The Infidel; or, the Fall of Mexico. Vol. II.

by Robert Montgomery Bird

  CHAPTER XVII.

  The effects of this battle upon the Spaniards were disastrous in theextreme. The assault, as has been mentioned, and as was anticipated, wasmade upon all the causeways at once; and, on all, successfully repelled,though an ambuscade was only attempted upon the dike of Iztapalapan. Itseemed as if the Mexicans, thinned as their numbers had been, by so manyconflicts, and now the remainder absolutely perishing under want andpestilence, had collected all their energies for one final blow. It wasfirst successful in the quarter attacked by the Captain-General, inconsequence of his surprising infatuation; and victory soon afterfollowed in the others. The Spaniards fled, so completely broken and soutterly defeated, that the priests, in the wild hope of completing theirdestruction at once, even drew the sacred horn from the tabernacle ofMexitli, and added its dreadful uproar to the thunder of the greattymbal. This was always regarded by the Mexicans as the voice of the godhimself, and was never sounded without filling them with a delirium offury, utterly inconceivable. It was not more maddening to the infidelsthan frightful to the Spaniards; who remembered the horrors of the NocheTriste, augmented, if not altogether caused by its unearthly roar. TheSpaniards were driven back to their strong and defensible stations atthe gates; the dikes were lost; and had not famine now fought for them,they must have given up the siege in despair. Nearly an hundredSpaniards, and many thousand Indian allies, were killed; the fleets ofcanoes and piraguas were destroyed, and several brigantines whollyruined.

  But the miseries of the besiegers were not confined to the events of theday. Night opened to them a scene of grief and horror. The whole mass ofthe pyramid, always a striking object, was suddenly illuminated by amyriad of flambeaux, so that it blazed like a mountain of solid fire.The night was clear, and the peculiarly rarified and transparentatmosphere of Mexico rendering objects distinct at a much greaterdistance than in other lands, the Spaniards, looking from the towers atthe gates, could plainly perceive some of their late fellow-soldiers,stripped naked and their hands bound behind them, driven up the stairsfrom platform to platform, by the blows and other indignities of theircruel captors. On the summit of the pyramid, they were unbound, theirheads adorned with plumes, and great waving penachos placed in theirhands, with which they were forced to dance round the ever-burningcensers of the gods, in the midst of shouting pagans, until dragged awayby the priests and immolated, at a signal blasted from the sacred horn,upon the stone of sacrifice. The station of Alvarado on the dike ofTacuba, was nearer than either of the others; and his men, while theywept and prayed over a spectacle so appalling, even fancied they coulddistinguish the figures and faces of particular individuals, and heartheir cries to heaven. Many were the wretches who had yielded themselvesalive into the hands of the foe; and for ten nights in succession, theblazing temple echoed to their groans, and their garrisoned friends werecompelled to be the witnesses of their torments.

  But this triumph was the last of the pagans. All supplies of corn fromthe lake-sides were cut off, and they were known to be famishing; andbesides, as if heaven were willing to assist even the arms of rapacity,to subdue a race, all whose institutions were more or less infected bythe spirit of blood that brutalized their religion, the rainy season wasbrought to a close preternaturally early, and they were left withoutwater. The Spaniards recovered their spirits, and collecting again vastbands of confederates, recommenced the siege, advancing with prudence,and destroying every thing as they advanced, and not only regaining allthey had lost, but even effecting, despite all resistance, a securelodgment upon the island, from their several points of attack. TheMexicans still fought; but it was with bodies emaciated and enfeebled,and with hearts subdued by despair. The three divisions of besiegers metupon the great square, blew up the Huitzompan, and all the templeswithin the circuit of the Wall of Serpents, which they fortified andpreserved; and then, still demolishing houses as they advanced, theypushed on until they reached the great market-place of Tlatelolco; andthus hemmed in upon the narrow peninsula the unfortunate king of Mexico,and the few shattered remnants of his army.

  Before this crisis had yet arrived, there occurred another incident, inwhich, as in all others since his return from the South Sea, the virtuesof Juan Lerma were made the instruments of still further misfortune. Hebeheld Magdalena but once, after the adventure of the garden; and shewas then raving with delirium, in which she did not know even him. Thefate of Zelahualla was still wrapt in obscurity; for such had been thesuddenness of the attack in the garden, that none knew of her fate, andMagdalena was incapable of uttering any rational word, to remove themountain of anxiety from his breast. His scheme to effect thedeliverance of the princess had doubtless thrown her into the power ofthe Spaniards; and the thought of such a captive in such hands, preyedupon him with a bitterness that exceeded death. He fought no more, andindeed he was urged no longer by the king, who was himself reduced tosuch desperation, that he thought no further of stratagems, but merelyof blind and sullen resistance.

