The rapture with which Don Amador de Leste exchanged the confined decks
of the caravel for the boundless sands of Ulua, and these again for the
back of his impatient steed, was fully as great as he had promised
himself. Profound was his joy to find the demon of ennui, which had
beset the cribbed and confined charger as sorely as the cabined master,
flying from his dilated nostrils, and giving place to the mettlesome
ardour which had won him the title of the Fiery. The neigh that he sent
forth was like the welcome of the battle; the fire that flashed in his
eye was bright as the red reflection of a banner; and when he reared up
under his rider, it was as if to paw down the opposition of crouching
spearmen. A few snuffs of the morning breeze, a few bounds over the
sandy hillocks, and the beast that had pined in stupefaction in a narrow
stall on the sea, was converted into an animal fit for the seat of a
warrior.
The cavalier galloped about for a few moments, while his attendants made
their preparations for the journey. Then returning, like a thoughtful
leader, to inquire into their welfare, he beheld them with great
satisfaction, both horse and man, in good condition to commence their
adventurous campaign.
The elder of his followers was a personage of years and gravity; a mass
of grizzled locks fell from under his iron skull-cap, and a shaggy beard
of the same reverend hue ornamented his cheeks and throat. He had seen
long and sharp service, for besides the many scars that marked his
swarthy visage, one of which, from its livid hue, seemed to have been
won in recent combat, a sabre-cut, extending over his left cheek and
brow, had darkened the sinister eye forever. But his frame, though
somewhat short and squat, was robust and even gigantic in proportions;
and the muscles springing under the narrow cuishes, which, together with
a heavy breast-plate, made nearly the whole of his defensive armour, did
not seem less of iron than their covering. He was truly a man-at-arms
worthy to follow at the heels of a valiant cavalier.
The second attendant, though armed with little more care than the
former, had contrived, by the judicious distribution of riband-knots and
sashes about his person, to assume a more gallant appearance: and in
addition, he had the smoother features and gayer looks of youth. Both
were provided with horses strong and not inactive; and both, as Amador
returned, were busily engaged in disposing the mails and accoutrements
of the cavalier about the bulky loins of their animals.
"Hearken, Lazaro, thou varlet, that flingest my mailed shirt over thy
crupper, as if it were a vile horse-cloth," he cried to the younger
follower, "have more care what thou art doing. Give my helmet to
Baltasar, and let him sling it, with my buckler, over his broad
shoulders. I will not entrust thee with such matters; nor, by 'r lady,
with my pistols neither."
"If I may make bold to speak," said Baltasar, bending his eye bluffly,
and with a sort of rude affection on his young lord, "I can advise a way
to dispose of both casque and buckler more agreeably and usefully than
on the back of either Lazaro or myself."
"Thou meanest upon mine own, no doubt," said Amador: "I have ever found
thee fonder of carrying the arms of a dead foeman than of a living
master, though it were the knight Calavar himself."
"That is very true," said the veteran, chuckling grimly at the
compliment disguised in the sarcasm.
"I am never loath to do such duty: because, then, my conscience tells me
I am bearing arms which can no longer be of use to their owner."
"And thou desirest now to intimate, that, if I were arrayed in my
harness, I might put it to some use?"
"Quien sabe? who knows?" said Baltasar, looking around him with an
earnest eye. "We are now in a strange land, possessed by barbarians, who
are good at spear and bow, and fonder of fighting from an ambuscado than
on an open field; and with no true companions that I can see, to look
that they be not lurking among yonder woodlands, some of which, I take
it for granted, we have to pass. I should grieve sorely to see an arrow,
even in a boy's hand, aimed at your honour's present hauberk of cloth
and velvet."
"Well, thy wisdom will not perish for want of utterance," said Amador;
"and, in very truth, I must own, it has sometimes stood me in good
stead. I will therefore relieve thee of thy burthen, and Lazaro shall
hang it to my own shoulders."
He descended, and the linked surcoat soon invested his person.
"I will also presume to recommend your honour to have these snapdragons
hung to your saddle-bow," said Baltasar, extending the rude and
ponderous pistols,--weapons then scarcely creeping into notice, but
within twenty years, not uncommon in the hands of horsemen; "for if it
should come to pass, that some cut-throat pagan should discharge a
missile at us from the bushes, it will doubtless afford your honour much
satisfaction to shoot him dead on the spot; a punishment that would not
be so certain with the weapons in my own hands, or in Lazaro's. And
before I could bring my cross-bow from my back, it is possible the knave
might have another opportunity to do us mischief."
"In this matter also," said Amador good-humouredly, "I will follow thy
instructions. But, I give thee warning, there is something in the
feeling of my hauberk under this raging sun, that admonishes me how soon
my brain would seethe, as in a stew-pan, under the cover of a steel
helmet. Wherefore I will have thee carry that in thine own hands, until,
from the change of atmosphere, or the appearance of an enemy, I may see
fit to alter my resolution."
"I have ever found," said Baltasar, with the pertinacity of age, and,
perhaps, of a favourite, "that, under a broiling sun, a well-polished
casque of metal is something cooler than a cloth cap; a fact, the reason
for which I do not myself understand, and which I should esteem too
marvellous for belief, had I not oft-times put it to the proof."
