversaries. The necessity of
+obeying their prayer was seen more plainly than the means; for the crowd
+of mingled Tlascalans and Mexicans that surrounded the crazy machine,
+was impenetrable; and had it been so, the appearance of the manta,
+threatening each moment to fall, would have deterred the boldest from
+approaching its dangerous vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>As it was, the cavaliers gave what aid they could. They thrust their
+spears into the mass of Indians, shouting to the Tlascalans to disengage
+themselves from the enemy. But these shouts, if the allies did not
+indeed receive them rather as encouragement to fight the more fiercely,
+dissolved not the bloody melée into its components of friend and foe;
+and many a Tlascalan died, that day, pierced through the heart by
+spears, which their bearers thought were thrust through the breasts of
+Mexicans.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the heavy burro was shaken still more violently; and
+Don Amador, looking up, beheld the master of the caravel alone on the
+top, (for his sailors were already slain) grasping despairingly at a
+fragment of the parapet; while stones and darts were showered upon him
+from the adjoining terrace, and a heavy pole, aimed by a lusty
+barbarian, struck him with merciless severity. His countenance was pale,
+his eye haggard, and his honourable scars now livid, and almost black,
+were relieved, like fresh wounds, on his ghastly brow. His helmet had
+fallen to the ground; and the sight of his gray hairs shaking over his
+scarred front, as he was tossed up and down, like one bound hand and
+foot on the back of a wild animal, inflamed the neophyte with both rage
+and pity.</p>
+
+<p>"Loose thy hold! drop upon the Indians, and take thy chance among them!"
+he cried at the top of his voice. "What ho! friend Gomez! wilt thou lie
+there, and perish?"</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as if the voice of the cavalier had not passed unheard; for
+the wretched man was seen to raise himself on his knees, and look down
+to the fighting men below, as if meditating a leap; when suddenly a
+great stone fell on the platform with a crashing noise, and, at the same
+moment, the manta, lurching like an ill-ballasted ship before a
+hurricane, staggered over its balance, and fell with a tremendous shock
+to the ground. The neophyte thought not of the miserable combatants,
+crushed in its fall. He beheld the voyager, at the instant of its
+destruction, hurled from the ruin, as if from some mighty balista of
+ancient days, clear over the heads of the Indians, and dashed, a mangled
+and hideous corse, almost at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"God pity thee!" he cried, with a shudder; "thy words are made good, thy
+wager is won,&mdash;and the saints that died for the faith, take thee to
+paradise!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do ye hear! Ho! to your lances, and back upon the wolves that are
+behind us!" cried the trumpet-voice of Don Hernan. The neophyte turned,
+and clapping spurs to Fogoso, charged, with the cavaliers, upon those
+squadrons which had pursued them;&mdash;but, like his companions, he checked
+his horse with surprise, and no little consternation, when he beheld in
+what manner the infidels were prepared to receive them. The street was
+packed with their bodies, as far as the eye could see; and darts and
+swords of obsidian were seen flashing above the heads of the most
+distant multitude; but he perceived that those combatants who stood in
+front, stretching from wall to wall, were armed with long spears,
+mostly, indeed, with wooden points, sharpened, and fire-hardened, though
+some few were seen with copper blades, full a yard in length, which they
+handled with singular and menacing address. Thus, no sooner did the
+cavaliers approach them, than those of the first rank, dropping, like
+trained soldiers, to their knees, planted the buts of their weapons on
+the ground, while those held by others behind, were thrust over the
+shoulders of the kneelers, and presented, together, such a wall of
+bristling spines, as caused the bravest to hesitate.</p>
+
+<p>"Have we Ottomies of the hills here!" cried Don Hernan, aghast. "Or are
+these weapons, and this mode of using them, the teaching of the traitor
+Moor?"</p>
+
+<p>A loud shout, mingled with laughs of fierce derision, testified the
+triumph of the barbarians; and Cortes, stung with fury, though
+hesitating to attack, called for his musketeers, to break the line of
+opponents.</p>
+
+<p>"Our musketeers are in heaven! carried up in the fiend of a burro!"
+cried Alvarado, waving his sword, and eyeing the vaunting herd. "Before
+the days of saltpetre, true men were wont to shoot their foes without
+it.&mdash;All that is to be done, is to conceive we are hunting foxes, and
+leaping over a farmer's wall. Soho! Saladin, mouse! And all that are
+brave gentlemen, follow me! Hah!"</p>
+
+<p>As he concluded, the madcap soldier spurred his steed Saladin, and,
+uttering a war-cry, dashed fearlessly on the spearmen. Before he had yet
+parted from his companions, Don Amador de Leste, fired, in spite of his
+melancholy, by the boldness of the exploit, and unwilling to be outdone
+by a cavalier of the islands, brushed up to his side, and spurring
+Fogoso at the same moment, the two hidalgos straightway vaulted among
+the barbarians.</p>
+
+<p>The show of resolution maintained by the exulting spearmen, while the
+Christians stood yet at a distance, vanished when they beheld those
+animals, which they always regarded with a superstitious awe, rushing
+upon them with eyes of fury, and feet of thunder. To this faltering,
+perhaps, it was owing, that the two Dons were not instantly slain; for,
+though the heavy armour that guarded the chests and loins of the steeds,
+could repel the thrust of a wooden spear as well as the corslets of
+their riders, no such protection sheathed their bellies; and had they
+been there pierced, their masters must instantly have perished. As it
+was, however, the front rank recoiled, and when it closed again, the
+cavaliers were seen wielding their swords, (for in such a melée their
+spears were useless,) and striking valiantly about them, but entirely
+surrounded.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we be thus shamed, my masters?" cried Don Hernan,
+sharply. "Methinks there are two <i>more</i> such cavaliers in this
+company?&mdash;Santiago, and at them!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus saying, and, with a word, inflaming their pride, he leaped against
+the foe, followed by all the horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>The two leaders in this desperate assault had vanished,&mdash;swallowed up,
+as it were, in the vortex of contention; and it was not until his
+friends heard the voice of Alvarado exclaiming, wildly, as if in
+extremity, "Help me, De Leste, true friend! for I am unhorsed! Help me,
+or the hell-hounds will have me to the temple!"&mdash;that they were
+convinced the young men were living.</p>
+
+<p>"Be of good heart!" cried Don Amador, (for he was at his side,) drawing
+his sabre, with a dexterous sleight, over the sinewy arms that clutched
+his companion, and releasing, without doing him harm. "If thou art
+disarmed, draw my dagger from the sheath and use it; and fear not that I
+will leave thee, till rescued by others."</p>
+
+<p>"Who gets my sword, takes the arm along with it!" cried Alvarado,
+grasping again his chained weapon, and dealing fierce blows, as he
+spoke. "I will remember the act&mdash;Ho! false friends! forsworn soldiers!
+condemned Christians! why leave ye us unsupported?"</p>
+
+<p>"Courage, and strike well! we are near," answered Don Hernan. "Press on,
+friends; trample the curs to death! Join we our true cavaliers; and then
+sweep back for victory!"</p>
+
+<p>"Where goest thou, now, mad Amador?" they heard the voice of Alvarado
+exclaiming; "Return: thy horse is shoed with piraguas; but mine sticks
+fast in this bog of flesh. Return; for, by heaven, I can follow thee no
+further!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, as thou art a true man; for I am sore beset, and wounded!"
+These words, from the lips of the neophyte, came yet through the din of
+yells; but it seemed to those who listened, that there was feebleness in
+the voice that uttered them.</p>
+
+<p>"Onward!" cried Cortes, with a voice of thunder, and urging his dun
+steed furiously over the trampled barbarians; "the young man shall not
+perish!"</p>
+
+<p>A wolf-hound, weary and spent with the chase, suddenly surrounded by a
+whole pack of the destroyers he has been tracking, and falling under the
+fangs of his quarry, may figure the condition of Don Amador de Leste,
+surrounded and seized upon by the enemy. Nothing but the vigour of
+powerful and fiery-spirited steeds could have carried the two cavaliers
+so far into a crowd of warriors almost compacted. While the neophyte
+gave assistance to his friend, a dozen blows of the maquahuitl were
+rained upon his body; and so closely was he invested immediately after,
+(when, as Alvarado reined in his steed to await the rest, the two
+cavaliers were separated,) that he thought no longer of warding off
+blows; but giving himself up to smiting, he trusted to the strength of
+his mail for protection. But the heavy bludgeons bruised where they
+could not wound; and his armour being, at last, broken by the fury of
+the blows, the sharp glass penetrated to his flesh, and he began to
+bleed. He cast his eye over his shoulder, for his strength was failing;
+but the plume of Don Pedro waved at a distance behind, and the shouts of
+Cortes seemed to come from afar. He turned his horse's head, to retreat;
+but half a dozen savages, emboldened by this symptom of defeat, clutched
+upon the bridle; and the hand he raised to smite at them, was seized by
+as many others. It was at this moment that he called out to his
+companion, in the words we have recorded; but the answer, if answer were
+made, was drowned in the savage yells of exultation, with which his foes
+beheld him in their power. He collected all his energies, struggled
+violently, and striking the rowels deep, and animating Fogoso with his
+voice, hoped, by one bound, to spring clear of his capturers. The
+gallant steed vaulted on high, but fell again to the earth, under the
+weight of the many that clung to him: and a dozen new hands were added
+to those that already throttled the rider.</p>
+
+<p>"Rescue me, if ye be men!" he cried, with a voice that prevailed over
+the uproar.&mdash;The cry was echoed by twenty Christian voices hard by, and
+a gleam of hope entered into his heart. Another furious struggle,
+another plunge of Fogoso, and he thought that the hands of his enemies
+were at last unclenching. A bright weapon flashed before his eyes&mdash;It
+was steel, and therefore the falchion of a friend!&mdash;It fell upon his
+helmet with irresistible weight; his brain spun, his eyes darkened, and
+he fell, or rather was dragged, like a dead man, from his horse. But ere
+his eyes had yet closed, their last glance was fixed on the visage of
+the striker; and the sting of benefits forgotten was added to the
+bitterness of death, when, in this, he perceived the features of
+Abdalla, the Moor.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant more, the barbarians parted in terror before the great
+Teuctli.</p>
+
+<p>"Where art thou, De Leste?" he cried. "We are here, to rescue thee!"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, there sprang, with a fierce bound, from among the Mexicans,
+the well-known bay, Fogoso, his foamy sides streaked with gore, the
+stirrups rattling against his armed flanks, the reins flying in the
+air,&mdash;but no rider on the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>"By heaven, false friends! craven gentlemen! you have lost the bravest
+of your supporters!" cried Don Hernan. "On! for he may yet live: on! for
+we will avenge him!"</p>
+
+<p>The band, resolute now in their wrath, plunged fiercely through the mob.
+They struck down many enemies,&mdash;they trampled upon many corses; but,
+among them, they found not the body of De Leste.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Whether it was that this attack was caused by an ebullition of popular
+fury, which yielded to some mysterious and religious revulsion of
+feeling, or whether, indeed, the leaders of the barbarians, persuaded of
+the madness of fighting the Christians hand to hand, and resolved to
+conquer them rather by famine than arms, had called off their
+forces,&mdash;was a secret the Spaniards could never penetrate. No sacred
+horn was sounded on the pyramid; but, in the very midst of what seemed
+their triumph, when the cavaliers were nearly exhausted and despairing,
+it became manifest that the Mexicans were giving way, and vanishing, not
+one by one, but in great clusters, from the field.</p>
+
+<p>The Christians had no longer the spirit to pursue. They found the street
+open; and, dashing through the few foemen that lingered on the field,
+they made their way good to the palace. Before they reached it, they
+were joined by a powerful detachment, sent out to their assistance. They
+returned together. At the gate of the court-yard, stood Baltasar,
+Lazaro, and the secretary, looking eagerly for the appearance of Don
+Amador. His horse was led by a cavalier, whose countenance was more
+dejected than the rest. It was De Morla; and as he flung the bridle to
+Lazaro, he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Hadst <i>thou</i> been with thy master, this thing had not happened; for,
+though a serving-man, thou wouldst have remained behind him, when a
+cavalier deserted."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou accuse <i>me</i> of deserting the noble youth?" said Alvarado,
+fiercely. "God forbid, I should shed Christian blood! but, with my
+sword's point, I will prove upon thy body, that thou liest!"</p>
+
+<p>"And upon thine," said De Morla, with calm indignation, "I will make
+good the charge I have uttered, that thou didst abandon in extremity,
+when he called upon thee for aid, the man who had just preserved thine
+own life."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there not deaths enow among the infidels?" cried Cortes, angrily,
+"that ye must lust after one another's blood?&mdash;Peace! and be ye friends,
+lamenting our valiant companion together; for, De Morla, thou doest a
+wrong to Alvarado; and, Don Pedro, thou art a fool, to quarrel with the
+peevishness of a mourning friend."</p>
+
+<p>The secretary listened to the cavaliers with a face of horror; not a
+word said Lazaro, but as he wiped the foam from the steed, and, with it,
+the blood of his master, he eyed Don Pedro with a dark and vindictive
+scowl. As for Baltasar, his rugged features quivered, and he did not
+hesitate to stand in the way of the Tonatiuh, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If any cavalier have, indeed, been false to my young lord, I, who am
+but a serving-man, will make bold to say, he has played false to a
+gentleman who would have perilled his life for any Christian in need;
+and the act, though it be answered to man, God will not forgive.&mdash;Who
+will tell this to my master, Don Gabriel?"</p>
+
+<p>Alvarado, extremely enraged, had raised his spear to strike the old
+soldier; but he dropped his arm, at the last words, and said with great
+mildness,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a fool to say this.&mdash;I lament thy lord; I loved him, and I did
+not desert him&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>For the remainder of that day, the garrison were left in peace. No foes
+appeared on the square; but, twice or thrice, when parties were sent out
+to reconnoitre, they were met, at a distance from the palace, by herds
+of Mexicans, and driven back to their quarters.</p>
+
+<p>The desperate situation of the army was now evident to the dullest
+comprehension. The barbarians had removed from the reach of the
+artillery, and drawn, with their bodies, a line of circumvallation round
+their victims, patiently waiting for the moment, when famine should
+bring them a secure vengeance. All day, there were seen, on the top of
+the pyramid, priests and nobles, now engaged in some rite of devotion,
+and now looking down, on the besieged, like vultures on their prey; but
+without attempting any annoyance.</p>
+
+<p>The murmurs of the garrison, exasperated by despair and want of food,
+were loud and stern; but Don Hernan received them only with biting
+sarcasms. He bade those who were most mutinous, to depart if they would;
+and laughed scornfully at their confessions of inability. To those who
+cried for food, he answered by pointing grimly to the stone walls, and
+the carcasses that lay on the square; or he counselled them to seek it
+among their foes. In truth, the general knew their helplessness, and in
+the bitterness of his heart at being thus foiled and jeoparded, he did
+not scruple to punish their discontent, by disclosing the full misery of
+their situation. They were dependent upon him for life and hope, and he
+suffered this dependence to be made apparent. He revealed to them no
+scheme of relief or escape; for, in fact, he had framed none. He was,
+himself, as desperate as the rest, seeing nothing before him but
+destruction, and not knowing how to avoid it; and what measures he did
+take, during these sorrowful hours, were rather expedients to divert his
+thoughts, than plans to diminish the general distress.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the memorable fate of the burro, and the disinclination
+of the soldiers to die the death of its garrison, he obstinately
+commanded those which were unfinished to be completed, with some
+additional contrivances to increase their strength and mobility. He sent
+out parties to ransack the deserted houses in the vicinity, for
+provisions, though hopeless of obtaining any; and he set the idlers to
+mending their armour of escaupil, and the smiths to making arrow-heads,
+as if still determined rather to fight than fly. He held no councils
+with his officers, for he knew they had no projects to advise; and the
+desperate resort over which he pondered, of sallying out with his whole
+force, and cutting his way through the opposing foe, was too full of
+horror to be yet spoken. Moreover, while Montezuma yet lived, he could
+not think his situation entirely hopeless. The surgeon, upon a
+re-examination of the king's wounds, had formed a more favourable
+prognostic; and this was strengthened, when Montezuma at last awoke from
+stupor, and recovered the possession of his intellects. It was told him,
+indeed, that the royal Indian, as if resuming his wits only to cast them
+away again, had no sooner become sensible of his condition, and
+remembered that his wounds had been inflicted by his people, than he
+fell into a frenzy of grief and despair, tearing away the bandages from
+his body, and calling upon his gods to receive him into Tlacopan, the
+place of caverns and rivers, where wandered those who died the death of
+the miserable. Don Hernan imagined that these transports would soon rave
+themselves away, and persuaded himself that his captive, yielding at
+last to the natural love of life, would yet remain in his hands, the
+hostage of safety, and perhaps the instrument of authority.</p>
+
+<p>Sorrow dwelt in the palace of Axajacatl; but her presence was more
+deeply acknowledged in the chamber of Calavar. From the lips of
+Baltasar,&mdash;and the rude veteran wept, when he narrated the fall of the
+young cavalier, whom he had himself first taught the knowledge of
+arms,&mdash;Don Gabriel learned the fate of his kinsman. But he neither wept
+like Baltasar, nor joined in the loud lamentations of Marco. His eyes
+dilated with a wild expression, his lip fell, he drooped his head on his
+breast, and clasping his hands over his heart, muttered an
+unintelligible prayer,&mdash;perhaps the ejaculation which so often, and so
+piteously, expressed his desolation. Then falling down upon his couch,
+and turning his face to the wall, he remained for the whole day and
+night without speaking a word.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The fate of Don Amador de Leste, though so darkly written in the hearts
+of his companions, was not yet brought to a close. Some of his late
+friends deemed only that he had been overpowered and slain; but others,
+better acquainted with the customs of the foe, shuddered over the
+assurance of a death yet more awful. They knew that the pride of the
+Mexican warrior was, not to slay, but to capture; as if, indeed, these
+demi-barbarians made war less for the glory of taking life, than for the
+honour of offering it in sacrifice to the gods. Such, in truth, was the
+case; and to this circumstance was it owing that the Christians were not
+utterly destroyed, in any one encounter in the streets of Tenochtitlan.
+The fury of their foes was such as may be imagined in a people goaded to
+desperation by atrocious tyranny and insult, and fighting with foreign
+oppressors at their very firesides; yet, notwithstanding the deadly
+feeling of vengeance at their hearts, they never forgot their duties to
+their faith; and they forbore to kill, in the effort to take prisoner.
+Twice or thrice, at least, in the course of the war that followed after
+these events, the life of Cortes, himself, was in their hands; and the
+thrust of a javelin, or the stroke of a bludgeon, would have freed them
+from the destroyer. But they neither struck nor thrust; they strove to
+bear him off alive, as the most acceptable offering they could carry to
+the temple; thus always giving his followers an opportunity to rescue
+him out of their grasp. Every captive thus seized and retained, died a
+death too terrible for description; and high or low,&mdash;the base boor, and
+the noble hidalgo, alike,&mdash;expiated, on the stone of sacrifice, the
+wrongs done to the religion of Mexitli.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing so much of the customs of Anahuac, and not having discovered his
+body, the more experienced cavaliers were convinced that Don Amador de
+Leste had not yet enjoyed the happiness of death; they persuaded
+themselves that he had been taken alive, and was preserved for
+sacrifice. Many a Castilian eye, that afternoon, was cast upon the
+pyramid, watching the steps, and eagerly examining the persons of all
+who ascended.&mdash;But no victim was seen borne upon their shoulders&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>When the cavalier of Cuenza opened his eyes, after the stunning effects
+of the blow were over, it was in a confusion of mind, which the objects
+about him, or, perhaps, the accession of a hot fever,&mdash;the result of
+many severe wounds and contusions,&mdash;soon converted into delirium. He
+lay,&mdash;his armour removed,&mdash;on a couch in a spacious apartment, but so
+darkened, that he could not distinguish the countenances of two or three
+dusky figures which seemed to bend over him. His thoughts were still in
+the battle; and, in these persons, he perceived nothing less than
+Mexican warriors still clutching at his body. He started up, and calling
+out, "Ho, Fogoso! one leap more for thy master," caught fiercely at the
+nearest of the individuals. But he had overrated his strength; and,
+almost before a hand was laid upon him, he fell back, fainting, on the
+bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost <i>thou</i> strike me, too, false villain?" he again exclaimed, as his
+distempered eyes pictured, in one silent visage, the features of
+Abdalla. "Be thou accursed for thy ingratitude, and live in hell for
+ever!"</p>
+
+<p>A murmur of voices, followed by the sound of retreating steps, was
+heard; and in the silence which ensued, his fancy became more
+disordered, presenting him phantasms still more peculiar.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this death?" he muttered, "and lie I now in the world of shadows?
+God be merciful to me a sinner! Pity and pardon me, O Christ, for I have
+fought for thy faith. Take me from this place of blackness, and let me
+look on the light of bliss!"</p>
+
+<p>A gentle hand was laid upon his forehead, a low sigh breathed on his
+cheek; and suddenly a light, flashing up as from some expiring cresset,
+revealed to his wondering eyes the face and figure of the mysterious
+prophetess.</p>
+
+<p>"O God! art thou indeed a fiend? and dost thou lead me, from the land of
+infidels, to the prison-house of devils?" he cried, again starting up,
+clasping his hands, and gazing wildly on the vision. "Speak to me, thou
+that livest not; for I know, thou art Leila!"</p>
+
+<p>As he uttered these incoherent words, the figure, bending a little away,
+and fastening upon his own, eyes of strange meaning, in which pity
+struggled with terror, seemed, gradually, to fade into the air; until,
+as suddenly as it had flashed into brightness, the light vanished, and
+all was left in darkness.</p>
+
+<p>From this moment, the thoughts of the cavalier wandered with tenfold
+wildness; and he fell into a delirium, which presented, as long as it
+lasted, a succession of exciting images. Now he struggled, in the hall
+of his own castle of Alcornoque, or the Cork-tree, with the false
+Abdalla, the knee of the Almogavar on his breast, and the Arab poniard
+at his throat&mdash;while all the time, the perfidious Jacinto stood by,
+exhorting his father to strike; now he stood among burning sands,
+fighting with enraged fiends, over the dead body of his knight, Calavar,
+to protect the beloved corse from their fiery fingers; now the vanished
+Leila sat weeping by his side, dropping upon his fevered lips the juice
+of pleasant fruits, or now she came to him in the likeness of the pagan
+Sibyl, beckoning him away, with melancholy smiles, to a distant bay;
+while, ever, when he strove to rise and follow, the page Jacinto,
+converted into a giant, and brandishing a huge dagger, held him back
+with a lion's strength and ferocity.</p>
+
+<p>With such chimeras, and a thousand others, equally extravagant,
+disturbing his brain, he passed through many hours; and then, as a
+torpor like that of death gradually stole over him, benumbing his
+deranged faculties, the same gentle hand, the same low suspiration,
+which had soothed him before, but without the countenance which had
+maddened, returned to him, and made pleasant the path to annihilation.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>From a deep slumber, that seemed, indeed, death, for it was dreamless,
+the cavalier, at last, awoke, somewhat confused, but no longer
+delirious; and, though greatly enfeebled, entirely free from fever. A
+yellow sunbeam,&mdash;the first or the last glimmering of day, he knew not
+which,&mdash;played through a narrow casement, faintly illuminating the
+apartment, and falling especially upon a low table at his side, whereon,
+among painted and gilded vessels of strange form, he perceived his
+helmet, and other pieces of armour as well as a lute, of not less
+remembered workmanship. He raised his eyes to the attendant, who sat
+musing, hard by, and, with a thrill and exclamation of joy, beheld the
+Moorish page, Jacinto.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it thou, indeed, my dear knave Jacinto! whom I thought in the maws
+of infidels?" he cried, starting up. "And how art thou; and how is thy
+lord, Don Gabriel, to-day? Tell me, where hast thou been, these two
+troubled days? and how didst thou return? By my faith, this last bout
+was somewhat hard, and I have slept long!"</p>
+
+<p>"Leave not thy couch, and speak not too loud, noble master," said the
+page, kneeling, and kissing his hand,&mdash;"for thou art sick and wounded,
+and here only art thou safe."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, now indeed!" said Don Amador, with a sudden and painful
+consciousness of his situation, "I remember me. I was struck down, and
+made a prisoner. What good angel brought me into thy company? Thanks be
+to heaven! for my hurts are not much; and I will rescue thee from
+captivity."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not a captive, señor," said the boy, gently.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we, then, in the palace?&mdash;Where are our friends?&mdash;Am I not a
+prisoner?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor, we are far from the palace of Axajacatl. But grieve not; for
+here thou art with thy servants."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou speakest to me in riddles," said the novice, with a disturbed and
+bewildered countenance. "Have I been dreaming? Am I enchanted? Am I
+living, and in my senses?"</p>
+
+<p>"The saints be praised, thou art indeed," said the page, fervently;
+"though, both nights, and all day, till the blessed potion set thee
+asleep, I had no hopes thou wouldst ever recover."</p>
+
+<p>"Both nights!" echoed Don Amador, fixing his eyes inquiringly on the
+boy; "Has a night&mdash;have two nights passed over me, and wert thou, then,
+with me, during it all?&mdash;Ha! Was it thine acts of sorcery, which brought
+me those strange and melancholy visions? Didst <i>thou</i> conjure up to me
+the image of Leila?&mdash;That priestess, that very supernatural
+prophetess&mdash;By heaven! as I see thee, so saw I her standing at my
+bed-side, in some magical light, which straightway turned to darkness.
+Didst thou not see her? Tell me boy, art thou indeed an enchanter?
+Prepare me thy spells again, reveal me her fate, and let me look on the
+face of Leila!"</p>
+
+<p>As the cavalier spoke, he strove in his eagerness to rise from the
+couch.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the page, a little pleasantly, "if thou wilt have me
+satisfy thy questions, thou must learn to acknowledge me as thy
+physician and jailor; and give me such obedience as thou wouldst,
+formerly, have claimed of me. Rise not up, speak not aloud, and give not
+way to the fancies of fever; for here are no priestesses, and no Leilas.
+I will sing to thee, if that will content thee with bondage. But now
+thou must remain in quiet, and be healed of thy wounds."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell thee, my boy Jacinto," went on the cavalier, "wounds or no
+wounds, jailed or not jailed, I am in a perplexity of mind, which, if
+thou art able, I must command, or, what is the same thing, beseech thee
+to remove. First, therefore, what house is this? and where is it?
+(whether on the isle Mexico, the lake side, the new world, or the old,
+or, indeed, in any part of the earth at all?) Secondly, how got'st thou
+into it? Thirdly, how came I hither myself?&mdash;and especially, what good
+Christian did snatch my body out of the paws of those roaring lions, the
+Mexicans, when I was hit that foul and assassin-like blow by&mdash;by&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the page, not doubting but that his patron had paused for
+want of breath, "to answer all these questions, is more than I am
+allowed. All that I can say, is, that if prudent and obedient, (I say
+obedient, noble and dear master," continued the boy archly, "for now you
+are my prisoner,) you are safer in this dungeon than are your Spanish
+friends in their fortress,&mdash;reduced to captivity, indeed, but preserved
+from destruction&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"By the false, traitorous, and most ungrateful knave, Abdalla, thy
+father!" exclaimed the neophyte, with a loud and stern voice; for just
+as he had hesitated to wound the ears of the boy, he beheld, slowly
+stalking into the apartment, and eyeing him over Jacinto's shoulder, the
+Almogavar himself; and the epithets of indignation burst at once from
+his lips. Jacinto started back, alarmed; but Abdalla approached, and
+regarding the wounded cavalier with an unmoved countenance, motioned the
+boy to retire.&mdash;In an instant the Moor of Barbary and the Spaniard of
+Castile were left alone together.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I repeat my words, thou base and cut-throat infidel?" cried Don
+Amador, rising so far as to place his feet on the floor, though still
+sitting on the platform which supported his mattress, and speaking with
+the most cutting anger. "Was it not enough, that thou wert a renegade to
+the rest, but thou must raise thy Judas-hand against thy benefactor?"</p>
+
+<p>"My benefactor indeed!" said Abdoul calmly, and with the most musical
+utterance of his voice. "Though I wear the livery of the pagans;" (He
+had on an armed tunic, somewhat similar to that of Quauhtimotzin, though
+without a plume to his head, and looked not unlike to a Mexican warrior
+of high degree;) "and though I am, by birth, the natural enemy of thee
+and thine, yet have I not forgot that thou <i>art</i> my benefactor! I
+remember, that, when a brutal soldier struck at me with his lance, thy
+hand was raised to protect me from the shame; I remember, when a
+thousand weapons were darting at my prostrate body on the pyramid of
+Zempoala, that thou didst not disdain to preserve me; I remember, that,
+when I fled from the anger of Don Hernan, thou offeredst me thine
+intercession. Señor, I have forgotten none of this; nor have I
+forgotten," he went on, with earnest gratitude, "that, to these favours,
+thou didst add the greater ones, of shielding my feeble child from
+stripes, from ruin, and perhaps from death. This have I not forgotten,
+this can I never forget! The name of Spaniard is a curse on my ears; I
+hate thy people, and, when God gives me help, I will slay, even to the
+last man! but I remember, that thou art my benefactor, and the
+benefactor of my child."</p>
+
+<p>"And dost thou think," said the neophyte, "that these oily words will
+blind me to thy baseness? or that they can deceive me into belief, when
+thy actions have so foully belied them? Cursed art thou, misbelieving
+Moor! an ingrate and apostate; and, had I no cause, in mine own person,
+to know thy perfidy, it should be enough to blazon thy villany, that
+thou hast, on thine own confession, deserted the standard of Christ, and
+the arms of Spain, to enlist in the ranks of their pagan foes!"</p>
+
+<p>"The standard of Christ," said the Moor, with emphasis, "waves not over
+the heads of the Spaniards, but the banner of a fiend, bloody, unjust,
+and accursed, whom they call by His holy name, and who bids them to
+defile and destroy; while the Redeemer proclaimeth only good-will and
+peace to all men. Have thy good heart and thy strong mind been so
+deluded? Canst thou, in truth, believe, that these oppressors of a
+harmless people, these slayers, who raise the cross of heaven on the
+place of blood, and call to God for approval, when their hands are
+smoking with the blood of his creatures, are the followers of Christ the
+peaceful, Christ the just, Christ the holy? These friends whom thou hast
+followed, are not Christians; and God, whom they traduce and belie in
+all their actions, has given them over to the punishment of hypocrites
+and blasphemers, to sufferings miserable and unparalleled, to deaths
+dreadful and memorable! May it be accomplished,&mdash;Amen!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou speak this to <i>me</i>, vile Almogavar! of my friends and
+countrymen? Dost thou curse them thus in my presence, most unworthy
+apostate?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sorrowful be their doom, and quickly may it come upon them!" cried
+Abdalla, with ferocious fervour, "for what are they, that it should not
+be just? and what am I, that I should not pray that it be accomplished?
+I remember the days of Granada! I remember the sack of the Alhambra! I
+remember the slaughter of the Alpujarras! and I have not forgotten the
+mourning exiles, driven from those green hills, to die among the sands
+of Africa, the clime of their fathers, but to them a land of strangers!
+I remember me how the lowly were given to the scourge, and the princely
+to the fires of Inquisitors,&mdash;our children to spears, our wives to
+ravishers and murderers!&mdash;Cursed be they that did these things, even to
+the last generation!"</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier was amazed and confounded at the vehement and lofty
+indignation of the Morisco; and as the form of Abdoul-al-Sidi swelled
+with wrath, and his countenance darkened under the gloomy recollection,
+he seemed to Don Amador rather like one of those mountain princes, who
+had defied the conquerors, to the last, among the Alpujarras, than a
+poor herdsman of Fez, deriving his knowledge, and his fury, only from
+the incitations of exiles. His embarrassment was also increased by a
+secret consciousness, that the Moor had cause for his hate and his
+denunciations. He answered him, however, with a severe voice:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"In these ills and sufferings, <i>thou</i> hadst no part, unless thou hast
+lied to me; having been a child of the desert, afar from the sufferers
+of Granada."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>lied</i> to thee, then," said Abdalla, elevating his figure, and
+regarding the cavalier with proud tranquillity. "From the beginning to
+the end, was I a chief among the mourners and rebels,&mdash;the first to
+strike, as I am now the last to curse, the oppressor,&mdash;a child of the
+desert, only when I had no more to suffer among the Alpujarras; and thou
+mayst know, now, that my fury is as deep as it is just,&mdash;for the poor
+Abdalla is no Almogavar of Barbary, but a Zegri of Granada!"</p>
+
+<p>"A Zegri of Granada!" cried Don Amador, with surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"A Zegri of Granada, and a prince among Zegris!" said the Moor, with a
+more stately look, though with a voice of the deepest sorrow; "one whose
+fathers have given kings to the Alhambra, but who hath lived to see his
+child a menial in the house of his foe, and both child and father
+leagued with, and lost among, the infidels of a strange land, in a world
+unknown!"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought, by heaven!" said the cavalier, eyeing the apostate with a
+look almost of respect, "that that courage of thine in the pirate rover,
+did argue thee to be somewhat above the stamp of a common boor; and
+therefore, but more especially in regard of thy boy, did I give thee
+consideration myself, and enforce it, as well as I could, to be yielded
+by others. But, by the faith which thou professest, sir Zegri! be thou
+ignoble or regal in thy condition, I have not forgotten that, by the
+blow which has made me (as it seems to me, I am,) thy prisoner, thou
+hast shown thyself unworthy of nobility; and I tell thee again, with
+disgust and indignation, that thou hast done the act of a base and most
+villanous caitiff!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou still say so?" replied the Zegri, mildly. "I have
+acknowledged, that no gratitude can repay thy benefactions; this do I
+still confess; and yet have I done all to requite thee. Thou lookest on
+me with amazement. What is my crime, noble benefactor?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is thy crime? Art <i>thou</i> bewitched, too?&mdash;Slave of an ingrate,
+didst thou not, when I was already overpowered, smite me down with thine
+own weapon?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did,&mdash;heaven be thanked!" said the Moor, devoutly.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou acknowledge it, and thank heaven too?" said the incensed
+cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>"I acknowledge it, and I thank heaven!" said Abdalla, firmly. "Thou
+saidst, thou wert already overpowered. Wert thou not in the hands of the
+Mexicans, beyond all hope of rescue?"</p>
+
+<p>"Doubtless, I was," replied the neophyte; "for Cortes was afar, and
+Alvarado full three spears' length behind. Nevertheless, I did not
+despair of maintaining the fight, until my friends came up to my
+relief."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wert a captive!" cried the Zegri, impetuously,&mdash;"a living captive
+in the hands of Mexicans! Dost thou know the fate of a prisoner in such
+hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith," said Don Amador, "I have heard, they put their prisoners
+to the torture."</p>
+
+<p>"They sacrifice them to the gods!" cried the Moor. "And the death," he
+continued, his swarthy visage whitening with horror, "the death is of
+such torment and terror as thou canst not conceive; but <i>I</i> can, for I
+have seen it! Now hear me: I saw my benefactor a captive, and I knew his
+life would end on the stone of sacrifice, offered up, like that of a
+beast, to false and fiendish gods! I say, I saw thee thus; I knew this
+should be thy doom; and I did all that my gratitude taught me, to save
+thee. I struck thee down, knowing, that if I slew thee, the blow would
+be that of a true friend, and that thou shouldst die like a soldier, not
+like a fatted sheep. Heaven, however, gave me all that I had dared to
+hope: I harmed thee not; and yet the Mexicans believed that death had
+robbed them of a victim. I harmed thee not; and the heathens suffered me
+to drag away what seemed a corse; but which lived, and was <i>my
+benefactor</i>,&mdash;the saviour of myself, and the protector of my child!"</p>
+
+<p>As Abdalla concluded these words, spoken with much emphasis and feeling,
+a tear glistened in his eye; and the neophyte, starting up and eagerly
+grasping his hand, exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Now, by heaven! I see all the wisdom and truth of thy friendship; and I
+beg thy pardon for whatever insulting words my folly has caused me to
+speak. And, now that I know the blow was struck for such a purpose, I
+confess to thee, as thou saidst thyself, it would have been true
+gratitude and love, though it had killed me outright."</p>
+
+<p>"I have done thee even more service than this," said the Zegri, calmly;
+"but, before I speak it, I must demand of thee, as a Christian and
+honourable soldier, to confess thyself my just and true captive."</p>
+
+<p>"Thy captive!" cried Don Amador. "Dost thou hold me then as a prisoner,
+and not as a guest and friend? Dost thou check my thankfulness in the
+bud, and cancel thy services, by making me thy thrall?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not answer thy demands," said Abdalla. "I call upon thee, as a
+noble and knightly soldier, fairly captured, in open war, by my hands,
+to acknowledge thyself my captive; and, as such, in all things, justly
+at my disposition."</p>
+
+<p>"If thou dost exact it of me," said the cavalier, regarding him with
+much surprise and sorrow, "I must, as a man of honour, so acknowledge
+myself. But I began to think better of thee, Abdalla!"</p>
+
+<p>"And, as a prisoner, to whose honour is confided the charge of his own
+keeping, thou engagest to remain in captivity, without abusing the
+confidence which allows such license, by any efforts to escape?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou demand this much of me?" said Don Amador, with mortified and
+dejected looks. "If thou art thyself resolved to remain in the
+indulgence of thy treason, thou surely wilt not think to keep me from my
+friends, in their difficulties? and especially from my poor kinsman; who
+is now greatly disordered, and chiefly, I think, because thou hast
+robbed him of Jacinto."</p>
+
+<p>"This am I not called upon to answer," said Abdalla, gravely. "I only
+demand of thee, what thou knowest thou canst not honourably refuse,&mdash;thy
+knightly gage, to observe the rules of captivity, until such time as I
+may think proper to absolve and free thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir Almogavar, or sir Zegri, or whatsoever thou art," said the
+cavalier, folding his arms, and surveying his jailor sternly, "use the
+powers which thou hast, thy chains, and thy magical arts; for I believe
+thou dealest with the devil;&mdash;get me ready thy fetters, and thy dungeon.
+Thou hast the right so to use me, and I consent to the same; but I will
+gage thee no word to keep in bonds, inglorious and at ease, while my
+friends are in peril. However great the service thou hast done to me, I
+perceive thou art a traitor. I command thee, therefore, that thou have
+me chained and immured forthwith; for, with God's will and help, I will
+escape from thee as soon as possible, and especially, whensoever my
+friends come to assist me."</p>
+
+<p>"I grant thee this privilege, when thy friends come near to us," said
+Abdalla, coolly, "whether thou art chained or not. It is not possible
+thou canst escape, otherwise, at all. Thou art far from the palace,
+ignorant of the way, and, besides, divided from it by a wall of
+Mexicans, who cannot be numbered. What I ask thee, is for thy good, and
+for the good of myself, and Jacinto. If thou leave this house, thou wilt
+be immediately seized, and carried to the stone of sacrifice."</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador shuddered, but said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I trust in God! and the thought of this fate shall not deter me."</p>
+
+<p>"Go then, if thou wilt," said the Zegri, haughtily. "The service I have
+done thee, has not yet released me from thy debt; and thou canst yet
+command me. Begone, if thou art resolute: the door is open; I oppose
+thee not. Preserve thy life, if thou canst; and when thou art safe at
+the garrison, remember, that Abdoul-al-Sidi, and the boy Jacinto, have
+taken thy place on the altar of victims."</p>
+
+<p>"What dost thou mean? I understand thee not.&mdash;What meanest thou?"</p>
+
+<p>"Even that thou canst not escape, without the same being made known to
+the Mexicans; and that it cannot be made known to this vindictive
+people, that I have robbed them of their prey, without the penalty of my
+own life, and that of Jacinto, being immediately executed. When thou
+fliest, the father and the son perish."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou speak me this in good faith?" said the cavalier, greatly
+troubled. "God forbid I should bring harm to thee, and especially to the
+boy. If I give thee my gage,&mdash;thou wilt not hold me bound to refrain
+from joining my friends, should I be so fortunate as to see them pass
+by, and am persuaded, the Mexicans will not discover thou hast harboured
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"If they pass by, I will myself open the doors," said Abdalla; "for I
+protest to thee, I keep thee here only to ensure thy security."</p>
+
+<p>"Hark'ee, sir Moor&mdash;Don Hernan is about to retreat. Dost thou intend I
+shall remain in captivity&mdash;a single victim among the barbarians&mdash;while
+my countrymen are flying afar, perhaps returning to Christendom?"</p>
+
+<p>"I swear to thee, señor," said the Zegri, earnestly, "that, when the
+Spaniards fly from this city, thou shalt be free to fly with them. I
+repeat, I make thee a prisoner, to prevent thy becoming a victim."</p>
+
+<p>"And what hinders that we do not fly together to the palace? Thy
+knowledge may conduct us through the streets by night; and, with my
+head, I will engage thee a free pardon, and friendly reception."</p>
+
+<p>"God hath commissioned me to the work, and it shall go on!" said the
+Moor, with solemn emphasis. "I know that thou couldst not save me from
+the fury of Don Hernan: he would grant thee my life at midnight, and, on
+the morrow, thou wouldst find me dead in the court-yard. Fly, if thou
+wilt, and leave me to perish by the hands of Mexicans: Spaniards shall
+drink my blood no more!"</p>
+
+<p>"I give thee my gage," said the cavalier, "with this understanding,
+then, that I am free to fly, whenever I may do so without perilling thy
+life, and the life of Jacinto."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou wilt hold to this pledge, like a true cavalier?" demanded
+Abdalla, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, I cannot break my plighted word!"</p>
+
+<p>"God be thanked!" cried the Zegri, grasping the hand of the cavalier,
+"for, by this promise, thou hast saved thy life! Remain here; Jacinto
+shall be thy jailor, thy companion, thy servant. Be content with thy
+lot, and thank God; for thou art the only brand plucked out of the
+burning, while all the rest shall perish.&mdash;God be praised!&mdash;I save my
+benefactor!"</p>
+
+<p>With these exclamations of satisfaction, Abdalla departed from the
+chamber.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The cavalier pondered, in perplexity, over the words of Abdalla; and,
+the longer he reflected, the more he began to lament his captivity, and
+doubt the wisdom of his gage.</p>
+
+<p>"It is apparent to me," he soliloquized, "that my countrymen are in
+greater jeopardy than I before apprehended, and that it has been the
+plot of this subtle Moor, (whom I confess, however, to have something
+elevated and noble in his way of thinking, and much gratitude of heart,
+though of a mistaken character,) to keep me out of harm's way, while the
+Mexicans are murdering my companions. Heaven forgive me my rash parole,
+if this be true; for such safety becomes dishonour and ignominy. I will
+talk with him further on the subject; and if I find he hath thus schemed
+to preserve me, at such a price of degradation, I will straightway
+revoke my engagement, as being wrung from me by deceit, and quite
+impossible to be fulfilled.&mdash;I marvel where loiters the boy, Jacinto?
+Methinks I could eat something now, for I know not how long it is since
+I have tasted food:&mdash;an orange, or a bunch of grapes, were not
+amiss.&mdash;But, heaven save me! I have heard oranges do not grow in this
+land; and, perhaps these poor Moriscos are no better off than my friends
+at the palace. God help them! for the Mexicans fight like Turks; and,
+once or twice, that evening of the conflagration, I thought I had got me
+again into the trenches of Rhodes; and as for those knaves that wounded
+me, never did I see more valiant devils. I am glad I left my knight so
+possessed of his wits.&mdash;That Botello doth seem very clearly to have
+apprehended my fate, though the mishap be not so miserable as death.
+Truly, there did, a third time, war come out of peace; and yet, I assure
+myself, that, this time, it was brought about by Don Hernan rushing
+against that supernatural creature, that looks on me in the street, and
+eyes me even by my bed-side."</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier was startled from his revery by a light step, and as the
+curtain was drawn aside from the door, he almost thought, for an
+instant, that he beheld the visage of the priestess, peering through its
+folds. A second glance, however, showed him the features of the Moorish
+page, who came in, bearing a little basket of fruits and Indian
+confections, as if anticipating his wants. These Jacinto placed before
+him, and then sat down at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments, Don Amador, in the satisfaction of the boy's presence
+forgot many of his perplexities; but observing, at last, that Jacinto's
+smiles were ever alternating with looks of distress and alarm, and that,
+sometimes, he surveyed his imprisoned master with eyes of great
+wildness, the cavalier began again to recur to his condition, to the
+mysteries which surrounded him, and especially to the suspicions, which
+so often attributed to the page the possession of magical arts.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou saidst, Jacinto," he abruptly exclaimed, after thrusting aside the
+almost untasted food, and regarding the boy with a penetrating look,
+"that thou wert for the two last nights at my bed-side?&mdash;God be good to
+me! for 'tis an evil thing to be benighted so long!"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor, I was."</p>
+
+<p>"And, during all that time, I was entirely dispossessed of my wits?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor mio, yes. But, now, heaven be thanked your honour will recover!"</p>
+
+<p>"And, thou art sure, I did not labour more under enchantment than
+fever?"</p>
+
+<p>The page smiled, but very faintly, and without replying.</p>
+
+<p>"To me, it seems no longer possible to doubt," said the cavalier, "that
+I have been, divers times, of late, entirely bewitched; and that thou
+hast had some agency in my delusions."</p>
+
+<p>Jacinto smiled more pleasantly, and seemed to forget the secret thoughts
+which had agitated him.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou," demanded the cavalier, "know aught of a certain
+supernatural priestess, that goes about the streets of this town, in
+pagan processions, followed by countless herds of nobles and warriors?"</p>
+
+<p>The page hesitated, while replying&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have indeed heard of such a creature, and&mdash;I may say,&mdash;I have seen
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast seen her!&mdash;Is she mortal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, I think so, noble señor," replied Jacinto, with increasing
+embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>"For my part," said the novice, with a deep sigh and a troubled aspect,
+"I am almost quite convinced, that she is a spectre, and an inhabitant
+of hell, sent forth upon the earth to punish me with much affliction,
+and, perhaps, with madness. For I think she is the spirit of Leila; and
+her appearance in the guise of a pagan goddess, or pagan priestess,&mdash;the
+one or the other,&mdash;shows me, that she whom I loved, dwells not with
+angels, but with devils. This is a thought," continued the cavalier,
+mournfully, "that burns my heart as with a coal; and if God spare my
+life, and return me to mine own land, I will devote my estates to buy
+masses for her soul; for surely she cannot have fallen from sin into
+irreparable wo, but only into a punishment for some heresy, the fault of
+bad instruction, which may be expiated."</p>
+
+<p>Jacinto regarded the distressed visage of his patron with concern, and
+with indecision, as if impelled, and yet afraid, to speak what might
+remove his anguish. Then, at last, moved by affection, and looking up
+with arch confidence to Don Amador, he said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Señor, I can relieve you of this unhappiness. This is no spirit, but a
+woman, as I know full well, for I am in the secret.&mdash;I am not sure that
+it will not offend my father, to divulge such a secret to any Spaniard:
+yet can its revealment prejudice none. Know, señor, and use not this
+confession to my father's injury, that all this interlude of the
+prophetess, devised by the Mexican nobles and priests, with my father's
+counsel and aid, is a scheme to inflame the people with fresh devotion
+and fury against the Spaniards, your countrymen. For, being very
+superstitious and credulous, the common people are easily persuaded that
+their gods have sent them a messenger, to encourage and observe their
+valour; as, it is fabled, they have done in former days. The prophetess
+is but a puppet in their hands."</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier eyed the young speaker steadfastly, until Jacinto cast his
+looks to the earth.</p>
+
+<p>"Set this woman before me; let me look upon her," he said, gravely, and
+yet with earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>The page returned his gaze with one of confusion, and even affright.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou wilt not think to deceive me," continued his patron, "after
+confiding to me so much? Know thou, that it will rejoice me, relieving
+my mind of many pangs, to find that thy words are true, and to look upon
+this most beauteous, and, to my eyes, this most supernatural, barbarian.
+If she be a living creature, thou hast it in thy power to produce her,
+for she dwells in this house. I say this, Jacinto, on strong persuasion
+of the fact, for last night I beheld her, and did almost touch her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the boy, briskly, "that was one of the fancies of thy
+delirium. It was my poor self thou wert looking on. Twenty times, or
+more, didst thou call to me, as being the prophetess; and as often
+didst thou see in me some other strange creature. Now, I was my lord Don
+Gabriel, your worship's kinsman; now, some lady that your honour loved;
+now, an angel, bringing you succour in battle; now, my lord's little
+brother; now, his enemy;&mdash;and, twice or thrice, I was my own poor self,
+only that I was killing my lord with a dagger,&mdash;as if I could do any
+wrong to my master!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the truth, indeed?" said the cavalier, dolorously. "I could
+have sworn, that I saw that woman, and that I was very sane, when I saw
+her. As for the after-visions, I can well believe, that they were the
+phantasms of fever, being very extravagant, and but vaguely
+remembered.&mdash;Thou deniest, then, that thou hast the power of casting
+spells?"</p>
+
+<p>The page smiled merrily, for he perceived his patron was relieved of one
+irrational distress, and, banteringly, replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I will not say <i>that</i>;&mdash;I can do many things my lord would not think,
+and I know many he would not dream."</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier was too sad and too simple-minded to jest.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe thee," he said, seriously; "for, in every thing, thou art a
+miracle and mystery. Why is it, that thou hast obtained such a command
+over my affections? Why is it, that I have come to regard thee, not as a
+boy, young and foolish, but as one ripe in years and wisdom? It must
+needs be, because thou derivest thy power and thy knowledge from those
+astral and magical arts, which I once esteemed so vain; for I remember
+me, that, at thy years, I was, myself, not half so much advanced in
+intelligence and art, but was, on the contrary, quite a dull and foolish
+boy."</p>
+
+<p>"It all comes of my music," said the page: "for that is a talent which
+matures faster than any other, and drags others along with it; besides
+giving one great skill in touching hearts. Your worship remembers how
+soon young David gained the love of the Jewish king, and how he would
+have cured him of his melancholy, but that Saul had a bad heart. Now, my
+lord seems, to me, to have, like this king, an evil spirit troubling
+him; and perhaps, if he will let me, I can sing it away, with the ballad
+of the Knight and the Page; for my lord's heart is good."</p>
+
+<p>"The Knight and the Page? I have never heard thee sing that," said Don
+Amador, somewhat indifferently. "What is it about?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is about a brave cavalier, that loved a noble lady, who loved him;
+but being made to believe her false to her vows, he went to the wars to
+die, followed by a little page, whom he thought the only true friend he
+had left in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith," said Don Amador, regarding the boy kindly, "in this
+respect, methinks, I am, at present, somewhat like that knight; for
+thou, that art, likewise, a little page, seemest to be the only friend I
+have left in the world&mdash;that is, in this city,&mdash;that is to say, in this
+part of it; for I have much confidence in the love of several at the
+palace, notwithstanding that I think some others were a little backward
+in supporting me, when beset, that evil day, by the barbarians.&mdash;Was he
+a Spanish knight? and of what parts?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of the Sierra Morena, at some place where the Jucar washes its foot."</p>
+
+<p>"In good truth!" cried the cavalier, "that is the very river that rolls
+by Cuenza; and herein, again, is there another parallel.&mdash;But I should
+inform thee, that, when the mountain reaches so far as the Jucar, and
+runs up along its course, it is then called the Sierra of Cuenza, and
+not Morena. But this is a small matter. I shall be as glad to hear of
+the knight of Jucar, as of one of my ancestors."</p>
+
+<p>"He resembled my lord still more," said the page, "for he had fallen,
+fighting the infidel, very grievously wounded; and his little page
+remained at his side, to share his fate."</p>
+
+<p>"That <i>I</i> have, in a manner, fallen, and, as I may say, fighting the
+infidel, is true; but by no means can it be said, that I am grievously
+wounded. These cuts, that I have on my body, are but such scratches as
+one might make with a thorn; and, were it not for my head, which doth
+ever and anon ring much like to a bell, and ache somewhat immoderately,
+I should think myself well able to go out fighting again; not at all
+regarding my feebleness, which is not much, and my stiff joints, which a
+little exercise would greatly reduce into suppleness."</p>
+
+<p>"It was the resemblance of my lord's situation to the knight of Jucar's,
+that reminded me of the roundelay," said Jacinto, taking up his lute,
+and stringing it into accord; "and now your worship shall represent the
+wounded knight, and I the young page that followed him.&mdash;But your
+worship should suppose me, instead of being a boy, to be a woman in
+disguise."</p>
+
+<p>"A woman in disguise!" said the cavalier: "Is the page, then, the false
+mistress? There should be very good cause to put a woman in disguise;
+for, besides that it robs her, to appearance, if not absolutely, of the
+natural delicacy of her sex, it forces her to be a hypocrite. A
+deceitful woman is still more odious than a double-faced man."</p>
+
+<p>"But this lady had great cause," said Jacinto, "seeing that love and
+sorrow, together, forced her into the henchman's habit, as my lord will
+presently see."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, with a pleasant smile, the minstrel struck the lute, and sang
+the following little</p>
+
+<h4>ROMANCE OF THE KNIGHT AND THE PAGE.</h4>
+
+<h4>1.</h4>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">A Christian knight, in the Paynim land,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Lay bleeding on the plain;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">The fight was done, and the field was won,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">But not by the Christian train:<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">The cross had vail'd to the crescent,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">The Moorish shouts rose high,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">'<i>Lelilee! Lelilee!</i>'&mdash;but the Christian knight<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Sent up a sadder cry.<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">"My castle lies on Morena's top,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Jucar is far away:&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">My lady will rue for her vows untrue<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">But God be good for aye!&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Young page! thou followest well;<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">These dog-howls heed not thou."&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">'<i>Lelilee! Lelilee!</i>'&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">"Get thee hence to my lady now.<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Tell her this blood, that pours a flood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">My heart's true faith doth prove&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">My corse to earth, my sighs to thee,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">My heart to my lady love!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<h4>2.</h4>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">The page, he knelt at the Christian's side,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">And sorely sobb'd he then:<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">"The faithless love can truer prove<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Than hosts of faithful men.<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">The cross has vail'd to the crescent,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">The Moorish shouts are high,"&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">'<i>Lelilee! Lelilee!</i>'&mdash;"but the love untrue<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Hath yet another cry.<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Thy castle lies on Morena's top,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Jucar is far away;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">But dies the bride at her true lord's side,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Now God be good for aye!<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">The page that followeth well,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Repeats the unbroken vow"&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">'<i>Lelilee! Lelilee!</i>'&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">"Oh, look on thy lady now!<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">For now this blood, that pours a flood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Doth show her true love's plight.&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">My soul to God, my blood to thine&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">My life for my dying knight."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Is that <i>all</i>?" said the cavalier, when Jacinto had warbled out the
+last line. "There should have been another stanza, to explain what was
+the cause of separation, as well as how it happened that the lady came
+to follow the knight, as a servant; neither of which circumstances is
+very manifest."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said Jacinto, "if all the story had been told, it would have
+made a book. It is clear, that an evil destiny separated the pair, and
+that love sent the lady after her lord."</p>
+
+<p>"Be thou a conjuror or not," said Don Amador, musingly, "thou hast the
+knack ever to hit upon subjects, as well in thy songs as in thy stories,
+which both provoke my curiosity, and revive my melancholy. <i>My</i> castle,
+as I may say, doth 'lie on Morena's top,'&mdash;that is to say, on the ridge
+of Cuenza;&mdash;and Jucar is, indeed, 'far away;' but heaven hath left me no
+lady-love, either to die with me among the infidels, by whom I am made
+to bleed, or to lament me at home. An evil destiny (<i>how</i> evil I know
+not, and yet do I dread, more dark than that which prevails with a
+jealous heart,) hath separated me from one whom I loved,&mdash;and,
+doubtless, hath separated me for ever." The cavalier sighed deeply, bent
+his eyes for a moment on the ground, and then raising them, with a
+solemn look, to the page, said abruptly, "I have come to be persuaded,
+altogether beyond the contradiction of my reason, that thou hast,
+somehow, and, perhaps, by magical arts, obtained a knowledge of the
+history of my past life. If thou knowest aught of the fate of Leila, the
+lamented maid of Almeria, I adjure thee to reveal thy knowledge, and
+without delay! Thou shakest thy head.&mdash;Wherefore didst thou refuse to
+finish the story of her who bore her name, and who dwelt in the same
+city?"</p>
+
+<p>"My lord will be angry with me," said the page, rising in some
+perturbation,&mdash;"I have deceived him!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to know thou couldst be, in any way, guilty of deceit,
+though I do readily forgive thee; charging thee, however, at all times,
+to remember, that any deceitfulness is but a form of mendacity, and
+therefore as mean and degrading as it is sinful.&mdash;In what hast thou
+deceived me?"</p>
+
+<p>"When I told my lord the story of Leila, and perceived how it disturbed
+him," said Jacinto, with a faltering voice, "I repented me, and told him
+a thing that was not true, to appease him. The Leila of whom I spoke,
+had dwelt in Almeria within a year past; and, perhaps, she was the maid
+that my lord remembered."</p>
+
+<p>As the page made this confession, Don Amador sprang eagerly to his feet,
+and, as he seized the speaker's arm, cried, with much agitation,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou tell me the truth? and does she live? God be praised for
+ever! doth the maiden live?"</p>
+
+<p>"She lived, when my father brought me from Barbary&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven be thanked! I will ransom her from the infidels, though I give
+myself up to captivity as the price!"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the page, sorrowfully, "you forget that you are now a
+prisoner in another world."</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier smote his breast, crying, "It is true! and the revealment
+comes too late!&mdash;Silly boy!" he continued, reproachfully, "why didst
+thou delay telling me this, until this time, when it can only add to my
+griefs? Why didst thou not speak it, at Tlascala, that I might have
+departed forthwith from the land, to her rescue?"</p>
+
+<p>"My lord would not have deserted his kinsman, Don Gabriel?"</p>
+
+<p>"True again!" exclaimed Don Amador, with a pang. "I could not have left
+my knight, even at the call of Leila. But now will I go to Don Gabriel,
+and confessing to him my sorrow, will prevail upon him straightway to
+depart with me; for here, it must be plain to him, as it is to me, that
+God is not with us.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! señor," said the page, "it is not possible that you should go to
+Don Gabriel, nor that you should ever more leave this heathen land."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou confess, then," demanded the novice, "that Abdalla has
+deceived me, and that I am held to perpetual captivity?"</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said the boy, clasping his hands, and weeping bitterly, "we
+shall never more see Spain, nor any land but this. The fate of Don
+Hernan, and of all his men, is written; they are in a net from which
+they cannot escape; and we, who are spared, obtain our lives only at the
+price of expatriation. My father remembered his protector,&mdash;my lord is
+saved; but he shares our exile!"</p>
+
+<p>At this confirmation of his worst suspicions, the countenance of Don
+Amador darkened with despair and horror.</p>
+
+<p>"And Abdalla, thy father, has plotted this foul, traitorous, and most
+bloody catastrophe? And he thinks, that, for my life's sake, I will
+divide with him the dishonour and guilt of my preservation?"</p>
+
+<p>"My lord knows not the wrongs of my father," said Jacinto, mournfully,
+"or he would not speak of him so harshly."</p>
+
+<p>"Thy father is a most traitor-like and backsliding villain," said Don
+Amador, "and this baseness in him should entirely cancel in thee the
+bonds of affection and duty; for thou art not of his nature. Hark thee,
+then, boy: it is my purpose straightway to depart from this house, and
+this durance. I desire to save thee from the fate of a pagan's slave.
+Better will it be for thee, if thou shouldst die with me, in the attempt
+to reach the palace, (and I swear to thee, I will protect thee to the
+last moment of my life,) than remain in Tenochtitlan, after thy
+Christian friends have left it, or after they are slain. It is my hope,
+and, indeed, my belief, that, when the valiant general, Don Hernan,
+comes to be persuaded of his true condition, he will, immediately, and
+at any cost, cut his way out of this most accursed city. In this manner
+will we escape, and thou shall find, in me, a father who will love thee
+not less truly, and more in fashion of a Christian, than the apostate
+Zegri."</p>
+
+<p>"If my lord could but protect my father from the anger of Don Hernan,
+and prevail upon him to return with my lord!" said Jacinto, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have already proposed this to him, and, in his fury, he denies me."</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven help us then!" cried Jacinto, "for there is no other hope; and
+we must dwell with the barbarians!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou think, that I will rest here, when they are murdering Don
+Gabriel?&mdash;Hark thee! what knave has stolen away my sword?&mdash;Know, that I
+will straightway make my escape, and carry thee along with me; for God
+would not forgive me, did I leave thee abandoned to barbarians, to the
+eternal loss and perdition of thy soul. I say to thee again, thou shalt
+accompany me."</p>
+
+<p>"I will remain with my father!" said the boy, stepping back, and
+assuming some of that dignity and decision, which the neophyte had so
+lately witnessed in Abdalla; "and so will my lord, likewise; for my lord
+has given him a pledge, which he cannot forfeit."</p>
+
+<p>"Miserable wretch that I am!" said the cavalier;&mdash;"in either case, I am
+overwhelmed with dishonour. My gage was sinful, and the infraction of it
+will be shame. Bring me hither Abdalla; I will revoke my promise to him
+in person; and, after that, I can depart, without disgrace."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou canst not escape, without shedding blood, at least," said the boy,
+with a pale and yet determined countenance, "for, first, thou must slay
+my father, who saved thee from the death of sacrifice. If thou goest, in
+his absence, then must my lord strike down the son;&mdash;for with what
+strength I have, I will prevent him!"</p>
+
+<p>The amazement with which the warlike cavalier heard these words, and
+beheld the stripling throw himself manfully before the door of the
+apartment, entirely disconcerted him for a moment. Before he could find
+words to express his anger, or perhaps derision, the page, with a sudden
+revulsion of feeling, ran from the door, and flinging himself at his
+patron's feet, embraced his knees, weeping and exclaiming, with much
+passion,</p>
+
+<p>"O my dear master! be not incensed with me: for I am but weak and silly,
+and I have no friends but my father and thee! If thou takest me from my
+father, then shall he be left childless, to live and to die alone; if
+thou goest without us, we shall be deserted to perish without a friend;
+for no one has smiled on us but my lord; and if thou goest while my
+father is absent, he will curse me, and I will curse myself,&mdash;for thou
+must needs die in the streets!"</p>
+
+<p>The novice was touched, not so much by the last and undeniable
+assurance, as by the pathetic appeal of the Morisco.</p>
+
+<p>"Be comforted, Jacinto," he cried; "for now, indeed, it appears to me,
+that, whether I had passed my gage or not, I could not take advantage of
+the weakness of such a jailor, and fly, without the greatest shame. And,
+in addition, it seems to me inhuman and unjust, that I should think of
+escaping, without doing my best to snatch thee and thy father also,
+(whose sinfulness does, in this case, at least, spring from affection,)
+out of thraldom. Be thou therefore content: I will remain thy patient
+prisoner, until such time as Abdalla returns; hoping that I can, then,
+advance such remonstrance and argument, as shall convert him from his
+purpose, and cause him to repent what wrongs he has already done Don
+Hernan, and to accept his mercy, which I do again avow myself ready to
+secure with my life, and even with my honour. But I warn thee, that I
+can by no means remain a captive, while my friends are given up to
+destruction."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," said Jacinto, rising, "there is a hope they will be spared, if
+the king should recover; for greatly have the Mexicans mourned the rage
+which wounded their monarch. If he live, and again command peace, there
+will be peace; and all of us may yet be happy."</p>
+
+<p>"God grant that this may be so!" said the cavalier, catching at the
+hope. "I will therefore remain with thee a little; for if my friends be
+not starved outright, I have no fear but that they can easily maintain
+themselves a week in the palace."</p>
+
+<p>"And besides, señor," said the page, returning to his playful manner,
+"if you were to leave me, how should you hear more of the maid of
+Almeria?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of Leila?" cried the cavalier, forgetting at once his honour and his
+friends; "now do I remember me, that you have not yet told me how you
+acquired your most blessed and blissful knowledge. Heaven forgive me! I
+did not think it possible,&mdash;but, I believe, I had entirely forgotten
+her! How comest thou to know aught of her? Answer me quickly, and be
+still more quick to tell me all you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Will not my lord be satisfied with my knowledge, without seeking after
+the means of acquiring it?" demanded the page, hesitatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"If, indeed," said Don Amador, solemnly, "thou hast obtained it by the
+practice of that land of magic which is forbidden, though my curiosity
+will not permit me to eschew its revelations, yet must I caution thee,
+from this time henceforth, to employ it no more; for, herein, dost thou
+peril thy soul. But, if it be by those arts, which are not in themselves
+sinful, thou shouldst not be ashamed to confess them; for the habit of
+concealment is the first step in the path of deception; and I have
+already assured thee, that a deceiver is, as one may say, a lie in the
+face of his Maker. But of this I will instruct thee more fully
+hereafter: at present, I burn with an unconquerable desire to hear thee
+speak of Leila."</p>
+
+<p>"But how know I," said the page, again hesitating, "that she of whom I
+speak, is the Leila after whom it pleases my lord to inquire?&mdash;And why
+indeed, now that I think of it, should my lord inquire at all after one
+of a persecuted and despised race?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wilt thou still torment me? Have I not told thee that I forgot her
+origin, and loved her?"</p>
+
+<p>"And did she love my lord back again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou askest me what I cannot with certainty answer," replied the
+cavalier, "for she was snatched away from me, before I had yet overcome
+the natural scruples of my pride to discourse of love to one who seemed
+so much beneath the dignity of my birth and fortunes."</p>
+
+<p>"And my lord gave her no cause to think she had obtained favour in his
+eyes?"</p>
+
+<p>"In this thou dost not err; for, saving some gifts, which were, indeed,
+more the boons of a patron than the tribute of a lover, I did nothing to
+address me to her affections. In all things, as I may say, I did rather
+assume the character of one who would befriend and protect her from
+wrong, than of a man seeking after her love."</p>
+
+<p>"But, if she accepted my lord's gifts, she must have loved him," said
+Jacinto.</p>
+
+<p>"They were very trifles," rejoined the cavalier, "saving only one,
+indeed, which, as she must have perceived, could not have been more
+properly bestowed than upon one so innocent and friendless as herself.
+This was a very antique and blessed jewel,&mdash;a cross of rubies,&mdash;fetched
+by mine ancestor, Don Rodrigo of Arragon, more than three hundred years
+ago, from the Holy Land, after having been consecrated upon the
+Sepulchre itself. It was thought to be a talisman of such heavenly
+efficacy, in the hands of an unspotted virgin, that no harm could ever
+come to her, who wore it upon her neck. For mine own part, though I
+could tell thee divers stories of its virtue, recorded in our house, yet
+was I ever inclined to think, that a natural purity of heart was, in all
+cases, a much better protection of innocence than even a holy talisman.
+Nevertheless, when I beheld this orphan Moor, I bethought me of the
+imputed virtues of those rubies; and I put them upon her neck, as
+thinking her friendless condition gave her the strongest claim to all
+such blessed protection."</p>
+
+<p>"A cross of rubies!" cried the page; "it is she!"</p>
+
+<p>"And thou canst tell me of her resting-place? and of her present
+condition?" cried the overjoyed cavalier. "I remember, that, at the
+temple of Tlascala, thou didst aver, that, notwithstanding the apparent
+baseness of her origin, it had been discovered that she was descended of
+very noble parentage!"</p>
+
+<p>"What I <i>can</i> tell thee, and what I <i>will</i>," said Jacinto, gravely,
+"will depend upon thine own actions. If thou leavest this place, without
+my father's consent, hope not that thou shalt know any thing more than
+has been spoken. If thou art content to remain a little time in
+captivity, and to yield me the obedience which I demand, thou shalt
+find, that a child of a contemned race may possess wisdom unknown to men
+of happier degrees. Thou hast acknowledged thyself the captive of my
+father; wilt thou promise obedience to me?"</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador surveyed the boy with a bewildered stare:</p>
+
+<p>"It is possible," said he, "that I am yet dreaming, for it seemeth to me
+very absurd, that thou, who art a boy, and wert but yesterday a servant,
+shouldst make such a demand of subjection to a man and a cavalier, and,
+as I may say, also, thy master."</p>
+
+<p>"My lord will not think I would have him become a servant," said
+Jacinto. "The subjection I require, is for the purpose of securing him
+that gratification of his curiosity, which he has sought,&mdash;and thus only
+can he obtain it. In all other respects, I remain myself the slave of my
+lord."</p>
+
+<p>"Provided thou wilt demand me nothing dishonourable nor irreligious,
+(and now, that I know, from thy father's confession, that thou art of
+noble descent, I can scarcely apprehend in thee any meanness,) I will
+make thee such a promise," said Don Amador. "But I must beseech thee,
+not to torment me with delay."</p>
+
+<p>"My lord shall not repent his goodness," said the page, with a happy
+countenance; "for when he thinks not of it, his wishes shall be
+gratified. But, at present, let him be at peace, and sleep; for the
+time has not yet come. I claim, now, the first proof of my lord's
+obedience. Let him eat of this medicinal confection, and, by a little
+rest, dispel the heats of fever, which are again returning to him."</p>
+
+<p>"I declare to thee," said Don Amador, "I am very well; and this fever is
+caused by suspense, and not disease."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou must obey," said the page. "While thou art sleeping, I will
+inquire for thee the fate of Leila; for it is yet wrapped in darkness,
+and it cannot be discovered but by great efforts."</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier obeyed the injunctions of his young jailer, ate of the
+confection, and, Jacinto leaving the apartment, he yielded to exhaustion
+and drowsiness, and notwithstanding his eager and tormenting curiosity,
+soon fell fast asleep.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX" id="CHAPTER_XLIX"></a>CHAPTER XLIX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Gloom and fear still beset the garrison at the palace of Axajacatl; and
+the mutiny of soldiers, and fierce feuds among the cavaliers, were added
+to other circumstances of distress. Those ancient veterans, who had
+followed Don Hernan, from the first day of invasion, and who had shared
+with him so many privations and perils, were, in general, still true to
+their oaths of obedience, and preserved through all trials, an apparent,
+if not a real composure of spirit, as well as a firm reliance on the
+wisdom of their leader. But the followers of Narvaez, uninured to
+combat, and but lately acquainted with suffering&mdash;their sanguine
+expectations of conquest without danger, and of wealth without labour,
+changed to a mere hope of disgraceful escape, and that hope, as they all
+felt, founded, not in reason, but imagination,&mdash;turned their murmurs
+into the most bitter execrations, and these again into menaces. The
+officers, too, rendered peevish by discontent, and reckoning each the
+discomfiture of his neighbour as the evidence of feebleness or fear,
+spoke to one another with sarcasms, and even sometimes to Don Hernan
+himself with disrespect. The self-command of the general, however, never
+deserted him; he rebuked insult with tranquil indignation, and so far
+prevailed over his fiery subordinates, as to compose most of their
+quarrels, without suffering them to be submitted to the ordeal of
+honour. One feud had arisen, nevertheless, which his skill could not
+allay; and all that he could effect by remonstrance, and even
+supplication, was an agreement of the parties to postpone its final
+arbitrement, until such time as the providence of heaven should conduct
+them afar from Tenochtitlan. The wrath engendered in the bosom of the
+Tonatiuh, by the angry reproaches of De Morla, after their return from
+the battle of the Manta, had been inflamed by a new circumstance, which,
+though of a trivial nature, the pride of Alvarado and the resentment of
+his opponent had converted into an affair of importance.</p>
+
+<p>There was among the many kinswomen of Montezuma, who shared his
+captivity, (for the policy of the general had reduced nearly all the
+royal blood to bonds,) a certain young maiden, a daughter of the lord of
+Colhuacan, and therefore a niece of the king; who, in the general
+partition which the nobler of the cavaliers had, in prospective, made of
+the Indian princesses, had fallen to the lot of Alvarado. In those days
+of legitimacy, there was some degree of divinity allowed to hedge the
+person of even a barbaric monarch; and happy was the hidalgo, who, by
+obtaining a royal maid for his wife, could rank himself, in imaginary
+dignity, with the princes of Christendom. At the present moment, the
+companions of Cortes had rather made their selections, than endeavoured
+to commend themselves to the favour of their mistresses;&mdash;dropping,
+thereby, so much of their reverence for royalty, as not to suppose the
+existence of any will, or opposition, in the objects of their desire.
+The Doña Engracia, (her native title has entirely escaped the
+historians,) was, therefore, beloved by Don Pedro; but, not having been
+made acquainted with the hidalgo's flame, she stooped, at the first
+promptings of affection, to a destiny less brilliant and lofty. Her
+heart melted at the handsome visage of the young Fabueno; and the
+secretary, flattered by the love of so noble a maiden, and emboldened by
+his success in arms, did not scruple to become the rival of the
+Tonatiuh. The rage of Don Pedro would have chastised, in blood, the
+presumption of such a competitor; but De Morla, remembering the novice,
+did not hesitate, for his sake, to befriend his servant; and, when he
+avowed himself the champion of Lorenzo, he dreamed that he was about to
+avenge the fall of his brother-in-arms.</p>
+
+<p>The result of this opposition to the humours of Alvarado, was a quarrel,
+so fierce and unappeasable, that, as has been said, all which the
+general could effect, was a postponement of conflict; and when Don Pedro
+surrendered the princess to her plebeian lover, it was with the
+assurance, that, as soon as the army had left the city and lake, he
+should reckon her ransom out of the life-blood of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery of the unfaithfulness of his betrothed, (for, in this
+light did the cavaliers regard the captive princesses,) had been made
+the preceding evening; and the angry contest of the cavaliers, and the
+arrangements for combat, occurred at the moment while Don Amador was
+lamenting the backwardness of his friends to support him, when he became
+a captive.</p>
+
+<p>To allay the heart-burnings of his officers, who had arrayed themselves,
+according to their friendships, on either side, the general caused his
+trumpets to sound, and bade all to prepare for an expedition of peril.
+He had, all along, eyed the great pyramid, frowning over his fortress,
+with peculiar anxiety. This was caused, in part, by his consciousness of
+the advantage it would give his enemies, as soon as they should dare to
+profane its sanctity, by making it the theatre of conflict. This very
+morning, it was made apparent, by the presence of many barbarians
+thronging up its sides, and by an occasional arrow or stone discharged
+from its top, that the Mexicans were aware of its usefulness. In
+addition to this cause for attempting to gain possession of it, the
+leader was moved by a vague hope, that, once master of the holiest of
+temples, he might obtain the same advantages, through the superstition
+of his foes, which he had lately possessed, in the person of Montezuma,
+through their reverence for the king. He meditated an assault, and
+resolved to attempt it, before the pyramid should be covered with
+Mexicans.</p>
+
+<p>The strength of the army, both horse and foot, was straightway displayed
+upon the square; and the war-worn Christians once more marched against
+the triumphing infidel.</p>
+
+<p>The knight of Calavar, sitting on his sable steed, with an air of more
+life than was ordinary, appeared in this band; and the three
+serving-men, with the secretary, followed at his back.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_L" id="CHAPTER_L"></a>CHAPTER L.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In his sleep, the wounded cavalier was no longer a captive. Memory and
+imagination, acting together, bore him to the shores of the
+Mediterranean; and as he trode the smooth beach, his eye wandered, with
+transport, to the blue Alpujarras, stretching dimly in the interior. But
+not long did he gaze on those mountains, which intercepted the view of
+his distant castle. He stepped joyously along over the sands, obeying
+the voices and gestures of his conductors; for, it seemed to him, that
+his hands were grasped, the one by the page Jacinto, the other by the
+priestess of Mexico, both of whom urged him on with smiles, while
+pointing to a group of palm-trees, under which reclined the long-lost
+maid of Almeria. The cross of rubies shone upon her breast, and her
+downcast eyes regarded it with a gaze of sadness; but, ever and anon, as
+the cavalier vainly strove to approach, and called to her with his
+voice, they were raised upon him in tears; and the hand of Leila was
+uplifted, with a melancholy gesture, towards heaven. With such a vision,
+repeated many times in his brain, varied only by changes of place, (for
+now the scene was transferred to the deserts of Barbary, now the fair
+vales of Rhodes, and now the verdant borders of Tezcuco,) he struggled
+through many hours of torture; and, at last, awoke, as a peal of
+thunder, bursting on the scene, drove, terrified away, as well his
+guides as the maid of his memory.</p>
+
+<p>As he started from his couch, confused and bewildered, the thunder
+seemed still to roll, with distant murmurs, over the city. His practised
+ear detected, in these peals, the explosions of artillery, mingled with
+volleys of musketry; but for awhile, in his disorder, he was unable to
+account for them; and in a few moments they ceased.&mdash;Night had succeeded
+to day; no taper burned on the table, and scarcely enough light shone
+through the narrow casement into the apartment, to show him that he
+occupied it alone.</p>
+
+<p>His lips were parched with thirst; he strode to the table, and finding
+nothing thereon to allay the burnings of fever, he called faintly on
+Jacinto. No answer was made to the call; he seemed to be the only tenant
+of the house; and yet he fancied that the deep silence, which succeeded
+his exclamation, was broken by distant and feeble lamentations. He
+listened attentively; the sounds were repeated, but yet with so low a
+tone, that they would have escaped him entirely, had not his senses been
+sharpened by fever.</p>
+
+<p>Obeying his instincts of benevolence, rather than his reason, for this
+had not yet recovered from the disorder of slumber, he stepped from the
+chamber; and, following not so much the sounds, which had become nearly
+inaudible, as a light that gleamed at a little distance, he found
+himself soon at the door of an apartment, through the curtain of which
+streamed the radiance.</p>
+
+<p>The image of Leila, surveying the cross of rubies, had not yet departed
+from his imagination, when he pushed aside the flimsy arras, and stood
+in the room; and his feelings of amazement and rapture, of mingled joy
+and terror, may be imagined, when he beheld, at the first glance, what
+seemed the incarnation of his vision.&mdash;Before a little stool, which
+supported a taper of some vegetable substance, burning with odours and
+smoke, there knelt, or seemed to kneel, a maiden of exquisite beauty,
+whose Moorish character might have been imagined in her face, but not
+detected in her garments, for these were of Spanish fashion. The light
+of the taper streamed full upon her visage, from which it was not two
+feet removed, and showed it to be bathed in tears. Her eyes were fixed
+upon some jewel held in her hands, close to the light, which was
+attached, by a chain of gold, to her neck; and the same look which
+revealed to Don Amador the features of the maid of Almeria, showed him,
+in this jewel, the well-known and never to be forgotten cross of rubies.
+The cavalier stood petrified; a smothered ejaculation burst from his
+lips, and his gaze was fixed upon the vision as on a basilisk.</p>
+
+<p>At his sudden exclamation, the maiden raised her eyes, gazed at him an
+instant, as he stood trembling with awe and delight; and the next
+moment,&mdash;whether it was that she struck the light out with her hand, or
+whether the taper and the figure were alike spectral, and snatched away
+by the same enchantment which had brought them into existence,&mdash;the
+chamber was left in darkness, and the pageant of loveliness and sorrow
+had vanished entirely away.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had this unlooked for termination been presented, than Don
+Amador recovered his strength, and, with a cry of grief, rushed towards
+the spot so lately occupied by the vision. The stool still stood on the
+floor, but no maiden knelt by it. A faint gleam of dusky light shone
+suddenly on the opposite wall, and then as suddenly disappeared. It had
+not been lost to the cavalier; he approached it; his outstretched hands
+struck upon a curtain hung before another door, which admitted him into
+a passage, where a pleasant breeze, burdened with many perfumes, as from
+a garden, puffed on his cheeks. The sound of steps, echoing at the end
+of the gallery, and the gleaming of a light, struck at once upon his
+ears and eyes; he rushed onwards, with a loud cry, gained the door,
+which, he doubted not, would again reveal to him the blessed vision, and
+the next moment found himself arrested by the Zegri.</p>
+
+<p>Behind Abdalla stood the slave Ayub, bearing a torch, whose light shone
+equally on the indignant visage of the renegade Moor, and the troubled
+aspect of his captive.</p>
+
+<p>"Hath the señor forgot that he made me a vow?" cried Abdalla, sternly:
+"and that, in this effort to escape, he covers himself with dishonour?"</p>
+
+<p>To this reproach, Don Amador replied only by turning a bewildered and
+stupified stare on his host; and the Zegri, reading in this the evidence
+of returning delirium, relaxed the severity of his countenance, and
+spoke with a gentler voice.</p>
+
+<p>"My lord does not well," he said, "to leave his chamber, while the fever
+still burns him."</p>
+
+<p>He took the cavalier by the arm, and Don Amador suffered himself to be
+led to his apartment. There, seating himself on the couch, he surveyed
+the Moor with a steadfast and yet disturbed look, not at all regarding
+the words of sympathy pronounced by his jailer. At last, rousing
+himself, and muttering a sort of prayer, he said,</p>
+
+<p>"Are ye all enchanters? or am I mad? for either this thing is the
+fabrication of lunacy, or the illusion of unearthly art!"</p>
+
+<p>"Of what does my lord speak?" said the Moor, mildly, and soothingly. "He
+should not think of dreams."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou say, dreams?" cried the cavalier, with a laugh. "Surely mine
+eyes are open, and I see thee. Dost thou not profess thyself flesh and
+blood?"</p>
+
+<p>The Moor regarded his captive with uneasiness, thinking that his wits
+had fled.</p>
+
+<p>"My noble patron does not ask me of his countrymen and friends," he
+said, willing to divert his prisoner's thoughts. "This day, did I behold
+his followers, and, in addition, his kinsman, the knight of Calavar."</p>
+
+<p>At this name, the neophyte became more composed. He eyed the speaker
+more attentively, and now remarked, that, besides the leathern mail
+which he wore in the manner of the Mexicans, his chest was defended by
+an iron corslet, which, as well as the plumes of his tunic, was spotted
+with blood. As the Moor spoke, Don Amador perceived him to lay upon the
+table, along with the torch, which he had taken from Ayub, a sword dyed
+with the same gory ornament; and he started to his feet, with a feeling
+of fierce wrath, which entirely dispelled his stupefaction, when he
+recognized in this, his own vanished weapon.</p>
+
+<p>"Knave of a Zegri!" he cried, "hast thou used my glave on Spaniards, my
+friends and brothers?".</p>
+
+<p>"When I struck thee the blow which saved thy life," said Abdalla,
+calmly, "I was left without a weapon; for the steel shivered upon thy
+casque. I borrowed the sword, which, to thee, was useless, and I return
+it, not dishonoured, for it has drunk the blood of those who are, in the
+eyes of heaven, idolaters and assassins. I give it back to thee, and
+will not again use it, even in a just and righteous combat; for, thanks
+be to God! it has been the means of providing me a store, which I hope
+to increase into an armoury."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou avowest this to me? and with exultation?" said the cavalier,
+passing at once, in the excitement of anger, from the effects, and even
+the remembrance, of the vision.</p>
+
+<p>"If my lord will listen," replied Abdalla, not unrejoiced at the change,
+and willing to confirm the sanity of the prisoner, "he shall hear what
+good blows this rich and very excellent weapon hath this day struck. A
+better never smote infidel or Christian."</p>
+
+<p>"I will hear what thou hast to say," said the novice, with a stern
+accent; "and, wondering what direful calamity shall befall thee, for
+having thus profaned and befouled the sword of a Christian soldier, I
+hope thou wilt tell me of such things as will prove to me that God has
+punished the same, if not upon thy head, yet, at least, upon the heads
+of divers of thy godless companions."</p>
+
+<p>"There are many of the godless, both heathen and Christian, who have
+slept the sleep of death this day," said Abdalla, knitting his brows
+with the ardour of a soldier; "many shall die to-morrow, some the next
+day, but few on the last&mdash;for who shall remain to perish? Every day do I
+look down from the pyramid, and hearken to the groans of those who
+destroyed Granada; and every day, though the lamentings be wilder and
+louder, yet are they fewer. Heaven be thanked! a few days more, and not
+a bone shall be left to whiten on the square, that does not speak of
+vengeance for the Alpujarras!"</p>
+
+<p>"Moor!" said the frowning Spaniard, "have a care that thy ferocious and
+very unnatural triumph do not cause me to forget that I am thy prisoner.
+It was, perhaps, proper, that thou shouldst fly from Don Hernan, seeing
+that the slanders of very base caitiffs had prejudiced thee, and left
+thy life in jeopardy; perhaps, also, the necessity to gain the favour of
+Mexicans for thyself and Jacinto, by fighting with them against their
+foes, may, in part, extenuate the sin of such impiety; but I warn thee,
+thou leapest wantonly into superfluous crime, when, instead of mourning
+thy cruel fate, thou rejoicest over the blood thou art shedding."</p>
+
+<p>"Whose fault is it? and who shall account for my crime?" said the Zegri,
+with energy. "I came to these shores against my will; when I landed upon
+the sands of Ulua, my heart was in the peace of sorrow. I besought those
+who held me in unjust bondage, to discharge me with my boy: had they
+done so, then had I left them, and no Spaniard should have mourned for
+his oppression; the wrongs of Granada had not been repaid in Mexico. My
+prayers were met with mockery; the Zegri that hath sat in the seat of
+kings, was doomed to be the bearer of a match-stick; and the boy, whose
+blood runs redder and purer than that in the veins of the proudest
+cavalier of all, was degraded into the service of a menial, in the house
+of the bitterest enemy of his people! What was left for me? To choose
+between slavery and exile, contempt and revenge.&mdash;The señor thinks that
+the base Yacub belied me: Yacub spoke the truth. From the moment when I
+perceived I could not escape from the land, then did I know, that God
+had commissioned me to the work of revenge; and I resolved it should be
+mighty. I meditated the flight I have accomplished, the treason I have
+committed, the revenge I have obtained. I saw that I should remain in
+wo, with benighted barbarians; but I saw, also, that I should be afar
+from Spaniards. God be thanked! It was bitter to be parted, for ever,
+from the land of my birth, and the people of my love; but it is goodly
+and pleasant, to see the Castilian perish in misery, and remember
+Granada!"</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the whole of this harangue, Don Amador de Leste preserved a
+countenance of inflexible gravity.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir Zegri," said he, with a sigh, when it was concluded, "I perceive,
+that heaven hath erected a wall between us, to keep us for ever asunder.
+Whether thy bitter hatred of Spaniards be just or not, whether thy
+appetite for revenge be allowable or accurst, still is it apparent,
+that, while thou indulgest the one, and seekest to gratify the other, it
+is impossible I should remain with thee on any terms, except those of
+enmity and defiance; for those whom thou hatest, and dost so bloodily
+destroy, they are my countrymen. I love thy boy, but thee I detest. And
+now, having discovered that thou art of very noble blood, and being
+impelled to punish on thee the very grievous and unpardonable wrongs,
+which thou art doing to my country, I beg thou wilt release me from my
+parole, and fetch hither one of those swords which thou hast rifled from
+Spanish corses, I arming myself with my own weapon, here befouled with
+Spanish blood. We will discharge upon each other, the obligations we are
+under, thou to hate and slay Spaniards, and I to punish the haters and
+slayers of the same; for it is quite impossible I can live longer in
+peace, suffering thee to destroy my friends. Fetch hither, therefore, a
+sword, and let us end this quarrel with the life of one or the other;
+and, to ease thee of any anxiety thou mayest have, in regard to Jacinto,
+I solemnly assure thee, that, if thou fall, I will myself take thy
+place, and remain a father to him to the end of my days."</p>
+
+<p>As the cavalier made this extraordinary proposal, Abdalla surveyed him,
+first with surprise, then with gloomy regret; and when he had finished,
+with a glistening eye. Before Don Amador had yet done speaking, the
+Zegri unbuckled his corslet, and, flinging it on the floor, at the last
+word, said, with mild and reproachful dignity,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Behold! thy sword is within reach, and my breast is naked. What hinders
+that thou shouldst not strike me at once? Thou speakest of Jacinto&mdash;It
+is enough that thy hand saved him from the blow of thy countryman: at
+that moment, I said, in my heart, though I spoke it not, 'Thou hast
+bought my life.' If thou wilt have it, it is thine. If thou hadst killed
+my father, I could not aim at thine!"</p>
+
+<p>"Of a truth," said the cavalier, moodily, "I should not slay thee out of
+mere anger, but duty: yet I would that thou mightest be prevailed upon
+to assault me, so as to enforce me into rage; for, I say to thee again,
+so long as thy hostile acts continue, I must very violently abhor thee."</p>
+
+<p>"They will not continue long," said Abdalla. "After a few days, there
+will remain in my bosom no feeling but gratitude; and, then, my lord
+shall see, that the fury which has slain all others, has been his own
+security."</p>
+
+<p>"Of this," said Don Amador, "I will have a word to speak with thee anon.
+At present, I am desirous, that thou shouldst relate to me the fate of
+this day's battle, which I am the more anxious to know, since thou hast
+spoken the name of Calavar."</p>
+
+<p>"I am loath to obey thee," said the Zegri, struggling with the fierce
+satisfaction that beset him at the thought, "for it may again excite
+thee to anger."</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless, I will listen to thy story, with such composure as I can,
+as to a thing, it may be needful for me to know; after which, I have
+myself a matter of which it is quite essential I should acquaint thee."</p>
+
+<p>Thus commanded, the Moor obeyed; and his eyes sparkled, as he conned
+over in his mind the events of a day so dreadful to the Spaniards.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LI" id="CHAPTER_LI"></a>CHAPTER LI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Yesterday, when thou wert sleeping," said the Zegri, "or lay as one
+that slept&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That day, then," muttered Amador, "is a blank in my existence! and
+very grievous it is, to think that so great a space of so short a
+period as life, should be lost in a stony lethargy.&mdash;It seems to me,
+that that blow thou gavest me, was somewhat rounder than was
+needful.&mdash;Nevertheless, I am not angry, but grateful."</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday was a day of comparative peace," continued the Zegri. "The
+Spaniards shut themselves in their citadel, preparing for the greater
+exploit of to-day. It was evident to the dullest of the nobles, that Don
+Hernan had cast an evil eye on the temple."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he so?" cried the cavalier. "It was the thought of a good
+Christian: and, methinks, my countrymen had not been judged with so many
+of these present torments, if they had sooner torn down that strong-hold
+of the devil, which is detestable in the eye of heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"To-day, they marched against it," said Abdalla, "with all their force,
+both of Spaniards and Tlascalans; and, I will say for them, that they
+marched well, fought boldly, and revenged their own heavy losses, in the
+blood of many barbarians, as well on the pyramid as in the temple-yard
+and the streets. They came against us, with four such turrets, moving on
+wheels&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible," cried Amador, "that the general was not sufficiently
+warned of the inefficacy of those engines, by the doleful fate of the
+manta, that day, when it was my mishap to be vanquished?&mdash;I shall
+remember the death of the ship-master, Gomez, to the end of my
+life.&mdash;Twice or thrice, did I long to be with him among the
+fire-worshippers, who must be a very strange people. But the Mexicans
+are very valiant."</p>
+
+<p>"Of a truth, they are," said the Zegri. "I will not detain my lord with
+the account of the battle in the streets, wherein the mantas were again,
+in great part, destroyed; nor will I relate, with what suffering the
+Castilians won their way to the Wall of Serpents, and the temple-yard.
+It was here, that I beheld my lord's kinsman, the knight of Calavar,
+unhorsed, and in the hands of the infidel&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Accursed assassin!" cried the neophyte, springing to his feet, "and
+hast thou kept me in bonds, that my knight should perish thus, without
+succour?"</p>
+
+<p>"The foe of Granada did not perish, and he was not without succour,"
+said the Zegri, loftily. "When his steed, slipping on the polished
+stones, with which that yard is paved, fell to the earth, and many
+savage hands were fastened on his body, there was a friend hard by, who
+raised both the knight and charger, and preserved them from
+destruction."</p>
+
+<p>"Give me the name of that most noble friend," cried Don Amador,
+ardently,&mdash;"for, I swear, I will reckon this act to him, in my
+gratitude, as the salvation of my own life. Tell me, what true Christian
+was he?"</p>
+
+<p>"One," said Abdalla, calmly, "who hated him as the slayer of his people,
+but remembered that he repented his evil acts with misery and
+distraction,&mdash;one, who abhorred him for these deeds of sin, and yet
+loved him, because he was, like his kinsman, the protector of childhood
+and feebleness."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt not, that <i>thou</i> wert the man," said the cavalier, faltering,
+"and, therefore, I return thee my thanks. But I would have thee know,
+that, whatever blood was improperly shed by my kinsman, was shed by
+accident and not design; for, no man is more incapable of cruelty than
+the noble knight, Don Gabriel. But, this shows me, that thou art really
+of lofty blood; for none but a magnanimous soul can render justice to a
+hated enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"Why should I dwell upon the conflict in the yard?" continued the Moor,
+hastily. "Through the flames of the many chapels, that filled it,&mdash;with
+shouts and the roar of muskets,&mdash;the Christians, ever victorious, and
+yet ever conquered even by victory, rushed against the steps of the
+pyramid, disregarding the stones tumbled on them from the terraces, the
+darts flung down from the little barbicans or niches in the wall, and
+the flaming logs shot down, endwise, from the steps. Terrace after
+terrace, stair after stair, were won; and the Christians stood, at last,
+on the summit, fighting hand to hand with the four thousand nobles who
+defended it. My lord cannot think, that even these numbers of naked men
+could long withstand a thousand Christians, robed in iron, and
+infuriated by desperation. Score after score were slain, and tumbled
+from the top; the flames burst from the altar of Mexitli,&mdash;the priest
+died in the sanctuary, the Tlatoani at the downfallen urns; and, in an
+hour's time, the Spaniards were masters of the pyramid."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks be to heaven, which fought with them!" cried Amador, devoutly.
+"And thus may the infidel fall!"</p>
+
+<p>"Does not my lord pity the wretches, who die for their country?" said
+the Zegri, reproachfully. "This is not a war of heaven against hell, but
+of tyranny against freedom.&mdash;I did see some sights, this day, upon the
+pyramid, which caused me to remember those noble Roman generals, who, in
+ancient times, were wont to devote themselves to death, for the good of
+the state. At the very moment when the condition of the Mexicans was
+most dreadful, when, despairing of the usefulness of longer resistance,
+they rushed frantically upon the Spanish spears, transfixing themselves
+by their own act, or flung themselves from the pyramid, to be dashed to
+pieces below,&mdash;at this moment, I beheld, with mine own eyes, two very
+young and noble Tlatoani, to whom I had myself just shown a means of
+escape, rush upon Don Hernan, who fought very valiantly throughout the
+day. They cast away their arms, flung themselves at his feet, as if to
+supplicate for mercy; and having thus thrown the general off his guard,
+they seized him, on a sudden, in their arms, and hurried him to the edge
+of the terrace. From that dizzy brink they strove to drag him, willing,
+themselves, to die dreadfully, so that the great enemy of Tenochtitlan
+should fall with them. But the strength of boys yielded to the iron
+grasp of the Christian; and, flinging them from him like drops of water,
+or gouts of blood from his wounded hand, he beheld them fall miserably
+to the earth,&mdash;dead, but not yet avenged."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks be to God again!" cried the cavalier, warming with excitement;
+"for, though these youths met their death very bravely, they were guilty
+of a most vile treachery; for which, death was but a just punishment.
+And so, my true and excellent friends did win this battle? By heaven! it
+galls me to the marrow, to think that I lie here idle, while such things
+are doing around me!"</p>
+
+<p>"They won the temple top," said Abdalla, with a laugh of scorn, "that
+they might look down from that height, and behold themselves surrounded
+by an hundred thousand men, who were busy slaying their Tlascalan
+slaves, and waiting for the masters. Very plainly did I hear their cries
+of despair at that sight; and these were goodly music. For myself, I
+escaped, as did some few others, by dropping from terrace to terrace,
+upon the dead bodies, which, being tumbled, in great numbers, from the
+top, lay, in some places, in such heaps along the galleries, as greatly
+to lessen the dangers of a fall. Well were the Mexicans revenged for
+this slaughter," continued the Moor, his eyes glittering with ferocious
+transport, "when the Spaniards descended, to cut their way to the
+quarters, encumbered with captive priests, and such provisions as they
+had gathered in the chapels. How many fell in the squares and streets,
+how many were suffocated in the canals,&mdash;how few were able to pierce
+through the myriads that invested the palace, (for, all this time, had
+there been thousands assailing the weak garrison, and tearing down the
+court-yard wall)&mdash;why should I speak of these? It is enough, that the
+gain of the pyramid,&mdash;lost as soon as gained,&mdash;cost them irreparable wo;
+and that the wounded fugitives (for the Mexican glass drank of the blood
+of all,) now lie in their desolate house, their court-walls prostrate,
+the buttresses of their palace cracked by fire, their steeds unfed and
+starving, their ammunition expended&mdash;hopeless and helpless, calling to
+the leaders who cannot relieve, the saints who will not hear, and
+waiting only for death. Death then! for it cometh; death! for it is
+inevitable; death! for it is just; and death! for it repays the wrongs
+of Granada!"</p>
+
+<p>As the triumphing Moor concluded his fiery oration, the cavalier, whose
+excitement was raised to the last pitch, and whose indignation and
+remorse were alike kindled by a full knowledge of the condition of his
+countrymen, cried aloud,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Hark thee, sir Moor! with these friends, thus reduced to extremity and
+despairing, it is needful I should straightway join myself, to endure
+what they endure, to suffer as they suffer, to die as they die. I refuse
+to save my life, when the forfeit of it to an honourable purpose, may
+relieve them of their distresses. I repent me of the gage which I gave
+thee, I revoke my promise of captivity, and am, therefore, free to make
+my escape; which I hereby attempt,&mdash;peacefully if I can,&mdash;but warning
+thee, if thou oppose, it shall be at the peril of thy life!"</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the cavalier snatched up the sword from the table, and sprang
+towards the door. So quickly, indeed, did he act, and so much did he
+take his jailer by surprise, that he had nearly arrived at the curtain,
+before Abdalla had time to intercept him. His brain was in a ferment of
+passion, and the various excitements of the evening had inflamed him
+again into fever; so, that, in the fury of the moment, when the Zegri
+leaped before him, endeavouring to catch him in his arms, he forgot
+every thing but his purpose, and the necessity of escaping. He caught
+the Moor by the throat, and struggling violently, raised the crimson
+steel to strike. The life of Abdalla seemed not to have a moment's
+purchase,&mdash;the weapon was already descending on his naked head,
+when,&mdash;at that very instant,&mdash;the curtain was drawn from the door, and
+dimly, but yet beyond all shadow of doubt, in the light of the torch,
+the cavalier beheld the pale visage of the maid of Almeria, shining over
+the shoulders of the Moor.</p>
+
+<p>The sword fell from his hand, and his whole frame shook, as, with wild
+eyes, he returned the gaze of the vision. The Zegri, amazed, yet not
+doubting that this sudden change was the mere revolution of delirium,
+took instant advantage of it, snatched the leathern strap from the lute
+of Jacinto; and when the curtain, falling again, had concealed the
+spectral countenance, the arms of the cavalier were bound tightly behind
+him. This was a superfluous caution. His strength had been supplied by
+fury, and the instant that this had subsided, the exhaustion of two
+days' illness returned; and had not his spirits been otherwise unmanned,
+he would now have been as a boy in the hands of Abdalla.</p>
+
+<p>The Moor conducted him to the couch, on which he suffered himself to be
+placed without opposition, and without speaking a word. His whole
+faculties seemed lost in a sudden and profound stupor; and Abdalla began
+to fear that, in his prisoner, he had found, in more respects than one,
+a true representative of his kinsman, Don Gabriel.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LII" id="CHAPTER_LII"></a>CHAPTER LII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A certain degree of monotony prevails among all the vicissitudes of
+life, and even the most exciting events fail, after a time, to interest.
+A paucity of incidents will not much sooner disgust us with the pages of
+history, than the most abundant stores of plots and battles, triumphs
+and defeats, if too liberally dispensed;&mdash;for these are composed of the
+same elements, and have, on the whole, the same wearisome identity of
+character. For this reason, though the many battles fought in the
+streets of Mexico, during the seven days which intervened betwixt the
+second coming and the second departure of Cortes, have something in them
+both of interest and novelty, we have not dared to recount them in full,
+nor, indeed, to mention all of them; being satisfied to touch only
+such, and, in truth, only such parts of such, as, in themselves, have
+each some peculiar variety of characteristic. We pass by, with a word,
+the increased sufferings of the Christians,&mdash;their murmurs and
+lamentations,&mdash;their despair and frenzy.</p>
+
+<p>The day that followed after the fatal victory of the pyramid, brought
+its battles like others. That day it became apparent that the last fibre
+which bound hope to the palace wall, was about snapping&mdash;it was known to
+all, that the Indian monarch was expiring. The prediction of Botello had
+made all acquainted with the day on which a retreat might be
+accomplished. That day was drawing nigh; but the impatience of the
+soldiers, and the anxiety of the officers to prepare, or, at least, to
+reconnoitre, the path of retreat, again drove them from their quarters.
+A weak, but well chosen and trusty garrison was left in charge of the
+palace; while Don Hernan, with all the forces that could be spared of
+his reduced army, sallied from the court-yard, and fought his way to the
+dike of Iztapalapan.</p>
+
+<p>In this exploit, new difficulties were to be overcome, and new proofs
+were exhibited of the sagacity and determination of the barbarians.
+Besides the obstacles offered by the ditches, robbed of their bridges,
+the Mexicans had heaped together across the streets, the fragments of
+their demolished houses, thus forming barriers, which were not passed
+without the greatest labour and suffering. Nevertheless, the Spaniards
+persevered, and not only gained the causeway, but approached nigh to
+Iztapalapan, before a Tlascalan messenger, creeping in disguise through
+the crowds of enemies, recalled them to the palace, which was furiously
+assailed, and in imminent danger of being carried by storm.</p>
+
+<p>It is not to be supposed, that this attempt on the great dike, and the
+return, were effected without the most bloody opposition. The lake
+suddenly swarmed with canoes full of fighting men, and when Don Hernan
+again turned his face towards Tenochtitlan, he beheld the causeway
+covered with warriors, who, besides disputing his passage with
+unappeasable rage, broke, as well as they could, the bridges over the
+sluices, seven in number, wherein were mingled the floods of Chalco and
+Tezcuco. His valour, however, or his good fortune, prevailed; and by
+night-fall he reached the square of Axajacatl, and fell with renewed
+fury upon the savages who still struggled with the garrison. When he had
+carved his way through them, and had directed the exertions of his
+united forces against the besiegers, who still raved, like wolves,
+around him, he gave some thought to those companions, whose fate it had
+been, to lay their bodies on the causeway, or to take their rest, with
+such exequies as could be rendered in the lamentations of men expecting
+each instant to share their fate, under the salt bosom of Tezcuco.</p>
+
+<p>It became known, that, among these unhappy victims, was the knight of
+Calavar,&mdash;but how slain, or where entombed, no one could relate. From
+the day of the loss of his kinsman, he had been reckoned by all,
+entirely insane. He held communion with none, not even his attendants;
+but casting aside his abstraction, and resuming his armour, he was
+present in every conflict which ensued, fighting with an ardour, fury,
+and recklessness, as astonishing as they were maniacal. All that was
+remembered of his fate, this day, was, that, when at the farthest part
+of the causeway the trumpets were ordered to sound a retreat, he was
+seen, without attendants, for they were wedged fast in the melée,
+dashing onwards amid the dusky crowds that came rushing upon the front
+from the suburbs of Iztapalapan. Cortes had, himself, called to the
+knight to return, and not doubting that he would extricate himself
+without aid, had then given all his attention to the Mexicans attacking
+on the rear. This was known; it was known also that Don Gabriel had not
+returned: beyond this, all was mystery and gloom.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIII" id="CHAPTER_LIII"></a>CHAPTER LIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Two hours after night-fall, and while the Spaniards were still engaged
+in close battle with the besiegers, who, this night, seemed as if their
+rage was never to be appeased, the cavalier Don Amador de Leste rested
+in his chamber, (the Moorish boy sitting dejected at his feet,) now
+starting up with cries of grief and impatience, as the continued
+explosions of artillery admonished him of the straits of his friends,
+and now, as these seemed to die away and be followed by silence, giving
+his mind to other not less exciting thoughts, and questioning the page
+of the events of the past day.</p>
+
+<p>"Not now, not now,&mdash;ask me not <i>now</i>!" replied the page, with great
+emotion to one of his demands; "for now can I think of naught but my
+father. It is not his custom to leave me so long by night, even when the
+battle continues. Heaven protect him! for at any moment, he may die; and
+what then am I, in this land, and among this people? Would to heaven we
+had perished in Spain,&mdash;nay, in Barbary,&mdash;in the sea along with our
+friends; for, then, might we have died together!"</p>
+
+<p>"Give not way to this passion," said the cavalier, with an attempt at
+consolation, which drove not the gloom from his own countenance; "for
+thou knowest, that, whatever evil may happen to Abdalla, I will myself
+befriend thee."</p>
+
+<p>"My father is slain!" cried Jacinto, wringing his hands, "or long since
+would he have been with us."</p>
+
+<p>"If this be the case," said Amador, with grave benevolence, "and I will
+not deny that Abdalla doth keep his life in constant jeopardy, it
+plainly shows, that I am bound to make a father's effort to protect
+thee, and thou to follow my counsels. Hark!" he exclaimed, as a furious
+cannonade, seemingly of all the pieces shot off together, brought its
+roar and its tremor to his prison-house,&mdash;"dost thou not hear how
+ferocious is the combat, at this moment? Know, Jacinto, that every
+explosion seems like a petard fastened to and bursting upon mine own
+bosom,&mdash;so very great are the shock and pang of mind with which, at such
+time, I bethink me of the condition of my countrymen. Much longer I
+cannot endure my captivity; I have resolved that it shall end, even, if
+that be needful, by the breach of my solemn vow; for, I am persuaded,
+the dishonour and compunction which must follow upon that, will be but
+light, compared with the great ignominy of my present inactivity, and
+the unspeakable remorse which rends my vitals, while submitting to it.
+But I can by no means escape, while thou art left alone to be my jailer;
+if I escape by force of arms, it shall be when thy father is here to
+oppose me. I counsel thee, however, as thinking, with thee, that Abdalla
+may be dead&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here Jacinto burst into the most bitter lamentations.</p>
+
+<p>"Be not thus afflicted; for I speak to thee only of a possibility which
+may be feared, and not of a certainty to be mourned. What I mean is,
+that this possibility should be enough to release thee, as well as
+myself, from this house; for if Abdalla be really deceased, it must be
+evident to thee, nothing could be more foolish, and even dangerous, than
+to remain in it alone; seeing that, if we be not found out and murdered
+by the Mexicans, we must surely expect to be starved. Guided by the
+sounds of battle, we can easily find our way to the palace; and perhaps,
+by wrapping ourselves in some of these cotton curtains, we may make our
+way through the herds of Mexicans, without notice, as being mistaken for
+some of their fellow-combatants. Once arrived within earshot of the
+palace, I have no fear but that we shall be very safe; and I pledge my
+vow to thee, that I will so faithfully guard thee on the way, that no
+weapon shall strike thee, that has not first pierced my own bosom."</p>
+
+<p>The page clasped his hands, and regarded his master with looks in which
+affection struggled with despair.</p>
+
+<p>"But if my father should live&mdash;oh, if my father should live! and
+returning to this desolate house, should find that his child has
+deserted him!"</p>
+
+<p>"If he live," said the cavalier, "then shall he know, that thou hast
+taken the only step to preserve him from destruction, both temporal and
+eternal. I will not rest, till I have procured for him a free pardon; I
+will hold thee as a hostage, which, in addition to the assurance of
+forgiveness, will speedily bring him into the garrison: for, knowing his
+love to thee, I know he cannot live without thee. Besides, I will
+obtain, for I will demand it, permission for him to return with thee to
+Spain; and if my knight consent, we will depart together; for now I am
+convinced that heaven doth fight against us, even to upholding the
+godless heathen. Let us therefore depart, making our trust in God, who
+will cover us, this night, as with shields, to protect our weakness."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, alas!" cried the boy, faltering with grief and fear, "my lord is
+sick and wounded, feeble and helpless."</p>
+
+<p>"That I have not all the vigour, which, a few days since, was mine,"
+said the cavalier, snatching up his sword, and brandishing it, once or
+twice, in the air, as if to make trial of his strength, "I cannot deny.
+Nevertheless, I am stronger than yesterday; and besides, while placing
+great reliance on the protection of heaven, I shall trust less to my
+weapon than to such disguises as it may be in our power to adopt. With
+these figured curtains wrapped about us, and, if there be any feathers
+about the house, a bunch or two tied to our heads, I have no doubt, we
+can delude the Mexican fighting men, and, in the tumult of battle, pass
+through their ranks, entirely unmolested."</p>
+
+<p>While the page hesitated and wept, visibly struggling between his wishes
+and his fears, there occurred a sudden interruption in the cannonade;
+and, in the dead silence that followed, both heard the sound of rapid
+footsteps approaching the door, accompanied by smothered groans.</p>
+
+<p>The page started&mdash;In an instant, the steps were heard in the passage,
+followed by a heavy sound, as of a man falling upon the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh God! my father! my poor father!" cried Jacinto, springing to the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>He was arrested by the arm of the neophyte, who plainly distinguished,
+along with the groans that came from the passage, a noise as if the
+sufferer were struggling to his feet; and in a moment after, as he
+pushed aside the curtain, to go out himself, the slave Ayub, covered
+with blood, rushed by him into the apartment, and again fell prostrate.</p>
+
+<p>"My father, Ayub! my father?" cried the page, kneeling at his side.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah il Allah! praised be God, for now I am safe!" said the Morisco,
+raising on his arm, and, though his whole frame shook as in the ague of
+death, regarding the pair with the greatest exultation. "I thought they
+had shot me through the liver with a bullet; but Allah be praised! 'twas
+naught but an arrow. Help me up, noble señor&mdash;Eh? ay? Trim the taper a
+little, and give me a morsel of drink."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou sayest naught of my father, Ayub?" said Jacinto, eagerly and yet
+with mortal fear,&mdash;for he knew by the gesture of Don Amador, as he
+ceased his unavailing attempt to lift the wounded man, but more by the
+countenance of Ayub himself, that he was a dying man.</p>
+
+<p>"How can I speak without light?" cried the Moor, with a sort of chuckle.
+"Trim the torch, trim the torch, and let me see where these boltheads be
+rankling.&mdash;Praise be to Allah, for I thought myself a dead man!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wilt thou not speak to me of my father?" exclaimed Jacinto, in agony.</p>
+
+<p>"A brave night! a brave night!" muttered Ayub, fumbling at his
+garments&mdash;"Valiant unbelievers!&mdash;Praised be God&mdash;The Wali&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, the Wali! the Wali, thy master!" cried Jacinto, his voice dwindling
+to a hoarse and terrified whisper;&mdash;"my father, thy master, Ayub?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Wali&mdash;&mdash;Hah!" exclaimed the unbeliever, roused by the distant
+explosions;&mdash;"At it yet, brave pagans? Roar, cannon! Shout, infidel!
+shout and whistle&mdash;shout, whistle, and kill!&mdash;Save me the Wali, save me
+the Wali!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh heaven, Ayub!&mdash;thou sayest nothing of him,&mdash;of my father!"</p>
+
+<p>"They took him a prisoner&mdash;but we'll have him again!&mdash;Lelilee!
+Lelilee!&mdash;Strike fast, pagan!&mdash;A brave day for Granada!"</p>
+
+<p>At these words, Jacinto seemed not less like to die than the fugitive.
+But as he neither fell to the floor, nor screamed, Don Amador still held
+fast to Ayub, who was now struggling in the most fearful convulsions,
+and yet, strange to hear, still uttering broken expressions of joy.</p>
+
+<p>"A prisoner, a prisoner!&mdash;A little drink, for the sake of Allah!" he
+cried, incoherently. "Ha, ha! one runs not so far with a bullet in the
+liver!&mdash;Now they are at it! now they are killing the great señores!
+now, they murder 'em!&mdash;Great joy! a great sight for a Moor!
+great&mdash;great&mdash;great revenge!&mdash;Many days agone&mdash;Great&mdash;great revenge!
+says the Wali&mdash;They killed my mother&mdash;Great revenge&mdash;great&mdash;great&mdash;Oho!
+great revenge for Granada!"</p>
+
+<p>With these accents on his lips, mingled with sounds of laughter, and
+horrid contortions of countenance, the infidel Moor, (for such was
+Ayub,) sprang suddenly to his knees; and flinging abroad his arms, and
+uttering a yell of agony, fell back instantly upon the floor, quivered a
+moment, and then lay a disfigured corse.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou see, Jacinto!" said Don Amador, taking the shivering boy by
+the arm. "Ayub is dead, and thy father a prisoner. If thou wilt save the
+life of Abdalla, the Wali, (I never before knew that Abdalla, though
+noble, was of this dignity&mdash;but this shall help me to plead for him;)
+get thyself instantly in readiness, and let us begone."</p>
+
+<p>The page turned a tearless countenance on his patron, and replied, with
+a tranquillity that seemed to come from desperation,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I will go with my lord, for I have no friend now but him,&mdash;I will go
+with my lord, to look upon my father's dead body; for I know the
+Spaniards will not spare his life a moment,&mdash;I will go with my
+lord,&mdash;and would that I had gone sooner! for now, it is too late."</p>
+
+<p>As Jacinto pronounced these words, he began to weep anew, though
+hearkening passively to the instructions of the cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>"If thou canst find me any plumes," said Amador, "fetch them to me
+straight; and if thou hast about the house, any Mexican garment, which
+thou canst wear, haste thou to don it. As for myself, I will first arm,
+and then robe me in the tunic of this poor dead misbeliever. Be of good
+heart, I charge thee&mdash;God will protect us."</p>
+
+<p>"There are robes enough, both for my lord and me," said the sobbing
+boy,&mdash;"and shrouds too&mdash;It is too late.&mdash;But I can die with my lord!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that is spoken with more valour than I thought thou hadst," said
+the cavalier. "But bring me the robes, without thinking of thy shrouds;
+and be very quick, for I must have thee to buckle some of these straps
+of my jambeux."</p>
+
+<p>The page took up a little taper that lay near the flambeau, and,
+shuddering as he passed by the body, instantly departed on his errand.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIV" id="CHAPTER_LIV"></a>CHAPTER LIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When the boy returned, bearing a bundle of garments, and two or three
+such crests as were worn by the nobler Mexicans, in time of war, the
+cavalier had more than half-armed himself. He sighed, as he flung the
+habergeon over his shoulders, to find the many rents made among the
+Flemish links by the Mexican glass; but he sighed more, when he
+discovered how greatly his bodily powers were enfeebled, by feeling,
+almost for the first time in his life, the oppressive weight of the
+mail. Nevertheless, the cannon still roared at the palace, every moment
+was expediting the doom of Abdalla, perhaps, also, that of his friends
+and kinsman; and he seized upon cuish and greave, gauntlet and helm,
+with activity and eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>"What is that huge mantle thou placest upon the table?" he demanded of
+the page, without relaxing in his efforts.</p>
+
+<p>"A <i>tilmatli</i>, or Indian cloak, large enough to hide my lord's armour,"
+replied Jacinto, hurriedly. "If the Mexicans should see the gleaming of
+but a single link, death on the spot, or, still more horrid, on the
+pyramid, will be the fate of my lord."</p>
+
+<p>"Now that I know, that such would be the consequence of captivity," said
+the cavalier, fiercely, "I swear to God and St. John, I will die
+fighting&mdash;that is, if it please heaven, that I shall be struck no more
+blows that overpower without killing."</p>
+
+<p>"And this great penacho," said the boy, "I will tie to my lord's crest,
+so that it shall entirely veil the helmet. I have fastened some of the
+red tufts among the feathers, whereby the pagans may think my lord is a
+war-chief, and noble, if they should see them."</p>
+
+<p>"Of all boys that I have ever yet seen, thou art by far the shrewdest
+and wisest," said Don Amador with complacency, but without ceasing a
+moment to do on his armour, "What disguise hast thou provided for
+thyself?"</p>
+
+<p>"A garment," said Jacinto, "which, being flung about my body and hooded
+over my head, will cause the Mexicans to think me a woman devoted to the
+service of one of their gods."</p>
+
+<p>"A most damnable delusion," said the novice, "and I would thou hadst
+fallen upon some other device. But, perhaps, thou hadst no choice; and,
+now that I think of it, thy small stature, and very smooth and handsome
+visage, will, perhaps, suit this disguise better than another. If there
+be any sin in assuming it, heaven will allow the necessity, and forgive
+the commission. Quick, and don it,&mdash;for I would have thee tighten these
+greave-straps, before I pull on my boots."</p>
+
+<p>"It will but encumber me: I will fling it over me in the passage," said
+Jacinto, kneeling, and endeavouring, with an unsteady hand, to perform
+the office required of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Be of good heart, I charge thee, and tremble not. Thou art unused to
+this service; but think not, though thou beest the son of a Moorish
+Wali, of the noblest blood, that this duty can dishonour thee. I have
+performed it myself, times without number, to my good knight, Don
+Gabriel. I would thou wert somewhat stronger, though. Fear not to pull
+with all thy strength. I have shrunk somewhat with the fever,&mdash;greatly
+to the disparagement of my leg,&mdash;and the strap is of the stiffest."</p>
+
+<p>"It is stiffened with my lord's blood!" said the page, trembling more,
+but succeeding, at last, in securing it. Then rising, and knotting a
+broad and shadowy plume over his patron's helmet, so as, in a great
+measure, to conceal the gleaming iron, he assisted to fasten it. There
+remained nothing, then, for the cavalier, but to arrange the tilmatli
+about his person; a feat, in which, with the aid of the page, he
+succeeded so well, as quite to hide his martial equipments, without yet
+depriving him of the power, in case of necessity, of using the sword,
+which he held naked in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Thy woman's weeds! Why dost thou hesitate, Jacinto?" he cried,
+prepared, and now eager to make his departure. "Thou thinkest of thy
+lute? By my faith, I shall be loath thou shouldst lose it, for much good
+has it done, and yet may do, to Don Gabriel. I will bear it under my
+arm."</p>
+
+<p>"Think not of the lute," said Jacinto, sorrowfully. "What need have we
+now of music? It will but overburden my lord, whose hands should be
+free; and in mine, it would only serve to expose the deception of my
+apparel."</p>
+
+<p>"Cast it aside, then; and now, in God's name, let us depart!"</p>
+
+<p>Jacinto stepped, faltering, up to the body of Ayub, lying stiff and
+cold, the countenance, illuminated by the slanting torch-light, still
+mingling a grin of exultation with the contortion of the death-agony. A
+tear dropped upon the swarthy cheek, and a deep sob burst from the bosom
+of Jacinto, when he gazed his last upon the dead Morisco.</p>
+
+<p>"Why dost thou tarry to weep?" said Amador, impatiently.&mdash;"Ayub was an
+infidel."</p>
+
+<p>"My lord does not know how those who have not many friends, can value
+the few," said the page. "This man was faithful to my father; and
+therefore do I lament him, as one whose loss is a sore misfortune; and,
+infidel though he were, yet was he of the faith of my ancestors."</p>
+
+<p>"Remember, however, that, while thou weepest over a dead friend of
+Abdalla, thou deprivest him of the services of a living one."</p>
+
+<p>Thus rebuked, Jacinto moved rapidly into the passage, and flinging, as
+he went, the garment he held about his person, stepped with the cavalier
+into the street.</p>
+
+<p>A thick scud, threatening rain, careered over the heaven, and the smoke
+of cannon, mingling with the mists of the lake, covered the city with a
+gloom so deep, that Don Amador could not easily distinguish the
+peculiar habiliments of his companion. Nevertheless, he could well
+believe that his appearance was that of an Indian maiden. He bade
+Jacinto to take him by the hand, adding an injunction, under all
+circumstances that might arise, to maintain his grasp. To this, Jacinto
+answered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Let it not be so,&mdash;at least, not until we are so environed, as to be in
+danger of separating. My lord must now consent to be guided by me." (He
+spoke with singular coolness, as if restored, by the urgency of the
+occasion, to all that self-command and discretion, which had so often
+excited the wonder of his patron.) "I will walk a little before; and if
+the people should approach, let my lord take no notice, but follow
+calmly in my steps, as though he were a great noble, disdaining to look
+upon his inferiors. Be not amazed at what may happen, and, especially,
+do not speak a word until close by the Spaniards."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou mean," said the cavalier, suddenly struck with the memory of
+the vision, not yet accounted for by the page,&mdash;"dost thou mean to
+practise any arts of magic? for if so&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I beseech my lord not to speak," said the boy, with a hurried voice;
+"for, if a word be heard, neither valour nor magic can save us from
+destruction. By-and-by, my lord shall see the wisdom of this counsel;
+and all that is strange in its consequences, shall be explained to him."</p>
+
+<p>Thus speaking, Jacinto strode forwards, and Don Amador, wondering, yet
+yielding to his instructions, followed in silence.</p>
+
+<p>The cannon still roared at the palace, and the shouts of the infuriated
+combatants were plainly heard, in the intervals of the discharges; so
+that, as the cavalier had hinted, there could be no difficulty in
+determining their path. Nevertheless, it appeared to him, that Jacinto
+walked forwards with the boldness and certainty of one familiar with the
+streets he was treading.</p>
+
+<p>For a time, their course lay through a street entirely deserted; but,
+by-and-by, passing into one of greater magnitude, they beheld shadowy
+masses, now of single figures, now of groups, darting about, many of
+them with lights, as if flying, some from the scene of combat, and
+others, like themselves, approaching it. It was apparent that this
+street was one of the four great avenues leading to the square of
+Axajacatl; for no sooner had the two Christians stepped upon it, than
+the sounds of conflict came to them with tenfold loudness; and they
+could behold, ever and anon, as the deadly discharges burst from the
+artillery, the flames flashing luridly up through the mists, like the
+jets of a distant volcano.</p>
+
+<p>With the consciousness that he now trod a principal street, Don Amador
+became aware that he was, of a certainty, advancing full upon the mouth
+of, at least, one piece of ordnance; and, as Jacinto paused suddenly, as
+if dismayed at his peril, (for at that moment a ruddy flame shot out of
+the mist, and a falconet bellowed down the street,) he approached the
+boy, and said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"For thy sake, Jacinto,&mdash;(it does not become me to say for my own;
+though I confess some repugnance to advance thus on the cannon of my
+friends,)&mdash;I should wish thou couldst find some other path, not so much
+exposed to be raked as this."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak not,&mdash;we have no choice," muttered the boy. "But God be thanked!
+the bullet that strikes my lord, will first pass through my own body."</p>
+
+<p>This little expression of devotion was pronounced with an earnestness
+that touched the heart of the cavalier; and he was about to utter his
+satisfaction, when a gesture of Jacinto, who immediately began to resume
+his pace, warned him into silence. The usefulness of the caution was
+soon made manifest; for two or three Mexicans suddenly brushed by,
+though without seeming to notice them. An instant after, there passed
+several groups, bearing wounded men in their arms; and, by-and-by, while
+every moment seemed to surround them yet more with isolated
+individuals, there came a party in some numbers, uttering lamentations,
+as if over the body of a great noble. Several of these bore torches in
+their hands, wherewith they were enabled to descry the pair; and Don
+Amador's heart beat quick, as he saw three or four detach themselves
+from the group, and run forwards, as if to make sure of a prey. He
+grasped at his weapon, invoked his saint, and moved quickly up to
+Jacinto, to give him what protection he could. But, at the very moment
+when he feared the worst, he was amazed to behold the barbarians come to
+a dead halt, and, at the waving of Jacinto's hand, part from before him
+with countenances of reverence and fear. The same remarkable change was
+observed in those who composed the party bearing the corse, with the
+addition of new marks of homage; for, leaving the body in the hands of a
+few, they seemed about to follow the page in a tumultuous procession,
+until he turned round, waving his hand again; at which gesture, nearly
+all immediately fell on their knees, and so remained until he passed.
+All this time, the wondering cavalier was conscious that he was himself
+unregarded.</p>
+
+<p>Little by little, while the screams and cannon-shots grew louder at each
+step, Don Amador perceived that the groups began to grow into crowds,
+and then into dense masses, every moment; while, every moment, also, it
+became still more apparent, that his guide exercised some powerful,
+though, to him, inscrutable, influence, over the mob; for, no sooner did
+their torches reveal his figure, than all were straightway seized with
+admiration, falling upon their knees, or returning on their path, and
+following him towards the battle.</p>
+
+<p>The gestures of Jacinto served no longer to repel them; and in a few
+moments there were hundreds of men, their numbers increasing at each
+step, who pressed after him eagerly, though reverentially,&mdash;uttering, at
+first, low murmurs, and then, at last, shouts of joy and triumph. These
+reaching the ears and drawing the attention of others in front, they, in
+turn, added their respect to the homage of the rest.</p>
+
+<p>However surprising, and, indeed, confounding, this notice, and these
+salutations, to Don Amador, they were far from agreeable; for the train
+followed so close upon his heels, that he dreaded, every moment, lest
+some derangement of his mantle or plumes might expose to their gaze the
+hidden ensigns of a Christian. Greatly was he rejoiced, therefore, when
+the steady and persevering advance of the page had carried him so deeply
+into the crowd, that it was scarcely practicable for more than one or
+two individuals, at a time, to look upon him, and quite impossible that
+the noisy train should follow. He ceased, therefore, to lament his
+proximity to the cannon-mouths, which still, at intervals, flung death
+among the besiegers; for he thought that in that alone there was safety.
+His desire, in this particular, was soon gratified; for he was, at last,
+wedged, with the page, among a mass of men so dense and so disordered,
+that he no longer feared a scrutiny. He was in sight of the palace, his
+foot planted upon the square, and but a few paces separated from his
+friends and his knight.</p>
+
+<p>In the flash of the arquebuses, but more particularly in the fiendish
+glare of the cannon, when disemboguing their contents upon the
+barbarians, he beheld the terraces covered with his countrymen,
+resisting as they could, and with every shot from the musket, every bolt
+from the arbalist, adding a life to the reckoning of their revenge, and
+yet fainting with fatigue over a slaughter which had no end. The square
+was filled with men, as with a sea, and when the fiery flashes of the
+ordnance lit it up as with a momentary conflagration, the commotion
+following upon each, made him think of those surges of fire which roll
+in the crater of a volcano, and of the billows of blood that dash upon
+the shores of hell. A more infernal spectacle could not, indeed, have
+been imagined; and when the harsh yells of the pagan myriads were
+added, the tophet was complete, and man appeared,&mdash;as he yet
+appears,&mdash;the destroyer and the demoniac.</p>
+
+<p>This spectacle, however horrible it might have been to one accustomed to
+look upon man as the image of his maker, and the blow struck at the life
+of man, as a stroke aimed at the face of God, had the effect to stir the
+blood of Don Amador de Leste to such a degree, that, had he not been
+checked by the cold hand and the deadly pale visage of his companion, he
+would have followed the impulse of his valour, uncovered his weapon,
+and, shouting a war-cry, dashed at once upon the throat of the nearest
+infidel. The look of Jacinto recalled him to his senses; he made him a
+signal to clutch upon his mantle and follow, and then plunged again into
+the gory crowd.</p>
+
+<p>The tempest, both physical and mental, which beset all that rout of
+pagans, reduced the intelligence of each to but two objects of
+thought,&mdash;his enemy and himself. Not one turned to wonder or observe,
+when the strong shoulders&mdash;strong from excitement&mdash;of the cavalier
+thrust him aside, or the hard touch of an iron-cased elbow crushed into
+his bosom; nor, perhaps, was a look cast upon the effeminate figure,
+that seemed a girl, at the back of this impetuous stranger. Thus, then,
+unresisted and disregarded, the cavalier made his way, step by step,
+taking advantage of every moment when the barbarians gave way before an
+explosion of artillery, or a charge of the garrison,&mdash;hoping, at each
+effort, to issue upon the open space betwixt the besiegers and the
+besieged, and, at each, arrested by a denser crowd,&mdash;speaking words of
+encouragement to the horror-struck page, for well he knew he might speak
+without fear in such a din,&mdash;and, feeling, at each moment, his strength
+melting away, like burning wax, under the prolonged exertion. He toiled
+for his life, for the life of the boy, perhaps for the life of Don
+Gabriel; but human nature could not sustain the struggle much longer.
+Despair came to his heart, for he knew not how far he stood from the
+palace wall, and felt that he could labour no more. His eye darkened, as
+he looked back to Jacinto,&mdash;the boy was swooning where he stood.</p>
+
+<p>"God be merciful to us both! But, at least, thou shalt die in my arms,
+poor boy!" he muttered, making one more effort, and raising the page
+from the earth. "God be merciful to us,&mdash;but especially to this child,
+for he is sinless, and, I fear me, fatherless."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, a dreadful scream burst from the lips of all around the
+novice, and immediately he felt himself borne back by the barbarians as
+they recoiled, seemingly, from a charge of cavalry. The thought was
+hope, and hope again renewed his strength. He planted his feet firmly on
+the earth, and with his elbow and shoulder dashed aside the fleeing
+pagans, pressed the senseless boy to his heart, raised his voice in a
+shout, and the next moment stood free from the herd, ten feet from the
+muzzle of a cannon, from which the Mexicans had been recoiling. His eye
+travelled along the tube;&mdash;the magician Botello stood on the broken wall
+at its side, and the linstock he held in his hand was descending to the
+vent.</p>
+
+<p>"For the love of God, hold!" shouted the cavalier, "or you will kill
+Christian men!"</p>
+
+<p>The match fell to the earth, and the cavalier sprang forward. But if his
+voice had reached the ears of friends, it had not escaped the organs of
+foes. A dozen savages, forgetful of their fears, sprang instantly
+towards him, endeavouring to lay hold upon him. A back-handed blow of
+his weapon loosed the grasp of the most daring, and the hands of others
+parted along with the flimsy disguise of Jacinto. He left this in their
+grasp, tottered forward, and the next moment, as the cannon belched
+forth its death upon the pursuing herds, stood in the court-yard of the
+palace.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LV" id="CHAPTER_LV"></a>CHAPTER LV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>As the cavalier sprang among his countrymen almost fainting with
+exhaustion, he loosened, with as much discretion as dexterity, the knot
+of the tilmatli, and dropped it to the earth, so that he might not be
+mistaken for a foe. The sudden gleam of his armour, and the sight of his
+wan visage, struck all those who had rushed against him with horror.
+Among the foremost of all, was the man-at-arms Lazaro, who no sooner
+perceived that he had raised his trusty espada against what he doubted
+not was the spectre of the novice, than he fell upon his knees, yelling
+aloud,</p>
+
+<p>"Jesu Maria! my master! my master's ghost!" with other such exclamations
+of terror.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, the page revived in the arms of his patron, but only to
+add to the cry of Lazaro a shriek so wild and heart-piercing, that it
+drove all other sounds from the ears of Don Amador. The cavalier
+observed the cause of this cry, and again his eye lighted up with the
+fires of passion. A group of soldiers, agitated by some tumult, which
+had no part in the conflict around, stood against the palace wall, under
+a casement, from which was projected a bundle of partisans. Round this
+extempore gibbet was fixed a rope, one end of which being pulled at by
+those below, the cavalier beheld, shooting up above the heads of the
+mass, a human being, to all appearance, bound hand and foot; and in the
+blackened and horribly convulsed countenance of the sufferer, he
+perceived the features of Abdalla, the Wali.</p>
+
+<p>With a bound, that carried him at once into their midst, and with a
+rapidity that prevented opposition he rushed up to the wall, and before
+the Morisco was elevated above his reach, struck the halter with his
+weapon. The Zegri fell to the earth;&mdash;the executioners looked upon the
+visage of his bold preserver, and being persuaded, like Lazaro, that the
+very ghastly apparition before them was nothing less than the ghost of
+an hidalgo, universally reckoned dead, they recoiled in affright. Before
+they had recovered from their confusion, the culprit rose to his feet,
+glared a moment on the cavalier, and then springing away, was instantly
+lost among the combatants. A wild and exulting cry of "Moro! Moro!
+Tlatoani Moro!" rose among the barbarians; and the Spaniards knew that
+their prey was beyond pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>"Santos santísimos! Holy Mother of heaven! grace upon all, and Amen! if
+thou beest a living creature, speak,&mdash;or I will smite thee for a devil!"</p>
+
+<p>These words came from the lips of Alvarado, who had himself commanded
+the body of hangmen, and who now, though his teeth chattered with
+terror, advanced his rapier towards the bosom of his late companion. As
+he gazed and menaced, Don Amador, yielding, at last, to the consequences
+of labours altogether above his enfeebled powers, sunk swooning to the
+earth; and Jacinto, rushing from the crowd, flung himself upon his body.</p>
+
+<p>"Viva! praise God, and let the cry go round; for we have saved the noble
+De Leste!" shouted Don Pedro, with a voice of joy, raising the senseless
+cavalier. "Now shall ye hear from his own mouth, ye caitiffs that have
+belied me, that I played not the foul companion. Viva! I swear it
+rejoices me to behold thee!&mdash;Why, thou little rascal traitor, art thou
+here, too! It was God's will thy vagabond father should purchase me my
+brother; for which reason, I am not incensed he has escaped me. One day
+is as good as another for hanging.&mdash;How now, my noble friend! art thou
+hurt beyond speaking! God's lid! but I would hug thee, if thou didst not
+look so dismal!"</p>
+
+<p>All this time, the neophyte surveyed the astounded visages around him
+with a bewildered eye; and, doubtless, his obtuse senses could not, at
+that moment of clamour, detect the accents of Don Pedro.</p>
+
+<p>"Tetragrammaton! did I not tell thee the truth?" cried the harsh voice
+of Botello.</p>
+
+<p>"Master! dear master!" exclaimed Lazaro, as he embraced the knees of the
+novice.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks be to God! the noble señor has escaped!" shouted the secretary.</p>
+
+<p>"God be praised! but would it had been yesterday! for then might it have
+been better for Don Gabriel."</p>
+
+<p>The name of his kinsman, spoken by the well-known voice of Baltasar,
+dispelled at once the dreamy trance of the cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>"How fares my noble kinsman?" he cried.</p>
+
+<p>The head of Baltasar fell on his breast, and a loud groan came from his
+fellow-servitor. Don Amador looked to the Tonatiuh, and witnessed the
+change from blithe joy to gloomy hesitation, which instantly marked his
+handsome aspect; the face of Fabueno darkened; and the magician strode
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"Clear for me, if ye will not speak!" said the cavalier, with sudden
+sternness; "for there is no sight of wo I cannot now look upon."</p>
+
+<p>He grasped the arm of Jacinto, and pushing into the palace, made his way
+toward the chamber of the knight.&mdash;The hand of devastation had been upon
+the walls of the passage; beams and planks had been torn away to supply
+the materials for the mantas and other martial engines; and Don Amador
+no longer knew the apartment of his kinsman. A dim light, and a low
+sound of wailing, came from a curtained door. Before the secretary and
+the other attendants who followed, could intercept him, he stepped into
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>The sight that awaited him instantly fastened his attention. He was in
+the chamber of Montezuma, and the captive monarch lay on the bed of
+death. Around the low couch knelt his children, and behind were the
+princes of the empire, gazing with looks of awe on the king. In front
+were several Spanish cavaliers, unhelmed and silent; and Cortes himself,
+bare-headed and kneeling, gazed with a countenance of remorse on his
+victim; while the priest Olmedo stood hard by, vainly offering, through
+the medium of Doña Marina and the cavalier De Morla, the consolations
+of religion.</p>
+
+<p>The king struggled in a kind of low delirium, in the arms of a man of
+singular and most barbarous appearance. This was a Mexican of gigantic
+stature, robed in a hooded mantle of black; but the cowl had fallen from
+his head, and his hair, many feet in length, plaited and twisted with
+thick cords, fell like cables over his person and that of the dying
+king. This was the high-priest of Mexico, taken prisoner at the battle
+of the temple.</p>
+
+<p>The countenance of Montezuma was changed by suffering and the
+death-throe; and yet, from their hollow depths, his eyes shot forth
+beams of extraordinary lustre. As he struggled, he muttered; and his
+broken exclamations being interpreted, were found to be the lamentations
+of a crushed spirit and a broken heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Bid the Teuctli depart," were some of the words which Don Amador
+caught, as rendered by the lips of Marina: "before he came, I was a king
+in Mexico.&mdash;But the son of the gods," he went on, with a hoarse and
+rattling laugh, "shall find that there are gods in Mexico, who shall
+devour the betrayer! They roar in the heavens, they thunder among the
+mountains,"&mdash;(the continued peals of artillery, shaking the fabric of
+the palace, mingled with his dreams, and gave a colour to them)&mdash;"they
+speak under the earth, and it trembles at their shouting. Ometeuctli,
+that dwelleth in the city of heaven, Tlaloc, that swimmeth on the great
+dark waters, Tonatricli and Meztli, the kings of day and night, and
+Mictlanteuctli, the ruler of hell,&mdash;all of them speak to their people;
+they look upon the strangers that destroy in their lands, and they say
+to me, 'Thou art the king, and they shall perish!'&mdash;Wo! wo! wo!" he
+continued, with an abrupt transition to abasement and grief; "they look
+upon me and laugh, for I have no people! In the face of all, I was made
+a slave; and, when they had spit upon me, they struck me as they strike
+the slave; so struck my people. Come, then, thou that dwellest among
+the rivers of night; for, among the rivers, with those who die the death
+of shame, shall I inhabit. Did not Mexico strike me, and shout for joy?
+Wo, wo! for my people have deserted me! and, in their eyes, the king is
+a slave!"</p>
+
+<p>"Put thy lips to this emblem of salvation," said the Spanish priest,
+extending his crucifix, eagerly; "curse thy false gods, which are
+devils; acknowledge Christ to be thy master; and part,&mdash;not to dwell
+among the rivers of hell, which are of fire, but in the seats of bliss,
+the heaven of the just and happy."</p>
+
+<p>"I spit upon thy accursed image!" said the monarch, rousing, with
+indignation, into temporary sanity, and endeavouring to suit the action
+to the word; "I spit upon thy cross, for it is the god of liars and
+deceivers! of robbers and murderers! of betrayers and enslavers! I curse
+thy god, and I spit upon him!"</p>
+
+<p>All the Spaniards present recoiled with horror at the impiety, which was
+too manifest in the act to need interpretation; and some, in the moment,
+half drew their swords, as if to punish it by despatching the dying man
+at once. But they looked again on the king, and knew that this sin was
+the sin of madness.</p>
+
+<p>As they started back, the person of De Leste, whom, in their fixed
+attention to Montezuma, none of them had yet perceived, was brought into
+the view of the monarch. His glittering eye fell upon the penacho, which
+the cavalier had not yet thought to remove from his helmet, and which
+yet drooped, with its badges of rank, over his forehead. A laugh, that
+had in it much of the simple exultation of childhood, burst from the
+king's lips; and, raising himself on the couch, he pointed at the ruddy
+symbols of distinction. The cavaliers, following the gesture with their
+eyes, beheld, with great agitation, their liberated companion; and even
+Cortes, himself, started to his feet, with an invocation to his saint,
+when his eye fell upon the apparition.</p>
+
+<p>The words of Amador,&mdash;"Fear me not, for I live,"&mdash;though not lost, were
+unanswered; for, notwithstanding that many of the cavaliers immediately
+seized upon his hands, to express their joy, they instantly cast their
+regards again upon Montezuma, as not having the power to withdraw them
+for a moment from him.</p>
+
+<p>"Say what they will," muttered the king, still eyeing the penacho with
+delight, "I, also, am of the House of Darts; and in Tlascala and
+Michoacan, and among the Otomies of the hills, have I won me the tassels
+of renown. Before I was a king, I was a soldier: so will I gather on me
+the armour of a general, and drive the Teuctli from my kingdom. Ho,
+then, what ho! Cuitlahuatzin! and thou, son of my brother,
+Quauhtimotzin! that are greater in war than the sons of my body, get ye
+forth your armies, and sound the horns of battle! Call upon the gods,
+and smite! on Mexitli the terrible, on Painalton the swift! call them,
+that they may see ye strike, and behold your valour! Call them, for
+Montezuma will fight at your side, and they shall know that he is
+valiant!"</p>
+
+<p>The struggles of the king, as he poured forth these wild exclamations,
+were like convulsions. But suddenly, and while the Spaniards thought he
+was about to expire in his fury, the contortions passed from his
+countenance, his lips fell, his eyes grew dim, and his voice was turned
+to a whisper of lamentation.</p>
+
+<p>"I sold my people for the smile of the Teuctli; I bartered my crown for
+the favour of the Christian; I gave up my fame for the bonds of a
+stranger; and now what am I? I betrayed my children&mdash;and what are they?
+Let it not be written in the books of history,&mdash;blot the name of
+Montezuma from the list of kings; let it not be taught to them that are
+to follow.&mdash;Tlaloc, I come!&mdash;Let it be forgotten."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, as he concluded, and as if the fiend of the world of waters he
+had invoked, had clutched upon him, he was seized with a dreadful
+convulsion, and as his limbs writhed about in the agony, his eyes,
+dilating with each struggle, were fixed with a stony and basilisk glare
+upon those of Cortes; and thus,&mdash;his gaze fixed to the last on his
+destroyer,&mdash;he expired.</p>
+
+<p>When the neophyte beheld the last quiver cease in the body, and knew by
+the loud wail of the Mexicans, that Montezuma was no more, he looked
+round for Don Hernan; but the general had stolen from the
+apartment.&mdash;The visage of Cortes revealed not the workings of his mind;
+but his heart spoke to his conscience, and his soul recorded the
+confession;&mdash;"I have wronged thee, pagan king;&mdash;but thy vengeance
+cometh!"</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador's arm was touched by his friend De Morla.</p>
+
+<p>"In the chamber of death," said the cavalier, sadly, "thou mightest best
+hear of death: but I cannot discourse to thee, while Minnapotzin is
+mourning. Let us depart, brother."</p>
+
+<p>Don Amador motioned to the page, and followed his friend out of the
+apartment.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVI" id="CHAPTER_LVI"></a>CHAPTER LVI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>On the following morning, it was known to all the garrison, that they
+were, at night, to depart from Tenochtitlan. The joy, however, that
+might have followed the announcement, was brief; for, at the same moment
+that the exhausted Christians were roused from slumber and bidden to
+prepare, the warders sent down word from the turrets, that their enemies
+were again approaching. The shrewdest of all could perceive no other
+mode of retreat than by cutting their way through the besiegers; and it
+required but little consideration in the dullest, to disclose the
+manifold dangers of such an expedient. They manned the walls and the
+court-yard, therefore, with but little alacrity, and awaited the
+Mexicans in sullen despair.</p>
+
+<p>But Don Hernan, quick to perceive, and resolute to employ the subtle
+devices of another, had not forgotten the words of Botello, when that
+worthy counselled him to make such use of Montezuma and his children, as
+had been made of the golden apples, by Hippomenes, when contending in
+the race with the daughter of Sch&oelig;neus.</p>
+
+<p>The Mexicans advanced, as usual, with whistling and shouts, filling the
+square with uproar; and, as usual, the cannoniers stood to their pieces,
+and the Tlascalans to their spears; but before a dart had been yet
+discharged, those who looked down from the battlements, beheld a funeral
+procession issue from the court-yard.</p>
+
+<p>A bier, constructed rudely of the handles of partisans, but its rudeness
+in a measure concealed by the rich robes of state flung over it, was
+borne on the shoulders of six native nobles, all of them of high degree
+in Tenochtitlan. It supported the body of the emperor, which was covered
+only by the tilmatli, leaving the countenance exposed to view. The royal
+sandals were on his feet, and the copilli, with the three sceptres, lay
+upon his breast. The pagan priest in his sable garment, his face covered
+by the cowl, and his head bending so low, that his hideous locks swept
+the earth, stepped upon the square, chanting a low and mournful requiem;
+and the bearers, stalking slowly and sorrowfully under their burden,
+followed after.</p>
+
+<p>The murmurs were hushed in the palace; and the square, so lately filled
+with the savage shouts of the enemy, became suddenly as silent as the
+grave. The monotonous accents of the priest were alone heard, conveying
+to the Mexicans, in the hymn that ushered a spirit into the presence of
+the deities, the knowledge of the death of their king.</p>
+
+<p>For awhile, the barbarians stood in stupid awe; but, at last, as the
+train approached them, and they perceived with their own eyes the
+swarthy features of their monarch fixed in death, they uttered a cry of
+grief, low indeed, and rather a moan than a lament, but which, being
+caught and continued by the voices of many thousand men, was heard in
+the remotest parts of the city. They parted before the corse of one, to
+whom, before the days of his degradation, they had been accustomed to
+look as to an incarnate divinity. They fell upon their knees, and bowed
+their faces to the earth, as he was carried through them; and again the
+Spaniards beheld the impressive spectacle, of a great multitude
+prostrate in the dust, as if in the act of adoration.</p>
+
+<p>When the bearers and the body were alike concealed from their view, the
+Mexicans rose, and turning towards the palace, brandished their weapons
+with fierce gestures, and many exclamations of hatred, against the
+destroyers of their king. For a moment, Cortes doubted if his expedient
+had not served rather to increase, than to divert, the fury of his
+opponents; and he beckoned from his stand on the terrace, to the
+cannoniers, to prepare their matches. But an instant after, he revoked
+the command: the Mexicans were retiring; a great army was suddenly
+converted into a funeral train, and thus they departed from the square,
+after the body of their ruler, without striking a blow at the invader.</p>
+
+<p>This circumstance reassured the garrison; and the prospect of speedy
+release from intolerable suffering and from destruction, wrought such a
+change over all, that visages, emaciated by famine, and haggard from
+despair, were lit up with smiles; and songs and laughter re-echoed
+through chambers, which, but the night before, had resounded with
+prayers, groans, and curses. Nothing was now thought of but the bread
+and fruits of Tlascala, the mines and fandangos of Cuba; and many a
+sedate and sullen veteran clapped his hands with a sudden joy, as he
+bethought him of the urchins sporting in the limpid Estero, or climbing
+the palm that grew at his cabin door. Escape from the miseries which
+had environed them, and the privilege to discourse for life of the
+marvels of Tenochtitlan,&mdash;of the beauty of its valleys, the magnificence
+of its cities, the wealth of its rulers, the ferocious valour of its
+citizens,&mdash;to wondering listeners, were the only offsets thought of to
+the many labours, sufferings, and risks of the campaign. The little
+property amassed by each&mdash;the share of Montezuma's presents, and the
+spoils stripped from the dead, were stored, along with such trifles as
+might add the interest of locality to legends of battle, in the sacks of
+the soldiers. All made their preparations, and all made them in hope.</p>
+
+<p>The only melancholy men in the palace, that day, were Cortes and Don
+Amador de Leste. The latter remembered his knight, falling ingloriously
+and alone on the causeway; and the general pondered over the griefs of
+defeated ambition.</p>
+
+<p>But whatever were the pangs of Don Hernan, he forgot not the duties of a
+general. Besides other precautions, he caused his carpenters to
+construct a portable bridge of sufficient strength to support the weight
+of his heaviest artillery, and yet, not so ponderous but that it might
+be carried on the shoulders of some half a hundred strong men. This he
+provided, fearing lest the barbarians had destroyed the bridges not only
+of the great dike of Iztapalapan, but of that of Tacuba, on which it was
+his determination to attempt his flight, and which, running westward
+from the island, was, as has been intimated, but two miles in length.</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with the advice of the necromancer, the hour of departing
+was put off until midnight,&mdash;a period of time which had the double
+advantage of being recommended by Botello, and of ensuring the least
+molestation. Each individual, therefore, made his preparations, and
+looked forward to that hour.</p>
+
+<p>The melancholy that oppressed the spirits of the neophyte, was so great,
+that he betrayed little curiosity either to acquaint himself with the
+events which had occurred during his captivity, or even to inquire
+further into the mysterious knowledge and acts of the page. But, however
+indisposed to conversation, he could not resist the attentions of De
+Morla. From him he learned the imputation he had cast on the valour and
+gratitude of Alvarado; a charge which the novice removed, by
+magnanimously confessing, that his own indiscretion had carried him
+beyond the reach of Don Pedro, who should be in no wise held accountable
+for his misfortune. He heard with more interest, and even smiled with
+good-natured approbation, at the story of Fabueno's fortune; but a frown
+darkened on his visage, when De Morla pictured the anger and domineering
+fury of the Tonatiuh; and this was not diminished, when his friend
+confessed himself the champion of the secretary, announced that Cortes
+had sanctioned the quarrel, and claimed of him the offices of a friend.</p>
+
+<p>"If blood must be shed in this quarrel," he said, "it must be apparent
+to you, my very noble and generous friend, (for, surely, your kindness
+to Lorenzo merits this distinction,)&mdash;it must be apparent, I say, that I
+am he who is called upon to shed it. The youth is my own follower; for
+which reason, I am bound to give him protection, and support him in all
+his just rights, whereof one, I think, is to love any woman who may
+think fit to give him her affections, whether she be a princess or
+peasant. I must, therefore, after repeating to thee my thanks for thy
+very distinguished generosity, require thee to yield up thy right to do
+battle with Don Pedro, if battle must, indeed, be done,&mdash;though I have
+hopes that his good sense will enforce him to surrender the maid,
+without the necessity of bloodshed."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot yield to thee, hermano mio," said De Morla, quickly; "for
+there is deadly feud betwixt the Tonatiuh and myself; and were he to
+fight thee a dozen times over, still should he, of a necessity, measure
+weapons with me."</p>
+
+<p>"It doth not appear to me, how this difference can call for more than
+one combat; and, as I have told thee, I think it can be composed,
+provided thou allowest me to assume thy place, entirely without
+conflict."</p>
+
+<p>"Know thou, my friend," said De Morla, "that I have already, in the
+matter of thy fall and capture, at the fight of the manta, charged
+Alvarado with many terms of opprobrium and insult; for which reason, a
+duello has become very inevitable."</p>
+
+<p>"Having already heard from myself," said Don Amador, with gravity, "that
+Don Pedro cannot justly incur reproach for my mishap, thou canst do
+nothing else, as a true cavalier, but instantly withdraw thy charges,
+and make him the reparation of apology; after which, there will remain
+no need of enmity."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou speakest the truth!" said De Morla, impetuously; "and I am but a
+knave, to have said, or even thought, except at the moment when I was
+grieved and imbittered by thy supposed death, that Don Pedro could
+demean himself, in any battle, like a craven. I freely avow, and will
+justly bear witness, that he is a most unexceptionable cavalier. So far,
+I am impelled to pronounce by simple veracity. But yet is there mortal,
+though concealed, feud betwixt us."</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte looked on his friend with surprise; seeing which, De Morla
+took him by the arm, and said, with great heat,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have come to hear, by an accident, that Don Pedro did once, ('tis now
+many months ago,) in the wantonness of his merriment, fling certain
+aspersions upon the innocence of Benita; a crime that I could not have
+forgiven even in thee, amigo querido, hadst thou been capable of such
+baseness. I now confess to thee, without having divulged the same to any
+one else, that this circumstance did greatly inflame my anger, and that,
+from that moment, I have sought out some means to quarrel with Alvarado,
+and so slay him, without involving the fame of Minnapotzin: for it is
+clear to me, as it must be to any lover, who doth truly reverence his
+mistress, that to associate her name with a quarrel, would be at once to
+darken it with the shadow of suspicion. If I should say to Alvarado,
+'Thou hast maligned my mistress, thou cur, and therefore I will fight
+thee,' then should he, for the credit of his honour, aver that he spoke
+the truth; and whether he lived or died, the maiden should still be the
+sufferer. I have, therefore, resolved, that my cause of vengeance shall
+be concealed; and thou wilt see that the present pretext is the
+honourable cloak I have been so long seeking. This I confess to thee;
+but I adjure thee to keep my counsel."</p>
+
+<p>There was a degree of lofty delicacy and disinterestedness in this
+revealment, which chimed so harmoniously with the refined honour of Don
+Amador, that he grasped De Morla's hand, and, instead of opposing
+further remonstrance, assured him, both of his approval and his
+determination to aid him, as a true brother in arms, in the conflict.</p>
+
+<p>"But how comes it, my friend," he demanded, with a faint smile, "thou
+darest look so far into futurity, for such employment? Hast thou forgot
+the prophecy of Botello? Methinks, to be fulfilled at all, the
+consummation should come shortly; for, with this night, we finish the
+war in Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>"For a time, señor mio," said De Morla. "Though the griefs of Montezuma
+be over, (heaven rest his soul, for he was the father of Minnapotzin!)
+the pangs of his race are not yet all written. I will abide with Don
+Hernan; and if Botello do not lie, thou shalt yet see me sleep on the
+pyramid."</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven forbid!" cried Amador. "I would rather thou wouldst follow mine
+own resolutions, and, for once, show Botello that he hath cast a wrong
+figure."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou mean to desert us?"</p>
+
+<p>"My kinsman sleeps in the lake," said the novice, sadly; "the tie that
+bound me to this fair new world is therefore broken. In mine own heart,
+I have no desires to fight longer with these infidels, who cannot
+injure the faith of Christ, nor invade the churches of Christendom. The
+Turks are a better enemy for a true believer; and, if I put not up my
+sword altogether, it shall be drawn, hereafter, on them. The little
+page, whom I have, by a miracle, recovered, I will convey with me to
+Cuenza, after having, in like manner, recovered his father, (a very
+noble Morisco,) or been otherwise assured of his death. I would greatly
+persuade thee, having made the princess thy wife, to follow with me to
+thy native land. 'My castle lies on Morena's top,'&mdash;" continued the
+cavalier, insensibly falling upon the melody of the Knight and the Page,
+and beginning to muse on the singer, and to mutter, "Surely Jacinto is
+the most wonderful of boys!"</p>
+
+<p>"My patrimony is worn out," said De Morla, without regarding the sudden
+revery of his friend; "and I give it to my younger brothers. By peace or
+war, somehow or other, this land of Mexico will be, one day, conquered;
+and, then, a principality in Anahuac will count full as nobly as a
+sheep-hill in Castile. I abide by Don Hernan. But let us be gone to the
+treasury: I hear the ingots chinking, and thou hast not yet looked upon
+our spoils."</p>
+
+<p>The exchequer thus alluded to, and to which De Morla speedily conducted
+his friend, was the sleeping apartment of the general. Of the wealth
+that was there displayed,&mdash;the stores of golden vessels and of precious
+stones, as well as of ingots melted from the tribute-dust long since
+wrung from the unhappy Montezuma,&mdash;it needs not to speak. The whole
+treasury of an avaricious king, a predecessor of the late captive,
+walled up in former days, and discovered by a happy chance, was there
+displayed among the meaner gleanings of conquest. An hundred men, as Don
+Amador entered, were grasping at the glittering heaps, while the voice
+of Don Hernan was heard gravely saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The king's fifth, here partitioned and committed to the trust of his
+true officers, we must defend with our lives; but while granting to all
+Christian men in this army, free permission to help themselves here as
+they like, I solemnly warn them of the consequences, should we, as
+mayhap my fear may prove true, be attacked this night, while making our
+way through the city. The richest man shall thereby purchase the
+quickest death.&mdash;The wise soldier will leave these baubles, till we come
+back again to reclaim them. This night, I will insure the life of none
+who carries too rich a freight in his pockets."</p>
+
+<p>He spoke with a serious emphasis, and some of the older veterans,
+raising their heads, and eyeing his countenance steadfastly for a
+moment, flung down the riches they had grasped, and silently retired
+from the apartment. But many others bore about their persons a prince's
+ransom.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVII" id="CHAPTER_LVII"></a>CHAPTER LVII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>At midnight, the Mexican spy, looking over the broken wall, beheld in
+the court-yard which it environed, a scene of singular devotion;&mdash;or
+rather he caught with his ears&mdash;for the grave was not blacker than that
+midnight&mdash;the smothered accents of supplication. The Christians were
+upon their knees, listening, with a silence broken only by the fretful
+champing of steeds, and the suppressed moans of wounded men, to a
+prayer, pronounced in a whispering voice, wherein the father Olmedo
+implored of Heaven to regard them in pity, to stupify the senses of
+their enemies, and surround his servants with the shields of mercy, so
+that, this night, they might walk out of the city which was their
+prison-house, and from the island which had been their charnel,
+oppressed no more by the weight of His anger.</p>
+
+<p>The prostrate soldiers, to that moment, full of confident hope, and not
+anticipating the danger of any opposition, hearkened with solicitude to
+the humble and earnest supplication; and when the padre besought the
+deity to endow their arms with strength, and their hearts with courage,
+to sustain the toils, and perhaps the perils, of retreat, they were
+struck with a vague but racking fear. The petition which was meant to
+embolden, deprived them of hope; and they rose from their vain
+devotions, in unexpected horror.</p>
+
+<p>The gloom that invested the ruinous palace, prevailed equally over the
+pagan city. No torch shone from the casements or house-tops, no taper
+flickered in the streets; and the urns of fire on the neighbouring
+pyramid, the only light visible,&mdash;save, now and then, a ghastly gleam of
+lightning bursting up from the south,&mdash;burned with a dull and sickened
+glare, as if neglected by their watchers. A silence, in character with
+the obscurity, reigned over the slumbering city; and when, at last, the
+steps of those who bore the ponderous bridge, and the creaking of
+artillery wheels, were-heard ringing and rolling over the square, the
+sounds smote on the hearts of all like the tolling of distant funeral
+bells.</p>
+
+<p>The plan of retreat, determined after anxious deliberation, and
+carefully made known to all, was adopted with readiness, as these
+footsteps and this rolling sound of wheels,&mdash;the only signals
+made,&mdash;were heard; each man knew his place, and, without delay, assumed
+it. In little more than half an hour, the whole train of invaders,
+Christian principals and Tlascalan abettors, was in motion, creeping,
+with the slow and stealthy pace of malefactors, over the street that led
+to the dike of Tacuba. Few glances were sent back to the palace, as
+those dim sheets of lightning, flashing up over the path they were
+pursuing, revealed obscurely, ever and anon, its broken and deserted
+turrets. Its gloomy pile associated nothing but the memory of disaster
+and grief. Fearful looks, however were cast upon the dusky fabrics on
+either side of the street, as if the fugitives apprehended that each
+creak of a wheel, each clattering of horses' hoofs, or the rattling of
+armour, might draw the infidel from his slumbers; and many an ear was
+directed anxiously towards the van, in fear lest the trumpet should, at
+last, be sounded, with the signal of enemies already drawn up, a
+thousand deep, on the path they were treading. But no sounds were heard,
+save those which denoted the continued progress of their own bands; no
+wakeful barbarian was seen lurking in the streets; and hope again slowly
+returned to the bosoms of the tremblers.</p>
+
+<p>Before they had yet reached the borders of the island, the night became
+still more dark than at their outset; for the lightning grew fainter at
+each flash, and finally sank beneath the horizon, to continue its lurid
+gambols among the depths of the South Sea. This was witnessed with
+secret satisfaction; for, with these treacherous scintillations,
+departed the dread that many felt, lest they should betray the march of
+the army.</p>
+
+<p>It has been mentioned, that the people of Tenochtitlan had not only
+covered the surface of the island with their dwellings, but had extended
+them, on foundations of piles, into the lake, wherever the shallowness
+of the water permitted. This was especially the case in the
+neighbourhood of the great dikes; in which places, not only single
+houses, but entire blocks, deserving the name of suburbs, were
+constructed. Such a suburb jutted out, for some distance, along the
+causeway of Tacuba.</p>
+
+<p>The van of the army had already passed beyond the furthest of these
+black and silent structures, and yet no just cause existed to suppose
+the retreat had been discovered; though many men of sharper ears or
+fainter hearts than their fellows, had averred that they could, at
+times, distinguish, on the rear, a dull sound, as of men moving behind
+them in heavy masses. The wiser, however, were satisfied, that no such
+sounds could prevail even over the subdued noise of their own
+footsteps; but some of these bent their ears anxiously towards the
+front, as if afraid of danger in that quarter. The reason of this was
+not concealed. All day, sounds of lamentation had been heard coming from
+the dike, upon which they were now marching, or from its neighbourhood.
+It was rumoured, that the cemetery of the Mexican kings lay on the hill
+of Chapoltepec, under the huge and melancholy cypresses, which
+overshadow that green promontory; and that there, this day, Montezuma
+had been laid among his ancestors. A whole people had gone forth to
+lament him; and how many of the mourners might be now returning by the
+causeway, was a question which disturbed the reflections of all.</p>
+
+<p>But this apprehension was dispelled, when the front of the army had
+reached the first of the three ditches which intersected the dike of
+Tacuba. Its bridge was removed and gone, and the deep water lay
+tranquilly in the chasm. The foe, relying on this simple precaution, had
+left the dike to its solitude; and the expedient for continuing the
+imprisonment of the Spaniards, was the warrant of their security.</p>
+
+<p>A little breeze, dashing occasionally drops of rain, began to puff along
+the lake, as the bridge-bearers deposited their burden over the abyss.
