start a revolution," Rayburn said. "That's just the way I sized the
matter up, you know, as soon as I got down to the first facts. If they'd
had a decent sort of a fellow at the head of things, they might have
worked along so as to take a fresh start without fighting over it. But
this Priest Captain chap isn't that kind. He goes in for Boss management
and machine politics, I should judge from what the Colonel says, as
straight as if he was a New York alderman or the chairman of a State
campaign committee in Ohio. No doubt he's got a pretty big crowd back of
him; but that kind of a crowd don't amount to much in a fight, when
there's any sort of a show for the other side to win. It sort of gets
out of the way, and stands around with water on both shoulders, and
then, when one side begins to get pretty well on top--it don't matter
which--it says that that's the side it's been fighting with all along,
and begins to kick the fellows that are down. Where our chance comes in
is in having the respectable element, the solid men who pay taxes and
have an interest in decent government, to tie to. They may not pay taxes
here, but that's the kind I mean. And that kind, when it takes to
fighting, fights hard. Then there must be a lot of fathers with crippled
children, like the Colonel here, who are down on the Priest Captain the
worst kind, and will be only too glad of a chance to go for him; and
they can be counted on to stand in with us, and to fight harder than
anybody. I'll admit, Professor, that we're in a pretty tight place; but
it might be a good deal tighter, and I do honestly believe that we'll
get out of it."
"And so do I," said Young, "'specially now that I know that that burro
of Pablo's is part of a prophecy. I always did think that there was
style about El Sabio, any way, an' now I know what it comes from. When I
was a boy, th' one thing that used t' keep me quiet in church was
hearin' our minister read that story about Balaam and _his_ burro; but I
never thought then that I'd actually ketch up with a live ass that was
in the prophesyin' line of business for itself--or had prophecies made
about it, which is pretty much the same thing. T' be sure, this prophecy
don't come down t' dots quite as much as I'd like it to; but I s'pose
that that's th' way with 'em always--eh, Professor? Th' prophets sort o'
leave things at loose ends on purpose; so's they can run 'wild' on a
clear track, without any bother about schedule time or connections."
"Well, our burro lays over Balaam's," Rayburn struck in. "In that case
it took the combined arguments of an ass and an angel to convince Balaam
that he was off about his location, and was running his lines all wrong;
but, unless we count in Pablo, El Sabio is playing a lone hand; and I'm
sure that the Colonel's not fooling us about this prophecy business,
either. It's rubbish, of course; but that don't matter, so long as the
people here swallow it for the genuine thing. Just look at that old
fellow there. He's tumbled to it, and he's regularly knocked out."
We were close to the shore of the lake by this time, and as Rayburn
spoke we were passing a small house, in front of which was gathered a
group of Indians. In the midst of the group was a very old man, who
with out-stretched arm was pointing towards Pablo and El Sabio, and who
at the same time was talking to his companions in grave and earnest
tones. There was a look of awe upon his age-worn face, and as we fairly
came abreast of him he dropped upon his knees and raised his arms above
his head, as though in supplication to some higher power. The action,
truly, was a most impressive one; and even more strongly than we were
affected by it did it affect those who were clustered around him. In a
moment all in the group had fallen upon their knees and had raised their
arms upward; and then a low moaning, that presently grew louder and more
thrilling, broke forth among them as they gave vent to the feeling of
awful dread that was in their hearts.
"That's business, that is," Young said, in tones of great satisfaction.
"Those fellows do believe in th' prophecy, for a fact; and if th' folks
once get it fairly into their heads that th' time has come for their
rascally Priest Captain t' have an upset, that's a good long start for
our side towards upsettin' him. It was just everlastin'ly level-headed
in th' Colonel t' make Pablo ride El Sabio, and so regularly cram th'
thing down these critters' throats. I don't know how much of th'
prophecy he believes himself, but he's workin' it for all it's worth,
any way. There don't seem t' be any flies worth speakin' of on th'
Colonel--eh, Professor? And I guess that anybody who wants t' get up
earlier 'n th' mornin' than he does 'll have to make a start overnight."
