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."