  On the third day after the battle, he was summoned by Techeechee toattend the king in public; and without questioning for what purpose, hegloomily obeyed, taking with him the Spanish sword with which he hadbeen provided, on the day of his attempted escape.

  It was midday: no sound of contention came to his ears, for thebesiegers were yet lying in their quarters on the dikes, healing theirwounds and lamenting their friends; but the quiet of the garden wasbroken by the howling of the beasts, and the shrill streams of birds ofprey,--of such at least as had not already been slaughtered, to appeasethe hunger of the wretches, who yet fought for their expiring empire.One circumstance, had Juan noticed it, might have convinced him of thedreadful extent and intensity of the suffering, of which he had beenbefore apprized. The trees of the garden had begun to be robbed of theirleaves, but not by summer heat or autumnal drought;--the tender shrubswere stripped of their bark;--the smaller plants had been rooted up, andeven the grass, in some places, torn from the earth, and even the earthitself upturned, in the search after edible roots.--All that could begnawed by the teeth of man had vanished, or did soon after vanish, fromthe garden. When the Spaniards walked afterwards through their conquest,not a green leaf, as they have recorded, was found in all the city.

  He passed through the broken wall, now only defended by rude palisades,strengthened by an abatis of withered shrubs and brambles, and passingthe moat, over the ruins of the prostrate wall, found himself on themarket-square of Tlatelolco, of which the Spaniards gave such surprisingaccounts, when they beheld it filled with the merchants and riches ofthe empire, before the death of Montezuma. It was of very great extent,and contained, at the eastern boundary, a pyramid, on which was thetemple of one of the lesser divinities. On the west was a platform, orrather stage, faced and flagged with stone, and devoted to theatricalexhibitions, which, however primitive and barbarous, were yet a chieffeature among the amusements of a Mexican festival.

  Almost in the centre of the square, and yet so nigh to the garden wallthat it could be overlooked by the nearest turrets of the palace, wasanother platform, perhaps four feet in height, and circular, upon whichlay the famous stone _Temalacatl_, devoted to the purpose of thegladiatorial sacrifice. It now lies in the Plaza Mayor of the moderncity, near the walls, and within the enclosure of the great Cathedral,and is one of the few monuments which the conquerors have left of thesavage institutions of the Aztec empire. It is a circular block ofporphyry, nine or ten feet in diameter, and is sculptured over with theeffigies of warriors. The privilege of dying upon this stone was awardedonly to captives of the most extraordinary prowess; and as such werenever taken alive, unless when conquered by accident, the exhibition ofsuch a sacrifice was as rare as it was agreeable to the fierce tastes ofthe Mexicans. It was essentially gladiatorial, and it offered a prospecteven of life and liberty to the valiant prisoner. A sword and bucklerwere put into his hands, and he was tied by one leg to the stone; yet,if he succeeded in slaying or defeating six chosen Mexican warriors, hewas released and sent back in safe
ty to his own country. The last victimof the Temalacatl was the famous Tlascalan chief, Tlahuicotl, theOrlando of Anahuac, captured by Montezuma not many years before theadvent of the Spaniards, who, fighting only to die, (for he refused toaccept life, even as the meed of his own heroism,) and fighting till he_did_ die, slew no less than eight different opponents, and disabledtwenty others, before his great spirit sank under his exertions. If thegladiator fell, before he had accomplished his task, he was dragged tothe neighbouring temple, and there sacrificed, while yet living. Thelast victim, destined to close the list of those to whom Mexico didhonour, was a Spaniard.

  A vast multitude of pagans surrounded the platform, except on that sidewhich looked to the temple. Here stood the priests, few in number, yetprepared, at the moment of the victim's fall, to clutch upon him, andbear him to the altar, a space being left for them, as much out ofreverence for their sacred character, as to preserve their pathwayentirely unobstructed. The side that looked to the palace was also butlittle encumbered; for here the king of Mexico sat upon a scaffold,attended by his chief nobles.

  The grim looks of expectation, with which the assembled multitudesurveyed the platform, were heightened in ferocity by the privationsthat had pinched and hollowed their visages. They looked like winterwolves, gaunt with famine; and one would have thought their appetiteswere whetting for a repast on the flesh of the victim. There was indeedsomething horrid in their appearance, as well as in the cause which hadassembled them together. It was plain that they waited impatiently forthe coming of the prisoner. As they rolled their eyes over the square,they caught sight of Juan, conspicuous by his lofty stature, though henow drooped his head with gloom, and hailed his appearance with suchshouts as proved what a change had been made in their feelings, by hispresence, in the battle of the ambuscade. The imputations of Azcamatzinwere ended, for Azcamatzin perished an hour after uttering them, under ashot from the crossbow of the hunchback: they remembered nothing now,but that the Christian had touched the body of Malintzin, and was struckdown while he had him in his hands, and that he was the brother of theking.

