CHAPTER LVIII.
The situation of the Spaniards, at that moment, though sufficientlyfrightful to every one, was yet known, in all its horrors, only to theleaders of the van. As hope is ever independent of judgment, everunreasonable and unreflective, the absence of the bridge, at the firstsluice, was not enough to persuade the fugitives, that the passage ofthe second might be equally interrupted. But, at the moment when thesignal-fire was kindled on the temple, Sandoval had already reached thisditch, and perceived that its bridge was also demolished, and, as itseemed, very recently too; for there yet remained a huge timber lyingacross the chasm,--left, as he feared, rather as some decoy and trap,than, as was more probable, deserted suddenly by workmen, scared fromtheir labours by the approach of the Spaniards.
The three ditches divided the dike into four portions, of as manyfurlongs in extent. On the second of these portions was concentrated thewhole retreating army, its front resting upon a sluice of great depth,passable by footmen, (for the great beam was soon discovered to besound,) but not by the horse and artillery, without the portable bridge,which yet rested over the first breach. This second obstacle beingovercome, it was apparent, that a third would still remain to besurmounted; and the passage of both was to be effected in the presence,and in the midst, of a great enemy.
As we have said, the beacon-light, shooting up from the pyramid, andcontinuing to burn with intensity, brought light, where all, before, wasdarkness; and revealed such innumerable fleets of canoes, hovering onboth flanks, as the novice had not seen, even on that day when he firsttrode upon a dike of Mexico. But the spirit that then slumbered, was nowawake; and as the rowers responded, with their wild cries, to the roarof the sacred trumpet, they struck the water furiously with theirpaddles, until the whole lake seemed to boil up with a spray of fire;and thus they rushed madly against the causeway.
The novice cast his eye upon the general. The ruddy glare of the beaconcould not change the deadly pallor that covered his cheeks; but,nevertheless, with this ghastly countenance turned to the foe, he criedout, cheerily, or, at least, firmly, to those immediately in advance,--
"Who ho, cannoniers! your quoins and handspikes, your horns and matches!and show me your throats to the lake-rats!" Then, raising his voice toits trumpet-tones, he continued, as if giving counsel and command toall: "Be bold and fearless, and strike for the honour of God, braveChristians! Soho! De Leon, valiant brother! and thou, Alvarado,matchless cavalier! raise me the bridge, and be quick; for here we needit."
The voices of other officers were heard, faintly mingled with the din,but not long; every moment the shouts of the Mexicans, continued withoutintermission, became louder, and their canoes were plunging nearer tothe causeway.
A pang rent the bosom of Don Amador:
"I must get me to my companions," he cried, to Jacinto, "and what can Ido for thee this night, young page that I love?"
"I will follow thee," said the page, tremulously; "I will die with mylord."
"Would that I had thee but upon the back of Fogoso! for methinks thateven De Morla should not strike more truly for Minnapotzin than would I,this night, for thee."
"Where goest thou, De Leste?" cried Cortes, as the novice pushed by."Pause--thou art best among the cannoniers."
A dreadful yell, at that moment, drowned the general's voice: but onestill more dreadful was heard, when, as the pagans drew breath to repeatthe cry, the Christians in front heard the rear-guard exclaiming, withloud and bitter shrieks, "The bridge!--the bridge!--it is fast andimmoveable!"--The weight of the horses and artillery had sunk it deepinto the chasm, and no human strength could stir it from its foundation.
These words and sights were all the occurrences of a moment. There wasneither time for observation nor lamentation. The infidels on the waterrushed to the attack with the same fury which had so often driven themupon the spears of the garrison; and, not less by their cries than theirapparent numbers, it was made obvious that the whole strength of thegreat city was gathered together for this undertaking; for those who hadcaught a little of their language, could distinguish the differentquarters of the island encouraging each other with cries of "Ho,Tlatelolco! shall Majotla strike first at the foe?--Alzacualco! on; forTecpan is swift and mirthful.--On, ho! for Mexitli is speaking; on, forour gods are on the temple, and they hunger for the Teuctli!" The lineof the army was full half a mile in length; but, as far as it stretched,and further than the eye could penetrate beyond either extremity, atriple row of canoes, on each side of the causeway, was seen closingupon it with the speed and fury of breakers, dashing against a strandedship.
