slowly forming in my own mind--though what I intended to do would have,
I hoped, still better consequences; for my notion was to urge that for
the pleasure that could be had from killing me, my companions should be
given such freedom as was to be found in that rock-bound region beyond
the Barred Pass. Therefore, when Young thus brought up the matter openly
between us, I told him of my own intention; and with some emphasis I
advised him that inasmuch as I first had thought of it, to me belonged
the right to carry this project into execution; and especially was this
right mine, I urged, because but for me neither he nor any of the rest
of us--saving only, possibly, Fray Antonio--ever would have come into
that valley at all. Thereupon we fell to wrangling somewhat hotly; for
Young was a most pig-headed man when his mind was set upon anything, and
his notions of argument even at the best of times were of the loosest
kind.
How our talk might have ended I cannot tell, for each of us most
resolutely was determined to have his own way; but it actually did end
because of an interruption by which we presently learned that a will
finer and stronger than either of ours had been acting, while we had
been only thinking, in a fashion that cut the ground completely from
under us both. And all that followed within the next hour or two came
upon us with so startling a suddenness that it seemed less like reality
than like a terrible dream.
The first intimation that we had that anything was upon us out of the
common run of our drearily dull prison life was hearing a creaking noise
that we knew must be caused by the raising of the grating that shut us
in; and as we hurried out from the oratory into the long passage-way we
saw a company of soldiers coming towards us, at the head of which was a
priest. Fray Antonio and Pablo, startled as we had been by the sound
caused by the opening of the grating and the tramp of feet, also had
come out into the passage; but while Pablo evidently was wondering, even
as we were wondering, what might be the purpose that these men had come
to execute, the look upon the monk's face was of expectation rather than
of surprise. And without waiting for the others to speak, he asked,
eagerly: "Is it to be?"
"It is to be," the priest answered; and it seemed to me that there was
sorrow in the look that went with his words, and sorrow also in the tone
of his voice; and that this man truly was sorrowful because of the
message that he brought I doubt not, for he was the priest who had been
jailer to Fray Antonio, and whose mind had seemed so open to receive the
doctrine that Fray Antonio taught.
But there was only joy in the bearing of the monk as his question thus
was answered; and there was a ringing gladness in his voice as he
replied--being most careful first to draw us away from the room in which
Rayburn was lying--to our looks of wondering inquiry. "The Priest
Captain has granted my request," he said, and added quickly: "Do not
sorrow for me, my friends. Dying for the Faith is the most glorious
ending that life can have; and happier still is he to whom, with this
rare privilege, is given also that of dying that those whom he loves may
yet be saved alive. The Priest Captain has promised that when I have
paid this little debt of life you whom I love so greatly shall go
free--"
"Don't you believe him! He's a blasted liar from the word go!" Young
struck in, clean forgetting, in the passionate sorrow that was rising in
his breast, that what Fray Antonio so plainly had in mind to do he
himself had been most strongly bent upon doing but a moment before. But
Young spoke in English, and without heeding him Fray Antonio went on:
"You two, and the boy, surely will live; and perhaps life may be given
also to our friend. He is in God's hands. And then, until----"
But further speech was not permitted to him. Two soldiers stepped
forward and grasped his arms, yet first suffering him for a moment to
clasp hands with us, and so led him towards the open grating; and behind
him Young and I and Pablo were conducted in a like fashion by the
guards. As we passed the room in which Rayburn lay we heard him moaning
faintly; and so weak was he that it seemed to me a very likely thing for
us to find him dead there upon our return--if, indeed, we ever returned
at all.
As we passed out into the inner court of the temple, where the sum shone
joyously--for the day still was young, and the rain-clouds had but begun
to gather about the mountain peaks--we heard a murmur in the air like
the distant sound of bees buzzing; and as we entered the rear portal of
the temple this sound grew louder, yet still was soft and blurred. In
the temple, Fray Antonio was separated from us, being led towards the
inner entrance of that subterranean passage which opened into the pit of
the amphitheatre; and as we went onward to the great portal in the
temple's front we cast towards him sorrowful looks, in which all the
bitter pain that was in our hearts was concentrated, but had in answer
from him, as he walked with elate bearing between his guards, only looks
of most joyful hope in which was also a very tender love.
