CHAPTER II.
THE SECOND COMBAT.
It is hardly worth while to detail the debate between Hualpa and Xoli;enough to know that the latter, anticipating pursuit, hid the son of hisfriend in a closet attached to his restaurant.
That day, and many others, the police went up and down, ferreting forthe assassin of the noble Iztlil'. Few premises escaped their search.The Chalcan's, amongst others, was examined, but without discovery. Thussafely concealed, the hunter throve on the _cuisine_, and for the lossof liberty was consoled by the gossip and wordy wisdom of his accessory,and, by what was better, the gratitude of Guatamozin. In such manner twoweeks passed away, the longest and most wearisome of his existence. Howsick at heart he grew in his luxurious imprisonment; how he pined forthe old hills and woodlands; how he longed once more to go down theshaded vales free-footed and fearless, stalking deer or following hisocelot. Ah, what is ambition gratified to freedom lost!
Unused to the confinement, it became irksome to him, and at lengthintolerable. "When," he asked himself, "is this to end? Will the kingever withdraw his huntsmen? Through whom am I to look or hope forpardon?" He sighed, paced the narrow closet, and determined that nightto walk out and see if his old friends the stars were still in theirplaces, and take a draught of the fresh air, to his remembrance sweeterthan the new beverage of the Chalcan. And when the night came he wastrue to his resolution.
Pass we his impatience while waiting an opportunity to leave the houseunobserved; his attempts unsuccessfully repeated; his vexation at the"noble patrons" who lounged in the apartments and talked so long overtheir goblets. At a late hour he made good his exit. In the _tianguez_,which was the first to receive him, booths and porticos were closed forthe night; lights were everywhere extinguished, except on the towers ofthe temples. As morning would end his furlough and drive him back to thehated captivity, he resolved to make the most of the night; he wouldvisit the lake, he would stroll through the streets. By the gods! hewould play freeman to the full.
In his situation, all places were alike perilous,--houses, streets,temples, and palaces. As, for that reason, one direction was good asanother, he started up the Iztapalapan street from the _tianguez_.Passengers met him now and then; otherwise the great thoroughfare wasunusually quiet. Sauntering along in excellent imitation of carelessenjoyment, he strove to feel cheerful; but, in spite of his efforts, hebecame lonesome, while his dread of the patrols kept him uneasy. Suchfreedom, he ascertained, was not all his fancy colored it; yet it wasnot so bad as his prison. On he went. Sometimes on a step, or in theshade of a portico, he would sit and gaze at the houses as if they wereold friends basking in the moonlight; at the bridges he would also stop,and, leaning over the balustrades, watch the waveless water in the canalbelow, and envy the watermen asleep in their open canoes. The result wasa feeling of recklessness, sharpened by a yearning for something to do,some place to visit, some person to see; in short, a thousand wishes, sovague, however, that they amounted to nothing.
In this mood he thought of Nenetzin, who, in the tedium of hisimprisonment, had become to him a constant dream,--a vision by which hisfancy was amused and his impatience soothed; a vision that faded notwith the morning, but at noon was sweet as at night. With the thoughtcame another,--the idea of an adventure excusable only in a lover.
"The garden!" he said, stopping and thinking. "The garden! It is theking's; so is the street. It is guarded; so is the city. I will be indanger; but that is around me everywhere. By the gods! I will go to thegarden, and look at the house in which she sleeps."
Invade the gardens of the great king at midnight! The project would haveterrified the Chalcan; the 'tzin would have forbade it; at any othertime, the adventurer himself would rather have gone unarmed into the denof a tiger. The gardens were chosen places sacred to royalty; otherwisethey would have been without walls and without sentinels at the gates.In the event of detection and arrest, the intrusion at such a time wouldbe without excuse; death was the penalty.
But the venture was agreeable to the mood he was in; he welcomed it as arelief from loneliness, as a rescue from his tormenting void of purpose;if he saw the dangers, they were viewed in the charm of his gentlepassion,--griffins and goblins masked by Love, the enchanter. He startedat once; and now that he had an object before him, there was no moreloitering under porticos or on the bridges. As the squares were putbehind him, he repeated over and over, as a magical exorcism, "I willlook at the house in which she sleeps,--the house in which she sleeps."