By this time the road that we followed had come down to the lake-level,
and presently we reached the end of it, which was a well-built pier that
extended out from the shelving shore into deep water. Here a boat was in
waiting for us--a barge of near forty feet in length, with twenty men to
row it, and carrying also a mast, stepped well forward, so rigged as to
spread a sail that was a compromise between a lug and a lateen. There
was some little talk between the officer in charge of the barge and
Tizoc, and then the latter motioned us to go on board. The barge-master
gave the order to the guard to follow us, as though the command of the
party now had devolved upon him; and it seemed to us, from the close
group that the guard made around us in the boat, and from the anxious
looks which the barge-master cast upon us, that very strict orders must
have been given concerning keeping us closely in ward. Under these
circumstances, it caused us some little wonder that we were permitted to
retain our arms, until the thought occurred to me that these people,
having no knowledge of such things, did not at all realize that our
rifles and revolvers were arms at all. To test which theory I drew one
of my pistols--not violently, but as though this were something that I
was doing for my own convenience--and so held it in my hands that the
muzzle was pointed directly at the heart of the soldier who sat beside
me; yet beyond the interest that its odd shape, and the strange metal
that it was made of aroused in him, it was evident that the man regarded
my action entirely without concern. I drew the attention of Rayburn and
Young to what I was doing, and to how evident it was that fire-arms
were unknown to this people; and in their ignorance we found much cause
for satisfaction.
[Illustration: CHECKING YOUNG'S OUTBREAK]
"If they don't know enough to corral our guns," Young said, "we've got a
pretty good-sized piece of dead-wood on 'em. Th' way things are goin',
we may have a rumpus a'most any time, I s'pose; and if it does come to a
rumpus, they'll be a badly struck lot when we open on 'em. Robinson
Crusoe cleaned out a whole outfit of Indians with just an old flint-lock
musket; and I should say that we'd simply paralyze this crowd when we
all get goin' at once with our revolvers an' Winchesters. Isn't that
your idea of it, Rayburn?"
But Rayburn did not answer, for while Young was speaking he had taken
out his field-glass and was examining the city, to within three or four
miles of which we now were come. "Well, that _is_ a walled city, and no
mistake!" he said, as he lowered the glass from his eyes. "Take a look,
Professor. These people may be easy to fool when it comes to prophecies,
but when it comes to engineering and architecture they're sound all the
way through. Just look at the straightness of that wall running up the
hill, and how exact the alignment is of the two parts above and below
that ledge of rocks. They had to get that alignment, you know, by taking
fore-sights and back-sights from the top of the ledge; and I must say
that for people who haven't got far enough along in civilization to wear
trousers, it's an uncommonly pretty piece of work."
As I looked through the glass I was less impressed by this technical
detail, involving the overcoming of engineering difficulties which I did
not very thoroughly understand, than I was by the majestic effect
produced by the city as a whole, in conjunction with the site on which
it was reared. At this point the lake came close up to the vastly high
cliffs by which the valley everywhere was girt in, and here jutted out
from the cliff a great promontory of rock, whereof the highest part was
fully two hundred feet above the lake-level. For the accommodation of
the houses which everywhere were built upon it, the sloping face of this
promontory had been cut into broad terraces, of which the facings were
massive walls of stone; and the whole was enclosed by a wall of great
height and enormous thickness that swept out in an immense semicircle
from the face of the cliff, and thus shut in the terraced promontory and
also a considerable area of level land at the base of it between the
lowest terrace and the margin of the lake.
On the highest terrace, crowning and dominating the whole, was a
majestic building that seemed to be half temple and half fort--a square
structure, resting solidly against the face of the cliff, and thence
projecting a long way outward to where its façade was flanked by two
low, heavy, square towers. Architecturally, this building, unlike any
other of which I had knowledge in Mexico, saving only the temple that we
had found upon the lonely mountain-top, was pervaded by a distinctly
Egyptian sentiment. Its walls sloped inward from their bases, and no
trivial nor fretful lines weakened the effect of their massive dignity;
for the whole of the decoration upon them was a broad panelling that was
gained by a combination of heavy pilasters and a heavy cornice; and with
the exception of a central entrance, the front was unbroken by openings
of any kind. Possessing these characteristics, the building had about it
an air of solemnity that bordered closely upon gloom; and the obvious
solidity of its construction was such that it seemed destined to last on
through all coming ages in defiance of the assaults of time. There was
no need for me to question Tizoc; for I knew that what I beheld before
me, crowning with sombre grandeur this strange city, girded with such
prodigious walls, was the Treasure-house that Chaltzantzin, the Aztec
King, had builded in the dim dawning of a most ancient past.