The noise that at first had seemed to us like bees buzzing grew louder
as we advanced, until, when we came out upon the open space before the
temple, it swelled into a mighty roar. And there the cause of it was
plain to us; for before us lay the great amphitheatre crowded with a
seething multitude, and all the thousands gathered there were uttering
savage cries of delight at thought of the savage spectacle that now in a
few moments would gladden their fierce hearts. In the midst of this
tumult we were hurried into a sort of balcony, heavily built of stone,
that hung upon the slope of the amphitheatre; just behind and above
which was a much larger balcony of richly wrought stone-work that was
covered by a canopy of colored stuffs, and that had in its midst a sort
of throne. And at sight of us a great shout went up, that in a moment
died away into a hush of silence as the Priest Captain, with a company
of priests about him, entered the balcony behind us and took his seat
upon the throne.
But in another instant the shouting burst forth again as Fray Antonio
came out from the passage that opened beneath us, and in a moment was
lifted bodily by his guards and placed upon the Stone of Sacrifice in
plain view of all. I wondered as I saw that only soldiers accompanied
him, and that there was no sign of the coming of the priests by whom the
sacrifice would be made. But my wonder ceased, and the burning pain that
then consumed me was a little lessened, as there came forth from the
underground passage, guarded by four soldiers, a very tall, strong
Indian, whose muscles stood out in great knots upon his lithe body and
legs and arms, and immediately following him six others no less
powerful--for then I knew that Fray Antonio was not to die the cruel and
bloody death of a sacrificial victim, but was to have, in accordance
with the Aztec custom, such chance of life as was to be found in
fighting these seven men in turn and receiving his freedom when he had
slain them all. Yet as I looked at the slim figure of the monk, and then
at these burly giants ready to be pitted against him, I knew that but
one result could issue from that unequal combat; and a sudden dizziness
came upon me, and for a moment all around me was dark. Nor was this
momentary darkness wholly imaginary; for just then--with a low growl of
distant thunder--a fragment broke away from the great mass of black
cloud that hung upon the crest of the cliff above us and drifted
sluggishly across the face of the sun.
When my dizziness had passed, and I could again see clearly, the warrior
was standing upon the Stone of Sacrifice--naked save for his
breech-clout, and armed with a round shield and a maccahuitl of hardened
gold. The monk still wore his flowing habit, whence the hood had fallen
back, so that his head was bare; in one hand he held his crucifix, and
with the other he was motioning away the sword and shield that a soldier
held out to him: at sight of which refusal on his part to be armed there
was a shrill outcry among the multitude that the fight would not be
fair; and to this sharp noise of strident voices there was added a
solemn undertone that came in a low roll of thunder from the overhanging
cloud.
[Illustration: FRAY ANTONIO'S APPEAL]
As though to still the clamor, the monk waved his hand; and when at this
sign the outcries ceased, he asked--yet addressing not the Priest
Captain but the whole mass of people gathered there--if certain words
which he desired to utter would be heard. And in answer to him there
went up a shout of assent, in which was drowned completely (save that
we, being close beneath him, heard it) the Priest Captain's order that
the fight should begin. And it struck me that the Priest Captain showed
his appreciation of the critical situation with which he then was
dealing, and his dread of the forces which an ill-timed word in
opposition to the will of the multitude might let loose against him, by
refraining from repeating his order when silence came again, and all the
thousands gathered there leaned forward eagerly to hearken to what Fray
Antonio would say.
And what he did say was the most moving and the most exalted deliverance
that ever came forth from mortal man. To that great multitude he
preached there shortly, but with an eloquence that I doubt not was born
directly of heavenly inspiration, a sermon so searching, so full of
God's great love and tenderness, and so full also of the majesty of His
law and of the long-suffering of His mercy and loving-kindness, that
every word of it falling from his lips seemed to burn into the depths of
all those heathen hearts. My own heart was thrilled and shaken as it
never had been stirred before, and the boy Pablo wept as he listened;
and even Young, to whom the spoken words had no meaning, grew pale, and
sweat gathered upon his forehead as his soul was moved within him by the
infinitely beseeching tenderness of Fray Antonio's voice: for most
wonderfully did his voice rise and fall in its cadenced sweetness and
entreaty, and there was a strangely vibrant quality in his tones that
matched the tenor of his words, and so held all that vast multitude
spellbound.