Once in his progress, he turned aside from the great street, and went upa footway bordering a canal. At the next street, however, he crossed abridge, and proceeded to the north again. Almost before he was aware ofit, he reached the corner of the royal garden, always to be rememberedby him as the place of his combat with the Tezcucan. But so intent washe upon his present project he scarcely gave it a second look.
The wall was but little higher than his head, and covered with snowystucco; and where, over the coping, motionless in the moonshine, apalm-tree lifted its graceful head, he boldly climbed, and entered thesacred enclosure. Drawing his mantle close about him, he stole towardthe palace, selecting the narrow walks most protected by overhangingshrubbery.
A man's instinct is a good counsellor in danger; often it is the onlycounsellor. Gliding through the shadows, cautiously as if hunting, heseemed to hear a recurrent whisper,--
"Have a care, O hunter! This is not one of thy familiar places. Thegardens of the great king have other guardians than the stars. Deathawaits thee at every gate."
But as often came the reply, "Nenetzin,--I will see the house in whichshe sleeps."
He held on toward the palace, never stopping until the top, here andthere crowned with low turrets, rose above the highest trees. Then helistened intently, but heard not a sound of life from the princely pile.He sought next a retreat, where, secure from observation, he might sitin the pleasant air, and give wings to his lover's fancy. At last hefound one, a little retired from the central walk, and not far from atank, which had once been, if it were not now, the basin of a fountain.Upon a bench, well shaded by a clump of flowering bushes, he stretchedhimself at ease, and was soon absorbed.
The course of his thought, in keeping with his youth, was to the future.Most of the time, however, he had no distinct idea; revery, like anevening mist, settled upon him. Sometimes he lay with closed eyes,shutting himself in, as it were, from the world; then he stared vacantlyat the stars, or into those blue places in the mighty vault too deep forstars; but most he loved to look at the white walls of the palace. Andfor the time he was happy; his soul may be said to have been singing asilent song to the unconscious Nenetzin.
Once or twice he was disturbed by a noise, like the suppressed cry of achild; but he attributed it to some of the restless animals in themuseum at the farther side of the garden. Half the night was gone; sothe watchers on the temples proclaimed; and still he stayed,--stilldreamed.
About that time, however, he was startled by footsteps coming apparentlyfrom the palace. He sat up, ready for action. The appearance of a manalone and unarmed allayed his apprehension for the moment. Up the walk,directly by the hiding-place, the stranger came. As he passed slowly on,the intruder thrilled at beholding, not a guard or an officer, butMontezuma in person! As far as the tank the monarch walked; there hestopped, put his hands behind him, and looked moodily down into thepool.
Garden, palace, Nenetzin,--everything but the motionless figure by thetank faded from Hualpa's mind. Fear came upon him; and no wonder: there,almost within reach, at midnight, unattended, stood what was to him thepositive realization of power, ruler of the Empire, dispenser of richestgifts, keeper of life and death! Guilty, and tremulously apprehensivethat he had been discovered, Hualpa looked each instant to be draggedfrom his hiding.
The space around the tank was clear, and strewn with shells perfectlywhite in the moonlight. While the adventurer sat fixed to his seat,watch
ing the king, watching, also, a chance of escape, he saw somethingcome from the shrubbery, move stealthily out into the walk, then crouchdown. Now, as I have shown, he was brave; but this tested all hiscourage. Out further crept the object, moving with the stillness of aspirit. Scarcely could he persuade himself at first that it was not anillusion begotten of his fears; but its form and movements, the verystillness of its advance, at last identified it. In all his hunter'sexperience, he had never seen an ocelot so large. The screams he hadheard were now explained,--the monster had escaped from the menagerie!
I cannot say the recognition wrought a subsidence of Hualpa's fears. Hefelt instinctively for his arms,--he had nothing but a knife of brittle_itzli_. Then he thought of the stories he had heard of the ferocity ofthe royal tigers, and of unhappy wretches flung, by way of punishment,into their dens. He shuddered, and turned to the king, who still gazedthoughtfully over the wall of the tank.
