Then followed another period of silence and dejection, in which the
prisoner wasted away as much in body as in spirit, becoming so
listlessly indifferent to everything, that he no longer betrayed any
desire to draw Najara into conversation, nor even to meet the advances
which his jailer now often made. The thought of escaping from
confinement, perhaps, never entered his mind; for, had he been even less
resigned to his fate, the strict watch kept over him, and the condition
of his prison, added to his apparent friendlessness, must have been
enough to banish all such thoughts. His chamber was neither dark nor
damp, but made strong by its bulky door, barred on the outside, and by
windows, high above the floor, so very narrow that no human being could
hope to pass through them.
Narrow as they were, however, it was the jailer's custom to examine them
very closely each morning; a degree of vigilance that Juan had, in the
earlier days of captivity, remarked with some surprise. He became
acquainted with Najara's object at last. One morning, he was roused out
of his stupefaction by a harsh exclamation from his jailer, and looking
up, he beheld him take from the floor, immediately under one of the
loopholes, what seemed a slip of paper, tied to a little stick, which
appeared, some time during the night, to have been thus thrust into the
prison. What were its contents he never could divine; for Najara had no
sooner cast his eyes over it, than mingling a laugh of satisfaction at
its miscarriage with some natural compassion for the profound
wretchedness which had sealed the ears and eyes of the prisoner, he
immediately departed with the prize.
From this time, Juan became more vigilant and wary; but the following
night, he was admonished, by the clank of armour and the occasional
sound of voices without, that sentinels were now stationed under the
windows, thus precluding all hope of friendly communication from that
quarter.
Before he had again entirely relapsed into his listless gloom, he began
to have a vague consciousness that the Indian slave, who accompanied
Najara, was becoming more officious than of old, in setting his meals
before him, and particularly in placing the jar of water at his side,
instead of depositing it on his table, as he had done before. His
suspicion was confirmed, when, one morning, as Najara was making his
wonted survey of the windows, the slave gave him a quick, impatient
look, and shaking the jar as he set it down, made him sensible, by a
rattling sound within it, that there was something besides the innocent
element concealed at the bottom. As soon as Najara had departed, he made
an examination of the mystery, and drew forth, with some astonishment, a
plate of transparent obsidian, on which had been scratched by some hard
instrument or precious stone, a few words which he was soon able to
decypher. "If thou wilt leave Mexico, and live, take the stone from the
pitcher."
He strode about the apartment for a moment in disorder; then, crushing
the glassy temptation under his heel, and returning the fragments to the
jar, he sat down again to brood over his despair.--The next morning the
pitcher contained nothing but water.
Thus, then, the time passed away, in the ordinary listlessness of
confinement,--the dull and sleepy torture of solitude; until Najara,
waxing more compassionate as his prisoner grew more obviously
indifferent to light, to food, and to speech, bethought him of a mode of
indulgence from which no danger could be apprehended, and accordingly
introduced the dog Befo into the apartment.
The loud yells of joy with which Befo beheld his young master, recalled
Juan from his lethargy; and Najara was touched still further with
compunction at the sight of the animal's transports.
"He has been whining every day at the prison gate," he muttered; "and
doubtless he would have whined full as much, though he were to be let in
only to be beaten. Such a fond fool is this young Juan himself: he
returns to his master, though he knows the scourge is ready. It were
better he had taken my advice, and passed to the sea by Otumba: He
should have known Cortes would never forgive him."
The presence of this faithful animal, if it did not recall Juan's
spirits, at least preserved him from sinking further into stupefaction;
and nothing gave him more evident delight, than when, each morning,
having prevailed upon Najara to lead his dumb companion into the air for
exercise, he could hear Befo, in the joy of a liberty which he did not
share, dashing frantically through the garden, now coursing by the
water-side, now prancing by the palace, and, all the time, yelping and
barking with the most clamorous delight. From these daily sorties the
dog was used to return, with fresh spirits and increased attachment, to
share, for the remainder of the day, the confinement of his master, upon
whom, at his entrance, he jumped and fawned almost as boisterously as
when enjoying his sports in the garden.
One day, however, he returned with a much graver aspect than usual, and
stalking up to where Juan sat, he stood, wagging his tail, and gazing up
with a look exceedingly knowing and significant. Somewhat surprised at
this, and finding that Befo refused, even when invited, to begin his
usual rough expressions of friendship, he took him by the leathern
collar, by which the servants of Cortes had been wont to secure him at
night, and pulled him towards him. The motion of the collar released a
little packet, that had been carefully secured beneath it, and which now
fell upon Juan's knee. As soon as the sagacious animal perceived that he
had accomplished a task, not often committed to such a messenger, he
returned to his usual demonstrations of satisfaction; and, for a moment,
Juan was unable to examine the singular missive. When Befo became
composed, he opened it, and read, with no little agitation, the
following words: "Not for _me_, but for thyself.--There is but a day
more to choose. Leave Mexico, and shed not thine own blood: make not thy
friends curse thee.--Return but a fragment of the paper, or tie but a
hair round the collar,--and thou shalt be saved.--Not for _me_, but for
_thyself_."
The morning came, and Juan, taking the paper from his bosom, tore it to
pieces. When Najara offered as usual to liberate the dog, he perceived
that Juan held him fast by the collar.
"How now, senor, shall the dog play?"
"It is cruel to rob him of his hour's liberty," said Juan, with a
subdued voice; "but, this day, suffer him to remain with me."
"Well, senor, as you will," said Najara; "but I would you had some
better friend,--at least, some one who could counsel you. There are
runners arrived from the northern towns; and, at midday, Cortes will
march into the city."
"The better reason, then, that I should have this friend, who have no
other," said Juan, calmly.
"Harkee, senor," said Najara, with a sort of petulant sympathy, "if you
would but curse yourself and your foes, or bemoan your fate a little, I
should like it better than this stupid, womanish resignation.--Hark
ye,--I care not if I tell you: I thought you had come athwart the
fancies of Don Hernan, in the matter of the Dona, not that Don Hernan
had wronged your own: I knew not that there was any old love between
you."
"What art thou speaking of, Najara?" said Juan, with a hasty and
troubled voice.
"This does, in some sense, weaken the sin of drawing sword upon him,"
continued the hunchback, "for no man loves to be robbed of his
mistress.--Well,--the senora is sorry for you.--She thought to bribe me
to let her speak with you.--Bribe me!--And yet I pitied her, for she was
sorely distressed."
"For God's sake," exclaimed Juan, in extreme suffering, "speak me not a
word of her; let me not hear her name."
"Well, be not cast down; she has much power with the general, and,
doubtless, she will plead for you. Well, fare you well.--I did think to
let Cortes know of her acts: but that might harden him against you still
more.--Why should I waste thought upon him," muttered the deformed as he
passed from the prison. "It is hard, or it seems hard, that heaven
should give up a frame so beauteous and majestical, to be marred by the
hangman's axe or rope, and leave a deformed lump like me, to scare
little Indian girls and boys, and to be jibed at by all the craven loons
of the army. But this is naught: if I am crooked, I am neither fool,
traitor, nor coward, as most others are, in one degree or other, and
sometimes in all."
As Najara had foretold, the army returned to Tezcuco about noon, as was
made evident to Juan, by the sound of trumpets and cannon, and other
warlike noises of rejoicing; which, continuing to fill the city for many
hours, came to his ears like the tumult of a distant storm, and began to
die away, only when the last twinkle of sunset, shooting through his
narrow windows, had faded from the opposite wall.