While the exciting scenes of the tourney were being witnessed on
Tlacopan's _tianguez_, events of an entirely different nature were
transpiring in the palace of Maxtla, at Azcapozalco. The embassy,
consisting of three prominent persons and their attendants, which had
been sent to him with the ultimatum of the allied principalities,
arrived at his capital in great pomp the day preceding the one on which
they were instructed to present it.
The envoys were royally entertained, as was the custom, by fete and
feast, and made to feel that they were guests of a great monarch.
The nature of their mission was not known beyond the three
representatives, nor was it expected to be until officially announced.
Maxtla had not the slightest idea as to the significance of it.
In the forenoon of the day following their arrival at the palace, and
about the time of the opening of the tourney at Tlacopan, an audience
was granted the envoys; and, in the presence of the king and his
counselors, the embassy's mission was made known, and the conditions of
the ultimatum presented.
Maxtla was astounded and exasperated by what seemed to him the audacity
of his petty neighbors. He, however, held his feelings partially under
subjection. With all his fierceness and cruelty of disposition he was
politic and cunning. He saw, as he thought, in the action of Tlacopan
and her allies, a pretense for advancing his interests in that
direction--the very thing he had been scheming to bring about, and
shaped his course accordingly.
His reply to the envoys was to the effect that the action of the
governments they represented was an insult, not only to his own dignity
as a monarch, but that of his great empire. Tezcuco, he said, was his
by conquest, and would not be relinquished except by force of arms. The
enthronement of the despised Hualcoyotl, he further said, would be
resisted to the last extremity.
"Go back to your masters," said he, "and say to them that we scorn
their implied threats, and will resent the insult they have offered us
with the whole force of our empire."
Maxtla's reply to the conditions of the ultimatum was equivalent to a
declaration of war, and as such the embassy interpreted it.
Every respect was shown the envoys and their suit; and, when they
departed from the Tepanec capital, they were escorted with due courtesy
beyond the city's confines.
In a very short time after their departure the word went abroad
throughout Maxtla's dominions that a war was imminent. His scattered
forces began immediately to concentrate, and orders were issued for new
levies to be made on Tezcuco and his other dependencies for additional
troops.
In due time the couriers returned from Tezcuco with the startling
intelligence that all the Tezcucans proper, who were subject to
military duty, had gone to attend the tourney at Tlacopan, leaving only
his own adherents available for immediate service.
Maxtla was thunderstruck at this information, for he saw in it the
secret of Tlacopan's temerity. His eyes were opened to the fact that he
had been outwitted by somebody, and that Tezcuco was about to slip away
from him. His anticipations of an easy conquest of the little states
opposed to him assumed a somewhat doubtful aspect, and instead of an
extended empire he saw before him a struggle to maintain his supremacy
over his already acquired territory. Realizing that celerity of action
was imperative, if he would succeed, no time was lost in getting ready
for the strife.
The circumstances attending the situation pointed to Tezcuco as the
probable field of contention, and troops were therefore sent forward to
that locality as rapidly as organization was effected.
While Maxtla was marshaling his hosts for war, Macua and his
confederates were not idle at Tlacopan.
When the concourse of people, which had assembled to witness the
tourney, quietly melted away at its close, preparations were at once
begun to get the allied armies into a condition of mobility. It was not
expected that Maxtla would accede to the demands made in the ultimatum,
so the work of organization went on.
In the evening of the same day on which the embassy had audience with
Maxtla, advance couriers reached Tlacopan with his reply. Its import
was anticipated, but definite action could not be taken before it
arrived.
Orders were immediately issued for the armies to be ready to move for
concentration the next morning. It was no longer a secret that war was
to be waged with the Tepanec king, and great excitement and bustle
prevailed on the heels of the tournament. The excitement was of the
profound and solemn sort which is peculiar to preparations preceding a
sanguinary strife for supremacy between opposing armies, especially
with a semi-civilized people. The priests were actively engaged in
their incitations to self-immolation by ceremonies accompanied with
dolefully tuned cantations, causing a weirdness to pervade the very
heart of the multitude, which brought a hush of awe upon the scene,
giving it an aspect at once ominous and funereal.
All through the fore part of the night following the tournament the
secret councils of Tezcuco were moving in a disorganized but orderly
procession away from Tlacopan, going to the place of armament. When the
morning dawned, an army of them might have been seen massed on the
border of lake Tezcuco, east of the city. Some of them were already
armed, while others were arming, preparatory to marching for
concentration.
The armies of the nations of Anahuac were, to say the least,
picturesque, and, from a historical standpoint, worthy of a brief
description.
The higher grades of warriors--caciques, chiefs, etc.--wore, as a
protection to the body, a heavy, quilted, cotton tunic, over which was
usually thrown and fastened their superbly elegant _tilmatli_--mantle
of featherwork. Their legs, in most cases, were protected by leggings
made from various kinds of material, and elaborately fringed with
trimmings of gold and silver, or other bright substance. Short boots,
made from animal skin, or close fitting moccasins encased their feet.
Their headgear was varied in character, often representing the head of
some animal, a fish or other object. The more grotesque and hideous it
was made to appear, the nearer was its purpose attained. However, the
indispensable feather decorations generally prevailed.
It is quite safe to venture the assertion that the dress of the lords
of Anahuac was not only gorgeously grotesque, but truly magnificent;
while, on the other hand, the uniform of the common soldiers was
strikingly undress, consisting, as it did, for the most part, of a
plain gird about the loins, and a band of some kind to confine the
hair--nothing more. There may have been exceptions to this airiness of
apparel, but, as a rule, not enough to place the very convenient
costume in danger of being superseded by a more elaborate and less airy
one.
