On the following morning, it was known to all the garrison, that they
were, at night, to depart from Tenochtitlan. The joy, however, that
might have followed the announcement, was brief; for, at the same moment
that the exhausted Christians were roused from slumber and bidden to
prepare, the warders sent down word from the turrets, that their enemies
were again approaching. The shrewdest of all could perceive no other
mode of retreat than by cutting their way through the besiegers; and it
required but little consideration in the dullest, to disclose the
manifold dangers of such an expedient. They manned the walls and the
court-yard, therefore, with but little alacrity, and awaited the
Mexicans in sullen despair.
But Don Hernan, quick to perceive, and resolute to employ the subtle
devices of another, had not forgotten the words of Botello, when that
worthy counselled him to make such use of Montezuma and his children, as
had been made of the golden apples, by Hippomenes, when contending in
the race with the daughter of Schoeneus.
The Mexicans advanced, as usual, with whistling and shouts, filling the
square with uproar; and, as usual, the cannoniers stood to their pieces,
and the Tlascalans to their spears; but before a dart had been yet
discharged, those who looked down from the battlements, beheld a funeral
procession issue from the court-yard.
A bier, constructed rudely of the handles of partisans, but its rudeness
in a measure concealed by the rich robes of state flung over it, was
borne on the shoulders of six native nobles, all of them of high degree
in Tenochtitlan. It supported the body of the emperor, which was covered
only by the tilmatli, leaving the countenance exposed to view. The royal
sandals were on his feet, and the copilli, with the three sceptres, lay
upon his breast. The pagan priest in his sable garment, his face covered
by the cowl, and his head bending so low, that his hideous locks swept
the earth, stepped upon the square, chanting a low and mournful requiem;
and the bearers, stalking slowly and sorrowfully under their burden,
followed after.
The murmurs were hushed in the palace; and the square, so lately filled
with the savage shouts of the enemy, became suddenly as silent as the
grave. The monotonous accents of the priest were alone heard, conveying
to the Mexicans, in the hymn that ushered a spirit into the presence of
the deities, the knowledge of the death of their king.
For awhile, the barbarians stood in stupid awe; but, at last, as the
train approached them, and they perceived with their own eyes the
swarthy features of their monarch fixed in death, they uttered a cry of
grief, low indeed, and rather a moan than a lament, but which, being
caught and continued by the voices of many thousand men, was heard in
the remotest parts of the city. They parted before the corse of one, to
whom, before the days of his degradation, they had been accustomed to
look as to an incarnate divinity. They fell upon their knees, and bowed
their faces to the earth, as he was carried through them; and again the
Spaniards beheld the impressive spectacle, of a great multitude
prostrate in the dust, as if in the act of adoration.
When the bearers and the body were alike concealed from their view, the
Mexicans rose, and turning towards the palace, brandished their weapons
with fierce gestures, and many exclamations of hatred, against the
destroyers of their king. For a moment, Cortes doubted if his expedient
had not served rather to increase, than to divert, the fury of his
opponents; and he beckoned from his stand on the terrace, to the
cannoniers, to prepare their matches. But an instant after, he revoked
the command: the Mexicans were retiring; a great army was suddenly
converted into a funeral train, and thus they departed from the square,
after the body of their ruler, without striking a blow at the invader.
This circumstance reassured the garrison; and the prospect of speedy
release from intolerable suffering and from destruction, wrought such a
change over all, that visages, emaciated by famine, and haggard from
despair, were lit up with smiles; and songs and laughter re-echoed
through chambers, which, but the night before, had resounded with
prayers, groans, and curses. Nothing was now thought of but the bread
and fruits of Tlascala, the mines and fandangos of Cuba; and many a
sedate and sullen veteran clapped his hands with a sudden joy, as he
bethought him of the urchins sporting in the limpid Estero, or climbing
the palm that grew at his cabin door. Escape from the miseries which
had environed them, and the privilege to discourse for life of the
marvels of Tenochtitlan,--of the beauty of its valleys, the magnificence
of its cities, the wealth of its rulers, the ferocious valour of its
citizens,--to wondering listeners, were the only offsets thought of to
the many labours, sufferings, and risks of the campaign. The little
property amassed by each--the share of Montezuma's presents, and the
spoils stripped from the dead, were stored, along with such trifles as
might add the interest of locality to legends of battle, in the sacks of
the soldiers. All made their preparations, and all made them in hope.