Young took his turn in looking through the glass, and as he handed it to
Fray Antonio he said: "If at any time in th' course o' th' past few
weeks, Professor, you've got th' notion from any o' my talk that I
thought that dead friend o' yours, th' old monk, was a liar, I want t'
take it all back; and I want t' take back all that I've said about that
other dead friend o' yours, th' Cacique, havin' set up a job on us. It's
clear enough now that both o' your friends played an entirely square
game. They said that there was a walled city, an' there it is; they said
that there was a big Treasure-house, an' there _that_ is. They were
perfect gentlemen, Professor, and I want t' set myself right on th'
record by sayin' so. If one of 'em hadn't been dead for more than three
months, and if th' other one hadn't been dead for more than three
hundred years, and if they both were here, I'd knuckle under and ask 'em
t' take my hat."
XXI.
THE WALLED CITY OF CULHUACAN.
Our use in turn of the field-glass was a mysterious performance that
aroused keenly the barge-master's curiosity. I heard him ask Tizoc for
an explanation of it; and Tizoc, who also was much interested, referred
his question to me. Had I been dealing with Tizoc alone I should have
tried to make the matter clear to him; but in the case of the
barge-master, whose feeling towards us, I was convinced, was anything
but friendly, I thought it wiser to be less frank. Therefore, covering
the action with a negligent motion of my hand, I screwed the glasses
close together, so that in looking through them there was to be seen
only a mass of indistinct objects looming up in a blurred cloud of
light, and so handed them to him. Naturally, neither he nor Tizoc
arrived at any very satisfactory conclusion in regard to the real use of
them; and from their talk it was evident that they conceived the
ceremony in which we had engaged in turn so earnestly to be in the
nature of a prayer to our gods. Fray Antonio was both shocked and pained
by their taking this view of the matter, and was for making a true
explanation to them; but at my urgent request he held his peace. Yet it
was evident that he brooded over the matter in his mind, and so was led
to earnest thoughts of the mission that had brought him hither into the
Valley of Aztlan. Therefore was I not surprised--though I certainly was
alarmed by the thought of what might be its consequences--when
presently, in low and gentle tones, he began to speak to those about him
of the free and glorious Christian faith, which in all ways was more
excellent than the cruel idolatry in which they were bound. Naturally,
he was not permitted long to speak in this strain, for the barge-master
speedily ordered him in most peremptory tones to keep silence; which
order doubtless would have been still more quickly given had not the
officer been fairly surprised by Fray Antonio's temerity into momentary
forgetfulness of the dangerous outcome of this gentle talk. And Fray
Antonio, knowing the value of the word in season that is dropped to
fructify in soil ready for it, did not attempt argument with the
barge-master--by which the thoughts of those who listened would have
been diverted from the hopeful promise of a better faith that he had
offered to them--but obeyed the order meekly and so held his peace. That
what he had spoken had taken hold upon the hearts of some at least among
his hearers I was well assured by their grave look of thoughtfulness,
and especially did Tizoc seem to be deeply moved; but--as I supposed for
fear of the barge-master--there was no open comment upon what had
passed.
By this time, the barge being all the while urged rapidly forward by the
steady strokes of the twenty oarsmen, the city rose so broadly and so
openly before us that we could see the whole of it distinctly with our
naked eyes. And what at this nearer view seemed most impressive about it
was its gloominess; that was due not less to the prison-like effect of
its heavily built houses and its massive walls than to the dull
blackness of the stone whereof these same were made. Nowhere was there
sparkle, or glitter, or bright color, or brightness of any sort to be
seen; and it seemed to me, as I gazed upon this sombre stronghold, that
dwelling always within it well enough might wear a man's heart out with
a consuming melancholy begotten of its cold and cheerless tones.
