CHAPTER XVI.
If it be indeed permitted to disembodied spirits to look back to theworld they have left, and to read the hearts they have, in life,mistaken, then should that of Gaspar Olea have seen, that his unluckyblow fell not upon the head of an apostate, and that it had not slainhis friend and companion of the wilderness. Even Gaspar's strengthfailed to pierce entirely through a morion composed of tiger-skins andthickly-padded escaupil; and though the violence of the blow forced Juanto the earth, and left him for a time almost insensible, it had done himno serious injury. It robbed him, to be sure, of the dearly covetedopportunity of escape, which the lucky service he had done theCaptain-General would have rendered of still more inestimable value; butit yet served the good purpose, since he did _not_ escape, of removingfrom the minds of the Mexicans many fierce doubts and suspicions, withwhich they beheld him rush into the melee.
He was dragged back upon the causeway, and soon found himself in thearms of the king.
"My brother is brave and true," said the young monarch, tearing from hisown hair the symbols of military renown, and fastening them to Juan's."The people have seen his bravery, and now they know him well. Did henot lay his hands upon Malintzin? and was not Malintzin his prisoner,until the red lion with the white and bloody face, struck my brotherwith his sword? Is this a good deed, men of Mexico?"
"The king's brother is valiant!" exclaimed many nobles, who surroundedthe monarch with a guard of honour, eyeing the outcast with reverence.
Their words stung Juan to the soul; for he abhorred his deception,though still urged, by his desire of escaping, to carry it on.
"Why do we stand here idle?" he cried, with affected zeal: "Is notMalintzin yet upon the causeway? My heart is very strong; I will lookhim in the face again."
At this proof of courage and apparent devotion to their cause, theinfidels shouted with approbation. But the king took him by the arm, andwithdrawing him a little, said,
"My brother will go now to the palace.--What is this that Azcamatzinsays of my brother? He says that my brother pierced the Lord of Deathwith a sword, and pulled Malintzin out of his hands! This foolish thingof Azcamatzin has made many angry, and they say, 'Let us know; forperhaps the Great Eagle is for Malintzin.' Therefore my brother shallnot go from the king, till Azcamatzin thinks better things; for manyhurts have made him mad."
"Think not of this," said Juan, eagerly, for every moment the shouts ofthe Christians were at a greater distance, and he feared that every stepof their retreat was one more link taken from his chain of hope.
"My brother," said Guatimozin, interrupting him, "may yet fight thebattles of the king, and be the king's friend. It is said to me, by amessenger, that the ships have broken the wall of my garden, and thatSpaniards are slaying the women."
"Ha!" cried Juan, his own agitation at this information, contrastingstrongly with the frigid placidity of the king.
"Why should the king think of his women--of his wife and his littleboy,--when he is taking the Spaniards, like birds in a net? Let mybrother think for the king, for the king thinks for his people. Mybrother's arm is yet strong--he will fight for Zelahualla, and for hersister, the queen."
A thousand contrary emotions tore the breast of Juan, yet his thoughtswere fixed upon the garden. He remembered what counsel he had given tothe maidens, to sally forth, at any moment, when a trumpet should beheard among the trees; and he conceived the danger in which they wouldbe involved, among a troop of enraged and merciless soldiers. He neededno second exhortation to run to their assistance; and followingTecheechee, who remained at his side, he made his way through themultitudes that thronged all the great streets, with a rapidity that, atany other period, would have even surprised himself. He passed the greatsquare of the pyramid, the Wall of Serpents, and the House of Skulls,from which, had he been so minded, he might have looked, at the samemoment, upon the three battles raging upon the three several causeways,(for it was here the dikes terminated;) he passed the house ofAxajacatl, in which the Spaniards, a year since, had endured thoseassaults which terminated only in their expulsion from Tenochtitlan; andhe trod again upon the vast market square of Tlatelolco, the northernside of which was bounded by the walls of Guatimozin's palace andgarden. Upon this square he beheld many infidels, shouting at once withwrath and triumph, a party of whom bore in their arms a Christianprisoner, bound hand and foot, over whom the others seemed to exult,piercing the very heavens with their clamorous cries.
Heart-sick, for well he knew the fate in store for the captive, andstruck with foreboding fear, he rushed over the fosse that laved thegarden wall, and was now choked up by the falling of a portion of itsextent, washed and undermined by the heavy rains, and passed into thepleasant wilderness within. It was a theatre of wild disorder andaffright: men were seen rushing to and fro in great numbers, and theircries were re-echoed by the yells of a thousand beasts of prey, famishedwith hunger, or alarmed by the tumult.
He perceived that the water-wall was rent at one of the chiefsally-ports, as if battered by cannon; and he had no doubt, if it werenot yet over, that some terrific combat had but lately taken place inthe garden.
He came too late to share in it, but as he ran down to the water-side,he beheld four brigantines making their way with oars, for theatmosphere was breathless, towards the dike of Tepejacac, which wasitself a scene of furious conflict. The vessels were surrounded bycountless canoes and piraguas, some of which seemed to be manned byTlascalans; for while the brigantines were seen contending with thisaquatic army, it was equally manifest that a battle was raging alsoamong the canoes themselves.
He gave but little heed to this spectacle, nor did he scarcely note thatamong the many human corses which strewed the lower part of the garden,there were several with the visages of Spaniards.
His attention was arrested by a yelping cry; and looking round, hebeheld the dog Befo lying upon the ground, with an iron sword-blade,broken off near the hilt, sticking quite through his body. But thispainful sight was forgotten, when, having approached, he beheld three orfour barbarians raising from the earth what seemed the dead body ofMagdalena. There were indeed blood-drops upon her hollow and ghastlycheeks; and when he rushed up among the Indians, they exclaimed,
"The Teuctlis killed her, the men of Malintzin with beards,--they killedthe bright-eyed lady, and they killed the daughter of Montezuma!" Andthen they added their wild lamentations to the mourning cries of Juan.
Distracted himself, as indeed were all the infidels, he could learnnothing but that the Teuctlis, or Spaniards, had suddenly burst into thegarden, and besides slaughtering all that opposed them, in their attemptto reach the palace, had killed, or carried off, as seemed much moreprobable, the princess Zelahualla.
The misery that took possession of his heart at these evil tidings, hesmothered within its secret recesses, or strove to forget it in thecontemplation of his sister--for so his heart acknowledged her. He boreher to the palace, and gave her in charge to the maidens, who, whateverwas their fright, were not unmindful of the duties of humanity. He then,in much of that sullen despair that had oppressed him in the prison ofTezcuco, returned to the garden and to Befo, whom he had left insuffering, and drawing the sword-blade from his body, he examined itwith stern curiosity, as if hoping to penetrate the mystery of the wholeunhappy transaction, from such records as it might furnish. His scrutinywas vain: it was a blade without any name, by which he might be enabledto guess at its owner. He snapped it under his foot, and muttered amalediction upon the unknown foe:
"Cursed be he that did this deed," he cried; "for he slew the onlyprotector of a feeble and wretched woman."
He then carried Befo, almost with as much tenderness as he had bestowedupon Magdalena, into the palace, and stanching his wounds as he could,deposited him upon his own couch.