"_Now_, cannoniers!" cried Don Hernan, elevating his voice above thetumult, when the rushing masses were within but a few paces of thecausey; "_now_ to your linstocks, and touch in the name of God!"
The damp gunpowder sparkled and hissed on the vents, but did not failthe Christians in their need. The roar of the volley was like the pealof an earthquake; and, right and left, as eighteen horizontal columns offire darted from the engines, the lake boiled up with a new fury,fragments of canoes and the bodies of men were seen flung up into theair, and yells of agony which chilled the blood, bore witness to thedreadfulness of the slaughter.
"Quick, and again!" cried Don Hernan, eagerly. "Shoot fast, and shootwell; and know that I will shortly be back with ye.--Ho, Sandoval! whydost thou loiter? plunge into the ditch, and swim. Rest where thou art,De Leste; for thou art too weak for battle. Give thine aid to thecannoniers."
The confused and huddled Tlascalans, who formed the rear of Sandoval'sparty, shouted at the cry of the Teuctli, and made way for him. Acavalier, bearing a burthen in his arms, spurred after, with a madimpetuosity, which rendered him regardless of the many naked wretches hetrampled to the earth: it was De Morla. The example thus set by theapparent flight of the two hidalgos, was followed by others; and theallies were broken by the hoofs of Christians, while still enduring thearrows, that came like a driving rain from the lake.
Meanwhile, it was evident, though the cannon, recharged and shot offagain with extraordinary quickness, served to keep the part of thecauseway where they stood free from assailants, that they had effected alanding, perhaps, both in front and rear,--certainly on thelatter,--where they were already engaged, hand to hand, with theSpaniards. The thunder of the explosions did not conceal from the novicethe shrieks of his countrymen. His blood boiled with fury:
"Come with me, Jacinto," he cried. "We will reach Fogoso; and then I cando my duty to my friends, and smite these accursed murderers, withoutdeserting thee."
He dragged the trembling page after him; he darted among the cannoniers,and passed the artillery. He reached the Tlascalans, who followed thevan,--but havoc was already among their ranks. As he gained them, heperceived the shelving sides of the causeway lined with canoes, fromwhich were springing up, like locusts, a cloud of Mexicans, brandishingtheir glassy maces, and rushing with the yells of wolves upon theirancient foes. Barbarians were mingled with barbarians in one hideousmass of slaughter, impassable and impenetrable.
His heart sunk within him. "I have prejudiced thy life, as well as myown, this night," he said. "Would that I had never left the back ofFogoso!"
Before he had yet time to resolve whether to return to the cannoniers,or to make one more effort to pierce the bloody mass, he was descried bythe crew of a piragua, which, that moment, was urged upon the dike withsuch violence, that it was split in twain by the shock. The eagerwarriors rushed up the ascent with a shriek of exultation, andbrandished their spears. The neophyte retreated; but neither therapidity of his steps, nor the keenness of his blows, would, perhaps,have availed against their numbers, enfeebled as he was, and trammelledby the grasp of the affrighted Jacinto, had not a party of Spanishfootmen, flying from the rear, come that moment to his aid. These,though they forced the barbarians to give way, were, in their turn,driven back upon the cannon; and Don Amador was fain to follow them.
The audacity of the foe seemed still to increase rather than diminish;a
nd, twice or thrice, efforts were made by certain valiant madmen amongthem, to spring to land immediately in the mouths of the cannon. Thesewere instantly speared by the many desperate Spaniards, who, flying fromtheir posts in the rear, which were now known to be in extremity, tookrefuge among the artillery, as the only place of safety, and therefought with better resolution.
In the meanwhile, the efforts of the enemy still remaining unabated, theprisoners and many of the rear-guard pressing wildly forward, and DonHernan and most of the officers having fled to the front, from whichthey had not returned, the gunners were themselves seized with a panic;and, without regarding the death on which they were thus rushing, beganto leave their pieces, and fly. The representations of Don Amador servedto arrest some of them, and other soldiers taking their places at theguns, they yielded passively to his instructions; and he found himself,at once, in the post of a commander.