+This was not the labour of a moment; the heavy artillery, which still
+preceded the train of discomfited slayers, like a troop of jackals in
+the path of other destroyers, required that the ponderous frame should
+be adjusted with the greatest care. While the carriers, assisted by a
+body of Tlascalans, who slipped into the ditch and swam to the opposite
+side, were busy with their work, the long train of fugitives behind,
+halted, and remained silent with expectation. The rumbling of the wood
+over the flags of the causeway, the suppressed murmurs of the labourers,
+and, now and then, the dropping of some stone loosened by their feet,
+into the ditch,&mdash;added to the sighs of the breeze, whispering faintly
+over casque and spear,&mdash;were the only sounds that broke the dismal quiet
+of the scene; and there was something in these, as well as in the
+occurrence itself, which caused many to think of the characteristics of
+a funeral;&mdash;the mute and solemn expectation of the lookers-on,&mdash;the
+smothered expressions of the few,&mdash;and the occasional rattle of clods,
+dropping, by accident, upon the coffin.</p>
+
+<p>The bridge was, at last, fixed, and the loud clang of hoofs was heard,
+as Cortes, himself, made trial of its strength. The breath of those
+behind, came more freely, when these sounds reached their ears; and they
+waited impatiently till the advance of those who preceded them, should
+give motion to their own ranks.</p>
+
+<p>The post of Don Amador de Leste had been assigned, at his own demand, in
+the vanguard,&mdash;which was a force consisting of twenty horsemen, two
+hundred foot, and ten times that number of Tlascalan warriors, commanded
+by Sandoval, the valiant; and, up to this moment, he had ridden at that
+leader's side, without much thought of unhealed wounds and feebleness,
+willing, and fully prepared, to divide the danger and the honour of any
+difficulty, which might be presented. But being now convinced, by the
+sign we have mentioned,&mdash;that is to say, the removal of the original
+bridge,&mdash;that no enemies lay in wait on the causeway, he descended from
+the back of Fogoso, giving the rein to Lazaro, and commanding him to
+proceed onward with the party. In this, he was, perhaps, not so much
+governed by a desire to escape the tedium of riding in company with the
+ever taciturn Sandoval, as to be nearer to the forlorn boy, Jacinto, who
+had, until this moment, trudged along at his side. Some little curiosity
+to witness the passage of the rout of fugitives, had also its influence;
+for, taking the page by the hand, he led him to the edge of the bridge,
+where he could observe every thing without inconvenience, and without
+obstructing the course of others.</p>
+
+<p>The dike of Tacuba was, like that of Iztapalapan, of stone, and so
+broad, that ten horsemen could easily ride on it abreast. Its base was
+broad, shelving, and rugged, and the summit was, perhaps, six feet above
+the surface of the water.</p>
+
+<p>The thunder of the twenty horsemen, as they rode over the bridge,
+interrupted the consolation which the neophyte was about to give to
+Jacinto; who, hanging closely to his patron's arm, yet looked back
+towards the city, with many sobs for his exiled father. In the gloomy
+obscurity of the hour, the cavaliers of the van, as they passed, seemed
+rather like spectres than men;&mdash;in an instant of time, they were hidden
+from sight among the thick shadows in front. Not less phantom-like
+appeared the two hundred foot, stealing over the chasm, and vanishing
+like those who had preceded them. Then came the two thousand Tlascalans,
+their broken and drooping plumes rustling over their dusky backs, as
+they strode onwards, with steps quickened, but almost noiseless.</p>
+
+<p>After these, came the cannon,&mdash;eighteen pieces of different sizes,
+dragged by rows of pagans, commanded by the gunners. The bridge groaned
+under their weight; and a murmur of joy crept over the compacted
+multitude behind, when they had counted them, one by one, rumbling over
+the sonorous wood, and knew that the last had crossed in safety.</p>
+
+<p>Much time was necessarily occupied in the passage of these cumbrous
+instruments; and an interval of several minutes was allowed to intervene
+betwixt the passage of each, while the cannoniers were looking to the
+condition of the bridge and the ropes.</p>
+
+<p>It was on these occasions, that the greatest quiet prevailed; for, then,
+even breath was hushed in suspense; and it was on these occasions also,
+that the ears of the neophyte were struck by a sound, which had not,
+perhaps, at that time, attracted the attention of any other person. The
+breeze, which occasionally whispered on his cheek, was so light, as
+scarcely to disturb the serenity of the lake; and yet, it appeared to
+him, notwithstanding all this, that, in these moments of calm, he could
+plainly distinguish, upon either hand, and at a little distance, the
+rippling of water, as if agitated by a moderate wind. He strained his
+eyes, endeavouring to pierce the gloom, and unravel the cause of this
+singular commotion,&mdash;but wholly in vain. The circle of vision was
+circumscribed into the narrowest bounds; and wo betide the infidel, who,
+fishing in the lake, that night, should fall from his canoe in slumber,
+and be parted from it but twenty feet, in his confusion.&mdash;The cavalier
+looked up to the heavens; but the few drops discharged from their stony
+vault, pattered with a sound almost inaudible upon the water. While he
+was yet wondering, he heard the voice of one passing him, say to a
+comrade,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou not wroth, Iago, man, to give up yonder rich town to the
+kites, and this fair water to the ducks of Mexico?"</p>
+
+<p>This trivial question gave, at once, a new colour to his thoughts, for
+he remembered what millions of wild fowl brooded every night on the
+lakes; and, almost ashamed that he should have yielded a moment to the
+suggestions of fear, he turned, once more, to watch the progress of the
+army.</p>
+
+<p>The centre division consisted of but an hundred Christian footmen, and
+half a score cavaliers; but two thousand Tlascalans were added to it,
+and it was commanded by Cortes in person; who, having ridden across the
+bridge, as has been said, to prove its strength, now waited for the
+coming of his party, beyond the breach. Along with this division, were
+conducted the prisoners, and the king's spoil,&mdash;the latter being carried
+on the backs of wounded steeds, unfit for other service, as well as on
+the shoulders of Tlamémé. The prisoners, comprising all the family of
+Montezuma, whom evil fortune had thrown into the hands of Don Hernan,
+were environed by the hereditary foes of their race, but protected from
+any secret stroke of malice, by three or four cavaliers who rode with
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Among these few horsemen, the neophyte perceived one, across whose
+saddle-bow there sat what seemed a female, enveloped in thick mantles.
+In this cavalier, he thought, by the murmur of the voice with which he
+addressed his muffled companion, that he detected his friend, the señor
+De Morla.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it thou, Francisco, my brother?" he whispered, inclining towards the
+cavalier; "and hast thou Benita thus under thy protection?"</p>
+
+<p>"I thank heaven, yes!" replied De Morla. "But what doest thou on foot,
+and so far removed from the van? Has Fogoso cast thee again? I prythee,
+walk thou by me a little.&mdash;Dost thou remember thy promise?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, I do: but speak not of it now; for, this moment, my heart is
+very heavy, and I cannot think with pleasure of a contest with Christian
+man. I will presently follow thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak me not what I have told thee to mortal man, for the sake of her
+whom I hold in my arms, and who already owes thee a life. To-morrow," he
+continued, exultingly, as he passed,&mdash;"to-morrow we shall tread upon the
+lake side; and, then, God be with him who strikes for the honour and
+innocence of woman!"</p>
+
+<p>"Art <i>thou</i> there too, Lorenzo?" said the novice, perceiving the
+secretary riding at the heels of the young cavalier of Cuenza, and
+burthened in like manner with the freight of affection. "Guard thy
+princess well, and have great care of the bridge, and the rough edge of
+the dike; for thy horsemanship is not yet so perfect as De Morla's, nor
+can thy charger at all compare with the chestnut gelding. Ride on with
+care, and God be thy speed!"</p>
+
+<p>The centre of the army was, at last, over the bridge. The neophyte cast
+his eye to the black mass of the rear-guard, which contained the greater
+part of the troops, both Christian and allied, commanded by Velasquez de
+Leon and the Tonatiuh; the latter of whom, to show his affection for the
+island of which he had been, as he said, a king, and to prove his
+contempt for his late subjects, chose to ride the very last man in the
+army; while De Leon conducted the front of the division. The latter,
+stern, decided, and self-willed in all cases, deferred, for a moment, to
+give the signal to march, in order that the centre might be well cleared
+of the bridge; but more, perhaps, from a natural love of tyranny, to
+torture with delay the spirits of his impatient followers.</p>
+
+<p>In this moment of quiet, the sounds, which Don Amador had forgotten,
+were repeated with more distinctness than at first; but still they were
+of so vague a character, that he could not be certain they were produced
+by any cause more important than the diving and flapping of water-fowl.
+Nevertheless, feeling a little uneasiness, he clasped the hand of
+Jacinto tighter in his own, and strode with him over the bridge. He
+paused again, when he had crossed, and was about to give his whole
+attention to the mysterious sounds; when, suddenly, he was amazed and
+startled by the spectre of a man, rising up as from the lake, and
+springing on the causeway close by his side.</p>
+
+<p>He drew his sword, demanding quickly, but with perturbation,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Who and what art thou, that comest thus from the depths of the waters?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tetragrammaton! peace!&mdash;Dost thou not hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hear what, sir conjurer? Hast thou been listening likewise to the wild
+fowl. By my troth, I thought thou wert a spirit!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wild fowl!" muttered Botello, with a horse-laugh. "Such wild fowl as
+eat carrion, and flap the water like crocodiles.&mdash;Hah! dost thou not
+hear? Lay thine ear upon the causeway at the water's edge&mdash;But thou hast
+not time. Get thee to thy horse, and delay not; and if thou seest
+Cortes, or any other discreet cavalier, bid him draw and be ready. I
+said, that some should escape, but not <i>all</i>!&mdash;God be with thee! follow
+quickly, and sheath not thy sword."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, this time, thou art mad, Botello! Here are no foes."</p>
+
+<p>But the remonstrance of the cavalier was cut short by the instant flight
+of the magician; and ere the words were out of his mouth, a horseman,
+crossing the bridge, and riding up to him, said sternly,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Who art thou, Sir Knave and Sir Witless! that babblest thus aloud, in
+time of peril, contrary to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I am thy very good friend, señor De Leon," said the novice, abruptly;
+"and, waiving any difficulty which might spring from the heat of thy
+words, if duly considered, I think fit to assure thee, that I have but
+just parted from the necromancer, Botello; by whom I am advised to bid
+thee, as well as all other discreet officers whom I may see, to draw
+sword, and remain in readiness for a foe; there being certain sounds on
+the water, which, in his opinion, are ominous of evil. For myself, I bid
+God guard thee, meaning, in person, to join the van, as soon as
+possible."</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers parted,&mdash;De Leon riding back to his party, without
+uttering a word; and Don Amador, with the page, stepping forwards so
+fleetly, as soon to find himself among the Tlascalans of the centre.
+Through these he made his way, ever and anon casting his eye to the
+lake, and looking for the tokens of a foe, but without perceiving
+anything at all unusual. He gained the midst of this band of allies,
+reached the side of his friend, and laid his hand on De Morla's arm. A
+low wailing voice came from the folds of the garments, which veiled the
+countenance of Minnapotzin; and some strong agitation shook the frame of
+his friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Think not of love <i>now</i>, my brother!" cried the neophyte, hurriedly;
+"but be warned that thou art in danger, and Minnapotzin with thee. It is
+thought, that enemies are at hand."</p>
+
+<p>Having thus spoken, and without waiting for an answer, Don Amador, still
+urging Jacinto along, endeavoured to make his way through the dense
+bodies of Tlascalans, which separated him from Don Hernan. He reached
+their front, he stepped upon the little space left between them and the
+general, and placed his eyes upon Cortes. But before he had yet spoken,
+it seemed as if the whole moving mass of the army had been converted
+into marble, on the causeway; for instantly, as if with one consent, the
+train came to a dead halt, and a cry, low, but breathed from the hearts
+of men struck with mortal dread, rose from the van to the rear, in one
+universal groan.</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier turned where all eyes were turned, and beheld a sudden
+pyramid of fire, like one of the many gushes of flame he had already
+seen in this volcanic land, save that the blaze was steadier, shoot up,
+from a vast height in the air, over the distant city, and plunge its
+sanguine point against the heavens; while, at the same moment, its lurid
+mass, reflected and reversed on the lake, darted over the water to his
+feet, in a path of blood,&mdash;as if Mexitli, the Terrible God, had, at
+last, roused from slumber, and couched his gigantic spear against the
+slayers of his children. The blaze illumined the lake far round, and,
+shining on the casques of cavaliers and the plumes of Tlascalans,
+disclosed the whole line of the army, stretched along the calzada. In an
+instant more, the neophyte, petrified with awe, perceived that this
+mighty bale-fire was kindled on the top of the great temple; and, in the
+strong and glaring line, which it struck out upon the water, there was
+revealed a mass of living objects, floating, like birds, upon the
+element, yet speckled with the human colours of Mexico. At the same
+moment, and while his eye yet wavered between the flaming pillar and the
+moving objects on the water, there came from the pyramid a sound, heard
+once before, and never more to be forgotten. The horn of the gods was
+winded;&mdash;the doleful and dismal note came booming with hideous uproar
+over the waters; and before the hills had caught up its echoes, the
+whole lake, right and left, in front and on the rear, rang, roared, and
+trembled, under the yells of an hundred thousand infidels.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVIII" id="CHAPTER_LVIII"></a>CHAPTER LVIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The situation of the Spaniards, at that moment, though sufficiently
+frightful to every one, was yet known, in all its horrors, only to the
+leaders of the van. As hope is ever independent of judgment, ever
+unreasonable and unreflective, the absence of the bridge, at the first
+sluice, was not enough to persuade the fugitives, that the passage of
+the second might be equally interrupted. But, at the moment when the
+signal-fire was kindled on the temple, Sandoval had already reached this
+ditch, and perceived that its bridge was also demolished, and, as it
+seemed, very recently too; for there yet remained a huge timber lying
+across the chasm,&mdash;left, as he feared, rather as some decoy and trap,
+than, as was more probable, deserted suddenly by workmen, scared from
+their labours by the approach of the Spaniards.</p>
+
+<p>The three ditches divided the dike into four portions, of as many
+furlongs in extent. On the second of these portions was concentrated the
+whole retreating army, its front resting upon a sluice of great depth,
+passable by footmen, (for the great beam was soon discovered to be
+sound,) but not by the horse and artillery, without the portable bridge,
+which yet rested over the first breach. This second obstacle being
+overcome, it was apparent, that a third would still remain to be
+surmounted; and the passage of both was to be effected in the presence,
+and in the midst, of a great enemy.</p>
+
+<p>As we have said, the beacon-light, shooting up from the pyramid, and
+continuing to burn with intensity, brought light, where all, before, was
+darkness; and revealed such innumerable fleets of canoes, hovering on
+both flanks, as the novice had not seen, even on that day when he first
+trode upon a dike of Mexico. But the spirit that then slumbered, was now
+awake; and as the rowers responded, with their wild cries, to the roar
+of the sacred trumpet, they struck the water furiously with their
+paddles, until the whole lake seemed to boil up with a spray of fire;
+and thus they rushed madly against the causeway.</p>
+
+<p>The novice cast his eye upon the general. The ruddy glare of the beacon
+could not change the deadly pallor that covered his cheeks; but,
+nevertheless, with this ghastly countenance turned to the foe, he cried
+out, cheerily, or, at least, firmly, to those immediately in advance,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Who ho, cannoniers! your quoins and handspikes, your horns and matches!
+and show me your throats to the lake-rats!" Then, raising his voice to
+its trumpet-tones, he continued, as if giving counsel and command to
+all: "Be bold and fearless, and strike for the honour of God, brave
+Christians! Soho! De Leon, valiant brother! and thou, Alvarado,
+matchless cavalier! raise me the bridge, and be quick; for here we need
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The voices of other officers were heard, faintly mingled with the din,
+but not long; every moment the shouts of the Mexicans, continued without
+intermission, became louder, and their canoes were plunging nearer to
+the causeway.</p>
+
+<p>A pang rent the bosom of Don Amador:</p>
+
+<p>"I must get me to my companions," he cried, to Jacinto, "and what can I
+do for thee this night, young page that I love?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will follow thee," said the page, tremulously; "I will die with my
+lord."</p>
+
+<p>"Would that I had thee but upon the back of Fogoso! for methinks that
+even De Morla should not strike more truly for Minnapotzin than would I,
+this night, for thee."</p>
+
+<p>"Where goest thou, De Leste?" cried Cortes, as the novice pushed by.
+"Pause&mdash;thou art best among the cannoniers."</p>
+
+<p>A dreadful yell, at that moment, drowned the general's voice: but one
+still more dreadful was heard, when, as the pagans drew breath to repeat
+the cry, the Christians in front heard the rear-guard exclaiming, with
+loud and bitter shrieks, "The bridge!&mdash;the bridge!&mdash;it is fast and
+immoveable!"&mdash;The weight of the horses and artillery had sunk it deep
+into the chasm, and no human strength could stir it from its foundation.</p>
+
+<p>These words and sights were all the occurrences of a moment. There was
+neither time for observation nor lamentation. The infidels on the water
+rushed to the attack with the same fury which had so often driven them
+upon the spears of the garrison; and, not less by their cries than their
+apparent numbers, it was made obvious that the whole strength of the
+great city was gathered together for this undertaking; for those who had
+caught a little of their language, could distinguish the different
+quarters of the island encouraging each other with cries of "Ho,
+Tlatelolco! shall Majotla strike first at the foe?&mdash;Alzacualco! on; for
+Tecpan is swift and mirthful.&mdash;On, ho! for Mexitli is speaking; on, for
+our gods are on the temple, and they hunger for the Teuctli!" The line
+of the army was full half a mile in length; but, as far as it stretched,
+and further than the eye could penetrate beyond either extremity, a
+triple row of canoes, on each side of the causeway, was seen closing
+upon it with the speed and fury of breakers, dashing against a stranded
+ship.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Now</i>, cannoniers!" cried Don Hernan, elevating his voice above the
+tumult, when the rushing masses were within but a few paces of the
+causey; "<i>now</i> to your linstocks, and touch in the name of God!"</p>
+
+<p>The damp gunpowder sparkled and hissed on the vents, but did not fail
+the Christians in their need. The roar of the volley was like the peal
+of an earthquake; and, right and left, as eighteen horizontal columns of
+fire darted from the engines, the lake boiled up with a new fury,
+fragments of canoes and the bodies of men were seen flung up into the
+air, and yells of agony which chilled the blood, bore witness to the
+dreadfulness of the slaughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick, and again!" cried Don Hernan, eagerly. "Shoot fast, and shoot
+well; and know that I will shortly be back with ye.&mdash;Ho, Sandoval! why
+dost thou loiter? plunge into the ditch, and swim. Rest where thou art,
+De Leste; for thou art too weak for battle. Give thine aid to the
+cannoniers."</p>
+
+<p>The confused and huddled Tlascalans, who formed the rear of Sandoval's
+party, shouted at the cry of the Teuctli, and made way for him. A
+cavalier, bearing a burthen in his arms, spurred after, with a mad
+impetuosity, which rendered him regardless of the many naked wretches he
+trampled to the earth: it was De Morla. The example thus set by the
+apparent flight of the two hidalgos, was followed by others; and the
+allies were broken by the hoofs of Christians, while still enduring the
+arrows, that came like a driving rain from the lake.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, it was evident, though the cannon, recharged and shot off
+again with extraordinary quickness, served to keep the part of the
+causeway where they stood free from assailants, that they had effected a
+landing, perhaps, both in front and rear,&mdash;certainly on the
+latter,&mdash;where they were already engaged, hand to hand, with the
+Spaniards. The thunder of the explosions did not conceal from the novice
+the shrieks of his countrymen. His blood boiled with fury:</p>
+
+<p>"Come with me, Jacinto," he cried. "We will reach Fogoso; and then I can
+do my duty to my friends, and smite these accursed murderers, without
+deserting thee."</p>
+
+<p>He dragged the trembling page after him; he darted among the cannoniers,
+and passed the artillery. He reached the Tlascalans, who followed the
+van,&mdash;but havoc was already among their ranks. As he gained them, he
+perceived the shelving sides of the causeway lined with canoes, from
+which were springing up, like locusts, a cloud of Mexicans, brandishing
+their glassy maces, and rushing with the yells of wolves upon their
+ancient foes. Barbarians were mingled with barbarians in one hideous
+mass of slaughter, impassable and impenetrable.</p>
+
+<p>His heart sunk within him. "I have prejudiced thy life, as well as my
+own, this night," he said. "Would that I had never left the back of
+Fogoso!"</p>
+
+<p>Before he had yet time to resolve whether to return to the cannoniers,
+or to make one more effort to pierce the bloody mass, he was descried by
+the crew of a piragua, which, that moment, was urged upon the dike with
+such violence, that it was split in twain by the shock. The eager
+warriors rushed up the ascent with a shriek of exultation, and
+brandished their spears. The neophyte retreated; but neither the
+rapidity of his steps, nor the keenness of his blows, would, perhaps,
+have availed against their numbers, enfeebled as he was, and trammelled
+by the grasp of the affrighted Jacinto, had not a party of Spanish
+footmen, flying from the rear, come that moment to his aid. These,
+though they forced the barbarians to give way, were, in their turn,
+driven back upon the cannon; and Don Amador was fain to follow them.</p>
+
+<p>The audacity of the foe seemed still to increase rather than diminish;
+and, twice or thrice, efforts were made by certain valiant madmen among
+them, to spring to land immediately in the mouths of the cannon. These
+were instantly speared by the many desperate Spaniards, who, flying from
+their posts in the rear, which were now known to be in extremity, took
+refuge among the artillery, as the only place of safety, and there
+fought with better resolution.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile, the efforts of the enemy still remaining unabated, the
+prisoners and many of the rear-guard pressing wildly forward, and Don
+Hernan and most of the officers having fled to the front, from which
+they had not returned, the gunners were themselves seized with a panic;
+and, without regarding the death on which they were thus rushing, began
+to leave their pieces, and fly. The representations of Don Amador served
+to arrest some of them, and other soldiers taking their places at the
+guns, they yielded passively to his instructions; and he found himself,
+at once, in the post of a commander.</p>
+
+<p>The many bitter reflections that harrowed his own bosom, he spoke not,
+and sharply he reprimanded others, who were yielding to despair.
+Whatever might be the difficulty of advancing, he felt that such a
+measure was become indispensable, as promising the only hope of
+salvation: for every instant the clamours increased on the rear, as if,
+there, the barbarians had attacked in the greatest numbers, and were
+approaching nearer to the cannon, flushed with slaughter and victory. He
+instructed the gunners in what manner they should rush forwards with
+their charged pieces, pointed obliquely, so as to sweep the sides of the
+dike, shoot them off, when arrested by too determined a front of
+resistance, and, loading quickly, take advantage of the confusion
+following each discharge, so as to gain as much ground as possible,
+while still manfully fighting. He hoped, thus, besides succouring the
+Tlascalans in front, and giving room for the rear-guard to follow, to
+reach the second ditch, where, as he had heard, the beam still gave
+passage to the footmen, but where his most sanguine wishes could point
+him out no other hope than to stand by the cannon till relieved, or
+abandon them and fly, as, it seemed to him, all had done, who had
+already crossed the breach.</p>
+
+<p>He animated the gunners with his voice, and with his actions; and so
+great was the effect of the discharges on the Indians landing, that the
+artillerymen were able to rush forwards perhaps a score yards, after
+each volley; thus convincing all of the wisdom of the measure, and the
+probability of escape.</p>
+
+<p>Two circumstances, however, greatly diminished the exultation, which the
+cavalier would have otherwise felt at the success of his stratagem.
+Though the Tlascalans in front ever responded to the shouts of his
+gunners, and though each discharge seemed to bring him nearer to them,
+yet ever, when a volley was preceded by the loud "<i>Viva!</i>" meant to
+encourage the allies, the answer seemed to come from the same distance,
+and the mass of feathered warriors, lit up by the discharge, disclosed
+the bodies of none but frowning Mexicans. The other circumstance was
+still more appalling; the space behind, left vacant by his advance, was
+occupied no longer by foot or horse, by treasure-bearer or prisoner, by
+Spanish musketeer or Tlascalan spearman. A few dusky groups could be
+seen running to and fro, behind; but yet they seemed rather to rush
+backwards than to follow after.</p>
+
+<p>"God save the rear-guard!" he muttered, "for it is surely
+surrounded.&mdash;On, brave cannoniers! Cortes shall not be ignorant of your
+deeds this night, and Don Carlos, the emperor, shall know of your fame."</p>
+
+<p>The shout, with which the cannoniers again poured forth the deadly
+volley, was repeated with victorious energy, when the Mexicans,
+scattered by the discharge, or leaping to avoid it, into the water,
+parted away from before them; and they found themselves, suddenly, upon
+the brink of the second ditch. The great beam lay in its place; but the
+dark water in the chasm was filled and agitated by the bodies of men,
+wounded and suffocating. The white tunic of the Mexican was confounded
+with the plume of a Christian cavalier; the red arm of an
+infidel,&mdash;Tlascalan or foeman,&mdash;shook by the side of a Castilian spear;
+the white visages of dead men rolled on the necks of drowning horses;
+bales of rich cotton stuffs,&mdash;lances dancing up and down like the leaded
+bulrushes of children,&mdash;armour of escaupil,&mdash;garments, and bodies of
+dying and dead,&mdash;were floating together in such horrible confusion, that
+the water seemed to heave and bubble as with a living corruption.</p>
+
+<p>The sight of the ditch and the beam clear of enemies, fired the
+cannoniers with new hopes; and in the frenzy of their joy, they would
+instantly have dropped their fuses and handspikes, and taken to flight,
+had it not been that Don Amador flung himself upon the beam, and
+striking the first man dead, commanded them still to stand to their
+pieces.</p>
+
+<p>"Base caitiffs are ye all," he cried, "who, thus having the victory, and
+the lives of half the army, in your hands, should so desert your posts,
+in the midst of triumph! Wheel round half your pieces, and sweep the
+causey sides behind;&mdash;for I hear the coming of friends. Would ye give up
+your pieces to infidels? They are your safety!"</p>
+
+<p>The reproof of the cavalier, the sight of their dead comrade, and the
+sword which had punished him, still commanding the narrow pathway, the
+voices of Christians behind, but, more than all, the manifest truth of
+the declaration, that their safety depended on their remaining by the
+artillery, turned the gunners, at once, from their purpose; and their
+resolution received a new confirmation, when a Christian voice was heard
+shouting in the front, as if of some cavalier, heading a band of
+returning friends, and, when, the next moment, a Spanish soldier was
+seen to run towards them, leap on the beam, and then spring from it to
+the causeway.</p>
+
+<p>"Santiago, and shoot on!" cried the overjoyed gunners; "for Cortes is
+coming!"</p>
+
+<p>"What, ho, knave Lazaro!" cried the novice, as the blaze of the
+discharge showed him in the new comer, the countenance of his henchman.
+"Where goest thou? Wherefore hast thou left the horses? And where is Don
+Hernan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Master! dear master, is it thou?" cried Lazaro, with such a shout of
+joy as drowned even the yells of death about him. "Quick, for the love
+of God! over the beam, with all these varlets,&mdash;for life! for life! for
+Don Hernan is fled, and all the cavaliers!"</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, thou villain!&mdash;Heed not this trembling fool," exclaimed Amador,
+quickly. "You hear!&mdash;the last ditch is bridged and free, and ye can, at
+any moment, reach the firm land, as the cavaliers have done.&mdash;Give me
+another volley or two, for God, for the honour of Spain, and for your
+friends, who are fast approaching. We will march together with the
+whole rear, to ensure safety. Quick!&mdash;See ye not how yonder fiends are
+rushing into your muzzles? Viva! A bold shot for St. James, and our
+people!"</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier turned to Lazaro: he was bleeding, and he cast a look of
+despair on his master.</p>
+
+<p>"Why art thou idle? thou wert bred to the linstock, sirrah. Show thyself
+a Christian man and true.&mdash;Hark! hearest thou not? 'Tis the shout of De
+Leon! Bravely, bold hearts! the rear-guard is nigh.&mdash;Hah! halon, halon!
+Don Pedro!"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis the voice of the secretary!" cried Lazaro; "and God help me, but
+he cries for succour!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ho, señor! señor Don Amador! for the love of Christ!"&mdash;the wild shout
+of Fabueno, for the neophyte could no longer doubt it was he, was
+suddenly interrupted: the shrill shriek of a woman succeeded; and, then,
+every thing was lost in a hurricane of yells, so intermingled that no
+one could say whether they came from Christians or pagans.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay&mdash;drop thy match,&mdash;hold me this boy, as thou holdest thy life, and
+suffer none to pass the beam&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"For the sake of the cross thou adorest, the maiden thou lovest!" cried
+the terrified boy, clinging to the cavalier, "leave me not, oh leave me
+not, in this horror, to die alone! The Mexicans will kill me, for I have
+now no gown of a priestess to protect me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the boiling excitement of the novice, these last words
+filled his brain with strange thoughts, but still so confused that they
+were more like the momentary phantasms of delirium, than the proper
+suggestions of reason. But whatever they were, they were instantly
+driven out of his mind, by another cry from Fabueno, seemingly hard by,
+but so feeble and wailing, that a less acute ear might have supposed it
+came from a considerable distance.</p>
+
+<p>He shook the boy off, flung him into the arms of Lazaro, crying, "Answer
+his safety with thy life!&mdash;with thy life!" and immediately darted
+through the cannoniers, and retraced his steps on the causeway.</p>
+
+<p>By this time, the fire on the pyramid had attained its greatest
+brilliancy, and the wind having died entirely away, it projected its
+lofty spire to heaven, and burned with a tranquillity which seemed to
+leave it motionless; while its reflection on that part of the lake which
+shared not in the agitations of conflict, produced a spectacle of peace
+in singular contrast with the horrible scene of carnage, that moment
+represented on the causeway. The light it shed, though it made objects
+visible even as far as the second ditch, did not illuminate the furthest
+part of the dike; and there, whatever deed of death might be presented,
+was hidden from the eyes of all but the actors themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Raising his voice aloud, and running towards the nearest group, Don
+Amador sought out the secretary. But this group, before he had yet
+reached it, started away, and fled, with loud cries, towards the city,
+or to where the tumult was greatest; and he knew by their shouts of
+'Tlatelolco! ho, Tlatelolco!' that they were Mexicans. On the spot they
+had thus deserted, the novice stumbled over the body of a man, his
+throat cut from ear to ear, his cotton armour torn to pieces; and from
+the shreds, as the carcass rolled under his foot, there fell out,
+rattling and jingling on the stones, divers vessels of gold and jewels,
+such as had been grasped in the treasury.</p>
+
+<p>Without pausing to survey this victim of covetousness, the cavalier ran
+on; and, hearing many Christian voices, ringing now with curses, now
+with prayers, and now with shouts of triumph, he called out at the top
+of his voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"On, brothers! on to the artillery! advance!&mdash;Strike well, and
+forward!&mdash;Ho, Lorenzo! comrade! where art thou? and why answerest thou
+not?"</p>
+
+<p>A gurgling sound, as of one suffocating in the flood, drew his eye to
+the lake almost under his feet. The water rippled, as if lately
+disturbed by the falling of some heavy body; and just where the circling
+waves washed sluggishly up the shelving dike, there lay a white mass
+like a human figure, the head and shoulders buried in the tide. The wash
+of the ripple stirred the garments, and, in part, the corse, so that it
+still seemed to be living; but when the novice had caught it up, he
+beheld the visage of a very youthful girl, her forehead cloven by a
+sword of obsidian, and the broken weapon wedged fast in the brain. At
+the same instant, the water parted hard by, and there rose up a dark
+object, that seemed the back of a horse, across which lay the body of a
+man in bright armour, the legs upwards, but the head and breast
+ingulfed. For an instant, this dreary sight was presented; but, slowly,
+the steed, whose nostrils were still under water, as if held down by the
+grasp of the dead rider, rolled over on his side, and the body, slipping
+off the other way, sunk headlong and silently into the flood, followed
+presently by the horse; and the next moment the waters were at rest.</p>
+
+<p>"God rest thee, Lorenzo!" cried the novice, laying down the corse of
+Eugracia. "Thy life and thy hopes, thy ambition and thy love, are ended
+together&mdash;but now can I not lament thee!"</p>
+
+<p>He started up, as the causeway suddenly shook with the tramp of hoofs,
+and a cavalier, without spear or helm, dashed madly by. Almost at the
+moment of passing, whether it was that the strength of the fugitive had
+suddenly given out, or whether, as seemed more probable, a flight of
+arrows had been sent in pursuit, and struck both horse and rider, the
+steed made a fierce bound into the air; and then pursued his course,
+masterless.</p>
+
+<p>"Follow onwards, ye men of the rear!" cried the novice, struck with a
+sudden horror; for now he became conscious that the artillery had been,
+for several moments, silent; and when he looked after the flying steed,
+though he could not, at that distance, perceive any thing, he could hear
+fierce voices mingling together in strife; and presently the riderless
+horse, as if driven back by a wall of foes, returned, passing him again
+with the speed of the wind.</p>
+
+<p>The limbs of the cavalier were nerved with the strength of fury; for he
+thought he heard the screams of Jacinto, ascending with the harsher
+cries of the gunners; and scarcely did that frightened charger fly more
+swiftly from the battle, than he himself now back to it.</p>
+
+<p>"Thy duty, knave Lazaro!" he cried. "The boy!&mdash;save the boy!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don Amador! oh Amador! Don Amador!" came to his ears, in a voice that
+rent his heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I come! I come!" shouted the cavalier, redoubling his exertions, but
+not his speed, for that was at the highest.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh heaven, Amador! Amador!&mdash;--"</p>
+
+<p>In his distraction, the neophyte confounded two voices into one; and
+while he replied to one, his thoughts flew to another.</p>
+
+<p>"I come! Answer me&mdash;where art thou? I am here:&mdash;where art thou!"</p>
+
+<p>As he uttered these words, he sprang through the artillery, which was
+without servers,&mdash;among bodies which were lifeless,&mdash;and stood
+alone,&mdash;for there was no living creature there but himself,&mdash;on the
+borders of the sluice, the beam over which was broken off in the middle,
+and the further portion, only, left standing in its place.</p>
+
+<p>He cast his amazed and affrighted eye from the water, heaving as before
+with the struggles of dying men, to the corpse on whose bosom he was
+standing.&mdash;In the grinning countenance, covered with blood, and horribly
+mutilated by a blow which had pierced through the mouth, jaws, and
+throat, to the severed spine, he beheld the features of Lazaro, fixed in
+death; and looked wildly at his side, to discover the body of the page.
+No corse of Jacinto was there; but, on the ground, where he had stood,
+on the spot where he had charged him to stand, the novice perceived a
+jewel, catching a ray from the distant fire, glittering red, as with
+blood, and held by a golden chain to which it was attached, in the
+death-grasp of the henchman. He snatched it from the earth and from the
+hand of the dead and looking on it with a stare of horror, beheld the
+holy and never to be forgotten cross of rubies.</p>
+
+<p>With that sight, the scales fell from his eyes, and a million of wild
+thoughts beset his brain. The magical knowledge of the page, coupled
+with his childish and effeminate youth,&mdash;his garments, so fitted to
+disguise,&mdash;his scrupulous modesty,&mdash;his tears, his terrors, his
+affection, and his power over the mind of the cavalier,&mdash;the garb of the
+priestess, so lately acknowledged,&mdash;the vision in the house of the Wali,
+Abdalla,&mdash;the cross of jewels, doubtless snatched from the neck of
+Jacinto, when barbarians were tearing him from the faithful Lazaro,&mdash;all
+these came to the brain of the cavalier with the blaze and the shock of
+a cannon, suddenly discharged at his ears. He looked again to the corses
+about him&mdash;they were those of the gunners; to the ditch&mdash;it writhed no
+more; and then, uttering the name of Leila, he sunk, in a stupor, to the
+earth.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIX" id="CHAPTER_LIX"></a>CHAPTER LIX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>While these scenes of blood were passing in the centre of the army, and
+a hideous mystery concealed the fate of the rear, the condition of the
+advanced guard, though not altogether hopeless, was scarce less
+terrific. When the forces of Sandoval, comprising many of the followers,
+both common soldiers and captains, of Narvaez, were made acquainted with
+the fate of the bridge, and beheld the vast number of foes that impelled
+their canoes towards the further bank of the second ditch, as if to
+secure the passage, they waited not for directions to cross over, by
+swimming. They imitated the example of their commander, Sandoval, who,
+leaping from his horse, and leading him into the water, passed over by
+the beam, while still holding and guiding the swimming animal. This mode
+of proceeding being necessarily very slow, and the barbarians rushing,
+in the meanwhile, against them with unspeakable fury, the impatience of
+the cavaliers became so great, that many of them spurred their steeds
+down the sides of the dike, and thus, swimming them along by the beam,
+passed to the other side. Divers of the footmen, seduced by the example,
+leaped, in like manner, into the lake; and the Tlascalans, at all times
+less formidable opponents than their armed allies, being, at the same
+moment, violently assaulted, sprang also into the water, so that it
+became alive with the bodies of man and horse,&mdash;as if a herd of caymans,
+such as haunt the lower rivers of that climate, were disporting and
+battling in the tide. While thus embarrassed and entangled together in
+the water, the swimmers were set upon by the Mexicans, who, pushing
+their canoes among them, and handling their heavy paddles, as well as
+war-clubs, despatched them, almost without labour, and with roars of
+exultation.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this instant of confusion, and while those Tlascalans who
+still remained on the dike, contended but feebly with the augmenting
+assailants, that Don Hernan, followed closely by De Morla, and others,
+dashed over friend and foe, and reached the ditch. The scene of horror
+there disclosed, the miserable shrieks of Christian comrades, perishing
+in the gap and the neighbouring parts of the lake, the increasing yells
+of infidels behind, touched the stout heart of Cortes with fear. He
+descended from his steed, sprang upon the beam, and crossed, crying out,
+at the same time, to those who followed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Hold, cavaliers! Wait ye here for the artillery: leave not this gap to
+the murderers. Fight ye here well, and ye shall have help from the van."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he sprang again upon his horse. De Morla was at his heels,
+bearing Minnapotzin in his arms, but on foot: the chestnut gelding was
+left drowning in the sluice, entangled and sinking under the weight of a
+dozen men, who had seized upon him, in their terror.</p>
+
+<p>"God forgive thee, cavalier!" cried Cortes, as he caught the eye of
+Francisco; "for, for this barbarian puppet, thou playest the coward, and
+leavest thy friend to perish, without the aid of a blow!"</p>
+
+<p>De Morla answered not, but, with a ghastly smile, uncovered and pointed
+at the features of the unconscious princess.</p>
+
+<p>"If she be dead," cried the general, "give her body to the waters of her
+native lake; if she live, commit her to the care of the Tlascalans; then
+call on thy saints and show that thou art not a craven!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, without waiting for an answer, Don Hernan spurred onwards,
+striking down, almost at every step,&mdash;for the whole causeway was
+beset,&mdash;some luckless savage; and, now and then, in his desperation,
+smiting at the hands of certain of his own countrymen, who strove to
+arrest the galloping steed, and spring behind him.</p>
+
+<p>He reached the third and last ditch; it was bridge-less, like the
+others, and, like the others, a theatre of disorder and massacre. The
+pillar of fire, here, revealed its figure but luridly and faintly,
+through the thick mists and the cannon-smoke, sluggishly driving over
+the lake; but he thought he could trace, in the distant gloom, in front,
+the outline of those rugged hills, which lie along the western borders
+of the lake. He turned his face backwards to the city; a tempest of
+yells&mdash;the pagan shouts of victory, and the last cries of Spaniards to
+God,&mdash;came mingling on a gust, that waved the distant flame to and fro,
+like a sword of fire in the hands of some colossal fiend. A bolt of ice
+smote through his bosom; and when he plunged into the sluice, and,
+rising on the opposite bank, drove the sharp spurs into the flanks of
+his charger, no man, of all the army, fled with more craven horror than
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>An hour afterwards, the moon, diminished to the thinnest crescent, crept
+with a sickly and cadaverous visage, to the summit of the eastern hills,
+and peeped down into the valley, preceding the dawn that was soon to
+look upon its scenes of death.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment of moonrise, those few Christians who had escaped from
+the battle, were grouped at the end of the dike, deliberating, in
+unspeakable agitation, upon the course they were to pursue. Many advised
+that they should instantly resume their flight, and trust to their speed
+to put them, before morning, beyond the reach of their merciless
+enemies; some insisted upon remaining, to give help to such wretches as,
+ever and anon, made their way from the causeway, and, with tears of joy
+and loud thanks-givings, threw themselves among their friends; a few,
+more honourable, or more insane, among whom were Sandoval and Don
+Christobal de Olid, (a very valiant cavalier, to whom other histories
+have been juster than this,) demanded, with stern reproaches, that their
+leader should conduct them again to the combat, which was still raging
+on the lake, and rescue their countrymen out of that fiery furnace, or,
+at once, honourably and justly, perish with them.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there one here, who, if I refuse this most mad counsel, will say I
+do it from fear?" demanded the general, with a voice broken by agony and
+despair. "What I do, I do for the good of heaven, the king, and
+yourselves. If I suffer you to return, then will ye perish, Spain lose
+an appanage worthy the first-born of an emperor, and, in that accursed
+city, God be daily grieved by the sight of idolatry and sacrifice. By
+remaining where we are, we shall save many lives; and this land of milk
+and honey, of corn and of gold, though now torn from us for our sins,
+will be yet the guerdon of our resolution. I aver and protest, that if
+we return to the hell that is on the lake, we shall be lost, to a man.
+Is there one, then, who says I remain here from fear?"</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the deep grief and agitation which gave their tone to
+the words of the general, there was mingled withal a touch of such
+sternness, as forbade even the boldest to reply. Great, therefore, was
+the surprise of all, when a hollow and broken voice murmured, in answer,
+from the causeway,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There is ONE,&mdash;there are an hundred,&mdash;there <i>have been</i> (but now they
+are not,) a thousand men, who say that, this night, Cortes hath proved a
+craven, a deserter of his friends, a traitor to his king, a betrayer of
+his God,&mdash;and, therefore, a villain!"</p>
+
+<p>As these words were uttered, there staggered up the bank, on which the
+party rested, a figure, seemingly of a cavalier, but his armour so rent
+and demolished, as, in many places, to leave his body naked. His helmet
+was gone, and his locks, dripping with water and blood, fell over his
+breast, leaving their crimson stains on the white mantle muffling the
+body of some slighter figure, which he bore in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"I forgive thee, De Morla!" cried the general, rushing forwards, and
+then recoiling, as Don Francisco deposited the burden at his feet, and,
+removing the cloth reeking with water as with gore, disclosed to the
+view of all, gently touched by the ray of that wasted and melancholy
+moon, the countenance of the dead princess. "Who hath struck the
+daughter of Montezuma?&mdash;who hath done this deed?"</p>
+
+<p>"He who hath smitten the hearts of a thousand Christians, by leading
+them into peril, and deserting them in their need!" said the cavalier,
+with a tranquillity that struck all with terror, for it was unnatural;
+"he, who commanded me to fling, while living, this child of a murdered
+king into the lake, or upon the spears of Tlascalans, and then get me
+back to the foe, that he might himself fly in safety!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art mad, Francisco! and thou doest me foul injustice!" said Don
+Hernan, hurriedly. "I fled not; nor did I bid thee do aught but entrust
+this hapless maiden to some strong band of allies, thou being thyself
+on foot, and, therefore, incompetent to protect her."</p>
+
+<p>"You called me craven, too!" said the cavalier, with a hoarse laugh,
+raising his voice aloud. "Thou liest!&mdash;I am braver than thou; for my
+body is covered with wounds&mdash;from the crown to the sole, there is no
+part but is mangled;&mdash;and yet thou hast not a limb but is untouched! You
+call me craven! God smite you with punishment, for you are <i>all</i>
+cravens, knaves, and murderers together! You wait on the banks, while we
+are dying, and you call us cravens! God will do us right! God will
+avenge us! God will hear our prayers! and so God curse you all, and keep
+your bones for the maws of infidels!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus speaking, and concluding with the voice of a madman, the young
+cavalier cast a look on the dead princess, and, uttering a horrid
+scream, ran back, distracted, to the causeway.</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of God, on!" exclaimed an hundred voices; "we are <i>not</i>
+cravens and murderers, and Spaniards shall not fall unaided!"</p>
+
+<p>Don Hernan himself, stung by the sarcasms of the unhappy and
+well-beloved cavalier, was the first to clap spurs to his horse; and
+again the thunder of cavalry, and the quick tread of footmen moving in
+order, were heard on the dike of Tacuba.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LX" id="CHAPTER_LX"></a>CHAPTER LX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Thousands of infuriated and exulting savages had, in the meanwhile,
+landed from their canoes at the second ditch, raised their cries of
+triumph over the abandoned artillery, and struck, with a rage not to be
+appeased by death, the Christian corses which lay so thick among them.
+But, while living invaders remained, either in the front or rear, they
+tarried not long, to waste their malice on the dead.</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier Don Amador, when he made the marvellous discovery, detailed
+in a preceding chapter, and perceived that the fair and lamented being
+of his dreams, heaven had permitted so long to walk by his side, in this
+new and strange world,&mdash;revealing her to his eyes only at the moment
+when destined to be snatched from them for ever,&mdash;felt, at that instant
+of discovery as if all the ties which bound him to existence, were at
+once dissevered. Rage at his blindness, furious compunctions of remorse
+for his negligence, and an agony of grief at the supposed dreadful fate
+of the maiden, were mingled with a sort of wild indignation against the
+providence which, by veiling his eyes, and shutting his ears to the
+suggestions of his heart, (for, surely, from the moment he looked upon
+the page, his affections were given him,) had robbed him of his
+mistress. It was not, therefore, wonderful, that such a conflict of
+mind, acting upon a body weakened by previous wounds and sickness, and
+exhausted by present exertions, should have thrown him across the body
+of Lazaro, himself, to all appearance, full as lifeless. And thus he
+lay, for half an hour, insensible to the battle, which was now drawing
+nigh to the ditch, and now leaving it to its charnel solitude.</p>
+
+<p>He was recalled to life, by feeling some one tug forcibly at the sacred
+jewel, which he retained throughout his lethargy, with the same instinct
+which had preserved it in the death-grasp of the henchman. More lucky
+than Lazaro, yet scarce more happy, this violence woke up the sleeping
+energies of life; and he raised his head, though only to stare about him
+with a bewildered look of unconsciousness.</p>
+
+<p>"God be thanked!" exclaimed a Christian voice in his ear, as a friendly
+hand seized him by the shoulder; "lead or gold, glass or precious stone,
+never was cross of Christ picked up on the wayside, but good fortune
+followed after it! What ho, señor! up and away! The things that I spoke
+of, have come to pass. Kalidon-Sadabath dances in the Crystal; he loves
+the smell of blood!&mdash;Up! arise and away, for thine hour is not come."</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier arose, and stared at the friendly magician; which Botello
+seeing, and supposing he was now fully restored to his wits, this
+lunatic of another sort seized him by the arm, and, dragging him towards
+the water, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Fear not; if thou hast not the skill of a crocodile, know that I can
+bear thee across the channel; and that the more easily that it is
+already choked with corses, and no Mexicans nigh to oppose us."</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte broke from his companion, and with wild cries of <i>Leila!
+Leila!</i> ran towards the cannon.</p>
+
+<p>"God save thee! art thou mad? Dost thou call upon woman or devil? This
+is no place for girls; and never heard I of imp called Leila."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou knowest not my wretchedness, Botello," said Don Amador. "Let me
+look again, if her body be not here.&mdash;Hah!" he cried, struck with a
+sudden thought, and turning quickly to the conjurer. "Thou art a
+magician, and knowest of the dead as well as the living. I have decried
+thine art, but now I acknowledge thy wisdom. Behold this rubied
+cross&mdash;oh heaven! that I should hold it in my hand, and know, that, but
+a moment since, it was on the neck of Leila! Look, enchanter; this jewel
+came from the neck of a woman, whom but now I left standing on this
+brink. Call her from the dead, if she have perished; or show me what
+path she hath trodden, if she be living; and I will reward thee, though
+I give thee the half of my patrimony.&mdash;A woman, I tell thee! Wilt thou
+not believe me? Half my estate, but to look upon her!"</p>
+
+<p>It was manifest, even to the unhappy novice himself, that Botello
+regarded him as a madman. But nevertheless he replied earnestly, "Here
+is no place for conjurations: there be devils enough about us already.
+Tarry not here; for this will neither benefit thee, nor her of whom thou
+speakest. Spring into the ditch,&mdash;rush with me to the main; and, then,
+what thou seekest, thou shalt know. Courage, courage! Dost thou not see
+yonder star, that creeps up by the dim moon, under the rack, dimmer even
+than the dim moon? Under that star, came I into earth: and while it
+shineth in that conjunction, the dart of a savage cannot wound me,&mdash;no,
+not though it strike me upon the naked brow!&mdash;Hark! dost thou not hear?
+The fragments of the rear-guard are approaching. Let us swim this abyss
+before they reach us, lest we be entangled among them. Hesitate not: we
+will go together, for I see thou art worn and feeble; and I remember
+that thou gavest me succour in the streets of Mexico."</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte had yielded, with a sort of captive-like and despairing
+submission, to the will of Botello; and was descending with him moodily
+to the water, when suddenly the latter paused, listening to a Christian
+shout in the distance, as of one approaching them from the shore.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark! it is repeated!&mdash;Viva! They come from the main: they have beaten
+the cubs of darkness&mdash;Viva! viva! Santiago, and quick, valiant friends!"</p>
+
+<p>The joyous shouts of Botello were re-echoed, though only by a single
+voice. Yet this was evidently approaching, and with great rapidity.</p>
+
+<p>During the whole time of the resuscitation of Don Amador, and of his
+dialogue with the enchanter, the causeway in the neighbourhood of the
+ditch had been free from foes, but only because it was free from
+Christians; and the lake in the vicinity was equally solitary. But now
+as they stood listening to the shouts, the two companions could perceive
+the lake, some distance in front, on both sides of the dike, boiling up
+in foam under canoes impelled towards them with extraordinary violence,
+seemingly upon the flank of the party from which proceeded the cry. But
+whatever was the speed of the canoes, it seemed to be unequal to that of
+the Christian; whose shouts wild and loud, and now almost incessantly
+repeated, grew shriller and nearer every moment.</p>
+
+<p>"On, valiant friends! on!&mdash;heed not the pagans; on!" shouted Botello, as
+the canoes cut the water within an hundred paces of the ditch. "Thanks
+be to God! I see them! Hah! good! and here&mdash;Hark to his voice! how
+cheery!&mdash;here comes the valorous De Morla!"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, the figure of De Morla, outstripping the wind, was seen
+running towards the ditch, while some of the arrows shot after him by
+the pursuers, and passing him, fell even at the feet of the expectant
+pair.</p>
+
+<p>The sight of his friend kindled the ardour of Don Amador. He shouted
+aloud,</p>
+
+<p>"On, valiant brother!&mdash;It is I! thy sworn friend of Cuenza!"</p>
+
+<p>To this speech, De Morla answered with a yell, that chilled the heart of
+his townsman; and running without a moment's hesitation, and without
+slackening his speed, to the end of the broken beam, where it overhung
+the middle of the sluice, he sprang from it, as if assisted by its
+elasticity, to so great a height into the air, that, it was plain, he
+would clear the chasm in the bound. As he leaped, he waved his sword,
+and uttered a scream; a cloud of arrows at the same time whistled
+through the atmosphere; and when he reached the ground, twenty of these
+deadly missiles were sticking in his body.</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte raised up his head; one arrow was in his brain:&mdash;it snapped
+off, as the head rolled on Amador's arm. A thrill and a gasp were the
+last and only manifestations of suffering. The next instant, the body of
+De Morla rolled down the shelving plane of the ditch, and sunk, with a
+few bubbles, among a hundred of his countrymen, already sepulchred
+therein.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXI" id="CHAPTER_LXI"></a>CHAPTER LXI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Meantime the reappearance of the barbarians seemed to cut off the last
+hope of escape from Amador and his companion; but the magician,
+answering the cavalier's sullen look of despair with a laugh, and
+pointing to the little star, which still made its way up the cloudy arch
+along with the moon, said, dragging him at the same time towards the
+artillery,</p>
+
+<p>"What the spirits say, is true! All this said they, of De Morla.&mdash;May he
+rest with God&mdash;Amen! Fear not; be of good heart:&mdash;while the star shines,
+there is hope,&mdash;and hope for both; for though I have not yet read thy
+fate in full, still, while thou art at my side, thou canst be in no
+great peril. At the worst, and when the worst comes, it is written, that
+eagles shall come down from heaven, and bear me away on their
+backs.&mdash;Hast thou never a flint and dry tinder, to light me a linstock?
+Here hath some knavish gunner left his piece charged, and the grains of
+sulphur still heaped up from rimbase to cascable. A good roar now might
+do marvels.&mdash;Quick! they are upon us.&mdash;Fling thee under the wheels, and
+look but as dead as thou didst erewhile, till the cut-throats be
+passed.&mdash;Hah! 'fore God, dost thou hear?" he exclaimed, suddenly leaping
+up.&mdash;"Kalidon, soho, brave imp! and thou shalt be a-galloping
+yet!&mdash;Hearest thou that shout, like the clang of a bugle on a
+hill-top?&mdash;'Tis Cortes! and he cometh!"</p>
+
+<p>It was even as the magician had said. From the moment that De Morla took
+the fatal leap, the rowers ceased paddling in their canoes, as if
+certain of his fate, or unwilling to follow so feeble a prey, and
+remained huddled together, as though they awaited the approach of a more
+tempting quarry. They had not perceived the two companions. Just as
+Botello was about to creep under a falconet, around whose wheels the
+corses lay very thick, the strong voice of Cortes was heard rising over
+the din, which, at some quarter or other of the causeway, was kept up
+incessantly during the whole conflict. It echoed again, sustained and
+strengthened by the voices of a considerable party.</p>
+
+<p>"They approach!" said Botello. "They are a-horse too; I hear the
+trampling. God quicken the rear! Methought there were many who followed
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"Hark!" cried the cavalier. "The foul knaves desert us! their voices are
+weaker; they fly again to the land!"</p>
+
+<p>"Here's that which shall fetch them back, if they be men!" exclaimed
+Botello, catching up a port-fuse not yet extinguished, striking it on
+his arm to shake off the ashes, and whirling it in the air till it
+glowed and almost blazed. "It will show them, there be some living yet;
+and, with God's blessing, will scatter yon ambushed heathen like
+plashing water-drops. <i>Ojala!</i> and all ye fiends of air and water, of
+earth and of hell, that are waiting for pagan souls, carry my hail-shot
+true, and have at your prey!"</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the conjurer applied the match. The roar of the explosion was
+succeeded not only by the yells of Mexicans, dying in their broken
+canoes, or paddling away from so dangerous a vicinity, but by Spanish
+shouts, both on the rear and in front.</p>
+
+<p>"On, brave hearts!" cried Cortes; "there be bold knaves yet at the
+ordnance!"</p>
+
+<p>The next moment the little band of horse that headed the relief, sprang
+into the lake, and swimming aside, so as to avoid the sunken bodies, and
+the bales still floating in the ditch, crossed over to the cannon; while
+a large body of men, arranged with such order, that they blocked up the
+whole causeway from side to side, came marching up from the rear,
+fighting as they fled, and still valiantly resisting the multitudes that
+pursued both on the dike and in the water.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks be to God!" cried Don Hernan, rejoiced that so many lived, and
+yet appalled at the numbers and ferocious determination of the foes, who
+still, like venomous insects following the persecuted herd, pursued
+whithersoever the Christians fled. "Art thou alive, De Leon?&mdash;Praised be
+St. James, who listened to my prayer! Turn ye now, and let us succour
+the rest."</p>
+
+<p>"They are in heaven," said De Leon, with a faint voice, for he was
+severely wounded, as indeed were all his crew. "Push on, in the name of
+God, all who can swim.&mdash;The others must perish."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold! stay!" exclaimed Cortes. "Fling the cannon into the
+sluice.&mdash;Think not of the enemy. Heave over my good falconets: they will
+make a bridge for ye all."</p>
+
+<p>The wounded footmen seized upon the guns, with the energy of despair;
+and flinging over the ropes to that company of their fellow infantry who
+had followed Don Hernan, and now stood on the opposite side, the pieces
+were pushed and dragged into the water, and, together with the mass of
+corses already deposited in that fatal chasm, made such a footing for
+the infantry as enabled many to pass in safety. Among these was Don
+Amador de Leste, his hand grasped by the faithful magician, who
+perceived that he was sunk into such sluggishness of despair, that he
+must have perished, if left to himself.</p>
+
+<p>It is not to be supposed that this passage was effected without
+opposition and loss. On the contrary, the barbarians redoubled their
+exertions; and while many rested at a distance, shooting whole clouds of
+arrows, others pushed their canoes boldly up to the gap, and there slew
+many taken at such disadvantage.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, the passage was at last effected, and the footmen, joining
+themselves to their fellows, and forming, as before, twenty deep,
+followed the horsemen towards the shore.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold!" shouted Botello, when the party was about to start. "Save your
+captain, ye knaves of the rear!&mdash;Save De Leon! the valiant Velasquez!"</p>
+
+<p>A few, roused by this cry, and heedless of the shafts shot at them,
+rushed back to the brink, and beheld the wounded and forgotten captain,
+in the water, struggling in the arms of two brawny barbarians, who
+strove to drag him into a canoe. While his followers stood hesitating,
+not knowing how to give him aid, the little vessel, agitated by his
+struggles, which were tremendous, suddenly overset, and captive and
+capturers fell together into the water. The two warriors were presently
+seen swimming towards a neighbouring canoe; and De Leon, strangling
+under the flood, heaved not his last groan on the gory block of
+sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>The fugitives paused not to lament; they resumed their march, and gained
+the last ditch.</p>
+
+<p>The events of that march, and of the passage of that ditch, are, like
+the others, a series of horrors. Enough has been narrated to picture out
+the dreadful punishment of men who acknowledged no rights but those of
+power, and preferred to rob a weak and childish race with insult and
+murder, rather than to subdue them, as could have been done, by the arts
+of peace. In the sole incident which remains to be mentioned, we record
+the fate of an individual whose influence had been felt through most of
+the events of the invasion, in many cases beneficially, but, in this,
+disastrously enough. This was the enchanter, Botello,&mdash;a man just shrewd
+enough to deceive himself; which is, in other words, to say, that he
+mingled in his own person so much cunning with so much credulity, that
+the former was ever the victim of the latter. The devoutness of his own
+belief in the efficacy of his arts, was enough to secure them the
+respect and reverence of the common herd, as well as of better men, in
+an age of superstition. How much confidence was given to them by Cortes,
+does not clearly appear in the older historians; but it is plain, he
+turned them to great advantage, and had the art sometimes to make the
+stars, as well as Kalidon of the Crystal, furnish revelations of his own
+hinting; and, it is suspected, not without grounds, that this very
+nocturnal flight, projected originally under the impression that the
+barbarians would not go into battle after night-fall, and, when the
+later events of the siege had disproved this hope, still persisted in
+from the persuasion that no Mexican would handle a weapon on the day of
+an emperor's burial, was conceived in the brain of the general before it
+was counselled by the lips of Botello.</p>
+
+<p>At all events, the enchanter did not, this night, manifest any doubt in
+his own powers. With a strange and yet natural inconsistency, he seemed
+to rejoice over the slaughter of his countrymen, as over the
+confirmation of his predictions. Twice or thrice, at least, he muttered,
+and once even in the thick of combat, to Don Amador, by whose side he
+ever walked, at the head of the retreating party,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I said, this night we should retreat&mdash;we have retreated: I said, there
+should be death for many, and safety for some&mdash;the many are at rest,
+(God receive their souls, and angels carry them to the seats of
+bliss!)&mdash;and some of us are saved."</p>
+
+<p>"Be not over-quick in thy consummations," said Amador. "We are here now
+at the third ditch, which is both wide and deep, and no bodies to bridge
+it; and seest thou not how the yelling curs are paddling in to oppose
+us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bodies enow!" cried the enchanter. "To-morrow, at midday, when the sun
+is hottest, ye shall see corses lying along on both sides of the causey,
+like the corks of a fisherman's net; and at the ditches, they will come
+up like ants out of the earth, when a dead caterpillar falls at their
+door. Yet say I, we shall be saved, and thou shalt see it; for I
+remember how thou didst carve the back of that knave that lay on me in
+the streets of Mexico; and I will carve a dozen for thee in like manner,
+ere dawn, on this causeway."</p>
+
+<p>"Boast no more: such confidence offends heaven; for thy life hangs here
+as loosely as another's."</p>
+
+<p>"The star! the star!" cried Botello, "the dim little star! is it not
+shining? The morning comes after it, and the eagles are waking on the
+hills. They will snuff the battle, they will shriek to the vultures, to
+the crows, and the gallinazas, and down will they come together to the
+lake-side and the lake. At eventide, ye will see dead men floating about
+in the wind, and on the breast of each a feeding raven; but devils shall
+be perched on the corses of the heathen!"</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven quit me of thy wild words, for they sound to me unnatural and
+damnable, as though spoken by one of those same demons thou thinkest
+of.&mdash;Speak no more.&mdash;Look to thy life; for it is in jeopardy."</p>
+
+<p>"Hast thou not seen me in the battle? and, lo you now, I have not a
+scratch!" said the enthusiast. "I have fought on the dike, when there
+were twelve men of us, good men, bold and true: eleven were slain, but
+here am I untouched by flint, unbruised by stone, unhurt by arrow. I
+fought three screeching infidels in the water, hard by to where two
+valiant cavaliers were pulled off their horses, and so smothered; and
+yet strangled I my heathens, without horse to help, or friend to say God
+speed me. The life that is charmed is invulnerable; the star shines, the
+eagle leaves her nest, and Kalidon-Sadabath laughs in the
+crystal.&mdash;Viva! Lo now, how Sandoval, the valiant, will scatter me yon
+imps in the boats! He spurs into the water; Catalan the Left-handed,
+Juan of Salamanca, Torpo the Growler, Ferdinand of Bilboa, and De Olid
+the Devil's Ketch, they spring after him!&mdash;There they go! Dance,
+Kalidon! thy brothers shall have souls, to be fetched up from the mud as
+one rakes up clams of a fish-day. Crowd hell with damned
+heathens:&mdash;there be more to follow!"</p>
+
+<p>Never before had such life possessed the spirits of Botello. He stood on
+the edge of the causey, shouting loud vivas, as the bold cavaliers
+rushed among the canoes that blocked up the sluice. The novice, though
+shocked at such untimely exultation, was not able to avoid it; for he
+was enfeebled, and Botello held him with a fast and determined gripe.</p>
+
+<p>"Unhand me, conjurer," he cried, "and I will swim the ditch."</p>
+
+<p>"Tarry a little, till the path be made clear: thou wilt be murdered
+else."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be murdered, if I remain here; and so wilt thou.&mdash;Hah! did that
+shaft hurt thee?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never a jot; how could it? There flies not the arrow this night, there
+waves not the bludgeon, that can shed my blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou besotted?&mdash;God forgive thee!&mdash;this is impiety."</p>
+
+<p>The magician held his peace; for about this time, the Mexicans, knowing
+that this band, diminished, disordered, and divided by the ditch into
+two feeble parties, was the sole remaining fragment of oppression, and
+determined that no invader should escape alive, rushed upon the causeway
+on all sides with such savage violence as seemed irresistible. Those who
+had not yet crossed, broke in affright, and flung themselves into the
+sluice with such speed, that, in a few moments, Don Amador began to
+think that he and Botello were the only Christians left.</p>
+
+<p>"Why dost thou hold me, madman?" he cried. "Let me free."</p>
+
+<p>"Hark! dost thou not hear?&mdash;there are Christian men behind us," said
+Botello.&mdash;"Courage! What if these devils be thicker than the thoughts of
+sin in man's heart, fiercer than conscience, deadlier than remorse; yet
+shall we pass them unharmed.&mdash;Patience! 'Tis the voice of a Spaniard, I
+tell thee, and behind!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is in front:&mdash;hark! 'tis Don Hernan!"</p>
+
+<p>"It is behind, and it is the cry of Alvarado! Let us return, and give
+him aid. Ho, ye that fly! return! the Tonatiuh is shouting behind us:
+will ye desert him?&mdash;Return, return!"</p>
+
+<p>Before Amador could remonstrate, the lunatic, for at this moment, more
+than any other, Botello seemed to deserve the name, had dragged him to
+the top of the dike, where he stood exposed to the view and the shots
+of the foe. A thousand arrows were aimed at the pair.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a dead man!" said Amador.</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou not see the star?" cried the magician, impatiently. "Not a
+bird hath yet flapped her wing, not an eagle hath fled from her cliff;
+and my star, my star&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he let go his hold of the cavalier, to point exultingly at
+the diminutive luminary. At that very instant, an arrow, aimed close at
+hand, struck the neophyte on the breast, entering the mail at a place
+rent by blows of a previous day, and, without wounding him, forced its
+way out through links hitherto uninjured.</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" said the cavalier, as the arm of Botello fell heavily on his
+shoulder.&mdash;"Art thou taught wisdom and humility, at last? Let us
+descend, and swim."</p>
+
+<p>As he moved, he became sensible that the shaft was still sticking in his
+hauberk. He grasped the feathered notch&mdash;the head was in the
+astrologer's heart. The stout wood snapped, as Botello fell. It struck
+him in the moment of his greatest hope. He dropped down a dead man.</p>
+
+<p>While Amador stood confounded and struck with horror, he was seized, he
+knew not by whom, and suddenly found himself dragged through the water.
+Before he could well commend his soul to heaven, for he thought himself
+in the hands of the enemy, he beheld himself on firm land, while the
+voice of Cortes shouted in his ear,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Rouse thee, and die not like a sleeper! Hold me by the hand, and my
+good horse shall drag thee through the melée&mdash;I would sooner that my arm
+were hacked off than that thou shouldst sleep in the accursed lake:
+enough of thy blood rests in it, with Don Gabriel."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay," thought the unhappy cavalier, "enough of my blood, and all of my
+heart. Don Gabriel, De Morlar, Lazaro, Lorenzo, and&mdash;ay, and Leila!
+Better that I were with them!"</p>
+
+<p>A sudden cry from beyond the ditch interrupted his griefs.</p>
+
+<p>"Pause, pause!" cried the voice. "Leave me not!&mdash;I am nigh!&mdash;I am
+Alvarado!"</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers looked back at these words, and beheld a man come flying,
+as it were, through the air over the ditch, perched on the top of a long
+Chinantlan spear, the bottom of which was hidden in the water. He fell
+quite clear of the sluice, after making a leap which even his comrades,
+who had not individually seen it, held impossible for mortal man, and
+which, even to this day, has preserved to the spot the name of the
+Salto, or leap, of Alvarado.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of the Tonatiuh was hailed with shouts of joy; and the
+Spaniards, receiving it as a good omen, closed their ranks, and slowly,
+for every inch was contested, fought their way to the shore. When they
+trode upon the firm ground, the little star had vanished in the gray
+beams of morning; and a thick mist rising up from the water like a
+curtain, concealed from the eyes of the fugitives, along with the
+accursed signal-fire, the fatal towers and temples of Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>Thus closed a night of horror and wo, memorable as the <i>Noche Triste</i>,
+or Melancholy Night, of Mexican history, and paralleled perhaps, in
+modern days, if we consider the loss of the retreating army as compared
+with its numbers, only by the famous and most lamentable passage of the
+Berezina. More than four thousand Tlascalans, and five hundred
+Spaniards, were left dead on the causeway, or in the lake. Of the
+prisoners, but two or three escaped; two sons and as many daughters of
+Montezuma, with five tributary kings, as well as many princes and
+nobles, perished. All the cannon were utterly lost, left to rust and rot
+in the salt flood that had so often resounded to their roar; and of more
+than an hundred proud war-steeds that champed the bit so fiercely at
+midnight, scarce twenty jaded hacks snuffed the breath of morning.</p>
+
+<p>With this broken and lamenting force, with foes still hanging on his
+rear, and ever flying from his front, Cortes set out to seek a path, by
+new and unknown mountains, to the distant Tlascala. He turned his eyes
+but once towards the lake,&mdash;the pagan city was hidden among the mists,
+and the shouts of victorious Mexicans came but faintly to the ear. He
+beat his breast, and shedding such tears as belong to defeated hopes and
+the memory of the dead, resumed his post at the head of the fugitives.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXII" id="CHAPTER_LXII"></a>CHAPTER LXII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We draw a curtain over the events of the first five days of flight,
+wherein the miserable fugitives, contending, at once, with fatigue,
+famine, and unrelenting foes, stole by night, and through darkling
+by-ways, along the northern borders of the fair valley, from which they
+were thus ignominiously, and, as it seemed, for ever, expelled. Of the
+twenty mounted men, each, like a Red-Cross Knight, in the ancient days
+of the order, bore a wounded companion on his crupper; and Don Amador,
+himself, on a jaded beast that had belonged to Marco,&mdash;for Fogoso had
+been lost or killed in the melée,&mdash;thus carried the only remaining
+servant of himself and his knight,&mdash;the ancient Baltasar. Other mangled
+wretches were borne on the backs of Tlascalans, in rudely constructed
+litters.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner, the ruined and melancholy band pursued its way, by
+lake-side and hill, over morass and river, ever pursued and insulted by
+bodies of barbarians, and frequently attacked; till, on the evening of
+the fifth day, they flung their weary forms to sleep in the City (as it
+may be called) of Pyramids, among those mouldering and cactus-covered
+mounds, which the idolatry of a forgotten age reared to the divinity of
+the greater and lesser luminaries of heaven, on the field Micoatl, that
+is to say, the Plain of Death. The visitor of San Juan de Teotihuacan
+still perceives these gigantic barriers, rising among the hundreds of
+smaller mounds&mdash;the Houses of the Stars&mdash;which strew the consecrated
+haunts, and, perhaps, conceal the sepulchres, of a holozoic people.</p>
+
+<p>At sunrise, the Spaniards arose, ascended the mountain of Aztaquemacan,
+at the north-eastern border of the valley, and prepared, with a joyous
+expectation, which had not been diminished even by the significant and
+constantly-repeated threats of the pursuers, to descend into the
+friendly land of the Tlascalans, by way of the vale of Otumba. For the
+last two days, the name of this valley had been continually on the lips
+of the Mexicans, following on the rear; and their cries, as interpreted
+by Marina, who survived the horrors of the Melancholy Night, intimated,
+plainly enough, that the work of revenge, so dreadfully commenced upon
+the lake, was to be consummated in the gorges of the mountains.
+Nevertheless, the Spaniards, in the alacrity of spirit, which the
+prospect of soon ending their sufferings in the Land of Bread, produced,
+forgot these menaces, or regarded them as the idle bravados of impotent
+fury; and clambered upwards, with increasing hope, until they reached
+the crest of a ridge, and looked down the slope to the wished-for
+valley. The sight which they beheld, will be described in another place.
+It remains, now, to return to an individual, whose fate has long been
+wrapped in mystery.</p>
+
+<p>At the moment when the Spaniards approached the highest part of the
+ravine, by which, alone, they could pass, in that quarter, from the vale
+of Tenochtitlan, there lay, in a wild and savage nook of the mountain,
+which went shelving upwards on the right hand, and at so short a
+distance, that had a bugle been winded in the army, it must have reached
+his ears,&mdash;one who had been a companion in many of their battles and
+sufferings. A number of huge rocks fallen ages ago, and rolled from some
+distant pinnacle, were heaped together on a broad and inclined shelf,
+and enclosed a space of ground so regular in form, and yet so rudely
+bounded by those sprawling barriers, that it looked to the imagination
+not unlike the interior of some stupendous temple, built by a barbaric
+people, and overwhelmed, many ages before, by some great convulsion. One
+side was formed by a cliff, in whose shivered side yawned the entrance
+of a black and dismal cavern, while the broken masses of rock themselves
+formed the others. Among, and over these, where they lay in contact with
+the cliff, there rushed a torrent, which, in the times of drought, might
+have been a meager and chattering rivulet, making its way, merrily,
+through gap and hollow, but which, now, swollen by the summer rains,
+came raving and roaring over the rocks, broken by them into a series of
+foaming cascades; and, then, shooting over a corner of the enclosure,
+and, darting through the opposite wall, it went, thundering, down the
+mountain. A few stunted trees stretched their withered limbs among these
+savage masses; and the noontide sun, peeping down into the nook, and
+lighting up a part of the cliff, fell pleasantly on the mosses and
+Alpine flowers, which ornamented its shelving floor, tinting, with
+momentary rainbows, the mists that hung over the fall. A sable steed,
+without bridle or halter, and much the worse for such primitive
+stabling, but yet, to all appearance, the relic of a once noble
+war-horse, wandered, at liberty, through the enclosure, cropping the few
+plants which bedecked it, or drinking from the little pools, at the side
+of the torrent; while, at the mouth of the cave, at the foot of a wooden
+crucifix of the rudest description, lay sleeping the figure of his
+master. A stained and tattered garment of leather, investing his limbs,
+was not altogether hidden under a black mantle, which partly covered his
+body. The head of the sleeper lay on his right arm, and this embraced
+the foot of the cross, so that the grizzly locks, which fell from his
+forehead, rested against, and almost twined around, the holy wood.</p>
+
+<p>The sunbeam played, unregarded, on his withered cheeks, and flickered
+over a heap of rusted armour, both of man and horse, which lay hard by,
+shining, also, with a fierce lustre, upon what appeared a scarlet
+surcoat, hung, like a banner, on the point of a knightly lance, which
+rested against the side of the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>Disease, as well as age, had furrowed the cheeks, and wasted the form of
+the slumberer; famine seemed to have been at work, as well as all other
+privations incident to a habitation in the desert; and there was, in his
+whole appearance, such an air of extreme and utter misery, as would have
+moved the pity of any beholder. Nevertheless, he slept on, regardless of
+the roaring fall, and heedless of the fierce sunbeam, in such
+tranquillity as augured, at least, a momentary suspension of suffering.</p>
+
+<p>As the sun stole up to the meridian, another human creature was suddenly
+added to the scene. The browsing war-horse pricked his ears, and
+snorted, as if to do the duty of a faithful sentinel, and convey to his
+master a note of alarm, as certain dried branches crackled among the
+rocks of the wall, and a stone, loosened as by a footstep, fell,
+rattling, down their sides, and buried itself in the pool, at the base
+of the fall. But the anchorite, for such the solitude of his dwelling,
+the poverty of his raiment, and, more than all, the little rugged cross
+which he embraced, caused him to appear, heard not these sounds; he
+slept on, lulled by the accustomed roar of the water-fall; and the steed
+was left alone, to watch the approach of the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, he was seen dragging himself up the rocks, by the aid of a
+drooping bough; and when he had reached their top, he rested for a
+moment, still clinging to the branch, as if worn out with toil, as was,
+indeed, made apparent by the youth and feebleness of his appearance. He
+cast a haggard and uninterested eye on the romantic torrent leaping and
+foaming at his feet, and seemed to hesitate whether he should descend
+into the prison-like enclosure, or retrace his steps, and retreat as he
+had come. But, suddenly, his gaze fell upon the steed, and he started
+with surprise at a sight so unexpected. The sagacious animal whinnied
+loudly, as if with recognition; and the youth, devoutly crossing
+himself, looked, with an agitation that denoted terror, on the red
+garment, the cross, and the human figure that still lay sleeping, or,
+perhaps, as he thought, dead, under its holy shadow. Then, as if
+resolved, he hastened to descend from the rugged fragments, and seeking
+where he might safely cross the brook, over the stones that obstructed
+its bed, he at last stood at the side of the good steed, which snuffed
+at him a moment with joy, and, then, gambolling about a little, fell to
+cropping the plants again, satisfied that the comer was a friend.</p>
+
+<p>The youth stole up tremblingly to the side of the sleeper, and seemed
+shocked at his emaciated and neglected appearance. He stooped as if to
+awake him, and then started back, wringing his hands, in fear and grief.
+He bent over him again;&mdash;a smile passed like a beam over the countenance
+of the recluse, and a murmur escaped his lips, of which the youth caught
+only a few broken syllables:</p>
+
+<p>"Though I shed thy blood," were the words he distinguished, "yet did I
+not aim at thee; and, therefore, hast thou forgiven me, for the sin was
+the sin of frenzy. Thou pardonest me, too, Alharef, for thou art, also,
+of the angels. It is good to walk with thee through the seats of
+bliss."</p>
+
+<p>A tear fell upon the cheek of the knight Calavar,&mdash;for it was, indeed,
+he; but it fell like the spray-drop, or the gentle dew; and it was not
+until the hand of the youth touched his shoulder, that he awoke and rose
+feebly to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoever thou art," said the unfortunate devotee, "thou breakest the
+only dream of happiness that hath visited my slumbers, for long and many
+years, and callest me from the paradise that filled me with bliss, to
+the earth which is the wheel whereon I am broken&mdash;Miserere mei, Deus!"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, my lord!"</p>
+
+<p>"Art thou sent back to bid me prepare?" cried Don Gabriel, starting
+wildly, at the voice of the intruder. "Lo! I have flung me off the
+harness of war, and devoted me to penance in the wilderness, giving my
+body to sleep on the earth and in caves, drinking of the wild floods,
+and eating of the tough roots, with the earth-worm; while I sleep, my
+heart is scourged within me; whilst I wake, I pray,&mdash;and I pray that I
+may sleep for ever. Know, therefore, Jacinto! thou that dwellest in
+paradise! that I am ready, and that I thank heaven, I am called, at
+last; for weary has been my life, and long my repentance."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, my lord, I live like thyself; and I call upon thee, that thou
+mayest continue to live. I thought, indeed, that thou wert dead, and so
+thought, and yet think, thy friends,&mdash;who are now in great peril."</p>
+
+<p>"God snatched me from the hands of the heathen," said the knight, "and
+brought me to this place, that I might seek for peace. For, oh! my heart
+was but filled with scorpions, that stung me day and night, and my head
+strewn with coals, ever burning and tormenting, whilst I sat in the
+infidel city, and remembered how he that hath been my son, was slain by
+murderers in the streets, because he loved me! All that loved me have
+perished, and (wo betide the hand that struck, and is not yet withered!)
+two under mine own steel. Yea, Alharef, thou art remembered! and, Zayda,
+thou art not forgotten! Then came the blow to thee, dear seraph! and
+thou wert carried off by the angry spirit of Alharef, who defied me at
+the palace-gate, and, in the temple-yard, raised me to my feet, and bade
+me think of Zayda. Verily, I remember her, and my heart is black with
+recollection! Then fell the bolt upon my boy,&mdash;he that was matchless in
+honour and love, peerless in war, incomparable in truth!&mdash;Would that the
+barbarous knives had struck my bosom, instead of thine, Amador! would
+that thou wert now upon thy gallant bay, shaking thy lance, and shouting
+the cry of the Hospital, and I in thy place, mouldering in the streets
+of Mexico! I lay on my couch, whilst thou wert calling to me for aid; I
+slept while thou wert dying.&mdash;Cursed be thy foundations, pagan city!
+ruin fall upon thy towers, havoc ride howling through thy palaces, and
+lamentations come up from thy lakes and gardens! for he that was the
+last and first, the loving and beloved, rots like a dog upon thy
+pavement!"</p>
+
+<p>"Noble and dear master," said Jacinto, "in this, at least, thou art
+mistaken. My dear lord, thy kinsman, perished not that day in the
+streets; for I myself did watch by his sick couch, and see him, after
+thou hadst departed, return in safety to the palace."</p>
+
+<p>"Dost thou say so?&mdash;He died not in the streets? Praised be God, for this
+his goodness!" cried Don Gabriel, falling on his knees. "My sin, then,
+hath not been visited on the guileless and true! My son Amador yet
+liveth!"</p>
+
+<p>He looked to the page, and now, for the first time, observed, as far as
+this could be seen through his thickly padded garments, that the form of
+Jacinto was greatly attenuated; his cheeks were hollow and colourless,
+and his countenance altered, as by some such grief as had been at work
+in his own bosom. He seemed, too, to be very feeble. But, if such were
+the appearances of sorrow on his visage, they assumed a yet more
+striking character of agony and despair, when the knight's words of joy
+fell on his ear. His face grew paler than death, he trembled like a
+linden leaf, and his lips scarcely obeyed their function, when he
+replied, with a faint and fruitless effort at calmness,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I will not deceive my lord; no, heaven be my stay! I will not deceive
+my lord. Though my friend,&mdash;my patron,&mdash;my protector,&mdash;the noble
+Amador,&mdash;fell not in the streets, but returned to his people, yet is his
+fate wrapped in mystery,&mdash;in darkness and in fear. That night, that
+dreadful night!&mdash;O heaven! the causey covered with men, shrieking and
+cursing, stabbing and rending! the lake choked with corses, and with
+dying men still contending, and suffocating, each in the grasp of a
+drowning foe!&mdash;But I think not of that, I think not of that!&mdash;Who lived?
+who died? We searched for the body of my lord, but found it not: he was
+not with those they led to the pyramid; his corse floated not among the
+hundreds, which befouled the lake: yet did they discover his goodly
+war-horse on the water-side,&mdash;his surcoat was dragged from a ditch,
+among cannon, under whose heavy bulk lay many bodies, which the Indians
+strove to push up with poles&mdash;but my lord's body rose not among them.
+And yet, he sleeps in the lake,&mdash;yes, he sleeps in the lake! for how
+could he escape that night, and I no more by his side?"</p>
+
+<p>As Jacinto spoke, he wept and sobbed bitterly, giving himself up to
+despair. But not so the knight: he listened, somewhat bewildered, to the
+confused narration of an event, in which he had shared no part; but
+catching the idea, at last, and mingling it with another, the fruit of
+his very distempered mind, he said, quickly, and almost joyously,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Dry thy tears; for now I perceive that my son is not dead, but liveth;
+and straightway we will go forth, and seek him!" Jacinto regarded the
+knight with a melancholy look. He noticed the incredulity, and resumed,
+with much devout emphasis,&mdash;"But a moment since, before thou camest into
+this den, mine eyes were opened upon paradise; it was vouchsafed to me,
+who must never hope to enjoy such spectacle again,&mdash;no, <i>desdichado de
+mi</i>! never again, never again,&mdash;to look upon the golden city of God;
+wherein I walked, with all those whom, in my life, I had loved, and who
+were dead. There saw I, among the saints and seraphim, my father, who
+fell in arms at the sack of Alhama; my mother, who died giving me birth;
+together with all the friends of my childhood, who perished early:
+there, also, I beheld Alharef and Zayda, the murdered and the
+blest,&mdash;with all others that were truly dead. Now thou wilt see, how God
+opened mine eyes in this trance; for, though I wept thee, dear child, as
+truly believing thou wert deceased, yet thee I saw not among the
+blissful, where thou must have been, hadst thou been discarded from
+earth, as I thought thee. And I remember me, too, and great joy it is to
+remember, that my son Amador was not among those saints; for which
+reason, heaven makes it manifest to us, that he lives. Now, therefore,
+let us go forth from this desert, and seek him. Though mine eyes are
+sealed among these hills, and my feet stumble upon the rocks, yet will
+heaven point us out a path to Mexico!"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! my lord need not seek so far," said the page. "The pagans are now
+alone in the city, having driven out their enemies, with terrible
+slaughter.&mdash;Never more will the Spaniards return to it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, now, I remember me!" said the knight, catching up some of his
+battered armour, as he spoke. "This defence, that I had thought for ever
+rejected, must I again buckle on. I remember me, thou spokest of a night
+of retreat by the causeway, very dreadful and bloody. Ay! and thou
+saidst thou wert at Amador's side!&mdash;How was it, that thou wert taken
+from him, and didst yet live?"</p>
+
+<p>"My father Abdalla," said Jacinto, sorrowfully, "my father, by chance,
+heard me cry at the ditch, when my lord, Don Amador, was gone; and he
+saved me in his canoe."</p>
+
+<p>"Thy father? thy father, Abdalla?&mdash;I remember me of Abdalla," said the
+knight, touching his brow. "There is a strange mystery in Abdalla. I am
+told&mdash;that is, I heard from my poor Marco&mdash;that Abdalla, the Moor, did
+greatly abhor me, even to the seeking of my life."</p>
+
+<p>"He wronged him!" said the page: "whatever was my father's hatred of my
+lord, he never sought to do him a wrong!"</p>
+
+<p>"Strange!" muttered Don Gabriel; "thou acknowledgest he hated me, then?
+Wherefore should he, whom I have not injured, hate me? And wherefore,
+after confiding thyself to my good keeping?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me not deceive my lord," said Jacinto, sadly, but firmly: "My
+father entrusted his child to him he hated, because he knew him just and
+honourable; and my father did receive great wrong, as well as other
+unhappy Moors, of my lord, in the Alpujarras&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The knight dropped the dinted cuishes which he had snatched up, and,
+clasping his hands wildly, exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Miserere mei, Deus! my sin is inexpiable, and my torment endless; for,
+in the Alpujarras, did I slay him whom I had sworn to love, and deface,
+with a murderous sword, the loveliest of thine images!"</p>
+
+<p>"Dear my lord," said Jacinto, shocked and grieved at his agitation;
+"forget this, for thy sin is not what thou thinkest, and it has been
+already forgiven thee. Zayda hath seen, from heaven, the greatness of
+thy grief, and she intercedes for thee with our Holy Mother."</p>
+
+<p>"She follows me on earth, she comes to me in visions!" cried Don
+Gabriel, vehemently. "Rememberest thou not the night of Cholula? Then
+stood she before me, as thou dost; and, with face of snow and finger of
+wrath, she reminded me of my malefaction."</p>
+
+<p>"My lord is deceived&mdash;this was no spectre, but a living woman," said
+Jacinto, hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>The knight stared, aghast.</p>
+
+<p>"If I make it appear to my lord," continued the page, "that this was,
+indeed, no phantom sent to reproach, but a living creature, haply
+resembling her of whom he speaks, and, therefore, easily mistaken, in
+the gloom, for one of whom my lord thought, in his delirious
+moment,&mdash;will it not satisfy my lord, that he is not persecuted, but
+forgiven?"</p>
+
+<p>"If thou canst speak aught to remove one atom and grain from this
+mountain of misery, which weighs upon my heart," said Calavar,
+earnestly, "I adjure thee that thou speak it. Many times have I thought
+that she whom I slew, stood at my side; but yet had I hopes, and a
+partial belief, that these were the visions of my disease; for my mind
+is sometimes very sorely distracted. What I saw at Cholula, was beyond
+such explication,&mdash;very clearly and vividly represented, and seen by me
+when my thoughts were not disordered."</p>
+
+<p>"Let my lord be content, and know that this was a living creature, as I
+have said, and no apparition: let him do on his armour; and, by-and-by,
+all shall be revealed to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak to me now," said the knight.</p>
+
+<p>"Not now! not now!" interrupted Jacinto; "for, at this moment, the
+myriads of vengeful fiends who seek for the blood of my lord, Don
+Amador, if he be yet living, are rushing upon the poor fugitives. Doth
+not my lord hear?&mdash;Hark!"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis a trumpet! it blasteth for a charge of horse!" cried Calavar, as
+the distant sound came echoing up the mountain, even over the roar of
+the fall.&mdash;The ancient war-horse heard the remembered note, and pricking
+his ears, neighed loudly and fiercely, running to a gap in the wall, as
+if to seek the contest, till recalled by the voice of his master.</p>
+
+<p>"The infidels are then at hand, and they do battle with Christians?"
+exclaimed Don Gabriel, the fire of chivalry again flashing from his eye,
+and almost driving away the thought of Zayda. "Buckle me these straps,
+and see that thou art speedy; for this brooks not delay. God hath called
+me to this mountain, that I should be ready to do battle with the
+heathen, in defence of the holy cross, which is my sworn vow; and in
+the fulfilment of the same, I pray God that I may die.&mdash;Sound again,
+brave heart! smite me the godless fast and well; for presently I shall
+be with ye, striking for the faith!&mdash;Why, how thou loiterest, young
+knave! Be speedy, for my son Amador is with the Christian host; and,
+this day, heaven wills that I shall bring him succour."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! my lord," cried the page, "I would that I could give my life to
+aid him; but my fingers are skilless and feeble."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art a godly boy, and well do I love thee. Buckle me as thou canst,
+and care not to buckle well; for, in this fight, God will be my armour.
+Buckle me, therefore, as thou canst; and, while thou art thus engaged,
+give me to know, what good angel brought thee to be my messenger."</p>
+
+<p>"I followed my sire," said the trembling Jacinto, "with the forces of
+Mexico, that were sent to join the mountain bands, and cut off the
+fugitives; and, being commanded to rest me on the hill till the battle
+was over, I lost myself; which, with my great grief of heart, caused me
+to seek some nook wherein I might die. For truly, now, unless my lord
+Amador be living, I care not myself for life."</p>
+
+<p>"The forces of Mexico! be they many? and these dogs of the hills, are
+they in numbers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Countless as the drops of spray which the breeze flings over us," said
+Jacinto, with much perturbation, "so that nothing, but the goodness of
+God, can rescue the Spaniards out of their hands, and conduct them forth
+on the path so blocked up by their bodies. The Mexicans are many
+thousands in number, and triumphing still in the thought of their horrid
+victory on the lake. They swear that no Spaniard shall escape them, this
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"I swear, myself," said Calavar, fiercely, "and heaven will listen to
+the vow of a Christian, though one sinful and miserable, that, this day,
+even they themselves, the godless pagans, shall be scattered as dust
+under our footsteps!&mdash;Quick&mdash;my war-coat! and now, my good lance, that
+hath drunk the blood of the heathen! <i>Santa Madre de Dios! Señora
+beatificada!</i> the infidel shall fall under the cross, and the true
+believer rejoice in his slaughter!"</p>
+
+<p>With such exclamations of fervour, the spirit of youthful days
+returning, at each blast of the trumpet, which was still winded at
+intervals, the knight ceased doing on his armour, and then, with
+Jacinto's feeble assistance, caparisoned his impatient steed. When this
+was done, he bade the page to follow him; and, riding through one of the
+many gaps in the colossal wall, began to descend the mountain.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIII" id="CHAPTER_LXIII"></a>CHAPTER LXIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The midday sun was illuminating the peaks, and darting its beams into
+the narrowest and darkest ravines of these mountains, when Don Hernan,
+at the head of his little army, rode to the crest of a hill, and looked
+down upon the narrow, but beautiful valley of Tonan, opening on the
+fields of Otompan,&mdash;or, as the name has been more euphonically rendered
+by Spaniards, Otumba. The level vale itself, as well as the hills on
+both sides, as far up, at least, as the gentleness of their slope
+allowed such cultivation, was sprinkled with maize fields, which, being
+now at their utmost point of luxuriance, covered such places with
+intense verdure; while the green forests, that here and there
+overshadowed the upper ridges, with flowery cliffs protruding from their
+waving tops, added the charm of solitude to the pleasant prospect of
+human habitation. But there was one accidental beauty at present
+revealed, which, however disagreeable and even terrible to the leader,
+he could not but acknowledge, in his heart, to surpass all the others.</p>
+
+<p>At the cry with which the general beheld this phenomenon, his followers
+rushed up to his side, and perceived the whole valley, as it
+seemed,&mdash;beginning at the bottom of the ridge they now stood upon, and
+extending not only from hill to hill, but as far as the eye could
+see,&mdash;filled, and indeed blocked up, with enemies. The white and scarlet
+hues of their garments, the plumes of divers colours waving on their
+heads like a sea of feathers, over whose surging surface there passed
+here a bright sunbeam and there the shadow of a cloud,&mdash;the glittering
+of copper spears, of volcanic falchions, and of jewels, (for this day,
+the pagans decorated themselves, as for a triumph, in their richest
+array,) produced a scene which was indeed both glorious and terrific.
+Through this human flood, Don Hernan knew he must conduct his weary and
+despairing people; but without daring to hope that the hand which had
+parted the Sea of the Desert from before the steps of the Israelites,
+would open, for him, a path through this equally fearful obstruction.</p>
+
+<p>The Christians gathered round their leader in silence. The loud roar of
+shouts, sounding from below, as if a whole world shrieked at once, shook
+the mountain under their feet; but they replied not.&mdash;Every man was, at
+that moment, commending his soul to his Maker; for each knew there was
+no path of escape, except though that valley, and felt in addition,
+that, perhaps, not even the whole army, fresh, well-appointed, full of
+spirits and resolution, as when, on St. John's day, it entered the city
+of the lake, could have made any impression on such a multitude,
+displayed in such a position. The very extremity of the case was the
+best counsel to meet it with fortitude; every man considered his life
+already doomed beyond respite, and, with such consciousness, looked
+forward to his fate, with tranquillity. Their sufferings by famine and
+fatigue on the road, though the mutinous and lamenting fugitives did not
+then know it, had better prepared them to encounter such a battle-field,
+than a series of victories, with spoils of gold and bread; for these
+torments having already rendered their lives burdensome, they were not
+greatly frighted at the prospect of ending them. These causes, then,
+added to the fury of fanaticism, never entirely at rest in the bosom of
+the invaders, will account for their resolution, and even impatience, to
+attack an army, rated by many of the conquerors, at two hundred thousand
+men. Had they been happier men, they would not have rushed upon such
+manifest destruction.</p>
+
+<p>The priest Olmedo stretched forth his arm, holding a crucifix: Christian
+and Tlascalan knelt down upon the flinty ridge, and mingled together
+sullen prayers.</p>
+
+<p>As they rose, the ever-composed Sandoval cried out, emphatically,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my merry men all, gentlemen hidalgos and gentlemen commoners, God
+hath, this day, given us a great opportunity to signalize our
+valour;"&mdash;which was all the oration it occurred to his imagination to
+make. The soldiers looked upon him with a gloomy indifference. Then out
+spoke the hotheaded Alvarado:</p>
+
+<p>"There be, to my reckoning, in yonder plain," he said, with a grin of
+desperation, "some five hundred thousand men; we have, of our own body,
+some four hundred and fifty Christian soldiers, and we may count the two
+thousand Tlascalans, here at our heels, for fifty more; which just
+leaves us a thousand dogs apiece to fight in yonder vale. If we gain the
+victory over such odds, never believe me, if we be not clapped down in
+books by that German enchanter Faust, who hath invented a way of making
+them in such numbers, as being more heroical men than either Don
+Alejandro, the great emperor of Egypt, or some other country,&mdash;or Don
+Rodrigo himself, who was much greater than any such dog of a heathen
+king. This much I will say, that never before had starving men such a
+chance of dying like knights of renown; and as, doubtless, God will send
+us some fifty or an hundred thousand angels, to fight on our side, we
+may chance stumble on a victory: in hope of which, or in the certainty,
+on the other hand, of going to heaven, I say, Santiago, and at them! for
+their bodies are covered with gold and jewels!"</p>
+
+<p>"God will help us!" cried Cortes; "and my friend Alvarado hath very
+justly said, that there is a rich spoil, in that valley, for victors.
+Though there be here, perhaps, fifty thousand men, or more, yet are they
+infidels, and, therefore, but as sparrows and gnats before the face of
+God's soldiers. There are, also, acres of very sweet corn in the valley;
+and, beyond yon yelling herds, are the gates of Tlascala. But let it not
+be thought, I will, this day, compel the sword of any Christian. Yonder
+are the hill-tops;&mdash;there are dens enow, wherein one may give his bones
+to wild-cats, and there be tall cliffs from which they who prefer such
+end, may throw themselves, and straightway be beyond the reach of
+battle. For myself, though but one man follow me, yet will I descend to
+that plain, walk through that multitude, and marshalling an hundred
+thousand Tlascalans, after I have rested me a little, return, by the
+same path we are now treading, to the gates of Mexico, to revenge upon
+such as yonder scum, the death of my brothers, who are in heaven, as
+well as to lay claim to those rich lands and mines of gold, which are
+our right, and which it is yet our destiny to overmaster. If ye be
+minded to disperse and starve among the hills, let me be acquainted with
+your resolution; if ye will fight like soldiers and Christians, speak
+out your good thoughts, and, in God's name, let us begin!"</p>
+
+<p>"We will fight!" muttered the desperate men.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, some strong clear voice from the company began to
+pronounce the words of the chant, <i>Kyrie Eleison</i>, and the rest joining
+in, Cortes gave the signal to descend; and thus they went slowly down
+towards the host, invoking mercy and singing the praises of God, and
+waxing in boldness and fanaticism as they sang, until the neighbouring
+rocks rang with the loud and solemn echoes of devotion.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever was the piety of Don Hernan, it did not, however, prevent his
+taking all the steps which could be expected of a general in such a
+situation; and one while joining, loudly, with others in the chant, and
+at another, pausing to give deliberate instructions to his officers, he
+arranged the order and expedients of battle, before the wild anthem was
+concluded. His instructions were simple, and related but to one point.
+He counselled no one to be valiant, for he knew the veriest coward in
+the ranks would be compelled to deeds of heroism that day. He only
+commanded, that the little troop of horse should form five deep, and
+follow him whithersoever he might lead, and that the footmen should keep
+their ranks close, and follow after the horse. He knew, as, indeed, did
+most of his followers, that the orders conveyed to a Mexican army by a
+Mexican general, instead of being transmitted, from division to
+division, by messengers, were directly communicated to all by the
+general himself, through the medium of the great banner, which he bore
+in his own hands, and, from the lofty litter on which he was carried,
+kept ever displayed to the eyes of his warriors. A few simple motions of
+this royal telegraph, sufficed to convey all the directions which a
+barbarous commander was required to bestow upon a barbarous army. Among
+these, the vailing or dropping the standard, was the well-known signal
+of retreat; and whether it might be lowered by the general himself, or
+struck from his hands by some fortunate foe, still it was equally
+certain, that, in either case, his followers would immediately, upon
+seeing it fall, betake themselves to flight.&mdash;When Cortes eyed this
+immense multitude, he calculated the chances of victory, not by the
+probabilities of routing it, but by those of making his way to the great
+banner.</p>
+
+<p>The imperial standard, which, in the tongue of Mexico, bore the horribly
+uncouth title of <i>Tlahunmatlaxopilli</i>, was conspicuously visible, even
+from the mountain Aztaquemacan, which the Spaniards were now descending.
+In the centre of the pagan army was a group of warriors, made remarkable
+by the height and splendour of their penachos, the glittering of their
+jewelled decorations, and the sheen of their copper lances, the blades
+of which, like some that had been seen in Mexico, were full a yard in
+length, and polished so that they shone like gold. These were the
+guards,&mdash;a body of young nobles,&mdash;which surrounded the person of the
+general, to protect the banner from violence. In the centre of this
+group, upon a litter of almost imperial gorgeousness, stood the stately
+barbarian, bearing on a long pike-staff the standard, which was a sort
+of net-work, made of chains of gold,&mdash;and, therefore, a more significant
+emblem of the object of conquest, and the fate of subjugation, than any
+banner of a Christian nation, even at this day. A few white feathers,
+waving amongst the links, kept it ever conspicuous.</p>
+
+<p>As Don Hernan descended, he explained to the horsemen his design to
+merge every other object in that of seizing the Mexican standard; a
+project which met the concurrence of each.</p>
+
+<p>"All that I have now to say to you," he added, when approaching the base
+of the hill, "is, to charge with me at half-speed, and take no thought
+of slaying. Those of you, who have ever endured the bastinado of a
+pedagogue, will remember, that Julius Cæsar, or some such knave of a
+paynim, it matters not who, being opposed in some civil war, to certain
+cohorts of young gallants and hidalgos of Rome, directed his archers to
+spare the lives, but to let fly at the faces, of these lady-puppets;&mdash;a
+counsel of infinite wisdom; for, I remember, that in my youth, until I
+got this gash o' the chin from a gentleman of Saragossa, which somewhat
+spoils the beauty of my beard, I had a mortal aversion to fight with any
+man much given to striking at the face. What I have to advise,
+therefore, is, that you will imitate the wisdom of that same Roman
+hound, and lance your spears full at the eyes of all who may oppose you.
+I have given charge to the footmen to finish our work: while they are
+slaughtering such curs as are not satisfied with scratched faces, we
+will make free with yon same knave of the gold net. Let it be
+reckoned&mdash;and 'tis worth a king's ransom&mdash;the prize of him who
+overthrows the general.&mdash;Hark! hear ye how the infidels shout!&mdash;Are ye
+ready? In the name of God, the Virgin, and Santiago, have at them now
+like men! Amen!&mdash;<i>Santiago! Santiago!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Thus shouting his war-cry, for now the horsemen had reached the bottom
+of the hill, Don Hernan couched his spear, with four cavaliers at his
+side, of whom Don Amador de Leste was one, and, followed by all the
+others, dashed furiously at the first ranks of the Mexicans, who were
+already rushing against him.</p>
+
+<p>The savages sprang aside, flinging their javelins and swords at the hot
+Christians, and raining arrows on their armed bodies; but ever, though
+thus expressing their hostility, yielding rank after rank before the
+irresistible charge; until it became apparent to the most doubting, that
+they might succeed, at last, in reaching the banner. They, therefore,
+redoubled their exertions, shouted the names of their saints, and aiming
+continually at the eyes of the foe, made such progress, that they were
+already almost, as it seemed, within reach of the prize, when a yell of
+the Indians of more than ordinary loudness, echoed by the infantry with
+exclamations of alarm, brought them to a sudden stand.</p>
+
+<p>They had penetrated deeply into the mass; but it was as a noble ship
+ploughs her way through billows, which yield and divide, only to unite
+again in her wake, and roar after in pursuit. From their lofty seats,
+they could overlook the multitude, and behold how quickly the path they
+had carved, was filled up by screaming barbarians, rushing turbulently
+after them; while others dashed in like numbers, and with equal
+ferocity, upon the footmen, now left far behind.</p>
+
+<p>As they looked thus over their shoulders, they paused with surprise, and
+even perturbation; for they perceived, furiously descending the slope of
+the hill on the left hand, against the infantry which was already sorely
+beset, what seemed a Christian cavalier in black armour, mounted on a
+noble bay horse, and couching a lance like a trained soldier, only that,
+behind him, there followed, with savage yells, a band of several
+thousand Indians, bearing the well-known colours of Tenochtitlan itself.</p>
+
+<p>"God be our stay!" cried the general, looking aghast at this astonishing
+apparition; "have we here an infidel god, in very deed, risen up against
+us, and riding a-horse like a Christian man? Avoid thee, Satan! and all
+good saints spurn thee again to the pit, from which thou comest!"</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis Mexitli himself!" cried one.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis the devil!" said another.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" exclaimed Don Pedro, "he rushes down upon the footmen, like a
+rock, tumbled from the hill-top; and hark! heard ever man such horrible
+voice? 'Tis Mahound! 'tis Satan!&mdash;Now all good angels befriend us!"</p>
+
+<p>"For my part," said Don Amador de Leste&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>But before his words had yet been heard by any of his companions, they
+were cut short by such loud and thrilling cries of joy from the infantry
+as equally confounded the cavaliers.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Elo! Santiago! elo! nuestro buen amigo, el valoroso Santiago!</i>"&mdash;that
+is to say, "Lo, St. James! behold, our good friend, the valiant St.
+James!"&mdash;burst from the lips of the footmen, in a frenzy of triumph.</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers looked again, but to the opposite mountain, and beheld
+upon that, as upon the other, an armed and mounted cavalier descending
+with lance in rest, and with the speed of thunder, as if rushing to a
+tournay with him of the black armour, but without being followed by any
+one, excepting a single youth, who staggered far behind.</p>
+
+<p>At this sight, the cavaliers uttered loud cries of joy, not doubting
+that St. James had indeed come to rescue them from the claws of the
+accursed Mexitli, as they began to consider the black phantom.</p>
+
+<p>"Our saint fights for us!" cried Cortes; "On! leave the black fiend to
+him!&mdash;On, and let him behold our valour. The standard, ho!&mdash;Santiago is
+nigh! The standard, the standard!"</p>
+
+<p>The sight of the second apparition seemed to have smitten the pagans
+with as much terror as the view of their own champion had infused into
+the Spaniards. The young nobles who surrounded the banner, looked to the
+vision with awe; and ere they had yet recovered from their confusion,
+the Christian cavaliers, elated and invigorated, fell upon them with
+such violence as left the long copper lances useless in their hands.</p>
+
+<p>"On, and quick!" shouted Don Hernan, "or the knavish colour-man will
+spring from his perch, and so rob ye of the gold. On, ho! on!&mdash;Hah,
+infidel! art thou not mine own?"</p>
+
+<p>As he uttered these last words, he rose on his stirrups, stretched over
+his horse's neck, and handling his heavy spear as one would an ordinary
+javelin, launched it with all his force at the chief. There was never a
+better mark; for the barbarian, instead of showing, as Cortes had
+hinted, any desire to desert his litter, advanced to its very verge; and
+while he balanced the staff and its weighty crest with his left hand,
+whirled manfully a short dart round his head, looking all the while at
+the great Teuctli. There never was a better mark,&mdash;for his breast,
+covered with a flimsy hauberk of skins, on which were sewed thin plates
+of gilded copper, was fully exposed;&mdash;there never was a better aim.
+Before the dart had left his grasp, the spear of Don Hernan smote him on
+the chest, and piercing copper and bone alike, hurled him backwards,
+with the standard, out of the litter.</p>
+
+<p>The cavaliers shouted victory, and trampling down the litter-bearers,
+and the young nobles, as these began to fly, looked eagerly for the
+prize.</p>
+
+<p>"Have the knaves robbed us?&mdash;Hah! mad John of Salamanca, <i>thou</i> pickest
+my pocket of these crowns, dost thou?"</p>
+
+<p>These words of Don Hernan were addressed to a young hidalgo, who, the
+moment he had perceived the spear of Cortes take effect, had flung
+himself from his pied steed, rushed upon the downfallen infidel, and
+striking his sword into his throat, tore from him the badges of
+authority.</p>
+
+<p>"He who strikes the quarry," said the elated youth, flinging both plume
+and golden net over the neck of his general's horse, "has the true claim
+to the trophy."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep them thyself, for thou hast won them; and if Don Carlos be of
+mind, brave Juan, thou shalt mount them for thy coat of arms. Soho, De
+Leste! where art thou?&mdash;I thought this prize should have been thine!"</p>
+
+<p>"De Leste has gone mad," said Alvarado.&mdash;"Shall we chase the runagates?
+See how they scamper!"</p>
+
+<p>The words of Alvarado were true. No sooner had the golden banner fallen
+from its height, and been lost among the combatants, than there rose a
+dismal yell over the whole valley, and the vast multitudes, those near
+at hand, and those afar, alike, began to fly, and in the utmost
+confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"Victory! praise be to God! to God and our noble St. James!" cried
+Cortes, with a shout, that thrilled to the hearts of the flying pagans.
+"Follow not the knaves: leave them to the foot&mdash;to the allies and our
+mighty champion, the Saint!&mdash;Soho, De Leste! return. Follow not after
+the knaves."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis De Olid," cried Don Pedro, "that halloos the hunt's-up. I tell
+thee, De Leste is mad!"</p>
+
+<p>"Back to our Champion!" said Cortes.&mdash;"Hah! what saidst thou of De
+Leste?"</p>
+
+<p>"That he is gone mad,&mdash;raving, besottishly, and very blasphemously mad;
+and that he deserted us, the moment he saw thee fling thy spear."</p>
+
+<p>"God forbid the youth should prove to be as was his kinsman, before his
+death-day," said Cortes; "for a more gallant and sufficient soldier,
+though somewhat self-willed, have I never beheld.&mdash;Mad, sayst thou?"</p>
+
+<p>"He swore to me, first," said Alvarado, with a devout shrug, "that that
+paynim god, Mexitli, descending the hill yonder, was mounted on his own
+good horse, Fogoso; which seems to me not unreasonable; for Fogoso was,
+in some sense, the best charger lost that night, (which God punish to
+the heathen for ever!) and, doubtless, Huitzilopochtli, if determined to
+go out a pricking, like a Christian knight-errant, would be wise enough
+to pick up the best ghost of Christian horse. And, secondly," continued
+Don Pedro, crossing himself, "he swore that his most holy valour,
+Santiago, who came down from the hill-top to help us, was no more than
+the ghost of his kinsman, the knight Calavar, who was drowned, horse and
+all, in the salt lake, near to Iztapalapan!&mdash;But ho! halon! let us
+follow the hunt!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ha, my masters!" cried Don Hernan; "let us return, and fathom this
+marvel, for it may bode us much to know. But stay&mdash;I will not rob ye of
+pastime. As many of ye as will, spur after the hounds, and aid the
+Tlascalans."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, and the foes now being scattered in flight over the
+neighbouring hills, the general returned towards the infantry; while the
+cavaliers, shouting, as if in a boar-chase, urged their steeds up the
+hills, in pursuit of the fugitives.</p>
+
+<p>Thus was fought, and thus won, a battle, in which four hundred and fifty
+Spaniards, aided by a handfull of Tlascalans, contended with a host of
+such incredible numbers, that, to this day, men remember it with wonder,
+and would reject it as a fable, were it not that the testimony of a
+thousand facts has placed it beyond the reach of question.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIV" id="CHAPTER_LXIV"></a>CHAPTER LXIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>What Alvarado had reported of Don Amador was true. The neophyte averred,
+that, dead or alive,&mdash;a spectre or a creature of flesh and blood,&mdash;the
+steed, bestridden by the sable phantom, and urged with such fury against
+the footmen, was neither less nor more than his own good beast, Fogoso;
+and he declared, with even more impetuosity, as Don Pedro had related,
+that the figure, descending the opposite hill, was the knight of
+Calavar, on his ancient war-horse,&mdash;an apparition, perhaps, but no St.
+James,&mdash;unless this heavenly patron had condescended to appear in the
+likeness of a knight so valiant and so pious. Strange fancies beset him,
+and so great was his impatience to resolve the marvel, that he scarce
+waited to behold the general balance his good spear, before he turned
+his horse, and spurred furiously backward.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the black horseman descended with such violence upon the
+footmen, as threatened their instant destruction, his fierce eyes, as
+the Christians thought, gleaming with the fires of hell; so that,
+notwithstanding the sudden relief coming in the person of the supposed
+saint, they were seized with horror, and gave way before him. At the
+moment when he rushed among them, uttering what seemed the <i>Lelilee</i> of
+another land, he was encountered by his celestial opponent, whose strong
+voice shouted out&mdash;"God and St. John! and down with thee, paynim demon!"</p>
+
+<p>The shock of two such steeds, both of great weight, each bearing a man
+cased in thick armour, each urged on by the impetus of descent from the
+hills, and meeting, midway, in a narrow valley, was tremendous. At the
+moment of encounter, the sable rider perceived, for the first time, his
+opponent;&mdash;he checked his steed suddenly, and flung up his lance, as if
+to avoid a contest. But the precaution came too late&mdash;his rising lance
+struck the casque of his adversary, tearing it off, and revealing the
+grim visage and grizzly locks of the knight of Calavar; while, at the
+same moment, the spear of Don Gabriel, aimed with as much skill as
+determination, smote the enemy on the lower part of the corslet, and
+piercing it as a buckler of ice, penetrated, at once, to the bowels and
+spine. The shock that unseated the riders, was shared by the steeds, and
+horse and man rolled together on the earth.</p>
+
+<p>The loud cry of "Calavar! the Penitent Knight! the valiant Don Gabriel!"
+set up by the bewildered and awe-struck infantry, reached the ears of
+the novice. He spurred on with new ardour, and reaching the footmen just
+as they divided in pursuit of the flying barbarians, he sprung from his
+horse, and beheld his kinsman lying senseless, and as it appeared to
+him, lifeless, in the arms of the wounded Baltasar.</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of heaven, and Amen! what is this? and what do I see?" he
+cried. "Oh heaven, is this my knight?&mdash;and doth he live?"</p>
+
+<p>"He lives," said Baltasar, "and he feels as of flesh and blood; and yet
+did he die on the lake-side. God forgive us our sins! for neither heaven
+nor hell will hold the dead!"</p>
+
+<p>Just at that moment, the knight opened his eyes, and rolled them on his
+kinsman,&mdash;but his kinsman regarded him not. A low moaning voice of one
+never to be forgotten, fell on the ear of the novice, as he gazed on his
+friend; and starting up, he beheld, hard by, the page Jacinto, lying on
+the body of Abdalla, from whose head he had torn the helm, and now
+strove, with feeble fingers, to remove the broken and blood-stained
+corslet.</p>
+
+<p>"Jacinto!&mdash;Leila!" cried Amador, with a voice of rapture, flinging
+himself at her side, (for now, though the garments of escaupil still
+concealed the figure of the Moorish maid, the disguise could be
+continued no longer.) The joy of the cavalier vanished, for the maiden
+replied only with lamentations; while the Zegri fixed upon him an eye,
+in which the stony hardness of death was mingled with the fires of
+human passion.</p>
+
+<p>"Place my head upon thine arm, cavalier!" said Abdalla, faintly, "and
+let me look upon him who has slain me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my father! my father!" cried the Moorish girl.</p>
+
+<p>"God forbid that thou shouldst die, even for the sake of the maiden I
+love," exclaimed Amador, eagerly, supporting his head. "Thou art a Wali,
+a Christian, and the father of her that dwells in my heart. Live,
+therefore; for though thou have neither land nor people, neither home
+nor friends, neither brother nor champion, yet am I all to thee; for I
+crave the love of thy daughter."</p>
+
+<p>The maiden sobbed, and heard not the words of the cavalier; but the
+dying Moor eyed her with a look of joy, and then turning his gaze upon
+Amador, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"God be thy judge, as thou dealest truly with her, who, although the
+offspring of kings, is yet an orphan, landless, homeless, and friendless
+on the earth."</p>
+
+<p>"I swear to thee," said the novice,&mdash;"and I protest&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Protest me nothing: hearken to my words, for they are few; the angel of
+death calls to me to come, and my moments fly from me like the
+blood-drops," said the Zegri. "Until the day, when I dreamed thou wert
+slumbering in the lake, I knew not of this that hath passed between ye.
+Had it been known to me, perhaps this death that comes to me, might not
+have come; for, what I did, I did for the honour and weal of my child,
+knowing that, in the hand of Spaniards, she was in the power of
+oppressors and villains. That I have struck for revenge, is true; I have
+shed the blood of Castilians and rejoiced, for therein I reckoned me the
+vengeance of Granada. Yet, had it been apparent to me, that the feeble
+maid, who, besides myself, knew no other protector of innocence in the
+world, could have claimed the love of an honourable cavalier, and
+enjoyed it without the shame of disguise and menial occupation, then had
+I submitted to my fate, and locked up in the darkness of my heart, the
+memory of the Alpujarras."</p>
+
+<p>"Who speaks of the Alpujarras?" cried the knight of Rhodes, staring
+wildly around; "who speaks of the Alpujarras?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I!</i>" said the Moor, with a firm voice, bending his eye on Don Gabriel,
+and striving, though in vain, for his nether limbs were paralyzed, to
+turn his body likewise; "<i>I</i> Gabriel of Calavar, <i>I</i> speak of the
+Alpujarras; and good reason have I to speak, and thou to listen; for I
+was of the mourning, and thou of the destroyers."</p>
+
+<p>"Pity me, heaven!" cried the knight, staring on the Moor, in the
+greatest disorder. "I have seen thee, and yet I know thee not."</p>
+
+<p>"Rememberest thou not the field of Zugar, and the oath sworn on the
+cross of a blood-stained sword, by the river-side?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hah!" cried Don Gabriel; "dost thou speak of mine oath?&mdash;mine oath to
+Alharef?"</p>
+
+<p>"And the town of Bucarcs, among the hills?" continued the Zegri, loudly,
+and with a frown made still more ghastly by approaching death; "dost
+thou remember the false and felon blow that smote the friend of
+Zugar,&mdash;and that, still falser and fouler, which shed the blood of
+Zayda, the beloved of the Alpujarras?"</p>
+
+<p>As the Wali spoke, the knight, as if uplifted by some supernatural
+power, rose to his feet, and approached the speaker, staring at him with
+eyes of horror. At the name of Zayda, he dropt on his knees crying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Miserere mei, Deus! I slew her! and thou that art Alharef, though
+struck down by the same sword, yet livest thou again to upbraid me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Struck down by thy steel, yet not then, but now!" exclaimed the Moor.
+"I live again, but not to upbraid thee&mdash;I am Alharef-ben-Ismail, and I
+forgive thee."</p>
+
+<p>At this name, already made of such painful interest to the novice, his
+astonishment was so great, that, as he started, he had nearly suffered
+the dying prince (for such were the Walis of Moorish Spain,) to fall to
+the earth. He caught him again in his arms, and turned his amazed eye
+from him to Don Gabriel, who, trembling in every limb, still stared with
+a distracted countenance on that of his ancient preserver.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Alharef, and, though dying, yet do I live," went on the Zegri,
+interrupted as much by the wails of his daughter, as by his own
+increasing agonies. "The sword wounded, but it slew not&mdash;it slew not
+<i>all</i>&mdash;Zayda fell, yet live I, to tell thee, thou art forgiven. Rash
+man! rash and most unhappy! thine anger was unjust; and therefore didst
+thou shed the blood of the good, the pure, the loving and the beautiful,
+and thereby cover thyself, and him that was thy true friend, with
+misery. When thou soughtest the love of Zayda, she was the betrothed of
+Alharef. Miserable art thou, Gabriel of Calavar! and therefore have I
+forgiven thee; miserable art thou, for I have watched thee by night, and
+looked upon thee by day, and seen that the asp was at work in thy bosom,
+and that the fire did not slumber. Great was thy sin, but greater is thy
+grief; and therefore doth Zayda, who is in heaven, forgive thee."</p>
+
+<p>"She pardons me not," murmured Don Gabriel, not a moment relaxing the
+steadfast eagerness of his stare. "At the pyramid of Cholula, on the
+anniversary of her death, she appeared to me in person, and, O God! with
+the beauty of her youth and innocence, yet robed in the blackness of
+anger!"</p>
+
+<p>"And have thine eyes been as dark as the looks of the lover?" cried
+Alharef. "Stand up, Zayda, the child of Zayda! or turn thy face upon
+Calavar, that his delusion may leave him."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he lifted feebly the arm which embraced his child, removed
+the cap, and parted the thick clustering locks from her forehead.
+Still, however, did she look rather the effeminate boy, upon whom
+Calavar had been accustomed to gaze, than a woman;&mdash;for there is no
+effort of imagination stronger than that required to transform, in the
+mind, the object which preserves an unchanging appearance to the eye.
+Nevertheless, though such a transformation could not be imagined by Don
+Gabriel, there came, as he wistfully surveyed the pallid features of the
+maiden, strange visions and memories, which, every moment, associated a
+stronger resemblance between the living and the dead. He trembled still
+more violently, heavy dew-drops started from his brow, and he gazed upon
+the weeping girl as upon a basilisk.</p>
+
+<p>"Wherefore," continued the Zegri, speaking rapidly, but with broken
+accents,&mdash;"when I had resolved to fly to the pagans, as being men whom,
+I thought, God had commissioned me to defend from rapine and slavery. I
+resolved to take such advantage of their credulity, as might best enable
+me to befriend them,&mdash;I say, wherefore I resolved this, I need not
+speak. I protected my child, by recommending her to their superstition;
+and, had I fallen dead in the streets, still did I know, that reverence
+and fear would wait upon the steps of one whom I delivered to them as a
+messenger from heaven. In this light, I revealed her to the princes at
+the temple, when&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough!" muttered Don Gabriel, with the deep and agitated tones
+of sorrow; "I wake from a dream.&mdash;God forgive me! and thou art of the
+blood of Zayda? the child of her whom I slew?&mdash;Alharef forgives me; he
+says, that Zayda forgives me; but thou that art her child, dost <i>thou</i>
+forgive me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Father! dear father, she doth!" cried Amador, gazing with awe on the
+altered countenance of Alharef, and listening with grief to the moans of
+Zayda. "O holy padre!" he exclaimed, perceiving the priest Olmedo
+rising, at a little distance, from the side of a man, to whom he had
+been offering the last consolations of religion,&mdash;"Hither, father, for
+the love of heaven, and absolve the soul of a dying Christian!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is there a priest at my side?" said the Zegri, reviving from what
+seemed the lethargy of approaching dissolution, and looking eagerly into
+the face of the good Olmedo. Then, turning to Amador, he said solemnly,
+though with broken words, "Thou lovest the orphan Zayda?"</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven be my help, as I do," replied the cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>"And thou, Gabriel, that wert my friend, and standest in the light of
+this young man's parent,&mdash;dost thou consent that he shall espouse the
+daughter of Zayda, saved, while a piteous infant, by Christian men, from
+out the house of death?"</p>
+
+<p>The knight bowed his head on his breast, and strove to answer, but, in
+his agitation, could not speak a word.</p>
+
+<p>"Quick, father! for heaven's sake, quick!" cried Alharef, eagerly; "let
+me, ere I die, know that my child rests on the bosom of a husband.
+Quick! for the sand runs fast; and there is that in my bosom, which
+tells me of death. Love and honour thy bride; for thou hast the last and
+noblest relic of Granada. Take her&mdash;thou wert her protector from harsh
+words and the violence of blows. Quick, father, quick! quick, for mine
+eyes are glazing!"</p>
+
+<p>The strangely timed and hurried ceremony was hastened by the
+exclamations of Alharef; and the words of nuptial benediction were, at
+last, hurriedly pronounced.</p>
+
+<p>"I see thee not, my child!" muttered the Moor, immediately after. "My
+blessing to thee, Amador,&mdash;Gabriel, thou art forgiven.&mdash;Thine arm round
+my neck, Zayda; thy lips to mine. Would that I could see thee!&mdash;Get thee
+to Granada, with thy lord&mdash;to the tomb of thy mother&mdash;I will follow
+thee&mdash;Tarry not in this land of blood&mdash;I will be with thee; we have a
+power yet in the hills&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Let the cross rest on thy lips, if thou diest a Christian," said the
+father.</p>
+
+<p>The novice drew the maiden aside; the Zegri pressed the sacred symbol to
+his lips, but still they muttered strangely of Granada.</p>
+
+<p>"I am of the faith of Christ, and Mahomet I defy. My people shall be
+followers of the cross, but they shall sweep away the false Spaniard, as
+the wind brushes away the leaves.&mdash;The Emir of Oran is prepared&mdash;the
+king of Morocco will follow.&mdash;A power in the hills&mdash;Ah!&mdash;We will creep,
+by night, to Granada&mdash;a brave blow!&mdash;Africa shall follow&mdash;Ha, ha!&mdash;Seize
+the gates! storm the Alhambra!&mdash;but spare life&mdash;kill no women!&mdash;Remember
+Zayda!&mdash;--"</p>
+
+<p>With such wild words, accompanied by the faint cries of his daughter,
+the spirit of the Moor passed away, and Alharef-ben-Ismail lay dead in
+the land of strangers.</p>
+
+<p>Don Gabriel uttered a deep groan, and fell across the feet of his
+ancient friend.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, Cortes descended from his horse, and, followed by other
+cavaliers, stepped up to the lamenting group.</p>
+
+<p>"And Calavar, the valiant, has been murdered by this traitor Moor!" he
+cried.</p>
+
+<p>"Señor Don Hernan," said the novice, sternly, and as he spoke, rising
+from the earth, and folding the Moorish maiden to his heart, "you speak
+of him who was Alharef-ben-Ismail, a Wali of Granada, driven by the
+injustice of our companions, and in part, by your own harshness, to take
+arms against you. As one that am now his representative, and, as I may
+say, his son, I claim for him the honourable burial of a Christian
+soldier; and, after that, will hold myself prepared, with sword and
+spear, to defend his memory from insult."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXV" id="CHAPTER_LXV"></a>CHAPTER LXV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A few words will finish the first part of the chronicle of Don
+Cristobal.</p>
+
+<p>The victory so marvellously gained, removed the last obstruction from
+the path of the Spaniards. The ensuing day beheld them entering the
+territories of their allies; and, in four days more, the chiefs of
+Tlascala ushered them, with songs of joy, into the republican city.</p>
+
+<p>Six days after this happy event, the novice of Rhodes sat by the
+death-bed of his kinsman.&mdash;From the moment when Calavar roused out of
+the fit of unconsciousness, into which he had fallen on the field of
+Otumba, his brain wandered with delirium; but it gave his young kinsman,
+as well as the faithful Baltasar, much relief to perceive, that his
+visions were oftener of a pleasant than a disagreeable character. Thus,
+the reappearance of Alharef, after such long seeming death, dwelt in his
+memory, without the recollection of his subsequent decease; and with
+this came the conceit that Zayda yet lived among the Alpujarras,
+restored, like the Wali, to life, and all forgetful of the wrongs he had
+done her. He prattled of returning now to Spain, and now to Rhodes, and
+now of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It is true, that,
+sometimes, dark thoughts crept to his brain, and agitated him with his
+former griefs; but these were ever chased away by the sight of Leila,
+whose countenance seemed to him as that of a holy seraph, sent from
+heaven, to bid him be of good cheer.</p>
+
+<p>On the fifth day, he recovered his senses, and being sensible of his
+approaching dissolution, assembled at his bed-side, after having
+received absolution, the padre Olmedo, and the few friends and followers
+whom heaven had spared him in this pagan land, being the young cavalier
+of Cuenza, the melancholy Zayda, or Leila, as Amador yet loved to call
+her, and Baltasar. The spear of Alharef had not harmed him; he was
+dying, the victim of a long remorse; or, rather, as it may be said, he
+expired, when the excitement of this passion no longer supported him.
+For, perhaps, the same thing may be said of many mental diseases, which
+is true of certain physical ones, to which a human constitution has been
+long accustomed; that is, they may obtain so vital a command over all
+its functions, as to become in themselves the elements, or at least the
+bulwarks, of life; so that, when they are arrested by some unskilful
+leech, death shall almost immediately follow the cure.</p>
+
+<p>"I have now called you, my children," he said, bending an eye of
+affection upon the pair, and speaking very feebly, "to give you such
+counsel as may be drawn from the history of my life. Its secrets are
+revealed to you, its pages all lie open; and as you read, your spirits
+will find their own instruction; for they will discover, that the
+indulgence of passion, especially the passion of anger, doth lodge a
+barb in the bosom, never to be plucked out, save by the hand of death.
+What I have to say, is rather of command than advice; and thou wilt
+listen to me, Amador, my son, for God hath given thee, in the person of
+this gentle Zayda, an argument of obedience, which will touch thy heart
+more eloquently than words.&mdash;Break thy sword, hack off thy spurs, cast
+thine armour into the sea, and think no more of war, unless to defend
+thy fire-side, and the altars of thy country, from the fury of
+invaders."</p>
+
+<p>The novice started with alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"Think not that I rave," said the knight. "I speak to thee with the
+wisdom that comes from the grave. Think no more of war; for war it is
+that rouses our passions; and passions have made me what I have been,
+and what I am. I cannot think <i>now</i>, (for, at this moment, methinks I
+stand in the presence of Him who abhorreth contention,) that He will
+pardon the shedding of any blood, except that which the necessity of
+self-preservation, and the defence of our country, enforce us to lavish.
+I repent me of that which I have poured, though even from the hearts of
+pagans; for pagans are still the sons of God, though walking in
+darkness, for which we should pity them, not slay. Thou hast drawn thy
+sword for glory; but the lives that are taken for fame, shall weigh upon
+the souls of men as murders;&mdash;for such they are. Thou drawest for
+religion:&mdash;give thy purse to the priest, and bid him convert with the
+cross; for the wrath of God will rest for ever upon him who maketh
+proselytes with the sword. Wo is me, that the delusions of glory and
+Christian zeal have stained me so deeply! Live for happiness, and thou
+shalt wrong none, neither man nor God, and, thus, happiness shall be
+awarded thee; live for honour, and thou shalt know, that heaven
+acknowledges none but that which is justice; live for peace, which is
+virtue; and for religion, which is goodness. Get thee to thy castle, to
+the lands which thou shalt inherit; plant thy vines and olives, relieve
+the unhappy, succour the distressed; and if thy young brother should
+pant for the barb and lance, teach him the history of thy kinsman. Be
+virtuous, be peaceful, be charitable, and be happy. When thou hearest of
+glory, bethink thee of the poor deluded creatures we have slain in this
+land; when thou art told of pious crusades, remember the days of the
+Alpujarras.&mdash;Would that my days were to pass again!"</p>
+
+<p>He paused, with exhaustion.</p>
+
+<p>"The noble knight," said the padre, "hath spoken much good and wholesome
+truth; nevertheless, in the matter of infidels, what he has counselled,
+is not well. For how is it written&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Holy father," murmured Don Gabriel, "there be men enow who will obey
+thee in this matter, and without exhortation or argument. Defeat not my
+work; for I rob thee of but one. Let me think, that the son of my
+affection will dwell in peace, and thereby be clean in the eyes of God,
+and thus happy at his death-hour. Would that I might appear before my
+Maker, without the stain of blood!"</p>
+
+<p>With a few more such precepts of virtue, for grief and the hand of death
+had made his heart wise, Don Gabriel continued to address the novice. He
+spoke many words of kindness, also, to the old and faithful Baltasar,
+and was about to give his benediction to the child of Zayda, when a film
+came suddenly over his eyes:</p>
+
+<p>"Give me thy hand," he muttered, faintly and almost inarticulately; "I
+see thee not, but mine eyes are opened to Zayda. Where art thou, Amador,
+my son? Heaven is blissful&mdash;Alharef&mdash;Zayda&mdash;all&mdash;Miserere mei,
+Domine!"&mdash;&mdash;Thus he murmured for a moment, his voice dwindling to a
+whisper; then his lips moved, but without yielding any sound, until, at
+last, it was apparent that he had expired, and yet so gently, that not
+even a spasm of muscle, or change of countenance, indicated the passage
+of his spirit.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Three days after this, at sunrise, the señor Cortes stood alone with Don
+Amador de Leste, on the terrace of the great dwelling in which he had
+quartered the remains of his army.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou leavest me then, De Leste?" he said, in a low voice, looking
+westward to the hills, beyond which lay the valley of the lakes.</p>
+
+<p>"Such is my purpose, very noble señor," said the cavalier, mildly, but
+firmly. "My horses are caparisoned in the court-yard, my little company
+is in waiting, my friends have been saluted, and nothing remains for me
+but to thank your excellency for your many manifestations of goodness to
+me and mine,&mdash;the living and the dead together,&mdash;and to pray your
+excellency wish me God speed."</p>
+
+<p>"And can you look upon yonder blue cliffs, and those snow-capt
+pinnacles," said Don Hernan, with a smothered voice, "and think of
+leaving the paradise they encompass, in the hands of the heathen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know not," said Don Amador, "that it becomes me to intrude any advice
+upon your excellency. But you have already done deeds, as I am myself a
+witness, which will give you immortal fame, though you should proceed no
+farther in the impossible attempt to subjugate this very potent and
+wonderful empire."</p>
+
+<p>"It shall be mine!" said Cortes, smiting his hands together, and
+speaking with clenched teeth. "Though there were but an hundred men left
+with me,&mdash;nay, were there but ten,&mdash;I would sooner that they should see
+me rent under the tusks of the wild mountain hogs, than turning my back
+for ever against the city of Montezuma. Thou thinkest the case is
+desperate; yet, with those ten Christians, and the hundreds of thousands
+of disaffected barbarians, whom I will gather together, thou shalt hear,
+perhaps, ere thou art housed in thy mountain castle of Cuenza, that he
+whom thou leavest, is the lord of Mexico; and the valiant men who remain
+by him, the barons and counts of the great empire!"</p>
+
+<p>"With mine own hills of olive and cork, have I enough to content me,"
+said the novice, coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"And thou carest not to revenge thy friends, massacred so barbarously,
+that fatal night&mdash;Flames be on the soul of the enchanter for ever!"
+exclaimed the general, bursting into fury at the recollection.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, God pardon him!" replied Amador, "and God receive to his rest
+those friends, of whom you speak. I have naught to revenge; I lament
+their fate, which was dreadful; but I acknowledge that they were slain
+in honourable combat."</p>
+
+<p>"And thou carest not then to strike for the cause of Christ, and aid in
+the conversion of countless souls from perdition?"</p>
+
+<p>The cavalier regarded his general with a meaning eye. Cortes felt the
+reproof, and catching his hand, said, hastily,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough! thou hast a young and tender wife&mdash;Who would have dreamed
+that such a creature walked with us throughout that night? It is right,
+thou shouldst desire to bear her from these scenes of tumult, and not
+unnatural thou shouldst wish to share the peace and happiness to which
+thou art conducting her. For myself, I sometimes think of my own fair
+Doña in the island, and the pleasant sound of the surf, rolling, by
+night, on the beach under her lattice; but nevertheless, there are, in
+this same heathen clime, certain charms, which cause me to forget the
+fair Catalina, and my merry brats into the bargain."</p>
+
+<p>"For me," said the novice, sadly, "there is nothing in this land but
+melancholy. Alharef, sire of Zayda, sleeps under a rock at Otumba; and
+Calavar, whom I may call my father, since such he was to me, now rests
+in yon grove, on the hill-side. I have buried a faithful servant in the
+lake, and a good youth, whom I loved, an old follower of my knight, and
+a very dear friend. I shall think of the land with regret, yet must I
+leave it without a sigh. I have hopes to find me some conveyance to the
+islands, and there, thank heaven, it is not so difficult to light upon a
+trader of Seville bound on the homeward voyage."</p>
+
+<p>"If thou art, indeed, resolute to depart," said Cortes, "I have it in my
+power not only to wish thee God speed, but to give thee a good ship of
+my fleet at Ulua, commanded by thy very noble kinsman, which he will,
+doubtless, man to thy liking with choice sailors; and wherein, thou
+canst proceed instantly to Spain, without the tedious necessity of
+touching at Cuba."</p>
+
+<p>The eyes of the neophyte sparkled. Don Hernan smiled:</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly," said he, "I am rejoiced to pleasure thee so much; and yet
+thou wilt thyself confer upon me a very ineffable obligation, by sailing
+in that same good ship, and taking charge of a certain letter I have
+here written to his majesty, our lord, Don Carlos, being the second
+despatch wherein I have presumed to acquaint him with the success of our
+arms, fighting in his cause, and in that of the holy church. If it may
+suit your convenience to bear the same, in person, to his imperial
+majesty, I hope you will have no cause to repent doing me so great a
+favour."</p>
+
+<p>"I will bear it to his majesty, in person," said the novice, taking the
+sealed packet, laying it upon his forehead in token of fealty, and then
+warmly grasping the general's hand: "I will do this with much
+satisfaction; and, in memory that thou hast, upon three several
+occasions, done me such personal service, as touches me to answer with a
+life's thankfulness, if there be any other act wherein I can pleasure
+thee, I pray thee command me to the same, without any reserve; for I
+will consider that thou dost thereby acquaint me with a way to testify
+my gratitude."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you," said Don Hernan: "I have no commission with which I will
+dare further to trouble you. And yet, and yet,&mdash;and yet"&mdash;He hesitated a
+moment, and his lip slightly quivered; but instantly resuming an air of
+indifference, he continued, "If it should suit your good
+convenience,&mdash;that is, if you should prefer,&mdash;to travel rather by the
+hot mountains of Estremadura, than the barren ridges of La Mancha, while
+passing to the court at Madrid, I would crave of your goodness to
+inquire me out a certain village called Medellin, that lieth on the
+Guadiana, some few leagues above the city of Merida."</p>
+
+<p>"Were it an hundred leagues, and they of the rudest," said Amador, "I
+should be no less ready to do your bidding. But give me to know, when I
+am arrived at this same village of Medellin, in what I can pleasure
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Inquire me out," said Cortes, "a certain old man, a poor hidalgo,
+called Martin Cortes, as also his wife, Catalina.&mdash;By my conscience,
+señor, they are my father and mother; and they will have some joy to
+hear you speak of me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I vow to heaven!" cried Amador, struck by the sudden and
+impetuous tone of feeling, which Don Hernan strove to hide under a burst
+of gayety. "I am sorry they live not as far away as Pampeluna, at once;
+that I might show you the readiness with which I will be your messenger:
+for, herein, do I perceive, I shall be looked on by them as a good
+angel, sent to them from heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"Be not over-sanguine," said Cortes, affecting a laugh: "for, by my
+conscience, if you tell her not every thing to her liking, my mother
+hath somewhat of a shrewish way of admonishing you. Nevertheless, it is
+enough: it hath been some long years since they have heard of my
+whereabout and my what-about; since, sooth to say, I one day played them
+a dog's trick, and, a month after, was chasing the Indians in Cuba. It
+will greatly amaze them to hear I have not been absolutely hanged, as my
+mother oft-times promised me, for my sins; and, surely, they will stare
+at you, when you tell them I have been killing a great emperor, as some
+idle fellows have charged on me; whereas, you know yourself, having been
+so forward to shield him, that Montezuma was slain by his own people,&mdash;a
+murrain on them!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will bear witness to the truth, and I will say nothing that can give
+them pain."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be much beholden to you," said Don Hernan, eagerly; "for my
+mother is somewhat more righteous than other women, and might be
+convinced, out of the mouths of some of my friends, that I am given to
+godless acts on occasions, which is very false and slanderous. I will
+beseech you to bear them certain curious jewels, and trifles of golden
+ware, the fabric of my good savages here, more as mementos of my
+gracelessness, than as presents of affection;&mdash;seeing that they are of
+no great value. They are such curiosities as will make mine old
+play-mates stare. Ah, the rascals! they were all better than I at their
+books, and somewhat less acquainted with the pedagogue's palm.&mdash;But
+pho!" he continued, suddenly dropping the tone of bagatelle, with which
+he had spoken, "I do but fool the time: your steed neighs in the
+court-yard, your lady looks up to the terrace&mdash;I will detain you no
+longer. The king's letter which you bear, will authorize you to demand
+of the admiral the best ship in our small navy, as also to have it
+sailored and provisioned to your mind; and therein you can voyage, at
+your good pleasure, to the Guadalquivir. I have presumed to order in
+waiting, subject to your command, a company of guides, consisting of
+four Castilian soldiers, ten Tlascalans, and thrice as many Totonacs of
+the coast, with whom you will take your own will as to speed, though I
+recommend you to submit to theirs, in the matter of the road. Commend me
+to your kinsman, the admiral, as also very truly to my parents; and if
+the emperor should see fit to express doubts of the success of this
+enterprise, in which I am engaged, tell him that I, Hernan Cortes, do
+say, and I gage my head for the fulfilment of the same, that the land
+shall be his,&mdash;all that lies between the two seas, and betwixt the
+narrow neck of Panama to the south, and the huge isle of Florida to the
+north: this I promise, and this I will fulfil.&mdash;And now, señor, giving
+you my thanks for the good deeds you have already done me, as well as
+those which you meditate, and wishing to your fair and noble wife a
+green path by land and a smooth way by sea, I do, very truly and
+devoutly, and from the bottom of my heart, pray you God speed!&mdash;Remember
+me; for you shall hear of me yet!"</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the two cavaliers descended and parted,&mdash;Don Amador de Leste
+to cross the seas, and, discharging the commands of his friend, both to
+the ancient hidalgo of Medellin and the great Charles of Austria, to
+seek for happiness in his castle of Alcornoque, in the society of his
+Moorish bride; and Hernan Cortes to ponder alone upon the fall of
+Tenochtitlan.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONCLUSION" id="CONCLUSION"></a>CONCLUSION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Of the secondary characters of this history, enough has been already
+narrated. Our respect, however, for the memory of the magician, Botello,
+requires that we should mention two circumstances in relation to his
+fate, and his chief and most mystical familiar. His unexpected death,
+instead of destroying his credit among those who survived the Noche
+Triste, gave him additional claims to respect, even in the grave; for
+when it was remembered, that the arrows which slew so many Spaniards,
+were adorned with the feathers of eagles, as well as other birds of
+prey, they perceived, in his fate, only a confirmation of the juggling
+subtlety of the fiends that 'palter with us in a double sense.' "Truly,"
+said they, "Botello was borne out of danger on the wings of eagles, as
+he prophesied, albeit he was borne to heaven." In after days, when
+Mexico had become the prey of the invader, the lake was dragged for the
+bones of the Christians who had fallen with him in the nocturnal
+retreat, which were then deposited, with many religious ceremonies, in
+ground consecrated for the purpose. In the last ditch, at the very spot
+where Botello had fallen, a fortunate fisherman hooked up the magic
+Crystal, the prison of Kalidon-Sadabath; who, greatly to the horror of
+the finder, began instantly, as of old, to dance, and curvet, and
+perform other diabolical antics, in his hands. No other conjurer in the
+army having the skill to interpret the motions of this mysterious imp,
+his crystal habitation was transmitted, along with divers Mexican
+rarities, to the shelves of the Escurial, where it was long viewed with
+wonder and respect, as an instrument contrived by the hands, and devoted
+to its unearthly uses by the skill, of the celebrated Cornelius Agrippa.
+A philosopher, who was thought, as was Feyjoó in later days, by his
+countrymen, to have too little consideration for vulgar prejudices,
+asserted, after attentive examination, that the marvellous crystal was
+nothing more than a piece of glass, hollowed by the maker into many
+singular cavities, wherein was deposited a coloured drop of some
+volatile liquor, which being, at any time, expanded by the heat of the
+breath, or of the hand, would instantly dart about, and assume the most
+fantastic shapes, according to the sinuous vacuities through which it
+happened to be impelled. This explanation was received with incredulity;
+but, nevertheless, Kalidon of the Crystal was treated with neglect, and,
+in course of time, entirely forgotten. We surmise, however, and the
+conjecture is not without argument, that the Enchanted Crystal,
+presented, half a century afterwards, by the angel Uriel to the famous
+English conjurer, Doctor Dee, was no other than this identical stone,
+filched by the angelic thief from its dusty repository, and given to him
+who best knew how to put it to its proper uses.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Late in the autumn of the following year, the señor Don Amador de Leste
+sat watching the sunset of a peaceful day, from a little bower, on a
+lawn in front of his castle Del Alcornoque. A clump of aged oaks flung
+their branches over a low, square, and mouldering tower,&mdash;the work of
+the Moorish masters of Spain many a long year back, and a fragment, as
+it seemed, of some ancient bath or fountain; for a body of pure water
+still made its way through the disjointed stones, and fell bubbling into
+a little basin beneath.</p>
+
+<p>The scene, as beheld from this spot, was one of enchanting beauty and
+repose. The fountain was, perhaps, midway on the slope of a long hill, a
+few rods in advance of the castle, (with which it was, indeed, connected
+by a somewhat neglected walk of orange trees,) whose irregular turrets
+and frowning battlements rose among groups of cork-trees, while a broken
+forest of these, extended behind, up to and over the crest of the hill.
+In front, the little valley, wherein was embosomed the silvery Jucar,
+was bounded now by sharp cliffs and jutting promontories, and now by
+green lawns, which ran sweeping upwards to the hill-tops on the opposite
+side. A hazy, smoky atmosphere, warmed into lustre by the sinking
+luminary, while it mellowed all objects into beauty, did not conceal
+from the eye the flocks of sheep which dotted the distant slopes, the
+cattle standing at the river-side, and the groups of peasantry, who
+adding their songs to the lowing of the herds and the cawing of a flight
+of crows, urged forward the burthened ass from the vine-tree. A
+monastery rose in the forest, a little village glimmered pleasantly on
+the river bank, under the shadow of a cliff; and over the ridges, which
+shut in the valley to the south, was seen the dim outline of those
+sierras of Morena, from which might be traced the peaks of the
+Alpujarras.</p>
+
+<p>Over this fair prospect, the young cavalier looked with pride, for it
+was the inheritance handed down to him by a long line of ancestors,&mdash;not
+snatched away by violence from vanquished Moors, but reclaimed from them
+by a bold knight, whose genealogical tree had been rooted in those
+hills, before Tarik, the Arab, had yet looked upon the Pillars of
+Hercules. He gazed on it also with joy, for he had learned to love
+peace; and this seemed the chosen abode of tranquillity.</p>
+
+<p>"It doth indeed appear to me, <i>now</i>," he muttered, "as if my past life
+were a foolish dream. There is a rapture in this quiet nook, a happiness
+in this prospect of loveliness and content, entirely beyond any pleasure
+which I ever experienced in my days of tumult and fame. What can there
+be, to add a further charm to this paradise?"</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps he muttered this interrogatory in the spirit of an improver and
+adorner of nature.&mdash;It was answered by the fall of a gentle footstep. He
+looked behind him, and beheld, standing at his back, pausing a moment
+with patient and yet dignified affection, the fair figure of a woman,
+who had no sooner caught his eye, than she smiled, and pointed to a
+female attendant, who bore in her arms, hard by, a sleeping infant. A
+cross of rubies glittered on the lady's breast.</p>
+
+<p>"If thou didst apprehend, Leila!" said the cavalier, with eyes of joy,
+"that I reckoned this hill-side a paradise, without thinking of thyself
+and my young Gabriel, thou didst most grievously wrong me; for I protest
+to thee, I never cease thinking of ye."</p>
+
+<p>"Never?" murmured the mild voice of the Moorish lady: "Heaven be
+praised!&mdash;But, sometimes, when thou lookest upon the sports of our
+little brother Rosario, it seems to me, thou dost forget us."</p>
+
+<p>"I vow to thee, my honoured and beloved lady," said the hidalgo,
+earnestly, "and, if thou wilt believe me the rather for that, I swear by
+the bright eyes of my young boy, that, since I discovered thou wert
+alive, and, especially, since thou hast been mine own Zayda, I have come
+to look with new eyes upon those things, which were the joys of my
+youth. Let us sit down upon this mossy stone; and, while we gaze a
+little upon Rosario, who, thou seest, is hacking the wooden Turk's-head
+on the knoll&mdash;Thou knowest, he did so gash my young plantations of
+olive-trees, that I was enforced to allow him this block, for his
+recreation&mdash;&mdash;While we thus regard him, (for, of a truth, he is a most
+gallant boy, and of soldierly bearing,) I will discourse to thee in such
+manner, as to convince thee that I have utterly weeded from my bosom the
+foul plants of ambition, and that I am equally solicitous to cleanse the
+breast of my brother.&mdash;Hah! by my faith, what now?&mdash;Seest thou yonder
+ill-looking, lurking knave? I doubt me, he has been robbing my
+vineyard.&mdash;May I die, but the young varlet doth advance his sword
+against him! Well done, sir Hector!&mdash;And he knows not I am near, to give
+him aidance!&mdash;What ho, sirrah Rosario! put up thy sword&mdash;This is no
+robber."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pilgrim&mdash;some poor pilgrim," exclaimed the lady:&mdash;"Rosario
+gives him his hand, and leads him towards us."</p>
+
+<p>It was even as the fair Doña had said. The youth Rosario, who had, at
+first, advanced valiantly towards the stranger, as if to question his
+right to walk so near the castle, was now seen to sink his weapon, speak
+a word or two to the comer, and then give him his hand, as if to conduct
+him to the cavalier.</p>
+
+<p>As they approached, Don Amador could perceive that the stranger had
+robed his figure in a cloak of the humblest texture; he was barefooted;
+he held a staff in his hand; and his great slouched hat was adorned with
+scallop-shells. He seemed a palmer, who had performed a long and painful
+pilgrimage; for, though obviously a young man, his frame was wasted, his
+beard long and haggard, and his cheeks were very thin and pale.</p>
+
+<p>"By my faith," said Don Amador, "this palmer hath speedily won the heart
+of my brother; for, thou seest, Rosario doth look into his face, as
+though he had got him the hand of some great knight from Judea.&mdash;I
+welcome you with peace and good-will, señor pilgrim; and my gates are
+open to you.&mdash;Art thou from Compostella or Loretto? Or, perhaps, thou
+comest even from the Holy Land?"</p>
+
+<p>While the cavalier spoke, the Moorish lady surveyed the features of the
+pilgrim with a surprise and agitation which drew the attention of Don
+Amador; but before he could speak, the pilgrim replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Not from the Holy Land, but from a land accurst,&mdash;from death and the
+grave, from the depths of the heathen lake and the maws of Mexicans&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>At these words, the lady screamed, and Don Amador himself started
+aghast, as he listened to the voice of the speaker.</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of God, amen!" he cried, recoiling a step; "I know thy
+voice, and I saw thee perish!"</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, noble patron!" said the pilgrim, hastily; "I spoke but in
+figures; and therein I spoke not amiss, since I perceived that my noble
+lord looked upon me as one that was dead. Alas, señor, I live&mdash;I am
+your honour's poor ward and secretary, Fabueno."</p>
+
+<p>"Fabueno!" cried the cavalier, recovering himself a little: "If thou
+livest, thou liest; for Lorenzo is dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hast thou been lying, then, thou knave?" cried Rosario, with much
+indignation. "I will knock the cockles from thy cap; for thou saidst,
+thou hadst fought with the great Cortes, among the Indians!"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, señor!" cried Lorenzo, "will you still think me dead? Have sorrow
+and misery so changed me, that your noble goodness cannot see, in this
+broken frame and this withered visage, your poor follower, Fabueno?"</p>
+
+<p>"By my troth, I am amazed! This hand is flesh and blood; this darkened
+brow and weeping eye&mdash;Pho! Look upon him, Zayda!&mdash;Thou livest,
+then?&mdash;God be praised! And thou sheddest tears, too? Never believe me,
+but I am rejoiced to see thee; and thou shalt dwell with me, till thy
+dying day&mdash;Heaven be thanked!&mdash;By what miracle wert thou revived, after
+being both killed and drowned? I'faith, thou didst greatly shock my
+lady.&mdash;'Tis wondrous, how soon she knew thee!"</p>
+
+<p>"Knew me?" exclaimed the secretary, gazing with a bewildered eye upon
+the lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, dost thou forget," cried the cavalier, catching the hand of Leila,
+over whose brow a faint colour rose at the remembrance,&mdash;"dost thou
+forget my dear and beloved page, Jacinto?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, madam," said Lorenzo, bending to the earth, "nothing but my
+confusion could have made me so blind; and this is more wondrous, too,
+since his excellency, Don Hernan, had made me acquainted with the
+happiness of my lord."</p>
+
+<p>"Speakest thou of Don Hernan?" cried the cavalier. "By my troth, I have
+an hundred thousand questions to ask thee; and I know not which to
+demand first. But thine own reappearance is so marvellous, that I must
+first question thee of that; and, afterward, thou shall speak to me of
+Don Hernan. How wert thou fished up?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fished up, señor!" said Lorenzo, sadly; "I know not well what your
+favour means. At that moment of distraction and horror," he went on,
+with a shudder, "when I called to you for succour&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I heard you," said Amador, "and I ran to your assistance,&mdash;but, heaven
+forgive me! I cursed the act afterwards, when I discovered that it had
+lost me my poor Jacinto. Ah, señora mia! was there ever so dreadful a
+night?"</p>
+
+<p>"When I called," continued Fabueno, "I was then beset by the infidels.
+The princess&mdash;the poor princess, was slain in my arms, and my horse
+speared under me, so that we fell to the earth. Señor, I know not well
+what happened to me, then, for my mind fled from me: I only remember,
+that, as they flung me into a canoe, there came a cavalier, the valiant
+Don Francisco de Saucedo, as I found by his voice, to my assistance,
+shouting aloud. I think, he was slain on the spot; for I heard a
+plunging in the water, as if his horse had fallen into the lake."</p>
+
+<p>"It was he, then," said Don Amador, "whom I saw sink so miserably into
+the flood! Heaven give him rest!&mdash;I thought it was thyself."</p>
+
+<p>"Señor," continued the secretary, "I will not weary you, now, with all
+the particulars of my sorrow. When heaven restored me my reason, I found
+myself lying in a wicker den,&mdash;a cage of victims,&mdash;in the temple yard,
+under the pyramid; and I knew that I was saved, only to be made a
+sacrifice."</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven forefend!" cried Amador, while Zayda grew white with horror.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you the truth, señor," said Fabueno, trembling in every limb.
+"There were more than thirty such cages around me, and in every one a
+wounded Spaniard, as I could both hear and see; and every day, there was
+one dragged out by the priests, and immolated.&mdash;I could hear their yells
+from the temple top.&mdash;Señor, these things drove me into a delirium,
+which must have lasted long; for when I came again to my wits, I looked
+out, and saw that the cages were empty&mdash;all but <i>one</i>. Then, I beheld
+the priests come to mine own dungeon, and debate over me. I tried to
+pray&mdash;but, in my fear, I swooned. When I looked forth again, they were
+dragging away my fellow-prisoner.&mdash;I knew that I should die upon the
+morrow.&mdash;That night, I fell into a frenzy, and with my teeth (for my
+arms were bound behind me,) I gnawed away the wooden bars of my cage.
+Heaven helped me! God gave me strength! and St. James, to whom I cried,
+sharpened my teeth as though they were edged with iron! So, by this
+miracle, I escaped; and, bound as I was, and beaten to the earth by a
+tempest which raved over the lake, I made my way, I know not how, by a
+causeway that lies to the north, until I had reached the shore of the
+lake. I hid me, by day, in groves and in marshes, and when the night
+came, I journeyed onward, though I knew not whither. What sufferings I
+endured from hunger and thirst, I will not weary you by recounting. Mine
+arms were still bound behind me; and when it was my good fortune to find
+a field of green maize, I could only seize upon the ears, like a beast,
+with my teeth. I strove, by rolling upon the earth, and rubbing against
+trees, to get rid of the thongs, but all in vain. This maddened me; and
+I thought that heaven had deserted me. But the good St. James showed me,
+one day, a place where the Indians had made a fire. I rekindled it with
+my breath, and when it began to blaze, I prayed and held my arms in the
+flames, until the green withes, wherewith I was bound, were burned
+asunder."</p>
+
+<p>"Good heaven!" cried Amador, starling from the stone on which he had
+seated himself, while Zayda bent forward, as if to snatch the poor youth
+from the flames, which still burned in her imagination;&mdash;"didst thou
+suffer all this horrible combustion? Or, perhaps, heaven vouchsafed thee
+a miracle, and scorched away the cords, without suffering the fire to
+do thee harm?"</p>
+
+<p>"Had I been there," said Rosario, doughtily, "I would have cut the
+thongs with my sword; and, then, I would have killed the bitter pagans
+that wronged thee!"</p>
+
+<p>"The miracle whereby I escaped from the cage, was more than my sins
+deserved," said the secretary, bending his head upon his bosom, and
+speaking with an agitated voice. "Heaven took not the pangs from the
+fire, but it gave me strength to bear them. I am here again, restored to
+my native land, and among Christian men&mdash;but mine arms are withered."</p>
+
+<p>"Were they hacked off at the shoulders," cried Amador, ardently, "ay,
+and thy legs into the bargain, yet will I so entertain thee here in my
+castle, that thou shall cease to lament them."</p>
+
+<p>"Nay," said the youth, looking with gratitude on the cavalier, "'tis not
+so bad as that, as my lord may see; for, though I may never more bear
+sword, yet I can carry the pilgrim's staff&mdash;ay, and I can raise them to
+my cheek, to brush away my thanks.&mdash;I have yet strength enough left to
+wield a pen; and, if my noble patron&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Speak no more of this, good Lorenzo," said the Moorish lady, quickly
+and kindly. "My lord hath told thee thou art welcome; and I say to thee
+also, thou art very welcome."</p>
+
+<p>"By my troth, <i>I</i> say so too," cried Rosario. "But after all, thou wilt
+be but pitiful, if thou hast not strength left to handle a sword. I
+hoped you should teach me a little; for old Baltasar is grum and
+crusty."</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, Hector! what art thou talking about?" said Don Amador.&mdash;"Think
+no more of thy misfortune, Lorenzo; but give me to know the rest of thy
+adventures."</p>
+
+<p>"They are spoken in a word," said the secretary. "When mine arms were
+freed, though so dreadfully scorched, I could travel with more peace of
+mind. I doubted not, that all the Christians had been slain on the
+lake; yet, I thought, if I could but reach the sea-coast, I might be,
+sometime, snatched out of the hands of the barbarians. Nevertheless,
+this hope deserted me, when I perceived that the land was covered with
+people; and, one day, finding a cave among the mountains, hard by to a
+water-fall, with a wooden cross stuck up at the mouth&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Surely," said Zayda, "this was the cavern, wherein I found my lord, Don
+Gabriel."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt it not, noble lady," said Fabueno, "but this I knew not then. I
+thought it was a retreat provided for me by the good St. James, who
+willed that there I should pass my life, under the shadow of that little
+crucifix. So there did I hide me, and, feeding upon roots and such
+living creatures as I could entrap, I remained in my hermitage a full
+year; until, one day, I heard a trumpet sounding at the bottom of the
+mountain; and running out in wonder, I beheld&mdash;thanks be to heaven! I
+beheld a company of Spanish soldiers marching up the hill. By these men,
+I was carried to Mexico, which was now fallen&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Fallen, say'st thou?" cried Amador. "Is the infidel city fallen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not the city only, but the empire," replied Fabueno; "and Cortes is now
+the lord of the great valley."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt tell me of its fate; but first thou must rest and eat.&mdash;I
+remember me now of the words of Cortes."</p>
+
+<p>"His excellency," said Lorenzo, "commanded me to bear to your favour
+this little jewel, in token that he has made good a certain vaunt which
+he made you in Tlascala&mdash;the same being an emerald from the crown of
+Quauhtimotzin, the king."</p>
+
+<p>"Hah! my valiant ambassador at Tlascala? Hath he been the emperor?"</p>
+
+<p>"And to your noble lady, he craves permission to present this chain of
+gold, the manufacture of Mexican artists, since Mexico has become a
+Spanish city."</p>
+
+<p>"It is enough," said the cavalier; "I perceive that his genius is
+triumphant. I would that I might bear this news to his father, Don
+Martin, as I did the relation of his disasters. But come; let us retire.
+Why hast thou on these palmer weeds?"</p>
+
+<p>"I vowed to St. James, on the mountains of Mexico, in my great misery,
+that, if his good favour and protection should ever bless mine eyes with
+the sight of Christian man, I would make a pilgrimage, barefoot, to his
+holy shrine at Compostella. This it has been my good fortune already to
+accomplish, our ship having been driven, by a storm, into a port of
+Gallicia. Not thinking this penance enough for my sins, I resolved to
+continue my pains, and neither doff my pilgrim's cap, nor do on my
+shoes, until I had reached your favour's castle of the Cork-tree."</p>
+
+<p>"I welcome thee to it, again, and for thy life; and I congratulate thee,
+that thou art relieved of the love of war; wherein, thou wilt find, I
+have somewhat preceded thee. Enter, and be at peace.&mdash;When thou art
+rested a little, I shall desire of thee to speak,&mdash;for very impatient am
+I to know,&mdash;what circumstances of marvel and renown, of romance and
+chivalry, have distinguished the last days of Tenochtitlan."</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Calavar, by Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Calavar
+       or The Knight of The Conquest, A Romance of Mexico
+
+
+Author: Robert Montgomery Bird
+
+
+
+Release Date: October 23, 2010  [eBook #34121]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CALAVAR***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Julia Miller, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made
+available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 34121-h.htm or 34121-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34121/34121-h/34121-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/34121/34121-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/calavartheknight00birdrich
+
+
+
+
+
+CALAVAR
+
+Or The Knight of the Conquest
+
+A Romance of Mexico
+
+by
+
+ROBERT MONTGOMERY BIRD
+
+Author of "Nick of the Woods," "The Infidel," Etc.
+
+
+    Escucha pues, un rato, y dire cosas
+    Estranas y espantosas, poco a poco.
+
+    GARCILASO DE LA VEGA.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Redfield
+110 And 112 Nassau Street, New York.
+Third Edition.
+
+1854
+
+Entered according to the act of Congress in the year 1834, by
+Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, in the clerk's office of the district
+court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION.
+
+
+It is now thirteen years since the first publication of "Calavar,"
+which, apart from the ordinary objects of an author, was written chiefly
+with a view of illustrating what was deemed the most romantic and
+poetical chapter in the history of the New World; but partly, also, with
+the hope of calling the attention of Americans to a portion of the
+continent which it required little political forecast to perceive must,
+before many years, assume a new and particular interest to the people of
+the United States. It was a part of the original design to prepare the
+way for a history of Mexico, which the author meditated; a design which
+was, however, soon abandoned. There was then little interest really felt
+in Mexican affairs, which presented, as they have always done since the
+first insurrection of Hidalgo, a scene of desperate confusion, not
+calculated to elevate republican institutions in the opinions of the
+world. Even the events in Texas had not, at that time, attracted much
+attention. Mexico was, in the popular notion, regarded as a part of
+_South_ America, the _alter ego_ almost of Peru,--beyond the world, and
+the concerns of Americans. There was little thought, and less talk, of
+"the halls of the Montezumas;" and the ancient Mexican history was left
+to entertain school-boys, in the pages of Robertson.
+
+"Calavar" effected its more important purpose, as far as could be
+expected of a mere work of fiction. The revolution of Texas, which
+dismembered from the mountain republic the finest and fairest portion of
+her territory, attracted the eyes and speculations of the world; and
+from that moment, Mexico has been an object of regard. The admirable
+history of Prescott has rendered all readers familiar with the ancient
+annals of the Conquest; and now, with an American army thundering at the
+gates of the capital, and an American general resting his republican
+limbs on the throne of Guatimozin and the Spanish Viceroys, it may be
+believed that a more earnest and universal attention is directed towards
+Mexico than was ever before bestowed, since the time when Cortes
+conquered upon the same field of fame where Scott is now victorious.
