TRAPPING A KING'S COURIER
But for a promise he had given, to remain in his uncomfortable
hiding-place until summoned by his friends, and but for the awful
penalty they must have paid had their connection with him been
discovered, Huetzin would long since have left the old water-pipe. His
position in it was so painfully cramped that, as the long hours dragged
slowly away, it became well-nigh insupportable. When he finally heard
the welcome summons, and issued from the narrow opening, he was so
stiff he could hardly stand. A brisk rubbing of his limbs soon restored
their circulation; and, after partaking of a hearty meal in the cabin
of his humble protectors, he was once more ready to venture forth. A
wallet well filled with tortillas, provided by the woman to whom he
already owed his life, was given him, and, bidding her a loving and
grateful farewell, he followed the lead of the old mountaineer out into
the darkness.
Making many detours to avoid dwellings, and after a narrow escape from
a patrol of soldiers, suddenly encountered, who passed so close to
where they crouched in a thicket by the wayside that they could have
touched them, the fugitives finally reached the fresh-water lake of
Chalco. Here Huetzin alone would have wasted much precious time, but
his guide knew where to find a canoe. This he speedily drew forth from
its hiding-place, and a half-hour of silent paddling set them across
the lake. Although they approached the shore with the utmost caution,
they were hailed from out its shadows, as they were about to land, by a
hoarse challenge that sounded like a voice of doom. As they hesitated,
irresolute, an arrow flew by their heads with a venomous hiss, and the
old man cried out, in a tremulous voice:
"Hold thy hand, my lord, it is only I, a poor slave of Iztapalapan,
seeking to catch a few fish for the morrow's food."
"Come hither, slave, at once, that I may examine thee, ere I drive an
arrow through thy miserable carcass," cried the voice.
Making an awkward splashing with his paddle, under cover of which
Huetzin slid into the water, the old man obeyed. He found but a single
soldier awaiting him, though others, who came running up from either
side, demanding to know the cause for shouting, showed that he formed
but one of a cordon guarding the whole lake shore. These carefully
examined the old man and his canoe. At length, satisfied that he was
alone and bore no resemblance to the one whom they sought, they let
him go, bidding him not to venture near the shore again as he valued
his life. As he humbly thanked them for their forbearance, and slowly
paddled away, they moved up the beach in search of other suspicious
characters.
Huetzin, who had been standing in water up to his neck, where he would
hear every word that passed, now attracted the Tlascalan's attention by
a low hissing sound, grasped his hand in token of farewell, and made
his way to the spot just vacated by the soldiers, correctly assuming
that, for a short time at least, it would be safer than any other.
Cautiously and noiselessly he crept up the bank, nor did he dare to
move at more than a snail's pace until a good quarter of a mile had
been put between him and his enemies. Then he set forth at such speed
that, before morning, he had left the valley of Mexico behind, and was
climbing the rugged slope of the mountains bounding it on the east.
At the coming of daylight the fugitive sought a cave, near which issued
a spring of clear water; and here he passed the day, having no food
save the water-soaked tortillas, already sour and mouldering in his
wallet. When night came he again ventured forth, and found a field,
from which he procured a few ears of half-ripened maize.
Thus for a week he hid by day and travelled by night, rarely daring
to set foot on the highway by which the mountains were traversed, but
scrambling through the dense forests that bordered it, and having
narrow escapes from wild beasts and wilder men. His clothing and skin
were torn by thorns, his feet were cut and bleeding from rude contact
with jagged rocks, his blood was chilled by the biting winds of the
lofty heights to which he climbed, and his body was weakened and
emaciated by starvation. Only an indomitable will, the remembrance of
his father's death, and the thought of Tiata with no one in the world
to care for her save him, urged the young Toltec forward.
Often during the day, from some hiding-place overlooking the public
road, he watched with envy the king's couriers, hurrying east or west
with the swiftness of the wind. Each of these, as he knew, ran at full
speed for two leagues, at the end of which he delivered his despatches
to another who was in waiting at a post-station, and was then allowed
to refresh himself with food, drink, and a bath, before being again
summoned to duty. Such was the swiftness of these trained runners,
and the perfection of the system controlling them, that despatches
were transmitted with incredible rapidity, and on the king's table in
Tenochtitlan fresh fish were daily served, that were taken from the
eastern ocean, two hundred miles away, less than twenty hours before.