Holy Huitzil'! the ocelot was creeping upon the monarch! The flash ofunderstanding that revealed the fact to Hualpa was like the lightning.Breathlessly he noticed the course the brute was taking; there could beno doubt. Another flash, and he understood the monarch's peril,--alone,unarmed, before the guards at the gates or in the palace could come, thestruggle would be over; child of the Sun though he was, there remainedfor him but one hope of rescue.
As, in common with provincials generally, he cherished a reverence forthe monarch hardly secondary to that he felt for the gods, the Tihuancanwas inexpressibly shocked to see him subject to such a danger. Animpulse aside from native chivalry urged him to confront the ocelot; butunder the circumstances,--and he recounted them rapidly,--he feared theking more than the brute. Brief time was there for consideration; eachmoment the peril increased. He thought of the 'tzin, then of Nenetzin.
"Now or never!" he said. "If the gods do but help me, I will provemyself!"
And he unlooped the mantle, and wound it about his left arm; the knife,poor as it was, he took from his _maxtlatl_; then he was ready. Ah, ifhe only had a javelin!
To place himself between the king and his enemy was what he next setabout. Experience had taught him how much such animals are governed bycuriosity, and upon that he proceeded to act. On his hands and knees hecrept out into the walk. The moment he became exposed, the ocelotstopped, raised its round head, and watched him with a gaze as intent ashis own. The advance was slow and stealthy; when the point was almostgained, the king turned about.
"Speak not, stir not, O king!" he cried, without stopping. "I will saveyou,--no other can."
From creeping man the monarch looked to crouching beast, andcomprehended the situation.
Forward went Hualpa, now the chief object of attraction to the monster.At last he was directly in front of it.
"Call the guard and fly! It is coming now!"
And through the garden rang the call. Verily, the hunter had become theking!
A moment after the ocelot lowered its head, and leaped. The Tihuancanhad barely time to put himself in posture to receive the attack, hisleft arm serving as shield; upon his knee, he struck with the knife. Theblood flew, and there was a howl so loud that the shouts of the monarchwere drowned. The mantle was rent to ribbons; and through the feathers,cloth, and flesh, the long fangs craunched to the bone,--but not withoutreturn. This time the knife, better directed, was driven to the heart,where it snapped short off, and remained. The clenched jaws relaxed.Rushing suddenly in, Hualpa contrived to push the fainting brute intothe tank. He saw it sink, saw the pool subside to its calm, then turnedto Montezuma, who, though calling lustily for the guard, had stayed tothe end. Kneeling upon the stained shells, he laid the broken knife atthe monarch's feet, and waited for him to speak.
"Arise!" the king said, kindly.
The hunter stood up, splashed with blood, the fragments of his_tilmatli_ clinging in shreds to his arm, his tunic torn, the hairfallen over his face,--a most uncourtierlike figure.
"You are hurt," said the king, directly. "I was once thought skilfulwith medicines. Let me see."
He found the wounds, and untying his own sash, rich with embroidery,wrapped it in many folds around the bleeding arm.
Meantime there was commotion in many quarters.
"Evil take the careless watchers!" he said, sternly, noticing the risingclamor. "Had I trusted them,--but are you not of the guard?"
"I am the great king's slave,--his poorest slave, but not of his guard."
Montezuma regarded him attentively.
"It cannot be; an assassin would not have interfered with the ocelot.Take up the knife, and follow me."
Hualpa obeyed. On the way they met a number of the guard running ingreat perplexity; but without a word to them, the monarch walked on, andinto the palace. In a room where there were tables and seats, books andwriting materials, maps on the walls and piles of them on the floor, hestopped, and seated himself.
"You know what truth is, and how the gods punish falsehood," he began;then, abruptly, "How came you in the garden?"
Hualpa fell on his knees, laid his palm on the floor, and answeredwithout looking up, for such he knew to be a courtly custom.