+There is, indeed, a remarkable parallel between the invasions of the two
+great captains. There is the same route up the same difficult and lofty
+mountains; the same city, in the same most magnificent of valleys, as
+the object of attack; the same petty forces, and the same daring
+intrepidity leading them against millions of enemies, fighting in the
+heart of their own country; and finally, the same desperate fury of
+unequal armies contending in mortal combat on the causeways and in the
+streets of Mexico. We might say, perhaps, that there is the same purpose
+of conquest: but we do not believe that the American people aim at, or
+desire, the subjugation of Mexico.
+
+"Calavar" was designed to describe the first campaign, or first year, of
+Cortes in Mexico. It was written with an attempt at the strictest
+historical accuracy compatible with the requisitions of romance; and as
+it embraces, in a narrow compass, and--what was at least meant to be--a
+popular form, a picture of the war of 1520, which so many will like to
+contrast with that of 1847, the publishers have thought that its
+revival, in a cheap edition, would prove acceptable to the reading
+community. The republication has, indeed, been suggested and called for
+by numerous persons desirous to obtain copies of the book, which has
+been for some time out of print.
+
+The revival of the romance might have furnished its author an
+opportunity to remove many faults which, he is sensible, exist in it.
+Long dialogues might have been contracted, heavy descriptions lightened
+or expunged, and antiquated phraseology modernized, with undoubted
+benefit. But, after a respectful consideration of all critical
+suggestions, friendly or unfriendly, the author has not thought it of
+consequence to attempt the improvement of a work of so trivial and
+evanescent a character; and he accordingly commits it again to the world
+precisely as it was first committed, with all its faults--would he could
+say, its merits--unchanged; satisfied with any fate that may befall it,
+or any reception it may meet, which should either imply its having given
+some little pleasure, or imparted some little information, to its
+readers.
+
+R. M. B.
+
+Philadelphia.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Nature, and the memory of strange deeds of renown have flung over the
+valley of Mexico a charm more romantic than is attached to many of the
+vales of the olden world for though historic association and the spell
+of poetry have consecrated the borders of Leman and the laurel groves of
+Tempe, and Providence has touched both with the finger of beauty, yet
+does our fancy, in either, dwell upon objects which are not so much the
+adjuvants of romance as of sentiment; in both, we gather food rather for
+feeling than imagination,--we live over thoughts which are generated by
+memory, and our conceptions are the reproductions of experience. But
+poetry has added no plenary charm, history has cast no over-sufficient
+light on the haunts of Montezuma; on the Valley of Lakes, though filled
+with the hum of life, the mysteries of backward years are yet brooding;
+and the marvels of human destiny are whispered to our ears, in the sigh
+of every breeze,--in the rustling of every tree which it stirs on the
+shore, and in the sound of every ripple it curls up on the lake. One
+chapter only of its history (and that how full of marvels!) has been
+written, or preserved; the rest is a blank: a single chain of
+vicissitudes,--a few consecutive links in the concatenation of
+events,--have escaped; the rest is a secret, strange, captivating, and
+pregnant of possibilities. This is the proper field for romantic
+musings.
+
+So, at least, thought a traveller,--or, to speak more strictly, a
+rambler, whose idle wanderings from place to place, directed by ennui
+or whim, did not deserve the name of travels,--who sat, one pleasant
+evening of October, 183-, on the hill of Chapoltepec, regarding the
+spectacle which is disclosed from the summit of that fair promontory.
+
+The hum of the city came faintly to his ear; the church-towers flung
+their long shadows over the gardened roofs; the wildfowl flapped the
+white wing over the distant sheets of water, which stretched, in a
+chain, from Chalco to San Cristobal; the shouts of Indian boatmen were
+heard, at a distance, on the canal of La Viga, and the dark forms of
+others, trotting along the causeway that borders it, were seen returning
+to their huts among the _Chinampas_. Quiet stole over the valley; the
+lizard crept to his hole; the bat woke up in the ruined chambers of the
+viceroy's palace, that crowns the hill of Chapoltepec, or started away
+from his den among the leaves of those mossy, majestic, and indeed
+colossal, cypresses, which, at its base, overshadow the graves of Aztec
+kings and sultanas. At last, the vesper-bells sounded in the city, and
+the sun stooped under the western hills, leaving his rays still
+glittering, with such hues as are only seen in a land of mountains, on
+the grand peaks of Popocatepetl and the White Woman, the farthest but
+yet the noblest summits of all in that girdle of mountain magnificence,
+which seems to shut out Mexico from the rest of the world.
+
+As these bright tints faded into a mellow and harmonious lustre, casting
+a sort of radiant obscurity over vale and mountain, lake and steeple,
+the thoughts of the wanderer (for the romance of the spectacle and the
+hour had pervaded his imagination,) crept back to the ages of antiquity
+and to those mystic races of men, the earliest of the land, who had
+built their cities and dug their graves in this Alpine paradise, now
+possessed by a race of whom their world had not dreamed. He gazed and
+mused, until fancy peopled the scene around him with spectral life, and
+his spirit's eye was opened on spectacles never more to be revealed to
+the corporeal organ. It opened on the day when the land was a
+wilderness, shaking for the first time under the foot of a stranger; and
+he beheld, as in a vision, the various emigrations and irruptions into
+the vale, of men born in other climates. They came like the tides of
+ocean, and, as such, passed away,--like shadows, and so departed; the
+history of ages was compressed into the representation of a moment, and
+an hundred generations, assembled together as one people, rushed by in
+successive apparitions.
+
+First, over the distant ridges of Nochistongo, there stole, or seemed to
+steal, a multitude of men, worn with travel, yet bearing idols on their
+backs, in whose honour, for now they had reached their land of promise,
+they built huge pyramids, to outlive their gods and themselves; and,
+scattering over the whole plain, covered it at once with cornfields and
+cities. The historian (for this unknown race brought with it science as
+well as religion,) sat him in the grove, to trace the pictured annals of
+his age; the astronomer ascended to the tower, to observe the heavens,
+and calculate the seasons, of the new land; while the multitude,
+forgetting the austere climes of their nativity, sat down in peace and
+joy, under the vines and fruit-trees that made their place of habitation
+so beautiful. Thus they rested and multiplied, until the barbarians of
+the hills,--the earlier races, and perhaps the aborigines of the
+land,--descended to take counsel of their wisdom, and follow in the ways
+of civilization. Then came a cloud, bringing a pestilence, in whose hot
+breath the rivers vanished, the lakes turned to dust and the mountains
+to volcanoes, the trees crackled and fell as before a conflagration, and
+men lay scorched with the leaves, as thick and as dead, on the plain;
+and the few who had strength to fly, betook themselves to the hills and
+the seaside, to forget their miseries and their arts, and become
+barbarians.--Thus began, and thus ended, in Mexico, the race of
+_Toltecs_, the first and the most civilized of which Mexican
+hieroglyphics,--the legacy of this buried people to their
+successors,--have preserved the memory.
+
+But the rains fell at last, the lakes filled, the forests grew; and
+other tribes,--the _Chechemecs_ and _Acolhuacans_, with others, many in
+number and strangers to each other,--coming from the same distant North,
+but bringing not the civilization of the first pilgrims, sat in their
+seats, and mingling together into one people, began, at last, after long
+seasons of barbarism, to emerge from the gloom of ignorance, and acquire
+the arts, and understand the destinies of man.
+
+To these came, by the same trodden path, a herd of men, ruder than any
+who had yet visited the southern valleys,--_Aztecs_ in family, but
+called by their neighbours and foes, _Nahuatlacas_, or People of the
+Lakes,--consisting of many tribes, the chief of which was that which
+bore upon a throne of bulrushes an image of the god Mexitli, the
+Destroyer, from whom, in its days of grandeur, it took its name. From
+this crew of savages, the most benighted and blood-thirsty, and, at
+first, the feeblest of all,--so base that history presents them as the
+only nation of bondmen known to the region of Anahuac, and so sordid
+that, in the festivals of religion, they could provide for their deity
+only the poor offering of a knife and flower,--fated now to fight the
+battles of their task-masters, and now condemned to knead the bread of
+independence from the fetid plants and foul reptiles of the lake;--from
+this herd of barbarians, grew, as it seemed, in a moment's space, the
+vast, the powerful, and, in many respects, the magnificent empire of the
+Montezumas. In his mind's eye, the stranger could perceive the salt
+Tezcuco, restored to its ancient limits, beating again upon the porphyry
+hill on which he sat, and the City of the Island, with her hundred
+temples and her thousand towers, rising from the shadows, and heaving
+again with the impulses of nascent civilization. It was at this moment,
+when the travail of centuries was about to be recompensed, when the
+carved statue, the work of many successive Pygmalions, was beginning to
+breathe the breath, and feel the instincts of moral animation, that a
+mysterious destiny trampled upon the little spark, and crushed to atoms
+the body it was warming. From the eastern hills came the voice of the
+Old World--the sound of the battle-trumpet; the smoke of artillery
+rolled over the lake; and, in a moment more, the shout of conquest and
+glory was answered by the groan of a dying nation.
+
+As this revery ended in the brain of the stranger, and the conqueror and
+the captive of the vision vanished away together, he began to contrast
+in his mind the past condition of the new world with the present, and
+particularly of those two portions, which, at the time of their
+invasion, had outlived the barbarism of nature, and were teeming with
+the evidences of incipient greatness. As for this fair valley of Mexico,
+there was scarcely an object either of beauty or utility, the creation
+of Christian wants or Christian taste, to be seen, for which his memory
+could not trace a rival, or superior, which existed in the day of
+paganism. The maize fields, the maguey plantations, the orchards and
+flower-gardens, that beautify the plains and sweeping slopes,--these
+were here, long ages ago, with the many villages that glisten among
+them,--all indeed but the white church and steeple; the lakes which are
+now noisome pools,--were they not lovelier when they covered the
+pestilential fens, and when the rose-garden floated over their blue
+surface? The long rows of trees marking the line of the great
+_Calzadas_, or causeways, the approaches to Mezico, but poorly supply
+the place of aboriginal groves, the haunts of the doe and the
+centzontli, while the calzadas themselves, stretching along over bog and
+morass, have entirely lost the charm they possessed, when washed, on
+either side, by rolling surges; even the aqueducts, though they sprang
+not from arch to arch, over the valley, as at the present time, were not
+wanting; and where the church spires of the metropolis pierce the
+heaven, the sacred tabernacles of the gods rose from the summits of
+pyramids. The changes in the physical spectacle among the valleys of
+Peru were perhaps not much greater; but what happy mutations in the
+character and condition of man, what advance of knowledge and virtue,
+had repaid the havoc and horror which were let loose, three hundred
+years ago, on the lands of Montezuma and the Incas? The question was one
+to which the rambler could not conceive an answer without pain.
+
+'The ways of Providence,' he murmured, 'are indeed inscrutable; the
+designs of Him who layeth the corner-stone and buildeth up the fabric of
+destiny, unfathomable. Two mighty empires,--the only states which seemed
+to be leading the new world to civilization,--were broken, and at an
+expense of millions of lives, barbarously destroyed; and for what
+purpose? to what good end? How much better or happier are the present
+races of Peru and Mexico, than the past? Hope speaks in the breath of
+fancy--time may, perhaps, teach us the lesson of mystery; and these
+magnificent climates, now given up, a second time, to the sway of man in
+his darkest mood,--to civilized savages and Christian pagans,--may be
+made the seats of peace and wisdom; and perhaps, if mankind should again
+descend into the gloom of the middle ages, their inhabitants will
+preserve, as did the more barbarous nations in all previous
+retrogressions, the brands from which to rekindle the torches of
+knowledge, and thus be made the engines of the reclamation of a world.'
+
+The traveller muttered the conclusion of his speculations aloud, and,
+insensibly to himself, in the Spanish tongue, totally unconscious of the
+presence of a second person, until made aware of it by a voice
+exclaiming suddenly, as if in answer, and in the same language--
+
+"Right! very right! _pecador de mi!_ sinner that I am, that _I_ should
+not have thought it, for the honour of God and my country!"
+
+The voice was sharp, abrupt, and eager, but very quavering. The stranger
+turned, and perceived that the words came from a man dressed in a long
+loose surtout or gown of black texture, none of the newest, with a hat
+of Manilla grass, umbrageous as an oak-top. He looked old and infirm;
+his person was very meager; his cheeks were of a mahogany hue, and
+hollow, and the little hair that stirred over them in the evening
+breeze, was of a sable silvered: his eyes were large, restless,
+exceedingly bright, and irascible. He carried swinging in his hand,
+without seeming to use it much, (for, in truth, his gait was too
+irregular and capricious to admit such support,) a staff, to the head of
+which was tied a bunch of flowers; and he bore under his arm, as they
+seemed to the unpractised eye of the observer, a bundle of books, a
+cluster of veritable quartos, so antique and worn, that the string
+knotted round each, seemed necessary to keep together its dilapidated
+pages. The whole air of the man was unique, but not mean; and the
+traveller did not doubt, at the first glance, that he belonged to some
+inferior order of ecclesiastics, and was perhaps the curate of a
+neighbouring village.
+
+"Right! you have said the truth!" he continued, regarding the traveller
+eagerly, and, as the latter thought, with profound veneration; "I must
+speak with you, very learned stranger, for I perceive you are a
+philosopher. Very great thanks to you! may you live a thousand years! In
+a single word, you have revealed the secret that has been the enigma of
+a long life, made good the justice of heaven, and defended the fame of
+my country. God be thanked! I am grateful to your wisdom: you speak like
+a saint: you are a philosopher!"
+
+The traveller stared with surprise on the speaker; but though thus moved
+by the abruptness of the address, and somewhat inclined to doubt its
+seriousness, there was something so unusual in the mode and quality of
+the compliment as to mollify any indignation which he might have felt
+rising in his breast.
+
+"Father," said he, "reverend father--for I perceive you are one of the
+clergy----"
+
+"The poor licentiate, Cristobal Johualicahuatzin, curate of the parish
+of San Pablo de Chinchaluca," interrupted the ecclesiastic meekly, and
+in fact with the greatest humility.
+
+"Then, indeed, very excellent and worthy father Cristobal," resumed the
+stranger, courteously, "though I do not pretend to understand you----"
+
+The padre raised his head; his meekness vanished; he eyed the traveller
+with a sharp and indignant frown:
+
+"_Gachupin!_" he cried; "you are a man with two souls: you are wise and
+you are foolish, and you speak bad Spanish!--Why do you insult me?"
+
+The stranger stared at his new acquaintance with fresh amazement.
+
+"Insult you, father!" he exclaimed. "I declare to you, I have, this
+moment, woke out of a revery; and I scarcely know what you have said or
+what I have answered, or what you are saying and what I am answering. If
+I have offended you, I ask your pardon."
+
+"Enough! right!" said the curate, with an air of satisfaction; "you are
+a philosopher; you are right. You were in a revery; you have done me no
+wrong. I have intruded upon your musings,--I beg your pardon. I thank
+you very heartily. You have instructed my ignorance, and appeased my
+repining; you have taught me the answer to a vast and painful riddle;
+and now I perceive why Providence hath given over my native land to
+seeming ruin, and permitted it to become a place of dust and sand, of
+dry-rot and death. The day of darkness shall come again,--it is coming;
+man merges again into gloom, and now we fall into the age of stone, when
+the hearts of men shall be as flint. This then shall be the valley of
+resuscitation, after it is first _plenus ossibus_, full of skeletons, an
+ossuary--a place of moral ossification. Here, then, shall the wind blow,
+the voice sound, the spirit move, the bone unite to his bone, the sinew
+come with the flesh, and light and knowledge, animating the mass into an
+army, send it forth to conquer the world;--not as an army of flesh, with
+drum and trump, sword and spear, banner and cannon, to kill and destroy,
+to ravage and depopulate; but as a phalanx of angels, with healing on
+their wings, to harmonize and enlighten, to pacify and adorn. Yes, you
+have taught me this, excellent sage! and you shall know my gratitude:
+for great joy is it to the child of Moteuczoma, to know there shall be
+an end to this desolation, this anarchy, this horror!
+
+    Vigilare metu exanimis, noctesque diesque
+    Formidare:----
+
+Came I into the world to watch in sorrow and fear for ever? _Hijo mio!_
+give me thy hand; I love thee. The vale of Anahuac is not deformed for
+nothing; Christian man has ruined it, but not for a long season!"
+
+The Cura delivered this rhapsody with extreme animation; his eye
+kindled, he spoke with a rapid and confused vehemence; and the stranger
+began to doubt the stability of his understanding. He flung his bundle
+to the earth, and grasped the hand of the philosopher, who, until this
+moment, was ignorant of the depth of his own wisdom. While still in
+perplexity, unable to comprehend the strange character, or indeed the
+strange fancies to which he had given tongue, the padre looked around
+him with complacency on the scene, over which a tropical moon was rising
+to replace the luminary of day, and continued, with a gravity which
+puzzled as much as did his late vivacity,--
+
+"It is very true; I regret it no longer, but it cannot be denied: The
+cutting through yonder hill of Nochistongo has given the last blow in a
+system of devastation; the canal of Huehuetoca has emptied the golden
+pitcher of Moteuczoma. It has converted the valley into a desert, and
+will depopulate it.--Men cannot live upon salt."
+
+"A desert, father!"
+
+"Hijo mio! do you pretend to deny it?" cried the Cura, picking up his
+bundle, and thumping it with energy. "I aver, and I will prove it to
+your satisfaction, out of these books, which--But hold! Are you a spy?
+will you betray me? No; you are not of Mexico: the cameo on your breast
+bears the device of stars, the symbol of intellectual as well as
+political independence. I reverence that flag; I saw it, when your
+envoy, attacked by an infuriated mob, in his house in yonder very city,
+(I stole there in spite of them!) sprang upon the balcony, and waved it
+abroad in the street. Frenzy vanished at the sight: it was the banner of
+man's friend!--No! you are no fool with a free arm, a licentious tongue,
+and a soul in chains. Therefore, you shall look into these pages,
+concealed for years from the jealousy of misconstruction, and the penal
+fires of intolerance; and they shall convince you, that this hollow of
+the mountain, as it came from the hands of God, and as it was occupied
+by the children of nature, was the loveliest of all the vales of the
+earth; and that, since Christian man has laid upon it his innovating
+finger, its beauty has vanished, its charm decayed; and it has become a
+place fitting only for a den of thieves, a refuge for the snake and the
+water-newt, the wild-hog and the vulture!"
+
+"To my mind, father," said the American, no longer amazed at the
+extravagant expressions of the ecclesiastic, for he was persuaded his
+wits were disordered, "to my mind, it is still the most charming of
+valleys; and were it not that the folly and madness of its inhabitants,
+the contemptible ambition of its rulers, and the servile supineness of
+its people,--in fine, the general disorganization of all its elements,
+both social and political, have made it a sort of Pandemonium,--a spot
+wherein splendour and grandeur (at least the possibilities and rudiments
+of grandeur,) are mixed with all the causes of decline and perdition, I
+should be fain to dream away my life on the borders of its blue lakes,
+and under the shadow of its volcanic barriers."
+
+"True, true, true! you have said it!" replied the curate, eagerly; "the
+ambition of public men; the feverish servility of the people, forgetful
+of themselves, of their own rights and interests, and ever anxious to
+yoke themselves to the cars of demagogues, to the wires wherewith they
+may be worked as puppets, and giving their blood to aggrandize
+these--the natural enemies of order and justice, of reason and
+tranquillity; is not this enough to demoralize and destroy? What people
+is like mine? Wo for us! The bondmen of the old world wake from sleep
+and live, while we, in the blessed light of sunshine, wrap the mantle
+round our eyes, sleep, and perish! Revolution after revolution, frenzy
+after frenzy! and what do we gain? By revolution, other nations are
+liberated, but we, by revolution, are enslaved. 'Nil medium est'--is
+there no happy mean?"
+
+"It is true," said the American. "But let us not speak of this: it is
+galling to be able to inveigh against folly without possessing the
+medicament for its cure."
+
+"Thou art an American of the North," said the Cura; "thy people are
+wise, thy rulers are servants, and you are happy! Why, then, art thou
+here? I thought thee a sage, but, I perceive, thou hast the rashness of
+youth. Art thou here to learn to despise thine own institutions? Why
+dost thou remain? the death-wind comes from the southern lakes"--(in
+fact, at this moment, the breeze from the south, rising with the moon,
+brought with it a mephitic odour, the effluvium of a bog, famous, even
+in Aztec days, as the breath of pestilence;) "the death-wind breathes on
+thee: even as this will infect thy blood, when it has entered into thy
+nostrils, disordering thy body, until thou learnest to loathe all that
+seems to thee now, in this scenery, to be so goodly and fair; so will
+the gusts of anarchy, rising from a distempered republic, disease thy
+imagination, until thou comest to be disgusted with the yet untainted
+excellence of thine own institutions, because thou perceivest the evils
+of their perversion. Arise, and begone; remain no longer with us; leave
+this land, and bear with thee to thine own, these volumes,--the poor
+remnants of another Sibylline library,--which will teach thee to
+appreciate and preserve, even as thy soul's ransom, the pure and
+admirable frame of government, which a beneficent power has suffered you
+to enjoy."
+
+"And what, then, are these?" demanded the traveller, curiously, laying
+his hand on the bundle, "which can teach Americans to admire the beauty
+of a republic, and yet are not given to thine own countrymen?"
+
+"They are," said the curate, "the fruits of years of reflection and
+toil, of deep research and profound speculation. They contain a history
+of Mexico, which, when they were perfect, that is, before my
+countrymen," (and here the Cura began to whisper, and look about him in
+alarm, as if dreading the approach of listeners,)--"before my
+countrymen were taught to fear them and to destroy, contained the
+chronicles of the land, from the time that the Toltecas were exiled from
+_Huehuetapallan_, more than twelve hundred years ago, down to the moment
+when Augustin climbed up to the throne, which Hidalgo tore from the
+Cachupins. A history wherein," continued the padre, with great
+complacency, "I flatter myself, though Mexicans have found much to
+detest, Americans will discover somewhat to approve."
+
+"What is it," said the rambler, "which your people have found so
+objectionable?"
+
+"Listen," said the padre, "and you shall be informed. In me,"--here he
+paused, and surveyed his acquaintance with as much majesty as he could
+infuse into his wasted figure and hollow countenance,--"in me you behold
+a descendant of Moteuczoma Xocojotzin."
+
+"Moteuczoma what?" exclaimed the traveller.
+
+"Are you so ignorant, then?" demanded the padre, in a heat, "that you
+must be told who was Moteuczoma Xocojotzin, that is, _the younger_,--the
+second of that name who reigned over Mexico?--the very magnificent and
+unfortunate emperor so basely decoyed into captivity, so ruthlessly
+oppressed and, as I may say, by a figure of speech, (for, literally, it
+is not true) so truculently slain, by the illustrious Don Hernan Cortes,
+the conqueror of Mexico? Perhaps you are also ignorant of the great
+names of Tizoc, of Xocotzin, and of Ixtlilxochitl?"
+
+"I have no doubt," replied the American, with courteous humility, "that
+in the histories of Mexico, which I have ever delighted to read,--in the
+books of De Solis, of Clavigero, of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, and
+especially in that of Dr. Robertson,--I have met these illustrious
+names; but you must allow, that, to one ignorant of the language, and of
+the mode of pronouncing such conglomerated grunts, it must be extremely
+difficult, if not wholly impossible, to rivet them in the memory."
+
+The curate snatched up his bundle, and surveyed the stranger with a look
+in which it was hard to tell whether anger or contempt bore the greater
+sway.
+
+"De Solis! Diaz! Clavigero! Robertson!" he at last exclaimed, irefully.
+"_Basta! demasiado?_ What a _nino_, a little child, a _pobre Yankee_,
+have I fallen upon! That I should waste my words on a man who studies
+Mexican history out of the books of these jolterheads!"
+
+The padre was about to depart, without bestowing another word on the
+offender. The American was amused at the ready transition of the curate
+from deep reverence to the most unbounded contempt. He was persuaded the
+wits of the poor father were unsettled, and felt there was the greater
+need to humour and appease him: and, besides, he was curious to discover
+what would be the end of the adventure.
+
+"Father," said he, with composure, "before you condemn me for acquiring
+my little knowledge from these books, you should put it in my power to
+read better."--The padre looked back.--"What information should be
+expected from incompetent writers? from jolterheads? When I have perused
+the histories of father Cristobal, it will then be _my_ fault, if I am
+found ignorant of the names of his imperial ancestors."
+
+"_Ay de mi!_" said the curate, striking his forehead; "why did I not
+think of that before? _Santos santisimos!_ I am not so quick-witted as I
+was before. I could forgive you more readily, had you not named to me
+that infidel Scotchman, who calls the superb Moteuczoma a savage, and
+all the Tlatoani, the great princes, and princesses, the people and all,
+barbarians! But what more could you expect of a heretic? I forgive you,
+my son--_you_ are a Christian?"
+
+"A Christian, father; but not of the Catholic faith."
+
+"You will be damned!" said the curate, hastily.
+
+"A point of mere creed, perhaps I should say, mere form--"
+
+"Say nothing about it; form or creed, ceremony or canon, you are in the
+way to be lost. Open your ears, unbind your eyes--hear, see, and
+believe!--Poor, miserable darkened creature! how can your heretical
+understanding be made to conceive and profit by the great principles of
+philosophy, when it is blind to the truths of religion?"
+
+"Reverend padre," said the traveller, drily, "my people are a people of
+heretics, and yours of Catholic believers. Which has better understood,
+or better practised, the principles of the philosophy you affect to
+admire?"
+
+The padre smote his forehead a second time: "The sneer is, in this case,
+just! The sin of the enlightened is greater than the crime of the
+ignorant, and so is the punishment: the chosen people of God were
+chastised with frequent bondage, and finally with expatriation and
+entire dispersion, for crimes, which, in heathen nations, were punished
+only with wars and famine. But let us not waste time in argument: as
+babes may be made the organs of wisdom, so may heretics be suffered as
+the instruments of worldly benefaction. What thou sayest, is true;
+unbelievers as ye are, ye will comprehend and be instructed by truths,
+which, in this land, would be misconceived and opposed; and from you may
+the knowledge you gain, be reflected back on my own people. In these
+books, which I commit to you for a great purpose, you will learn who
+were those worthies of whom I spoke. You will perceive how
+Ixtlilxochitl, the king of Tezcuco, was descended from the house that
+gave birth to Moteuczoma. This illustrious name inherit I from my
+mother. With its glory, it has conferred the penalty to be suspected,
+opposed, and trampled. Three historians of the name, my ancestors, have
+already written in vain; jealousy has locked up their works in darkness,
+in the veil of manuscript; the privilege of chronicling and perverting
+the history of the land is permitted only to Spaniards, to strangers, to
+Gachupins. Twenty years since, and more, the books I composed, wherein
+the truth was told, and the injustice of Spanish writers made manifest,
+were condemned by ignorance and bigotry to such flames as consumed, at
+Tezcuco, all the native chronicles of Anahuac. But what was written in
+my books, was also recorded in the brain; fire could not be put to my
+memory. Twenty years of secret labour have repaired the loss. Behold!
+here is my history; I give it to you.--My enemies must be content with
+the ashes!"
+
+The padre rubbed his hands with exultation, as the traveller surveyed
+the bundle.
+
+"Why should you fear a similar fate for these volumes, now?" said the
+latter. "Times are changed."
+
+"The times, but not the people. Hide them, let no man see them; or the
+pile will be kindled again; all will be lost--I cannot repair the loss a
+second time, for now I am old! Five years have I borne them with me,
+night and day, seeking for some one cunning and faithful, wise like
+thyself, to whom to commit them. I have found thee; thou art the man; I
+am satisfied: _buen provecho_, much good may they do you,--not you only,
+but your people,--not your people alone, but the world! Affection for
+country is love of mankind; true patriotism is philanthropy.--Five years
+have I borne them with me, by night and by day."
+
+"Really, I think that this betokened no great fear for their safety."
+
+The padre laughed. "Though the Gachupin and the bigot would rob me of a
+Spanish dissertation, yet neither would envy me the possession of a few
+rolls of hieroglyphics."
+
+As he spoke, he knelt upon the ground, untied the string that secured
+one of the apparent volumes, and, beginning to unfold the MS., as one
+would a very nicely secured traveller's map, displayed, in the
+moonlight, a huge sheet of maguey paper, emblazoned in gaudy colours
+with all kinds of inexplicable devices. As he exhibited his treasure, he
+looked up for approbation to the American. The '_pobre Yankee_' surveyed
+him with a humorous look:
+
+"Father," said he, "you have succeeded to admiration, under this goodly
+disguise, not only in concealing your wisdom from the penetration of
+your countrymen, but, as I think, the whole world."
+
+The padre raised his finger to his nose very significantly, saying, with
+a chuckle of delight,--the delight of a diseased brain in the success of
+its cunning,--
+
+"This time, I knew I should throw dust in their eyes, even though they
+might demand, for their satisfaction, to look into my work. You
+perceive, that this volume, done up after the true manner of ancient
+Mexican books, unrolls from either end. The first pages, and the last,
+of each volume, contain duplicates of the first and the last chapters,
+done in Mexican characters: the rest is in Spanish, and, I flatter
+myself, in very choice Spanish. _Hoc ego recte_--I knew what I was
+about.--One does not smuggle diamonds in sausages, without stuffing in
+some of the minced meat.--Here is the jewel!"
+
+So saying, and spreading the sheet at its full length, so as to discover
+his hidden records, the padre rose to his feet, and began to dance about
+with exultation.
+
+"And what am _I_ to do with these volumes?" said the traveller, after
+pondering awhile over the manuscripts.
+
+"What are you to do with them? Dios mio! are you so stupid? Take them,
+hide them in your bosom, as you would the soul of some friend you were
+smuggling into paradise. Leave this land forthwith, on any pretence;
+bear them with you; translate them into your own tongue, and let them be
+given to the world. If they do not, after they have received the seal of
+your approbation, make their way back to this land, they will, at least,
+serve some few of the many objects, for which they were written: they
+will set the character of my great ancestors in its true light, and
+teach the world to think justly of the unfortunate people from whom I
+have the honour to be descended; and, in addition, they will open the
+eyes of men to some of the specks of barbarism which yet sully their own
+foreheads. As for my countrymen, were it even possible they could be
+persuaded to spare these pages, and to read them, they would read them
+in vain. They are a thousand years removed from civilization, and the
+wisdom of this book would be to them as folly. The barbaric romance
+which loiters about the brains even of European nations, is the pith and
+medulla of a Mexican head. The poetry of bloodshed, the sentiment of
+renown,--the first and last passion, and the true test, of the savage
+state,--are not yet removed from us. We are not yet civilized up to the
+point of seeing that reason reprobates, human happiness denounces, and
+God abhors, the splendour of contention. Your own people--the happiest
+and most favoured of modern days,--are, perhaps, not so backward."
+
+The heretic sighed.--The padre went on, and with the smile of
+generosity,--tying, at the same time, the string that secured the
+volume, and knotting it again into the bundle.
+
+"The profits which may accrue from the publication, I freely make over
+to you, as some recompense for the trouble of translation, and the
+danger you run in assuming the custody. Danger, I say,--heaven forbid I
+should not acquaint you, that the discovery of these volumes on your
+person, besides insuring their speedy and irretrievable destruction,
+will expose you to punishment, perhaps to the flames which will be
+kindled for them; and this the more readily, that you are an
+unbeliever.--Pray, my son, listen to me; suffer me to convert you.
+Alas! you shake your head!--What a pity, I am compelled to entrust this
+great commission to a man who refuses to be a Christian!"
+
+"Buen padre, let us say nothing about that: judge me not by the creed I
+profess, but by the acts I perform. Let us despatch this business: the
+moon is bright, but the air is raw and unwholesome. I would willingly do
+your bidding, not doubting that the world will be greatly advantaged
+thereby. But, father, here is the difficulty:--To do justice to your
+composition, I should, myself, possess the skill of an author; but,
+really, I feel my incompetency--I am no bookmaker."
+
+"And am I?" said the descendant of Moteuczoma, indignantly; "I am an
+historian!"
+
+"I crave your pardon;--but _I_ am not."
+
+"And who said you were?" demanded the historian, with contempt. "Do I
+expect of you the qualifications or the labours of an historian? Do I
+ask you to write a book? to rake for records in dusty closets and wormy
+shelves? to decypher crabbed hands and mouldered prints? to wade through
+the fathers of stupidity, until your brain turns to dough, and your eyes
+to pots of glue? to gather materials with the labour of a pearl-diver,
+and then to digest and arrange, to methodise and elucidate, with the
+patient martyrdom of an almanac-maker? Who asks you this? Do I look for
+a long head, an inspired brain? a wit, a genius? _Ni por sueno_,--by no
+means. I ask you to read and render,--to translate;--to do the tailor's
+office, and make my work a new coat! Any one can do this!"
+
+"Father," said the traveller, "your arguments are unanswerable; do me
+the favour to send, or to bring, your production to the city, to the
+Calle----"
+
+"Send! bring! _Se burla vm.?_" cried the padre, looking aghast. "Do you
+want to ruin me? Know, that by the sentence of the archbishop and the
+command of the viceroy, I am interdicted from the city: and know that I
+would sooner put my soul into the keeping of a parrot, than my books
+into the hands of a messenger!"
+
+"A viceroy, did you say, father? It has been many long years since a
+king's ape has played his delegated antics in Mexico. To please you,
+however, I will bear the sacred treasure in my own hands; earnestly
+desiring you, notwithstanding your fears, which are now groundless, and
+the prohibition, which must be at this period invalid, to do me the
+favour of a visit, in person, as soon as may suit your conveniency;
+inasmuch as there are many things I esteem needful to be----"
+
+The padre had seized on the hands of the speaker, in testimony of his
+delight; but before the latter had concluded his discourse, he was
+interrupted by a voice at a distance, calling, as it seemed, on the
+Cura; for this worthy, starting with fear, and listening a moment,
+suddenly took to his heels, and before the traveller could give vent to
+his surprise, was hidden among the shadows of the cypress trees.
+
+"May I die," said the philosopher, in no little embarrassment, "but this
+lunatic Cura has left me to lug away his lucubrations,--his
+hieroglyphical infants, for which I am to make new coats,--on my own
+shoulders! Well! I can but carry them to the city, and seek some means
+of restoring them to his friends, or commit them to a more fitting
+depository. Pray heaven I meet no drunken Indian, or debauched soldado
+on my way."
+
+By great good fortune, he was able, in a few days, with the assistance
+of a friendly Mexican, to solve the secret of the padre's confidence.
+
+"You have seen him then?" said the excellent Senor Don Andres
+Santa-Maria de Arcaboba, laughing heartily at the grave earnestness with
+which his heretical friend inquired after the eccentric padre. "He
+offered you his hieroglyphics? Ah, I perceive! No man passes scot-free
+the crazy Cura. Ever his books in his hand, much praise with the offer,
+and seven times seven maledictions when you refuse his bantlings."
+
+"He _is_ crazy, then?"
+
+"_Demonios!_ were you long finding it out? Ever since the old
+archbishop burned his first heathenish volumes, he has done naught
+but----"
+
+"I beg your pardon.--Burn his books?--the old archbishop?--Pray
+enlighten me a little on the subject of the good father's history.
+
+"'Tis done in a moment," said Don Andres; "the only wonder is that he
+did not himself give you the story; that being, commonly, the prelude to
+his petition. The mother of Don Cristobal was an Indian _damisela_,
+delighting in the euphonical cognomen of Ixtlilxochitl; a name, which, I
+am told, belonged to some old pagan king or other, the Lord knows
+who--as for myself, I know nothing about it. But this set the padre mad,
+or, what's the same thing, it made him an historian.--'Tis a silly thing
+to trouble one's noddle about the concerns of our granddads: let them
+sleep! rest to their bones--_Asi sea!_--They made him a licenciado, and
+then Cura of some hacienda or other, out among the hills--I know nothing
+about it. He wrote a book, in which he proved that the old heathen
+Montezuma, the great Cacique, was a saint, and Hernan Cortes, who
+conquered the land, a sinner. It may be so--_Quien sabe?_ who knows? who
+cares? This was before the revolution--that is, before the first: (we
+have had five hundred since;--I never counted them.) Somehow, the
+viceroy Vanegas took a dislike to the book, and so did the archbishop.
+They set their heads together, got the good old fathers of the
+Brotherhood--(We have no Brotherhood now,--neither religious nor social:
+every man is his own brother, as the king says in the English play.--Did
+you ever read Calderon?) They got the old fathers to vote it
+dangerous,--I suppose, because they did not understand it. So they
+burned it, and commanded Johualicahuatzin--(that's another Indian
+king--so he calls himself.--His father was the Senor Marhojo, a creole,
+a lieutenant in the viceroy's horse, a very worthy Christian, who was
+hanged somewhere, for sedition. But Cristobal writes after his mother's
+name, as being more royal.)--What was I saying? Oh, yes!--They ordered
+the licentiate back to his hacienda. Then, what became of him, the lord
+knows; I don't.--Then came Hidalgo, the valiant priest of Dolores, with
+his raggamuffin patriots,--(I don't mean any reflection, being a patriot
+myself, though no fighter; but Hidalgo had a horrid crew about him!)
+Where was I? Oh, ay,--Hidalgo came to knock the city about our ears; and
+Cristobal, being seized with a fit of blood-thirstiness, joins me the
+gang. They say, he came with an old sabre of flint--I don't know the
+name; it belonged to some king in the family. Then Calleja, whom they
+made viceroy--the devil confound him! (He cut my uncle's throat, with
+some fourteen thousand others, at Guanaxuato, one day, to save
+powder.)--Calleja chased Hidalgo to Aculco, and, there, he beat him.
+Cristobal's brother (he _had_ a brother, a very fine young fellow, a
+patriot major;) was killed at Cristobal's side; Cristobal was knocked on
+the head,--somebody said, with his own royal weapon:--I don't
+know,--where's the difference? They broke his skull, and took him
+prisoner. _Y pues?_ what then? Being a notorious crazy man, and very
+savagely mauled, they did not hang him. Ever since, he has been madder
+than ever. He writes histories, and, to save them from viceroys, (he
+takes all our presidents for viceroys: to my mind, they _are_; but
+that's nothing. You know Bustamente? a mighty great man: Santa Anna will
+beat him--but don't say so!) Well, to save his books from the
+president-viceroys, or viceroy-presidents, Cristobal offers them to
+every body he meets, with a petition to take them over the seas and
+publish them.--That's all!--The Indians at the hacienda love him, and
+take care of him.--Ha, ha! he caught you, did he? What did he say?"
+
+"He gave me his books," said the traveller.
+
+"_Fuego!_ you took them? Ha, ha! now will the poor padre die happy!"
+
+"I will return them to his relations."
+
+"Relations! they are all in heaven; he is the last of the
+Ixtlilxochitls! Ha, ha! I beg your pardon, amigo mio! I beg your
+pardon; but if you offer them to any body, never believe me, but folks
+will take you for Cristobal the Second, _el segundo maniatico_, or some
+one he has hired to do the work of donation. Ha, ha! cielo mio, pity me!
+say nothing about it;--burn them."
+
+"At least, let us look over them."
+
+"_Olla podrida!_ look over a beggar's back! a pedler's sack! or a
+dictionary!--Any thing reasonable. Burn them; or take them to America,
+to your North, and deposit them in a museum, as the commonplace books of
+Montezuma. _Vamos; que me manda vm.?_ will you ride to the
+Alameda?--Pobre Cristobal! he will die happy----"
+
+The traveller returned to his own land: he bore with him the books of
+Cristobal. Twenty times did he essay to make examination of their
+contents, and twenty times did he yawn, in mental abandonment, over
+their chaotic pages,--not, indeed, that they seemed so _very_ incoherent
+in style and manner, but because the cautious historian, as it seemed,
+with a madman's subtlety, had hit upon the device of so scattering and
+confusing the pages, that it was next to impossible that any one, after
+reading the first, should discover the clue to the second. Each volume,
+as has been hinted, consisted of a single great sheet, folded up in the
+manner of a pocket map; both sides were very carefully written over, the
+paragraphs clustered in masses or pages, but without numbers; and, but
+for the occurrence, here and there, of pages of hideous hieroglyphics,
+such as were never seen in a Christian book, the whole did not seem
+unlike to a printed sheet, before it is carried to the binder. The task
+of collating and methodising the disjointed portions, required, in the
+words of the padre himself, the devotedness which he had figured as 'the
+patient martyrdom of an almanac-maker;' it was entirely too much for the
+traveller. He laid the riddle aside for future investigation: but
+Cristobal was not forgotten.
+
+A year afterwards, in reading a Mexican gazette, which had fallen into
+his hands, his eye wandered to the little corner which appeals so
+placidly to the feelings of the contemplative,--the place of obituaries.
+His attention was instantly captivated by a name in larger characters
+than the others. Was it? could it be? Pobre Cristobal!--'_El Licenciado_
+Cristobal Santiago Marhojo y Ixtlilxochitl, _Cura de la Hacienda de_
+Chinchaluca, _ordinariamente llamado_ El Maniatico Historiador'----. The
+same! But what is this? the common immortality of a long paragraph?--The
+heretic rubbed his eyes. "Several MSS., historical memoirs, relating to
+the earlier ages of the Aztec monarchy, the work of his own hand, have
+been discovered; and a lucky accident revealing the expedient which he
+adopted to render them illegible, or at least inexplicable to common
+readers, they have been found to be in all respects sane and coherent,
+the work less of a madman than an eccentric but profound scholar. The
+pages are arranged like those in the form of the printer; and, being cut
+by a knife without unfolding----" The heretic started up, and drew forth
+the long-neglected tomes.--"It is said that a North American, a year
+ago, received, and carried away, many of the volumes, which the
+eccentric clergyman was accustomed to offer to strangers. It is hoped,
+if this should meet his eye----" 'Enough! if thy work be at all
+readable, departed padre, it shall have the new coat!'
+
+Great was the surprise of the philosopher, when having, at the
+suggestion of the gazetteer, cut the folded sheet of a volume, he beheld
+the chaos of history reduced to order. There they were, the annals of
+Aztecs and Toltecs, of Chechemecs and Chiapanecs, and a thousand other
+_Ecs_, from the death of Nezahualcojotl, the imperial poet, up to the
+confusion of tongues. "Here's a nut for the philosophers," quoth the
+traveller; "but now for a peep at Montezuma!--Poor Cristobal! what a
+wonderful big book you have made of it!"
+
+How many days and nights were given to the examination of the history,
+we do not think fit to record. It is enough, that the inheritor of this
+treasure discovered with satisfaction, that, if Cristobal had been mad,
+he had been mad after a rule,--dramatically so: he was sane in the right
+places. A thousand eccentricities were, indeed, imbodied in his work,
+the result, doubtless, of a single aberration, in which he persuaded
+himself that men were yet barbarians, and that civilization, even to the
+foremost of nations, was yet unknown. Under the influence of this
+conceit, he was constantly betrayed, for he was a philanthropist, into
+sharp animadversion upon popular morals; and he stigmatized as vices of
+the most brutal character, many of those human peculiarities which the
+world has consented to esteem the highest virtues. In other respects, he
+was sane, somewhat judicious, and, as far as could be expected in an
+historian, a teller of the truth.
+
+His work consisted of several divisions; it was, in fact, a series of
+annals, relating to different epochs. Of these, that volume which
+treated of the Conquest of Mexico, had the most charms for the
+traveller; and he thought it would possess the most interest for the
+world. It was this which he determined to introduce to the public. It
+differed greatly from common histories in one particular; it descended
+to minutiae of personal adventure, and was, indeed, as much a general
+memoir of the great _Conquistadores_ as a history of the fall of
+Tenochtitlan. Of this the writer was himself sensible; the running title
+of the division, as recorded in his own hand, being, "_Una Cronica de la
+Conquista de Megico, y Historia verdadera de los_ Conquistadores,
+_particularmente de esos_ Caballeros _a quienes descuidaron celebrar los
+Escritores Antiguos_. _Por Cristobal Johualicahuatzin Santiago Marhojo y
+Ixtlilxochitl_;"--that is to say, 'A Chronicle of the Conquest of
+Mexico, and true History of the Conquerors, especially of those
+Cavaliers who were neglected by the ancient authors.'
+
+The first portion of this,--for there were several,--treated of those
+events which occurred between the departure of the first army of
+invasion from Cuba, and its expulsion from Mexico, and this portion the
+executor of Cristobal resolved to present to the world.
+
+In pursuance of this resolution, he instituted a long and laborious
+comparison of the MS. with the most authentic printed histories; the
+result of which was a conviction, (which we beg the reader constantly to
+bear in mind,) that, although the good padre had introduced, and upon
+authority which his editor could not discover, the characters of certain
+worthy cavaliers, of whom he had never heard, the relation, in all other
+particulars, corresponded precisely with the narratives of the most
+esteemed writers. The events--the great and the minute alike--of the
+whole campaign were, in point of fact, identical with those chronicled
+by the best authors; and in no way did this history differ from others,
+except in the introduction of the above-mentioned forgotten or neglected
+cavaliers, such as the knight of Calavar and his faithful esquire, and
+in the recital of events strictly personal to them. It is true, the
+narrative was more diffuse, perhaps we should say, verbose; but
+Cristobal lived in an age of amplification. It was here alone that the
+traveller felt himself bound to take liberties with the original; for
+though the march of mind and the general augmentation of ideas, have
+made prolixity a common characteristic of each man in his own person,
+they have not made him more tolerant of it in another. He shaved,
+therefore, and he cut, he amputated and he compressed; and he felt the
+joy of an editor, when exercising the hydraulic press of the mind.
+
+This will be excused in him. He expunged as much of the philosophy as he
+could. The few principles at variance with worldly propensities, which
+he left in the book, must be referred to another responsibility.--The
+hallucinations of philanthropy are, at the worst, harmless.
+
+For the title adopted in this, the initial chronicle, he confesses
+himself answerable. The peculiar appetites of the literary community,
+the result of intellectual dyspepsia, require and justify empiricism in
+nomenclature. A good name is sugar and sweetmeats to a bad book. If it
+should be objected, that he has called the _Historia Verdadera_ a
+romance, let it be remembered, that the world likes romance better than
+truth, as the booksellers can testify; and that the history of Mexico,
+under all aspects but that of fiction, is itself----a romance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     NOTE.--It was said by the learned Scaliger, of the Basque
+     language, 'that those who spoke it were thought to understand
+     one another,--a thing which he did not himself believe.' For
+     fear that the reader, from the specimens of Mexican words he
+     will meet in this history, should imagine that the Mexican
+     tongue was not meant even to be _spoken_, we think fit to
+     apprise him, that all such words are to be pronounced as they
+     would be uttered by a Spaniard. In his language, for example,
+     the G, when before the vowels E and I, the J always, and, in
+     certain cases, the X, have the value of the aspirate. Thus, the
+     name of the city, the chief scene of our history, has been
+     spelled, at different times, _Mexico_, _Mejico_, and _Megico_;
+     yet is always pronounced _May-he-co_. The sound of our W he
+     represents by HU,--as _Huascar_, for Wascar; and, indeed, JU
+     has nearly the same sound, as in _Juan_. The names
+     Johualicahuatzin, Anahuac, Xocojotzin, Mexitli, and Chihuahua,
+     pronounced Howalicawatzin, Anawac, Hocohotzin, Meheetlee, and
+     Chewawa, will serve for examples. But this is a thing not to be
+     insisted on, so much as the degree of belief which should be
+     accorded to the relation.
+
+     Esto importa poco a nuestro cuento: basta que en la narracion
+     de el, no se salga un punto de la verdad.--_Don Quijote._
+
+
+
+
+CALAVAR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+In the year of Grace fifteen hundred and twenty, upon a day in the month
+of May thereof, the sun rose over the islands of the new deep, and the
+mountains that divided it from an ocean yet unknown, and looked upon the
+havoc, which, in the name of God, a Christian people were working upon
+the loveliest of his regions. He had seen, in the revolution of a day,
+the strange transformations which a few years had brought upon all the
+climes and races of his love. The standard of Portugal waved from the
+minarets of the east; a Portuguese admiral swept the Persian Gulf, and
+bombarded the walls of Ormuz; a Portuguese viceroy held his court on the
+shores of the Indian ocean; the princes of the eastern continent had
+exchanged their bracelets of gold for the iron fetters of the invader;
+and among the odours of the Spice Islands, the fumes of frankincense
+ascended to the God of their new masters. He passed on his course: the
+breakers that dashed upon the sands of Africa, were not whiter than the
+squadrons that rolled among them; the chapel was built on the shore, and
+under the shadow of the crucifix was fastened the first rivet in the
+slavery of her miserable children. Then rose he over the blue Atlantic:
+the new continent emerged from the dusky deep; the ships of discoverers
+were penetrating its estuaries and straits, from the Isles of Fire even
+to the frozen promontories of Labrador; and the roar of cannon went up
+to heaven, mingled with the groans and blood of naked savages. But peace
+had descended upon the islands of America; the gentle tribes of these
+paradises of ocean wept in subjection over the graves of more than half
+their race; hamlets and cities were springing up in their valleys and on
+their coasts; the culverin bellowed from the fortress, the bell pealed
+from the monastery; and the civilization and vices of Europe had
+supplanted the barbarism and innocence of the feeble native. Still, as
+he careered to the west, new spectacles were displayed before him; the
+followers of Balboa had built a proud city on the shores, and were
+launching their hasty barks on the surges of the New Ocean; the hunter
+of the Fountain of Youth was perishing under the arrows of the wild
+warriors of Florida, and armed Spaniards were at last retreating before
+a pagan multitude. One more sight of pomp and of grief awaited him: he
+rose on the mountains of Mexico; the trumpet of the Spaniards echoed
+among the peaks; he looked upon the bay of Ulua, and, as his beams stole
+tremblingly over the swelling current, they fell upon the black hulls
+and furled canvas of a great fleet riding tranquilly at its moorings.
+The fate of Mexico was in the scales of destiny; the second army of
+invaders had been poured upon her shores. In truth, it was a goodly
+sight to look upon the armed vessels that thronged this unfrequented
+bay; for peacefully and majestically they slept on the tide, and as the
+morning hymn of the mariners swelled faintly on the air, one would have
+thought they bore with them to the heathen the tidings of great joy, and
+the good-will and grace of their divine faith, instead of the earthly
+passions which were to cover the land with lamentation and death.
+
+With the morning sunbeam, stole into the harbour one of those little
+caravels, wherein the men of those days dared the perils of unknown
+deeps, and sought out new paths to renown and fortune; and as she drew
+nigh to the reposing fleet, the hardy adventurers who thronged her deck,
+gazed with new interest and admiration on the shores of that empire,
+the fame of whose wild grandeur and wealth had already driven from
+their minds the dreams of Golconda and the Moluccas. No fortress frowned
+on the low islands, no city glistened among the sand-hills on shore: the
+surf rolled on the coast of an uninhabited waste: the tents of the
+armourer and other artisans, the palm-thatched sheds of the sick, and
+some heaps of military stores, covered with sails, and glimmering in the
+sun, were the only evidences of life on a beach which was, in after
+times, to become the site of a rich and bustling port. But beyond the
+low desert margin of the sea, and over the rank and lovely belt of
+verdure, which succeeded the glittering sand-hills, rose a rampart of
+mountains green with an eternal vegetation, over which again peered
+chain after chain, and crag after crag, with still the majestic Perote
+and the colossal Orizaba frowning over all, until those who had dwelt
+among the Pyrenees, or looked upon the Alps, as some of that adventurous
+company had done, dreamed what wealth should be in a land, whose first
+disclosure was so full of grandeur.
+
+Of the four-score individuals who crowded the decks of the little
+caravel, there was not one whose countenance, at that spectacle, did not
+betray a touch of the enthusiasm,--the mingled lust of glory and of
+lucre,--which had already transformed so many ruffians into heroes.
+Among this motley throng might be seen all sorts of martial madmen, from
+the scarred veteran who had fought the Moors under the walls of Oran, to
+the runagate stripling who had hanselled his sword of lath on the curs
+of Seville; from the hidalgo who remembered the pride of his ancestors,
+in the cloak of his grandsire, to the boor who dreamed of the crown of a
+pagan emperor, in a leather shirt and cork shoes: here was a brigand,
+who had cursed the Santa Hermandad of all Castile, and now rejoiced over
+a land where he could cut throats at his leisure; there a gray-haired
+extortioner, whom roguery had reduced to bankruptcy, but who hoped to
+repair his fortune by following the pack of man-hunters, and picking up
+the offals they despised, or cheating them of the prizes they had
+secured; here too was a holy secular, who came to exult over the
+confusion and destruction of all barbarians who should see nothing
+diviner in the crucifix than in their own idols. The greater number,
+however, was composed of debauched and decayed planters of the islands,
+who ceased to lament their narrow acres and decreasing bondmen, snatched
+away by the good fortune of some fellow-profligate, when they thought of
+territories for an estate, and whole tribes for a household. Indeed, in
+all the group, however elevated and ennobled, for the moment, by the
+excitement of the scene, and by the resolute impatience they displayed
+to rush upon adventures well known to be full of suffering and peril,
+there was but one whom a truly noble-hearted gentleman would have chosen
+to regard with respect, or to approach with friendship.
+
+This was a young cavalier, who, in propriety of habiliments, in
+excellence of person, and in nobleness of carriage, differed greatly
+from all: and, to say the truth, he himself seemed highly conscious of
+the difference, since he regarded all his fellow-voyagers, saving only
+his own particular and armed attendants, with the disdain befitting so
+distinguished a personage. His frame, tall and moderately athletic, was
+arrayed in hose and doublet of a dusky brown cloth, slashed with purple:
+his cap and cloak were of black velvet, and in the band of one, and on
+the shoulder of the other, were symbols of his faith and his
+profession,--the first being a plain crucifix of silver, and the second
+a cross of white cloth of eight points, inserted in the mantle. In
+addition to these badges of devotion, he wore a cross of gold, pointed
+like the former, and suspended to his neck by a chain of such length and
+massiveness, as to imbue his companions with high notions of his rank
+and affluence.
+
+The only point in which he exhibited any feeling in common with his
+companions, was in admiration of the noble prospect that stretched
+before him, and which was every moment disclosing itself with newer and
+greater beauty, as the wind wafted his little vessel nearer to it. His
+cheek flushed, his eye kindled, and smiting his hands together, in his
+ardour, he dropped so much of his dignity as to address many of his
+exclamations to the obsequious but not ungentle master.
+
+"By St. John! senor Capitan," he cried, with rapture, "this is a most
+noble land to be wasted upon savages!"
+
+"True, senor Don Amador," replied the thrice-honoured master; "a noble
+land, a rich land, a most glorious land; and, I warrant me, man has
+never before looked on its equal."
+
+"For my part," said the youth, proudly, "I have seen some lands, that,
+in the estimation of those who know better, may be pronounced divine;
+among which I may mention the Greek islands, the keys of the Nile, the
+banks of the Hellespont, and the hills of Palestine,--not to speak of
+Italy, and many divisions of our own country; yet, to be honest, I must
+allow I have never yet looked upon a land, which, at the first sight,
+impressed me with such strange ideas of magnificence."
+
+"What then will be your admiration, noble cavalier," said the captain,
+"when you have passed this sandy shore, and yonder rugged hills, and
+find yourself among the golden valleys they encompass! for all those who
+have returned from the interior, thus speak of them, and declare upon
+the gospels and their honour, no man can conceive properly of paradise,
+until he has looked upon the valleys of Mexico."
+
+"I long to be among them," said the youth; "and the sooner I am mounted
+on my good steed, Fogoso, (whom God restore to his legs and his spirit,
+for this cursed ship has cramped both;) I say, the sooner I am mounted
+upon my good horse, and scattering this heathen sand from under his
+hoofs, the better will it be for myself, as well as for him. Hark'ee,
+good captain: I know not by what sort of miracle I shall surmount
+yonder tall and majestic pinnacles; but it will be some consolation,
+while stumbling among them, to be able at least to pronounce their
+names. What call you yon mountain to the north, with the huge,
+coffer-like crag on its summit?"
+
+"Your favour has even hit the name, in finding a similitude for the
+crag," said the captain. "The Indians call it by a name, which signifies
+the Square Mountain; but poor mariners like myself, who can scarce
+pronounce their prayers, much less the uncouth and horrible
+articulations of these barbarians, are content to call it the Coffer
+Mountain. It lies hard by the route to the great city; and is said to be
+such a desolate, fire-blasted spot as will sicken a man with horror."
+
+"And yon kingly monster," continued the cavalier, "that raises his snowy
+cone up to heaven, and mixes his smoke with the morning clouds,--that
+proudest of all,--what call you him?"
+
+"Spaniards have named him Orizaba," said the master; "but these godless
+Pagans, who cover every human object with some diabolical superstition,
+call that peak the Starry Mountain; because the light of his
+conflagration, seen afar by night, shines like to a planet, and is
+thought by them to be one of their gods, descending to keep watch over
+their empire."
+
+"A most heathenish and damning belief!" said the youth, with a devout
+indignation; "and I do not marvel that heaven has given over to bondage
+and destruction a race stained with such beastly idolatry. But
+nevertheless, senor Capitan, and notwithstanding that it is befouled
+with such impious heresies, I must say, that I have looked upon Mount
+Olympus, a mountain in Greece, whereon, they say, dwelt the accursed old
+heathen gods, (whom heaven confound!) before the time that our blessed
+Saviour hurled them into the Pit; and yet that mountain Olympus is but a
+hang-dog Turk's head with a turban, compared to this most royal Orizaba,
+that raiseth up his front like an old patriarch, and smokes with the
+glory of his Maker."
+
+"And yet they say," continued the captain, "that there is a mountain of
+fire even taller and nobler than this, and that hard by the great city.
+But your worship will see this for yourself, with many other wonders,
+when your worship fights the savages in the interior."
+
+"If it please Heaven," said the cavalier, "I will see this mountain, and
+those other wonders, whereof you speak; but as to fighting the savages,
+I must give you to know, that I cannot perceive how a man who has used
+his sword upon raging Mussulmans, with a sultan at their head, can
+condescend to draw it upon poor trembling barbarians, who fight with
+flints and fish-bones, and run away, a thousand of them together, from
+six not over-valiant Christians."
+
+"Your favour," said the captain, "has heard of the miserable poltroonery
+of the island Indians, who, truth to say, are neither Turks nor Moors of
+Barbary: but, senor Don Amador de Leste, you will find these dogs of
+Mexico to be another sort of people, who live in stone cities instead of
+bowers of palm-leaves; have crowned emperors, in place of feathered
+caciques; are marshalled into armies, with drums, banners, and generals,
+like Christian warriors; and, finally, go into battle with a most
+resolute and commendable good will. They will pierce a cuirass with
+their copper lances, crush an iron helmet with their hardened war-clubs,
+and,--as has twice or thrice happened with the men of Hernan
+Cortez,--they will, with their battle-axes of flint, smite through the
+neck of a horse, as one would pierce a yam with his dagger. Truly, senor
+caballero, these Mexicans are a warlike people."
+
+"What you tell me," said Don Amador, "I have heard in the islands; as
+well as that these same mountain Indians roast their prisoners with
+pepper and green maize, and think the dish both savoury and wholesome;
+all which matters, excepting only the last, which is reasonable enough
+of such children of the devil, I do most firmly disbelieve: for how,
+were they not cowardly caitiffs, could this rebellious cavalier, the
+valiant Hernan Cortes, with his six hundred mutineers, have forced his
+way even to the great city Tenochtitlan, and into the palace of the
+emperor? By my faith," and here the senor Don Amador twisted his finger
+into his right mustachio with exceeding great complacency, "these same
+Mexicans may be brave enemies to the cavaliers of the plantations, who
+have studied the art of war among the tribes of Santo Domingo and Cuba;
+but to a soldier who, as I said before, has fought the Turks, and that
+too at the siege of Rhodes, they must be even such chicken-hearted
+slaves as it would be shame and disgrace to draw sword upon."
+
+The master of the caravel regarded Don Amador with admiration for a
+moment, and then said, with much emphasis, "May I die the death of a
+mule, if I am not of your way of thinking, most noble Don Amador. To
+tell you the truth, these scurvy Mexicans, of whose ferocity and courage
+so much is said by those most interested to have them thought so, are
+even just such poor, spiritless, contemptible creatures as the Arrowauks
+of the isles, only that there are more of them; and, to be honest, I
+know nothing that should tempt a soldier and hidalgo to make war on
+them, except their gold, of which the worst that can be said is, first,
+that there is not much of it, and secondly, that there are too many
+hands to share it. There is neither honour nor wealth to be had in
+Tenochtitlan. But if a true soldier and a right noble gentleman, as the
+world esteems Don Amador de Leste, should seek a path worthy of himself,
+he has but to say the word, and there is one to be found from which he
+may return with more gold than has yet been gathered by any fortunate
+adventurer, and more renown than has been won by any other man in the
+new world: ay, by St. James, and diadems may be found there! provided
+one have the heart to contest for them with men who fight like the
+wolves of Catalonia, and die with their brows to the battle!"
+
+"Now by St. John of Jerusalem!" said Amador, kindling with enthusiasm,
+"that is a path which, as I am a true Christian and Castilian, I should
+be rejoiced to tread. For the gold of which you speak, it might come if
+it would, for gold is a good thing, even to one who is neither needy nor
+covetous; but I should be an idle hand to gather it. As for the diadems,
+I have my doubts whether a man, not born by the grace of God to inherit
+them, has any right to wear them, unless, indeed, he should marry a
+king's daughter: but here the kings are all infidels, and, I vow to
+Heaven, I would sooner burn at a stake, along with a Christian beggar,
+than sell my soul to perdition in the arms of any infidel princess
+whatever. But for the renown of subduing a nation of such valiant Pagans
+as those you speak of, and of converting them to the true faith! _that_
+is even such a thought as makes my blood tingle within me; and were I,
+in all particulars, the master of my own actions, I should say to you,
+Right worthy and courageous captain, (for truly from those honourable
+scars on your front and temple, and from your way of thinking, I esteem
+you such a man,) point me out that path, and, with the blessing of
+Heaven, I will see to what honour it may lead me."
+
+"Your favour," said the captain, "has heard of the great island,
+Florida, and of the renowned senor Don Ponce de Leon, its discoverer?"
+
+"I have heard of such names, both of isle and of man, I think," said Don
+Amador, "but, to say truth, senor comandante, you have here, in this new
+world, such a multitude of wonderful territories, and of heroic men,
+that, were I to give a month's labour to the study, I think I should not
+master the names of all of them. Truly, in Rhodes, where the poor
+knights of the Hospital stood at bay before Solyman _el Magnifico_, and
+did such deeds as the world had not heard of since the days of Leonidas
+and his brave knights of Sparta,--I say, even in Rhodes, where all men
+thought of their honour and religion, and never a moment of their blood,
+we heard not of so many heroes as have risen up here in this corner of
+the earth, in a few years' chasing of the wild Indians."
+
+"The senor Ponce de Leon," said the captain, without regarding the sneer
+of the proud soldier, "the senor Ponce de Leon, Adelantado of Bimini and
+of Florida, in search of the miraculous Fountain of Youth, which, the
+Indians say, lies somewhere to the north, landed eight years ago, with
+the crews of three ships, all of them bigger and better than this little
+rotten Sangre de Cristo, whereof I myself commanded one. Of the
+extraordinary beauty and fertility of the land of Florida, thus
+discovered, I will say nothing. Your favour will delight more to hear me
+speak of its inhabitants. These were men of a noble stature, and full of
+such resolution, that we were no sooner ashore, than they fell upon us;
+and I must say, we found we were now at variance with a people in no
+wise resembling those naked idiots of Cuba, or these cowardly hinds of
+Mexico. They cared not a jot for swordsman, arcubalister, or musketeer.
+To our rapiers they opposed their stone battle-axes, which gushed
+through the brain more like a thunderbolt than a Christian espada; no
+crossbowman could drive an arrow with more mortal aim and fury than
+could these wild archers with their horn bows, (for know, senor, they
+have, in that country of Florida, some prodigious animal, which yields
+them abundant material for their weapons;) and, what filled us with much
+surprise, and no little fear, instead of betaking themselves to their
+heels at the sound of our firelocks, as we looked for them to do, no
+sooner had they heard the roar of these arms, than they fetched many
+most loud and frightful yells, to express their contempt of our warlike
+din, and rushed upon us with such renewed and increasing violence, that,
+to be honest, as a Christian of my years should be, we were fain to
+betake ourselves to our ships with what speed and good fortune we
+could. And now, senor, you will be ashamed to hear that our courage was
+so much mollified by this repulse, and our fears of engaging further
+with such desperadoes so urgent and potent, that we straightway set
+sail, and, in the vain search for the enchanted Fountain, quite forgot
+the nobler objects of the voyage."
+
+"What you have said," quoth Don Amador, "convinces me that these savages
+of Florida are a warlike people, and worthy the wrath of a brave
+soldier; but you have said nothing of the ores and diadems, whereof, I
+think, you first spake, and which, heaven save the mark! by some strange
+mutation of mind, have made a deeper impression on my imagination than
+such trifles should."
+
+"We learned of some wounded captives we carried to the ships," continued
+the master, "as well, at least, as we could understand by their signs,
+that there was a vast country to the north-west, where dwelt nations of
+fire-worshippers, governed by kings, very rich and powerful, on the
+banks of a great river; and from some things we gathered, it was thought
+by many that the miraculous Fountain was in that land, and not in the
+island Bimini; and this think I myself, for, senor, I have seen a man
+who, with others, had slaked his thirst in every spring that gushes from
+that island, and, by my faith, he died of an apoplexy the day after his
+arrival in the Habana. Wherefore, it is clear, that marvellous Fountain
+must be in the country of the fire-worshippers. But notwithstanding all
+these things, senor, our commander Don Ponce, would resolve upon naught
+but to return to the Bahamas, where our ships were divided, each in
+search of the island called Bimini. It was my fortune to be despatched
+westward; and here, what with the aid of a tempest that blew from the
+east, and some little hankering of mine own appetites after that land of
+the fire-worshippers, I found myself many a league beyond where any
+Christian had ever navigated before, where a fresh and turbid current
+rolled through the deep, bearing the trunks of countless great trees,
+many of them scorched with fire: whereupon I knew that I was near to the
+object of my desires, which, however, the fears and the discontent of my
+crew prevented my reaching. I was even compelled to obey them, and
+conduct them to Cuba."
+
+"Senor Capitan," said Amador, who had listened to the master's narrative
+with great attention, "I give you praise for your bold and most
+commendable daring in having sailed so far, and I condole with you for
+your misfortune in being compelled to abide the government of a crew of
+such runagate and false companions, whom I marvel exceedingly you did
+not hang, every man of 'em, to some convenient corner of your ship, as
+was the due of such disloyal knaves; but yet, credit me, I see not what
+this turbid and fresh flood, and what these floating trees, had to do
+with the gold and the diadems, of which you were speaking."
+
+"Senor," said the Captain earnestly, "I have navigated the deep for,
+perhaps, more years than your favour has lived; and it was my fortune to
+be with the Admiral----"
+
+"With Colon!" cried the youth.
+
+"With his excellency, the admiral, Don Cristobal Colon, the discoverer
+of this new world!" replied the master proudly, "in his own good ship,
+when we sailed into the Serpent's Mouth, which, we knew not then, laved
+the shores of the great Continent; and I remember that when the admiral
+had beheld the trees floating in the current, and had tasted of the
+fresh water of that boiling gulf, he told us that these came from a
+great river rolling through a mighty continent. And, in after times, the
+words of the admiral were proved to be just; for there his captain, the
+young Pinzon, found the great river Oronoko."
+
+"There is no man," said Don Amador, "who more reverences the memory of
+the admiral than I; and I feel the more regard for yourself, that you
+have sailed with him on his discoveries. Moreover, I beg your pardon,
+insomuch as I have been slow to unravel your meaning. But now, I
+perceive, you think you had reached that river of the infidel
+fire-worshippers, whom God confound with fire and flame! as doubtless he
+will. And hath no man again sought the mouth of that river? I marvel you
+did not yourself make a second attempt."
+
+"I could not prevail upon any cavaliers, rich enough for the
+undertaking," said the master, "to league with me in it. Men liked not
+the spirit of the northern savages; and, in truth, there were a thousand
+other lands where the barbarians could be subdued with less peril, and,
+as they thought, with a better hope of gain. And yet, by our lady, that
+river bore with it the evidences of the wealth on its banks; for what
+were those scorched trees, but the relics of the fires with which the
+kings of the land were smelting their ores? and what quantity of gold
+must there not have been where such prodigious furnaces were kindled!"
+
+"By the mass!" said Amador, with ardour, "you speak the truth; it is
+even a most wonderful land; and if a few thousand pesoes would float an
+expedition, by my faith, I think I could find them."
+
+"A few thousand pesoes, and the countenance of such a leader as Don
+Amador de Leste, a knight of the holy and valiant order of San Juan----"
+
+"A knight by right, but not by vow," said Don Amador, hastily: "I give
+you to understand, senor Capitan, that I am not a sworn brother of that
+most ancient, honourable, and knightly order, but an humble volunteer,
+attached, for certain reasons of my own, to them, and privileged by the
+consent of his most eminent highness, the Grand Master, to wear these
+badges, wherein I am arrayed, in acknowledgment that I did some service
+not unworthy knighthood in the trenches of Rhodes."
+
+"Your favour will not lead the less worthily for that," said the
+Captain; "I know an hundred cavaliers who would throw their ducats, as
+well as their arms, into the adventure prescribed by the senor Don
+Amador; and a thousand cross-bows, with three or four score
+arquebusiers, would flock to the standard as soon as we had preached
+through the islands a crusade to the fire-worshippers, and a pilgrimage
+to the Waters of Life."
+
+"And is it truly believed," said Amador, eagerly, "that such waters are
+to be found in these heathen lands?"
+
+"Who can doubt it?" said the Captain; "the Indians of the Bahamas have
+spoken of them for years; no Spaniard hath ever thought of questioning
+their existence; and at this moment, so great is the certainty of
+finding them, that my old leader, Don Ponce, is collecting round him men
+for a second expedition, with which he will depart I know not how soon.
+But I know Don Ponce; the draught of youth is not for him; he will seek
+the fountain on his great island of Florida, and find it not: it will
+bubble only to the lips of those who seek it near the great river of the
+great continent."
+
+"By heaven!" said Don Amador, "what might not a man do, who could drink
+of this miraculous fountain! A draught of it would have carried the
+great Alejandro so far into the East, as to have left but small work for
+the knaves of Portugal. And then our friends! Dios mio! we could keep
+our friends by us for ever! But hold, senor Capitan--a thought strikes
+me: have you ever heard the opinion of a holy clergyman on this subject?
+Is it lawful for a man to drink of such a fountain?"
+
+"By my faith," replied the master, "I have never heard priest or layman
+advance an argument against its lawfulness: and I know not how it should
+be criminal, since Providence hath given us the privilege to drink of
+any well, whose waters are not to our misliking."
+
+"For my part," said Amador, "I must say, I have my doubts whether
+Providence hath given us any such privilege; the exercise of which, in
+general, would greatly confound the world, by over-peopling it, and, in
+particular, would seem, in a measure, to put man in a condition to defy
+his Maker, and to defeat all the ends of divine goodness and justice:
+for how should a man be punished for his sins, who had in him the power
+of endless life? and how should a man keep from sinning, who had no fear
+of death and the devil? and, finally, how should we ever receive any of
+the benefits of the most holy atonement, after drinking such a
+life-preserving draught?--for it is my opinion, senor Capitan, no man
+would wish to go to heaven, who had the power of remaining on earth."
+
+"By my soul," said the captain earnestly, "this is a consideration which
+never occupied me before; and I shall take counsel upon it with the
+first holy man I meet."
+
+"At all events," said the cavalier, "there is inducement enough to make
+search after this river, were it only to fight the fire-worshippers,
+convert them to the true faith, and see what may be the curiosities of
+their land. Yet I must give you warning, it will rest with another whom
+I am now seeking, whether I may league with you in this enterprise or
+not. Give me his consent and leading, and I will take leave of these
+poor rogues of Tenochtitlan, as soon as I have looked a little upon
+their wonders; and then, with the blessing of God and St. John, have at
+the valiant fire-worshippers, with all my heart!--But, how now, senor
+Capitan? What means your pilot to cast anchor here among the fleet, and
+not carry us forthwith to the shore?"
+
+"I dare not proceed farther," said the captain, "without the authority
+of the senor Cavallero, admiral of this squadron, and governor of this
+harbour of San Juan de Ulua. It is necessary I should report myself to
+him for examination, on board the _Capitana_, and receive his
+instructions concerning my cargo and fellow-voyagers."
+
+"His instructions concerning your fellow-voyagers!" said Don Amador,
+sternly. "I, for one, am a voyager, who will receive no instructions for
+the government of my actions, neither myself nor by proxy; and, with
+God's blessing, I will neither ask permission to disembark, nor allow it
+to be asked for myself, or for my grooms; and the senor Cavallero, or
+any other senor, that thinks to stop me, had better grind both sides of
+his sword, by way of preparation for such folly."
+
+"Your favour has no cause for anger," said the master, moderately. "This
+is the custom and the law, and it becomes the more necessary to enforce
+it, in the present situation of things. Your favour will receive no
+check, but rather assistance; and it is only necessary to assure the
+admiral you do not come as a league and helpmate of the mutineer,
+Cortes, to receive free license, a safe-conduct, and perhaps, even
+guides, to go whithersoever you list throughout this empire. This,
+senor, is only a form of courtesy, such as one cavalier should expect of
+another, and no more."
+
+"Truly, then, if you assure me so," said Don Amador, complacently, "I
+will not refuse to go myself in person to his excellency, the admiral;
+and the more readily that, I fancy, from the name, there is some sort of
+blood-relationship between his excellency and myself. But, by heaven, I
+would rather, at present, be coursing Fogoso over yon glittering sand,
+than winding a bolero on my cousin's deck, though he were a king's
+admiral."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+Don Amador de Leste was interrupted in the agreeable duty (the last to
+be performed in the little caravel,) of inquiring into the health and
+condition of his war-horse, Fogoso, by a summons, or, as it was more
+courteously expressed, an invitation, to attend the admiral on board his
+own vessel. Giving a thousand charges to his attendants, all of which
+were received with due deference and humility, he stepped into the boat,
+which, in a few moments, he exchanged for the decks of the
+Capitana,--not, however, without some doubt as to the degree of
+loftiness he should assume during the interview with his excellency, the
+admiral, his kinsman. His pride had already twice, or thrice, since his
+appearance among the islands of the New World, been incensed by the
+arrogant assumption of their petty dignitaries to inquire into, and
+control, the independence of his movements: and he remembered with high
+displeasure, that the royal adelantado of Cuba, the renowned Velasquez,
+a man of whom, as he was pleased to say, he had never heard so much as
+the name until he found himself within his territories, had not only
+dared to disregard the privileges of his birth and decorations, but had
+well-nigh answered his ire and menaces, by giving him to chains and
+captivity. Nor, when, at last, the pious exertions of the good friars of
+Santiago had allayed the growing storm, and appeased his own
+indignation, by urging the necessity their governor was under to examine
+into the character and objects of all persons, who, by declining to
+visit the new El Dorado under the authority of the commander, might
+reasonably be suspected of a desire to join his rebellious
+lieutenant,--not even then could the proud Amador forget that, whatever
+might be the excuse, his independence _had_ been questioned, and might
+be again, by any inflated official whom he should be so unlucky as to
+meet. His doubt, however, in this case, was immediately dispelled by the
+degree of state and ceremony with which he was received on board the
+Capitana, and conducted to his excellency; and the last shadow of
+hesitation departed from his brow, when he beheld the admiral prepared
+to welcome him with such courtesy and deference as were only accorded to
+the most noble and favoured.
+
+"If I do not err," said the admiral, with a bow of great reverence, and
+a smile of prodigious suavity, "I behold, in the senor Don Amador de
+Leste, a gentleman of Valencia, whom I make free, as I shall be proud,
+to welcome as my countryman and kinsman?"
+
+"Senor Almirante," replied Amador, with equal amenity, "my mother was a
+Valencian, and of the house of Cavallero. Wherefore, I take it for
+granted, we are in some sort related; but in what degree, I am not able
+to determine: nor do I think that a matter very important to be
+questioned into, since, in these savage corners of the earth, the
+farthest degree of consanguinity should draw men together as firmly as
+the closest."
+
+"You are right, senor cavalier and kinsman," said the admiral: "affinity
+of any degree should be a claim to the intimacy and affection of
+brotherhood; and although this is the first time I have enjoyed the
+felicity to behold my right worthy and much honoured cousin, I welcome
+him with good will to such hospitalities as my poor bark and this
+barbarous clime can afford; marvelling, however, amid all my
+satisfaction, what strange fortune has driven him to exchange the
+knightly combats of Christendom for the ignoble campaigns of this wild
+hemisphere."
+
+"As to that, most noble and excellent cousin," said the cavalier, "I
+will not scruple to inform your excellency, together with all other
+matters, wherein, as my kinsman, you are entitled to question; previous
+to which, however, I must demand of your goodness to know how far your
+interrogatories are to bear the stamp of office and authority, the
+satisfaction of my mind on which point will materially affect the
+character of my answers."
+
+"Surely," said the admiral courteously, and seemingly with great
+frankness, "I will only presume to question you as a friend and
+relative, and, as such, no farther than it may suit your pleasure to
+allow. My office I will only use so far as it may enable me to assist
+you in your objects, if, as I will make bold to believe, you may need
+such assistance in this land of Mexico."
+
+"I thank your excellency," said Amador, now receiving and pressing the
+hand of the commander with much cordiality, "both for your offers of
+assistance, which, if I may need it, I will freely accept; and for your
+assurance you do not mean to trouble me with your authority:--a mark of
+extreme civility and good sense, which virtues, under your favour, I
+have not found so common among your fellow-commanders in these heathen
+lands, as I was led to expect."
+
+The admiral smiled pleasantly on his kinsman while replying, "I must beg
+your allowance for the presumption of my brothers in command, who, sooth
+to say, have had so much dealing with the wild Indians and rough
+reprobates of these regions as somewhat to have forgot their manners,
+when treating with gentlemen and nobles. My superior and governor, the
+worthy and thrice-honoured Velasquez, (whom God grant many and wiser
+counsellors!) is rather hot of head and unreasonable of temper; and has,
+doubtless, thrown some obstructions in the way of your visit to this
+disturbed land. But you should remember, that the junction of so brave a
+cavalier as Don Amador de Leste with the mutinous bands of the senor
+Cortes, is a thing to excite both dread and opposition."
+
+"I remember," said Amador, "that some such excuse was made for him, and
+that my assurance that my business had no more to do with that valiant
+rebel than with his own crabbed excellency, was no more believed than
+the assertion of any common hind: a piece of incredulity I shall take
+great pleasure, at some more convenient period, of removing, at my
+sword's point, from his excellency's body."
+
+"I am grieved you should have cause to complain of the governor," said
+the senor Cavallero; "and verily I myself cannot pretend to justify his
+rash and tyrannical opposition, especially in the matter of yourself;
+who, I take it for granted, come hither as the kinsman of the knight
+Calavar, to search out and remove that crack-brained cavalier from these
+scenes of tumult and danger."
+
+"The knight Calavar," said the young soldier sternly, "like other men,
+has his eccentricities and follies; but if God has smitten him with a
+sorer infirmity than others, he has left him so much strength of arm and
+resoluteness of heart, and withal has given him friends of so
+unhesitating a devotion, that it will always be wise to pronounce his
+name with the respect which his great worth and valiant deeds have
+proved to be his due."
+
+"Surely," said the admiral, good-humouredly, "it is my boast that I can
+claim, through yourself, to be distantly related to this most renowned
+and unhappy gentleman; and, while I would sharply rebuke a stranger for
+mentioning him with discourtesy, I held myself at liberty to speak of
+him with freedom to yourself."
+
+"I beg your pardon then," said Amador, "if I took offence at your
+utterance of a word, which seemed to me to savour more of the heartless
+ridicule with which the world is disposed to remark a mental calamity,
+than the respectful pity which, it is my opinion, in such cases should
+be always accorded. Your excellency did right to suppose my business in
+this hemisphere was to seek out the knight Calavar; not, however, as you
+have hinted, to remove him from among the savages, (for I give you to
+understand, he is ever capable of being the guide and director of his
+own actions;) but to render him the dutiful service of his kinsman and
+esquire, and to submit myself to his will and government, whether it be
+to fight these rogues of Mexico, or any other heathens whatever."
+
+"I give you praise for your fidelity and affection," said the senor
+Cavallero, "which, I think, will stand the knight in good stead, if it
+be his pleasure to remain longer in this wild country. But tell me, Don
+Amador:--as a Cavallero of Valencia, I could not be ignorant of the
+misfortune of our very renowned cousin; yet was I never able to compass
+the cause of his melancholy. I remember that when he fleshed his boyish
+sword for the first time among the Moors of the Alpujarras, he was
+accounted not only of valour, but of discretion, far beyond his years.
+There was no patrimony in all Granada so rich and enviable as the
+lordship of Calavar; no nobleman of Spain was thought to have fairer and
+loftier prospects than the young Don Gines Gabriel de Calavar; none had
+greater reason to laugh and be merry, for before the beard had darkened
+on his lip, he had enjoyed the reputation of a brave soldier; yet, no
+sooner came he to man's estate, than, utterly disregarding the interests
+of his house and the common impulses of youth, he flung himself into the
+arms of the knights of Rhodes, vowed himself to toil and sorrow, and
+has, ever since, been remembered by those who knew him in his boyhood,
+as the saddest and maddest of men."
+
+"So much I have heard, and so much I know, of the good knight," said
+Amador, with a sigh; "little more can I add to the story, but that some
+calamity, the nature of which I never dared to inquire, suddenly wrought
+this change in him, even in the midst of his youth, and led him to
+devote his life to the cause of the faithful."
+
+"Thou hast heard it suggested," said Cavallero, significantly, "that, in
+the matter of the Alpujarras, his heart was hotter, and his hand redder
+than became a Christian knight, even when striking on the hearth of the
+Infidel?"
+
+"Senor cousin and admiral," said Amador decidedly, "in my soul, I
+believe you are uttering these suggestions only from a kinsman's concern
+for the honour and welfare of the party in question; and therefore do I
+make bold to tell you, the man who, in my hearing, asperses the knight
+Calavar, charging his grief of mind to be the fruit of any criminal or
+dishonourable deed, shall abide the issue of the slander as ruefully as
+if it had been cast on the ashes of my mother!"
+
+"So shall he win his deservings," said the commander. "Nevertheless doth
+Calavar himself give some cause for these foolish surmises, of which
+indiscreet persons have occasionally delivered themselves; for the
+evident misery of heart and distraction of head, the austere and
+penitential self-denial of his life, nay, the very ostentation of grief
+and contrition, which is written in his deportment and blazoned on his
+armour, and which has gained him, in these lands, the appellation of the
+Penitent Knight, seem almost to warrant the suspicion of an unquiet and
+remorseful conscience, brooding over the memory of an unabsolved crime.
+But I say this not so much to justify, as, in part, to excuse those idle
+impertinents, who are so free with their innuendoes. I have ever
+pondered with wonder on the secret of the brave knight's unrest; yet, I
+must confess to thee, I was struck with no less astonishment, when,
+returning from Nombre de Dios to Santiago, I heard that a famous Knight
+Hospitaller, and he no other than Don Gines Gabriel de Calavar, had
+arrived among the islands, frenzied with the opportunity of slaying
+pagans at his pleasure, and had already followed on the path of Cortes
+to Mexico. It gave me great pain, and caused me no little marvel, to
+find he had come and vanished with so little of the retinue of his rank,
+and of the attendance necessary to one in his condition, that two or
+three ignorant grooms were his only attendants."
+
+"I have no doubt," said Amador, "I can allay your wonder as to these
+matters. Your excellency need not be told that the banner of the Turk
+now floats over the broken ramparts of Rhodes, and over the corses of
+those noble knights of San Juan, who defended them for more than two
+hundred years, and at last perished among their ruins. This is a
+catastrophe that has pealed over all Christendom like the roar of a
+funeral bell, and its sound has even pierced to these lands of twilight.
+No knight among all that band of warriors and martyrs, as I am myself a
+witness, did more brave and heroical actions throughout the black and
+bloody siege, than my lord and kinsman, Calavar. But the good and
+ever-gracious Saint, the patron of this most ancient and chivalric
+brotherhood, saved him, with a few other knights, out of the jaws of
+destruction, and restored him again to his own country. Rhodes was
+fallen, there was no longer a home for the destitute knights; they
+wandered over Europe, whithersoever their destinies listed, but
+particularly wheresoever there was an infidel to be slain. Our monarch
+of Spain contemplated a crusade among the Moors of Barbary, the
+descendants of that accursed--(why should I not say wretched? for they
+are exiles;)--that wretched race who had once o'ermastered our own
+beloved land; the knight Calavar entered into this project with
+alacrity, and set himself to such preparations as should win him good
+vengeance for the blood of his brothers lost at Rhodes. I did myself, in
+obedience to his will, betake me to the business of seeing what honest
+Christians might be prevailed on to fight under his banner; and while
+thus engaged, at a distance from my beloved lord, with, perhaps, as I
+should confess with shame, less energy and more sloth than were becoming
+in his follower, I suffered certain worldly allurements to step between
+me and my duty, and, for a time, almost forgot my renowned and unhappy
+kinsman. Now senor," continued the youth, with some little hesitation,
+and a deep sigh, "it is not necessary I should trouble you with any very
+particular account of my forgetfulness and stupidity: it was soon known
+that the enthusiasm of our king was somewhat abated touching the matter
+of the African crusade,--perhaps swallowed up in the interest wherewith
+he regarded the new world which God and the great Colon had given him;
+the enthusiasm of his subjects diminished in like manner: there was no
+more talk of Africa. This, senor, may perhaps in a measure excuse my own
+lethargy, but you may be assured I awoke out of it with shame and
+mortification, when I discovered that the good knight, left to himself,
+and deprived of that excitement of combat, or the hope of combat, so
+necessary to the well-being of his mind, had suddenly (doubtless, in one
+of those paroxysms of eccentricity,--or delirium, as I may call it to
+you,) departed from the land, and was now cleaving the surges that
+divided us from the new hemisphere. There was nothing left for me but to
+follow him in the first ship that sailed on the same adventure. This I
+have done: I have tracked my leader from Palos to Cuba; from Cuba to
+this barren coast; and now, with your good leave and aidance, I will
+take the last step of the pursuit, and render myself up to his authority
+in the barbaric city, Tenochtitlan."
+
+"I respect your motive, and praise your devotion, most worthy cousin,"
+said the admiral with much kindness; "and yet you must forgive me, if I
+dare to express to you some degree of pity. My long acquaintance with
+these countries, both of isle and main, has well instructed me what you
+have to expect among them; and I can truly conceive what sacrifices you
+have made for the good knight's sake. In any case, I beg leave to
+apprise you, you can command all my services, either to persist in
+seeking him, or to return to Spain. My advice is, that you leave this
+place forthwith, in a ship which I am to-morrow to despatch to
+Andalusia; return to your native land; betake yourself to those
+allurements, and that lethargy, which I can well believe may bring you
+happiness; commend yourself to your honourable lady-love, and think no
+more of the wild Calavar. Here, if you lose not life, before you have
+looked on your kinsman, as there is much fear, you must resolve to pass
+your days in such suffering and misery, and withal in ignoble warfare
+with naked savages, supported by such mean and desperate companions, as,
+I am sure, you were never born to."
+
+"What you counsel me," said Amador coolly, "is doubtless both wisdom and
+friendship; nevertheless, if your excellency will be good enough to
+reconsider your advice, you will perceive it involves such selfishness,
+meanness, and dishonour, as cannot be listened to with any propriety by
+a kinsman of the knight of Calavar. I do not say I come hither to
+condescend to this ignoble warfare,--though if it be worthy my good
+knight, _I_ shall have no reason to scorn it. I bear with me, to my
+kinsman, the despatch of his most eminent highness, the Grand Master of
+the most illustrious order of San Juan, wherein, although it be
+recommended to him, if such warfare seem to him honourable and
+advantageous to the cause of Christ, to strike fast and well, it is, if
+such strife be otherwise, strongly urged on him to return without delay
+to Europe, and to the Isle of Malta; which, it is announced, our monarch
+of Spain will speedily give to the good knights. It is therefore,"
+continued the cavalier, "from the nature of things and of mine own will,
+clearly impossible I should follow your advice; in default of which, I
+must beg such other counsel and assistance of your excellency as your
+excellency may think needful to bestow; only premising, that as I have
+many a weary league of sand and mountain to compass, the sooner you
+benefit me with these good things the better."
+
+"Your journey will be neither so long nor so wearisome as you imagine,"
+said Cavallero: "but, I fear me, will present more obstructions than you
+may be prepared to encounter. I take it for granted, the governor
+Velasquez has furnished you with no commands to his general Don Panfilo
+de Narvaez, since he gave you none to myself."
+
+"This is even the fact," said Amador; "I entered the caravel which
+brought me here, as I thought, in defiance of his authority, and not
+without apprehensions of being obliged to cut off the ears of some dozen
+or two of his rogues, who might be ordered to detain me. Nevertheless, I
+left the island without a contest, and equally without aidance of any
+kind from this discourteous ruler."
+
+"I must give thee some counsel, then," said the admiral, "for I
+apprehend the governor did, very perfidiously as I esteem it, when he
+ceased his opposition, rest much hope on that of his general. Thou art
+acquainted with the character of Narvaez?"
+
+"By my faith, I am so ignorant of all matters appertaining to these
+climates, that, saving thine own, and the knight Calavar's, and one or
+two others which I acquired this morning, I am familiar only with those
+of two other persons,--to wit,--of Velasquez, whom I consider a very
+scurvy and ill-bred personage, and of Cortes, a man whom I hold in much
+esteem, ever since I heard he burned his fleet to keep his followers
+from running away, and made prisoner of the great Mexican emperor in his
+own capital. In addition to this, I know the aforesaid governor doth
+very hotly hate, and hath disgraced with the titles of rebel and outlaw,
+this same respectable and courageous Cortes; but for what reason, as I
+have been kept in somewhat too great a passion to inquire, I am yet
+altogether ignorant."
+
+"For one who may soon share an important part in the events of this
+region, I think thou showest a most princely indifference to them," said
+the admiral, smiling. "I will not say the safety, but the facility, with
+which thou mayest traverse these lands, will be greatly increased by
+knowing some little of their history; and that knowledge I will hasten
+to impart to thee, and with what brevity I can. If I should be led to
+speak with more freedom of certain persons than may seem fitting in an
+inferior and a colleague, I must beseech thee to remember I am doing so
+to a kinsman, and for his especial information and good. Know then,
+senor Don Amador, the person whom it pleased our viceroy, the son of
+Colon, to set over us, and whom it has since pleased his most devout
+majesty, the emperor, to confirm in the government of Cuba, and even to
+that to add the further dignity of ruler of the kings of Mexico, is, as
+I hinted to thee before, afflicted with so irascible a temper and so
+jealous a fancy, that, were I not restrained by the office I hold under
+him, I should say he was, at the least, as mad as any other man in his
+dominion. The desire of immortalizing himself by some great exploit
+would be commendable in him, were it not accompanied by the ambition to
+achieve it by the hands of another. Ever since the discovery of this
+fair empire of Montezuma by the senor Cordova, he has thirsted for the
+glory of subduing it; and has taken all the steps necessary to such a
+purpose, except the single one of attempting it in person;--an omission
+not in itself important, since there are an hundred other cavaliers more
+capable of the task, only that, besides the other munitions with which
+he furnishes his lieutenant, he follows him ever with so plentiful a
+store of distrust, that it is utterly impossible his officer should have
+a chance to immortalize him. After much seeking of a man whose ambition
+should extend no further than to the glory of winning a crown for the
+purpose of seeing his excellency wear it, he fixed upon the worthy
+hidalgo, Hernan Cortes, a gentleman of Medellin in Estremadura, and
+despatched him on the business of conquest. Now, no sooner was his
+general gone, than this jealous imagination, whereof I spake, instantly
+presented to his mind the image of Cortes as a conqueror, suddenly
+laying claim, before the emperor and the world, to the sole merit of the
+conquest; a spectacle so infinitely intolerable, that without delay he
+set himself at work to hinder Cortes from making any conquest at all."
+
+"Surely," said Amador, "this governor Velasquez is a fool, as well as a
+knave!"
+
+"Heaven have him in keeping! You should mention him with respect: but as
+you are speaking in the confidence of blood-relationship, I cannot take
+notice of your sarcasm," said the admiral. "The senor Cortes, however,"
+continued Cavallero, "was by no means disposed to second the disloyal
+frenzy of the governor: (disloyal I call it, since it threatened to
+deprive his majesty, the emperor Charles, of the opportunity of adding a
+new empire to his diadem.) On the other hand, Cortes was fully
+determined to do his duty, and thought the governor could do nothing
+better than to follow his example. But in the end, this same Cortes,
+though of as meek a temper as is desirable in the commander of an army,
+became greatly incensed at the sottish and grievous distrust of his
+governor; and calling his army together, and representing to them the
+foolish predicament in which his excellency had placed them, he threw
+down his truncheon with contempt, and told them that as Velasquez had
+left them without a leader, the wisest thing that remained for them was
+to find another as soon as possible: as for himself, he disdained to
+hold his commission longer under such a commander."
+
+"By heaven, a most proper-spirited and gallant gentleman!" cried Amador.
+"I honour him for the act, but chiefly for the contempt it argued of
+this jackfeather ruler."
+
+"I must beg of your favour," said the admiral, gravely, "to remember
+that his excellency is my chief and commander; though, in justice, I
+think you have some reason to censure him.--What remained for the army
+of Cortes, now no longer having a general? They were loath to leave the
+fair empire that appeared almost in their grasp, and enraged at the
+governor, who seemed determined to rob them of it. There was only one
+way to secure the conquest for their royal master: they absolved
+themselves of their allegiance to the governor, swore themselves the
+soldiers and subjects of the emperor alone, and erecting themselves
+into a colony, forthwith elected Cortes their governor and
+commander-in-chief; and despatched advice of the same to Don Carlos,
+with a petition for permission to pursue and conclude the conquest of
+Tenochtitlan in his name."
+
+"A very loyal, defensible, and, indeed, praiseworthy action," said Don
+Amador, with emphasis; "and I marvel your jealous governor did not stab
+himself forthwith, out of pure chagrin, to be so sharply and justly
+outwitted."
+
+"Instead of that," said the admiral, "boiling with vexation and rage,
+and devoting Cortes to the fiend who had first suggested him as a proper
+lieutenant, his excellency equipped a second army, more than twice as
+strong as that he had ordered Cortes to raise; and this, one would have
+thought, he would have commanded in person. But the old whim of
+conquering by lieutenants, and becoming famous by proxy, still beset the
+brain of his wisdom. He gave the command of an army of more than a
+thousand men to the senor Panfilo de Narvaez, a Biscayan, of
+whom the best I can say is, that he swore eternal fidelity to
+Velasquez,--resolving privately in his own mind that, as soon as he had
+subdued Cortes, he would follow his example, and throw off the authority
+of his distrustful commander."
+
+"I should call this treachery," said Amador, "but that I think the
+absurdity of the chief a full excuse for the defection of the follower."
+
+"The wisdom of the proceeding is now made manifest," continued the
+admiral. "It is scarce a month since it was my misfortune, as commander
+of the naval division of this expedition, to land the forces of Narvaez
+on this shore. Here I learned with much admiration, that Cortes,
+notwithstanding the meagerness of his army, had, absolutely, after
+certain bloody combats with savages on the wayside, marched into the
+great city, taken possession of the body of the barbarous emperor, and,
+through him, virtually, of all the lands which acknowledged his sway;
+and you may understand how much, as a true and reasonable subject of our
+Catholic monarch, I was afflicted to learn, in addition, that the
+sending of the new force by Velasquez, only served the purpose of
+snatching the conquest out of our hands. For Cortes, under a delusion
+which may be pardoned him, on account of its loyalty, regarding himself,
+in obedience to the command of his followers, as the only true
+representative and general of our king, and ourselves, by consequence,
+as traitors and rebels to his majesty, did forthwith resolve to drive us
+from the land; to do which, it was needful he should withdraw his forces
+from Tenochtitlan; and therefore, Tenochtitlan is lost."
+
+"Thou sayest, the senor Cortes hath an army not half so powerful as the
+Biscayan's?"
+
+"Nay, 'tis much short of five hundred men, and weakened by a year's
+campaign, and still further diminished by the necessity of maintaining a
+garrison in his port of Vera Cruz, which he doth humorously denominate
+the Rich City, and leaving another of more than a hundred men, with one
+of his best captains, in the goodly city, out of a hope, which I myself
+reckon both vain and foolish, still to retain possession of it."
+
+"And with this shattered and pitiful handful, which I think cannot
+exceed three hundred men," said Amador, "the brave Cortes is resolute to
+resist the Biscayan, and his thousand fresh combatants?"
+
+"It is even so," replied Cavallero.
+
+"I give him the praise of a most dauntless and heroic leader," cried
+Amador; "and I am eager to proffer him the hand of friendship."
+
+"Not only resolute to resist," said the admiral, "but, from the most
+undeniable tokens, impatient to attack; as, indeed, are all his people.
+As an evidence of which, I may tell thee, that Narvaez having quartered
+his host at an Indian city called Zempoala, within a few leagues of this
+aforesaid stockade and Rich City of the True Cross, he straightway
+despatched certain officers, military, civil, and religious, to demand
+the surrender of the same at the hands of the very young and very
+simple-minded senor, Don Gonzalo de Sandoval, its commandante. What
+answer, thinkest thou, was made by this foolish captain, so many leagues
+separated from his commander, and so far from all assistance? Faith, he
+flings me the envoys into certain bags of net-work, as one would live
+quails, and tossing them upon the backs of lusty savages, in lieu of
+asses, despatched them forthwith over the mountains to his general. And
+this is the only answer my colleague and most excellent friend the
+general Narvaez, ever received to his summons for the surrender of the
+Rich City of the True Cross."
+
+"A spirited and ever-to-be-commended youth, this same bold Sandoval,"
+said Amador earnestly; "and I begin to bethink me, I shall not be loath
+to remain for a time in the company of a leader, who hath such worthy
+spirits for his companions. But tell me, senor cavalier and cousin, hath
+Cortes yet struck a blow for his honour and his right?"
+
+"By our Lady, no," said the admiral: "and yet, upon reflection,"
+continued he, "I must confess, that though he has not yet drawn a
+Christian sabre on the Biscayan, he has done him much hurt with a
+certain weapon of gold, the use of which he learned at Mexico, and whose
+blows, by the operation of a kind of magic, have the virtue to paralyze
+the wrath, without spilling the blood, of an adversary."
+
+"This is a weapon of the devil!" said the young cavalier indignantly,
+"which I marvel much should be used by so worthy a soldier.
+Nevertheless, as it does not shed blood, the use of it may be
+justifiable in a contest between brothers and countrymen; wherein
+humanity and mercy are always more Christian qualities than the rage and
+blood-thirstiness of another warfare. But notwithstanding all this, if
+such enchanted arms (if such indeed exist, as I cannot believe,) be in
+vogue among the followers of Cortes, I swear to God and Saint John, I
+will eschew them as I would the gifts of the fiend; and, if compelled by
+the command of my good knight, to fight in their company, it shall be
+with such sword and spear as I can use with a free conscience, and an
+honest arm."
+
+"I commend your honourable resolution," said the admiral, amused with
+the literal straightforwardness of his kinsman, but without thinking fit
+to undeceive him; "but how long the cavalier Cortes will employ so
+bloodless a rapier, is more than I can determine. He now lies within a
+few leagues of my colleague, the Biscayan; and although apparently more
+ripe for negotiation than combat, I shall be much mistaken if he do not,
+at some convenient season, so fling his crew of desperadoes at the head
+of Narvaez, as shall make his excellency stare. Indeed there is now
+little hope of pacification; for Narvaez has very grievously insulted
+Cortes, by proclaiming him a rebel and an outlaw, and setting a price on
+his head; and such is his hotheadedness, that, it was but yesterday, he
+compelled me to ship to Cuba the king's _oidor_, Vasques, whom he had
+arrested for daring to speak to him of amicable treaty. I look daily for
+intelligence of a battle."
+
+"I vow to heaven!" said Amador, his eyes sparkling with animation, "I
+vow to heaven! I have no desire to mingle in a civil fray of any kind;
+but if these mad fellows must be e'en at it, I see no reason why I
+should not stand hard by, to be a witness of their bravery. Wherefore
+most excellent cousin, I must entreat of your favour to despatch me
+without delay, with such guides, or instructions, as will enable me to
+reach the Senor Cortes before the combat begins."
+
+"If it would suit thee as well to survey this spectacle from the camp of
+Narvaez," said Cavallero, "I could gratify thee without any difficulty.
+But I must apprise thee, that to reach Cortes, it will be necessary to
+pass the lines of Narvaez; and what obstructions he may choose to throw
+in thy way is more than I can very satisfactorily determine, though I
+may counsel thee how best to overcome them."
+
+"Please heaven," said Amador proudly, "he shall make me no opposition
+which he shall not answer to the cost of his body. For I am here, a free
+hidalgo of Spain, knowing no authority but the king's will and mine own;
+a neophyte (and, as I may add, a knight by right, though unsworn,) of
+the illustrious order of San Juan, bearing the instructions of his most
+eminent highness, the Grand Master, to a vowed knight, and therefore
+liable to the command of no other man, save only, as before excepted,
+the king; and he who thinks to hinder me in my passage, besides
+provoking the wrath of the aforesaid privileged order, must, as I said
+before, do it under the peril of mine own sword."
+
+"It would not become me to question your privileges, or the danger with
+which they might be invaded," said the admiral, "nor will I repeat to
+you in how little regard these matters may be had by a man who has
+presumed to arrest and imprison the representative of his majesty
+himself, and who, surrounded by an army, and separated from the sway of
+the laws, is beyond the present responsibility of any government but
+that of his own conscience. I can only remind you that, as an emissary
+of the holy order, you are doubly bound to avoid a quarrel with a
+Christian and countryman; especially when, as will presently be your
+case, you are in the lands of the infidel. I must beg to remind you,
+too, that the Biscayan, holding, as he believes, the authority of the
+king, and compelled to act as may seem to him necessary for the
+preservation of the king's interest, should be respected accordingly;
+and his humours, as well as his rightful commands, borne without anger
+or opposition."
+
+"May his majesty live a thousand years!" said the cavalier. "It is no
+part of my principle to oppose his pleasure; wherefore, if contesting
+the authority of this Biscayan general be such disloyalty, I will
+refrain from it; that is, as long as I can. But nevertheless, I will
+protest against any authority that may hinder my present journey."
+
+"Moderation, and the exercise of patience," said Cavallero, "will
+doubtless secure you from restraint and insult. It is quite necessary
+you report the object of your travel to the commander Narvaez; and even
+to desire his permission (a courtesy that has in it nothing of
+degradation) to continue your journey."
+
+"Doubtless," said Amador, sarcastically, "you will tell me, as did the
+senor Gomez, the captain of the caravel, that this submission of myself
+to his commands will be nothing more than the rendering of a customary
+compliment to his dignity. If there be any way by which I may pass by
+the camp of Narvaez, I shall be much bound to your excellency to inform
+me of it; and I will pursue it, be it ever so rough and long, with much
+more satisfaction than I can ever make my entreaties to him."
+
+"There is no other way," said the admiral. "The Indian city, Zempoala,
+where Narvaez has established his head-quarters, lies immediately on the
+path to the Villa Rica; and the scouts of Narvaez, occupying all the
+intermediate ground, render it impossible you should pass him without
+observation, or them without their leader's commands. I am now about to
+despatch to Narvaez certain reinforcements, in whose company I recommend
+you to travel, and with whom I will send such representations to the
+general as, I think, will secure you his instant permission and,
+doubtless, aid, to join your kinsman, the good knight, without delay.
+Only let me entreat of you, as your true friend and relation, not
+wantonly, by any overbearing pride, to exasperate the peevish temper of
+my colleague."
+
+"I will take your advice," said the cavalier, complacently, "and treat
+the Biscayan with as much respect as he may seem to deserve. Only, as it
+may be a long day's journey to this Zempoala, I must entreat your
+excellency to give orders for the instant debarkation of my horses and
+attendants, and permit me to follow them as soon as possible."
+
+"This shall be instantly done," said the admiral. "In the meanwhile, I
+must beg to entertain you with the sight of one of those personages who
+will be your companions on the journey."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+At the signal of the admiral, an officer made his appearance, received
+certain commands, the most agreeable of which to the young cavalier were
+those in reference to his own liberation, and then immediately withdrew.
+
+"Thou wilt now see, worthy cousin," said Cavallero, "a man, whom,
+although a base Moor and infidel, thou shouldst regard with some sort of
+admiration; since, from the reports of those who brought him hither, he
+is endowed with a spirit and pugnacity worthy even of a Christian."
+
+While the admiral spoke, the door of the cabin was darkened by the
+bodies of several men, who, at his beck, advanced, and stood full in the
+view of the neophyte. He perceived in these, besides two or three
+officers of the ship, nothing more, with a single exception, than the
+rough figures of ordinary sailors. This exception presented itself in
+the bronzed visage and wildly attired person of the Moor; and Amador
+almost started, when the bright eyes of the pagan rolled from the
+admiral to himself in a brief but most penetrating stare. In person, the
+Moor was somewhat above the ordinary stature, but his limbs, though
+hardy and active enough, were much attenuated. His face was emaciated
+and bony, and the long black locks falling wildly over it, gave it an
+appearance exceedingly haggard,--a character greatly augmented by the
+white eyeballs flashing like stars in its almost Nubian blackness.
+Something perhaps was to be allowed for the effect of his uncouth and
+savage attire, which was composed almost entirely of skins, seemingly of
+dogs or wolves, a portion of which encircled his loins as a tunic, while
+the remainder lay, like a cape or short cloak, about his shoulders.
+Under this latter garment, however, was a shirt of cotton, stained with
+bright colours; and a kerchief of similar material glittered, not so
+much like a turban as a fillet round his head. Rude sandals, strapped as
+high as the midleg with shreds cut from his cloak, completed the
+primitive costume of the barbarian.
+
+"This fellow," said the admiral, turning from him to one who seemed as
+chief of the seamen,--"this fellow is then the commander of that Sallee
+pirate, you took among the Canaries?"
+
+"Commander or not, I cannot say," said the sailor, with a shrug; "but
+chief varlet at the gun, as I am free to maintain; and freer was he at
+that same ordnance than was like to be safe for the good snow, _La
+Encarnacion_, as her ribs may yet testify. But the knave speaks Spanish;
+and if your excellency chooses to ask him, can tell you his rank and
+condition."
+
+"No commander--no pirate!" said the Moor, with a voice whose soft and
+harmonious accents contrasted strangely with his rude appearance. "No
+commander--no pirate," he repeated in good Castilian; "but a poor
+Morisco of Fez, voyaging in a harmless trader to the Gibbel-al-Tarik."
+
+"The Gibbel-al-Tarik," said the admiral, dryly, "would have been much
+beholden for the new visit of an infidel."
+
+"No commander, no pirate, no infidel!" said the Moor, earnestly; "but a
+poor shepherd of Fez, brought to a knowledge of the true faith, and
+driven from the home of his fathers for the exercise of it, to the land
+of his fathers' enemies."
+
+"Moor," said the admiral, composedly, "there are three reasons why I
+should not believe thee: First, because thou _art_ a Moor, and therefore
+born to be a liar and deceiver; secondly, because, unless God should
+have worked a greater miracle for the good of a besotted heathen than he
+often vouchsafes to prayerful Christians, there is no possibility thou
+couldst be converted to the faith among the sands of Barbary; and
+thirdly, because the fact that thou art skilful in the management of
+ordnance, is sufficient proof thou canst not be an ignorant shepherd of
+Fez, whose hands are more commonly trained to the spear and arrow, than
+to the quoin and linstock."
+
+"He manages them," said the sailor, "as if he had been born with them in
+his hands; as I have made proof, sometimes, for my amusement, during the
+tedium of the voyage."
+
+"If my lord will listen to me," said the Moor eagerly, though humbly, "I
+will make it apparent that I speak nothing but the truth.--My father
+drew his first breath among the Almogavars of the desert; his son opened
+his eyes among the hills of Granada."
+
+"Ha!" cried the admiral; "thou art then one of the accursed tribe of
+mine own land!"
+
+"A Morisco of the Alpujarras," said the Moor, submissively; "whom, in my
+very early youth, it pleased my father to have baptized in the holy
+faith, as was the command of his most faithful and ever-blessed majesty,
+the king Fernando, the conqueror of the kings of Granada. This will
+show, my lord, that I speak the words of a Christian. As an Almogavar, I
+was born to be a soldier, and so trained to all arms of an Almogavar,
+the knife and dart, the spear and axe, the cross-bow and musket, as well
+as other weapons of Christians. This will show my lord how it came that
+I was found skilful at the cannon."
+
+"Thou speakest like a cunning and most honest man," said the admiral,
+gravely; "but all this revelation does not show me how an Almogavar of
+Granada became a herdsman of the desert; and, after that, how the
+herdsman of the desert was transformed into the gunner of a Sallee
+corsair, or, as thou callest her, a harmless trader, on her innocent
+voyage to Gibraltar."
+
+"May it please my lord," said the Almogavar, bending for a moment his
+troubled eyes on the admiral, as if to resolve himself whether or not
+these questions were put to him in mockery, and then casting them
+instantly on the floor; "may it please my lord to remember that after
+the fall of Granada and the subjugation of the Alpujarras, many Moors,
+Christian as well as pagan, preferring rather to lament their miseries
+at a distance than in their own enslaved country, chose to accept the
+merciful permission of the king, and withdrew from the land altogether.
+This did I, my lord's servant and slave. I fled to the country of my
+father; and although, there, I suffered many indignities and hardships,
+as well as constant peril, as being suspected to be an apostate to the
+faith of the land, I had been content to drag out a wearisome life, but
+for one grief that was sharper than others."
+
+"I will shrive thee as patiently as thy confessor," said the admiral;
+"but while thou art speaking the sharpest of thy calamities, it will be
+much proof to me of the sincerity of thy religion, if thou use language
+somewhat of the briefest."
+
+"My son," said the Moor, hurriedly, "my son, that was the lamp of my
+eye-sight, the perfume of my nostrils, the song and music of my soul,
+was in great danger to be led astray, and converted back to infidelity.
+To save him from the contagion of heathenism, I resolved to return to
+Granada, where, though he might grow up to bondage, he should be free
+from the thrall of darkness: it was better he should be a slave than an
+infidel. With these thoughts and these hopes in my heart, I embarked in
+the Sallee trader; when it was my hard fate to be arrested in my course
+by these men of the Canaries."
+
+"Thy course," said the admiral, "was none of the straightest; and how
+thou couldst find thy way to Gibraltar by way of the Fortunate Isles, is
+much more than my nautical experience can teach me to understand."
+
+"A great storm," said the Moor, with the deepest humility, "drove us
+from our course; and it was the will of God that when the tempest
+subsided, we should find ourselves beset by two strong ships, which
+nothing but the fears and desperation of our captain could have tempted
+him to think of resisting. We fought, and were subdued; the lives of my
+son and myself were preserved out of the horrors of that combat. The
+ships were traders of the Isles, bound to these new lands; they brought
+us hither; where there is nothing left us but to claim the privileges of
+our faith, acknowledge ourselves the thrall and bondmen of his majesty
+the king, and entreat of my lord to send us, when it may suit his good
+pleasure, to our homes and our altars in Granada."
+
+The Moor concluded his speech with a degree of eagerness approaching
+almost to vehemence. The admiral indifferently rejoined:--
+
+"Thy name is Abdalla----?"
+
+"Abdoul al Sidi," said the Moor, hastily. "When my father gave me up to
+be baptized, he called me, in token of his true devotion and humility,
+Esclavo de la Cruz; but in my days of darkness I was known as Abdoul al
+Sidi, a poor Almogavar, but descended from the ancient lords of Fez."
+
+"Sidi Abdalla, or sir Slave of the Cross, whichever it may please you to
+be called," said the admiral, coolly, "in respect to your lordly descent
+and most dignified title, which I think no Christian has dared to assume
+since the days of the Cid Rodrigo, I will, before determining how far I
+can make your fate agreeable to your wishes, condescend to compare your
+story with that of the brave sailor, master of the Encarnacion, who
+captured you."
+
+"If I am to say any thing," said the master, gruffly, "it will be first
+to pronounce this same Abdalla, or Esclavo, as he calls himself, a
+hypocrite and knave not to be trusted. It is true there was a great
+storm, which might have driven his piratical galley into the
+neighbourhood of the Canaries; but that he showed any extraordinary
+ardour to escape, as long as my consort was out of sight, is a matter
+not to be believed. Trusting to his skill in the management of the great
+_mangonneau_, with which the galley was armed, and not doubting to
+cripple me with some lucky ball, before I could approach him, he fell to
+with right good will; and it was not until my consort joined in the
+melee that I was able to lay him aboard. Even then, when our crews were
+springing on his decks, and his fellow-pirates had fled in dismay below,
+I saw him, this very knave Abdalla, with mine own eyes, lay match to the
+last charge which thundered against us; immediately after which, with a
+most devilish spirit of desperation, he snatched up his boy, as one
+would a kitten, and springing to the opposite side, was in the act of
+dashing himself into the sea, when he was brought down by a
+pistol-shot."
+
+"I thought they would have murdered my poor Jacinto," said the
+Almogavar, in a low voice; "and, in my desperation, desired he should
+rather die the easy death of the deep, than be mangled by cruel
+daggers."
+
+"There was much fear of that," said the master; "for my sailors had
+marked him at the linstock with no great love. In faith, there were some
+five or six cutlasses aimed at his prostrate body; but I could not bear
+they should slay the boy, who lay on his breast; and therefore I
+commanded them to hold."
+
+"Thou art a right worthy and noble heart!" said Amador ardently,
+interrupting him; "for there is no reason a brave soldier, even in the
+heat of blood, and with a pagan under his foot, should strike at the
+life of a boy: and hadst thou done otherwise, I swear to thee, I was so
+much moved by the relation, I should have gone nigh to slay thee for thy
+barbarity!"
+
+"And besides, senor," said the master complacently, "I was beset with
+the idea, that if I preserved his life, and brought him to this land of
+Mexico, I might sell him at a good price as an able cannonier; such a
+man, as I had good reason to know, being worth the value of a dozen
+bloodhounds. And besides," he continued, without regarding the
+expression of disgust and contempt which drove the look of benevolence
+from the visage of the cavalier, "I had greater reason to applaud my
+clemency, when I discovered that the boy Jacinto, besides being a comely
+and very dexterous stripling, was so great a master of the Moorish
+lute, singing withal in a most agreeable manner, that I was well assured
+some noble cavalier among the invaders would not scruple, at any price,
+to have him for a page."
+
+"I am a Christian! the boy is a Christian!" cried the Moor, hurriedly;
+"and neither of us can be sold to bondage, except at the command of his
+most faithful and merciful majesty, the emperor and king; to whose
+gracious will and pleasure I desire, with my boy, to be rendered."
+
+"Good Cid," said the admiral, "that is a matter wherein, if his
+majesty's will were certainly known, thou shouldst not have to complain
+of our negligence; but, under present circumstances, we must make our
+own judgment the representative of the royal wisdom, and dispose of thee
+in such manner as we may think most conducive to his majesty's interest.
+We are resolute thou wilt serve him better by directing the thunders of
+his cannon against the heathen hordes of Mexico, than by cultivating his
+vines and fig-trees on the hills of Granada. We must send thee to the
+commander Narvaez, whom if thou please, he will doubtless advance thee
+to the command of a falconet, wherewith thou mayst divert many of thy
+Almogavar propensities for battle and bloodshed. As for the boy, it not
+appearing to me that the strumming of his strings, or the uplifting of
+his voice in ballad and redondilla, are, in any wise, necessary to the
+conquest of this barbarous empire, I may be able, if thou insistest upon
+that, to send him to Spain."
+
+"I take my lord at his word!" said Abdoul, trembling with eagerness and
+anxiety; "let the boy be sent to Spain--to Granada--to either of the
+ports Algeciras, Malaga, or Almeria; and he will find some friends
+there, to protect his youth and inexperience; while I submit to my
+harder fate in Mexico."
+
+"To Almeria?" said Amador quickly. "I have myself some acquaintance with
+that town; and it may perhaps advantage thee to make me thy confidant,
+if there be any secret friend there thou wouldst send the boy to; or to
+take my counsel as to what Christians may be persuaded to show him
+kindness."
+
+The Moor regarded Amador for an instant with a disturbed but piercing
+eye. His answer was, however, prevented, by the admiral saying,
+
+"Sir Slave of the Cross, (With the consent of my very noble kinsman); to
+cut short all needless discussion on this subject, I may as well inform
+thee, first, that if thy boy be sent to Spain, it will not be to any
+port of thy choosing, but to such an one as may seem most fit to other
+persons, and which will most probably be the port of Seville; wherefrom
+thou canst better imagine than myself, how thy boy will be helped to
+Granada. In the second place, as I deem it but honesty to acquaint thee,
+if the youth be taken from this land, he will first be sent to the
+excellent senor, the honourable Don Diego Velasquez, governor of Cuba,
+to be disposed of by him as may seem most agreeable to his judgment; and
+I warn thee, if the lad be an adept at the lute, as is asserted, Don
+Diego will find him such employment in twangling to the ladies of our
+brave cavaliers, as will leave it uncertain how much sooner than
+doomsday he will bethink him to advance the poor youth on his voyage."
+
+"It is enough!" said the Moor with a gloomy countenance. "God is with
+us; and it may be better to have the boy among the perils of death than
+the seductions of pleasure. Let my boy stay with me, and I am content to
+follow my lord's bidding."
+
+He bowed his head upon his breast, and, at the signal of the admiral,
+was led away.
+
+"Senor Capitan," continued Cavallero, addressing the master, who still
+lingered in the cabin, "I will satisfy thee for the armament thou hast
+brought, by acknowledgments, which thou must present to the governor.
+What more Moors hast thou brought with thee from the galley, capable of
+doing service in these exigencies?"
+
+"The father and son are all," replied the master. "The others, as I told
+your excellency, had fled below from the fury of my sailors. To make all
+sure, while rummaging about their cabin, we had fastened down the
+hatches. We had not picked up many things of value, before there was a
+sudden cry that the pirate was sinking. Whether this happened from a
+shot she may have received, or because the accursed runagates below had
+knocked a hole in her bottom, was more than was ever determined. The
+alarm sent us scampering to our own vessel; and in our hurry, as was
+natural enough, we forgot the infidels in the hold; so that, when she
+went down, which she did as soon as we were well clear of her, her crew
+went along with her.--But your excellency has not told me whether I am
+to receive pay for Sidi and the boy?"
+
+"I swear to heaven," said the admiral, "thou hast no more heart than
+thine anchor! Thou shockest me with the detail of a catastrophe, which,
+though affecting the lives of nothing but heathen Moors, is nevertheless
+both dreadful and pitiable; and yet thou dost abruptly demand me, 'Shall
+I have payment for the two lives I saved?' Thou wilt have payment, if it
+please the governor; and not otherwise. Betake thee to thy ship: I will
+send thee thy warranties, and the sooner thou leavest with them the
+better."
+
+The master departed, and again Amador found himself alone with the
+admiral.
+
+"Cousin," said Cavallero, "I am now able to comply with your wishes. I
+should have been rejoiced to keep you a prisoner on board the Capitana
+for a few days; but I will not invite you, when I perceive you are so
+impatient for freedom. Your horses are doubtless at this moment rolling
+on the beach; your grooms are with them, either combing the sand from
+their manes, or scraping the sea-spots from your armour. A company of
+artisans, with a military escort, is on the eve of marching to the camp
+of Narvaez. I have given such commands as will secure you the company
+and friendly aidance of that escort; in addition to which, I will
+immediately send after you a trusty officer with despatches concerning
+yourself, to the general, and recommendations to him to assist you in
+joining your kinsman, the knight Calavar, without delay. You will easily
+reach Zempoala by night-fall. I beseech you to salute the general with
+courtesy; and to-morrow you will be in the arms of your leader."
+
+"I am so overjoyed," said the Cavalier, "at the thought of once more
+bestriding my poor Fogoso, and exchanging the stupid pitching of a ship
+for the bound of his gallop and curvet, that I know not how I can do
+otherwise than treat the Biscayan with urbanity."
+
+"A barge is ready to conduct you to the shore," continued the admiral,
+leading the young soldier to the side of the vessel. "I pray heaven to
+give you a prosperous journey, and to carry you with as much safety as
+honour through the weapons of the heathen multitude. Make my devoirs to
+his noble valour, the good knight of Rhodes; and say to the senor
+Cortes, that though fate has arrayed me against him as an enemy, I
+cannot forget the friendship of our past lives. Nay," continued
+Cavallero, with emphasis, "tell him, that though it does not become me,
+as an officer commissioned by Velasquez, to hold any communications with
+him excepting those of simple form and civility, I shall be well pleased
+when heaven has removed the obstruction, and left me at liberty to meet
+him with full friendship and confidence. This salutation," said the
+admiral significantly, "there is no reason thou shouldst impart to
+Narvaez; for he is distrustful and suspicious to that degree, that, I do
+not doubt, he would torture its harmlessness into a matured treason."
+
+"I will do your bidding," said Amador blithely, "both to the Biscayan,
+and the cavalier of Medellin. And now, with a thousand acknowledgments
+for your favour and assistance, and as many wishes for your weal and
+comfort, I bid you the farewell of a kinsman and true friend."
+
+And so saying, and heartily shaking the hand of his excellency, the
+young cavalier sprang into the boat, and was soon wafted to the beach.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+The rapture with which Don Amador de Leste exchanged the confined decks
+of the caravel for the boundless sands of Ulua, and these again for the
+back of his impatient steed, was fully as great as he had promised
+himself. Profound was his joy to find the demon of ennui, which had
+beset the cribbed and confined charger as sorely as the cabined master,
+flying from his dilated nostrils, and giving place to the mettlesome
+ardour which had won him the title of the Fiery. The neigh that he sent
+forth was like the welcome of the battle; the fire that flashed in his
+eye was bright as the red reflection of a banner; and when he reared up
+under his rider, it was as if to paw down the opposition of crouching
+spearmen. A few snuffs of the morning breeze, a few bounds over the
+sandy hillocks, and the beast that had pined in stupefaction in a narrow
+stall on the sea, was converted into an animal fit for the seat of a
+warrior.
+
+The cavalier galloped about for a few moments, while his attendants made
+their preparations for the journey. Then returning, like a thoughtful
+leader, to inquire into their welfare, he beheld them with great
+satisfaction, both horse and man, in good condition to commence their
+adventurous campaign.
+
+The elder of his followers was a personage of years and gravity; a mass
+of grizzled locks fell from under his iron skull-cap, and a shaggy beard
+of the same reverend hue ornamented his cheeks and throat. He had seen
+long and sharp service, for besides the many scars that marked his
+swarthy visage, one of which, from its livid hue, seemed to have been
+won in recent combat, a sabre-cut, extending over his left cheek and
+brow, had darkened the sinister eye forever. But his frame, though
+somewhat short and squat, was robust and even gigantic in proportions;
+and the muscles springing under the narrow cuishes, which, together with
+a heavy breast-plate, made nearly the whole of his defensive armour, did
+not seem less of iron than their covering. He was truly a man-at-arms
+worthy to follow at the heels of a valiant cavalier.
+
+The second attendant, though armed with little more care than the
+former, had contrived, by the judicious distribution of riband-knots and
+sashes about his person, to assume a more gallant appearance: and in
+addition, he had the smoother features and gayer looks of youth. Both
+were provided with horses strong and not inactive; and both, as Amador
+returned, were busily engaged in disposing the mails and accoutrements
+of the cavalier about the bulky loins of their animals.
+
+"Hearken, Lazaro, thou varlet, that flingest my mailed shirt over thy
+crupper, as if it were a vile horse-cloth," he cried to the younger
+follower, "have more care what thou art doing. Give my helmet to
+Baltasar, and let him sling it, with my buckler, over his broad
+shoulders. I will not entrust thee with such matters; nor, by 'r lady,
+with my pistols neither."
+
+"If I may make bold to speak," said Baltasar, bending his eye bluffly,
+and with a sort of rude affection on his young lord, "I can advise a way
+to dispose of both casque and buckler more agreeably and usefully than
+on the back of either Lazaro or myself."
+
+"Thou meanest upon mine own, no doubt," said Amador: "I have ever found
+thee fonder of carrying the arms of a dead foeman than of a living
+master, though it were the knight Calavar himself."
+
+"That is very true," said the veteran, chuckling grimly at the
+compliment disguised in the sarcasm.
+
+"I am never loath to do such duty: because, then, my conscience tells me
+I am bearing arms which can no longer be of use to their owner."
+
+"And thou desirest now to intimate, that, if I were arrayed in my
+harness, I might put it to some use?"
+
+"Quien sabe? who knows?" said Baltasar, looking around him with an
+earnest eye. "We are now in a strange land, possessed by barbarians, who
+are good at spear and bow, and fonder of fighting from an ambuscado than
+on an open field; and with no true companions that I can see, to look
+that they be not lurking among yonder woodlands, some of which, I take
+it for granted, we have to pass. I should grieve sorely to see an arrow,
+even in a boy's hand, aimed at your honour's present hauberk of cloth
+and velvet."
+
+"Well, thy wisdom will not perish for want of utterance," said Amador;
+"and, in very truth, I must own, it has sometimes stood me in good
+stead. I will therefore relieve thee of thy burthen, and Lazaro shall
+hang it to my own shoulders."
+
+He descended, and the linked surcoat soon invested his person.
+
+"I will also presume to recommend your honour to have these snapdragons
+hung to your saddle-bow," said Baltasar, extending the rude and
+ponderous pistols,--weapons then scarcely creeping into notice, but
+within twenty years, not uncommon in the hands of horsemen; "for if it
+should come to pass, that some cut-throat pagan should discharge a
+missile at us from the bushes, it will doubtless afford your honour much
+satisfaction to shoot him dead on the spot; a punishment that would not
+be so certain with the weapons in my own hands, or in Lazaro's. And
+before I could bring my cross-bow from my back, it is possible the knave
+might have another opportunity to do us mischief."
+
+"In this matter also," said Amador good-humouredly, "I will follow thy
+instructions. But, I give thee warning, there is something in the
+feeling of my hauberk under this raging sun, that admonishes me how soon
+my brain would seethe, as in a stew-pan, under the cover of a steel
+helmet. Wherefore I will have thee carry that in thine own hands, until,
+from the change of atmosphere, or the appearance of an enemy, I may see
+fit to alter my resolution."
+
+"I have ever found," said Baltasar, with the pertinacity of age, and,
+perhaps, of a favourite, "that, under a broiling sun, a well-polished
+casque of metal is something cooler than a cloth cap; a fact, the reason
+for which I do not myself understand, and which I should esteem too
+marvellous for belief, had I not oft-times put it to the proof."
+
+"There is even much truth in what thou art saying," quoth the cavalier,
+"and I have perhaps philosophy enough to explain the marvel to thee, but
+that I know philosophy is not much to thy liking. There must be a cold
+head, however, under the bright cap; otherwise, and with a brain as
+inflammable as my own, I am very well convinced that bright steel would
+be just as ignitible as dull iron." And so saying, he again bestrode the
+champing Fogoso.
+
+"It must be as your honour says," muttered the man-at-arms. "But, as we
+are all as well prepared now to begin our journey as we will be
+to-morrow, I would fain know of your favour whither lies our path, or
+where lags the jackanapes that is to guide us? I heard some talk in the
+caravel of a great troop of horse and foot, that was to accompany us;
+but unless it may have been the herd of vagabonds, who, a full hour
+since, took up their march along the sands, I know not where to look for
+them among these few tinkers and sailors that are strolling yonder among
+the huts of bamboo."
+
+"I have much reliance on the friendship and courtesy of my cousin, the
+admiral," said Amador hastily; "but I must confess, that, saving the
+appearance of yonder bridled horse, (which may be in waiting for the
+officer he told me of,) it looks very much, now, as if he had left me to
+mine own guidance. Nay, I wrong the worthy senor," he cried quickly, as
+turning with some doubt and indignation towards the ship, he beheld a
+boat leave her, and approach the shore with all the speed of oars; "the
+guide he promised me is, without doubt, in that barge; and the bridled
+horse, which, as I can perceive even at this distance, is none of the
+bravest, is the beast whereon he will keep us company."
+
+As Amador conjectured, the boat contained his promised companion, who
+instantly sprang upon the beach and on the caparisoned animal, and in a
+few moments was at the side of the cavalier. He was young and handsome,
+an adult in stature, but scarcely a man in deportment, for as he removed
+his cap to make the obeisance of an inferior, there was a strong
+tincture of confusion and trepidation in his countenance. This was
+perhaps owing, in part, to a consciousness of having merited a reprimand
+for over-delay, and in part also to his suddenly finding himself
+confronted with so warlike a personage as the neophyte. Amador of the
+caravel was a different person from Amador armed and mounted; and,
+indeed, as he sat on his noble bay, mailed and sworded, and with two
+goodly armsmen at his back, he was such a martial figure as might have
+moved an older messenger to reverence.
+
+"Senor caballero," said the youth, with a stammering voice, "my master
+and patron, the admiral, has appointed me, his secretary, to be your
+guide to the Indian city Zempoala; and I have to beg your pardon, if,
+waiting for the letters wherewith it was his excellency's will to charge
+me, and to make some needful preparation of my own, I have detained your
+favour somewhat longer than was agreeable."
+
+"I am ever bound to thank his excellency," said Amador; "and as I well
+suppose, your own preparations had some weighty relation to the business
+you have in charge, I will not take it upon me to express any
+dissatisfaction with your delay."
+
+"In truth," said the secretary, ingenuously, "I was loath to depart
+without such armour about me as should beseem the attendant of a true
+cavalier; in the fitting of which I fell into some perplexity, as not
+finding a corselet that did not, in some manner, incommode my ribs; and
+besides, the sabres were all so unwieldy and rough about the hilts, I
+was in some despair I should never find one to my liking."
+
+"Senor secretario," said Amador, with a smile of good-humoured contempt,
+surveying the youth, and observing the cuirass chosen with no discretion
+and donned without skill, "I am of opinion, that in the company of
+myself and my attendants, you will find no occasion for such troublesome
+apparel; and it is my advice, grounded on your admission of inexperience
+in such matters, that, should we, on our march, be beset by any enemies,
+you take post instantly behind my veteran Baltasar, whose broad breast
+will stand you in greater stead than your ill-chosen cuirass, and whose
+arm will do you better service than the sabre in your own hands."
+
+"Senor," said the youth, colouring, "I am no soldier nor cavalier; I
+have ever had my breast more bruised by the scribe's table than the
+weight of a breast-plate, and my fingers have heretofore known more of
+the goose-quill than the sword. Nevertheless I am both willing and
+desirous to be placed where the knowledge of weapons may be obtained,
+and to encounter such risks as are the helpers to knowledge. It was from
+no lack of beseeching on mine own part, that his excellency has
+heretofore denied me permission to try my fate among the cavaliers
+ashore; nor should I have hoped that pleasure so early, but that I found
+his excellency was bent to do you honour, by making a confidential
+servant your attendant, and was therefore easily persuaded to give me
+the opportunity I have so long coveted, of looking a little into the
+strange sights of this marvellous land."
+
+"I am to understand then," said Amador gravely, "that his excellency,
+the admiral, has entrusted the charge of guiding me to Zempoala to an
+individual who has never before put foot on the wilderness that divides
+us from it?"
+
+"It is true, senor," said the secretary, "that I have never been to
+Zempoala. But I hope your favour will not doubt me for that reason, nor
+take offence at the admiral. I am enjoined to conduct you to the
+reinforcement that set out an hour ago. Its tracks are plain enough
+along the beach; and as it is composed principally of footmen, there is
+no doubt we will overtake it before another hour has elapsed. I am
+confident I can lead your favour without difficulty to the party; among
+which are guides well acquainted with the country."
+
+"Let us set out then, in heaven's name," said the cavalier: "the day is
+wasting apace; the sun climbs high in the vault; and the sooner we are
+sheltered from its fury among some of yonder distant forests, the better
+will it be for us. St. John be our guide, and the Holy Virgin favour
+us.--Amen! Let us depart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+As the secretary anticipated, the tracks of the reinforcement were
+plainly discernible over the sandy downs and by the margins of the
+pestilent fens, which gave an air of desolation to this part of the
+Mexican coast, not much relieved by an occasional clump of palms, nor by
+the spectacle, here and there disclosed, of the broad ocean blackening
+among the low islets; though the hazy and verdant ramparts which
+stretched between these burning deserts and the imagined paradises of
+the interior, ever presented a field of refreshment and interest to the
+eyes of the travellers. The novelty of their situation, felt more or
+less intensely by all, was exciting: and many a dream of barbaric
+monarchs reposing on thrones of gold and emeralds, and canopied by
+flowers and feathers,--of dusky armies deploying among green valleys and
+on the borders of fair lakes,--and perhaps of themselves doing the work
+of heroes among these mystic multitudes,--wandered through their
+over-troubled fancies.
+
+Such visions flitted over the brain of Amador, but mingled with others,
+with which the past had more to do than the present; for, despite the
+eager longing with which he looked forward to a meeting with his good
+knight and kinsman, and, notwithstanding his impatient ardour to gaze
+with his own eyes upon those scenes which were filling the minds of men
+with wonder, he looked back from a sand-hill to the distant ships, and
+sighed, as, in an instant of time, his soul was borne from them, over
+the broad surges to the pleasant hills of Spain.
+
+But with the view of the squadron vanished his memory and his
+melancholy: the narrow belt of sand-hills along the coast had been
+exchanged for the first zone of vegetation; the mimosa afforded its
+shade; the breeze and the paroquet chattered together on its top; and
+when he came, at last, to journey among the shadows of a forest rich in
+magnificent and unknown trees and plants, with here a lagoon fringed
+with stately ceibas (the cotton-wood trees of Mexico) and gigantic
+canes, and there a water-course murmuring among palms and other tropical
+trees, he gave himself up to a complacent rapture. He remarked with
+satisfaction the bright plumage of water-fowl,--the egret, the pelican,
+the heron, and sometimes the flamingo, sporting among the pools; gazed
+with wonder after the little _picaflor_, or humming-bird, darting, like
+a sunbeam, from flower to flower; with still greater admiration listened
+to the song of the calandra and the cardinal, and to the magical
+_centzontli_,--the hundred-tongued,--as it caught and repeated, as if
+with a thousand voices, the thousand roundelays of other songsters
+scattered among the boughs; and it was not until the notes of a
+trumpet, swelling suddenly in the distance, invaded his reveries, that
+he roused from the voluptuous intoxication of such a scene.
+
+"It is the trumpet of the soldiers, senor!" cried the secretary,
+joyously; "and it rejoices me much, for I know not how much longer I
+could have followed their obscure tracks through this forest. And
+besides, I find, as I must in honesty confess, I have in me so little of
+the skill of a leader, that I would gladly submit to be led myself,
+especially by your worship, though it were to follow you to battle as an
+humble esquire."
+
+"I must commend your spirit, senor Lorenzo Fabueno," (for so the
+secretary had called himself,) "though I must needs believe your
+inexperience in all matters of war might render such an attempt
+exceedingly difficult, if not altogether impossible."
+
+"Senor," said the secretary, eagerly, "I have the wish, and doubtless
+the ability, in course of time, to learn all the duties, and to acquire
+some of the skill, of a soldier; and under so noble a leader as your
+favour, I am sure I should advance much faster than ever I did in the
+learning of a clerk. And, in addition to the little service I might
+render with my sword, I have such skill with the pen as might be of good
+use to your honour."
+
+"I have no certain assurance," said Amador, "that I shall have any
+occasion to use my own sword; it is utterly beyond my imagination to
+discover to what use I could put the inkhorn of a secretary; and
+finally, I know not how the course of events in these deserts may
+require me to add to the number of my associates. Nevertheless, senor
+Lorenzo, if it be the wish of his excellency the admiral, that his
+secretary should be transformed into a soldier, I see not how I can
+refuse to give my assistance to the conversion."
+
+"I know not why I should be dungeoned in a ship's cabin," said Lorenzo,
+with a sort of petulance, "when other youths are roaming at liberty
+among these brave hills; and gnawing a quill with disgust, when all my
+old schoolmates are carving out reputation with more manly implements. I
+am sure I was not born to slave forever at the desk."
+
+"This may be all true, as, in my opinion, it is both natural and
+reasonable," said Amador, with gravity; "for, it seems to me, man was
+brought into the world for a nobler purpose than to scribble on paper.
+Yet you have not made it apparent that the admiral's wishes are in this
+matter consonant with your own."
+
+"I know not that they are," replied the secretary, "but, as I now feel
+myself at liberty, with both horse and sword, I cannot help feeling that
+they ought to be. How I can ever have the heart to return to my bondage
+again, is more than I can tell; and I am confident, if it were your
+favour's desire he should grant me permission to follow you through this
+land, he would make no opposition, the more particularly that your
+favour is his kinsman."
+
+"I doubt whether the consent would not be wrung from his courtesy; and I
+cannot well agree to rob him of one who may be a valuable servant.
+Neither, under such circumstances, can I think of encouraging you in
+your ardour, or recommending you, at present, to change your pursuits,
+for which you are better fitted than for mine. Nay," said the cavalier
+good-naturedly, observing the chagrin of the youth, "if you are
+resolutely bent on your purpose, it is my advice you make your petitions
+to his excellency; and when he has granted them, as doubtless he will,
+you can, with a free mind, seek the patronage of some cavalier engaged
+in these armies of invasion.--Hark! the trumpet sounds louder and
+nearer, and by my faith, I see on yonder rising ground the bodies of men
+and the glimmer of weapons! Spur thy horse a little; (and, I pr'ythee,
+fling thy shoulders a jot backwards, sitting erect and at ease; for I
+promise thee, this manner of riding, as if thou wouldst presently be
+hugging at thy nag's neck, is neither becoming nor advantageous;)--spur
+me up a little, and we will join company with them."
+
+The long and straggling train with which the travellers caught up, just
+as it issued from the forest upon an open tract of low sandy hills and
+plains, was composed of motley materials. A few mounted men, who, by
+their armour and bustling activity, seemed the leaders and commanders,
+were scattered among a horde of footmen, a portion of whom were armed
+and ranked as a company of military, but the greater part being the
+ordinary native labourers, who served the office of mules, and bore on
+their backs the burdens of the invaders. Some five or six score of these
+swarthy creatures, followed by a dozen Castilian crossbowmen and a
+single horseman, brought up the rear. They stalked in a line one after
+another, each bending to his burden; and in their uniformity of
+equipment, gait, muscular figures, and solemn visages, added not a
+little to the singularity of the spectacle. A narrow strip of some
+vegetable texture, so rude and coarse that it seemed rather a mat than a
+cloth, was wrapped round the loins of each, leaving their strong and
+tawny bodies otherwise naked. No sandal protected their soles from the
+heated soil; and no covering, save only the long and matted locks
+swinging about their countenances, defended their heads from the
+scorching sun. A huge basket of cane, the _petlacalli_, or _petaca_ of
+the Spaniards, carelessly covered with matting, and evidently well
+charged with military stores and provision, weighed upon the shoulders
+of each, while it was connected by a broad strap to the forehead. Thus
+burthened, however, and thus exposed to a temperature which, as the day
+advanced, seemed, in the open plains, nearly intolerable to their
+Christian companions, they strode on with a slow but vigorous step, each
+bearing a knot of gay flowers or of brilliant feathers, wherewith he
+defended his face from insects, and perhaps, occasionally, his eyes from
+the dazzling reflection of the soil. These were the _Tlameme_, or
+carriers of Mexico.
+
+The eye of Amador, though at first attracted by this singular train,
+dwelt with more surprise and curiosity on the crossbowmen, who were
+sweltering, in common with nearly every Christian of the party, under
+the thick and uncouth investment of the _escaupil_, a sort of armour
+which the invaders of Mexico had not disdained to borrow from their
+despised enemies. This consisted of nothing more than garments of
+woollen or cotton cloth, cut as much after the fashions of Spain as was
+possible, quilted so thickly with cotton as to be able to resist the
+arrow heads and lance-points of the Indians; which virtue, added to the
+facility with which it could be obtained and adapted to every part of
+the body, gave the escaupil a decided preference over the few pieces of
+iron mail which the poverty of the combatants denied them the power of
+extending to the whole frame. In truth, so common had become this
+armour, that there were few among the cavaliers of the conquest, except
+those leaders who despised so unknightly and so unsightly an attire, who
+were provided with any other. Nevertheless many distinguished captains
+concealed garments of this material under their iron armour; and the
+common soldiers of Cortes, after long experience, had fallen upon the
+plan of quilting it in pieces imitative of morions and breast-plates,
+which were far from being uncouth or unwieldy. But its efficacy, though
+strongly explained and urged by the secretary Fabueno, could not blind
+Don Amador to its ungainliness, as seen in the fashions of raw recruits;
+and even the solemn gravity of Baltasar was changed to a grin of
+ineffable derision, and the good-humoured vivacity of Lazaro to a laugh
+of contempt, when the secretary advised the cavalier to provide his
+followers with such coats of mail.
+
+"What thinkest thou, Lazaro, rogue?" said Don Amador, merrily. "Thou
+wert but a bitter groaner over the only cut it was ever thy good hap to
+meet: and that was by a fair and courteous pistol-shot, which hath
+something of an oily way about it: whereas these infidel flints and
+hard woods gash as painfully as an oyster-shell. What sayest thou? Shall
+I give thee an escaupil, to save thee from new lamentation?"
+
+"May your honour live a thousand years!" said the serving-man. "The
+tortoise to his shell, the Turk to his turban: heaven never thrust a
+hornet into the cocoon of a caterpillar, nor a lion into a sheep's skin.
+Wherefore I will keep my sting and my claws free from the cotton bags;
+the only merit of which is, that when a man is wounded in them, he has
+lint ever ready at his fingers."
+
+"For my part," said Baltasar, "I am, in this matter, much of Lazaro's
+way of thinking. Howsoever, please your favour, when I see these
+lubberly lumps fight more courageously than myself in my iron trifles, I
+will straightway change my mind on the subject."
+
+"Hold thy tongue, then," said the cavalier, "lest thou give offence to
+some of these worthy cotton-coats, who have, in no manner, furnished
+thee with cause for a quarrel."
+
+The cavalier rode on, followed closely by his attendants, courteously
+returning the salutations which were everywhere rendered to his apparent
+rank and martial appearance by the Spanish portion of the train; though
+not even the glitter of his mail, the proud tramp of his war-horse, nor
+the stout appearance of his followers, drew a glance from the Tlameme.
+The dull apathy which the oppression of ages has flung over the spirits
+of Mexicans at the present epoch, had already been instilled into the
+hearts of this class of natives, which with some others, under the
+prevalence of the common feudalism of barbarians, were little better
+than bondmen. He rode slowly by them, admiring the sinewy bulk of their
+limbs, and the ease with which they moved under their heavy burdens.
+
+The van of the train was formed by a score of footmen, all arrayed in
+the escaupil, and all, with the exception of some five or six, who bore
+firelocks, armed with sword and spear. A cavalier of goodly presence,
+and well mounted, rode at their head; and Amador, thinking he perceived
+in him the tokens of gentle blood and manners, pressed forward to salute
+him. The ringing of Fogoso's heels arrested the attention of the leader,
+who, turning round and beholding the gallant array of the stranger,
+instantly returned upon his path, and met him with many courteous
+expressions. At the very moment of meeting, Amador's eye was attracted
+by a figure, which, in making way for the steed of the leader, had
+well-nigh been trodden under the hoofs of his own; and in which, when
+removed from this peril, he instantly remarked the spare person and
+haggard countenance of the Moor. Holding fast to the hand of the
+Almogavar, and indeed, for an instant, while the danger lasted, wrapped
+anxiously in his arms, was a boy, whose youth and terror might have won
+a second notice, had not the salutation of the officer immediately
+occupied his attention.
+
+"The senor Amador de Leste," said he--"Thou varlet of an infidel, I will
+strike thee with my lance!" (This menacing objurgation was addressed to
+the Moor, at the moment when, most endangered, he wavered with his boy
+between the horses.) "The senor Amador de Leste," he continued, as the
+Moor, recovering himself, cowered away, "will not be surprised to find
+his coming expected, and his presence welcomed, by the general Narvaez,
+or by his excellency's humble friend and captain, Juan Salvatierra."
+
+"Senor Salvatierra, I give you good thanks," replied Amador; "and
+although I know not what avant-courier has proclaimed the approach of so
+obscure an individual as myself, I will not, for that reason, receive
+your courtesy less gratefully."
+
+"I have with me here," said Salvatierra, with a stately condescension,
+"several of your fellow-voyagers of the caravel; among whom it would
+have been strange indeed if any had forgotten the name of so honourable
+a companion."
+
+"Those cavaliers of the caravel," said Amador, dryly, "who condescend to
+claim me as a companion, do me thereby a greater honour than I am
+desirous to do myself. Sly companions are, as you may see, my two
+men-at-arms; to which we will at present add the young senor Fabueno,
+whom, as the secretary of his excellency the admiral Cavallero, I am not
+indisposed to acknowledge."
+
+There was something in the tone of the haughty and even arrogant
+neophyte, that might have nettled his new friend; but its only effect,
+beside bringing a little colour upon his rather pallid cheeks, was to
+rob his suavity of somewhat of its loftiness.
+
+"It is for hidalgos and cavaliers of knightly orders," he said, "and not
+for ignoble adventurers, to aspire to the fellowship of a valiant knight
+of San Juan."
+
+"I am no knight of San Juan," said Amador, "but a simple novice, who may
+one day claim admission to the illustrious order (by right of birth,) or
+not, as it may please the destinies and mine own humour. Nevertheless I
+have much pleasure to speak of the order and its valiant brothers, at
+every opportunity, and at the present moment I am moved to ask your
+favour, as relying much on your knowledge, what tidings have been last
+had of the good knight Calavar, an eminent branch of that most lordly,
+though thunder-stricken, stock."
+
+"Concerning the knight of Calavar," said Salvatierra blandly, "it is my
+grief to assure you that his madness----"
+
+"Call it his melancholy! or his humour!" said Amador, sternly; "and let
+it be some mitigation to your surprise, if my correction sound like a
+rebuke, to know that I am his kinsman."
+
+Again did the colour mount into the cheeks of the cavalier, and again
+did his courtesy, or his discretion, get the better of the impulse that
+raised it.
+
+"The kinsman of that valiant and renowned gentleman," he said politely,
+"shall command me to any epithet he chooses. The senor De Leste will
+doubtless lament to hear that his kinsman, with an eccentricity scarce
+worthy his high birth and knightly dignity, still stoops to be the
+follower of an inferior and rebel, the outcast and proclaimed outlaw,
+Hernan Cortes."
+
+"As far as my own judgment is concerned in this matter, senor
+caballero," said Amador coolly, "I very much doubt whether I shall
+lament that circumstance at all. The knight Calavar will not disparage
+his dignity or his profession, by choosing to serve where a
+little-minded man might covet to command. Such a condescension in him,
+besides being a new proof of magnanimity and fidelity to his vows,
+whereby he is sworn never to make peace with the infidel, is only an
+evidence to me that the cavalier Cortes, whom you call a rebel and
+outlaw, must be a man worthy of much more respectful appellations; as
+indeed, methinks, your own reflections should show you must be the due
+of any associate of the knight of Calavar."
+
+The unaffected surprise, and even consternation, with which the follower
+of Narvaez heard the neophyte thus speak of his leader's enemy, might
+perhaps have urged Amador to the utterance of commendations still more
+unequivocal, had not his eye at that moment been caught by the shadow on
+the sand of a man striding nearer to the flanks of Fogoso than he had
+supposed any footman to be. His own position was near the side of the
+company of musketeers and spearmen mentioned before; his followers, not
+being willing to obtrude upon the privacy of the cavaliers, had fallen a
+little back; and the Morisco, as he took it for granted, was lagging
+some distance behind. His surprise was therefore not a little excited,
+when looking round, he beheld the Almogavar so close at his side as to
+be able to overhear all that was said, and drinking his words with an
+expression of the intensest interest.
+
+"Son of a dog!" cried Salvatierra, who beheld him at the same time, and
+who was not unwilling to vent some of the gall that Amador had raised
+in his bosom, upon so legitimate an object,--"I will see if I cannot
+teach thee how to thrust thyself among soldiers and hidalgos!"
+
+"Softly, senor Caballero!" cried Amador, observing the captain raising
+his lance; "strike not Abdalla; for I have it in my power to inform you,
+that, although in some sense your prisoner, and, to the eye of a
+stranger, a most helpless and wretched varlet, he has shown himself to
+be possessed of a spirit so worthy of respect, that you will do yourself
+foul shame to strike him."
+
+The lance of the cavalier was turned away from the shrinking Moor.
+
+"Don Amador de Leste shall command my weapon, whether it be to smite or
+to spare," said Salvatierra, smothering the rage which every word and
+action of the neophyte seemed fated to inspire, and advancing to the
+head of the train.
+
+"Hark'ee, Sidi Abdalla," continued Amador, beckoning complacently to the
+retiring Morisco, "it is not in my nature to see indignity of any kind
+heaped upon a man who hath not the power of vengeance, and especially a
+man who hath in him the virtue of courage, without raising a hand in his
+defence."
+
+"My lord speaks the truth," said Abdoul, with a subdued voice; "the
+Almogavar hath not the power of vengeance:--The strong man may strike
+him, the proud may trample, and he cannot resist; the cavalier may wound
+with the lance, the soldier may smite with the unthonged bow.--It is all
+one;--his head is bare, his breast open, his hand empty:--he can neither
+resist nor avenge."
+
+"By St. John of Jerusalem," said the cavalier warmly, moved to a
+stronger feeling for the friendless Morisco, "I remember, as was
+confessed by that beast of a Canary captain, that when thine enemies
+were on thy decks, and thy friends fled from thy side, (for which they
+deserved to sink to the bottom, as they did;) thou hadst the courage to
+discharge thy mangonneau into the victorious trader; for which reason
+chiefly, but partly because thou hast avowed thyself a Christian
+proselyte, I will take it upon me, as far as it may be in my power, to
+be thy protector and champion."
+
+"My lord is good," said the Moor, bending his head low on his breast;
+"and in the day of my death I will not forget his benevolence. The
+Almogavar was born to grief; trouble came at his first hour; his first
+breath was the sigh of Granada, his first cry was mingled with the
+groans of his enslaved people, his first look was on the tears of his
+father. Sorrow came in youth, anguish in manhood, and misery is in the
+footsteps of years. My lord is great and powerful; he protects me from
+the blow of a spear.--He can save me from a grief that strikes deeper
+than a thousand spears!"
+
+"As I am a true gentleman and Christian," said Amador, "I will hold to
+my word, to give thee protection and aid, as far as my power lies."
+
+"The feeble boy that totters over these scorching sands!" said the Moor,
+raising his eyes wistfully to the cavalier, and turning them for an
+instant with a look of unspeakable wildness to his son.--The cavalier
+looked back, in that momentary pause, and beheld the young Morisco. He
+seemed a boy of not more than twelve years. The soldier judged only from
+his stature, for a garment of escaupil of unusual thickness completely
+invested and concealed his figure; while his face drooping, as if from
+weariness, on his breast, was hidden by a cap slouching in disorder, and
+by long ringlets that fell in childish profusion over his shoulders.
+
+"The boy!" continued Abdalla, turning again to the neophyte, and raising
+his clasped hands as if in supplication. "Is it fit his tender years
+should be passed among the horrors of a camp? among the dangers of a
+wild war? among the vices and contaminations of a brutal soldiery? If it
+were possible,"--and here the voice of the Almogavar trembled with
+eagerness;--"if it were possible that boy could be sent to
+Granada,--nay, to Barbary,--anywhere, where, for his father's sake, he
+should be granted a refuge and asylum; then might the curse be uttered,
+the blow struck, and Abdoul, receiving it as the payment of his debt,
+would not call upon his lord for vengeance."
+
+"Thou heardest from the admiral," said Amador, "how impossible would be
+the gratification of such a wish; since, even were he parted from this
+shore, it rests with another, who, I can, upon mine own knowledge,
+assure thee, is not likely to help him on his way, whether he shall not
+waste his days among the planters of the islands; who, according to
+common report, are not a whit less wild and debauched than their friends
+here in Mexico."
+
+"God is just!" cried the Moor, clasping his hands in despair.
+
+"Nevertheless," continued Amador, "I will not fail to make thy petition,
+backed with my own request, to the senor Narvaez; and at the worst, it
+is not improbable some good cavalier may be found who will consent to
+receive him as a page, and treat him with kindness."
+
+"God is just!" reiterated the Moor, with a gloomy sorrow; "and the arrow
+of the savage may save him from the wrong of the Christian."
+
+"I tell thee again," said Amador, "I will not forget to do my best for
+his welfare, at the first opportunity. But tell me, Abdalla"--The
+Morisco was dropping behind: he returned.--"I had forgotten to ask thee
+a question for which I first called thee. I was speaking to this
+hot-tempered captain of the knight Calavar--By heaven! it was thus I saw
+thine eyes sparkle before! Is there any magic in the name, that it
+should move thee to such emotion?"
+
+"The knight Calavar," said the Morisco, "was among the conquerors of the
+Alpujarras; and how can I hear his name, and not bethink me of the black
+day of my country? His name is in our Moorish ballads; and when the
+orphan sings them, he mourns over the fate of his father."
+
+"That the knight Calavar did good service among those rebellious
+mountaineers, I can well believe," said the cavalier, hastily; "but that
+he did not temper his valour with mercy, is an assertion which no man
+can make to me with perfect safety. As to those ballads of which you
+speak, I am not certain if they be not the invention of some devilish
+magician, opposed to honourable war and glory; since it is their sole
+purpose to keep one thinking of certain sorrowful particulars, that may
+be a consequence of victory and conquest, such as tearful widows and
+destitute orphans; and I must declare, for mine own part, such is the
+mischievous tendency of these madrigals, that sometimes, after hearing
+them, I have had my imagination so enchanted, as to look with disgust at
+war, and almost to lament that I ever had struck at the life of a human
+being. I shall like well to have thy boy sing to me; but, as I will tell
+him beforehand, it must be of lovelorn knights, and of knights going to
+battle, and never a word about widows and orphans."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+At midday, the squadron, after having accomplished more than half the
+journey, halted for rest and refreshment on the banks of a little river,
+under the shade of pleasant trees. The Tlameme threw down their bundles,
+and, apart from the rest, betook themselves to their frugal meal. A
+plaintain, a cake of maize, or a morsel of some of the nameless but
+delicious fruits of the clime, perhaps growing at their side, prepared
+them for the enjoyment of slumber; while the Spaniards, grouped among
+the trees, added to this simple repast the more substantial luxury of
+the _tasajo_, or jerked beef of the islands.
+
+As for the cavalier De Leste, not having bethought him to give orders
+for the preparation of such needful munitions, he was glad to accept the
+invitation of the captain Salvatierra to share his meal; and this he did
+the more readily, that, having entered into farther conversation with
+the leader, after the affair of the lance, it was the good fortune of
+this gentleman to stumble upon no more offensive topics. In addition to
+this, he observed with great satisfaction, that Salvatierra, preserving
+among his subalterns the stateliness which he had vailed to the
+neophyte, did not mean to trouble him with their society; and it was
+only at his express desire that the secretary Fabueno was admitted to
+partake of their repast. The excellent taste of the worthy commander, or
+perhaps the wisdom of his attendants, several of whom, both Christian
+and pagan, being in constant waiting, gave him an appearance of great
+rank and importance, had provided a stock of food, which, in variety and
+quantity, might have satisfied the hunger of half the squadron. Here,
+besides the heavenly anana, the grateful manioc, and other fruits and
+roots with which the cavalier had become acquainted in the islands, he
+was introduced to the royal chirimoya, the zapote, and other fruits as
+new as they were delicious. But, above all these delights with which
+Providence has so bountifully enriched the lands of Mexico, did Don
+Amador admire the appearance of certain fowls, which, though neither
+reeking nor smoking with their savoury juices, but drawn cold from their
+covering of green leaves, were of so agreeable a character as to fill
+his mind with transport.
+
+"Either this land is the very paradise of earth," said he, "or, senor
+Salvatierra, you have the most goodly purveyors among your household,
+that ever loaded the table of man. I will be much beholden to your
+favour to know the name of this fowl I am eating, which, from its bulk,
+one might esteem a goose, but which, I am sure, is no such contemptible
+creature."
+
+"That," said the leader, "is a sort of great pheasant, the name of which
+I have not yet schooled my organs to pronounce, but which, being taken
+among the hills and trained in the cottages of the Indians, becomes as
+familiar and loving as a dog; and is therefore always ready when its
+master is hungry."
+
+"By my life, then!" said Amador, "I am loath to eat it; for it seems to
+me, the creature that loves us is more worthy to be consecrated in the
+heart, than immolated to the cravings of the stomach. I will therefore
+desire to know something of that other featherless monster at your
+elbow, previous to determining upon its fitness for mastification."
+
+"Your favour need entertain no scruples about this bird," said the
+captain; "for although domesticated, and kept by the Indians about their
+houses in great flocks, it hath too much affection for itself to trouble
+itself much about its masters. It is a kind of peacock, and without
+possessing any of the resplendent beauty of that animal, it is endowed
+with all its vanity and pride; so that, when strutting about with its
+shaven head and long-gobbeted beard, its feathers ruffled in a majestic
+self-conceit, our soldiers have sometimes, for want of a better name,
+called it _el Turco_."
+
+"A better name could not have been invented," said the neophyte; "for if
+it be true, as is sometimes asserted by those who know better than
+myself, that heretics and infidels are the food of the devil, I know no
+morsel should be more agreeable to his appetite than one of those same
+pagans that give name to this foolish and savoury creature."
+
+The thoughts of Amador, as he sat testing the merits of the noble fowl,
+which is one among the many blessings America, in after days, scattered
+over the whole world, wandered from Mexico to Rhodes, from the peaceful
+enjoyment of his dinner to the uproar and horror of a siege, from a dead
+fowl to the turbaned Turk; and then, by a similar vagary, jumped at
+once from the magnificent infidel to the poor Morisco who had lately
+trod the desert at his side. As the image of Abdoul al Sidi entered his
+brain, he looked round and beheld the proselyte sitting with his boy in
+the shadow of a palm, remote from the rest; and a pang smote him, as he
+perceived, that, among the scores who sat glutting their appetites
+around, not one had dropped a morsel of food into the hands of the
+Almogavar or his child.
+
+"Hark'ee, Lazaro, thou gluttonous villain!" he cried, with a voice that
+instantly brought the follower, staring, to his side; "dost thou feed
+like a pelican, and yet refuse to share thy meal, as a pelican would,
+with a helpless fellow of thy race? Take me this lump of a Turk to Sidi
+Abdalla, and bid him feed his boy."
+
+"I will suggest to your favour," said the captain Salvatierra, with a
+grin, "that Lazaro be directed to bring the urchin hither, with his
+lute, of which it is said he is no mean master; and before he eats he
+shall sing us a song, which, thus, he will doubtless execute with more
+perfection than after he has gorged himself into stupidity or the
+asthma."
+
+"I agree to that, with all my heart," said the neophyte. "The boy can
+sing while we are eating, provided the poor fellow be not too hungry."
+
+Lazaro strode to the Moriscos; and in an instant, as they rose, Amador
+beheld the Sidi take the instrument from his own back where he had
+carried it, and put it into the hands of his offspring. The boy received
+it, and, as Amador thought, removed the gay covering, with a faltering
+hand. Nevertheless, in a few moments, this preparation was accomplished,
+and, with Abdalla, the stripling stood trembling from weariness or
+timidity at the side of the group.
+
+"Moor," said Salvatierra, before Amador had commenced his benevolent
+greeting, "the noble and valiant cavalier hath charitably commanded thou
+shouldst eat thy dinner at our feet; which whilst thou art doing, we
+will expect thy lad to entertain us with such sample of his skill in
+luting and singing as may make our own repast more agreeable."
+
+"That is, if the boy be not too hungry," said the good-natured neophyte.
+"I should blush to owe my pleasures to any torments of his own, however
+slight; and (as I know by some little famine wherewith we were afflicted
+at Rhodes,) there is no more intolerable anguish with which one can be
+cursed, than this same unhumoured appetite."
+
+"Jacinto will sing to my lord," said the Almogavar submissively.
+
+But Jacinto was seized with such a fit of trembling, as seemed for a
+time to leave him incapable; and when, at last, he had sufficiently
+subdued his terror, to begin tuning his instrument, he did it with so
+slow and so hesitating a hand, that Salvatierra lost patience, and
+reproved him harshly and violently.
+
+It happened, unluckily for the young Moor, that, at that moment, the eye
+of Amador wandered to Fogoso, and beheld him wallowing, with more of the
+spirit of a yeoman's hog than a warrior's charger, in a certain miry
+spot near to which he had been suffered to crop the green leaves. He
+called hastily and wrathfully to Lazaro, and, in his indignation,
+entirely lost sight of his dinner, his host, and the musician.
+
+"Whelp of a heathen!" said Salvatierra to the shrinking lad: "hast thou
+no more skill or manners, but to make this accursed jangling, to which
+there seems no end? Bestir thyself, or I will teach thee activity."