"There is even much truth in what thou art saying," quoth the cavalier,
"and I have perhaps philosophy enough to explain the marvel to thee, but
that I know philosophy is not much to thy liking. There must be a cold
head, however, under the bright cap; otherwise, and with a brain as
inflammable as my own, I am very well convinced that bright steel would
be just as ignitible as dull iron." And so saying, he again bestrode the
champing Fogoso.
"It must be as your honour says," muttered the man-at-arms. "But, as we
are all as well prepared now to begin our journey as we will be
to-morrow, I would fain know of your favour whither lies our path, or
where lags the jackanapes that is to guide us? I heard some talk in the
caravel of a great troop of horse and foot, that was to accompany us;
but unless it may have been the herd of vagabonds, who, a full hour
since, took up their march along the sands, I know not where to look for
them among these few tinkers and sailors that are strolling yonder among
the huts of bamboo."
"I have much reliance on the friendship and courtesy of my cousin, the
admiral," said Amador hastily; "but I must confess, that, saving the
appearance of yonder bridled horse, (which may be in waiting for the
officer he told me of,) it looks very much, now, as if he had left me to
mine own guidance. Nay, I wrong the worthy senor," he cried quickly, as
turning with some doubt and indignation towards the ship, he beheld a
boat leave her, and approach the shore with all the speed of oars; "the
guide he promised me is, without doubt, in that barge; and the bridled
horse, which, as I can perceive even at this distance, is none of the
bravest, is the beast whereon he will keep us company."
As Amador conjectured, the boat contained his promised companion, who
instantly sprang upon the beach and on the caparisoned animal, and in a
few moments was at the side of the cavalier. He was young and handsome,
an adult in stature, but scarcely a man in deportment, for as he removed
his cap to make the obeisance of an inferior, there was a strong
tincture of confusion and trepidation in his countenance. This was
perhaps owing, in part, to a consciousness of having merited a reprimand
for over-delay, and in part also to his suddenly finding himself
confronted with so warlike a personage as the neophyte. Amador of the
caravel was a different person from Amador armed and mounted; and,
indeed, as he sat on his noble bay, mailed and sworded, and with two
goodly armsmen at his back, he was such a martial figure as might have
moved an older messenger to reverence.
"Senor caballero," said the youth, with a stammering voice, "my master
and patron, the admiral, has appointed me, his secretary, to be your
guide to the Indian city Zempoala; and I have to beg your pardon, if,
waiting for the letters wherewith it was his excellency's will to charge
me, and to make some needful preparation of my own, I have detained your
favour somewhat longer than was agreeable."
"I am ever bound to thank his excellency," said Amador; "and as I well
suppose, your own preparations had some weighty relation to the business
you have in charge, I will not take it upon me to express any
dissatisfaction with your delay."
"In truth," said the secretary, ingenuously, "I was loath to depart
without such armour about me as should beseem the attendant of a true
cavalier; in the fitting of which I fell into some perplexity, as not
finding a corselet that did not, in some manner, incommode my ribs; and
besides, the sabres were all so unwieldy and rough about the hilts, I
was in some despair I should never find one to my liking."
"Senor secretario," said Amador, with a smile of good-humoured contempt,
surveying the youth, and observing the cuirass chosen with no discretion
and donned without skill, "I am of opinion, that in the company of
myself and my attendants, you will find no occasion for such troublesome
apparel; and it is my advice, grounded on your admission of inexperience
in such matters, that, should we, on our march, be beset by any enemies,
you take post instantly behind my veteran Baltasar, whose broad breast
will stand you in greater stead than your ill-chosen cuirass, and whose
arm will do you better service than the sabre in your own hands."
"Senor," said the youth, colouring, "I am no soldier nor cavalier; I
have ever had my breast more bruised by the scribe's table than the
weight of a breast-plate, and my fingers have heretofore known more of
the goose-quill than the sword. Nevertheless I am both willing and
desirous to be placed where the knowledge of weapons may be obtained,
and to encounter such risks as are the helpers to knowledge. It was from
no lack of beseeching on mine own part, that his excellency has
heretofore denied me permission to try my fate among the cavaliers
ashore; nor should I have hoped that pleasure so early, but that I found
his excellency was bent to do you honour, by making a confidential
servant your attendant, and was therefore easily persuaded to give me
the opportunity I have so long coveted, of looking a little into the
strange sights of this marvellous land."
"I am to understand then," said Amador gravely, "that his excellency,
the admiral, has entrusted the charge of guiding me to Zempoala to an
individual who has never before put foot on the wilderness that divides
us from it?"
"It is true, senor," said the secretary, "that I have never been to
Zempoala. But I hope your favour will not doubt me for that reason, nor
take offence at the admiral. I am enjoined to conduct you to the
reinforcement that set out an hour ago. Its tracks are plain enough
along the beach; and as it is composed principally of footmen, there is
no doubt we will overtake it before another hour has elapsed. I am
confident I can lead your favour without difficulty to the party; among
which are guides well acquainted with the country."
"Let us set out then, in heaven's name," said the cavalier: "the day is
wasting apace; the sun climbs high in the vault; and the sooner we are
sheltered from its fury among some of yonder distant forests, the better
will it be for us. St. John be our guide, and the Holy Virgin favour
us.--Amen! Let us depart."