As he spoke on, a hush fell upon them who listened; and then through the
throng a tremor seemed to run, but less a sound of actual speech than a
subtle manifestation that in a moment a great outburst of assent would
come, and I felt within me that the work which Fray Antonio had dared
death to accomplish already was triumphantly concluded; and so waited,
breathless, to hear this heathen host proclaim its glad allegiance to
the Christian God.
But the Priest Captain also perceived how imminent was the danger that
menaced the ancient faith, and dared to take the one chance left for
saving it, and that a desperate one, by breaking in upon Fray Antonio's
discourse with a ringing order that the fight should be no longer
delayed; whereat a deep growl of dissent ran through the crowd, that was
echoed in a still deeper roar of thunder in the dark sky. In truth, the
gathering of the storm in the heavens above seemed to be wholly in
keeping with the storm that with an equal celerity was gathering on the
earth below. There was a heavy languor, a dense stillness in the air,
and the cloud above us had drifted out from the face of the cliff so far
that it now hung over all the city like a vast black canopy. From this
sombre mass, that buried all beneath it in gloomy shadows, flashes of
lightning shot forth that each moment increased in fiery intensity, and
the rolling roar of thunder each moment grew louder and sharper in its
dark depths. Even as the Priest Captain spoke there came a yet more
vivid flash, and almost with it a crashing peal.
At the word of command, so vehemently given, the warrior faced about
upon Fray Antonio, and held high aloft his sword; but the monk, firmly
standing there, while in his eyes shone so glorious a light that it
seemed as though the wrath of outraged Heaven blazed forth from them,
opposed to this earthly weapon only his out-stretched crucifix, and thus
confronted the death that menaced him with so splendid a bravery that
for an instant his huge antagonist was held still by a wonder that was
born half of admiration and half of awe; and in the breathless hush of
that supreme moment Fray Antonio cried out, in tones so clear and so
ringing that his words were heard by all the thousands gathered there:
"I call for help upon the living and the only God!"
And even as these words still sounded in our ears there shot forth from
the cloud above us a swift red flash of blinding light, and with this
came a crash of thunder so mighty that the cliffs above strained and
quivered, and great fragments of rock came hurtling down from them, and
a shivering trembling surged through the whole mountain, so that we felt
it swaying beneath our feet.
And as we gazed in awe, through the gloom that from all parts of the
heavens was gathering towards the height whereon we were, we saw before
us God's wrath made manifest; for the warrior, still holding raised the
metal sword that had tempted death to him, trembled, reeled a little,
swayed gently forward, and then, with, a sudden jerk, swayed backward
again, and so fell lifeless--his bare right arm, and all the length of
his naked body to his very heel marked by a livid streak of bloody
purple that showed where the thunder-bolt had passed. For a moment the
monk also seemed stunned; and then, kneeling beside that
lightning-blasted corpse, and holding his hands out-stretched towards
heaven, whence his deliverance had come, he cried in a clear strong
voice, of which the solemn tones rang vibrant through that awful
silence: "The Christian God liveth and reigneth! Believe on Him whose
love and whose mercy are not less tender than is terrible His
transcendent power!"
There was no mistaking the thrill of movement that ran through the
multitude as these words were spoken. I drew a long breath of
thankfulness, for I felt that Fray Antonio was saved, and that in
another instant my ears would be nigh burst by the thunderous roar of
all those thousands--won to him by his own most moving eloquence, and by
sight of the miracle whereby his deliverance had been wrought--that he
should be set free.
And in this instant--in the very moment that this sigh escaped me, while
yet the pause lasted before that great shout came--the Priest Captain
sprang from, his seat above us into the balcony where we prisoners stood
guarded, on downward into the arena below, and thence upon the Stone of
Sacrifice--all with a demoniac agility most horrible to look upon in one
of his withered age--and there, with a fierce thrust of a spear that he
had caught from a soldier's hand in passing, he pierced Fray Antonio
between the shoulders straight through the heart; and the monk, still
grasping in his hands his crucifix, fell face downward upon the Stone of
Sacrifice, and lay there dead!