+
+The boy, frightened at the violence of the soldier, rose to his feet,
+and dropping his instrument in alarm clung to Abdalla. The wrath of the
+hot-tempered Salvatierra exceeded the bounds of decorum and of humanity.
+He had a twig in his hand, and with this he raised his arm to strike the
+unfortunate urchin. But just then the neophyte turned round, and beheld
+the act of tyranny.
+
+"Senor!" he cried, with a voice even more harsh and angry than his own,
+and seizing the uplifted hand with no ceremonious grasp,--"Senor! you
+will not so far forget your manhood as to do violence to the child? Know
+that I have taken him, for this journey, into my protection; know also,
+thou canst not inflict a stripe upon his feeble body, that will not
+degrade thee into the baseness of a hind, and that will not especially
+draw upon thee the inconvenience of mine own displeasure!"
+
+The heart of Salvatierra sunk before the flaming countenance of the
+cavalier: but observing that several of his nearest followers had taken
+note of the insult, and were grasping their arms, as if to avenge it, he
+said with an air of firmness,
+
+"The senor De Leste has twice or thrice taken occasion to requite my
+courtesies with such shame as is hard to be borne, and in particular by
+interfering with the just exercise of my authority; and I have to assure
+him, that when the duties of my office shall release me from restraint,
+his injuries shall not be unremembered."
+
+"If thou art a hidalgo," said the cavalier sternly, "thou hast the right
+to command me; if of ignoble blood, as from thy deportment to this
+trembling child, I am constrained to believe, I have, nevertheless,
+eaten of thy bread and salt, and cannot refuse to meet thee with such
+weapons and in such way as thou mayest desire; and to this obligation do
+I hold myself bound and fettered."
+
+Some half-dozen followers of the captain had crowded round their leader,
+and were lowering ominously and menacingly on the neophyte. Lazaro and
+Baltasar beheld the jeopardy of their master, and silently but
+resolutely placed themselves at his side; nay, even the youthful
+Fabueno, though seemingly bewildered, as if doubting on which side to
+array himself, had snatched up his bloodless sabre; and it seemed for an
+instant as if this unlucky rupture might end in blows. The senor
+Salvatierra looked from his followers to the angry hidalgo; the flush
+faded from his cheek; and it was remarked by some of his soldiers, not a
+little to his dispraise, that when, as if conquering his passion, he
+motioned them to retire, it was with a hurried hand and tremulous lip.
+
+"The senor de Leste is right," he said, with a disturbed voice; "I
+should have done myself dishonour to harm the boy; and although the
+reproof was none of the most gentle and honeyed, I can still thank him
+that it preserved me from the shame of giving too much rein to my
+ill-temper. I therefore forget the injury, as one that was merited,
+discharge my anger as causeless, and desiring rather to devote my blood
+to the subjugation of pagans, than to squander it in contest with a
+fellow-Christian, offer the hand of reconciliation and of friendship to
+Don Amador de Leste."
+
+There was an appearance of magnanimity in this confession of fault and
+offer of composition, that won upon the good opinion of the neophyte;
+and he frankly gave his hand to the captain. Then turning to the
+innocent cause of his trouble, who, during the time that there seemed
+danger of a conflict, had exhibited the greatest dismay, he found him
+sobbing bitterly in the arms of Abdalla.
+
+"Poor child!" said the benevolent cavalier, "thou art fitter to touch
+thy lute in the bower of a lady, than to wake it among these wild and
+troubled deserts. It is enough, Abdalla: conduct thy son to some shade,
+where he may eat and sleep; and when we renew our march, I will think of
+some device to spare his tender feet the pain of trudging longer over
+the sands."
+
+The Moor laid his hand on his heart, bowed with the deepest submission
+and gratitude, and led the boy away to a covert.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+"Didst thou observe, brother henchman," said Lazaro, as, after having
+completed his meal, and taken good note of the tethers of the horses, he
+threw himself on the ground by the side of Baltasar, as if to imitate
+the other members of the party, who were making what preparations they
+could for the indulgence of the siesta,--"Didst thou observe, I say, old
+sinner, that, this moment, we were like to have made experience of the
+virtue of cotton corslets? By my faith, this gentle master mine will not
+suffer our hands to be idle, so long as there be savages to curse the
+faith, or hidalgos to cross his humours. I am ever bound to the
+magnanimous senor commander, that he thought fit to swallow his wrath,
+and send me those black-browed vagabonds back to their dinner: for
+otherwise, I assure thee, there was much fear of our supping in
+purgatory."
+
+"For my part," said Baltasar, raising his head from the saddle, which
+served him for a pillow, and looking curiously round on the various
+groups, "I am of opinion, there was more discretion than dignity about
+that same captain, when he became so moderate of a sudden; for so sure
+as he was very foolish to get into a quarrel with the boy Amador, who, I
+am free to say, is no way unworthy to be a kinsman and esquire of my
+master the knight, so surely would the boy have dinged the feathers off
+his gilt casque with the first blow; and how much of his head might have
+followed the feathers, is more than I will take upon me to determine."
+
+"Thou art so hungry after war," said Lazaro, "thou canst not perceive
+the valour of foregoing an opportunity of battle now and then. Hast thou
+never seen a man turn pale from anger, as well as cowardice?"
+
+"Of a truth, I have," said the veteran; "and, provided there be a steady
+countenance along with it, this sickly hue is ever a sight to be dreaded
+more than the woman's blush, which some men fall into in their anger.
+But a coward's mouth is always playing him dog's tricks: I have
+sometimes seen the nether lip shake in a brave man; but when the
+trembling is all up in the corners, as I have learned to know, after
+divers lessons, it is a sign the heart is in a flutter. There are
+doubtless certain strings, whereby the heart is fastened to the mouth;
+and it is when the corners are writhing about in this cowardly snaky
+manner, that the heart is drawn up further than is comfortable; a thing,
+as I have no doubt, may have sometimes happened to yourself."
+
+"If it have, may I become a Turk's slave!" said Lazaro, with great
+indignation; "and if it do, I hope it may be transformed, at that
+moment, from my own mouth to a dog's, to be made a dinner of!"
+
+"Thou art an ass to be in a passion, at any rate," said Baltasar,
+coolly, "and a very improbable idiot, to deny, in thy vain-glory, what
+has happened to braver men than thyself; and, which I am free to
+confess, has sometimes chanced to myself, especially in my youth, when I
+first went to fight the Moors; and, I very well remember, that besides
+perceiving there was a sort of emptiness under my ribs, on such
+occasions, I could feel my heart beating at the back of my throat as
+plainly as I ever felt the arrow-heads tapping about my buckler. But it
+always went to its place again, when we were come to close quarters."
+
+"May I die of the bastinado, if I ever felt any such thing!" said
+Lazaro, proudly. "I was born without any such gaingiving; and the only
+uncomfortable feeling I have had, under such circumstances, was a sort
+of cold creeping about the stomach, as if it were raining inside of me."
+
+"Or as if there was a cold air brewing in your gizzard!" said Baltasar,
+triumphantly. "That is the very same thing,--the emptiness, I was
+talking about; and if you never felt the beating in your throat, it was
+because your heart was in such a fit of fright as to have no power of
+beating left."
+
+"Ay! that may be," said Lazaro, with a grin: "that beating is a business
+I keep for my arm, and when that is in service, my heart is ever wise
+enough to be quiet. But concerning the captain,--Dost thou really esteem
+him a coward?"
+
+"Who knows?" said the veteran. "A man may be once in fear, and
+strong-hearted ever after. Yet was there such a working about that
+cavalier's mouth, as made me think he longed to strike Don Amador, if he
+durst, and which still persuades he has some bitter thoughts about the
+matter of the insult: for, as you may remember, Don Amador said he was
+more of a hind than a hidalgo, with other such loving remarks as might
+stir a man's choler. For this reason, I am of opinion it will be good
+service of thee to thy master, to keep thine eyes open while he is
+taking his siesta, lest, mayhap, some mischief might come to him
+sleeping."
+
+"I am ever bound to your good-natured discretion," said Lazaro, with a
+laugh. "I have no doubt it would be more profitable to sit for an hour
+or two, watching the sunbeams stealing through the wood, than, for the
+same time, to slumber and snore, without any other amusement than an
+occasional buffeting of one's nose, to keep the flies off. I will
+therefore surrender this agreeable privilege to thyself, as being my
+senior and better; while I nap a little, and that so lightly, that if an
+emmet do but creep near my master, I shall hear the rustling of his
+footsteps. But hark'ee, Baltasar: there is much wit about thee, for an
+old man that has endured so many hard knocks; and ever, about once in an
+hundred times, I have found thy conjectures to be very reasonable. What
+is thy opinion concerning those infidel Moors under the bush yonder? and
+by what sort of magic dost thou suppose they have so wrought upon our
+commander, that he will neither suffer lance-shaft nor cane-twig to be
+laid upon them?"
+
+"Ay, there they are!" said Baltasar, looking towards the father and son.
+"The boy lies with his head on Abdalla's knee, and Abdalla covers him
+with his skin mantle; and the mantle shakes, as if the boy were sobbing
+under it.--It is my opinion, the lad has been used to milder treatment
+than he seems likely to meet in these parts, unless Don Amador should
+see fit to take him into his own keeping; and it is also my opinion, if
+he be so much affected at the sight of a green twig, he will go nigh to
+die of terror at the flash of a savage's sword."
+
+"That is an opinion I have, in part, formed for myself," said the junior
+coolly: "and one that I think is shared in common with every other
+person in this quilted company, that has looked in the manikin's face."
+
+"It is as white," said Baltasar, "as that mountain top we saw from the
+caravel; whereas the children of common Moriscos are much the hue of my
+own weather-beaten boots."
+
+"The boy was in a most pestilent fright," said Lazaro, "and therefore
+somewhat more snowy than was natural; nevertheless, I have seen darker
+skins among the damsels of La Mancha."
+
+"And he is, in a manner, well figured and comely," said the veteran.
+
+"If thou hadst said he was such a Ganymede as might hold the wine-cup
+and trencher to a princess, I should have thought better of thine
+eye-sight. By cross and spear! he has such eyes as I shall be glad to
+find in any wench I may be predestined to marry."
+
+"And his hand," said Baltasar, "is as small as a hidalgo's son's. He
+hath an amiable countenance, and such gravity in it, when not disturbed,
+as belongs to older years; and he ever keeps it bent to the earth, as if
+to shun observation."
+
+"Ay; I see what thou art driving at," said Lazaro, significantly. "Thou
+thinkest Sidi Abdalla is some infidel prince of Granada--a Zegri or
+Abencerrage--"
+
+"I think no such thing," said Baltasar, gruffly. "I have fought, myself,
+hand to hand, with a Zegri, while my young lord Gabriel was cleaving the
+head of another; to which knightly and majestic infidels the wretch Sidi
+bears such resemblance as, in comparison, doth the hedge-hog to a
+leopard."
+
+"Thou art of opinion then, doubtless," said Lazaro, "that the boy
+Jacinto is some Christian nobleman's son, stolen in his infancy by Sidi,
+to be made a sacrifice to the devil?"
+
+"I am no such ass," said Baltasar, "to entertain any such notion."
+
+"A bird's flight by his feather, a beast's rage by his claw, and a man's
+thoughts by his tongue," said Lazaro; "but how I am to judge thee, is
+more than I know. What a-God's name, dost thou think then of these
+Christian heathens?"
+
+"I think nothing at all," said Baltasar, dryly: "I only wonder by what
+chance a Morisco boor came to have so tender and so handsome a boy."
+
+"Well, heaven be with thee, old oracle," said Lazaro, laying his head on
+his saddle: "If I should resolve thy wonder in my dreams, I will
+enlighten thee when I wake."
+
+The veteran gave a look to the horses,--to his master, who, by the
+attentions of the captain Salvatierra, had been enabled to enjoy the
+luxury of a hammock, slung between two trees,--to the Moor, who sat
+watching over his child,--to the Tlameme, who slumbered by their
+packs,--to the Spaniards, who slept, as they had eaten, in groups,--to
+the few sentinels who stood nodding under the trees,--and then,
+dismissing all care, as if satisfied with the security of the motley
+encampment, he was not slow to follow the example of his companion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+Two or three hours before sunset, the sleepers were roused to renew
+their march. Horses were saddled and armour buckled, and Don Amador de
+Leste mounted his steed with great satisfaction at the thought of still
+further diminishing the distance that separated him from his knight. As
+the train began to ford the rivulet, he turned round and beckoned to
+Abdoul, who, with Jacinto, had taken the station assigned them behind
+the musketeers.
+
+"Sidi Abdalla," said he, "I have thought it a great shame that thy weary
+boy should trudge over these sands afoot, when such men as myself and my
+people are resting our lazy limbs on horseback. I have therefore given
+order to my soldier, Lazaro, to take the youth behind him; whereby much
+discomfort and suffering may be avoided."
+
+"My lord will scorn the thanks of the poor Morisco," said Abdoul,
+humbly. "Sleep, and the food which it pleased my noble lord to give to
+the boy, have so refreshed his strength and his spirits, that now, in
+the pleasant evening air, he will journey without pain, as he has often,
+of yore, in the deserts of Barbary. And let not my lord be displeased to
+know, that Jacinto will be of better heart at the side of his father,
+than on the saddle of my lord's servant."
+
+"If it be as thou sayest," said the cavalier, "I am content. Heaven
+forbid I should take him from thee, but for his good; which, doubtless,
+thou must know better how to compass than myself. Yet if he should at
+any time grow weary, make me acquainted with it, and Lazaro shall be
+still prepared to give him relief."
+
+The Moor bent his head to the ground, and fell back; while Amador,
+followed by his attendants and the secretary, rode to the head of the
+train.
+
+No occurrence of moment interrupted the monotony of the journey, until a
+thunderstorm, accompanied by rain, drove them for shelter into a
+forest, where their march was interrupted for a time. But with a
+capriciousness equal to the fury with which they had gathered, the
+clouds parted and vanished in the sunbeams; the earth was gladdened; the
+trees shook the liquid treasure from their leaves; a breeze came from
+the distant surges; and, resuming their path, the train and cavalcade
+went on their way rejoicing.
+
+As they advanced, and as the day declined, the country assumed a more
+agreeable aspect; the woods were thicker and more luxuriant; the
+mountains approached nearer to the sea, and the streams gambolled among
+piles of rocks, instead of creeping sluggishly through the sands; the
+flowers were more abundant, and the birds, resuming their songs,
+prepared their vespers for the sinking luminary. At last he set: the
+curlew wheeled his last flight; the plover sent his last whistle, from
+the air; and the stars, stealing out from the dusky arch, shed their
+celestial lustre over the path of the travellers. With these lamps of
+heaven, were also lit the torches of the cucujos,--those phosphorescent
+beetles, with which Don Amador had been made acquainted in the islands.
+But he did not the less admire the splendour of the spectacle, when he
+saw these resplendent insects glistening among the trees, or flashing by
+him like little meteors. The moon rose from the sea; and as her mellow
+radiance streamed over the tree tops, or sheeted itself on the sands,
+and as a thousand delicious scents came to the nostrils of the soldier,
+he thought he had never before, not even when watching the same planet
+in the calm bosom of the Levantine sea, looked upon a scene of more
+beautiful repose. The commander of the squadron had not, since the
+affair of the dinner, thought fit, frequently, to trouble Don Amador
+with his presence; but by the murmurs of satisfaction and curiosity
+which were breathed about him, the cavalier knew he was approaching the
+Indian city Zempoala. The party issued from the wood upon what seemed a
+fair waving plain, dotted, in certain places, with clumps of trees, and
+doubtless, in other spots, enriched with plantations of maize and
+bananas. In the distance, from a dark and shadowy mass, which might have
+been a lofty grove or a low hillock, and whose gloom was alike broken by
+the glare of insects and the flash of many flambeaux, arose three lofty
+towers, square and white, and glittering in the moonbeams as if covered
+over with plates of silver.
+
+"Zempoala!" whispered an hundred voices, as these gleaming fabrics came
+fairly into view. The languid horseman raised himself on his saddle; the
+foot-soldier strode onwards with a firmer and quicker step; and at each
+moment, as the three towers reflected the moonbeams with increasing
+brilliancy, more torches flickered and more structures were seen shining
+among the trees; and it was evident to Don Amador that he was
+approaching a city or town of no little magnitude.
+
+The secretary had pressed to his side, and overhearing his exclamations
+of surprise, took the liberty of addressing him.
+
+"Senor," he cried, "they say this pagan city is bigger and lovelier than
+Seville. I have often before heard of the Silver Towers; for truly, when
+the men of Cortes first saw them, they thought they were built of blocks
+of plate, and rode forward to hack away some samples with their swords;
+whereupon, to their great shame and disappointment, they discovered the
+brilliance to be owing to a certain white and polished plaster, with
+which these barbarians have the art to beautify their temples."
+
+"Are these then the sanctuaries of the fiend?" said the neophyte,
+raising himself, and surveying the structures with a frown of infinite
+hostility: "It drives me to little esteem, to know that the senor
+Narvaez and his companions should rest in sight of these accursed
+places, without hurling them to the dust."
+
+"They are no longer the houses of devils," said Lorenzo: "Cortes, the
+great rebel, tore the idols from their altars, and putting an image of
+Our Blessed Lady in their place, consecrated them forthwith to the
+service of God."
+
+"I hear nothing of Cortes, that does not convince me he is a truly noble
+and faithful cavalier," said Amador, with emphasis.
+
+"There can be no doubt of that," said the secretary; "nevertheless, if I
+may presume to advise your favour, I would beseech you not to mention
+the name of Cortes among these men of Narvaez; or at least, not with the
+respect which you may think his due."
+
+"Dost thou know," said Amador, addressing Fabueno so sternly, as to
+cause him instantly to repent his presumption: "dost thou know, that
+what thou art saying is of so base and boorish a spirit, that, if it be
+the true prompting of thy heart, thou art utterly unworthy to take upon
+thee the arms, as thou art wholly incapable of winning the fame, of a
+soldier? Know thou, for it is good thou shouldst be told, that all
+hypocrisy is the offspring of cowardice, and is therefore impossible to
+be practised by a brave man: know also, that when thou art deceiving
+man, thou art lying to God, which is an impiety not to be thought of by
+an honest man: and know, in conclusion, that when thou art called upon
+for thy opinion, if thou givest not that which is in thy heart, thou art
+guilty of that hypocrisy which is cowardice, and that deceit which is
+perjury."
+
+"I beg your worship's pardon," said Lorenzo, abashed and confounded, and
+somewhat bewildered by the chivalrous and fantastic system of honour
+disclosed in the reproof of the cavalier. "I meant only to let your
+favour know, that there could be no travelling beyond this Indian city,
+without the good will of Narvaez and his officers, which might not be
+gained by commending their enemy. And moreover, senor, if you will
+suffer me to justify myself,--while I confess it would be both cowardly
+and impious, as your worship says, to conceal or alter a sentiment, when
+it is called for, yet was I thinking it could be in no wise
+dishonourable to retain in our own mind opinions _not_ called for,
+particularly when they might be disagreeable to those upon whom they
+were thus, as I may say, forced."
+
+"By my faith, thou art, in a measure, very right," said Amador, "and I
+hereby recall any expressions which may have reflected on thy courage or
+thy religion; for, I perceive, thou wert only touching upon the
+obligation all men are under not to force their opinions upon others; an
+obligation of which I am myself so sensible, that, provided I am not
+called upon by the questions of these people, or the enforcements of
+mine own honour, I shall surely utter nothing to displease them. But
+canst thou tell me, senor secretario, how far from this town lies the
+commander, of whom we were speaking?"
+
+"I have heard, only at the distance of two or three leagues," replied
+Fabueno; "but I should think, considering the wisdom of Cortes, he would
+be fain to increase that distance, as soon as he came to know the
+strength of Narvaez. Your favour may see, by the many torches glimmering
+through the streets, and the many voices that go chanting up and down,
+that there is a goodly multitude with him."
+
+"I see, by the same tokens," said Amador, "he has a set of riotous,
+disorderly vagabonds, who seem to think they are keeping carnival in
+Christendom, rather than defending a camp among infidels: and, by St.
+John, I know not any very good reason, why the valiant Cortes might not,
+this instant, with his knot of brave men, steal upon the town, and
+snatch it out of the hands of the Biscayan. There is, neither out-post
+in the field, nor sentinel in the suburbs!"
+
+There seemed some grounds for this notion of the cavalier. As he
+approached nearer to Zempoala, there was audible a concert of sounds
+such as one would not have looked for in the camp of a good general. A
+great fire had been lit, as it appeared, among the Silver Towers, the
+ruddy reflection of which, mingled with the purer light of the moon,
+had given them so shining an appearance, even at a distance. In this
+neighbourhood, as Amador judged by the direction and variety of cries,
+was the chief place of the revellers; though in divers quarters of the
+town might be heard the voices, and sometimes the musical instruments,
+of idle soldiers, struggling in rivalry with the ruder songs and harsher
+instruments of the natives. Besides the bonfires among the temples,
+there was another in the quarter of the town which the train was just
+entering, and apparently upon the very street which they were to pass.
+The cavalier had, however, underrated the vigilance of the sentinels;
+for, just as he had concluded his denunciation, the trumpet with which
+Salvatierra announced his approach to his companions, was answered by a
+flourish from the fire; and there was straightway seen a group of armed
+men advancing to challenge the party. In fact, an out-post was stationed
+at the fire; the worthy warriors of which, in the absence of any
+important duties, had got together the means of amusement in the persons
+of certain Indian tumblers and merry-andrews, who were diverting them
+with feats of agility. Besides these tawny sons of joyance, there were
+others of the same race, whose business it was to add to the pleasures
+of the entertainment the din of the musical instruments common to
+barbarians; only, as it seemed to Amador, that if there was nothing
+superior in the tone or management of these which he now heard, they had
+an advantage, over those of the islanders, in being wrought with greater
+skill and ornamented with a more refined taste. Thus, of the little
+drums which were suspended to the necks of the musicians, and which were
+at least equal in sound to the labours of Europe, some were carved and
+painted in a very gay manner; while the flutes of cane, though not less
+monotonous than the pipes of other savages, had about them an air of
+elegance, from being furnished with pendants of rich flowers, or
+beautiful feathers.
+
+As Amador rode by, his attention was in a measure diverted from the
+tumblers by the agitation of Fogoso, who regarded neither the great fire
+nor the wild looking artists with friendship; and when, having subdued
+his alarm, he turned to gratify his wonder, his eye was caught by the
+appearance of the Moor, who had stolen to his side, and now stood with a
+countenance even more disturbed than when shrinking from the blow of
+Salvatierra, and with hands upraised and clasped, as if to beseech his
+notice.
+
+"My lord is benevolent to the friendless, and pitiful to the orphan," he
+cried anxiously, as soon as he perceived that Amador regarded him; "he
+has been the champion of the father, and the protector of the son; and
+when the heart's blood of Abdoul can requite his benefactor, Abdoul will
+not deny it."
+
+"Good Sidi," said Amador, "that I have protected both yourself and your
+son Jacinto, from unjust violence, is more than can be denied; but why
+it is needful to thank me so many times for the favour, is more than I
+can easily understand. I must therefore command you to find some more
+novel subject for conversation."
+
+"My lord is a knight of Rhodes," said Abdalla quickly, "and therefore by
+vow bound to charity, justice, pity, and all the other good virtues
+acknowledged as well by infidels as Christians?"
+
+"I am no knight; a novice of the order I may be called," said Amador,
+"but no knight; though," he added with a most dolorous sigh, "how soon I
+may take the vows after returning from the lands of Mexico, is more than
+I can pronounce. I have therefore not bound myself by oath to any of
+those virtues of which you spoke; but had you been born of a nobler
+blood than I can account that of the lord of Fez, you should have known,
+that, being a gentleman and a Christian, I cannot release myself from
+any of their natural obligations."
+
+"For myself," said Abdalla, "though insult and danger will come to me
+among these riotous soldiers, who are the enemies of my race, and these
+barbarians, who are surely the enemies of all, I can submit to my
+griefs; but Jacinto needs the arm of power to protect him. If my lord
+will take him to be his servant, he will be merciful to misfortune; the
+prayers of gratitude will ascend to heaven; and the love of a faithful
+boy will watch ever at his side like the vigilance of an armed
+follower."
+
+"Art thou content the boy should be parted from thee?" demanded Amador.
+"I know not how, among these strange lands and unknown wildernesses, I
+may be able to take that care of his tender years which should be the
+duty of a good master; nor, to tell thee the truth, do I know in what
+manner I can make use of his services----"
+
+"Let not my lord despise his skill," said the Almogavar, "because his
+fright and weariness palsied his hand, when he should have played before
+him. He hath good skill with the lute, and he has in his memory a
+thousand redondillas, with which he may divert the leisure of my lord.
+Besides this skill, he hath a fidelity which nothing can corrupt, and a
+loving heart which, once gained by kindness, no temptation can lure from
+his master: and in these qualities will I vouch for him with my head. I
+know not in truth," continued Abdalla, faltering, "since he has never
+before served a master, if he have any other qualifications. But he is
+quick to acquire, and perhaps--perhaps, he may soon learn to preserve
+the armour of my lord--yes, he will soon make himself useful to my
+lord."
+
+"The cleaning of my armour," said Amador, in a very matter-of-fact
+manner, "is a duty which belongs particularly to Lazaro; whose fidelity,
+as well as that of Baltasar, is of so unquestionable a character, that
+it fully meets all the exigencies of my course of life. I would
+therefore receive thy son chiefly out of a hope to be comforted, at
+times, with his music; and partly out of pity for his forlornness. He
+will doubtless serve me as a page and cup-bearer; in which capacity,
+promising to give him as much protection and kindness as may be in my
+power, I consent to receive him."
+
+"And my lord will permit that I shall often see him?" said Abdoul,
+eagerly.
+
+"Surely I must desire thou shouldst," said Amador, "if it were possible
+thou couldst be in the same army."
+
+Abdalla looked at the cavalier with a bewildered and confused
+countenance, as if not understanding him.
+
+"I must acquaint thee, good Sidi," said Amador, "with one fact, of which
+thou seemest ignorant, and which may wholly change thy desires in this
+matter. Thy destination is to this town of Zempoala, and mine to the
+very far city Tenochtitlan; thy fate is to submit thee into the hands of
+the general Narvaez, as thou hast heard, to serve him as a cannonier,
+while mine is to betake myself to the general Cortes, his sworn and most
+indomitable enemy. Thou mayest therefore inquire of thyself, if thy boy
+go with me, whether thou wilt ever again look upon him; a question that
+I cannot myself answer in a satisfactory manner. Make thy election,
+therefore, whether thou wilt keep him at thy side, or entrust him to my
+guardianship; being assured, that if the latter be thy desire, I will
+bid thee call him, and straightway take him into my keeping."
+
+"It cannot be!" said Abdalla, vehemently;--"I cannot trust him from my
+sight: it cannot be! God is just; and justice may come with misery!"
+
+Thus lamenting, Abdoul al Sidi retired from the side of the cavalier;
+and Amador, whose pity was not a little touched, suffered his image to
+be crowded from his mind by the new and strange spectacles which were
+now opening upon him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+While he still talked with the Morisco, Don Amador was able to cast his
+eyes about him, and to perceive on either side a great multitude of low
+houses of wickered cane, which seemed to him more to resemble gigantic
+baskets than the habitations of men; but which, even in these latter
+days, are found sufficient to protect the humble aborigines from the
+vicissitudes of that benignant clime. Each stood by itself in an
+enclosure of shrubs and flowers, and where it happened that the inmates
+were within, with torches or fires burning, the blaze, streaming through
+the wattled walls, illuminated every thing around, and disclosed the
+figures of the habitants moving about like shadows in the flame. Other
+buildings, equally humble in size, were constructed of less remarkable
+but not less romantic materials; and where the moonbeams fell over their
+earthen walls and palmy roofs, both were often concealed by such a
+drapery of vines and creeping flowers, perhaps the odoriferous vanilla
+and the beautiful convolvulus, as might have satisfied the longings of a
+wood-nymph. As he approached nearer to the centre of the town, these
+lowly and lovely cottages were exchanged for fabrics of stone, many of
+them of considerable size, and several with walls covered with the
+bright and silvery plaster which ornamented the temples. Each of these,
+the dwellings of the _Tlatoani_, or, as the Spaniards called them, in
+the language of Santo Domingo, the _Caciques_ of the city,--stood alone
+in its garden of flowers, with vines trailing, and palm-trees bending
+over its roof, commonly in darkness, though sometimes the myrtle-taper
+of a fair Totonac, (for such was the name of this provincial people of
+the coast,) or the oily cresset of a Spanish captain, who had made his
+quarters wherever was a house to his fancy, might be seen gleaming from
+behind the curtains of cotton stuff, which were hung at the doors and
+windows. These sights had been seen by Amador, while yet engaged in
+conversation with Abdalla; but when the Morisco dropped sorrowfully
+away, he found himself on the great square of the city, immediately
+fronting the sanctuaries, and gazing upon a scene of peculiarly wild and
+novel character. The centre of the square was occupied by a broad, and
+indeed a vast platform of earth, raised to a height of eight or ten
+feet, ascended from all sides by half as many steps,--having the
+appearance of a low truncated pyramid, serving as a base to the three
+towers which crowned it. Upon its summit or terrace, immediately in
+advance of the towers, was kindled a great fire, the blaze of which,
+besides illuminating the temple itself and all the buildings which
+surrounded the square, fell upon sundry groups of Indian tumblers,
+engaged in feats of activity, as well as upon a host of cavaliers who
+surveyed them close at hand, and many throngs of common soldiers and
+natives who looked on at a distance from the square.
+
+Here the detachment was halted; the burthens of the Tlameme were
+deposited on the earth; the horses were freed from their packs; and
+Amador, at the suggestion of Salvatierra, dismounted, and leaving Fogoso
+to the care of his attendants, and these again to the disposition of the
+captain, ascended the pyramid, followed by the secretary. He was
+somewhat surprised, when this worthy commander, whom he looked for to
+conduct him to the general, resuming much of the stately dignity he had
+found it inconvenient to support on the march, made him a low bow, and
+informed him with much gravity he would find the commander-in-chief
+either on the terrace among his officers, or at his head-quarters in the
+middle tower. The feeling of indignation which for a moment beset him,
+would have been expressed, had not Salvatierra with another bow retired,
+and had he not perceived, at the same moment, the young Fabueno draw
+from his girdle the letter which was doubtless to secure him the
+good-will of Narvaez. Checking therefore his anger, he straightway
+ascended the platform. Arrived at its summit, he now beheld the scene
+which he had imperfectly witnessed from below. The great fire, crackling
+and roaring, added the ruddy glare of a volcano to the pallid
+illumination of the moon; and in the combined light, the operations of
+the gymnasts and dancers, the athletes and jugglers, were as visible as
+if performed in the glitter of noon-day. For a moment Amador thought, as
+had been thought by all other Spaniards, when looking for the first time
+on the sports of these barbarous races, that he had got among a group of
+devils, or at least of devilish magicians; and he crossed himself with
+an instinctive horror, when he beheld, so to speak, three piles of men,
+each composed of three individuals, half-naked, standing one upon the
+head or shoulders of another, whirling about in a circle, and each, as
+he whirled, dancing on the head or shoulders of his supporter, and
+tossing abroad his _penacho_, or long plume of feathers, as if diverting
+himself on the solid earth. This spectacle entirely distracted his
+attention from others scarcely less worthy of observation,--as was
+indeed that, where two men see-sawed on a pole, in the air, and, as
+might be said, without support, except that which was occasionally
+rendered by the feet of a sinewy pagan, who lay on his back, and ever
+and anon, as the flying phantoms descended, spurned them again into the
+air. Such also was that magical dance of the cords, brought from the
+unknown tribes of the South, wherein a score of men, each holding to a
+rope of some brilliant colour, and each decorated with the feathers of
+the parrot and the flamingo, whirled in fleet gyrations round a
+garlanded post, till their cords were twisted together in a net of
+incomprehensible complexity, but which, before the observer had leisure
+to digest his amazement, were again unravelled in the rapid and
+mysterious evolutions of the dance. A thousand other such exhibitions,
+similar in novelty but different in character, were displayed at the
+same moment; but the eyes of the neophyte were lost to all but that
+which had first astounded him; and it was not till the voice of the
+secretary roused him from his bewitchment, that he collected his senses,
+and observed an officer of the household of the general standing before
+him, and doing him such reverence as was evidently the right of his
+dignity. It was then that Don Amador looked from the dancers to the
+cavaliers whom they were diverting. The fire flashed over the walls of
+the square and lofty towers up to the shelving thatch of palm-leaves,
+under which they were grouped, making, with the glitter of their
+half-armed persons, a suitable addition to the romance of the scene. In
+the centre of that group which lounged before the middle and loftiest
+tower, in a chair, or indeed, as it might be called, a throne, of such
+barbaric beauty as was known only to the magnificos of this singular
+people, sat a cavalier, tall and somewhat majestic of stature, with a
+ruddy beard, and yellow locks falling over an agreeable countenance; in
+whom, not so much from the character of his deportment and the quality
+of his decorations, as from the evident homage rendered him by the
+officers around, Don Amador did not doubt he beheld the Biscayan
+general. At the very moment when his eyes fell upon this smiling
+dignitary, he was himself perceived by the general; and Narvaez started
+up with a sort of confusion, as if ashamed to be discovered in such
+trivial enjoyment by so gallant a cavalier. In fact, the glittering
+casque of steel had supplanted the velvet cap on the head of the novice;
+and as he approached in full armour, clad also in the dignity with which
+he was wont to approach his fellows in rank, Don Amador presented a
+figure, to say the least, equally noble with that of the
+commander,--and, what was no slight advantage in those days, with the
+additional manifestation of high blood, such as was certainly less
+questionable in him than in Narvaez. It seemed for a moment, as if the
+general would have retreated into the temple, doubtless with the view of
+assuming a more stately character for the interview; but perceiving that
+Don Amador had already recognised him, and was advancing, he changed his
+purpose, and making a step forward to do honour to his visiter, he stood
+still to receive him. The eyes of all those gallant adventurers were
+turned from the dancers to the new-comer; but Don Amador, not much moved
+by such a circumstance, as indifferent to their curiosity as their
+admiration, approached with a stately gravity, and, making a courteous
+reverence to the general, said,--
+
+"I have no doubt it is my felicity at this present moment to offer my
+devoirs to the noble and very respected senor, the general Don Panfilo
+de Narvaez; on the presumption of which, I, Amador de Leste, of Cuenza,
+a novice of the holy hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, do not hesitate
+to claim the hospitalities, which, as an hidalgo of Spain, and kinsman
+of the noble senor, the admiral Cavallero, your excellency's
+confederate, I hold myself entitled to expect."
+
+"The very noble and valiant senor Don Amador de Leste shall not claim
+those hospitalities in vain," said the general, with a voice whose
+natural and voluminous harshness did not conceal an attempt at amenity;
+"and I hope he will not anticipate in them too little of the roughness
+of a soldier, by reason that he has seen us unbending a little from the
+toils of war to the foolish diversions of these ingenious barbarians."
+
+"I will not take upon me to judge either of the tactics or the
+recreations of your excellency," said Amador, very coolly. "I will only
+demand of your favour to accept, at this present moment, such
+protestations of respect as become me in my function of suitor; and, in
+especial, to accredit my companion, the secretary Fabueno, the messenger
+of the admiral, who is charged with certain letters to your excellency,
+of which, I believe, I am myself, in part, the subject."
+
+"I receive them with respect, and I welcome the very distinguished Don
+Amador with much joy," said Narvaez; "in token of which I must beg him
+to allow himself to be considered, at least so long as he honours my
+command with his presence, as my own peculiar guest: and that I may the
+sooner know in what it may be my happiness to do him service, I must
+entreat him to enter with me into my poor quarters."
+
+With such superb expressions of etiquette, the common compliments of an
+over-chivalrous age and people, Don Amador was ushered into the interior
+of the temple. A curtain of a certain strong and checkered matting, that
+served the purpose of a door, was pushed aside, and, entering with the
+general and two or three of his most favoured officers, he found himself
+in the heathen sanctuary. A table covered with brilliant drapery of
+cotton--a product of the country--and strewed over with pieces of
+armour, as well as with divers vessels wherein glowed some of the rich
+wines ripened by the breath of the Solano, contained also a great silver
+cresset filled with oil tempered with liquidambar, which, besides
+pervading the whole atmosphere with a delicious odour, shed abroad such
+a light as enabled Don Amador to survey the apartment. It was of good
+height, and spacious: the walls were hung with arras of a sombre-hued
+cotton, and the floor covered with thick matting. In one corner was a
+ladder, leading to the upper chambers. Two sides of it were occupied by
+a low platform, on which lay several mattresses stuffed with the down of
+the ceiba; over one of which, on a small altar of wood, illuminated by
+tapers of the myrtle wax, was a little image of the Virgin. In this
+chamber, the chief adoratory of the temple, where now flashed the
+weapons of the iconoclasts, stood once the altar of an idol, whose
+fiendish lips had been often died with the blood of human sacrifices.
+There were rude chairs about the table; and Amador, at the invitation of
+the general, did not hesitate to seat himself, and cast an eye of
+observation on his companions, while Narvaez, with the assistance of the
+secretary, proceeded to decipher the advices of the admiral.
+
+The individuals with whom Amador found himself in contact, were of a
+genteel and manly presence: and though evidently burning with desire to
+make the acquaintance of the novice of Rhodes, and certainly also with
+curiosity to know what strange event had cast him among themselves, had
+yet sufficient breeding to conceal their anxieties,--excepting one, who,
+although of riper years than the rest, and even of more gravity of
+deportment, was nevertheless twice or thrice guilty of a very
+inquisitive stare. This Don Amador did himself at last perceive, and
+felt greatly moved to discover the cause of so remarkable a scrutiny.
+Nevertheless, before he had resolved in what manner to commence the
+investigation, and before the general had well looked into the advices
+of the admiral, they were both interrupted in their purpose by the
+abrupt intrusion of an officer, who, approaching Narvaez, said something
+to him in a low voice, of which all that Amador could distinguish were
+the words, twice or thrice repeated, of _nigromante_ and _astrologo_.
+The officer received a direction equally obscure with his information;
+and Amador observed that as Narvaez gave it, his face flushed over with
+some sudden excitement. The speculations of the neophyte were soon
+terminated. Before the curtain had yet closed upon the retreating
+officer, the cavalier whose curious looks had attracted his own
+attention, rose and addressed the general.
+
+"Senor general and governor," he cried, "I doubt whether this knavish
+impostor be worthy your attention. He is accounted both a liar and
+traitor, and he can tell us nothing that will not be spoken to deceive
+us."
+
+"The senor Don Andres de Duero cannot be better persuaded of the man's
+character than myself," said the general; "and he will not assure me
+that a good general can refuse to listen to any intelligence of his
+enemy, though it be brought by a traitor.--The noble Don Amador de Leste
+will pardon me, if I make so free with him, as in his presence to
+introduce and examine a prisoner, or deserter, I know not which, on
+matters which it concerns me as a commander to know. And moreover,"
+continued the Biscayan, with a laugh, "I know not what better diversion
+I can give my guest, than to make him acquainted with a man who pretends
+to read the mysteries of the stars by night, and to have a devil who
+gives him knowledge of men's destinies by daylight."
+
+Before Amador could reply to this appeal, the senor Duero spoke again.
+
+"Surely he can bring us no information of Cortes which we have not
+received at better hands; and as for his magical art, I think your
+excellency holds that in too much doubt and contempt to set much store
+by its crazy revelations."
+
+"What may be my doubt, and what my contempt for his art," said the
+general, "is more than I have yet resolved: only there is one thing of
+which I am quite certain, and that is, that, with the blessing of Our
+Holy and Immaculate Lady, I defy the devil and all his imps, whether
+they come at the bidding of a heathenish magician or a Christian
+enchanter; and, moreover, that if there be any knowledge to be gained of
+the devil, without jeopardy of soul, one is a fool not to receive it.
+Senor," continued Narvaez, addressing himself again to Amador, "I may as
+well tell you, that the magician Botello, whom you will presently
+behold, is a favourite soldier and chief enchanter to that infidel
+rebel, Cortes, (whom God confound, with all his mutinous friends and
+upholders, high and low, strong and feeble, Amen!)--I say, senor, his
+chief magician," continued the general, speaking so rapidly and
+impetuously, as utterly to prevent Don Amador from making the amendment
+he meditated to the curse, and insisting that Narvaez should revoke it,
+as far at least as it concerned his kinsman, the knight,--"his chief
+magician, by whose aid, it is supposed, the runagate desperado has been
+enabled to imprison the Indian emperor. And, knave or not Don Amador, it
+cannot be denied, that when struck down, after surrendering himself,
+this morning, by the currish soldier, Caboban, he cursed the smiter with
+'a short life and a long death;' which curse was fulfilled upon him on
+the instant; for striking Botello with his spear again, his horse
+plunged, threw him violently, and, falling, he was instantly spitted on
+the spear of a footman. He has been dying ever since; and sometime,
+doubtless, his agony will be over; but he is as good as a dead man now."
+
+"I am by no means certain," said Don Amador, "that there was any
+connexion between the curse of the magician and the calamity of the
+soldier; though, as it appears to me, heaven could not visit with
+judgment any one more righteously than the dastard who strikes an enemy
+after he has rendered himself a captive. Nevertheless, and though I am
+somewhat impatient your excellency should determine upon my own affairs,
+I have such respect for the superior claims of your duties, that I will
+willingly defer my anxiety until your excellency has examined the
+prisoner."
+
+There were several very meaning glances exchanged among the cavaliers at
+this speech, which seemed to imply a feeling of neglect and resentment
+on the part of the speaker; but Narvaez did not notice it, or if he did,
+the impression was immediately driven from his mind by the entrance of
+the enchanter, conducted by several soldiers and officers, among whom
+was the captain Salvatierra.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+Amador surveyed the prisoner, though somewhat indifferently. He was, in
+figure and age, very much such a man as Baltasar, but in other respects
+very dissimilar. His face was wan, and even cadaverous; but this might
+have been the effect of the blows he had received from the dying
+soldier, as was made probable by the presence of several spots of blood
+encrusted over his visage. His cheeks were broad, and the bones
+prominent; his eyes very hollow, and expressive of a wild solemnity,
+mingled with cunning; his beard long and bushy, and only slightly
+grizzled, and a rugged mustache hung over his lips so as almost to
+conceal them. His apparel was of black cloth, none of the freshest, the
+principal garment of which was a long loose doublet, under which was
+buckled an iron breast-plate,--his only armour; for, instead of a
+morion, he wore a cloth hat of capacious brim, stuck round with the
+feathers of divers birds, as well as several medals of the saints,
+rudely executed in silver. Besides these fantastic decorations, he had
+suspended to his neck several instruments of the Cabala,--a pentacle of
+silver, and charms and talismans written over with mystical characters,
+as well as a little leathern pouch filled with various dried herbs and
+roots. This mystagogue, an agent of no little importance among many of
+the scenes of the Conquest, was led into the presence of the general,
+and approached him without betraying any signs of fear or embarrassment;
+nor, on the other hand, did he manifest any thing like audacity or
+presumption; but lifting his eyes to the visage of the Biscayan, he
+gazed upon him with a silent and grave earnestness, that seemed somewhat
+to disconcert the leader.
+
+"Sirrah sorcerer," said he, "since the devil has deserted you at last,
+call up what spirits you can muster, and find me why I shall not hang
+you for a spy, early in the morning."
+
+"_Tetragrammaton Adonai!_" muttered the warrior-magician in the holy
+gibberish of his art, with a voice of sepulchral hollowness, and with a
+countenance gleaming with indignation or enthusiasm. "In the name of
+God, Amen! I defy the devil, and am the servant of his enemy; and in the
+land of devils, of Apollyon in the air, Beelzebub on the earth, and
+Satan in men's hearts, I forswear and defy, contemn and denounce them;
+and I pray for, and foresee, the day when they shall tumble from the
+high places!"
+
+"All this thou mayst do, and all this thou mayst foresee," said the
+general; "but nevertheless thy wisdom will be more apparent to employ
+itself a little in the investigation of thine own fate; which, I promise
+thee, is approaching to a crisis."
+
+"I have read it in the stars, I have seen it in the smoke of waters and
+of blessed herbs, and I have heard it from the lips of dead men and the
+tongues of dreams," cried the professor of the occult sciences, with
+much emphasis. "But what is the fate of Botello, the swordsman, to that
+of the leaders of men, the conquerors of kings and great nations? I have
+read my own destinies; but why shouldst thou trifle the time to know
+them, when I can show thee the higher mysteries of thine own?"
+
+"Canst thou do so? By my faith then, I will have thee speak them very
+soon," said Narvaez. "But first, let me know what wert thou doing when
+thou wert found prowling this morning so near to my camp?"
+
+"Gathering the herbs for the suffumigation which shall tell me in what
+part of the world thou shalt lay thy bones!" said the magician,
+solemnly. "The moon, in the house Alchil, showed me many things, but not
+all; a thick smoke came over the crystal, and I saw not what I wanted; I
+slept under the cross, with a skull on my bosom, but it breathed nothing
+but clouds. Wherefore I knew, it should be only when the wolf spoke to
+the vulture, and the vulture to the red star, that Camael the angel
+should unlock the lips of destiny, and lead me whither I longed to
+follow."
+
+"I am ever bound to thee," said the general, with a manner in which an
+attempt at mockery was mingled with a natural touch of superstition,
+"for the extreme interest thou seemest to cherish in my fate and again I
+say to thee, I will immediately converse with thee on that subject. But
+at present, senor nigromante, I warn thee, it will be but wisdom, to
+confine thy rhapsodies within the limits of answers to such
+interrogatories as I shall propose thee.--Where lies thy master, the
+outcast and arch-rebel, my enemy?"
+
+"My _master_ is in heaven!" said Botello, with a devout and lofty
+earnestness, "and there is no outcast and rebel but he that dwelleth in
+the pit, under the foot of Michael; and _he_ is the enemy!"
+
+"Sirrah! I speak to thee of the knave Cortes," cried the general,
+angrily. "When wert thou last at his side? and where?"
+
+"At midnight,--on the river of Canoes, where he has rested, as thou
+knowest, for a night and a day."
+
+"Ay!" said the Biscayan fiercely; "within a league of my head-quarters,
+whither my clemency has suffered him to come."
+
+"Whither God and his good star have drawn him," said the magician.
+
+"And whence I will drive him to the rocks of the mountains, or the
+mangroves of the beach, ere thou art cured of thy wounds!"
+
+"Lo! my wounds are healed!" said Botello; "the hand that inflicted them
+is stiff and cold, and Hernan Cortes yet lies by the river! Ay, the holy
+unguent, blessed of the fat of a pagan's heart, hath dried the blood and
+glued the skin; and yet my captain, whose fate I have seen and spoken,
+even from the glory of noon to the long and sorrowful shadows of the
+evening, marshals his band within the sound of thy matin bell; and wo
+be to his foeman when he is nearer or further!"
+
+"Prattling fool," said the commander, "if thou hadst looked to the
+bright moon to-night, thou wouldst have seen how soon the cotton-trees
+of the river should be strung with thy leader and companions, and with
+thyself, as a liar and an impostor, in their midst!"
+
+"I looked," said the veteran, tranquilly, "and saw what will be seen,
+but not by _all_. There was thunder in the temple, and peace by the
+river, and more wailing than comes from the lips of the Penitent
+Knight."
+
+The angry impetuosity with which Narvaez was about to continue the
+conference, was interrupted by the impatience of the novice. He had
+listened with much disgust both to the mystic jargon of the soldier and
+the idle demands and bravadoes of the general. The interest with which
+he discovered how short a distance separated him from his kinsman, was
+increased to an irresistible excitement, when he heard the title with
+which, as the admiral had told him, the knight was distinguished among
+the invaders, on the lips of Botello. Rising therefore abruptly, he
+said,
+
+"Senor Narvaez, I have to beg your pardon, if, in my own impatience to
+be satisfied in a matter which I have much at heart, I am somewhat blind
+to the importance of this present controversy. If your excellency will
+do me the favour to examine the letters of the admiral, you will
+discover that it is not so much my purpose to lay claim to your
+hospitable entertainment, the proffer of which I acknowledge with much
+gratitude, as to request your permission to pass through the lines of
+your army, to join my kinsman the knight Calavar. Understanding,
+therefore, from the words of this lunatic, or enchanter, whichever he
+may be, that I am within the short distance of a league from my good
+knight, to whom all my allegiance is due, I see not wherefore I should
+not proceed to join him forthwith, instead of wasting the night in
+slumber. I must, therefore, crave of your excellency to grant me, to the
+camp of the senor Cortes, a guide, to whom I will, with my life and
+honour, guarantee a safe return;--or such instructions concerning my
+route, as will enable me to proceed alone--that is to say, with my
+attendants."
+
+The effect of this interruption and unexpected demand, on the
+countenances of all, was remarkable enough. The cavaliers present stared
+at the novice with amazement, and even a sort of dismay; and the
+secretary Fabueno, looking by chance at the captain Salvatierra,
+observed the visage of this worthy suddenly illuminated by a grin of
+delight. As for the general himself, nothing could be more unfeigned
+than his surprise, nothing more unquestionable than the displeasure
+which instantly began to darken his visage. He rose, thrust his hand
+into his belt, as if to give his fingers something to gripe, and drawing
+himself to his full height, said haughtily and severely,
+
+"When I invited the cavalier De Leste to share the shelter of this
+temple, I did not think I received a friend of the traitor Cortes or of
+any of his people; nor did I dream an adherent of this outlaw would dare
+to beard me at my head-quarters with so rash and audacious a request!"
+
+"The senor Narvaez has then to learn," said Amador, with a degree of
+moderation that could only be produced by a remembrance of his
+engagement to the admiral, and his promise to the secretary, not
+causelessly to provoke the anger of the general,--but nevertheless with
+unchanging decision, "that if I boast not to be the friend of Cortes,
+whom you call a traitor, I avouch myself to be very much the creature of
+mine own will; and that if I cannot be termed the adherent of an outlaw,
+I am at least a Spanish hidalgo, bent on the prosecution of my designs,
+and making requests more as the ceremonies of courtesy, than the tribute
+of humility. I will claim nothing more of your excellency than your
+excellency is, without claim, inclined to grant; and allowing therefore
+that you invited me to your lodgings under a mistaken apprehension of my
+character, I will straightway release you from the obligation, only
+previously desiring of your excellency to reconsider your expressions,
+wherein, as I think, was an innuendo highly unjust and offensive."
+
+"Now, by heaven!" exclaimed the Biscayan, with all the irascibility of
+his race, and the arrogant pride of his station, "I have happened upon a
+strange day, when a vagabond esquire, wandering through my jurisdiction,
+asks my permission to throw himself into the arms of my enemy; and when
+I admonish him a little of his rashness, rebukes me with insult and
+defiance!"
+
+"A very strange day indeed!" muttered a voice among the cavaliers, in
+which Amador, had he not been too much occupied with other
+considerations, might have recognized the tones of Salvatierra.
+
+"Biscayan!" said he, with an eye of fire, "I have given you all the
+respect, which, as a governor's governor, and a captain's captain, you
+had a right to demand; I have also done you the homage of a guest to his
+host, and of a gentleman to a reputed hidalgo; but neither as a governor
+nor commander, neither as a host nor a nobleman, have you the privilege
+to offend with impunity, or to insult without being called to a
+reckoning."
+
+"Is this another madman of the stock of Calavar, that the silly admiral
+hath sent me?" cried the enfuriated leader, snatching up a sword from
+the table, and advancing upon the novice.
+
+"Senor Panfilo!" cried Amador, confronting the general, and waving his
+hand with dignity, "unless thou force me by thine own violence, I cannot
+draw my sword upon thee on thine own floor, not even although thou add
+to thy wrongs a sarcasm on my knight and kinsman. Nevertheless I fling
+this glove at thy feet, in token that if thou art as valiant as thou art
+ill-bred, as ready to repair as to inflict an injury, I will claim of
+thee, as soon as may suit thy convenience, to meet me with weapons, and
+to answer thy manifold indignities."
+
+"_Dios santisimo!_" cried the commander, foaming with rage and stamping
+furiously on the floor. "What ho! swords and pikemen! shall I strike
+this _galofero_ braggart with my own hands? Arrest him!"
+
+"The blood of him that stays me, be on his own head!" said Amador,
+drawing his sword and striding to the entrance. "I will remember thee,
+uncourteous cavalier, when I see thee in a fitter place."
+
+The arm of the governor had been arrested by Duero; and in the confusion
+of the moment, though the door of the tower was instantly beset by a
+dozen gaping attendants, Don Amador would doubtless have passed through
+them without detention, notwithstanding the furious commands of Narvaez.
+But at the moment, when, as he waved his sword menacingly, the
+hesitating satellites seemed parting before him, Salvatierra stepped
+nimbly behind, and suddenly seizing his outstretched arm, and calling to
+the guards at the same time, in an instant Don Amador was disarmed and a
+prisoner. His rage was for a moment unspeakable; but it did not render
+him incapable of observing the faithful boldness of the secretary.
+
+"Senor general!" cried Lorenzo, though with a stammering voice, "if your
+excellency will read this letter to the end, your excellency will find
+my master recommends Don Amador as of a most noble and lofty family,
+and, at this moment, raised above arrest and detention, by being charged
+with authority from the Grand Master of Rhodes."
+
+The only answer of the general was a scowl and a wave of the hand, which
+instantly left Fabueno in the predicament of the cavalier. He was
+seized, and before he could follow the example of his patron, and draw
+his sabre, it was snatched from his inexperienced hand.
+
+All this passed in a moment; and before the neophyte could give
+utterance to the indignation which choked him, he was dragged, with
+Fabueno, from the sanctuary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+The dancers had fled from the terrace; the fire had smouldered away; but
+in the light of the moon, which shed a far lovelier radiance, Don
+Amador, as he was hurried to the steps, saw in place of the gay
+cavaliers, a few sentries striding in front of the towers, and among the
+artillery which frowned on either edge of the platform. Nevertheless, if
+his rage had left him inquisitive, he was not allowed time to indulge
+his observations. He was hurried down the steps, carried a few paces
+further, and instantly immured in the stone dwelling of some native
+chief, which, by the substitution of a door of plank for the cotton
+curtain, and other simple contrivances, had been easily converted into a
+prison.
+
+In the meanwhile, the rage of the governor burned with a fury that was
+not much lessened by the remonstrances of his officers; and to the
+counsel of Duero,--the personal secretary of Don Diego Velasquez,
+accompanying the expedition less as an adviser than as a spy over the
+general, and therefore necessarily held in some respect,--he answered
+only with heat and sarcasm.
+
+"I have ever found the senor Don Andres," he cried, without regarding
+the presence of Botello, "to be more friendly with the friends of Cortes
+than may seem fitting in the honourable and confidential secretary of
+Velasquez!"
+
+"I will not deny that such is my temper," said Duero; "nor will I
+conceal from you that such leniency springs less from affection than
+interest. Sure am I, that had your excellency, from the first, held out
+the arms of conciliation, instead of the banners of vengeance, at this
+moment, instead of being arrayed against you in desperate hostility, the
+forces of Cortes would have been found enrolled under your own
+standard, and Cortes himself among the humblest and faithfullest of your
+captains."
+
+"While I doubt that effect," said the general sharply, "I cannot but be
+assured of the strength of Don Andres's interest, while I listen to the
+whispers of his enemies."
+
+Duero coloured, but replied calmly:
+
+"It is not unknown to me, that certain ill-advised persons have charged
+me with being under the influence of a secret compact with Cortes,
+formed before his appointment to the command of the first army of
+invasion; whereby I was to share a full third of the profits of his
+enterprise. Without pretending to show the improbability of such an
+agreement, I will, for an instant, allow your excellency to take it for
+granted, in order that your excellency may give me credit for my present
+disinterestedness, in doing all I can to ruin my colleague; in which I
+reckon, as no slight matter, taking every opportunity to decoy away his
+followers."
+
+"If thou wilt show me in what manner submission to the whims and insults
+of this insolent boy could have detached any of the mutineers from
+Cortes, I will confess myself in error, and liberate him forthwith,"
+said the general.
+
+"The insult has been passed, the blow has been struck," said Duero
+gravely, "and unless your excellency chooses to measure swords with him
+immediately after his liberation, nothing can be gained by such a step.
+I should rather counsel your excellency to have the prison watched with
+a double guard. But, in arresting him, you have, besides giving deep
+offence to your colleague, the admiral, for ever won the hate and
+hostility of the knight of Rhodes; and when this is told him in the camp
+of Cortes, it will harden the hearts of all against us."
+
+"When it is told in the camp of Cortes," said Narvaez, with a bitter
+smile, "it shall be with mine own lips; and if I hang not upon a tree,
+afterwards, the knight Calavar himself, it will be more out of regard
+to his madness, than to the dignity of his knighthood. I will attack the
+rebel to-morrow!"
+
+"Your excellency is heated by anger," said Duero temperately; "or you
+would observe you have a follower of the rebel for a listener."
+
+"Ay! Botello!" cried the general, with a laugh of scorn. "He will carry
+my counsels to Cortes when the cony carries food to the serpent, and the
+sick ox to the carrion crow. Hark, sirrah,--thou hast read the fate of
+thy master: will I attack him to-morrow?"
+
+"Thou wilt not," said Botello, with an unmoved countenance.
+
+"Hah!" cried Narvaez; "art thou so sure of this that thou wilt pledge
+thy head on the prophecy? Thou shall live to be hanged at sunset, with
+thy old comrades for spectators."
+
+"Heaven has written another history for to-morrow," said Botello,
+gravely; "and I have read that as closely as the page of to-day; but
+what is for myself, is, and no man may know it: The fate in store for
+the vain pride and the quick anger, may, in part, be spoken."
+
+"Sirrah," said Narvaez, "remember, that though the vain pride might
+overlook one so contemptible as thyself, the quick anger is not yet
+allayed; and if thou wilt not have me beat thee in the morning, proceed
+forthwith to discourse of our destinies."
+
+"Blows shall be struck," said the magician, earnestly; "but whether upon
+my own head or another's, whether in this temple or another place,
+whether in the morning or the evening, I am not permitted to divulge.
+Repent of thy sins; call in a confessor, and pray; for wrath cometh, and
+sorrow is behind! By the spirits that live in the stars, by the elves
+that dwell in stones and shrubs, by the virtues that are caged in matter
+where the ignorant man findeth naught but ignorance, have I been made
+acquainted with many things appertaining to thy fate, but not all. If
+thou wilt, I will speak thee the things I am permitted."
+
+"Speak then," cried the general; "for whether thy knowledge be truth or
+lies, whether it come from the revelations of angels, or the diabolical
+instructions of fiends, I will listen without fear."
+
+"_Adonai Melech!_ under the heaven, and above the abyss,--with my hand
+on the cross, and the rosary in my bosom,--in Rome, near to the
+footsteps of his holiness, and with one who was his favourite
+astrologer, studied I mine art; and there is nothing in it that is not
+blessed," said Botello, with a solemn enthusiasm, that made a deep
+impression upon all.--"Give me a staff, that I may draw the curtain from
+this loop," he continued.
+
+The sword of a younger officer was instantly extended, the curtain
+removed, and the moon, climbing the blue hills of paradise, looked down
+into the apartment. The cavaliers stared at the astrologer and magician,
+for Botello was both, some with an unconcealed awe, and others, the
+general among the rest, with an endeavour at looks of contempt not in
+good character with the interest they betrayed in all his proceedings.
+He raised his eyes to the beautiful luminary--enough to create by her
+mystic splendour the elements of superstition in the breast of a
+rhapsodist,--crossed himself devoutly twice or thrice, mumbled certain
+inexplicable words, and then said aloud, with a mournful emphasis,
+
+"Wo to him that sits in the high place, when the moon shines from the
+house Allatha! But the time has not come; and I dare not speak the hour
+of its visitation."
+
+"And what shall it advantage me to know my peril, if I have not such
+knowledge as may enable me to prevent it?" demanded Narvaez, with a
+frown.
+
+"And what would it benefit thee to know the time of thy peril," said the
+astrologer, "when God has not given thee the power to avert it? What is
+written must be fulfilled; what is declared must be accomplished.
+Listen--the queen of night is in the eighteenth mansion; and under that
+influence, discord is sown in the hearts of men, sedition comes to the
+earth, and conspiracy hatches under the green leaf."
+
+The general turned quickly upon his officers, and surveyed them with an
+eye of suspicion. They looked blankly one upon another, until Duero,
+laughing in a forced and unnatural manner, cried,
+
+"Why should we listen to this madman, if we are so affected by his
+ravings? Senor general, you will straightway look upon us all as
+traitors!"
+
+"There have been villains about us before," muttered the general, "but I
+will not take the moon's word for it; and the more especially that I
+must receive it through this man's interpretation."
+
+"It is the influence, too, that is good for the friendless captive,"
+continued the magician; "and many a heart that beats under bonds
+to-night, will leap in freedom to-morrow."
+
+"Every way this is bad for us," said Duero, banteringly. "I would advise
+your excellency to clap chains on the legs of De Leste and the scribe,
+who are, I think, saving the few rogues of Cortes who have craved to
+enter into our service, the only prisoners in our possession."
+
+"And dost thou think this gibberish will move me to any such
+precaution?" cried Narvaez, with a compelled smile. "Thou canst not
+believe I listen to it for aught but diversion?"
+
+"Surely not, if your excellency says so. But still may we guard the
+prisoners, without fear of being laughed at for our superstition,--as
+long as we have faith in the discretion of all present."
+
+"Guard them thyself, if thou wilt," said the general; "I am not moved
+enough for such condescension.--Continue thy mummeries, Botello," he
+went on, "and when thou art done with the moon, of which I am heartily
+tired, I will look for thee to introduce me to some essence that speaks
+a clearer language."
+
+"What wouldst thou have?" cried the astrologer; "what plainer language
+wouldst thou have spoken? In the house Allatha is written the defection
+of friends, the dethronement of princes, the fall of citadels in a
+siege."
+
+"Villain and caitiff! dost thou dare to insinuate that this citadel of
+Zempoala is in a state of siege?" cried the Biscayan, with a ferocious
+frown.
+
+"I speak of the things that are to come;" said Botello. "What more than
+this wilt thou have?"
+
+"It will doubtless be well," interrupted Duero, significantly, "to
+evacuate this city in the morning. By encamping in the fields, we can
+certainly avoid the danger of a besieged citadel."
+
+"Dost thou gibe me, Don Andres?" said Narvaez, with a brow on which
+jealousy struggled with rage.
+
+The secretary of Velasquez laid his hand on his heart, with a gesture of
+respectful deprecation.
+
+"Ay! I see thou art stirred by these phantasms!" cried the governor,
+with a harsh laugh, looking from Duero to the other cavaliers. "What
+means this, my masters? Do ye all stare as if ye had got among you a
+dead Samuel, telling ye of your deaths on the morrow? Cheer up,--for,
+by'r lady, I intend, if this old fellow's command of the black art runs
+so far, to divert you with a more horrible companion. What sayest thou,
+Botello? It is whispered thou canst raise devils, and force them to
+speak to thee!"
+
+"Ay!" said Botello, with a ghastly grin, staring the general in the
+face, until the latter faltered before him. "Wilt thou adventure then so
+far? Canst _thou_, whose eyes tremble at the gaze of a living creature,
+think to look upon the face of a fallen angel? Hast thou confessed
+to-day, and been absolved? hast thou been free, since the sunrise, of
+thoughts of treachery and feelings of wrath? The pentacle and the circle
+the consecrated sword and the crucifix, the sign of the cross and the
+muttered paternoster, will not protect the unshriven sinner from the
+claws of a raised demon."
+
+"If thou canst raise him," said Narvaez stoutly, "do so, and quickly. I
+fortify myself in the name of God and the Holy Ones, against all spirits
+and devils. It will be much satisfaction to my curiosity to look upon
+one of the accursed."
+
+"They are about us in the air--they are at our elbows and ears," said
+Botello; "and it needs but a spell to be spoken to bring them before us.
+But wo to him that hath thought a sin to day, when the Evil One looks on
+him!"
+
+"Senor Narvaez," cried Duero, with a most expressive and contagious
+alarm, "if it be your inclination to raise the devil, you must indulge
+it alone. For my part, I confess there have been, this day, certain
+sinful thoughts about my bosom, which have unfitted me for such an
+interview; and--I care not who knows it--my valour has in it so little
+of the fire of faith, I would sooner, at any moment, speak with ten men
+than one devil. God be with you, senor,--I wish you a good evening."
+
+"Tarry, Duero; stay, cavaliers!" cried Narvaez, losing much of his own
+dread in the contemplation of the apprehension of others. "Why, you are
+such a knot of sinners as I dreamed not I had about me! Faith, I am
+ashamed of you, and of you in particular, Duero; for I thought thy
+shrewdness would have seen in this knave's attempt to frighten us from
+the exhibition, an excellent evidence of his inability to make it."
+
+"I could show thee more than thou couldst see," said Botello, "and, I
+know, more things will come to thee than thou _shall_ see. I know, with
+all thy vaunting, thou wouldst perish in the gaze of an angel of hell;
+for thy heart would be the heart of a boy, and it flutters already, even
+at the thought of the spectacle.--I will show thee an essence thou
+mayest look upon without alarm."
+
+"Do so," said Narvaez, sternly; "and remember, while saying what may be
+necessary by way of explanation, that thou speakest to the chief and
+governor of these lands, who will whip thy head from thy neck, in spite
+of all the devils, if thou discoursest not with more becoming
+reverence."
+
+"My fate is written!" cried Botello, with neither indignation or alarm;
+and drawing calmly from his bosom an implement of his art, he advanced
+to the light, and displayed it freely to the cavaliers. It was, or
+seemed to be, an antique jewel of rock-crystal, not bigger than a
+pigeon's egg, set in the centre of a triangular disk of gold, on which
+last, were engraved many unknown characters and figures. Crossing
+himself twice or thrice, the enchanter swung it by a little silver chain
+to which it was pendent, in the full blaze of the lamp; so that either
+of the persons present might have handled it, had any been so disposed.
+But, in truth, the superstition of an age for which no marvel was too
+gross, no miracle too wonderful, was more or less shared by all; and
+they merely surveyed it at a distance with curiosity and fear.
+
+"This," said the magician,--"a gem more precious to the wise than the
+adamant of the East, but in the hands of the unfaithful, more pernicious
+than the tooth of a viper,--is the prison-house of an essence that was
+once powerful among the spirits of night. The great Agrippa wedged him
+in this stone; and from Agrippa, when I rested at his feet in the holy
+city, did I receive the inestimable gift.--Kalidon-Sadabath! the night
+is thy season, the midnight thy time of power! The lord of men calls
+thee from thy prison-house, the armed man calls thee with the sword--Lo!
+he wakes from his slumber, and will image out the destiny of the
+seeker!"
+
+The cavaliers, starting, gazed behind them with fear, as if expecting to
+behold some mighty fiend rising shadowy from the floor; but no
+intelligence more lofty or more ignoble than themselves was visible in
+the sanctuary. They bent their eyes upon the crystal, and beheld, some
+with surprise and others with deep awe, a little drop as of some black
+liquid, glittering in the very centre of the jewel.
+
+The haughty soldiers who would have rushed with cries of joy upon an
+army of infidels, shrank away with murmurs of hesitation, when Botello
+extended the talisman towards them. But they mistook the gesture of the
+magician; his arm was outstretched more to display the wonder than to
+part with it. He surveyed it himself a moment with much satisfaction;
+then turning to Narvaez, he said,
+
+"Lay thy hand upon the cross of thy sword, say a paternoster over in thy
+heart, and thou shalt be protected from the mischief of this
+inquisition, while I tell thee what I behold in the face of
+Kalidon-Sadabath."
+
+"With your favour," cried Narvaez, suddenly and boldly snatching the
+enchanted crystal from the hands of Botello, "I will choose rather to
+see his visage myself, than trust to your interpretations; and as for
+the protection, I can con over a paternoster while I am looking: though,
+why it needs to bestow so much piety upon this juggler's gewgaw, is more
+than I can understand."
+
+"Say at least the prayer," cried Botello, earnestly, "for neither
+enchanted crystal nor consecrated gold can hold the strong spirit from
+the wicked and self-sufficient."
+
+"I have much trust in the saints, and in myself," said the governor,
+coolly, greatly assured and inspirited by the harmless appearance of the
+little mystery. "Nevertheless, I will follow your counsel, in the matter
+of the prayer,--the more readily that it will keep my mind from
+wandering to more important affairs; and because, in part, I am somewhat
+burdened with the sin of neglecting such duties, when there is more
+occasion for them."
+
+He drew the lamp to him, grasped the crystal firmly in his hands, and
+bending over it so closely that his warm breath sullied its lustre,
+regarded it with a fixed attention. The cavaliers noted the proceeding
+with interest; they gazed now at the jewel almost concealed in his
+grasp, and now at the general, as his lips muttered over the inaudible
+prayer.--Suddenly, and before he had half accomplished the task, they
+observed his brows knit, and his lip fall; his eye dilated with a stare
+of terror,--a deadly paleness came over his visage,--and starting up and
+loosing the talisman from his grasp, he exclaimed wildly,
+
+"By heaven, there is a living creature in the stone!"
+
+The sorcerer caught the magical implement as it fell from the hands of
+Narvaez; and throwing himself upon his knees, while the cavaliers looked
+on in mute astonishment, exclaimed:--
+
+"Forget not the prayer! and be content to hear what is revealed by the
+imp of the crystal. Kalidon-Sadabath! He flingeth abroad his arms, and
+is in wrath and trouble!"
+
+"It is true," said Narvaez, looking to his officers in perturbation.
+"While I looked into the shining stone, the black drop increased in
+size, and grew into the similitude of a being, whose arms were tossed
+out as if in agony, while spots of fire gathered round his visage!"
+
+"Say the prayer, if thou wilt not die miserably before the time that is
+otherwise ordained!" cried Botello with a stern voice, that was
+remarkable enough, to be addressed by one of his station to the proud
+and powerful commander. "Once, twice--Ay! is there no more to be
+reckoned by thee, Sadabath? Once, twice--Yea, as the star sayeth, so
+sayest thou--Once, twice!"
+
+"What sayest thou?" said Narvaez, ceasing the prayer he had resumed, to
+question the oraculous adept.
+
+"To thy prayer! Listen, and ask not.--Ay! thou speakest in mystery! I
+turn thee to the north, which thou knowest not, and the south, where
+thou hadst thy dwelling,--to the east, which thou abhorrest, and to the
+west, where was thy dark chamber; to the heaven, whose light thou lovest
+not,--to the pit under the earth, where thou wast a wanderer,--and to
+man's heart, which was pleasanter to thee than the bonds of the crystal.
+In the name of the Seven that are of power under the earth, and of the
+Seven that are mighty above, I call to thee, Kalidon-Sadabath, the
+bright star that is quenched! In shadows, in fire and smoke,--in thunder
+and with spears--with blows and with bloodshed, thou speakest, and I
+hear thee!"
+
+"_I_ hear nothing save thy accursed croaking, worse than that of the
+crows of Biscay," cried Narvaez, hotly. "If thy devil have no more
+intelligible gabble, cast him out, and call another."
+
+"He speaks not, but by images and phantasms pictured on the
+crystal.--Now listen, for thy story cometh. I see a great house on
+fire--"
+
+"Ay, I shall perish then in a conflagration!" said the governor,
+hastily. "I have ever had a horror of burning houses."
+
+"The smoke eddies, the flame roars, and one sitteth blindfold under the
+eaves, with the flakes and cinders falling about him, which he sees
+not."
+
+"If thou meanest, that I shall rest, in that stupid state, under such
+peril, thy devil Sadabath is a liar, and I defy him!"
+
+"And he that takes thee by the hand," cried Botello, without regarding
+the interruptions,--"is he thy friend?"
+
+"Ay, answer me that question," said the governor; "for if I am to be led
+out of the fire by a foeman, I will straightway forswear my friends, and
+give my heart to the magnanimous."
+
+"Thou doest him obeisance!" cried the magician, with extraordinary
+emphasis--
+
+"Villain!" exclaimed the general.
+
+"Thou placest thy neck upon the earth, and he tramples it!"
+
+"Liar and traitor!" roared the Biscayan, spurning the magician with his
+foot, and, in his fury, snatching up a weapon to despatch him.
+
+"Why shouldst thou stain thy hand with the blood of the dotard?" cried
+Duero, interposing for a second time between the intemperate commander
+and the object of his anger. "He is a madman, incapable of understanding
+what he says; and were he even sane, and speaking the truth, your
+commands to have him entertain you with his mummeries, should have
+ensured him against your anger."
+
+"Very true," said Narvaez, with a scowl; "I was a fool to strike
+him.--Trample on my neck! Thou grizzly and cheating villain!--Go!
+begone!--Thy devil, though he cannot tell thee what awaits thee in the
+morning, may show thee what thou deservest."
+
+"I deserved not to be spurned," said Botello tranquilly, after having
+gathered up his enchanted crystal, and raised himself to his feet; "and
+the dishonour will fall not on the side that was bruised, but on the
+limb that was raised against it.--Once already, to-day, have I cursed
+the man that struck me in my captivity; and he lies a corse on his
+couch."
+
+"It is true," said a young cavalier, shuddering. "I inquired after
+Caboban, when I came from the prison with Botello--he was dead!"
+
+"I will curse no more to-day," said the magician, sorrowfully; "for it
+is a sin upon the soul to kill with maledictions; and, moreover, thou,
+that hast done me this wrong, wilt suffer enough, without a new
+retribution!"
+
+The general waved his hand angrily and impatiently, and Botello was led
+away, followed by most of the cavaliers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+When Don Amador found himself alone in the prison with Fabueno; with no
+other prospect before him than that of remaining therein till it might
+please the stars to throw open the doors, the rage that was too
+philosophic to quarrel with stone walls, gradually subsided into a
+tranquil indignation. Nay, so much command of himself did he regain,
+that hearing his companion bewailing his fate in a manner somewhat
+immoderate, as if regarding his incarceration as the prelude to a more
+dismal destiny, he opened his lips to give him comfort.
+
+"I must counsel thee, friend Lorenzo," he said, "to give over this vain
+and very boyish lamentation, as being entirely unworthy the spirit I
+beheld thee display in presence of that Biscayan boar. The insult and
+shame of our present imprisonment are what thou dost not share; and
+therefore thou shouldst not be grieved on that account. And, doubtless,
+as thou wert arrested less because thou wert in fault, than because this
+foolish governor was in a passion, he will liberate thee, when he cools
+in the morning."
+
+"I have no such hope," said Fabueno, piteously. "Don Panfilo is a most
+bitter and unforgiving man, sudden in his wrath, inexorable in his
+vengeance; and he has already indulged his fury at the expense of men so
+much more elevated and powerful than myself, that I am in great fear he
+will give me to some heavy punishment, for daring to oppose his
+humours."
+
+"Know, Lorenzo," said the novice, "that, in that opposition, thou didst
+show thyself possessed of a spirit which has won my respect; and unless
+thou dost already repent thy boldness, I will confess I am very grateful
+to thee, that thou didst grasp thy sword in my cause. For which reason,
+when we are again free, I will beseech the admiral to grant thee thy
+wish, and immediately receive thee into my service, as a pupil in war."
+
+"And how is your worship to be freed?" said Lorenzo, disconsolately.
+"Sure am I, Don Panfilo will no more regard your worship's honour and
+dignity than he did the privileges of the licentiate Vasques de Ayllon,
+the agent of the holy monks of San Geronimo, and, what is more, an
+_oidor_ of the king himself, whom, notwithstanding all these titles, he
+imprisoned and banished, for thwarting him in a small matter."
+
+"I have, in my own present situation, a sufficient and
+never-to-be-forgotten proof of his violence and injustice," said Amador.
+"Nevertheless, I entertain hopes of being soon at freedom; for if some
+lucky opportunity do not enable me myself to break my bonds, I am
+assured, the news of this most causeless and tyrannical outrage will, in
+some way, be carried to the ears of my kinsman, the knight Calavar;
+after which, I shall be very confident of liberation, and, after
+liberation, as I may add, of satisfaction on the body of my wronger.
+But, before we give ourselves up to despondence, let us see in what
+manner we may be able to help ourselves. We should at least look a
+little to the various entrances that seem to lead into this dungeon."
+
+The apartment was spacious, but low; a narrow casement opened on one
+side, at the distance of six feet from the floor, and admitted the
+moonbeams, by which the captives were enabled to conduct their
+examination. The door, through which they had entered, was strongly
+barricaded on the outside. A passage leading to the interior, was
+similarly secured, and equally impassable. The neophyte, with a sigh,
+turned to the casement. A thick grating defended it, and shut out all
+hopes of escape.
+
+"We can do nothing, unless assisted from without," said Amador.--"I
+would to heaven, I had kept my knaves at my side! With such a wary
+servant as Baltasar at my back, and so faithful a desperado as Lazaro at
+my side, I should have made another sort of departure from that abhorred
+tower. The varlets are perhaps sleeping in security, without a thought
+of their master. Nay, by my faith, it is not probable they should give
+themselves to rest, without being made acquainted with my instructions
+for the night. Perhaps they may be lurking in the neighbourhood, ready
+to hear my call, and to obey it! At all events, senor secretary, I would
+thou couldst mount to those iron stanchions, and take note of what is
+passing on the outside."
+
+"_Iron!_" cried the secretary quickly: "by San Iago of Compostella! a
+thought strikes me. I know well, senor, that in these lands, iron has
+almost the value of gold, and is too scarce to be wasted on the defences
+of a temporary dungeon, where it might be stolen too, at the first
+opportunity, by the Indians."
+
+"Dost thou mean to say, that these bars are of wood?" demanded Amador.
+
+"Indeed, I think so, senor; and if I had but a knife or dagger, and the
+means of climbing into the window, I would warrant to be at liberty
+before morning."
+
+"Here is a poniard, of which the villains forgot to divest me," said
+Amador. "Strike it against the stanchions:--if they be of wood, we have
+much hope of freeing ourselves."
+
+The secretary did as he was directed. He raised himself a-tiptoe, and
+the sharp weapon buried itself in the flimsy barrier.
+
+"If I had but something to stand on," he cried eagerly, "how soon might
+we not be free!"
+
+"There is neither stool nor chair in this vile den," said Don Amador;
+"but I will not shame to give thee the support of my shoulder, and the
+more readily, that I think thy slight frame would be incapable of
+supporting my own greater weight.--Pause not," he continued, observing
+that Fabueno hesitated: "If thy foot be near my neck, I shall know it is
+not the foot of an enemy.--I will kneel to take thee on my back, as the
+Saracen camel does to his master.--Stretch thyself to thy full height,
+so as to cut through the tops of the bars; after which, without further
+carving, thou canst easily wrench them from their places."
+
+Fabueno submitted to the will of the novice, and Amador rising without
+much effort under his weight, he was soon in a position to operate to
+advantage.
+
+"Why dost thou falter?" demanded the novice, as Lorenzo, after making
+one or two gashes in the wood, suddenly ceased his labour.
+
+"Senor," replied the secretary, in a low voice, "there is a guard at a
+little distance, sitting under the shadow of the pyramid. A cavalier
+stands in advance, watching--It is the captain Salvatierra!"
+
+"May heaven strike me with pains and death," cried Amador, with an
+abrupt ardour, that nearly tumbled the secretary from his station, "if I
+do not covet the blood of that false and cowardly traitor! who, after
+hiding his wrath under the cloak of magnanimity and religion, was the
+first to seize upon me, and that from behind!"
+
+"What is to be done, senor?" demanded Fabueno, in a whisper. "He will
+discover me; and even if I can remove the grating, there will be no
+possibility to descend without observation."
+
+"Cut through the wood as silently as thou canst," said Amador; "and
+then, when the window is open, I will myself spring to the earth, and so
+occupy the dastard's notice, that thou shall escape without peril. Cut
+on, and fear not."
+
+The secretary obeyed, but had not yet divided a single stake, when
+suddenly a noise was heard as of the clattering of armour, as well as
+the voice of Salvatierra exclaiming furiously,
+
+"To your bows, ye vagabonds! Quick and hotly! Drive your shafts through
+and through! Shoot!"
+
+"Descend!" said Amador.
+
+But before the secretary could follow his counsel, here came four
+cross-bow shafts rattling violently into the window; and Fabueno, with a
+loud cry, sprang, or rather fell, to the floor.
+
+"Have the knaves struck thee?" demanded Amador, as he raised the
+groaning youth in his arms.
+
+"Ay, senor!" replied the youth, faintly, "I shall never see the golden
+kings of Mexico!"
+
+"Be of better heart," said Amador, leading him to where the moonlight
+shone brightest on the floor. "Art thou struck in the body?--If thou
+diest, be certain I will revenge thee.--Where art thou hurt?"
+
+"I know not," replied Lorenzo, piteously; "but I know I shall die.--O
+heaven! this is a pang more bitter than death!--Must I die?"
+
+"Be comforted," said the novice, cheeringly; "the arrow has only pierced
+thy arm! I will snap it asunder, and withdraw it. Fear not: there is no
+peril in such hurt; and I will bear witness thou hast won it most
+honourably."
+
+"Will I not die then?" cried Fabueno, with joy. "Pho! it was the first
+time I was ever hurt, and I judged of the wound only by the agony. Pho,
+indeed! 'tis but a scratch!"
+
+"Thou bearest it valiantly," said Amador, binding his scarf round the
+wound; "and I have no doubt thou wilt make a worthy soldier.--But what
+is now to be done? If thou thinkest thou hast strength to support me for
+a minute or two, I will clamber to the window myself, and remove the
+bars, without fear the arrows of these varlets can do me much harm
+through my armour."
+
+"They are not above three-score yards distant," said Fabueno, "and,
+senor, I feel a little faint. I know not, moreover, how I could escape,
+even if your honour should be so lucky as to reach the ground."
+
+"I should not have forsaken thee, Lorenzo," said the cavalier, giving
+over, with a sigh, all hope of escape. "There is nothing more to be
+done.--The foul fiend seize the knave that struck thee, and the dastard
+that commanded the shot! I would to heaven I had beaten him
+soundly.--How feelest thou now? If thou canst sleep, it will be well."
+
+"I have no more pain," said the secretary, "but feel a sort of
+exhaustion, which will doubtless be relieved by rest."
+
+"Sleep then," said Amador, "and have a care that thy wounded member be
+not oppressed by the weight of thy body. I will myself presently follow
+thy example. If aught should occur to disturb thee, even though it
+should be but the pain of thy hurt, scruple not to arouse me."
+
+The neophyte watched till persuaded the secretary was asleep; then
+devoutly repeating a prayer, he stretched himself on his hard mat with
+as much tranquillity as if reposing on a goodly bed in his own
+mountain-castle, and was soon lost to his troubles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+The cavalier was roused from his slumbers by a cause at first
+incomprehensible. The moonlight had vanished from the prison, and deep
+obscurity had succeeded; but in the little light remaining, he saw, as
+he started up, the figures of several men, one of whom had been tugging
+at his shoulder, and now whispered to him, as he instinctively grasped
+at his dagger,
+
+"Peace, cavalier! I am a friend, and I give you liberty."
+
+"I will thank thee for the gift, when I am sure I enjoy it," said the
+neophyte, already on his feet; "I remember thy voice--thou art one of
+the followers of the knave Narvaez?"
+
+"I am one who laments, without extenuating, the folly of the general,"
+said the voice of Duero. "But tarry not to question. Hasten,--thy horse
+is ready."
+
+"Where is the youth Fabueno? It is not in my power to desert the
+secretary."
+
+"Here, senor!" whispered Lorenzo. "I am ready."
+
+"Ah, friend Fabueno! I am glad to hear thee speak so cheerily;--it
+assures me thy wound does not afflict thee.--And my varlets, senor?"
+
+"They wait for thee, Don Amador. Delay not: the door is open. The
+magician will guide thee to thy kinsman.--Commend me to Cortes; and if
+thou art at any time found fighting on the pyramid of Zempoala,
+remember that Duero is not thine enemy."
+
+"By heaven, I should think I dream!" said Amador. "Stay, senor! I would
+thank thee for thy honourable and most noble benevolence; and, in
+addition, would tax thy charity in favour of a certain Moor----"
+
+"_Tetragrammaton!_ thou pratest as if thou wert among thy friends in
+Christendom! and of infidels too, as if there were no Christians to be
+thought of!" said a voice, in which Amador instantly recognised the
+tones of the enchanter. "I said, the captive should be freed; but never
+a jot that he should not be reduced to bonds again by his own folly!--Be
+silent, and follow me."
+
+The neophyte had collected his scattered senses, and instantly assuming
+the prudence, which, he now understood, was necessary to his safety, he
+issued from the prison. The moon was sinking behind the vast and
+majestic peaks of the interior. A deep shadow lay over the great square,
+on one side of which stood the dungeon; and only on the top of the
+principal tower trembled a lingering ray. A silence still deeper than
+the darkness, invested the Indian city; and Amador could distinctly hear
+the foot-fall of a sentinel as he strode to and fro over the terrace of
+the pyramid. He looked to that quarter, whence, as he judged, had come
+the shafts which had so nearly robbed him of his fellow-prisoner. The
+crossbowmen slept on their post, in the mild and quiet air, at the base
+of the temple.
+
+"Give me thy hand, Fabueno," said Amador, drawing his poniard again from
+the sheath. "I will shield thee from the dogs this time. And now that I
+snuff the breath of freedom! I think it will need a craftier knave's
+trick than that of Salvatierra, to deprive me of it a second time."
+
+Following the magician, as he stole cautiously along, the brothers in
+misfortune crept on with a stealthy pace, under the shadows of buildings
+and trees; till, exchanging the more exposed openness of the square for
+the safer gloom of a street, they advanced with greater assurance and
+rapidity. The stone dwellings of the Tlatoani gave place to the earthen
+and wicker cabins of the suburbs.--The gray glimpses of morning had not
+yet visited the east, when they reached the extreme edge of the town,
+and betook themselves to the covert of a clump of trees, under which, in
+the figures that were there visible, Don Amador recognised with joy his
+war-horse and his followers.
+
+"Rejoice in silence," said Botello, interrupting his raptures; "for
+there is an ear at no great distance very ready to hear thee. Mount and
+be ready.--Senor secretary, thy sorrel is tied to the mimosa.--You can
+look to your equipments a little, while I see if heaven will not confirm
+the fate of visions; for I dreamed I should ride back to Cortes on a
+good roan charger to-day."
+
+The magician disappeared, and Amador, scarcely suppressing his ardour,
+when he found that not only his attendants and horses, but even the
+well-fleshed sword wrested from him in the evening, was in readiness to
+be restored to him, grasped it with exultation, and sprang into the
+saddle. Then passing towards Fabueno, and finding that his arm caused
+him much pain in the act of mounting, he assisted him to ascend with his
+own hand; a condescension that went to the heart of the secretary. From
+Fabueno also he learned, in a few words, somewhat of the secret of their
+liberation. Less than an hour after Amador had fallen asleep, and while
+Lorenzo was still kept awake by the pain of his wound, the door of the
+prison was opened, and Botello thrust in; who comforted the secretary
+with a mystic, but still an unequivocal assurance of freedom before
+sunrise; and commanded him not to wake the novice, but to follow his
+example--he would need invigoration from slumber to support the toils of
+the coming day. What previous understanding might have existed between
+the enchanter and the senor Duero, he knew not; but, certain he was,
+Botello had predicted a speedy deliverance for all; and all were now
+delivered.
+
+"I have often considered," said the novice, thoughtfully, "that the
+existence of magical powers, either for the purposes of prediction or
+enchantment, was incompatible with the known goodness and wisdom of God;
+for surely if the power to foresee would have added any thing to the
+happiness of man, God would not have denied it to men generally. And as
+for the powers of enchantment, as they can only be used for good or bad
+purposes, it seems to me that to employ them for the first, would be to
+accuse the Divinity of an insufficient benevolence; while to exercise
+them for the last, would imply a supposition that heaven had not all men
+equally under its protection. This, therefore, is my opinion; though I
+must confess that, sometimes, when governed more by passion or
+imagination than by reason, I have had my misgivings on the subject.
+Nevertheless, good Fabueno, in this particular case of Botello, I must
+advise thee not too much to abuse thy credulity; for, I think, all
+circumstances go to show, he grounded his prophecy of our deliverance
+more on a knowledge of the resolutions of the good senor Duero than on
+the revelations of stars or spirits. Yet must I confess," continued
+Amador, "that this very goodness of Duero, implying, as it truly does, a
+state of opposition and rebellion to the will of the uncivil Narvaez,
+his general, is so very miraculous, as almost itself to look like
+magic."
+
+Before the secretary could reply, the sound of hoofs was heard
+approaching; and Botello, as they discovered by his voice, rode up to
+the trees.
+
+"The dream was true, the imp that speaks to slumber was not a liar!" he
+cried, exultingly. "We leave the jailor afoot; and Kalidon-Sadabath
+shall swing on a galloping horse. God is over all, by night and by
+day, afoot and on horse, in battle and in flight, Amen!--Now ride,
+and Santiago for Spain!"--He shouted this sudden cry with a voice
+that amazed Amador, after his often-repeated injunctions for
+silence,--"Santiago for Spain! San Pedro for the Invaders! and San Pablo
+for flying prisoners! Whip and spur, guide and cheer! and rocks and
+thorns spread over the path of pursuers!"
+
+As Don Amador anticipated, the shout of the lunatic, for such he began
+to esteem Botello, was carried even to the head-quarters of the
+Biscayan. An arquebuse was discharged from the pyramid, and, as the
+fugitives began their flight, the flourish of a trumpet in one quarter
+of the town, and the roll of a drum in another, convinced them that the
+alarm had been given, and was spreading from post to post in a manner
+that might prove exceedingly inconvenient. The cavalier pressed to the
+side of Botello,--an achievement of some little difficulty, for he
+perceived his guide was well mounted.
+
+"Senor Magico," he cried, as he galloped in company with him, "dost thou
+know thou couldst not have fallen upon a better plan to oppose our
+flight, and perhaps reduce us again to bonds, than by the indulgence of
+this same untimely and obstreperous shouting?"
+
+"Trust in God, and fear not," replied the magician. "This day shalt thou
+look upon the face of Cortes; and though the enemy follow us, yet shall
+his pursuit be vain and unlucky."
+
+"I will allow that such may be the termination," said Amador; "yet,
+notwithstanding, can I perceive no advantage in being pursued; but much
+that is to be deprecated, inasmuch as we shall exhaust that strength of
+our horses in our hurry, which might have been reserved for a more
+honourable contingency."
+
+"Your valour will by-and-by perceive there is more wisdom than looks to
+the moment," said Botello, coolly, without slacking his pace: "and,
+provided you can keep your followers from swerving from the path, and
+that inexperienced youth from falling out of his saddle, I will, with
+my head, answer for your safety."
+
+Amador dropped behind a little: Lazaro and Baltasar required no
+instructions to keep them in the neighbourhood of their master; and the
+secretary, though complaining that he rode in pain, professed himself
+able to keep up with the party. From his henchmen, as he rode, Don
+Amador obtained but little to unravel the mystery of his escape. The two
+attendants had been quartered alone in a deserted building, in the
+garden of which they were instructed to provide for their steeds. They
+had been roused by a cavalier, who commanded them to follow him to their
+master, in token of whose authority he showed them the well-known blade
+of the novice. He had conducted them to the grove, and left them, with
+charges to remain, as they had done, in tranquillity, until the
+appearance of Don Amador.
+
+At the dawn of day, the neophyte became convinced he had ridden more
+than the distance which, he supposed, separated the camps of the rival
+generals; and wondering at the absence of all signs of life in the
+forest through which he was passing, he again betook himself to Botello.
+
+The magician had halted on the brow of an eminence, where, though the
+dense wood, as well as the obscurity of the hour, greatly contracted the
+sphere of vision, he looked back as if striving to detect the figures of
+pursuers among the thick shadows. The shouts of men were heard far
+behind; but this circumstance, instead of filling the mind of Botello
+with alarm, gave, on the contrary, to his countenance an expression of
+great satisfaction.
+
+"We are pursued, enchanter; and yet, I perceive neither tent nor
+out-post of thy friends, to give us refuge from our enemies," said Don
+Amador.
+
+"Let them come," cried Botello, tranquilly: "It is worse for the stag,
+when the pack is scattered; but better for the kite, when the pheasants
+have broke the covey."
+
+"There may be much wisdom in thy tropes, as well as in thine actions,"
+said the novice; "yet am I slow to discover it in either. Whether we are
+to be considered the stag or the hounds, the hawk or the pheasants,
+entirely passes my comprehension; but sure am I that, in either case,
+our safety may be considered quite as metaphorical as thy speech. I
+understood from thee, last night, and I remember it very well, because
+it was that communication which exasperated me into a quarrel with the
+governor,--that the river whereon Cortes was encamped, was but a league
+from Zempoala; yet am I persuaded we have galloped twice that distance."
+
+"He travels no straight road who creeps through the country of a
+foeman," said Botello, resuming his journey, though at a more moderate
+gait than before; "and Don Amador should be content, if he can avoid the
+many scouts and vedettes that infest the path, by riding thrice the two
+leagues he has compassed already."
+
+"Fogoso is strong, and, it seems to me, his spirit revives at every new
+step he takes through these fresh forests," said the cavalier; "yet even
+for his sake, were there no other reason, would I be fain to pick the
+shortest road that leads to the camp of Cortes. I am greatly concerned
+about my young friend, the secretary, who, as thou hast doubtless
+learned, was last night shot through the arm with an arrow, by those
+knaves who kept watch at the window of the prison; and therefore, for
+his sake, am I desirous to find a resting place as soon as possible. If
+I should give thee my counsel, (a thing I am loath to do, as thou
+seemest experienced in all the intricacies of this woody wilderness, in
+which I am a stranger,) it would be, to forsake all these crooked and
+endless by-ways without delay, and strike upon the shortest path,
+without consideration of any small party of scouts we might meet. For,
+even excluding the wounded Fabueno, we are here together four strong
+men, armed, and well mounted, who, fighting our way to freedom, would
+doubtless be an over-match for twice the number of enemies."
+
+"The youth must learn the science of a soldier," said Botello, "and
+suffering is the first letter of its alphabet. Happy will he be if, in
+the life he covets, he encounter no more agony than he shall endure
+to-day. When we have time to rest, I will anoint his arm with a salve
+more powerful than the unguents of a physician.--What I do, senor, and
+whither I guide, are best; as you will acknowledge, when the journey is
+over. Why should your honour desire to exchange blows with poor scouts?
+I shall win better thanks of the knight Calavar, when I conduct you to
+him unharmed.--Faster, senor--the pursuers are gaining on us."
+
+The neophyte gave the rein to Fogoso, and greatly inflamed by the
+mention of his kinsman's name, rode by the side of Botello, to demand of
+him such intelligence of the knight as it might be in his power to
+impart. Little more, however, had the astrologer to communicate than
+Amador had already acquired. The knight Calavar was in the camp of
+Cortes, among the most honoured of his followers, if such he could be
+called, who divided the perils, without claiming to share the profits of
+the campaign, and fought less when he was commanded or entreated than
+when moved by his own wayward impulses. That he was in good bodily
+health, was also another point on which Botello was able to satisfy
+curiosity; and as he made no mention of another subject, on which Don
+Amador scrupled to speak, he was glad to believe the distractions of the
+new world had given some relief to the mental maladies of his kinsman.
+
+A very little circumstance served, however, almost at the same moment to
+reveal one of his own infirmities. As the morning dawned, and objects
+were seen more distinctly, he began to bend an eye of observation on the
+horse which Botello rode,--a spirited beast, as he had already
+determined, by many evidences of fleetness and mettle. When he came to
+regard it more closely, he perceived, by signs not to be mistaken, that
+it was no other than the animal which had, the day before, caracoled
+under the weight of Salvatierra. Botello grinned, when an exclamation
+made him acquainted with the thoughts of the cavalier. To the demand
+where and how he had obtained possession of the charger, the answer was
+brief and significant. The captain Salvatierra, like many other officers
+of Narvaez, preferred rather to waste the moonlight nights with the
+olive-cheeked Dalilahs of the suburbs, than with enemies and prisoners,
+even though they might be men of such merit and distinction as Don
+Amador. This was a peculiarity with which (he did not say whether by the
+instrumentality of his art, or the intervention of human agents,)
+Botello had contrived to become acquainted; and being also apprised of
+Salvatierra's favourite retreat, which was at no great distance from the
+grove wherein Don Amador had found his followers, he did not hesitate to
+deprive him of so superfluous an appendage as his charger.
+
+"By St. John!" cried the neophyte, in a heat, "I would have bestowed
+upon thee more cruzadoes than thou canst gain by a month's exercise of
+thine art, hadst thou but made me acquainted with his hiding-place. I
+now know, the man who could strike a boy, and attack one he hated from
+behind, is a most execrable caitiff, more worthy of misprision than
+revenge; but despite all this, I should have begun this day's labours
+with more tranquillity and self-approval, had I but enjoyed two moments
+of conference with him previously."
+
+"Your worship may have a day for acquitting scores with him more
+conveniently than you could have done this morning," said Botello.
+
+"Hark'ee, Botello," cried Amador, eagerly--"It is thy absolute opinion
+we are at this moment pursued,--is it not?"
+
+"I do not doubt it--I hear shouts behind, ever and anon."
+
+"I will tell thee what I will do," continued the neophyte: "I will tarry
+here with Lazaro and Baltasar: thou, if thou thinkest fit, canst advance
+with the secretary--I should be loath to bring him into combat before
+his wound is healed, and before Lazaro has given him some instructions
+in the management of his arms----"
+
+"All this thou wilt do then," said Botello, interrupting him, "on the
+presumption that Salvatierra is among the pursuers? Your worship may
+satisfy yourself, the vigilant cavalier is, at this moment, either
+abiding the reproof of Narvaez for his negligence, or biting his thumbs
+with disgust, as, among mounted captains, he walks through the streets
+of Zempoala. Horses are not in this land so plentiful as rabbits; and I
+thank the blessed influences, which have given to me so good a friend
+this day," he went on, patting the neck of the steed,--"so very good,
+that, until there comes a new fleet from Cuba, the captain Salvatierra
+will be scarce able to follow after his charger. This may satisfy your
+honour on one point. As to another, I beg to assure you, Don Amador,
+that I am no lying juggler, selling my revelations for money. I tell
+what is told me, when I am moved by the spirit that is given to dwell
+within me; and neither real of silver nor doubloon of gold can otherwise
+buy me to open my lips!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+To the surprise, and much also to the dissatisfaction, of Don Amador,
+the noon-day sun still found him struggling, with his companions, among
+the rocks and forests. It seemed to him, from a review of his journey,
+that he had been doubling and turning, for the whole morning, like a boy
+at blindman's-buff, within a circle of a few leagues; and though he
+could not, upon the closest inspection, detect a single tree or brook
+which he remembered to have passed before, he shrewdly suspected it was
+Botello's intention to make him well acquainted with the forest, before
+dismissing him from its depths. It was however vain to wonder, and
+equally fruitless to complain. For the whole morning, at different
+intervals, he was assured, sometimes from hearing their shouts in the
+thicket, sometimes from beholding them from a hill-top crossing an
+opposing eminence, that his pursuers were close at his heels: of which
+fact, and the necessity it presented to move with becoming caution, the
+enchanter took advantage in the construction of his answers to every
+remonstrance. At length, perhaps two hours after noon, the travellers
+approached a hill, whence, as Botello assured them, they might look down
+upon the River of Canoes. This was the more agreeable intelligence,
+since the day was intolerably hot, and they almost longed for the
+bursting of a tempest which had been brooding in the welkin for the last
+half hour, the drenching of which, as they thought, would be far more
+sufferable than the combustion of sunshine. They reached the hill, and
+from its bushy and stony side, looked down upon the valley, where the
+river, or, more properly speaking, the rivulet, went foaming and
+fretting over its rugged channel. On the hither side of the stream, the
+vale was bare and sandy, and on the other, though doubtless partaking of
+the same character, the trees which bordered upon the water, making
+divers agreeable groves, entirely shut out the view, so that Don Amador
+saw not, as he had fondly anticipated, the encampment of the invader of
+Mexico, and the resting-place of his kinsman. But if he beheld not what
+he so much desired to see, he surveyed another spectacle, which caused
+him no little wonder. At a short distance, and almost at the bottom of
+the hill, he was struck with the unexpected apparition of the army of
+Narvaez, drawn out in order of battle, as if awaiting the approach of a
+foe, and commanding the passage of the river. He rubbed his eyes with
+astonishment; but there was no delusion in the view.
+
+"Senor," said Botello, in a low voice, as if reading his thoughts, "you
+marvel to see this army, which we left sleeping at the temple, arrived
+at the river before us; but you forget Zempoala lies only a league from
+the river."
+
+"Let us descend, and cross to the other side," said Amador, impatiently.
+"I see the very spot where sits the knave Narvaez on his horse; and if
+the valiant Cortes have it in intention, as I do not doubt, to give him
+battle, I should sharply regret to watch the conflict from this
+hill-side."
+
+"I told Narvaez, himself," said the magician, with a sort of triumph,
+"he should not join battle with Cortes to-day; and he shall not!--When
+the time comes, Don Amador may join in the combat, if he will.--Be
+content, senor: we cannot stir from this hill without being observed,
+and captured or slain. The thunder roars, the bolt glitters in the
+heaven; the storm that levels the tall ceibas, will open us a path
+presently, even through that angry army."
+
+Almost while Botello spoke, and before the cavalier could add words to
+the disinclination with which he regarded so untimely a delay, there
+burst such a thunderbolt over his head, as made Fogoso, in common with
+every other horse in the party, cower to the earth, as if stricken by
+its violence. This was immediately followed by a succession of separate
+explosions and of multisonous volleys, less resembling the furious roar
+of the ordnance of a great army than of the artillery of volcanoes; and
+it became immediately necessary for each man to dismount, and allay, as
+he could, the frantic terrors of his charger. In the midst of this
+sublime prelude, the rushing of a mighty wind was added to the orchestre
+of the elements; and, in an instant, the face of day, the black vapours
+above and the varied valley below, were hidden in a cloud of dust, sand,
+and leaves, stripped in a moment from the plains and the forest; and in
+an instant also, the army of Narvaez was snatched from the eyes of the
+cavalier. Presently, also, came another sound, heard even above the peal
+of the thunder and the rush of the wind; the roar of a great rain,
+booming along like a moving cataract, was mingled with the harsh music
+of nature; and Don Amador looked anxiously round for some place of
+shelter. Happily, though no cavern welcomed them into its gloomy
+security, there was a spot hard by, where certain tall and massive rocks
+lay so jammed and wedged together, as to present most of the
+characteristics of a chamber, except that there was wanting the fourth
+side, as well as the roof, unless indeed the outstretched branches of
+the great trees that grew among these fragments, might have been
+considered a suitable canopy. A spring bubbled up from among these mossy
+ruins, giving nourishment to a thick growth of brambles and weeds, which
+added their own tangled covert to the stouter shelter of the rocks and
+trunks. Into this nook the party, guided by Botello, to whom it seemed
+not unfamiliar, penetrated forthwith; and here they found themselves, in
+a great measure, sheltered from the rain. Here also, taking advantage of
+a period of inactivity, and at the instigation of Don Amador, who
+perceived with solicitude the visage of the secretary covered not only
+with languor, but flushed with fatigue and fever, the enchanter set
+about relieving the distresses of the youth. He removed the bandage and
+garment, examined the wound, bathed the inflamed member in the cool
+waters of the fountain; and having thus commenced proceedings with so
+reasonable a preliminary, he drew a little silver vessel from his
+wallet, containing the unguent 'blessed,' as he had before said, 'of the
+fat of a pagan's heart,' and which, as may be repeated to those who
+might doubt the efficacy of so remarkable a compound, was not only much
+used, but highly commended by the Christian soldiers of that day in
+America. The magician commanded Fabueno to repeat a paternoster as
+slowly and devoutly as possible, (for none of Botello's conjurations
+were conducted without the appearance of deep devotion;) and mumbling
+himself another, or perhaps repeating some superstitious invocation, he
+applied the ointment, previously spread over green leaves, to the wound;
+and when it was again bound up, the secretary declared its anguish was
+much mitigated, as well as his whole body greatly refreshed.
+
+Don Amador regarded the youth for a moment with much grave kindness; and
+then said,--
+
+"I owe this man so much gratitude for the good he seems to have, and
+doubtless has, done thee, whom I now, Fabueno,--at least until I can
+receive instructions from my kinsman, the admiral,--must esteem as being
+my ward and follower, that I am unwilling to offend him by seeming to
+throw any discredit on his remedy. Nevertheless I am not less bound to
+instruct thee with counsel, than to repay him with thanks; for which
+reason I must charge thee to remember, that, when any miracle of a very
+unusual or unnecessary character is wrought upon thyself, much more of
+it may possibly be the product of thine own imagination, than of that
+agent which seems to thee to be the only cause."
+
+"Faith will work miracles, but fancy will not!" said Botello, gravely.
+
+"If I were a better philosopher, good Botello," said Don Amador, "I
+would attempt to show thee how that which thou callest faith, is, in
+such a case as this, nothing but imagination in very fervent action,
+differing as much from that calm assurance which constitutes true faith,
+as doth a potter's pitcher gilded to resemble true gold, from a golden
+pitcher; which difference, in the latter case, may be instantly
+detected, by ringing them. And here I may tell thee, Botello, by way of
+continuing the figure, that, as the earthen vessel will really tinkle
+more pleasantly than the vessel of gold, so also will the excited
+imagination give forth a sound so much more captivating than the
+tranquil utterance of belief, that, in attempting to distinguish between
+them, men are often seduced into error. Nevertheless, I will not quarrel
+with thee on this subject, for I perceive thou art religious; and what
+thy religion does not blame in thee, I have no right to censure."
+
+This was a degree of liberality doubtless produced rather by the amiable
+feeling of gratitude than any natural tolerance of disposition or
+education; for the neophyte was in all respects a representative of the
+nobler spirits of his age, in whom the good qualities inherited from
+nature were dashed, and sometimes marred, by the tenets of a bad
+philosophy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+
+This discourse of the novice, together with the magical unction of the
+wound, occupied so much time, that when it was finished, the storm had
+in a great measure passed away; and Botello, either feeling his
+inability to reply to it with an allegory of equal beauty, or despairing
+to overcome the scepticism of the cavalier, instead of answering, rose
+from his seat, and led the way to the post on the hill-side, which they
+had lately deserted.
+
+Drops of rain still occasionally fell from the heavens, or were whirled
+by the passing gusts from the boughs; the clouds still careered
+menacingly in the atmosphere; and though the sunbeams ever and anon
+burst through their rent sides, and glimmered with splendour on the
+shivered tops and lacerated roots of many a fallen tree, it was still
+doubtful at what moment the capricious elements might resume their
+conflict. The river, that was before a brook, now rolled along a turbid
+torrent, and seemed, every moment, to augment in volume and fury, as its
+short-lived tributaries poured down their foaming treasures from the
+hills----
+
+"The boy to his bed, and the fool to his fire-side!" cried the
+enchanter, with a sudden exultation, as, pointing down the hill, he
+disclosed to the cavalier the valley deprived of its late visiters. The
+armed men of Cadmus had not risen from the soil with a more magical
+celerity than had the soldiers of Narvaez vanished: the valley was
+silent and solitary. "I said the tempest should open for us a path!"
+continued Botello; "and lo! the spirit which was given to me does not
+lie!"
+
+"I must confess," quoth Don Amador, with surprise, "you have in this
+instance, as in several others, verified your prediction. What juggler's
+trick is this? Where is the hound Narvaez?"
+
+"Galloping back to Zempoala, to amuse himself with the dancers on the
+pyramid," said Botello, with a grin of saturnine delight. "He came out
+against Cortes, and his heart failed him in the tempest: he loves
+better, and so do his people, the comfort of the temple, than the strife
+of these tropical elements. Wo be to him who would contend with a strong
+man, when he hides his head from the shower! He shall vapour in the
+morning, but tremble when the enemy comes to him in dreams!"
+
+"And I am to understand, then," said Amador, with a voice of high scorn
+and displeasure, "that these effeminate hinds, after drawing out their
+forces in the face of an enemy, have taken to their heels, like village
+girls in a summer festival, at the dashing of rain?"
+
+"It is even so," said Botello: "they are now hiding themselves in their
+quarters; while those veterans who awaited them beyond the river, stand
+yet to their arms, and blush even to look for the shelter of a tree."
+
+"Let us descend, then," said the cavalier, "and join them without delay;
+for I believe those men of Cortes are true soldiers, and I long to make
+their acquaintance."
+
+"It is needful we do so, and that quickly," said the astrologer; "for
+this river, though by midnight it shall again be shrunk to a fairy
+brook, will, in an hour, be impassable."
+
+It required not many moments to convey the party to the banks of the
+stream; but when they had reached it, it was apparent, it could not be
+forded without peril. Its channel was wild and rocky; fallen and
+shivered trees fringed its borders with a bristling net-work, over and
+among which the current raved with a noisy turbulence. The cavalier
+regarded it with solicitude; but perceiving that the magician was urging
+his horse into it without hesitation, he prepared forthwith to follow
+his example. He saw, however, that the secretary faltered; and feeling
+as much pity for his inexperience, as commiseration for the helplessness
+to which, as he supposed, the arrow-hurt had reduced him, he rode up to
+him with words of comfort and encouragement.
+
+"Thou perceivest," he said, "that Botello goes into the water without
+fear. Thou shall pass, Lorenzo, without danger; for besides placing
+Lazaro on one side of thee, I will myself take station on the other. If
+thou shouldst, by any mischance, find thyself out of depth, all that
+thou canst do, will be to trust the matter to thy horse, who is
+doubtless too sagacious to thrust himself into any superfluous jeopardy.
+Be of good heart: this is a small matter: thou wilt one day, perhaps, if
+thou continuest to desire the life and fame of a soldier, have to pass a
+more raging torrent than this, and that, too, in the teeth of an enemy."
+
+The secretary blushed at his fears, and willing to retrieve his
+character, dashed into the flood with an alacrity that carried him
+beyond his patron. For a moment he advanced steadily and securely, at
+the heels of Botello; but becoming alarmed at the sight of a tree
+surging down towards him, he veered a little from the direction, and
+instantly found his horse swimming under him. Before Lazaro or the
+cavalier could approach to his aid, his discomposure got so much the
+better of his discretion, that he began to jerk and pull at the reins
+in such a manner as to infuse some of his own disorder into the steed.
+Don Amador beheld the sorrel nag not only plunging and rearing in the
+water, but turning his head down the stream, and swimming with the
+current.
+
+"Give thy horse the reins, and perplex him not, Lorenzo!" he cried,
+urging the dauntless Fogoso to his rescue; "jerk not, pull not, or thou
+wilt be in great danger."
+
+But before the secretary could obey the voice of Don Amador, and before
+the latter could reach him, the hand of Lazaro had grasped the bridle,
+and turned the animal's head to the bank.
+
+"Suppose thou wert in the midst of a company of fighting spearmen,
+instead of this spluttering gutter," said the man-at-arms, in his ear,
+"wouldst thou distract thy beast in this school-boy fashion?"
+
+The contemptuous composure of the soldier did more to restore the
+spirits of Fabueno, than the counsels of the cavalier; and yielding up
+the guidance of himself as well as his animal, to Lazaro, he was soon
+out of danger.
+
+In the meanwhile, Don Amador, in his hurry to give the secretary relief,
+had taken so little note of his own situation, that when he beheld his
+ward in safety, he discovered that he was himself even more disagreeably
+situated. A few yards below him was a cluster of rocks, against which,
+as he discerned at a glance, it would be fatal to be dashed, but which
+he saw not how he could avoid, inasmuch as the bank above them was so
+palisaded by the sharp and jutting boughs of a prostrate tree, that it
+seemed impossible he could effect a landing there. While balancing in
+doubt, at a time when doubt, as he well knew, was jeopardy, he heard a
+voice suddenly crying to him from the bank,
+
+"What ho, senor! holla! 'Ware the rocks, and spur on: your hope is in
+the tree-top."
+
+While Don Amador instinctively obeyed this command, and urged his steed
+full towards the threatening branches, he raised his head, and perceived
+a cavalier on a dun horse riding into the water, above the rocks hard by
+the tree, as if to convince him of the practicability of the passage,
+and the shallowness of the water. This unknown auxiliary stretched forth
+his hand, and doing to Amador the service rendered by Lazaro to the
+secretary, the neophyte instantly found himself in safety, and ascending
+the bank of the river. Not till his charge was on dry land, did the
+stranger relax his hand; and then perhaps the sooner, that Don Amador
+seized it with a most cordial gripe, and while he held it, said,
+fervently,--
+
+"I swear to thee, cavalier! I believe thou hast saved me from a great
+danger, if thou hast not absolutely preserved my life: for which good
+deed, besides giving thee my most unfeigned present thanks, I avow
+myself, till the day of my death, enslaved under the necessity to
+requite thee with any honourable risk thou canst hereafter impose."
+
+While Don Amador spoke, he perused the countenance and surveyed the
+figure of his deliverer. He was a man in the prime and midway of life,
+tall and long-limbed, but with a breadth of shoulders and development of
+muscle that proved him, as did the grasp with which he assisted the
+war-horse from the flood, to possess great bodily strength. His face was
+handsome and manly, though with rather delicate features; and a very
+lofty and capacious forehead shone among thin black locks, and under a
+velvet cap worn in a negligent manner, with a medal of a saint draggling
+loosely from it. His beard was black and thin, like his hair, and Amador
+plainly perceived through it the scar of a sword-cut between the chin
+and mouth. His garments were of a fine and dark cloth, without much
+ornament; but his _fanfarrona_, as it was called in the language of the
+cavaliers, was a gold chain of at least thrice the weight and bigness of
+the neophyte's, linked round his neck, and supporting a pendant of
+Christ and the Virgin; and in addition, Don Amador saw on a finger of
+the hand he grasped, a diamond ring of goodly size and lustre. Such was
+the valiant gentleman, who won the friendship of the neophyte not less
+by his ready good will than by his excellent appearance; although this
+last qualification was perhaps not displayed to advantage, inasmuch as
+his whole attire and equipments, as well as the skin and armour of his
+horse, were dripping with wet, as if both had been lately plunged into
+the river or exposed to all the rigour of the storm. He replied to Don
+Amador's courtesies with a frank and open countenance, and a laugh of
+good humour, as if entirely unconscious of any discomfort from his
+reeking condition, or of any merit in the service he had rendered.
+
+"I accept thy offers of friendship," he said, "and very heartily, senor.
+But I vow to thee, when I helped thee out of the stream, I thought I
+should have had to give thee battle the next moment, as a sworn friend
+of Don Panfilo, the Biscayan."
+
+"How little justice there was in that suspicion," said Amador, "you will
+know when I tell you, that, at this moment, next to the satisfaction of
+finding some opportunity to requite your true service, I know of no
+greater pleasure the saints could send me than a fair opportunity to
+cross swords with this ill-mannered general, in serious and mortal
+arbitrement. Know, senor, I am at this moment a captive escaped out of
+the hands of that most dishonourable and unworthy person, seeking my
+way, with my followers, under guidance of a certain conjurer called
+Botello to the camp of the valiant senor Don Hernan Cortes and I rejoice
+in this rencounter the more, because I am persuaded you are yourself a
+true friend of that much-respected commander."
+
+"Ay, by my conscience! you may say so," cried the blithe cavalier; "and
+I would to heaven Cortes had many more friends that love him so well as
+my self. But come, senor; you are hard by his head-quarters.--Yet, under
+favour, let us, before seeking them, say a word to Botello, who, with
+your people, I perceive, has crossed the river."
+
+A few steps of their horses brought the two cavaliers into contact with
+the travellers, with whom Don Amador beheld some half-a-dozen strangers,
+all of hidalgo appearance, on horseback, and dripping with wet like his
+new friend, but, unlike him, armed to the teeth with helm, mail, and
+buckler.
+
+"How now, Botello, _mi querido_?" he cried, as he rode in among the
+party; "what news from my brother Narvaez! and what conjuration wert
+thou enacting, while he was scampering away before the bad weather?"
+
+"Nothing but good, senor!" said Botello, baring his head, and bending it
+to the saddle.
+
+The neophyte was surprised at this mark of homage in the enchanter, whom
+he had found, though neither rude nor presumptuous, not over-burthened
+with servility. Looking round to the other hidalgos, he discovered that
+they all kept their eyes upon his companion with looks of the deepest
+respect. At the same moment, and as the truth entered his mind, he
+caught the eye of his deliverer, and perceived at once, in this stately
+though unarmed cavalier, the person of the renowned Cortes himself. For
+a moment, it seemed as if the general were disposed to meet the
+disclosure with a grave and lofty deportment suitable to his rank; but
+as Don Amador raised his hand to his casque with a gesture of reverence,
+a smile crept over his visage, which was instantly succeeded by a
+good-humoured and familiar laugh.
+
+"Thou seest, senor!" he cried, "we will be masking at times, even
+without much regard either for our enemies or the weather. But trust me,
+caballero, you are welcome; and doubtless not only to myself, but to
+these worthier gentlemen, my friends." And here the general pronounced
+the names of Sandoval, of De Morla, of De Leon, De Olid, and
+others,--all, as was afterwards proved, men of great note among the
+invaders of Mexico. The neophyte saluted them with courtesy, and then,
+turning to the general, said:--
+
+"I am myself called Amador de Leste, a poor hidalgo of Cuenza, a novice
+of the order of St. John of the Holy Hospital, and kinsman of the knight
+Gines Gabriel de Calavar, to seek whom am I come to this land of Mexico,
+and to the tents of your excellency."
+
+All bowed with great respect at this annunciation; and Cortes himself,
+half raising his drooping cap, said:--
+
+"I doubly welcome the cavalier De Leste; and whether he come to honour
+me with the aid of his good sword, or to rob me of the true friendship
+of the knight Calavar, still am I most glad to see him: and glad am I
+that heaven has sent us a kinsman to watch by the side of the good
+knight. Senor," continued the general, anticipating the questions of the
+neophyte, "if you will moderate your impatience a little, until I fulfil
+my duties with my mad friend here, the astrologer, I will be rejoiced in
+person to conduct you to your kinsman."
+
+The courteous manners of Hernan Cortes did more to mollify the ardour of
+the novice than could any degree of stateliness. He smothered his
+impatience, though it was burning with a stronger and an increasing
+flame; while the general proceeded to confer with the magician.
+
+"How is it, Magico mio?" he cried. "I had a deserter this morning, who
+told me thou hadst been entrapped,--that my brother Narvaez had
+cudgelled thee with his own hands, and had some thoughts of hanging
+thee."
+
+"Such is, in part, the truth," said Botello, tranquilly. "He was
+incensed at the stars, and struck me with his foot, because the Spirit
+of the Crystal gave not an answer to his liking."
+
+"Ay, indeed!" cried Cortes, curiously; "and Kalidon hath been speaking
+to him! What said Kalidon-Sadabath of Narvaez?"
+
+"He said that, to-night," replied Botello, with his most solemn
+emphasis, "the foot of Cortes should be on the pyramid, and that,
+to-morrow, the Biscayan should do homage to his rival."
+
+"Ay! and Kalidon told him all this?" said Cortes, quickly, and, as
+Amador thought, angrily.
+
+"He told only that which it was fitting the Biscayan should know," said
+Botello, significantly; "he told him that which brought his forces into
+the field to-day, so that they shall sleep more soundly for their
+labours to-night; and yet he told him, no blow should be struck in the
+field. He showed him many such things; but he told him not, in manner as
+it was written in the heaven and figured in the stone, that to-night
+should his enemy creep upon him as he slept blind and besotted, and
+while his best friends guided the assailant to his bed-side."
+
+"Ay, by my conscience!" cried Cortes, turning with meaning looks to his
+companions; "this Kalidon reads men's thoughts; for it was but an half
+hour since, when I beheld these delicate warriors turning their backs to
+the gust, that I vowed in my heart, I would, to-night, give them a
+lesson for their folly. What thinkest thou, son Sandoval? Will thy
+sun-burnt, lazy fellows of the Rich City march to Zempoala by night?"
+
+"Ay, by night or by day,--whenever they are bidden," said the
+sententious stripling, who, at this early period of the campaign and of
+his life, was not only the favourite of the general, but his second in
+fame. As Don Amador listened to his rough voice, and surveyed his bold
+and frank countenance adorned with a curly beard and hair, both of amber
+hue, he bethought him of the story of the heralds summoning him to
+surrender his post into their hands, and receiving an answer which they
+digested in the nets of the Tlameme, on the road to Tenochtitlan.
+
+"And thou, Juan Velasquez de Leon," said the general, turning to a young
+and powerfully framed cavalier, with a red beard and fierce countenance,
+who, besides being clad in a heavier coat of mail than any other
+present, was more bountifully bedecked with golden chains, and who sat
+on a noble gray mare,--"What sayest thou? Wilt thou play me a bout with
+Narvaez, the captain of thy kinsman, the governor Velasquez?"
+
+"Ay, by my beard, I will!" replied De Leon, with a thick ferocious
+voice, suiting the action to the word, and wringing the rain-drops from
+the beard he had invoked; "for, though I love the governor, I love not
+his dog; and if this godly enchanter will assure me the stars are
+favourable to the enterprise, I will be the last man to say, our two
+hundred and fifty men are no match for the thousand curs that bark at
+the heels of the Biscayan."
+
+"It is written that, if we attack to-night, we shall prevail," said
+Botello.
+
+"If _I_ am permitted to say anything in a matter of such importance,"
+said the neophyte, "I can aver, that if the people of Narvaez design to
+revel away this night, as they did the last, their commanders trifling
+with jugglers and rope-dancers, their guards sleeping on their posts, or
+straying away into the suburbs, as we discovered them when we escaped at
+dawn, it is an opinion which I formed on the spot, that some ten or
+fifteen score of resolute men may take them by surprise, and utterly
+vanquish them."
+
+"I respect the opinion of Don Amador," said Cortes, "as well as the
+counsels of Kalidon-Sadabath and the stars, which have never yet told me
+a falsehood. But how comes it, Botello? Hast thou been flying since
+dawn? I cannot understand the necessity thou wert under to lead my
+worthy friend Don Amador so long a ramble; and moreover I perceive that,
+though yesterday thou wert constrained to trudge upon foot, thou art,
+to-day, master of a steed that may almost compare with Motacila, the
+wag-tail, of my son Sandoval."
+
+"I stole the beast from the captain of the watch, Salvatierra, while he
+kept guard over us at some distance in the fields," said the magician,
+while all the cavaliers laughed heartily at the explanation; "and as
+for the long day's travel,--when I found myself upon a good horse, I
+thought I could do no better than give the alarm, and draw a party in
+pursuit, and so entangle them among the woods, or wear them out with
+fatigue, that they should make little opposition when we came to attack
+their comrades at midnight."
+
+"A shrewd and most laudable device!" cried Cortes, with unconcealed
+delight: "I have ever found thee as good a soldier as astrologer; and if
+the fates be as favourable to thee as I am myself, Botello, I can
+promise thee many an acre of maize fields or gold mountains, to
+recompense thy services."
+
+"It must be as it is written," said Botello, gravely. "Many a peril
+shall encompass me; but I know that, in the worst, as it has been
+revealed to me, I shall be rescued out of it on the wings of eagles!"
+
+"Amen!" cried Cortes, "for the day of miracles is not over. If the
+senor De Leste," he continued, "claim to discharge his just anger for
+his imprisonment on my brother Narvaez, I will invite him to such a post
+of honour as shall be most likely to gratify his longings. And after
+that, if my very noble friend be inclined to exercise some of that skill
+in naval warfare which he has doubtless acquired among the knights of
+Rhodes, I will rejoice to entrust to him the attack upon the fleet of
+Cavallero."
+
+"Senor," said Amador, "though I burn to assist you in the attack on
+Narvaez, I must first receive the command of my knight Don Gabriel. I am
+not so eager to draw sword upon the admiral; for know, valiant Don
+Hernan, I have discovered in Cavallero a kinsman of my mother. And
+senor," continued the neophyte, "I am now reminded of a message which he
+charged me to deliver to your excellency, wherein he begs to assure you,
+that, though fate has arrayed him as your enemy, he cannot forget the
+friendship of his former life."
+
+"Ay!" cried Cortes briskly, "does the excellent admiral say me that?"
+
+"He bade me also avow to you, that, though it became him not, as an
+officer of Velasquez, to hold any communications with you, except those
+of simple form and courtesy, he should be well rejoiced when heaven has
+removed the obstruction, and left him at liberty to meet you with former
+friendship and confidence."
+
+"By my conscience," cried the general, turning to his officers, and
+exchanging meaning and joyous glances with them, "though these be
+tidings which Kalidon hath not revealed, yet are they of such pleasant
+import, that I shall ever thank Don Amador for being the bearer of them.
+Eh, my masters!" he exclaimed; "did I not tell you, when we left
+Tenochtitlan in gloom, we should return to it in merriment? that when we
+sank our rotten fleet among the surges of Villa Rica, heaven should send
+us another and a better? Let us move on, and spread these good news
+through the camp----"
+
+The neophyte perceived, by the exultation of the general, that he had
+been in a manner cajoled by Cavallero; but he was not sorry to think his
+kinsman should rather prefer to command his fleet as the ally of Cortes
+than as the friend of Narvaez.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+
+The sun was declining fast, when the travellers made their way to the
+camp of Cortes. The River of Canoes ran through a fertile valley; but
+this was of no great extent, and towards its upper termination, the
+scene of the events of the day, it was arid and broken with rocks.
+Immediately beyond the river, in a place made strong by rocks and
+bushes, impenetrable to cavalry, and affording the safest covert to his
+arquebusiers and crossbowmen, the wary rival of Narvaez had pitched his
+quarters. Temporary huts of boughs and fresh-woven mats were seen
+withering among the green shadows, and from these ascended the smoke of
+fires, at which the soldiers were dressing their evening meal. But in
+advance of this primitive encampment, dripping with rain like their
+commanders, yet standing to their arms with a patient and grave
+constancy, as if still in readiness for an enemy, Don Amador beheld the
+forces of Cortes. They had a weather-beaten and veteran appearance; most
+of them were apparelled in the escaupil, cut in separate pieces
+resembling cumbrous plate-armour, and occasionally so hacked by the
+weapons of the natives, that the white lining gaped out somewhat
+ludicrously from its darker covering. Those arrayed in a better
+investment, had their morions and breast-plates commonly covered with
+rust, as if kept too much occupied with perils by night and day to allow
+leisure for burnishing them. Nevertheless, they looked like disciplined
+and experienced soldiers. Amador observed that few of them had
+fire-arms; the cross-bow, the sword, and the great lance of Chinantla,
+with its long double head of bright copper, were almost their only arms;
+but they handled them as if well acquainted with their value. Behind
+this advanced guard, under the shelter of the rocks and bushes, he
+remarked several officers, a few of them mounted, as well as divers
+groups of Indian menials; and, as his ear caught a low exclamation from
+the general, he turned his eyes, and beheld the object of his long and
+painful search.
+
+Under the shadow of a tall tree, remote from the rest, and attended only
+by a single armed follower,--on a coal-black horse, heavily harnessed,
+which stood under his weight with a tranquillity as marble-like as his
+own, sat the knight of Calavar. He was in full armour, but the iron
+plates were rusted on his body, and in many places shattered. The plumes
+were broken and disordered on his helmet; the spear lay at the feet of
+his steed; his buckler was in the hands of his attendant; and instead of
+the red tabard which was worn in a season of war by the brothers of his
+order, the black mantle of peace, with its great white cross, hung or
+drooped heavily from his shoulders. His beaver was up, and his
+countenance, wan and even ghastly, was fully revealed. The ravages of an
+untimely age were imprinted upon his aspect; yet, notwithstanding the
+hollow cheeks and grizzled beard, the brow furrowed with a thousand
+wrinkles, the lips colourless and contracted into an expression of deep
+pain, he presented the appearance of a ruin majestic in its decay. His
+hands were clasped, and lay on the pommel of the saddle, and, together
+with his whole attitude and air, indicated a state of the most profound
+and sorrowful abstraction. In truth, he seemed the prey of thoughts,
+many and deep; and it scarcely needed the simple and touching legend,
+_Miserere mei, Deus!_ which usurped the place of a scutcheon or other
+device on his shield, to know that if fame sat on his saddle, sorrow
+rested under his bosom.
+
+No sooner had the neophyte beheld this gloomy apparition, than, with a
+loud cry, he threw himself from his horse; and, rushing forward, he
+seized the relaxed hand of the figure, and pressed it to his lips with
+reverence and affection. But the knight, not yet roused from his revery,
+or struggling vainly with imperfect recollections, looked only into his
+face with a wistful stare.
+
+"Patron and cousin! my friend and my father!" cried the novice,
+passionately, "do you not know me? I am Amador!"
+
+"Amador!" muttered the knight, with a troubled look and a tone of
+perplexity. "Very well,--to-morrow--to-morrow!"
+
+"He will not understand you now," said the general. "He is often in
+these trances."
+
+"Mi padre! mi amigo!" cried the youth, vehemently, without regarding the
+interruption of the commander, "will you not know me? I am Amador!
+Look,--here is Baltasar, old Baltasar! your servant and favourite, that
+has been at your side ever from the days of the Alpujarras to the fall
+of Rhodes."
+
+"The Alpujarras!" echoed the knight, with a deep sigh. "Wo is
+me!--miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+"He will recollect us _now_," said Baltasar, who had also descended, and
+who testified his fidelity by a tear that glittered in his ancient eye.
+"I never knew that word fail to call him out of his mood, though I have
+often known it fling him into one.--Master! I am Baltasar; and here is
+your honour's kinsman, Don Amador!"
+
+"Ay! is it so indeed? I thought I was dreaming," said the knight: "Art
+thou here indeed, my son Amador? Give me thy brows, for I am rejoiced to
+find thee in the world again." And stooping and flinging his arms round
+his neck, he kissed the forehead of the neophyte, with a parental
+affection.
+
+"This, my masters," said Cortes, in an under voice, "is not a spectacle
+for us. Let us pass on, and arrange proceedings for the attack." And,
+with his suite, he instantly departed.
+
+"And how dost thou prosper at Almeria?" continued Calavar, mildly, and
+without any incoherence of manner, though it was evident his thoughts
+were far away. "Hast thou found me any brave hearts, who will march with
+me against the infidels of Barbary?"
+
+"Dear knight and patron," said Amador, "we are not now in Spain, but in
+the heathen lands of Mexico."
+
+"Ay! Dios mio, I had forgotten that!" said Don Gabriel, with a
+bewildered air.
+
+"Whither I have come," said the novice, "to beg your pardon for my
+negligence and desertion, and never more to part from your side."
+
+"I remember me now," said the knight, slowly and sadly. "Wo is me! a
+sore infirmity is on my brain; and sometimes I am not master of my own
+acts. But I remember thee, my friend: I remember that, in an evil hour
+of forgetfulness, I forsook thee, to come to this unknown land. But I
+beg thy pardon, my son;--the dark mood took me from thee, and in truth I
+knew it not."
+
+The tears came into the eyes of Amador, as he listened to the
+self-accusation of his kinsman, and remembered how much the blame should
+rest on his own momentary defection.
+
+"It is _I_ that must bear the reproach, and _I_ that must look for
+forgiveness," he cried. "But I will never need to be rebuked or forgiven
+again; for I swear, dear kinsman, I will follow thee truly now, until my
+death."
+
+"And thou hast left the fair hills of Spain, thy true friends, and thy
+lady-love," said Calavar, with a mournful voice, "to follow me over the
+wide seas and the hostile deserts? I welcome thee with gratitude, for
+thy love is great, and thy task will be bitter. I welcome thee well,
+Amador, but surely it is with sorrow; for I heard thou hadst won the
+love of a noble and virtuous lady; and heaven forbid I should not lament
+to sever thee, in thy youth, from the enjoyment of thy affection."
+
+A flush of shame and pain mantled the countenance of the devoted novice,
+as he replied,--
+
+"I confess I have much need of thy forbearance, dear knight; but they
+did me wrong, who said I could forget thee for the love of woman. I
+acknowledge no duty that is not to thee, and no passion but that of
+serving thee with constancy and truth. But I am sent to thee not more by
+the impulses of my own love, than by the commands of his most eminent
+highness, the Grand Master, who leaves it to thyself, as a well-beloved
+and much-trusted follower of the holy order, whether thou wilt remain
+fighting the infidels of this new world, or return at thy pleasure to
+the island Malta, which his majesty the king and emperor, Don Carlos of
+Spain and Austria, hath promised to bestow upon the good knights, the
+defenders of Christendom."
+
+"Among the infidels of the new world, then," said Calavar, casting his
+eyes meekly to heaven; "for I know that what poor service I may yet
+render the faith, must be rendered soon; and if God uphold me, I will
+render it truly and well. But thou, Amador my son, my faithful and my
+beloved! I adjure thee that, when my task is finished, thou return to
+the land of thy birth, and give thyself to a life of virtue, and, if
+possible, of peace. Watch well the creatures that are in thy breast, for
+among them are devils, which, if thou do not chain them, will rend thee.
+Check thy wrath, fetter thy fury," continued the knight, vehemently;
+"and when thou drawest thy sword, call on God, that it may not fall
+unjustly; for when blood is shed that should not have been shed, it
+lives on the soul for ever--Ay de mi! Miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+Don Amador feared, as he listened with a superstitious reverence to the
+adjurations of the knight, that he was about to relapse into his gloomy
+stupor; but he was deceived. The lips of Calavar muttered on for a
+moment, as if continuing to repeat the solemn and impassioned appeal of
+the psalmist: and then, making the sign of the cross on his breast, he
+turned again to the novice with a kind of dismal cheer, and said:--
+
+"I welcome thee again to this land, Amador. And Baltasar--What now,
+Baltasar? is it possible I should forget thee? I am glad to look upon
+thy loyal countenance; thine old friend Marco will rejoice to fight
+again at thy side.--If I do not err, this is thy henchman, Lazaro:--I
+greet thee well, Lazaro: be very true to thy master, and forget not thy
+religion. And this youth that rests behind thee--if he be thy follower,
+my son, he shall share thy welcome."
+
+"I recommend the youth Fabueno to thy kindness," said Amador, well
+pleased to perceive his kinsman so collected. "He is the secretary of
+the admiral Cavallero, who claims to be related to your honour, and
+sends you the assurance of his love. I have been constrained, without
+yet knowing the pleasure of his excellency, to receive the youth into
+my protection; and this I did the more cheerfully, that he was my
+fellow-sufferer in the camp of Narvaez, and did, for my sake, very
+courageously expose himself to the painful shot of a cross-bow, which
+now maims his right arm."
+
+"If he have suffered for thee, my friend, I will not forget him," said
+the knight; "and I am rejoiced for his sake that now, in this season of
+peace, we may cure his wound before we call upon him to endure another."
+
+The countenance of Don Amador fell; he thought the knight's dream of
+peace denoted that he was sinking again into abstraction.
+
+"Call this not the season of peace," he cried. "The commander Cortes is
+resolute to fall upon his enemy, Narvaez, the enemy of honour; and it
+needs we should burnish up our arms, to give him help."
+
+Calavar looked seriously at the youth, and touching his black mantle
+with an expressive gesture, said:--
+
+"It is the time of peace, my son,--the time of peace for those that
+follow the good St. John. I remember me now, that Cortes came down from
+the mountains, to fight the man Narvaez and his host: but these are not
+infidels, but Christians."
+
+"Cousin," said the cavalier, warmly, "though this man have the name, yet
+do I very much doubt if he possess any of the religion of a Christian;
+and I have to assure you, I have endured such causeless indignities at
+his hands, such as direct insult, violent seizure, and shameful
+imprisonment, as can only be washed away with his blood."
+
+"Wo's me! wo's me!" cried the knight: "the blood that is poured in
+anger, will not flow like water; it will not dry like water; nor will
+water, though blessed by the holy priest in the church, wash its crust
+from the hand! Thou seest," he cried, extending his gauntleted member,
+and gazing piteously into the face of his heated kinsman--"thou seest,
+that though, for thrice five years, I have washed it in brook and font,
+in the river that flows from the land of the Cross, and in the brine of
+the sea, it oozes still from between the scales, like a well that must
+trickle for ever, and will not be hidden.--Thou art very wroth with me,
+heaven!--Miserere mei, Domine!"
+
+Don Amador was greatly shocked and grieved, that his imprudent obstinacy
+had so nearly again recalled the distraction of his kinsman. But it
+needed not many expressions of gentleness and submission, to divert the
+current of his thoughts. The appearance of the young and devoted
+follower had come to the spirit of the penitent knight, like a cool
+breeze over the temples of a fevered man; and having once been roused
+from his gloom, he could not be long insensible to the excitement of his
+presence. He cast an eye of kindness and affection on the youth, and
+obeying, as one who had been long accustomed to such control, the humble
+suggestion of Marco, he turned to the tents of the encampment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+
+The sun had not yet set, when the ray, stealing through the vapours that
+gathered among the distant peaks, beheld the senor Cortes and his little
+army crossing the River of Canoes. A quarter-league above his encampment
+was the very ford which had given him passage, when, with a force short
+of five hundred men, and a few score of wild Totonacs, taken with him
+less as warlike auxiliaries than as beasts of burthen and hostages for
+the fidelity of their tribe, he set out to cross mountains of snow and
+fire, rocky deserts and foaming rivers, in the invasion of an empire,
+whose limits, as well as its resources and power, were utterly unknown.
+Here the stream was more shallow than at that spot where it had been the
+fate of Don Amador to ford it; the flood had also in a measure
+subsided; and while the mounted individuals passed it with ease, the
+waters came not above the breasts of the footmen. Don Amador rode at the
+side of his knight, and though chafing with discontent at the thought
+that he should share no part in the brave deeds of the coming night, and
+be but a looker-on, while strangers were robbing him of his vengeance,
+yet did he conceal his troubles, lest the exhibition of them should give
+new pain to his unhappy kinsman. The three attendants were behind, and
+Fabueno, though evidently regarding the knight Calavar with a deep and
+superstitious awe, rode not far from his patron.
+
+The rivulet was crossed, and the hardy desperadoes who were now marching
+with spears to attack a foe of five times their own number, fortified
+with cannon on an eminence, gathered about their leader as he sat his
+horse on the bank, as if expecting his final instructions and
+encouragement. He surveyed them not only with gravity but with
+complacency, and smiling as if in derision of their weakness,--for they
+did not number much over two hundred and fifty men,--he said, with
+inimitable dryness:--
+
+"My good friends and companions! you are now about to fight a battle,
+the issue of which will depend very much on your own conduct; and I have
+to inform you, that if, as seems reasonable enough, you are vanquished,
+there is not a man of you that shall not hang at some corner of Zempoala
+to-morrow!"
+
+A murmur running through the whole crew, marked the disgust of all at
+this unsavoury exordium.
+
+"The reasons for this opinion," continued the leader, gravely, "both as
+to the probable fate of the battle and of yourselves in the event of
+your being beaten, I shall have no trouble in speaking; only that, like
+one who knows how to use the butt as well as the blade of his lance, I
+shall discourse first of the hinder part of my argument; that is to say,
+of the very great certainty with which a gibbet shall reward every man
+who, this night, handles his weapon too tenderly. Know, then, my good
+brothers, that, at this moment, though you very loyally and truly avow
+yourselves the soldiers of his majesty, our king and master, it hath
+somehow entered into the head of the general Narvaez, the lieutenant of
+his majesty's governor, to consider you as villain rebels and
+traitors;--an imputation so exceedingly preposterous and eccentric,
+that, were we in a Christian land, you should not be required to deny
+it; but, standing as you do, with no better present judge than your
+accuser, it is certain your innocence could not be made apparent to his
+majesty, until after the gallinazas had picked the last morsel from your
+bones; at which time, as I think you will agree with me, a declaration
+of your true loyalty would not be a matter of much consequence to any of
+you."
+
+Again a murmur, accompanied by sundry ferocious looks and savage
+interjections, testified the discontent of the adventurers.
+
+"What I say, is the truth," continued Cortes, adopting the scowl which
+darkened the visages of all, extending his drawn sabre above his head,
+and speaking with a fierce and resolute indignation: "In the face of
+that heaven, which has seen us, for its honour and glory, devote
+ourselves to pain and peril, landing friendless and unaided, save by its
+own divine countenance, on the shores of bitter and murderous
+barbarians, overthrowing their bloody idols, and even in the chief
+sanctuaries of their diabolic superstition, on the palaces of their
+emperors and the pyramids of their gods, erecting the standard of the
+crucified Saviour,--I say, even in the face of that heaven that has seen
+us do these things that will immortalize us on earth and glorify us in
+heaven, the man Narvaez has dared to call us traitors to our king and
+faith, has denounced us more as infidel Moors, than as Christian
+Spaniards, and declaring war upon us with sword, fire, and free rope,
+has sworn to give us to the death of caitiffs and felons!"
+
+The answer to this passionate appeal was loud and furious. The
+cavaliers clashed their swords upon their bucklers, the footmen drove
+their spears into the soil, and, foaming with rage, swore they would
+thus answer the calumny in the heart of their enemy.
+
+"Does it need I should give you more proof of the bloody and insolent
+violence of Narvaez?" said the general. "He hath set a price upon my
+head, and on the head of my loyal friend Sandoval, as though we were
+vile bandits and assassins."
+
+"What needs more words?" cried the young captain, thus referred to. "He
+shall have my head for the three thousand crowns, if he can take it."
+
+"How it happens he has not thought any other head in this company worth
+buying," said the commander, with an adroit bitterness, "is an insult he
+must himself explain."
+
+There was not a cavalier present that did not swear, in his heart, he
+would avenge such forbearance with the full swing of his weapon.
+
+"It must be now manifest," continued Cortes, with composure, "that
+defeat will be the warrant and assurance of a gallows-death to all that
+may render themselves prisoners. And having convinced you of this, I may
+now betake me to the first article of my discourse, as one that concerns
+the possibility of your defeat. It is quite probable," he went on to
+say, with an irony more effectual than the most encouraging argument of
+hope, "that being but two hundred and fifty strong, and enfeebled by
+your divers battles with the Tlascalans, and the knavish herds of
+Cholula, you will be easily beaten by a thousand men, who, besides being
+fond of the valiant diversions of Indian dancers, and the martial
+delights of house shelter and soft beds, have hardened their bodies, and
+perfected their knowledge of arms, among the plantain patches of Cuba;
+and who, in addition, are of so magnanimous a turn, that they would, the
+half of them, at this moment, rather join your ranks than draw sword
+against you. But why do I talk thus? A live dog is better than a dead
+lion,--and a score of waking men, better than a hundred sleepers. Know,
+then, ye grumbling and incensed companions, if ye _will_ conquer this
+man that comes with a rope, ye may. Botello hath shown me how the stars
+are propitious, and how the Spirit of the Crystal hath promised us
+success. Heaven fights on our side, for we fight for heaven;--St. Paul
+will be with us, for we contend for the privilege to convert the
+heathen;--and Santiago will not forget us, for with every thrust of our
+spears, we strike a brave blow for Spain!"
+
+"Let us on!" cried all, with a shout of exultation; "We will conquer!"
+
+"Nay!" cried the general, with a mock discretion. "Rush not too eagerly
+on danger. Let us wait a day for those two thousand brown varlets of
+Chinantla, whom the loitering Barrientos conducts hitherward; for though
+it be somewhat dishonourable to share a triumph with Indian soldiers,
+yet will they doubtless make that triumph the more certain."
+
+"We will win it ourselves!" cried the excited desperadoes.
+
+"Ye will have hotter work than ye think," said Cortes; "and surely I
+believe ye will take to your heels, like the old Arrowauks of Cuba,
+leaving me to die at the pyramid--For I swear you, if ye force me to
+conduct you to Zempoala, I will not come from it alive, unless as its
+master!"
+
+"Let it be proclaimed death to any one that turns his back!" cried an
+hundred voices.
+
+"Ay then, ye mad valiant rogues! ye shall have your wish!" cried Cortes,
+yielding to an excitement he had not easily suppressed, rising in his
+stirrups and looking round him with that fiery and fanatical enthusiasm
+which was the true secret of his greatness, and which left him not for a
+moment even in the darkest and most perilous hour of his enterprise. "We
+will march to Zempoala, with God in our hearts, and the name of the Holy
+Spirit on our lips; and remembering that, under such influence, we
+scattered the tens of thousands that beset us on the plains of
+Tlascala, we will show this dog of a Biscayan what it is to oppose the
+arms of heaven,--Amen!"
+
+And _Amen_ was uttered fiercely and frantically by the adventurers, as
+they prepared to follow their leader. But a wave of his hand checked
+their ardour for a moment; a few words explained the order of attack,
+and the duties of the several leaders, of whom the young Sandoval was
+appointed to the most honourable and dangerous task,--to seize the
+artillery by a coup-de-main, and thus give passage for De Leon in the
+assault of the towers, while Cortes himself should stand by with a
+chosen body of reserve, to witness the valour of his captains, and give
+assistance where it might be needed. Again, when the announcement of
+these orders seemed to have taken the restraint from the ardour of his
+followers, the general checked them. A huge and rugged cross of
+cotton-wood raised its mouldering bulk before them on their path,--a
+holy landmark, raised by the piety of the invader, nine months before,
+while on his march to Tenochtitlan.
+
+"Under the cross will we commend ourselves to God, and prepare ourselves
+for battle," said the leader, riding forward, and dismounting. His
+example was followed by all the cavaliers, who, together with the
+footmen, knelt upon the dank grass, and baring their heads, prepared for
+the rites of penitence and absolution. None knelt with a more devout
+submission than the knight of Calavar; none exposed with more humility
+their youthful heads to the evening breeze than did he his
+silver-touched locks and withered temples; and none, as the holy
+chaplain dictated the act of general confession and contrition, echoed
+his words with a more fervent sincerity. Under the rude crucifix in the
+desert, knelt those men who were about to imbrue their hands in blood,
+and that the blood of their countrymen.
+
+The words of penitence were said, the rite of absolution pronounced; and
+the followers of Cortes rose to their feet, with their hearts full of
+conquest. But before the helm was buckled and the horse mounted, there
+came on the twilight air, from the towers of Zempoala, the sound of the
+vesper-bell of Narvaez.
+
+"It is long since we have worshipped at the sound of a Christian bell,"
+said Cortes, again flinging himself on his knees. "God speaks to us in
+the omen. We have not forgotten, among infidel savages, that we are
+Christians!"
+
+As if those tones were rung in the chapel of a brother, instead of the
+barracks of an enemy, and as if to join that enemy in one act of piety,
+before springing upon him, sword in hand, all again knelt down; and the
+Ave-Marias of two hostile armies, on the brink of engagement, went up to
+heaven together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+
+Hard by to the town of Zempoala ran a little brook, coursing through
+agreeable meadows, and here and there skirted by green forests. In a
+wood that overshadowed this current,--but at the distance of a quarter
+league from it,--lay concealed the forces of Hernan Cortes, waiting
+patiently for the time when the squadrons of Narvaez, satiated with the
+sports of their tawny neighbours, should, additionally, recompense the
+exploits of the day with the oblivion of slumber. They had watched with
+contempt, and with joy (for they perceived in such spectacle, a symptom
+of the infatuated security of their enemies,) the great fire that
+lighted the diversions of the evening, blazing on the pyramid; until it
+began to die away, as did many of the sounds of revelry, that, in the
+still hour of the night, were borne to their ears. But it was not until
+their spies brought word that the last brand was flinging its decaying
+lustre over the eaves of the towers, that they were bidden to arise,
+cross the stream, and array for battle.
+
+In deep silence--for they knew there were sentinels on the path--they
+reached and forded the rivulet: trooper and footman passed over, and
+were ranked under their several leaders, and all seemed in readiness for
+the assault.
+
+Still, however, the knight of Calavar sat motionless on his sable steed,
+as if all unaware of the tempest of war that was brewing; and Don Amador
+beheld, with a pang of unutterable grief and vexation, the departure of
+those bold spirits to the scene of strife and honour, in which he was to
+have no share. As he sat fuming and frowning, now on the point of urging
+his kinsman for permission to follow, now reproaching himself in bitter
+reprehension, as if the unuttered wish might recall some of those
+thoughts of misery which so often perplexed the brain of the crazed
+knight, he heard the foot-fall of a horse, and perceived a cavalier
+riding towards him. To his grief was superadded a pang of shame, as he
+saw in this individual the person of Cortes himself, and conceived the
+object of his return.
+
+"I am loath to see that the noble Calavar still abides by the black
+mantle," he said, as if content to waste no arguments on the knight;
+"but if the very valiant Don Amador de Leste be desirous to repay upon
+Narvaez the injuries done to his honour, or if he be minded to bestow
+upon me that great favour whereof he spoke on the River of Canoes, there
+can never come a better opportunity than this present: and for the
+services he may render me personally, as well as a most loyal cause,
+this night, by leading his followers with me to the pyramid, I shall
+ever remain in thankful remembrance."
+
+The words stuck in the throat of the novice, as he replied, "I am the
+slave of my kinsman: I burn to follow you--but my knight must command."
+
+He turned to Calavar, with a look of despair; but the night which
+concealed it from the eye, could not preserve the reproach from the ear.
+
+"Stay thou by my side, Amador, my son," said Calavar, sorrowfully; "and
+let no man that follows thee or me, think to draw his sword this night;
+for we are the followers of St. John, and may not contend with a
+Christian, except in self-preservation."
+
+"God shield thee, sir knight," cried the general, anxiously; "every man
+who strikes with us to-night, strikes for his own life: victory
+preserves us, and defeat conducts us to the scaffold; and I am free to
+confess to _thee_, what I dared not speak to my companions, that unless
+every man does his duty, and God looks kindly upon all, I know not how
+soon we may be under the foot of our enemy."
+
+"I have not refused thee my sword," said the knight calmly, "when an
+infidel stood in thy path; nor will I, when such opposition is again
+made."
+
+"But thy noble and valiant kinsman, and thy people," said the general,
+hastily: "they long to divide the honour of this combat, and they have
+no vows to restrain them. Every sword to-night is as valuable as a Cid's
+right arm."
+
+"Tempt them not! delude them not into the commission of a great sin,
+that will fill their future days with remorse," said Calavar, earnestly.
+But before he could add any thing further, the report of an arquebuse
+from the front filled the forest with its roar, and Cortes, plunging the
+spur into his charger, was instantly borne out of sight.
+
+"For God's sake!" cried Amador, with despairing entreaty, "let us cross
+the brook, and follow these brave men a little, though we join not in
+the battle."
+
+"I will not refuse thee so much as that," said the knight, with some
+little animation, which was perhaps caused by the martial associations
+of the explosion. "It is not forbidden us at least to look on; and by so
+doing, heaven may perchance allow us the happiness to save some wretched
+life."
+
+In a moment the little party had crossed the brook and spurring their
+horses hard, followed, as they thought, in the path of their late
+companion. But, though the moon frequently displayed her resplendent
+visage through loop-holes in the scudding clouds, the many clumps of
+trees that dotted over the meadows in the environs of Zempoala, so
+confounded the vision, that they had reached the very suburbs, without
+yet obtaining a view of the adventurers. Indeed it had so happened, that
+not being provided with a guide acquainted with the various approaches
+to the town, they fell upon one entirely different from that trodden by
+the assailants. Not doubting however that they were following closely
+upon their rear, they pushed boldly on through a deserted street,
+echoing loudly to the clatter of their steps; nor did they discover
+their error until, to their great surprise, they found themselves
+issuing upon the great square, in full view of the temple.
+
+They paused an instant in confusion.--No tumult of shouts or fire-arms
+came from the sanctuaries; a deep silence brooded over the city as with
+wings; in fact, no sound broke the solemn tranquillity of midnight, save
+one which was the evidence and representative of peace. The faint
+twangling of a lute, mingling with the sweet tones of a youthful voice,
+came from the chief tower; to hear which the sentinels had doubtless
+stolen from their posts among the cannon, which were now seen frowning
+in solitude on the verge of the platform.
+
+Before Don Amador could take time to ponder on the infatuated
+recklessness of the Biscayan general, or bethink him much of the young
+Moor of Fez, whose voice it was, he did not doubt, that sounded so
+plaintively from the tower, and which, by some inexplicable principle of
+association, instantly wafted his spirit to Granada, and wrung it with a
+sharp and sudden anguish,--the clattering of a horseman riding furiously
+up a neighbouring street, roused him from the imperfect revery; and his
+heart waxed hot and fierce, as the loud cry, _Arma! Arma! A las armas!_
+burst from the lips of the flying sentry. In a moment of time this
+faithful watchman was seen dashing across the square; and as he flung
+himself from his steed, and rushed up the steps of the pyramid, still
+shouting the alarm at the top of his voice, there was heard another
+sound following at his heels, in which the practised ear of the neophyte
+detected the tramp of footmen, pursuing with the speed of death. In a
+moment, also, ceased the lute and the voice of the singer; torches
+flashed suddenly from the doors of the towers; and as their light shot
+over the open square, there was seen a hurried mass of men running in
+confusion over the area of the pyramid. But the same flash that revealed
+this spectacle, disclosed also the wild figures and hostile visages of
+the men of Cortes, rushing to the assault, and sending forth a shout,
+that made the whole town ring and tremble to its foundations.
+
+It was not in the nature of man to see these sights and hear these
+sounds with composure; and accordingly Don Amador had no sooner
+dismounted and flung the reins of Fogoso into the hands of Lazaro, than
+he perceived the knight of Calavar, on foot, at his side. He turned an
+inflamed, and perhaps a rebellious eye on his kinsman; but the
+countenance of Calavar was bent on his own, with a ghastly placidity;
+and as the hand of the knight was laid on his shoulder, as if to
+restrain his fury, the youth groaned in bitterness and anger.
+
+"By heaven!" he cried, "I see the very face of Sandoval, as he darts at
+the steps!--O my friend! my father!"
+
+"Shed no blood!" said the knight, with a hollow, but stern and vehement
+voice. "The avenger will follow thee by night and by day, at prayers and
+in battle--Shed no blood!"
+
+"We are alone, too!" cried Amador, with ungovernable fire, as he found
+that Marco, Lazaro, and Baltasar, after flinging the reins of their
+horses round the shrubs that grew at the corner, had vanished from his
+side. "Even the varlets may strike at the knave who has wronged me; yet
+may I not raise my hand!"
+
+"Shed no blood!" reiterated Don Gabriel, in a sort of frenzy: "Forget
+thy rage, forswear thy fury! slay thyself, but strike not in
+vengeance!--Miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+All these wild words, though they take moments to record, were the
+utterance of an instant; and while the piteous plaint of the knight
+Calavar still winged its way to heaven, and before Amador could reply a
+single word, the shouts of the assailants, as they rushed up the steps,
+were met by the roar of a cannon discharged by a skilful hand,
+illumining tree and tower with a hideous glare, and flinging death and
+havoc among their ranks. But the foot of desperation was on the earth of
+the temple; and before another piece of artillery could answer to the
+hollow thunder of the hills, the spear of Chinantla was drinking the
+blood of the cannoniers. At this moment, and while even the young
+Fabueno grasped the sword in his feeble hands, and turned his pale face
+to the battle,--while Amador gnashed his teeth with rage,--there rose
+from the platform, above the shouts and yells of the combatants, a
+shriek as though of a woman struck by the spear of some ferocious
+dastard.--If the blow of an enemy had fallen upon his cheek, the young
+cavalier could not have started from the grasp of his kinsman, and drawn
+his sword, with a more irresistible impulse. But, in truth, the same cry
+that inflamed his own brain, went also to the heart of Calavar; and when
+he dashed up the pyramid with furious haste, as if to the rescue of a
+sworn friend, the knight of Rhodes, drawing his weapon, followed
+fiercely after.
+
+The scene that awaited the neophyte on the platform, though composed of
+men writhing together in thick affray, did not dwell an instant on his
+eye. It had caught, as if by providential direction, in the very chaos
+of combat, the figure that had sent forth the cry of affliction; and as
+he bestrid the body of Abdalla, and caught up the childish minstrel from
+his person, he shivered with a single stroke of his sabre, the spear
+that, in a moment, would have pinned to the earth both father and son.
+
+"Dog of a conjurer!" he cried, as he discovered the person of Botello in
+the discomfited slayer, and prepared, while the terrified stripling
+clung convulsively to his body, to shield him from the weapons of
+others; "dog of a conjurer! thy cruelty cancels thy services, and I will
+cleave thee for a viper!"
+
+"What is written is written--God be thanked! I knew not 'twas a boy."
+And in an instant Botello vanished among the combatants.
+
+"I thought thee a woman, thou scared varlet!--Cheer up, Abdalla!--they
+shall not harm thee.--Father! my knight and my father! wilt thou protect
+my boy, that I have saved, and his sire, the Christian Moor?" cried
+Amador, as he perceived the knight stand staring wildly at his side. "I
+leave them to thee.--Surely there may be other lives to save!" And thus
+concealing his excitement in what seemed an excuse for his disobedience,
+and without waiting for an answer, he rushed instantly into the thickest
+of the combat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+
+When Don Amador fled from the side of Calavar, the instinct of his
+vengeance carried him to the spot where it seemed most likely to be
+gratified. The chief tower, as well as the two others, was invested; but
+in the crowd of musketeers and crossbowmen who stood valiantly at its
+door, repelling the assailants, he not only heard the voice, but very
+plainly perceived the tall figure, of his enemy, Don Panfilo. Infuriated
+at the sight, he rushed forwards, and calling out with an indiscreet
+vigour that drew both the attention of that general and the thickest
+shots of his companions, he quickly found himself in a situation of
+great jeopardy. Though bullet and cross-bow shaft fell harmless from his
+mail of proof, the thrust of some half a score partisans aimed at his
+shining and exposed breast, beat down the insufficient defence of his
+buckler, and hurled him instantly to the ground. But the voice with
+which he had challenged the Biscayan had been heard by friends as well
+as enemies; and as his faithful Lazaro dashed aside the most threatening
+weapon, the shield of another friend was extended over his body, and he
+found himself raised by the hand of Cortes.
+
+"I knew my valiant friend would not desert me, this night!" cried the
+commander. "But risk thyself no further. We will sack these towers,
+without the loss of so invaluable a life.--What ho! yield thee,
+Narvaez!" he exclaimed, with a voice heard above the din; "yield thee up
+a prisoner, or thine own cannon shall bury thee under the temple!"
+
+"_El Espiritu Santo_, and on!" cried fifty eager men, as they rushed by
+their leader, and drove the followers of Narvaez into the sanctuary.
+They vanished; but the pikes and muskets bristling through the curtain,
+checked the audacity of the besiegers at the door; and the voice of
+Sandoval was heard exclaiming from behind, "Clear for the cannon, and
+stand aside!" when suddenly a fire-brand dashed by some unseen hand to
+the roof, lodged among the palm-leaves, and in a moment the whole
+superstructure was in flames.
+
+"Spare your powder, and stand by for the rats!" cried Lazaro, for it was
+he who had achieved this cunning and well-timed exploit; "Basta! So we
+catch rabbits in La Mancha!"
+
+"An hundred crowns to the knave of the fire-brand!" cried Cortes,
+exultingly;--"and three thousand paid in gold, to him who lays the first
+hand on Narvaez!--Burn, fire! smother, smoke! the night is ours!"
+
+"Ay! Don Panfilo! I await thee!" exclaimed Amador, as the rushing
+descent of beams and embers drove the besieged from the temple, and
+again discovered the person of his wronger. He sprang towards the
+commander, who, however hot and foolish of temper, now bore himself like
+a courageous soldier, and struck fast and fiercely at his foes, while
+shouting good cheer to his friends. But before Don Amador could well
+reach him, he saw the unfortunate man struck down, and in the act of
+being transfixed by many spears. Magnanimity--for the fury of a brave
+man cannot live without opposition--took the place of wrath; and no
+sooner did he hear Don Panfilo exclaim, with a piteous voice, "_Dios
+mio!_ I am slain, and mine eye is struck out forever!" than he rushed to
+his assistance, and seemed resolved to perform in his service the same
+act of valour with which he had befriended Abdalla. Again, too, as he
+caught an outstretched arm, did he find himself confronted with Botello:
+but this time the magician's arm was extended in the office of mercy;
+and as he raised the vanquished general, and displayed his countenance,
+covered with blood oozing from his right eye, he exclaimed with a
+triumphal solemnity: "I saw him blindfold; and lo, his eye is blinded
+with blood!--Victory! victory! A Dios, a Cristo, y al Espiritu Santo,
+gracias! gloria y gracias! Amen!--Victory!"
+
+Loud was the shout with which the besiegers responded to the cry of the
+magician; and the disordered and unavailing shots from the other towers
+were lost in the uproar of voices exclaiming, "Viva Cortes, el soldado
+verdadero! Viva Don Carlos, el rey! Viva el Espiritu Santo! el Espiritu
+Santo santisimo!"
+
+"Away with him!" cried Cortes. "Guard thy prisoner, magico mio,--thou
+hast won the prize.--Leave shouting, ye rebel hounds, and bring up the
+cannon!--What ho, ye rogues of the towers! will ye have quarter and
+friendship, or flames and cannonballs? Point the ordnance against the
+flank towers. Bury me the knaves that resist us longer.--In the name of
+God and the emperor, fire!"
