A Prince of Anahuac: A Histori-traditional Story Antedating the Aztec Empire

by James A. Porter

  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  While the exciting scenes of the tourney were being witnessed onTlacopan's _tianguez_, events of an entirely different nature weretranspiring in the palace of Maxtla, at Azcapozalco. The embassy,consisting of three prominent persons and their attendants, which hadbeen sent to him with the ultimatum of the allied principalities,arrived at his capital in great pomp the day preceding the one on whichthey were instructed to present it.

  The envoys were royally entertained, as was the custom, by fete andfeast, and made to feel that they were guests of a great monarch.

  The nature of their mission was not known beyond the threerepresentatives, nor was it expected to be until officially announced.Maxtla had not the slightest idea as to the significance of it.

  In the forenoon of the day following their arrival at the palace, andabout the time of the opening of the tourney at Tlacopan, an audiencewas granted the envoys; and, in the presence of the king and hiscounselors, the embassy's mission was made known, and the conditions ofthe ultimatum presented.

  Maxtla was astounded and exasperated by what seemed to him the audacityof his petty neighbors. He, however, held his feelings partially undersubjection. With all his fierceness and cruelty of disposition he waspolitic and cunning. He saw, as he thought, in the action of Tlacopanand her allies, a pretense for advancing his interests in thatdirection--the very thing he had been scheming to bring about, andshaped his course accordingly.

  His reply to the envoys was to the effect that the action of thegovernments they represented was an insult, not only to his own dignityas a monarch, but that of his great empire. Tezcuco, he said, was hisby conquest, and would not be relinquished except by force of arms. Theenthronement of the despised Hualcoyotl, he further said, would beresisted to the last extremity.

  "Go back to your masters," said he, "and say to them that we scorntheir implied threats, and will resent the insult they have offered uswith the whole force of our empire."

  Maxtla's reply to the conditions of the ultimatum was equivalent to adeclaration of war, and as such the embassy interpreted it.

  Every respect was shown the envoys and their suit; and, when theydeparted from the Tepanec capital, they were escorted with due courtesybeyond the city's confines.

  In a very short time after their departure the word went abroadthroughout Maxtla's dominions that a war was imminent. His scatteredforces began immediately to concentrate, and orders were issued for newlevies to be made on Tezcuco and his other dependencies for additionaltroops.

  In due time the couriers returned from Tezcuco with the startlingintelligence that all the Tezcucans proper, who were subject tomilitary duty, had gone to attend the tourney at Tlacopan, leaving onlyhis own adherents available for immediate service.

  Maxtla was thunderstruck at this information, for he saw in it thesecret of Tlacopan's temerity. His eyes were opened to the fact that hehad been outwitted by somebody, and that Tezcuco was about to slip awayfrom him. His anticipations of an easy conquest of the little statesopposed to him assumed a somewhat doubtful aspect, and instead of anextended empire he saw before him a struggle to maintain his supremacyover his already acquired territory. Realizing that celerity of actionwas imperative, if he would succeed, no time was lost in getting readyfor the strife.

  The circumstances attending the situation pointed to Tezcuco as theprobable field of contention, and troops were therefore sent forward tothat locality as rapidly as organization was effected.

  While Maxtla was marshaling his hosts for war, Macua and hisconfederates were not idle at Tlacopan.

  When the concourse of people, which had assembled to witness thetourney, quietly melted away at its close, preparations were at oncebegun to get the allied armies into a condition of mobility. It was notexpected that Maxtla would accede to the demands made in the ultimatum,so the work of organization went on.

  In the evening of the same day on which the embassy had audience withMaxtla, advance couriers reached Tlacopan with his reply. Its importwas anticipated, but definite action could not be taken before itarrived.