  It was these acclamations which roused him out of his sullen mood, sothat he could exert his mind and imagine the object for which he hadbeen summoned. But no sooner did he perceive the priests near theTemalacatl, than he was seized with horror, and disregarding the commandof Guatimozin, who beckoned to him to ascend the platform to his side,he turned to fly.

  "Is not my brother a Mexican, and among the sons of the king?" said theinfidel; and then added with a look of bitter meaning, "My brother shallsee the revenge of the daughter of Montezuma!"

  Struck by these words, yet incapable of fathoming their signification,Juan looked up to the young monarch, and would even have ascended thescaffold, had not the sudden appearance of the captive engaged his wholeattention. A wild and frantic cry burst from the mob, and looking round,he beheld a body of ten or twelve priests, with their black robes, andlong plaited, rope-like hair, leading the prisoner towards the platform.His arms were bound behind him, and his only garment was a coarse clothwrapped round the loins.

  Juan's heart sickened; he would have sunk to the earth, or buried hishead in his tilmaltli, to avoid looking upon the spectacle of aChristian and countryman, thus brought forth to be slaughtered. But thefiery spirit displayed by the victim, as soon as he was lifted upon themound and set upon his feet, drew another shout from the admiringinfidels, which caused him to steal one look at the scene; and that lookleft him without the power of withdrawing his eyes. The captive, as soonas he was on the mound, leaped, of his own accord, upon the stone, as ifto testify not only his knowledge of the purpose for which he wasbrought there, but his willingness to engage in the combat. He thenturned his face towards the king, and, at that moment,

  Juan Lerma lifting his eyes, beheld the only man he had ever learned tohate--It was Don Francisco de Guzman.

  Noble, compassionate, and truly unvindictive, as was Lerma's spirit, hedid not make this discovery without a thrill of fierce exultation. Thereis a touch of the wild beast in the hearts of us all; and so long as manis capable of anger, he will, at some moment, and for some brief spaceof time, yield to thoughts and wishes, that he himself must, a momentafter, esteem diabolic. Religion and moral culture make us the mastersof our malign propensities; but man is naturally a vengeful animal.

  It was but the weakness of a moment with Juan Lerma; perhaps, too, itwas caused by the thrill of joy at the proof thus rendered, that Guzman,at least, exercised no control over the fate of the princess of Mexico;and if he did not instantly commiserate the condition of an enemy justlyabhorred, but now so fallen, so wretched, and about to expiate his evildeeds by a punishment so fearfully retributive, he was able to banishall unworthy elation from his mind, and look on with feelings morebecoming a man and Christian.

  He could not indeed but admire the fearless intrepidity, or ratheraudacity, with which Guzman (more oppressed by a sense of humiliation,at being made a spectacle among a crew so despised and abhorred, than byany other feeling,) looked around him upon the pagans, and extended hisfoot to the ligature, with which it was to be secured to the stone.Whatever were his faults, it could not be denied, that Don Francisco wasa man of unflinching courage, which was indeed a constitutional trait.His presence on the stone of battle indicated that he had been capturedafter a heroic resistance. His resolution was, in this case, kept up bya knowledge of the nature of the ordeal through which he was to pass,and by full confidence in his ability to win all the privileges itconferred upon him. He had some little acquaintance with the Mexicantongue, and was by no means ignorant of the more remarkable institutionsof the country. A victory over six awkward and half-starved barbarians,was an exploit not to be despaired of by a well-trained cavalier, evenwhen denied any advantage of weapons, and defensive armour. Yet it was acurious circumstance, that he, who had not often kept faith himself,when his interest called upon him to break it, should rest with suchperfect reliance upon the willingness of the Mexicans to liberate him,in the event of his prevailing over their champions. But he knew, thatnever but _once_ had a tribe of all the broad regions of Anahuac brokenits pledged faith to a successful gladiator; and that tribe was, forthat reason, ever after held infamous. It was the tribe of Huexotzinco;and Cortes himself placed the circumstance on record.

  As soon as his foot was properly secured, his arms were unbound, and anoble, who stood upon the scaffold in the character of a herald,addressed him in the following official terms:

  "This is the law of Mexico, and let the people hear: 'The prisoner whois brave, the gods honour. If he kill six strong men upon the stoneTemalacatl, he shall be set free.' This is the law."

  "This is the law, then," repeated Guzman, in imperfect Mexican, turninghis eyes upon Guatimozin, as if he disdained to hold converse with anymeaner infidel: "Is it a law that will be remembered, when the prisoneris a Spaniard?"

