CHAPTER LX.
Thousands of infuriated and exulting savages had, in the meanwhile,landed from their canoes at the second ditch, raised their cries oftriumph over the abandoned artillery, and struck, with a rage not to beappeased by death, the Christian corses which lay so thick among them.But, while living invaders remained, either in the front or rear, theytarried not long, to waste their malice on the dead.
The cavalier Don Amador, when he made the marvellous discovery, detailedin a preceding chapter, and perceived that the fair and lamented beingof his dreams, heaven had permitted so long to walk by his side, in thisnew and strange world,--revealing her to his eyes only at the momentwhen destined to be snatched from them for ever,--felt, at that instantof discovery as if all the ties which bound him to existence, were atonce dissevered. Rage at his blindness, furious compunctions of remorsefor his negligence, and an agony of grief at the supposed dreadful fateof the maiden, were mingled with a sort of wild indignation against theprovidence which, by veiling his eyes, and shutting his ears to thesuggestions of his heart, (for, surely, from the moment he looked uponthe page, his affections were given him,) had robbed him of hismistress. It was not, therefore, wonderful, that such a conflict ofmind, acting upon a body weakened by previous wounds and sickness, andexhausted by present exertions, should have thrown him across the bodyof Lazaro, himself, to all appearance, full as lifeless. And thus helay, for half an hour, insensible to the battle, which was now drawingnigh to the ditch, and now leaving it to its charnel solitude.
He was recalled to life, by feeling some one tug forcibly at the sacredjewel, which he retained throughout his lethargy, with the same instinctwhich had preserved it in the death-grasp of the henchman. More luckythan Lazaro, yet scarce more happy, this violence woke up the sleepingenergies of life; and he raised his head, though only to stare about himwith a bewildered look of unconsciousness.
"God be thanked!" exclaimed a Christian voice in his ear, as a friendlyhand seized him by the shoulder; "lead or gold, glass or precious stone,never was cross of Christ picked up on the wayside, but good fortunefollowed after it! What ho, senor! up and away! The things that I spokeof, have come to pass. Kalidon-Sadabath dances in the Crystal; he lovesthe smell of blood!--Up! arise and away, for thine hour is not come."
The cavalier arose, and stared at the friendly magician; which Botelloseeing, and supposing he was now fully restored to his wits, thislunatic of another sort seized him by the arm, and, dragging him towardsthe water, said,--
"Fear not; if thou hast not the skill of a crocodile, know that I canbear thee across the channel; and that the more easily that it isalready choked with corses, and no Mexicans nigh to oppose us."
The neophyte broke from his companion, and with wild cries of _Leila!Leila!_ ran towards the cannon.
"God save thee! art thou mad? Dost thou call upon woman or devil? Thisis no place for girls; and never heard I of imp called Leila."
"Thou knowest not my wretchedness, Botello," said Don Amador. "Let melook again, if her body be not here.--Hah!" he cried, struck with asudden thought, and turning quickly to the conjurer. "Thou art amagician, and knowest of the dead as well as the living. I have decriedthine art, but now I acknowledge thy wisdom. Behold this rubiedcross--oh heaven! that I should hold it in my hand, and know, that, buta moment since, it was on the neck of Leila! Look, enchanter; this jewelcame from the neck of a woman, whom but now I left standing on thisbrink. Call her from the dead, if she have perished; or show me whatpath she hath trodden, if she be living; and I will reward thee, thoughI give thee the half of my patrimony.--A woman, I tell thee! Wilt thounot believe me? Half my estate, but to look upon her!"
It was manifest, even to the unhappy novice himself, that Botelloregarded him as a madman. But nevertheless he replied earnestly, "Hereis no place for conjurations: there be devils enough about us already.Tarry not here; for this will neither benefit thee, nor her of whom thouspeakest. Spring into the ditch,--rush with me to the main; and, then,what thou seekest, thou shalt know. Courage, courage! Dost thou not seeyonder star, that creeps up by the dim moon, under the rack, dimmer eventhan the dim moon? Under that star, came I into earth: and while itshineth in that conjunction, the dart of a savage cannot wound me,--no,not though it strike me upon the naked brow!--Hark! dost thou not hear?The fragments of the rear-guard are approaching. Let us swim this abyssbefore they reach us, lest we be entangled among them. Hesitate not: wewill go together, for I see thou art worn and feeble; and I rememberthat thou gavest me succour in the streets of Mexico."
The neophyte had yielded, with a sort of captive-like and despairingsubmission, to the will of Botello; and was descending with him moodilyto the water, when suddenly the latter paused, listening to a Christianshout in the distance, as of one approaching them from the shore.
"Hark! it is repeated!--Viva! They come from the main: they have beatenthe cubs of darkness--Viva! viva! Santiago, and quick, valiant friends!"
The joyous shouts of Botello were re-echoed, though only by a singlevoice. Yet this was evidently approaching, and with great rapidity.
During the whole time of the resuscitation of Don Amador, and of hisdialogue with the enchanter, the causeway in the neighbourhood of theditch had been free from foes, but only because it was free fromChristians; and the lake in the vicinity was equally solitary. But nowas they stood listening to the shouts, the two companions could perceivethe lake, some distance in front, on both sides of the dike, boiling upin foam under canoes impelled towards them with extraordinary violence,seemingly upon the flank of the party from which proceeded the cry. Butwhatever was the speed of the canoes, it seemed to be unequal to that ofthe Christian; whose shouts wild and loud, and now almost incessantlyrepeated, grew shriller and nearer every moment.
"On, valiant friends! on!--heed not the pagans; on!" shouted Botello, asthe canoes cut the water within an hundred paces of the ditch. "Thanksbe to God! I see them! Hah! good! and here--Hark to his voice! howcheery!--here comes the valorous De Morla!"
As he spoke, the figure of De Morla, outstripping the wind, was seenrunning towards the ditch, while some of the arrows shot after him bythe pursuers, and passing him, fell even at the feet of the expectantpair.
The sight of his friend kindled the ardour of Don Amador. He shoutedaloud,
"On, valiant brother!--It is I! thy sworn friend of Cuenza!"
To this speech, De Morla answered with a yell, that chilled the heart ofhis townsman; and running without a moment's hesitation, and withoutslackening his speed, to the end of the broken beam, where it overhungthe middle of the sluice, he sprang from it, as if assisted by itselasticity, to so great a height into the air, that, it was plain, hewould clear the chasm in the bound. As he leaped, he waved his sword,and uttered a scream; a cloud of arrows at the same time whistledthrough the atmosphere; and when he reached the ground, twenty of thesedeadly missiles were sticking in his body.
The neophyte raised up his head; one arrow was in his brain:--it snappedoff, as the head rolled on Amador's arm. A thrill and a gasp were thelast and only manifestations of suffering. The next instant, the body ofDe Morla rolled down the shelving plane of the ditch, and sunk, with afew bubbles, among a hundred of his countrymen, already sepulchredtherein.