Some two hours or more after he had been discharged from the presence of
the Captain-General, Juan Lerma sat musing in one of the many hundred
chambers which composed the vast extent of the palace of Nezahualcojotl,
a different being from that the reader beheld him returning from exile.
The coarse _tilmaltli_, or native cloak, and the barbarous tunic, had
been exchanged for raiment of a better material and fashion, a part of
which,--the _bragas_ and _xaqueta_, at least--were from the wardrobe of
the general, while modesty, or reluctance to accept any further of such
assistance than was absolutely necessary, had induced him to substitute
for the plain but costly _capa_, or mantle, of velvet, the long surcoat
of black cloth, very richly embroidered, which had, as he was told,
accompanied the suit of armour, sent by his unknown friend. This
valuable and well-timed gift lay upon a platform beside his matted and
canopied couch, shining brilliantly in the light which a waxen candle
diffused throughout the apartment. He sat upon a native stool, carved of
a solid block of wood, and his fine countenance and majestic figure,
besides the advantages they received from becoming garments, appeared
even of a more elevated beauty, when seen by this solitary ray.
His only companion was the dog Befo, whose shaggy coat, yet gleaming
with moisture, betrayed that he had shared with the young man his
evening bath in the lake. The attachment of this beast was much more
natural than remarkable. Five years before, when Juan was but a boy in
Santo Domingo, Befo had been his playmate and companion;--had followed
him to Cuba, when the youth began to weary of dependence, and long for a
life of activity and distinction; and was finally presented by the
grateful adventurer to Cortes, as the only gift in his power to bestow;
for, at that time, saving his youth, health, and good spirits, Befo made
up the sum of his worldly possessions. In the change of masters,
however, Befo did not trouble himself to acquiesce; nor did he perceive
any necessity, while treating Cortes with all surly good-will and
respect, to abate a jot of his love for the hand which had first
sustained and caressed him. The dog is the only animal that shows
disinclination to be transferred from one master to another. The horse
cares not, the ox submits, and man makes no opposition. The dog has a
will of his own, and acknowledges no change of servitude, until
conscious of a change of affection.
The stirring and harassing events of the day, though they had exhausted
the spirit of the youth, had yet brought with exhaustion that nervous
irritableness which drives away slumber from the eyes of the over-weary.
Twice or thrice, Juan had flung himself on the couch to repose, but in
vain; and as he now sat questioning himself how far the substitution of
soft mats and robes for a bed of earth, might account for his inability
to sleep, he began to revolve in his mind, for the twentieth time, his
change of fortunes, and wonder at the inauspicious, and, as it seemed to
him, unnatural sadness, which oppressed his spirits.
"I have been restored," he muttered, half aloud,--and, as he spoke,
Befo, roused by the accents from the floor, thrust his rough head over
his knees, to testify his attention,--"I have been restored to favour,
and, in great part, to the friendship of the General.--Thou whinest,
Befo! I would I could read the heart of a man as clearly as thine.--Yet
has he not distinguished me with a high command,--a captain's? I trow,
it is not every one who can so soon step into this dignity, especially
when without the recommendation of birth, as Alvarado hinted.--I will
show this proud cavalier, that God does not confine all merit to
hidalgos' sons. If he give me but a capable force--Twenty foot and six
horse?--'tis but a weak array for a field where eighty men have
perished. Yet I care not: if I have but Xicotencal to back me, with some
two or three _xiquipils_[9] of his Tlascalans, it will be enough. If I
fall,--perhaps _that_ will be better: I am too faint-hearted for these
wars. Villafana says, that he brands the prisoners too, and sells them
for slaves. This is surely unjust--He was another man at Cuba."
[Footnote 9: _Xiquipil_--a military division of natives, consisting of
eight thousand men.]
At this moment, the dog raised his head and growled, and Juan heard
steps approaching through the long passage, that ran by his door. Here
they stopped, and Befo continuing to give utterance to his displeasure,
the voice of Villafana whispered through the curtain,
"Put thy hand on the beast's neck, or box him o' the ears--He is no
friend of mine."
"Enter," said Juan, "if thou art seeking me. He will do thee no harm."
"Ay, marry," said Villafana, coming in; "for at the worst, and when
other things fail, I will stop him with my dudgeon, be he Cortes's,
thine, or any one's else. It stirs my choler to be growled at by so base
a thing as a dog."
"Put up thy weapon, nevertheless," said Juan, observing that Villafana
had a poniard in his hand; "thou seest, the dog is quiet. In this he
pays me the compliment of supposing I can protect myself. What is thy
will with me, Villafana?"
"First," said the Alguazil, with a laugh, "to give thee my
congratulations touching thy sudden rise from the abyss, and thy
meditated flight heaven-ward. And, secondly," he continued, when Juan
had nodded his thanks, "to ask, in the way of friendship, from how high
a cliff thou canst tumble headlong, without danger of breaking thy
neck?"
"This is but a silly question, friendly though it may be," replied Juan.