The many bitter reflections that harrowed his own bosom, he spoke not,and sharply he reprimanded others, who were yielding to despair.Whatever might be the difficulty of advancing, he felt that such ameasure was become indispensable, as promising the only hope ofsalvation: for every instant the clamours increased on the rear, as if,there, the barbarians had attacked in the greatest numbers, and wereapproaching nearer to the cannon, flushed with slaughter and victory. Heinstructed the gunners in what manner they should rush forwards withtheir charged pieces, pointed obliquely, so as to sweep the sides of thedike, shoot them off, when arrested by too determined a front ofresistance, and, loading quickly, take advantage of the confusionfollowing each discharge, so as to gain as much ground as possible,while still manfully fighting. He hoped, thus, besides succouring theTlascalans in front, and giving room for the rear-guard to follow, toreach the second ditch, where, as he had heard, the beam still gavepassage to the footmen, but where his most sanguine wishes could pointhim out no other hope than to stand by the cannon till relieved, orabandon them and fly, as, it seemed to him, all had done, who hadalready crossed the breach.
He animated the gunners with his voice, and with his actions; and sogreat was the effect of the discharges on the Indians landing, that theartillerymen were able to rush forwards perhaps a score yards, aftereach volley; thus convincing all of the wisdom of the measure, and theprobability of escape.
Two circumstances, however, greatly diminished the exultation, which thecavalier would have otherwise felt at the success of his stratagem.Though the Tlascalans in front ever responded to the shouts of hisgunners, and though each discharge seemed to bring him nearer to them,yet ever, when a volley was preceded by the loud "_Viva!_" meant toencourage the allies, the answer seemed to come from the same distance,and the mass of feathered warriors, lit up by the discharge, disclosedthe bodies of none but frowning Mexicans. The other circumstance wasstill more appalling; the space behind, left vacant by his advance, wasoccupied no longer by foot or horse, by treasure-bearer or prisoner, bySpanish musketeer or Tlascalan spearman. A few dusky groups could beseen running to and fro, behind; but yet they seemed rather to rushbackwards than to follow after.
"God save the rear-guard!" he muttered, "for it is surelysurrounded.--On, brave cannoniers! Cortes shall not be ignorant of yourdeeds this night, and Don Carlos, the emperor, shall know of your fame."
The shout, with which the cannoniers again poured forth the deadlyvolley, was repeated with victorious energy, when the Mexicans,scattered by the discharge, or leaping to avoid it, into the water,parted away from before them; and they found themselves, suddenly, uponthe brink of the second ditch. The great beam lay in its place; but thedark water in the chasm was filled and agitated by the bodies of men,wounded and suffocating. The white tunic of the Mexican was confoundedwith the plume of a Christian cavalier; the red arm of aninfidel,--Tlascalan or foeman,--shook by the side of a Castilian spear;the white visages of dead men rolled on the necks of drowning horses;bales of rich cotton stuffs,--lances dancing up and down like the leadedbulrushes of children,--armour of escaupil,--garments, and bodies ofdying and dead,--were floating together in such horrible confusion, thatthe water seemed to heave and bubble as with a living corruption.
The sight of the ditch and the beam clear of enemies, fired thecannoniers with new hopes; and in the frenzy of their joy, they wouldinstantly have dropped their fuses and handspikes, and taken to flight,had it not been that Don Amador flung himself upon the beam, andstriking the first man dead, commanded them still to stand to theirpieces.
"Base caitiffs are ye all," he cried, "who, thus having the victory, andthe lives of half the army, in your hands, should so desert your posts,in the midst of triumph! Wheel round half your pieces, and sweep thecausey sides behind;--for I hear the coming of friends. Would ye give upyour pieces to infidels? They are your safety!"
The reproof of the cavalier, the sight of their dead comrade, and thesword which had punished him, still commanding the narrow pathway, thevoices of Christians behind, but, more than all, the manifest truth ofthe declaration, that their safety depended on their remaining by theartillery, turned the gunners, at once, from their purpose; and theirresolution received a new confirmation, when a Christian voice was heardshouting in the front, as if of some cavalier, heading a band ofreturning friends, and, when, the next moment, a Spanish soldier wasseen to run towards them, leap on the beam, and then spring from it tothe causeway.
"Santiago, and shoot on!" cried the overjoyed gunners; "for Cortes iscoming!"