The only melancholy men in the palace, that day, were Cortes and Don
Amador de Leste. The latter remembered his knight, falling ingloriously
and alone on the causeway; and the general pondered over the griefs of
defeated ambition.
But whatever were the pangs of Don Hernan, he forgot not the duties of a
general. Besides other precautions, he caused his carpenters to
construct a portable bridge of sufficient strength to support the weight
of his heaviest artillery, and yet, not so ponderous but that it might
be carried on the shoulders of some half a hundred strong men. This he
provided, fearing lest the barbarians had destroyed the bridges not only
of the great dike of Iztapalapan, but of that of Tacuba, on which it was
his determination to attempt his flight, and which, running westward
from the island, was, as has been intimated, but two miles in length.
In accordance with the advice of the necromancer, the hour of departing
was put off until midnight,--a period of time which had the double
advantage of being recommended by Botello, and of ensuring the least
molestation. Each individual, therefore, made his preparations, and
looked forward to that hour.
The melancholy that oppressed the spirits of the neophyte, was so great,
that he betrayed little curiosity either to acquaint himself with the
events which had occurred during his captivity, or even to inquire
further into the mysterious knowledge and acts of the page. But, however
indisposed to conversation, he could not resist the attentions of De
Morla. From him he learned the imputation he had cast on the valour and
gratitude of Alvarado; a charge which the novice removed, by
magnanimously confessing, that his own indiscretion had carried him
beyond the reach of Don Pedro, who should be in no wise held accountable
for his misfortune. He heard with more interest, and even smiled with
good-natured approbation, at the story of Fabueno's fortune; but a frown
darkened on his visage, when De Morla pictured the anger and domineering
fury of the Tonatiuh; and this was not diminished, when his friend
confessed himself the champion of the secretary, announced that Cortes
had sanctioned the quarrel, and claimed of him the offices of a friend.
"If blood must be shed in this quarrel," he said, "it must be apparent
to you, my very noble and generous friend, (for, surely, your kindness
to Lorenzo merits this distinction,)--it must be apparent, I say, that I
am he who is called upon to shed it. The youth is my own follower; for
which reason, I am bound to give him protection, and support him in all
his just rights, whereof one, I think, is to love any woman who may
think fit to give him her affections, whether she be a princess or
peasant. I must, therefore, after repeating to thee my thanks for thy
very distinguished generosity, require thee to yield up thy right to do
battle with Don Pedro, if battle must, indeed, be done,--though I have
hopes that his good sense will enforce him to surrender the maid,
without the necessity of bloodshed."
"I cannot yield to thee, hermano mio," said De Morla, quickly; "for
there is deadly feud betwixt the Tonatiuh and myself; and were he to
fight thee a dozen times over, still should he, of a necessity, measure
weapons with me."
"It doth not appear to me, how this difference can call for more than
one combat; and, as I have told thee, I think it can be composed,
provided thou allowest me to assume thy place, entirely without
conflict."
"Know thou, my friend," said De Morla, "that I have already, in the
matter of thy fall and capture, at the fight of the manta, charged
Alvarado with many terms of opprobrium and insult; for which reason, a
duello has become very inevitable."
"Having already heard from myself," said Don Amador, with gravity, "that
Don Pedro cannot justly incur reproach for my mishap, thou canst do
nothing else, as a true cavalier, but instantly withdraw thy charges,
and make him the reparation of apology; after which, there will remain
no need of enmity."
"Thou speakest the truth!" said De Morla, impetuously; "and I am but a
knave, to have said, or even thought, except at the moment when I was
grieved and imbittered by thy supposed death, that Don Pedro could
demean himself, in any battle, like a craven. I freely avow, and will
justly bear witness, that he is a most unexceptionable cavalier. So far,
I am impelled to pronounce by simple veracity. But yet is there mortal,
though concealed, feud betwixt us."