That it was indeed a stronghold was the more apparent to us the nearer
that we came to it. The plan of it was that of a great fan, spread open
upon the hillside, and extending also across the broad sweep of level
land between the base of the promontory and the lake. The promontory had
been so cut and shaped that its gentle slope had been transformed into
six broad semicircular terraces, above the highest of which was a
semicircular plateau of very considerable size, on which stood the
Treasure-house, that also was the great temple. Along the face of each
terrace, and around the face also of the plateau, a heavy defensive wall
rose to a height of twenty feet or more; and from the base of the
crowning plateau, thence accessible by a single broad flight of
stairs--being led through openings in the rampart walls of the terraces,
and down each terrace face by means of stair-ways--twelve streets
descended, of which the central six ended at the water-side and the
remainder against the great outer wall. It was this outer line of
strong defence that gave the city--which otherwise would have
corresponded curiously closely with the fortified city of Quetzaltepec,
described by the Mexican chronicler Tezozomoc--its most distinctive
characteristic. Such a vastly thick wall, for the great length of it, as
this was I never have seen in any other place; and so solid was the
building of it that it would have been proof against any ordinary train
of siege artillery. For defence against a foe whose only missile weapons
would be javelins and slings and bows, this great wall made the city
absolutely impregnable. And that the protection that it gave might be
still more complete--and also, as Tizoc explained to us, that in the
case of siege the water supply might be assured, together with a supply
of fish for food--the wall was carried out into the lake so far as to
enclose a basin of more than four acres in extent; within which, should
an enemy gain access to the valley, all the boats upon the lake could be
brought together and held in safety. And finally, the one entrance to
the city was by way of a tunnel-like canal cut in the wall thus rising
from the water; the outer end of which canal was closed in ordinary
times by a heavy grating, while in war time the inner end also could be
closed by means of great metal bars.
It was towards this entrance that the barge that carried us was heading.
Presently we reached it, and the grating was raised for our admission by
means of chains which were operated from the top of the wall. So low and
so narrow was the passage that our heads were within a few inches of the
huge slabs of stone of which its roof was formed; and the rowers had
need to unstep the mast and then to lay their oars inboard, while they
brought the barge through by pushing with their hands against the roof
and sides. The canal was fully forty feet long, and thus the enormous
thickness of the wall was made apparent to us. It truly was, as I
observed to Rayburn, a work that well might be attributed to the
Cyclops.
"I never met a live Cyclop, Professor," Rayburn answered, "and I don't
believe that these fellows ever did either; but it bothers me to know
how they managed to do work like this without a steam-derrick. If we get
out of here with whole skins and our hair on our heads, I hope it won't
be until I've had a chance to talk to some of their engineers, and so
get down to the facts."
A moment later we emerged from the tunnel through the wall, and so
entered the enclosed basin that extended along the whole of the city's
front. Within the basin were lying many canoes, and also boats of a
larger sort that carried oars and that were rigged with a sort of
lug-sail; but these all kept away from us, even as all the boats which
we had seen during our passage of the lake had given us a wide berth.
That our barge--one of those employed exclusively in the Priest
Captain's service--was thus shunned was due, as I found later, to the
wholesome dread in which the special servitors of the temple and of its
head universally were held; for these very frequently abused the
authority acquired through their semi-sacerdotal functions by using it
as a cloak to cover acts of purely personal oppression, while at all
times they were feared as the executors of their master's wrath. There
was, indeed (though I did not mention this fact to Fray Antonio), a
curiously close resemblance between the officials of this class and the
familiars of the Inquisition, both in the duties which they performed
and in the fear and hatred which they everywhere inspired.