"What, ho, knave Lazaro!" cried the novice, as the blaze of thedischarge showed him in the new comer, the countenance of his henchman."Where goest thou? Wherefore hast thou left the horses? And where is DonHernan?"
"Master! dear master, is it thou?" cried Lazaro, with such a shout ofjoy as drowned even the yells of death about him. "Quick, for the loveof God! over the beam, with all these varlets,--for life! for life! forDon Hernan is fled, and all the cavaliers!"
"Peace, thou villain!--Heed not this trembling fool," exclaimed Amador,quickly. "You hear!--the last ditch is bridged and free, and ye can, atany moment, reach the firm land, as the cavaliers have done.--Give meanother volley or two, for God, for the honour of Spain, and for yourfriends, who are fast approaching. We will march together with thewhole rear, to ensure safety. Quick!--See ye not how yonder fiends arerushing into your muzzles? Viva! A bold shot for St. James, and ourpeople!"
The cavalier turned to Lazaro: he was bleeding, and he cast a look ofdespair on his master.
"Why art thou idle? thou wert bred to the linstock, sirrah. Show thyselfa Christian man and true.--Hark! hearest thou not? 'Tis the shout of DeLeon! Bravely, bold hearts! the rear-guard is nigh.--Hah! halon, halon!Don Pedro!"
"'Tis the voice of the secretary!" cried Lazaro; "and God help me, buthe cries for succour!"
"Ho, senor! senor Don Amador! for the love of Christ!"--the wild shoutof Fabueno, for the neophyte could no longer doubt it was he, wassuddenly interrupted: the shrill shriek of a woman succeeded; and, then,every thing was lost in a hurricane of yells, so intermingled that noone could say whether they came from Christians or pagans.
"Stay--drop thy match,--hold me this boy, as thou holdest thy life, andsuffer none to pass the beam----"
"For the sake of the cross thou adorest, the maiden thou lovest!" criedthe terrified boy, clinging to the cavalier, "leave me not, oh leave menot, in this horror, to die alone! The Mexicans will kill me, for I havenow no gown of a priestess to protect me----"
Notwithstanding the boiling excitement of the novice, these last wordsfilled his brain with strange thoughts, but still so confused that theywere more like the momentary phantasms of delirium, than the propersuggestions of reason. But whatever they were, they were instantlydriven out of his mind, by another cry from Fabueno, seemingly hard by,but so feeble and wailing, that a less acute ear might have supposed itcame from a considerable distance.
He shook the boy off, flung him into the arms of Lazaro, crying, "Answerhis safety with thy life!--with thy life!" and immediately dartedthrough the cannon
iers, and retraced his steps on the causeway.
By this time, the fire on the pyramid had attained its greatestbrilliancy, and the wind having died entirely away, it projected itslofty spire to heaven, and burned with a tranquillity which seemed toleave it motionless; while its reflection on that part of the lake whichshared not in the agitations of conflict, produced a spectacle of peacein singular contrast with the horrible scene of carnage, that momentrepresented on the causeway. The light it shed, though it made objectsvisible even as far as the second ditch, did not illuminate the furthestpart of the dike; and there, whatever deed of death might be presented,was hidden from the eyes of all but the actors themselves.
Raising his voice aloud, and running towards the nearest group, DonAmador sought out the secretary. But this group, before he had yetreached it, started away, and fled, with loud cries, towards the city,or to where the tumult was greatest; and he knew by their shouts of'Tlatelolco! ho, Tlatelolco!' that they were Mexicans. On the spot theyhad thus deserted, the novice stumbled over the body of a man, histhroat cut from ear to ear, his cotton armour torn to pieces; and fromthe shreds, as the carcass rolled under his foot, there fell out,rattling and jingling on the stones, divers vessels of gold and jewels,such as had been grasped in the treasury.
Without pausing to survey this victim of covetousness, the cavalier ranon; and, hearing many Christian voices, ringing now with curses, nowwith prayers, and now with shouts of triumph, he called out at the topof his voice,--
"On, brothers! on to the artillery! advance!--Strike well, andforward!--Ho, Lorenzo! comrade! where art thou? and why answerest thounot?"