The principal arms used by them in battle were the bow and arrow and
javelin. They were also provided with sling and dart. These instruments
of warfare were pointed with either copper, bone, or obsidian
(_itztli_, a transparent mineral substance, very hard, and capable of
being reduced to the sharpness of a razor).
The Indian sword (_maquahuitl_) was a heavy staff, on which were
inserted, at regular intervals, short, sharp blades of obsidian. This
weapon was used by the principal warriors.
The ensemble of an army consisted of battalions, divisions and grand
divisions. The first named numbered four or five hundred warriors; the
second, six or eight thousand; and the last, proportionately larger;
each division and subdivision being under the command of a proper
official--cacique, or chief. At the head of each organization was borne
an appropriate banner, on which was usually to be seen the insignia of
the commandant; while the national standard--the armorial ensign of the
ruling house--usually indicated the position of the person in
command--great chief.
* * * * *
The ancient standard of Tezcuco was once more unfurled to the breeze,
and her patriotic hosts stood organized, and ready to receive their
prince.
Hualcoyotl, accompanied by a retinue of chosen warriors, among whom
were our friends Euetzin and Cacami, both having been generously
remembered by the prince in the distribution of honors, was advancing
to assume command. When discovered by the army, and recognized, they
were received with the acclamation: "Hualcoyotl! Hualcoyotl! Long live
Hualcoyotl and Euetzin!" The latter was regarded for his untiring
efforts in behalf of Tezcuco's independence as being entitled to all
the honor due to any Tezcucan living, and his people were ready at all
times to accord it.
The hour was a proud one to the two young men: To Euetzin in view of
the crowning of his labors with the grand military display which was
there spread out before him; to the prince for the opportunity which
placed him in position to meet his cruel persecutor on equal footing,
where he could demand, at the point of the javelin, his rights as the
Prince of Tezcuco. He spoke as follows:
"Warriors, men of Tezcuco: after many years of degradation and
enslavement, you are again permitted to stand beneath your own loved
banner, which was once the delight of our fathers and the pride of our
nation. It has been trailing in the dirt for long; but your determined
look assures me that it will no longer be thus dishonored. There is no
need for me, as your commander, to say, stand firm in the cause of
liberty, for I read upon your faces the will to do or die. Then let us
waste no time until Maxtla and his hordes have been met and brought to
feel the avenging power of wronged Tezcuco's arm. Let our war cry be--"
"Hualcoyotl and victory! Hualcoyotl and victory!"
The words which the prince would have spoken were left unsaid, and the
acclamation with which he was interrupted passed like a wave from right
to left, and back again. When quiet was restored, he only said:
"As you will, and may your victory be complete."
The order was given to march, and the army of patriotic Tezcucans was
quickly in motion, and on its way to join the allied armies at the
place of rendezvous.
To strike the confederate armies Maxtla was obliged to march all his
forces around the north end of lake Tezcuco, and south through Tezcucan
territory, as the possessions of the Mexican king were on the west, and
could not be crossed except in disregard of the laws of neutrality. It
therefore required several days for him to get his army into position
for taking the offensive.
A day or two after the allied armies began to move, they were united on
the borders of Tezcuco, south of its capital city. The combined army
was formed in a hollow square, to receive its commanding general. A
procession approached, which was led by an escort composed of men who
were peculiarly dressed. They were dressed more like hunters than
warriors. In the rear of the escort a palanquin was borne by four men
who were dressed in the same manner as was the escort. When the square
was reached the escort halted, and the chair was borne forward into the
inclosed space.
Six men walked in front of the palanquin, in five of whom we would have
recognized Hualcoyotl, Macua, tzin Euet, and the other two ruling
caciques. The dress of the sixth person was the same as that worn by
the men in the escort, with the addition of a _tilmatli_. A closer
scrutiny would have made us acquainted with his identity, for in him we
would have found an estimable friend. It was Tezcot. He was the chief
of the escort which was composed of his friends, the mountaineers. The
reason for their being there in the capacity they were will be
presented later.
When the center of the closely packed square was gained the palanquin
was placed on the ground, and the occupant emerged from it. Hualcoyotl
advanced to his side, and, in a strong voice, addressed the army:
"Warriors, friends: When the good king, who was the father of him who
now addresses you, ruled the people of Tezcuco, he was surrounded by
wise men and great generals. Many of them shared his fate, which was
death at the hands of the despoilers of our country. One of them,
however, a wise man and great warrior, who was counted lost, escaped
from Tezcuco, and became an unknown refugee. By the stipulations of
coalition, under which this army is organized, I should be its
commander; but, for the good of our cause, I put aside personal
ambition and the honor the high position would confer upon me, and will
name as your commander Ixtlilchoatl, the great warrior, to whom I have
just alluded, who for more than eight years has been living alone in a
fastness on yonder mountains, and known to the mountaineers as Ix, the
hermit. Warriors, in this wise man, who has returned to his own,"
continued the prince, taking the hermit by the arm, "behold your
general. Long live Ixtlilchoatl!"
The acclamation, with which the prince concluded, was taken up by the
army, and vociferated with a will, when it again became still.
"For this day I have prayed," spoke Ix. "Not that I might stand where I
do at this moment, but that Tezcuco might find friends to help her in a
mighty effort to regain her freedom. To you, who are allied with us
to-day in the cause of liberty, my heart goes out in gratitude. Our
people will remember you in kindness always, no matter what may be
their condition. I have faith in the patriotism of this great army, and
trust in its might. Be firm when the shock of strife shall come, and
the victory will be yours."
When Ix concluded, he reentered the palanquin and was borne back whence
he came. At the same time the armies began to move for the purpose of
taking up their respective positions, to wait for the advancing host of
Maxtla to offer them battle.