"Who may deceive the wise king Montezuma? I will answer as to the gods:the gardens are famous in song and story, and I was tempted to see them,and climbed the wall. When you came to the fountain, I was close by; andwhile waiting a chance to escape, I saw the ocelot creeping upon you;and--and--the great king is too generous to deny his slave the pardon herisked his life for."
"Who are you?"
"I am from the province of Tihuanco. My name is Hualpa."
"Hualpa, Hualpa," repeated the king, slowly. "You serve Guatamozin."
"He is my friend and master, O king."
Montezuma started. "Holy gods, what madness! My people have sought youfar and wide to feed you to the tiger in the tank."
Hualpa faltered not.
"O king, I know I am charged with the murder of Iztlil', the Tezcucan.Will it please you to hear my story?"
And taking the assent, he gave the particulars of the combat, notomitting the cause. "I did not murder him," he concluded. "If he isdead, I slew him in fair fight, shield to shield, as a warrior may, withhonor, slay a foeman."
"And you carried him to Tecuba?"
"Before the judges, if you choose, I will make the account good."
"Be it so!" the monarch said, emphatically. "Two days hence, in thecourt, I will accuse you. Have there your witnesses: it is a matter oflife and death. Now, what of your master, the 'tzin?"
The question was dangerous, and Hualpa trembled, but resolved to bebold.
"If it be not too presumptuous, most mighty king,--if a slave may seemto judge his master's judgment by the offer of a word--"
"Speak! I give you liberty."
"I wish to say," continued Hualpa, "that in the court there are manynoble courtiers who would die for you, O king; but, of them all, thereis not one who so loves you, or whose love could be made so profitable,being backed by skill, courage, and wisdom, as the generous prince whomyou call my master. In his banishment he has chosen to serve you; forthe night the strangers landed in Cempoalla, he left his palace inIztapalapan, and entered their camp in the train of the governor ofCotastlan. Yesterday a courier, whom you rewarded richly for his speedin coming, brought you portraits of the strangers, and pictures of theirarms and camp; that courier was Guatamozin, and his was the hand thatwrought the artist's work. O, much as your faculties become a king, youhave been deceived: he is not a traitor."
"Who told you such a fine minstrel's tale?"
"The gods judge me, O king, if, without your leave, I had so much asdared kiss the dust at your feet. What you have graciously permitted meto tell I heard from the 'tzin himself."
Montezuma sat a long time silent, then asked, "Did your master speak ofthe strangers, or of the things he saw?"
"The noble 'tzin regards me kindly, and therefore spoke with freedom. Hesaid, mourning much that he could not be at your last council to declarehis opin
ion, that you were mistaken."
The speaker's face was cast down, so that he could not see the frownwith which the plain words were received, and he continued,--
"'They are not _teules_,'[36] so the 'tzin said, 'but men, as you and Iare; they eat, sleep, drink, like us; nor is that all,--they die likeus; for in the night,' he said, 'I was in their camp, and saw them, bytorchlight, bury the body of one that day dead.' And then he asked, 'Isthat a practice among the gods?' Your slave, O king, is not learned as apaba, and therefore believed him."
Montezuma stood up.
"Not _teules_! How thinks he they should be dealt with?"
"He says that, as they are men, they are also invaders, with whom anAztec cannot treat. Nothing for them but war!"
To and fro the monarch walked. After which he returned to Hualpa andsaid,--
"Go home now. To-morrow I will send you a _tilmatli_ for the one youwear. Look to your wounds, and recollect the trial. As you love life,have there your proof. I will be your accuser."
"As the great king is merciful to his children, the gods will bemerciful to him. I will give myself to the guards," said the hunter, towhom anything was preferable to the closet in the restaurant.
"No, you are free."
Hualpa kissed the floor, and arose, and hurried from the palace to thehouse of Xoli on the _tianguez_. The effect of his appearance upon thatworthy, and the effect of the story afterwards, may be imagined.Attention to the wounds, a bath, and sound slumber put the adventurer ina better condition by the next noon.
And from that night he thought more than ever of glory and Nenetzin.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Gods.