Then Itzacoatl, standing with one foot upon the monk's dead body, and
grasping still the spear that he had planted in that noble heart, cried
out, triumphantly, "Behold the victory and the vengeance of our Aztec
gods!"
And the multitude, swayed backward from the very threshold of the
Christian faith, shouted together in one mighty voice, "Victory and
vengeance for our gods!"
XXXV.
THE TREASURE-CHAMBER.
Close in the wake of that great thunder-crash there burst upon us so
mighty a flood of rain that it seemed as though the lightning had riven
solid walls asunder within the thick black mass of overhanging vapour,
and so had let loose upon us the waters of a lake. In a moment the whole
pit of the amphitheatre was awash, knee-deep, and before those who were
standing there could flounder to the steps leading upward they were
buried to their waists--and this although the water was pouring out
through the vent provided for it with such violence that we could hear
the rush and gurgle of it above the dashing and roaring of the falling
rain. And all the dark mass of cloud above us was aflame continuously
with blinding flashes of red lightning, while a continuous crash of
splitting peals of thunder rang through the shattered air.
Doubtless this storm was our salvation. That the Priest Captain's
intention, even from the first, had been to kill us also, and so make
his victory complete, I do not for a moment doubt; but he was too shrewd
to waste upon a few terrified spectators an exhibition that would carry
with it a salutary demonstration of his power; and with the bursting of
the flood upon us, the crowd that filled the amphitheatre had begun a
tumultuous flight to the temple; going thither partly for shelter, and
partly being awe-struck by what had passed before them and by the
tremendous fury of the storm, that they might find safety in the
abiding-place of their gods.
Therefore, the order was given hurriedly that we should be taken back to
our prison; in obedience to which command our guards led us through the
temple--where they had difficulty in forcing a way for us through the
dense throng that had gathered within its walls--and thence to the
Treasure-house beyond; and they were in such haste to be quit of us,
that they also might seek safety in the temple, that they scarce waited
to close the grating behind us before they sped away.
So overwhelming was the grief that had fallen upon us that for some
moments we stood as though stunned where the guards had left us; and,
for myself, my one regret was that the chance of the storm, by saving me
yet a little while longer alive, had lost to me the happiness of dying
in the same hour with the friend whom I had so strongly loved. I think
that this thought was in Young's heart also, as he stood there silent
beside me, the blood so drawn away from his face that a dull yellow
pallor overspread his bronzed skin, while his breath came short and
hard. As for the boy Pablo, his whole being was shattered. He sank down
on the rock at our feet, and seemed to be moaning his very life out in
long quivering sobs.
But presently, as our minds grew steadier, the thought of Rayburn came
to us; and the strain upon our heart-strings was relaxed a little by
remembering that our lives still were worth holding fast to in order
that we might minister to his needs. Yet when we came again into the
room where he lay, it seemed at first as though he also was lost to us;
for even in that faint light we saw that his face was a deadly white,
and when we spoke to him he neither spoke nor moved. But, happily, our
dread that he had died in that gloomy solitude was not realized; for as
I laid my hand upon his bare breast I felt his heart feebly beating, and
at the touch of my hand he sighed a little, and then slowly opened his
eyes.
"He's only swounded," Young cried, joyfully. "It's th' smotherin'
shut-upness o' this forlorn hole he's lyin' in. There's a little more
air out in th' big room. Just grab t'other end o' th' stretcher,
Professor, an' we'll yank him out there--nobody's likely t' come in t'
stop us while this storm lasts. An'--an' we must be careful how we talk,
Professor, y' know," he added, in a lower tone, as we raised the
stretcher. "It won't do for him t' know about--about _it_ now." There
was a break in Young's voice as he spoke, and I could feel by the
momentary quiver of the stretcher that a shiver went through him as he
thought of that "it," about which we must for a time hold our peace.
Young bore the forward end of the stretcher, and as we came into the
oratory I felt him start as he exclaimed, "What th' devil's broke loose
here?"