But even dread of entanglement with the Priest Captain's servants could
not restrain the curiosity of the crowd that pressed towards us on the
broad pier upon which we disembarked. It was evident that this crowd was
not made up of the common folk of the city, and also that it was moved
by a purpose far higher than that of a mere idle longing to see
something that was strange. From their dress, and still more from the
beauty of their ornaments and the elegance of the arms which many of
them carried, it was obvious that for the most part these men were
citizens of the highest rank; and this fact was still further attested
by the dignity of their demeanor and by the reverent age to which the
majority of them had attained. So far from manifesting any vulgar
excitement, the crowd maintained an absolute silence; and with this an
exterior air of calm that was the more impressive because the eager,
almost awe-struck expression upon every face showed how strong was the
emotion that thus strongly was restrained. But when El Sabio, after much
coaxing, crossed the gang-plank between the boat and the pier, and so
came to where he could be seen of all plainly, there was a curious low
sound in the air as though all at once every man in the crowd had
heaved a sigh; and the sound swelled into a loud murmur as Pablo, in
obedience to a quick order that I gave him in Spanish, briskly mounted
upon the ass's back. In this murmur only one word was intelligible, and
that I caught again and again: the prophecy!
But Pablo was no more than fairly seated upon El Sabio's back than the
officer in command of our guard took him roughly by the shoulders and
snatched him thence to the ground again; which act led Tizoc and me to a
quick exchange of startled glances, for it showed very plainly that the
Priest Captain--to whom the messenger telling of our coming into the
valley had been sent before any of these people had seen Pablo mounted
upon El Sabio's back--had anticipated this sign of the fulfilment of the
prophecy and had given orders to prevent it. Luckily, the celerity with
which Pablo had executed my quick order to mount had saved the day for
us; and even more than saved it, for as we passed through the crowd, on
our way from the water-side into the city, I caught here and there
fragments of comment upon what had just passed which showed that not
only was the sign told of in the prophecy recognized, but that the
effort on the part of the officer to neutralize it was understood.
But before our going into the city there was a stirring conflict of
authority concerning us between the temporal and the spiritual powers.
We were no more than fairly landed, indeed, when an officer addressed
the barge-master, who continued in charge of our party, and gave him a
formal order to bring the strangers directly before the Council of the
Twenty Lords. And to this the barge-master replied that he already was
under orders to bring the prisoners, immediately upon their landing,
before the Priest Captain--and there was something both curious and
ominous, it struck me, in the marked manner in which the term
"strangers" was employed by one of these men and the term "prisoners" by
the other.
At this juncture we had further proof of the foresight of the Priest
Captain, and of the determined stand that he was prepared to make rather
than to suffer the miscarriage of big plans. While the barge-master and
the messenger from the Council still were engaged in hot talk as to
which of the two conflicting orders should be recognised, there was the
sound of tramping feet and of arms clanking; and then a body of fully
one hundred soldiers came quickly from behind a house that was near by
the water-side and swept down on a double-quick to where we were
standing at the end of the pier. The crowd, jostled aside to make way
for the passage of the soldiers, evidently regarded them with
astonishment; and this astonishment rapidly changed to anger as the
purpose that brought them thither was made plain. In a moment they had
closed in around us, separating us from the Council's messenger and from
Tizoc; the barge-master placed himself at the head of them, and in
sharp, quick tones gave the order to march; and the whole force, with
ourselves in the centre of it, went off the pier at a round pace, and
thence along a street that led towards the city's heart. Evidently
acting under orders, the men broke their platoons and closed in around
us; and I was well convinced that this unsoldierly marching was adopted
to the end that El Sabio might not be seen.
Fray Antonio agreed with me that the Priest Captain was carrying matters
with a dangerously high hand in thus opposing the will of the Council
with armed force. This act of his, if Tizoc had correctly represented to
us the excited condition of popular feeling, was quite sufficient in
itself to stir into violent activity the slumbering fires of mutiny. But
whether the revolt that we now believed must surely come would come in
time to be of service to ourselves, we could not but look upon as a very
open question.
"If this old scoundrel is as sharp as he seems to be," Rayburn said,
"and if he keeps things up in the way he's begun, it's about all day
with us. His play should be to get rid of us as quick as he can manage
it; and I should judge, from the cards that he's put down, that that's
precisely the way he means to manage the game. It's not much comfort to
us to know that after he's cleaned us out somebody else will rake his
pile."