+
+But this measure was unnecessary. The shout of triumph, with which the
+assailants proclaimed the capture of the Biscayan, was carried to every
+ear in the adoratories; and it was at this instant that the besieged, as
+much bewildered by the surprise as discomfited by the fury of the
+attack, disheartened, too, by the misadventure of their general, looked
+from the loops of their strong-holds, and made that famous blunder of
+converting the host of _cucujos_, or fire-flies, into a multitude of
+match-locks; whereby their hearts were turned to water, and their
+assurance of victory humbled to the hope of capitulation.
+
+At the very moment that Don Amador, foiled in the gratification of his
+passions in one quarter, turned to indulge them in another, and rushed
+with increasing animation to that tower, around which he heard many
+voices echoing the name of Salvatierra, he beheld that worthy captain
+issue from the door, fling his weapon to the earth, and stretch out his
+arms, as if beseeching for quarter.
+
+"Oh thou thing of a white liver!" cried the young cavalier, with extreme
+disgust, "hast thou not the spirit to strike me one blow? I would I had
+brought thee the boy Jacinto, to inflame thy valour a little. Thou wilt
+fight me a boy!"
+
+As the neophyte thus gave vent to his indignation, he felt his arm
+touched, and, turning round, he beheld the secretary, holding a sword
+ornamented with drops of blood, and otherwise looking as though he had
+commenced his pupilage in a manner that would not shame his instructor.
+
+"Well done, Fabueno!" he exclaimed, encouragingly: "thou lookest like a
+soldier already. I am glad thine arm is so strong."
+
+"I struck but one blow, senor, and I believe I have killed a man! God
+forgive me!" he cried, in more affright than elation,--"I am not sure I
+did right; for the very moment I struck the blow, my arm twinged with a
+most horrible pang; which was perhaps a judgment on me, for striking a
+man who had done me no wrong."
+
+"These things must not be thought of too much," said Don Amador,
+hastily; "in battle, we must look upon all opponents as our sworn
+enemies, at least so long as they keep to their feet. But the battle is
+over--I will have thy wound looked to by some better surgeon than this
+crazy conjurer."
+
+"Senor," said Fabueno, "I sought you out, not to trouble you with my
+pains, but to recall you to the knight, your kinsman, who is in some
+difficulty with certain men, about the Moor, that may end in blows, and
+never a henchman but old Marco by the good Don Gabriel."
+
+Amador followed the secretary instantly, and found his kinsman--not
+unprotected, however, for both Marco and Baltasar were at his
+side--surrounded by several men speaking with loud and fierce voices,
+among which he quickly detected the tones of the master of the
+Incarnation.
+
+"I say, and I aver," cried this man, as the neophyte approached, "the
+two knaves, both father and son, are my slaves, as can be proved by
+these runagate men, my sailors; and no man shall have them from me,
+without payment of my price."
+
+"Ay! we can bear witness to that," said his companions. "These are true
+pagan slaves, captured in a fight at sea, out of a Barbary pirate;--very
+honest, lawful slaves: and though we have deserted our captain, to fight
+these other pagans, we will not see him robbed of his property."
+
+To the great joy of Don Amador, he observed that his kinsman was calm
+and collected, and though he spoke with his usual voice of affliction,
+his answer was still full of dignity and gravity.
+
+"The Moor that is a Christian cannot be enslaved; neither can he be
+bought and sold--and these claim to be both _Gazies_, Christian
+Moriscos. I guard them at the desire of their protector, who can
+assuredly support their claims; in which event thou must cease thy
+importunity, and think of them no more."
+
+"They are my slaves, and I will have them!" said the master,
+ferociously. "I meet nothing but robbers in these lands; but robber
+peasant, or robber knight, neither shall wrong me for naught."
+
+"Thou base and covetous cur!" said Amador, advancing before the sailor,
+"if thou usest no better language, I will strike thy head from thy
+shoulders! Dost thou remember me, sirrah? Did not the admiral satisfy
+thee in this matter? and dost thou follow me still, like a blood-hound,
+after the prey that is not thine?"
+
+"Calm thy rage, son Amador," said the knight. "Thou hast done a good act
+to-night, in saving the lives of this poor child and his father, and
+thou shall not want my aid to preserve their freedom. But let us not
+quarrel: enough Christian blood has already been shed, and a woful sight
+will the sun see, when he presently rises. Let us go before Cortes: he
+shall judge between this man, and these creatures whom thou hast rescued
+from destruction."
+
+"I ask nothing but justice and my right," grumbled the master, somewhat
+pacified by the angry bearing of the neophyte--for this was a more
+commanding argument than the mildness of Calavar.
+
+He fell back, and without further contention, though with a lowering
+look, followed the two cavaliers and the Moriscos in search of Don
+Hernan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+
+The morn, which by this time was breaking over the sea, was ushered in
+with a thousand sounds of triumph; and the drums of the vanquished
+rolled in concert with the trumpets of the victors. In truth, saving to
+the wounded and broken-spirited Biscayan, and some few cavaliers who
+had remained faithful to him and to his employer, the change of others
+from rivalry to subjection, was a circumstance more of gratulation than
+regret; as was proved by the ready alacrity with which they betook
+themselves to the audience of their conqueror.
+
+In the gilded and feather-broidered chair in which he had first seen the
+person of the unlucky Narvaez, Don Amador de Leste now perceived the
+figure of the Conqueror, a rich mantle of an orange hue thrown over his
+shoulders, his head bare, but his heel resting on a certain footstool or
+ball of variegated feathers, and altogether preserving an appearance of
+singular, but superb state. His valiant and well-beloved officers stood
+ranked on either side, and on either side, also, his resolute followers
+were displayed, as if performing the duties of a body-guard. In this
+situation of pride, he prepared to receive the congratulations or the
+griefs of his enemies; and, as if to add still further to the imposing
+magnificence of the ceremony, at that moment, as a wild roar of conches
+and drums mingling with the wilder shouts of human beings, burst over
+the city, a great multitude of native warriors from the province of
+Chinantla, marching in regular and alternate files of spearmen and
+archers, and glittering with feathers and brilliant cotton garments,
+strode upon the square, and dividing upon either side of the pyramid,
+halted only when they had surrounded it with their warlike and most
+romantic array. The spectacle was no more surprising to the people of
+Narvaez than to those friends of Cortes, who had not before looked upon
+an Indian army, among whom Don Amador was one. He regarded the
+picturesque barbarians with much admiration; though his eye soon
+wandered from them to dwell upon the leader, and the ceremonious part he
+was then enacting. He sat in his chair like a monarch, and though, at
+times, when some conquered cavalier more honoured, or better beloved,
+than others, approached, he arose, and even extended his arms with a
+friendly embrace, in the greater number of instances he was content to
+pronounce some simple words of compliment, and present his hand to be
+kissed,--a mark of homage reverentially rendered by all.
+
+It did not become Don Amador, though he surveyed these proceedings with
+some little contempt, as indicating on the one side, too much arrogance,
+and on the other, too much humility, to interrupt them, in which
+persuasion, he stood patiently aside, with his company, watching until
+such moment when he might approach with propriety. Being thus a witness
+of the degree of friendliness which characterized the receptions, as
+well as the many petitions which the comers made to be accredited and
+enrolled among the general's true friends and followers, he began to
+lose somewhat of the wonder with which he had regarded the suddenness
+and facility of the victory. It was apparent, that most of the officers
+of Narvaez had long made up their minds to devote themselves to the
+service of his enemy; and when they had paid their compliments to Don
+Hernan, they dropped among his officers, as if joining old friends and
+comrades.
+
+It gave the neophyte some pain, when at the conclusion of these
+ceremonies, he beheld the Biscayan led forward in chains, (for he was
+heavily ironed,) to salute his rival. His casque was off; a bandage
+covered his eye; his face was very pale; and he strode forward with an
+uncertain gait, as if feeble from the loss of blood, or agitated by
+shame and despair. Nevertheless, he spoke with a firm and manly voice,
+when he found himself confronted with his vanquisher.
+
+"Thou mayest congratulate thyself, Cortes," said the fallen chief. "Thy
+star has the ascendant, thy fate is superior; and so much do I admire my
+own misfortune, that I could compliment thee upon it, did I not know it
+was wrought less by the valour of my enemies, than the perfidy of my
+friends."
+
+"Thou doest thyself, as well as all others, a great wrong to say so,
+brother Narvaez," said the victor, gravely; "and it would better become
+thee magnanimously to confess thou art beaten by thine own fault, rather
+than to follow the example of little-minded men, and lay the blame upon
+others."
+
+"I confess that I _am_ beaten," said the captive;--"and that the shame
+of my defeat will last longer than my grave. But I aver to God, and I
+maintain in thy teeth, though I am but a captive in thy hands, that this
+victory is altogether so miraculous, it could not have happened unless
+by the corruption of my people."
+
+"To heaven and my good soldiers, it is all owing," said Cortes,
+composedly: "and so little miraculous, my brother, do I myself esteem
+it, after having twice or thrice beaten thirty thousand Tlascalans, at a
+time, all valiant men, that I vow to thee on my conscience, I cannot do
+other than consider this triumph as altogether the least of my
+achievements in Mexico."
+
+"It must be so, since you say it," responded Narvaez, his breast heaving
+under the sarcasm, with a bitter and suffocating pang; "yet it matters
+not. Let the glory be ever so little, the shame is not the less
+notorious; and though thou scornest thy reward of fame, I will not fly
+from mine own recompense of contempt.--What more is expected of me? Dios
+mio! I cannot, like the rest, kiss thy hand, and take upon me the oaths
+of service. I am thy prisoner!"
+
+"Had I been thine," said Cortes, gravely, "thou wouldst have fulfilled
+thy word, and hanged me, wouldst thou not?"
+
+"What matters it?" replied the unfortunate man, with a firm voice.
+"Doubtless, if the passion that beset me at the time of the
+proclamation, had lasted after a victory, I should have been as good as
+my word: for which reason I will anticipate thy excuses, and assure thee
+out of mine own mouth, thou wilt but retaliate fairly, to dismiss me to
+the same fate."
+
+"Thou canst not understand the moderation thou hast not practised," said
+Cortes rising, and speaking with dignity. "The foolish rage that
+provoked thee to set a price upon my head, I remember not; the madness
+that proclaimed these true and most loyal men for rebels and traitors,
+must be passed by, as other hallucinations: but as, in doing this, thou
+hast greatly injured and jeoparded the interests of thy master the king,
+thou art worthy to suffer the death of a rebellious subject, for as such
+thou hast acted. Nevertheless, I will do thee a grace thou wouldst not
+accord to me; I will conceive, that, however traitorous have been thy
+actions, thou mayest have been faithful at heart,--mistaken, but not
+disloyal: in which thought, I give thee thy life, and will recommend
+thee into the hands of his majesty for judgment and mercy."
+
+The conqueror waved his hand, and Narvaez was led away:--to terminate,
+in after years, a life of mischance by a death of misery, among those
+ruder tribes of the North who are but now vanishing from the borders of
+the Mississippi, and to add his melancholy tale to the gloomy histories
+of De Leon and De Soto.
+
+"What will my noble and thrice-honoured friend, Don Amador de Leste?"
+cried Cortes, as he perceived the neophyte approaching him. "We should
+be good friends, senor; for I owe thee much, and we have been in peril
+together."
+
+"Twice, I thank your excellency," said Amador, "you have done me the
+office of a true cavalier; for which I will not now trifle the time to
+thank you, inasmuch as my arm is henceforth unshackled, and I can write
+my gratitude better with it, than with my tongue. What I have now to
+require, is that your excellency will judge between me and this fellow,
+the master of a ship, in the matter of a Moor called Abdalla, otherwise
+Esclavo de la Cruz, and his son Jacinto; both of whom being Christian
+Moors, though captured in a Barbary vessel, this man doth claim to be
+his slaves; I, on the other hand, as their vowed protector and champion,
+upholding them to be free, and in the condition of wards to his majesty
+the king."
+
+"They are my slaves," said the master--but a frown from the general
+instantly closed his lips.
+
+"It is well for the Moor," said Cortes, as, at his command, Abdalla
+approached, followed by Jacinto: "it is well for the Moor that he has so
+powerful a protector as Don Amador; for otherwise, having discovered it
+was his accursed hand shot off the falcon which destroyed me four brave
+men and maimed as many more, I had resolved to hang him like a hound,
+this very morning!"
+
+"There is no better cannonier in all your excellency's train," said the
+master, who, however likely to be robbed of his property, could not
+check the impulse to praise it.
+
+"I fired the cannon with the fear of death in my eyes, if I refused,"
+said Abdalla, humbly; "and my lord should as well be wroth with the
+linstock as with myself."
+
+"Say not a word, sirrah Moor," said Cortes; "for the favour of Don
+Amador having saved thy life, I have nothing further to do, but to judge
+thy claims to liberty; the which if thou establish, I will not scruple
+to employ thee in mine own service."
+
+"The freedom of these twain," said Amador, "was recognised by his
+excellency, the admiral Cavallero; and I thought he had satisfied this
+ship-master."
+
+"His excellency, the admiral, protested he would represent the matter to
+the governor Velasquez," said the surly captain; "and I was content to
+abide his decision. But my sailors, hearing there was more gold to be
+gathered among these hills than on the sea, deserted me; and not having
+the means to carry my ship to Cuba, I was fain to follow after them;
+hoping the excellent cavaliers would do me justice, and pay me for my
+captives."
+
+"Sirrah," said the general, "wert thou with Narvaez, or with me, in this
+battle?"
+
+"With neither," said the sailor. "I arrived at night-fall; and not being
+able to make my way to Narvaez, I slept off my fatigue in a hut below,
+till roused by the din of this siege; coming forth to behold which, I
+discovered my slaves, and straightway claimed them: and my sailors
+yonder will witness I won them in fair fight."
+
+"The Moriscos are Christians, and therefore not thy property," said the
+commander; "and if they were, being taken out of the camp of an enemy,
+they should be reckoned spoils of war, and for that reason, my
+possessions, and not thine. Cease therefore thy demands; follow thy
+sailors, if thou wilt,--for on the lakes of Mexico, I shall have
+employment for thy best skill; and if, in time, I discover thee
+faithful, and this Moor as dexterous as thou representest, I will,
+without allowing thee any right to the same, give thee very good guerdon
+for his services."
+
+The master, concealing his dissatisfaction, retired.
+
+"I hoped," said Amador, "your excellency might be persuaded to send
+Abdalla and the boy to Spain."
+
+"I am loath to say to Don Amador, that may not be," replied Cortes. "As
+a good Christian, Abdalla will doubtless rejoice to fight the infidel;
+and as for his boy, if there be no other cavalier willing to advance him
+to the honours of a page, I will myself receive him. I hear he is a good
+musician; and I want a playmate for my little Orteguilla, whom I left
+dancing boleros before the emperor Montezuma."
+
+The fame of Jacinto as a lutist and singer, had already spread among the
+cavaliers; and his appearance was at the same time so prepossessing,
+that many of them stepped forward, and avowed themselves ready to
+receive him into service. Don Amador himself, now for the first time
+perusing his countenance at leisure, and moved as much by its beauty as
+by its air of grief and destitution, added himself to the number; and it
+seemed as if the claims of the various applicants might lead to heat and
+misunderstanding. The cap of Jacinto had fallen from his head, and long
+ringlets, such as greatly stirred the envy of the younger cavaliers,
+fell over his fair brow and exceedingly beautiful countenance. His
+delicately chiseled lips, parted in alarm and anxiety, moved and played
+with an ever-varying expressiveness; while his large black eyes, in
+which brilliancy was mingled with a pensive gentleness, rolled from
+general to cavalier, from Amador to his father, with a wild solicitude.
+
+The difficulty was terminated at last by Don Hernan.
+
+"I vow by my conscience," said he, "I like the boy's face well; but I
+will not oppose my wishes to those of worthier gentlemen here present.
+In my opinion, no man hath so fair a claim to the boy as Don Amador de
+Leste, who first befriended him; and not doubting that, herein, the boy
+will agree with me, I propose the election of a master to be left to
+himself, or, what is the same thing, to his father, as a measure equally
+agreeable to all. Choose, therefore, Abdalla, between these cavaliers
+and thy benefactor; for it is not possible the stripling can remain with
+thyself."
+
+Abdalla bent his troubled eyes around the assembly; and Amador, not
+doubting his choice, regarded him with a benignant encouragement. Long
+did the Almogavar survey him, now with eagerness, as if about to throw
+himself at his feet and beseech his protection, and now faltering with
+hesitation and doubt. Amador, mistaking the cause of his embarrassment,
+prepared to reassure him; when the eyes of the Moor, wandering away from
+himself, fell upon the figure of Don Gabriel standing hard by. The same
+hesitation that disturbed him before, again beset him; but it lasted not
+long. Amid the clouds of dejection and distraction that characterised
+the countenance of the knight of Rhodes, there shone a ray of
+benevolence as if the emanation of a fixed and constant principle; and
+Abdoul al Sidi, as he remarked it, forgot that Calavar was the slayer of
+his people.
+
+"If my lord, my very noble lord," he said, bending to the earth, "will
+hear the prayer of his servant, and waste his charity on so great a
+wretch as Abdoul, there is no one of all this noble assembly to whose
+benevolent protection Abdoul would sooner confide his helpless and
+sinless child."
+
+The cavaliers stared; yet Abdalla had not erred, when he reckoned on the
+humanity of Calavar.
+
+The knight received the hand of Jacinto from his father, and regarding
+him with a paternal kindness, said,--
+
+"For the sake of Him who did not scorn to protect little children, I
+will receive this boy into my arms, and protect him with my best
+strength, both from sorrow, and the sin that is the parent of sorrow."
+
+"And I may see him sometimes?" said the Moor, lingering, though the
+general had motioned him away.
+
+"Surely I keep him from harm, not from the love of his father."
+
+"I commend thee to heaven, my child," said the Almogavar, embracing him.
+"Confide in thy master, remember thy father, and pray often.--Farewell!"
+
+But the boy, with a cry that drew the commiseration of all present,
+threw himself into Abdalla's arms, and clasping him as if forever, wept
+on his bosom.
+
+"Thy master waits thee, my child!" said Abdalla, disengaging his hands,
+and again leading him to Calavar. "Be wise and faithful, and remember,
+if not always in thy presence, I shall not often be far from thy side."
+
+The stripling once more kissed the lips of the Morisco, and then
+checking his lamentations, as his father left him, wrapped his cloak
+round his head, as if to hide his tears, and stood by the knight in
+silence.
+
+While this incident was passing, the attention of Cortes was attracted
+by two Indians differing much in equipment from the warriors of
+Chinantla, but still of a soldier-like bearing, who, in company with two
+or three of his chief cavaliers, hastily approached him, and conferred
+with him through the medium of an interpreter. A cloud came over his
+countenance; he arose, and smote his hands together with fury.
+
+"What, ho, cavaliers!" he cried; "we must think of other matters than
+crying babes and jingling pages. I thank God for this victory, for never
+came one more opportunely; and ye, true friends, who have, this moment,
+protested your allegiance, prepare now to make it more manifest. Sharpen
+your swords, saddle your horses; for to-day we must march to
+Tenochtitlan!"
+
+A murmur of surprise ran through the multitude that thronged the
+pyramid; and Amador forgot both the boy, and the touch of indignation
+with which he had seen him transferred to another, though his kinsman,
+as he pressed towards the excited general.
+
+"Know ye, friends and brothers!" continued Cortes, "that the devil has,
+at last, waked up in the infidel city; blood has been shed,--the blood
+of Spaniards as well as of pagan Mexicans,--and, at this moment,
+Alvarado is besieged in the palace by the whole hordes of the valley;
+and he swears to me, by these Tlascalan messengers, that unless I render
+him speedy assistance, he must die of starvation, or perish under the
+sword of the barbarians. So God speed us to the Venice of the New World,
+the Babylon of the mountains! The gold shall not be snatched out of our
+hands, nor the fame blotted from our histories: we have this good day
+numbers enow to chase the imps from the islands, and to tumble the gods
+from their temples; and so will we, in the name of God and St. Peter,
+Amen!--God speed us to Tenochtitlan!"
+
+The shout that answered this pious and valiant rhapsody from the pyramid
+and the square, gave note of the zeal with which his followers, both old
+and new, were prepared to second the resolution of their leader.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+
+A history of moral epidemics, drawn up by a philosophic pen, would add
+much to our knowledge of the mysteries of human character and human
+power, as well as of the probable contingencies of human destiny. In the
+prosecution of such a subject, besides tracing the development of those
+little causes which, in former days, have spread their effects from man
+to man, until whole communities have laboured under a disease resulting
+in revolutions of the most stupendous nature, we should, doubtless,
+perceive many of those points of susceptibility and chains of impulsion,
+which render men the creatures of change; and which, being definitely
+understood and wisely influenced, might at once put it in the power of
+philanthropists to govern the operations of reform in such manner as to
+avoid the evils of ill-considered innovation. Religion and liberty have
+both come to us as diseases; and the propagation of them throughout the
+lands of the heathen and the slave, is yet a measure of pain and peril,
+because we have not considered, or not yet learned, how to address
+ourselves to infirmity. What man will not say, that the enthusiasm which
+cumbered the sands of Syria with the blood of the Crusaders, might not,
+if properly directed, have brought light and happiness to all Europe? or
+that the fever, which has left the revolution of France a horror on the
+page of history, might not, under the guidance of a less speculative
+philosophy, have covered her valleys and filled her cities with security
+and peace? Enthusiasm comes and goes; and because we know not enough of
+its weak and governable qualities to direct it in the paths of justice
+and virtue, it is allowed yet to fill the world with wrong and misery;
+and, misapplied to the purposes of glory, avarice, and fanaticism, the
+engine which God has given us to advance our civilization, is still the
+preserver of barbarism.
+
+In the facility with which the aboriginal empires of America were
+subverted by a handful of hotheaded Spaniards, mankind has been willing
+to find a proof of the savage imperfection of their institutions. In the
+case of Mexico, at least, this testimony is deceptive. If we remember
+that the tribes of Anahuac, like the other races of America, were
+struggling against obstacles which did not impede the advancement of
+other nations, we shall be surprised at the point of civilization they
+had reached. Heaven had denied all the useful domestic animals to
+America. The bison, which is perhaps not altogether untameable, roamed
+only over the prairies and the forest lands of the north, among tribes
+that were yet in the bottom class of humanity. The horse and the ass
+added not their strength to the labours of man, and the little llama,
+bearing the burden of its master over the icy Cordilleras of the south,
+was but a poor substitute for the camel of the desert, to which it has
+been compared. Accident, or the knowledge of a thousand years, can alone
+teach men the use of that metal which will bring him civilization, when
+gold will not buy it; but the discovery even of the properties of iron
+will soon follow the invention of an alphabet, however rude or
+hieroglyphic. The Mexicans could already record and perpetuate their
+discoveries. Without the aid of iron and domestic animals, they were
+advancing in refinement. Civilization had dawned, and was shedding a
+light, constantly augmenting, over their valleys; and, apart from these
+deficiencies, saving only, perhaps, additionally, in the article of
+religion, which was not yet purged of its abominations, (and which,
+_perhaps_, flung more annual victims on the altars than did, in after
+days, even the superstition of their conquerors, in Spain,) the Mexican
+empire was not far behind some of the monarchies of Europe in that
+method, purpose, and stability of institutions, both political and
+domestic, which are esteemed the evidences of civilization.
+
+A moral epidemic nerved the arm of the invaders, another paralyzed the
+strength of the invaded. Superstition covered the Spaniard with armour
+stronger than his iron mail, and left the Mexican naked and defenceless;
+and, in addition, the disease of disaffection, creeping from the
+extremities to the centre of the empire, added its weight to the
+lethargy of religious fear. When Hernan Cortes set out on his march, the
+second time, against Tenochtitlan, believing that God had chosen him to
+be a scourge to the misbeliever, he knew well that thousands and tens of
+thousands of malecontents were burning to join his standard. Mexico was
+the Rome of the New World,--a compound of hostile elements, an union of
+tribes and states subdued and conjoined by the ambition of a single
+city, but not yet so closely cemented as to defy the shocks of a Gothic
+irruption. What might have been the condition of the empire of
+Montezuma, if the divine ray which conducted the Genoese pilot over the
+Atlantic, had been reserved for an adventurer of the present day, it is
+impossible to determine; but, it is quite clear, its condition was such
+at the time of the invasion, that, had not the indecision of its
+monarch, founded on such a conjuncture of coincidences as might have
+confounded a more enlightened prince, entirely repressed its powers of
+resistance, no armies, raised by the Spanish colonists, or even by their
+European master, could have penetrated beyond the shores; and the
+destiny of Cortes would have been written in letters as few and as
+obscure as those which have recorded the fate of Valdivia among the less
+refined, but better united Araucanians of Chili.
+
+The heart of the leader was bold, the spirits of his confederates full
+of resolution and hope; and notwithstanding the evil intelligence that
+their victims were wakening to a knowledge of their strength, and
+confirming their audacity in the blood they had already shed, the united
+followers of Narvaez and Hernan Cortes began their march over the
+mountains with alacrity and joy.
+
+The novelties and wonders that were each day disclosed, were remarked by
+no one with more satisfaction than by Don Amador de Leste. He rejoiced
+when, ascending among the mountains, the fens and sand-hills of the
+coast were exchanged for picturesque lakes and romantic crags; when the
+oak woods and pine forests began to stretch their verdant carpets over
+the hill-sides; when, standing among the colossal ruins of some shivered
+peak, he cast his eye over glen and valley, glittering with verdure and
+fertility, far away to the majestic ridges over whose hazy sides tumbled
+the foamy fall, or crept the lazy cloud, while among their gorges
+glistened the distant cones of snow. Now he admired the ferns, lifting
+their arborescent heads, like palms, among other strange trees; now, as
+he exchanged the luxuriant slopes for those volcanic deserts which strew
+the base of Perote with lava and cinders, he beheld the broad nopal, and
+the gigantic maguey, rearing their massive leaves over the fissures,
+while a scorched forest withered and rotted above. Sometimes, while
+pursuing his weary way over these mountain _paramos_, or deserts, he
+advanced bewildered, as what seemed a fair and spacious lake withdrew
+its vapoury waters from before him, and revealed a parched and barren
+expanse of sand. The journey was an alternation of mountain and valley,
+forest and plain, with sometimes a pleasant little Indian village, and,
+twice or thrice, a town of no mean magnitude and splendour, rising in
+pleasant nooks among the horrors of the waste.
+
+Over this rugged region it was not possible to drag the ordnance and
+heavy stores, with which Cortes was now abundantly provided, without
+much labour and delay; and it was not until about the time of the summer
+solstice, more than a month after the fall of Zempoala, that, at the
+close of a pleasant day, the new invaders laid their eyes, for the first
+time, on Tlascala,--the capital of that warlike republic, which, for the
+singular object, as certain historians have conjectured, of preserving
+an enemy to exercise their armies, as well as to furnish victims for
+their gods, the Mexican monarchs permitted to subsist in the heart of
+their empire.
+
+The slowness of their march was productive of many advantages to those
+particular individuals, whose adventures it is the object of this
+history to record. It gave to Don Amador an opportunity to make the
+acquaintance of many of his new companions, among whom were some not
+unworthy his friendship. The services of the senor Duero were remembered
+not without gratitude; and although he reflected, at times, with some
+unreasonable disgust, that these denoted as much treachery to a friend
+as humanity to a stranger, the attentions of that cavalier were so
+sedulously continued, that he could not well refuse him his regard. The
+taciturn but ever-resolute Sandoval,--the lofty and savage, but not the
+less courteous De Leon,--the fiery De Olid,--the daring De Ordaz, who,
+thirsting to accomplish exploits not dreamed of by his confederates, had
+clambered among the snowy pinnacles and burning caverns of the great
+Volcan, and had thereby won the right, confirmed to him afterwards by
+the Spanish king, to carry a fire-mountain for his arms;--these, as well
+as divers others of no mean renown, so recommended themselves to the
+esteem of the neophyte, that he dismissed much of his preconceived
+contempt, and began to consider himself among honourable and estimable
+cavaliers. But to none of them did his spirit turn with so much
+confidence and affection as to Don Francisco de Morla, a young hidalgo
+of his own native town, greatly beloved throughout the army, as a man of
+honour and tried courage. In this cavalier a modest carriage was united
+to great gayety of disposition, and a warm heart, governed by gentleness
+of temper. A milder enthusiasm than that which beset his comrades,
+softened him to the barbarians, in whose land he was more desirous to
+consider himself a guest than an enemy; and without lacking any
+sincerity of devotion to his own faith, he seemed to regard the
+ferocious superstitions of the natives with less abhorrence than pity.
+He had followed at the side of Cortes from Tobasco to Zempoala; and,
+being as observant as brave, was not only able to acquaint Don Amador
+with the marvellous events of the invasion,--its perils, sufferings, and
+triumphs,--but could also instruct him in many of the remarkable
+characteristics of the land and the people.
+
+The effects of this delay on the knight of Rhodes were equally
+beneficial, though differently wrought. The paroxysms of lethargy, as
+well as the fits of distraction, which, as Don Amador learned from the
+faithful Marco, had been many and ungovernable, whenever the excitement
+of battle was over, began to vanish under the interest of the society,
+and the influence of the careful government of the neophyte; who, from
+long acquaintance with his kinsman's eccentricities, had acquired a
+power to soothe them. But if such was the influence of Don Amador, the
+power of the little Moorish page over his moody moments was still more
+remarkable. The sorrows of Jacinto vanished with the capriciousness of
+childhood; and perceiving that, in the long and toilsome march, he was
+never so far separated from his father that he might not look to see him
+at night-fall, he quickly recovered his spirits. Then, as if to express
+his gratitude to the good knight who protected him, he studied, with
+wonderful diligence and address, how best to please and divert him. With
+a thousand pretty stories, chosen with such discretion and prattled with
+such eloquence, as often surprised the neophyte;--with countless songs,
+which no one could sing with more sweetness, or accompany with more
+skill on the lute,--he would seduce the knight from his gloom, and cheat
+him out of his melancholy. No dagger shone so brightly as that polished
+by the hand of Jacinto; no plume of feathers waved with more grace than
+that set by the young Moor on the casque of Don Gabriel. If a
+tiger-flower glittered on the path, if a chirimoya put forth its fruit
+by the wayside, before the knight could turn his eyes upon them, they
+were in his hand; and Jacinto smiled with delight, as he received the
+thanks of his patron. The benevolence of Don Gabriel soon changed to
+affection; he almost smiled--not so much with joy as with love--when,
+sometimes, the boy sat at his feet at evening, and sang with fervour a
+hymn to the Virgin; he was troubled if, by chance, Jacinto strayed from
+his sight; and Don Amador sometimes found himself beset by a sort of
+jealousy, when he perceived, or thought he perceived, this stripling
+robbing him of the heart of his kinsman. But to do Don Amador justice,
+it needed not many suggestions of his honour or pride to rid him of such
+envious emotions. The zeal of the boy in the service of Calavar, as he
+confessed, deserved much of his own gratitude; to which should be added
+many acknowledgements of the satisfaction with which he himself listened
+to his instrument and voice. If the boy sang with alacrity at the wish
+of Calavar, he was not less ready to obey the command of the neophyte.
+Nevertheless, Don Amador fancied this obedience was rendered less from
+love than duty: he thought the stripling looked on him with fear,
+sometimes with dislike; and he was persuaded that (though on occasions
+of difficulty,--when a thunderstorm met them on a hill, or a torrent
+roared over the path,--Jacinto chose rather to fly to him for
+protection, than to remain by the side of the knight,) he was oftener
+disposed to shrink from his kindness. This troubled Don Amador, for he
+loved the boy well; and often he said to himself, "I have saved this
+urchin from a beating, and, as I may add, from the imminent danger of
+being speared like a frog;--I have given him gentle words, as also
+praises for his singing, which is indeed very excellent; I have helped
+him over divers rivers, and a thousand times offered him a seat on
+Fogoso's crupper, which it was his own fault, or his own cowardice, he
+did not accept; in short, I have helped him out of countless troubles,
+and was, besides, the first to befriend him in these lands--without
+reckoning what protection I have given to his father, Sidi Abdalla;--and
+yet the lad loves me not. It is a pity he was not born of Christian
+parents;--ingratitude runs in Moorish blood!"
+
+So thought Don Amador, a thousand times; but a thousand times, as his
+displeasure waxed hot at the unthankfulness of the lad, it was
+dissipated by some little circumstance or another. Once, when he was in
+a talkative mood, and desirous to have Jacinto at his side, he was so
+displeased at his evident wish to escape, as to vent his displeasure in
+a reprimand. The boy ran to his side, kissed his hand, and raised his
+eyes, suffused with tears, to the countenance of his preserver.--The
+cavalier never rebuked him again. On two or three occasions, also,
+greatly to his surprise, he caught the stripling weeping; which was the
+more wonderful, since he seemed not only reconciled, but greatly pleased
+with his state of easy servitude. On all such occasions, he excused
+himself with such persuasive simplicity, as not only to remove all
+suspicions of discontent, but greatly to increase the affection of the
+neophyte. He was a favourite as well with the men-at-arms, as with their
+masters; and Don Amador often reflected with wonder, how quickly he had
+wound himself into the hearts of all. "If I could persuade myself into a
+belief of magic," he pondered, "I should think him a truer conjurer than
+Botello. What Botello prophesied concerning Narvaez, is very remarkable;
+yet, when a man is prognosticating all his life, it is hard if he do not
+sometimes blunder upon the truth. Truly he blundered wrong about
+Lorenzo's arm, which is not yet well healed; and I vow to St. John, I
+thought, one time, it would have gangrened. But as to Jacinto, he has
+enchanted my knight's heart. I have ever thought _he_ abhorred the
+Moors, and surely he slew great numbers in the war of the Alpujarras. As
+for myself, I was born with a natural detestation of the Moorish race;
+and I never before knew but one that I did not hate at first sight."
+Here he sighed dolefully. "But this boy I love; yet loves he not me.--I
+have heard of philters and love-medicines; and surely, as many drugs
+attack the stomach, brain, and other parts, there is no reason some
+should not be found to affect the heart!"
+
+But while the neophyte thus marvelled and reasoned, Jacinto stole still
+deeper into his favour; and at the end of a day's march, Don Amador was
+oftener found sitting at the door of some Indian cabin, or under the
+shade of its flower-garden, listening with Calavar to the lays of the
+young musician, than sharing the martial sports of his companions, or
+even superintending the warlike exercises of his ward, Fabueno.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+
+To those invaders who had not yet witnessed with their own eyes the
+peculiar wonders of the interior, the approach to Tlascala was full of
+surprise and interest. As the sun sank, the four hills on which lay the
+republican city, and the pyramids and towers that crowned them, sent
+their long shadows over the plain to the feet of the cavaliers; and in
+the gloom, they beheld a vast multitude,--the armies of the four tribes
+which composed the nation, under their several banners, glittering with
+feathers, and marching in regular divisions to the sound of wild music,
+as well as a host of women and children waving knots of flowers, and
+uttering cries of welcome,--advancing to do them honour. Don Amador
+forgot the valiant appearance of the warriors of Chinantla, while gazing
+on the superior splendour of the armed Tlascalans. These warlike people,
+in imitation of their Christian confederates, had learned to divide
+their confused throngs into squadrons and companies, ranked under
+separate leaders, and now approached in what seemed well-ordered
+columns. Bunches of red and white feathers waved among their long
+locks, and ornamented their wickered shields; the short tunic of
+_nequen_, a coarse white cloth of the maguey, left their muscular and
+well-sculptured limbs free for action; and as they strode along,
+brandishing their swords of obsidian, (the _maquahuitl_,--a heavy
+bludgeon, armed on either side with blades of volcanic glass,) or
+whirling in their slings those missiles of hardened copper armed with
+sharp horns, which were capable of piercing the toughest armour,--and
+ever and anon, mingling their fierce cries with the savage sound of drum
+and flute, they made a show not more remarkable than glorious. At the
+head of each division, under his peculiar standard, (the image of some
+bird of prey, or wild beast, very gorgeously decorated,) marched each
+chieftain, with the great plume of distinction, or _penacho_, as it was
+called, rising full two feet above his head, and nodding with a more
+than barbarous magnificence. Thus appareled and thus displayed, they
+advanced to the head of the Christian army, and dividing on either side,
+so as to surround the Spanish host with a guard of honour, each
+individual, from the naked slinger to the feather-crowned chief, did
+homage to the Christian general, by touching the earth with his hand,
+and then kissing the humbled member; while at the same moment, a number
+of priests with black robes and hair trailing almost to the ground,
+waved certain pots of incense before him, as if to a demigod; a mark of
+distinction which they afterwards extended to the cavaliers that
+surrounded him. The religious ire of Don Amador de Leste was inflamed,
+when it became his turn to receive this fragrant compliment; and looking
+down fiercely upon the innocent censer-bearer, and somewhat forgetting
+that Castilian was not the language of the realm, he cried;--
+
+"What dost thou mean, thou pagan dog! to smoke me in this idolatrous
+manner, who am neither a god nor a saint?"
+
+"Senor," said De Morla, who sat at his side, "be not offended at this
+mark of reverence, which the customs of the country cause to be rendered
+to every man of dignity; and which is a harmless compliment, and no
+idolatrous homage, as was first thought among us. Thou wilt presently
+see them smoke their own generals and senatorial lawgivers, the last of
+whom thou mayest see yonder approaching us in a group;--those old men
+with the feather fans in their hands."
+
+As De Morla predicted, the priests were no sooner done smoking their
+Christian visiters, than they turned to do similar reverence to their
+own dignitaries; and Don Amador's concern was soon changed to admiration
+to behold with what lofty state these noble savages received the tribute
+due to their rank.
+
+"This fellow with the red plume, and the sword that seems heavy enough
+for a giant's battle-axe," he cried,--"the knave over whom they hold a
+great, white bird like an ostrich?--He must needs be a king! He bends to
+Cortes, like an emperor doing courtesy to some brother monarch."
+
+"That," said De Morla, "is Xicotencal, of the tribe of the White-Bird,
+the most famous general of the Tlascalans, and, in fact, the
+captain-in-chief of all their armies. He is not less valiant than
+famous, and not less arrogant than valiant; and at this moment, beshrew
+me, I think he would rather be knocking his bludgeon over our heads, out
+of pure love of war, than kissing his fingers in friendship. This is the
+man who commanded the armies which fought us on our first approach; and
+truly I may say, he fought us so well, that had he not been commanded by
+the senators, who are the civil rulers of Tlascala, to make peace with
+us, there is much suspicion we should have seen heaven sooner than the
+vale of Mexico. For, senor, after having supplied us with food, as
+scorning to be assisted in his victory by famine, which was somewhat
+pressing with us, he fell upon us to win it in person; and I must
+confess, as will be recorded in history, he quite broke and confounded,
+and would have utterly destroyed us, had it not been for a providential
+mutiny in his camp in the very midst of his triumph; whereby we had time
+to rally, and take advantage of his distresses. The same good fortune
+might have been his, another time, without so inconvenient an
+interruption. But it seems the senators of Tlascala only made war on us,
+to prove whether or not we were valiant men, and worthy to be received
+as their allies, according to our wish; which being now proved to their
+satisfaction, they ordered the war to be ended, and welcomed us as
+friends. There never were more valiant men than these soldiers of
+Tlascala."
+
+"Of a surety," said Don Amador, "I begin to think the captain Gomez of
+the caravel was somewhat mistaken as to the courage of these
+barbarians."
+
+"Thou seest the second chief,--he of the green penacho, with whom Cortes
+confers so very courteously! That is Talmeccahua, chief of the tribe
+Tizatlan, a very young warrior, but second in fame only to Xicotencal;
+and being more docile and friendly, he is much a favourite with our
+general, and doubtless will be selected to accompany us to the great
+city. Of those reverend old senators I could also give you an account;
+but we who are soldiers, care not for lawgivers. It is enough to assure
+you, that they are the rulers of Tlascala; and that though these proud
+people, the commoners, call themselves free republicans, they are to all
+intents and purposes the servants of many masters; a sort of freedom
+somewhat more questionable than that of a nation governed by one king.
+Thou seest, they kiss their hands to us, as we enter their city. For my
+part, I think them rogues to love us, their truest enemies, better than
+their domestic rivals, the people of Tenochtitlan. Wo betide them, who
+help us to conquer their foes, when their foes _are_ conquered!"
+
+As De Morla spoke, Don Amador found himself entering the city of
+Tlascala. Twilight had darkened over the hills, and in the obscurity,
+(for the moon had not yet risen) he perceived long masses of houses,
+not very lofty, but strong, on the terraced roofs of which stood many
+human beings, chiefly women and children, who waved a multitude of
+torches, and, as they sung what De Morla told him were songs of welcome,
+threw flowers down upon their guests.
+
+Flambeaux were also carried before them in the streets; and with this
+sort of pomp, they were ushered to a great building with extensive
+courts, sufficient to lodge the whole army, which was assigned them for
+their quarters.
+
+While the cannoniers were arranging the artillery, the officers of the
+guard choosing their watchmen, and preparations were made to hold a
+conference with the chiefs of the republic, the neophyte was invited by
+De Morla to accompany him to a pyramid on one of the four hills, whence,
+as he assured him, was a noble prospect of those huge mountains which
+separated them from the valley of Tenochtitlan. Don Amador looked about
+him for his kinsman. He had retired with the chaplain of the army, in
+some sudden disorder of spirit, for prayer or confession; and Don Amador
+sighed, as he bethought him that yearly, about the time of midsummer,
+the knight's disease seemed to reach its intensest point.
+
+"If thou couldst but sing to him that holy song of the Virgin, written
+many years back by the priest of Hita,
+
+    Quiero seguir a ti, Flor de las flores!"
+
+said Don Amador to the Moorish page, (for it was Jacinto who gave him
+this information,) "I have no doubt thou wouldst do him more good than
+the reverend father Olmedo; for, though I know not why it should be so,
+he ever seems to me more troubled than relieved by confession."
+
+"It was a song chanted the evening before that had thrown the knight's
+spirit into disorder; and Baltasar had commanded him never to sing
+again;" so said Jacinto.
+
+"Baltasar is an ass! though very zealous for his master," said the
+neophyte in a heat, "and thinks there is nothing comforts my kinsman's
+heart, save the clanging of swords and bucklers; whereas, I know very
+well, thy ditties are true medicine to him; and, with heaven's blessing,
+thou shall sing him very many more."
+
+"Let the boy follow with us," said De Morla: "I like his piping well;
+and methinks, if he have not forgotten that tender love-song about the
+Christian knight who adored a pagan Morisca, I can listen to it again
+with much good will, as I look towards the mountains of Montezuma."
+
+"I am loath to have him away, for perhaps my good knight may call for
+him when the confession is over; and there is something raw in this
+night air, that may be prejudicial to the youth."
+
+"_Yo seguire a mi senor_--I will follow my master," said Jacinto, with
+simplicity. "My lord the knight bade me this night to remain by the side
+of my lord, lest some evil should happen to me among the infidels."
+
+"Take up thine instrument then," said the neophyte, "for thou seemest
+to-night to remain by me in good will; and I am ever glad to have thy
+foolish company, when such is the case. If thou wilt carry a torch also,
+'tis very well: 'twill be some half hour yet ere moonrise."
+
+The two cavaliers, followed by the page bearing a torch, as well as his
+lute, strode through the streets, which were still thronged with their
+savage allies, as in a gala-day, singing and shouting; many of whom,
+from affection or curiosity, seemed disposed to add themselves to the
+little party. Nevertheless, such inquisitive individuals were easily
+repelled by De Morla pointing in the direction he was pursuing, and
+pronouncing a few words in their language, the effect of which, as Don
+Amador observed, was always to check their ardour, and cover their
+visages, when these could be seen, with sadness and awe.
+
+"I tell them," said De Morla, in answer to the inquiries of the
+neophyte, "that we are going to the hill to look upon the
+fire-mountain, Popocatepetl; and why they are so stricken with
+superstition at the name, I will explain to thee when we reach the
+temple."
+
+The temple was soon reached. The city,--a congregation of cabins and
+rude stone dwellings, of vast size,--lying on the prolonged base of a
+great mountain, reared its principal sanctuaries on the spurs of this
+elevation, on the highest of which stood that consecrated to the god of
+the air. This was an earthen pyramid, huge and lofty, surmounted by
+towers such as Don Amador had seen at Zempoala. As the friends
+approached this, the deep silence that surrounded it was broken by the
+voices of men speaking vehemently in a strange tongue; and as they
+advanced, they beheld two or three figures glide behind the pyramid, as
+if to escape observation. This would not perhaps have attracted the
+notice of the neophyte, had not his companion exclaimed,--
+
+"Sidi, the cannonier, again! plotting his knaveries with the two Moorish
+slaves of Cortes! There is some villany in the wind: I have twice or
+thrice seen Abdalla in close conference with these two varlets, and he
+is often seen talking with his other countrymen that we have in the
+army. I will represent this matter to the general; for there can no good
+come of such secret proceedings.--I have all along distrusted that
+infidel cannonier to have some mischief in him."
+
+"Please my lord, my father is no infidel," said Jacinto, trembling,
+perhaps as much at his presumption in contradicting a noble hidalgo, as
+at the presumed danger of his parent,--"no infidel, but a Christian
+Moor; as the good padre Olmedo will witness to my lord."
+
+"Young page," said De Morla, pleasantly, "I should not have said so
+grievous a thing of thy father, but that I forgot thou wert in hearing.
+I will grant thee Abdalla to be a good Christian, if the padre say so;
+but, if thou art as much of a wit as a singer, tell me, how is it thy
+father is found so often skulking about by night, in company with the
+Moorish slaves, who are yet unbelievers, instead of resting with
+Christian soldiers?"
+
+"Though the Moors be slaves and Mahometans," said the page, with much of
+the submissiveness of his father, though recovering from his
+trepidation, "they were born in the same land with my father, and are
+his countrymen. As for the Christian soldiers, they will not forget,
+that though a Christian, he was born of the poor Moriscos: and, my lord
+knows, it is hard to rest with those who hate us."
+
+"I should give thee a ducat for thy argument," said De Morla,
+good-humouredly, "but that I know thou art so unsophisticated as to
+prefer sweet praise to gold; and I intend soon to bestow some of that
+upon thee. Thy oration has utterly persuaded me I have wronged Abdalla;
+in token of my penitence for which, I will relieve thee of the burthen
+of the torch, whilst thou art climbing up these steps, which are none of
+the smoothest nor shortest."
+
+"Take thou my hand, Jacinto," said the novice, benevolently; "for, as my
+friend says, these steps are indeed very rugged; and I am willing to
+show thee, that though thou art of Moorish blood, I myself do by no
+means either hate or despise thee."
+
+The page humbly and hesitatingly placed his hand in the grasp of Don
+Amador, and ascending at his side, soon stood on the summit of the
+pyramid.
+
+Here, besides two towers of stone that reared their lofty bulk over
+head, the novice perceived in advance of them, two great urns of rude
+workmanship, each apparently carved out of a solid block of stone, and
+each glowing with the remains of a fire not yet extinguished,--though no
+priests stood by, to guard and replenish them.--They had forsaken their
+altars, to join in the festivities of the evening.
+
+"Let us break these idolatrous censers!" said Don Amador, "for my blood
+boils to look upon them."
+
+"Nay," said the moderate De Morla, "let us wait for heaven's own time,
+as is strenuously advised by our wise and holy chaplain, who must know
+better than ourselves how to attack the impieties of the land. We have
+ever found these heathens more easily converted by gentle persuasions
+than by violent assaults on their prejudices; and father Olmedo has
+shown us how persecution strengthens instead of overturning an abused
+superstition. He has also proved to the satisfaction of most of us, that
+it is our bounden duty to subdue the arms of the pagans, and leave their
+faith to be conquered by the good priests who will follow in our
+path.--Turn, senor, from these pigmy vases to the great censers, which
+God has himself raised to his majesty!"
+
+As De Morla spoke, he turned from the altars, and Don Amador, following
+with his eyes the direction in which he pointed, beheld a spectacle
+which instantly drove from his mind the thought of the idolatrous urns.
+Far away in the south-west, at the distance of eight or ten leagues,
+among a mass of hills that upheld their brows in gloomy obscurity, a
+colossal cone elevated its majestic bulk to heaven, while the snows
+which invested its resplendent sides, glittered in the fires that
+crowned its summit. A pillar of smoke, of awful hue and volume, rose to
+an enormous altitude above its head, and then parting and spreading on
+either side through the serene heaven, lay still and solemn, like a
+funeral canopy, over its radiant pedestal. From the crater, out of which
+issued this portentous column, arose also, time by time, great flames
+with a sort of lambent playfulness, in strange and obvious contrast with
+their measureless mass and power; while ever and anon globes of fire,
+rushing up through the pillar of vapour, as through a transparent
+cylinder, burst at the top, and spangled the grim canopy with stars. No
+shock creeping through the earth, no heavy roar stealing along the
+atmosphere, attested the vigour of this sublime furnace; but all in
+silence and solemn tranquillity, the spectacle went on,--now darkling,
+now waxing temporarily into an oppressive splendour, as if for the
+amusement of those shadowy phantoms who seemed to sit in watch upon the
+neighbouring peaks.
+
+"This is indeed," said Don Amador, reverently; "if God should require an
+altar of fire, such a high place as might be meeter for his worship than
+any shrine raised by the hands of man. God is very great and powerful!
+The sight of such a spectacle doth humble me in mine own thoughts: for
+what is man, though full of vanity and arrogance, in the sight of Him
+who builds the fire-mountains?"
+
+"Padre Olmedo," said his companion, "will ask you, what is this
+fire-mountain, though to the eye so majestic, and to appearance so
+eternal, to the creeping thing whose spark of immortality will burn on,
+when the flames of yonder volcano are quenched forever?"
+
+"It is very true," said the neophyte, "the mountains burn away, the sea
+wastes itself into air, but the soul that God has given us consumes not.
+The life of the body passes away like these flames; the vitality that is
+in the spirit, is a gift that heaven has not extended to the stars!"
+
+"My friend," said De Morla, willing to pass to more interesting
+discussions, "will now perceive for what reason it was that the
+Tlascalans were dismayed and sorrowful when I pronounced the name of
+Popocatepetl. The name signifies the Mountain of Smoke; for this great
+chimney, though ever pouring forth dark vapours, has not often been
+known to kindle into flames. The present eruption, beginning about the
+time of our descent upon the coast, has ever since continued; and was
+considered to have heralded our appearance. The Tlascalans, though as
+securely fettered under the sway of their senators, as are the people of
+Anahuac under their kings, are, as I told thee, very intolerant of such
+chiefs as carry the open names of masters. Nay, so bitterly do they
+detest all tyrants, that they have constructed a fable, which they now
+believe as a truth,--namely, that the souls of such persons are
+concocted and elaborated among the flames of yonder awful crater;
+whence, at the times of eruptions, they are sent forth, in the shape of
+meteors and fire-balls, to afflict and desolate the world. The globes
+that fall back into the cavity, they think, are despots recalled by
+their relenting gods; whereas, those that fall beyond the brim and roll
+down the sides of the mountain, are tyrants let loose upon them without
+restraint. This being their belief, it may seem strange to you, they
+have conceived so preposterous an affection for ourselves, who are much
+liker to prove their tyrants than any of the lords of Anahuac; but yet,
+so savage is their detestation of these native kings, that, though
+nightly terrified with the spectacle of so many fiery tyrants flying
+through the air, they seem quite to have lost sight of the danger of
+entrusting their liberties to our care."
+
+"I hope," said Don Amador, "we have come to rid them of the bondage of
+idolatry, not to reduce them to a new slavery."
+
+"We will see that by-and-by," said De Morla. "We broke the chains of
+superstition in the islands, but we followed them with more galling
+fetters; and what better fate awaits the good Montezuma, is more than I
+can tell."
+
+"Dost thou call that savage emperor the good Montezuma?" demanded the
+novice.
+
+"I cannot do otherwise," said De Morla, mildly, "A thousand times might
+he have swept us from the face of the earth; for his armies are
+numberless. A grain of sand from the hand of each of his warriors, would
+have covered us with a mountain. But age has come to him with a disgust
+of blood; and all his actions have proved him rather a humane host than
+a barbarous destroyer. I must confess, we have repaid his gentleness and
+beneficence both with perfidy and cruelty; yet, notwithstanding all
+this, and notwithstanding that he is sorely afflicted by our harshness,
+such is the goodness of his heart, that he will not permit his people to
+do us any injury, nor, by any violence, rescue him out of our hands."
+
+"I have heard another story from Don Hernan," said Amador: "and, truly,
+I thought these ferocious assaults upon the garrison left with the senor
+Alvarado in the city, were proof enough of his deceitful malice."
+
+"I will not take upon me to contradict what is averred by Don Hernan,"
+said De Morla. "But, senor, we have had other representations of these
+tumults, by envoys from Montezuma himself, which, if Cortes had not
+refused to hear them, would have entirely changed the nature of our
+belief. I have myself spoken with these ambassadors," continued the
+young cavalier earnestly, "some of whom were sent to us at Zempoala, and
+others have met us at divers places since, though without being
+hearkened to,--and having no inducements to remain in a rage, like
+Cortes himself, I was very easily persuaded, to my shame, that the fault
+lay all on the side of the garrison.--Senor, for the sake of lucre, we
+have done many unjust things! We were received with all hospitality by
+Montezuma, the great lord of Tenochtitlan; he gave us a palace to live
+in, supplied us with food and raiment, and enriched us with many costly
+presents. We repaid all this kindness, by seizing him, in a moment of
+confidence, and conveying him to our dwelling, where we have kept him
+ever since a prisoner, forcing him, by the fear of death, to submit to
+many indignities unworthy his high rank and benevolent character; and
+once even forcing him to sit in chains and witness the cruel execution
+of some of his own officers for a certain crime in which he could have
+had no part. He forgave us this, as well as other insults, and, while we
+were absent against Zempoala, preserved his promise sacred, to remain in
+ward of Alvarado until our return. Now, senor, you shall hear the truth
+of the assault, of which so much is said by Cortes, as fully proving the
+iniquitous duplicity of the captive emperor. While we were gone, there
+occurred the anniversary of the great festival of Mexitli, the war-god,
+in which it is customary for all the nobles, arrayed in their richest
+attire, to dance on the terrace of the great pyramid, before the
+emperor. Alvarado, dreading lest such an assemblage of chiefs, heated,
+as we well knew them to be, on account of the imprisonment of their
+king, might encourage them to rescue him from his thrall, refused to let
+the _Mitotes_, (for so they call this ceremony,) be danced on the
+temple; and, at his invitation, the Tlatoani assembled in the court-yard
+of the palace which Montezuma gave us for our quarters; and here the
+rite began. Now, senor," continued De Morla, speaking indignantly, "you
+will blush to hear, that our Christian garrison were so inflamed with
+cupidity at the sight of the rich and precious jewels, with which their
+guests were decorated, that they resolved to possess them, though at the
+cost of blood-guiltiness; and falling upon these poor unsuspicious and
+unarmed revellers, when wearied with the dance, and calling out
+'_Treason!_' as if to justify themselves, though there was no treason,
+except that in their own hearts, they butchered all that could not leap
+the high walls, and rifled the corses, even in the sight of the emperor.
+This, as you may well believe, excited the people to fury, and drove
+them to vengeance. They assaulted the palace, killed many of the
+perfidious garrison, and would have destroyed all, but that Montezuma,
+whom they call the traitor and murderer, moved by the intreaties and
+excuses of Alvarado, commanded them to retire; and such are their love
+and subjection to this monarch, that they instantly obeyed him, and have
+remained in peace ever since, waiting the return and the judgment of Don
+Hernan.--And Don Hernan will doubtless command us to give them justice,
+by slaying as many as shall dare to demand it."
+
+"By heaven!" said Don Amador, "if this be the truth, there are more
+barbarians than those who worship pagan idols; and I vow to God, if I
+find thy narrative well confirmed, I will draw no sword, not even at the
+bidding of my knight Calavar, on the people of Tenochtitlan. Were I even
+sworn, like a vowed knight of Rhodes, to keep no peace with the
+infidel, I could not fight in an unjust cause."
+
+"I am glad to hear you say so," said De Morla, frankly; "for I have
+often, ever since I have been assured of the friendly and docile
+character of the Mexicans, been persuaded it would be wiser, as well as
+juster, to teach them than to destroy. Your favour will find the nobles
+very civilized; and surely their daughters, if converted to the true
+faith, would make more honourable wives for Spanish hidalgos than the
+Moorish ladies of our own land."
+
+A sigh came from the lips of Jacinto, as he heard this narrative, to
+which he had listened with boyish interest, terminated with a slur so
+degrading to his people. But his mortification was appeased by Don
+Amador, exclaiming with great emphasis,--
+
+"That these Mexican princesses may make very good wives, when true
+Christians, I can well believe; but I have my doubts whether they have
+any such superiority over the Moorish ladies of Granada, who possess the
+religion of Christ. I have, once or twice, known very noble Moriscas,
+honoured among the wives of Granada as much as those who boasted the
+pure blood of Castile; and for myself, without pretending to say I shall
+ever condescend to such a marriage, I may aver, that I have seen at
+least one fair maiden, and she of no very royal descent, whom,--that is,
+if I had loved her,--I should not have scorned to wed. But these things
+go by fate: a Christian Moor is perhaps as much regarded by heaven as a
+Christian Spaniard; and surely there are some of them very lovely to
+look on, and with most angelical eyes!"
+
+The gentle cavalier smiled in his own conceits, as he listened to the
+argument of his friend; but, without answering it, he said,--
+
+"While we have the authority of the Cid Ramon of Leon before our eyes, I
+am much disposed to agree with Don Amador; for the Cid adored an
+infidel, and why should not we love proselytes? Come, now, my pretty
+page: of all thy ballads, I like best that which treats of the loves of
+Cid Ramon; and if thou hast not forgotten it, I shall rejoice to hear
+thee chant it once more, while we sit under the tower and gaze on the
+fire-mountain, that looks down on Mexico."
+
+The boy agreed with unusual alacrity, and sitting down at the feet of
+the cavaliers, on the flags that surrounded the sanctuary, with the
+torch stuck in the earth near him, he tuned his instrument with a
+willing hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+
+Lighted not more by the torch at his feet than by the flames that
+crested the distant mountain, the Moorish boy struck the lute with a
+skilful touch, whispered, rather than wailed, the little burthen that
+kept alive the memory of the Alhambra, and then sang the following
+Romance;--a ballad that evidently relates to the fate of Mohammed
+Almosstadir, king of Seville, dethroned by the famous Yussef ben Taxfin,
+Emir of Morocco. In the wars of the Moorish kings of Spain with Alfonso
+VI. of Leon, about the year 1090, the Christian monarch prevailing, his
+infidel enemies invited Yussef to their assistance. The emir obeyed the
+call; but having fought one or two battles with Alfonso, contented
+himself with turning his arms on his confederates, and dethroning
+them,--Mohammed Almosstadir among the number. It is recorded, that his
+chivalrous enemy, the king Alfonso, moved by the distresses of Mohammed,
+sent an army of twenty thousand men to assist him against Yussef; but in
+the obscurity of the historic legends of that day, nothing can be
+discovered in relation to the devout condition of "kissing the cross,"
+nor, indeed, of the name or fate of the leader of the Spanish army. We
+should know nothing of the good Cid, but for the ballad, which was
+doubtless of very antique origin; though the simple burthen, _Me acuerdo
+de ti, Granada_! commemorative of the fall of the Moorish city, must
+have been added four hundred years after; perhaps by the singer from
+whom Jacinto had learned it.
+
+          ROMANCE OF CID RAMON.
+
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+    Cid Ramon spurr'd his good steed fast,
+      His thousand score were near;
+    And from Sevilla's walls aghast,
+      The watchmen fled with fear:
+    For Afric's Emir lay around,
+      The town was leaguer'd sore,
+    And king Mohammed wept with shame
+      To be a king no more.
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    The Emir's powers were round and nigh,
+      Like locusts on the sward;
+    And when Cid Ramon spurr'd his steed,
+      They struck him fast and hard.
+    "But," quoth the Cid, "a knight am I,
+      With crucifix and spear;
+    And for Mohammed ride I on,
+      And for his daughter dear."--
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Cheer up, dark king, and wail no more,
+      Let tears no longer flow;
+    Of Christian men a thousand score
+      Have I to smite thy foe.
+    The king Alfonso greets thee well:
+      Kiss thou the cross, and pray;
+    And ere thou say'st the Ave o'er,
+      The Emir I will slay."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Or let the African be slain,
+      Or let the Emir slay,
+    I will not kiss the cross of Christ,
+      Nor to his Mother pray.
+    A camel-driver will I live,
+      With Yussef for my lord,
+    Or ere I kiss the Christian's cross,
+      To win the Christian's sword."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Mohammed, now thou griev'st me much--
+      Alfonso is my king:
+    But let Suleya kiss the cross,
+      And let her wear the ring.
+    The crucifix the bride shall bear,
+      Her lord shall couch the spear;
+    And still I'll smite thy foe for thee,
+      And for thy daughter dear."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    Then up Suleya rose, and spoke,--
+      "I love Cid Ramon well;
+    But not to win his heart or sword,
+      Will I my faith compel.
+    With Yussef, cruel though he be,
+      A bond-maid will I rove,
+    Or ere I kiss the Christian's cross,
+      To win the Christian's love."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Suleya! now thou griev'st me much--
+      A thousand score have I;
+    But, saving for a Christian's life,
+      They dare not strike or die.
+    Alfonso is my king, and thus
+      Commands my king to me:
+    But, for that Christian, _all_ shall strike,
+      If my true love she be."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Ill loves the love, who, ere he loves,
+      Demands a sacrifice:
+    Who serves myself, must serve my sire,
+      And serve without a price.
+    Let Yussef come with sword and spear,
+      To fetter and to rend;
+    I choose me yet a Moorish foe
+      Before a Christian friend!"--
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Ill loves the love, who pins his love
+      Upon a point of creed;
+    And balances in selfish doubt,
+      At such a time of need.
+    His heart is loosed, his hands untied,
+      And he shall yet be free
+    To wear the cross, and break the ring,
+      Who will not die for me!"
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    The Emir's cry went up to heaven:
+      Cid Ramon rode away--
+    "Ye may not fight, my thousand score,
+      For Christian friend to-day.
+
+    But tell the king, I bide his hest,
+      Albeit my heart be sore;
+    Of all his troops, I give but _one_
+      To perish for the Moor."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    The Emir's cry went up to heaven;
+      His howling hosts came on;
+    Down fell Sevilla's tottering walls,--
+      The thousand score were gone.
+    And at the palace-gate, in blood,
+      The Arab Emir raves;
+    He sat upon Mohammed's throne,
+      And look'd upon his slaves.
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "The lives of all that faithful be,
+      This good day, will I spare;
+    But wo betide or kings or boors,
+      That currish Christians are!"--
+    Up rode Cid Ramon bleeding fast;
+      The princess wept to see;--
+    "No cross was kiss'd, no prayer was said,
+      But still I die for thee!"
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    The Moorish maid she kiss'd the cross,
+      She knelt upon her knee;--
+    "I kiss the cross, I say the prayer,
+      Because thou diest for me.
+    To buy thy thousand score of swords,
+      I would not give my faith;
+    But now I take the good cross up,
+      To follow thee in death."
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+    "Holy Maria! Come to us,
+      And take us to the blest;
+    In the true blood of love and faith,
+      Receive us to thy rest!"--
+    The Emir struck in bitter wrath,
+      Sharp fell the Arab blade;
+    And Mary took the Cid to heaven,
+      And bless'd the Christian maid.
+            I remember thee, Granada!
+
+"I like that ballad well," said De Morla, with a pensive sigh, when the
+singer had finished, "and, to my thought, no handsome maiden, though
+such always makes the best ballad-singer, could have trolled it with a
+more tender and loving accent than Jacinto. 'The Moorish maid,'" he
+continued, humming the words in a sentimental manner,--
+
+    "The Moorish maid she kiss'd the cross,
+    She knelt upon her knee.--
+
+To my mind, it would read better, if we could say, 'The Mexican maid.'--
+
+    The Mexican maid she kiss'd the cross--
+
+But, pho upon it! that spoils the metre.--Is it not thy opinion, senor,
+the princess Suleya would have shown more true love as well as wisdom,
+to have kissed the cross _before_ the Cid came to his death-gasp?"
+
+"By my faith, I cannot doubt it," said Don Amador; "yet, considering
+that she avowed herself a proselyte, when the sword of that accursed
+Emir was suspended over her head, and so provoked and endured the death
+of a martyr for Don Ramon's sake, it must be acknowledged she acted as
+became a loving and truly devout lady. But what I chiefly esteem in
+this ditty, is the magnanimous art with which the Cid Ramon both
+preserved his faith to his king, and devoted himself to death for his
+mistress,--a reconciliation of duties which some might have considered
+impracticable, or, at least, highly objectionable."
+
+"Amigo querido mio," cried De Morla, grasping the neophyte's hand, and
+speaking with a voice half comical, half serious, "if thou livest a
+hundred years longer than myself, thou wilt hear some such mournful
+madrigal as this sung in memory of my foolish self; only that, in place
+of a Moorish Infanta, thou wilt hear the name of a Mexican princess; and
+Minnapotzin will doubtless be immortalized along with De Morla."
+
+"Minnapotzin!" exclaimed Don Amador, with a stare rendered visible
+enough by the distant flashings of the volcano. "I swear to thee, my
+brother, I understand not a word thou art saying!"
+
+"To make the matter clear to thee then," said De Morla, with forced
+gayety, "conceive me for a moment to be the Cid of whom we have been
+singing; and imagine my Suleya to be wandering by the lake side in the
+figure of a certain Minnapotzin, received to our holy faith under the
+name of Dona Benita,--a princess among these poor barbarians."
+
+"Dost thou indeed love one of these strange maidens, then?--and is she
+baptized in our holy faith?" demanded Don Amador, with much interest.
+"If she be worthy of thee, Francisco, I pray heaven to make thee happy
+with her."
+
+"Now, may I die!" cried De Morla, grasping Don Amador's hand warmly, "if
+I did not fear thou wouldst either censure or laugh at me,--or perhaps
+turn thy ridicule upon Benita,--a wrong I never could have forgiven
+thee. For I protest to thee, there is no such gentle and divine being in
+all the world beside. I make thee my confidant, hermano mio, because I
+shall have much need of thy friendship and counsel; for though I come
+not, like Cid Ramon, with 'a thousand score' to rescue her pagan
+father, sure am I, I cannot love the princess, and yet be blind to the
+miseries of the king."
+
+"Assuredly," said Don Amador, "I will aid thee, and, for thy sake, both
+the fair princess and her unconverted sire, wherever, in so doing, I may
+not oppose my allegiance and religion."
+
+"I will not claim any sacrifice," said De Morla, "unless so much as will
+rob thee of thy prejudices against this deluded people. In fact, I
+desire thee more as a confidant, than as an abettor; for there is
+nothing to oppose my happiness, saving the present uncertainty of the
+relations betwixt ourselves and the Mexicans. Minnapotzin is a
+Christian;--I dare be sworn, the Cid was not better beloved than
+myself;--and Cortes hath himself promised to ask the consent of our
+Christian king to the marriage, as soon as Montezuma has properly
+confirmed his vassalage. No, there is nothing to oppose me," continued
+De Morla, with a sudden sadness, "saving only this uncertainty I have
+spoken of,--and the darkness that hangs over my own destiny."
+
+"I vow to thee, I am as much in the dark as before," said Don Amador.
+
+"In good faith, my friend," said the young cavalier, with a faint smile,
+"it is promised me, I shall die very much like Don Ramon. Did I never
+tell thee what Botello hath prophesied?"
+
+"Not a jot," said the neophyte. "But I trust thou puttest no faith in
+that worthy madman?"
+
+"How can I help it?" said De Morla, seriously. "He has foretold nothing
+that has not been accomplished, from the quarrel of Cortes with the
+Adelantado Velasquez, even to the fall of Zempoala."
+
+"I have reflected on this prediction with regard to Zempoala, as well as
+all others whereof I have heard," said the neophyte, with a sagacious
+nod, "and I have settled in mine own mind that there is nothing in them
+beyond the operation of a certain cunning, mingled with a boldness which
+will hazard any thing in prognostic. Much credit is given to Botello
+for having, as I am informed, predicted, even before the embarkation of
+Cortes, the rupture between him and his governor that afterwards ensued.
+Now, any man, acquainted with the unreasonable rashness and hot jealousy
+of the governor, might have foretold a quarrel; and I see not how it
+could have been otherwise. So also, as I may say, I did myself, in a
+manner, foretell the disaster of Narvaez, as soon as I perceived his
+foolish negligence, in choosing rather to divert his soldiers with
+legerdemain dances than to set them about his city as sentinels. The
+victory comes not to the indiscreet general."
+
+"All this might have been conjectured, but not with so many surprising
+particulars," said the cavalier. "How could Botello have predicted,
+that, though Narvaez should sally out against us, no blow should be
+struck by daylight?"
+
+"Marry, I know not; unless upon a conviction that Cortes was too wise to
+meet his enemy on the plain; and from a personal assurance, that the
+rocks wherein the general had pitched his camp, were utterly
+unassailable."
+
+"How could he have guessed that flames should drive the Biscayan from
+the tower?"
+
+"Did he guess that, indeed?" said the neophyte, staring. "He could not
+have known that; for the brand was thrown by mine own rogue Lazaro, who,
+I know, was not his confederate."
+
+"How could he have averred that Narvaez should lose his eye, and come
+blindfold to his conqueror?"
+
+"Is it very certain Botello foretold _that_?" demanded Don Amador, his
+incredulity shaking.
+
+"The senor Duero was present, as well as several other honourable
+cavaliers, and all confirm the story," said De Morla. "Nay, I could give
+thee a thousand instances of the marvellous truths he has spoken; and so
+well is Cortes convinced of his singular faculty, that he will do no
+deed of importance, without first consulting the magician."
+
+"When my head is very cool," said Amador, musingly, "I find no
+difficulty to persuade myself that the existence of the faculty of
+soothsaying is incredible, because subversive of many of the wise
+provisions of nature; yet I will not take upon me to contradict what I
+do not know. And surely also, I may confess, I have heard of certain
+wonderful predictions made by astrologers, which are very difficult to
+be explained, unless by admission of their powers."
+
+"What Botello has said to me," said De Morla, with a hurried voice, "has
+been in part fulfilled, though spoken in obscure figures. He told me,
+long since, that I should be reduced to bondage, 'at such time as I
+should behold a Christian cross hanging under a pagan crown.' This I
+esteemed a matter for mirth; 'for how,' said I, 'shall I find a pagan
+wearing a crucifix? and how shall I submit to be a captive among strange
+and cruel idolaters, when I have the power to die fighting?' But I have
+seen the cross on the bosom of one who wears the gold coronet of a
+king's daughter; and now I know that my heart is in slavery!"
+
+Don Amador pondered over this annunciation; but while he deliberated,
+his friend continued,--
+
+"When Botello told me this, he added other things,--not many but
+dark,--to wit, as I understood it, 'that I should perish miserably with
+my enslaver,' and, what is still more remarkable, with an infidel priest
+to say the mass over my body! Senor, these things are uncomfortable to
+think on; but I vow to heaven, if I am to die in the arms of
+Minnapotzin, I shall perish full as happily as did Cid Ramon in the
+embraces of Suleya!"
+
+De Morla concluded his singular story with a degree of excitement and
+wildness that greatly confounded Don Amador; and before the neophyte
+could summon up arguments enough to reply, a voice from the bottom of
+the pyramid was heard pronouncing certain words, in a tongue entirely
+unknown to him, but among which he thought he recognised the name of
+Minnapotzin. He was not mistaken. De Morla started, saying, hastily,--
+
+"I am called, senor. This is the voice of one of the envoys of
+Montezuma, with whom I have certain things to say concerning Dona
+Benita. I will return to thee in an instant." And so saying, he
+descended the stairs of the mound, and was straightway out of sight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+The moon had now risen, and was mingling her lustre with the blaze of
+the volcano. The shouts of revelry came less frequently from the city,
+and, one by one, the torches vanished from the house-tops and the
+streets. A pleasant quiet surrounded the deserted temple; a few embers,
+only, glowed in the sacred urns; but the combined light of the luminary
+and the mountain covered the terrace with radiance, and fully revealed
+the few objects which gave it the interest of life. In this light, as
+Don Amador turned to his youthful companion, he beheld the eyes of the
+page suffused with tears.
+
+"How is it, Jacinto?--What ails thee?" he cried. "I vow to heaven, I am
+as much concerned at thy silly griefs, as though thou wert mine own
+little brother Rosario, who is now saying his prayers at Cuenza. Art
+thou weary? I will immediately conduct thee to our quarters. Is there
+any thing that troubles thee? Thou shouldst make me thy confidant; for
+surely I love thee well."
+
+"Senor mio! I am not weary, and I am not grieved," said the stripling,
+with simplicity, as the good-natured cavalier took him by the hand, to
+give him comfort. "I wept for pity of the good Don Francisco and the
+poor Minnapotzin; for surely it is a pity if they must die!"
+
+"Thou art a silly youth to lament for evils that have not yet happened,"
+said Amador.
+
+"But besides, senor," said the page, "when Don Francisco made me sad, I
+looked at the moon, and I thought how it was rising on my country!"
+
+"It is now in the very noon of night, both in thy land and mine," said
+the neophyte, touched by the simple expression, and leading the boy
+where the planet could be seen without obstruction;--"it is now midnight
+over Fez, as well as Castile; and, perhaps, some of our friends, in both
+lands, are regarding this luminary, at this moment, and thinking of
+_us_."
+
+The page sighed deeply and painfully:
+
+"I have no friends,--no, neither in Fez nor in Spain," he said; "and,
+save my father, my master, and my good lord, none here. There is none of
+my people left, but my father; and we are alone together!"
+
+"Say not, alone," said Amador, with still more kindness,--for as Jacinto
+made this confession of his destitute condition, the tears fell fast and
+bitterly from his eyes. "Say not, alone; for, I repeat to thee, I have
+come, I know not by what fascination, to love thee as well as if thou
+wert my own little brother; and there shall no wrong come to thee, or
+thy father, while I live to be thy friend."
+
+Jacinto kissed the hand of the cavalier, and said,--
+
+"I did not cry for sorrow, but only for thinking of my country."
+
+"Thou shouldst think no more of Fez; for its people are infidels, and
+thou a Christian."
+
+"I thought of Granada,--for that is the land of Christians; and I longed
+to be among the mountains where my mother was born."
+
+"Thou shalt live there yet, if God be merciful to us," said the
+cavalier: "for when there is peace in this barbarous clime, I will take
+thee thither for a playmate to Rosario. But now that we are here alone,
+let us sit by the tower, and while I grow melancholy, bethinking me of
+that same land of Granada, which I very much love, I will have thee sing
+me some other pretty ballad of the love of a Christian knight for a
+Moorish lady;--or I care not if thou repeat the romance of the Cid: I
+like it well--'Me acuerdo de ti'--'me acuerdo de ti'--" And the
+neophyte seemed, while he murmured over the burthen, as if about to
+imitate the pensiveness of De Morla.
+
+"If my lord choose," said the page, "I would rather tell him a story of
+Granada, which is about a Christian cavalier, very noble and brave, and
+a Christian Morisca, that loved him."
+
+"A Christian Morisca!" said Amador; "and she loved the cavalier?--I will
+hear that story. And it happened in Granada too?"
+
+"In one of the Moorish towns, but not in the royal city.--It was in the
+town Almeria."
+
+"In the town Almeria!" echoed Amador, eagerly. "Thou canst tell me
+nothing of Almeria that will not give me both pain and pleasure, for
+therein--But pho! a word doth fill the brain with memories!--Is it an
+ancient story?"
+
+"Not very ancient, please my lord: it happened since the fall of
+Granada."
+
+"It is strange that I never heard it, then; for I dwelt full two months
+in this same town; and 'tis not yet forty years since the siege."
+
+"Perhaps it is not _true_," said the stripling, innocently; "and, at the
+best, 'tis not remarkable enough to have many repeaters. 'Tis a very
+foolish story."
+
+"Nevertheless, I am impatient to hear it."
+
+"There lived in that town," said Jacinto, "a Moorish orphan--"
+
+"A girl?" demanded the neophyte.
+
+"A Moorish maiden,--of so obscure a birth, that she knew not even the
+name that had been borne by her parents; but nevertheless, senor, her
+parents, as was afterwards found out, were of the noblest blood of
+Granada. She was protected and reared in the family of a benevolent
+lady, who, being descended of a Moorish parent, looked with pity on the
+poor orphan of the race of her mother. When this maiden was yet in her
+very early youth, there came a noble cavalier of Castile--"
+
+"A Castilian!" demanded Don Amador, with extraordinary vivacity,--"Art
+thou a conjurer?--What was his name?"
+
+"I know not," said Jacinto.
+
+"Thou learnest thy stories, then, only by the half," said the neophyte,
+with a degree of displeasure that amazed the youth. "And, doubtless,
+thou wert forgetful also to acquire the name of the Moorish orphan?"
+
+"Senor," said the page, discomposed at the heated manner of his patron,
+"the Moorish maiden was called Leila."
+
+"Leila!" cried the neophyte, starting to his feet, and seizing Jacinto
+by the arm--"Canst thou tell me aught of Leila?"
+
+"Senor!" murmured Jacinto, in affright.
+
+"Leila, the Morisca, in the house of the senora Dona Maria de
+Montefuerte!" exclaimed Don Amador, wildly. "Dost thou know of her fate?
+Did she sleep under the surges of the bay? Was she ravished away by
+those exile dogs of the mountains?--Now, by heaven, if thou canst tell
+me any thing of that Moorish maid, I will make thee richer than the
+richest Moor of Granada!"
+
+At this moment, while Jacinto, speechless with terror, gazed on his
+patron, as doubting if his senses had not deserted him, a step rung on
+the earth of the terrace, and De Morla stood at his side.
+
+The voice of his friend recalled the bewildered wits of the neophyte; he
+stared at Jacinto, and at De Morla; a deep hue of shame and confusion
+flushed over his brow; and perceiving that his violence had again thrown
+the page into tears, he kissed him benevolently on the forehead, and
+said, as tranquilly as he could,--
+
+"A word will make fools of the wisest! I think I was dreaming, while
+thou wert at thy story. Be not affrighted, Jacinto: I meant not to scold
+thee--I was disturbed.--Next--next," he added, with a grievous shudder,
+"I shall be as mad as my kinsman!"
+
+"My brother! I am surprised to see thee in this emotion," said De
+Morla.
+
+"It is nothing," responded Amador, hastily and gloomily: "I fear there
+is a natural infirmity in the brains of all my family. I was moved, by
+an idle story of Jacinto, into the recollection of a certain sorrowful
+event, which, one day, perhaps, I will relate to thee.--But let us
+return to our quarters.--The air comes down chilly from the
+mountains--It is time we were sleeping."
+
+The friends retired from the temple, leaving the torch sticking in the
+platform; for the moon was now so high as to afford a better
+illumination. They parted at the quarters; but Don Amador, after
+satisfying himself that the knight of Rhodes was slumbering on his
+pallet, drew Jacinto aside to question him further of the orphan of
+Almeria. His solicitude was, however, doomed to a disappointment; the
+page was evidently impressed with the fear, that Don Amador was not
+without some of the weakness of Calavar; and adroitly, though with great
+embarrassment, avoided exciting him further.
+
+"It is a foolish story, and I am sorry it displeased my lord," said he,
+when commanded to continue the narrative.
+
+"It displeased me not--I knew a Moorish maid of that name in Almeria,
+who was also protected by a Christian lady; and, what was most
+remarkable, this Christian lady was of Moorish descent, like her of whom
+thou wert speaking; and, like the Leila of _thy_ story, the Leila of my
+own memory vanished away from the town before----"
+
+"Senor," cried Jacinto, "I did not say she vanished away from Almeria:
+_that_ did not belong to the story."
+
+"Ay, indeed! is it so? Heaven guard my wits! what made me think it?--And
+thy Leila lived in Almeria very recently?"
+
+"Perhaps ten or fifteen years ago----"
+
+"Pho!--Into what folly may not an ungoverned fancy lead us?--Ten or
+fifteen years ago!--And thou never heardst of the Leila that dwelt in
+that town within a twelve-month?"
+
+"_I_, senor?" cried Jacinto, with surprise.
+
+"True--how is it possible thou couldst?--Thou hast, this night, stirred
+me as by magic. I know not by what sorcery thou couldst hit upon that
+name!"
+
+"It was the name of the lady," said Jacinto, innocently.
+
+"Ay, to be sure!--There is one Mary in heaven, and a thousand on
+earth--why should there not be many Leilas?--Did I speak harshly to
+thee, Jacinto? Thou shouldst not kiss my hand, if I did; for no
+impatience or grief could excuse wrath to one so gentle and unoffending.
+Good night--get thee to thy bed, and forget not to say thy prayers."
+
+So saying, and in such disorder of spirits as the page had never before
+witnessed in him, Don Amador retired.
+
+Jacinto was left standing in a narrow passage, or corridor, on which
+opened a long row of chambers with curtained doors, wherein slept the
+soldiers, crowded thickly together. In the gallery, also, at a distance,
+lay several dusky lumps, which, by the gleaming of armour about them,
+were seen to be the bodies of soldiers stretched fast asleep. As the boy
+turned to retire in the direction of the open portal, it was darkened by
+the figure of a man, entering with a cautious and most stealthy step. He
+approached, and by his voice, (for there was not light enough yielded by
+the few flambeaux stuck against the wall, to distinguish features,)
+Jacinto recognised his father.
+
+"I sought thee, my child!" he whispered, "and saw thee returning with
+the hidalgos.--The watchmen sleep as well as the cannoniers.--It is as I
+told thee--art thou ready?"
+
+"Dear father!"--stammered the page.
+
+"Speak not above thy breath!--The curs, that are hungering after the
+blood of the betrayed Mexicans, would not scorn to blunt their appetites
+on the flesh of the Moor. Have thyself in readiness at a moment's
+warning: Our destinies are written--God will not always frown upon us!"
+
+"Dear father!" muttered Jacinto, "we are of the Spaniards' faith, and we
+will go back to our country."
+
+"It cannot be!--never can it be!" said Abdalla, in tones that were not
+the less impressive for being uttered in a whisper. "The hills of thy
+childhood, the rivers of thy love--they are passed away from
+thee;--think of them no more;--never more shalt thou see them! In the
+land of barbarians, heaven has willed that we should live and die; and
+be thou reconciled to thy fate, for it shall be glorious! We live not
+for ourselves; God brings us hither, and for great ends! To night, did
+I--Hah!"--(One of the sleepers stirred in the passage.)--"Seek some
+occasion to speak with me, to-morrow, on the march," whispered Abdalla
+in the page's ear; and then, with a gesture for silence, he immediately
+retired.
+
+"_Fuego! Quien pasea alli?_" grumbled the voice of Lazaro, as he raised
+his head from the floor. "_Fu! el muchacho!_--I am ever dreaming of that
+cursed Turk, that was at my weasand, when Baltasar brained him with the
+boll of his cross-bow. _Laus tibi, Christe!_--I have a throat left for
+snoring." And comforting himself with this assurance, before Jacinto had
+yet vanished from the passage, the man-at-arms again slumbered on his
+mat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+
+In the prosecution of his purpose, our historian, the worthy Don
+Cristobal Ixtlilxochitl, though ever adhering to his 'neglected
+cavaliers' with a generous constancy, is sometimes seduced into the
+description of events and scenes of a more general character, not very
+necessarily connected with his main object, and which those very authors
+whom he censures, have made the themes of much prolix writing. The
+difficulties that beset an historian are ever very great; nor is the
+least of them found in the necessity of determinating how much, or _how
+little_, he is called upon to record; for though it seems but reasonable
+he should take it for granted that his readers are entirely unacquainted
+with the matters he is narrating, and therefore that he should say all
+that can be said, this is a point in which all readers will not entirely
+agree with him. Those who have acquired a smattering of his subject,
+will be offended, if he presume to reinstruct them. For our own part,
+not recognizing the right of the ignorant to be gratified at the expense
+of the more learned, we have studied as much as is possible, so to
+curtail the exuberances of our original as to present his readers
+chiefly with what they cannot know; for which reason, it will be found,
+we have eschewed many of the memorable incidents of this famous
+campaign, in which none of the neglected conquerors bore a considerable
+part; as well as all those minute descriptions which retard the progress
+of the history. We therefore despatch in a word the glories of the
+morning that dawned over Tlascala, the gathering together of the
+Spaniards, who, upon review, were found to muster full thirteen hundred
+men, and their savage allies, two thousand in number, commanded, as had
+been anticipated, by Talmeccahua of the tribe Tizatlan.
+
+Amid the roar of trumpets and drums, and the shouts of a vast people,
+the glittering and feathered army departed from Tlascala, and pursuing
+its way through those rich savannas covered with the smiling corn and
+the juicy aloe, which had gained for this valley its name of the Land of
+Bread, proceeded onwards towards the holy city, Cholula.
+
+What rocky plains were crossed and what rough sierras surmounted, it
+needs not to detail: before night-fall, the whole army moved over the
+meadows that environ Cholula; and there, where now the traveller sees
+naught but a few wretched natives squatting among their earthen cabins,
+the adventurers beheld a city of great size, with more than four hundred
+lofty white towers shining over its spacious dwellings. The magnificent
+mountains that surrounded it--the sublime Popocatepetl, still breathing
+forth its lurid vapours,--the forbidding Iztaccihuatl, or the White
+Woman, looking like the shattered ruins of some fallen planet, vainly
+concealing their deformities under a vestment of snow,--the sharp and
+serrated Malinche,--and last (and seen with not the less interest that
+it intercepted the view towards home,)--the kingly Orizaba, looking
+peaceful and grand in the east,--made up such a wall of beauty and
+splendour as does not often confine the valleys of men. But there is one
+mountain in that singular scene, which human beings will regard with
+even more interest than those peaks which soar so many weary fathoms
+above it: the stupendous Teocalli--the _Monte hecho a manos_, (for it
+was piled up by the hands of human beings,)--reared its huge bulk over
+the plain; and, while looking on the stately cypresses that shadowed its
+gloomy summit, men dreamed, as they dream yet, of the nations who raised
+so astonishing an evidence of their power, without leaving any
+revealment of their fate. Whence came they? whither went they? From the
+shadows--back to the shadows.--The farce of ambition, the tragedy of
+war, so many thousand times repeated in the three great theatres that
+divided the old world, were performed with the same ceremonies of guilt
+and misery, with the same glory and the same shame, in a fourth, of
+which knowledge had not dreamed. The same superstitions which heaped up
+the pyramids and the Parthenon, were at work on the Teocallis of
+America; and the same pride which built a Babylon to defy the assaults
+of time, gave to his mouldering grasp the tombs and the palaces of
+Palenque. The people of Tenochtitlan and Cholula worshipped their
+ancient gods among the ruined altars of an older superstition.
+
+Great crowds issued from this city--the Mecca of Anahuac--to witness
+the approach of the Spaniards; but although they bore the same features,
+and the same decorations, though perhaps of a better material, with the
+Tlascalans, it was observed by Don Amador, that they displayed none of
+the joy and triumph, with which his countrymen had been ushered into
+Tlascala. In place of these, their countenances expressed a dull
+curiosity; and though they kissed the earth and flung the incense, as
+usual, in their manner of salutation, they seemed impelled to these
+ceremonies more by fear than affection. He remarked also with some
+surprise, that when they came to extend their compliments to the
+allies,--the Tlascalans, from their chief down to the meanest warrior,
+requited them only with frowns. All these peculiarities were explained
+to him by De Morla:
+
+"In ancient days," said the cavalier, "the Cholulans were a nation of
+republicans, like the Tlascalans, and united with them in a fraternal
+league against their common enemies, the Mexicans. In course of time,
+however, the people of the holy city were gained over by the bribes or
+promises of the foe; and entering into a secret treaty, they obeyed its
+provisions so well, as to throw off the mask on the occasion of a great
+battle, wherein they perfidiously turned against their friends, and,
+aided by the Mexicans, defeated them with great slaughter. From that
+day, they have remained the true vassals of Mexico; and, from that day,
+the Tlascalans have not ceased to regard them with the most deadly and
+unrelenting hatred."
+
+"The hatred is just; and I marvel they do not fall upon these base
+knaves forthwith!" said Amador.
+
+"It is the command of Don Hernan, that Tlascala shall now preserve her
+wrath for Tenochtitlan; and such is his influence, that, though he
+cannot allay the heart-burnings, yet can he, with a word, restrain the
+hands of his allies. Concerning the gloomy indifference of these
+people," continued De Morla, "as now manifested, it needs only to inform
+you how we discovered, or, rather, (for I will not afflict you with the
+details,) how we punished a similar treachery, wherein they meditated
+our own destruction, more than half a year ago, when we entered their
+town, on our march to Mexico. Having discovered their plot to destroy
+us, we met them with a perfidious craft which might have been rendered
+excusable by their own, had we, like them, been demi-barbarians; but
+which, as we are really civilized and Christian men, I cannot help
+esteeming both dishonest and atrocious. We assembled their nobles and
+priests in the court of the building we occupied; and having closed the
+gates, and charged them once or twice with their guilt, we fell upon
+them; and some of them having escaped and roused the citizens, we
+carried the war into the streets, and up to the temples: and so well did
+we prosper that day, and the day that followed, (for we fought them
+during two entire days,) that, with the assistance of our Tlascalans, of
+whom we had an army with us, we slaughtered full six thousand of them,
+and that without losing the life of a single Spaniard."
+
+"Dios mio!" cried Don Amador, "we had not so many killed in all the
+siege of Rhodes! Six thousand men! I am not certain that even treachery
+could excuse the destruction of so many lives."
+
+"It was a bloody and most awful spectacle," said De Morla, with feeling.
+"We drove the naked wretches (I say naked, senor, for we gave them no
+time to arm;) to the pyramids, especially to that which holds the altar
+of their chief god,--the god of the air; and here, senor, it was
+melancholy, to see the miserable desperation with which they died; for,
+having, at first, refused them quarter, they declined to receive it,
+when pity moved us afterwards to grant it. About the court of this
+pyramid there were many wooden buildings, as well as tabernacles of the
+like material among the towers, on the top. These we fired; and thus
+attacked them with arms and flames. What ruin the fire failed to inflict
+on the temple, they accomplished with their own hands; for, senor,
+having a superstitious belief, that, the moment a sacrilegious hand
+should tear away the foundations of their great temple, floods should
+burst out from the earth to whelm the impious violator, they began to
+raze it with their own hands; willing, in their madness, to perish by
+the wrath of their god, so that their enemies should perish with them. I
+cannot express to you the horrible howls, with which they beheld the
+fragments fall from the walls of the pyramid, without calling up the
+watery earthquake; then, indeed, with these howls, they ran to the
+summit, and crazily pitched themselves into the burning towers, or flung
+themselves from the dizzy top,--as if, in their despair, thinking that
+even their gods had deserted them!"
+
+"It was an awful chastisement, and, I fear me, more awful than just,"
+said Amador. "After this, it is not wonderful the men of Cholula should
+not receive us with joy."
+
+Many evidences of the horrors of that dreadful day were yet revealed, as
+Don Amador entered into the city. The marks of fire were left on various
+houses of stone, and, here and there, were vacuities, covered with
+blackened wrecks, where, doubtless, had stood more humble and
+combustible fabrics.
+
+The countenance of Cortes was observed to be darkened by a frown, as he
+rode through this well-remembered scene of his cruelty; but perhaps he
+thought less of remorse and penitence, than of the spirit of hatred and
+desperation evinced by his victims,--as if, in truth, the late
+occurrences at Mexico had persuaded him, that a similar spirit was
+waking and awaiting him there.--It was in his angry moment, and just as
+he halted at the portals of a large court-yard, wherein stood the palace
+he had chosen for his quarters, that two Indians, of an appearance
+superior to any Don Amador had yet seen, and followed by a train of
+attendants bearing heavy burthens, suddenly passed from the crowd of
+Cholulans, and approached the general.
+
+"Senor," said De Morla, in a low voice, to his friend, "observe these
+new ambassadors;--they are of the noblest blood of the city; the
+elder,--he that hath the gold grains hanging to his nostrils, in token
+that he belongs to the order of _Teuctli_, or Princes by Merit, is one
+of the lords of the Four Quarters of Mexico--the quarter Tlatelolco,
+wherein is our garrison. His name, Itzquauhtzin, will be, to you,
+unpronounceable. The youth that bears himself so loftily, is no less
+than a nephew of the king himself; and the scarlet fillet around his
+hair, denotes that he has arrived at the dignity of what we should call
+a chief commander,--a military rank that not even the king can claim,
+without having performed great actions in the field. 'Tis a sore day for
+Montezuma, when he sends us such princely ambassadors.--I will press
+forward, and do the office of interpreter; for destiny, love, and my
+mother wit, together, have given me more of the Mexican jargon, than any
+of my companions."
+
+As the ambassadors approached, Don Amador had leisure to observe them.
+Both were of good stature and countenance; their loins were girt with
+tunics of white cotton cloth, studded and bordered with bunches of
+feathers, and hanging as low as the knee; and over the shoulders of both
+were hung large mantles of many brilliant colours, curiously interwoven,
+their ends so knotted together in front, as to fall down in graceful
+folds, half concealing the swarthy chest. Their sandals were secured
+with scarlet thongs, crossed and gartered to the calf. Their raven
+locks, which were of great length, were knotted together, in a most
+fantastic manner, with ribands, from the points of which, on the head of
+the elder, depended many little ornaments, that seemed jewels of gold
+and precious stones; while from the fillets, that braided the hair of
+the younger, besides an abundance of the same ornaments, there were many
+tufts of crimson cotton-down, swinging to and fro in the wind. In
+addition to these badges of military distinction, (for every tuft, thus
+worn, was the reward and evidence of some valiant exploit,) this young
+prince--he seemed not above twenty-five years old--wore, as had been
+noticed by De Morla, the red fillet of the House of Darts,--an order,
+not so much of nobility as of knighthood, entitling its possessor to the
+command of an army. His bearing was, indeed, lofty, but not disdainful;
+and though, when making his obeisance, he neither stooped so low, nor
+kissed his hand with so much humility, as his companion, this seemed to
+proceed more from a consciousness of his own rank, than from any
+disrespect to the Christian leader.
+
+"What will these dogs with me now?" cried Cortes, at whose feet, (for he
+had dismounted,) the attendants had thrown their burthens, and were
+proceeding to display their contents. "Doth Montezuma think to appease
+me for the blood of my brothers? and pay for Spanish lives with robes of
+cotton and trinkets of gold?--What say the hounds?"
+
+"They say," responded De Morla to his angry general, "that the king
+welcomes you back again to his dominions, to give him reparation for the
+slaughter of his people."
+
+"Hah!" exclaimed the leader, fiercely. "Doth he beard me with complaint,
+when I look for penitence and supplication?"
+
+"In token of his love, and of his assured persuasion that you now return
+to punish the murderers of his subjects, and then to withdraw your
+followers from his city for ever," said De Morla, giving his attention
+less to Cortes than to the lord of Tlatelolco, "he sends you these
+garments, to protect the bodies of your new friends from the snows of
+Ithualco, as well as----"
+
+"The slave!" cried Don Hernan, spurning the pack that lay at his foot,
+and scattering its gaudy textures over the earth: "If he give me no mail
+to protect my friends from the knives of his assassins, I will trample
+even upon his false heart, as I do upon his worthless tribute!"
+
+"Shall I translate your excellency's answer word for word?" said De
+Morla, tranquilly. "If it be left to myself, I should much prefer
+veiling it in such palatable language, as my limited knowledge will
+afford."
+
+But the scowling general had already turned away, as if to humble the
+ambassadors with the strongest evidence of contempt, and to prove the
+extremity of his displeasure; and it needed no interpretation of words
+to convince the noble savages of the futileness of their ministry. The
+lord of Tlatelolco bowed again to the earth, and again kissed his hand,
+as if in humble resignation, while the retreating figure of Don Hernan
+vanished under the low door of his dwelling; but the younger envoy,
+instead of imitating him, drew himself proudly up, and looked after the
+general with a composure, that changed, as Don Amador thought, to a
+smile. But if such a mark of satisfaction--for it bore more the
+character of elation than contempt,--did illuminate the bronzed visage
+of the prince, it remained not there for an instant. He cast a quiet and
+grave eye upon the curious cavaliers who surrounded him, and then
+beckoning his attendants from their packs, he strode, with his
+companion, composedly away.
+
+"In my mind," said the neophyte, following him with his eye, and rather
+soliloquizing than addressing himself to any of the neighbouring
+cavaliers, "there was more of dignity and contempt in the smile of that
+heathen prince, than in all the rage of my friend Don Hernan."
+
+"Truly, he is a very proper-looking and well-demeanoured knave," said
+the voice of Duero. "But the general has some deep policy at the bottom
+of all this anger."
+
+"By my faith, I think so, now for the first time!" exclaimed the
+neophyte; "for, although unable to see the drift of such a stratagem, I
+cannot believe that the senor Cortes would adopt a course, that seems to
+savour so much of injustice, without a very discreet and politic
+object."
+
+Here the discourse of the cavaliers was cut short by the sudden
+appearance of Fabueno the secretary.
+
+"What wilt thou, Lorenzo?" said his patron. "Has Lazaro again refused to
+tilt with thee? I very much commend the zeal with which thou pursuest
+thine exercises; but thou shouldst remember, that Lazaro may, sometimes,
+be weary after a day's march."
+
+"Senor, 'tis not _that_," said the secretary. "But just now, as Baltasar
+told me, he saw the page Jacinto very rudely haled away by one of
+Cortes's grooms; and I thought your favour might be glad to know, for
+the boy seemed frighted."
+
+"I will straightway see that no wrong be done him, even by the general,"
+said Amador, quickly, moving toward the door into which he had seen
+Cortes enter. "I marvel very much that my good knight did not protect
+him."
+
+"Senor," said Fabueno, "the knight is in greater disorder to-day than
+yesterday. He took no note of anybody, when we came to this palace; but
+instantly concealed himself in some distant chamber, where, a soldier
+told me, he was scourging himself."
+
+"Thou shouldst not talk, with the soldiers, of Calavar," said Amador,
+with a sigh. "Get thee to Marco. If my kinsman need me, I will presently
+be with him."
+
+Thus saying, he discharged the secretary at the door; and those servants
+who guarded it, not presuming to deny admittance to a man of such rank,
+he was immediately ushered into the presence of Cortes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+
+In a low but spacious apartment, the walls and floor of which were both
+covered with mats, the neophyte found Don Hernan, attended by Sandoval
+and one or two other cavaliers, busy, to all appearance, in the
+examination of the page and a Moorish slave of Cortes's own household,
+whom he seemed to confront with the other. It needed no more than the
+tears which Amador discovered on the cheeks of the youth, to rouse him
+to a feeling very like anger.
+
+"Senor," said he, stepping forward to the side of Jacinto, and looking
+gravely on his judge, "I have exercised the privilege of a master,--or
+rather, as I should say, of a servant,--for this boy is in the ward of
+Don Gabriel, whom I myself follow,--to enter into your presence, without
+the ceremony of a previous request; for which liberty, if it offend you,
+I ask your pardon. But I was told the boy Jacinto was dragged away by
+one of your excellency's menials; and I claim, as asking in the stead of
+his master, to know for what offence?"
+
+"By my conscience, for none at all!" said Cortes, courteously; "at
+least, for none of his own commission. And had he truly been guilty,
+both of treason and desertion, I should have pardoned him, for the
+precocious shrewdness of his answers. Senor," continued the general, "it
+was my intention to beseech your presence at this examination; and
+nothing but the suddenness of it, as well as the present defection among
+my servants, could have caused me to defer the invitation for a moment.
+By my conscience, you have a treasure of wisdom, in this boy!"
+
+This was an assurance Don Amador did by no means deny: for, in addition
+to the singular address with which he adapted himself to the humours of
+the knight, he had seen in Jacinto many other evidences of a discretion
+so much in advance of his years, as to cause him no little wonder; added
+to which, the incident of the past night, in which the page had stumbled
+upon a name, and indeed (for the after explanations had not removed the
+first impression,) a story, which he did not remember to have breathed
+to any living creature, had attached to the youth a sort of respect that
+bordered almost on superstition. But Don Hernan gave the cavalier no
+time for reflections.
+
+"Senor Don Amador," said he, "the fault, if there be any, which we are
+now striving to investigate, lies, not in the page, but in his father,
+Sidi Abdalla, the cannonier; who is charged by my varlet here, this
+unconverted heathen, to be meditating, if not now engaged in the
+accomplishment of a very heinous, and yet, let me add, for your
+satisfaction, a very improbable conspiracy. This is charged to be
+nothing less than desertion from our standard, with a design to throw
+himself into the arms of the enemy; and what makes the matter worse,
+allowing it for a moment to be credible, is, that he plots to carry away
+with him all his countrymen who are slaves with us, in number, I think,
+somewhat above half a score."
+
+"This is, assuredly," said Don Amador, "a very vile offence; for which,
+if guilty, I must needs allow, the Sidi deserves to suffer. Yet, I agree
+with your excellency, the design seems quite as incredible as its
+accomplishment must be impossible."
+
+"No one," said Cortes, "could have shown this with better argument than
+this same weeping boy; for, 'First,' said he, ''tis wrong to receive the
+accusation of an unconverted man against a Christian;' and such an
+infidel hound is Yacub,--whom I will, at some future day, give over to
+be burned for his idolatry; but, at present, I cannot spare so precious
+a servant, for he is an excellent cook, and a good maker of arrow-heads
+for the crossbowmen.--In addition to this argument, senor," continued
+the general, "the boy advances me another of still more force; 'For
+how,' says he, shrewdly, 'would my father leave his Christian masters
+and protectors, to go over to savages, whose language he cannot
+understand, and who would sacrifice him as a victim to their detestable
+gods?'--which gods may heaven sink into the pit, whence they came! and I
+say, Amen!--Now, though one part of this argument is answered by the
+subtle art of Yacub; for whether he have Yacub or any other Moor who
+hath picked up something of the tongue, to interpret for him, or
+whether he have no interpreter at all, it is not the less certain, that,
+the moment he entrusts himself into the power of the barbarians, that
+moment will he be clapped into a great cage like a wild beast, and
+devoured what time he is fat enough for the maws of their diabolical
+divinities; I say, nevertheless, for that very reason, it is not
+probable Abdalla should be so besotted a fool."
+
+"Please your highness," said Yacub, with the obstinacy of one who
+presumed on his master's indulgence, or on the strength of his cause,
+"he urged me, last night, at the pyramid of Tlascala; and this noble
+gentleman, as well as this boy, saw me in his company."
+
+Don Amador started, as he perceived the eyes of Yacub fastened on him,
+as well as those of every other individual in the chamber. The look that
+Jacinto gave him was one of terror and beseeching earnestness.
+
+"Senor," said he, hesitating a little, "though what I have to say, may,
+in part, confirm the charge of this fellow, I cannot scruple to speak
+it; and though I may not aver, on mine own knowledge, that I beheld,
+last night, either this man Yacub, or his countryman, Abdalla, yet must
+I admit that I saw, stealing by the basis of that heathen temple, three
+men, whom my friend De Morla, who accompanied me, pronounced to be the
+cannonier and two of your excellency's servants."--Jacinto wrung his
+hands.--"But what passed between them," the cavalier went on, "whether
+they were hatching a plot, or discoursing together of their hard fate,
+as would seem reasonable for men like them, that have neither friends
+nor country, I cannot take upon me to pronounce; though, from what I
+know of Abdalla, as a courageous and honest man, I am fain to think,
+their communication could not have been of an evil nature."
+
+"He said," muttered the treacherous Moor, "that provided he had but some
+one to interpret for him, he had no fear of the Mexicans; but could
+promise us much favour and wealth from their kings, by virtue of
+certain arts possessed by his son; and thereby he hinted the boy was an
+enchanter."
+
+All started at this sudden announcement, and none more than Don Amador
+de Leste; for though, as he had said himself, he was, in his cooler
+moments, very sceptical in affairs of magic, this incredulity was no
+consequence either of nature or education; and besides the shock that
+had been given to his doubts by the disclosures of De Morla, the story
+of Jacinto, so unaccountably begun, and so abruptly terminated, had made
+a deeper impression on his mind, than such a trifle should.--Its
+importance had been imputed by his own feelings; but either he did not
+remember, or he knew not that.--He stared at Jacinto, who stood pale as
+death and trembling, now rolling his eyes wildly on Don Hernan, and now
+on his patron. Before the latter could summon composure to answer, he
+was relieved by the general saying, humorously--
+
+"I cannot doubt that this little caitiff _is_ an enchanter, because he
+has the faculty of exciting both admiration and pity in an eminent
+degree; and, though I doubt the power of such a charm over the ears of
+barbarians that delight in the thunder of wooden drums, and the yelling
+uproar of sea-shell trumpets, yet I can believe, for it has been told me
+by good judges, that the art with which he touches his lute, is as
+magical as it is marvellous."
+
+The boy clasped his hands in delight, and seemed as if he would have
+thrown himself at the feet of his judge.
+
+"Wherefore, my most worthy and honoured friend," continued Cortes, "have
+no fear that I will rob thee of so serviceable a henchman. I could not
+burn so pretty a log in the fire that was kindled for one who had sold
+his soul; and I cannot, by allowing the claims of a rival to lawful
+magic, kill my astrologer Botello with envy."
+
+"He has a talisman round his neck, wherein is a devil, that I have
+overheard him talking to!" said the resolute Yacub.
+
+"Thou art an ass," said Cortes, laughing at the trepidation of Jacinto;
+for he again turned pale, and lifted his hands to his neck, as if both
+to confess and guard his treasure. "'Tis some gewgaw, given him by his
+mother, or, perhaps, by some sweetheart wench;--for these Moorish boys
+are in love when a Christian urchin is yet in his grammar.--Senor,"--he
+addressed himself to the neophyte,--"you may perceive that the very
+grossness of Yacub's credulity has destroyed the force of his testimony;
+for he who can believe such a junior as this to be a conjurer, will give
+credit to any other ridiculous imagination. I will now confess to you,
+that, beside these charges, which are already answered, there is only
+one more circumstance against Abdalla; and that is, that at the very
+moment of our halt, and while engaged in the audience with those
+ambassadors, (whom I treated somewhat harshly, but for a cunning
+purpose, which you will soon understand,) he vanished away, in company
+with another dog of my household called Ayub; and hath not been since
+seen. Nevertheless, I attach no more importance to this matter than to
+the others; but, I swear to heaven, if he be caught stealing turkeys, or
+any such trumpery things from these villains of Cholula, I will give him
+to the bastinado!"
+
+"Senor," said Amador, earnestly, "the Sidi is of too magnanimous a
+nature to steal turkeys."
+
+"I will take Don Amador's word for it, then. But I see the page is still
+in some mortal fright, as dreading, if he remain longer in our presence,
+lest some new accusation should be brought against him."
+
+"If Jacinto be absolved from censure, and is no longer desired by your
+excellency, I will withdraw him from your presence; and, thanking you,
+senor, for the mildness with which you have questioned him, I will beg
+your permission to take my own leave."
+
+Don Hernan bowed low, as the neophyte withdrew with Jacinto; he waved
+his hand to Yacub, and the Moor immediately retired.
+
+"What think ye now, my masters?" he cried, as soon as these were out of
+hearing;--"Is it possible this stupid cannonier hath either the wit or
+the spirit to hatch me a brood of treason, to help the kites of Mexico?"
+
+"If he have," said Sandoval, "he should hang."
+
+"Very true, son Gonzalo," said the general; "for in our condition, to be
+suspected, should be a crime worthy death, especially in so contemptible
+a creature as a Moor.--Didst thou observe what mortal consternation
+beset our worthy and very precise friend, Don Amador, when Yacub called
+his boy a conjurer?"
+
+"I think, that should be examined into," said Sandoval; "for if he be,
+'twill be well to give him to Botello, as a pupil; lest Botello should
+be, some day, knocked on the head, as is not improbable, from his ever
+thrusting it into jeopardy, and we be left without a diviner."
+
+"By my conscience, 'tis well thought on," said Cortes, laughing, "for
+this boy, if he had but as good a reputation, is much superior in
+docility, as well as shrewder in apprehension; whereas Botello hath such
+a thick-head enthusiasm for his art, as to be somewhat unmanageable;
+and, every now and then, he prophesies me all wrong; as was the case,
+when he anointed the wound of De Leste's secretary, and stupidly told
+him 'twould be well in a few hours: and yet, all the camp knew, the lad
+was near losing his arm."
+
+"Botello excuses himself there," said Sandoval, "by protesting that his
+injunctions were disobeyed, especially that wherein he charged the youth
+not to touch his weapon for twenty-four hours; whereas he killed a man,
+that very night, on the pyramid, very courageously, as I
+witnessed,--though the man was hurt before; for I had charged him with
+my own partisan."
+
+"Amigo mio," said Cortes, abruptly, "in the matter of these Moors, I
+must have thine aidance. I know not how it may have entered into the
+brain of such a boor, to suppose he could make himself useful to the
+frowning infidels in Tenochtitlan; but I would sooner give them a dead
+lion than a living dog. If thou hast any very cunning and discreet
+rogues among thy fighting men, send them, in numbers of two and three,
+secretly about the city; and especially charge some that they watch at
+the gate that opens to Mexico."
+
+"I will do so," said Sandoval, "and I will myself hunt about the town
+till I find the rascal.--Shall I kill him?"
+
+"If it appear to thee he is deserting, let him be slain in the act. As
+for Ayub, if he be found in the cannonier's company, bring me him alive:
+I will hang him for an example; for in his death shall no intercessor be
+offended. I have no doubt, that, for the boy's sake, both Don Amador and
+Calavar would beg for Abdalla, if he were brought a prisoner; and it
+would grieve me to deny them. Kill _him_, then, my son, if thou findest
+him, and art persuaded he is a deserter."
+
+With this charge, very emphatically pronounced, and very composedly
+received, the friends separated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+
+During the whole time of the march from Tlascala to Cholula, an unusual
+gloom lay upon the spirits of Calavar; and so great was his abstraction,
+that, though pursuing his way with a sort of instinct, he remained as
+insensible to the presence of his kinsman as to the attentions of his
+followers. He rode at a distance from the rear of the army; and such was
+the immobility of his limbs and features, saving when, stung by some
+secret thought, he raised his ghastly eyes to heaven, that a stranger,
+passing him on the path, might have deemed that his grave charger moved
+along under the weight of a stiffened corse, not yet disrobed of its
+arms, rather than that of a living cavalier. When the army halted at
+noon to take food, he retired, with his attendants, to the shadow of a
+tree; where, without dismounting, or receiving the fruits which Jacinto
+had gathered, to tempt him to eat, he sat in the same heavy stupor,
+until the march was resumed. Neither food nor water crossed his lips,
+during the entire day; nor did the neophyte suffer any to be proffered
+him, when he came to reflect that this day was an anniversary, which the
+knight was ever accustomed to observe with the most ascetic abstinence
+and humiliation. For this reason, also, though lamenting the necessity
+of such an observance, he neither presumed himself to vex his kinsman
+with attentions, nor suffered any others to intrude upon his privacy,
+excepting, indeed, the Moorish page, whose gentle arts were so wont to
+dispel the gathering clouds. But this day, even Jacinto failed to
+attract his notice; and, despairing of the power of any thing but time,
+to terminate the paroxysm, he ceased his efforts, and contented himself
+with keeping a distant watch on all Don Gabriel's movements, lest some
+disaster might happen to him on the journey. No sooner, as had been
+hinted by Fabueno, had the army arrived at its quarters in the sacred
+city, than the knight betook him to the solitude of a chamber in the
+very spacious building; where, after a time, he so far shook off his
+lethargy, as to desire the presence of the chaplain, with whom he had
+remained ever since, engaged in his devotions. Hither, guided by Marco,
+came now Don Amador, conducting Jacinto. The interview with Cortes had
+swallowed up more than an hour, and when the neophyte stood before the
+curtained door of his kinsman, a light, flashing through the irregular
+folds, dispelled the darkness of the chamber. As he paused for an
+instant, he heard the low voice of the priest, saying,
+
+"Sin no more with doubt.--_Spera in Deo_: grace is in heaven, and mercy
+knoweth no bounds.--_Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus._"
+
+A few other murmurs came to his ear; and then the chaplain, pushing
+aside the curtain, issued from the apartment.
+
+"Heaven be with thee, my son," he said to Amador; "thy kinsman is
+greatly disordered, but not so much now as before."
+
+"Is it fitting I should enter, father?"
+
+"Thy presence may be grateful to him; but surely," he continued, in an
+under voice, "it were better for the unhappy knight, if he were among
+the priests and physicians of his own land. A sore madness afflicts him:
+he thinks himself beset with spectres.--I would thou hadst him in
+Spain!"
+
+"If heaven grant us that grace!" said Amador, sorrowfully.--"But he
+believes that God will call him to his rest, among the heathen.--Tarry
+thou at the door, Jacinto," he went on, when the father had departed;
+"have thyself in readiness, with thy lute, for perhaps he may be
+prevailed upon to hear thee sing; in which case, I have much hope, the
+evil spirit will depart from him."
+
+He passed into the chamber: the knight was on his knees before a little
+crucifix, which he had placed on a massive Indian chair; but though he
+beat his bosom with a heavy hand, no sound of prayer came from his lips.
+Don Amador placed himself at his side, and stood in reverential silence,
+until his kinsman, heaving a deep sigh, rose up, and turning his haggard
+countenance towards him, said,--
+
+"Neither penance nor prayer, neither the remorse of the heart nor the
+benediction of the priest, can wipe away the sorrow that comes from sin.
+God alone is the forgiver;--but God will not _always_ forgive!"
+
+"Say not so, my father," cried Amador, earnestly; "for it is a deep
+crime to think that heaven is not ever merciful."
+
+"Keep thyself free from the stain of blood-guiltiness," said Don
+Gabriel, with a manner so mild, that the neophyte had good hope the fit
+had indeed left him, "and mercy will not be denied thee.--Have I not
+afflicted thee, my friend?" he continued faintly. "Thou wilt have much
+to forgive me; but not long. I will remember, in my death hour, that
+thou hast not forsaken me."
+
+"Never will I again leave thee!" said Amador, fervently. "I forgot thee
+once; and besides the pang of contrition for that act, heaven punished
+me with a grief, that I should not have known, had I remained by thy
+side. But now, my father, wilt thou not eat and drink, and suffer
+Jacinto to sing to thee?"
+
+"I may neither eat nor drink this night," said Calavar; "but methinks I
+can hear the innocent orphan chant the praises of the Virgin; for to
+such she will listen!"
+
+Amador strode to the door; but Jacinto had vanished--He had stolen away,
+the moment that his patron entered.
+
+"Perhaps he has gone to fetch his instrument. Run thou in search of him,
+Marco, and bid him hasten."
+
+Before the novice could again address himself to his kinsman, Marco
+returned. The page was not to be found; the sentinel at the door had
+seen him pass into the court-yard, but whether he had re-entered or not,
+he knew not;--he had not noted.
+
+"Is it possible," thought Don Amador, "that the boy could so wilfully
+disobey me? Perhaps the general hath sent for him again: for,
+notwithstanding all his protestations of satisfaction, it seemed to me,
+that, while he spoke, there was still a something lurking in his eye,
+which boded no good to Abdalla. I will look for the boy myself."
+
+He charged Marco to remain by his lord, sought an audience with the
+general, whom he found engaged in earnest debate with Duero, De Leon,
+and other high officers. Don Hernan satisfied him that he had not sent
+for Jacinto,--that he had not thought of Abdalla; and with an apology
+for his intrusion, the novice instantly withdrew.
+
+"The story is true!" said Cortes with a frown, "and that pestilent young
+cub of heathenism has fled to give the traitor warning. But he that
+passes, unquestioned, at the gate where Sandoval stands the watchman,
+must have the devil for his leader, or, at least, his companion. I hope
+he will not murder the boy; for he is a favourite with Calavar, a subtle
+knave, a good twangler; and it is natural he should play me even a
+knave's trick for his father!"
+
+In the meanwhile, after hunting in vain about the different quarters of
+the building, as well as the court-yard, for the vanished Jacinto, the
+novice returned to the chamber of his kinsman. But Calavar also had
+disappeared,--not, indeed, in disorder, but in great apparent
+tranquillity; and he had commanded Marco not to follow him.
+
+"He has gone to the fields," muttered Amador; "such is his practice at
+this season: but there is no good can come of solitude. I know not what
+to think of that boy; but assuredly, this time, it will be but my duty
+to censure him." And so saying, Don Amador also passed into the open
+air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+
+It was late in the night; a horizontal moon flung the long shadows of
+the houses over the wide streets of Cholula, when the knight Calavar,
+wrapped in his black mantle, strode along through the deserted city.
+With no definite object before him, unless to fly, or perhaps to give
+way, in solitude, to the bitter thoughts that oppressed him, he suffered
+himself to be guided as much by accident as by his wayward impulses; and
+as he passed on, at every step, some mutation of his fancies, or some
+trivial incident on the way, conspired to recall his disorder. Now, as a
+bat flitted by, or an owl flew, hooting, from its perch among some of
+those ruins, which yet raised their broken and blackened walls, in
+memory of the cruelty of his countrymen, the knight started aghast, and
+a mortal fear came over him; for, in these sounds and sights, his
+disturbed senses discovered the signs of the furies that persecuted him;
+and even the night-breeze, wailing round some lonely corner, or
+whispering among the shrubbery of a devastated garden, seemed to him the
+cries of haunting spirits.
+
+"Miserere mei, Deus!" muttered Don Gabriel, as a tree, bowing away from
+the wind, let down a moonbeam through a fissure on his path--"the white
+visage will not leave me!--Heavy was the sin, heavy is the punishment!
+for even mine own fancies are become my chastisers."
+
+Thus, at times, conscious, in part, of his infirmity, and yet yielding
+ever, with the feebleness of a child, to the influence of unreal
+horrors, he wandered about, sometimes driven from his path by what
+seemed a gaunt spectre flitting before him, sometimes impelled onwards
+by a terror that followed behind: thus he roved about, he knew not
+whither, until he found himself, by chance, in the neighbourhood of the
+great temple, the scene of the chief atrocities enacted on that day
+which has been called, by a just metonymy, the Massacre of Cholula. Here
+it was, as had been mentioned by De Morla, that the miserable natives,
+huddled together in despair, had made their last cry to their gods, and
+perished under the steel and flames of the Christians; and the memorials
+of their fate were as plainly written as if the tragedy had been the
+work of the previous day. No carcasses, indeed, lay crowded among the
+ruins, no embers smouldered on the square; weeds had grown upon the
+place of murder, as if fattening on the blood that had besprinkled their
+roots; life had utterly vanished from the spot; and it presented the
+appearance of a desert in the bosom of a populous city.
+
+A great wall, running round the temple, had enclosed it in a large
+court, once covered with the houses of priests and devotees. The wall
+was shattered and fallen, the dwellings burned and demolished; and the
+pyramid, itself crumbling into ruins, lay like the body of some huge
+monster among its severed and decaying members. The flags of stone,
+tumbled by the victims, in their fury, from its sides and terraces,
+though they had not called up the subterraneous rivers, had exposed the
+perishable earth, that composed the body of the mound, to the
+vicissitudes of the weather; and, under the heavy tropical rains, it was
+washing rapidly away. The sanctuaries yet stood on the summit, but with
+their walls mutilated, and their roofs burnt; and they served only to
+make the horror picturesque. A wooden cross of colossal dimensions,
+raised by the conquerors, in impious attestation that God had aided them
+in the labour of slaughter, flung high its rugged arms, towering above
+the broken turrets, and gave the finish of superstition to the monument
+of wrath. It was a place of ruins, dark, lugubrious, and forbidding; and
+as Don Gabriel strode among the massive fragments, he found himself in a
+theatre congenial with his gloomy and wrecking spirit.
+
+It was not without many feelings of dismay that he plunged among the
+ruins; for his imagination converted each shattered block into a living
+phantasm. But still he moved on, as if urged by some irresistible
+impulse, entangling himself in the labyrinth of decay, until he scarcely
+knew whither to direct his steps. Whether it was reality, or some
+coinage of his brain, that presented the spectacle, he knew not; but he
+was arrested in his toilsome progress by the apparition of several
+figures rising suddenly among the ruins, and as suddenly vanishing.
+
+"Heaven pity me!" he cried: "They come feathered like the fiends of the
+infidel! But I care not, so they bring no more the white face, that is
+so ghastly!--And yet, this is her day!--this is her day!"
+
+Perhaps it was his imagination, that decked out the spectres with such
+ornaments; but a less heated spectator might have discovered in them,
+only the figures of strolling savages. With his spirits strongly
+agitated, his brain excited for the reception of any chimera, he
+followed the direction in which these figures seemed to have vanished:
+and this bringing him round a corner of the pyramid, into the moonshine,
+he instantly found himself confronted with a spectacle that froze his
+blood with horror. In a spot, where the ruins had given space for the
+growth of weeds and grass, and where the vision could not be so easily
+confounded,--illuminated by the moonbeams as if by the lustre of the
+day,--he beheld a figure, seemingly of a woman, clad in robes of white
+of an oriental habit, full before him, and turning upon him a
+countenance as wan as death.
+
+"Miserere mei, Deus!" cried the knight, dropping on his knees, and
+bowing his forehead to the earth. "If thou comest to persecute me yet, I
+am here, and I have not forgot thee!"
+
+The murmur, as of a voice, fell on his ear, but it brought with it no
+intelligence. He raised his eye;--dark shadows flitted before him; yet
+he saw nothing save the apparition in white: it stood yet in his view;
+and still the pallid visage dazzled him with its unnatural radiance and
+beauty.
+
+"Miserere mei! miserere mei!" he cried, rising to his feet, and
+tottering forwards. "I live but to lament thee, and I breathe but to
+repent! Speak to me, daughter of the Alpujarras! speak to me, and let me
+die!"
+
+As he spoke, the vision moved gently and slowly away. He rushed
+forwards, but with knees smiting together; and, as the white visage
+turned upon him again, with its melancholy loveliness, and with a
+gesture as of warning or terror, his brain spun round, his sight failed
+him, and he fell to the earth in a deep swoon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+
+Motion is the life of the sea: the surge dashes along in its course,
+while the watery particles that gave it bulk and form, remain in their
+place to renew and continue the coming billows, heaving to each
+successive oscillation, but not departing with it. Thus the mind,--an
+ocean more vast and unfathomable than that which washes our
+planet,--fluctuates under the impulses of its stormy nature, and passes
+not away, until the last agitation, like that which shall swallow up the
+sea, or convert its elements into a new matter, lifts it from its
+continent, and introduces it to a new existence. Emotion is its life,
+each surge of which seems to bear it leagues from its resting-place; and
+yet it remains passively to abide and figure forth the influence of new
+commotions.--Thus passed the billow through the spirit of Calavar; and
+when it had vanished, the spirit ceased from its tumult, subsided, and
+lay in tranquillity to await other shocks,--for others were
+coming.--When he awoke from his lethargy, his head was supported on the
+knee of a human being, who chafed his temple and hands, and bowed his
+body as well as his feeble strength allowed, to recall the knight to
+life. Don Gabriel raised his eyes to this benignant and ministering
+creature; and in the disturbed visage, that hung over his own,
+thought,--for his mind was yet wandering,--he beheld the pallid features
+of the vision.
+
+"I know thee, and I am ready!" cried Don Gabriel. "Pity me and forgive
+me;--for I die at thy feet, as thou didst at mine!"
+
+"Senor mio! I am Jacinto," exclaimed the page, (for it was he,)
+frightened at the distraction of the knight;--"thy page, thy poor page,
+Jacinto."
+
+"Is it so indeed?" said Calavar, surveying him wildly.--"And the spectre
+that did but now smite me to the earth!--hath she left me?"
+
+"Dear master, there is no spectre with us," said the Moorish boy. "We
+are alone among the ruins."
+
+"God be thanked!" said the knight, vehemently, "for if I should look on
+it more, I should die.--Yet would that I could!--would that I could! for
+in death there is peace,--in the grave there is forgetfulness!--This
+time, was it no delusion either of the senses or the brain: mine
+eye-sight was clear, my head sane, and I saw it, as I see mine own
+despair!--Pray for me, boy!" he continued, falling on his knees, and
+dragging the page down beside him; "pray for me!" he cried, gazing
+piteously at the youth; "pray for me! God will listen to _thy_ prayers,
+for thou art innocent, and I am miserable. Pray that God may forgive me,
+and suffer me to die;--for this is the day of my sin!"
+
+"Dear master," said the page, trembling, "let us return to our friends."
+
+"Thou wilt not pray? thou wilt not beseech God for me?" said Calavar,
+mournfully. "Thou wilt be merciful, when thou knowest my misery! Heaven
+sends thee for mine intercessor. I confess to thee, as to heaven, for
+thou art without sin. Manhood brings guile and impurity, evil deeds and
+malign thoughts; but a child is pure in the eyes of God; and the prayers
+of his lips will be as incense, when wrath turns from the beseeching of
+men. Hear thou my sin; and then, if heaven bid thee not to curse, then
+pray for me, boy!--then pray for me!"
+
+In great perturbation, for he knew not how to check the knight's
+distraction, and feared its increasing violence, Jacinto knelt, staring
+at him, his hands fettered in the grasp of his master; who, returning
+his gaze with such looks of wo and contrition, as a penitent may give to
+heaven, said wildly, yet not incoherently,--
+
+"Deeply dyed with sin am I, and sharply scourged with retribution! Age
+comes upon me before its time, but brings me nothing but memory--nothing
+but memory!--Gray hairs and wrinkles, disease and feebleness, are the
+portions of my manhood: for my youth was sinful, and guilt has made me
+old! Oh that I might see the days, when I was like to thee!--when I was
+like to thee, Jacinto!--when I knew innocence, and offended not God. But
+the virtues of childhood weigh not in the balance against the crimes of
+after years: as the child dieth, heaven opens to him; as the man
+sinneth, so doth he perish.--Miserere mei, Deus! and forgive me my day
+in the Alpujarras!"
+
+As Don Gabriel pronounced the name of those mountains, wherein, Jacinto
+knew, his father had drawn the first breath of life, and around which
+was shed, for every Moor, such interest as belongs to those places where
+our fathers have fought and bled, the page began to listen with
+curiosity, although his alarm had not altogether subsided.
+
+"Long years have passed; many days of peril and disaster have come and
+gone; and yet I have not forgotten the Alpujarras!" cried Calavar,
+shivering as he uttered the word; "for there did joy smile, and hope
+sicken, and fury give me to clouds and darkness forever. Those hills
+were the haunts of thy forefathers, Jacinto; and there, after the royal
+city had fallen, and Granada was ruled by the monarchs of Spain, they
+fled for refuge, all those noble Moriscos, who were resolute to die in
+their own mistaken faith, as well,--in after years,--as many others, who
+had truly embraced the religion of Christ, but were suspected by the
+bigoted of our people, and persecuted with rigour. How many wars were
+declared against those unhappy fugitives,--now to break down the last
+strong hold of the infidel, and now to punish the suspected
+Christian,--thou must know, if thy sire be a true Moor of Granada. In
+mine early youth, and in one of the later crusades, that were proclaimed
+against those misguided mountaineers, went I, to win the name and the
+laurels of a cavalier. Would that I had never won them, or that they had
+come to me dead on the battle-field! Know, then, Jacinto, that my
+nineteenth summer had not yet fled from me, when I first drew my sword
+in conflict with men; but if I won me reputation, at that green age, it
+was because heaven was minded to show me, that shame and sorrow could
+come as early. In those days, the royal and noble blood of Granada had
+not been drawn from every vein; many of the princely descendants of the
+Abencerrages, the Aliatars, the Ganzuls, and the Zegris, still dwelt
+among the mountains; and, forgetting their hereditary feuds, united
+together in common resistance against the Spaniards. With such men for
+enemies, respected alike for their birth and their valour, the war was
+not always a history of rapine and barbarity; and sometimes there
+happened such passages of courtesy and magnanimity between the Christian
+and Moorish cavaliers, as recalled the memory of the days of chivalry
+and honour. Among others, who made experience of the heroic greatness of
+mind of the infidel princes, was I myself; for, in a battle, wherein the
+Moors prevailed against us, I was left wounded and unhorsed, on the
+field, to perish, or to remain a prisoner in their hands. In that
+melancholy condition, while I commended my soul to God, as not thinking
+I could escape from death, a Moorish warrior of majestic appearance and
+a soul still more lofty, approached, and had pity on my helplessness,
+instead of slaying me outright, as I truly expected. 'Thou art noble,'
+said he, 'for I have seen thy deeds; and though, this day, thou hast
+shed the blood of a Zegri, thou shalt not perish like a dog. Mount my
+horse and fly, lest the approaching squadrons destroy thee; and in
+memory of this deed, be thou sometimes merciful to the people of
+Alharef.' Then knew I, that this was Alharef ben-Ismail, the most noble
+of the Zegris,--a youth famous, even among the Spaniards, for his
+courage and humanity; and in gratitude and love, for he was a Christian
+proselyte, I pledged him my faith, and swore with him the vows of a true
+friendship. How I have kept mine oath, Alharef!" he cried, lifting his
+eyes to the spangled heaven, "thou knowest;--for sometimes _thou_ art
+with my punisher!"
+
+The knight paused an instant, in sorrowful emotion, while Jacinto, borne
+by curiosity beyond the bounds of fear, bent his head to listen; then
+making the sign of the cross, and repeating his brief prayer, the
+cavalier resumed his narrative.
+
+"As my ingratitude was greater than that of other men, so is my sin; for
+another act of benevolence shall weigh against me for ever!--Why did I
+not die with my people, when the smiles of perfidy conducted us to the
+hills, and the sword was drawn upon us sleeping? That night, there was
+but one escaped the cruel and bloody stratagem; and I, again, owed my
+life to the virtues of a Moor. Pity me, heaven! for thou didst send me
+an angel, and I repaid thy mercy with the thankfulness of a
+fiend!--Know, then, Jacinto, that, in the village wherein was devised
+and accomplished the murder of my unsuspecting companions, dwelt one
+that now liveth in heaven. Miserere mei! miserere mei! for she was noble
+and fair, and wept at the baseness of her kindred!--She covered the
+bleeding cavalier with her mantle, concealed him from the fury that was
+unrelenting; and when she had healed his wounds, guided him, in secret,
+from the den of devils, and dismissed him in safety near to the camp of
+his countrymen. Know thou now, boy, that this maiden was Zayda, the
+flower of all those hills, and the star that made them dearer to me than
+the heaven that was above them; and more thought I of those green peaks
+and shady valleys that encompassed my love, than the castle of my sire,
+or the church wherein rested the bones of my mother. Miserere mei!
+miserere mei! for the faith that was pledged was broken! my lady slept
+in the arms of Alharef, and my heart was turned to blackness!--Now thou
+shalt hear me, and pray for me," continued Don Gabriel, with a look of
+the wildest and intensest despair, "for my sin is greater than I can
+bear! Now shalt thou hear how I cursed those whom I had sworn to love;
+how I sharpened my sword, and with vengeance and fury, went against the
+village of my betrayers. Oh God! how thou didst harden our hearts, when
+we gave their houses to the flames, and their old men and children to
+swords and spears! when we looked not at misery, and listened not to
+supplication, but slew! slew! slew! as though we struck at beasts, and
+not at human creatures! 'Thou sworest an oath!' cried Alharef. I
+laughed; for I knew I should drink his blood! 'Be merciful to my
+people!' he cried,--and I struck him with my sabre. Oho!" continued the
+knight, springing to his feet, wringing the page's hands, and glaring at
+him with the countenance of a demon, "when he fled from me bleeding, my
+heart was full of joy, and I followed him with yells of
+transport!--_This_ is the day, I tell thee! this is the day, and the
+hour! for night could not hide him!--And Zayda! ay, Zayda! Zayda!--when
+she shielded him with her bosom, when she threw herself before
+him--Miserere mei, Deus! miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+"And Zayda?" cried the page, meeting his gaze with looks scarcely less
+expressive of wildness.
+
+"Curse me, or pray for me," said the knight,--"for I slew her!"
+
+The boy recoiled: Don Gabriel fell on his knees, and, with a voice husky
+and feeble as a child's, cried,
+
+"I know, now, that thou cursest me, for thou lookest on me with horror!
+The innocent will not pray for the guilty! the pure and holy have no
+pity for devils. Curse me then, for her kindred vanished from the earth,
+and she with them!--curse me, for I left not a drop of her blood flowing
+in human veins, and none in her's!--curse me, for I am her murderer, and
+I have not forgot it!--curse me, for God has forsaken me, and nightly
+her pale face glitters on me with reproach!--curse me, for I am
+miserable!"
+
+While Don Gabriel still grovelled on the earth, and while the page stood
+yet regarding him with terror, suddenly there came to the ears of both,
+the shouts of soldiers, mingled with the roar of firelocks: and, as
+three or four cross-bow shafts rattled against the sides of the pyramid,
+there were visible in the moonlight as many figures of men running among
+the ruins, new leaping over, now darting around the fragments, as if
+flying for their lives from a party of armed men, who were seen rushing
+after them on the square. The knight rose, bewildered, and, as if in the
+instinct of protection, again grasped the hand of the page. But now the
+emotions which had agitated the master, seemed transferred to his
+follower; and Jacinto, trembling and struggling, cried,--
+
+"Senor mio, let me loose! For the sake of heaven, for the sake of the
+Zayda whom you slew, let me go!--for they are murdering my father!"
+
+But Don Gabriel, in the confusion of his mind, still retained his grasp,
+and very providentially, as it appeared; for at that very moment, a
+voice was heard exclaiming,--
+
+"Hold! shoot not _there_: 'tis the Penitent Knight!--Aim at the fliers.
+Follow and shoot!--follow and shoot!"
+
+Immediately the party of pursuers rushed up to the pair, one of whom
+paused, while the others, in obedience to his command, continued the
+chase, ever and anon sending a bolt after the fugitives.
+
+"On, and spare not, ye knaves!" cried Sandoval, for it was this cavalier
+who now stood at the side of the knight of Rhodes. "On, and shoot! on
+and shoot! and see that ye bring me the head of the Moor! Oho, my merry
+little page!" he cried, regarding Jacinto; "you have been playing Sir
+_Quimichin_, Sir Rat and Sir Spy? A cunning little brat, faith; but
+we'll catch thy villain father, notwithstanding!"
+
+The page bowed his head and sobbed, but was silent; and Don Gabriel,
+rallying his confused spirits a little, said,--
+
+"I know not what you mean, senor. We are no spies, but very miserable
+penitents."
+
+"Oh, sir knight, I crave your pardon," said Sandoval, without noticing
+the eccentric portion of his confession, "I meant not to intrude upon
+your secrecy, but to catch Abdalla, the deserter; of whom, and of whose
+rogueries, not doubting that this boy has full knowledge, I must beg
+your permission to conduct him to the general."
+
+"Surely," said Calavar mildly, "if Jacinto have offended, I will not
+strive to screen him from examination, but only from punishment. I
+consent you shall lead him to Cortes; and I will myself accompany you."
+
+"It is enough, noble knight, if thou wilt thyself condescend to conduct
+him," said the cavalier; "whereby I shall be left in freedom to follow a
+more urgent duty. God save you, sir knight;--I leave the boy in your
+charge."--So saying, Sandoval pursued hastily after his companions; and
+Calavar leading the page, now no longer unwilling, (for the Almogavar,
+with his companions, was long since out of sight,) pursued his
+melancholy way to the quarters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+
+While these occurrences were transpiring, Don Amador de Leste, in search
+of the knight, had rambled through the streets, and following, very
+naturally, the only path with which he was acquainted, soon found
+himself issuing from that gate by which he had entered from Tlascala.
+The domination of the Spaniards had interrupted many of the civil, as
+well as the religious, regulations of the Cholulans; and, with their
+freedom, departed that necessity and habit of vigilance, which had
+formerly thronged their portals with watchmen. No Indian guards,
+therefore, were found at the gate; and the precautions of the general
+had not carried his sentinels to this neglected and seemingly secure
+quarter. The neophyte passed into the fields, and though hopeless, in
+their solitudes, of discovering the retreat of the penitent, was seduced
+to prolong his walk by the beauty of the night and by the many pensive
+thoughts to which it gave birth. How many times his reflections carried
+him back to the land of his nativity, to the surges that washed the Holy
+Land, to the trenches of Rhodes to the shores of Granada, need not be
+here related, nor, if he gave many sighs to the strange sorrow and
+stranger destiny of his kinsman, is it fitting such emotions should be
+recorded. He wandered about, lost in his musings, until made sensible,
+by the elevation of the moon, that he had trespassed upon the hour of
+midnight. Roused by this discovery from his reveries, he returned upon
+his path, and had arrived within view of the gate, when he was arrested
+by the sudden appearance of four men, running towards him at a rapid
+gait, and presenting to his vision the figures of Indian warriors. No
+sooner had these fugitives approached near enough to perceive an armed
+cavalier intercepting the road, than they paused, uttering many quick
+and, to him, incomprehensible exclamations. But, though he understood
+not their language, he was admonished, by their actions, of the
+necessity of drawing his sword and defending himself from attack; for
+the foremost, hesitating no longer than to give instructions to his
+followers, instantly advanced upon him, flourishing a heavy axe of
+obsidian. Somewhat surprised at the audacity of this naked barbarian,
+but in no wise daunted at the number of his supporters, the cavalier
+lifted his trusty Bilboa, fully resolved to teach him such a lesson as
+would cause him to remember his temerity for ever; but, almost at the
+same moment, his wrath vanished, for he perceived, in this assailant,
+the young ambassador of the preceding evening; and, remembering the
+words of De Morla, he felt reluctant to injure one of the princes of the
+unhappy house of Montezuma.
+
+"Prince!" said he, elevating his voice, but forgetting his want of an
+interpreter, "drop thy sword, and pass by in peace; for _I_ have not yet
+declared war against thy people, and I am loath to strike thee."
+
+But the valiant youth, misconceiving or disregarding both words and
+gestures, only approached with the more determination, and swung his
+bulky weapon over his head, as if in the act of smiting, when one of his
+followers, exclaiming eagerly, "Ho, Quauhtimotzin! forbear!" sprang
+before him, and revealed to Don Amador the countenance of the Moor
+Abdalla.
+
+"Thou art safe, senor!" cried the Almogavar, "and heaven be thanked for
+this chance, that shows thee I have not forgotten thy benefits!"
+
+The assurance of Abdalla was presently confirmed; for the young prince,
+seeing the action of the Moor, lowered his weapon, and merely surveying
+the cavalier with an earnest look, passed by him on his course, and was
+followed by the two others. Meanwhile Don Amador, regarding the
+Almogavar, said,--
+
+"I know not, good Sidi,--notwithstanding this present service, for which
+I thank thee,--not so much because thou hast stepped between me and
+danger, (for, it must be apparent to thee, I could, with great ease,
+have defended myself from such feeble assailants,) but because thou hast
+freed me from the necessity of hurting this poor prince;--I say,
+notwithstanding all this, Abdalla, I know not whether I should not now
+be bound to detain thee, and compel thee to return to the general; for
+it is not unknown to me, that thou art, at this moment, a deserter and
+traitor."
+
+"Senor!" said the Moor, withdrawing a step, as if fearing lest the
+cavalier would be as good as his word, "my treason is against my
+misfortunes, and I desert only from injustice; and if my noble lord
+knows thus much, he knows also, that to detain me, would be to give me
+to the gallows."
+
+"I am not certain," said Don Amador, "that my intercession would not
+save thy life; unless thou hast been guilty of more crimes than I have
+heard."
+
+"Guilty of nothing but misfortune!" said the Moor, earnestly; "guilty of
+nothing but the crimes of others, and of griefs, which are reckoned
+against me for sins!--"
+
+"Guilty," said the cavalier, gravely, "of treating in secret with these
+barbarians, who are esteemed the enemies of thy Christian friends; and
+guilty of seducing into the same crime thy countrymen, the Moriscos; one
+of whom, I am persuaded, did but now pass me with the Indians, and one
+of whom, also, hath charged thee with tempting him."
+
+"Senor," said Abdalla, hurriedly, "I cannot now defend myself from these
+charges, for I hear my enemies in pursuit."
+
+"And guilty," added Don Amador, with severity, "as I think, of deserting
+thine own flesh and blood,--thy poor and friendless boy, Abdalla!"
+
+The Almogavar flung himself at the feet of the cavalier, saying,
+wildly,--
+
+"My flesh and blood! and friendless indeed! unless thou wilt continue to
+protect him. Senor, for the love of heaven, for the sake of the mother
+who bore you, be kind and true to my boy! Swear thou wilt protect him
+from malice and wrong; for it was his humanity to thy kinsman, the
+knight, that has robbed him of his father."
+
+"Dost thou confess, thou wert about to steal him from his protector?
+Now, by heavens, Moor, this is but an infidel's ingratitude!"
+
+"Senor!" said Abdalla, "you reproached me for forsaking him; and now you
+censure me for striving not to forsake him! But the sin is mine, not
+Jacinto's. I commanded him to follow me, senor; and he would have obeyed
+me, had he not found thy knight Calavar swooning among the ruins. He
+tarried to give him succour, and thus was lost; for the soldiers came
+upon him."
+
+"Is this so, indeed? My kinsman left swooning! Thou wert but a knave,
+not to tell me this before."
+
+"The knight is safe--he has robbed me of my child," said Abdalla,
+throwing himself before the neophyte. "Go not, senor, till thou hast
+promised to requite his humanity with the truest protection."
+
+"Surely he shall have that, without claiming it."
+
+"Ay, but promise me! swear it to me!" cried the Moor, eagerly. "Don
+Hernan will be awroth with him. The cavaliers will call him mine
+accomplice."
+
+"They will do the boy no wrong," said Amador; "and I know not why thou
+shouldst ask me the superfluity of an oath."
+
+"Senor, I am a father, and my child is in a danger of which thou knowest
+not! For the love of God, give me thy vows thou wilt not suffer my child
+to be wronged!"
+
+"I promise thee this; but acquaint me with this new and unknown peril.
+If it be the danger of an accusation of witchcraft, I can resolve thee,
+that that is not regarded by the general."
+
+"Senor, my pursuers are nigh at hand," cried Abdalla, "and I must fly! A
+great danger besets Jacinto, and thou canst preserve him. Swear to me,
+thou wilt not wrong him, and suffer me to depart."
+
+"Wrong him!" said the cavalier. "Thou art beside thyself.--Yet, as it
+does appear to me, that the soldiers are approaching us, I will give
+thee this very unreasonable solace.--I swear to thee very devoutly,
+that, while heaven leaves me my sword and arm, and the power to protect,
+no one shall, in any way, or by any injustice, harm or wrong the boy
+Jacinto."
+
+"I will remember thy promise, and thee!" cried the Almogavar, seizing
+his hand and kissing it.
+
+"Tarry, Abdalla. Reflect;--thou rushest on many dangers. Return, and I
+will intercede for thy pardon."
+
+But the Moor, running with great speed after his companions, was almost
+already out of sight; and Don Amador, musing, again turned his face
+towards Cholula.
+
+"If I meet these soldiers," he soliloquized, "I must, in honour,
+acquaint them with the path of the Moor; whereby Abdalla may be
+captured, and put to death on the spot. I am resolute, I cannot, by
+utterly concealing my knowledge of this event, maintain the character of
+a just and honest gentleman; yet, it appears to me, my duty only compels
+me to carry my information to the general. This will I do, and by
+avoiding the pursuers, preserve the obligations of humanity to the
+fugitive, without any forfeit of mine honour."
+
+Thus pondering, and walking a little from the path, until the pursuers
+had passed him, he returned to the quarters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+
+The day that followed after the flight of Abdoul-al-Sidi, beheld the
+army of Cortes crossing that ridge which extends like a mighty curtain,
+between the great volcano and the rugged Iztaccihuatl; and many a hardy
+veteran shivered with cold and discontent, as sharp gusts, whirling rain
+and snow from the inhospitable summits, prepared him for the contrast of
+peace and beauty which is unfolded to the traveller, when he looks down
+from the mountains to the verdant valley of Mexico. Even at the present
+day, when the axe has destroyed the forest; when the gardens of
+flowers--the cultivation of which, with a degree of passionate affection
+that distinguished the Mexicans from other races, seemed to impart a
+tinge of poetry to their character, and mellow their rougher traits with
+the hues of romance,--when these flower gardens have vanished from the
+earth; when the lakes have receded and diminished, and, with them, the
+fair cities that once rose from their waters, leaving behind them
+stagnant pools and saline deserts; even now, under all these
+disadvantages, the prospect of this valley is of such peculiar and
+astonishing beauty as, perhaps, can be nowhere else equalled among the
+haunts of men. The providence of the Spanish viceroys in constructing a
+road more direct and more easy of passage, to the north of the great
+mountains, has robbed travellers of the more spirit-stirring impressions
+which introduced them to the spectacle, when pursuing the ancient
+highway of the Mexicans. It ascends among gloomy defiles, at the
+entrance of which stand, on either hand, like stupendous towers guarding
+the gate of some Titan strong-hold, the two grandest pinnacles of the
+interior. It conducts you among crags and ravines, among clouds and
+tempests, now sheltering you under a forest of oaks and pines, now
+exposing you to the furious blasts that howl along the ridges. A few
+dilapidated hamlets of Indians, if they occasionally break the solitude,
+destroy neither the grandeur nor solemnity of the path. You remember, on
+this deserted highway, that you are treading in the steps of Cortes.
+
+As the army proceeded, Don Amador, alive to every novelty, took notice
+that, regularly, at short distances from each other, not excepting even
+in the wildest and loneliest places, there were certain low and rude but
+strong cabins of stone built by the wayside, but without inhabitants.
+These, he was told, were the houses that were always constructed by the
+Mexican kings on such friendless routes, to shelter the exposed
+traveller. He thought such benignant provision betokened some of the
+humaner characteristics of civilization, and longed eagerly to make
+acquaintance with those nobler institutions which might be presented
+below. This desire was not the less urgent, that the frozen winds,
+penetrating his mailed armour, made him shiver like a coward on the back
+of his war-horse. He felt also much concern for his kinsman, who rode at
+his side with a visage even wanner and more wo-begone than ordinary. But
+in the deep and death-like abstraction that invested his spirits, Don
+Gabriel was as insensible to the assaults of the blast, as to the
+solicitude of his friend. The page Jacinto, moreover, caused him no
+little thought; for the flight of his father, though this had exposed
+him neither to the anger nor inquiries of Don Hernan, (who affected to
+treat the desertion of the Moors as an affair of little consequence,
+save to themselves,) had left the boy so dejected and spiritless, that,
+as he trudged along between the two cavaliers, he seemed to follow more
+with the instinct of a jaded house-dog, than with the alacrity of a
+faithful servant. To the pity of his young master he returned but a
+forced gratitude, and to his benevolent counsel that he should ride
+behind Lazaro, he rendered the oft-repeated excuse, 'Senor mio, I am
+afraid of horses; and 'tis better to walk than ride over these cold
+hills.'
+
+"There is much wisdom in what thou sayest, as I begin now to perceive,"
+said Amador, dismounting and giving his steed to Lazaro: "'tis better to
+be over-warm with marching on foot, than turned into an icicle on
+horseback. My father!" he said, gently and affectionately, to Calavar,
+"wilt thou not descend, and warm thyself a little with exercise?" But
+the knight only replied with a melancholy and bewildered stare, which
+convinced the novice that entreaty and argument upon this subject, as,
+at present, upon all others, would be alike unavailing. Sighing
+therefore, and, with a gesture, directing Baltasar to assume his station
+at the side of Don Gabriel, he took the page by the hand, and removing
+to a little distance from the group as well as from all other persons,
+he walked on, entering into discourse with Jacinto.
+
+"I do not marvel at thee, Jacinto," he said, "nor can I altogether
+censure thee, for grieving thus at the flight of thy father. Nor will I,
+as was, last night, my resolve, reprimand thee for leaving me, contrary
+to my bidding, at the chamber of my good knight; for, besides finding
+thee in grief enough at present, I perceive thou wert instigated to this
+disobedience by anxiety for thy parent, which would have excused in thee
+a greater fault. But let me ask thee, not so much as a master as a
+friend, two or three questions.--First, Jacinto," he continued, "art
+thou dissatisfied with thy service? or with thy master, who loves thee
+as well as myself?"
+
+"Service--master!--Senor!" said the boy, confused.
+
+"I demand of thee, art thou discontented with thy duties, or grieved by
+any unkindness which has been manifested to thee by thy master, or by
+any of us, who are his followers?"
+
+"I cannot be discontented with my duties," said the boy, a little
+cheerfully, for it was not possible long to withstand the benevolence of
+his patron;--"I cannot be discontented with my duties; for, in truth, it
+seems to me, there are none imposed upon me, except such as are prompted
+by my own fancies. I am very skilless in the customs of service, never
+having been in service before; yet, senor, I like it so well, that with
+such masters, methinks, I could remain a contented servant to the end of
+my days. That is,--that is"--But here the page interrupted himself
+abruptly. "As for any unkindness, I own with gratitude, I have never
+received from my lord, from my master, nor from his people, any thing
+but great favour, as well as forgiveness for all my faults."
+
+"Thou answerest well," said the novice gravely. "I did not apprehend
+anybody could treat thee rudely, except Lazaro, who is a rough fellow in
+his ways, and being in some sort a wit, is oft betrayed into saying
+sharp things, in order that people may laugh at them. Nevertheless,
+Lazaro has a good heart; for which reason I pardon many of his freedoms;
+but, I vow to thee, though he is a brave soldier, and albeit it is
+opposed to all my feelings and principles to degrade a serving-man by
+blows, nevertheless, had I found him venting his wit upon thee, I should
+have been tempted to strike him even with the hardest end of my lance."
+
+"I never had a better friend than Lazaro," said the page, with a faint
+smile; "and I love him well, for he affects my singing, and praises me
+more than anybody else. Then, as for Marco and Baltasar, though they
+delight more in cleaning armour than listening to a lute;--and as for
+the secretary, senor Lorenzo, who cares for nothing but tilting with any
+one who will take the trouble to unhorse him,--they are all good-natured
+to me, and they never scold me."
+
+"This, then, being the case," said Amador, "and allowing thy first and
+most natural obedience to be to thy father, rather than to a master, how
+dost thou excuse to thyself the intention of deserting the service of
+thy friends, without demanding permission, or at least acquainting us
+with thy desires."
+
+"Senor!" exclaimed Jacinto, surprised and embarrassed.
+
+"It is known to me, that such was thy resolution," said the cavalier,
+with gravity; "for it was so confessed to me, last night, by thy father.
+But, indeed, though I cannot avoid expressing my displeasure at such
+intention, which seems to me both treacherous and ungrateful, I led thee
+aside less to scold thee, than to give thee intelligence of Abdalla, I
+myself being, as I think, the last Christian that beheld him."
+
+"Oh, senor! and he escaped unharmed?" cried the boy.
+
+"Verily without either bruise or wound, save that which was made on his
+soul, when I reproached him for deserting thee."
+
+"I am deserted by all!" exclaimed Jacinto, clasping his hands.
+
+"For the thousandth time, I tell thee, no!" said his patron: "And thy
+father made it apparent to me he abandoned thee unwillingly; nor would
+he leave me, though the pursuers were approaching fast, until he had
+exacted of me the very superfluous vow, that I would give thee a double
+protection from all wrong and injustice. Dry thy tears: I have already
+obtained of Cortes a promise of full pardon for Abdalla, when he returns
+to us, as doubtless he will, at Tenochtitlan."
+
+"I hope so! I pray he may!" said Jacinto, hurriedly; "or what, oh! what
+shall become of us!"
+
+"I will have him sought out, and by-and-by take thee, and him along, to
+Cuenza. 'Tis hard by to Granada."
+
+The boy remained silent, and Amador continued:--
+
+"Thy father also showed me, that it was thy faithful love, in remaining
+by my kinsman during a swoon, which prevented thee from escaping with
+him. This, though it does not remove the fault of thy design, entirely
+forces me to pardon it; and indeed, Abdalla did as much as acknowledge
+thou wert averse to the plan."
+
+"Senor, I was: for though our degradation was great, I knew not how much
+greater it might be among the pagans."
+
+"Degradation! dost thou talk of degradation! In good faith, thou
+surprisest me!"
+
+"Senor," said the boy, proudly, "though you will deride such vanity in
+poor barbarians of the desert, yet did we ever think ourselves, who had
+always been free and unenslaved, debased by servitude. At least, my
+father thought so; and I myself, though speedily solaced by the kindness
+which was shown me, could not but sometimes think it had been better to
+have perished with my father in the sea, along with our unhappy people,
+than to remain as I was,--and as I am,--a _servant_ in the house of my
+master!"
+
+"A silly boy art thou, Jacinto," said Amador, surveying him with
+surprise: "for, first, thy office as the page of a most noble and
+renowned knight, is such a one as would be coveted by any grandee's son,
+however noble, who aspired to the glory of arms and knighthood; and I
+admonish thee, that, had not his infirmity driven Don Gabriel from Spain
+entirely without the knowledge of his servants, thou shouldst have seen
+the son of a very proud and lofty nobleman attending him in the very
+quality which thou thinkest so degrading. I did myself, though very
+nearly related to him, and though sprung of such blood as acknowledges
+none superior, not even in the king that sits on the throne, enter first
+into his service in the same quality of page; and, trust me, I esteemed
+it great honour. In the second place, I marvel at thee, having already
+confessed that thy service is both light and pleasant."
+
+"It is even so, senor," said the boy, meekly, "and I am not often so
+foolish as to repent me. It was not because I thought so yesternight,
+but because my father bade me, that I strove to escape from it; for he
+was in danger, or feared he was, and it was my duty to follow him
+without repining."
+
+"I come now to ask thee another question," said the neophyte. "By what
+good fortune was it, that thou stumbledst upon my kinsman, among the
+ruins of that profane pyramid?"
+
+"It was there, senor, that the princes met us."
+
+"Hah! Oh, then, thou wert plotting with my bold prince, hah! Faith, a
+very valiant pagan! and in no wise resembling the varlets of Cuba. If
+thou knowest aught of these men that may concern our leader to know, it
+will be thy duty to report the same to him Jacinto, and that without
+delay."
+
+"Nothing, senor," said the page, hastily. "I discovered that my father
+was to fly with the ambassadors; that he was to seek them at the
+pyramid; and it was there we found my master swooning."
+
+"Didst thou see aught there that was remarkable, or in any way
+inexplicable?"
+
+"I saw my lord fainting, my father and the princes flying, and the
+soldiers pursuing and shooting both with cross-bow and musket."
+
+"'Tis already," said the cavalier, turning his eye askaunt to Don
+Gabriel, "yet I know not by what revealment, whispered through the army,
+that my kinsman saw a spectre,--some devilish fiend, that, in the moment
+of his doubt, struck him to the earth!"
+
+"Ay!" said Jacinto, turning towards the knight, and eyeing him with a
+look of horror; "he thought 'twas Zayda, whom he slew so barbarously
+among the Alpujarras!"
+
+The cavalier laid his hand upon Jacinto's shoulder, sternly,--
+
+"What art thou saying?--what art thou thinking? Hast thou caught some of
+the silly fabrications of the soldiers? I warn thee to be guarded, when
+thou speakest of thy master."
+
+"He confessed it to me!" said the page, trembling but not at the anger
+of his patron. "He killed her with his own hands, when she screened
+from his cruel rage her husband Alharef, his vowed and true friend!"
+
+"Peace!--thou art mad!--'Twas the raving of his delirium.--There is no
+such being as Zayda."
+
+"There is not, but there _was_," said Jacinto, mournfully.
+
+"And how knowest thou that?" demanded Amador, quickly. "Thou speakest as
+if she had been thy kinswoman. Art thou indeed a conjuror? There is no
+dark and hidden story, with which thou dost not seem acquainted!"
+
+"She was of my tribe," said Jacinto, mildly, though tremulously,
+returning the steadfast gaze of his patron: "I have heard my father
+speak of her, for she was famous among the mountains. Often has he
+repeated to me her sorrowful story,--how she drew upon herself the anger
+of her tribe, by preserving their foe, and how their foe repaid her
+by--oh heaven! by murdering her! Often have I heard of Zayda; but I knew
+not 'twas Calavar who killed her!"
+
+"Can this be true?" said Amador, looking blankly towards his unconscious
+kinsman. "Is it possible my father can have stained his soul with so
+foul, so deadly, so fearful a crime! And he confessed it to thee? to
+thee, a boy so foolish and indiscreet that thou hast already babbled it
+to another?"
+
+"I could not help speaking it _this_ time," said Jacinto, humbled at the
+reproach; "but if my lord will forgive me, I will never speak it more."
+
+"I do forgive thee, Jacinto, as I hope heaven will my father. This then
+is the sin unabsolved, the action of wrath, the memory of sorrow, that
+has slain the peace of my kinsman? May heaven have pity on him, for it
+has punished him with a life of misery. I forgive thee, Jacinto: speak
+of this no more; think of it no more; let it be forgotten--now and for
+ever,--Amen!--I have but one more question to ask thee; and this I am,
+in part, driven to by thy admission of the most wondrous fact, that Don
+Gabriel confessed to _thee_ his secret. Many of thine actions have
+filled me with wonder; thy knowledge is, for thy years, inexplicable;
+and thou minglest with thy boyish simplicity the shrewdness of years.
+Dost thou truly obtain thy knowledge by the practice of those arts,
+which so many allow to be possessed by Botello?"
+
+"Senor!" exclaimed the boy, startled by the abruptness of the question.
+
+"Art thou, indeed, an enchanter, as Yacub charged thee to be?--Give me
+to understand, for it is fitting I should know."
+
+The exceeding and earnest gravity with which the cavalier repeated the
+question, dispelled as well the grief as the fears of the page. He cast
+his eyes to the earth, but this action did not conceal the humour that
+sparkled in them, while he replied,--
+
+"If I were older, and had as much acquaintance with the people as
+Botello, I think I could prophesy as well as he; especially if my lord
+Don Hernan would now and then give me a hint or two concerning his
+designs and expectations, such as, it has been whispered, he sometimes
+vouchsafes to Botello. I have no crystal-imp like him indeed, but I
+possess one consecrated gem that can call me up, at any time, a thousand
+visions. It seems to me, too, that I can recall the dead; for once or
+twice I have done it, though very much to my own marvelling."
+
+"Thou art an enigma," said Don Amador. "What thou sayest of Botello,
+assures me the more of thy subtle and penetrating observation; what thou
+sayest of thyself, seems to me a jest; and yet it hath a singular
+accordance, as well with my own foolish fancies and the charges of that
+Moorish menial, as with the events of the two last nights. Either there
+is, indeed, something very supernatural in thy knowledge, or the
+delirium of my kinsman is a disease of the blood, which is beginning to
+assail my own brain. God preserve me from madness! Hearken in thine ear,
+(and fear not to answer me:)--Hadst thou any thing to do with the
+raising of the phantom thou callest Zayda?--or is it the confusion of my
+senses, that causes me to suspect thee of the agency?"
+
+"Senor!" said the boy, in alarm, "you cannot think I was serious?"
+
+"What didst thou mean, then, by acknowledging the possession of that
+consecrated and vision-raising jewel?"
+
+"I meant," responded the youth, sadly, "that, being a gift associated
+with all the joys of my happiest days, I never look at it, or pray over
+it, without being beset by recollections, which may well be called
+visions; for they are representations of things that have passed away."
+
+"And the story of Leila?--Pho--'tis an absurdity!--I have heard that the
+cold which freezes men to death, begins by setting them to sleep. Sleep
+brings dreams; and dreams are often most vivid and fantastical, before
+we have yet been wholly lost in slumber. Perhaps 'tis this most biting
+and benumbing blast, that brings me such phantoms. Art thou not very
+cold?"
+
+"Not very, senor: methinks we are descending; and now the winds are not
+so frigid as before."
+
+"I would to heaven, for the sake of us all, that we were descended yet
+lower; for night approaches, and still we are stumbling among these
+clouds, that seem to separate us from earth, without yet advancing us
+nearer to heaven."
+
+While the cavalier was yet speaking, there came from the van of the
+army, very far in the distance, a shout of joy, that was caught up by
+those who toiled in his neighbourhood, and continued by the squadrons
+that brought up the rear, until finally lost among the echoes of remote
+cliffs. He pressed forward with the animation shared by his companions,
+and, still leading Jacinto, arrived, at last, at a place where the
+mountain dipped downwards with so sudden and so precipitous a declivity,
+as to interpose no obstacle to the vision. The mists were rolling away
+from his feet in huge wreaths, which gradually, as they became thinner,
+received and transmitted the rays of an evening sun, and were lighted up
+with a golden and crimson radiance, glorious to behold, and increasing
+every moment in splendour. As this superb curtain was parted from before
+him, as if by cords that went up to heaven, and surged voluminously
+aside, he looked over the heads of those that thronged the side of the
+mountain beneath, and saw, stretching away like a picture touched by the
+hands of angels, the fair valley imbosomed among those romantic hills,
+whose shadows were stealing visibly over its western slopes, but leaving
+all the eastern portion dyed with the tints of sunset. The green plains
+studded with yet greener woodlands; the little mountains raising their
+fairy-like crests; the lovely lakes, now gleaming like floods of molten
+silver, where they stretched into the sunshine, and now vanishing away,
+in a shadowy expanse, under the gloom of the growing twilight; the
+structures that rose, vaguely and obscurely, here from their verdant
+margins, and there from their very bosom, as if floating on their placid
+waters, seeming at one time to present the image of a city crowned with
+towers and pinnacles, and then again broken by some agitation of the
+element, or confused by some vapour swimming through the atmosphere,
+into the mere fragments and phantasms of edifices,--these, seen in that
+uncertain and fading light, and at that misty and enchanting distance,
+unfolded such a spectacle of beauty and peace as plunged the neophyte
+into a revery of rapture. The trembling of the page's hand, a deep sigh
+that breathed from his lips, recalled him to consciousness, without
+however dispelling his delight.