The neophyte looked on his friend with surprise; seeing which, De Morla
took him by the arm, and said, with great heat,--
"I have come to hear, by an accident, that Don Pedro did once, ('tis now
many months ago,) in the wantonness of his merriment, fling certain
aspersions upon the innocence of Benita; a crime that I could not have
forgiven even in thee, amigo querido, hadst thou been capable of such
baseness. I now confess to thee, without having divulged the same to any
one else, that this circumstance did greatly inflame my anger, and that,
from that moment, I have sought out some means to quarrel with Alvarado,
and so slay him, without involving the fame of Minnapotzin: for it is
clear to me, as it must be to any lover, who doth truly reverence his
mistress, that to associate her name with a quarrel, would be at once to
darken it with the shadow of suspicion. If I should say to Alvarado,
'Thou hast maligned my mistress, thou cur, and therefore I will fight
thee,' then should he, for the credit of his honour, aver that he spoke
the truth; and whether he lived or died, the maiden should still be the
sufferer. I have, therefore, resolved, that my cause of vengeance shall
be concealed; and thou wilt see that the present pretext is the
honourable cloak I have been so long seeking. This I confess to thee;
but I adjure thee to keep my counsel."
There was a degree of lofty delicacy and disinterestedness in this
revealment, which chimed so harmoniously with the refined honour of Don
Amador, that he grasped De Morla's hand, and, instead of opposing
further remonstrance, assured him, both of his approval and his
determination to aid him, as a true brother in arms, in the conflict.
"But how comes it, my friend," he demanded, with a faint smile, "thou
darest look so far into futurity, for such employment? Hast thou forgot
the prophecy of Botello? Methinks, to be fulfilled at all, the
consummation should come shortly; for, with this night, we finish the
war in Mexico."
"For a time, senor mio," said De Morla. "Though the griefs of Montezuma
be over, (heaven rest his soul, for he was the father of Minnapotzin!)
the pangs of his race are not yet all written. I will abide with Don
Hernan; and if Botello do not lie, thou shalt yet see me sleep on the
pyramid."
"Heaven forbid!" cried Amador. "I would rather thou wouldst follow mine
own resolutions, and, for once, show Botello that he hath cast a wrong
figure."
"Dost thou mean to desert us?"
"My kinsman sleeps in the lake," said the novice, sadly; "the tie that
bound me to this fair new world is therefore broken. In mine own heart,
I have no desires to fight longer with these infidels, who cannot
injure the faith of Christ, nor invade the churches of Christendom. The
Turks are a better enemy for a true believer; and, if I put not up my
sword altogether, it shall be drawn, hereafter, on them. The little
page, whom I have, by a miracle, recovered, I will convey with me to
Cuenza, after having, in like manner, recovered his father, (a very
noble Morisco,) or been otherwise assured of his death. I would greatly
persuade thee, having made the princess thy wife, to follow with me to
thy native land. 'My castle lies on Morena's top,'--" continued the
cavalier, insensibly falling upon the melody of the Knight and the Page,
and beginning to muse on the singer, and to mutter, "Surely Jacinto is
the most wonderful of boys!"
"My patrimony is worn out," said De Morla, without regarding the sudden
revery of his friend; "and I give it to my younger brothers. By peace or
war, somehow or other, this land of Mexico will be, one day, conquered;
and, then, a principality in Anahuac will count full as nobly as a
sheep-hill in Castile. I abide by Don Hernan. But let us be gone to the
treasury: I hear the ingots chinking, and thou hast not yet looked upon
our spoils."
The exchequer thus alluded to, and to which De Morla speedily conducted
his friend, was the sleeping apartment of the general. Of the wealth
that was there displayed,--the stores of golden vessels and of precious
stones, as well as of ingots melted from the tribute-dust long since
wrung from the unhappy Montezuma,--it needs not to speak. The whole
treasury of an avaricious king, a predecessor of the late captive,
walled up in former days, and discovered by a happy chance, was there
displayed among the meaner gleanings of conquest. An hundred men, as Don
Amador entered, were grasping at the glittering heaps, while the voice
of Don Hernan was heard gravely saying,--
"The king's fifth, here partitioned and committed to the trust of his
true officers, we must defend with our lives; but while granting to all
Christian men in this army, free permission to help themselves here as
they like, I solemnly warn them of the consequences, should we, as
mayhap my fear may prove true, be attacked this night, while making our
way through the city. The richest man shall thereby purchase the
quickest death.--The wise soldier will leave these baubles, till we come
back again to reclaim them. This night, I will insure the life of none
who carries too rich a freight in his pockets."
He spoke with a serious emphasis, and some of the older veterans,
raising their heads, and eyeing his countenance steadfastly for a
moment, flung down the riches they had grasped, and silently retired
from the apartment. But many others bore about their persons a prince's
ransom.