A gurgling sound, as of one suffocating in the flood, drew his eye tothe lake almost under his feet. The water rippled, as if latelydisturbed by the falling of some heavy body; and just where the circlingwaves washed sluggishly up the shelving dike, there lay a white masslike a human figure, the head and shoulders buried in the tide. The washof the ripple stirred the garments, and, in part, the corse, so that itstill seemed to be living; but when the novice had caught it up, hebeheld the visage of a very youthful girl, her forehead cloven by asword of obsidian, and the broken weapon wedged fast in the brain. Atthe same instant, the water parted hard by, and there rose up a darkobject, that seemed the back of a horse, across which lay the body of aman in bright armour, the legs upwards, but the head and breastingulfed. For an instant, this dreary sight was presented; but, slowly,the steed, whose nostrils were still under water, as if held down by thegrasp of the dead rider, rolled over on his side, and the body, slippingoff the other way, sunk headlong and silently into the flood, followedpresently by the horse; and the next moment the waters were at rest.
"God rest thee, Lorenzo!" cried the novice, laying down the corse ofEugracia. "Thy life and thy hopes, thy ambition and thy love, are endedtogether--but now can I not lament thee!"
He started up, as the causeway suddenly shook with the tramp of hoofs,and a cavalier, without spear or helm, dashed madly by. Almost at themoment of passing, whether it was that the strength of the fugitive hadsuddenly given out, or whether, as seemed more probable, a flight ofarrows had been sent in pursuit, and struck both horse and rider, thesteed made a fierce bound into the air; and then pursued his course,masterless.
"Follow onwards, ye men of the rear!" cried the novice, struck with asudden horror; for now he became conscious that the artillery had been,for several moments, silent; and when he looked after the flying steed,though he could not, at that distance, perceive any thing, he could hearfierce voices mingling together in strife; and presently the riderlesshorse, as if driven back by a wall of foes, returned, passing him againwith the speed of the wind.
The limbs of the cavalier were nerved with the strength of fury; for hethought he heard the screams of Jacinto, ascending with the harshercries of the gunners; and scarcely did that frightened charger fly moreswiftly from the battle, than he himself now back to it.
"Thy duty, knave Lazaro!" he cried. "The boy!--save the boy!"
"Don Amador! oh Amador! Don Amador!" came to his ears, in a voice thatrent his heart.
"I come! I come!" shouted the cavalier, redoubling his exertions, butnot his speed, for that was at the highest.
"Oh heaven, Amador! Amador!----"
In his distraction, the neophyte confounded two voices into one; andwhile he replied to one, his thoughts flew to another.
"I come! Answer me--where art thou? I am here:--where art thou!"
As he uttered these words, he sprang through the artillery, which waswithout servers,--among bodies which were lifeless,--and stoodalone,--for there was no living creature there but himself,--on theborders of the sluice, the beam over which was broken off in the middle,and the further portion, only, left standing in its place.
He cast his amazed and affrighted eye from the water, heaving as beforewith the struggles of dying men, to the corpse on whose bosom he wasstanding.--In the grinning countenance, covered with blood, and horriblymutilated by a blow which had pierced through the mouth, jaws, andthroat, to the severed spine, he beheld the features of Lazaro, fixed indeath; and looked wildly at his side, to discover the body of the page.No corse of Jacinto was there; but, on the ground, where he had stood,on the spot where he had charged him to stand, the novice perceived ajewel, catching a ray from the distant fire, glittering red, as withblood, and held by a golden chain to which it was attached, in thedeath-grasp of the henchman. He snatched it from the earth and from thehand of the dead and looking on it with a stare of horror, beheld theholy and never to be forgotten cross of rubies.
With that sight, the scales fell from his eyes, and a million of wildthoughts beset his brain. The magical knowledge of the page, coupledwith his childish and effeminate youth,--his garments, so fitted todisguise,--his scrupulous modesty,--his tears, his terrors, hisaffection, and his power over the mind of the cavalier,--the garb of thepriestess, so lately acknowledged,--the vision in the house of the Wali,Abdalla,--the cross of jewels, doubtless snatched from the neck ofJacinto, when barbarians were tearing him from the faithful Lazaro,--allthese came to the brain of the cavalier with the blaze and the shock ofa cannon, suddenly discharged at his ears. He looked again to the corsesabout him--they were those of the gunners; to the ditch--it writhed nomore; and then, uttering the name of Leila, he sunk, in a stupor, to theearth.