+
+"By the cross which I worship!" he cried, "it fills me with amazement,
+to think that this cursed and malefactious earth doth contain a spot
+that is so much like to paradise! Now do I remember me of the words of
+the senor Gomez, that 'no man could conceive of heaven, till he had
+looked upon the valley of Mexico,'--an expression which, at that time, I
+considered very absurd, and somewhat profane; yet, if I am not now
+mistaken, I shall henceforth, doubtless, when figuring to my imagination
+the seats of bliss, begin by thinking of this very prospect."
+
+"It is truly a fairer sight than any we saw in Florida, most noble
+senor," said a voice hard by.
+
+The cavalier turned, and with not less satisfaction than surprise, (for
+the delight of the moment had greatly warmed his heart,) beheld, in the
+person of the speaker, the master of the caravel.
+
+"Oho! senor Capitan!" cried Don Amador, stretching out his hand to the
+bowing commander. "I vow, I am as much rejoiced to see thee, as if we
+had been companions together in war. What brings thee hither to look on
+these inimitable landscapes? Art thou come, to disprove thy accounts of
+the people of Tenochtitlan? I promise thee, I have heard certain
+stories, and seen certain sights, which greatly shake my faith in thy
+representations.--What news dost thou bring me of my kinsman, the
+admiral?"
+
+"Senor," said the master, "the stars have a greater influence over our
+destinies, than have our desires. It seems to me, that that very
+astonishing victory of the most noble and right valiant senor, Don
+Hernan, at Zempoala, did utterly turn the brains of all the sailors in
+the fleet: and his excellency the admiral having declared himself a
+friend to the conqueror, they were all straightway seized with such an
+ambition to exchange the handspike for the halbert, and mine own
+thirteen vagabonds among them, that, in an hour's time after the news,
+my good caravel was as well freed of men as ever I have known her
+cleared of rats, after a smoking of brimstone. So, perceiving the folly
+of remaining in her alone, and receiving the assurance from my knaves
+that, if I went with them, I should be their captain, and his excellency
+consenting to the same, I forthwith armed myself with these rusty
+plates, (wherein you may see some of the dints battered by the red
+devils of Florida,) and was converted into a soldier,--the captain of
+the smallest company in this goodly army, and perhaps the most cowardly;
+for never did I before hear men grumble with such profane discontent, as
+did these same knaves, this very day, at the cold airs of the mountain.
+If they will fight, well; if they will not, and anybody else will, may I
+die the death of a mule, if I will not make them; for one hath a better
+and stronger command in an army than in a ship. Last night I came to
+that great town they call Cholula, and was confirmed in my command by
+the general.--His excellency, the admiral, bade me commend his love to
+your worship; and hearing that you have enlisted his secretary into your
+service, sends, by me, a better suit of armour for the youth, and prays
+your favour will have him in such keeping, that he shall be cured of his
+fit of valour, without the absolute loss of life, or his right hand,
+which last would entirely unfit him for returning to his ancient
+duties,--as, by my faith! so would the former. But, by'r lady, my
+thoughts run somewhat a wool-gathering at this prospect; for I see very
+clearly, 'tis a rich land here, that hath such admirable cities; and, I
+am told, we shall have blows enow, by and by, with the varlets in the
+valley. Nevertheless, I am ready to wager my soul against a cotton
+neck-piece, that, if these infidels have half the spirit of the savages
+of Florida, we shall be beaten, and sent to heaven, Amen!--that is, for
+the matter of heaven, and not the beating!"
+
+"I applaud thy resolution, mine ancient friend," said the cavalier, "and
+methinks thou art more vigorous, both of body and mind, on land than
+thou wert at sea. I will, by and by, send the secretary to receive the
+armour, and will not forget his excellency's bidding, as far as is
+possible. But let us not, by conversation, distract our thoughts from
+this most lovely spectacle; for I perceive it will be soon enveloped in
+darkness; and how know we, we shall ever look upon it again?"
+
+Thus terminating the interview, the neophyte, as he descended, watched
+the unchanging yet ever beautiful picture, till the sun buried himself
+among the mountains, and the shadows of night curtained it in obscurity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+
+Passing the night in a little hamlet on the mountain side, the army was
+prepared, at the dawn of the following day, to resume its march. But the
+events of this march being varied by nothing but the change of prospect,
+and the wonder of those by whom the valley was seen for the first time,
+we will not imitate the prolixity of our authority, the worthy Don
+Cristobal, but despatch, in a word, the increasing delight and
+astonishment with which Don Amador de Leste, after having satiated his
+appetite with views of lake and garden, surveyed the countless villages
+and towns of hewn stone that rose, almost at every moment, among them. A
+neck of land now separates the lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco; and the
+retreat of the waters has left their banks deformed with fens and
+morasses, wherein the wild-duck screams among waving reeds and
+bulrushes. Originally, these basins were united in one long and lovely
+sheet of water, divided indeed, yet only by a causey built by the hands
+of man, which is now lost in the before-mentioned neck, together with
+its sluices and bridges, as well as a beautiful little city, that lay
+midway between the two shores, called by the Spaniards Venezuela,
+(because rising, like its aristocratic godmother, from among the
+waters,) until they discovered that this was a peculiarity presented by
+dozens of other cities in the valley. Here was enjoyed the spectacle of
+innumerable canoes, paddled, with corn and merchandise, from distant
+towns, or parting with a freight of flowers from the _chinampas_, or
+floating gardens. But this was a spectacle disclosed by other cities of
+greater magnitude and beauty; and when, from the streets of the royal
+city Iztapalapan, the army issued at once upon the broad and straight
+dike that stretched for more than two leagues in length, a noble
+highway, through the salt floods of Tezcuco; when the neophyte beheld
+islands rocking like anchored ships in the water, the face of the lake
+thronged with little piraguas, and the air alive with snowy gulls; when
+he perceived the banks of this great sheet, as far as they could be
+seen, lined with villages and towns; and especially when he traced far
+away in the distance, in the line of the causeway, such a multitude of
+high towers and shadowy pyramids looming over the waters, as denoted the
+presence of a vast city,--he was seized with a species of awe at the
+thought of the marvellous ways of God, who had raised up that mighty
+empire, all unknown to the men of his own hemisphere, and now revealed
+it, for the accomplishment of a destiny which he trembled to imagine. He
+rode at the head of the army, in a post of distinction, by the side of
+Cortes, and fell moved to express some of the strange ideas which
+haunted him; but looking on the general attentively, he perceived about
+his whole countenance and figure an expression of singular gloom,
+mingled with such unusual haughtiness, as quickly indisposed him to
+conversation.
+
+The feelings that struggled in the bosom of the Conqueror were, at this
+instant, akin to those of the destroyer, as he sat upon 'the Assyrian
+mount,' overlooking the walls of Paradise, almost lamenting, and yet
+excusing to himself, the ruin he was about to bring upon that heavenly
+scene. Perhaps 'horror and doubt' for a moment distracted his thoughts;
+for no one knew better than he the uncertain chances and tremendous
+perils of the enterprise, or mused with more fear upon the probable and
+most sanguinary resistance of his victims, as foreboded by the tumults
+that followed after the late massacre. But when he cast his eye backward
+on the causey, and beheld the long train of foot and horse following at
+his beck; the many cannons, which, as they were dragged along, opened
+their brazen throats towards the city; the rows of spears and arquebuses
+bristling, and the banners flapping, over the heads of his people, and
+behind them the feathered tufts of his Tlascalans; and heard the music
+of his trumpets swell from the dike to the lake, from the lake to the
+shores, and die away, with pleasant echoes, among the hills; when he
+surveyed and listened to these things, and contrasted with them the
+imperfect weapons and naked bodies of his adversaries; the weakness of
+their institutions; the feebleness of their princes; the general
+disorganization of the people; and counted the guerdon of wealth and
+immortal renown that should wait upon success; he stifled at once his
+apprehensions and his remorse, ceased to remember that those, whose
+destruction he meditated, were, to him, 'harmless innocence,' and
+satisfied himself, almost with the arguments of the fiend, that--
+
+                        Public reason just,
+    Honour and empire, with revenge enlarged,
+    By conquering this new world, compels me now
+    To do what else, though damn'd, I should abhor.
+
+Triumph and regret were at once dividing his bosom; he knew he was a
+destroyer, but felt he should be a conqueror.
+
+There were many things in Don Hernan, which notwithstanding the
+gratitude and the desires of the neophyte, prevented the latter from
+bestowing upon him so much affection as he gave to one or two of his
+followers. The spirit of the leader was wholly, and, for his station,
+necessarily, crafty; and this very quality raised up a wall between him
+and one who was of so honourable a nature that he knew no concealment.
+The whole schemes and aims of the general were based upon such a
+foundation of fraud and injustice, that, he well knew, he could not,
+without expecting constant and vexatious opposition, give his full
+confidence to any truly noble spirit; and the same wisdom that estranged
+him from the lofty, taught him to keep aloof from the base. While artful
+enough to make use of the good qualities of the one, and the bad
+principles of the other class, he was satisfied with their respect; he
+cared not for their friendship. It was enough to him, that he had
+zealous and obedient followers: his situation allowed him no friends;
+and he had none. Of all the valiant cavaliers who shared with him the
+perils and the rewards of the invasion, there was not one who, after
+peace had severed the bonds of companionship, did not, at the first
+frown of fortune, or the first invitation of self-interest, array
+himself in arms against his leader.
+
+While the general gave himself up to his proud and gloomy imaginings,
+the novice of Rhodes again cast his eyes over the lake. It seemed to
+him, that, notwithstanding the triumphant blasts of the trumpet, the
+neighing of horses, and the multitudinous tread of the foot-soldiers, as
+well as the presence of so many canoes on the water, there was an air of
+sadness and solitude pervading the whole spectacle. The new soldiers
+were perhaps impressed with an awe like his own, at the strange
+prospect; the veterans were, doubtless, revolving in their minds some of
+the darker contingencies, over which their commander was brooding. Their
+steps rung heavily on the stone mole; and as the breeze curled up the
+surface of the lake into light billows, and tossed them against the
+causeway, Don Amador fancied, they approached and dashed at his feet
+with a certain sullen and hostile voice of warning. He thought it
+remarkable, also, that, among the throngs of canoes, there rose no
+shouts of welcome: the little vessels, forming a fleet on either side of
+the dike, were paddled along, at the distance of two or three hundred
+yards, so as to keep pace with the army; and the motion of the rowers,
+and the gleaming of their white garments, might have given animation, as
+well as picturesqueness, to the scene, but for the death-like silence
+that was preserved among them. The novelty of everything about the
+cavalier gave vigour to his imagination--he thought these paddling
+hordes resembled the flight of ravens that track the steps of a wounded
+beast in the desert,--or a shoal of those ravenous monsters that scent a
+pestilence on the deep, and swim by the side of the floating hospital,
+waiting for their prey.
+
+"What they mean, I know not," mused the cavalier. "After what De Morla
+has told me, I shall be loath to slay any of them; but if they desire to
+make a dinner of me, I swear to St. John! I will carve their brown
+bodies into all sorts of dishes, before I submit my limbs to the
+imprisonment of their most damnable maws! And yet, poor infidels!
+methinks they have some cause, after that affair of the festival, to
+look upon us with fear, if not with wrath; for if a garrison of an
+hundred men could be prompted to do them such a foul and murderous
+wrong, there is much reason to apprehend this well-appointed thousand
+might be, with as little provocation and warning, incited to work them a
+still more deadly injury. I would, however, that they might shout a
+little, were it only to make me feel more like a man awake; for, at
+present, it seems to me, that I am dreaming all these things which I am
+looking at!"
+
+The wish of the cavalier was not obeyed; and many a suspicious glance
+was cast, both by soldier and officer, to the dumb myriads paddling on
+their flanks; for it could not be denied, though no one dared to give
+utterance to such a suggestion, that were these countless barbarians
+provided with arms, as was perhaps the case, and could they but conceive
+the simple expedient of landing both in front and rear, and thus cut off
+their invaders from the city and the shore, and attack them at the same
+time, with good heart, in this insulated and very disadvantageous
+position, there was no knowing how obscure a conjecture the historian
+might hazard for the story of their fate. But this suspicion was also
+proved to be groundless; no sort of annoyance was practised, none indeed
+was meditated. The thousands that burthened the canoes, had issued from
+their canals to indulge a stupid curiosity, or, perhaps, under an
+impulse which they did not understand, to display to their enemies the
+long banquet of slaughter which fate was preparing for them.
+
+The army reached, at last, a point where another causeway of equal
+breadth, and seemingly of equal length, coming from the south-west, from
+the city Cojohuacan, ruled by a king, (the brother and feudatory of
+Montezuma,) terminated in the dike of Iztapalapan. At the point of
+junction was a sort of military work, consisting of a bastion, a strong
+wall, and two towers, guarding the approach to the imperial city. It was
+known by the name of Xoloc, (or, as it should be written in our tongue,
+Holoc,) and was in after times made famous by becoming the head-quarters
+of Cortes, during the time of the siege. It stood at the distance of
+only half a league from the city; and from hence could be plainly seen,
+not only the huge pyramids, with their remarkable towers rising aloft,
+but the low stone fabrics whereon, among the flowers (for every roof was
+a terrace, and every terrace a garden,) stood the gloomy citizens,
+watching the approach of the Christian army.
+
+At this point of Xoloc, at a signal of the general, every drum was
+struck with a lusty hand, every trumpet filled with a furious blast, and
+the Christians and Tlascalans, shouting together, while two or three
+falconets were at the same time discharged, there rose such a sudden and
+mighty din as startled the infidels in their canoes, and conveyed to the
+remotest quarters of Tenochtitlan, the intelligence of the advance of
+its masters.
+
+Scarcely had the echoes of this uproar died away on the lake, when
+there came, faintly indeed, but full of joyous animation, the response
+of the Christian garrison; and as the army resumed its march, they
+repeated their shouts loudly and blithely, for they now perceived, by
+the waving of banners and the glittering of spears, that their friends,
+rescued, as they all understood, by their presence, from the fear of a
+miserable death, were coming forth to meet them. Two or three mounted
+cavaliers were seen to separate themselves from this little and distant
+band, and gallop forwards, while the causeway rung to the sound of their
+hoofs. Don Amador, being in advance, was able, as they rushed forwards
+with loud and merry halloos, to observe their persons, as well as the
+reception they obtained from Don Hernan. His eye was attracted to him
+who seemed to be their leader, and who, he already knew, was Don Pedro
+de Alvarado, a cavalier that had no rival (the gallant Sandoval
+excepted,) in fame and in the favour of his general. He was in the prime
+of life, of a most noble stature, and of a countenance so engaging and
+animated, that this, in addition to the constant splendour of his
+apparel, whether the gilded mail of a warrior, or the costly vestments
+of a courtier,--had won him from the Mexicans themselves the flattering
+title of _Tonatiuh_, or the Sun; a compliment which his friends did not
+scruple to perpetuate, nor he to encourage. He rode immediately up to
+Cortes, and stretching out his hand, said gayly, and indeed,
+affectionately,--
+
+"Long life to thee, Cortes! I welcome thee as my saint. God be praised
+for thy coming--Amen! Thou hast snatched me from a most ignoble and
+hound-like death; for Sir Copilli, the emperor, has been starving me!"
+
+Don Hernan took the hand of the cavalier, and eyeing him steadfastly and
+sternly, while his old companions gathered around, said with a most
+pointed asperity,--
+
+"My friend Alvarado! thou hast done me, as well as these noble
+cavaliers, thy friends, and also thy lord the king, a most grievous
+wrong; for, by the indulgence of thy hot wrath and indiscretion, thou
+hast, as I may say, dashed the possession of this empire out of our
+hands: and much blood shall be shed, and many Christian lives sacrificed
+in a war that might have been spared us, before we can remedy the
+consequences of thy rashness!"
+
+A deep gloom that darkened to a scowl, instantly gathered over the
+handsome visage of Don Pedro; and snatching his hand roughly away, he
+drew himself up, and prepared to reply to his general with wrath, and
+perhaps with defiance. But it was no part of the policy of Cortes to
+carry his anger further than might operate warningly on the officer and
+on those around; for which reason, offering his hand again, as if not
+noticing the discontent of his lieutenant, he said, with an artful
+appearance of sincerity,
+
+"I have often thought how thou mightest have been spared the necessity
+of slaying these perfidious and plotting hounds; and it seems to me,
+even now, if thou couldst, by shutting thyself in thy quarters and
+avoiding a contest, have submitted to the foolish imputations some might
+have cast on thee, of acting from fear rather than from prudence, this
+killing of the nobles might have been avoided. I say, some, indeed,
+might have accused thee of being in fear, hadst thou not killed the
+knaves that were scheming thine own destruction; but this is an
+aspersion which _thou_ couldst have borne with as little injury as any
+other brave cavalier in this army, being second to none in a high and
+well-deserved reputation; and so well am I persuaded that none could
+have better than thyself withstood the uncommon dangers of thy command
+in this treasonable city, that I should have excused any precaution of
+peace, that might have seemed cowardly to others. Nevertheless, I must
+own, thou wert forced to do as thou hast done; for no brave man can
+submit to be thought capable of fear; and, I know, 'twas this thought
+alone, that drove thee out to kill the nobles."
+
+No cloud in those tropical skies could have vanished more suddenly in
+the sunbeam, than did the frown of Alvarado at these complimentary words
+of his general. He caught the hand that was still proffered, shook it
+heartily, kissed it, and said,--his whole countenance beaming with
+delight and pride,--
+
+"I thank your excellency for this just consideration of my actions, and
+this expression of a true excuse for what seems, and what perhaps may
+have been, a great indiscretion. Your excellency, and these noble
+senores, my friends, would have esteemed me a coward, had I sat securely
+and quietly in the palace, watching, without attempting to forestall,
+the conspiracy of the lords of Mexico; and I have great hopes, when I
+have permission to explain all these things to your excellency, though I
+do not much plume myself on wisdom, but rather on fighting, (which is
+the only thing I have ever studied with diligence,) that you will say I
+acted as wisely as, in such case, was possible."
+
+"I have no doubt of it," said Cortes, smiling, as he rode
+onwards.--"But, nevertheless, there is more wisdom in thy knocks than in
+thy noddle," he muttered to himself.--The shame of the reproof, though
+dispelled by the flattery of the rebuker, did not wholly disappear from
+the bosom of Alvarado. A word of sarcasm will live longer than the
+memory of a benefit. Alvarado was, in after days, a traitor to his
+general.
+
+But without now giving himself leisure for consideration, the cavalier
+addressed himself to his old companions; and even, (for his joy at being
+so rescued out of peril, warmed his heart to all,) made up with much
+satisfaction to the knight Calavar. But since the confession at Cholula,
+the distemper of Don Gabriel had visibly increased; and his fits of
+abstraction were becoming, every hour, so frequent and so profound, as
+to cause the greatest alarm and anxiety to his kinsman. He neither heard
+nor saw the salutations of Don Pedro; nor indeed did he seem at all
+sensible to any part of the strange scene that surrounded him. Foiled in
+this attempt, the courteous and vivacious soldier turned himself to Don
+Amador, as presenting the appearance of a noble and gallant hidalgo, and
+would speedily have been on a footing of the most perfect friendship
+with him, had it not been that the neophyte still freshly remembered the
+story of the massacre, and met his advances with a frigid haughtiness.
+
+"By'r lady!" said the offended cavalier, "it seems to me that the devil,
+or the cold mountain, has got into the bosoms of all; for here am I,
+with my heart at this moment as warm as a pepper-pod, or a black cloak
+in the sunshine, and ready to love everybody, old and young, vile and
+virtuous, base and gentle; and yet everybody, notwithstanding, meets me
+with a most frosty unconcern. I swear to thee, valiant cavalier,
+whosoever thou art, my breast is open to thee, and I crave thy
+affection; for, besides perceiving that thou art assuredly an hidalgo, I
+see thou hast a Moorish page at thy side, with a lute at his back; and
+if his pipe be half so good as his face, I cannot live without being thy
+friend; for I love music!"
+
+Jacinto shrunk away from his admirer, alarmed as much at the suddenness
+of his praise, as at the many evolutions of the lance, which, by way of
+gesticulation, he flourished about him in a very vigorous manner. But
+Don Amador, greatly amused at the freedom, and, in spite of himself,
+gained by the frankness, of Don Pedro, replied with good-humour.
+
+"Senor," said he, "I am Amador de Leste, of the castle Del Alcornoque,
+near to Cuenza; and having heard certain charges against you, in the
+matter of the Mexican nobles, I replied to you, perhaps, with prejudice.
+Nevertheless, what the general has said, does, in some sort, seem to
+lessen the force of the charge; and if you will, at your leisure,
+condescend to satisfy my doubts, as I begin to be assured you can, I
+will not hesitate to receive your friendship, and to tender you my own
+in return. Only, previous to which, I must beg of you to turn your
+lance-point another way, so that the boy Jacinto, who is somewhat afraid
+of its antics, may be enabled to walk again at my side."
+
+"Senor Don Amador de Leste," said the soldier, taking this speech in
+good part, "I avow myself satisfied with your explanation, and so
+determined to pursue your friendship, (inasmuch as I have not heard any
+good singing since the little Orteguilla, the page of the Indian
+emperor, or, what is the same thing, of Cortes, lost his voice in a
+quinsy,) that I will give you the whole history of the nobles, their
+atrocious conspiracy and their just punishment, as soon as we have
+leisure in our quarters. And now, if you will have the goodness to ride
+with me a little in advance, I will have much satisfaction, as I
+perceive you are a stranger, to introduce you to this great and
+wonderful city, Tenochtitlan, of which I have been, as I may say, in
+some sort, the king, for two long and tumultuous months; and I swear to
+you, no king ever clutched upon a crown with more good will and joy than
+do I, this moment, abdicate my authority."
+
+Thus invited by his courteous and jocund friend, the neophyte rode
+onwards so as to reach the heels of Cortes, just as the garrison,
+inspired by the sight of their leader, broke their ranks, and rushed
+forwards to salute him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+
+The soldiers of Alvarado differed in no wise from those veterans whom
+Don Amador had found standing to their arms on the banks of the River of
+Canoes; only that they presented, notwithstanding their loudly vented
+delight, a care-worn and somewhat emaciated appearance,--the consequence
+of long watches, perpetual fears, and, in part, of famine. They broke
+their ranks, as has been said, as soon as they beheld their general, and
+surrounded him with every expression of affection; and, while stretching
+forth their hands with cries of gratitude and joy, invoked many
+execrations on their imperial prisoner, the helpless Montezuma, as the
+cause of all their sufferings. Among them, Don Amador took notice of one
+man, who, though armed and habited as a Spaniard, seemed, in most other
+respects, an Indian, and of a more savage race than any he had yet seen;
+for his face, hands, and neck were tattooed with the most fantastic
+figures, and his motions were those of a barbarian. This was Geronimo de
+Aguilar, a companion of Balboa, who, being wrecked on the coast of
+Yucatan, had been preserved as a slave, and finally, adopted as a
+warrior, among the hordes of that distant land; from which he was
+rescued by Don Hernan,--happily to serve as the means of communication,
+through the medium of another and more remarkable interpreter, with the
+races of Mexico. This other interpreter, who approached the general with
+the dignified gravity of an Indian princess, and was received with
+suitable respect, was no less a person than that maid of Painalla, sold
+by an unfeeling parent a slave to one of the chieftains of Tobasco,
+presented by him to Cortes, and baptized in the faith under the
+distinguished title of the senora Dona Marina; who, by interpreting to
+Aguilar, in the language of Yucatan, the communications that were made
+in her native tongue, thus gave to Cortes the means of conferring with
+her countrymen, until her speedy acquisition of the Castilian language
+removed the necessity of such tedious intervention. But at this period,
+many Spaniards had acquired a smattering of her tongue, and could play
+the part of interpreters; and, for this reason, Dona Marina will make no
+great figure in this history. Other annalists have sufficiently
+immortalized her beauty, her wisdom, and her fidelity; and it has been
+her good fortune, continued even to this day, to be distinguished with
+such honours as have fallen to the lot of none of her masters. Her
+Christian denomination, Marina, converted by her countrymen into
+_Malintzin_, (a title that was afterwards scornfully applied by them to
+Cortes himself,) and this again, in modern days, corrupted by the
+Creoles into _Malinche_, has had the singular fate to give name both to
+a mountain and a divinity: the sierra of Tlascala is now called the
+mountain of Malinche; and the descendants of Montezuma pay their
+adorations to the Virgin, under the title of Malintzin.
+
+Don Amador de Leste, attended by De Morla, as well as his new
+acquaintance, Alvarado, was able to understand, as well as admire, many
+of the wonders of the city, as he now, for the first time, planted his
+foot on its imperial streets.
+
+The retreat of the salt waters of Tezcuco has left the present
+republican city of Mexico a full league west of the lake. In the days of
+Montezuma, it stood upon an island two miles removed from the western
+shore, with which it communicated by the dike or _calzada_ of
+Tlacopan,--now called Tacuba. The causeway of Iztapalapan, coming from
+the South, seven miles in length, passed over the island and through the
+city, and was continued in a line three miles further to the northern
+shore, and to the city Tepejacac, where now stand the church and the
+miraculous picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Besides these three great
+causeways, constructed with inconceivable labour, there were two
+others,--that of Cojohuacan, which, as we have mentioned, terminated in
+the greater one of Iztapalapan, at the military point Xoloc, a half
+league from the city; and that, a little south-ward of the dike of
+Tacuba, which conveyed, in aqueducts of earthenware, the pure waters of
+Chapoltepec to the temples and squares of the imperial city. The island
+was circular, saving that a broad angle or peninsula ran out from the
+north-west, and a similar one from the opposite point of the compass: it
+was a league in diameter; but the necessities of the people, after
+covering this ample space with their dwellings, extended them far into
+the lake; and perhaps as many edifices stood, on piles, in the water as
+on the land. The causeways of Iztapalapan and Tacuba, intersecting each
+other in the heart of the island, divided the city into four convenient
+quarters, to which a fifth was added, some few generations before, when
+the little kingdom of Tlatelolco, occupying the north-western peninsula,
+was added to Tenochtitlan. On this peninsula and in this quarter of
+Tlatelolco, stood the palace of an ancient king, which the munificence
+of Montezuma had presented to Cortes for a dwelling, and which the
+invader, six days after the gift, by an act of as much treachery as
+daring, converted into the prison of his benefactor.
+
+The appearance of this vast and remarkable city so occupied the mind of
+the neophyte, that, as he rode staring along, he gave but few thoughts,
+and fewer words, either to his kinsman or the page. It was sunset, and
+in the increasing obscurity, he gazed, as if on a scene of magic, on
+streets often having canals in the midst, covered alike with bridges and
+empty canoes; on stone houses, low indeed, but of a strong and imposing
+structure, over the terraces of which waved shrubs and flowers; and on
+high turrets, which, at every vista, disclosed their distant pinnacles.
+But he remarked also, and it was mentioned by the cavaliers at his side
+as a bad omen, that neither the streets, the canals, nor the house-tops
+presented the appearance of citizens coming forth to gaze upon them. A
+few Indians were now and then seen skulking at a distance in the
+streets, raising their heads from a half-concealed canoe, or peering
+from a terrace among the shrubs. He would have thought the city
+uninhabited, but that he knew it contained as many living creatures,
+hidden among its retreats, as some of the proudest capitals of
+Christendom. Even the great square, the centre of life and of devotion,
+was deserted; and the principal pyramid, a huge and mountainous mass,
+consecrated to the most sanguinary of deities, though its sanctuaries
+were lighted by the ever-blazing urns, and though the _town_ of temples
+circumscribed by the great Coatepantli, or _Wall of Serpents_, which
+surrounded this Mexican Olympus, sent up the glare of many a devotional
+torch,--yet did it seem, nevertheless, to be inhabited by beings as
+inanimate as those monstrous reptiles which writhed in stone along the
+infernal wall. In this light, and in that which still played in the
+west, Don Amador marvelled at the structure of the pyramid, and cursed
+it as he marvelled. It consisted of five enormous platforms, faced with
+hewn stone, and mounted by steps so singularly planned, that, upon
+climbing the first story, it was necessary to walk entirely round the
+mass, before arriving at the staircase which conducted to the second.
+The reader may conceive of the vast size of this pagan temple by being
+apprised, that, to ascend it, the votaries were compelled, in their
+perambulations, to walk a distance of full ten furlongs, as well as to
+climb a hundred and fourteen different steps. He may also comprehend the
+manner in which the stairways were contrived, by knowing that the first,
+ascending _laterally_ from the corner, was just as broad as the first
+platform was wider than the second; leaving thus a sheer and continuous
+wall from the ground to the top of the second terrace, from the bottom
+of the second to the top of the third, and so on, in like manner, to the
+top.
+
+But the pyramid, crowned with altars and censers, the innumerable
+temples erected in honour of nameless deities at its foot, and the
+strange and most hideous Coatepantli, were not the only objects which
+excited the abhorrence of the cavalier. Without the wall, and a few
+paces in advance of the great gate which it covered as a curtain, rose a
+rampart of earth or stone, oblong and pyramidal, but truncated,
+twenty-five fathoms in length at the base, and perhaps thirty feet in
+height. At either end of this tumulus, was a tower of goodly altitude,
+built, as it seemed at a distance and in the dim light, of some
+singularly rude and uncouth material; and between them, occupying the
+whole remaining space of the terrace, was a sort of frame-work or cage
+of slender poles, on all of which were strung thickly together, certain
+little globes, the character of which Don Amador could not penetrate,
+until fully abreast of them. Then, indeed, he perceived, with horror,
+that these globes were the skulls of human beings, the trophies of ages
+of superstition; and beheld, in like manner, that the towers which
+crowned the Golgotha, (or _Huitzompan_, as it was called in the Mexican
+tongue,) were constructed of the same dreadful materials, cemented
+together with lime. The malediction which he invoked upon the builders
+of the ghastly temple, was unheard; for the spectacle froze his blood
+and paralyzed his tongue.
+
+It was not yet dark, when, having left these haunts of idolatry, Don
+Amador found himself entering into the court-yard of a vast, and yet not
+a very lofty, building,--the palace of Axajacatl; wherein, with drums
+beating, and trumpets answering joyously to the salute of their friends,
+stood those individuals of the garrison who had remained to watch over
+their prisoners and treasures. The weary and the curious, thronging
+together impatiently at the gate, mingling with the garrison and some
+two thousand faithful Tlascalans, who had been left by Cortes as their
+allies, and who now rushed forward to salute the viceroy of their gods,
+as some had denominated Don Hernan, made such a scene of confusion,
+that, for a moment, the neophyte was unable to ride into the yard. In
+that moment, and while struggling both to appease the unquiet of Fogoso,
+and to drive away the feathered herd that obstructed him, his arm was
+touched, and, looking down, he beheld Jacinto at his side, greatly
+agitated, and seemingly striving to disengage himself from the throng.
+
+"Give me thy hand," cried Don Amador, "and I will pull thee out of this
+rabble to the back of Fogoso."
+
+But the page, though he seized upon the hand of his patron, and covered
+it with kisses, held back, greatly to the surprise of Don Amador, who
+was made sensible that hot tears were falling with the kisses.
+
+"I swear to thee, my boy! that I will discover thy father for thee, if
+it be possible for man to find him," said the cavalier, diving at once,
+as he thought, to the cause of this emotion.
+
+But before he had well done speaking, the press thickening around him,
+drew the boy from his side; and when he had, a moment after, disengaged
+himself, Jacinto was no longer to be seen. Not doubting, however, that
+he was entangled in the mass, and would immediately appear, he called
+out to him to follow; and riding slowly up to Cortes, he had his whole
+attention immediately absorbed by the spectacle of the Indian emperor.
+
+Issuing from the door of the palace, surrounded as well by Spanish
+cavaliers as by the nobles, both male and female, of his own household,
+who stood by him,--the latter, at least,--with countenances of the
+deepest veneration,--he advanced a step to do honour to the dismounting
+general.
+
+In the light of many torches, held by the people about him, Don Amador,
+as he flung himself from his horse, could plainly perceive the person
+and habiliments of the pagan king. He was of good stature, clad in white
+robes, over which was a huge mantle of crimson, studded with emeralds
+and drops of gold, knotted on his breast, or rather on his shoulder, so
+as to fall, when he raised his arm, in careless but very graceful folds;
+his legs were buskined with gilded leather; his head covered with the
+_copilli_, or crown, (a sort of mitre of plate-gold, graved and chased
+with certain idolatrous devices,) from beneath which fell to his
+shoulders long and thick locks of the blackest hair. He did not yet seem
+to have passed beyond the autumn of life. His countenance, though of the
+darkest hue known among his people, was good, somewhat long and hollow,
+but the features well sculptured; and a gentle melancholy, a
+characteristic expression of his race, deepened, perhaps, in gloom, by a
+sense of his degradation, gave it a something that interested the
+beholder.
+
+In the abruptness with which he was introduced to the regal barbarian,
+Don Amador had no leisure to take notice of his attendants, all princely
+in rank, and, two or three of them, the kings of neighbouring cities: he
+only observed that their decorations were far from being costly and
+ostentatious;--a circumstance, which, he did not then know, marked the
+greatness of their respect. In the absurd grandeur which attached to the
+person of their monarch, no distinction of inferior ranks was allowed to
+be traced, during the time of an audience; and in his majestic presence,
+a vassal king wore the coarse garments of a slave. So important was
+esteemed the observance of this courtly etiquette, that, at the first
+visit made him, in his palace, by the Spaniards, the renowned Cortes and
+his proud officers did not refuse to throw off their shoes, and cover
+their armour with such humble apparel as was offered them. But those
+days were passed; the king of kings was himself the vassal of a king's
+vassal. Yet notwithstanding this, it had been, up to this time, the
+policy of Don Hernan to soften the captivity, and engage the affections,
+of the monarch, by such marks of reverence as might still allow him to
+dream he possessed the grandeur, along with the state, of a king. Before
+this day, Cortes had never been known to pass his prisoner, without
+removing his cap or helmet; and indeed, such had been so long the habit
+of his cavaliers, that all, as they now dismounted, fell to doffing
+their casques without delay, until the action of their leader taught
+them a new and unexpected mode of salutation.
+
+The weak spirit of Montezuma had yielded to the arts of the Spaniard;
+and forgetting the insults of past days, the loss of his empire, and the
+shame of his imprisonment, he had already conceived a species of
+affection for his wronger. Cortes had no sooner, therefore, leaped from
+his horse, than the emperor, with outstretched arms, and with his
+sadness yielding to a smile, advanced to meet him.
+
+"Dog of a king!" said the invader, with a ferocious frown, "dost thou
+starve and murder my people, and then offer me the hand of friendship?
+away with thee! I defy thee, and thou shalt see that I can punish!" Thus
+saying, and thrusting the king rudely aside, he stepped into the palace.
+
+A wild cry of lamentation, at this insult (it needed no interpretation)
+to their king, burst from the lips of all the Mexicans; and the
+Spaniards themselves were not less panic-struck. The gentle manners of
+Montezuma, and his munificence, (for he was in the daily habit of
+enriching them with costly presents,) had endeared him to most of his
+enemies; and even the soldiers of the garrison, who had so lately
+accused him of endeavouring to famish them, had no belief in the justice
+of their charges. Many of them therefore, both soldiers and hidalgos,
+indignant and grieved at the wanton insult, had their sympathies
+strongly excited, when they beheld the monarch roll his eyes upon them
+with a haggard smile, in which pride was struggling vainly with a bitter
+sense of humiliation. De Morla and several others rushed forwards to
+atone, by caresses, for the crime of their general. But it was too late;
+the king threw his mantle over his head, and without the utterance of
+any complaint, passed, with his attendants, into his apartments. His
+countenance was never more, from that day, seen to wear a smile.
+
+Don Amador de Leste was greatly amazed and shocked by this rudeness; and
+it was one of many other circumstances, which, by lessening his respect
+for the general, contributed to weaken his friendship and undermine his
+gratitude. But he had no time to indulge his indignation. He was
+startled by a loud cry, or rather a shriek, from the lips of the knight
+Calavar; and running to the gate, beheld, in the midst of a confused
+mass of men, rushing to and fro, and calling out as if to secure an
+assassin, his kinsman lying, to all appearance dead, in the arms of his
+attendants.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+
+The first thought of the young cavalier was, that Don Gabriel had been
+basely and murderously struck by some felon hand; an apprehension of
+which he was, in part, immediately relieved by the protestations of
+Baltasar, but which was not entirely removed until he had assisted to
+carry the knight into a chamber of the palace, and beheld him open his
+eyes and roll them wildly round him, like one awaking from a dream of
+night-mare.
+
+"I say," muttered Baltasar, as he raised the head of the distracted man,
+and beckoned to clear the room of many idle personages who had thrust
+themselves in, "he was hurt by no mortal man, for I stood close at his
+side, and there is not a drop of blood on his body. 'Twas one of the
+accursed ghosts, whom may St. John sink down to hell; for they are ever
+persecuting us."
+
+"Mortal man, or immortal fiend," whispered Lazaro, knitting his brows,
+but looking greatly frighted, "I saw him running away, the moment the
+knight screeched; and, I will take my oath, he had such a damnable
+appearance as belongs to nothing but the devil, or one of these pagan
+gods, who are all devils. Had he been a man, I should have slain him,
+for I struck at him with my spear!"
+
+"Miserere mei!" groaned the knight, rising to his feet, "they are all
+unearthed,--Zayda at the temple, and _he_ in the palace!"
+
+Don Amador trembled, when he heard his kinsman pronounce the name of
+Zayda, for he remembered the words of Jacinto. Nevertheless he said, "be
+not disturbed, my father; for we are none here but thy servants."
+
+"Ay!" said the knight, looking gloomily but sanely to his friend; "I
+afflict thee with my folly; but I know _now_ that it will end.--Let the
+boy Jacinto sing to me the song of the Virgin; I will pray and sleep."
+
+Don Amador looked round, and Jacinto not being present, began to
+remember that the page had been separated from him in the crowd, and
+that he had not seen him since the moment of separation. None of the
+attendants had noticed him enter the court-yard; and a superstitious
+fear was mingled with his anxiety, when Don Gabriel, casting his eyes to
+heaven, said, with a deep groan,--
+
+"The time beginneth, the flower is broken, and now I see how each branch
+shall fall, and the trunk that is blasted, shall be left, naked, to
+perish! Seek no more for the boy," he went on to Amador, with a grave
+placidity, which, coupled with the extravagance of his words, gave the
+youth reason to fear that his mind, wavering under a thousand shocks,
+had at last settled down for ever in the calm of insanity,--"seek for
+the good child no more, for he is now in heaven. And lament not thou, my
+son Amador, that thou shalt speedily follow him; for thy heart is yet
+pure, thy soul unstained, and grace shall not be denied thee!"
+
+"Jacinto is not dead, my father," said the neophyte earnestly; "and if
+thou wilt suffer Baltasar to remove thy corslet, and make thee a couch
+under yonder canopy, I will fetch him to thee presently, and he shall
+sing thee to sleep."
+
+"Remove the armour indeed," muttered Don Gabriel, submitting passively,
+"for now there is no more need of aught but the crucifix, prayers, and
+the grave. Poor children! that shall die before the day of canker, what
+matters it? I lament ye not,--ye shall sleep in peace!"
+
+Thus murmuring out his distractions, in which his servants perceived
+nothing but the influence of some supernatural warning that boded them
+calamity, the knight allowed himself to be disarmed and laid upon a
+couch on a raised platform at the side of the chamber, over which the
+voluminous arras that covered the walls, were festooned into a sort of
+not inelegant tester.
+
+Meanwhile, the neophyte, beckoning Lazaro with him, and charging him to
+make good search throughout the palace for the page, began to address
+himself to the same duty. And first, attracted by the lights and by the
+sounds of many voices coming from a neighbouring apartment, he advanced
+to the door, where he was suddenly arrested by the appearance of a
+Mexican of very majestic stature, though clad in the same humble robes
+which had covered the attendants of Montezuma, issuing from the chamber,
+followed by a throng of cavaliers, among whom was the general himself.
+At the side of Cortes stood a boy, in stature resembling Jacinto; and in
+whom, for a moment, Don Amador thought he had discovered the object of
+his desires. But this agreeable delusion was instantly put to flight,
+when he heard Don Hernan address him by the name of Orteguilla, and saw
+that he exercised the functions of an interpreter.
+
+"Tell me this knave, my merry _muchacho_," said the general,--"tell me
+this knave, (that is to say, this royal prince,) Cuitlahuatzin, that I
+discharge him from captivity, under the assurance that he shall, very
+faithfully, and without delay, command his runagate people to bring me
+corn to the market; of which it is not fitting we should be kept in want
+longer than to-morrow. And give him to understand, that I hold, as the
+hostage of his good faith and compliance, the dog Montezuma; (translate
+_that_, the king his brother:) who shall be made to suffer the penalty
+of any neglect, on his part, to furnish me with the afore-mentioned
+necessary provision."
+
+The little Orteguilla, in part acquainted with the Mexican tongue, did
+as he was directed; and the prince Cuitlahuatzin, (or, as it should be
+pronounced in English speech, Quitlawatzin,) receiving and understanding
+the direction, bowed his head to Cortes with stately humility, and
+immediately withdrew.
+
+Not discovering or hearing aught of Jacinto in this throng, Don Amador
+continued his search in other parts of the palace, the court-yard, and
+even the neighbouring street; but with such indifferent success, that,
+when stumbling upon Lazaro, and made acquainted that he had been equally
+unfortunate, he began to entertain the most serious fears for the fate
+of the boy.
+
+"Perhaps he was carried off by the spectre," muttered Lazaro,
+superstitiously, "as his worship Don Gabriel as much as hinted."
+
+"Or perhaps," said the neophyte, with a thrill of horror, "by some of
+those bloody cannibals, to be devoured! And I remember now, that there
+were many savages about me at the time; though I thought them
+Tlascalans. I would to heaven, I had speared the knaves that came
+between us; but I swear to St. John of the Desert, if they have truly
+robbed me of the boy, and for that diabolical purpose, I will pursue
+their whole race with a most unrelenting vengeance."
+
+At this moment, the cavalier was startled by a sudden "Hark!" from
+Lazaro, and heard, at a distance in the street, though objects were lost
+in the darkness, a great tumult as of men in affray, and plainly
+distinguished a voice crying aloud, "Arma! arma! and Christian men, for
+the love of God, to the rescue of Christians beset by infidels!"
+
+"Draw thy sword, Lazaro, and follow!" cried the cavalier, "for these are
+other victims; and, with God's favour, we _will_ rescue them!"
+
+Thus exclaiming, and without a moment thinking of the unknown perils
+among which he was rushing, he ran rapidly in the direction of the
+cries, and straightway beheld, a little in advance of a great crowd of
+people, a group consisting of four or five persons, several of them
+women in strange attire, who stood shrieking with terror, while at their
+feet rolled three or four on the ground in close and murderous combat.
+The cries of one of these prostrate figures bespoke him a Spaniard, and
+while one sinewy pagan seemed to hold him upon the earth, another stood
+with his uplifted weapon, in the very act of despatching him. At this
+moment, Don Amador rushed forwards, and shouting his war-cry, _Dios, y
+buena esperanza!_ (that is, 'God and good cheer!') struck the menacing
+savage a blow that sent him yelling away, and seized upon the other by
+the shoulder to stab him; when, suddenly, the Spaniard rose to his feet,
+with a leap that tumbled the infidel to the earth, and showed him to be
+already dead, cried aloud, in the well-remembered voice of the
+magician,--
+
+"Tetragrammaton! thou wert a good shield, though a bloody one, sir
+carcass!--Save the princesses, and fly, or we are all dead men!--Arma!
+arma! to the rescue!"
+
+Thus shouting, and seizing upon one of the women, while Don Amador
+snatched the arm of the other, (for he perceived, they were like to be
+cut off by the approaching crowd,) the sorcerer, with his rescuers, ran
+towards the palace. His cries had reached the quarters; and presently
+they were surrounded by a hundred soldiers and cavaliers bearing lights,
+in the glare of which Don Amador had scarce time to note the countenance
+of his new ward, before she was locked in the arms of De Morla.
+
+"Minnapotzin! Benita!" cried the joyous cavalier. "Amigo mio! thou hast
+saved my princess!"
+
+"Stop not to prate and be happy; for the storm comes!" exclaimed
+Botello. "To the palace, all of ye! and to the cannon! for were you five
+hundred men, there are wolves enow at your heels to devour you!"
+
+Thus admonished, and perceiving, in fact, that a vast, though silent
+multitude was approaching, all were fain to fly, and in an instant they
+were crowding into the gates of the court-yard.
+
+"This comes of insulting the king!" cried a voice from the melee, as
+Cortes, shouting out to clear the gates, was seen himself assisting to
+draw a piece of artillery to the opening.
+
+"I see naught,--I hear nothing," cried the general, affecting not to
+remark this reproach, (which was indeed just; for it was this
+over-refinement of policy, spread with wonderful celerity throughout the
+city, which dashed the last scale from the eyes of the Mexicans,
+convinced them that their monarch was indeed a slave, and let loose the
+long-imprisoned current of fury.) "I see nought, I hear nought; and my
+brave Rolands have been flying from shadows!"
+
+"Say not so; the town is alive," cried the magician. "The hounds set on
+me, as I was bringing, at your excellency's command, these princesses
+from Tacuba; and it was only through the mercy of God, my good star, an
+Indian that I killed for a buckler, and the help of this true cavalier,
+(whose fate, out of gratitude, I will reveal to him to-morrow,) that we
+were not all killed by the way:--for small reverence did the false
+traitors show to the maidens."
+
+"Clear the way, then. Discharge me the piece, Catalan, true cannonier!"
+said Cortes, "and we will see what our foes look like, so near to
+midnight."
+
+The match was applied, the palace shook to the roar,--and the blaze,
+illumining the street to a great distance, disclosed it, to the surprise
+of all, entirely deserted.
+
+"I will aver upon mine oath," said Don Amador, "that the street was but
+now full of people; but where they have hidden, or whither they have
+fled, wholly passes my comprehension."
+
+"Hidden, surely, in their beds," cried the general, loudly and
+cheerfully, for he perceived the crowds about him were panic-struck.
+"They set on Botello, doubtless, because they thought he was haling away
+the princesses with violence; and, convinced of their error, they have
+now gone to their rest,--a mark of wisdom in which I would advise all
+here to follow their example."
+
+Thus cheered by their leader, the soldiers began to disperse; and
+Amador, musing painfully on the mysterious fate of the page, was
+accosted by Cortes, who, drawing him aside, said,--
+
+"It has been told me, senor, that your Moorish boy has made his escape."
+
+"His escape!" echoed the novice, in surprise. "He did indeed vanish away
+from me, and I know not how, though much do I fear, in a manner that it
+shocks me to think on. I was about to ask of your excellency, as the boy
+is a true Christian, as well as a most faithful servant, for such
+counsel and assistance as might enable me, this night, to rescue him out
+of the hands of the cannibals; for it would be a sin on the souls of us
+all, should we suffer him to come to harm."
+
+"And are you so well persuaded of his faith, as to believe him incapable
+of treachery?" demanded Don Hernan, earnestly: "Thou forgettest, he has
+a father concealed among these infidels."
+
+"Ay! by my faith!" cried Amador, joyously; "I thought not of that
+before. And yet, and yet----" Here his countenance fell. "How should he
+be so mad, as to leave us in this strange and huge city, with any hope
+of discovering Abdalla?"
+
+"I can resolve thee that," said Cortes: "for it is avouched to me by
+Yacub, that he saw this wretch (whom may heaven return to me for
+punishment, for he is a most subtle, daring, and dangerous traitor,)
+this very knave Abdalla, at thy horse's heels; but he could not believe
+'twas he, until made acquainted with the flight of the page."
+
+"Ay! now I see it;" said Amador; "and I remember that he wept, as he
+held my hand, as if grieving to desert me. But, methinks, 'twill be well
+to seek him out, and reclaim him. Will your excellency allow me the
+services of any score or two of men, who, for love or gold, may be
+induced to follow me in the search?"
+
+"I will answer thee in thine own words," said Cortes: "Where wouldst
+thou look in this strange and huge city, with any hope of discovering
+him? Be content, senor; the boy is with the fox, his father. _That_
+should convince thee, he is in present safety. And senor, I will tell
+thee, what I conceal from my people, (for thou art a soldier, and,
+therefore, as discreet as fearless,) that I would not, this night,
+despatch an hundred men a mile from the palace, without looking to have
+half of them slain outright by the rebels that are around us!"
+
+"And dost thou think," said Amador, "that these besotted, naked madmen,
+would dare to assail so many?"
+
+"You will see, by my conscience!" cried the general, with a grim and
+anxious smile. "Sleep with thine armour at thy side; and forget not thy
+buckler, for I have known a Tlascalan arrow pierce through a good
+Biscayan gorget; and they say, the Mexicans can shoot as well. Let not
+any noise arouse thee, unless it be that of a trumpet. I would have thee
+sleep well, my friend; for I know not how soon I may need thy strong
+arm, and encouraging countenance!"
+
+Thus darkly and imperfectly apprising the novice of his fears, (for now,
+indeed, a demon had roused a thousand apprehensions in his breast,) the
+general departed; and Don Amador disconsolately pursued his way to the
+chamber of the knight of Rhodes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+
+When Don Amador returned to the chamber, he was rejoiced to find his
+kinsman asleep, and not offended that the faithful Marco and Baltasar
+were both nodding, as they sat at his side. He threw himself softly on a
+cot of mats, covered with robes of fine cotton, over which was a little
+canopy,--such being the beds of the better orders of Mexico. The crowded
+state of the palace (for it is recorded, that the number of Totonac and
+Tlascalan allies, who remained in the garrison with Alvarado, now
+swelled the army of Cortes to nearly nine thousand men,) left him no
+other choice; and he felt, that his presence was perhaps necessary, in
+the unhappy condition of his knight. He was mindful to obey the counsels
+of Don Hernan, and lie with his weapons ready to be grasped at the first
+alarm; and he remembered also the hint that had been given him, not to
+be surprised at such tumults, when he heard a sound, continued
+throughout the greater part of the night, as of heavy instruments
+knocking against the court-yard wall, convincing him as well of the
+military vigilance and preparations, as of the fears of his general. In
+addition to this disturbance, he was often startled by moans and wild
+expressions, coming from the lips of the sleeping knight, showing him
+that even slumber brought no repose to his distempered spirit. But,
+above all, (and this made manifest the hold that the Moorish boy had got
+upon his affections,) he was troubled with thoughts of Jacinto; and
+often, as the angel of sleep began to flutter over his eyelids, she was
+driven away, by some sudden and painfully intense conception of the
+great peril which must surround the friendless lad, now that the events
+of the evening proved him to be in the midst, and doubtless in the
+power, of an enraged multitude, to whom every stranger was an enemy.
+Often, too, as he was sinking into slumber, the first voice of dreams
+would cry to him in the tones of Jacinto, or the silent enchanter would
+bring before his eyes the spectacle of the boy, confined in the cage of
+victims, or dragged away, by the hands of ferocious priests, to the
+place of sacrifice. These distractions kept him tossing about in great
+restlessness, for a long time; and it was not until the sounds of the
+workmen in the yard were no longer heard, and until a deep silence
+pervaded the palace, that he was able to drown his torments in sleep.
+
+He was roused from slumber by a painful dream, and fancying it must be
+now approaching the time of dawn, he stole softly to the bed-side of
+Calavar, without disturbing the attendants. A taper of myrtle-wax,
+burning on a little pedestal hard by, disclosed to him the countenance
+of the knight, contracted with pain, and flushed as if with fever, but
+still chained in repose. He stepped noiselessly away, and gathering his
+sword and a few pieces of armour in his hands, left the apartment.
+
+From the door of the palace, he could see, dimly,--for it was not yet
+morning,--that vast numbers of Tlascalans were lying asleep in the
+court-yard among the horses, while many sentinels were stalking about in
+silent watchfulness. He was now able, likewise, to understand the cause
+of the heavy knocking, which had annoyed him. The gates were closed; but
+in three rude embrasures, which had been broken in the wall by the
+workmen, frowned as many pieces of ordnance, commanding the street by
+which he had approached the palace.
+
+Entering this again, and attracted by the distant murmur of voices, he
+discovered a staircase at the end of a passage, ascending which, he
+immediately found himself on the terraced roof of the building. And now
+he could perceive the exposed condition of the royal citadel, as well as
+the preparations made to sustain it, in the event of a siege.
+
+The palace, itself, extended over a great piece of ground, in the form
+of a square, the walled sides of which were continuous, but the centre
+divided by rows of structures that crossed each other, into many little
+courts. The buildings were all low, consisting, indeed, of but one
+floor, except that, in the centre, were several chambers on the roofs of
+others, that might be called turrets or observatories. The terraces were
+so covered with flowers and shrubs, that they seemed a garden. This mass
+of houses was surrounded on all sides by a spacious court, confined by a
+wall six or eight feet high, running entirely round the whole. The
+palace, with its outer court, did not yet occupy all of the great square
+upon which it stood. It was a short bow-shot from the battlements to
+the houses, which lined the four sides of the square. Opposite to each
+side or front of the fabric, was a great street, along which the eye, in
+full daylight, could traverse, till arrested by the surrounding lake.
+Directly opposite, likewise, to each of these streets, as Don Amador
+soon discovered, the careful general had caused to be broken as many
+embrasures as he had seen on the quarter of the principal entrance; and,
+now, there were no less than twelve pieces of artillery (with those who
+served them sleeping in cloaks hard by,) looking with formidable
+preparation down the yawning and silent approaches.
+
+The neophyte had not yet given a moment to these observations, when he
+perceived on the top of one of the turrets, a group of cavaliers, who,
+being relieved against the only streak of dawn that tinged the eastern
+skies, were plainly seen, gesticulating with great earnestness, as if
+engaged in important debate. He approached this turret, and mounting the
+ladder that ascended it, was assisted to the roof by the hand of Cortes.
+
+"I give you good cheer, and much praise for your early rising, Don
+Amador," cried the general, with an easy courtesy and pleasant voice,
+which did not however, conceal from the novice, that he was really
+affected by anxiety and even alarm; "for this, besides convincing me,
+that no one is more ready than thyself for a valiant bout with an enemy,
+will give thee an opportunity to note in what way these pagan Mexicans
+advance to assault; a matter of which I am myself ignorant, though
+assured by my friend Alvarado, that nothing can be more warlike to look
+upon."
+
+"I vow to God, and to Saint Peter, who cut off a knave's ear," said Don
+Pedro, "that there are no such besotted, mad, dare-devils in all the
+world beside, as you shall quickly see; and I swear to you, in addition,
+my friends, I did sometimes think, of a morning, the very devils that
+dwell in the pit, were let loose upon me. But fear not: with my poor
+five-score, and the seven thousand Indians, who should not be counted
+against more than one hundred Christians, I felt no prick of dismay,
+except when I thought of starvation; and with the force that now aids
+us, 'twill be but a boy's pastime, to kill ten thousand of the bold
+lunatics, each day, before breakfast."
+
+To this valiant speech, which was characteristic of Alvarado,--as
+notorious for boasting as for bravery,--Don Amador replied,
+complacently,--
+
+"To my mind, nothing could be stronger than this citadel against such
+enemies as we may have, especially since the placing of those cannon
+opposite to the great streets,--a precaution which should be commended.
+Nevertheless, noble cavaliers, it does not appear to me, that we are in
+any immediate peril of assault: the infidels are not yet arisen."
+
+"Cast thine eye down yonder street!" said Cortes with a low voice, "keep
+it fixed intently, for two or three moments, on the shadows, and tell me
+what thou seest among them. And, while thou art so doing, do not shame
+to hold thy buckler a little over thy face; for, now and then, methinks,
+I have seen on yonder house-tops something unlike to rose-buds, glancing
+among the bushes."
+
+"By my faith," said Don Amador, hastily, "it does seem to me, that there
+are men stirring afar in the street,--nay, a great body of them, and
+doubtless clad in white,--ay, I perceive them now! But I thought 'twas a
+dim mist, creeping up from the lake."
+
+"If thou wilt look to the other three streets," said Cortes, knitting
+his brows, and scowling around him, "thou wilt see other such vapours
+gathering about us. Thus do they surround stags, in the sierras of
+Salamanca! but, sometimes, the hunters have found more wolves than deer
+among their quarry; and, by my conscience, so will the dogs of Mexico
+find their prey, this day, when they come a-hunting against
+Castilians!--Hah! did I not warn thee well?" cried the general, as an
+arrow, shot from a distant terrace, and by some unseen hand, struck
+against the guarding shield with such violence as to shiver its stone
+head into a thousand fragments. "'Ware such Cupids; for, when they miss
+the heart, they are content to rankle among the ribs. What say ye now,
+my masters? The knaves are coming nearer! Such big rain-drops do not
+long fall one by one, but show how soon the flood will follow. Cover
+yourselves! for by my conscience, that was another, though it fell
+short. I see the house it comes from; and I will reward the messenger
+shortly with such a cannon-shot as shall leave him houseless.--How now,
+_mi trompetero_! art thou nodding? Wake me thy bugle, and let the
+sleepers look on the white clouds!"
+
+A trumpeter, who stood ready at the base of the turret, instantly wound
+a loud blast on his instrument. It was answered immediately by others
+from every part of the court and the building; and, as if by magic, the
+dead silence of the palace was straightway exchanged for the loud din
+and confusion of thousands rising and springing to their arms. During
+this tumult, Cortes descended from the turret.
+
+Don Amador, fascinated by the spectacle, (for now, the light of dawn,
+increasing every moment, fully convinced the most sceptical, that
+countless barbarians were thronging in the streets, and advancing
+against the palace,) remained for a time on the terrace in company with
+others, surveying their approach, and kindling into ardour. The four
+streets were blocked up with their dusky bodies, for they seemed nearly
+naked; and answering the drums and bugles of the Spaniards with the
+hollow sound of their huge tabours, and the roaring yells of great
+conches, and adding to these the uproar of their voices, and, what
+greatly amazed the neophyte, the shrill and piercing din of loud
+whistling, they pressed onwards, not fast indeed, but fearlessly, until
+they began to pour like a flood upon the open square. Nevertheless, and
+notwithstanding their very menacing appearance, not a bow was yet bent,
+nor a stone or dart discharged against the Christians; and they were
+arraying, or rather grouping themselves, (for they seemed to preserve no
+peculiar order,) about the square, as if rather to support some
+peaceable demand with a show of strength, than to make an absolute
+attack, when the neophyte beheld Don Hernan, clad in complete armour,
+spring upon a cannon, and thence to the top of the wall, and wave his
+hand towards them with an air of imposing dignity. The vast herds
+stilled their cries, and immediately Malintzin, guarded by two soldiers
+who held shields before her, was seen to ascend and stand by the side of
+her master.
+
+"Ask me these hounds," cried the general, with a voice that seemed meant
+by its loudness to strike the infidels with awe, "wherefore they leave
+their beds, and come, like howling wolves, to disturb me in my dwelling?
+What is their desire? and wherefore have they not come with baskets of
+corn, rather than with slings and arrows?"
+
+The clear voice of Dona Marina was instantly heard addressing the
+multitude; and was followed by a shout such as may come from thrice a
+thousand score men, wherein, and among other inexplicable sounds, Don
+Amador heard the word _Tlatoani! Tlatoani!_ repeated with accents in
+which intreaty seemed mingled with fury. He could not discover the
+meaning of these cries from the imperfect Castilian, and the low voice,
+with which Malintzin interpreted them. But he could conjecture their
+signification, by the reply of Cortes.
+
+"Tell the traitorous dogs," he exclaimed, sternly, "that their princes
+have avowed themselves the vassals of my master, the great monarch of
+Spain; that their lord and king, Montezuma, is my friend and contented
+guest, and will therefore remain in my dwelling. Tell them also, he
+charges them to disperse, throw by their arms, and return laden with
+corn and meat. And add, moreover, that, if they do not immediately obey
+this command, the thunders which God has given me to punish them, shall
+be let loose upon them, and scatter their corses and their city into the
+air. Tell we them _this_, and plainly; and, hark'ee, cannoniers! stand
+fast to your linstocks!"
+
+No sooner was this haughty and threatening answer made known to the
+barbarians, than they uttered a yell so loud and universal that the
+palace, and the earth under it, seemed to shake with the din; and
+immediately every quarter of the edifice was covered with arrows,
+stones, and other missiles, shot off with extraordinary violence and
+fury.
+
+Don Amador prepared to descend, but paused an instant to observe the
+effect of the artillery, for he heard the strong tones of the general
+shouting, "Now cannoniers! to your duty, and show yourselves men!"
+
+The very island trembled, when twelve cannon, discharged nearly at the
+same moment, opened their fiery throats, and, aimed full among the
+multitude, poured innumerable death into their ranks. The island
+trembled, but not so the naked barbarians of Tenochtitlan. If the
+screams of a thousand wretches, mangled by that explosion, rose on the
+morning air, they were speedily drowned by the war-cries of survivors;
+and before the smoke had cleared away, the bloody gaps were filled, and
+the infuriated multitudes were rushing with savage intrepidity full upon
+the mouths of the artillery.
+
+Don Amador hesitated no longer. He ran down the staircase, paused a
+moment at the side of Calavar, whom he found raving in a low delirium,
+for he was burned by fever,--paused only long enough to charge Marco not
+to leave him, no not even for a moment,--and snatching up and rapidly
+donning the remaining pieces of his armour, immediately found himself in
+the court-yard, among the combatants.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+
+The neophyte had been informed by his friend De Morla, as a proof of the
+degree of civilization reached by the Mexicans, that their armies were
+formed with method, and as regularly divided and commanded as those of
+Christendom,--each tribe displaying under a peculiar banner,
+representing the arms, or, as we should say of our Northern bands, the
+_totem_, of the race, and each tribe separated into squadrons and
+companies, led by subalterns of precisely ascertained rank and power. He
+perceived none of these marks of discipline among the assailants; and,
+while properly appreciating their devoted courage, was obliged to
+consider them no better than a furious and confused mob. He was right:
+the _warriors_ of Mexico had not yet appeared, and these wild creatures,
+who came ungeneralled and unadvised to the attack, were no more than the
+common citizens, fired by the distresses of their king, and rushing to
+his aid, without any bond of connexion or government, save the unanimity
+of their fury. The violence with which they leaped to the attack,
+carried them to the gates of the court, and to the mouths of the
+artillery, where they fell under the spears of the Spaniards, or were
+scattered like chaff at each murderous discharge of the cannon. Added to
+this, the Tlascalans, animated by their ancient hatred, and the presence
+of him whom they esteemed almost a god, clambered upon the wall, and
+with their clubs and lances did bloody execution on the multitudes
+below. The Tlascalans were, indeed, almost the only persons of the
+garrison who suffered much loss; for the Spaniards, cased in iron and
+escaupil, and fenced behind the wall, or the battlements of the terrace,
+discharged their cross-bows and muskets, and handled their long spears,
+in comparative safety.
+
+The din of yells and screams, mingled with the crash of arquebuses and
+the sharp clang of steel cross-bows, was, in itself, infernal; while the
+peals of artillery, served with such skill and constancy, that, every
+half-minute, there was one or other discharged from some quarter of the
+palace, leaving, at each discharge, a long avenue of death among the
+crowds, converted what might have seemed a scene of elysium into a
+spectacle of hell. No man could reckon, no man could imagine, the
+slaughter made by the besieged army, among their foes, in the short
+space of half an hour. But the sun rose, and still found the infatuated
+barbarians rushing,--now with shouts of defiance, and now with mournful
+cries, as if calling upon their imprisoned king,--to add yet another and
+another layer to the bloody ridges growing in the paths of the
+cannon-shot.
+
+All this time, the captive monarch, unseen by his people, though quickly
+detected by the sharp eye of Cortes, sat in one of the turrets,
+witnessing the devoted love of his people, and feeling, with sharp
+pangs, that he had not deserved it. And now too (for the suddenness of
+the punishment had convinced him of the impolicy of the fault,) did Don
+Hernan himself feel a touch of compunction for the wanton injury he had
+done his prisoner; and, fearing lest the work of this day should be but
+the prelude of a storm it might not be in his power to allay, he sent to
+him De Morla, a cavalier whom more than others he seemed to favour, to
+persuade him, if indeed he might be persuaded, to exercise his
+authority, and by commanding his people to disperse, preserve them from
+that destruction, which, the general avowed, he was loath to bring upon
+them.
+
+No smile lit the countenance of Montezuma, at the appearance of his
+favourite; and to the demand of Don Hernan, he replied, with dignity,
+yet with a bitter sorrow,--
+
+"The _Teuctli_," (so they called Don Hernan, not because they esteemed
+him a divinity, but a great prince, this being the title of one of the
+classes of nobility,) "has made me a slave: my subjects are his. Let
+the king govern his people."
+
+So saying, and immediately descending from the roof, he shut himself in
+his apartments, and resolutely refused to admit another messenger to his
+presence.
+
+"And the dog denies me, then!" cried Cortes, when this answer was
+repeated to him. "He says the truth: he _is_ my slave; his people are
+mine; and I will straightway convince them of their subjection. To
+horse, to horse, brave cavaliers!" he shouted aloud. "Let it not be
+said, we wasted powder on miserable naked Indians, when we have swords
+to strike them on the neck, and horses' hoofs to tread them to the
+earth!"
+
+No one was more ready to obey this call, than Don Amador de Leste. He
+had stood upon the wall, occasionally striking down some furious
+assailant with his spear, but oftener cheering others with his voice,
+and yet remaining more as a spectator than a combatant, disdaining to
+strike, except when personally attacked, until his blood was heated by
+the spectacle.
+
+"Mount, now, my knave Lazaro! and perhaps we shall find my poor Jacinto,
+among these outrageous infidels. Get thee to horse, Fabueno; for to-day
+thou shalt see what it is to be a soldier!"
+
+Fogoso stood, in his mail, like the steed of a true knight, champing the
+bit and whinnying, for he longed to be in the midst of the combat; and
+loud was the sound of his neighing, when he felt the weight of his
+master, and turned his fierce eyes towards the gate.
+
+Before the cavaliers, forming three abreast, (as many as could at once
+pass through the gates,) loosing their sabres in the scabbards, and
+couching their spears, had yet received the signal to dash upon the
+opposing herds, there came from the great pyramid, which was seen
+rearing its mountainous mass above the houses of the square, the sound
+as of a horn, sad and solemn, but of so mighty a tone, that it swelled
+distinctly over all the din of the battle, and sent a boding fear to the
+heart of the Christians. They knew, or they thought it the sacred bugle
+of Mexitli, sounded only during the festivals of that ferocious deity,
+or on the occasion of a great battle, when, it was supposed, that
+Mexitli himself spoke to his children, and bade them die bravely. There
+was not a Spaniard present, who had not heard that the effect of this
+consecrated trumpet, so sparingly used, was to nerve even the vanquished
+with new spirit, and those fighting with additional rage; and that the
+meanest Mexican, however overpowered, thought not of retreat, when thus
+cheered by his god. The surprise of all was therefore great, when, at
+the first blast, the Mexicans ceased their cries, and stood as if turned
+into statues; and they were still more amazed, when, as the brazen
+instrument again poured its lugubrious roar over the city, the
+barbarians, responding with a mournful shriek, turned their backs upon
+the besieged, and instantly began to fly. A third blast was sounded, and
+nothing was seen upon the great square, or the four streets, save heaps
+of carcasses, and piles of human beings, writhing in the death-agony.
+
+"Here is diabolical magic!" cried Cortes, joyfully. "There are more
+signals made by that accursed horn than we have heard of; and it seems
+to me, Huitzilopochtli may be sometimes a coward! Nevertheless, we will
+look a little into the mystery; for I perceive shining cloaks, as well
+as priestly gowns, on the temple, which we will make claim to; for
+doubtless the traitor Cuitlahuatzin is under one of them.--Take thou thy
+party, Sandoval, and scour me the streets that lie eastward. We meet at
+the temple!--For ourselves, my masters! we are fifty horse, and three
+hundred foot, all good Christian men; for in this work we shall need no
+Tlascalans. Let us go, in the name of God, and God will be with
+us.--Only, 'tis my counsel and command, that we keep together, with our
+eyes wide open, lest we should have company not so much to our liking."
+
+The cavaliers cheered, as they rode from the gates,--and, with a savage
+delight, urged their horses over the piles of dead, or smote some dying
+struggler with the spear,--an amusement in which they were occasionally
+imitated by the foot-soldiers, who followed at their heels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+
+The same solitude, which had covered the city the preceding evening, now
+seemed again to invest it. Corses were here and there strown in the
+street, as of fugitives dying in their flight; and once a wounded man
+was seen staggering blindly along, as if wholly insensible to the
+approach of his foes. The sight of this solitary wretch did more to
+disarm the fury of Don Amador, than did the spectacle of thousands lying
+dead on the square; and certain grievous reflections, such as sometimes
+assailed him, after a battle, were beginning to intrude upon his mind,
+when a cavalier, darting forward with a loud cry, and couching his
+lance, as if at a worthier enemy, thrust the wounded barbarian through
+the body, and killed him on the spot. A few hidalgos, and most of the
+footmen, rewarded this feat of dexterity with a loud cheer; but there
+were many, who, like the neophyte, met the triumphant looks of the
+champion, Alvarado, with glances of infinite disgust and frowning
+disdain.
+
+As the party approached the neighbourhood of the great temple, they
+began to perceive in the streets groups of men, who, being altogether
+unarmed, commonly fled at the first sight of the Christians; though,
+sometimes, they stood aside, with submissive and dejected countenances,
+as if awaiting any punishment the Teuctli might choose to inflict upon
+them. But Cortes, reading in this humility the proofs of penitence, or
+willing to suppose that these men had not shared in the hostilities of
+the day, commanded his followers not to attack them; and thus
+restrained, they rode slowly and cautiously onwards, their fury
+gradually abating, and the fears which had been excited by the late
+assault, giving place to the hope, that it indicated no general spirit,
+and no deep-laid plan, of insurrection.
+
+The groups of Mexicans increased, both in numbers and frequency, as the
+Christians proceeded, but still they betrayed no disposition to make use
+of the arms, which were sometimes seen in their hands; and the
+Spaniards, regulating their own conduct by that of the barbarians, rode
+onwards with so pacific an air, that a stranger, arriving that moment in
+the city, might have deemed them associated together on the most
+friendly terms, and proceeding in company, to take part in some general
+festivity. Nevertheless, the same stranger would have quickly observed,
+that these friends, besides keeping as far separated as the streets
+would allow, and even, where that was possible, removing from each
+other's presence, entirely, eyed each other, at times, with looks of
+jealousy, which became more marked as the Mexicans grew more numerous.
+In truth, the feelings which had so quickly passed from rage to
+tranquillity, were now in danger of another revulsion; and many an eye
+was riveted on the countenance of the general, as if to read a
+confirmation of the common anxiety, as, ever and anon, it turned from
+the prospect of multitudes in front, to the spectacle of crowds
+gathering, at a distance, on the rear.
+
+"All that is needful," whispered, rather than spoke, Don Hernan, though
+his words were caught by every ear, "is to trust in God, and our sharp
+spears. There is, doubtless, some idolatrous rite about to be enacted in
+the temple, which draws these varlets thitherward; and the gratitude
+with which they remember our exploits of this morning, will account for
+their present hang-dog looks. If they mean any treachery, such as a
+decoy and ambuscado, why, by my conscience! we must e'en allow them
+their humour, and punish them, when 'tis made manifest. I counsel my
+friends to be of good heart; for, I think, the dogs have had fighting
+enough to-day. Nevertheless, I will not quarrel with any man, who keeps
+his hands in readiness, and puts his eyes and ears to their proper
+uses."
+
+As if to set them an example, Don Hernan now began to look about him
+with redoubled vigilance; and it was remarked that he passed no house,
+without eyeing its terrace keenly and steadfastly, as if dreading more
+to discover an enemy in such places than in the street. This was, in
+fact, a situation from which an enemy might annoy the Spaniards with the
+greatest advantage, and at the least risk.
+
+The houses of this quarter were evidently inhabited by the rich, perhaps
+by the nobles, of Mexico. They were of solid stone, spacious, and
+frequently of two floors, lofty, and their terraces crowned with
+battlements and turrets. Each stood separated from its neighbour by a
+little garden or alley, and sometimes by a narrow canal, which crossed
+the great street, and was furnished with a strong wooden bridge of such
+width that five horsemen could pass it at a time. Often, too, the
+dwelling of some man of power stood so far back, as to allow the canal
+to be carried quite round it, without infringing upon the street; but
+more frequently it was fronted only with a little bed of flowers. The
+stones of which such structures were composed, were often sculptured
+into rude reliefs representing huge serpents, which twined in a
+fantastic and frightful manner about the windows and doors, as if to
+protect them from the invasion of robbers. Indeed, these were almost the
+only defences; for the green bulrush lying across the threshold, could
+deter none but a Mexican from entering; and, perhaps, none but a
+barbarian would have seen, in the string of cacao berries, or of little
+vessels of earthenware, hanging at the door, the bell to announce his
+visitation. A curtain commonly hung flapping at the entrance; but
+neither plank nor bar gave security to the sanctity of the interior.
+
+Notwithstanding the fears of the general, he beheld no Mexicans lurking
+among the terraces, or peering from the windows, but his anxiety was not
+the less goading for that reason; for having now drawn nigh to the great
+square, it seemed to him that he had, at last, thrust himself into that
+part of the city, where all the multitudes of Tenochtitlan were
+assembled to meet him,--and whether for purposes of pacification or
+vengeance, he dared not inquire.
+
+The appearance of things, as the party issued upon the square, and faced
+the House of Skulls, was indeed menacing. That enormous pyramid, which
+Don Amador had surveyed, with awe, in the gloom of evening, was now
+concealed under a more impressive veil;--it was invested and darkened by
+a cloud of human beings, which surged over its vast summit, and rolled
+along its huge sides like a living storm. The great court that
+surrounded it, was also filled with barbarians; for though the
+Coatepantli, or Wall of Serpents, with its monstrous battlements and
+gloomy towers, concealed them from the eye, there came such a hum of
+voices from behind, as could not have been produced alone, even by the
+myriads that covered the temple. In addition to these, the great square
+itself was alive with Mexicans; and the sudden sight of them brought a
+thrill of alarm into the heart of the bravest cavalier.
+
+The people of Tenochtitlan, thus, as it were, hunted by their invaders,
+even to their sanctuaries, turned upon them with frowns, yet parted away
+from before them in deep silence. Nevertheless, at this spectacle, the
+Christians came to an immediate stand, in doubt whether to entangle
+themselves further, or to take counsel of their fears, and retreat,
+without delay, to their quarters. While they stood yet hesitating, and
+in some confusion, suddenly, and with a tone that pierced to their
+inmost souls, there came a horrid shriek from the top of the pyramid;
+and fifty Castilian voices exclaimed, "A sacrifice! a human
+sacrifice!--and under the cross of Christ, that we raised on the
+temple!"
+
+"The place of God is defiled by the rites of hell!" cried Cortes,
+furiously, his apprehensions vanishing, at once, before his fanaticism.
+"Set on, and avenge! Couch your lances, draw your swords; and if any
+resist, call on God, and slay!" So saying, he drew his sword, spurred
+his dun steed, and rushed towards the temple.
+
+The half-naked herds fled, yelling, away from the infuriated Christian,
+opening him a free path to the walls; and had that fearful cry been
+repeated, there is no doubt he would have led his followers even within
+the Coatepantli, though at the risk of irretrievable and universal
+destruction. Before, however, he had yet reached the wall, he had time
+for reflection; and, though greatly excited, he could no longer conceal
+from himself the consequences of provoking the pagans at their very
+temple, and during the worship of their god. He was, at this moment,
+well befriended, and numerously, indeed; but at a distance from the
+garrison, without cannon, and almost without musketry, surrounded by
+enemies whom the eye could not number, and who had not feared to assail
+him, even when fortified in a situation almost impregnable, and assisted
+by three times his present force, as well as several thousand bold
+Tlascalans; and in addition to all these disadvantages, there came
+neither such sound of trumpet, nor such distant commotion among the
+Indians, as might admonish him of the approach of Sandoval.
+
+He checked his horse, and waving to his followers to halt, again cast
+his eyes around on the multitude as if to determine in what manner to
+begin his retreat, for he felt that this measure could be no longer
+delayed. The Mexicans gazed upon him with angry visages, but still in
+silence. Not an arm was yet raised; and they seemed prepared to give him
+passage, whichever way he might choose to direct his course.
+
+While hesitating an instant, Don Hernan perceived a stir among the
+crowds, close under the Wall of Serpents, accompanied by a low but
+general murmur of voices; and immediately the eyes of the pagans were
+turned from him towards the Coatepantli, as if to catch a view of some
+sight still more attractive and important. His first thought was, that
+these movements indicated the sudden presence of Sandoval and his party;
+a conceit that was, however, immediately put to flight by the events
+which ensued.
+
+The murmurs of the multitude were soon stilled, and the pagans that
+covered the pyramid were seen to cast their eyes earnestly down to the
+square, as the sound of many flutes, and other soft wind-instruments,
+rose on the air, and crept, not unmusically, along the Wall of Serpents,
+and thence to the ears of the Spaniards. Before these had yet time to
+express their wonder at the presence of such peaceful music amidst a
+scene of war and sacrifice, the crowds slowly parted asunder, and they
+plainly beheld (for the Mexicans had opened a wide vista to the
+principal gate,) a procession, seemingly of little children, clad in
+white garments, waving pots of incense, conducted by priests, in gowns
+of black and flame colour, and headed by musicians and men bearing
+little flags, issue from the throng, and bend their steps towards the
+savage portal. In the centre of the train, on a sort of litter, very
+rich and gorgeous, borne on men's shoulders, and sheltered by a royal
+canopy of green and crimson feathers, stood a figure, which might have
+been some maiden princess, arrayed for the festival, or, as she seemed
+to one or two of the more superstitious Castilians, some fiendish
+goddess, conjured up by the diabolical arts of the priests, to add the
+inspiration of her presence to the wild fury of her adorers. She stood
+erect, her body concealed in long flowing vestments of white, on which
+were embroidered serpents, of some green material; in her hand she held
+a rod, imitative of the same reptile; and on her forehead was a coronet
+of feathers, surrounding what seemed a knot of little snakes, writhing
+round a star, or sun, of burnished gold.
+
+As this fair apparition was carried through their ranks, between the
+great wall and the House of Skulls, the Mexicans were seen to throw
+themselves reverently on the earth, as if to a divinity; and those that
+stood most remote, no sooner beheld her, than they bowed their heads
+with the deepest humility.
+
+Meanwhile, the Spaniards gazed on with both admiration and wonder, until
+the train had reached the open portal; at which place, and just as she
+was about to be concealed from them for ever, the divinity, priestess,
+or princess, whichever she was, turned her body slowly round, and
+revealed to them a face of a paler hue than any they had yet seen in the
+new world, and, as they afterwards affirmed, of the most incomparable
+and ravishing beauty. At this sight, all uttered exclamations of
+surprise, which were carried to the ears of the vision: but Don Amador
+de Leste, fetching a cry that thrilled through the hearts of all, broke
+from the ranks, as if beset by some sudden demon, and dashed madly
+towards the apparition.
+
+Before the Spaniards could recover from their astonishment, the members
+of the procession,--deity, priests, censer-bearers, and musicians,--with
+loud screams vanished under the portals; and the infidels, starting up
+in a rage that could be suppressed no longer, rushed upon the novice, to
+avenge, in his blood, the insult he had offered to their deity.
+
+"Quick, a-God's name! and rescue!" cried Cortes, "for the young man is
+mad!"
+
+There seemed grounds for this imputation; for, besides the inexplicable
+folly of his first act, Don Amador appeared now, for a moment, to be
+lost in such a maze, that blows of the heavy maquahuitl were rained upon
+his stout armour, and several furious hands had clutched not only upon
+his spear, but upon himself, to drag him from the saddle, before he
+bethought him to draw his sword and defend his life. But his sword was,
+at last, drawn, his fit dispelled; and before his countrymen had yet
+reached him, he was dealing such blows around him, and so urging his
+courageous steed upon the assailants, as quickly to put himself out of
+the danger of immediate death.
+
+The passions of the multitude, restrained, for a moment, by their
+superstition or their rulers, were now fully and unappeasably roused;
+and with yells that came at once from the pyramid, from the temple yard,
+from the great square, and the neighbouring streets, they rushed upon
+the Christians, surrounding them, and displaying such ferocious
+determination, as left them but small hopes of escape.
+
+"God and Spain! honour and fame!" cried Alvarado, spearing a barbarian
+at each word, "what do you think of my Mexicans now, true friends?"
+
+His cheer was lost in the roar of screams; and nothing but the voice of
+Don Hernan, well known to be as clear and powerful in battle as the
+trumpet which he invoked, was heard pealing above the din.
+
+"Now show yourselves Spaniards and soldiers, and strike for the blood of
+Christ!--Ho, trumpeter! thy flourish! and find me where lags my lazy
+Gonzalo?"
+
+As he spoke, he fought; for so violent had been the attack of the
+infidels, that they were mingled among, and fighting hand to hand with
+the Christians,--a confused and sanguinary chaos. Scarcely, indeed, had
+the trumpeter time to wind his instrument, before it was struck out of
+his hand by a brawny savage; and the same blow which robbed him of it,
+left the arm that held it a shattered and useless member. The blast,
+however, had sounded; and, almost instantaneously, it was answered by a
+bugle, afar indeed, and blown hurriedly as if the musician were in as
+much jeopardy as his fellow, but still full of joy and good cheer to the
+Christian combatants.
+
+"Close and turn!--Footmen, to your square!" cried Cortes; "and, valiant
+cavaliers, charge me now as though ye fought against devils, with angels
+for your lookers-on!"
+
+"To the temple! to the temple!" cried Amador, with a voice rivalling the
+general's in loudness, and turning in a frenzy towards the pyramid, down
+whose sides the infidels were seen rushing with frantic speed.
+
+But the head of Fogoso was seized by two friendly followers, and while
+Don Amador glared fiercely at the pale but not affrighted secretary, he
+heard, on the other side, the tranquil voice of Lazaro:
+
+"Master," said the faithful servant, "if we separate from our friends,
+we are dead men; and Don Gabriel is left without a kinsman in this land
+of demoniacs."
+
+"Close, and turn, I bid ye!" cried Cortes, furiously. "Heed not the
+wolves that are fast to your sides. Charge on the herds, charge on the
+herds! and over-throw with the weight of your hoofs! Charge, I bid ye;
+and care not though ye should find your lances striking against the
+breast of Sandoval. Charge on the herds!--charge on the herds!"
+
+So saying, Don Hernan set an example, followed by the cavaliers; and as
+the fifty horsemen spurred violently upon the mob, shouting and
+cheering, the naked multitudes quailed from before them, though only to
+gather again on their flanks with renewed desperation.
+
+"Will ye desert us that are afoot?" cried voices from behind, with
+dolorous cries.
+
+"Ho, Sandoval! art thou sleeping?"
+
+"Santiago! and God be thanked!--'tis the voice of the general!" cried
+Sandoval, in the distance. His voice came from the surge of battle, like
+the cheer of a sailor who recks not for the tempest. It filled the
+cavaliers with joy.
+
+"Good heart now, brave hearts!" shouted Cortes; "for my son Sandoval
+answers me! Rein me round and charge me back to the infantry!"
+
+Backwards galloped the fifty cavaliers, strewing the earth with trampled
+pagans; and the footmen shouted with delight, as they again beheld their
+leader. But the relief and the joy were only momentary.
+
+"Fight ye, my dogs! and slay your own sheep! Be firm; wall yourselves
+with spears; and presently ye shall be lookers-on.--Sweep the square
+again, brave cavaliers! Goad flanks! couch spears! and, this time, let
+me see the red face of my lieutenant!"
+
+Turning, and shouting with a louder cheer, (for the experience of the
+two first charges had warned the Mexicans of their destructive efficacy,
+and they now recoiled with a more visible alarm,) the cavaliers again
+rushed through their foes like a whirlwind; and brushing them aside, as
+the meteor brushes the fogs of evening, they dashed onwards, until their
+shouts were loudly re-echoed, and they found themselves confronted with
+Don Gonzalo and his party.
+
+The greetings of the friends were brief and few, for the same myriads,
+attacking with the same frenzied desperation, invested them with a
+danger that did not seem to diminish.
+
+"Bring thy foot in front," cried Cortes, "and, while they follow me,
+charge thou behind them. Be quick, and be brave. March fast, ye idle
+spearmen: and stare not, for these are not devils, but men!--God and
+Spain!--Santiago, and at them again, peerless cavaliers!--We fight for
+Christ and immortal honour!"
+
+The valiant band of cavaliers again turned at the voice of their leader,
+and again they swept the corse-encumbered square, rushing to the relief
+of their own infantry. Following the counsel he had given to Sandoval,
+the wary general passed by his foot-soldiers, and bidding them march
+boldly forwards, and join themselves with the infantry of Don Gonzalo,
+he charged the infidels from their rear with a fury they could not
+resist; and then rushing backwards with equal resolution, discovered the
+foot-soldiers in the position in which it had been his aim to place
+them. The united infantry, full seven hundred men in number, were now
+protected, both in front and rear, by a band of cavalry; their flanks
+looking, on one side, to the temple, and, on the other, to a great
+street that opened opposite. Arranging them, at a word, in two lines,
+standing back to back, and seconding himself the manoeuvre which he
+dictated to Sandoval, the general swept instantly to that flank which
+bordered on the Wall of Serpents, while Gonzalo rode to the other. Thus
+arranged, the little army presented the figure of a hollow square, or
+rather of a narrow parallelogram, the chief sides of which, were made by
+double rows of spearmen, and the smaller by bands of horsemen. Thus
+arranged, too, the Christians fought with greater resolution and
+success; for, parting at once from a common centre, the infantry drove
+the assailants from before them on two sides, while the cavalry carried
+death and horror to the others; until, at a given signal, all again fell
+back to their position, and presented a wall altogether inexpugnable to
+the weak though untiring savages.
+
+It was the persuasion of Don Hernan, that, in this advantageous
+position, he could, in a short time, so punish his enemies, as to teach
+them the folly of contending with Christian men, and perhaps end the war
+in a day. But, for a full hour, he repeated his charges, now pinning his
+foes against the wall, or the steps of the House of Skulls, now falling
+back to breathe; and, at each charge, adding to the number of the dead,
+until their corses literally obstructed his path, and left it nearly
+impassable. At every charge, too, his cavaliers waxed more weary, and
+struck more faintly, while the horses obeyed the spur and voice with
+diminishing vigour; and it seemed that they must soon be left unable,
+from sheer fatigue, to continue the work of slaughter. The pagans
+perished in crowds at each charge, and at each volley of bow-shots; but
+neither their spirit, nor their numbers, seemed to decrease. Their yells
+were as loud, their countenances as bold, their assaults as violent as
+at first; and the Spaniards beheld the sun rising high in the heavens,
+without any termination to their labours, or their sufferings. Twenty
+Christians already lay dead on the square, or had been dragged, perhaps,
+while yet breathing, to be sacrificed on the pyramid. This was a
+suspicion that shocked the souls of many; for, twice or thrice, they
+heard, among the crowds, who still stood on the lofty terrace, shooting
+arrows down on the square, such shouts of triumphant delight as, they
+thought, could be caused by nothing but the immolation of a victim.
+
+Grief and rage lay heavily on the heart of Cortes; but though the
+apprehension, that, if much longer over-worn by combat, his followers
+might be left unable even to fly, added its sting to the others, shame
+deterred him, for a time, from giving the mortifying order. Harassed,
+and even wounded, (for a defective link in his mail had yielded to an
+arrow-head, and the stone was buried in his shoulder,) he nevertheless
+preserved a good countenance; cheered his people with the assurance of
+victory; fought on, exposing himself like the meanest of his soldiers;
+and several times, at the imminent risk of his life, rescued certain
+foot-soldiers from the consequences of their foolhardiness.
+
+There was among the infantry, a man of great courage and strength, by
+the name of Lezcano, whose only weapon was a huge two-handed sword, the
+valiant use of which had gained him among his companions, the title of
+_Dos Manos_, or Two-Hands. No spearman of his company advanced to the
+charge with more readiness than did this fellow with his gigantic
+weapon, and none retreated with more constant reluctance. Indeed, he
+commonly fell back so leisurely as to draw three or four foes upon him
+at once; and it seemed to be his pleasure, to meet these in such a way,
+as should call for the praises of his companions. His daring, that day,
+would have left him with the additional name of the bravest of the
+brave, had it been tempered with a little discretion. But inflamed by
+the encomiums of his comrades, and not less by the complimentary rebukes
+of his captain, his rashness knew no bounds; and twice or thrice he
+thrust himself into situations of peril, from which he was rescued with
+great difficulty. He had been saved once by Don Hernan. It was his fate,
+a second time, to draw the notice of the general; who, falling back on
+the infantry, beheld him beset by a dozen foes, surrounded, and using
+his great scimitar furiously, yet, as it seemed, in vain; for he was
+unhelmed.
+
+"What ho, Don Amador!" cried Cortes to the cavalier, who was at his
+side, "let us rescue _Dos Manos_, the mad!"
+
+In an instant of time, the two hidalgos had reached the group, and
+raised their voices in encouragement, while each struck down a savage.
+At that moment, and while Lezcano elevated his scimitar, to ward off the
+blow of a maquahuitl, the massive blade, shivered as if by a
+thunderbolt, fell to the earth; but, before it reached it, the sharp
+glass of the Indian sword had entered his brain. The cavaliers struck
+fast and hard, on either hand; the barbarians fled; but, Lezcano, the
+Two-handed, lay rolling his eyes to heaven, his head cloven to the
+mouth.
+
+"If we slay a thousand foes for every Christian man that dies, yet shall
+we be vanquished!" said Cortes, turning an eye of despair on his
+companion, and speaking the feelings he had concealed from all others.
+Indeed, he seemed to rejoice that destiny had given him one follower, to
+whom he might unbosom himself without the apprehension of creating
+alarm--he hesitated not to relieve himself of his grief to Don Amador;
+for he knew him to be inaccessible to fear. "Be of good heart, my
+friend. I have drawn thee into a den of devils. We must retreat, or
+die."
+
+"I will advance or retreat, as thou wilt," said Amador, with a visage,
+in which Don Hernan now for the first time, beheld an expression so wild
+and ghastly, that he was reminded of Calavar. "It matters nothing--here
+or at the palace! But it is my duty to assure thee of mine own
+persuasion: Retreat may bring us relief--there is no victory for us,
+to-day."
+
+"God help thee! art thou wounded?" cried Cortes.
+
+"A little hurt by the skilless hand of Fabueno," said the novice,
+tranquilly, "who, not yet being perfected in the use of the spear,
+thrust his weapon into my back, while aiming at the throat of a
+cacique.--But that is not it. I have, this day, seen a sight, which
+convinces me we are among magicians and devils; and persuades me, along
+with certain other recent occurrences, that the time of some of us is
+reckoned. Therefore I say to thee, I will advance with thee or retreat,
+as thou thinkest best. To me it matters not. But my counsel is, to fly.
+We may save others."
+
+"It is needful," replied Don Hernan, mournfully.--He gave his orders to
+certain officers; and the retreat was commenced in the order in which
+they had fought,--that is to say, the infantry, drawing their lines
+closer together, and facing to the flank, began to march down the
+street, preceded by Sandoval, charging the opponents from the front,
+while Cortes and his band, at intervals, rushing back upon the pursuers,
+kept the triumphant barbarians from the rear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+
+The distance between the great temple and the palace of Axajacatl was by
+no means great; though Cortes, for the purpose of prying into many
+streets, had led his followers against it by a long and circuitous
+course,--a plan which had been followed by Don Gonzalo, though in
+another direction. Indeed they were not so far separated, but that a
+strong bowman or a good slinger might, from the top of the pyramid,
+drive his missile upon the roof of the garrison, to the great injury of
+the besieged, as was, afterwards, fully made manifest. The distance,
+therefore, to be won by the retreating Spaniards, was small; but it took
+them hours to accomplish it. It seemed as if the infidels, fearing lest
+their foes might escape out of their hands, if they slackened their
+efforts for a moment, were resolved to effect their destruction at any
+cost, while they were still at a distance from succour. They pressed
+ferociously and rapidly on the fugitives; they gained their front; and
+thus encompassed them with a compact mass of human beings, against which
+the cavaliers charged, as against a stone wall; slaying and trampling,
+indeed, but without penetrating it for more than a few yards. Each step
+gained by the van, was literally carved by the cavalry, as out of a
+rock; while the utmost exertions of Don Hernan could do nothing more
+than preserve his rear band in the attitude of a dike, slowly moving
+before the shocks of a flood, which it could not repel.
+
+In addition to these alarming circumstances, there were others now
+developed, of a not less serious aspect. The canals that, in two or
+three places, intersected the street, were swarming with canoes, from
+which the savages discharged their arrows with fatal aim, or sprang, at
+once, upon the footmen, striking with spear and maquahuitl, and were
+driven back only after the most strenuous efforts. They had destroyed
+the bridges, and the canals could only be passed by renewing them with
+such planks as the infantry could tear from the adjoining houses, and
+hastily throw over the water,--a work of no less suffering than time and
+labour. Besides all this, the annoyance which Don Hernan had first
+dreaded, was now practised by the crafty barbarians. The terraces were
+covered with armed men, who, besides discharging their darts and arrows
+down upon the exposed soldiers, tore away, with levers, the stones from
+the battlements, and hurled them full upon the heads of their enemies.
+
+The sound of drums and conches, the fierce yells, the whistling, the
+dying screams, the loud and hurried prayers, the neighing of horses--and
+now and then the shriek of some beast mangled by a rough spear,--the
+rattling of arrow-heads, the clang of clubs upon iron bucklers, the
+heavy fall of a huge stone crushing a footman to the earth, the plunging
+of some wounded wretch strangling in a ditch, and the roar of cannon at
+the palace, showing that the battle was universal,--these together, now
+made up such a chorus of hellish sounds as Don Amador confessed to
+himself he had never heard before, not even among the horrors of Rhodes,
+when sacked by other infidels, then esteemed the most valiant in the
+world. But to these dismal tumults others were speedily added, when
+Cortes, raging with a fury that increased with his despair, commanded
+the footmen to fire every house, whose top afforded footing to the
+ferocious foe,--a command that was obeyed with good will, and with
+dreadful effect; for though, from the nature of its materials, and the
+isolated condition of each structure, it was not possible to produce a
+general conflagration, yet the great quantity of cotton robes, of dry
+mats, and of resinous woods about each house, left it so combustible,
+that the application of a torch to the door-curtains, or the casting of
+a fire-brand into the interior, instantly enveloped it in flames. Among
+these, when they burst through the roofs of light rafters, and the
+thatching of dried reeds, the pagan warriors perished miserably; or,
+flinging themselves desperately down, were either dashed to pieces, or
+transfixed by the lances of the Spaniards.
+
+But the same agent which so dreadfully paralyzed the efforts of the
+Mexican, brought suffering scarcely less disastrous to the Christian
+ranks. They were stifled with the smoke, they were scorched by the
+flames of the burning houses; and, ever and anon, some frantic
+barbarian, perishing among the fires of his dwelling, and seeking to
+inflict a horrid vengeance, grasped, even in his death-gasp, a flaming
+rafter in his arms, and sprang down with it upon his foes, maiming and
+scorching where he did not kill.
+
+Thus fighting, and thus resisted, weary and despairing, their bodies
+covered with blood, their garments sometimes burning, the Spaniards at
+last gained the square that surrounded the palace; and fighting their
+way through the herds that invested it, (for, almost at the same moment
+that they had been attacked at the temple, the quarters were again
+assailed,) and shouting to the cannoniers, lest they should fire on
+them, they placed their feet in the court-yard, and thanked God for this
+respite to their sufferings.
+
+It was a respite from death, for behind the stone wall they were
+comparatively secure; but not a respite from labour. The Mexicans abated
+not a jot of their ardour. The same herds that covered the square at
+dawn, were again yelling at the gates, and with the same unconquerable
+fury; and the soldiers, already fainting with fatigue, with famine, and
+thirst, (for they had taken no refreshment since the preceding evening,)
+were fain to purchase, painfully, a temporary safety, by standing to the
+walls, and keeping the savages at bay, as they could.
+
+The artillery thundered, the cross-bows twanged, the arquebuses added
+their destructive volleys to the other warlike noises; but the Mexicans,
+disregarding these sounds, as well as the havoc made among their ranks,
+rushed, in repeated assaults, against the walls, and, sometimes, with
+such violence, that they drove the besieged from the gate, and entered
+pell-mell with them into the court-yard. Then, indeed, ensued a scene of
+murder; for the Christians, flying again to the portal, cut off the
+retreat of such desperadoes, and slew them within the walls, without
+loss, and almost at their leisure.
+
+On such occasions, no one showed more spirit in attacking, or more fury
+in slaying, than the young secretary. The suit of goodly armour sent him
+by the admiral, and his rapid proficiency in the practice of arms, had
+inflamed his vanity; and he burned to approve himself worthy the
+companionship of cavaliers. The native conscientiousness which filled
+him with horror at the sight of the first blood shed, the first life
+destroyed, by his hand, had vanished as a dream; for it is the
+excellence of war, that, while developing our true nature, and
+remaining, itself, as the link which binds man to his original state of
+barbarism, it preserves him the delights of a savage, without entirely
+depriving him of the pleasures of civilization. The right of shedding
+blood, mankind enjoy in common with brutes; and, doubtless, a
+conformable philosophy will not frown on the privilege, so long as the
+loss of it would contract our circle of enjoyments. There is something
+poetical in the diabolism of a fiend, and as much that is splendid in
+the ferocity of a tiger; and though these two qualities be the chief
+elements of heroism, they bring with them such accompaniments of
+splendour and sentiment, that he would rob the world of half its glory,
+as well as much of its poetry, who should destroy the race of the great,
+and leave mankind to the dull innocence of peace.--There are more
+millions of human beings, the victims of war, rotting under the earth,
+than now move on its surface.
+
+The pain of wounds had also produced a new effect in the bosom of
+Lorenzo; for, instead of cooling his courage, it now inflamed his rage,
+and helped to make him valiant. The mild and feeling boy was quite
+transformed into a heartless ruffian; and so great had become his love
+of slaughter, and so unscrupulous his manner of gratifying it, that,
+once or twice, Don Amador noticed him, and would have censured him
+sharply, but that his attention was immediately absorbed by the
+necessity of self-defence. The cavaliers had dismounted, and the
+neophyte fought at the gates on foot. In the midst of an assault, in
+which the defenders had been driven back, but which disgrace they were
+now repairing, he beheld his ward struggling with a wounded savage, who
+grasped his knees and hand, but in intreaty, not hostility; and greatly
+was Don Amador shocked, when he beheld the secretary disengage his arm,
+and, with a shout of triumph, plunge his steel into the throat of the
+supplicating barbarian.
+
+"Art thou a devil, Lorenzo?" cried the cavalier, indignantly. "That was
+a knave's and a coward's blow! Thou shalt follow me no longer."
+
+While he spoke, and left himself unguarded, a gigantic pagan, taking
+advantage of his indiscretion, leaped suddenly upon him, and struck him
+such a blow with a maquahuitl, as, but for the strength of his casque,
+would have killed him outright. As it was, the shock so stunned him, as
+to leave him for a moment, incapable of defence. In that moment, the
+savage, uttering a loud yell, sprang forward to repeat the blow, or to
+drag him off a prisoner; when Fabueno, perceiving the extremity of his
+patron, and fired with the opportunity of proving his valour, rushed
+between them, and with a lucky blow on the naked neck of the Mexican,
+instantly despatched him.
+
+"A valiant stroke, Lorenzo!" said the neophyte, losing somewhat of his
+heat, as he recovered his wits. "But it does not entirely wipe out the
+shame of the other. Moderate thy wrath, curb thy fury, and remember that
+cruelty is the mark of a dastard. Strike me no more foes that cry for
+mercy!"
+
+As his anger had been changed into approbation, so now were his censures
+abruptly ended by exclamations of surprise. For at that instant,
+Fabueno, grasping his arm with one hand, and with the other pointing a
+little to one side, turned upon him a countenance full of alarm. He
+looked around, and beheld with amazement, his kinsman, Don Gabriel,
+entirely unarmed, except with sword and buckler, mingled with the
+combatants, shouting a feeble war-cry, striking faintly, and, indeed,
+preserved less by his courage than his appearance, from the bludgeons of
+the infidels. His grizzly locks (for he was entirely bare-headed,) fell
+over his hollow and bloodless cheeks, whereon glittered, black and
+hideous, a single gout of gore. His face was like the face of the dead;
+and the savages recoiled from before him, as if from a spirit rousing
+from Mictlan, the world of gloom, to call them down to his dark
+dwelling.
+
+In a moment the neophyte, followed by Fabueno, and Lazaro, who answered
+to his call, and Marco, who seemed to have been separated by the melee
+from his master, was at the side of Calavar. The mind of the knight was
+wholly gone; and he seemed as if, at the point of death, raised from his
+couch by the clamours of the contest, and urged into it by the instinct
+of long habit, or by the goadings of madness.
+
+He submitted patiently, and without words, to the gentle violence of his
+kinsman, and was straightway carried to his apartment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+
+After much search and persuasion, a surgeon was found and induced to
+visit the knight. He despatched his questions almost in a word, for he
+was a fighting Bachelor, and burned with impatience to return to the
+contest. He mingled hastily a draught, which he affirmed to be of
+wondrous efficacy in composing disordered minds to sleep, gave a few
+simple directions, and excusing his haste in the urgency of his other
+occupations, both military and chirurgical, he immediately departed.
+
+"Marco!" said the neophyte, when the draught was administered, and Don
+Gabriel laid on the couch, "thou deservest the heaviest punishment for
+leaving thy master an instant, though, as thou sayest, while fast
+asleep. Remain by him now, and be more faithful. As for thee, Lorenzo,"
+he continued, to the secretary, who stood panting at his side, "there
+is good reason thou shouldst share the task of Marco, were it only to
+repose thee a little; but more need is it, that thou suffer thy blood to
+cool, and reflect, with shame, that thou hast, this day, cancelled all
+thy good deeds, by killing a prostrate and beseeching foe. Remain,
+therefore, to assist Marco; and by-and-by I will come to thee, and
+declare whether or not thou shalt draw thy sword again to-day."
+
+And thus leaving his kinsman to the care of the two followers, and
+beckoning Lazaro along, Don Amador returned to the court-yard and the
+conflict.
+
+The history of the remainder of the day (it was now noon,) is a weary
+tale of blood. Wounds could not check, nor slaughter subdue, the
+animosity of the besiegers; and the Spaniards, tired even of killing,
+hoped no longer for victory over men who seemed to fight with no object
+but to die, and who rushed up as readily to the mouth of a cannon, whose
+vent was already blazing under the linstock, as to the spears that
+bristled with fatal opposition at the gates.
+
+But night came at last, and with it a hope to end the sufferings that
+were already intolerable. The hope was vain. The barbarians, apparently
+incapable of fatigue, or perhaps yielding their places to fresh
+combatants, continued the assault even with increasing vigour and
+boldness. They rushed against the court-wall with heavy beams,--rude
+battering-rams,--with which they thought to shake it to its foundations,
+and thus deprive the Christians of their greatest safeguard. In certain
+spots they succeeded; and the soldiers cursed the day of their birth, as
+the ruins fell crashing to the ground, and they saw themselves reduced
+to the alternative of filling the breaches with their bodies, or
+remaining to perish where they stood. It is true, that in this kind of
+defence, as well as under other urgent difficulties, they received good
+and manly aid from their numerous allies, the Tlascalans, who fought,
+during the whole day, with a spirit and cheerfulness that put many a
+repining Castilian to shame. But these, though battling equally for
+their lives, were incapable of withstanding long the unexampled violence
+of the assaults; and it was soon found that the naked bodies of the
+Tlascalans offered but slight impediment to the frenzied Mexicans.
+
+The Spaniards, in the expedient used to drive the citizens from their
+house-tops, had taught them a mode of warfare which they were not slow
+to adopt. The palace was of a solid structure, and seemed to bid
+defiance to flames. But the same cedars that finished the interior of
+meaner houses, formed its floors and ceilings; every chamber was covered
+with mats, and most of them were hung with the most inflammable kind of
+tapestry. In addition to this, the five thousand Tlascalans, who had
+been left with Alvarado, and who slept in the court-yard, besides
+strewing the earth with rushes--their humble couches--had constructed
+along the walls of the palace itself, many rude arbours, or rather
+kennels, of reeds from the lake, to shelter them from the vicissitudes
+of the rainy season, which had, already, in part, set in. And, to crown
+all, the cavaliers, whose horses, as they well knew, were each worth a
+thousand Tlascalans, had caused stalls to be constructed for them,
+wherein they were better protected from the weather, than their
+fellow-animals, the allies. With these arrangements, the Mexicans were
+well acquainted.
+
+No sooner, therefore, had they succeeded in beating down several
+breaches in the wall, and found that they could sometimes drive the
+besieged from them, than they made trial of the expedient. They rushed
+together against the walls in a general assault, waving firebrands and
+torches, which those who forced their way through the breaches, applied
+to the stalls and arbours, or scattered over the beds of the Tlascalans.
+The dying incendiary, pierced with a dozen spears, ended his life with a
+laugh of joy, as he beheld the flames burst ruddily up to his brand.
+
+The misery of the Spaniards was now complete. They were parched with
+thirst. The sweet fountains of Chapoltepec gushed only over the square
+of the temple. A well, dug by Alvarado, in his extremity, furnished a
+meager supply of water, and that so brackish, that even the brutes
+turned from it in disgust, till forced to drink, by pangs that would
+allow them to be fastidious no longer. The nearest canal, conducting the
+briny waters of Tezcuco, was shut out by ramparts of savages. The
+Spaniards, with one universal voice, sent up a cry of despair, as they
+beheld the flames run over the court, the stalls, the kennels, and up
+the palace walls, and knew not how to extinguish them. The cry was
+answered from without, with such yells of exultation, as froze their
+blood; and in the glare of the sudden conflagration, they saw the
+barbarians rushing again to the attack, darting through the breaches,
+and leaping over the walls.
+
+In this strait, beset at once by two foes, equally irresistible, equally
+pitiless, they struck about them blindly and despairingly, cursing their
+fate, their folly, and the leader who had seduced them from their island
+homes, to die a death so ignoble and so dreadful.
+
+For a moment, the spirit of the general sunk, and turning to Don Amador,
+whose fate it was again to be at his side, he said, with a ghastly
+countenance, rendered hideous by the infernal glare,--
+
+"We die the death of foxes in a hole, very noble friend! Commend thy
+soul to God, and choose thy death; for we have no water to quench this
+hell!"
+
+"God help my kinsman and father, and all is one!" said Amador, with a
+desperate calmness. "The flames are hot, but the grave is cold."
+
+"_The grave is cold!_" shouted Cortes, with the voice of a madman. "Live
+in my heart for ever! Cold grave, moist earth! and Santiago, who strikes
+for a true Christian, speaks in thy words!--What ho, mad Spaniards!" he
+continued, shouting aloud, and running as he spoke round the palace;
+"earth quenches flames, like water! Swords and hands to the task; and he
+works best, who delves as at the grave of his foeman!"
+
+If there was obscurity in the words of the general, it was dispelled by
+his actions; for, dashing the rushes aside, he loosened the damp soil
+with his sabre, and flung the clods lustily on the nearest flames. Loud
+and joyous were the shouts of his people, as hope dawned upon them with
+the happy idea; and, in a moment, the hands of many thousand men were
+tearing up the earth of the court, and casting it on the flames, while
+the savages, confidently expecting the result of their stratagem,
+intermitted their efforts for awhile, leaving the gates and breaches
+nearly unguarded.
+
+It is probable, that even this poor resource, in the hands of so great a
+multitude of men, toiling with the zeal of desperation, might have
+sufficed to quell the flames. But, as if heaven had at last taken pity
+on their sufferings, and vouchsafed a miracle for their relief, there
+came, almost at the same moment, the pattering of rain-drops, which were
+quickly followed by a heavenly deluge; and as the flames vanished under
+it, the Christians fell upon their knees, and, with devout ardour,
+offered up thanks to the Providence, that had so marvellously preserved
+them.
+
+They sprang from their knees, with bolder hearts, as the Mexicans again
+advanced to the assault. But this was the last attack. As if satisfied
+with the toils of the day, or commanded by some unknown ruler, the
+barbarians, uttering a mournful scream, suddenly departed.--They were
+heard during the night; and in the morning, when the waning moon shone
+dimly through the rack, were seen stirring about the square, but in no
+great numbers; and as they did not attempt any annoyance, but seemed
+engaged in dragging away the dead, Don Hernan forbade his sentinels to
+molest them.
+
+The guards were set, and the over-worn soldiers retired, at last, to
+throw their wounded bodies on their pallets. But throughout the whole
+night, the noises of men repairing the breaches, and constructing
+certain military engines, assured those who were too sore or too fearful
+to sleep, that the leader they had cursed was sacrificing a second night
+to the duties of his station.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+
+Don Amador sought out the apartment of his kinsman, with a troubled
+heart. A deep dejection, in part the effect of extreme fatigue, but
+caused more by the strange and melancholy events of the last twenty-four
+hours, weighed upon his spirits, and had increased, ever since the
+spectacle of the divinity, notwithstanding the bustle and excitement of
+the conflicts which ensued.
+
+In the passage, before he had yet reached the chamber, he stumbled upon
+Fabueno. The secretary looked confused and abashed, as if caught in a
+dereliction of duty; but before the cavalier could upbraid him, he
+commenced his excuses.
+
+'The opiate was strong; the knight was in a deep slumber,' he said;
+'and, as Marco was sitting at his side, he thought he might leave him
+for a moment, to discover wherefore the soldiers had ceased fighting. He
+hoped his noble patron would pardon him: he would presently return.'
+
+"Seek thy pleasure now, Lorenzo," said the novice, with a heavy sigh.
+"Return when thou wilt,--or not at all, if thou preferrest to rest with
+thy companions of last night. I will now, myself, watch by Don Gabriel."
+
+His head sunk upon his breast, as he went on, for his heart was full of
+painful reflections. Near the door of the chamber, he was roused by a
+step, and looking up, he beheld the padre Olmedo approaching.
+
+"Holy father, it rejoices me to see thee," he said "I had, indeed,
+thoughts to seek thee out, and claim thy benevolent counsels and
+aidance, but that I deemed me there were many among the wounded, and
+perchance the dying, who had stronger claims on thy good offices."
+
+"Thou art not hurt, my son?"
+
+"I have a scratch, made by the unlucky spear of a friend, but no harm
+from the enemy," said the cavalier. "I had indeed a blow also on the
+head, that made my brain ring; but both, I had quite forgotten. I am
+well enough in body, reverend father; and perhaps may be relieved in
+mind, if thou wilt vouchsafe me thy ghostly counsels."
+
+The good Bartolome, making a gesture of assent, followed the youth into
+the chamber.
+
+The knight was, as Fabueno had declared, lost in a deep and, his kinsman
+was pleased to see, a placid, slumber; but Marco, instead of watching,
+lay sleeping full as soundly, hard by. This circumstance seemed to
+embarrass the cavalier.
+
+"Father," said he, "I thought no less than to find the serving-man
+awake; and it was my intent to discharge him a moment from the chamber,
+not fearing that what I might say to thee, would disturb my afflicted
+friend. But I have not the heart to break the rest of this old man,--a
+very faithful servant,--who closes not his eyes, except when to keep
+them open would no longer be of service to Don Gabriel."
+
+"He sleeps as soundly as his master," murmured the priest. "A good
+conscience lies under his rough breast, or it would not heave so
+gently."
+
+"My father breathes gently, too," said Amador, mournfully.
+
+"May heaven restore him," said the padre. "His guilt lies deeper in his
+imagination than in his soul."
+
+"Dost thou think so indeed, father?" said Amador warmly, though in a low
+voice.
+
+The father started--"The history of thy kinsman is not unknown to
+thee?"
+
+"What I know is but little, save that my friend is the unhappiest of
+men," said the novice. "But heaven forbid I should seek to fathom the
+secrets of the confessional. I was rejoiced to hear thee say, my kinsman
+was not so miserable as he deems himself; for indeed I have begun to
+think there is something in the blood that courses in both our veins, so
+inclined to distemperature, that a small sin may bring us the pains of
+deep guilt, and a light sorrow pave the way to madness."
+
+The knight and the man-at-arms lay in a slumber not to be broken by the
+whispers of confession. The father retired to the remotest corner of the
+apartment, and Don Amador knelt humbly and penitentially at his feet. A
+little taper shed a flickering ray over his blanched and troubled
+forehead, as he bent forward to kiss the crucifix, extended by the
+confessor.
+
+"Buen padre," said he, "the sins I have to confess, I know thou wilt
+absolve, for they are sins of a hot blood, and not a malicious heart. I
+have been awroth with those who wronged me, and thirsted to shed their
+blood. For this I repent me. But the sins of pride and vanity are deep
+in my heart. I look about me for those acts of darkness, which should
+have caused the grief wherewith I am afflicted; but, in my self-conceit,
+I cannot find them. And yet they must exist; for I am beset with devils,
+or bewitched!"
+
+The father gazed uneasily from the penitent to the sleeping knight; but
+the look of suspicion was unnoticed.
+
+"We are all, as I may say, my son, beset by devils in this infidel land.
+They are worshipped on the altars of the false gods, and they live in
+the hearts of the idolaters. But if thou hast no heavy sin on thy soul,
+these are such devils as thou canst better exorcise with the sword, than
+I, perhaps, with prayers. I think, indeed, thou hast no such guilt; and,
+therefore, no cause for persecution."
+
+"Holy father, I thought so myself, till late. But cast thine eyes on
+Don Gabriel. Thou seest him, once the noblest of his species, yet, now,
+the shadow and vapour of a man,--a wreck of reason,--a living
+death,--for his mind hath left him. This I say to thee with much
+anguish. I could strike another who said it; but it is true--He is a
+lunatic!--It is I that have robbed him of reason. This is my sin; and I
+feel that it is heavy."
+
+"Thou ravest, good youth. Thy love and devotion are well known; and he
+hath, out of his own mouth, assured me, that thy affection surpasses the
+love of man. Rest thee content. A deeper cause than this, and one
+wherein thou hast no part, has afflicted him. An accident of war,
+tortured, by a moody imagination, into wilful guilt, hath turned him
+into this ruin."
+
+"It _was_ an accident, then, and no murder!" said the cavalier,
+joyously, though still in a whisper. "I thank God that my father is
+unstained with the blood of a woman."
+
+"I may not repeat to thee secrets revealed only to God," said the
+confessor; "but this much may I say, to allay thy fears,--that the blow
+which destroyed a friend, was meant for a foe; for rage veiled his eyes,
+and the steel was in the hands of a madman. This will assure thee, that
+thou hast had no agency in his affliction, but hast ever proved his
+truest comfort."
+
+"This indeed is the truth," murmured the novice, "and this convinces me,
+that by robbing him of his comfort, I gave him up to the persecution of
+those thoughts and memories, which have destroyed him. When I fought by
+his side at Rhodes, when I followed at his back through Spain, his
+malady was gentle. It brought him often fits of gloom, sometimes moments
+of delirium; he was unhappy, father, but not mad. I had acquired the art
+to keep the evil spirit from him; and, while I remained by him, he was
+well. I left him,--at his command, indeed, but he did not command me to
+forget him. The servant slept, and the sick man perished. While I was
+gone, his infirmity returned; and the madness that brought him to this
+infidel world, though I follow him, I am not able to remove. I found him
+changed; and, by my neglect, he is left incurable."
+
+"I think, indeed, as thou sayest," replied the confessor, mildly, "there
+is something in thy blood, as well as in Calavar's, which inclines to
+convert what is a light fault, into a weighty sin. Thou wrongest
+thyself: this present misery is but the natural course of disease, and
+thou hast no reason to upbraid thyself with producing it."
+
+"Father, so thought I, myself, till lately," said the cavalier,
+solemnly; "for we have ever in our hearts some lying spirit, that
+glosses over our faults with excuses, and deludes us from remorse. But
+it has been made manifest to me, by strange revealments and
+coincidences, by griefs of my own as well as of others, that my neglect
+was a grievous sin, not yet forgiven. And verily, now do I believe, that
+had I remained true to my knight, much sorrow would have been spared to
+both him and me."
+
+"I cannot believe that thy unfaithfulness was a wrong of design," said
+the father. "If it be, make me acquainted with it, and despair not of
+pardon. Thou wert parted from the knight at his own command?"
+
+"To gather him followers for the crusade meditated against the infidels
+of Barbary," said the novice,--"a brave and pious enterprise, from which
+the emperor was quickly diverted by other projects. This change being
+proclaimed, there remained nothing for me to do, but, like a faithful
+friend and servant, to return to my kinsman. Had I done so, what present
+affliction and disturbing memories might not have been prevented! Know,
+father, for I tell thee the truth, that it was my fortune, or rather my
+unhappiness, to discover, at the sea-port in which I sojourned, a
+Moorish maiden, of so obscure, and, doubtless, so base, a birth, that
+even the noble lady who gave her protection, knew not the condition of
+her parents. Yet, notwithstanding this baseness of origin, and the great
+pride of my own heart, (for truly I am come of the noblest blood in the
+land!) I was so gained upon by the beauty and excellent worth of this
+maiden, (for I swear to thee, her superior lives not in the world!) that
+I forgot even that she was the daughter of an idolater, and loved her."
+
+"A Moorish infidel!" said the confessor. "It is not possible thou
+couldst pledge thy faith to an unbeliever?"
+
+"Holy father," said Don Amador, "this sin was at least spared me. The
+maiden was a Christian, tenderly nurtured in all the doctrines of our
+faith, and almost ignorant that the race from which she drew her blood,
+knew any other; and, father, I thought, until this day, that the soul of
+Leila dwelt among the seraphs. Moreover, if the plighting of troth be
+sinful, I am again innocent; for, before I had spoken of love, she was
+snatched away from me."
+
+"She is dead, then?" demanded the padre.
+
+"Surely, I think so," said the cavalier, mournfully; "yet I know not the
+living creature that wots of her fate. Father! the sin of deserting my
+kinsman was first visited to me through her; and because I was a sinner,
+Leila perished.--_How_, father, I cannot tell thee. She vanished away by
+night,--carried off, as some averred, by certain Moorish exiles, who,
+that night, set sail for Barbary; or, as others dreamed, murdered by
+some villain, and cast into the sea; for the veil she wore, was found
+the day after, dashed ashore by the surf. But, whether she be dead, or
+yet living, again I say, I know not; though I affirm on the cross which
+I hold in my hand, I beheld her this day, or some fiend in her likeness,
+under the similitude of a priestess, or a divinity, I know not which,
+carried on the shoulders of the infidels, and by them worshipped!"
+
+The confessor started back in alarm, surveying the excited features of
+the penitent, and again cast his eyes towards Don Gabriel. Then, laying
+his hand on the head of the cavalier, he said, gently, but warningly,--
+
+"Cast such thoughts from thee, lest thou become like to thy kinsman!"
+
+"Ay!" cried the cavalier, clasping his hands, and turning an eye of
+horror on the father,--"thou speakest confirmation of mine own fears;
+for I have said to myself, this is a frenzy, and therefore I have come,
+at last, to be like my kinsman! The thing that I have seen, is _not_;
+and the reason that made me a man, has fled from me!"
+
+"Nay, I meant not that," said the padre, endeavouring to soothe the
+agitation he had, in part, caused. "I desired only to have thee guard
+thyself against the effects of thy fancy, which is, at present, greatly
+over-excited. I believe that thou didst indeed see some pagan maiden,
+strongly resembling the Moorish Leila;--a circumstance greatly aided by
+the similarity of hue between the two races."
+
+"And dost thou think," said the cavalier, his indignation rising in
+spite of his grief, "that the adored and most angelic Leila could, in
+any wise, resemble the coarse maids of this copper-tinted, barbarous
+people? I swear to thee, she was fairer than the Spanish girls of
+Almeria, and a thousand times more beautiful!"
+
+"In this I will not contend with thee," said the father, benignantly,
+well satisfied that anger should take the place of a more perilous
+passion. "But I may assure thee, that, among the princesses of the royal
+household, whom, I think, thou hast not yet seen, there are many
+wondrous lovely to look upon; and, to show thee that even a barbarian
+may resemble a Christian, it is only needful to mention that when, at
+our first coming to these shores, the portrait of Cortes, done by an
+Indian painter, was carried to Montezuma, he sent to us, by the next
+messengers, with rich presents, a noble of his court so strongly
+resembling Don Hernan, both in figure and visage, that we were all
+filled with amazement."
+
+"Well, indeed, thou speakest to me words of comfort," said Don Amador,
+more composedly, though still very sadly; "but I would to heaven I might
+look again on this woman, or this fiend, for I know not if she may not
+be a devil! In truth, I thought I beheld a spectre, when she turned her
+eyes upon me; and, oh father! you may judge my grief, when thus
+thinking, and beholding her a spirit worshipped by idolaters, I knew she
+must be of the accursed!"
+
+"I have heard of this woman from others who beheld her," said the
+father, "and, I doubt not, she is a mortal woman, esteemed holy, because
+a priestess, and therefore received by the people with those marks of
+respect, which thou didst mistake for adoration. It was reported to me,
+that she was of marvellous great beauty."
+
+"Marvellous, indeed!" said the youth. "But, father, here is another
+circumstance that greatly troubled me; and, in good sooth, it troubles
+me yet. It is known to thee that my kinsman had, until yesternight, a
+little page,--a Moorish boy, greatly beloved by us both. As for myself,
+I loved him because he was of the race of Leila; and I protest to thee,
+unnatural as it may seem, I bore not for my young brother a greater
+affection than for this most unlucky urchin. A foolish fellow charged
+him to be an enchanter; and sometimes I bethink me of the accusation,
+and suppose he has given me magical love-potions. Last night he was
+snatched away, I cannot say how; but what is very wonderful, my kinsman
+and two of his people saw, almost at the same moment, a terrific
+phantom. Father, you smile! If it were not for my sorrow, I could smile
+too, and at myself; for greatly am I changed, since I set foot on this
+heathen land. A month since, I held a belief in ghosts and witchcraft to
+be absurd, and even irreligious. At this moment, there is no menial in
+this palace more given over to doubts and fears, and more superstitious.
+Is not this the first breathing of that horrible malady?"
+
+"It is the first perplexity of a scene of novelty and excitement.
+Fatigue doth itself produce a temporary distraction, as is very evident
+when we come to fling our over-worn bodies on our couches, to sleep.
+This is the land of devils, because of idolaters; and I may not deny,
+that the fiends have here greater power to haunt us with supernatural
+apparitions, than in the lands of our true religion. Yet it is not well
+to yield too ready a belief to such revelations; for heaven will not
+permit them, without a purpose. Rather think that the infirmity of thy
+kinsman, and the ignorance of his people, were deluded by an accidental
+deception, which a cooler observer might have penetrated, than by any
+real vision. But what wert thou saying of the Moorish page?"
+
+"Father," said Amador, earnestly, "at the moment, when the train that
+surrounded that wonderful priestess, alarmed to see me rush towards
+them, (for that supernatural resemblance did greatly move me,) fled into
+the temple, I heard the voice of Jacinto screaming aloud among the
+infidels, as if, that moment, offered by them a victim to their accursed
+divinities."
+
+"God be with his soul, if it be so!" said the confessor, "for barbarous
+and bloody in their fanaticism are the reprobates of Tenochtitlan. Yet I
+would have thee, even in this matter, to be of good heart; for it is
+believed among us, that Abdalla, his father, has been received into the
+service of the Mexican nobles, to teach them how to resist our arts, and
+how to compass our destruction; and it must be evident, that for that
+traitor's sake, they will spare his boy, stolen away from us, as it
+appears to me to be proven, by the knave Abdalla himself. But think thou
+no more of the boy. He was born to inherit the perfidy of his race;
+deception and ingratitude have rendered him unworthy of thy care; and
+if, some day, the nobles should yield him to the priests for a victim,
+it will be but a just punishment for his baseness. Give thy mind to
+other thoughts, and refresh thy body with sleep; for much need have we
+of all the assistance thou canst now render us. Sleep, and prepare for
+other combats; for this day is but the prologue of a tragedy, whose end
+may be more bloody and dreadful than we have yet imagined. Thy soul is
+without stain, and heaven absolves thee of sin. Brood over no more
+gloomy thoughts; believe that Providence overshadows thee; sleep in
+tranquillity; and be prepared for the morning."
+
+The good father concluded the rite of absolution with a blessing
+parental and holy, and stole away from the chamber. Don Amador sighed
+heavily, but with a relieved mind, as he rose from his knees. He gazed
+upon the marble features of the sleeping knight, smoothed the covering
+softly and tenderly about his emaciated frame, and then crept to his own
+couch. His thoughts were many and wild, but exhaustion brought slumber
+to his eyelids; and starting, ever and anon, at some elfin
+representation of the captive page, or the lost maid of Almeria, bending
+over him with eyes of wo, he fell, at last, into a sleep, so profound,
+that it was no longer disturbed by visions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+
+At the earliest dawn, Don Amador arose from his couch, refreshed, but
+not reanimated, by slumber. An oppressive gloom lay at his heart, with
+the feeling of physical weight; and without yet yielding to any definite
+apprehension, he was conscious of some presentiment, or vague foreboding
+of sorrow. The taper had expired on the pedestal, but an obscure light,
+the first beam of morning, guided him to the bed-side of his kinsman.
+The form of Baltasar was added to that of Marco on the floor; and the
+serving-men slept as soundly as their master. He bent a moment over Don
+Gabriel, and though unable to perceive his countenance in the gloom, he
+judged, by the calmness of his breathing, that the fever had abated.
+"Heaven grant that the delirium may have departed with it!" he muttered
+to himself, "and that my poor friend may look upon me rationally once
+more! If we are to perish under the knives of these unwearying
+barbarians, as now seems to me somewhat more than possible, better will
+it be for my kinsman's soul, that he die with the name of God on his
+lips, instead of those of the spirits which torment him."
+
+While the cavalier gave way to such thoughts, he heard very distinctly,
+though at a great distance, such sounds as convinced him that 'the
+unwearying barbarians' were indeed rousing again for another day of
+battle. He armed himself with the more haste that he heard also in the
+passage, the sound of feet, as if the garrison had been already
+summoned, and were hurrying to the walls.
+
+As he passed from the apartment, he found himself suddenly in the midst
+of a group of cavaliers, one of whom grasped his hand, and pressing it
+warmly, whispered in his ear, "I will not forget that I owe thee the
+life of Benita!--Come with me, my friend, and thou shalt see how pride
+is punished with shame, and injustice with humiliation."
+
+"I thought," said Don Amador, "that we were about to be attacked, and
+that my friends were running to the defence."
+
+"Such is the case," said De Morla. "The millions are again advancing
+against the palace, and we go to oppose them, though not to the walls.
+We have raised devils, and we run to him we have most wronged, and most
+despised, to lay them. In an instant, you will hear the shrieks of the
+combatants. If we find no other way to conquer them than with our arms,
+wo betide us all!--for we are worn and feeble, and we know our fate."
+
+Several of the cavaliers had lights in their hands, but the chamber,
+into which Don Amador followed them, was lit with a multitude of
+torches, chiefly of the knots of resinous wood, burning with a smoky
+glare, and scattering around a rich odour. The scene disclosed to the
+neophyte, was imposing and singular. The apartment was very spacious,
+and, indeed, lofty, and filled with human beings, most of them Mexican
+nobles of the highest rank, and of both sexes, who stood around their
+monarch, as in a solemn audience, leaving a space in front, which was
+occupied by the most distinguished of the Spaniards, among whom was Don
+Hernan himself. A little platform, entirely concealed under cushions of
+the richest feathers, supported the chair, (it might have been called,
+the throne,) on which sat the royal captive, closely invested by those
+members of his family who shared his imprisonment. A king of Cojohuacan,
+his brother, stood at his back, and at either side were two of his
+children, two sons and two daughters, all young, and one of them,--a
+princess,--scarce budding into womanhood. Their attire, in obedience to
+the law's of the court, was plain, and yet richer than the garments of
+the nobles. But it was their position near the king, the general
+resemblance of their features, and the anxious eyes which they kept ever
+bent on the royal countenance, which pointed them out as the offspring
+of Montezuma.
+
+As for Montezuma himself, though he sat on his chair like an emperor, it
+was more like a monarch of statuary than of flesh and blood. The
+Christian general stood before him, dictating to the interpreter Marina,
+the expressions which he desired to enter the ear of his prisoner; but,
+though speaking with as much respect as earnestness, the Indian ruler
+seemed neither to hear nor to see him. His eye was indeed fixed on Don
+Hernan, but yet fixed as on vacancy; and the lip, fallen in a ghastly
+contortion, the rigid features, the abstracted stare, the right hand
+pressed upon his knee, while the left lay powerless and dead over the
+cushions of his chair, as he bent a little forward, as if wholly
+unconscious of the presence of his people and his foes, made it manifest
+to all, that his thoughts were absorbed in the contemplation of his own
+abasement.
+
+The neophyte heard the words of Don Hernan.
+
+"Tell his royal majesty, the king," said the general, with an accent no
+longer resembling that which had fixed the barb in the bosom of his
+prey, "that it mislikes me to destroy his people, like so many dumb
+beasts; and yet to this end am I enforced by their madness and his
+supineness. Bid him direct his subjects to lay down their arms, and
+assail me no further; otherwise shall I be constrained to employ those
+weapons which God has given me, until this beauteous island is converted
+into a charnel-house and hell, and the broad lake of Tezcuco into the
+grave of his whole race!"
+
+The mild and musical voice of Marina repeated the wish in the language
+of Anahuac; and all eyes were bent on the monarch, as she spoke. But not
+a muscle moved in the frame or the visage of Montezuma.
+
+"Is the knave turned to stone, that he hears not?" muttered the chief.
+"Speak thou, my little Orteguilla. Repeat what thou hast heard, and see
+if thine antics will not arouse the sleeper."
+
+The youthful page stepped up to the king, seized his hand, which he
+strove to raise to his lips, and looking up in his face, with an
+innocent air, endeavoured to engage his attention. This boy had, from
+the first days of imprisonment, been a favourite with Montezuma; and
+being very arch and cunning, Don Hernan did not scruple to place him as
+a spy about the king, under colour of presenting him as a servant. In
+common, Montezuma was greatly diverted with his boyish tricks, and
+especially with his blundering efforts to catch the tongue of Mexico.
+But there was no longer left in the bosom of the degraded prince, a
+chord to vibrate to merriment. Habit, however, had not yet lost its
+hold; and as the boyish voice stammered out the accustomed tones, he
+gradually turned his eyes from the person of the general, and fixed
+them on the visage of Orteguilla. But as he gazed, his brows contracted
+into a gloomier frown, he laid his hand on the prattler's shoulder, and
+no sooner had the urchin ceased speaking, than he thrust him sternly,
+though not violently, away. Then drawing himself erect, he folded his
+arms on his bosom, and without uttering a word, fixed his eyes on the
+face of Cortes, and there calmly and sorrowfully maintained them.
+
+"This is, doubtless, a lethargy," said the general; "but it suits not
+our present occasions to indulge it. Where is my friend, De Morla? He
+was wont to have much influence with this humorous man."
+
+"I am here," said De Morla, stepping forward; "and if you demand it, I
+will speak to the king; though with no hopes of persuading him to show
+us any kindness."
+
+As De Morla spoke, Don Amador, who had followed him to the side of
+Cortes, observed one of the princesses turn from her sire, and look
+eagerly towards his friend. In this maiden, he doubted not, he perceived
+the fair Minnapotzin; and he ceased to wonder at the passion of his
+countryman, when he discovered with his own eyes how little her beauty
+had been overrated. Though of but small stature, her figure, as far as
+it could be perceived through the folds of peculiar vestments, was
+exceedingly graceful. The cymar was knotted round her bosom with a
+modest girdle, and left bare two arms prettily moulded, on which shone
+bracelets of gold, fantastically wrought. Her hair was long, and fell,
+braided with strings of the same metal, on her shoulders, on which also
+was a necklace of little emeralds alternating with crystals, and
+suspending a silver crucifix of Spanish workmanship. These were her only
+decorations. Her skin was rather dark than tawny, and the tinge of
+beautifying blood was as visible on her cheeks as on those of the maids
+of Andalusia. Her features were very regular; and two large eyes, in
+which a native timidity struggled with affection at the sight of her
+Christian lover, rendered her countenance as engaging as it was lovely.
+She hung upon De Morla's accents with an air of the deepest interest, as
+he expressed, in imperfect language, the desires of his general.
+
+As he spoke, the infidel king surveyed him with a frown,--a notice that
+he now extended to all the Christians present, but without deigning to
+reply. It was evident that he understood the desires of his jailor, and
+equally plain that he had resolved to disregard them. The angry spot
+darkened on the brow of Cortes; and he was about to degrade the captive
+with still more violent marks of his displeasure; when, at this moment,
+the roar of his artillery, mingled with the shouts of the besiegers,
+suddenly shook the palace to its foundations, and drowned his voice in
+the shrieks of the women.
+
+Montezuma started to his feet, and cast a look upon Cortes, in which
+horror did not wholly conceal a touch of ferocious satisfaction. His
+people were, indeed, falling under those terrific explosions, like
+leaves before the mountain gust; but well he read in the dismayed
+visages of the Spaniards, that fate was, at last, avenging his injuries
+on the oppressors.
+
+"Speak _thou_ to thy father, my Benita!" cried De Morla, in her own
+language, to the terrified princess, "and let him stay the work of
+blood; for none but he has the power. Tell him, we desire peace, repent
+the wrongs we have done him, and will redress them. If he will regain
+his liberty and his empire,--if he will save his people, his children,
+and himself, from one common and fearful destruction, let him forget
+that we have done him wrong, and pronounce the words of peace."
+
+The Indian maiden threw herself at the feet of the king, and bathing his
+hands with tears, repeated the charge of the cavalier.
+
+Montezuma gazed upon her with sorrow, and upon his other children; then
+looking coldly to Don Hernan, he said, with a tranquil voice, while
+Dona Marina rapidly interpreted his expressions,--
+
+"What will the Teuctli have? He commands a captive to shield him from
+the darts of free warriors: Montezuma is a prisoner. He calls upon me to
+quiet a raging people: Montezuma has no people. He commands me to regain
+my liberty: the Mexican that hath been once a slave, can be a freeman no
+more. He bids me save my children: I have none! they are servants in the
+house of a stranger.--He that is in bonds, hath no offspring!"
+
+While he spoke, the din increased, as if the yelling assailants were
+pressing up to the very walls of the palace; and many cavaliers,
+incapable of remaining longer inactive, and despairing of his
+assistance, rushed from the apartment to join in the combat.
+
+"Why does he waste time in words?" cried Cortes. "At every moment, there
+are slain a thousand of his subjects!"
+
+"If there were twenty thousand," said the captive, assuming, at last,
+the dignity that became his name, and speaking with a stately anger,
+"and if but one Christian lay dead among them, Montezuma should not
+mourn the loss. Happier would he be, left with the few and mangled
+remnants, with his throne on the grave of the strangers, than, this
+moment, were he restored to his millions, with the children of the East
+abiding by him in friendship.--Thou callest upon me to appease _my_
+people. Thou knowest that they are thine. Why should they not listen to
+_thee_?"
+
+"Ay, why should they not?" said Don Hernan, speaking rather to himself,
+than to Montezuma, and flinging sarcasms on his own head. "By my
+conscience, I know not; for though I was somewhat conceited, to grasp at
+the sceptre so early, I think I may hold it with as much dignity as any
+infidel, were he a Turkish sultan.--Hearken, Montezuma; thou art
+deceived: thy people are not mine, but thine, and through thee, as his
+sworn vassal, the subjects of my master, the king of Spain. Confirm thy
+vassalage to him, by tribute, be true to thy allegiance, and remain on
+thy throne for ever; and, if such be thy desire, I will straightway
+withdraw my army from the empire, so that thou mayest reign according to
+thine own barbarous fancies."
+
+"I trust thee not," said the king, "for already hast thou deceived me! I
+revoke my vows of vassalage; for he that has no kingdom, cannot be a
+king's deputy.--Do thy worst," continued the monarch, with increasing
+boldness, no longer regarding the furious looks of Don Hernan, and
+learning, at last, to deserve the respect of his foes. "Do thy worst:
+Thou hast degraded me with chains, and with words of insult; nothing
+more canst thou do, but kill! Kill me, then, if thou wilt; and in
+Mictlan will I rejoice, for I know that my betrayers shall follow me!
+Yes!" he added, with wild energy, "I know that, at this moment, your
+heart is frozen with fear, and your blood turned to water, seeing that
+revenge has reached you, and that your doom is death! The wronger of the
+lords of Tenochtitlan has learned to tremble before its basest herds;
+and let him tremble,--for the basest of them shall trample upon his
+body!"
+
+"Am I menaced by this traitor to his allegiance?" cried Cortes.
+
+"Senor," said De Morla, "let us trifle the time with no more deception.
+There is no one of our people, who does not perceive that we can
+maintain our post in this city no longer, and that we cannot even escape
+from it, without the permission of our foes. This knows Montezuma, as
+well as ourselves. Why incense him, why strive to cajole him further?
+Let us tell him the truth, and buy safety by restoring, at once, what we
+cannot keep; and what, otherwise, we must yield up with our lives."
+
+"Ay, faith,--it cannot be denied: we are even caught in a net of our own
+twisting. Tell the knave what thou wilt. We will leave his accursed
+island.--But how soon we may return, to claim the possessions of our
+master, thou needst not acquaint him. But, by my conscience, return we
+will, and that right briefly!"
+
+A thousand different expressions agitated the visage of Montezuma, while
+listening to the words of De Morla. Now a flash of joy lit his dusky
+features; now doubt covered them with double gloom; and now he frowned
+with a dark resolution, as if conceiving the fate of the Christians, if
+left to themselves, still caged in their bloody prison. The memory of
+all he had suffered, mingled with the imagination of all the vengeance
+he might enjoy, covered his countenance with a mingled rage and
+exultation. While he hesitated, his eye fell upon his children, for all
+had thrown themselves at his feet; and he beheld them, in fancy, paying
+the penalty of his ferocity. The stern eye of Cortes was upon him; and
+he thought he read, in its meaning lustre, the punishment which awaited
+his refusal.
+
+"Will the Teuctli depart from me," he cried, eagerly, "if I open a path
+for him through my incensed people?"
+
+"I will depart from him," replied Don Hernan, "if his people throw down
+their arms, and disperse."
+
+"They will listen to me no more!" exclaimed Montezuma, suddenly clasping
+his hands, with a look and accent of despair, "for I am no longer their
+monarch. The gods of Anahuac have rejected the king that has submitted
+to bonds; a great prophetess has risen from Mictlan, bearing the will of
+the deities; and, by the bloody pool Ezapan, that washes the wounds of
+the penitent, the people have heard her words, and sworn faith to a new
+ruler, beloved by heaven, and reverenced by themselves. They have seen
+the degradation of Montezuma, and Cuitlahuatzin is now the king of
+Mexico!"
+
+"He speaks of the strange priestess we saw at the temple," said De
+Morla. "It is, indeed, said among all the Mexicans, (but how they have
+heard of her, I know not,) that she has been sent by the gods, to
+dethrone our prisoner, and destroy the Christians."
+
+"Thou art deceived," said Cortes, to the monarch, without regarding this
+explanation; "there is no king, but thyself, acknowledged by thy people;
+and, at this moment, they are fighting to rescue thee from what they
+falsely consider bondage;--falsely I say, for thou knowest, thou art my
+guest, and not my prisoner,--free to depart whenever thou wilt,--that
+is, whenever thou wilt exert thy authority to appease the insurrection.
+It is their mad love for thee, that reduces us to extremity."
+
+"And thou swearest, then," cried Montezuma, catching eagerly at the
+suggestion and the hope, "thou swearest, that thou wilt depart from my
+empire, if I appease this bloody tumult?"
+
+"I swear, that I will depart from thy city," said the crafty Spaniard;
+"and I swear, that I hope to depart from thy empire--one day, at least,
+when I am its master." He muttered the last words to himself.
+
+"Give me my robes--I will speak to my people!"
+
+No sooner was this speech interpreted, than the Spaniards present
+uttered exclamations of pleasure; and some of them running out with the
+news to their companions, the court-yard soon rung with their shouts.
+Despair, at once, gave place to joy; and even to many of those who had
+been most sick of battle, the relief came, with such revulsions of
+feeling, that they seemed loath to lose the opportunity of slaying.
+
+"Quick to your pieces! charge, and have at the yelling imps!" cried
+divers voices, "for presently we shall have no more fighting!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+
+The cannoniers, moved by this new feeling, discharged their last volley
+with good will, and, at the same moment, the crossbowmen and musketeers
+shot off their pieces from the wall and the terraces. The four sides of
+the palace were thus, at the same instant, sheeted with flame; and the
+effect of the combined discharge was incalculably great and fatal among
+the dense bodies of besiegers. As they staggered, and fell back a
+little, to recover from their confusion, the mounted men, who had placed
+themselves in readiness for the final charge, rushed at once, spear in
+hand, on the disordered multitude, dealing death at every thrust, and
+almost at every tramp of their chargers.
+
+It was precisely at this moment, that the Indian emperor, arrayed in the
+pompous and jewelled robes, in which he was wont to preside at the
+greater festivals of the gods, with the _Copilli_ on his head, and the
+golden buskins on his feet, preceded by a noble bearing the three rods
+of authority, and attended by half a dozen valiant cavaliers, (of whom
+the neophyte was one,) holding their bucklers in readiness to protect
+him from any ill-directed missile,--stepped upon the terrace and
+advanced towards the battlements. The spectacle that presented itself in
+the dawning light, was, to him at least, grievous and horrid. The earth
+of the square, and the dwellings that surrounded it, were torn by the
+cannon-shots, and many of the houses had tumbled into ruins. From this
+height, also, could be seen the blackened wrecks, which marked the path
+of the army, returning, the previous day, from the temple. But a more
+sorrowful sight was presented to the unfortunate monarch, in the
+prospect of his people, great numbers already lying dead on the furrowed
+square, while the survivors were falling fast under the lances of the
+horsemen.
+
+Don Hernan enjoyed for a moment, with malicious satisfaction, the
+exclamations of grief, with which his prisoner beheld this sight; for it
+was his pleasure to believe, that Montezuma was himself the planner of
+the insurrection. Then, giving a sign to a trumpeter, who was with the
+party, to wind a retreat, the horsemen instantly reined round their
+steeds, and galloped back to the court-yard. With a loud yell of
+triumph, the Mexicans, thinking their pursuers fled from fear, prepared
+to follow them, and poised their weapons as a prelude to the assault. At
+that critical period, the cavaliers moved aside from their prisoner, and
+he stood confronted with his people. The great cry with which the
+barbarians beheld their monarch, had something in it that was touching,
+for it expressed a childish joy; but there was something still more
+affecting in the result, to those whose hearts were not utterly steeled,
+when they beheld the universal multitude, as with one accord, fling
+themselves upon their knees, and, dropping their weapons and pronouncing
+the name of the king, extend their hands towards him, as to a father.
+
+"Is it possible then," muttered, or rather thought, Don Amador de Leste,
+smothering a sudden pang of remorse, "that these blood-thirsty
+barbarians are only seeking our lives, to liberate their king? Surely,
+we do a great sin, to slay them for their love.--I would that my knight,
+my people, and myself, were fighting the Turks again."
+
+The sudden change from the furious tumult of war to such stillness as
+belongs to midnight, was impressive and even awful; and solemn looks,
+both from his subjects and his foes, from those who fought in the
+court-yard, and those who manned the roof and the turrets, were bent on
+the royal captive, as he stepped upon the battlement, and addressed
+himself to his people.
+
+"My children!" said Montezuma, for so his words were rapidly interpreted
+by De Morla,--"if ye are shedding your blood, to convince me of your
+affection, know that I feel its constancy, without approving its
+rashness. Though I be a prisoner----" He paused, for the word stuck in
+his throat, and groans and lamentations showed how unpalatable it was to
+his subjects. "Though I be a prisoner with the Teuctli, yet have you to
+know, it is, in a great measure, with mine own consent; and, at this
+moment, I remain not by enforcement, but by choice."
+
+The unhappy monarch, by so expressing his address as to steer clear of
+offence to the Spaniards, (for well he knew they dreaded lest his
+confessions should still more inflame the citizens,) committed the more
+fatal error of displeasing his people. A murmur of indignation ran
+through the mass, when Montezuma, with his own lips, confirmed his
+abasement. Several rose, frowning, to their feet, and a young man,
+parting quickly from the crowd, advanced so near to the palace, that his
+features could be plainly distinguished. He was of noble stature,
+countenance, and mien, evidently of the highest order of nobility, and
+enjoyed the distinction of a principality in the House of Darts, as was
+shown by the red fillet in his hair, suspending the tufts of honour. His
+trunk and shoulders were invested in a coat of armour, either of scales
+of copper or of leather, richly gilt, bordered at the bottom with
+lambrequins of green and red feathers. His limbs were naked, saving only
+the bright sandals on his feet, and the glittering bracelets on his
+arms. His left arm supported a light buckler, doubtless of wicker-work,
+though painted with many bright and fantastic colours; and, from the
+bottom of it, waved a broad penacho, as well as a bulky maquahuitl,
+which he held in his left hand, while balancing a copper javelin in his
+right. A tall plume of the most splendid hues nodded majestically on his
+head.
+
+As this bold and noble-looking youth stepped up to the very mouths of
+the cannon, and raised his fiery eyes to the king, Don Amador de Leste
+thought that he recognized in him the princely ambassador of
+Cholula,--the young fugitive, who had been so ready to dispute the path
+with him, under the walls of the holy city.
+
+"Dost _thou_ say this, thou that wert once their lord, to the people of
+Mexitli?" said the young prince, (for, as has been recorded by other
+historians, it was the valiant Quauhtimotzin, the nephew of the king,
+who now so sharply rebuked him.) "Dost _thou_ indeed confess, son of
+Axajacatl! that thou art, by thine own consent, the friend of a
+perfidious stranger? by thine own choice, O conqueror of many nations!
+the serf and slave of him who is the brother of Tlascala? Then art thou,
+indeed, what we have called thee,--the slayer of thy people,--for this
+blood has flown at thy bidding; a traitor to thy throne,--for thou hast
+surrendered it to a master; an apostate to thy gods,--for thou hast shut
+thine ears, when they called upon thee for vengeance. Miserable
+king!--and yet a king no more! When thy people wept to see thee
+degraded, thou gavest them up to slaughter; and while they come to
+restore thee to thy rights, thou confessest, that thou lovest these less
+than the shame of captivity! Know then, that, for thy baseness, the gods
+have pronounced thee unworthy to be their viceroy, and thy people have
+confirmed the decree. We break the rods of authority; we trample upon
+the robes of state: and Montezuma is no longer a king in Tenochtitlan!"
+
+The unhappy monarch trembled, while he listened to this insulting
+denunciation, for he felt that he had deserved it. But his people still
+lay prostrate on the earth; and, hoping that they shared not the
+indignation of his kinsman, he elevated his voice again, and spoke
+sternly:--
+
+"Why doth Quauhtimotzin forget that he is the son of my brother, and my
+slave? Is the young man that smiles in jewels, wiser than he that hath
+gray hairs? and the people that delve in canals and build up the
+temples, have they more cunning than the king who councils with the
+spirits at the altar? Know that what has been done, has been done
+wisely, for it was according to the will of heaven; and heaven, which
+has tried our fidelity, is about to reward it with happiness and peace.
+The strangers have promised to depart from us: throw down your arms, and
+let them be gone."
+
+"And wilt thou," said the prince, elevating his voice to a still angrier
+pitch, "who hast been so many times deluded, counsel us to listen to
+their lies? O fallen Montezuma! thou leaguest with them against us. Wilt
+thou suffer them to escape, when we have them enclosed in nets, as the
+birds that sing in thy gardens? O degraded chief! thou hast not the
+courage to desire the blood of them that have dethroned thee! Thou art
+not he that was Montezuma; thy words are the words of a Christian; thou
+speakest with the lips of a slave, and the heart of a woman; thou art a
+Spaniard, and thy fate shall be the fate of a Spaniard! Cuitlahuatzin is
+our king; and we strike thee as a foeman!"
+
+As the prince concluded his indignant oration, he swung round his head
+the javelin, which, all this time, he had balanced in his hand, and
+launched it, with all his force, full at the breast of Montezuma. The
+shield of the novice, quickly interposed before the body of the king,
+arrested the sharp weapon, and it fell, innocuous, on the terrace. At
+the same moment, the Mexicans all sprang to their feet, with loud cries,
+as if giving way to repressed fury, and brandished their arms. The
+bucklers of the cavaliers were instantly extended before the monarch, to
+protect him from the dreaded missiles. But, as if desperation had robbed
+him of his fears, and restored to him, for his last hour, some share of
+that native spirit which had elevated him to the throne, he pushed them
+immediately aside, and raising himself to his full height, and spreading
+forth his arms, gazed majestically, though with a ghastly countenance,
+on his people. The words of mingled intreaty and command were already on
+his lips, but they were lost even to the Spaniards who stood by, in the
+thunder of shouts coming from twenty thousand voices; and the warning
+cry of Cortes was equally unheard, bidding the Spaniards to "Save the
+king!" The shields were interposed, however, without command, and caught
+many of the missiles,--stones, arrows, and darts,--which fell like a
+shower on the group,--but not all. An arrow pierced the right arm, a
+stone maimed the right leg, and another, striking upon the left temple
+of the abandoned monarch, crushed the bone in upon the brain; and he
+fell into the arms of the cavaliers, like a dead man.
+
+The cannoniers, at that moment, seeing the returning rage of the
+barbarians, shot off their pieces. But the battle was done. No sooner
+had the Mexicans beheld their monarch fall under the blows of their own
+weapons, than they changed their cries of fury to lamentations; and
+throwing down their arms, as if seized with a panic, they fled from the
+square, leaving it to the Christians and the dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+
+In great grief and consternation of mind, the cavaliers carried the king
+to his apartments, and added their own sharp regrets to the tears of his
+children, when the surgeon pronounced his wounds mortal. Even the senor
+Cortes did not disdain to heave a sigh over the mangled form of his
+prisoner; for, in his death, he perceived his innocence, and remembered
+his benefactions; and, in addition, he felt, that, in the loss of
+Montezuma, he was deprived of the strongest bulwark against the
+animosity of his people.
+
+"I have done this poor infidel king a great wrong," he said, with a
+remorse that might have been real, and yet, perhaps, was assumed, to
+effect a purpose on his followers; "for now, indeed, it is plain, he
+could not have been unfaithful to us, or he would not thus have
+perished. I call God to witness, that I had no hand in his death; and I
+aver to yourselves, noble cavaliers, that, when I have seemed to treat
+him with harshness and injustice, I have done so for the good of my
+companions, and the advantage of our king; for barbarians, being, in
+some sort, children, are to be governed by that severity which is
+wholesome to infancy. Nevertheless, I do not wholly despair of his life;
+for there are some score or two lusty fellows in the garrison, who have
+had their skulls cracked, and are none the worse for the affliction. I
+trust much in thy skill, senor _boticario_," he continued, addressing
+the surgeon; "and I promise thee, if thou restore Montezuma to his life
+and wits, I will, on mine own part, bestow upon thee this golden chain
+and crucifix, valued at ninety pesos, besides recommending thee,
+likewise, to the gratitude of my brother captains, and the favourable
+notice of his majesty, our king,--whom God preserve ever from the wrath
+and impiety of such traitorous subjects as have laid our Montezuma low!
+I leave him in thy charge. As for ourselves, valiant and true friends,
+it being now apparent to you, that we have none but ourselves to look to
+for safety, and even food, (the want of which latter would, doubtless,
+create many loud murmurs, were it not for the jeopardy of the former,) I
+must recommend you to betake you to your horses, and accompany me in a
+sally which it is needful now to make, both for the sake of
+reconnoitring the dikes, and gathering food.--What now, Botello!" he
+cried, observing the enchanter pressing through the throng; "what doest
+thou here?--Thou never madest me a prophecy of this great mishap!"
+
+"I never cast the horoscope, nor called upon Kalidon-Sadabath, to
+discover the fate of any but a Christian man," said Botello, gravely;
+"for what matters it _what_ is the fate of a soul predoomed to flames,
+whether it part with violence, or in peace? I have sought out the
+destiny of his people, because I thought, some day, they should be
+baptised in the faith; but I never cast me a spell for the king."
+
+"Wilt thou adventure thine art in his behalf, and tell me whether he
+shall now live or die?"
+
+"It needs no conjuration to discover that," said the magician, pointing
+significantly to the broken temple. "The king will die, and that before
+we are released from our thraldom. But hearken, senor," he continued,
+solemnly, "I have sought out the fate that concerns us more nearly. Last
+night, while others buried their weariness in sleep, and their sorrows
+in the dreams of home, I watched in solitude, with prayers and fasting,
+working many secret and godly spells, and conversing with the spirits
+that came to the circle----"
+
+The wounded monarch was forgotten, for an instant, by the cavaliers, in
+their eagerness to gather the revelations of the conjurer; for
+scepticism, like pride, was yielding before the increasing difficulties
+of their situation, and they grasped at hope and encouragement, coming
+from what quarter soever.
+
+"And what have the spirits told thee, then?" demanded the general,
+meaningly.--"Doubtless, that, although there be a cloud about us now,
+there shall sunshine soon burst from it; and that, if we depart from
+this city, it will only be like the antique battering ram, pulled back
+from a wall, that it may presently return against it with tenfold
+violence."
+
+"I have not questioned so far," replied Botello earnestly. "I know, that
+we must fly. What is to come after, is in the hands of God, and has not
+been revealed. Death lies in store for many, but safety for some. The
+celestial aspects are unfavourable, the conjunctions speak of suffering
+and blood;--dreams are dark, Kalidon is moody, and the fiends prattle in
+riddles. Day after day, the gloom shall be thicker, the frowns of fate
+more menacing, retreat more hopeless. Never before found I so many black
+days clustered over the earth! In all this period, there is but one
+shining hour; and if we seize not that, heaven receive us! for, beyond
+that, there is nothing but death.--On the fifth day from this, at
+midnight, a path will be opened to us on the causeway; for then, from
+the house Alpharg, doth the moon break the walls of prisons, and light
+fugitives to the desert. But after that, I say to thee again, very noble
+senor, all is hopelessness, all is wo!--starvation in the palace, and
+shrieking sacrifices on the temple!"
+
+"On the fifth night, then," said Cortes, gravely, "if the fates so will
+it, we must take our departure,--provided we die not of famine, on the
+fourth. I would the devils that thou hast in command, had revealed thee
+some earlier hour, or some good means of coming at meat and drink. Get
+thee to thy horoscopes again, thy prayers and thy suffumigations; and
+see if thou hast not, by any mischance, overlooked some favourable
+moment for to-morrow, or the day after."
+
+"It cannot be," said Botello; "my art has disclosed me no hope; but,
+without art, I can see that, to-morrow, the news of Montezuma's death,
+(for surely he is now dying,) will fill the causeways with mountaineers,
+and cover the lake with navigators, all coming to avenge it."
+
+"I like thy magic better than thy mother wit," said Don Hernan, with a
+frown. "Give me what diabolical comfort thou canst to the soldiers; but
+croak no common-sense alarms into their ears."
+
+"I have nothing to do with the magic that is diabolic," said the
+offended enchanter. "God is my stay, and the fiends I curse! If I have
+fears, I speak them not, save to those who may handle them for wise
+purposes. This, which I have said, will surely be the fate of to-morrow;
+and the besiegers will come, in double numbers, to the walls. What I
+have to speak of to-day, may be of as much moment, though revealed to me
+neither by star nor spirit.--The Mexicans are struck with horror, having
+slain their king; they hide them in their houses, or they run, mourning,
+to the temples; the soldiers are fresh, and the streets are empty. What
+hinders, that we do not gird on our packs, and, aiming for the near and
+short dike of Tacuba, which I so lately traversed, with the king's
+daughters, make good our retreat this moment?"
+
+"By Santiago!" cried Cortes, quickly, "this is a soldier's thought, and
+honoured shalt thou be for conceiving it. What ho, Sandoval, my friend!
+get the troops in readiness. Prepare thy litters for the sick and
+wounded;--have all ready at a moment's warning. In the meanwhile, I will
+scour the western streets, and if all promise well, will return to
+conduct the retreat in person."
+
+"We can carry with us," said Botello, "the wounded king, and his sons
+and daughters; and if it chance we should be followed, we will do as the
+tiger-hunter does with the cubs, when the dam pursues him,--fling a
+prisoner, ever and anon, on the path, to check the fury of our
+persecutors.--The king will be better than a purse of gold."
+
+"Ay! now thou art my sage soldier again!" said the general. "Get thee to
+the men, and comfort them. Apothecary, look to the emperor; see that he
+have the best litter.--Forget not thy drugs and potions. And now,
+Christian cavaliers, and brothers, be of good heart.--Let us mount
+horse, and look at the dike of Tacuba."
+
+The officers, greatly encouraged at the prospect of so speedy a release
+from their sufferings, followed the general from the apartment. Their
+elation was not shared by Don Amador de Leste. He rejoiced, for his
+kinsman's sake, that he was about to bear him from the din and privation
+of a besieged citadel; but he remembered that the Moorish boy must be
+left behind to perish; and it seemed to him, in addition, that certain
+mystic ties, the result of a day's adventure, which began to bind his
+thoughts to the pagan city, were, by the retreat, to be severed at once,
+and for ever.
+
+But if his gloom was increased by such reflections, It was, in part,
+dispelled, when he reached the chamber of his kinsman. The delirium had
+vanished, and the knight sat on his couch, feeble, indeed, and greatly
+dejected, but quite in his senses. He turned an eye of affection on the
+youth, and with his trembling hand grasped Don Amador's.
+
+"I have been as one that slept, dreaming my dreams," he said, "while
+thou hast been fighting the infidel. Strange visions have beset me; but
+thanks be to heaven! they have passed away; and, by-and-by, I will be
+able to mount and go forth with thee; and we will fight, side by side,
+as we have done before, among the Mussulmans."
+
+"Think not of that, my father," said the novice, "for thou art very
+feeble. I would, indeed, thou hadst but the strength, this day, to sit
+on the saddle; for we are about to retreat from Tenochtitlan.
+Nevertheless, Baltasar shall have thy couch placed on a litter, which we
+can secure between two horses."
+
+"Speakest thou of retreating?" exclaimed Don Gabriel.
+
+"It is even so, my friend. The numbers, the fury, and the unabating
+exertions of the Mexicans, are greater than we looked for. We have lost
+many men, are reduced to great extremities for food, altogether
+dispirited, and now left so helpless, by the disaster of the king, that
+we have no hope but in flight."
+
+"Is the king hurt?--and by a Spaniard?"
+
+"Wounded by the stones and arrows of his own people, and now dying. And,
+it is thought, we can depart to best advantage, while the Mexicans are
+repenting the impiety that slew him."
+
+"And we must retreat?"
+
+"If we can;--a matter which we, who are mounted, are about to determine,
+by riding to the nearest causeway. This, dear father, will give Marco
+and Baltasar time to prepare thee. I will leave Lazaro and the secretary
+to assist them. Presently, we will return; and when we march, be it
+unopposed, or yet through files of the enemy, I swear to thee I will
+ride ever at thy side."
+
+"And my boy?--my loving little page, Jacinto?" exclaimed the knight,
+anxiously: "Hath he returned to us? I have a recollection, that he was
+stolen away. 'Twill be a new sin to me, if he come to harm through my
+neglect."
+
+"Let us think no more of Jacinto," said the novice with a sigh. "If he
+be living, he is now in the hands of Abdalla, his father, who has
+deserted from us, and is supposed to be harboured by the Mexicans. God
+is over all--we can do him no good--God will protect him!"
+
+Don Gabriel eyed his kinsman sorrowfully, saying,
+
+"Evil follows in my path, and overtakes those who follow after me. Every
+day open I mine eyes upon a new grief. I loved this child very well;
+and, for my punishment, he is taken from me. I love thee, also, Amador,
+whom I may call my son; for faithful and unwearying art thou; and,
+belike, the last blow will fall, when _thou_ art snatched away. Guard
+well thy life, for it is the last pillar of my own!"