Not only did Huetzin, barely existing on the few tunas or acrid wild
figs that he occasionally found, envy the king's couriers the comforts
of the post-stations, to which he dared not venture, and which seemed
so desirable as compared with his own surroundings, but he longed
to know the purport of the despatches that so constantly passed and
repassed. That most of them contained information concerning the
white conquerors, whose movements and intentions he was so anxious to
discover, he felt certain. He knew that the penalty for molesting or
delaying a king's courier was death; but that meant nothing to him, for
the same fate would be his in any case if he should be captured. Thus,
being already outlawed, he would not have hesitated to attack a courier
and strive to capture his despatches, but for the fact that they were
strong, well-fed men, while he was weak from starvation. Moreover, they
were armed, while he was not, even his dagger having been broken off at
the hilt in an attempt to cut for himself a club early in his flight.
At length, however, he contrived a plan that promised success, and
which he at once proceeded to put into execution.
He had saved the broken blade of his dagger, and transformed it into
a rude knife by binding one end with bark. With this he cut a tough,
trailing vine, nearly one hundred feet in length, and, coiling it as
he would a rope, made his way, cautiously, just at dusk, to the edge
of the highway. He had chosen a place from which he could see for some
distance in either direction; and, after making certain that no person
was in sight, he fastened one end of his rope-like vine to the roots
of a small tree. Then, carrying the other across the road, he stretched
it as tightly as possible, and made it fast. The rope, so arranged, was
lifted some six inches above the surface of the road. Having thus set
his trap, Huetzin concealed himself at one side and impatiently awaited
the approach of a victim.
Ere he had waited a half-hour there came a sound of quick foot-falls,
and the heart of the young Toltec beat high with excitement. Now he
could see the dim form of a man speeding forward through the darkness,
and hear the panting breath. Now the flying messenger is abreast of the
place where he crouches. Now he trips over the unseen obstacle, and
plunges headlong with a startled cry and outstretched arms. Huetzin
leaped forward and flung himself bodily upon the prostrate form. He
had anticipated a struggle, and nerved himself for it, but none was
made. The man's forehead had struck on the rocky roadbed, and he lay
as one dead. Huetzin wasted no time in attempting to revive him;
but, unfastening the green girdle that held the precious packet of
despatches, and at the same time distinguished its wearer as being
in the royal service, and securing the bow and arrows with which the
courier was armed, he plunged again into the forest and disappeared.
That night he was so fortunate as to discover a corn-field, for he had
now passed the range of the great volcan, and descended to the fertile
table-land on its eastern side. At daylight he had the further good
fortune to shoot a wild turkey, and though, having no fire nor means of
procuring one, he was forced to eat the meat raw, it greatly refreshed
and strengthened him. By the time he had finished this welcome meal,
and selected a hiding-place for the day, the sun had risen, and he
eagerly opened the packet of despatches.
[Illustration: HUETZIN WASTED NO TIME.]
For an hour he pored over them, and when it was ended the young Toltec
was wiser, concerning some matters of vital importance, than the king
himself. He had not only learned, as well as pictured likenesses could
teach him, what manner of beings the white conquerors were, but a
secret concerning them that might have altered the fate of the kingdom
had Montezuma been aware of it at that moment. It was that the terrible
beings who accompanied the conquerors, and were described as combining
the forms of men and fire-breathing monsters, were in reality two
distinct individuals, a man and an animal, also that they were mortal
and not godlike. These facts were shown by pictures of a dead horse,
and two of the white strangers, also lying on the ground, dead and
transfixed by arrows. Near them stood a number of men, and several
horses without riders, but all pierced by arrows, showing them to be
wounded. It was evidently a representation of a battle-scene between
the white conquerors, and-- Could it be? Yes! There was the white
heron, the emblem of the Tlascalan house of Titcala, the token of his
mother's family! The white conquerors were at war with Tlascala!
This was a startling revelation to the son of Tlahuicol. He knew that
his warrior father had deemed a union of the forces of Tlascala with
those of the powerful strangers the only means by which the Aztec
nation and its terrible priesthood could be overthrown. What could
he do to stop the war now so evidently in progress, and bring about
the desirable alliance? He could at least bear his father's last
message, with all speed, to Tlascala, and he would. It should be heard
by the council of chiefs ere the set of another sun. Thus deciding,
and fastening the green girdle of the courier, the badge of royal
authority, about his waist, Huetzin hastened to the highway, and set
out boldly upon it, with all speed, in the direction of Tlascala.