Part 35 (1/2)
”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 G.o.ds,--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 G.o.ds have p.r.o.nounced 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 Tenocht.i.tlan!”
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 ca.n.a.ls 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 s.h.i.+eld 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 s.h.i.+elds 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 a.s.sumed, 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 G.o.d to witness, that I had no hand in his death; and I aver to yourselves, n.o.ble 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 l.u.s.ty 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 grat.i.tude of my brother captains, and the favourable notice of his majesty, our king,--whom G.o.d 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 G.o.dly 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 suns.h.i.+ne 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 G.o.d, 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 cl.u.s.tered over the earth! In all this period, there is but one s.h.i.+ning 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 n.o.ble 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. ”G.o.d 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.”