The object of the coalition against Maxtla having been achieved, and
Tezcuco once more in position to defend herself, the league was
dissolved. The foreign armies quietly withdrew from the city, and
returned to their respective capitals--the hunter-guard having early
gone back to their mountain homes.
The parting between the old warrior chieftain, Ix, and his friend
Tezcot, was expressive of a deep and lasting regard. The latter
promised, at leaving--to please his hermit friend--that, providing his
affairs at home would admit of it, he would return to witness the
prince's coronation, which event was then paramount to everything else
in the minds of the disenthralled and happy people, who were bent on
making it a memorable occasion--a day on which not only the crowning of
their new king should take place, but a grand celebration, also, in
honor of Tezcuco's independence and their liberation from an enforced
vassalage.
It was customary, when an event not down on their calendar was to be
observed, to select one of their festal days on which to celebrate it,
of which they had a great number, every deity having one especially set
apart for its service. One of the most prominent on their calendar was,
accordingly, chosen for the occasion--prominent because of the latitude
which would be afforded the priesthood, in it, to exercise its peculiar
functions, not omitting the revolting ceremony of human sacrifice, in
which its members seemed to delight. Not since the subversion of their
government had a festival so impressive in character been celebrated in
Tezcuco, and the priests, awake to the importance of an occasion which
would restore to them privileges so long withheld, were active in its
promotion, and a great number of victims--chiefly prisoners of
war--were selected for sacrifice.
Hualcoyotl was greatly averse to the shocking scenes of blood and
agony, which always attended the sacrificial ceremony, but had no
power--not even as a king--to stop it, for the authority of the
priesthood in such matters was supreme.
We have it from fairly reliable sources--mostly traditional, to be
sure, yet worthy of credence--that he made it an especial effort of his
long and prosperous reign to have the inhuman practice abolished, and
bring his people to worship according to the belief which he had early
conceived to be the correct one--which, in the light of his
surroundings, was truly remarkable. He believed in "One unseen Cause of
Causes"--"One all-powerful God"--a unity, to whom appeals should be
made direct. In this particular he showed a high order of intelligence,
for it is an established opinion, if not a fact, that the simplicity of
the idea of one God, who has no need of inferior representatives to
execute his will, is too vast for the conception of narrowed
understandings, and, as a consequence, resort to a multiplicity of
deities follows.
The great Tezcucan was only partially successful in his efforts,
because of the vitiating influence of his Aztec neighbors, who exceeded
all the other races of Anahuac in barbaric practices, between whom and
his people there existed the closest political relations, almost from
the day of his coronation up to the time of the conquest.
The prince's failure to establish his belief in "One Supreme
Intelligence" did not abate in the least his personal convictions on
the subject, but as the years went by he became more firmly fixed in
his faith, which, if not a Christian faith, was so near to it that the
difference could only be found in the fact that he was a barbarian,
having no knowledge of the Christ; and, yet, who shall say, when ways
and means for the acquiring of religious knowledge are considered, that
Hualcoyotl's religion was not as acceptable to "Him by whom we live" as
was that of the shepherd king?
* * * * *
Itlza and her mother were in due time transferred to the Tezcucan
palace, and no royal host was ever more considerate of the wants and
comforts of his guests than was he of their's. The mother was elated to
a degree which almost made her forget her affliction. In the transfer
the first step leading to high honors for her daughter was taken, a
sufficient cause for the excitement of a more enlightened intelligence
than her's. Itlza, on the other hand, between love for Cacami and
sorrow for her lost brother, took no account of the significance which
was to be attached to the transfer of her residence from Zelmonco to
Tezcuco, and entered upon the change with no suspicion of what it
portended.
The prince, in making his proposal to Teochma that she and Itlza should
take up their residence in the palace, had put it as near in the form
of a command as he could without making it direct. He pressed it upon
her as an honor which should not be treated lightly, and being
ambitious of her child's advancement she readily complied. As an
obedient daughter, who really had no choice in the matter, Itlza
acquiesced, and, amid the bustle and confusion with which the city and
palace were filled, found the change from quiet Zelmonco very
agreeable.
The prince took advantage of the first opportunity offered, after the
transfer was made, to have a talk with Teochma regarding Itlza, and his
intentions with reference to her. She gave him to understand that his
will was her pleasure, but did not deem it politic to make any show of
the satisfaction she experienced at having her divinations verified. He
directed that the matter should remain a secret between them for the
present, as he desired, before revealing to Itlza his purposes, to
establish himself in her favor. Thus the matter was left to rest, the
prince, the while, using every possible means at his command to gain
the affections of his intended queen. Itlza treated him most kindly,
accepting his attentions as a matter of course, which encouraged him to
persevere.
While seated with Teochma in his family apartments one day, talking in
a confidential way, Hualcoyotl was informed by his personal attendant
that a strange messenger awaited his pleasure.
"You will ascertain if his business is of a private nature, Oza, and
report to me at once," he said, and then turned to resume his
conversation with Teochma.
Notwithstanding Oza was a free man, the prince having made good his
promise that he should have his freedom, he was still in the latter's
service. Their experience together on the mountains had given rise to a
warm, mutual attachment between the master and his servant, which
resulted in Oza's retention as a special and favored attendant.
The faithful servitor withdrew, and in a few minutes returned, bearing
a written message, which he placed in the prince's hand. The latter,
after dismissing his man with the injunction to remain near by,
proceeded to peruse the writing. On glancing over it he suddenly turned
to Teochma, his face beaming with an expression of joyful surprise, and
exclaimed:
"Rejoice, O mother of Euetzin, your son lives, and is among friends!"
Teochma was dazed and speechless for a moment, from the sudden and
unexpected announcement. Recovering herself, she, in turn, exclaimed:
"My son, my Euet alive, and among friends! O Prince, do not unsay
that!"
"I shall not unsay it, Teochma; for it is Itzalmo who writes--Itzalmo,
Teochma, who is truth itself," returned he, with a glad emphasis.
"Itzalmo, Prince; is he, too, alive and with my son?"
"Yes, he is with the tzin, but does not explain. It is enough to know,
O Teochma, that they are not prisoners. Now, indeed, may we rejoice!"
returned the now joyful prince.
The communication was the one sent by the old preceptor, to which
allusion was made in the last chapter.
The good news quickly spread, and the cloud of sorrow which had hung
like a pall over the friends of the tzin and the old tutor was lifted,
and general rejoicing succeeded.
Hualcoyotl immediately sent a summons to Cacami, who was at his home in
the country, to come to him at once. The young warrior came promptly,
in obedience to the summons, and was not less joyful than the prince at
the surprising intelligence. He was ordered to take a sufficient number
of men and go to the little town for the purpose of bringing the
wounded tzin and his aged companion to the city. The duty, under the
circumstances, was a most agreeable one to Cacami, who stood not upon
the order of his going, but set off at once to perform it.
From a house of sorrow and mourning the palace was changed to one of
joy and gladness by the joyful news. Its halls and corridors rang with
the music of happy voices, impressing the royal household as the
inhabitant of the winter frozen north is impressed by the glad notes of
spring, heard in the songs of the returning forest minstrels, after a
long and dreary season of storm and cold--incomparable waking of
ecstatic emotions.