The darkness of the storm outside shrouded the oratory in a dusky
twilight; but even through the shadows which lay thick about us we could
see that there had been within this chamber some outbreak of
extraordinary and tremendous violence; for the image of the god
Huitzilopochtli had been cast down and broken into fragments, and just
behind where it had stood there was a dark rift in the gold-plating of
the walls, where several plates had been wrenched bodily away.
A strong odor of sulphur hung heavily in the air, and, as I perceived
it, the whole matter was plain to me. But Young sniffed at this odor
suspiciously when we had brought the stretcher gently to rest upon the
floor, and in a startled voice exclaimed, "Th' devil has been bustin'
around in here for sure, an' he's left his regular home-made stink for a
give-away!" and as he spoke there was manifest a decided bristling of
his fringe of hair.
I could not help smiling at this quaint proof of the shattered condition
of Young's nerves--for, under ordinary circumstances, he was the very
last man in the world to place faith in things supernatural--but I
answered him promptly: "Then the devil did a stroke of honest business
at the same time, for all this is the work of the same thunder-bolt, or
of a part of it, that killed that Indian. Didn't you hear the rocks
flying from the cliff where it struck?"
"That's just what I was goin' t' say myself," Young replied, a little
awkwardly. "An' that's what's the matter with Rayburn, an' made him
swound away. How d' you find yourself now, old man?" he went on--rather
glad to change the subject, I fancied--as Rayburn, at sound of his own
name, moved a little.
"I feel queer," Rayburn answered. "Sort of numb and dizzy. Where's the
Padre?"
"An' it's not much blame to you that you do feel queer," Young replied,
hurriedly. "This last thing you've taken it into your fool head t' do is
bein' busted all t' bits by a stroke o' lightnin'. Most folks would 'a'
been satisfied with havin' their legs pretty much sliced off by
Injuns--but reasonableness ain't your strongest hold, Rayburn; an' I
guess it never was."
Rayburn smile faintly as Young spoke, but instead of attempting to
answer him--being still numbed by the heavy shock that he had
received--he settled his head back upon the rolled-up coat that served
him for a pillow, and languidly closed his eyes. Whereupon Young, seeing
that there was nothing further that we could do for his comfort, betook
himself--as his bent at all times was when any strange matter presented
itself, and in this case with the half-crazed eagerness with which those
upon whom a great sorrow has fallen seek instinctively to engage their
minds with any trifling matter that will change the current of their
thoughts--to investigating carefully the work of destruction that the
thunder-bolt had wrought: examining the fragments of the idol, and the
loosened plates of gold and the place on the wall whence these last had
been wrenched away; which examination was the easier because the
storm-cloud was leaving us--though the almost continuous loud rolling of
the thunder still stunned our ears--and a stronger light came in through
the opening in the roof.
I seated myself beside Rayburn and paid no attention to what Young was
doing; for my brooding sorrow was like a slow fire consuming me--as the
tragedy that I had but just witnessed, and the infinite pathos that
there was in seeing Rayburn thus miserably dying, overwhelmed me with a
desolate despair. Even when Young called to me, in a tone so eager and
so penetrating that at any other time I should have been startled into
quick action by his words, I did not rouse myself to answer him; though,
in a dull way, I knew that he would not thus have spoken unless some
matter of great moment had aroused the full energy of his mind.
"Professor! I say, Professor!" he repeated: "Get right up and come here.
Don't sit there like a chuckle-headed chump. Get up, I tell you. Here's
some sort of a show for us. Here's what looks like a way out o' this
God-forsaken hole!"
As I heard these words I did get up, and in a hurry, and so joined Young
where he was kneeling on the floor close beside the rear wall of the
oratory, directly behind where the idol had stood until the thunder-bolt
had dashed it down. It was at this point, apparently, that the lightning
had entered the chamber; for here several of the plates of gold with
which the walls were covered--overlapping each other like
fish-scales--had been loosened, while three of them had been wrenched
entirely from their fastenings and had fallen down. As I joined him,
Young excitedly pointed to the opening thus made, through which was
visible not a solid wall of rock but a dark cavity, and from which was
blowing a soft current of cool air.