"Oh, senor," said Villafana, "you must remember, the first night we
slept with the army, at the base of El Volcan, the mighty Popocatepetl,
how much we admired the great stones, that the devils therein flung up
against the stars! You nod again: good luck to your recollections! Did
you observe any one of those ignited masses stick against the vault, and
there hang among the luminaries?"
"Surely not," said Juan; "those that fell not immediately back into the
crater, rolled down among the snows on the mountain-side, and were there
extinguished."
"Very well, senor--When you are mounted, you can remember the
fire-stones, and make your choice whether to tumble back into the fire
of wrath, that now sends you upward, or to quench yourself for ever in
the frozen bed of degradation.--You go to Tochtepec?"
"I do," said Juan, somewhat angrily; "and I warn thee, thy malicious
metaphors will not make me less grateful for the kindness that sends
me."
"God rest you--it were better you had accepted the embassy to
Guatimozin."
"Hah!" said Juan, "how knowest thou of this? It was spoken only in
secret council?"
"Oh," said Villafana, with a second laugh, "if thou wilt but scratch on
one end of a long log, be sure I will hear it at the other. There is
something more in the world than magic."
He spoke with marked exultation; indeed Juan had already observed that
his carriage was freer and bolder than common, and that he bore himself
like a man who cares not wholly to conceal a triumph of spirit, which he
thinks it not needful altogether to divulge.
"Harkee, senor Don Juan," he went on, abruptly and inquisitively, "thou
art good friends with Xicotencal?"
"So far as a Christian man can be with one, who, though a very noble
being, is yet a misbeliever."
"And thou wert sworn friends, at Mexico, with the young prince,
Guatimozin?"
"Not so," said Juan: "the young man kept aloof from us all, being of the
hostile party; and there was scarce one of us who had ever seen his
face. I must confess, however, if I can believe Techeechee, that my
preservation in the expedition was owing to his good act; for Techeechee
avers, that it was through Guatimozin's good will that he was sent with
me, to secure me from the death which was designed for all the rest of
the party."
"Designed? dost thou allow it then?" cried the Alguazil, quickly.
"Ay," replied Juan, dryly; "designed by the Mexican lords, but not by
Christian leaders."
"And art thou not sorry thou wert not despatched to him as envoy?"
"Why need we talk of this?" said Juan, hesitating. "Guatimozin the king,
may be different from Guatimozin the prince."
"He is not _yet_ the king," said Villafana. "He will not be crowned till
the day of the great war-festival, and not then, unless he can furnish a
Spaniard for the sacrifice. I'faith, he loves not the blood of his red
neighbours."
"Villafana," said Juan, struck with certain uneasy suspicions, "thou
seemest better acquainted with these things than becomes a true follower
of Don Hernan."
"Not a whit, not a whit," cried the Alguazil, hastily: "this is but the
common talk,--the common talk, senor; and I am but a fool to indulge in
it, to the prejudice of other business more urgent. Come, senor,--will
you walk in the garden? There is a friend to speak with you."
"What friend?" said Juan.--"Villafana, I half suspect you are engaged in
some foul work. I will have naught to do with it."
"Lo you now," said the Alguazil, impatiently; "this is wild work. Do you
think I will assassinate you? Ho! this is a thing thy best friend would
entrust to another. Come, senor;--you have your rapier,--you can take
your casque, too, if you have any fear. It is a friend, who has that to
say which it concerns your life to know. You know not your danger. God
be with you, and your blood be upon your own head! If you refuse, you
will not repent you:--no, faith--you will not have time left for
lamentation.--Farewell, senor,--"
"Stay, Villafana," exclaimed Juan, much disturbed: "Friend or foe,--it
is not that which stays me, but the fear of being entrapped into
something more to be dreaded than death. Thou art a schemer; it is thy
nature: I will have nothing to do with thy plots, or with those who--"
"Pho! this concerns thyself alone, not me. My only plot is to help one
who desires to drag thee out of the fire thou art so bent to burn in. I
take you to your friend, and depart: I have other things to occupy me. I
am but a messenger. Will you go? I must give you a token then.--You have
not forgotten Hilario?"
At these words, muttered under breath, Juan started and turned pale,
exclaiming, "Saints and angels! and heaven forbid! Mine ears did not
then deceive me? Oh wo to us all! Alas for thine ill news! Have I not
pain enough of mine own?"
As he spoke, with a trembling voice, Villafana handed him his cap and
sword, saying, as he put into his hand the latter, which was a light
rapier,
"A good blade! and has hung at Don Hernan's girdle.--Leave the dog
behind: he will but set up his cursed growling, and so bring upon you
some one who may not relish the meeting."
"It is true, then?" cried Juan, with tones and aspect of the greatest
distress: "So fair, so young, so noble, so fallen!"
"Back, cur! thick-lips! Befo!" cried the Alguazil, as the two left the
chamber.--"He grumbles at me, as if to say _Ehem_, with disdain. Command
him thyself: he is a superfluous companion."
The young man waved his hand to Befo; at which signal Befo threw himself
upon his haunches, looking after Juan till he beheld him issue from the
long passage into the open air. Then rising, with the air of a servant
who understands his duty much better even than his master, he followed
slowly after the pair into the garden.