+
+A few moments of affection, a few words of condolence, were bestowed
+upon Don Gabriel; and then the novice left him, to accompany the
+cavaliers to the causeway.
+
+As he was stepping from the palace door into the court-yard, his arm was
+caught by the magician, who, looking into his face with exceeding great
+solemnity, said,--
+
+"Ride not thou with the cavaliers to-day, noble gentleman. Thou art
+unlucky."
+
+A faint smile lit the countenance of the youth. It was soon followed by
+a sigh.
+
+"This is, indeed, a truth, which no magic could make more manifest than
+has the history of much of my life. I am unfortunate; yet not in affairs
+of war;--being now, as you see, almost the only man in this garrison,
+who is not, in part, disabled by severe wounds. Yet why should I not
+ride with my friends?"
+
+"Because thou wilt bring them trouble, and thyself misery.--I cannot
+say, senor," added Botello, with grave earnestness, "that thou didst
+absolutely save my life, when thou broughtest me succour in the street;
+seeing that this is under the influence of a destiny, well known to me,
+which man cannot alter.--It was not possible those savages could slay
+me. Nevertheless, my gratitude is as strong, for thy good will was as
+great. I promised to read thee thy fortune; but in the troubles which
+beset me, I could not perfect thy horoscope. All I have learned is, that
+a heavy storm hangs over thee; and that, if thou art not discreet, thy
+last hour is nigh, and will be miserable. The very night of thy good and
+noble service, I dreamed that we were surrounded by all the assembled
+Mexicans, making with them a contract of peace; to which they were about
+swearing, when they laid their eyes upon thee, and straightway were
+incensed, at the sight, as at the call of a trumpet, to attack us. Thou
+knowest, that it was thy rash attack on the accursed prophetess, which
+brought the knaves upon us! Thrice was this vision repeated to me: twice
+has it been confirmed--once at the temple, and, but a moment since, on
+the roof. Hadst _thou_ not stood before the king with thy shield, the
+rage of the Mexicans would not have destroyed him! Therefore, go not
+out, now; for he that brings mischief, twice, to his friends, will, the
+third time, be involved in their ruin!"
+
+The neophyte stared at Botello, who pronounced these fantastic
+adjurations with the most solemn emphasis. His heart was heavy, or their
+folly would have amused him.
+
+"Be not alarmed, Botello," he said, good-humouredly,--"I will be very
+discreet. My conscience absolves me of all agency in the king's hurts;
+and if I did, indeed, draw on the attack at the pyramid, as I am by no
+means certain, I only put match to the cannon, which, otherwise, might
+have been aimed at us more fatally. I promise thee to be rash no
+more,--no, not even though I should again behold the marvellous
+prophetess, who, as Montezuma told us, has risen from his pagan hell."
+
+The enchanter would have remonstrated further; but, at this moment, the
+trumpet gave signal that the cavaliers were departing, and Don Amador
+stayed neither to argue nor console. He commanded the secretary, whom
+he found among the throng, to return to Don Gabriel; and Lorenzo
+reluctantly obeyed. Lazaro was already with the knight.
+
+Thus, without personal attendants, Don Amador mounted, this day, among
+the cavaliers, prepared to disprove the enchanter's predictions, or to
+consummate his destiny.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+
+The sufferings of the Spaniards in the streets, when returning from the
+pyramid, had admonished the general of the necessity of devising some
+plan of protection against those citizens who fought from the
+house-tops, whenever constrained to attempt a second sortie.
+Accordingly, the artisans, in obedience to his commands, had spent the
+preceding night in the construction of certain wooden turrets,
+sufficiently lofty to overlook the commoner houses, and strong enough to
+bid defiance to the darts of the enemy. They were framed of timbers and
+planks, torn from different parts of the palace. Each was two stories in
+height, and, in addition, was furnished with a guard, or battlement over
+the roof, breast-high, behind which, some half a score musketeers might
+ensconce themselves to advantage, while nearly as many crossbowmen could
+be concealed in either chamber, discharging their weapons from narrow
+loop-holes. A little falconet was also placed in the upper chamber. They
+were mounted on gun-carriages, and meant to be drawn by the Indian
+allies. They were called at first _mantas_, or blankets; but afterwards
+were nicknamed _burros_,--either because they were such silly
+protections as might have been devised by the most stupid of animals,
+which is one signification of the word, or, because the cannon-wheels,
+revolving under the mass, reminded the soldiers of the great wheel of a
+mill, which is another meaning. One of these machines had been
+completed, and was now ordered to be taken out,--not from any
+apprehension that it might be needed, but because it appeared to the
+sagacious general, that, if fate should imprison him longer in
+Tenochtitlan, the present was the best opportunity to instruct his
+soldiers in the management of it.
+
+It was already lumbering slowly and clumsily over the broken square,
+drawn by some two hundred Tlascalans, and well manned with soldiers,
+when Don Amador passed from the gates. As the cavaliers rode by, its
+little garrison, vastly delighted with their safe and lazy quarters,
+greeted them with a merry cheer, the gayest and most sonorous strain of
+which was sounded by those who defended the roof. As Don Amador looked
+curiously up, he was hailed by a voice not yet forgotten, and beheld,
+perched among others, whom he seemed to command, on the very top of the
+manta, the master of the caravel.
+
+"I give you a good day, noble Don Amador!" said this commander, with a
+grin. "I am not now aboard of such a bark as the little Sangre de
+Cristo; but, for navigating through a beleagured city, especially among
+such cut-throats as we have here in Tenochtitlan, perhaps a better ship
+could not be invented."
+
+"Thou art then resolved," said the cavalier, with a smile, "that this
+people is not far behind the race of Florida?"
+
+"Ay! I cannot but believe it; and I ask their pardon, for having so
+greatly belied them," said the captain; "for more ferocious devils than
+these, never saw I;--they dwell not among the lagoons of the north."
+
+"And dost thou remember thy wager?" said Don Amador, losing the little
+gayety that was on his visage, at the recollection.
+
+"Concerning my soul, (which heaven have in keeping!) and the cotton
+neck-piece?" cried the sailor, with a grim look.--"Ay, by my faith, I
+do. If we fly this day, the first part of the venture is accomplished;
+for true valour must acknowledge a defeat, as well as boast a victory.
+And if we do not, I am even ready to wager over again for the second,
+touching heaven. Three more such days as yesterday, and God bless us
+all! But it is a good death to die, fighting the heathen! At the worst,
+I have cheated the devil;--for the padre Olmedo absolved me this
+morning."
+
+Don Amador rode forward, relapsing into gloom.
+
+The streets were, for a time, deserted and silent, as if the inhabitants
+had fled from the island; and when, now and then, the cavaliers halted,
+to deliberate on their course, to list for the cries of human voices, or
+to watch the progress of the tottering manta, already far behind, the
+sound of shrubs rustling together on the terraces, came to their ears
+with the melancholy cadences of a desert. Sometimes, indeed, in these
+pauses, they heard, from the recesses of a dwelling, which otherwise
+seemed forsaken, faint groans, as of a wounded foeman dying without
+succour; and, occasionally, to these were added the low sobs of women,
+lamenting a sire or brother. But they had approached the limits of the
+island, and almost within view of the causeway, without yet beholding an
+enemy, when a warning gesture from the hands of Don Hernan, at the
+front, brought them to a halt; and, as they stood in silence, they
+heard, coming faintly on the breeze, and, as it seemed, from a street
+which crossed their path, a little in advance, such sounds of flutes and
+tabours as had, the day before, conducted the mysterious priestess to
+the pyramid.
+
+Don Amador's heart beat with a strange agitation as he listened; and he
+burned again to look on the countenance of this divine representative of
+a pagan divinity. Whether it was the dejection of his spirits which gave
+its own character to the music; or whether indeed this was now breathed
+from the lips of mourners, he thought not to inquire; but others were
+struck with the wild sadness of the strain, and gazed inquisitively
+upon one another, as if to gather its meaning. While they thus exchanged
+looks, and awaited the issue of the event, the sounds approached,
+growing louder, but losing none of their melancholy; and a train of
+priests, in long black robes, and with downcast eyes, followed by boys
+with smoking censers, at last stole on their view, slowly crossing the
+street on which they had halted. At this moment, and just as the
+prophetess (for it was she who stood, as before, under the feathered
+canopy, carried by the devotees,) came into sight, the roar of a cannon,
+bellowing afar from the palace, startled the cavaliers from their
+tranquillity; and, in the assurance of new conflicts, destroyed, at
+once, their hope of peaceful escape. This explosion, as was afterwards
+discovered, was rather the cause than the consequence of hostilities;
+for the Mexicans, after the sortie of Cortes, approaching the citadel in
+great numbers, to beseech the body of their king, not doubting that he
+was slain, the Spaniards had mistaken their grief for renewing rage, and
+immediately fired upon them.
+
+A furious scowl darkened the visage of Don Hernan, as this distant
+discharge swept away his hopes; and rising on his stirrups, he cried to
+his companions,
+
+"Let us seize the person of this accursed priestess,--demon, or
+woman,--who profanes the holiness of Our Lady, and incenses the hearts
+of the rabble! On, and be quick; for 'tis an easy prize, and may replace
+the emperor!"
+
+Until this moment, the train, casting their eyes neither to the right
+nor left, and raising them not even at the roar of the cannon, had been
+ignorant of the presence of the Spaniards. But when the harsh voice of
+the Christian drowned the breathings of the flutes, they paused, looking
+towards him in affright; and again, for an instant, the lustrous eyes of
+the prophetess fell upon the visage of Don Amador. His heart heaved with
+a sickening sensation; and the impulse which had before driven to flight
+his better judgment, assailed him anew with violence. His voice shouted
+with the rest, but it uttered the name of Leila; and, as if, indeed, he
+beheld the lost maid of Almeria, or her phantom, he spurred towards the
+prophetess full as madly as when she vanished, before, under the Wall of
+Serpents. But the train, scattering at once, fled in horror from the
+Spaniards, escaping into the neighbouring houses. The object of the
+outrage, nevertheless, seemed in the power of the cavaliers; for though
+the bearers deserted her not they fled but slowly under their burden.
+
+But there were protectors nigh, of whom the Spaniards had not dreamed;
+and even Cortes himself reined back his horse with dismay, when,
+suddenly, there sprang from the intersecting street a multitude of armed
+nobles, interposing their bodies between him and his victim; and his
+eye, running an instant down the street, beheld them followed by a
+myriad of pagans without end.
+
+"Back to the manta!" cried the general, hastily; "for these dogs are
+armed, and the men of the turret have no aid!--Hark! hear ye not the
+howls? Rein round, and back! They are slaying my Tlascalans!"
+
+Before the neophyte could recover from his confusion of mind, he found
+himself turned round and borne along with the mass of galloping
+horsemen. The Mexicans uttered a cry, as with one impulse, and followed
+furiously after.
+
+In the crowd of thought that distracted him, Don Amador remembered the
+words of Botello, and believed that he was, indeed, labouring under some
+enchantment, which made him a misfortune to his friends. But not long
+had he leisure for such meditations. The loud yells of combatants, and
+the sounds of arquebuses, in front, increased at each step; and, quickly
+turning an angle in the street, he found himself in the midst of
+conflict.
+
+An immense herd of men had surrounded the manta, and were engaged hand
+to hand with the Tlascalans who drew it; while the Spaniards on its top
+defended themselves, at a disadvantage, from many Mexicans, stationed on
+the terrace of a lofty house, the dwelling of some superb Tlatoani. So
+near indeed was the turret to the walls of this edifice, and so high
+above it was the latter, that the huge stones tumbled from the
+battlements, fell with great certainty on its roof, crushing the men of
+the caravel, and beating down both the wooden parapet and the platform.
+At the same time, certain savages, with long poles, struck at the
+defenders, and thrusting the points of their weapons into its breaches,
+endeavoured to topple it to the ground. As it rocked thus to and fro,
+the violent motion entirely prevented the little garrison from making
+use of their arms; and with wild cries to their friends, to seize the
+ropes, dropped by the Tlascalans, and drag the manta from the palace,
+they were seen holding by its sides as well as they could, receiving,
+without returning, the blows of their adversaries. The necessity of
+obeying their prayer was seen more plainly than the means; for the crowd
+of mingled Tlascalans and Mexicans that surrounded the crazy machine,
+was impenetrable; and had it been so, the appearance of the manta,
+threatening each moment to fall, would have deterred the boldest from
+approaching its dangerous vicinity.
+
+As it was, the cavaliers gave what aid they could. They thrust their
+spears into the mass of Indians, shouting to the Tlascalans to disengage
+themselves from the enemy. But these shouts, if the allies did not
+indeed receive them rather as encouragement to fight the more fiercely,
+dissolved not the bloody melee into its components of friend and foe;
+and many a Tlascalan died, that day, pierced through the heart by
+spears, which their bearers thought were thrust through the breasts of
+Mexicans.
+
+In the meanwhile, the heavy burro was shaken still more violently; and
+Don Amador, looking up, beheld the master of the caravel alone on the
+top, (for his sailors were already slain) grasping despairingly at a
+fragment of the parapet; while stones and darts were showered upon him
+from the adjoining terrace, and a heavy pole, aimed by a lusty
+barbarian, struck him with merciless severity. His countenance was pale,
+his eye haggard, and his honourable scars now livid, and almost black,
+were relieved, like fresh wounds, on his ghastly brow. His helmet had
+fallen to the ground; and the sight of his gray hairs shaking over his
+scarred front, as he was tossed up and down, like one bound hand and
+foot on the back of a wild animal, inflamed the neophyte with both rage
+and pity.
+
+"Loose thy hold! drop upon the Indians, and take thy chance among them!"
+he cried at the top of his voice. "What ho! friend Gomez! wilt thou lie
+there, and perish?"
+
+It seemed as if the voice of the cavalier had not passed unheard; for
+the wretched man was seen to raise himself on his knees, and look down
+to the fighting men below, as if meditating a leap; when suddenly a
+great stone fell on the platform with a crashing noise, and, at the same
+moment, the manta, lurching like an ill-ballasted ship before a
+hurricane, staggered over its balance, and fell with a tremendous shock
+to the ground. The neophyte thought not of the miserable combatants,
+crushed in its fall. He beheld the voyager, at the instant of its
+destruction, hurled from the ruin, as if from some mighty balista of
+ancient days, clear over the heads of the Indians, and dashed, a mangled
+and hideous corse, almost at his feet.
+
+"God pity thee!" he cried, with a shudder; "thy words are made good, thy
+wager is won,--and the saints that died for the faith, take thee to
+paradise!"
+
+"Do ye hear! Ho! to your lances, and back upon the wolves that are
+behind us!" cried the trumpet-voice of Don Hernan. The neophyte turned,
+and clapping spurs to Fogoso, charged, with the cavaliers, upon those
+squadrons which had pursued them;--but, like his companions, he checked
+his horse with surprise, and no little consternation, when he beheld in
+what manner the infidels were prepared to receive them. The street was
+packed with their bodies, as far as the eye could see; and darts and
+swords of obsidian were seen flashing above the heads of the most
+distant multitude; but he perceived that those combatants who stood in
+front, stretching from wall to wall, were armed with long spears,
+mostly, indeed, with wooden points, sharpened, and fire-hardened, though
+some few were seen with copper blades, full a yard in length, which they
+handled with singular and menacing address. Thus, no sooner did the
+cavaliers approach them, than those of the first rank, dropping, like
+trained soldiers, to their knees, planted the buts of their weapons on
+the ground, while those held by others behind, were thrust over the
+shoulders of the kneelers, and presented, together, such a wall of
+bristling spines, as caused the bravest to hesitate.
+
+"Have we Ottomies of the hills here!" cried Don Hernan, aghast. "Or are
+these weapons, and this mode of using them, the teaching of the traitor
+Moor?"
+
+A loud shout, mingled with laughs of fierce derision, testified the
+triumph of the barbarians; and Cortes, stung with fury, though
+hesitating to attack, called for his musketeers, to break the line of
+opponents.
+
+"Our musketeers are in heaven! carried up in the fiend of a burro!"
+cried Alvarado, waving his sword, and eyeing the vaunting herd. "Before
+the days of saltpetre, true men were wont to shoot their foes without
+it.--All that is to be done, is to conceive we are hunting foxes, and
+leaping over a farmer's wall. Soho! Saladin, mouse! And all that are
+brave gentlemen, follow me! Hah!"
+
+As he concluded, the madcap soldier spurred his steed Saladin, and,
+uttering a war-cry, dashed fearlessly on the spearmen. Before he had yet
+parted from his companions, Don Amador de Leste, fired, in spite of his
+melancholy, by the boldness of the exploit, and unwilling to be outdone
+by a cavalier of the islands, brushed up to his side, and spurring
+Fogoso at the same moment, the two hidalgos straightway vaulted among
+the barbarians.
+
+The show of resolution maintained by the exulting spearmen, while the
+Christians stood yet at a distance, vanished when they beheld those
+animals, which they always regarded with a superstitious awe, rushing
+upon them with eyes of fury, and feet of thunder. To this faltering,
+perhaps, it was owing, that the two Dons were not instantly slain; for,
+though the heavy armour that guarded the chests and loins of the steeds,
+could repel the thrust of a wooden spear as well as the corslets of
+their riders, no such protection sheathed their bellies; and had they
+been there pierced, their masters must instantly have perished. As it
+was, however, the front rank recoiled, and when it closed again, the
+cavaliers were seen wielding their swords, (for in such a melee their
+spears were useless,) and striking valiantly about them, but entirely
+surrounded.
+
+"Shall we be thus shamed, my masters?" cried Don Hernan,
+sharply. "Methinks there are two _more_ such cavaliers in this
+company?--Santiago, and at them!"
+
+Thus saying, and, with a word, inflaming their pride, he leaped against
+the foe, followed by all the horsemen.
+
+The two leaders in this desperate assault had vanished,--swallowed up,
+as it were, in the vortex of contention; and it was not until his
+friends heard the voice of Alvarado exclaiming, wildly, as if in
+extremity, "Help me, De Leste, true friend! for I am unhorsed! Help me,
+or the hell-hounds will have me to the temple!"--that they were
+convinced the young men were living.
+
+"Be of good heart!" cried Don Amador, (for he was at his side,) drawing
+his sabre, with a dexterous sleight, over the sinewy arms that clutched
+his companion, and releasing, without doing him harm. "If thou art
+disarmed, draw my dagger from the sheath and use it; and fear not that I
+will leave thee, till rescued by others."
+
+"Who gets my sword, takes the arm along with it!" cried Alvarado,
+grasping again his chained weapon, and dealing fierce blows, as he
+spoke. "I will remember the act--Ho! false friends! forsworn soldiers!
+condemned Christians! why leave ye us unsupported?"
+
+"Courage, and strike well! we are near," answered Don Hernan. "Press on,
+friends; trample the curs to death! Join we our true cavaliers; and then
+sweep back for victory!"
+
+"Where goest thou, now, mad Amador?" they heard the voice of Alvarado
+exclaiming; "Return: thy horse is shoed with piraguas; but mine sticks
+fast in this bog of flesh. Return; for, by heaven, I can follow thee no
+further!"
+
+"Come on, as thou art a true man; for I am sore beset, and wounded!"
+These words, from the lips of the neophyte, came yet through the din of
+yells; but it seemed to those who listened, that there was feebleness in
+the voice that uttered them.
+
+"Onward!" cried Cortes, with a voice of thunder, and urging his dun
+steed furiously over the trampled barbarians; "the young man shall not
+perish!"
+
+A wolf-hound, weary and spent with the chase, suddenly surrounded by a
+whole pack of the destroyers he has been tracking, and falling under the
+fangs of his quarry, may figure the condition of Don Amador de Leste,
+surrounded and seized upon by the enemy. Nothing but the vigour of
+powerful and fiery-spirited steeds could have carried the two cavaliers
+so far into a crowd of warriors almost compacted. While the neophyte
+gave assistance to his friend, a dozen blows of the maquahuitl were
+rained upon his body; and so closely was he invested immediately after,
+(when, as Alvarado reined in his steed to await the rest, the two
+cavaliers were separated,) that he thought no longer of warding off
+blows; but giving himself up to smiting, he trusted to the strength of
+his mail for protection. But the heavy bludgeons bruised where they
+could not wound; and his armour being, at last, broken by the fury of
+the blows, the sharp glass penetrated to his flesh, and he began to
+bleed. He cast his eye over his shoulder, for his strength was failing;
+but the plume of Don Pedro waved at a distance behind, and the shouts of
+Cortes seemed to come from afar. He turned his horse's head, to retreat;
+but half a dozen savages, emboldened by this symptom of defeat, clutched
+upon the bridle; and the hand he raised to smite at them, was seized by
+as many others. It was at this moment that he called out to his
+companion, in the words we have recorded; but the answer, if answer were
+made, was drowned in the savage yells of exultation, with which his foes
+beheld him in their power. He collected all his energies, struggled
+violently, and striking the rowels deep, and animating Fogoso with his
+voice, hoped, by one bound, to spring clear of his capturers. The
+gallant steed vaulted on high, but fell again to the earth, under the
+weight of the many that clung to him: and a dozen new hands were added
+to those that already throttled the rider.
+
+"Rescue me, if ye be men!" he cried, with a voice that prevailed over
+the uproar.--The cry was echoed by twenty Christian voices hard by, and
+a gleam of hope entered into his heart. Another furious struggle,
+another plunge of Fogoso, and he thought that the hands of his enemies
+were at last unclenching. A bright weapon flashed before his eyes--It
+was steel, and therefore the falchion of a friend!--It fell upon his
+helmet with irresistible weight; his brain spun, his eyes darkened, and
+he fell, or rather was dragged, like a dead man, from his horse. But ere
+his eyes had yet closed, their last glance was fixed on the visage of
+the striker; and the sting of benefits forgotten was added to the
+bitterness of death, when, in this, he perceived the features of
+Abdalla, the Moor.
+
+In an instant more, the barbarians parted in terror before the great
+Teuctli.
+
+"Where art thou, De Leste?" he cried. "We are here, to rescue thee!"
+
+As he spoke, there sprang, with a fierce bound, from among the Mexicans,
+the well-known bay, Fogoso, his foamy sides streaked with gore, the
+stirrups rattling against his armed flanks, the reins flying in the
+air,--but no rider on the saddle.
+
+"By heaven, false friends! craven gentlemen! you have lost the bravest
+of your supporters!" cried Don Hernan. "On! for he may yet live: on! for
+we will avenge him!"
+
+The band, resolute now in their wrath, plunged fiercely through the mob.
+They struck down many enemies,--they trampled upon many corses; but,
+among them, they found not the body of De Leste.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+
+Whether it was that this attack was caused by an ebullition of popular
+fury, which yielded to some mysterious and religious revulsion of
+feeling, or whether, indeed, the leaders of the barbarians, persuaded of
+the madness of fighting the Christians hand to hand, and resolved to
+conquer them rather by famine than arms, had called off their
+forces,--was a secret the Spaniards could never penetrate. No sacred
+horn was sounded on the pyramid; but, in the very midst of what seemed
+their triumph, when the cavaliers were nearly exhausted and despairing,
+it became manifest that the Mexicans were giving way, and vanishing, not
+one by one, but in great clusters, from the field.
+
+The Christians had no longer the spirit to pursue. They found the street
+open; and, dashing through the few foemen that lingered on the field,
+they made their way good to the palace. Before they reached it, they
+were joined by a powerful detachment, sent out to their assistance. They
+returned together. At the gate of the court-yard, stood Baltasar,
+Lazaro, and the secretary, looking eagerly for the appearance of Don
+Amador. His horse was led by a cavalier, whose countenance was more
+dejected than the rest. It was De Morla; and as he flung the bridle to
+Lazaro, he said,--
+
+"Hadst _thou_ been with thy master, this thing had not happened; for,
+though a serving-man, thou wouldst have remained behind him, when a
+cavalier deserted."
+
+"Dost thou accuse _me_ of deserting the noble youth?" said Alvarado,
+fiercely. "God forbid, I should shed Christian blood! but, with my
+sword's point, I will prove upon thy body, that thou liest!"
+
+"And upon thine," said De Morla, with calm indignation, "I will make
+good the charge I have uttered, that thou didst abandon in extremity,
+when he called upon thee for aid, the man who had just preserved thine
+own life."
+
+"Are there not deaths enow among the infidels?" cried Cortes, angrily,
+"that ye must lust after one another's blood?--Peace! and be ye friends,
+lamenting our valiant companion together; for, De Morla, thou doest a
+wrong to Alvarado; and, Don Pedro, thou art a fool, to quarrel with the
+peevishness of a mourning friend."
+
+The secretary listened to the cavaliers with a face of horror; not a
+word said Lazaro, but as he wiped the foam from the steed, and, with it,
+the blood of his master, he eyed Don Pedro with a dark and vindictive
+scowl. As for Baltasar, his rugged features quivered, and he did not
+hesitate to stand in the way of the Tonatiuh, saying,--
+
+"If any cavalier have, indeed, been false to my young lord, I, who am
+but a serving-man, will make bold to say, he has played false to a
+gentleman who would have perilled his life for any Christian in need;
+and the act, though it be answered to man, God will not forgive.--Who
+will tell this to my master, Don Gabriel?"
+
+Alvarado, extremely enraged, had raised his spear to strike the old
+soldier; but he dropped his arm, at the last words, and said with great
+mildness,--
+
+"Thou art a fool to say this.--I lament thy lord; I loved him, and I did
+not desert him----"
+
+For the remainder of that day, the garrison were left in peace. No foes
+appeared on the square; but, twice or thrice, when parties were sent out
+to reconnoitre, they were met, at a distance from the palace, by herds
+of Mexicans, and driven back to their quarters.
+
+The desperate situation of the army was now evident to the dullest
+comprehension. The barbarians had removed from the reach of the
+artillery, and drawn, with their bodies, a line of circumvallation round
+their victims, patiently waiting for the moment, when famine should
+bring them a secure vengeance. All day, there were seen, on the top of
+the pyramid, priests and nobles, now engaged in some rite of devotion,
+and now looking down, on the besieged, like vultures on their prey; but
+without attempting any annoyance.
+
+The murmurs of the garrison, exasperated by despair and want of food,
+were loud and stern; but Don Hernan received them only with biting
+sarcasms. He bade those who were most mutinous, to depart if they would;
+and laughed scornfully at their confessions of inability. To those who
+cried for food, he answered by pointing grimly to the stone walls, and
+the carcasses that lay on the square; or he counselled them to seek it
+among their foes. In truth, the general knew their helplessness, and in
+the bitterness of his heart at being thus foiled and jeoparded, he did
+not scruple to punish their discontent, by disclosing the full misery of
+their situation. They were dependent upon him for life and hope, and he
+suffered this dependence to be made apparent. He revealed to them no
+scheme of relief or escape; for, in fact, he had framed none. He was,
+himself, as desperate as the rest, seeing nothing before him but
+destruction, and not knowing how to avoid it; and what measures he did
+take, during these sorrowful hours, were rather expedients to divert his
+thoughts, than plans to diminish the general distress.
+
+Notwithstanding the memorable fate of the burro, and the disinclination
+of the soldiers to die the death of its garrison, he obstinately
+commanded those which were unfinished to be completed, with some
+additional contrivances to increase their strength and mobility. He sent
+out parties to ransack the deserted houses in the vicinity, for
+provisions, though hopeless of obtaining any; and he set the idlers to
+mending their armour of escaupil, and the smiths to making arrow-heads,
+as if still determined rather to fight than fly. He held no councils
+with his officers, for he knew they had no projects to advise; and the
+desperate resort over which he pondered, of sallying out with his whole
+force, and cutting his way through the opposing foe, was too full of
+horror to be yet spoken. Moreover, while Montezuma yet lived, he could
+not think his situation entirely hopeless. The surgeon, upon a
+re-examination of the king's wounds, had formed a more favourable
+prognostic; and this was strengthened, when Montezuma at last awoke from
+stupor, and recovered the possession of his intellects. It was told him,
+indeed, that the royal Indian, as if resuming his wits only to cast them
+away again, had no sooner become sensible of his condition, and
+remembered that his wounds had been inflicted by his people, than he
+fell into a frenzy of grief and despair, tearing away the bandages from
+his body, and calling upon his gods to receive him into Tlacopan, the
+place of caverns and rivers, where wandered those who died the death of
+the miserable. Don Hernan imagined that these transports would soon rave
+themselves away, and persuaded himself that his captive, yielding at
+last to the natural love of life, would yet remain in his hands, the
+hostage of safety, and perhaps the instrument of authority.
+
+Sorrow dwelt in the palace of Axajacatl; but her presence was more
+deeply acknowledged in the chamber of Calavar. From the lips of
+Baltasar,--and the rude veteran wept, when he narrated the fall of the
+young cavalier, whom he had himself first taught the knowledge of
+arms,--Don Gabriel learned the fate of his kinsman. But he neither wept
+like Baltasar, nor joined in the loud lamentations of Marco. His eyes
+dilated with a wild expression, his lip fell, he drooped his head on his
+breast, and clasping his hands over his heart, muttered an
+unintelligible prayer,--perhaps the ejaculation which so often, and so
+piteously, expressed his desolation. Then falling down upon his couch,
+and turning his face to the wall, he remained for the whole day and
+night without speaking a word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+
+The fate of Don Amador de Leste, though so darkly written in the hearts
+of his companions, was not yet brought to a close. Some of his late
+friends deemed only that he had been overpowered and slain; but others,
+better acquainted with the customs of the foe, shuddered over the
+assurance of a death yet more awful. They knew that the pride of the
+Mexican warrior was, not to slay, but to capture; as if, indeed, these
+demi-barbarians made war less for the glory of taking life, than for the
+honour of offering it in sacrifice to the gods. Such, in truth, was the
+case; and to this circumstance was it owing that the Christians were not
+utterly destroyed, in any one encounter in the streets of Tenochtitlan.
+The fury of their foes was such as may be imagined in a people goaded to
+desperation by atrocious tyranny and insult, and fighting with foreign
+oppressors at their very firesides; yet, notwithstanding the deadly
+feeling of vengeance at their hearts, they never forgot their duties to
+their faith; and they forbore to kill, in the effort to take prisoner.
+Twice or thrice, at least, in the course of the war that followed after
+these events, the life of Cortes, himself, was in their hands; and the
+thrust of a javelin, or the stroke of a bludgeon, would have freed them
+from the destroyer. But they neither struck nor thrust; they strove to
+bear him off alive, as the most acceptable offering they could carry to
+the temple; thus always giving his followers an opportunity to rescue
+him out of their grasp. Every captive thus seized and retained, died a
+death too terrible for description; and high or low,--the base boor, and
+the noble hidalgo, alike,--expiated, on the stone of sacrifice, the
+wrongs done to the religion of Mexitli.
+
+Knowing so much of the customs of Anahuac, and not having discovered his
+body, the more experienced cavaliers were convinced that Don Amador de
+Leste had not yet enjoyed the happiness of death; they persuaded
+themselves that he had been taken alive, and was preserved for
+sacrifice. Many a Castilian eye, that afternoon, was cast upon the
+pyramid, watching the steps, and eagerly examining the persons of all
+who ascended.--But no victim was seen borne upon their shoulders----
+
+When the cavalier of Cuenza opened his eyes, after the stunning effects
+of the blow were over, it was in a confusion of mind, which the objects
+about him, or, perhaps, the accession of a hot fever,--the result of
+many severe wounds and contusions,--soon converted into delirium. He
+lay,--his armour removed,--on a couch in a spacious apartment, but so
+darkened, that he could not distinguish the countenances of two or three
+dusky figures which seemed to bend over him. His thoughts were still in
+the battle; and, in these persons, he perceived nothing less than
+Mexican warriors still clutching at his body. He started up, and calling
+out, "Ho, Fogoso! one leap more for thy master," caught fiercely at the
+nearest of the individuals. But he had overrated his strength; and,
+almost before a hand was laid upon him, he fell back, fainting, on the
+bed.
+
+"Dost _thou_ strike me, too, false villain?" he again exclaimed, as his
+distempered eyes pictured, in one silent visage, the features of
+Abdalla. "Be thou accursed for thy ingratitude, and live in hell for
+ever!"
+
+A murmur of voices, followed by the sound of retreating steps, was
+heard; and in the silence which ensued, his fancy became more
+disordered, presenting him phantasms still more peculiar.
+
+"Is this death?" he muttered, "and lie I now in the world of shadows?
+God be merciful to me a sinner! Pity and pardon me, O Christ, for I have
+fought for thy faith. Take me from this place of blackness, and let me
+look on the light of bliss!"
+
+A gentle hand was laid upon his forehead, a low sigh breathed on his
+cheek; and suddenly a light, flashing up as from some expiring cresset,
+revealed to his wondering eyes the face and figure of the mysterious
+prophetess.
+
+"O God! art thou indeed a fiend? and dost thou lead me, from the land of
+infidels, to the prison-house of devils?" he cried, again starting up,
+clasping his hands, and gazing wildly on the vision. "Speak to me, thou
+that livest not; for I know, thou art Leila!"
+
+As he uttered these incoherent words, the figure, bending a little away,
+and fastening upon his own, eyes of strange meaning, in which pity
+struggled with terror, seemed, gradually, to fade into the air; until,
+as suddenly as it had flashed into brightness, the light vanished, and
+all was left in darkness.
+
+From this moment, the thoughts of the cavalier wandered with tenfold
+wildness; and he fell into a delirium, which presented, as long as it
+lasted, a succession of exciting images. Now he struggled, in the hall
+of his own castle of Alcornoque, or the Cork-tree, with the false
+Abdalla, the knee of the Almogavar on his breast, and the Arab poniard
+at his throat--while all the time, the perfidious Jacinto stood by,
+exhorting his father to strike; now he stood among burning sands,
+fighting with enraged fiends, over the dead body of his knight, Calavar,
+to protect the beloved corse from their fiery fingers; now the vanished
+Leila sat weeping by his side, dropping upon his fevered lips the juice
+of pleasant fruits, or now she came to him in the likeness of the pagan
+Sibyl, beckoning him away, with melancholy smiles, to a distant bay;
+while, ever, when he strove to rise and follow, the page Jacinto,
+converted into a giant, and brandishing a huge dagger, held him back
+with a lion's strength and ferocity.
+
+With such chimeras, and a thousand others, equally extravagant,
+disturbing his brain, he passed through many hours; and then, as a
+torpor like that of death gradually stole over him, benumbing his
+deranged faculties, the same gentle hand, the same low suspiration,
+which had soothed him before, but without the countenance which had
+maddened, returned to him, and made pleasant the path to annihilation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+
+From a deep slumber, that seemed, indeed, death, for it was dreamless,
+the cavalier, at last, awoke, somewhat confused, but no longer
+delirious; and, though greatly enfeebled, entirely free from fever. A
+yellow sunbeam,--the first or the last glimmering of day, he knew not
+which,--played through a narrow casement, faintly illuminating the
+apartment, and falling especially upon a low table at his side, whereon,
+among painted and gilded vessels of strange form, he perceived his
+helmet, and other pieces of armour as well as a lute, of not less
+remembered workmanship. He raised his eyes to the attendant, who sat
+musing, hard by, and, with a thrill and exclamation of joy, beheld the
+Moorish page, Jacinto.
+
+"Is it thou, indeed, my dear knave Jacinto! whom I thought in the maws
+of infidels?" he cried, starting up. "And how art thou; and how is thy
+lord, Don Gabriel, to-day? Tell me, where hast thou been, these two
+troubled days? and how didst thou return? By my faith, this last bout
+was somewhat hard, and I have slept long!"
+
+"Leave not thy couch, and speak not too loud, noble master," said the
+page, kneeling, and kissing his hand,--"for thou art sick and wounded,
+and here only art thou safe."
+
+"Ay, now indeed!" said Don Amador, with a sudden and painful
+consciousness of his situation, "I remember me. I was struck down, and
+made a prisoner. What good angel brought me into thy company? Thanks be
+to heaven! for my hurts are not much; and I will rescue thee from
+captivity."
+
+"I am not a captive, senor," said the boy, gently.
+
+"Are we, then, in the palace?--Where are our friends?--Am I not a
+prisoner?"
+
+"Senor, we are far from the palace of Axajacatl. But grieve not; for
+here thou art with thy servants."
+
+"Thou speakest to me in riddles," said the novice, with a disturbed and
+bewildered countenance. "Have I been dreaming? Am I enchanted? Am I
+living, and in my senses?"
+
+"The saints be praised, thou art indeed," said the page, fervently;
+"though, both nights, and all day, till the blessed potion set thee
+asleep, I had no hopes thou wouldst ever recover."
+
+"Both nights!" echoed Don Amador, fixing his eyes inquiringly on the
+boy; "Has a night--have two nights passed over me, and wert thou, then,
+with me, during it all?--Ha! Was it thine acts of sorcery, which brought
+me those strange and melancholy visions? Didst _thou_ conjure up to me
+the image of Leila?--That priestess, that very supernatural
+prophetess--By heaven! as I see thee, so saw I her standing at my
+bed-side, in some magical light, which straightway turned to darkness.
+Didst thou not see her? Tell me boy, art thou indeed an enchanter?
+Prepare me thy spells again, reveal me her fate, and let me look on the
+face of Leila!"
+
+As the cavalier spoke, he strove in his eagerness to rise from the
+couch.
+
+"Senor," said the page, a little pleasantly, "if thou wilt have me
+satisfy thy questions, thou must learn to acknowledge me as thy
+physician and jailor; and give me such obedience as thou wouldst,
+formerly, have claimed of me. Rise not up, speak not aloud, and give not
+way to the fancies of fever; for here are no priestesses, and no Leilas.
+I will sing to thee, if that will content thee with bondage. But now
+thou must remain in quiet, and be healed of thy wounds."
+
+"I tell thee, my boy Jacinto," went on the cavalier, "wounds or no
+wounds, jailed or not jailed, I am in a perplexity of mind, which, if
+thou art able, I must command, or, what is the same thing, beseech thee
+to remove. First, therefore, what house is this? and where is it?
+(whether on the isle Mexico, the lake side, the new world, or the old,
+or, indeed, in any part of the earth at all?) Secondly, how got'st thou
+into it? Thirdly, how came I hither myself?--and especially, what good
+Christian did snatch my body out of the paws of those roaring lions, the
+Mexicans, when I was hit that foul and assassin-like blow by--by----"
+
+"Senor," said the page, not doubting but that his patron had paused for
+want of breath, "to answer all these questions, is more than I am
+allowed. All that I can say, is, that if prudent and obedient, (I say
+obedient, noble and dear master," continued the boy archly, "for now you
+are my prisoner,) you are safer in this dungeon than are your Spanish
+friends in their fortress,--reduced to captivity, indeed, but preserved
+from destruction----"
+
+"By the false, traitorous, and most ungrateful knave, Abdalla, thy
+father!" exclaimed the neophyte, with a loud and stern voice; for just
+as he had hesitated to wound the ears of the boy, he beheld, slowly
+stalking into the apartment, and eyeing him over Jacinto's shoulder, the
+Almogavar himself; and the epithets of indignation burst at once from
+his lips. Jacinto started back, alarmed; but Abdalla approached, and
+regarding the wounded cavalier with an unmoved countenance, motioned the
+boy to retire.--In an instant the Moor of Barbary and the Spaniard of
+Castile were left alone together.
+
+"Shall I repeat my words, thou base and cut-throat infidel?" cried Don
+Amador, rising so far as to place his feet on the floor, though still
+sitting on the platform which supported his mattress, and speaking with
+the most cutting anger. "Was it not enough, that thou wert a renegade to
+the rest, but thou must raise thy Judas-hand against thy benefactor?"
+
+"My benefactor indeed!" said Abdoul calmly, and with the most musical
+utterance of his voice. "Though I wear the livery of the pagans;" (He
+had on an armed tunic, somewhat similar to that of Quauhtimotzin, though
+without a plume to his head, and looked not unlike to a Mexican warrior
+of high degree;) "and though I am, by birth, the natural enemy of thee
+and thine, yet have I not forgot that thou _art_ my benefactor! I
+remember, that, when a brutal soldier struck at me with his lance, thy
+hand was raised to protect me from the shame; I remember, when a
+thousand weapons were darting at my prostrate body on the pyramid of
+Zempoala, that thou didst not disdain to preserve me; I remember, that,
+when I fled from the anger of Don Hernan, thou offeredst me thine
+intercession. Senor, I have forgotten none of this; nor have I
+forgotten," he went on, with earnest gratitude, "that, to these favours,
+thou didst add the greater ones, of shielding my feeble child from
+stripes, from ruin, and perhaps from death. This have I not forgotten,
+this can I never forget! The name of Spaniard is a curse on my ears; I
+hate thy people, and, when God gives me help, I will slay, even to the
+last man! but I remember, that thou art my benefactor, and the
+benefactor of my child."
+
+"And dost thou think," said the neophyte, "that these oily words will
+blind me to thy baseness? or that they can deceive me into belief, when
+thy actions have so foully belied them? Cursed art thou, misbelieving
+Moor! an ingrate and apostate; and, had I no cause, in mine own person,
+to know thy perfidy, it should be enough to blazon thy villany, that
+thou hast, on thine own confession, deserted the standard of Christ, and
+the arms of Spain, to enlist in the ranks of their pagan foes!"
+
+"The standard of Christ," said the Moor, with emphasis, "waves not over
+the heads of the Spaniards, but the banner of a fiend, bloody, unjust,
+and accursed, whom they call by His holy name, and who bids them to
+defile and destroy; while the Redeemer proclaimeth only good-will and
+peace to all men. Have thy good heart and thy strong mind been so
+deluded? Canst thou, in truth, believe, that these oppressors of a
+harmless people, these slayers, who raise the cross of heaven on the
+place of blood, and call to God for approval, when their hands are
+smoking with the blood of his creatures, are the followers of Christ the
+peaceful, Christ the just, Christ the holy? These friends whom thou hast
+followed, are not Christians; and God, whom they traduce and belie in
+all their actions, has given them over to the punishment of hypocrites
+and blasphemers, to sufferings miserable and unparalleled, to deaths
+dreadful and memorable! May it be accomplished,--Amen!"
+
+"Dost thou speak this to _me_, vile Almogavar! of my friends and
+countrymen? Dost thou curse them thus in my presence, most unworthy
+apostate?"
+
+"Sorrowful be their doom, and quickly may it come upon them!" cried
+Abdalla, with ferocious fervour, "for what are they, that it should not
+be just? and what am I, that I should not pray that it be accomplished?
+I remember the days of Granada! I remember the sack of the Alhambra! I
+remember the slaughter of the Alpujarras! and I have not forgotten the
+mourning exiles, driven from those green hills, to die among the sands
+of Africa, the clime of their fathers, but to them a land of strangers!
+I remember me how the lowly were given to the scourge, and the princely
+to the fires of Inquisitors,--our children to spears, our wives to
+ravishers and murderers!--Cursed be they that did these things, even to
+the last generation!"
+
+The cavalier was amazed and confounded at the vehement and lofty
+indignation of the Morisco; and as the form of Abdoul-al-Sidi swelled
+with wrath, and his countenance darkened under the gloomy recollection,
+he seemed to Don Amador rather like one of those mountain princes, who
+had defied the conquerors, to the last, among the Alpujarras, than a
+poor herdsman of Fez, deriving his knowledge, and his fury, only from
+the incitations of exiles. His embarrassment was also increased by a
+secret consciousness, that the Moor had cause for his hate and his
+denunciations. He answered him, however, with a severe voice:--
+
+"In these ills and sufferings, _thou_ hadst no part, unless thou hast
+lied to me; having been a child of the desert, afar from the sufferers
+of Granada."
+
+"I _lied_ to thee, then," said Abdalla, elevating his figure, and
+regarding the cavalier with proud tranquillity. "From the beginning to
+the end, was I a chief among the mourners and rebels,--the first to
+strike, as I am now the last to curse, the oppressor,--a child of the
+desert, only when I had no more to suffer among the Alpujarras; and thou
+mayst know, now, that my fury is as deep as it is just,--for the poor
+Abdalla is no Almogavar of Barbary, but a Zegri of Granada!"
+
+"A Zegri of Granada!" cried Don Amador, with surprise.
+
+"A Zegri of Granada, and a prince among Zegris!" said the Moor, with a
+more stately look, though with a voice of the deepest sorrow; "one whose
+fathers have given kings to the Alhambra, but who hath lived to see his
+child a menial in the house of his foe, and both child and father
+leagued with, and lost among, the infidels of a strange land, in a world
+unknown!"
+
+"I thought, by heaven!" said the cavalier, eyeing the apostate with a
+look almost of respect, "that that courage of thine in the pirate rover,
+did argue thee to be somewhat above the stamp of a common boor; and
+therefore, but more especially in regard of thy boy, did I give thee
+consideration myself, and enforce it, as well as I could, to be yielded
+by others. But, by the faith which thou professest, sir Zegri! be thou
+ignoble or regal in thy condition, I have not forgotten that, by the
+blow which has made me (as it seems to me, I am,) thy prisoner, thou
+hast shown thyself unworthy of nobility; and I tell thee again, with
+disgust and indignation, that thou hast done the act of a base and most
+villanous caitiff!"
+
+"Dost thou still say so?" replied the Zegri, mildly. "I have
+acknowledged, that no gratitude can repay thy benefactions; this do I
+still confess; and yet have I done all to requite thee. Thou lookest on
+me with amazement. What is my crime, noble benefactor?"
+
+"What is thy crime? Art _thou_ bewitched, too?--Slave of an ingrate,
+didst thou not, when I was already overpowered, smite me down with thine
+own weapon?"
+
+"I did,--heaven be thanked!" said the Moor, devoutly.
+
+"Dost thou acknowledge it, and thank heaven too?" said the incensed
+cavalier.
+
+"I acknowledge it, and I thank heaven!" said Abdalla, firmly. "Thou
+saidst, thou wert already overpowered. Wert thou not in the hands of the
+Mexicans, beyond all hope of rescue?"
+
+"Doubtless, I was," replied the neophyte; "for Cortes was afar, and
+Alvarado full three spears' length behind. Nevertheless, I did not
+despair of maintaining the fight, until my friends came up to my
+relief."
+
+"Thou wert a captive!" cried the Zegri, impetuously,--"a living captive
+in the hands of Mexicans! Dost thou know the fate of a prisoner in such
+hands?"
+
+"By my faith," said Don Amador, "I have heard, they put their prisoners
+to the torture."
+
+"They sacrifice them to the gods!" cried the Moor. "And the death," he
+continued, his swarthy visage whitening with horror, "the death is of
+such torment and terror as thou canst not conceive; but _I_ can, for I
+have seen it! Now hear me: I saw my benefactor a captive, and I knew his
+life would end on the stone of sacrifice, offered up, like that of a
+beast, to false and fiendish gods! I say, I saw thee thus; I knew this
+should be thy doom; and I did all that my gratitude taught me, to save
+thee. I struck thee down, knowing, that if I slew thee, the blow would
+be that of a true friend, and that thou shouldst die like a soldier, not
+like a fatted sheep. Heaven, however, gave me all that I had dared to
+hope: I harmed thee not; and yet the Mexicans believed that death had
+robbed them of a victim. I harmed thee not; and the heathens suffered me
+to drag away what seemed a corse; but which lived, and was _my
+benefactor_,--the saviour of myself, and the protector of my child!"
+
+As Abdalla concluded these words, spoken with much emphasis and feeling,
+a tear glistened in his eye; and the neophyte, starting up and eagerly
+grasping his hand, exclaimed,--
+
+"Now, by heaven! I see all the wisdom and truth of thy friendship; and I
+beg thy pardon for whatever insulting words my folly has caused me to
+speak. And, now that I know the blow was struck for such a purpose, I
+confess to thee, as thou saidst thyself, it would have been true
+gratitude and love, though it had killed me outright."
+
+"I have done thee even more service than this," said the Zegri, calmly;
+"but, before I speak it, I must demand of thee, as a Christian and
+honourable soldier, to confess thyself my just and true captive."
+
+"Thy captive!" cried Don Amador. "Dost thou hold me then as a prisoner,
+and not as a guest and friend? Dost thou check my thankfulness in the
+bud, and cancel thy services, by making me thy thrall?"
+
+"I will not answer thy demands," said Abdalla. "I call upon thee, as a
+noble and knightly soldier, fairly captured, in open war, by my hands,
+to acknowledge thyself my captive; and, as such, in all things, justly
+at my disposition."
+
+"If thou dost exact it of me," said the cavalier, regarding him with
+much surprise and sorrow, "I must, as a man of honour, so acknowledge
+myself. But I began to think better of thee, Abdalla!"
+
+"And, as a prisoner, to whose honour is confided the charge of his own
+keeping, thou engagest to remain in captivity, without abusing the
+confidence which allows such license, by any efforts to escape?"
+
+"Dost thou demand this much of me?" said Don Amador, with mortified and
+dejected looks. "If thou art thyself resolved to remain in the
+indulgence of thy treason, thou surely wilt not think to keep me from my
+friends, in their difficulties? and especially from my poor kinsman; who
+is now greatly disordered, and chiefly, I think, because thou hast
+robbed him of Jacinto."
+
+"This am I not called upon to answer," said Abdalla, gravely. "I only
+demand of thee, what thou knowest thou canst not honourably refuse,--thy
+knightly gage, to observe the rules of captivity, until such time as I
+may think proper to absolve and free thee."
+
+"Sir Almogavar, or sir Zegri, or whatsoever thou art," said the
+cavalier, folding his arms, and surveying his jailor sternly, "use the
+powers which thou hast, thy chains, and thy magical arts; for I believe
+thou dealest with the devil;--get me ready thy fetters, and thy dungeon.
+Thou hast the right so to use me, and I consent to the same; but I will
+gage thee no word to keep in bonds, inglorious and at ease, while my
+friends are in peril. However great the service thou hast done to me, I
+perceive thou art a traitor. I command thee, therefore, that thou have
+me chained and immured forthwith; for, with God's will and help, I will
+escape from thee as soon as possible, and especially, whensoever my
+friends come to assist me."
+
+"I grant thee this privilege, when thy friends come near to us," said
+Abdalla, coolly, "whether thou art chained or not. It is not possible
+thou canst escape, otherwise, at all. Thou art far from the palace,
+ignorant of the way, and, besides, divided from it by a wall of
+Mexicans, who cannot be numbered. What I ask thee, is for thy good, and
+for the good of myself, and Jacinto. If thou leave this house, thou wilt
+be immediately seized, and carried to the stone of sacrifice."
+
+Don Amador shuddered, but said,--
+
+"I trust in God! and the thought of this fate shall not deter me."
+
+"Go then, if thou wilt," said the Zegri, haughtily. "The service I have
+done thee, has not yet released me from thy debt; and thou canst yet
+command me. Begone, if thou art resolute: the door is open; I oppose
+thee not. Preserve thy life, if thou canst; and when thou art safe at
+the garrison, remember, that Abdoul-al-Sidi, and the boy Jacinto, have
+taken thy place on the altar of victims."
+
+"What dost thou mean? I understand thee not.--What meanest thou?"
+
+"Even that thou canst not escape, without the same being made known to
+the Mexicans; and that it cannot be made known to this vindictive
+people, that I have robbed them of their prey, without the penalty of my
+own life, and that of Jacinto, being immediately executed. When thou
+fliest, the father and the son perish."
+
+"Dost thou speak me this in good faith?" said the cavalier, greatly
+troubled. "God forbid I should bring harm to thee, and especially to the
+boy. If I give thee my gage,--thou wilt not hold me bound to refrain
+from joining my friends, should I be so fortunate as to see them pass
+by, and am persuaded, the Mexicans will not discover thou hast harboured
+me?"
+
+"If they pass by, I will myself open the doors," said Abdalla; "for I
+protest to thee, I keep thee here only to ensure thy security."
+
+"Hark'ee, sir Moor--Don Hernan is about to retreat. Dost thou intend I
+shall remain in captivity--a single victim among the barbarians--while
+my countrymen are flying afar, perhaps returning to Christendom?"
+
+"I swear to thee, senor," said the Zegri, earnestly, "that, when the
+Spaniards fly from this city, thou shalt be free to fly with them. I
+repeat, I make thee a prisoner, to prevent thy becoming a victim."
+
+"And what hinders that we do not fly together to the palace? Thy
+knowledge may conduct us through the streets by night; and, with my
+head, I will engage thee a free pardon, and friendly reception."
+
+"God hath commissioned me to the work, and it shall go on!" said the
+Moor, with solemn emphasis. "I know that thou couldst not save me from
+the fury of Don Hernan: he would grant thee my life at midnight, and, on
+the morrow, thou wouldst find me dead in the court-yard. Fly, if thou
+wilt, and leave me to perish by the hands of Mexicans: Spaniards shall
+drink my blood no more!"
+
+"I give thee my gage," said the cavalier, "with this understanding,
+then, that I am free to fly, whenever I may do so without perilling thy
+life, and the life of Jacinto."
+
+"And thou wilt hold to this pledge, like a true cavalier?" demanded
+Abdalla, quickly.
+
+"Surely, I cannot break my plighted word!"
+
+"God be thanked!" cried the Zegri, grasping the hand of the cavalier,
+"for, by this promise, thou hast saved thy life! Remain here; Jacinto
+shall be thy jailor, thy companion, thy servant. Be content with thy
+lot, and thank God; for thou art the only brand plucked out of the
+burning, while all the rest shall perish.--God be praised!--I save my
+benefactor!"
+
+With these exclamations of satisfaction, Abdalla departed from the
+chamber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+
+The cavalier pondered, in perplexity, over the words of Abdalla; and,
+the longer he reflected, the more he began to lament his captivity, and
+doubt the wisdom of his gage.
+
+"It is apparent to me," he soliloquized, "that my countrymen are in
+greater jeopardy than I before apprehended, and that it has been the
+plot of this subtle Moor, (whom I confess, however, to have something
+elevated and noble in his way of thinking, and much gratitude of heart,
+though of a mistaken character,) to keep me out of harm's way, while the
+Mexicans are murdering my companions. Heaven forgive me my rash parole,
+if this be true; for such safety becomes dishonour and ignominy. I will
+talk with him further on the subject; and if I find he hath thus schemed
+to preserve me, at such a price of degradation, I will straightway
+revoke my engagement, as being wrung from me by deceit, and quite
+impossible to be fulfilled.--I marvel where loiters the boy, Jacinto?
+Methinks I could eat something now, for I know not how long it is since
+I have tasted food:--an orange, or a bunch of grapes, were not
+amiss.--But, heaven save me! I have heard oranges do not grow in this
+land; and, perhaps these poor Moriscos are no better off than my friends
+at the palace. God help them! for the Mexicans fight like Turks; and,
+once or twice, that evening of the conflagration, I thought I had got me
+again into the trenches of Rhodes; and as for those knaves that wounded
+me, never did I see more valiant devils. I am glad I left my knight so
+possessed of his wits.--That Botello doth seem very clearly to have
+apprehended my fate, though the mishap be not so miserable as death.
+Truly, there did, a third time, war come out of peace; and yet, I assure
+myself, that, this time, it was brought about by Don Hernan rushing
+against that supernatural creature, that looks on me in the street, and
+eyes me even by my bed-side."
+
+The cavalier was startled from his revery by a light step, and as the
+curtain was drawn aside from the door, he almost thought, for an
+instant, that he beheld the visage of the priestess, peering through its
+folds. A second glance, however, showed him the features of the Moorish
+page, who came in, bearing a little basket of fruits and Indian
+confections, as if anticipating his wants. These Jacinto placed before
+him, and then sat down at his feet.
+
+For a few moments, Don Amador, in the satisfaction of the boy's presence
+forgot many of his perplexities; but observing, at last, that Jacinto's
+smiles were ever alternating with looks of distress and alarm, and that,
+sometimes, he surveyed his imprisoned master with eyes of great
+wildness, the cavalier began again to recur to his condition, to the
+mysteries which surrounded him, and especially to the suspicions, which
+so often attributed to the page the possession of magical arts.
+
+"Thou saidst, Jacinto," he abruptly exclaimed, after thrusting aside the
+almost untasted food, and regarding the boy with a penetrating look,
+"that thou wert for the two last nights at my bed-side?--God be good to
+me! for 'tis an evil thing to be benighted so long!"
+
+"Senor, I was."
+
+"And, during all that time, I was entirely dispossessed of my wits?"
+
+"Senor mio, yes. But, now, heaven be thanked your honour will recover!"
+
+"And, thou art sure, I did not labour more under enchantment than
+fever?"
+
+The page smiled, but very faintly, and without replying.
+
+"To me, it seems no longer possible to doubt," said the cavalier, "that
+I have been, divers times, of late, entirely bewitched; and that thou
+hast had some agency in my delusions."
+
+Jacinto smiled more pleasantly, and seemed to forget the secret thoughts
+which had agitated him.
+
+"Dost thou," demanded the cavalier, "know aught of a certain
+supernatural priestess, that goes about the streets of this town, in
+pagan processions, followed by countless herds of nobles and warriors?"
+
+The page hesitated, while replying--
+
+"I have indeed heard of such a creature, and--I may say,--I have seen
+her."
+
+"Thou hast seen her!--Is she mortal?"
+
+"Surely, I think so, noble senor," replied Jacinto, with increasing
+embarrassment.
+
+"For my part," said the novice, with a deep sigh and a troubled aspect,
+"I am almost quite convinced, that she is a spectre, and an inhabitant
+of hell, sent forth upon the earth to punish me with much affliction,
+and, perhaps, with madness. For I think she is the spirit of Leila; and
+her appearance in the guise of a pagan goddess, or pagan priestess,--the
+one or the other,--shows me, that she whom I loved, dwells not with
+angels, but with devils. This is a thought," continued the cavalier,
+mournfully, "that burns my heart as with a coal; and if God spare my
+life, and return me to mine own land, I will devote my estates to buy
+masses for her soul; for surely she cannot have fallen from sin into
+irreparable wo, but only into a punishment for some heresy, the fault of
+bad instruction, which may be expiated."
+
+Jacinto regarded the distressed visage of his patron with concern, and
+with indecision, as if impelled, and yet afraid, to speak what might
+remove his anguish. Then, at last, moved by affection, and looking up
+with arch confidence to Don Amador, he said,--
+
+"Senor, I can relieve you of this unhappiness. This is no spirit, but a
+woman, as I know full well, for I am in the secret.--I am not sure that
+it will not offend my father, to divulge such a secret to any Spaniard:
+yet can its revealment prejudice none. Know, senor, and use not this
+confession to my father's injury, that all this interlude of the
+prophetess, devised by the Mexican nobles and priests, with my father's
+counsel and aid, is a scheme to inflame the people with fresh devotion
+and fury against the Spaniards, your countrymen. For, being very
+superstitious and credulous, the common people are easily persuaded that
+their gods have sent them a messenger, to encourage and observe their
+valour; as, it is fabled, they have done in former days. The prophetess
+is but a puppet in their hands."
+
+The cavalier eyed the young speaker steadfastly, until Jacinto cast his
+looks to the earth.
+
+"Set this woman before me; let me look upon her," he said, gravely, and
+yet with earnestness.
+
+The page returned his gaze with one of confusion, and even affright.
+
+"Thou wilt not think to deceive me," continued his patron, "after
+confiding to me so much? Know thou, that it will rejoice me, relieving
+my mind of many pangs, to find that thy words are true, and to look upon
+this most beauteous, and, to my eyes, this most supernatural, barbarian.
+If she be a living creature, thou hast it in thy power to produce her,
+for she dwells in this house. I say this, Jacinto, on strong persuasion
+of the fact, for last night I beheld her, and did almost touch her!"
+
+"Senor," said the boy, briskly, "that was one of the fancies of thy
+delirium. It was my poor self thou wert looking on. Twenty times, or
+more, didst thou call to me, as being the prophetess; and as often
+didst thou see in me some other strange creature. Now, I was my lord Don
+Gabriel, your worship's kinsman; now, some lady that your honour loved;
+now, an angel, bringing you succour in battle; now, my lord's little
+brother; now, his enemy;--and, twice or thrice, I was my own poor self,
+only that I was killing my lord with a dagger,--as if I could do any
+wrong to my master!"
+
+"Is this the truth, indeed?" said the cavalier, dolorously. "I could
+have sworn, that I saw that woman, and that I was very sane, when I saw
+her. As for the after-visions, I can well believe, that they were the
+phantasms of fever, being very extravagant, and but vaguely
+remembered.--Thou deniest, then, that thou hast the power of casting
+spells?"
+
+The page smiled merrily, for he perceived his patron was relieved of one
+irrational distress, and, banteringly, replied,--
+
+"I will not say _that_;--I can do many things my lord would not think,
+and I know many he would not dream."
+
+The cavalier was too sad and too simple-minded to jest.
+
+"I believe thee," he said, seriously; "for, in every thing, thou art a
+miracle and mystery. Why is it, that thou hast obtained such a command
+over my affections? Why is it, that I have come to regard thee, not as a
+boy, young and foolish, but as one ripe in years and wisdom? It must
+needs be, because thou derivest thy power and thy knowledge from those
+astral and magical arts, which I once esteemed so vain; for I remember
+me, that, at thy years, I was, myself, not half so much advanced in
+intelligence and art, but was, on the contrary, quite a dull and foolish
+boy."
+
+"It all comes of my music," said the page: "for that is a talent which
+matures faster than any other, and drags others along with it; besides
+giving one great skill in touching hearts. Your worship remembers how
+soon young David gained the love of the Jewish king, and how he would
+have cured him of his melancholy, but that Saul had a bad heart. Now, my
+lord seems, to me, to have, like this king, an evil spirit troubling
+him; and perhaps, if he will let me, I can sing it away, with the ballad
+of the Knight and the Page; for my lord's heart is good."
+
+"The Knight and the Page? I have never heard thee sing that," said Don
+Amador, somewhat indifferently. "What is it about?"
+
+"It is about a brave cavalier, that loved a noble lady, who loved him;
+but being made to believe her false to her vows, he went to the wars to
+die, followed by a little page, whom he thought the only true friend he
+had left in the world."
+
+"By my faith," said Don Amador, regarding the boy kindly, "in this
+respect, methinks, I am, at present, somewhat like that knight; for
+thou, that art, likewise, a little page, seemest to be the only friend I
+have left in the world--that is, in this city,--that is to say, in this
+part of it; for I have much confidence in the love of several at the
+palace, notwithstanding that I think some others were a little backward
+in supporting me, when beset, that evil day, by the barbarians.--Was he
+a Spanish knight? and of what parts?"
+
+"Of the Sierra Morena, at some place where the Jucar washes its foot."
+
+"In good truth!" cried the cavalier, "that is the very river that rolls
+by Cuenza; and herein, again, is there another parallel.--But I should
+inform thee, that, when the mountain reaches so far as the Jucar, and
+runs up along its course, it is then called the Sierra of Cuenza, and
+not Morena. But this is a small matter. I shall be as glad to hear of
+the knight of Jucar, as of one of my ancestors."
+
+"He resembled my lord still more," said the page, "for he had fallen,
+fighting the infidel, very grievously wounded; and his little page
+remained at his side, to share his fate."
+
+"That _I_ have, in a manner, fallen, and, as I may say, fighting the
+infidel, is true; but by no means can it be said, that I am grievously
+wounded. These cuts, that I have on my body, are but such scratches as
+one might make with a thorn; and, were it not for my head, which doth
+ever and anon ring much like to a bell, and ache somewhat immoderately,
+I should think myself well able to go out fighting again; not at all
+regarding my feebleness, which is not much, and my stiff joints, which a
+little exercise would greatly reduce into suppleness."
+
+"It was the resemblance of my lord's situation to the knight of Jucar's,
+that reminded me of the roundelay," said Jacinto, taking up his lute,
+and stringing it into accord; "and now your worship shall represent the
+wounded knight, and I the young page that followed him.--But your
+worship should suppose me, instead of being a boy, to be a woman in
+disguise."
+
+"A woman in disguise!" said the cavalier: "Is the page, then, the false
+mistress? There should be very good cause to put a woman in disguise;
+for, besides that it robs her, to appearance, if not absolutely, of the
+natural delicacy of her sex, it forces her to be a hypocrite. A
+deceitful woman is still more odious than a double-faced man."
+
+"But this lady had great cause," said Jacinto, "seeing that love and
+sorrow, together, forced her into the henchman's habit, as my lord will
+presently see."
+
+So saying, with a pleasant smile, the minstrel struck the lute, and sang
+the following little
+
+            ROMANCE OF THE KNIGHT AND THE PAGE.
+
+                          1.
+
+    A Christian knight, in the Paynim land,
+      Lay bleeding on the plain;
+    The fight was done, and the field was won,
+      But not by the Christian train:
+    The cross had vail'd to the crescent,
+      The Moorish shouts rose high,--
+    '_Lelilee! Lelilee!_'--but the Christian knight
+      Sent up a sadder cry.
+    "My castle lies on Morena's top,
+      Jucar is far away:----
+    My lady will rue for her vows untrue
+      But God be good for aye!----
+    Young page! thou followest well;
+      These dog-howls heed not thou."--
+    '_Lelilee! Lelilee!_'----
+      "Get thee hence to my lady now.
+    Tell her this blood, that pours a flood,
+      My heart's true faith doth prove--
+    My corse to earth, my sighs to thee,--
+      My heart to my lady love!"
+
+                          2.
+
+    The page, he knelt at the Christian's side,
+      And sorely sobb'd he then:
+    "The faithless love can truer prove
+      Than hosts of faithful men.
+    The cross has vail'd to the crescent,
+      The Moorish shouts are high,"----
+    '_Lelilee! Lelilee!_'--"but the love untrue
+      Hath yet another cry.
+    Thy castle lies on Morena's top,
+      Jucar is far away;
+    But dies the bride at her true lord's side,--
+      Now God be good for aye!
+    The page that followeth well,
+      Repeats the unbroken vow"--
+    '_Lelilee! Lelilee!_'--
+      "Oh, look on thy lady now!
+    For now this blood, that pours a flood,
+      Doth show her true love's plight.----
+    My soul to God, my blood to thine----
+      My life for my dying knight."
+
+"Is that _all_?" said the cavalier, when Jacinto had warbled out the
+last line. "There should have been another stanza, to explain what was
+the cause of separation, as well as how it happened that the lady came
+to follow the knight, as a servant; neither of which circumstances is
+very manifest."
+
+"Senor," said Jacinto, "if all the story had been told, it would have
+made a book. It is clear, that an evil destiny separated the pair, and
+that love sent the lady after her lord."
+
+"Be thou a conjuror or not," said Don Amador, musingly, "thou hast the
+knack ever to hit upon subjects, as well in thy songs as in thy stories,
+which both provoke my curiosity, and revive my melancholy. _My_ castle,
+as I may say, doth 'lie on Morena's top,'--that is to say, on the ridge
+of Cuenza;--and Jucar is, indeed, 'far away;' but heaven hath left me no
+lady-love, either to die with me among the infidels, by whom I am made
+to bleed, or to lament me at home. An evil destiny (_how_ evil I know
+not, and yet do I dread, more dark than that which prevails with a
+jealous heart,) hath separated me from one whom I loved,--and,
+doubtless, hath separated me for ever." The cavalier sighed deeply, bent
+his eyes for a moment on the ground, and then raising them, with a
+solemn look, to the page, said abruptly, "I have come to be persuaded,
+altogether beyond the contradiction of my reason, that thou hast,
+somehow, and, perhaps, by magical arts, obtained a knowledge of the
+history of my past life. If thou knowest aught of the fate of Leila, the
+lamented maid of Almeria, I adjure thee to reveal thy knowledge, and
+without delay! Thou shakest thy head.--Wherefore didst thou refuse to
+finish the story of her who bore her name, and who dwelt in the same
+city?"
+
+"My lord will be angry with me," said the page, rising in some
+perturbation,--"I have deceived him!"
+
+"I am sorry to know thou couldst be, in any way, guilty of deceit,
+though I do readily forgive thee; charging thee, however, at all times,
+to remember, that any deceitfulness is but a form of mendacity, and
+therefore as mean and degrading as it is sinful.--In what hast thou
+deceived me?"
+
+"When I told my lord the story of Leila, and perceived how it disturbed
+him," said Jacinto, with a faltering voice, "I repented me, and told him
+a thing that was not true, to appease him. The Leila of whom I spoke,
+had dwelt in Almeria within a year past; and, perhaps, she was the maid
+that my lord remembered."
+
+As the page made this confession, Don Amador sprang eagerly to his feet,
+and, as he seized the speaker's arm, cried, with much agitation,--
+
+"Dost thou tell me the truth? and does she live? God be praised for
+ever! doth the maiden live?"
+
+"She lived, when my father brought me from Barbary--"
+
+"Heaven be thanked! I will ransom her from the infidels, though I give
+myself up to captivity as the price!"
+
+"Senor," said the page, sorrowfully, "you forget that you are now a
+prisoner in another world."
+
+The cavalier smote his breast, crying, "It is true! and the revealment
+comes too late!--Silly boy!" he continued, reproachfully, "why didst
+thou delay telling me this, until this time, when it can only add to my
+griefs? Why didst thou not speak it, at Tlascala, that I might have
+departed forthwith from the land, to her rescue?"
+
+"My lord would not have deserted his kinsman, Don Gabriel?"
+
+"True again!" exclaimed Don Amador, with a pang. "I could not have left
+my knight, even at the call of Leila. But now will I go to Don Gabriel,
+and confessing to him my sorrow, will prevail upon him straightway to
+depart with me; for here, it must be plain to him, as it is to me, that
+God is not with us.
+
+"Alas! senor," said the page, "it is not possible that you should go to
+Don Gabriel, nor that you should ever more leave this heathen land."
+
+"Dost thou confess, then," demanded the novice, "that Abdalla has
+deceived me, and that I am held to perpetual captivity?"
+
+"Senor," said the boy, clasping his hands, and weeping bitterly, "we
+shall never more see Spain, nor any land but this. The fate of Don
+Hernan, and of all his men, is written; they are in a net from which
+they cannot escape; and we, who are spared, obtain our lives only at the
+price of expatriation. My father remembered his protector,--my lord is
+saved; but he shares our exile!"
+
+At this confirmation of his worst suspicions, the countenance of Don
+Amador darkened with despair and horror.
+
+"And Abdalla, thy father, has plotted this foul, traitorous, and most
+bloody catastrophe? And he thinks, that, for my life's sake, I will
+divide with him the dishonour and guilt of my preservation?"
+
+"My lord knows not the wrongs of my father," said Jacinto, mournfully,
+"or he would not speak of him so harshly."
+
+"Thy father is a most traitor-like and backsliding villain," said Don
+Amador, "and this baseness in him should entirely cancel in thee the
+bonds of affection and duty; for thou art not of his nature. Hark thee,
+then, boy: it is my purpose straightway to depart from this house, and
+this durance. I desire to save thee from the fate of a pagan's slave.
+Better will it be for thee, if thou shouldst die with me, in the attempt
+to reach the palace, (and I swear to thee, I will protect thee to the
+last moment of my life,) than remain in Tenochtitlan, after thy
+Christian friends have left it, or after they are slain. It is my hope,
+and, indeed, my belief, that, when the valiant general, Don Hernan,
+comes to be persuaded of his true condition, he will, immediately, and
+at any cost, cut his way out of this most accursed city. In this manner
+will we escape, and thou shall find, in me, a father who will love thee
+not less truly, and more in fashion of a Christian, than the apostate
+Zegri."
+
+"If my lord could but protect my father from the anger of Don Hernan,
+and prevail upon him to return with my lord!" said Jacinto, eagerly.
+
+"I have already proposed this to him, and, in his fury, he denies me."
+
+"Heaven help us then!" cried Jacinto, "for there is no other hope; and
+we must dwell with the barbarians!"
+
+"Dost thou think, that I will rest here, when they are murdering Don
+Gabriel?--Hark thee! what knave has stolen away my sword?--Know, that I
+will straightway make my escape, and carry thee along with me; for God
+would not forgive me, did I leave thee abandoned to barbarians, to the
+eternal loss and perdition of thy soul. I say to thee again, thou shalt
+accompany me."
+
+"I will remain with my father!" said the boy, stepping back, and
+assuming some of that dignity and decision, which the neophyte had so
+lately witnessed in Abdalla; "and so will my lord, likewise; for my lord
+has given him a pledge, which he cannot forfeit."
+
+"Miserable wretch that I am!" said the cavalier;--"in either case, I am
+overwhelmed with dishonour. My gage was sinful, and the infraction of it
+will be shame. Bring me hither Abdalla; I will revoke my promise to him
+in person; and, after that, I can depart, without disgrace."
+
+"Thou canst not escape, without shedding blood, at least," said the boy,
+with a pale and yet determined countenance, "for, first, thou must slay
+my father, who saved thee from the death of sacrifice. If thou goest, in
+his absence, then must my lord strike down the son;--for with what
+strength I have, I will prevent him!"
+
+The amazement with which the warlike cavalier heard these words, and
+beheld the stripling throw himself manfully before the door of the
+apartment, entirely disconcerted him for a moment. Before he could find
+words to express his anger, or perhaps derision, the page, with a sudden
+revulsion of feeling, ran from the door, and flinging himself at his
+patron's feet, embraced his knees, weeping and exclaiming, with much
+passion,
+
+"O my dear master! be not incensed with me: for I am but weak and silly,
+and I have no friends but my father and thee! If thou takest me from my
+father, then shall he be left childless, to live and to die alone; if
+thou goest without us, we shall be deserted to perish without a friend;
+for no one has smiled on us but my lord; and if thou goest while my
+father is absent, he will curse me, and I will curse myself,--for thou
+must needs die in the streets!"
+
+The novice was touched, not so much by the last and undeniable
+assurance, as by the pathetic appeal of the Morisco.
+
+"Be comforted, Jacinto," he cried; "for now, indeed, it appears to me,
+that, whether I had passed my gage or not, I could not take advantage of
+the weakness of such a jailor, and fly, without the greatest shame. And,
+in addition, it seems to me inhuman and unjust, that I should think of
+escaping, without doing my best to snatch thee and thy father also,
+(whose sinfulness does, in this case, at least, spring from affection,)
+out of thraldom. Be thou therefore content: I will remain thy patient
+prisoner, until such time as Abdalla returns; hoping that I can, then,
+advance such remonstrance and argument, as shall convert him from his
+purpose, and cause him to repent what wrongs he has already done Don
+Hernan, and to accept his mercy, which I do again avow myself ready to
+secure with my life, and even with my honour. But I warn thee, that I
+can by no means remain a captive, while my friends are given up to
+destruction."
+
+"Senor," said Jacinto, rising, "there is a hope they will be spared, if
+the king should recover; for greatly have the Mexicans mourned the rage
+which wounded their monarch. If he live, and again command peace, there
+will be peace; and all of us may yet be happy."
+
+"God grant that this may be so!" said the cavalier, catching at the
+hope. "I will therefore remain with thee a little; for if my friends be
+not starved outright, I have no fear but that they can easily maintain
+themselves a week in the palace."
+
+"And besides, senor," said the page, returning to his playful manner,
+"if you were to leave me, how should you hear more of the maid of
+Almeria?"
+
+"Of Leila?" cried the cavalier, forgetting at once his honour and his
+friends; "now do I remember me, that you have not yet told me how you
+acquired your most blessed and blissful knowledge. Heaven forgive me! I
+did not think it possible,--but, I believe, I had entirely forgotten
+her! How comest thou to know aught of her? Answer me quickly, and be
+still more quick to tell me all you know."
+
+"Will not my lord be satisfied with my knowledge, without seeking after
+the means of acquiring it?" demanded the page, hesitatingly.
+
+"If, indeed," said Don Amador, solemnly, "thou hast obtained it by the
+practice of that land of magic which is forbidden, though my curiosity
+will not permit me to eschew its revelations, yet must I caution thee,
+from this time henceforth, to employ it no more; for, herein, dost thou
+peril thy soul. But, if it be by those arts, which are not in themselves
+sinful, thou shouldst not be ashamed to confess them; for the habit of
+concealment is the first step in the path of deception; and I have
+already assured thee, that a deceiver is, as one may say, a lie in the
+face of his Maker. But of this I will instruct thee more fully
+hereafter: at present, I burn with an unconquerable desire to hear thee
+speak of Leila."
+
+"But how know I," said the page, again hesitating, "that she of whom I
+speak, is the Leila after whom it pleases my lord to inquire?--And why
+indeed, now that I think of it, should my lord inquire at all after one
+of a persecuted and despised race?"
+
+"Wilt thou still torment me? Have I not told thee that I forgot her
+origin, and loved her?"
+
+"And did she love my lord back again?"
+
+"Thou askest me what I cannot with certainty answer," replied the
+cavalier, "for she was snatched away from me, before I had yet overcome
+the natural scruples of my pride to discourse of love to one who seemed
+so much beneath the dignity of my birth and fortunes."
+
+"And my lord gave her no cause to think she had obtained favour in his
+eyes?"
+
+"In this thou dost not err; for, saving some gifts, which were, indeed,
+more the boons of a patron than the tribute of a lover, I did nothing to
+address me to her affections. In all things, as I may say, I did rather
+assume the character of one who would befriend and protect her from
+wrong, than of a man seeking after her love."
+
+"But, if she accepted my lord's gifts, she must have loved him," said
+Jacinto.
+
+"They were very trifles," rejoined the cavalier, "saving only one,
+indeed, which, as she must have perceived, could not have been more
+properly bestowed than upon one so innocent and friendless as herself.
+This was a very antique and blessed jewel,--a cross of rubies,--fetched
+by mine ancestor, Don Rodrigo of Arragon, more than three hundred years
+ago, from the Holy Land, after having been consecrated upon the
+Sepulchre itself. It was thought to be a talisman of such heavenly
+efficacy, in the hands of an unspotted virgin, that no harm could ever
+come to her, who wore it upon her neck. For mine own part, though I
+could tell thee divers stories of its virtue, recorded in our house, yet
+was I ever inclined to think, that a natural purity of heart was, in all
+cases, a much better protection of innocence than even a holy talisman.
+Nevertheless, when I beheld this orphan Moor, I bethought me of the
+imputed virtues of those rubies; and I put them upon her neck, as
+thinking her friendless condition gave her the strongest claim to all
+such blessed protection."
+
+"A cross of rubies!" cried the page; "it is she!"
+
+"And thou canst tell me of her resting-place? and of her present
+condition?" cried the overjoyed cavalier. "I remember, that, at the
+temple of Tlascala, thou didst aver, that, notwithstanding the apparent
+baseness of her origin, it had been discovered that she was descended of
+very noble parentage!"
+
+"What I _can_ tell thee, and what I _will_," said Jacinto, gravely,
+"will depend upon thine own actions. If thou leavest this place, without
+my father's consent, hope not that thou shalt know any thing more than
+has been spoken. If thou art content to remain a little time in
+captivity, and to yield me the obedience which I demand, thou shalt
+find, that a child of a contemned race may possess wisdom unknown to men
+of happier degrees. Thou hast acknowledged thyself the captive of my
+father; wilt thou promise obedience to me?"
+
+Don Amador surveyed the boy with a bewildered stare:
+
+"It is possible," said he, "that I am yet dreaming, for it seemeth to me
+very absurd, that thou, who art a boy, and wert but yesterday a servant,
+shouldst make such a demand of subjection to a man and a cavalier, and,
+as I may say, also, thy master."
+
+"My lord will not think I would have him become a servant," said
+Jacinto. "The subjection I require, is for the purpose of securing him
+that gratification of his curiosity, which he has sought,--and thus only
+can he obtain it. In all other respects, I remain myself the slave of my
+lord."
+
+"Provided thou wilt demand me nothing dishonourable nor irreligious,
+(and now, that I know, from thy father's confession, that thou art of
+noble descent, I can scarcely apprehend in thee any meanness,) I will
+make thee such a promise," said Don Amador. "But I must beseech thee,
+not to torment me with delay."
+
+"My lord shall not repent his goodness," said the page, with a happy
+countenance; "for when he thinks not of it, his wishes shall be
+gratified. But, at present, let him be at peace, and sleep; for the
+time has not yet come. I claim, now, the first proof of my lord's
+obedience. Let him eat of this medicinal confection, and, by a little
+rest, dispel the heats of fever, which are again returning to him."
+
+"I declare to thee," said Don Amador, "I am very well; and this fever is
+caused by suspense, and not disease."
+
+"Thou must obey," said the page. "While thou art sleeping, I will
+inquire for thee the fate of Leila; for it is yet wrapped in darkness,
+and it cannot be discovered but by great efforts."
+
+The cavalier obeyed the injunctions of his young jailer, ate of the
+confection, and, Jacinto leaving the apartment, he yielded to exhaustion
+and drowsiness, and notwithstanding his eager and tormenting curiosity,
+soon fell fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+
+Gloom and fear still beset the garrison at the palace of Axajacatl; and
+the mutiny of soldiers, and fierce feuds among the cavaliers, were added
+to other circumstances of distress. Those ancient veterans, who had
+followed Don Hernan, from the first day of invasion, and who had shared
+with him so many privations and perils, were, in general, still true to
+their oaths of obedience, and preserved through all trials, an apparent,
+if not a real composure of spirit, as well as a firm reliance on the
+wisdom of their leader. But the followers of Narvaez, uninured to
+combat, and but lately acquainted with suffering--their sanguine
+expectations of conquest without danger, and of wealth without labour,
+changed to a mere hope of disgraceful escape, and that hope, as they all
+felt, founded, not in reason, but imagination,--turned their murmurs
+into the most bitter execrations, and these again into menaces. The
+officers, too, rendered peevish by discontent, and reckoning each the
+discomfiture of his neighbour as the evidence of feebleness or fear,
+spoke to one another with sarcasms, and even sometimes to Don Hernan
+himself with disrespect. The self-command of the general, however, never
+deserted him; he rebuked insult with tranquil indignation, and so far
+prevailed over his fiery subordinates, as to compose most of their
+quarrels, without suffering them to be submitted to the ordeal of
+honour. One feud had arisen, nevertheless, which his skill could not
+allay; and all that he could effect by remonstrance, and even
+supplication, was an agreement of the parties to postpone its final
+arbitrement, until such time as the providence of heaven should conduct
+them afar from Tenochtitlan. The wrath engendered in the bosom of the
+Tonatiuh, by the angry reproaches of De Morla, after their return from
+the battle of the Manta, had been inflamed by a new circumstance, which,
+though of a trivial nature, the pride of Alvarado and the resentment of
+his opponent had converted into an affair of importance.
+
+There was among the many kinswomen of Montezuma, who shared his
+captivity, (for the policy of the general had reduced nearly all the
+royal blood to bonds,) a certain young maiden, a daughter of the lord of
+Colhuacan, and therefore a niece of the king; who, in the general
+partition which the nobler of the cavaliers had, in prospective, made of
+the Indian princesses, had fallen to the lot of Alvarado. In those days
+of legitimacy, there was some degree of divinity allowed to hedge the
+person of even a barbaric monarch; and happy was the hidalgo, who, by
+obtaining a royal maid for his wife, could rank himself, in imaginary
+dignity, with the princes of Christendom. At the present moment, the
+companions of Cortes had rather made their selections, than endeavoured
+to commend themselves to the favour of their mistresses;--dropping,
+thereby, so much of their reverence for royalty, as not to suppose the
+existence of any will, or opposition, in the objects of their desire.
+The Dona Engracia, (her native title has entirely escaped the
+historians,) was, therefore, beloved by Don Pedro; but, not having been
+made acquainted with the hidalgo's flame, she stooped, at the first
+promptings of affection, to a destiny less brilliant and lofty. Her
+heart melted at the handsome visage of the young Fabueno; and the
+secretary, flattered by the love of so noble a maiden, and emboldened by
+his success in arms, did not scruple to become the rival of the
+Tonatiuh. The rage of Don Pedro would have chastised, in blood, the
+presumption of such a competitor; but De Morla, remembering the novice,
+did not hesitate, for his sake, to befriend his servant; and, when he
+avowed himself the champion of Lorenzo, he dreamed that he was about to
+avenge the fall of his brother-in-arms.
+
+The result of this opposition to the humours of Alvarado, was a quarrel,
+so fierce and unappeasable, that, as has been said, all which the
+general could effect, was a postponement of conflict; and when Don Pedro
+surrendered the princess to her plebeian lover, it was with the
+assurance, that, as soon as the army had left the city and lake, he
+should reckon her ransom out of the life-blood of his companion.
+
+The discovery of the unfaithfulness of his betrothed, (for, in this
+light did the cavaliers regard the captive princesses,) had been made
+the preceding evening; and the angry contest of the cavaliers, and the
+arrangements for combat, occurred at the moment while Don Amador was
+lamenting the backwardness of his friends to support him, when he became
+a captive.
+
+To allay the heart-burnings of his officers, who had arrayed themselves,
+according to their friendships, on either side, the general caused his
+trumpets to sound, and bade all to prepare for an expedition of peril.
+He had, all along, eyed the great pyramid, frowning over his fortress,
+with peculiar anxiety. This was caused, in part, by his consciousness of
+the advantage it would give his enemies, as soon as they should dare to
+profane its sanctity, by making it the theatre of conflict. This very
+morning, it was made apparent, by the presence of many barbarians
+thronging up its sides, and by an occasional arrow or stone discharged
+from its top, that the Mexicans were aware of its usefulness. In
+addition to this cause for attempting to gain possession of it, the
+leader was moved by a vague hope, that, once master of the holiest of
+temples, he might obtain the same advantages, through the superstition
+of his foes, which he had lately possessed, in the person of Montezuma,
+through their reverence for the king. He meditated an assault, and
+resolved to attempt it, before the pyramid should be covered with
+Mexicans.
+
+The strength of the army, both horse and foot, was straightway displayed
+upon the square; and the war-worn Christians once more marched against
+the triumphing infidel.
+
+The knight of Calavar, sitting on his sable steed, with an air of more
+life than was ordinary, appeared in this band; and the three
+serving-men, with the secretary, followed at his back.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+
+In his sleep, the wounded cavalier was no longer a captive. Memory and
+imagination, acting together, bore him to the shores of the
+Mediterranean; and as he trode the smooth beach, his eye wandered, with
+transport, to the blue Alpujarras, stretching dimly in the interior. But
+not long did he gaze on those mountains, which intercepted the view of
+his distant castle. He stepped joyously along over the sands, obeying
+the voices and gestures of his conductors; for, it seemed to him, that
+his hands were grasped, the one by the page Jacinto, the other by the
+priestess of Mexico, both of whom urged him on with smiles, while
+pointing to a group of palm-trees, under which reclined the long-lost
+maid of Almeria. The cross of rubies shone upon her breast, and her
+downcast eyes regarded it with a gaze of sadness; but, ever and anon, as
+the cavalier vainly strove to approach, and called to her with his
+voice, they were raised upon him in tears; and the hand of Leila was
+uplifted, with a melancholy gesture, towards heaven. With such a vision,
+repeated many times in his brain, varied only by changes of place, (for
+now the scene was transferred to the deserts of Barbary, now the fair
+vales of Rhodes, and now the verdant borders of Tezcuco,) he struggled
+through many hours of torture; and, at last, awoke, as a peal of
+thunder, bursting on the scene, drove, terrified away, as well his
+guides as the maid of his memory.
+
+As he started from his couch, confused and bewildered, the thunder
+seemed still to roll, with distant murmurs, over the city. His practised
+ear detected, in these peals, the explosions of artillery, mingled with
+volleys of musketry; but for awhile, in his disorder, he was unable to
+account for them; and in a few moments they ceased.--Night had succeeded
+to day; no taper burned on the table, and scarcely enough light shone
+through the narrow casement into the apartment, to show him that he
+occupied it alone.
+
+His lips were parched with thirst; he strode to the table, and finding
+nothing thereon to allay the burnings of fever, he called faintly on
+Jacinto. No answer was made to the call; he seemed to be the only tenant
+of the house; and yet he fancied that the deep silence, which succeeded
+his exclamation, was broken by distant and feeble lamentations. He
+listened attentively; the sounds were repeated, but yet with so low a
+tone, that they would have escaped him entirely, had not his senses been
+sharpened by fever.
+
+Obeying his instincts of benevolence, rather than his reason, for this
+had not yet recovered from the disorder of slumber, he stepped from the
+chamber; and, following not so much the sounds, which had become nearly
+inaudible, as a light that gleamed at a little distance, he found
+himself soon at the door of an apartment, through the curtain of which
+streamed the radiance.
+
+The image of Leila, surveying the cross of rubies, had not yet departed
+from his imagination, when he pushed aside the flimsy arras, and stood
+in the room; and his feelings of amazement and rapture, of mingled joy
+and terror, may be imagined, when he beheld, at the first glance, what
+seemed the incarnation of his vision.--Before a little stool, which
+supported a taper of some vegetable substance, burning with odours and
+smoke, there knelt, or seemed to kneel, a maiden of exquisite beauty,
+whose Moorish character might have been imagined in her face, but not
+detected in her garments, for these were of Spanish fashion. The light
+of the taper streamed full upon her visage, from which it was not two
+feet removed, and showed it to be bathed in tears. Her eyes were fixed
+upon some jewel held in her hands, close to the light, which was
+attached, by a chain of gold, to her neck; and the same look which
+revealed to Don Amador the features of the maid of Almeria, showed him,
+in this jewel, the well-known and never to be forgotten cross of rubies.
+The cavalier stood petrified; a smothered ejaculation burst from his
+lips, and his gaze was fixed upon the vision as on a basilisk.
+
+At his sudden exclamation, the maiden raised her eyes, gazed at him an
+instant, as he stood trembling with awe and delight; and the next
+moment,--whether it was that she struck the light out with her hand, or
+whether the taper and the figure were alike spectral, and snatched away
+by the same enchantment which had brought them into existence,--the
+chamber was left in darkness, and the pageant of loveliness and sorrow
+had vanished entirely away.
+
+No sooner had this unlooked for termination been presented, than Don
+Amador recovered his strength, and, with a cry of grief, rushed towards
+the spot so lately occupied by the vision. The stool still stood on the
+floor, but no maiden knelt by it. A faint gleam of dusky light shone
+suddenly on the opposite wall, and then as suddenly disappeared. It had
+not been lost to the cavalier; he approached it; his outstretched hands
+struck upon a curtain hung before another door, which admitted him into
+a passage, where a pleasant breeze, burdened with many perfumes, as from
+a garden, puffed on his cheeks. The sound of steps, echoing at the end
+of the gallery, and the gleaming of a light, struck at once upon his
+ears and eyes; he rushed onwards, with a loud cry, gained the door,
+which, he doubted not, would again reveal to him the blessed vision, and
+the next moment found himself arrested by the Zegri.
+
+Behind Abdalla stood the slave Ayub, bearing a torch, whose light shone
+equally on the indignant visage of the renegade Moor, and the troubled
+aspect of his captive.
+
+"Hath the senor forgot that he made me a vow?" cried Abdalla, sternly:
+"and that, in this effort to escape, he covers himself with dishonour?"
+
+To this reproach, Don Amador replied only by turning a bewildered and
+stupified stare on his host; and the Zegri, reading in this the evidence
+of returning delirium, relaxed the severity of his countenance, and
+spoke with a gentler voice.
+
+"My lord does not well," he said, "to leave his chamber, while the fever
+still burns him."
+
+He took the cavalier by the arm, and Don Amador suffered himself to be
+led to his apartment. There, seating himself on the couch, he surveyed
+the Moor with a steadfast and yet disturbed look, not at all regarding
+the words of sympathy pronounced by his jailer. At last, rousing
+himself, and muttering a sort of prayer, he said,
+
+"Are ye all enchanters? or am I mad? for either this thing is the
+fabrication of lunacy, or the illusion of unearthly art!"
+
+"Of what does my lord speak?" said the Moor, mildly, and soothingly. "He
+should not think of dreams."
+
+"Dost thou say, dreams?" cried the cavalier, with a laugh. "Surely mine
+eyes are open, and I see thee. Dost thou not profess thyself flesh and
+blood?"
+
+The Moor regarded his captive with uneasiness, thinking that his wits
+had fled.
+
+"My noble patron does not ask me of his countrymen and friends," he
+said, willing to divert his prisoner's thoughts. "This day, did I behold
+his followers, and, in addition, his kinsman, the knight of Calavar."
+
+At this name, the neophyte became more composed. He eyed the speaker
+more attentively, and now remarked, that, besides the leathern mail
+which he wore in the manner of the Mexicans, his chest was defended by
+an iron corslet, which, as well as the plumes of his tunic, was spotted
+with blood. As the Moor spoke, Don Amador perceived him to lay upon the
+table, along with the torch, which he had taken from Ayub, a sword dyed
+with the same gory ornament; and he started to his feet, with a feeling
+of fierce wrath, which entirely dispelled his stupefaction, when he
+recognized in this, his own vanished weapon.
+
+"Knave of a Zegri!" he cried, "hast thou used my glave on Spaniards, my
+friends and brothers?".
+
+"When I struck thee the blow which saved thy life," said Abdalla,
+calmly, "I was left without a weapon; for the steel shivered upon thy
+casque. I borrowed the sword, which, to thee, was useless, and I return
+it, not dishonoured, for it has drunk the blood of those who are, in the
+eyes of heaven, idolaters and assassins. I give it back to thee, and
+will not again use it, even in a just and righteous combat; for, thanks
+be to God! it has been the means of providing me a store, which I hope
+to increase into an armoury."
+
+"Thou avowest this to me? and with exultation?" said the cavalier,
+passing at once, in the excitement of anger, from the effects, and even
+the remembrance, of the vision.
+
+"If my lord will listen," replied Abdalla, not unrejoiced at the change,
+and willing to confirm the sanity of the prisoner, "he shall hear what
+good blows this rich and very excellent weapon hath this day struck. A
+better never smote infidel or Christian."
+
+"I will hear what thou hast to say," said the novice, with a stern
+accent; "and, wondering what direful calamity shall befall thee, for
+having thus profaned and befouled the sword of a Christian soldier, I
+hope thou wilt tell me of such things as will prove to me that God has
+punished the same, if not upon thy head, yet, at least, upon the heads
+of divers of thy godless companions."
+
+"There are many of the godless, both heathen and Christian, who have
+slept the sleep of death this day," said Abdalla, knitting his brows
+with the ardour of a soldier; "many shall die to-morrow, some the next
+day, but few on the last--for who shall remain to perish? Every day do I
+look down from the pyramid, and hearken to the groans of those who
+destroyed Granada; and every day, though the lamentings be wilder and
+louder, yet are they fewer. Heaven be thanked! a few days more, and not
+a bone shall be left to whiten on the square, that does not speak of
+vengeance for the Alpujarras!"
+
+"Moor!" said the frowning Spaniard, "have a care that thy ferocious and
+very unnatural triumph do not cause me to forget that I am thy prisoner.
+It was, perhaps, proper, that thou shouldst fly from Don Hernan, seeing
+that the slanders of very base caitiffs had prejudiced thee, and left
+thy life in jeopardy; perhaps, also, the necessity to gain the favour of
+Mexicans for thyself and Jacinto, by fighting with them against their
+foes, may, in part, extenuate the sin of such impiety; but I warn thee,
+thou leapest wantonly into superfluous crime, when, instead of mourning
+thy cruel fate, thou rejoicest over the blood thou art shedding."
+
+"Whose fault is it? and who shall account for my crime?" said the Zegri,
+with energy. "I came to these shores against my will; when I landed upon
+the sands of Ulua, my heart was in the peace of sorrow. I besought those
+who held me in unjust bondage, to discharge me with my boy: had they
+done so, then had I left them, and no Spaniard should have mourned for
+his oppression; the wrongs of Granada had not been repaid in Mexico. My
+prayers were met with mockery; the Zegri that hath sat in the seat of
+kings, was doomed to be the bearer of a match-stick; and the boy, whose
+blood runs redder and purer than that in the veins of the proudest
+cavalier of all, was degraded into the service of a menial, in the house
+of the bitterest enemy of his people! What was left for me? To choose
+between slavery and exile, contempt and revenge.--The senor thinks that
+the base Yacub belied me: Yacub spoke the truth. From the moment when I
+perceived I could not escape from the land, then did I know, that God
+had commissioned me to the work of revenge; and I resolved it should be
+mighty. I meditated the flight I have accomplished, the treason I have
+committed, the revenge I have obtained. I saw that I should remain in
+wo, with benighted barbarians; but I saw, also, that I should be afar
+from Spaniards. God be thanked! It was bitter to be parted, for ever,
+from the land of my birth, and the people of my love; but it is goodly
+and pleasant, to see the Castilian perish in misery, and remember
+Granada!"
+
+Throughout the whole of this harangue, Don Amador de Leste preserved a
+countenance of inflexible gravity.
+
+"Sir Zegri," said he, with a sigh, when it was concluded, "I perceive,
+that heaven hath erected a wall between us, to keep us for ever asunder.
+Whether thy bitter hatred of Spaniards be just or not, whether thy
+appetite for revenge be allowable or accurst, still is it apparent,
+that, while thou indulgest the one, and seekest to gratify the other, it
+is impossible I should remain with thee on any terms, except those of
+enmity and defiance; for those whom thou hatest, and dost so bloodily
+destroy, they are my countrymen. I love thy boy, but thee I detest. And
+now, having discovered that thou art of very noble blood, and being
+impelled to punish on thee the very grievous and unpardonable wrongs,
+which thou art doing to my country, I beg thou wilt release me from my
+parole, and fetch hither one of those swords which thou hast rifled from
+Spanish corses, I arming myself with my own weapon, here befouled with
+Spanish blood. We will discharge upon each other, the obligations we are
+under, thou to hate and slay Spaniards, and I to punish the haters and
+slayers of the same; for it is quite impossible I can live longer in
+peace, suffering thee to destroy my friends. Fetch hither, therefore, a
+sword, and let us end this quarrel with the life of one or the other;
+and, to ease thee of any anxiety thou mayest have, in regard to Jacinto,
+I solemnly assure thee, that, if thou fall, I will myself take thy
+place, and remain a father to him to the end of my days."
+
+As the cavalier made this extraordinary proposal, Abdalla surveyed him,
+first with surprise, then with gloomy regret; and when he had finished,
+with a glistening eye. Before Don Amador had yet done speaking, the
+Zegri unbuckled his corslet, and, flinging it on the floor, at the last
+word, said, with mild and reproachful dignity,--
+
+"Behold! thy sword is within reach, and my breast is naked. What hinders
+that thou shouldst not strike me at once? Thou speakest of Jacinto--It
+is enough that thy hand saved him from the blow of thy countryman: at
+that moment, I said, in my heart, though I spoke it not, 'Thou hast
+bought my life.' If thou wilt have it, it is thine. If thou hadst killed
+my father, I could not aim at thine!"
+
+"Of a truth," said the cavalier, moodily, "I should not slay thee out of
+mere anger, but duty: yet I would that thou mightest be prevailed upon
+to assault me, so as to enforce me into rage; for, I say to thee again,
+so long as thy hostile acts continue, I must very violently abhor thee."
+
+"They will not continue long," said Abdalla. "After a few days, there
+will remain in my bosom no feeling but gratitude; and, then, my lord
+shall see, that the fury which has slain all others, has been his own
+security."
+
+"Of this," said Don Amador, "I will have a word to speak with thee anon.
+At present, I am desirous, that thou shouldst relate to me the fate of
+this day's battle, which I am the more anxious to know, since thou hast
+spoken the name of Calavar."
+
+"I am loath to obey thee," said the Zegri, struggling with the fierce
+satisfaction that beset him at the thought, "for it may again excite
+thee to anger."
+
+"Nevertheless, I will listen to thy story, with such composure as I can,
+as to a thing, it may be needful for me to know; after which, I have
+myself a matter of which it is quite essential I should acquaint thee."
+
+Thus commanded, the Moor obeyed; and his eyes sparkled, as he conned
+over in his mind the events of a day so dreadful to the Spaniards.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+
+"Yesterday, when thou wert sleeping," said the Zegri, "or lay as one
+that slept----"
+
+"That day, then," muttered Amador, "is a blank in my existence! and
+very grievous it is, to think that so great a space of so short a
+period as life, should be lost in a stony lethargy.--It seems to me,
+that that blow thou gavest me, was somewhat rounder than was
+needful.--Nevertheless, I am not angry, but grateful."
+
+"Yesterday was a day of comparative peace," continued the Zegri. "The
+Spaniards shut themselves in their citadel, preparing for the greater
+exploit of to-day. It was evident to the dullest of the nobles, that Don
+Hernan had cast an evil eye on the temple."
+
+"Did he so?" cried the cavalier. "It was the thought of a good
+Christian: and, methinks, my countrymen had not been judged with so many
+of these present torments, if they had sooner torn down that strong-hold
+of the devil, which is detestable in the eye of heaven."
+
+"To-day, they marched against it," said Abdalla, "with all their force,
+both of Spaniards and Tlascalans; and, I will say for them, that they
+marched well, fought boldly, and revenged their own heavy losses, in the
+blood of many barbarians, as well on the pyramid as in the temple-yard
+and the streets. They came against us, with four such turrets, moving on
+wheels----"
+
+"Is it possible," cried Amador, "that the general was not sufficiently
+warned of the inefficacy of those engines, by the doleful fate of the
+manta, that day, when it was my mishap to be vanquished?--I shall
+remember the death of the ship-master, Gomez, to the end of my
+life.--Twice or thrice, did I long to be with him among the
+fire-worshippers, who must be a very strange people. But the Mexicans
+are very valiant."
+
+"Of a truth, they are," said the Zegri. "I will not detain my lord with
+the account of the battle in the streets, wherein the mantas were again,
+in great part, destroyed; nor will I relate, with what suffering the
+Castilians won their way to the Wall of Serpents, and the temple-yard.
+It was here, that I beheld my lord's kinsman, the knight of Calavar,
+unhorsed, and in the hands of the infidel----"
+
+"Accursed assassin!" cried the neophyte, springing to his feet, "and
+hast thou kept me in bonds, that my knight should perish thus, without
+succour?"
+
+"The foe of Granada did not perish, and he was not without succour,"
+said the Zegri, loftily. "When his steed, slipping on the polished
+stones, with which that yard is paved, fell to the earth, and many
+savage hands were fastened on his body, there was a friend hard by, who
+raised both the knight and charger, and preserved them from
+destruction."
+
+"Give me the name of that most noble friend," cried Don Amador,
+ardently,--"for, I swear, I will reckon this act to him, in my
+gratitude, as the salvation of my own life. Tell me, what true Christian
+was he?"
+
+"One," said Abdalla, calmly, "who hated him as the slayer of his people,
+but remembered that he repented his evil acts with misery and
+distraction,--one, who abhorred him for these deeds of sin, and yet
+loved him, because he was, like his kinsman, the protector of childhood
+and feebleness."
+
+"I doubt not, that _thou_ wert the man," said the cavalier, faltering,
+"and, therefore, I return thee my thanks. But I would have thee know,
+that, whatever blood was improperly shed by my kinsman, was shed by
+accident and not design; for, no man is more incapable of cruelty than
+the noble knight, Don Gabriel. But, this shows me, that thou art really
+of lofty blood; for none but a magnanimous soul can render justice to a
+hated enemy."
+
+"Why should I dwell upon the conflict in the yard?" continued the Moor,
+hastily. "Through the flames of the many chapels, that filled it,--with
+shouts and the roar of muskets,--the Christians, ever victorious, and
+yet ever conquered even by victory, rushed against the steps of the
+pyramid, disregarding the stones tumbled on them from the terraces, the
+darts flung down from the little barbicans or niches in the wall, and
+the flaming logs shot down, endwise, from the steps. Terrace after
+terrace, stair after stair, were won; and the Christians stood, at last,
+on the summit, fighting hand to hand with the four thousand nobles who
+defended it. My lord cannot think, that even these numbers of naked men
+could long withstand a thousand Christians, robed in iron, and
+infuriated by desperation. Score after score were slain, and tumbled
+from the top; the flames burst from the altar of Mexitli,--the priest
+died in the sanctuary, the Tlatoani at the downfallen urns; and, in an
+hour's time, the Spaniards were masters of the pyramid."
+
+"Thanks be to heaven, which fought with them!" cried Amador, devoutly.
+"And thus may the infidel fall!"
+
+"Does not my lord pity the wretches, who die for their country?" said
+the Zegri, reproachfully. "This is not a war of heaven against hell, but
+of tyranny against freedom.--I did see some sights, this day, upon the
+pyramid, which caused me to remember those noble Roman generals, who, in
+ancient times, were wont to devote themselves to death, for the good of
+the state. At the very moment when the condition of the Mexicans was
+most dreadful, when, despairing of the usefulness of longer resistance,
+they rushed frantically upon the Spanish spears, transfixing themselves
+by their own act, or flung themselves from the pyramid, to be dashed to
+pieces below,--at this moment, I beheld, with mine own eyes, two very
+young and noble Tlatoani, to whom I had myself just shown a means of
+escape, rush upon Don Hernan, who fought very valiantly throughout the
+day. They cast away their arms, flung themselves at his feet, as if to
+supplicate for mercy; and having thus thrown the general off his guard,
+they seized him, on a sudden, in their arms, and hurried him to the edge
+of the terrace. From that dizzy brink they strove to drag him, willing,
+themselves, to die dreadfully, so that the great enemy of Tenochtitlan
+should fall with them. But the strength of boys yielded to the iron
+grasp of the Christian; and, flinging them from him like drops of water,
+or gouts of blood from his wounded hand, he beheld them fall miserably
+to the earth,--dead, but not yet avenged."
+
+"Thanks be to God again!" cried the cavalier, warming with excitement;
+"for, though these youths met their death very bravely, they were guilty
+of a most vile treachery; for which, death was but a just punishment.
+And so, my true and excellent friends did win this battle? By heaven! it
+galls me to the marrow, to think that I lie here idle, while such things
+are doing around me!"
+
+"They won the temple top," said Abdalla, with a laugh of scorn, "that
+they might look down from that height, and behold themselves surrounded
+by an hundred thousand men, who were busy slaying their Tlascalan
+slaves, and waiting for the masters. Very plainly did I hear their cries
+of despair at that sight; and these were goodly music. For myself, I
+escaped, as did some few others, by dropping from terrace to terrace,
+upon the dead bodies, which, being tumbled, in great numbers, from the
+top, lay, in some places, in such heaps along the galleries, as greatly
+to lessen the dangers of a fall. Well were the Mexicans revenged for
+this slaughter," continued the Moor, his eyes glittering with ferocious
+transport, "when the Spaniards descended, to cut their way to the
+quarters, encumbered with captive priests, and such provisions as they
+had gathered in the chapels. How many fell in the squares and streets,
+how many were suffocated in the canals,--how few were able to pierce
+through the myriads that invested the palace, (for, all this time, had
+there been thousands assailing the weak garrison, and tearing down the
+court-yard wall)--why should I speak of these? It is enough, that the
+gain of the pyramid,--lost as soon as gained,--cost them irreparable wo;
+and that the wounded fugitives (for the Mexican glass drank of the blood
+of all,) now lie in their desolate house, their court-walls prostrate,
+the buttresses of their palace cracked by fire, their steeds unfed and
+starving, their ammunition expended--hopeless and helpless, calling to
+the leaders who cannot relieve, the saints who will not hear, and
+waiting only for death. Death then! for it cometh; death! for it is
+inevitable; death! for it is just; and death! for it repays the wrongs
+of Granada!"
+
+As the triumphing Moor concluded his fiery oration, the cavalier, whose
+excitement was raised to the last pitch, and whose indignation and
+remorse were alike kindled by a full knowledge of the condition of his
+countrymen, cried aloud,--
+
+"Hark thee, sir Moor! with these friends, thus reduced to extremity and
+despairing, it is needful I should straightway join myself, to endure
+what they endure, to suffer as they suffer, to die as they die. I refuse
+to save my life, when the forfeit of it to an honourable purpose, may
+relieve them of their distresses. I repent me of the gage which I gave
+thee, I revoke my promise of captivity, and am, therefore, free to make
+my escape; which I hereby attempt,--peacefully if I can,--but warning
+thee, if thou oppose, it shall be at the peril of thy life!"
+
+So saying, the cavalier snatched up the sword from the table, and sprang
+towards the door. So quickly, indeed, did he act, and so much did he
+take his jailer by surprise, that he had nearly arrived at the curtain,
+before Abdalla had time to intercept him. His brain was in a ferment of
+passion, and the various excitements of the evening had inflamed him
+again into fever; so, that, in the fury of the moment, when the Zegri
+leaped before him, endeavouring to catch him in his arms, he forgot
+every thing but his purpose, and the necessity of escaping. He caught
+the Moor by the throat, and struggling violently, raised the crimson
+steel to strike. The life of Abdalla seemed not to have a moment's
+purchase,--the weapon was already descending on his naked head,
+when,--at that very instant,--the curtain was drawn from the door, and
+dimly, but yet beyond all shadow of doubt, in the light of the torch,
+the cavalier beheld the pale visage of the maid of Almeria, shining over
+the shoulders of the Moor.
+
+The sword fell from his hand, and his whole frame shook, as, with wild
+eyes, he returned the gaze of the vision. The Zegri, amazed, yet not
+doubting that this sudden change was the mere revolution of delirium,
+took instant advantage of it, snatched the leathern strap from the lute
+of Jacinto; and when the curtain, falling again, had concealed the
+spectral countenance, the arms of the cavalier were bound tightly behind
+him. This was a superfluous caution. His strength had been supplied by
+fury, and the instant that this had subsided, the exhaustion of two
+days' illness returned; and had not his spirits been otherwise unmanned,
+he would now have been as a boy in the hands of Abdalla.
+
+The Moor conducted him to the couch, on which he suffered himself to be
+placed without opposition, and without speaking a word. His whole
+faculties seemed lost in a sudden and profound stupor; and Abdalla began
+to fear that, in his prisoner, he had found, in more respects than one,
+a true representative of his kinsman, Don Gabriel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+
+A certain degree of monotony prevails among all the vicissitudes of
+life, and even the most exciting events fail, after a time, to interest.
+A paucity of incidents will not much sooner disgust us with the pages of
+history, than the most abundant stores of plots and battles, triumphs
+and defeats, if too liberally dispensed;--for these are composed of the
+same elements, and have, on the whole, the same wearisome identity of
+character. For this reason, though the many battles fought in the
+streets of Mexico, during the seven days which intervened betwixt the
+second coming and the second departure of Cortes, have something in them
+both of interest and novelty, we have not dared to recount them in full,
+nor, indeed, to mention all of them; being satisfied to touch only
+such, and, in truth, only such parts of such, as, in themselves, have
+each some peculiar variety of characteristic. We pass by, with a word,
+the increased sufferings of the Christians,--their murmurs and
+lamentations,--their despair and frenzy.
+
+The day that followed after the fatal victory of the pyramid, brought
+its battles like others. That day it became apparent that the last fibre
+which bound hope to the palace wall, was about snapping--it was known to
+all, that the Indian monarch was expiring. The prediction of Botello had
+made all acquainted with the day on which a retreat might be
+accomplished. That day was drawing nigh; but the impatience of the
+soldiers, and the anxiety of the officers to prepare, or, at least, to
+reconnoitre, the path of retreat, again drove them from their quarters.
+A weak, but well chosen and trusty garrison was left in charge of the
+palace; while Don Hernan, with all the forces that could be spared of
+his reduced army, sallied from the court-yard, and fought his way to the
+dike of Iztapalapan.
+
+In this exploit, new difficulties were to be overcome, and new proofs
+were exhibited of the sagacity and determination of the barbarians.
+Besides the obstacles offered by the ditches, robbed of their bridges,
+the Mexicans had heaped together across the streets, the fragments of
+their demolished houses, thus forming barriers, which were not passed
+without the greatest labour and suffering. Nevertheless, the Spaniards
+persevered, and not only gained the causeway, but approached nigh to
+Iztapalapan, before a Tlascalan messenger, creeping in disguise through
+the crowds of enemies, recalled them to the palace, which was furiously
+assailed, and in imminent danger of being carried by storm.
+
+It is not to be supposed, that this attempt on the great dike, and the
+return, were effected without the most bloody opposition. The lake
+suddenly swarmed with canoes full of fighting men, and when Don Hernan
+again turned his face towards Tenochtitlan, he beheld the causeway
+covered with warriors, who, besides disputing his passage with
+unappeasable rage, broke, as well as they could, the bridges over the
+sluices, seven in number, wherein were mingled the floods of Chalco and
+Tezcuco. His valour, however, or his good fortune, prevailed; and by
+night-fall he reached the square of Axajacatl, and fell with renewed
+fury upon the savages who still struggled with the garrison. When he had
+carved his way through them, and had directed the exertions of his
+united forces against the besiegers, who still raved, like wolves,
+around him, he gave some thought to those companions, whose fate it had
+been, to lay their bodies on the causeway, or to take their rest, with
+such exequies as could be rendered in the lamentations of men expecting
+each instant to share their fate, under the salt bosom of Tezcuco.
+
+It became known, that, among these unhappy victims, was the knight of
+Calavar,--but how slain, or where entombed, no one could relate. From
+the day of the loss of his kinsman, he had been reckoned by all,
+entirely insane. He held communion with none, not even his attendants;
+but casting aside his abstraction, and resuming his armour, he was
+present in every conflict which ensued, fighting with an ardour, fury,
+and recklessness, as astonishing as they were maniacal. All that was
+remembered of his fate, this day, was, that, when at the farthest part
+of the causeway the trumpets were ordered to sound a retreat, he was
+seen, without attendants, for they were wedged fast in the melee,
+dashing onwards amid the dusky crowds that came rushing upon the front
+from the suburbs of Iztapalapan. Cortes had, himself, called to the
+knight to return, and not doubting that he would extricate himself
+without aid, had then given all his attention to the Mexicans attacking
+on the rear. This was known; it was known also that Don Gabriel had not
+returned: beyond this, all was mystery and gloom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+
+Two hours after night-fall, and while the Spaniards were still engaged
+in close battle with the besiegers, who, this night, seemed as if their
+rage was never to be appeased, the cavalier Don Amador de Leste rested
+in his chamber, (the Moorish boy sitting dejected at his feet,) now
+starting up with cries of grief and impatience, as the continued
+explosions of artillery admonished him of the straits of his friends,
+and now, as these seemed to die away and be followed by silence, giving
+his mind to other not less exciting thoughts, and questioning the page
+of the events of the past day.
+
+"Not now, not now,--ask me not _now_!" replied the page, with great
+emotion to one of his demands; "for now can I think of naught but my
+father. It is not his custom to leave me so long by night, even when the
+battle continues. Heaven protect him! for at any moment, he may die; and
+what then am I, in this land, and among this people? Would to heaven we
+had perished in Spain,--nay, in Barbary,--in the sea along with our
+friends; for, then, might we have died together!"
+
+"Give not way to this passion," said the cavalier, with an attempt at
+consolation, which drove not the gloom from his own countenance; "for
+thou knowest, that, whatever evil may happen to Abdalla, I will myself
+befriend thee."
+
+"My father is slain!" cried Jacinto, wringing his hands, "or long since
+would he have been with us."
+
+"If this be the case," said Amador, with grave benevolence, "and I will
+not deny that Abdalla doth keep his life in constant jeopardy, it
+plainly shows, that I am bound to make a father's effort to protect
+thee, and thou to follow my counsels. Hark!" he exclaimed, as a furious
+cannonade, seemingly of all the pieces shot off together, brought its
+roar and its tremor to his prison-house,--"dost thou not hear how
+ferocious is the combat, at this moment? Know, Jacinto, that every
+explosion seems like a petard fastened to and bursting upon mine own
+bosom,--so very great are the shock and pang of mind with which, at such
+time, I bethink me of the condition of my countrymen. Much longer I
+cannot endure my captivity; I have resolved that it shall end, even, if
+that be needful, by the breach of my solemn vow; for, I am persuaded,
+the dishonour and compunction which must follow upon that, will be but
+light, compared with the great ignominy of my present inactivity, and
+the unspeakable remorse which rends my vitals, while submitting to it.
+But I can by no means escape, while thou art left alone to be my jailer;
+if I escape by force of arms, it shall be when thy father is here to
+oppose me. I counsel thee, however, as thinking, with thee, that Abdalla
+may be dead----"
+
+Here Jacinto burst into the most bitter lamentations.
+
+"Be not thus afflicted; for I speak to thee only of a possibility which
+may be feared, and not of a certainty to be mourned. What I mean is,
+that this possibility should be enough to release thee, as well as
+myself, from this house; for if Abdalla be really deceased, it must be
+evident to thee, nothing could be more foolish, and even dangerous, than
+to remain in it alone; seeing that, if we be not found out and murdered
+by the Mexicans, we must surely expect to be starved. Guided by the
+sounds of battle, we can easily find our way to the palace; and perhaps,
+by wrapping ourselves in some of these cotton curtains, we may make our
+way through the herds of Mexicans, without notice, as being mistaken for
+some of their fellow-combatants. Once arrived within earshot of the
+palace, I have no fear but that we shall be very safe; and I pledge my
+vow to thee, that I will so faithfully guard thee on the way, that no
+weapon shall strike thee, that has not first pierced my own bosom."
+
+The page clasped his hands, and regarded his master with looks in which
+affection struggled with despair.
+
+"But if my father should live--oh, if my father should live! and
+returning to this desolate house, should find that his child has
+deserted him!"
+
+"If he live," said the cavalier, "then shall he know, that thou hast
+taken the only step to preserve him from destruction, both temporal and
+eternal. I will not rest, till I have procured for him a free pardon; I
+will hold thee as a hostage, which, in addition to the assurance of
+forgiveness, will speedily bring him into the garrison: for, knowing his
+love to thee, I know he cannot live without thee. Besides, I will
+obtain, for I will demand it, permission for him to return with thee to
+Spain; and if my knight consent, we will depart together; for now I am
+convinced that heaven doth fight against us, even to upholding the
+godless heathen. Let us therefore depart, making our trust in God, who
+will cover us, this night, as with shields, to protect our weakness."
+
+"Alas, alas!" cried the boy, faltering with grief and fear, "my lord is
+sick and wounded, feeble and helpless."
+
+"That I have not all the vigour, which, a few days since, was mine,"
+said the cavalier, snatching up his sword, and brandishing it, once or
+twice, in the air, as if to make trial of his strength, "I cannot deny.
+Nevertheless, I am stronger than yesterday; and besides, while placing
+great reliance on the protection of heaven, I shall trust less to my
+weapon than to such disguises as it may be in our power to adopt. With
+these figured curtains wrapped about us, and, if there be any feathers
+about the house, a bunch or two tied to our heads, I have no doubt, we
+can delude the Mexican fighting men, and, in the tumult of battle, pass
+through their ranks, entirely unmolested."
+
+While the page hesitated and wept, visibly struggling between his wishes
+and his fears, there occurred a sudden interruption in the cannonade;
+and, in the dead silence that followed, both heard the sound of rapid
+footsteps approaching the door, accompanied by smothered groans.
+
+The page started--In an instant, the steps were heard in the passage,
+followed by a heavy sound, as of a man falling upon the floor.
+
+"Oh God! my father! my poor father!" cried Jacinto, springing to the
+door.
+
+He was arrested by the arm of the neophyte, who plainly distinguished,
+along with the groans that came from the passage, a noise as if the
+sufferer were struggling to his feet; and in a moment after, as he
+pushed aside the curtain, to go out himself, the slave Ayub, covered
+with blood, rushed by him into the apartment, and again fell prostrate.
+
+"My father, Ayub! my father?" cried the page, kneeling at his side.
+
+"Allah il Allah! praised be God, for now I am safe!" said the Morisco,
+raising on his arm, and, though his whole frame shook as in the ague of
+death, regarding the pair with the greatest exultation. "I thought they
+had shot me through the liver with a bullet; but Allah be praised! 'twas
+naught but an arrow. Help me up, noble senor--Eh? ay? Trim the taper a
+little, and give me a morsel of drink."
+
+"Thou sayest naught of my father, Ayub?" said Jacinto, eagerly and yet
+with mortal fear,--for he knew by the gesture of Don Amador, as he
+ceased his unavailing attempt to lift the wounded man, but more by the
+countenance of Ayub himself, that he was a dying man.
+
+"How can I speak without light?" cried the Moor, with a sort of chuckle.
+"Trim the torch, trim the torch, and let me see where these boltheads be
+rankling.--Praise be to Allah, for I thought myself a dead man!"
+
+"Wilt thou not speak to me of my father?" exclaimed Jacinto, in agony.
+
+"A brave night! a brave night!" muttered Ayub, fumbling at his
+garments--"Valiant unbelievers!--Praised be God--The Wali----"
+
+"Ay, the Wali! the Wali, thy master!" cried Jacinto, his voice dwindling
+to a hoarse and terrified whisper;--"my father, thy master, Ayub?"
+
+"The Wali----Hah!" exclaimed the unbeliever, roused by the distant
+explosions;--"At it yet, brave pagans? Roar, cannon! Shout, infidel!
+shout and whistle--shout, whistle, and kill!--Save me the Wali, save me
+the Wali!"
+
+"Oh heaven, Ayub!--thou sayest nothing of him,--of my father!"
+
+"They took him a prisoner--but we'll have him again!--Lelilee!
+Lelilee!--Strike fast, pagan!--A brave day for Granada!"
+
+At these words, Jacinto seemed not less like to die than the fugitive.
+But as he neither fell to the floor, nor screamed, Don Amador still held
+fast to Ayub, who was now struggling in the most fearful convulsions,
+and yet, strange to hear, still uttering broken expressions of joy.
+
+"A prisoner, a prisoner!--A little drink, for the sake of Allah!" he
+cried, incoherently. "Ha, ha! one runs not so far with a bullet in the
+liver!--Now they are at it! now they are killing the great senores!
+now, they murder 'em!--Great joy! a great sight for a Moor!
+great--great--great revenge!--Many days agone--Great--great revenge!
+says the Wali--They killed my mother--Great revenge--great--great--Oho!
+great revenge for Granada!"
+
+With these accents on his lips, mingled with sounds of laughter, and
+horrid contortions of countenance, the infidel Moor, (for such was
+Ayub,) sprang suddenly to his knees; and flinging abroad his arms, and
+uttering a yell of agony, fell back instantly upon the floor, quivered a
+moment, and then lay a disfigured corse.
+
+"Dost thou see, Jacinto!" said Don Amador, taking the shivering boy by
+the arm. "Ayub is dead, and thy father a prisoner. If thou wilt save the
+life of Abdalla, the Wali, (I never before knew that Abdalla, though
+noble, was of this dignity--but this shall help me to plead for him;)
+get thyself instantly in readiness, and let us begone."
+
+The page turned a tearless countenance on his patron, and replied, with
+a tranquillity that seemed to come from desperation,--
+
+"I will go with my lord, for I have no friend now but him,--I will go
+with my lord, to look upon my father's dead body; for I know the
+Spaniards will not spare his life a moment,--I will go with my
+lord,--and would that I had gone sooner! for now, it is too late."
+
+As Jacinto pronounced these words, he began to weep anew, though
+hearkening passively to the instructions of the cavalier.
+
+"If thou canst find me any plumes," said Amador, "fetch them to me
+straight; and if thou hast about the house, any Mexican garment, which
+thou canst wear, haste thou to don it. As for myself, I will first arm,
+and then robe me in the tunic of this poor dead misbeliever. Be of good
+heart, I charge thee--God will protect us."
+
+"There are robes enough, both for my lord and me," said the sobbing
+boy,--"and shrouds too--It is too late.--But I can die with my lord!"
+
+"Why, that is spoken with more valour than I thought thou hadst," said
+the cavalier. "But bring me the robes, without thinking of thy shrouds;
+and be very quick, for I must have thee to buckle some of these straps
+of my jambeux."
+
+The page took up a little taper that lay near the flambeau, and,
+shuddering as he passed by the body, instantly departed on his errand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+
+When the boy returned, bearing a bundle of garments, and two or three
+such crests as were worn by the nobler Mexicans, in time of war, the
+cavalier had more than half-armed himself. He sighed, as he flung the
+habergeon over his shoulders, to find the many rents made among the
+Flemish links by the Mexican glass; but he sighed more, when he
+discovered how greatly his bodily powers were enfeebled, by feeling,
+almost for the first time in his life, the oppressive weight of the
+mail. Nevertheless, the cannon still roared at the palace, every moment
+was expediting the doom of Abdalla, perhaps, also, that of his friends
+and kinsman; and he seized upon cuish and greave, gauntlet and helm,
+with activity and eagerness.
+
+"What is that huge mantle thou placest upon the table?" he demanded of
+the page, without relaxing in his efforts.
+
+"A _tilmatli_, or Indian cloak, large enough to hide my lord's armour,"
+replied Jacinto, hurriedly. "If the Mexicans should see the gleaming of
+but a single link, death on the spot, or, still more horrid, on the
+pyramid, will be the fate of my lord."
+
+"Now that I know, that such would be the consequence of captivity," said
+the cavalier, fiercely, "I swear to God and St. John, I will die
+fighting--that is, if it please heaven, that I shall be struck no more
+blows that overpower without killing."
+
+"And this great penacho," said the boy, "I will tie to my lord's crest,
+so that it shall entirely veil the helmet. I have fastened some of the
+red tufts among the feathers, whereby the pagans may think my lord is a
+war-chief, and noble, if they should see them."
+
+"Of all boys that I have ever yet seen, thou art by far the shrewdest
+and wisest," said Don Amador with complacency, but without ceasing a
+moment to do on his armour, "What disguise hast thou provided for
+thyself?"
+
+"A garment," said Jacinto, "which, being flung about my body and hooded
+over my head, will cause the Mexicans to think me a woman devoted to the
+service of one of their gods."
+
+"A most damnable delusion," said the novice, "and I would thou hadst
+fallen upon some other device. But, perhaps, thou hadst no choice; and,
+now that I think of it, thy small stature, and very smooth and handsome
+visage, will, perhaps, suit this disguise better than another. If there
+be any sin in assuming it, heaven will allow the necessity, and forgive
+the commission. Quick, and don it,--for I would have thee tighten these
+greave-straps, before I pull on my boots."
+
+"It will but encumber me: I will fling it over me in the passage," said
+Jacinto, kneeling, and endeavouring, with an unsteady hand, to perform
+the office required of him.
+
+"Be of good heart, I charge thee, and tremble not. Thou art unused to
+this service; but think not, though thou beest the son of a Moorish
+Wali, of the noblest blood, that this duty can dishonour thee. I have
+performed it myself, times without number, to my good knight, Don
+Gabriel. I would thou wert somewhat stronger, though. Fear not to pull
+with all thy strength. I have shrunk somewhat with the fever,--greatly
+to the disparagement of my leg,--and the strap is of the stiffest."
+
+"It is stiffened with my lord's blood!" said the page, trembling more,
+but succeeding, at last, in securing it. Then rising, and knotting a
+broad and shadowy plume over his patron's helmet, so as, in a great
+measure, to conceal the gleaming iron, he assisted to fasten it. There
+remained nothing, then, for the cavalier, but to arrange the tilmatli
+about his person; a feat, in which, with the aid of the page, he
+succeeded so well, as quite to hide his martial equipments, without yet
+depriving him of the power, in case of necessity, of using the sword,
+which he held naked in his hand.
+
+"Thy woman's weeds! Why dost thou hesitate, Jacinto?" he cried,
+prepared, and now eager to make his departure. "Thou thinkest of thy
+lute? By my faith, I shall be loath thou shouldst lose it, for much good
+has it done, and yet may do, to Don Gabriel. I will bear it under my
+arm."
+
+"Think not of the lute," said Jacinto, sorrowfully. "What need have we
+now of music? It will but overburden my lord, whose hands should be
+free; and in mine, it would only serve to expose the deception of my
+apparel."
+
+"Cast it aside, then; and now, in God's name, let us depart!"
+
+Jacinto stepped, faltering, up to the body of Ayub, lying stiff and
+cold, the countenance, illuminated by the slanting torch-light, still
+mingling a grin of exultation with the contortion of the death-agony. A
+tear dropped upon the swarthy cheek, and a deep sob burst from the bosom
+of Jacinto, when he gazed his last upon the dead Morisco.
+
+"Why dost thou tarry to weep?" said Amador, impatiently.--"Ayub was an
+infidel."
+
+"My lord does not know how those who have not many friends, can value
+the few," said the page. "This man was faithful to my father; and
+therefore do I lament him, as one whose loss is a sore misfortune; and,
+infidel though he were, yet was he of the faith of my ancestors."
+
+"Remember, however, that, while thou weepest over a dead friend of
+Abdalla, thou deprivest him of the services of a living one."
+
+Thus rebuked, Jacinto moved rapidly into the passage, and flinging, as
+he went, the garment he held about his person, stepped with the cavalier
+into the street.
+
+A thick scud, threatening rain, careered over the heaven, and the smoke
+of cannon, mingling with the mists of the lake, covered the city with a
+gloom so deep, that Don Amador could not easily distinguish the
+peculiar habiliments of his companion. Nevertheless, he could well
+believe that his appearance was that of an Indian maiden. He bade
+Jacinto to take him by the hand, adding an injunction, under all
+circumstances that might arise, to maintain his grasp. To this, Jacinto
+answered,--
+
+"Let it not be so,--at least, not until we are so environed, as to be in
+danger of separating. My lord must now consent to be guided by me." (He
+spoke with singular coolness, as if restored, by the urgency of the
+occasion, to all that self-command and discretion, which had so often
+excited the wonder of his patron.) "I will walk a little before; and if
+the people should approach, let my lord take no notice, but follow
+calmly in my steps, as though he were a great noble, disdaining to look
+upon his inferiors. Be not amazed at what may happen, and, especially,
+do not speak a word until close by the Spaniards."
+
+"Dost thou mean," said the cavalier, suddenly struck with the memory of
+the vision, not yet accounted for by the page,--"dost thou mean to
+practise any arts of magic? for if so----"
+
+"I beseech my lord not to speak," said the boy, with a hurried voice;
+"for, if a word be heard, neither valour nor magic can save us from
+destruction. By-and-by, my lord shall see the wisdom of this counsel;
+and all that is strange in its consequences, shall be explained to him."
+
+Thus speaking, Jacinto strode forwards, and Don Amador, wondering, yet
+yielding to his instructions, followed in silence.
+
+The cannon still roared at the palace, and the shouts of the infuriated
+combatants were plainly heard, in the intervals of the discharges; so
+that, as the cavalier had hinted, there could be no difficulty in
+determining their path. Nevertheless, it appeared to him, that Jacinto
+walked forwards with the boldness and certainty of one familiar with the
+streets he was treading.
+
+For a time, their course lay through a street entirely deserted; but,
+by-and-by, passing into one of greater magnitude, they beheld shadowy
+masses, now of single figures, now of groups, darting about, many of
+them with lights, as if flying, some from the scene of combat, and
+others, like themselves, approaching it. It was apparent that this
+street was one of the four great avenues leading to the square of
+Axajacatl; for no sooner had the two Christians stepped upon it, than
+the sounds of conflict came to them with tenfold loudness; and they
+could behold, ever and anon, as the deadly discharges burst from the
+artillery, the flames flashing luridly up through the mists, like the
+jets of a distant volcano.
+
+With the consciousness that he now trod a principal street, Don Amador
+became aware that he was, of a certainty, advancing full upon the mouth
+of, at least, one piece of ordnance; and, as Jacinto paused suddenly, as
+if dismayed at his peril, (for at that moment a ruddy flame shot out of
+the mist, and a falconet bellowed down the street,) he approached the
+boy, and said,--
+
+"For thy sake, Jacinto,--(it does not become me to say for my own;
+though I confess some repugnance to advance thus on the cannon of my
+friends,)--I should wish thou couldst find some other path, not so much
+exposed to be raked as this."
+
+"Speak not,--we have no choice," muttered the boy. "But God be thanked!
+the bullet that strikes my lord, will first pass through my own body."
+
+This little expression of devotion was pronounced with an earnestness
+that touched the heart of the cavalier; and he was about to utter his
+satisfaction, when a gesture of Jacinto, who immediately began to resume
+his pace, warned him into silence. The usefulness of the caution was
+soon made manifest; for two or three Mexicans suddenly brushed by,
+though without seeming to notice them. An instant after, there passed
+several groups, bearing wounded men in their arms; and, by-and-by, while
+every moment seemed to surround them yet more with isolated
+individuals, there came a party in some numbers, uttering lamentations,
+as if over the body of a great noble. Several of these bore torches in
+their hands, wherewith they were enabled to descry the pair; and Don
+Amador's heart beat quick, as he saw three or four detach themselves
+from the group, and run forwards, as if to make sure of a prey. He
+grasped at his weapon, invoked his saint, and moved quickly up to
+Jacinto, to give him what protection he could. But, at the very moment
+when he feared the worst, he was amazed to behold the barbarians come to
+a dead halt, and, at the waving of Jacinto's hand, part from before him
+with countenances of reverence and fear. The same remarkable change was
+observed in those who composed the party bearing the corse, with the
+addition of new marks of homage; for, leaving the body in the hands of a
+few, they seemed about to follow the page in a tumultuous procession,
+until he turned round, waving his hand again; at which gesture, nearly
+all immediately fell on their knees, and so remained until he passed.
+All this time, the wondering cavalier was conscious that he was himself
+unregarded.
+
+Little by little, while the screams and cannon-shots grew louder at each
+step, Don Amador perceived that the groups began to grow into crowds,
+and then into dense masses, every moment; while, every moment, also, it
+became still more apparent, that his guide exercised some powerful,
+though, to him, inscrutable, influence, over the mob; for, no sooner did
+their torches reveal his figure, than all were straightway seized with
+admiration, falling upon their knees, or returning on their path, and
+following him towards the battle.
+
+The gestures of Jacinto served no longer to repel them; and in a few
+moments there were hundreds of men, their numbers increasing at each
+step, who pressed after him eagerly, though reverentially,--uttering, at
+first, low murmurs, and then, at last, shouts of joy and triumph. These
+reaching the ears and drawing the attention of others in front, they, in
+turn, added their respect to the homage of the rest.
+
+However surprising, and, indeed, confounding, this notice, and these
+salutations, to Don Amador, they were far from agreeable; for the train
+followed so close upon his heels, that he dreaded, every moment, lest
+some derangement of his mantle or plumes might expose to their gaze the
+hidden ensigns of a Christian. Greatly was he rejoiced, therefore, when
+the steady and persevering advance of the page had carried him so deeply
+into the crowd, that it was scarcely practicable for more than one or
+two individuals, at a time, to look upon him, and quite impossible that
+the noisy train should follow. He ceased, therefore, to lament his
+proximity to the cannon-mouths, which still, at intervals, flung death
+among the besiegers; for he thought that in that alone there was safety.
+His desire, in this particular, was soon gratified; for he was, at last,
+wedged, with the page, among a mass of men so dense and so disordered,
+that he no longer feared a scrutiny. He was in sight of the palace, his
+foot planted upon the square, and but a few paces separated from his
+friends and his knight.
+
+In the flash of the arquebuses, but more particularly in the fiendish
+glare of the cannon, when disemboguing their contents upon the
+barbarians, he beheld the terraces covered with his countrymen,
+resisting as they could, and with every shot from the musket, every bolt
+from the arbalist, adding a life to the reckoning of their revenge, and
+yet fainting with fatigue over a slaughter which had no end. The square
+was filled with men, as with a sea, and when the fiery flashes of the
+ordnance lit it up as with a momentary conflagration, the commotion
+following upon each, made him think of those surges of fire which roll
+in the crater of a volcano, and of the billows of blood that dash upon
+the shores of hell. A more infernal spectacle could not, indeed, have
+been imagined; and when the harsh yells of the pagan myriads were
+added, the tophet was complete, and man appeared,--as he yet
+appears,--the destroyer and the demoniac.
+
+This spectacle, however horrible it might have been to one accustomed to
+look upon man as the image of his maker, and the blow struck at the life
+of man, as a stroke aimed at the face of God, had the effect to stir the
+blood of Don Amador de Leste to such a degree, that, had he not been
+checked by the cold hand and the deadly pale visage of his companion, he
+would have followed the impulse of his valour, uncovered his weapon,
+and, shouting a war-cry, dashed at once upon the throat of the nearest
+infidel. The look of Jacinto recalled him to his senses; he made him a
+signal to clutch upon his mantle and follow, and then plunged again into
+the gory crowd.
+
+The tempest, both physical and mental, which beset all that rout of
+pagans, reduced the intelligence of each to but two objects of
+thought,--his enemy and himself. Not one turned to wonder or observe,
+when the strong shoulders--strong from excitement--of the cavalier
+thrust him aside, or the hard touch of an iron-cased elbow crushed into
+his bosom; nor, perhaps, was a look cast upon the effeminate figure,
+that seemed a girl, at the back of this impetuous stranger. Thus, then,
+unresisted and disregarded, the cavalier made his way, step by step,
+taking advantage of every moment when the barbarians gave way before an
+explosion of artillery, or a charge of the garrison,--hoping, at each
+effort, to issue upon the open space betwixt the besiegers and the
+besieged, and, at each, arrested by a denser crowd,--speaking words of
+encouragement to the horror-struck page, for well he knew he might speak
+without fear in such a din,--and, feeling, at each moment, his strength
+melting away, like burning wax, under the prolonged exertion. He toiled
+for his life, for the life of the boy, perhaps for the life of Don
+Gabriel; but human nature could not sustain the struggle much longer.
+Despair came to his heart, for he knew not how far he stood from the
+palace wall, and felt that he could labour no more. His eye darkened, as
+he looked back to Jacinto,--the boy was swooning where he stood.
+
+"God be merciful to us both! But, at least, thou shalt die in my arms,
+poor boy!" he muttered, making one more effort, and raising the page
+from the earth. "God be merciful to us,--but especially to this child,
+for he is sinless, and, I fear me, fatherless."
+
+At this moment, a dreadful scream burst from the lips of all around the
+novice, and immediately he felt himself borne back by the barbarians as
+they recoiled, seemingly, from a charge of cavalry. The thought was
+hope, and hope again renewed his strength. He planted his feet firmly on
+the earth, and with his elbow and shoulder dashed aside the fleeing
+pagans, pressed the senseless boy to his heart, raised his voice in a
+shout, and the next moment stood free from the herd, ten feet from the
+muzzle of a cannon, from which the Mexicans had been recoiling. His eye
+travelled along the tube;--the magician Botello stood on the broken wall
+at its side, and the linstock he held in his hand was descending to the
+vent.
+
+"For the love of God, hold!" shouted the cavalier, "or you will kill
+Christian men!"
+
+The match fell to the earth, and the cavalier sprang forward. But if his
+voice had reached the ears of friends, it had not escaped the organs of
+foes. A dozen savages, forgetful of their fears, sprang instantly
+towards him, endeavouring to lay hold upon him. A back-handed blow of
+his weapon loosed the grasp of the most daring, and the hands of others
+parted along with the flimsy disguise of Jacinto. He left this in their
+grasp, tottered forward, and the next moment, as the cannon belched
+forth its death upon the pursuing herds, stood in the court-yard of the
+palace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+
+As the cavalier sprang among his countrymen almost fainting with
+exhaustion, he loosened, with as much discretion as dexterity, the knot
+of the tilmatli, and dropped it to the earth, so that he might not be
+mistaken for a foe. The sudden gleam of his armour, and the sight of his
+wan visage, struck all those who had rushed against him with horror.
+Among the foremost of all, was the man-at-arms Lazaro, who no sooner
+perceived that he had raised his trusty espada against what he doubted
+not was the spectre of the novice, than he fell upon his knees, yelling
+aloud,
+
+"Jesu Maria! my master! my master's ghost!" with other such exclamations
+of terror.
+
+At this moment, the page revived in the arms of his patron, but only to
+add to the cry of Lazaro a shriek so wild and heart-piercing, that it
+drove all other sounds from the ears of Don Amador. The cavalier
+observed the cause of this cry, and again his eye lighted up with the
+fires of passion. A group of soldiers, agitated by some tumult, which
+had no part in the conflict around, stood against the palace wall, under
+a casement, from which was projected a bundle of partisans. Round this
+extempore gibbet was fixed a rope, one end of which being pulled at by
+those below, the cavalier beheld, shooting up above the heads of the
+mass, a human being, to all appearance, bound hand and foot; and in the
+blackened and horribly convulsed countenance of the sufferer, he
+perceived the features of Abdalla, the Wali.
+
+With a bound, that carried him at once into their midst, and with a
+rapidity that prevented opposition he rushed up to the wall, and before
+the Morisco was elevated above his reach, struck the halter with his
+weapon. The Zegri fell to the earth;--the executioners looked upon the
+visage of his bold preserver, and being persuaded, like Lazaro, that the
+very ghastly apparition before them was nothing less than the ghost of
+an hidalgo, universally reckoned dead, they recoiled in affright. Before
+they had recovered from their confusion, the culprit rose to his feet,
+glared a moment on the cavalier, and then springing away, was instantly
+lost among the combatants. A wild and exulting cry of "Moro! Moro!
+Tlatoani Moro!" rose among the barbarians; and the Spaniards knew that
+their prey was beyond pursuit.
+
+"Santos santisimos! Holy Mother of heaven! grace upon all, and Amen! if
+thou beest a living creature, speak,--or I will smite thee for a devil!"
+
+These words came from the lips of Alvarado, who had himself commanded
+the body of hangmen, and who now, though his teeth chattered with
+terror, advanced his rapier towards the bosom of his late companion. As
+he gazed and menaced, Don Amador, yielding, at last, to the consequences
+of labours altogether above his enfeebled powers, sunk swooning to the
+earth; and Jacinto, rushing from the crowd, flung himself upon his body.
+
+"Viva! praise God, and let the cry go round; for we have saved the noble
+De Leste!" shouted Don Pedro, with a voice of joy, raising the senseless
+cavalier. "Now shall ye hear from his own mouth, ye caitiffs that have
+belied me, that I played not the foul companion. Viva! I swear it
+rejoices me to behold thee!--Why, thou little rascal traitor, art thou
+here, too! It was God's will thy vagabond father should purchase me my
+brother; for which reason, I am not incensed he has escaped me. One day
+is as good as another for hanging.--How now, my noble friend! art thou
+hurt beyond speaking! God's lid! but I would hug thee, if thou didst not
+look so dismal!"
+
+All this time, the neophyte surveyed the astounded visages around him
+with a bewildered eye; and, doubtless, his obtuse senses could not, at
+that moment of clamour, detect the accents of Don Pedro.
+
+"Tetragrammaton! did I not tell thee the truth?" cried the harsh voice
+of Botello.
+
+"Master! dear master!" exclaimed Lazaro, as he embraced the knees of the
+novice.
+
+"Thanks be to God! the noble senor has escaped!" shouted the secretary.
+
+"God be praised! but would it had been yesterday! for then might it have
+been better for Don Gabriel."
+
+The name of his kinsman, spoken by the well-known voice of Baltasar,
+dispelled at once the dreamy trance of the cavalier.
+
+"How fares my noble kinsman?" he cried.
+
+The head of Baltasar fell on his breast, and a loud groan came from his
+fellow-servitor. Don Amador looked to the Tonatiuh, and witnessed the
+change from blithe joy to gloomy hesitation, which instantly marked his
+handsome aspect; the face of Fabueno darkened; and the magician strode
+away.
+
+"Clear for me, if ye will not speak!" said the cavalier, with sudden
+sternness; "for there is no sight of wo I cannot now look upon."
+
+He grasped the arm of Jacinto, and pushing into the palace, made his way
+toward the chamber of the knight.--The hand of devastation had been upon
+the walls of the passage; beams and planks had been torn away to supply
+the materials for the mantas and other martial engines; and Don Amador
+no longer knew the apartment of his kinsman. A dim light, and a low
+sound of wailing, came from a curtained door. Before the secretary and
+the other attendants who followed, could intercept him, he stepped into
+the room.
+
+The sight that awaited him instantly fastened his attention. He was in
+the chamber of Montezuma, and the captive monarch lay on the bed of
+death. Around the low couch knelt his children, and behind were the
+princes of the empire, gazing with looks of awe on the king. In front
+were several Spanish cavaliers, unhelmed and silent; and Cortes himself,
+bare-headed and kneeling, gazed with a countenance of remorse on his
+victim; while the priest Olmedo stood hard by, vainly offering, through
+the medium of Dona Marina and the cavalier De Morla, the consolations
+of religion.
+
+The king struggled in a kind of low delirium, in the arms of a man of
+singular and most barbarous appearance. This was a Mexican of gigantic
+stature, robed in a hooded mantle of black; but the cowl had fallen from
+his head, and his hair, many feet in length, plaited and twisted with
+thick cords, fell like cables over his person and that of the dying
+king. This was the high-priest of Mexico, taken prisoner at the battle
+of the temple.
+
+The countenance of Montezuma was changed by suffering and the
+death-throe; and yet, from their hollow depths, his eyes shot forth
+beams of extraordinary lustre. As he struggled, he muttered; and his
+broken exclamations being interpreted, were found to be the lamentations
+of a crushed spirit and a broken heart.
+
+"Bid the Teuctli depart," were some of the words which Don Amador
+caught, as rendered by the lips of Marina: "before he came, I was a king
+in Mexico.--But the son of the gods," he went on, with a hoarse and
+rattling laugh, "shall find that there are gods in Mexico, who shall
+devour the betrayer! They roar in the heavens, they thunder among the
+mountains,"--(the continued peals of artillery, shaking the fabric of
+the palace, mingled with his dreams, and gave a colour to them)--"they
+speak under the earth, and it trembles at their shouting. Ometeuctli,
+that dwelleth in the city of heaven, Tlaloc, that swimmeth on the great
+dark waters, Tonatricli and Meztli, the kings of day and night, and
+Mictlanteuctli, the ruler of hell,--all of them speak to their people;
+they look upon the strangers that destroy in their lands, and they say
+to me, 'Thou art the king, and they shall perish!'--Wo! wo! wo!" he
+continued, with an abrupt transition to abasement and grief; "they look
+upon me and laugh, for I have no people! In the face of all, I was made
+a slave; and, when they had spit upon me, they struck me as they strike
+the slave; so struck my people. Come, then, thou that dwellest among
+the rivers of night; for, among the rivers, with those who die the death
+of shame, shall I inhabit. Did not Mexico strike me, and shout for joy?
+Wo, wo! for my people have deserted me! and, in their eyes, the king is
+a slave!"
+
+"Put thy lips to this emblem of salvation," said the Spanish priest,
+extending his crucifix, eagerly; "curse thy false gods, which are
+devils; acknowledge Christ to be thy master; and part,--not to dwell
+among the rivers of hell, which are of fire, but in the seats of bliss,
+the heaven of the just and happy."
+
+"I spit upon thy accursed image!" said the monarch, rousing, with
+indignation, into temporary sanity, and endeavouring to suit the action
+to the word; "I spit upon thy cross, for it is the god of liars and
+deceivers! of robbers and murderers! of betrayers and enslavers! I curse
+thy god, and I spit upon him!"
+
+All the Spaniards present recoiled with horror at the impiety, which was
+too manifest in the act to need interpretation; and some, in the moment,
+half drew their swords, as if to punish it by despatching the dying man
+at once. But they looked again on the king, and knew that this sin was
+the sin of madness.
+
+As they started back, the person of De Leste, whom, in their fixed
+attention to Montezuma, none of them had yet perceived, was brought into
+the view of the monarch. His glittering eye fell upon the penacho, which
+the cavalier had not yet thought to remove from his helmet, and which
+yet drooped, with its badges of rank, over his forehead. A laugh, that
+had in it much of the simple exultation of childhood, burst from the
+king's lips; and, raising himself on the couch, he pointed at the ruddy
+symbols of distinction. The cavaliers, following the gesture with their
+eyes, beheld, with great agitation, their liberated companion; and even
+Cortes, himself, started to his feet, with an invocation to his saint,
+when his eye fell upon the apparition.
+
+The words of Amador,--"Fear me not, for I live,"--though not lost, were
+unanswered; for, notwithstanding that many of the cavaliers immediately
+seized upon his hands, to express their joy, they instantly cast their
+regards again upon Montezuma, as not having the power to withdraw them
+for a moment from him.
+
+"Say what they will," muttered the king, still eyeing the penacho with
+delight, "I, also, am of the House of Darts; and in Tlascala and
+Michoacan, and among the Otomies of the hills, have I won me the tassels
+of renown. Before I was a king, I was a soldier: so will I gather on me
+the armour of a general, and drive the Teuctli from my kingdom. Ho,
+then, what ho! Cuitlahuatzin! and thou, son of my brother,
+Quauhtimotzin! that are greater in war than the sons of my body, get ye
+forth your armies, and sound the horns of battle! Call upon the gods,
+and smite! on Mexitli the terrible, on Painalton the swift! call them,
+that they may see ye strike, and behold your valour! Call them, for
+Montezuma will fight at your side, and they shall know that he is
+valiant!"
+
+The struggles of the king, as he poured forth these wild exclamations,
+were like convulsions. But suddenly, and while the Spaniards thought he
+was about to expire in his fury, the contortions passed from his
+countenance, his lips fell, his eyes grew dim, and his voice was turned
+to a whisper of lamentation.
+
+"I sold my people for the smile of the Teuctli; I bartered my crown for
+the favour of the Christian; I gave up my fame for the bonds of a
+stranger; and now what am I? I betrayed my children--and what are they?
+Let it not be written in the books of history,--blot the name of
+Montezuma from the list of kings; let it not be taught to them that are
+to follow.--Tlaloc, I come!--Let it be forgotten."
+
+Suddenly, as he concluded, and as if the fiend of the world of waters he
+had invoked, had clutched upon him, he was seized with a dreadful
+convulsion, and as his limbs writhed about in the agony, his eyes,
+dilating with each struggle, were fixed with a stony and basilisk glare
+upon those of Cortes; and thus,--his gaze fixed to the last on his
+destroyer,--he expired.
+
+When the neophyte beheld the last quiver cease in the body, and knew by
+the loud wail of the Mexicans, that Montezuma was no more, he looked
+round for Don Hernan; but the general had stolen from the
+apartment.--The visage of Cortes revealed not the workings of his mind;
+but his heart spoke to his conscience, and his soul recorded the
+confession;--"I have wronged thee, pagan king;--but thy vengeance
+cometh!"
+
+Don Amador's arm was touched by his friend De Morla.
+
+"In the chamber of death," said the cavalier, sadly, "thou mightest best
+hear of death: but I cannot discourse to thee, while Minnapotzin is
+mourning. Let us depart, brother."
+
+Don Amador motioned to the page, and followed his friend out of the
+apartment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+
+On the following morning, it was known to all the garrison, that they
+were, at night, to depart from Tenochtitlan. The joy, however, that
+might have followed the announcement, was brief; for, at the same moment
+that the exhausted Christians were roused from slumber and bidden to
+prepare, the warders sent down word from the turrets, that their enemies
+were again approaching. The shrewdest of all could perceive no other
+mode of retreat than by cutting their way through the besiegers; and it
+required but little consideration in the dullest, to disclose the
+manifold dangers of such an expedient. They manned the walls and the
+court-yard, therefore, with but little alacrity, and awaited the
+Mexicans in sullen despair.
+
+But Don Hernan, quick to perceive, and resolute to employ the subtle
+devices of another, had not forgotten the words of Botello, when that
+worthy counselled him to make such use of Montezuma and his children, as
+had been made of the golden apples, by Hippomenes, when contending in
+the race with the daughter of Schoeneus.
+
+The Mexicans advanced, as usual, with whistling and shouts, filling the
+square with uproar; and, as usual, the cannoniers stood to their pieces,
+and the Tlascalans to their spears; but before a dart had been yet
+discharged, those who looked down from the battlements, beheld a funeral
+procession issue from the court-yard.
+
+A bier, constructed rudely of the handles of partisans, but its rudeness
+in a measure concealed by the rich robes of state flung over it, was
+borne on the shoulders of six native nobles, all of them of high degree
+in Tenochtitlan. It supported the body of the emperor, which was covered
+only by the tilmatli, leaving the countenance exposed to view. The royal
+sandals were on his feet, and the copilli, with the three sceptres, lay
+upon his breast. The pagan priest in his sable garment, his face covered
+by the cowl, and his head bending so low, that his hideous locks swept
+the earth, stepped upon the square, chanting a low and mournful requiem;
+and the bearers, stalking slowly and sorrowfully under their burden,
+followed after.
+
+The murmurs were hushed in the palace; and the square, so lately filled
+with the savage shouts of the enemy, became suddenly as silent as the
+grave. The monotonous accents of the priest were alone heard, conveying
+to the Mexicans, in the hymn that ushered a spirit into the presence of
+the deities, the knowledge of the death of their king.
+
+For awhile, the barbarians stood in stupid awe; but, at last, as the
+train approached them, and they perceived with their own eyes the
+swarthy features of their monarch fixed in death, they uttered a cry of
+grief, low indeed, and rather a moan than a lament, but which, being
+caught and continued by the voices of many thousand men, was heard in
+the remotest parts of the city. They parted before the corse of one, to
+whom, before the days of his degradation, they had been accustomed to
+look as to an incarnate divinity. They fell upon their knees, and bowed
+their faces to the earth, as he was carried through them; and again the
+Spaniards beheld the impressive spectacle, of a great multitude
+prostrate in the dust, as if in the act of adoration.
+
+When the bearers and the body were alike concealed from their view, the
+Mexicans rose, and turning towards the palace, brandished their weapons
+with fierce gestures, and many exclamations of hatred, against the
+destroyers of their king. For a moment, Cortes doubted if his expedient
+had not served rather to increase, than to divert, the fury of his
+opponents; and he beckoned from his stand on the terrace, to the
+cannoniers, to prepare their matches. But an instant after, he revoked
+the command: the Mexicans were retiring; a great army was suddenly
+converted into a funeral train, and thus they departed from the square,
+after the body of their ruler, without striking a blow at the invader.
+
+This circumstance reassured the garrison; and the prospect of speedy
+release from intolerable suffering and from destruction, wrought such a
+change over all, that visages, emaciated by famine, and haggard from
+despair, were lit up with smiles; and songs and laughter re-echoed
+through chambers, which, but the night before, had resounded with
+prayers, groans, and curses. Nothing was now thought of but the bread
+and fruits of Tlascala, the mines and fandangos of Cuba; and many a
+sedate and sullen veteran clapped his hands with a sudden joy, as he
+bethought him of the urchins sporting in the limpid Estero, or climbing
+the palm that grew at his cabin door. Escape from the miseries which
+had environed them, and the privilege to discourse for life of the
+marvels of Tenochtitlan,--of the beauty of its valleys, the magnificence
+of its cities, the wealth of its rulers, the ferocious valour of its
+citizens,--to wondering listeners, were the only offsets thought of to
+the many labours, sufferings, and risks of the campaign. The little
+property amassed by each--the share of Montezuma's presents, and the
+spoils stripped from the dead, were stored, along with such trifles as
+might add the interest of locality to legends of battle, in the sacks of
+the soldiers. All made their preparations, and all made them in hope.
+
+The only melancholy men in the palace, that day, were Cortes and Don
+Amador de Leste. The latter remembered his knight, falling ingloriously
+and alone on the causeway; and the general pondered over the griefs of
+defeated ambition.
+
+But whatever were the pangs of Don Hernan, he forgot not the duties of a
+general. Besides other precautions, he caused his carpenters to
+construct a portable bridge of sufficient strength to support the weight
+of his heaviest artillery, and yet, not so ponderous but that it might
+be carried on the shoulders of some half a hundred strong men. This he
+provided, fearing lest the barbarians had destroyed the bridges not only
+of the great dike of Iztapalapan, but of that of Tacuba, on which it was
+his determination to attempt his flight, and which, running westward
+from the island, was, as has been intimated, but two miles in length.
+
+In accordance with the advice of the necromancer, the hour of departing
+was put off until midnight,--a period of time which had the double
+advantage of being recommended by Botello, and of ensuring the least
+molestation. Each individual, therefore, made his preparations, and
+looked forward to that hour.
+
+The melancholy that oppressed the spirits of the neophyte, was so great,
+that he betrayed little curiosity either to acquaint himself with the
+events which had occurred during his captivity, or even to inquire
+further into the mysterious knowledge and acts of the page. But, however
+indisposed to conversation, he could not resist the attentions of De
+Morla. From him he learned the imputation he had cast on the valour and
+gratitude of Alvarado; a charge which the novice removed, by
+magnanimously confessing, that his own indiscretion had carried him
+beyond the reach of Don Pedro, who should be in no wise held accountable
+for his misfortune. He heard with more interest, and even smiled with
+good-natured approbation, at the story of Fabueno's fortune; but a frown
+darkened on his visage, when De Morla pictured the anger and domineering
+fury of the Tonatiuh; and this was not diminished, when his friend
+confessed himself the champion of the secretary, announced that Cortes
+had sanctioned the quarrel, and claimed of him the offices of a friend.
+
+"If blood must be shed in this quarrel," he said, "it must be apparent
+to you, my very noble and generous friend, (for, surely, your kindness
+to Lorenzo merits this distinction,)--it must be apparent, I say, that I
+am he who is called upon to shed it. The youth is my own follower; for
+which reason, I am bound to give him protection, and support him in all
+his just rights, whereof one, I think, is to love any woman who may
+think fit to give him her affections, whether she be a princess or
+peasant. I must, therefore, after repeating to thee my thanks for thy
+very distinguished generosity, require thee to yield up thy right to do
+battle with Don Pedro, if battle must, indeed, be done,--though I have
+hopes that his good sense will enforce him to surrender the maid,
+without the necessity of bloodshed."
+
+"I cannot yield to thee, hermano mio," said De Morla, quickly; "for
+there is deadly feud betwixt the Tonatiuh and myself; and were he to
+fight thee a dozen times over, still should he, of a necessity, measure
+weapons with me."
+
+"It doth not appear to me, how this difference can call for more than
+one combat; and, as I have told thee, I think it can be composed,
+provided thou allowest me to assume thy place, entirely without
+conflict."
+
+"Know thou, my friend," said De Morla, "that I have already, in the
+matter of thy fall and capture, at the fight of the manta, charged
+Alvarado with many terms of opprobrium and insult; for which reason, a
+duello has become very inevitable."
+
+"Having already heard from myself," said Don Amador, with gravity, "that
+Don Pedro cannot justly incur reproach for my mishap, thou canst do
+nothing else, as a true cavalier, but instantly withdraw thy charges,
+and make him the reparation of apology; after which, there will remain
+no need of enmity."
+
+"Thou speakest the truth!" said De Morla, impetuously; "and I am but a
+knave, to have said, or even thought, except at the moment when I was
+grieved and imbittered by thy supposed death, that Don Pedro could
+demean himself, in any battle, like a craven. I freely avow, and will
+justly bear witness, that he is a most unexceptionable cavalier. So far,
+I am impelled to pronounce by simple veracity. But yet is there mortal,
+though concealed, feud betwixt us."
+
+The neophyte looked on his friend with surprise; seeing which, De Morla
+took him by the arm, and said, with great heat,--
+
+"I have come to hear, by an accident, that Don Pedro did once, ('tis now
+many months ago,) in the wantonness of his merriment, fling certain
+aspersions upon the innocence of Benita; a crime that I could not have
+forgiven even in thee, amigo querido, hadst thou been capable of such
+baseness. I now confess to thee, without having divulged the same to any
+one else, that this circumstance did greatly inflame my anger, and that,
+from that moment, I have sought out some means to quarrel with Alvarado,
+and so slay him, without involving the fame of Minnapotzin: for it is
+clear to me, as it must be to any lover, who doth truly reverence his
+mistress, that to associate her name with a quarrel, would be at once to
+darken it with the shadow of suspicion. If I should say to Alvarado,
+'Thou hast maligned my mistress, thou cur, and therefore I will fight
+thee,' then should he, for the credit of his honour, aver that he spoke
+the truth; and whether he lived or died, the maiden should still be the
+sufferer. I have, therefore, resolved, that my cause of vengeance shall
+be concealed; and thou wilt see that the present pretext is the
+honourable cloak I have been so long seeking. This I confess to thee;
+but I adjure thee to keep my counsel."
+
+There was a degree of lofty delicacy and disinterestedness in this
+revealment, which chimed so harmoniously with the refined honour of Don
+Amador, that he grasped De Morla's hand, and, instead of opposing
+further remonstrance, assured him, both of his approval and his
+determination to aid him, as a true brother in arms, in the conflict.
+
+"But how comes it, my friend," he demanded, with a faint smile, "thou
+darest look so far into futurity, for such employment? Hast thou forgot
+the prophecy of Botello? Methinks, to be fulfilled at all, the
+consummation should come shortly; for, with this night, we finish the
+war in Mexico."
+
+"For a time, senor mio," said De Morla. "Though the griefs of Montezuma
+be over, (heaven rest his soul, for he was the father of Minnapotzin!)
+the pangs of his race are not yet all written. I will abide with Don
+Hernan; and if Botello do not lie, thou shalt yet see me sleep on the
+pyramid."
+
+"Heaven forbid!" cried Amador. "I would rather thou wouldst follow mine
+own resolutions, and, for once, show Botello that he hath cast a wrong
+figure."
+
+"Dost thou mean to desert us?"