  Orders were immediately issued for the armies to be ready to move forconcentration the next morning. It was no longer a secret that war wasto be waged with the Tepanec king, and great excitement and bustleprevailed on the heels of the tournament. The excitement was of theprofound and solemn sort which is peculiar to preparations preceding asanguinary strife for supremacy between opposing armies, especiallywith a semi-civilized people. The priests were actively engaged intheir incitations to self-immolation by ceremonies accompanied withdolefully tuned cantations, causing a weirdness to pervade the veryheart of the multitude, which brought a hush of awe upon the scene,giving it an aspect at once ominous and funereal.

  All through the fore part of the night following the tournament thesecret councils of Tezcuco were moving in a disorganized but orderlyprocession away from Tlacopan, going to the place of armament. When themorning dawned, an army of them might have been seen massed on theborder of lake Tezcuco, east of the city. Some of them were alreadyarmed, while others were arming, preparatory to marching forconcentration.

  The armies of the nations of Anahuac were, to say the least,picturesque, and, from a historical standpoint, worthy of a briefdescription.

  The higher grades of warriors--caciques, chiefs, etc.--wore, as aprotection to the body, a heavy, quilted, cotton tunic, over which wasusually thrown and fastened their superbly elegant _tilmatli_--mantleof featherwork. Their legs, in most cases, were protected by leggingsmade from various kinds of material, and elaborately fringed withtrimmings of gold and silver, or other bright substance. Short boots,made from animal skin, or close fitting moccasins encased their feet.Their headgear was varied in character, often representing the head ofsome animal, a fish or other object. The more grotesque and hideous itwas made to appear, the nearer was its purpose attained. However, theindispensable feather decorations generally prevailed.

  It is quite safe to venture the assertion that the dress of the lordsof Anahuac was not only gorgeously grotesque, but truly magnificent;while, on the other hand, the uniform of the common soldiers wasstrikingly undress, consisting, as it did, for the most part, of aplain gird about the loins, and a band of some kind to confine thehair--nothing more. There may have been exceptions to this airiness ofapparel, but, as a rule, not enough to place the very convenientcostume in danger of being superseded by a more elaborate and less airyone.

  The principal arms used by them in battle were the bow and arrow andjavelin. They were also provided with sling and dart. These instrumentsof warfare were pointed with either copper, bone, or obsidian(_itztli_, a transparent mineral substance, very hard, and capable ofbeing reduced to the sharpness of a razor).

  The Indian sword (_maquahuitl_) was a heavy staff, on which wereinserted, at regular intervals, short, sharp blades of obsidian. Thisweapon was used by the principal warriors.

  The ensemble of an army consisted of battalions, divisions and granddivisions. The first named numbered four or five hundred warriors; thesecond, six or eight thousand; and the last, proportionately larger;each division and subdivision being under the command of a properofficial--cacique, or chief. At the head of each organization was bornean appropriate banner, on which was usually to be seen the insignia ofthe commandant; while the national standard--the armorial ensign of theruling house--usually indicated the position of the person incommand--great chief.

  * * * * *

  The ancient standard of Tezcuco was once more unfurled to the breeze,and her patriotic hosts stood organized, and ready to receive theirprince.

  Hualcoyotl, accompanied by a retinue of chosen warriors, among whomwere our friends Euetzin and Cacami, both having been generouslyremembered by the prince in the distribution of honors, was advancingto assume command. When discovered by the army, and recognized, theywere received with the acclamation: "Hualcoyotl! Hualcoyotl! Long liveHualcoyotl and Euetzin!" The latter was regarded fo
r his untiringefforts in behalf of Tezcuco's independence as being entitled to allthe honor due to any Tezcucan living, and his people were ready at alltimes to accord it.

