Gloom and fear still beset the garrison at the palace of Axajacatl; and
the mutiny of soldiers, and fierce feuds among the cavaliers, were added
to other circumstances of distress. Those ancient veterans, who had
followed Don Hernan, from the first day of invasion, and who had shared
with him so many privations and perils, were, in general, still true to
their oaths of obedience, and preserved through all trials, an apparent,
if not a real composure of spirit, as well as a firm reliance on the
wisdom of their leader. But the followers of Narvaez, uninured to
combat, and but lately acquainted with suffering--their sanguine
expectations of conquest without danger, and of wealth without labour,
changed to a mere hope of disgraceful escape, and that hope, as they all
felt, founded, not in reason, but imagination,--turned their murmurs
into the most bitter execrations, and these again into menaces. The
officers, too, rendered peevish by discontent, and reckoning each the
discomfiture of his neighbour as the evidence of feebleness or fear,
spoke to one another with sarcasms, and even sometimes to Don Hernan
himself with disrespect. The self-command of the general, however, never
deserted him; he rebuked insult with tranquil indignation, and so far
prevailed over his fiery subordinates, as to compose most of their
quarrels, without suffering them to be submitted to the ordeal of
honour. One feud had arisen, nevertheless, which his skill could not
allay; and all that he could effect by remonstrance, and even
supplication, was an agreement of the parties to postpone its final
arbitrement, until such time as the providence of heaven should conduct
them afar from Tenochtitlan. The wrath engendered in the bosom of the
Tonatiuh, by the angry reproaches of De Morla, after their return from
the battle of the Manta, had been inflamed by a new circumstance, which,
though of a trivial nature, the pride of Alvarado and the resentment of
his opponent had converted into an affair of importance.
There was among the many kinswomen of Montezuma, who shared his
captivity, (for the policy of the general had reduced nearly all the
royal blood to bonds,) a certain young maiden, a daughter of the lord of
Colhuacan, and therefore a niece of the king; who, in the general
partition which the nobler of the cavaliers had, in prospective, made of
the Indian princesses, had fallen to the lot of Alvarado. In those days
of legitimacy, there was some degree of divinity allowed to hedge the
person of even a barbaric monarch; and happy was the hidalgo, who, by
obtaining a royal maid for his wife, could rank himself, in imaginary
dignity, with the princes of Christendom. At the present moment, the
companions of Cortes had rather made their selections, than endeavoured
to commend themselves to the favour of their mistresses;--dropping,
thereby, so much of their reverence for royalty, as not to suppose the
existence of any will, or opposition, in the objects of their desire.
The Dona Engracia, (her native title has entirely escaped the
historians,) was, therefore, beloved by Don Pedro; but, not having been
made acquainted with the hidalgo's flame, she stooped, at the first
promptings of affection, to a destiny less brilliant and lofty. Her
heart melted at the handsome visage of the young Fabueno; and the
secretary, flattered by the love of so noble a maiden, and emboldened by
his success in arms, did not scruple to become the rival of the
Tonatiuh. The rage of Don Pedro would have chastised, in blood, the
presumption of such a competitor; but De Morla, remembering the novice,
did not hesitate, for his sake, to befriend his servant; and, when he
avowed himself the champion of Lorenzo, he dreamed that he was about to
avenge the fall of his brother-in-arms.
The result of this opposition to the humours of Alvarado, was a quarrel,
so fierce and unappeasable, that, as has been said, all which the
general could effect, was a postponement of conflict; and when Don Pedro
surrendered the princess to her plebeian lover, it was with the
assurance, that, as soon as the army had left the city and lake, he
should reckon her ransom out of the life-blood of his companion.
The discovery of the unfaithfulness of his betrothed, (for, in this
light did the cavaliers regard the captive princesses,) had been made
the preceding evening; and the angry contest of the cavaliers, and the
arrangements for combat, occurred at the moment while Don Amador was
lamenting the backwardness of his friends to support him, when he became
a captive.
To allay the heart-burnings of his officers, who had arrayed themselves,
according to their friendships, on either side, the general caused his
trumpets to sound, and bade all to prepare for an expedition of peril.
He had, all along, eyed the great pyramid, frowning over his fortress,
with peculiar anxiety. This was caused, in part, by his consciousness of
the advantage it would give his enemies, as soon as they should dare to
profane its sanctity, by making it the theatre of conflict. This very
morning, it was made apparent, by the presence of many barbarians
thronging up its sides, and by an occasional arrow or stone discharged
from its top, that the Mexicans were aware of its usefulness. In
addition to this cause for attempting to gain possession of it, the
leader was moved by a vague hope, that, once master of the holiest of
temples, he might obtain the same advantages, through the superstition
of his foes, which he had lately possessed, in the person of Montezuma,
through their reverence for the king. He meditated an assault, and
resolved to attempt it, before the pyramid should be covered with
Mexicans.
The strength of the army, both horse and foot, was straightway displayed
upon the square; and the war-worn Christians once more marched against
the triumphing infidel.
The knight of Calavar, sitting on his sable steed, with an air of more
life than was ordinary, appeared in this band; and the three
serving-men, with the secretary, followed at his back.