+
+"My kinsman sleeps in the lake," said the novice, sadly; "the tie that
+bound me to this fair new world is therefore broken. In mine own heart,
+I have no desires to fight longer with these infidels, who cannot
+injure the faith of Christ, nor invade the churches of Christendom. The
+Turks are a better enemy for a true believer; and, if I put not up my
+sword altogether, it shall be drawn, hereafter, on them. The little
+page, whom I have, by a miracle, recovered, I will convey with me to
+Cuenza, after having, in like manner, recovered his father, (a very
+noble Morisco,) or been otherwise assured of his death. I would greatly
+persuade thee, having made the princess thy wife, to follow with me to
+thy native land. 'My castle lies on Morena's top,'--" continued the
+cavalier, insensibly falling upon the melody of the Knight and the Page,
+and beginning to muse on the singer, and to mutter, "Surely Jacinto is
+the most wonderful of boys!"
+
+"My patrimony is worn out," said De Morla, without regarding the sudden
+revery of his friend; "and I give it to my younger brothers. By peace or
+war, somehow or other, this land of Mexico will be, one day, conquered;
+and, then, a principality in Anahuac will count full as nobly as a
+sheep-hill in Castile. I abide by Don Hernan. But let us be gone to the
+treasury: I hear the ingots chinking, and thou hast not yet looked upon
+our spoils."
+
+The exchequer thus alluded to, and to which De Morla speedily conducted
+his friend, was the sleeping apartment of the general. Of the wealth
+that was there displayed,--the stores of golden vessels and of precious
+stones, as well as of ingots melted from the tribute-dust long since
+wrung from the unhappy Montezuma,--it needs not to speak. The whole
+treasury of an avaricious king, a predecessor of the late captive,
+walled up in former days, and discovered by a happy chance, was there
+displayed among the meaner gleanings of conquest. An hundred men, as Don
+Amador entered, were grasping at the glittering heaps, while the voice
+of Don Hernan was heard gravely saying,--
+
+"The king's fifth, here partitioned and committed to the trust of his
+true officers, we must defend with our lives; but while granting to all
+Christian men in this army, free permission to help themselves here as
+they like, I solemnly warn them of the consequences, should we, as
+mayhap my fear may prove true, be attacked this night, while making our
+way through the city. The richest man shall thereby purchase the
+quickest death.--The wise soldier will leave these baubles, till we come
+back again to reclaim them. This night, I will insure the life of none
+who carries too rich a freight in his pockets."
+
+He spoke with a serious emphasis, and some of the older veterans,
+raising their heads, and eyeing his countenance steadfastly for a
+moment, flung down the riches they had grasped, and silently retired
+from the apartment. But many others bore about their persons a prince's
+ransom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+
+At midnight, the Mexican spy, looking over the broken wall, beheld in
+the court-yard which it environed, a scene of singular devotion;--or
+rather he caught with his ears--for the grave was not blacker than that
+midnight--the smothered accents of supplication. The Christians were
+upon their knees, listening, with a silence broken only by the fretful
+champing of steeds, and the suppressed moans of wounded men, to a
+prayer, pronounced in a whispering voice, wherein the father Olmedo
+implored of Heaven to regard them in pity, to stupify the senses of
+their enemies, and surround his servants with the shields of mercy, so
+that, this night, they might walk out of the city which was their
+prison-house, and from the island which had been their charnel,
+oppressed no more by the weight of His anger.
+
+The prostrate soldiers, to that moment, full of confident hope, and not
+anticipating the danger of any opposition, hearkened with solicitude to
+the humble and earnest supplication; and when the padre besought the
+deity to endow their arms with strength, and their hearts with courage,
+to sustain the toils, and perhaps the perils, of retreat, they were
+struck with a vague but racking fear. The petition which was meant to
+embolden, deprived them of hope; and they rose from their vain
+devotions, in unexpected horror.
+
+The gloom that invested the ruinous palace, prevailed equally over the
+pagan city. No torch shone from the casements or house-tops, no taper
+flickered in the streets; and the urns of fire on the neighbouring
+pyramid, the only light visible,--save, now and then, a ghastly gleam of
+lightning bursting up from the south,--burned with a dull and sickened
+glare, as if neglected by their watchers. A silence, in character with
+the obscurity, reigned over the slumbering city; and when, at last, the
+steps of those who bore the ponderous bridge, and the creaking of
+artillery wheels, were-heard ringing and rolling over the square, the
+sounds smote on the hearts of all like the tolling of distant funeral
+bells.
+
+The plan of retreat, determined after anxious deliberation, and
+carefully made known to all, was adopted with readiness, as these
+footsteps and this rolling sound of wheels,--the only signals
+made,--were heard; each man knew his place, and, without delay, assumed
+it. In little more than half an hour, the whole train of invaders,
+Christian principals and Tlascalan abettors, was in motion, creeping,
+with the slow and stealthy pace of malefactors, over the street that led
+to the dike of Tacuba. Few glances were sent back to the palace, as
+those dim sheets of lightning, flashing up over the path they were
+pursuing, revealed obscurely, ever and anon, its broken and deserted
+turrets. Its gloomy pile associated nothing but the memory of disaster
+and grief. Fearful looks, however were cast upon the dusky fabrics on
+either side of the street, as if the fugitives apprehended that each
+creak of a wheel, each clattering of horses' hoofs, or the rattling of
+armour, might draw the infidel from his slumbers; and many an ear was
+directed anxiously towards the van, in fear lest the trumpet should, at
+last, be sounded, with the signal of enemies already drawn up, a
+thousand deep, on the path they were treading. But no sounds were heard,
+save those which denoted the continued progress of their own bands; no
+wakeful barbarian was seen lurking in the streets; and hope again slowly
+returned to the bosoms of the tremblers.
+
+Before they had yet reached the borders of the island, the night became
+still more dark than at their outset; for the lightning grew fainter at
+each flash, and finally sank beneath the horizon, to continue its lurid
+gambols among the depths of the South Sea. This was witnessed with
+secret satisfaction; for, with these treacherous scintillations,
+departed the dread that many felt, lest they should betray the march of
+the army.
+
+It has been mentioned, that the people of Tenochtitlan had not only
+covered the surface of the island with their dwellings, but had extended
+them, on foundations of piles, into the lake, wherever the shallowness
+of the water permitted. This was especially the case in the
+neighbourhood of the great dikes; in which places, not only single
+houses, but entire blocks, deserving the name of suburbs, were
+constructed. Such a suburb jutted out, for some distance, along the
+causeway of Tacuba.
+
+The van of the army had already passed beyond the furthest of these
+black and silent structures, and yet no just cause existed to suppose
+the retreat had been discovered; though many men of sharper ears or
+fainter hearts than their fellows, had averred that they could, at
+times, distinguish, on the rear, a dull sound, as of men moving behind
+them in heavy masses. The wiser, however, were satisfied, that no such
+sounds could prevail even over the subdued noise of their own
+footsteps; but some of these bent their ears anxiously towards the
+front, as if afraid of danger in that quarter. The reason of this was
+not concealed. All day, sounds of lamentation had been heard coming from
+the dike, upon which they were now marching, or from its neighbourhood.
+It was rumoured, that the cemetery of the Mexican kings lay on the hill
+of Chapoltepec, under the huge and melancholy cypresses, which
+overshadow that green promontory; and that there, this day, Montezuma
+had been laid among his ancestors. A whole people had gone forth to
+lament him; and how many of the mourners might be now returning by the
+causeway, was a question which disturbed the reflections of all.
+
+But this apprehension was dispelled, when the front of the army had
+reached the first of the three ditches which intersected the dike of
+Tacuba. Its bridge was removed and gone, and the deep water lay
+tranquilly in the chasm. The foe, relying on this simple precaution, had
+left the dike to its solitude; and the expedient for continuing the
+imprisonment of the Spaniards, was the warrant of their security.
+
+A little breeze, dashing occasionally drops of rain, began to puff along
+the lake, as the bridge-bearers deposited their burden over the abyss.
+This was not the labour of a moment; the heavy artillery, which still
+preceded the train of discomfited slayers, like a troop of jackals in
+the path of other destroyers, required that the ponderous frame should
+be adjusted with the greatest care. While the carriers, assisted by a
+body of Tlascalans, who slipped into the ditch and swam to the opposite
+side, were busy with their work, the long train of fugitives behind,
+halted, and remained silent with expectation. The rumbling of the wood
+over the flags of the causeway, the suppressed murmurs of the labourers,
+and, now and then, the dropping of some stone loosened by their feet,
+into the ditch,--added to the sighs of the breeze, whispering faintly
+over casque and spear,--were the only sounds that broke the dismal quiet
+of the scene; and there was something in these, as well as in the
+occurrence itself, which caused many to think of the characteristics of
+a funeral;--the mute and solemn expectation of the lookers-on,--the
+smothered expressions of the few,--and the occasional rattle of clods,
+dropping, by accident, upon the coffin.
+
+The bridge was, at last, fixed, and the loud clang of hoofs was heard,
+as Cortes, himself, made trial of its strength. The breath of those
+behind, came more freely, when these sounds reached their ears; and they
+waited impatiently till the advance of those who preceded them, should
+give motion to their own ranks.
+
+The post of Don Amador de Leste had been assigned, at his own demand, in
+the vanguard,--which was a force consisting of twenty horsemen, two
+hundred foot, and ten times that number of Tlascalan warriors, commanded
+by Sandoval, the valiant; and, up to this moment, he had ridden at that
+leader's side, without much thought of unhealed wounds and feebleness,
+willing, and fully prepared, to divide the danger and the honour of any
+difficulty, which might be presented. But being now convinced, by the
+sign we have mentioned,--that is to say, the removal of the original
+bridge,--that no enemies lay in wait on the causeway, he descended from
+the back of Fogoso, giving the rein to Lazaro, and commanding him to
+proceed onward with the party. In this, he was, perhaps, not so much
+governed by a desire to escape the tedium of riding in company with the
+ever taciturn Sandoval, as to be nearer to the forlorn boy, Jacinto, who
+had, until this moment, trudged along at his side. Some little curiosity
+to witness the passage of the rout of fugitives, had also its influence;
+for, taking the page by the hand, he led him to the edge of the bridge,
+where he could observe every thing without inconvenience, and without
+obstructing the course of others.
+
+The dike of Tacuba was, like that of Iztapalapan, of stone, and so
+broad, that ten horsemen could easily ride on it abreast. Its base was
+broad, shelving, and rugged, and the summit was, perhaps, six feet above
+the surface of the water.
+
+The thunder of the twenty horsemen, as they rode over the bridge,
+interrupted the consolation which the neophyte was about to give to
+Jacinto; who, hanging closely to his patron's arm, yet looked back
+towards the city, with many sobs for his exiled father. In the gloomy
+obscurity of the hour, the cavaliers of the van, as they passed, seemed
+rather like spectres than men;--in an instant of time, they were hidden
+from sight among the thick shadows in front. Not less phantom-like
+appeared the two hundred foot, stealing over the chasm, and vanishing
+like those who had preceded them. Then came the two thousand Tlascalans,
+their broken and drooping plumes rustling over their dusky backs, as
+they strode onwards, with steps quickened, but almost noiseless.
+
+After these, came the cannon,--eighteen pieces of different sizes,
+dragged by rows of pagans, commanded by the gunners. The bridge groaned
+under their weight; and a murmur of joy crept over the compacted
+multitude behind, when they had counted them, one by one, rumbling over
+the sonorous wood, and knew that the last had crossed in safety.
+
+Much time was necessarily occupied in the passage of these cumbrous
+instruments; and an interval of several minutes was allowed to intervene
+betwixt the passage of each, while the cannoniers were looking to the
+condition of the bridge and the ropes.
+
+It was on these occasions, that the greatest quiet prevailed; for, then,
+even breath was hushed in suspense; and it was on these occasions also,
+that the ears of the neophyte were struck by a sound, which had not,
+perhaps, at that time, attracted the attention of any other person. The
+breeze, which occasionally whispered on his cheek, was so light, as
+scarcely to disturb the serenity of the lake; and yet, it appeared to
+him, notwithstanding all this, that, in these moments of calm, he could
+plainly distinguish, upon either hand, and at a little distance, the
+rippling of water, as if agitated by a moderate wind. He strained his
+eyes, endeavouring to pierce the gloom, and unravel the cause of this
+singular commotion,--but wholly in vain. The circle of vision was
+circumscribed into the narrowest bounds; and wo betide the infidel, who,
+fishing in the lake, that night, should fall from his canoe in slumber,
+and be parted from it but twenty feet, in his confusion.--The cavalier
+looked up to the heavens; but the few drops discharged from their stony
+vault, pattered with a sound almost inaudible upon the water. While he
+was yet wondering, he heard the voice of one passing him, say to a
+comrade,--
+
+"Art thou not wroth, Iago, man, to give up yonder rich town to the
+kites, and this fair water to the ducks of Mexico?"
+
+This trivial question gave, at once, a new colour to his thoughts, for
+he remembered what millions of wild fowl brooded every night on the
+lakes; and, almost ashamed that he should have yielded a moment to the
+suggestions of fear, he turned, once more, to watch the progress of the
+army.
+
+The centre division consisted of but an hundred Christian footmen, and
+half a score cavaliers; but two thousand Tlascalans were added to it,
+and it was commanded by Cortes in person; who, having ridden across the
+bridge, as has been said, to prove its strength, now waited for the
+coming of his party, beyond the breach. Along with this division, were
+conducted the prisoners, and the king's spoil,--the latter being carried
+on the backs of wounded steeds, unfit for other service, as well as on
+the shoulders of Tlameme. The prisoners, comprising all the family of
+Montezuma, whom evil fortune had thrown into the hands of Don Hernan,
+were environed by the hereditary foes of their race, but protected from
+any secret stroke of malice, by three or four cavaliers who rode with
+them.
+
+Among these few horsemen, the neophyte perceived one, across whose
+saddle-bow there sat what seemed a female, enveloped in thick mantles.
+In this cavalier, he thought, by the murmur of the voice with which he
+addressed his muffled companion, that he detected his friend, the senor
+De Morla.
+
+"Is it thou, Francisco, my brother?" he whispered, inclining towards the
+cavalier; "and hast thou Benita thus under thy protection?"
+
+"I thank heaven, yes!" replied De Morla. "But what doest thou on foot,
+and so far removed from the van? Has Fogoso cast thee again? I prythee,
+walk thou by me a little.--Dost thou remember thy promise?"
+
+"Surely, I do: but speak not of it now; for, this moment, my heart is
+very heavy, and I cannot think with pleasure of a contest with Christian
+man. I will presently follow thee."
+
+"Speak me not what I have told thee to mortal man, for the sake of her
+whom I hold in my arms, and who already owes thee a life. To-morrow," he
+continued, exultingly, as he passed,--"to-morrow we shall tread upon the
+lake side; and, then, God be with him who strikes for the honour and
+innocence of woman!"
+
+"Art _thou_ there too, Lorenzo?" said the novice, perceiving the
+secretary riding at the heels of the young cavalier of Cuenza, and
+burthened in like manner with the freight of affection. "Guard thy
+princess well, and have great care of the bridge, and the rough edge of
+the dike; for thy horsemanship is not yet so perfect as De Morla's, nor
+can thy charger at all compare with the chestnut gelding. Ride on with
+care, and God be thy speed!"
+
+The centre of the army was, at last, over the bridge. The neophyte cast
+his eye to the black mass of the rear-guard, which contained the greater
+part of the troops, both Christian and allied, commanded by Velasquez de
+Leon and the Tonatiuh; the latter of whom, to show his affection for the
+island of which he had been, as he said, a king, and to prove his
+contempt for his late subjects, chose to ride the very last man in the
+army; while De Leon conducted the front of the division. The latter,
+stern, decided, and self-willed in all cases, deferred, for a moment, to
+give the signal to march, in order that the centre might be well cleared
+of the bridge; but more, perhaps, from a natural love of tyranny, to
+torture with delay the spirits of his impatient followers.
+
+In this moment of quiet, the sounds, which Don Amador had forgotten,
+were repeated with more distinctness than at first; but still they were
+of so vague a character, that he could not be certain they were produced
+by any cause more important than the diving and flapping of water-fowl.
+Nevertheless, feeling a little uneasiness, he clasped the hand of
+Jacinto tighter in his own, and strode with him over the bridge. He
+paused again, when he had crossed, and was about to give his whole
+attention to the mysterious sounds; when, suddenly, he was amazed and
+startled by the spectre of a man, rising up as from the lake, and
+springing on the causeway close by his side.
+
+He drew his sword, demanding quickly, but with perturbation,--
+
+"Who and what art thou, that comest thus from the depths of the waters?"
+
+"Tetragrammaton! peace!--Dost thou not hear?"
+
+"Hear what, sir conjurer? Hast thou been listening likewise to the wild
+fowl. By my troth, I thought thou wert a spirit!"
+
+"Wild fowl!" muttered Botello, with a horse-laugh. "Such wild fowl as
+eat carrion, and flap the water like crocodiles.--Hah! dost thou not
+hear? Lay thine ear upon the causeway at the water's edge--But thou hast
+not time. Get thee to thy horse, and delay not; and if thou seest
+Cortes, or any other discreet cavalier, bid him draw and be ready. I
+said, that some should escape, but not _all_!--God be with thee! follow
+quickly, and sheath not thy sword."
+
+"Surely, this time, thou art mad, Botello! Here are no foes."
+
+But the remonstrance of the cavalier was cut short by the instant flight
+of the magician; and ere the words were out of his mouth, a horseman,
+crossing the bridge, and riding up to him, said sternly,--
+
+"Who art thou, Sir Knave and Sir Witless! that babblest thus aloud, in
+time of peril, contrary to----"
+
+"I am thy very good friend, senor De Leon," said the novice, abruptly;
+"and, waiving any difficulty which might spring from the heat of thy
+words, if duly considered, I think fit to assure thee, that I have but
+just parted from the necromancer, Botello; by whom I am advised to bid
+thee, as well as all other discreet officers whom I may see, to draw
+sword, and remain in readiness for a foe; there being certain sounds on
+the water, which, in his opinion, are ominous of evil. For myself, I bid
+God guard thee, meaning, in person, to join the van, as soon as
+possible."
+
+The cavaliers parted,--De Leon riding back to his party, without
+uttering a word; and Don Amador, with the page, stepping forwards so
+fleetly, as soon to find himself among the Tlascalans of the centre.
+Through these he made his way, ever and anon casting his eye to the
+lake, and looking for the tokens of a foe, but without perceiving
+anything at all unusual. He gained the midst of this band of allies,
+reached the side of his friend, and laid his hand on De Morla's arm. A
+low wailing voice came from the folds of the garments, which veiled the
+countenance of Minnapotzin; and some strong agitation shook the frame of
+his friend.
+
+"Think not of love _now_, my brother!" cried the neophyte, hurriedly;
+"but be warned that thou art in danger, and Minnapotzin with thee. It is
+thought, that enemies are at hand."
+
+Having thus spoken, and without waiting for an answer, Don Amador, still
+urging Jacinto along, endeavoured to make his way through the dense
+bodies of Tlascalans, which separated him from Don Hernan. He reached
+their front, he stepped upon the little space left between them and the
+general, and placed his eyes upon Cortes. But before he had yet spoken,
+it seemed as if the whole moving mass of the army had been converted
+into marble, on the causeway; for instantly, as if with one consent, the
+train came to a dead halt, and a cry, low, but breathed from the hearts
+of men struck with mortal dread, rose from the van to the rear, in one
+universal groan.
+
+The cavalier turned where all eyes were turned, and beheld a sudden
+pyramid of fire, like one of the many gushes of flame he had already
+seen in this volcanic land, save that the blaze was steadier, shoot up,
+from a vast height in the air, over the distant city, and plunge its
+sanguine point against the heavens; while, at the same moment, its lurid
+mass, reflected and reversed on the lake, darted over the water to his
+feet, in a path of blood,--as if Mexitli, the Terrible God, had, at
+last, roused from slumber, and couched his gigantic spear against the
+slayers of his children. The blaze illumined the lake far round, and,
+shining on the casques of cavaliers and the plumes of Tlascalans,
+disclosed the whole line of the army, stretched along the calzada. In an
+instant more, the neophyte, petrified with awe, perceived that this
+mighty bale-fire was kindled on the top of the great temple; and, in the
+strong and glaring line, which it struck out upon the water, there was
+revealed a mass of living objects, floating, like birds, upon the
+element, yet speckled with the human colours of Mexico. At the same
+moment, and while his eye yet wavered between the flaming pillar and the
+moving objects on the water, there came from the pyramid a sound, heard
+once before, and never more to be forgotten. The horn of the gods was
+winded;--the doleful and dismal note came booming with hideous uproar
+over the waters; and before the hills had caught up its echoes, the
+whole lake, right and left, in front and on the rear, rang, roared, and
+trembled, under the yells of an hundred thousand infidels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII.
+
+
+The situation of the Spaniards, at that moment, though sufficiently
+frightful to every one, was yet known, in all its horrors, only to the
+leaders of the van. As hope is ever independent of judgment, ever
+unreasonable and unreflective, the absence of the bridge, at the first
+sluice, was not enough to persuade the fugitives, that the passage of
+the second might be equally interrupted. But, at the moment when the
+signal-fire was kindled on the temple, Sandoval had already reached this
+ditch, and perceived that its bridge was also demolished, and, as it
+seemed, very recently too; for there yet remained a huge timber lying
+across the chasm,--left, as he feared, rather as some decoy and trap,
+than, as was more probable, deserted suddenly by workmen, scared from
+their labours by the approach of the Spaniards.
+
+The three ditches divided the dike into four portions, of as many
+furlongs in extent. On the second of these portions was concentrated the
+whole retreating army, its front resting upon a sluice of great depth,
+passable by footmen, (for the great beam was soon discovered to be
+sound,) but not by the horse and artillery, without the portable bridge,
+which yet rested over the first breach. This second obstacle being
+overcome, it was apparent, that a third would still remain to be
+surmounted; and the passage of both was to be effected in the presence,
+and in the midst, of a great enemy.
+
+As we have said, the beacon-light, shooting up from the pyramid, and
+continuing to burn with intensity, brought light, where all, before, was
+darkness; and revealed such innumerable fleets of canoes, hovering on
+both flanks, as the novice had not seen, even on that day when he first
+trode upon a dike of Mexico. But the spirit that then slumbered, was now
+awake; and as the rowers responded, with their wild cries, to the roar
+of the sacred trumpet, they struck the water furiously with their
+paddles, until the whole lake seemed to boil up with a spray of fire;
+and thus they rushed madly against the causeway.
+
+The novice cast his eye upon the general. The ruddy glare of the beacon
+could not change the deadly pallor that covered his cheeks; but,
+nevertheless, with this ghastly countenance turned to the foe, he cried
+out, cheerily, or, at least, firmly, to those immediately in advance,--
+
+"Who ho, cannoniers! your quoins and handspikes, your horns and matches!
+and show me your throats to the lake-rats!" Then, raising his voice to
+its trumpet-tones, he continued, as if giving counsel and command to
+all: "Be bold and fearless, and strike for the honour of God, brave
+Christians! Soho! De Leon, valiant brother! and thou, Alvarado,
+matchless cavalier! raise me the bridge, and be quick; for here we need
+it."
+
+The voices of other officers were heard, faintly mingled with the din,
+but not long; every moment the shouts of the Mexicans, continued without
+intermission, became louder, and their canoes were plunging nearer to
+the causeway.
+
+A pang rent the bosom of Don Amador:
+
+"I must get me to my companions," he cried, to Jacinto, "and what can I
+do for thee this night, young page that I love?"
+
+"I will follow thee," said the page, tremulously; "I will die with my
+lord."
+
+"Would that I had thee but upon the back of Fogoso! for methinks that
+even De Morla should not strike more truly for Minnapotzin than would I,
+this night, for thee."
+
+"Where goest thou, De Leste?" cried Cortes, as the novice pushed by.
+"Pause--thou art best among the cannoniers."
+
+A dreadful yell, at that moment, drowned the general's voice: but one
+still more dreadful was heard, when, as the pagans drew breath to repeat
+the cry, the Christians in front heard the rear-guard exclaiming, with
+loud and bitter shrieks, "The bridge!--the bridge!--it is fast and
+immoveable!"--The weight of the horses and artillery had sunk it deep
+into the chasm, and no human strength could stir it from its foundation.
+
+These words and sights were all the occurrences of a moment. There was
+neither time for observation nor lamentation. The infidels on the water
+rushed to the attack with the same fury which had so often driven them
+upon the spears of the garrison; and, not less by their cries than their
+apparent numbers, it was made obvious that the whole strength of the
+great city was gathered together for this undertaking; for those who had
+caught a little of their language, could distinguish the different
+quarters of the island encouraging each other with cries of "Ho,
+Tlatelolco! shall Majotla strike first at the foe?--Alzacualco! on; for
+Tecpan is swift and mirthful.--On, ho! for Mexitli is speaking; on, for
+our gods are on the temple, and they hunger for the Teuctli!" The line
+of the army was full half a mile in length; but, as far as it stretched,
+and further than the eye could penetrate beyond either extremity, a
+triple row of canoes, on each side of the causeway, was seen closing
+upon it with the speed and fury of breakers, dashing against a stranded
+ship.
+
+"_Now_, cannoniers!" cried Don Hernan, elevating his voice above the
+tumult, when the rushing masses were within but a few paces of the
+causey; "_now_ to your linstocks, and touch in the name of God!"
+
+The damp gunpowder sparkled and hissed on the vents, but did not fail
+the Christians in their need. The roar of the volley was like the peal
+of an earthquake; and, right and left, as eighteen horizontal columns of
+fire darted from the engines, the lake boiled up with a new fury,
+fragments of canoes and the bodies of men were seen flung up into the
+air, and yells of agony which chilled the blood, bore witness to the
+dreadfulness of the slaughter.
+
+"Quick, and again!" cried Don Hernan, eagerly. "Shoot fast, and shoot
+well; and know that I will shortly be back with ye.--Ho, Sandoval! why
+dost thou loiter? plunge into the ditch, and swim. Rest where thou art,
+De Leste; for thou art too weak for battle. Give thine aid to the
+cannoniers."
+
+The confused and huddled Tlascalans, who formed the rear of Sandoval's
+party, shouted at the cry of the Teuctli, and made way for him. A
+cavalier, bearing a burthen in his arms, spurred after, with a mad
+impetuosity, which rendered him regardless of the many naked wretches he
+trampled to the earth: it was De Morla. The example thus set by the
+apparent flight of the two hidalgos, was followed by others; and the
+allies were broken by the hoofs of Christians, while still enduring the
+arrows, that came like a driving rain from the lake.
+
+Meanwhile, it was evident, though the cannon, recharged and shot off
+again with extraordinary quickness, served to keep the part of the
+causeway where they stood free from assailants, that they had effected a
+landing, perhaps, both in front and rear,--certainly on the
+latter,--where they were already engaged, hand to hand, with the
+Spaniards. The thunder of the explosions did not conceal from the novice
+the shrieks of his countrymen. His blood boiled with fury:
+
+"Come with me, Jacinto," he cried. "We will reach Fogoso; and then I can
+do my duty to my friends, and smite these accursed murderers, without
+deserting thee."
+
+He dragged the trembling page after him; he darted among the cannoniers,
+and passed the artillery. He reached the Tlascalans, who followed the
+van,--but havoc was already among their ranks. As he gained them, he
+perceived the shelving sides of the causeway lined with canoes, from
+which were springing up, like locusts, a cloud of Mexicans, brandishing
+their glassy maces, and rushing with the yells of wolves upon their
+ancient foes. Barbarians were mingled with barbarians in one hideous
+mass of slaughter, impassable and impenetrable.
+
+His heart sunk within him. "I have prejudiced thy life, as well as my
+own, this night," he said. "Would that I had never left the back of
+Fogoso!"
+
+Before he had yet time to resolve whether to return to the cannoniers,
+or to make one more effort to pierce the bloody mass, he was descried by
+the crew of a piragua, which, that moment, was urged upon the dike with
+such violence, that it was split in twain by the shock. The eager
+warriors rushed up the ascent with a shriek of exultation, and
+brandished their spears. The neophyte retreated; but neither the
+rapidity of his steps, nor the keenness of his blows, would, perhaps,
+have availed against their numbers, enfeebled as he was, and trammelled
+by the grasp of the affrighted Jacinto, had not a party of Spanish
+footmen, flying from the rear, come that moment to his aid. These,
+though they forced the barbarians to give way, were, in their turn,
+driven back upon the cannon; and Don Amador was fain to follow them.
+
+The audacity of the foe seemed still to increase rather than diminish;
+and, twice or thrice, efforts were made by certain valiant madmen among
+them, to spring to land immediately in the mouths of the cannon. These
+were instantly speared by the many desperate Spaniards, who, flying from
+their posts in the rear, which were now known to be in extremity, took
+refuge among the artillery, as the only place of safety, and there
+fought with better resolution.
+
+In the meanwhile, the efforts of the enemy still remaining unabated, the
+prisoners and many of the rear-guard pressing wildly forward, and Don
+Hernan and most of the officers having fled to the front, from which
+they had not returned, the gunners were themselves seized with a panic;
+and, without regarding the death on which they were thus rushing, began
+to leave their pieces, and fly. The representations of Don Amador served
+to arrest some of them, and other soldiers taking their places at the
+guns, they yielded passively to his instructions; and he found himself,
+at once, in the post of a commander.
+
+The many bitter reflections that harrowed his own bosom, he spoke not,
+and sharply he reprimanded others, who were yielding to despair.
+Whatever might be the difficulty of advancing, he felt that such a
+measure was become indispensable, as promising the only hope of
+salvation: for every instant the clamours increased on the rear, as if,
+there, the barbarians had attacked in the greatest numbers, and were
+approaching nearer to the cannon, flushed with slaughter and victory. He
+instructed the gunners in what manner they should rush forwards with
+their charged pieces, pointed obliquely, so as to sweep the sides of the
+dike, shoot them off, when arrested by too determined a front of
+resistance, and, loading quickly, take advantage of the confusion
+following each discharge, so as to gain as much ground as possible,
+while still manfully fighting. He hoped, thus, besides succouring the
+Tlascalans in front, and giving room for the rear-guard to follow, to
+reach the second ditch, where, as he had heard, the beam still gave
+passage to the footmen, but where his most sanguine wishes could point
+him out no other hope than to stand by the cannon till relieved, or
+abandon them and fly, as, it seemed to him, all had done, who had
+already crossed the breach.
+
+He animated the gunners with his voice, and with his actions; and so
+great was the effect of the discharges on the Indians landing, that the
+artillerymen were able to rush forwards perhaps a score yards, after
+each volley; thus convincing all of the wisdom of the measure, and the
+probability of escape.
+
+Two circumstances, however, greatly diminished the exultation, which the
+cavalier would have otherwise felt at the success of his stratagem.
+Though the Tlascalans in front ever responded to the shouts of his
+gunners, and though each discharge seemed to bring him nearer to them,
+yet ever, when a volley was preceded by the loud "_Viva!_" meant to
+encourage the allies, the answer seemed to come from the same distance,
+and the mass of feathered warriors, lit up by the discharge, disclosed
+the bodies of none but frowning Mexicans. The other circumstance was
+still more appalling; the space behind, left vacant by his advance, was
+occupied no longer by foot or horse, by treasure-bearer or prisoner, by
+Spanish musketeer or Tlascalan spearman. A few dusky groups could be
+seen running to and fro, behind; but yet they seemed rather to rush
+backwards than to follow after.
+
+"God save the rear-guard!" he muttered, "for it is surely
+surrounded.--On, brave cannoniers! Cortes shall not be ignorant of your
+deeds this night, and Don Carlos, the emperor, shall know of your fame."
+
+The shout, with which the cannoniers again poured forth the deadly
+volley, was repeated with victorious energy, when the Mexicans,
+scattered by the discharge, or leaping to avoid it, into the water,
+parted away from before them; and they found themselves, suddenly, upon
+the brink of the second ditch. The great beam lay in its place; but the
+dark water in the chasm was filled and agitated by the bodies of men,
+wounded and suffocating. The white tunic of the Mexican was confounded
+with the plume of a Christian cavalier; the red arm of an
+infidel,--Tlascalan or foeman,--shook by the side of a Castilian spear;
+the white visages of dead men rolled on the necks of drowning horses;
+bales of rich cotton stuffs,--lances dancing up and down like the leaded
+bulrushes of children,--armour of escaupil,--garments, and bodies of
+dying and dead,--were floating together in such horrible confusion, that
+the water seemed to heave and bubble as with a living corruption.
+
+The sight of the ditch and the beam clear of enemies, fired the
+cannoniers with new hopes; and in the frenzy of their joy, they would
+instantly have dropped their fuses and handspikes, and taken to flight,
+had it not been that Don Amador flung himself upon the beam, and
+striking the first man dead, commanded them still to stand to their
+pieces.
+
+"Base caitiffs are ye all," he cried, "who, thus having the victory, and
+the lives of half the army, in your hands, should so desert your posts,
+in the midst of triumph! Wheel round half your pieces, and sweep the
+causey sides behind;--for I hear the coming of friends. Would ye give up
+your pieces to infidels? They are your safety!"
+
+The reproof of the cavalier, the sight of their dead comrade, and the
+sword which had punished him, still commanding the narrow pathway, the
+voices of Christians behind, but, more than all, the manifest truth of
+the declaration, that their safety depended on their remaining by the
+artillery, turned the gunners, at once, from their purpose; and their
+resolution received a new confirmation, when a Christian voice was heard
+shouting in the front, as if of some cavalier, heading a band of
+returning friends, and, when, the next moment, a Spanish soldier was
+seen to run towards them, leap on the beam, and then spring from it to
+the causeway.
+
+"Santiago, and shoot on!" cried the overjoyed gunners; "for Cortes is
+coming!"
+
+"What, ho, knave Lazaro!" cried the novice, as the blaze of the
+discharge showed him in the new comer, the countenance of his henchman.
+"Where goest thou? Wherefore hast thou left the horses? And where is Don
+Hernan?"
+
+"Master! dear master, is it thou?" cried Lazaro, with such a shout of
+joy as drowned even the yells of death about him. "Quick, for the love
+of God! over the beam, with all these varlets,--for life! for life! for
+Don Hernan is fled, and all the cavaliers!"
+
+"Peace, thou villain!--Heed not this trembling fool," exclaimed Amador,
+quickly. "You hear!--the last ditch is bridged and free, and ye can, at
+any moment, reach the firm land, as the cavaliers have done.--Give me
+another volley or two, for God, for the honour of Spain, and for your
+friends, who are fast approaching. We will march together with the
+whole rear, to ensure safety. Quick!--See ye not how yonder fiends are
+rushing into your muzzles? Viva! A bold shot for St. James, and our
+people!"
+
+The cavalier turned to Lazaro: he was bleeding, and he cast a look of
+despair on his master.
+
+"Why art thou idle? thou wert bred to the linstock, sirrah. Show thyself
+a Christian man and true.--Hark! hearest thou not? 'Tis the shout of De
+Leon! Bravely, bold hearts! the rear-guard is nigh.--Hah! halon, halon!
+Don Pedro!"
+
+"'Tis the voice of the secretary!" cried Lazaro; "and God help me, but
+he cries for succour!"
+
+"Ho, senor! senor Don Amador! for the love of Christ!"--the wild shout
+of Fabueno, for the neophyte could no longer doubt it was he, was
+suddenly interrupted: the shrill shriek of a woman succeeded; and, then,
+every thing was lost in a hurricane of yells, so intermingled that no
+one could say whether they came from Christians or pagans.
+
+"Stay--drop thy match,--hold me this boy, as thou holdest thy life, and
+suffer none to pass the beam----"
+
+"For the sake of the cross thou adorest, the maiden thou lovest!" cried
+the terrified boy, clinging to the cavalier, "leave me not, oh leave me
+not, in this horror, to die alone! The Mexicans will kill me, for I have
+now no gown of a priestess to protect me----"
+
+Notwithstanding the boiling excitement of the novice, these last words
+filled his brain with strange thoughts, but still so confused that they
+were more like the momentary phantasms of delirium, than the proper
+suggestions of reason. But whatever they were, they were instantly
+driven out of his mind, by another cry from Fabueno, seemingly hard by,
+but so feeble and wailing, that a less acute ear might have supposed it
+came from a considerable distance.
+
+He shook the boy off, flung him into the arms of Lazaro, crying, "Answer
+his safety with thy life!--with thy life!" and immediately darted
+through the cannoniers, and retraced his steps on the causeway.
+
+By this time, the fire on the pyramid had attained its greatest
+brilliancy, and the wind having died entirely away, it projected its
+lofty spire to heaven, and burned with a tranquillity which seemed to
+leave it motionless; while its reflection on that part of the lake which
+shared not in the agitations of conflict, produced a spectacle of peace
+in singular contrast with the horrible scene of carnage, that moment
+represented on the causeway. The light it shed, though it made objects
+visible even as far as the second ditch, did not illuminate the furthest
+part of the dike; and there, whatever deed of death might be presented,
+was hidden from the eyes of all but the actors themselves.
+
+Raising his voice aloud, and running towards the nearest group, Don
+Amador sought out the secretary. But this group, before he had yet
+reached it, started away, and fled, with loud cries, towards the city,
+or to where the tumult was greatest; and he knew by their shouts of
+'Tlatelolco! ho, Tlatelolco!' that they were Mexicans. On the spot they
+had thus deserted, the novice stumbled over the body of a man, his
+throat cut from ear to ear, his cotton armour torn to pieces; and from
+the shreds, as the carcass rolled under his foot, there fell out,
+rattling and jingling on the stones, divers vessels of gold and jewels,
+such as had been grasped in the treasury.
+
+Without pausing to survey this victim of covetousness, the cavalier ran
+on; and, hearing many Christian voices, ringing now with curses, now
+with prayers, and now with shouts of triumph, he called out at the top
+of his voice,--
+
+"On, brothers! on to the artillery! advance!--Strike well, and
+forward!--Ho, Lorenzo! comrade! where art thou? and why answerest thou
+not?"
+
+A gurgling sound, as of one suffocating in the flood, drew his eye to
+the lake almost under his feet. The water rippled, as if lately
+disturbed by the falling of some heavy body; and just where the circling
+waves washed sluggishly up the shelving dike, there lay a white mass
+like a human figure, the head and shoulders buried in the tide. The wash
+of the ripple stirred the garments, and, in part, the corse, so that it
+still seemed to be living; but when the novice had caught it up, he
+beheld the visage of a very youthful girl, her forehead cloven by a
+sword of obsidian, and the broken weapon wedged fast in the brain. At
+the same instant, the water parted hard by, and there rose up a dark
+object, that seemed the back of a horse, across which lay the body of a
+man in bright armour, the legs upwards, but the head and breast
+ingulfed. For an instant, this dreary sight was presented; but, slowly,
+the steed, whose nostrils were still under water, as if held down by the
+grasp of the dead rider, rolled over on his side, and the body, slipping
+off the other way, sunk headlong and silently into the flood, followed
+presently by the horse; and the next moment the waters were at rest.
+
+"God rest thee, Lorenzo!" cried the novice, laying down the corse of
+Eugracia. "Thy life and thy hopes, thy ambition and thy love, are ended
+together--but now can I not lament thee!"
+
+He started up, as the causeway suddenly shook with the tramp of hoofs,
+and a cavalier, without spear or helm, dashed madly by. Almost at the
+moment of passing, whether it was that the strength of the fugitive had
+suddenly given out, or whether, as seemed more probable, a flight of
+arrows had been sent in pursuit, and struck both horse and rider, the
+steed made a fierce bound into the air; and then pursued his course,
+masterless.
+
+"Follow onwards, ye men of the rear!" cried the novice, struck with a
+sudden horror; for now he became conscious that the artillery had been,
+for several moments, silent; and when he looked after the flying steed,
+though he could not, at that distance, perceive any thing, he could hear
+fierce voices mingling together in strife; and presently the riderless
+horse, as if driven back by a wall of foes, returned, passing him again
+with the speed of the wind.
+
+The limbs of the cavalier were nerved with the strength of fury; for he
+thought he heard the screams of Jacinto, ascending with the harsher
+cries of the gunners; and scarcely did that frightened charger fly more
+swiftly from the battle, than he himself now back to it.
+
+"Thy duty, knave Lazaro!" he cried. "The boy!--save the boy!"
+
+"Don Amador! oh Amador! Don Amador!" came to his ears, in a voice that
+rent his heart.
+
+"I come! I come!" shouted the cavalier, redoubling his exertions, but
+not his speed, for that was at the highest.
+
+"Oh heaven, Amador! Amador!----"
+
+In his distraction, the neophyte confounded two voices into one; and
+while he replied to one, his thoughts flew to another.
+
+"I come! Answer me--where art thou? I am here:--where art thou!"
+
+As he uttered these words, he sprang through the artillery, which was
+without servers,--among bodies which were lifeless,--and stood
+alone,--for there was no living creature there but himself,--on the
+borders of the sluice, the beam over which was broken off in the middle,
+and the further portion, only, left standing in its place.
+
+He cast his amazed and affrighted eye from the water, heaving as before
+with the struggles of dying men, to the corpse on whose bosom he was
+standing.--In the grinning countenance, covered with blood, and horribly
+mutilated by a blow which had pierced through the mouth, jaws, and
+throat, to the severed spine, he beheld the features of Lazaro, fixed in
+death; and looked wildly at his side, to discover the body of the page.
+No corse of Jacinto was there; but, on the ground, where he had stood,
+on the spot where he had charged him to stand, the novice perceived a
+jewel, catching a ray from the distant fire, glittering red, as with
+blood, and held by a golden chain to which it was attached, in the
+death-grasp of the henchman. He snatched it from the earth and from the
+hand of the dead and looking on it with a stare of horror, beheld the
+holy and never to be forgotten cross of rubies.
+
+With that sight, the scales fell from his eyes, and a million of wild
+thoughts beset his brain. The magical knowledge of the page, coupled
+with his childish and effeminate youth,--his garments, so fitted to
+disguise,--his scrupulous modesty,--his tears, his terrors, his
+affection, and his power over the mind of the cavalier,--the garb of the
+priestess, so lately acknowledged,--the vision in the house of the Wali,
+Abdalla,--the cross of jewels, doubtless snatched from the neck of
+Jacinto, when barbarians were tearing him from the faithful Lazaro,--all
+these came to the brain of the cavalier with the blaze and the shock of
+a cannon, suddenly discharged at his ears. He looked again to the corses
+about him--they were those of the gunners; to the ditch--it writhed no
+more; and then, uttering the name of Leila, he sunk, in a stupor, to the
+earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX.
+
+
+While these scenes of blood were passing in the centre of the army, and
+a hideous mystery concealed the fate of the rear, the condition of the
+advanced guard, though not altogether hopeless, was scarce less
+terrific. When the forces of Sandoval, comprising many of the followers,
+both common soldiers and captains, of Narvaez, were made acquainted with
+the fate of the bridge, and beheld the vast number of foes that impelled
+their canoes towards the further bank of the second ditch, as if to
+secure the passage, they waited not for directions to cross over, by
+swimming. They imitated the example of their commander, Sandoval, who,
+leaping from his horse, and leading him into the water, passed over by
+the beam, while still holding and guiding the swimming animal. This mode
+of proceeding being necessarily very slow, and the barbarians rushing,
+in the meanwhile, against them with unspeakable fury, the impatience of
+the cavaliers became so great, that many of them spurred their steeds
+down the sides of the dike, and thus, swimming them along by the beam,
+passed to the other side. Divers of the footmen, seduced by the example,
+leaped, in like manner, into the lake; and the Tlascalans, at all times
+less formidable opponents than their armed allies, being, at the same
+moment, violently assaulted, sprang also into the water, so that it
+became alive with the bodies of man and horse,--as if a herd of caymans,
+such as haunt the lower rivers of that climate, were disporting and
+battling in the tide. While thus embarrassed and entangled together in
+the water, the swimmers were set upon by the Mexicans, who, pushing
+their canoes among them, and handling their heavy paddles, as well as
+war-clubs, despatched them, almost without labour, and with roars of
+exultation.
+
+It was at this instant of confusion, and while those Tlascalans who
+still remained on the dike, contended but feebly with the augmenting
+assailants, that Don Hernan, followed closely by De Morla, and others,
+dashed over friend and foe, and reached the ditch. The scene of horror
+there disclosed, the miserable shrieks of Christian comrades, perishing
+in the gap and the neighbouring parts of the lake, the increasing yells
+of infidels behind, touched the stout heart of Cortes with fear. He
+descended from his steed, sprang upon the beam, and crossed, crying out,
+at the same time, to those who followed,--
+
+"Hold, cavaliers! Wait ye here for the artillery: leave not this gap to
+the murderers. Fight ye here well, and ye shall have help from the van."
+
+So saying, he sprang again upon his horse. De Morla was at his heels,
+bearing Minnapotzin in his arms, but on foot: the chestnut gelding was
+left drowning in the sluice, entangled and sinking under the weight of a
+dozen men, who had seized upon him, in their terror.
+
+"God forgive thee, cavalier!" cried Cortes, as he caught the eye of
+Francisco; "for, for this barbarian puppet, thou playest the coward, and
+leavest thy friend to perish, without the aid of a blow!"
+
+De Morla answered not, but, with a ghastly smile, uncovered and pointed
+at the features of the unconscious princess.
+
+"If she be dead," cried the general, "give her body to the waters of her
+native lake; if she live, commit her to the care of the Tlascalans; then
+call on thy saints and show that thou art not a craven!"
+
+Then, without waiting for an answer, Don Hernan spurred onwards,
+striking down, almost at every step,--for the whole causeway was
+beset,--some luckless savage; and, now and then, in his desperation,
+smiting at the hands of certain of his own countrymen, who strove to
+arrest the galloping steed, and spring behind him.
+
+He reached the third and last ditch; it was bridge-less, like the
+others, and, like the others, a theatre of disorder and massacre. The
+pillar of fire, here, revealed its figure but luridly and faintly,
+through the thick mists and the cannon-smoke, sluggishly driving over
+the lake; but he thought he could trace, in the distant gloom, in front,
+the outline of those rugged hills, which lie along the western borders
+of the lake. He turned his face backwards to the city; a tempest of
+yells--the pagan shouts of victory, and the last cries of Spaniards to
+God,--came mingling on a gust, that waved the distant flame to and fro,
+like a sword of fire in the hands of some colossal fiend. A bolt of ice
+smote through his bosom; and when he plunged into the sluice, and,
+rising on the opposite bank, drove the sharp spurs into the flanks of
+his charger, no man, of all the army, fled with more craven horror than
+himself.
+
+An hour afterwards, the moon, diminished to the thinnest crescent, crept
+with a sickly and cadaverous visage, to the summit of the eastern hills,
+and peeped down into the valley, preceding the dawn that was soon to
+look upon its scenes of death.
+
+At this moment of moonrise, those few Christians who had escaped from
+the battle, were grouped at the end of the dike, deliberating, in
+unspeakable agitation, upon the course they were to pursue. Many advised
+that they should instantly resume their flight, and trust to their speed
+to put them, before morning, beyond the reach of their merciless
+enemies; some insisted upon remaining, to give help to such wretches as,
+ever and anon, made their way from the causeway, and, with tears of joy
+and loud thanks-givings, threw themselves among their friends; a few,
+more honourable, or more insane, among whom were Sandoval and Don
+Christobal de Olid, (a very valiant cavalier, to whom other histories
+have been juster than this,) demanded, with stern reproaches, that their
+leader should conduct them again to the combat, which was still raging
+on the lake, and rescue their countrymen out of that fiery furnace, or,
+at once, honourably and justly, perish with them.
+
+"Is there one here, who, if I refuse this most mad counsel, will say I
+do it from fear?" demanded the general, with a voice broken by agony and
+despair. "What I do, I do for the good of heaven, the king, and
+yourselves. If I suffer you to return, then will ye perish, Spain lose
+an appanage worthy the first-born of an emperor, and, in that accursed
+city, God be daily grieved by the sight of idolatry and sacrifice. By
+remaining where we are, we shall save many lives; and this land of milk
+and honey, of corn and of gold, though now torn from us for our sins,
+will be yet the guerdon of our resolution. I aver and protest, that if
+we return to the hell that is on the lake, we shall be lost, to a man.
+Is there one, then, who says I remain here from fear?"
+
+Notwithstanding the deep grief and agitation which gave their tone to
+the words of the general, there was mingled withal a touch of such
+sternness, as forbade even the boldest to reply. Great, therefore, was
+the surprise of all, when a hollow and broken voice murmured, in answer,
+from the causeway,--
+
+"There is ONE,--there are an hundred,--there _have been_ (but now they
+are not,) a thousand men, who say that, this night, Cortes hath proved a
+craven, a deserter of his friends, a traitor to his king, a betrayer of
+his God,--and, therefore, a villain!"
+
+As these words were uttered, there staggered up the bank, on which the
+party rested, a figure, seemingly of a cavalier, but his armour so rent
+and demolished, as, in many places, to leave his body naked. His helmet
+was gone, and his locks, dripping with water and blood, fell over his
+breast, leaving their crimson stains on the white mantle muffling the
+body of some slighter figure, which he bore in his arms.
+
+"I forgive thee, De Morla!" cried the general, rushing forwards, and
+then recoiling, as Don Francisco deposited the burden at his feet, and,
+removing the cloth reeking with water as with gore, disclosed to the
+view of all, gently touched by the ray of that wasted and melancholy
+moon, the countenance of the dead princess. "Who hath struck the
+daughter of Montezuma?--who hath done this deed?"
+
+"He who hath smitten the hearts of a thousand Christians, by leading
+them into peril, and deserting them in their need!" said the cavalier,
+with a tranquillity that struck all with terror, for it was unnatural;
+"he, who commanded me to fling, while living, this child of a murdered
+king into the lake, or upon the spears of Tlascalans, and then get me
+back to the foe, that he might himself fly in safety!"
+
+"Thou art mad, Francisco! and thou doest me foul injustice!" said Don
+Hernan, hurriedly. "I fled not; nor did I bid thee do aught but entrust
+this hapless maiden to some strong band of allies, thou being thyself
+on foot, and, therefore, incompetent to protect her."
+
+"You called me craven, too!" said the cavalier, with a hoarse laugh,
+raising his voice aloud. "Thou liest!--I am braver than thou; for my
+body is covered with wounds--from the crown to the sole, there is no
+part but is mangled;--and yet thou hast not a limb but is untouched! You
+call me craven! God smite you with punishment, for you are _all_
+cravens, knaves, and murderers together! You wait on the banks, while we
+are dying, and you call us cravens! God will do us right! God will
+avenge us! God will hear our prayers! and so God curse you all, and keep
+your bones for the maws of infidels!"
+
+Thus speaking, and concluding with the voice of a madman, the young
+cavalier cast a look on the dead princess, and, uttering a horrid
+scream, ran back, distracted, to the causeway.
+
+"In the name of God, on!" exclaimed an hundred voices; "we are _not_
+cravens and murderers, and Spaniards shall not fall unaided!"
+
+Don Hernan himself, stung by the sarcasms of the unhappy and
+well-beloved cavalier, was the first to clap spurs to his horse; and
+again the thunder of cavalry, and the quick tread of footmen moving in
+order, were heard on the dike of Tacuba.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LX.
+
+
+Thousands of infuriated and exulting savages had, in the meanwhile,
+landed from their canoes at the second ditch, raised their cries of
+triumph over the abandoned artillery, and struck, with a rage not to be
+appeased by death, the Christian corses which lay so thick among them.
+But, while living invaders remained, either in the front or rear, they
+tarried not long, to waste their malice on the dead.
+
+The cavalier Don Amador, when he made the marvellous discovery, detailed
+in a preceding chapter, and perceived that the fair and lamented being
+of his dreams, heaven had permitted so long to walk by his side, in this
+new and strange world,--revealing her to his eyes only at the moment
+when destined to be snatched from them for ever,--felt, at that instant
+of discovery as if all the ties which bound him to existence, were at
+once dissevered. Rage at his blindness, furious compunctions of remorse
+for his negligence, and an agony of grief at the supposed dreadful fate
+of the maiden, were mingled with a sort of wild indignation against the
+providence which, by veiling his eyes, and shutting his ears to the
+suggestions of his heart, (for, surely, from the moment he looked upon
+the page, his affections were given him,) had robbed him of his
+mistress. It was not, therefore, wonderful, that such a conflict of
+mind, acting upon a body weakened by previous wounds and sickness, and
+exhausted by present exertions, should have thrown him across the body
+of Lazaro, himself, to all appearance, full as lifeless. And thus he
+lay, for half an hour, insensible to the battle, which was now drawing
+nigh to the ditch, and now leaving it to its charnel solitude.
+
+He was recalled to life, by feeling some one tug forcibly at the sacred
+jewel, which he retained throughout his lethargy, with the same instinct
+which had preserved it in the death-grasp of the henchman. More lucky
+than Lazaro, yet scarce more happy, this violence woke up the sleeping
+energies of life; and he raised his head, though only to stare about him
+with a bewildered look of unconsciousness.
+
+"God be thanked!" exclaimed a Christian voice in his ear, as a friendly
+hand seized him by the shoulder; "lead or gold, glass or precious stone,
+never was cross of Christ picked up on the wayside, but good fortune
+followed after it! What ho, senor! up and away! The things that I spoke
+of, have come to pass. Kalidon-Sadabath dances in the Crystal; he loves
+the smell of blood!--Up! arise and away, for thine hour is not come."
+
+The cavalier arose, and stared at the friendly magician; which Botello
+seeing, and supposing he was now fully restored to his wits, this
+lunatic of another sort seized him by the arm, and, dragging him towards
+the water, said,--
+
+"Fear not; if thou hast not the skill of a crocodile, know that I can
+bear thee across the channel; and that the more easily that it is
+already choked with corses, and no Mexicans nigh to oppose us."
+
+The neophyte broke from his companion, and with wild cries of _Leila!
+Leila!_ ran towards the cannon.
+
+"God save thee! art thou mad? Dost thou call upon woman or devil? This
+is no place for girls; and never heard I of imp called Leila."
+
+"Thou knowest not my wretchedness, Botello," said Don Amador. "Let me
+look again, if her body be not here.--Hah!" he cried, struck with a
+sudden thought, and turning quickly to the conjurer. "Thou art a
+magician, and knowest of the dead as well as the living. I have decried
+thine art, but now I acknowledge thy wisdom. Behold this rubied
+cross--oh heaven! that I should hold it in my hand, and know, that, but
+a moment since, it was on the neck of Leila! Look, enchanter; this jewel
+came from the neck of a woman, whom but now I left standing on this
+brink. Call her from the dead, if she have perished; or show me what
+path she hath trodden, if she be living; and I will reward thee, though
+I give thee the half of my patrimony.--A woman, I tell thee! Wilt thou
+not believe me? Half my estate, but to look upon her!"
+
+It was manifest, even to the unhappy novice himself, that Botello
+regarded him as a madman. But nevertheless he replied earnestly, "Here
+is no place for conjurations: there be devils enough about us already.
+Tarry not here; for this will neither benefit thee, nor her of whom thou
+speakest. Spring into the ditch,--rush with me to the main; and, then,
+what thou seekest, thou shalt know. Courage, courage! Dost thou not see
+yonder star, that creeps up by the dim moon, under the rack, dimmer even
+than the dim moon? Under that star, came I into earth: and while it
+shineth in that conjunction, the dart of a savage cannot wound me,--no,
+not though it strike me upon the naked brow!--Hark! dost thou not hear?
+The fragments of the rear-guard are approaching. Let us swim this abyss
+before they reach us, lest we be entangled among them. Hesitate not: we
+will go together, for I see thou art worn and feeble; and I remember
+that thou gavest me succour in the streets of Mexico."
+
+The neophyte had yielded, with a sort of captive-like and despairing
+submission, to the will of Botello; and was descending with him moodily
+to the water, when suddenly the latter paused, listening to a Christian
+shout in the distance, as of one approaching them from the shore.
+
+"Hark! it is repeated!--Viva! They come from the main: they have beaten
+the cubs of darkness--Viva! viva! Santiago, and quick, valiant friends!"
+
+The joyous shouts of Botello were re-echoed, though only by a single
+voice. Yet this was evidently approaching, and with great rapidity.
+
+During the whole time of the resuscitation of Don Amador, and of his
+dialogue with the enchanter, the causeway in the neighbourhood of the
+ditch had been free from foes, but only because it was free from
+Christians; and the lake in the vicinity was equally solitary. But now
+as they stood listening to the shouts, the two companions could perceive
+the lake, some distance in front, on both sides of the dike, boiling up
+in foam under canoes impelled towards them with extraordinary violence,
+seemingly upon the flank of the party from which proceeded the cry. But
+whatever was the speed of the canoes, it seemed to be unequal to that of
+the Christian; whose shouts wild and loud, and now almost incessantly
+repeated, grew shriller and nearer every moment.
+
+"On, valiant friends! on!--heed not the pagans; on!" shouted Botello, as
+the canoes cut the water within an hundred paces of the ditch. "Thanks
+be to God! I see them! Hah! good! and here--Hark to his voice! how
+cheery!--here comes the valorous De Morla!"
+
+As he spoke, the figure of De Morla, outstripping the wind, was seen
+running towards the ditch, while some of the arrows shot after him by
+the pursuers, and passing him, fell even at the feet of the expectant
+pair.
+
+The sight of his friend kindled the ardour of Don Amador. He shouted
+aloud,
+
+"On, valiant brother!--It is I! thy sworn friend of Cuenza!"
+
+To this speech, De Morla answered with a yell, that chilled the heart of
+his townsman; and running without a moment's hesitation, and without
+slackening his speed, to the end of the broken beam, where it overhung
+the middle of the sluice, he sprang from it, as if assisted by its
+elasticity, to so great a height into the air, that, it was plain, he
+would clear the chasm in the bound. As he leaped, he waved his sword,
+and uttered a scream; a cloud of arrows at the same time whistled
+through the atmosphere; and when he reached the ground, twenty of these
+deadly missiles were sticking in his body.
+
+The neophyte raised up his head; one arrow was in his brain:--it snapped
+off, as the head rolled on Amador's arm. A thrill and a gasp were the
+last and only manifestations of suffering. The next instant, the body of
+De Morla rolled down the shelving plane of the ditch, and sunk, with a
+few bubbles, among a hundred of his countrymen, already sepulchred
+therein.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXI.
+
+
+Meantime the reappearance of the barbarians seemed to cut off the last
+hope of escape from Amador and his companion; but the magician,
+answering the cavalier's sullen look of despair with a laugh, and
+pointing to the little star, which still made its way up the cloudy arch
+along with the moon, said, dragging him at the same time towards the
+artillery,
+
+"What the spirits say, is true! All this said they, of De Morla.--May he
+rest with God--Amen! Fear not; be of good heart:--while the star shines,
+there is hope,--and hope for both; for though I have not yet read thy
+fate in full, still, while thou art at my side, thou canst be in no
+great peril. At the worst, and when the worst comes, it is written, that
+eagles shall come down from heaven, and bear me away on their
+backs.--Hast thou never a flint and dry tinder, to light me a linstock?
+Here hath some knavish gunner left his piece charged, and the grains of
+sulphur still heaped up from rimbase to cascable. A good roar now might
+do marvels.--Quick! they are upon us.--Fling thee under the wheels, and
+look but as dead as thou didst erewhile, till the cut-throats be
+passed.--Hah! 'fore God, dost thou hear?" he exclaimed, suddenly leaping
+up.--"Kalidon, soho, brave imp! and thou shalt be a-galloping
+yet!--Hearest thou that shout, like the clang of a bugle on a
+hill-top?--'Tis Cortes! and he cometh!"
+
+It was even as the magician had said. From the moment that De Morla took
+the fatal leap, the rowers ceased paddling in their canoes, as if
+certain of his fate, or unwilling to follow so feeble a prey, and
+remained huddled together, as though they awaited the approach of a more
+tempting quarry. They had not perceived the two companions. Just as
+Botello was about to creep under a falconet, around whose wheels the
+corses lay very thick, the strong voice of Cortes was heard rising over
+the din, which, at some quarter or other of the causeway, was kept up
+incessantly during the whole conflict. It echoed again, sustained and
+strengthened by the voices of a considerable party.
+
+"They approach!" said Botello. "They are a-horse too; I hear the
+trampling. God quicken the rear! Methought there were many who followed
+me."
+
+"Hark!" cried the cavalier. "The foul knaves desert us! their voices are
+weaker; they fly again to the land!"
+
+"Here's that which shall fetch them back, if they be men!" exclaimed
+Botello, catching up a port-fuse not yet extinguished, striking it on
+his arm to shake off the ashes, and whirling it in the air till it
+glowed and almost blazed. "It will show them, there be some living yet;
+and, with God's blessing, will scatter yon ambushed heathen like
+plashing water-drops. _Ojala!_ and all ye fiends of air and water, of
+earth and of hell, that are waiting for pagan souls, carry my hail-shot
+true, and have at your prey!"
+
+So saying, the conjurer applied the match. The roar of the explosion was
+succeeded not only by the yells of Mexicans, dying in their broken
+canoes, or paddling away from so dangerous a vicinity, but by Spanish
+shouts, both on the rear and in front.
+
+"On, brave hearts!" cried Cortes; "there be bold knaves yet at the
+ordnance!"
+
+The next moment the little band of horse that headed the relief, sprang
+into the lake, and swimming aside, so as to avoid the sunken bodies, and
+the bales still floating in the ditch, crossed over to the cannon; while
+a large body of men, arranged with such order, that they blocked up the
+whole causeway from side to side, came marching up from the rear,
+fighting as they fled, and still valiantly resisting the multitudes that
+pursued both on the dike and in the water.
+
+"Thanks be to God!" cried Don Hernan, rejoiced that so many lived, and
+yet appalled at the numbers and ferocious determination of the foes, who
+still, like venomous insects following the persecuted herd, pursued
+whithersoever the Christians fled. "Art thou alive, De Leon?--Praised be
+St. James, who listened to my prayer! Turn ye now, and let us succour
+the rest."
+
+"They are in heaven," said De Leon, with a faint voice, for he was
+severely wounded, as indeed were all his crew. "Push on, in the name of
+God, all who can swim.--The others must perish."
+
+"Hold! stay!" exclaimed Cortes. "Fling the cannon into the
+sluice.--Think not of the enemy. Heave over my good falconets: they will
+make a bridge for ye all."
+
+The wounded footmen seized upon the guns, with the energy of despair;
+and flinging over the ropes to that company of their fellow infantry who
+had followed Don Hernan, and now stood on the opposite side, the pieces
+were pushed and dragged into the water, and, together with the mass of
+corses already deposited in that fatal chasm, made such a footing for
+the infantry as enabled many to pass in safety. Among these was Don
+Amador de Leste, his hand grasped by the faithful magician, who
+perceived that he was sunk into such sluggishness of despair, that he
+must have perished, if left to himself.
+
+It is not to be supposed that this passage was effected without
+opposition and loss. On the contrary, the barbarians redoubled their
+exertions; and while many rested at a distance, shooting whole clouds of
+arrows, others pushed their canoes boldly up to the gap, and there slew
+many taken at such disadvantage.
+
+Nevertheless, the passage was at last effected, and the footmen, joining
+themselves to their fellows, and forming, as before, twenty deep,
+followed the horsemen towards the shore.
+
+"Hold!" shouted Botello, when the party was about to start. "Save your
+captain, ye knaves of the rear!--Save De Leon! the valiant Velasquez!"
+
+A few, roused by this cry, and heedless of the shafts shot at them,
+rushed back to the brink, and beheld the wounded and forgotten captain,
+in the water, struggling in the arms of two brawny barbarians, who
+strove to drag him into a canoe. While his followers stood hesitating,
+not knowing how to give him aid, the little vessel, agitated by his
+struggles, which were tremendous, suddenly overset, and captive and
+capturers fell together into the water. The two warriors were presently
+seen swimming towards a neighbouring canoe; and De Leon, strangling
+under the flood, heaved not his last groan on the gory block of
+sacrifice.
+
+The fugitives paused not to lament; they resumed their march, and gained
+the last ditch.
+
+The events of that march, and of the passage of that ditch, are, like
+the others, a series of horrors. Enough has been narrated to picture out
+the dreadful punishment of men who acknowledged no rights but those of
+power, and preferred to rob a weak and childish race with insult and
+murder, rather than to subdue them, as could have been done, by the arts
+of peace. In the sole incident which remains to be mentioned, we record
+the fate of an individual whose influence had been felt through most of
+the events of the invasion, in many cases beneficially, but, in this,
+disastrously enough. This was the enchanter, Botello,--a man just shrewd
+enough to deceive himself; which is, in other words, to say, that he
+mingled in his own person so much cunning with so much credulity, that
+the former was ever the victim of the latter. The devoutness of his own
+belief in the efficacy of his arts, was enough to secure them the
+respect and reverence of the common herd, as well as of better men, in
+an age of superstition. How much confidence was given to them by Cortes,
+does not clearly appear in the older historians; but it is plain, he
+turned them to great advantage, and had the art sometimes to make the
+stars, as well as Kalidon of the Crystal, furnish revelations of his own
+hinting; and, it is suspected, not without grounds, that this very
+nocturnal flight, projected originally under the impression that the
+barbarians would not go into battle after night-fall, and, when the
+later events of the siege had disproved this hope, still persisted in
+from the persuasion that no Mexican would handle a weapon on the day of
+an emperor's burial, was conceived in the brain of the general before it
+was counselled by the lips of Botello.
+
+At all events, the enchanter did not, this night, manifest any doubt in
+his own powers. With a strange and yet natural inconsistency, he seemed
+to rejoice over the slaughter of his countrymen, as over the
+confirmation of his predictions. Twice or thrice, at least, he muttered,
+and once even in the thick of combat, to Don Amador, by whose side he
+ever walked, at the head of the retreating party,--
+
+"I said, this night we should retreat--we have retreated: I said, there
+should be death for many, and safety for some--the many are at rest,
+(God receive their souls, and angels carry them to the seats of
+bliss!)--and some of us are saved."
+
+"Be not over-quick in thy consummations," said Amador. "We are here now
+at the third ditch, which is both wide and deep, and no bodies to bridge
+it; and seest thou not how the yelling curs are paddling in to oppose
+us?"
+
+"Bodies enow!" cried the enchanter. "To-morrow, at midday, when the sun
+is hottest, ye shall see corses lying along on both sides of the causey,
+like the corks of a fisherman's net; and at the ditches, they will come
+up like ants out of the earth, when a dead caterpillar falls at their
+door. Yet say I, we shall be saved, and thou shalt see it; for I
+remember how thou didst carve the back of that knave that lay on me in
+the streets of Mexico; and I will carve a dozen for thee in like manner,
+ere dawn, on this causeway."
+
+"Boast no more: such confidence offends heaven; for thy life hangs here
+as loosely as another's."
+
+"The star! the star!" cried Botello, "the dim little star! is it not
+shining? The morning comes after it, and the eagles are waking on the
+hills. They will snuff the battle, they will shriek to the vultures, to
+the crows, and the gallinazas, and down will they come together to the
+lake-side and the lake. At eventide, ye will see dead men floating about
+in the wind, and on the breast of each a feeding raven; but devils shall
+be perched on the corses of the heathen!"
+
+"Heaven quit me of thy wild words, for they sound to me unnatural and
+damnable, as though spoken by one of those same demons thou thinkest
+of.--Speak no more.--Look to thy life; for it is in jeopardy."
+
+"Hast thou not seen me in the battle? and, lo you now, I have not a
+scratch!" said the enthusiast. "I have fought on the dike, when there
+were twelve men of us, good men, bold and true: eleven were slain, but
+here am I untouched by flint, unbruised by stone, unhurt by arrow. I
+fought three screeching infidels in the water, hard by to where two
+valiant cavaliers were pulled off their horses, and so smothered; and
+yet strangled I my heathens, without horse to help, or friend to say God
+speed me. The life that is charmed is invulnerable; the star shines, the
+eagle leaves her nest, and Kalidon-Sadabath laughs in the
+crystal.--Viva! Lo now, how Sandoval, the valiant, will scatter me yon
+imps in the boats! He spurs into the water; Catalan the Left-handed,
+Juan of Salamanca, Torpo the Growler, Ferdinand of Bilboa, and De Olid
+the Devil's Ketch, they spring after him!--There they go! Dance,
+Kalidon! thy brothers shall have souls, to be fetched up from the mud as
+one rakes up clams of a fish-day. Crowd hell with damned
+heathens:--there be more to follow!"
+
+Never before had such life possessed the spirits of Botello. He stood on
+the edge of the causey, shouting loud vivas, as the bold cavaliers
+rushed among the canoes that blocked up the sluice. The novice, though
+shocked at such untimely exultation, was not able to avoid it; for he
+was enfeebled, and Botello held him with a fast and determined gripe.
+
+"Unhand me, conjurer," he cried, "and I will swim the ditch."
+
+"Tarry a little, till the path be made clear: thou wilt be murdered
+else."
+
+"I shall be murdered, if I remain here; and so wilt thou.--Hah! did that
+shaft hurt thee?"
+
+"Never a jot; how could it? There flies not the arrow this night, there
+waves not the bludgeon, that can shed my blood."
+
+"Art thou besotted?--God forgive thee!--this is impiety."
+
+The magician held his peace; for about this time, the Mexicans, knowing
+that this band, diminished, disordered, and divided by the ditch into
+two feeble parties, was the sole remaining fragment of oppression, and
+determined that no invader should escape alive, rushed upon the causeway
+on all sides with such savage violence as seemed irresistible. Those who
+had not yet crossed, broke in affright, and flung themselves into the
+sluice with such speed, that, in a few moments, Don Amador began to
+think that he and Botello were the only Christians left.
+
+"Why dost thou hold me, madman?" he cried. "Let me free."
+
+"Hark! dost thou not hear?--there are Christian men behind us," said
+Botello.--"Courage! What if these devils be thicker than the thoughts of
+sin in man's heart, fiercer than conscience, deadlier than remorse; yet
+shall we pass them unharmed.--Patience! 'Tis the voice of a Spaniard, I
+tell thee, and behind!"
+
+"It is in front:--hark! 'tis Don Hernan!"
+
+"It is behind, and it is the cry of Alvarado! Let us return, and give
+him aid. Ho, ye that fly! return! the Tonatiuh is shouting behind us:
+will ye desert him?--Return, return!"
+
+Before Amador could remonstrate, the lunatic, for at this moment, more
+than any other, Botello seemed to deserve the name, had dragged him to
+the top of the dike, where he stood exposed to the view and the shots
+of the foe. A thousand arrows were aimed at the pair.
+
+"Thou art a dead man!" said Amador.
+
+"Dost thou not see the star?" cried the magician, impatiently. "Not a
+bird hath yet flapped her wing, not an eagle hath fled from her cliff;
+and my star, my star----"
+
+As he spoke, he let go his hold of the cavalier, to point exultingly at
+the diminutive luminary. At that very instant, an arrow, aimed close at
+hand, struck the neophyte on the breast, entering the mail at a place
+rent by blows of a previous day, and, without wounding him, forced its
+way out through links hitherto uninjured.
+
+"Hah!" said the cavalier, as the arm of Botello fell heavily on his
+shoulder.--"Art thou taught wisdom and humility, at last? Let us
+descend, and swim."
+
+As he moved, he became sensible that the shaft was still sticking in his
+hauberk. He grasped the feathered notch--the head was in the
+astrologer's heart. The stout wood snapped, as Botello fell. It struck
+him in the moment of his greatest hope. He dropped down a dead man.
+
+While Amador stood confounded and struck with horror, he was seized, he
+knew not by whom, and suddenly found himself dragged through the water.
+Before he could well commend his soul to heaven, for he thought himself
+in the hands of the enemy, he beheld himself on firm land, while the
+voice of Cortes shouted in his ear,--
+
+"Rouse thee, and die not like a sleeper! Hold me by the hand, and my
+good horse shall drag thee through the melee--I would sooner that my arm
+were hacked off than that thou shouldst sleep in the accursed lake:
+enough of thy blood rests in it, with Don Gabriel."
+
+"Ay," thought the unhappy cavalier, "enough of my blood, and all of my
+heart. Don Gabriel, De Morlar, Lazaro, Lorenzo, and--ay, and Leila!
+Better that I were with them!"
+
+A sudden cry from beyond the ditch interrupted his griefs.
+
+"Pause, pause!" cried the voice. "Leave me not!--I am nigh!--I am
+Alvarado!"
+
+The cavaliers looked back at these words, and beheld a man come flying,
+as it were, through the air over the ditch, perched on the top of a long
+Chinantlan spear, the bottom of which was hidden in the water. He fell
+quite clear of the sluice, after making a leap which even his comrades,
+who had not individually seen it, held impossible for mortal man, and
+which, even to this day, has preserved to the spot the name of the
+Salto, or leap, of Alvarado.
+
+The appearance of the Tonatiuh was hailed with shouts of joy; and the
+Spaniards, receiving it as a good omen, closed their ranks, and slowly,
+for every inch was contested, fought their way to the shore. When they
+trode upon the firm ground, the little star had vanished in the gray
+beams of morning; and a thick mist rising up from the water like a
+curtain, concealed from the eyes of the fugitives, along with the
+accursed signal-fire, the fatal towers and temples of Mexico.
+
+Thus closed a night of horror and wo, memorable as the _Noche Triste_,
+or Melancholy Night, of Mexican history, and paralleled perhaps, in
+modern days, if we consider the loss of the retreating army as compared
+with its numbers, only by the famous and most lamentable passage of the
+Berezina. More than four thousand Tlascalans, and five hundred
+Spaniards, were left dead on the causeway, or in the lake. Of the
+prisoners, but two or three escaped; two sons and as many daughters of
+Montezuma, with five tributary kings, as well as many princes and
+nobles, perished. All the cannon were utterly lost, left to rust and rot
+in the salt flood that had so often resounded to their roar; and of more
+than an hundred proud war-steeds that champed the bit so fiercely at
+midnight, scarce twenty jaded hacks snuffed the breath of morning.
+
+With this broken and lamenting force, with foes still hanging on his
+rear, and ever flying from his front, Cortes set out to seek a path, by
+new and unknown mountains, to the distant Tlascala. He turned his eyes
+but once towards the lake,--the pagan city was hidden among the mists,
+and the shouts of victorious Mexicans came but faintly to the ear. He
+beat his breast, and shedding such tears as belong to defeated hopes and
+the memory of the dead, resumed his post at the head of the fugitives.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXII.
+
+
+We draw a curtain over the events of the first five days of flight,
+wherein the miserable fugitives, contending, at once, with fatigue,
+famine, and unrelenting foes, stole by night, and through darkling
+by-ways, along the northern borders of the fair valley, from which they
+were thus ignominiously, and, as it seemed, for ever, expelled. Of the
+twenty mounted men, each, like a Red-Cross Knight, in the ancient days
+of the order, bore a wounded companion on his crupper; and Don Amador,
+himself, on a jaded beast that had belonged to Marco,--for Fogoso had
+been lost or killed in the melee,--thus carried the only remaining
+servant of himself and his knight,--the ancient Baltasar. Other mangled
+wretches were borne on the backs of Tlascalans, in rudely constructed
+litters.
+
+In this manner, the ruined and melancholy band pursued its way, by
+lake-side and hill, over morass and river, ever pursued and insulted by
+bodies of barbarians, and frequently attacked; till, on the evening of
+the fifth day, they flung their weary forms to sleep in the City (as it
+may be called) of Pyramids, among those mouldering and cactus-covered
+mounds, which the idolatry of a forgotten age reared to the divinity of
+the greater and lesser luminaries of heaven, on the field Micoatl, that
+is to say, the Plain of Death. The visitor of San Juan de Teotihuacan
+still perceives these gigantic barriers, rising among the hundreds of
+smaller mounds--the Houses of the Stars--which strew the consecrated
+haunts, and, perhaps, conceal the sepulchres, of a holozoic people.
+
+At sunrise, the Spaniards arose, ascended the mountain of Aztaquemacan,
+at the north-eastern border of the valley, and prepared, with a joyous
+expectation, which had not been diminished even by the significant and
+constantly-repeated threats of the pursuers, to descend into the
+friendly land of the Tlascalans, by way of the vale of Otumba. For the
+last two days, the name of this valley had been continually on the lips
+of the Mexicans, following on the rear; and their cries, as interpreted
+by Marina, who survived the horrors of the Melancholy Night, intimated,
+plainly enough, that the work of revenge, so dreadfully commenced upon
+the lake, was to be consummated in the gorges of the mountains.
+Nevertheless, the Spaniards, in the alacrity of spirit, which the
+prospect of soon ending their sufferings in the Land of Bread, produced,
+forgot these menaces, or regarded them as the idle bravados of impotent
+fury; and clambered upwards, with increasing hope, until they reached
+the crest of a ridge, and looked down the slope to the wished-for
+valley. The sight which they beheld, will be described in another place.
+It remains, now, to return to an individual, whose fate has long been
+wrapped in mystery.
+
+At the moment when the Spaniards approached the highest part of the
+ravine, by which, alone, they could pass, in that quarter, from the vale
+of Tenochtitlan, there lay, in a wild and savage nook of the mountain,
+which went shelving upwards on the right hand, and at so short a
+distance, that had a bugle been winded in the army, it must have reached
+his ears,--one who had been a companion in many of their battles and
+sufferings. A number of huge rocks fallen ages ago, and rolled from some
+distant pinnacle, were heaped together on a broad and inclined shelf,
+and enclosed a space of ground so regular in form, and yet so rudely
+bounded by those sprawling barriers, that it looked to the imagination
+not unlike the interior of some stupendous temple, built by a barbaric
+people, and overwhelmed, many ages before, by some great convulsion. One
+side was formed by a cliff, in whose shivered side yawned the entrance
+of a black and dismal cavern, while the broken masses of rock themselves
+formed the others. Among, and over these, where they lay in contact with
+the cliff, there rushed a torrent, which, in the times of drought, might
+have been a meager and chattering rivulet, making its way, merrily,
+through gap and hollow, but which, now, swollen by the summer rains,
+came raving and roaring over the rocks, broken by them into a series of
+foaming cascades; and, then, shooting over a corner of the enclosure,
+and, darting through the opposite wall, it went, thundering, down the
+mountain. A few stunted trees stretched their withered limbs among these
+savage masses; and the noontide sun, peeping down into the nook, and
+lighting up a part of the cliff, fell pleasantly on the mosses and
+Alpine flowers, which ornamented its shelving floor, tinting, with
+momentary rainbows, the mists that hung over the fall. A sable steed,
+without bridle or halter, and much the worse for such primitive
+stabling, but yet, to all appearance, the relic of a once noble
+war-horse, wandered, at liberty, through the enclosure, cropping the few
+plants which bedecked it, or drinking from the little pools, at the side
+of the torrent; while, at the mouth of the cave, at the foot of a wooden
+crucifix of the rudest description, lay sleeping the figure of his
+master. A stained and tattered garment of leather, investing his limbs,
+was not altogether hidden under a black mantle, which partly covered his
+body. The head of the sleeper lay on his right arm, and this embraced
+the foot of the cross, so that the grizzly locks, which fell from his
+forehead, rested against, and almost twined around, the holy wood.
+
+The sunbeam played, unregarded, on his withered cheeks, and flickered
+over a heap of rusted armour, both of man and horse, which lay hard by,
+shining, also, with a fierce lustre, upon what appeared a scarlet
+surcoat, hung, like a banner, on the point of a knightly lance, which
+rested against the side of the cliff.
+
+Disease, as well as age, had furrowed the cheeks, and wasted the form of
+the slumberer; famine seemed to have been at work, as well as all other
+privations incident to a habitation in the desert; and there was, in his
+whole appearance, such an air of extreme and utter misery, as would have
+moved the pity of any beholder. Nevertheless, he slept on, regardless of
+the roaring fall, and heedless of the fierce sunbeam, in such
+tranquillity as augured, at least, a momentary suspension of suffering.
+
+As the sun stole up to the meridian, another human creature was suddenly
+added to the scene. The browsing war-horse pricked his ears, and
+snorted, as if to do the duty of a faithful sentinel, and convey to his
+master a note of alarm, as certain dried branches crackled among the
+rocks of the wall, and a stone, loosened as by a footstep, fell,
+rattling, down their sides, and buried itself in the pool, at the base
+of the fall. But the anchorite, for such the solitude of his dwelling,
+the poverty of his raiment, and, more than all, the little rugged cross
+which he embraced, caused him to appear, heard not these sounds; he
+slept on, lulled by the accustomed roar of the water-fall; and the steed
+was left alone, to watch the approach of the stranger.
+
+Presently, he was seen dragging himself up the rocks, by the aid of a
+drooping bough; and when he had reached their top, he rested for a
+moment, still clinging to the branch, as if worn out with toil, as was,
+indeed, made apparent by the youth and feebleness of his appearance. He
+cast a haggard and uninterested eye on the romantic torrent leaping and
+foaming at his feet, and seemed to hesitate whether he should descend
+into the prison-like enclosure, or retrace his steps, and retreat as he
+had come. But, suddenly, his gaze fell upon the steed, and he started
+with surprise at a sight so unexpected. The sagacious animal whinnied
+loudly, as if with recognition; and the youth, devoutly crossing
+himself, looked, with an agitation that denoted terror, on the red
+garment, the cross, and the human figure that still lay sleeping, or,
+perhaps, as he thought, dead, under its holy shadow. Then, as if
+resolved, he hastened to descend from the rugged fragments, and seeking
+where he might safely cross the brook, over the stones that obstructed
+its bed, he at last stood at the side of the good steed, which snuffed
+at him a moment with joy, and, then, gambolling about a little, fell to
+cropping the plants again, satisfied that the comer was a friend.
+
+The youth stole up tremblingly to the side of the sleeper, and seemed
+shocked at his emaciated and neglected appearance. He stooped as if to
+awake him, and then started back, wringing his hands, in fear and grief.
+He bent over him again;--a smile passed like a beam over the countenance
+of the recluse, and a murmur escaped his lips, of which the youth caught
+only a few broken syllables:
+
+"Though I shed thy blood," were the words he distinguished, "yet did I
+not aim at thee; and, therefore, hast thou forgiven me, for the sin was
+the sin of frenzy. Thou pardonest me, too, Alharef, for thou art, also,
+of the angels. It is good to walk with thee through the seats of
+bliss."
+
+A tear fell upon the cheek of the knight Calavar,--for it was, indeed,
+he; but it fell like the spray-drop, or the gentle dew; and it was not
+until the hand of the youth touched his shoulder, that he awoke and rose
+feebly to his feet.
+
+"Whoever thou art," said the unfortunate devotee, "thou breakest the
+only dream of happiness that hath visited my slumbers, for long and many
+years, and callest me from the paradise that filled me with bliss, to
+the earth which is the wheel whereon I am broken--Miserere mei, Deus!"
+
+"Alas, my lord!"
+
+"Art thou sent back to bid me prepare?" cried Don Gabriel, starting
+wildly, at the voice of the intruder. "Lo! I have flung me off the
+harness of war, and devoted me to penance in the wilderness, giving my
+body to sleep on the earth and in caves, drinking of the wild floods,
+and eating of the tough roots, with the earth-worm; while I sleep, my
+heart is scourged within me; whilst I wake, I pray,--and I pray that I
+may sleep for ever. Know, therefore, Jacinto! thou that dwellest in
+paradise! that I am ready, and that I thank heaven, I am called, at
+last; for weary has been my life, and long my repentance."
+
+"Alas, my lord, I live like thyself; and I call upon thee, that thou
+mayest continue to live. I thought, indeed, that thou wert dead, and so
+thought, and yet think, thy friends,--who are now in great peril."
+
+"God snatched me from the hands of the heathen," said the knight, "and
+brought me to this place, that I might seek for peace. For, oh! my heart
+was but filled with scorpions, that stung me day and night, and my head
+strewn with coals, ever burning and tormenting, whilst I sat in the
+infidel city, and remembered how he that hath been my son, was slain by
+murderers in the streets, because he loved me! All that loved me have
+perished, and (wo betide the hand that struck, and is not yet withered!)
+two under mine own steel. Yea, Alharef, thou art remembered! and, Zayda,
+thou art not forgotten! Then came the blow to thee, dear seraph! and
+thou wert carried off by the angry spirit of Alharef, who defied me at
+the palace-gate, and, in the temple-yard, raised me to my feet, and bade
+me think of Zayda. Verily, I remember her, and my heart is black with
+recollection! Then fell the bolt upon my boy,--he that was matchless in
+honour and love, peerless in war, incomparable in truth!--Would that the
+barbarous knives had struck my bosom, instead of thine, Amador! would
+that thou wert now upon thy gallant bay, shaking thy lance, and shouting
+the cry of the Hospital, and I in thy place, mouldering in the streets
+of Mexico! I lay on my couch, whilst thou wert calling to me for aid; I
+slept while thou wert dying.--Cursed be thy foundations, pagan city!
+ruin fall upon thy towers, havoc ride howling through thy palaces, and
+lamentations come up from thy lakes and gardens! for he that was the
+last and first, the loving and beloved, rots like a dog upon thy
+pavement!"
+
+"Noble and dear master," said Jacinto, "in this, at least, thou art
+mistaken. My dear lord, thy kinsman, perished not that day in the
+streets; for I myself did watch by his sick couch, and see him, after
+thou hadst departed, return in safety to the palace."
+
+"Dost thou say so?--He died not in the streets? Praised be God, for this
+his goodness!" cried Don Gabriel, falling on his knees. "My sin, then,
+hath not been visited on the guileless and true! My son Amador yet
+liveth!"
+
+He looked to the page, and now, for the first time, observed, as far as
+this could be seen through his thickly padded garments, that the form of
+Jacinto was greatly attenuated; his cheeks were hollow and colourless,
+and his countenance altered, as by some such grief as had been at work
+in his own bosom. He seemed, too, to be very feeble. But, if such were
+the appearances of sorrow on his visage, they assumed a yet more
+striking character of agony and despair, when the knight's words of joy
+fell on his ear. His face grew paler than death, he trembled like a
+linden leaf, and his lips scarcely obeyed their function, when he
+replied, with a faint and fruitless effort at calmness,--
+
+"I will not deceive my lord; no, heaven be my stay! I will not deceive
+my lord. Though my friend,--my patron,--my protector,--the noble
+Amador,--fell not in the streets, but returned to his people, yet is his
+fate wrapped in mystery,--in darkness and in fear. That night, that
+dreadful night!--O heaven! the causey covered with men, shrieking and
+cursing, stabbing and rending! the lake choked with corses, and with
+dying men still contending, and suffocating, each in the grasp of a
+drowning foe!--But I think not of that, I think not of that!--Who lived?
+who died? We searched for the body of my lord, but found it not: he was
+not with those they led to the pyramid; his corse floated not among the
+hundreds, which befouled the lake: yet did they discover his goodly
+war-horse on the water-side,--his surcoat was dragged from a ditch,
+among cannon, under whose heavy bulk lay many bodies, which the Indians
+strove to push up with poles--but my lord's body rose not among them.
+And yet, he sleeps in the lake,--yes, he sleeps in the lake! for how
+could he escape that night, and I no more by his side?"
+
+As Jacinto spoke, he wept and sobbed bitterly, giving himself up to
+despair. But not so the knight: he listened, somewhat bewildered, to the
+confused narration of an event, in which he had shared no part; but
+catching the idea, at last, and mingling it with another, the fruit of
+his very distempered mind, he said, quickly, and almost joyously,--
+
+"Dry thy tears; for now I perceive that my son is not dead, but liveth;
+and straightway we will go forth, and seek him!" Jacinto regarded the
+knight with a melancholy look. He noticed the incredulity, and resumed,
+with much devout emphasis,--"But a moment since, before thou camest into
+this den, mine eyes were opened upon paradise; it was vouchsafed to me,
+who must never hope to enjoy such spectacle again,--no, _desdichado de
+mi_! never again, never again,--to look upon the golden city of God;
+wherein I walked, with all those whom, in my life, I had loved, and who
+were dead. There saw I, among the saints and seraphim, my father, who
+fell in arms at the sack of Alhama; my mother, who died giving me birth;
+together with all the friends of my childhood, who perished early:
+there, also, I beheld Alharef and Zayda, the murdered and the
+blest,--with all others that were truly dead. Now thou wilt see, how God
+opened mine eyes in this trance; for, though I wept thee, dear child, as
+truly believing thou wert deceased, yet thee I saw not among the
+blissful, where thou must have been, hadst thou been discarded from
+earth, as I thought thee. And I remember me, too, and great joy it is to
+remember, that my son Amador was not among those saints; for which
+reason, heaven makes it manifest to us, that he lives. Now, therefore,
+let us go forth from this desert, and seek him. Though mine eyes are
+sealed among these hills, and my feet stumble upon the rocks, yet will
+heaven point us out a path to Mexico!"
+
+"Alas! my lord need not seek so far," said the page. "The pagans are now
+alone in the city, having driven out their enemies, with terrible
+slaughter.--Never more will the Spaniards return to it!"
+
+"Ay, now, I remember me!" said the knight, catching up some of his
+battered armour, as he spoke. "This defence, that I had thought for ever
+rejected, must I again buckle on. I remember me, thou spokest of a night
+of retreat by the causeway, very dreadful and bloody. Ay! and thou
+saidst thou wert at Amador's side!--How was it, that thou wert taken
+from him, and didst yet live?"
+
+"My father Abdalla," said Jacinto, sorrowfully, "my father, by chance,
+heard me cry at the ditch, when my lord, Don Amador, was gone; and he
+saved me in his canoe."
+
+"Thy father? thy father, Abdalla?--I remember me of Abdalla," said the
+knight, touching his brow. "There is a strange mystery in Abdalla. I am
+told--that is, I heard from my poor Marco--that Abdalla, the Moor, did
+greatly abhor me, even to the seeking of my life."
+
+"He wronged him!" said the page: "whatever was my father's hatred of my
+lord, he never sought to do him a wrong!"
+
+"Strange!" muttered Don Gabriel; "thou acknowledgest he hated me, then?
+Wherefore should he, whom I have not injured, hate me? And wherefore,
+after confiding thyself to my good keeping?"
+
+"Let me not deceive my lord," said Jacinto, sadly, but firmly: "My
+father entrusted his child to him he hated, because he knew him just and
+honourable; and my father did receive great wrong, as well as other
+unhappy Moors, of my lord, in the Alpujarras----"
+
+The knight dropped the dinted cuishes which he had snatched up, and,
+clasping his hands wildly, exclaimed,--
+
+"Miserere mei, Deus! my sin is inexpiable, and my torment endless; for,
+in the Alpujarras, did I slay him whom I had sworn to love, and deface,
+with a murderous sword, the loveliest of thine images!"
+
+"Dear my lord," said Jacinto, shocked and grieved at his agitation;
+"forget this, for thy sin is not what thou thinkest, and it has been
+already forgiven thee. Zayda hath seen, from heaven, the greatness of
+thy grief, and she intercedes for thee with our Holy Mother."
+
+"She follows me on earth, she comes to me in visions!" cried Don
+Gabriel, vehemently. "Rememberest thou not the night of Cholula? Then
+stood she before me, as thou dost; and, with face of snow and finger of
+wrath, she reminded me of my malefaction."
+
+"My lord is deceived--this was no spectre, but a living woman," said
+Jacinto, hurriedly.
+
+The knight stared, aghast.
+
+"If I make it appear to my lord," continued the page, "that this was,
+indeed, no phantom sent to reproach, but a living creature, haply
+resembling her of whom he speaks, and, therefore, easily mistaken, in
+the gloom, for one of whom my lord thought, in his delirious
+moment,--will it not satisfy my lord, that he is not persecuted, but
+forgiven?"
+
+"If thou canst speak aught to remove one atom and grain from this
+mountain of misery, which weighs upon my heart," said Calavar,
+earnestly, "I adjure thee that thou speak it. Many times have I thought
+that she whom I slew, stood at my side; but yet had I hopes, and a
+partial belief, that these were the visions of my disease; for my mind
+is sometimes very sorely distracted. What I saw at Cholula, was beyond
+such explication,--very clearly and vividly represented, and seen by me
+when my thoughts were not disordered."
+
+"Let my lord be content, and know that this was a living creature, as I
+have said, and no apparition: let him do on his armour; and, by-and-by,
+all shall be revealed to him."
+
+"Speak to me now," said the knight.
+
+"Not now! not now!" interrupted Jacinto; "for, at this moment, the
+myriads of vengeful fiends who seek for the blood of my lord, Don
+Amador, if he be yet living, are rushing upon the poor fugitives. Doth
+not my lord hear?--Hark!"
+
+"'Tis a trumpet! it blasteth for a charge of horse!" cried Calavar, as
+the distant sound came echoing up the mountain, even over the roar of
+the fall.--The ancient war-horse heard the remembered note, and pricking
+his ears, neighed loudly and fiercely, running to a gap in the wall, as
+if to seek the contest, till recalled by the voice of his master.
+
+"The infidels are then at hand, and they do battle with Christians?"
+exclaimed Don Gabriel, the fire of chivalry again flashing from his eye,
+and almost driving away the thought of Zayda. "Buckle me these straps,
+and see that thou art speedy; for this brooks not delay. God hath called
+me to this mountain, that I should be ready to do battle with the
+heathen, in defence of the holy cross, which is my sworn vow; and in
+the fulfilment of the same, I pray God that I may die.--Sound again,
+brave heart! smite me the godless fast and well; for presently I shall
+be with ye, striking for the faith!--Why, how thou loiterest, young
+knave! Be speedy, for my son Amador is with the Christian host; and,
+this day, heaven wills that I shall bring him succour."
+
+"Alas! my lord," cried the page, "I would that I could give my life to
+aid him; but my fingers are skilless and feeble."
+
+"Thou art a godly boy, and well do I love thee. Buckle me as thou canst,
+and care not to buckle well; for, in this fight, God will be my armour.
+Buckle me, therefore, as thou canst; and, while thou art thus engaged,
+give me to know, what good angel brought thee to be my messenger."
+
+"I followed my sire," said the trembling Jacinto, "with the forces of
+Mexico, that were sent to join the mountain bands, and cut off the
+fugitives; and, being commanded to rest me on the hill till the battle
+was over, I lost myself; which, with my great grief of heart, caused me
+to seek some nook wherein I might die. For truly, now, unless my lord
+Amador be living, I care not myself for life."
+
+"The forces of Mexico! be they many? and these dogs of the hills, are
+they in numbers?"
+
+"Countless as the drops of spray which the breeze flings over us," said
+Jacinto, with much perturbation, "so that nothing, but the goodness of
+God, can rescue the Spaniards out of their hands, and conduct them forth
+on the path so blocked up by their bodies. The Mexicans are many
+thousands in number, and triumphing still in the thought of their horrid
+victory on the lake. They swear that no Spaniard shall escape them, this
+day."
+
+"I swear, myself," said Calavar, fiercely, "and heaven will listen to
+the vow of a Christian, though one sinful and miserable, that, this day,
+even they themselves, the godless pagans, shall be scattered as dust
+under our footsteps!--Quick--my war-coat! and now, my good lance, that
+hath drunk the blood of the heathen! _Santa Madre de Dios! Senora
+beatificada!_ the infidel shall fall under the cross, and the true
+believer rejoice in his slaughter!"
+
+With such exclamations of fervour, the spirit of youthful days
+returning, at each blast of the trumpet, which was still winded at
+intervals, the knight ceased doing on his armour, and then, with
+Jacinto's feeble assistance, caparisoned his impatient steed. When this
+was done, he bade the page to follow him; and, riding through one of the
+many gaps in the colossal wall, began to descend the mountain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIII.
+
+
+The midday sun was illuminating the peaks, and darting its beams into
+the narrowest and darkest ravines of these mountains, when Don Hernan,
+at the head of his little army, rode to the crest of a hill, and looked
+down upon the narrow, but beautiful valley of Tonan, opening on the
+fields of Otompan,--or, as the name has been more euphonically rendered
+by Spaniards, Otumba. The level vale itself, as well as the hills on
+both sides, as far up, at least, as the gentleness of their slope
+allowed such cultivation, was sprinkled with maize fields, which, being
+now at their utmost point of luxuriance, covered such places with
+intense verdure; while the green forests, that here and there
+overshadowed the upper ridges, with flowery cliffs protruding from their
+waving tops, added the charm of solitude to the pleasant prospect of
+human habitation. But there was one accidental beauty at present
+revealed, which, however disagreeable and even terrible to the leader,
+he could not but acknowledge, in his heart, to surpass all the others.
+
+At the cry with which the general beheld this phenomenon, his followers
+rushed up to his side, and perceived the whole valley, as it
+seemed,--beginning at the bottom of the ridge they now stood upon, and
+extending not only from hill to hill, but as far as the eye could
+see,--filled, and indeed blocked up, with enemies. The white and scarlet
+hues of their garments, the plumes of divers colours waving on their
+heads like a sea of feathers, over whose surging surface there passed
+here a bright sunbeam and there the shadow of a cloud,--the glittering
+of copper spears, of volcanic falchions, and of jewels, (for this day,
+the pagans decorated themselves, as for a triumph, in their richest
+array,) produced a scene which was indeed both glorious and terrific.
+Through this human flood, Don Hernan knew he must conduct his weary and
+despairing people; but without daring to hope that the hand which had
+parted the Sea of the Desert from before the steps of the Israelites,
+would open, for him, a path through this equally fearful obstruction.
+
+The Christians gathered round their leader in silence. The loud roar of
+shouts, sounding from below, as if a whole world shrieked at once, shook
+the mountain under their feet; but they replied not.--Every man was, at
+that moment, commending his soul to his Maker; for each knew there was
+no path of escape, except though that valley, and felt in addition,
+that, perhaps, not even the whole army, fresh, well-appointed, full of
+spirits and resolution, as when, on St. John's day, it entered the city
+of the lake, could have made any impression on such a multitude,
+displayed in such a position. The very extremity of the case was the
+best counsel to meet it with fortitude; every man considered his life
+already doomed beyond respite, and, with such consciousness, looked
+forward to his fate, with tranquillity. Their sufferings by famine and
+fatigue on the road, though the mutinous and lamenting fugitives did not
+then know it, had better prepared them to encounter such a battle-field,
+than a series of victories, with spoils of gold and bread; for these
+torments having already rendered their lives burdensome, they were not
+greatly frighted at the prospect of ending them. These causes, then,
+added to the fury of fanaticism, never entirely at rest in the bosom of
+the invaders, will account for their resolution, and even impatience, to
+attack an army, rated by many of the conquerors, at two hundred thousand
+men. Had they been happier men, they would not have rushed upon such
+manifest destruction.
+
+The priest Olmedo stretched forth his arm, holding a crucifix: Christian
+and Tlascalan knelt down upon the flinty ridge, and mingled together
+sullen prayers.
+
+As they rose, the ever-composed Sandoval cried out, emphatically,--
+
+"Now, my merry men all, gentlemen hidalgos and gentlemen commoners, God
+hath, this day, given us a great opportunity to signalize our
+valour;"--which was all the oration it occurred to his imagination to
+make. The soldiers looked upon him with a gloomy indifference. Then out
+spoke the hotheaded Alvarado:
+
+"There be, to my reckoning, in yonder plain," he said, with a grin of
+desperation, "some five hundred thousand men; we have, of our own body,
+some four hundred and fifty Christian soldiers, and we may count the two
+thousand Tlascalans, here at our heels, for fifty more; which just
+leaves us a thousand dogs apiece to fight in yonder vale. If we gain the
+victory over such odds, never believe me, if we be not clapped down in
+books by that German enchanter Faust, who hath invented a way of making
+them in such numbers, as being more heroical men than either Don
+Alejandro, the great emperor of Egypt, or some other country,--or Don
+Rodrigo himself, who was much greater than any such dog of a heathen
+king. This much I will say, that never before had starving men such a
+chance of dying like knights of renown; and as, doubtless, God will send
+us some fifty or an hundred thousand angels, to fight on our side, we
+may chance stumble on a victory: in hope of which, or in the certainty,
+on the other hand, of going to heaven, I say, Santiago, and at them! for
+their bodies are covered with gold and jewels!"
+
+"God will help us!" cried Cortes; "and my friend Alvarado hath very
+justly said, that there is a rich spoil, in that valley, for victors.
+Though there be here, perhaps, fifty thousand men, or more, yet are they
+infidels, and, therefore, but as sparrows and gnats before the face of
+God's soldiers. There are, also, acres of very sweet corn in the valley;
+and, beyond yon yelling herds, are the gates of Tlascala. But let it not
+be thought, I will, this day, compel the sword of any Christian. Yonder
+are the hill-tops;--there are dens enow, wherein one may give his bones
+to wild-cats, and there be tall cliffs from which they who prefer such
+end, may throw themselves, and straightway be beyond the reach of
+battle. For myself, though but one man follow me, yet will I descend to
+that plain, walk through that multitude, and marshalling an hundred
+thousand Tlascalans, after I have rested me a little, return, by the
+same path we are now treading, to the gates of Mexico, to revenge upon
+such as yonder scum, the death of my brothers, who are in heaven, as
+well as to lay claim to those rich lands and mines of gold, which are
+our right, and which it is yet our destiny to overmaster. If ye be
+minded to disperse and starve among the hills, let me be acquainted with
+your resolution; if ye will fight like soldiers and Christians, speak
+out your good thoughts, and, in God's name, let us begin!"
+
+"We will fight!" muttered the desperate men.
+
+At this moment, some strong clear voice from the company began to
+pronounce the words of the chant, _Kyrie Eleison_, and the rest joining
+in, Cortes gave the signal to descend; and thus they went slowly down
+towards the host, invoking mercy and singing the praises of God, and
+waxing in boldness and fanaticism as they sang, until the neighbouring
+rocks rang with the loud and solemn echoes of devotion.
+
+Whatever was the piety of Don Hernan, it did not, however, prevent his
+taking all the steps which could be expected of a general in such a
+situation; and one while joining, loudly, with others in the chant, and
+at another, pausing to give deliberate instructions to his officers, he
+arranged the order and expedients of battle, before the wild anthem was
+concluded. His instructions were simple, and related but to one point.
+He counselled no one to be valiant, for he knew the veriest coward in
+the ranks would be compelled to deeds of heroism that day. He only
+commanded, that the little troop of horse should form five deep, and
+follow him whithersoever he might lead, and that the footmen should keep
+their ranks close, and follow after the horse. He knew, as, indeed, did
+most of his followers, that the orders conveyed to a Mexican army by a
+Mexican general, instead of being transmitted, from division to
+division, by messengers, were directly communicated to all by the
+general himself, through the medium of the great banner, which he bore
+in his own hands, and, from the lofty litter on which he was carried,
+kept ever displayed to the eyes of his warriors. A few simple motions of
+this royal telegraph, sufficed to convey all the directions which a
+barbarous commander was required to bestow upon a barbarous army. Among
+these, the vailing or dropping the standard, was the well-known signal
+of retreat; and whether it might be lowered by the general himself, or
+struck from his hands by some fortunate foe, still it was equally
+certain, that, in either case, his followers would immediately, upon
+seeing it fall, betake themselves to flight.--When Cortes eyed this
+immense multitude, he calculated the chances of victory, not by the
+probabilities of routing it, but by those of making his way to the great
+banner.
+
+The imperial standard, which, in the tongue of Mexico, bore the horribly
+uncouth title of _Tlahunmatlaxopilli_, was conspicuously visible, even
+from the mountain Aztaquemacan, which the Spaniards were now descending.
+In the centre of the pagan army was a group of warriors, made remarkable
+by the height and splendour of their penachos, the glittering of their
+jewelled decorations, and the sheen of their copper lances, the blades
+of which, like some that had been seen in Mexico, were full a yard in
+length, and polished so that they shone like gold. These were the
+guards,--a body of young nobles,--which surrounded the person of the
+general, to protect the banner from violence. In the centre of this
+group, upon a litter of almost imperial gorgeousness, stood the stately
+barbarian, bearing on a long pike-staff the standard, which was a sort
+of net-work, made of chains of gold,--and, therefore, a more significant
+emblem of the object of conquest, and the fate of subjugation, than any
+banner of a Christian nation, even at this day. A few white feathers,
+waving amongst the links, kept it ever conspicuous.
+
+As Don Hernan descended, he explained to the horsemen his design to
+merge every other object in that of seizing the Mexican standard; a
+project which met the concurrence of each.
+
+"All that I have now to say to you," he added, when approaching the base
+of the hill, "is, to charge with me at half-speed, and take no thought
+of slaying. Those of you, who have ever endured the bastinado of a
+pedagogue, will remember, that Julius Caesar, or some such knave of a
+paynim, it matters not who, being opposed in some civil war, to certain
+cohorts of young gallants and hidalgos of Rome, directed his archers to
+spare the lives, but to let fly at the faces, of these lady-puppets;--a
+counsel of infinite wisdom; for, I remember, that in my youth, until I
+got this gash o' the chin from a gentleman of Saragossa, which somewhat
+spoils the beauty of my beard, I had a mortal aversion to fight with any
+man much given to striking at the face. What I have to advise,
+therefore, is, that you will imitate the wisdom of that same Roman
+hound, and lance your spears full at the eyes of all who may oppose you.
+I have given charge to the footmen to finish our work: while they are
+slaughtering such curs as are not satisfied with scratched faces, we
+will make free with yon same knave of the gold net. Let it be
+reckoned--and 'tis worth a king's ransom--the prize of him who
+overthrows the general.--Hark! hear ye how the infidels shout!--Are ye
+ready? In the name of God, the Virgin, and Santiago, have at them now
+like men! Amen!--_Santiago! Santiago!_"
+
+Thus shouting his war-cry, for now the horsemen had reached the bottom
+of the hill, Don Hernan couched his spear, with four cavaliers at his
+side, of whom Don Amador de Leste was one, and, followed by all the
+others, dashed furiously at the first ranks of the Mexicans, who were
+already rushing against him.
+
+The savages sprang aside, flinging their javelins and swords at the hot
+Christians, and raining arrows on their armed bodies; but ever, though
+thus expressing their hostility, yielding rank after rank before the
+irresistible charge; until it became apparent to the most doubting, that
+they might succeed, at last, in reaching the banner. They, therefore,
+redoubled their exertions, shouted the names of their saints, and aiming
+continually at the eyes of the foe, made such progress, that they were
+already almost, as it seemed, within reach of the prize, when a yell of
+the Indians of more than ordinary loudness, echoed by the infantry with
+exclamations of alarm, brought them to a sudden stand.
+
+They had penetrated deeply into the mass; but it was as a noble ship
+ploughs her way through billows, which yield and divide, only to unite
+again in her wake, and roar after in pursuit. From their lofty seats,
+they could overlook the multitude, and behold how quickly the path they
+had carved, was filled up by screaming barbarians, rushing turbulently
+after them; while others dashed in like numbers, and with equal
+ferocity, upon the footmen, now left far behind.
+
+As they looked thus over their shoulders, they paused with surprise, and
+even perturbation; for they perceived, furiously descending the slope of
+the hill on the left hand, against the infantry which was already sorely
+beset, what seemed a Christian cavalier in black armour, mounted on a
+noble bay horse, and couching a lance like a trained soldier, only that,
+behind him, there followed, with savage yells, a band of several
+thousand Indians, bearing the well-known colours of Tenochtitlan itself.
+
+"God be our stay!" cried the general, looking aghast at this astonishing
+apparition; "have we here an infidel god, in very deed, risen up against
+us, and riding a-horse like a Christian man? Avoid thee, Satan! and all
+good saints spurn thee again to the pit, from which thou comest!"
+
+"'Tis Mexitli himself!" cried one.
+
+"'Tis the devil!" said another.
+
+"Look!" exclaimed Don Pedro, "he rushes down upon the footmen, like a
+rock, tumbled from the hill-top; and hark! heard ever man such horrible
+voice? 'Tis Mahound! 'tis Satan!--Now all good angels befriend us!"
+
+"For my part," said Don Amador de Leste--
+
+But before his words had yet been heard by any of his companions, they
+were cut short by such loud and thrilling cries of joy from the infantry
+as equally confounded the cavaliers.
+
+"_Elo! Santiago! elo! nuestro buen amigo, el valoroso Santiago!_"--that
+is to say, "Lo, St. James! behold, our good friend, the valiant St.
+James!"--burst from the lips of the footmen, in a frenzy of triumph.
+
+The cavaliers looked again, but to the opposite mountain, and beheld
+upon that, as upon the other, an armed and mounted cavalier descending
+with lance in rest, and with the speed of thunder, as if rushing to a
+tournay with him of the black armour, but without being followed by any
+one, excepting a single youth, who staggered far behind.
+
+At this sight, the cavaliers uttered loud cries of joy, not doubting
+that St. James had indeed come to rescue them from the claws of the
+accursed Mexitli, as they began to consider the black phantom.
+
+"Our saint fights for us!" cried Cortes; "On! leave the black fiend to
+him!--On, and let him behold our valour. The standard, ho!--Santiago is
+nigh! The standard, the standard!"
+
+The sight of the second apparition seemed to have smitten the pagans
+with as much terror as the view of their own champion had infused into
+the Spaniards. The young nobles who surrounded the banner, looked to the
+vision with awe; and ere they had yet recovered from their confusion,
+the Christian cavaliers, elated and invigorated, fell upon them with
+such violence as left the long copper lances useless in their hands.
+
+"On, and quick!" shouted Don Hernan, "or the knavish colour-man will
+spring from his perch, and so rob ye of the gold. On, ho! on!--Hah,
+infidel! art thou not mine own?"
+
+As he uttered these last words, he rose on his stirrups, stretched over
+his horse's neck, and handling his heavy spear as one would an ordinary
+javelin, launched it with all his force at the chief. There was never a
+better mark; for the barbarian, instead of showing, as Cortes had
+hinted, any desire to desert his litter, advanced to its very verge; and
+while he balanced the staff and its weighty crest with his left hand,
+whirled manfully a short dart round his head, looking all the while at
+the great Teuctli. There never was a better mark,--for his breast,
+covered with a flimsy hauberk of skins, on which were sewed thin plates
+of gilded copper, was fully exposed;--there never was a better aim.
+Before the dart had left his grasp, the spear of Don Hernan smote him on
+the chest, and piercing copper and bone alike, hurled him backwards,
+with the standard, out of the litter.
+
+The cavaliers shouted victory, and trampling down the litter-bearers,
+and the young nobles, as these began to fly, looked eagerly for the
+prize.
+
+"Have the knaves robbed us?--Hah! mad John of Salamanca, _thou_ pickest
+my pocket of these crowns, dost thou?"
+
+These words of Don Hernan were addressed to a young hidalgo, who, the
+moment he had perceived the spear of Cortes take effect, had flung
+himself from his pied steed, rushed upon the downfallen infidel, and
+striking his sword into his throat, tore from him the badges of
+authority.
+
+"He who strikes the quarry," said the elated youth, flinging both plume
+and golden net over the neck of his general's horse, "has the true claim
+to the trophy."
+
+"Keep them thyself, for thou hast won them; and if Don Carlos be of
+mind, brave Juan, thou shalt mount them for thy coat of arms. Soho, De
+Leste! where art thou?--I thought this prize should have been thine!"
+
+"De Leste has gone mad," said Alvarado.--"Shall we chase the runagates?
+See how they scamper!"
+
+The words of Alvarado were true. No sooner had the golden banner fallen
+from its height, and been lost among the combatants, than there rose a
+dismal yell over the whole valley, and the vast multitudes, those near
+at hand, and those afar, alike, began to fly, and in the utmost
+confusion.
+
+"Victory! praise be to God! to God and our noble St. James!" cried
+Cortes, with a shout, that thrilled to the hearts of the flying pagans.
+"Follow not the knaves: leave them to the foot--to the allies and our
+mighty champion, the Saint!--Soho, De Leste! return. Follow not after
+the knaves."
+
+"'Tis De Olid," cried Don Pedro, "that halloos the hunt's-up. I tell
+thee, De Leste is mad!"
+
+"Back to our Champion!" said Cortes.--"Hah! what saidst thou of De
+Leste?"
+
+"That he is gone mad,--raving, besottishly, and very blasphemously mad;
+and that he deserted us, the moment he saw thee fling thy spear."
+
+"God forbid the youth should prove to be as was his kinsman, before his
+death-day," said Cortes; "for a more gallant and sufficient soldier,
+though somewhat self-willed, have I never beheld.--Mad, sayst thou?"
+
+"He swore to me, first," said Alvarado, with a devout shrug, "that that
+paynim god, Mexitli, descending the hill yonder, was mounted on his own
+good horse, Fogoso; which seems to me not unreasonable; for Fogoso was,
+in some sense, the best charger lost that night, (which God punish to
+the heathen for ever!) and, doubtless, Huitzilopochtli, if determined to
+go out a pricking, like a Christian knight-errant, would be wise enough
+to pick up the best ghost of Christian horse. And, secondly," continued
+Don Pedro, crossing himself, "he swore that his most holy valour,
+Santiago, who came down from the hill-top to help us, was no more than
+the ghost of his kinsman, the knight Calavar, who was drowned, horse and
+all, in the salt lake, near to Iztapalapan!--But ho! halon! let us
+follow the hunt!"
+
+"Ha, my masters!" cried Don Hernan; "let us return, and fathom this
+marvel, for it may bode us much to know. But stay--I will not rob ye of
+pastime. As many of ye as will, spur after the hounds, and aid the
+Tlascalans."
+
+So saying, and the foes now being scattered in flight over the
+neighbouring hills, the general returned towards the infantry; while the
+cavaliers, shouting, as if in a boar-chase, urged their steeds up the
+hills, in pursuit of the fugitives.
+
+Thus was fought, and thus won, a battle, in which four hundred and fifty
+Spaniards, aided by a handfull of Tlascalans, contended with a host of
+such incredible numbers, that, to this day, men remember it with wonder,
+and would reject it as a fable, were it not that the testimony of a
+thousand facts has placed it beyond the reach of question.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXIV.
+
+
+What Alvarado had reported of Don Amador was true. The neophyte averred,
+that, dead or alive,--a spectre or a creature of flesh and blood,--the
+steed, bestridden by the sable phantom, and urged with such fury against
+the footmen, was neither less nor more than his own good beast, Fogoso;
+and he declared, with even more impetuosity, as Don Pedro had related,
+that the figure, descending the opposite hill, was the knight of
+Calavar, on his ancient war-horse,--an apparition, perhaps, but no St.
+James,--unless this heavenly patron had condescended to appear in the
+likeness of a knight so valiant and so pious. Strange fancies beset him,
+and so great was his impatience to resolve the marvel, that he scarce
+waited to behold the general balance his good spear, before he turned
+his horse, and spurred furiously backward.
+
+Meanwhile, the black horseman descended with such violence upon the
+footmen, as threatened their instant destruction, his fierce eyes, as
+the Christians thought, gleaming with the fires of hell; so that,
+notwithstanding the sudden relief coming in the person of the supposed
+saint, they were seized with horror, and gave way before him. At the
+moment when he rushed among them, uttering what seemed the _Lelilee_ of
+another land, he was encountered by his celestial opponent, whose strong
+voice shouted out--"God and St. John! and down with thee, paynim demon!"
+
+The shock of two such steeds, both of great weight, each bearing a man
+cased in thick armour, each urged on by the impetus of descent from the
+hills, and meeting, midway, in a narrow valley, was tremendous. At the
+moment of encounter, the sable rider perceived, for the first time, his
+opponent;--he checked his steed suddenly, and flung up his lance, as if
+to avoid a contest. But the precaution came too late--his rising lance
+struck the casque of his adversary, tearing it off, and revealing the
+grim visage and grizzly locks of the knight of Calavar; while, at the
+same moment, the spear of Don Gabriel, aimed with as much skill as
+determination, smote the enemy on the lower part of the corslet, and
+piercing it as a buckler of ice, penetrated, at once, to the bowels and
+spine. The shock that unseated the riders, was shared by the steeds, and
+horse and man rolled together on the earth.
+
+The loud cry of "Calavar! the Penitent Knight! the valiant Don Gabriel!"
+set up by the bewildered and awe-struck infantry, reached the ears of
+the novice. He spurred on with new ardour, and reaching the footmen just
+as they divided in pursuit of the flying barbarians, he sprung from his
+horse, and beheld his kinsman lying senseless, and as it appeared to
+him, lifeless, in the arms of the wounded Baltasar.
+
+"In the name of heaven, and Amen! what is this? and what do I see?" he
+cried. "Oh heaven, is this my knight?--and doth he live?"
+
+"He lives," said Baltasar, "and he feels as of flesh and blood; and yet
+did he die on the lake-side. God forgive us our sins! for neither heaven
+nor hell will hold the dead!"
+
+Just at that moment, the knight opened his eyes, and rolled them on his
+kinsman,--but his kinsman regarded him not. A low moaning voice of one
+never to be forgotten, fell on the ear of the novice, as he gazed on his
+friend; and starting up, he beheld, hard by, the page Jacinto, lying on
+the body of Abdalla, from whose head he had torn the helm, and now
+strove, with feeble fingers, to remove the broken and blood-stained
+corslet.
+
+"Jacinto!--Leila!" cried Amador, with a voice of rapture, flinging
+himself at her side, (for now, though the garments of escaupil still
+concealed the figure of the Moorish maid, the disguise could be
+continued no longer.) The joy of the cavalier vanished, for the maiden
+replied only with lamentations; while the Zegri fixed upon him an eye,
+in which the stony hardness of death was mingled with the fires of
+human passion.
+
+"Place my head upon thine arm, cavalier!" said Abdalla, faintly, "and
+let me look upon him who has slain me."
+
+"Oh, my father! my father!" cried the Moorish girl.
+
+"God forbid that thou shouldst die, even for the sake of the maiden I
+love," exclaimed Amador, eagerly, supporting his head. "Thou art a Wali,
+a Christian, and the father of her that dwells in my heart. Live,
+therefore; for though thou have neither land nor people, neither home
+nor friends, neither brother nor champion, yet am I all to thee; for I
+crave the love of thy daughter."
+
+The maiden sobbed, and heard not the words of the cavalier; but the
+dying Moor eyed her with a look of joy, and then turning his gaze upon
+Amador, said,--
+
+"God be thy judge, as thou dealest truly with her, who, although the
+offspring of kings, is yet an orphan, landless, homeless, and friendless
+on the earth."
+
+"I swear to thee," said the novice,--"and I protest----"
+
+"Protest me nothing: hearken to my words, for they are few; the angel of
+death calls to me to come, and my moments fly from me like the
+blood-drops," said the Zegri. "Until the day, when I dreamed thou wert
+slumbering in the lake, I knew not of this that hath passed between ye.
+Had it been known to me, perhaps this death that comes to me, might not
+have come; for, what I did, I did for the honour and weal of my child,
+knowing that, in the hand of Spaniards, she was in the power of
+oppressors and villains. That I have struck for revenge, is true; I have
+shed the blood of Castilians and rejoiced, for therein I reckoned me the
+vengeance of Granada. Yet, had it been apparent to me, that the feeble
+maid, who, besides myself, knew no other protector of innocence in the
+world, could have claimed the love of an honourable cavalier, and
+enjoyed it without the shame of disguise and menial occupation, then had
+I submitted to my fate, and locked up in the darkness of my heart, the
+memory of the Alpujarras."
+
+"Who speaks of the Alpujarras?" cried the knight of Rhodes, staring
+wildly around; "who speaks of the Alpujarras?"
+
+"_I!_" said the Moor, with a firm voice, bending his eye on Don Gabriel,
+and striving, though in vain, for his nether limbs were paralyzed, to
+turn his body likewise; "_I_ Gabriel of Calavar, _I_ speak of the
+Alpujarras; and good reason have I to speak, and thou to listen; for I
+was of the mourning, and thou of the destroyers."
+
+"Pity me, heaven!" cried the knight, staring on the Moor, in the
+greatest disorder. "I have seen thee, and yet I know thee not."
+
+"Rememberest thou not the field of Zugar, and the oath sworn on the
+cross of a blood-stained sword, by the river-side?"
+
+"Hah!" cried Don Gabriel; "dost thou speak of mine oath?--mine oath to
+Alharef?"
+
+"And the town of Bucarcs, among the hills?" continued the Zegri, loudly,
+and with a frown made still more ghastly by approaching death; "dost
+thou remember the false and felon blow that smote the friend of
+Zugar,--and that, still falser and fouler, which shed the blood of
+Zayda, the beloved of the Alpujarras?"
+
+As the Wali spoke, the knight, as if uplifted by some supernatural
+power, rose to his feet, and approached the speaker, staring at him with
+eyes of horror. At the name of Zayda, he dropt on his knees crying,--
+
+"Miserere mei, Deus! I slew her! and thou that art Alharef, though
+struck down by the same sword, yet livest thou again to upbraid me!"
+
+"Struck down by thy steel, yet not then, but now!" exclaimed the Moor.
+"I live again, but not to upbraid thee--I am Alharef-ben-Ismail, and I
+forgive thee."
+
+At this name, already made of such painful interest to the novice, his
+astonishment was so great, that, as he started, he had nearly suffered
+the dying prince (for such were the Walis of Moorish Spain,) to fall to
+the earth. He caught him again in his arms, and turned his amazed eye
+from him to Don Gabriel, who, trembling in every limb, still stared with
+a distracted countenance on that of his ancient preserver.
+
+"I am Alharef, and, though dying, yet do I live," went on the Zegri,
+interrupted as much by the wails of his daughter, as by his own
+increasing agonies. "The sword wounded, but it slew not--it slew not
+_all_--Zayda fell, yet live I, to tell thee, thou art forgiven. Rash
+man! rash and most unhappy! thine anger was unjust; and therefore didst
+thou shed the blood of the good, the pure, the loving and the beautiful,
+and thereby cover thyself, and him that was thy true friend, with
+misery. When thou soughtest the love of Zayda, she was the betrothed of
+Alharef. Miserable art thou, Gabriel of Calavar! and therefore have I
+forgiven thee; miserable art thou, for I have watched thee by night, and
+looked upon thee by day, and seen that the asp was at work in thy bosom,
+and that the fire did not slumber. Great was thy sin, but greater is thy
+grief; and therefore doth Zayda, who is in heaven, forgive thee."
+
+"She pardons me not," murmured Don Gabriel, not a moment relaxing the
+steadfast eagerness of his stare. "At the pyramid of Cholula, on the
+anniversary of her death, she appeared to me in person, and, O God! with
+the beauty of her youth and innocence, yet robed in the blackness of
+anger!"
+
+"And have thine eyes been as dark as the looks of the lover?" cried
+Alharef. "Stand up, Zayda, the child of Zayda! or turn thy face upon
+Calavar, that his delusion may leave him."
+
+As he spoke, he lifted feebly the arm which embraced his child, removed
+the cap, and parted the thick clustering locks from her forehead.
+Still, however, did she look rather the effeminate boy, upon whom
+Calavar had been accustomed to gaze, than a woman;--for there is no
+effort of imagination stronger than that required to transform, in the
+mind, the object which preserves an unchanging appearance to the eye.
+Nevertheless, though such a transformation could not be imagined by Don
+Gabriel, there came, as he wistfully surveyed the pallid features of the
+maiden, strange visions and memories, which, every moment, associated a
+stronger resemblance between the living and the dead. He trembled still
+more violently, heavy dew-drops started from his brow, and he gazed upon
+the weeping girl as upon a basilisk.
+
+"Wherefore," continued the Zegri, speaking rapidly, but with broken
+accents,--"when I had resolved to fly to the pagans, as being men whom,
+I thought, God had commissioned me to defend from rapine and slavery. I
+resolved to take such advantage of their credulity, as might best enable
+me to befriend them,--I say, wherefore I resolved this, I need not
+speak. I protected my child, by recommending her to their superstition;
+and, had I fallen dead in the streets, still did I know, that reverence
+and fear would wait upon the steps of one whom I delivered to them as a
+messenger from heaven. In this light, I revealed her to the princes at
+the temple, when----"
+
+"It is enough!" muttered Don Gabriel, with the deep and agitated tones
+of sorrow; "I wake from a dream.--God forgive me! and thou art of the
+blood of Zayda? the child of her whom I slew?--Alharef forgives me; he
+says, that Zayda forgives me; but thou that art her child, dost _thou_
+forgive me?"
+
+"Father! dear father, she doth!" cried Amador, gazing with awe on the
+altered countenance of Alharef, and listening with grief to the moans of
+Zayda. "O holy padre!" he exclaimed, perceiving the priest Olmedo
+rising, at a little distance, from the side of a man, to whom he had
+been offering the last consolations of religion,--"Hither, father, for
+the love of heaven, and absolve the soul of a dying Christian!"
+
+"Is there a priest at my side?" said the Zegri, reviving from what
+seemed the lethargy of approaching dissolution, and looking eagerly into
+the face of the good Olmedo. Then, turning to Amador, he said solemnly,
+though with broken words, "Thou lovest the orphan Zayda?"
+
+"Heaven be my help, as I do," replied the cavalier.
+
+"And thou, Gabriel, that wert my friend, and standest in the light of
+this young man's parent,--dost thou consent that he shall espouse the
+daughter of Zayda, saved, while a piteous infant, by Christian men, from
+out the house of death?"
+
+The knight bowed his head on his breast, and strove to answer, but, in
+his agitation, could not speak a word.
+
+"Quick, father! for heaven's sake, quick!" cried Alharef, eagerly; "let
+me, ere I die, know that my child rests on the bosom of a husband.
+Quick! for the sand runs fast; and there is that in my bosom, which
+tells me of death. Love and honour thy bride; for thou hast the last and
+noblest relic of Granada. Take her--thou wert her protector from harsh
+words and the violence of blows. Quick, father, quick! quick, for mine
+eyes are glazing!"
+
+The strangely timed and hurried ceremony was hastened by the
+exclamations of Alharef; and the words of nuptial benediction were, at
+last, hurriedly pronounced.
+
+"I see thee not, my child!" muttered the Moor, immediately after. "My
+blessing to thee, Amador,--Gabriel, thou art forgiven.--Thine arm round
+my neck, Zayda; thy lips to mine. Would that I could see thee!--Get thee
+to Granada, with thy lord--to the tomb of thy mother--I will follow
+thee--Tarry not in this land of blood--I will be with thee; we have a
+power yet in the hills----"
+
+"Let the cross rest on thy lips, if thou diest a Christian," said the
+father.
+
+The novice drew the maiden aside; the Zegri pressed the sacred symbol to
+his lips, but still they muttered strangely of Granada.
+
+"I am of the faith of Christ, and Mahomet I defy. My people shall be
+followers of the cross, but they shall sweep away the false Spaniard, as
+the wind brushes away the leaves.--The Emir of Oran is prepared--the
+king of Morocco will follow.--A power in the hills--Ah!--We will creep,
+by night, to Granada--a brave blow!--Africa shall follow--Ha, ha!--Seize
+the gates! storm the Alhambra!--but spare life--kill no women!--Remember
+Zayda!----"
+
+With such wild words, accompanied by the faint cries of his daughter,
+the spirit of the Moor passed away, and Alharef-ben-Ismail lay dead in
+the land of strangers.
+
+Don Gabriel uttered a deep groan, and fell across the feet of his
+ancient friend.
+
+At this moment, Cortes descended from his horse, and, followed by other
+cavaliers, stepped up to the lamenting group.
+
+"And Calavar, the valiant, has been murdered by this traitor Moor!" he
+cried.
+
+"Senor Don Hernan," said the novice, sternly, and as he spoke, rising
+from the earth, and folding the Moorish maiden to his heart, "you speak
+of him who was Alharef-ben-Ismail, a Wali of Granada, driven by the
+injustice of our companions, and in part, by your own harshness, to take
+arms against you. As one that am now his representative, and, as I may
+say, his son, I claim for him the honourable burial of a Christian
+soldier; and, after that, will hold myself prepared, with sword and
+spear, to defend his memory from insult."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXV.
+
+
+A few words will finish the first part of the chronicle of Don
+Cristobal.
+
+The victory so marvellously gained, removed the last obstruction from
+the path of the Spaniards. The ensuing day beheld them entering the
+territories of their allies; and, in four days more, the chiefs of
+Tlascala ushered them, with songs of joy, into the republican city.
+
+Six days after this happy event, the novice of Rhodes sat by the
+death-bed of his kinsman.--From the moment when Calavar roused out of
+the fit of unconsciousness, into which he had fallen on the field of
+Otumba, his brain wandered with delirium; but it gave his young kinsman,
+as well as the faithful Baltasar, much relief to perceive, that his
+visions were oftener of a pleasant than a disagreeable character. Thus,
+the reappearance of Alharef, after such long seeming death, dwelt in his
+memory, without the recollection of his subsequent decease; and with
+this came the conceit that Zayda yet lived among the Alpujarras,
+restored, like the Wali, to life, and all forgetful of the wrongs he had
+done her. He prattled of returning now to Spain, and now to Rhodes, and
+now of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It is true, that,
+sometimes, dark thoughts crept to his brain, and agitated him with his
+former griefs; but these were ever chased away by the sight of Leila,
+whose countenance seemed to him as that of a holy seraph, sent from
+heaven, to bid him be of good cheer.
+
+On the fifth day, he recovered his senses, and being sensible of his
+approaching dissolution, assembled at his bed-side, after having
+received absolution, the padre Olmedo, and the few friends and followers
+whom heaven had spared him in this pagan land, being the young cavalier
+of Cuenza, the melancholy Zayda, or Leila, as Amador yet loved to call
+her, and Baltasar. The spear of Alharef had not harmed him; he was
+dying, the victim of a long remorse; or, rather, as it may be said, he
+expired, when the excitement of this passion no longer supported him.
+For, perhaps, the same thing may be said of many mental diseases, which
+is true of certain physical ones, to which a human constitution has been
+long accustomed; that is, they may obtain so vital a command over all
+its functions, as to become in themselves the elements, or at least the
+bulwarks, of life; so that, when they are arrested by some unskilful
+leech, death shall almost immediately follow the cure.
+
+"I have now called you, my children," he said, bending an eye of
+affection upon the pair, and speaking very feebly, "to give you such
+counsel as may be drawn from the history of my life. Its secrets are
+revealed to you, its pages all lie open; and as you read, your spirits
+will find their own instruction; for they will discover, that the
+indulgence of passion, especially the passion of anger, doth lodge a
+barb in the bosom, never to be plucked out, save by the hand of death.
+What I have to say, is rather of command than advice; and thou wilt
+listen to me, Amador, my son, for God hath given thee, in the person of
+this gentle Zayda, an argument of obedience, which will touch thy heart
+more eloquently than words.--Break thy sword, hack off thy spurs, cast
+thine armour into the sea, and think no more of war, unless to defend
+thy fire-side, and the altars of thy country, from the fury of
+invaders."
+
+The novice started with alarm.
+
+"Think not that I rave," said the knight. "I speak to thee with the
+wisdom that comes from the grave. Think no more of war; for war it is
+that rouses our passions; and passions have made me what I have been,
+and what I am. I cannot think _now_, (for, at this moment, methinks I
+stand in the presence of Him who abhorreth contention,) that He will
+pardon the shedding of any blood, except that which the necessity of
+self-preservation, and the defence of our country, enforce us to lavish.
+I repent me of that which I have poured, though even from the hearts of
+pagans; for pagans are still the sons of God, though walking in
+darkness, for which we should pity them, not slay. Thou hast drawn thy
+sword for glory; but the lives that are taken for fame, shall weigh upon
+the souls of men as murders;--for such they are. Thou drawest for
+religion:--give thy purse to the priest, and bid him convert with the
+cross; for the wrath of God will rest for ever upon him who maketh
+proselytes with the sword. Wo is me, that the delusions of glory and
+Christian zeal have stained me so deeply! Live for happiness, and thou
+shalt wrong none, neither man nor God, and, thus, happiness shall be
+awarded thee; live for honour, and thou shalt know, that heaven
+acknowledges none but that which is justice; live for peace, which is
+virtue; and for religion, which is goodness. Get thee to thy castle, to
+the lands which thou shalt inherit; plant thy vines and olives, relieve
+the unhappy, succour the distressed; and if thy young brother should
+pant for the barb and lance, teach him the history of thy kinsman. Be
+virtuous, be peaceful, be charitable, and be happy. When thou hearest of
+glory, bethink thee of the poor deluded creatures we have slain in this
+land; when thou art told of pious crusades, remember the days of the
+Alpujarras.--Would that my days were to pass again!"
+
+He paused, with exhaustion.
+
+"The noble knight," said the padre, "hath spoken much good and wholesome
+truth; nevertheless, in the matter of infidels, what he has counselled,
+is not well. For how is it written----"
+
+"Holy father," murmured Don Gabriel, "there be men enow who will obey
+thee in this matter, and without exhortation or argument. Defeat not my
+work; for I rob thee of but one. Let me think, that the son of my
+affection will dwell in peace, and thereby be clean in the eyes of God,
+and thus happy at his death-hour. Would that I might appear before my
+Maker, without the stain of blood!"
+
+With a few more such precepts of virtue, for grief and the hand of death
+had made his heart wise, Don Gabriel continued to address the novice. He
+spoke many words of kindness, also, to the old and faithful Baltasar,
+and was about to give his benediction to the child of Zayda, when a film
+came suddenly over his eyes:
+
+"Give me thy hand," he muttered, faintly and almost inarticulately; "I
+see thee not, but mine eyes are opened to Zayda. Where art thou, Amador,
+my son? Heaven is blissful--Alharef--Zayda--all--Miserere mei,
+Domine!"----Thus he murmured for a moment, his voice dwindling to a
+whisper; then his lips moved, but without yielding any sound, until, at
+last, it was apparent that he had expired, and yet so gently, that not
+even a spasm of muscle, or change of countenance, indicated the passage
+of his spirit.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Three days after this, at sunrise, the senor Cortes stood alone with Don
+Amador de Leste, on the terrace of the great dwelling in which he had
+quartered the remains of his army.
+
+"Thou leavest me then, De Leste?" he said, in a low voice, looking
+westward to the hills, beyond which lay the valley of the lakes.
+
+"Such is my purpose, very noble senor," said the cavalier, mildly, but
+firmly. "My horses are caparisoned in the court-yard, my little company
+is in waiting, my friends have been saluted, and nothing remains for me
+but to thank your excellency for your many manifestations of goodness to
+me and mine,--the living and the dead together,--and to pray your
+excellency wish me God speed."
+
+"And can you look upon yonder blue cliffs, and those snow-capt
+pinnacles," said Don Hernan, with a smothered voice, "and think of
+leaving the paradise they encompass, in the hands of the heathen?"
+
+"I know not," said Don Amador, "that it becomes me to intrude any advice
+upon your excellency. But you have already done deeds, as I am myself a
+witness, which will give you immortal fame, though you should proceed no
+farther in the impossible attempt to subjugate this very potent and
+wonderful empire."
+
+"It shall be mine!" said Cortes, smiting his hands together, and
+speaking with clenched teeth. "Though there were but an hundred men left
+with me,--nay, were there but ten,--I would sooner that they should see
+me rent under the tusks of the wild mountain hogs, than turning my back
+for ever against the city of Montezuma. Thou thinkest the case is
+desperate; yet, with those ten Christians, and the hundreds of thousands
+of disaffected barbarians, whom I will gather together, thou shalt hear,
+perhaps, ere thou art housed in thy mountain castle of Cuenza, that he
+whom thou leavest, is the lord of Mexico; and the valiant men who remain
+by him, the barons and counts of the great empire!"
+
+"With mine own hills of olive and cork, have I enough to content me,"
+said the novice, coldly.
+
+"And thou carest not to revenge thy friends, massacred so barbarously,
+that fatal night--Flames be on the soul of the enchanter for ever!"
+exclaimed the general, bursting into fury at the recollection.
+
+"I say, God pardon him!" replied Amador, "and God receive to his rest
+those friends, of whom you speak. I have naught to revenge; I lament
+their fate, which was dreadful; but I acknowledge that they were slain
+in honourable combat."
+
+"And thou carest not then to strike for the cause of Christ, and aid in
+the conversion of countless souls from perdition?"
+
+The cavalier regarded his general with a meaning eye. Cortes felt the
+reproof, and catching his hand, said, hastily,--
+
+"It is enough! thou hast a young and tender wife--Who would have dreamed
+that such a creature walked with us throughout that night? It is right,
+thou shouldst desire to bear her from these scenes of tumult, and not
+unnatural thou shouldst wish to share the peace and happiness to which
+thou art conducting her. For myself, I sometimes think of my own fair
+Dona in the island, and the pleasant sound of the surf, rolling, by
+night, on the beach under her lattice; but nevertheless, there are, in
+this same heathen clime, certain charms, which cause me to forget the
+fair Catalina, and my merry brats into the bargain."
+
+"For me," said the novice, sadly, "there is nothing in this land but
+melancholy. Alharef, sire of Zayda, sleeps under a rock at Otumba; and
+Calavar, whom I may call my father, since such he was to me, now rests
+in yon grove, on the hill-side. I have buried a faithful servant in the
+lake, and a good youth, whom I loved, an old follower of my knight, and
+a very dear friend. I shall think of the land with regret, yet must I
+leave it without a sigh. I have hopes to find me some conveyance to the
+islands, and there, thank heaven, it is not so difficult to light upon a
+trader of Seville bound on the homeward voyage."
+
+"If thou art, indeed, resolute to depart," said Cortes, "I have it in my
+power not only to wish thee God speed, but to give thee a good ship of
+my fleet at Ulua, commanded by thy very noble kinsman, which he will,
+doubtless, man to thy liking with choice sailors; and wherein, thou
+canst proceed instantly to Spain, without the tedious necessity of
+touching at Cuba."
+
+The eyes of the neophyte sparkled. Don Hernan smiled:
+
+"Assuredly," said he, "I am rejoiced to pleasure thee so much; and yet
+thou wilt thyself confer upon me a very ineffable obligation, by sailing
+in that same good ship, and taking charge of a certain letter I have
+here written to his majesty, our lord, Don Carlos, being the second
+despatch wherein I have presumed to acquaint him with the success of our
+arms, fighting in his cause, and in that of the holy church. If it may
+suit your convenience to bear the same, in person, to his imperial
+majesty, I hope you will have no cause to repent doing me so great a
+favour."
+
+"I will bear it to his majesty, in person," said the novice, taking the
+sealed packet, laying it upon his forehead in token of fealty, and then
+warmly grasping the general's hand: "I will do this with much
+satisfaction; and, in memory that thou hast, upon three several
+occasions, done me such personal service, as touches me to answer with a
+life's thankfulness, if there be any other act wherein I can pleasure
+thee, I pray thee command me to the same, without any reserve; for I
+will consider that thou dost thereby acquaint me with a way to testify
+my gratitude."
+
+"I thank you," said Don Hernan: "I have no commission with which I will
+dare further to trouble you. And yet, and yet,--and yet"--He hesitated a
+moment, and his lip slightly quivered; but instantly resuming an air of
+indifference, he continued, "If it should suit your good
+convenience,--that is, if you should prefer,--to travel rather by the
+hot mountains of Estremadura, than the barren ridges of La Mancha, while
+passing to the court at Madrid, I would crave of your goodness to
+inquire me out a certain village called Medellin, that lieth on the
+Guadiana, some few leagues above the city of Merida."
+
+"Were it an hundred leagues, and they of the rudest," said Amador, "I
+should be no less ready to do your bidding. But give me to know, when I
+am arrived at this same village of Medellin, in what I can pleasure
+you."
+
+"Inquire me out," said Cortes, "a certain old man, a poor hidalgo,
+called Martin Cortes, as also his wife, Catalina.--By my conscience,
+senor, they are my father and mother; and they will have some joy to
+hear you speak of me!"
+
+"Now, I vow to heaven!" cried Amador, struck by the sudden and
+impetuous tone of feeling, which Don Hernan strove to hide under a burst
+of gayety. "I am sorry they live not as far away as Pampeluna, at once;
+that I might show you the readiness with which I will be your messenger:
+for, herein, do I perceive, I shall be looked on by them as a good
+angel, sent to them from heaven."
+
+"Be not over-sanguine," said Cortes, affecting a laugh: "for, by my
+conscience, if you tell her not every thing to her liking, my mother
+hath somewhat of a shrewish way of admonishing you. Nevertheless, it is
+enough: it hath been some long years since they have heard of my
+whereabout and my what-about; since, sooth to say, I one day played them
+a dog's trick, and, a month after, was chasing the Indians in Cuba. It
+will greatly amaze them to hear I have not been absolutely hanged, as my
+mother oft-times promised me, for my sins; and, surely, they will stare
+at you, when you tell them I have been killing a great emperor, as some
+idle fellows have charged on me; whereas, you know yourself, having been
+so forward to shield him, that Montezuma was slain by his own people,--a
+murrain on them!"
+
+"I will bear witness to the truth, and I will say nothing that can give
+them pain."
+
+"I shall be much beholden to you," said Don Hernan, eagerly; "for my
+mother is somewhat more righteous than other women, and might be
+convinced, out of the mouths of some of my friends, that I am given to
+godless acts on occasions, which is very false and slanderous. I will
+beseech you to bear them certain curious jewels, and trifles of golden
+ware, the fabric of my good savages here, more as mementos of my
+gracelessness, than as presents of affection;--seeing that they are of
+no great value. They are such curiosities as will make mine old
+play-mates stare. Ah, the rascals! they were all better than I at their
+books, and somewhat less acquainted with the pedagogue's palm.--But
+pho!" he continued, suddenly dropping the tone of bagatelle, with which
+he had spoken, "I do but fool the time: your steed neighs in the
+court-yard, your lady looks up to the terrace--I will detain you no
+longer. The king's letter which you bear, will authorize you to demand
+of the admiral the best ship in our small navy, as also to have it
+sailored and provisioned to your mind; and therein you can voyage, at
+your good pleasure, to the Guadalquivir. I have presumed to order in
+waiting, subject to your command, a company of guides, consisting of
+four Castilian soldiers, ten Tlascalans, and thrice as many Totonacs of
+the coast, with whom you will take your own will as to speed, though I
+recommend you to submit to theirs, in the matter of the road. Commend me
+to your kinsman, the admiral, as also very truly to my parents; and if
+the emperor should see fit to express doubts of the success of this
+enterprise, in which I am engaged, tell him that I, Hernan Cortes, do
+say, and I gage my head for the fulfilment of the same, that the land
+shall be his,--all that lies between the two seas, and betwixt the
+narrow neck of Panama to the south, and the huge isle of Florida to the
+north: this I promise, and this I will fulfil.--And now, senor, giving
+you my thanks for the good deeds you have already done me, as well as
+those which you meditate, and wishing to your fair and noble wife a
+green path by land and a smooth way by sea, I do, very truly and
+devoutly, and from the bottom of my heart, pray you God speed!--Remember
+me; for you shall hear of me yet!"
+
+So saying, the two cavaliers descended and parted,--Don Amador de Leste
+to cross the seas, and, discharging the commands of his friend, both to
+the ancient hidalgo of Medellin and the great Charles of Austria, to
+seek for happiness in his castle of Alcornoque, in the society of his
+Moorish bride; and Hernan Cortes to ponder alone upon the fall of
+Tenochtitlan.
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+Of the secondary characters of this history, enough has been already
+narrated. Our respect, however, for the memory of the magician, Botello,
+requires that we should mention two circumstances in relation to his
+fate, and his chief and most mystical familiar. His unexpected death,
+instead of destroying his credit among those who survived the Noche
+Triste, gave him additional claims to respect, even in the grave; for
+when it was remembered, that the arrows which slew so many Spaniards,
+were adorned with the feathers of eagles, as well as other birds of
+prey, they perceived, in his fate, only a confirmation of the juggling
+subtlety of the fiends that 'palter with us in a double sense.' "Truly,"
+said they, "Botello was borne out of danger on the wings of eagles, as
+he prophesied, albeit he was borne to heaven." In after days, when
+Mexico had become the prey of the invader, the lake was dragged for the
+bones of the Christians who had fallen with him in the nocturnal
+retreat, which were then deposited, with many religious ceremonies, in
+ground consecrated for the purpose. In the last ditch, at the very spot
+where Botello had fallen, a fortunate fisherman hooked up the magic
+Crystal, the prison of Kalidon-Sadabath; who, greatly to the horror of
+the finder, began instantly, as of old, to dance, and curvet, and
+perform other diabolical antics, in his hands. No other conjurer in the
+army having the skill to interpret the motions of this mysterious imp,
+his crystal habitation was transmitted, along with divers Mexican
+rarities, to the shelves of the Escurial, where it was long viewed with
+wonder and respect, as an instrument contrived by the hands, and devoted
+to its unearthly uses by the skill, of the celebrated Cornelius Agrippa.
+A philosopher, who was thought, as was Feyjoo in later days, by his
+countrymen, to have too little consideration for vulgar prejudices,
+asserted, after attentive examination, that the marvellous crystal was
+nothing more than a piece of glass, hollowed by the maker into many
+singular cavities, wherein was deposited a coloured drop of some
+volatile liquor, which being, at any time, expanded by the heat of the
+breath, or of the hand, would instantly dart about, and assume the most
+fantastic shapes, according to the sinuous vacuities through which it
+happened to be impelled. This explanation was received with incredulity;
+but, nevertheless, Kalidon of the Crystal was treated with neglect, and,
+in course of time, entirely forgotten. We surmise, however, and the
+conjecture is not without argument, that the Enchanted Crystal,
+presented, half a century afterwards, by the angel Uriel to the famous
+English conjurer, Doctor Dee, was no other than this identical stone,
+filched by the angelic thief from its dusty repository, and given to him
+who best knew how to put it to its proper uses.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Late in the autumn of the following year, the senor Don Amador de Leste
+sat watching the sunset of a peaceful day, from a little bower, on a
+lawn in front of his castle Del Alcornoque. A clump of aged oaks flung
+their branches over a low, square, and mouldering tower,--the work of
+the Moorish masters of Spain many a long year back, and a fragment, as
+it seemed, of some ancient bath or fountain; for a body of pure water
+still made its way through the disjointed stones, and fell bubbling into
+a little basin beneath.
+
+The scene, as beheld from this spot, was one of enchanting beauty and
+repose. The fountain was, perhaps, midway on the slope of a long hill, a
+few rods in advance of the castle, (with which it was, indeed, connected
+by a somewhat neglected walk of orange trees,) whose irregular turrets
+and frowning battlements rose among groups of cork-trees, while a broken
+forest of these, extended behind, up to and over the crest of the hill.
+In front, the little valley, wherein was embosomed the silvery Jucar,
+was bounded now by sharp cliffs and jutting promontories, and now by
+green lawns, which ran sweeping upwards to the hill-tops on the opposite
+side. A hazy, smoky atmosphere, warmed into lustre by the sinking
+luminary, while it mellowed all objects into beauty, did not conceal
+from the eye the flocks of sheep which dotted the distant slopes, the
+cattle standing at the river-side, and the groups of peasantry, who
+adding their songs to the lowing of the herds and the cawing of a flight
+of crows, urged forward the burthened ass from the vine-tree. A
+monastery rose in the forest, a little village glimmered pleasantly on
+the river bank, under the shadow of a cliff; and over the ridges, which
+shut in the valley to the south, was seen the dim outline of those
+sierras of Morena, from which might be traced the peaks of the
+Alpujarras.
+
+Over this fair prospect, the young cavalier looked with pride, for it
+was the inheritance handed down to him by a long line of ancestors,--not
+snatched away by violence from vanquished Moors, but reclaimed from them
+by a bold knight, whose genealogical tree had been rooted in those
+hills, before Tarik, the Arab, had yet looked upon the Pillars of
+Hercules. He gazed on it also with joy, for he had learned to love
+peace; and this seemed the chosen abode of tranquillity.
+
+"It doth indeed appear to me, _now_," he muttered, "as if my past life
+were a foolish dream. There is a rapture in this quiet nook, a happiness
+in this prospect of loveliness and content, entirely beyond any pleasure
+which I ever experienced in my days of tumult and fame. What can there
+be, to add a further charm to this paradise?"
+
+Perhaps he muttered this interrogatory in the spirit of an improver and
+adorner of nature.--It was answered by the fall of a gentle footstep. He
+looked behind him, and beheld, standing at his back, pausing a moment
+with patient and yet dignified affection, the fair figure of a woman,
+who had no sooner caught his eye, than she smiled, and pointed to a
+female attendant, who bore in her arms, hard by, a sleeping infant. A
+cross of rubies glittered on the lady's breast.
+
+"If thou didst apprehend, Leila!" said the cavalier, with eyes of joy,
+"that I reckoned this hill-side a paradise, without thinking of thyself
+and my young Gabriel, thou didst most grievously wrong me; for I protest
+to thee, I never cease thinking of ye."
+
+"Never?" murmured the mild voice of the Moorish lady: "Heaven be
+praised!--But, sometimes, when thou lookest upon the sports of our
+little brother Rosario, it seems to me, thou dost forget us."
+
+"I vow to thee, my honoured and beloved lady," said the hidalgo,
+earnestly, "and, if thou wilt believe me the rather for that, I swear by
+the bright eyes of my young boy, that, since I discovered thou wert
+alive, and, especially, since thou hast been mine own Zayda, I have come
+to look with new eyes upon those things, which were the joys of my
+youth. Let us sit down upon this mossy stone; and, while we gaze a
+little upon Rosario, who, thou seest, is hacking the wooden Turk's-head
+on the knoll--Thou knowest, he did so gash my young plantations of
+olive-trees, that I was enforced to allow him this block, for his
+recreation----While we thus regard him, (for, of a truth, he is a most
+gallant boy, and of soldierly bearing,) I will discourse to thee in such
+manner, as to convince thee that I have utterly weeded from my bosom the
+foul plants of ambition, and that I am equally solicitous to cleanse the
+breast of my brother.--Hah! by my faith, what now?--Seest thou yonder
+ill-looking, lurking knave? I doubt me, he has been robbing my
+vineyard.--May I die, but the young varlet doth advance his sword
+against him! Well done, sir Hector!--And he knows not I am near, to give
+him aidance!--What ho, sirrah Rosario! put up thy sword--This is no
+robber."
+
+"It is a pilgrim--some poor pilgrim," exclaimed the lady:--"Rosario
+gives him his hand, and leads him towards us."
+
+It was even as the fair Dona had said. The youth Rosario, who had, at
+first, advanced valiantly towards the stranger, as if to question his
+right to walk so near the castle, was now seen to sink his weapon, speak
+a word or two to the comer, and then give him his hand, as if to conduct
+him to the cavalier.
+
+As they approached, Don Amador could perceive that the stranger had
+robed his figure in a cloak of the humblest texture; he was barefooted;
+he held a staff in his hand; and his great slouched hat was adorned with
+scallop-shells. He seemed a palmer, who had performed a long and painful
+pilgrimage; for, though obviously a young man, his frame was wasted, his
+beard long and haggard, and his cheeks were very thin and pale.
+
+"By my faith," said Don Amador, "this palmer hath speedily won the heart
+of my brother; for, thou seest, Rosario doth look into his face, as
+though he had got him the hand of some great knight from Judea.--I
+welcome you with peace and good-will, senor pilgrim; and my gates are
+open to you.--Art thou from Compostella or Loretto? Or, perhaps, thou
+comest even from the Holy Land?"
+
+While the cavalier spoke, the Moorish lady surveyed the features of the
+pilgrim with a surprise and agitation which drew the attention of Don
+Amador; but before he could speak, the pilgrim replied:
+
+"Not from the Holy Land, but from a land accurst,--from death and the
+grave, from the depths of the heathen lake and the maws of Mexicans----"
+
+At these words, the lady screamed, and Don Amador himself started
+aghast, as he listened to the voice of the speaker.
+
+"In the name of God, amen!" he cried, recoiling a step; "I know thy
+voice, and I saw thee perish!"
+
+"Pardon me, noble patron!" said the pilgrim, hastily; "I spoke but in
+figures; and therein I spoke not amiss, since I perceived that my noble
+lord looked upon me as one that was dead. Alas, senor, I live--I am
+your honour's poor ward and secretary, Fabueno."
+
+"Fabueno!" cried the cavalier, recovering himself a little: "If thou
+livest, thou liest; for Lorenzo is dead!"
+
+"Hast thou been lying, then, thou knave?" cried Rosario, with much
+indignation. "I will knock the cockles from thy cap; for thou saidst,
+thou hadst fought with the great Cortes, among the Indians!"
+
+"Alas, senor!" cried Lorenzo, "will you still think me dead? Have sorrow
+and misery so changed me, that your noble goodness cannot see, in this
+broken frame and this withered visage, your poor follower, Fabueno?"
+
+"By my troth, I am amazed! This hand is flesh and blood; this darkened
+brow and weeping eye--Pho! Look upon him, Zayda!--Thou livest,
+then?--God be praised! And thou sheddest tears, too? Never believe me,
+but I am rejoiced to see thee; and thou shalt dwell with me, till thy
+dying day--Heaven be thanked!--By what miracle wert thou revived, after
+being both killed and drowned? I'faith, thou didst greatly shock my
+lady.--'Tis wondrous, how soon she knew thee!"
+
+"Knew me?" exclaimed the secretary, gazing with a bewildered eye upon
+the lady.
+
+"Why, dost thou forget," cried the cavalier, catching the hand of Leila,
+over whose brow a faint colour rose at the remembrance,--"dost thou
+forget my dear and beloved page, Jacinto?"
+
+"Alas, madam," said Lorenzo, bending to the earth, "nothing but my
+confusion could have made me so blind; and this is more wondrous, too,
+since his excellency, Don Hernan, had made me acquainted with the
+happiness of my lord."
+
+"Speakest thou of Don Hernan?" cried the cavalier. "By my troth, I have
+an hundred thousand questions to ask thee; and I know not which to
+demand first. But thine own reappearance is so marvellous, that I must
+first question thee of that; and, afterward, thou shall speak to me of
+Don Hernan. How wert thou fished up?"
+
+"Fished up, senor!" said Lorenzo, sadly; "I know not well what your
+favour means. At that moment of distraction and horror," he went on,
+with a shudder, "when I called to you for succour----"
+
+"I heard you," said Amador, "and I ran to your assistance,--but, heaven
+forgive me! I cursed the act afterwards, when I discovered that it had
+lost me my poor Jacinto. Ah, senora mia! was there ever so dreadful a
+night?"
+
+"When I called," continued Fabueno, "I was then beset by the infidels.
+The princess--the poor princess, was slain in my arms, and my horse
+speared under me, so that we fell to the earth. Senor, I know not well
+what happened to me, then, for my mind fled from me: I only remember,
+that, as they flung me into a canoe, there came a cavalier, the valiant
+Don Francisco de Saucedo, as I found by his voice, to my assistance,
+shouting aloud. I think, he was slain on the spot; for I heard a
+plunging in the water, as if his horse had fallen into the lake."
+
+"It was he, then," said Don Amador, "whom I saw sink so miserably into
+the flood! Heaven give him rest!--I thought it was thyself."
+
+"Senor," continued the secretary, "I will not weary you, now, with all
+the particulars of my sorrow. When heaven restored me my reason, I found
+myself lying in a wicker den,--a cage of victims,--in the temple yard,
+under the pyramid; and I knew that I was saved, only to be made a
+sacrifice."
+
+"Heaven forefend!" cried Amador, while Zayda grew white with horror.
+
+"I tell you the truth, senor," said Fabueno, trembling in every limb.
+"There were more than thirty such cages around me, and in every one a
+wounded Spaniard, as I could both hear and see; and every day, there was
+one dragged out by the priests, and immolated.--I could hear their yells
+from the temple top.--Senor, these things drove me into a delirium,
+which must have lasted long; for when I came again to my wits, I looked
+out, and saw that the cages were empty--all but _one_. Then, I beheld
+the priests come to mine own dungeon, and debate over me. I tried to
+pray--but, in my fear, I swooned. When I looked forth again, they were
+dragging away my fellow-prisoner.--I knew that I should die upon the
+morrow.--That night, I fell into a frenzy, and with my teeth (for my
+arms were bound behind me,) I gnawed away the wooden bars of my cage.
+Heaven helped me! God gave me strength! and St. James, to whom I cried,
+sharpened my teeth as though they were edged with iron! So, by this
+miracle, I escaped; and, bound as I was, and beaten to the earth by a
+tempest which raved over the lake, I made my way, I know not how, by a
+causeway that lies to the north, until I had reached the shore of the
+lake. I hid me, by day, in groves and in marshes, and when the night
+came, I journeyed onward, though I knew not whither. What sufferings I
+endured from hunger and thirst, I will not weary you by recounting. Mine
+arms were still bound behind me; and when it was my good fortune to find
+a field of green maize, I could only seize upon the ears, like a beast,
+with my teeth. I strove, by rolling upon the earth, and rubbing against
+trees, to get rid of the thongs, but all in vain. This maddened me; and
+I thought that heaven had deserted me. But the good St. James showed me,
+one day, a place where the Indians had made a fire. I rekindled it with
+my breath, and when it began to blaze, I prayed and held my arms in the
+flames, until the green withes, wherewith I was bound, were burned
+asunder."
+
+"Good heaven!" cried Amador, starling from the stone on which he had
+seated himself, while Zayda bent forward, as if to snatch the poor youth
+from the flames, which still burned in her imagination;--"didst thou
+suffer all this horrible combustion? Or, perhaps, heaven vouchsafed thee
+a miracle, and scorched away the cords, without suffering the fire to
+do thee harm?"
+
+"Had I been there," said Rosario, doughtily, "I would have cut the
+thongs with my sword; and, then, I would have killed the bitter pagans
+that wronged thee!"
+
+"The miracle whereby I escaped from the cage, was more than my sins
+deserved," said the secretary, bending his head upon his bosom, and
+speaking with an agitated voice. "Heaven took not the pangs from the
+fire, but it gave me strength to bear them. I am here again, restored to
+my native land, and among Christian men--but mine arms are withered."
+
+"Were they hacked off at the shoulders," cried Amador, ardently, "ay,
+and thy legs into the bargain, yet will I so entertain thee here in my
+castle, that thou shall cease to lament them."
+
+"Nay," said the youth, looking with gratitude on the cavalier, "'tis not
+so bad as that, as my lord may see; for, though I may never more bear
+sword, yet I can carry the pilgrim's staff--ay, and I can raise them to
+my cheek, to brush away my thanks.--I have yet strength enough left to
+wield a pen; and, if my noble patron----"
+
+"Speak no more of this, good Lorenzo," said the Moorish lady, quickly
+and kindly. "My lord hath told thee thou art welcome; and I say to thee
+also, thou art very welcome."
+
+"By my troth, _I_ say so too," cried Rosario. "But after all, thou wilt
+be but pitiful, if thou hast not strength left to handle a sword. I
+hoped you should teach me a little; for old Baltasar is grum and
+crusty."
+
+"Peace, Hector! what art thou talking about?" said Don Amador.--"Think
+no more of thy misfortune, Lorenzo; but give me to know the rest of thy
+adventures."
+
+"They are spoken in a word," said the secretary. "When mine arms were
+freed, though so dreadfully scorched, I could travel with more peace of
+mind. I doubted not, that all the Christians had been slain on the
+lake; yet, I thought, if I could but reach the sea-coast, I might be,
+sometime, snatched out of the hands of the barbarians. Nevertheless,
+this hope deserted me, when I perceived that the land was covered with
+people; and, one day, finding a cave among the mountains, hard by to a
+water-fall, with a wooden cross stuck up at the mouth----"
+
+"Surely," said Zayda, "this was the cavern, wherein I found my lord, Don
+Gabriel."
+
+"I doubt it not, noble lady," said Fabueno, "but this I knew not then. I
+thought it was a retreat provided for me by the good St. James, who
+willed that there I should pass my life, under the shadow of that little
+crucifix. So there did I hide me, and, feeding upon roots and such
+living creatures as I could entrap, I remained in my hermitage a full
+year; until, one day, I heard a trumpet sounding at the bottom of the
+mountain; and running out in wonder, I beheld--thanks be to heaven! I
+beheld a company of Spanish soldiers marching up the hill. By these men,
+I was carried to Mexico, which was now fallen----"
+
+"Fallen, say'st thou?" cried Amador. "Is the infidel city fallen?"
+
+"Not the city only, but the empire," replied Fabueno; "and Cortes is now
+the lord of the great valley."
+
+"Thou shalt tell me of its fate; but first thou must rest and eat.--I
+remember me now of the words of Cortes."
+
+"His excellency," said Lorenzo, "commanded me to bear to your favour
+this little jewel, in token that he has made good a certain vaunt which
+he made you in Tlascala--the same being an emerald from the crown of
+Quauhtimotzin, the king."
+
+"Hah! my valiant ambassador at Tlascala? Hath he been the emperor?"
+
+"And to your noble lady, he craves permission to present this chain of
+gold, the manufacture of Mexican artists, since Mexico has become a
+Spanish city."
+
+"It is enough," said the cavalier; "I perceive that his genius is
+triumphant. I would that I might bear this news to his father, Don
+Martin, as I did the relation of his disasters. But come; let us retire.
+Why hast thou on these palmer weeds?"
+
+"I vowed to St. James, on the mountains of Mexico, in my great misery,
+that, if his good favour and protection should ever bless mine eyes with
+the sight of Christian man, I would make a pilgrimage, barefoot, to his
+holy shrine at Compostella. This it has been my good fortune already to
+accomplish, our ship having been driven, by a storm, into a port of
+Gallicia. Not thinking this penance enough for my sins, I resolved to
+continue my pains, and neither doff my pilgrim's cap, nor do on my
+shoes, until I had reached your favour's castle of the Cork-tree."
+
+"I welcome thee to it, again, and for thy life; and I congratulate thee,
+that thou art relieved of the love of war; wherein, thou wilt find, I
+have somewhat preceded thee. Enter, and be at peace.--When thou art
+rested a little, I shall desire of thee to speak,--for very impatient am
+I to know,--what circumstances of marvel and renown, of romance and
+chivalry, have distinguished the last days of Tenochtitlan."
+
+
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