  The hour was a proud one to the two young men: To Euetzin in view ofthe crowning of his labors with the grand military display which wasthere spread out before him; to the prince for the opportunity whichplaced him in position to meet his cruel persecutor on equal footing,where he could demand, at the point of the javelin, his rights as thePrince of Tezcuco. He spoke as follows:

  "Warriors, men of Tezcuco: after many years of degradation andenslavement, you are again permitted to stand beneath your own lovedbanner, which was once the delight of our fathers and the pride of ournation. It has been trailing in the dirt for long; but your determinedlook assures me that it will no longer be thus dishonored. There is noneed for me, as your commander, to say, stand firm in the cause ofliberty, for I read upon your faces the will to do or die. Then let uswaste no time until Maxtla and his hordes have been met and brought tofeel the avenging power of wronged Tezcuco's arm. Let our war cry be--"

  "Hualcoyotl and victory! Hualcoyotl and victory!"

  The words which the prince would have spoken were left unsaid, and theacclamation with which he was interrupted passed like a wave from rightto left, and back again. When quiet was restored, he only said:

  "As you will, and may your victory be complete."

  The order was given to march, and the army of patriotic Tezcucans wasquickly in motion, and on its way to join the allied armies at theplace of rendezvous.

  To strike the confederate armies Maxtla was obliged to march all hisforces around the north end of lake Tezcuco, and south through Tezcucanterritory, as the possessions of the Mexican king were on the west, andcould not be crossed except in disregard of the laws of neutrality. Ittherefore required several days for him to get his army into positionfor taking the offensive.

  A day or two after the allied armies began to move, they were united onthe borders of Tezcuco, south of its capital city. The combined armywas formed in a hollow square, to receive its commanding general. Aprocession approached, which was led by an escort composed of men whowere peculiarly dressed. They were dressed more like hunters thanwarriors. In the rear of the escort a palanquin was borne by four menwho were dressed in the same manner as was the escort. When the squarewas reached the escort halted, and the chair was borne forward into theinclosed space.

  Six men walked in front of the palanquin, in five of whom we would haverecognized Hualcoyotl, Macua, tzin Euet, and the other two rulingcaciques. The dress of the sixth person was the same as that worn bythe men in the escort, with the addition of a _tilmatli_. A closerscrutiny would have made us acquainted with his identity, for in him wewould have found an estimable friend. It was Tezcot. He was the chiefof the escort which was composed of his friends, the mountaineers. Thereason for their being there in the capacity they were will bepresented later.

  When the center of the closely packed square was gained the palanquinwas placed on the ground, and the occupant emerged from it. Hualcoyotladvanced to his side, and, in a strong voice, addressed the army:

  "Warriors, friends: When the good king, who was the father of him whonow addresses you, ruled the people of Tezcuco, he was surrounded bywise men and great generals. Many of them shared his fate, which wasdeath at the hands of the despoilers of our country. One of them,however, a wise man and great warrior, who was counted lost, escapedfrom Tezcuco, and became an unknown refugee. By the stipulations ofcoalition, under which this army is organized, I should be itscommander; but, for the good of our cause, I put aside personalambition and the honor the high position would confer upon me, and willname as your commander Ixtlilchoatl, the great warrior, to whom I havejust alluded, who for more than eight years has been living alone in afastness on yonder mountains, and known to the mountaineers as Ix, thehermit. Warriors, in this wise man, who has returned to his own,"continued the prince, taking the hermit by the arm, "behold yourgeneral. Long live Ixtlilchoatl!"

  The acclamation, with which the prince concluded, was taken up by thearmy, and vociferated with a will, when it again became still.

  "For this day I have prayed," spoke Ix. "Not that I might stand where Ido at this moment, but that Tezcuco might find friends to help her in amighty effort to regain her freedom. To you, who are allied with usto-day in the cause of liberty, my heart goes out in gratitude. Ourpeople will remember you in kindness always, no matter what may betheir condition. I have faith in the patriotism of this great army, andtrust in its might. Be firm when the shock of strife shall come, andthe victory will be yours."

  When Ix concluded, he reentered the palanquin and was borne back whencehe came. At the same time the armies began to move for the purpose oftaking up their respective positions, to wait for the advancing host ofMaxtla to offer them battle.