  "He who is a prisoner, has no name and no country," replied the prince."He is neither Tlascalan nor Castilian, but a man who kills or dies."

  "And if I prevail over six of thy soldiers," again cried Guzman, as theattendants strapped upon one arm a light buckler of basket-work, andgave him also a short macana, "dost thou warrant me by thy gods, that Ishall be sent back to Don Hernan?"

  "Let the prisoner fight," said the king sternly: "Are the warriors ofMexico blades of grass, that they should be blown down by a man'sbreath, before the sword has struck them?"

  "Thou shalt see," replied Guzman, with a grim smile. "What are sixwarriors to a man fighting for liberty? Give me a Spanish sword,--aweapon of iron,--and let my adversaries be doubled in number."

  The boldness of this demand greatly excited the admiration of thewarlike spectators, who rewarded it with cheers. But they checked theirtumult to hear the words of the king.

  "The white man talks with the lips of a boaster," he said. "Had he not aSpanish sword in the king's garden, among the women? How is this? He isa prisoner!"

  "Ask thy warriors,--it was not
broken off in my hand! How else shouldthey have taken me?" replied Guzman, to the words of scorn; and thenadded, in Spanish, as if to himself, "So much for striking the accursedhound! I would he and his master were broiling in purgatory; for theyhave ever brought me bad luck."

  Juan Lerma heard not these words, but he remembered the broken blade inBefo's body, and again his heart hardened against his foemen. Butmatters were now approaching to a crisis. The monarch, disdaining tohold further discourse with the prisoner, waved his hand, and a warrior,darting from the ground at the foot of the scaffold, leaped with asingle bound upon the platform, and uttered the yell of battle, whichwas instantly re-echoed by the shouts of the multitude. He was a talland powerful savage, though meager of frame, of great activity, as wasproved by his ready leap, and of a spirit fully corresponding. Hisequipments were but little superior to those of the captive; hisbattle-axe was somewhat longer, his buckler a little broader, and he hadsome slight defence for his head, in a cap of alligator-skin, thatcrowned his matted hair.

  No sound of trump and tymbal gave the signal for beginning the fight, asin a Christian tourney. The yell of the infidel, as he sprang upon themound, and brandished his battle-axe, was all that was allowed orrequired, to put the prisoner on his guard; and Don Francisco seemed tounderstand enough of the nature of the ceremony, to look for no furtherwarning.

  The great superiority of the infidel consisted in his being entirely atliberty, able to begin the attack by leaping upon the stone at any pointhe chose, and to continue it thereon, by changing his position as oftenas he thought fit; while the prisoner, secured by a thong not aboveeighteen inches in length, to the centre of it, enjoyed no suchfacilities of motion. He might turn, indeed, and as rapidly as hepleased, but always with the danger, if he forgot himself for a moment,of tripping himself, and falling; in which case, his death was certain,for no forbearance was practised in the event of such an accident.

  The infidel began the combat with the same agility he had displayed inleaping up to the platform. He uttered his yell, brandished his axe, andmaking a half circuit round the stone, suddenly darted upon it, andaimed a blow at Guzman. He was met by the Spaniard with an address andeffect, that showed he had not overrated his skill. Rather meeting thanavoiding the blow, he struck up, with his bucklered hand, not themacana, but the arm of the assailant, seemingly calculating that theshock of the rebuff would tumble him from the stone. It did more: itcaused the Mexican to fling up his arms, in the instinctive effort topreserve his equilibrium. The next instant, Guzman drove his glassy axedeep into his uncovered side, and spurning him violently with the footwhich was at liberty, the Mexican fell backwards upon the platform,writhing in the agonies of death. The whole combat was scarce the workof a minute. Those who drew in their breath as the Mexican sprang to theassault, had not taken a second inspiration, before their countryman wasdiscomfited and dying.

  The infidels set up a scream, as much of approbation as surprise. Thespirit of the Roman amphitheatre was felt around the Temalacatl ofMexico; and plaudits were bestowed upon a victor, when pity was deniedto the slain.

  The vanquished and writhing combatant was dragged from the mound, andhis place immediately occupied by a second, who leaped up with the samealacrity, and attacked with similar violence.

  "Fool that thou art!" muttered Guzman, with scorn and loftyself-reliance, "were there twenty such grasshoppers at thy back, yetshould it be but boy's play to despatch thee."

  He caught the blow of the savage on his buckler, but greatly to hisinjury; for the sharp blades of the iztli severed it nearly in twain,and besides diminishing its already insufficient defence, inflicted asevere wound upon his arm. But it was the only blow struck by thebarbarian. Infuriated by the wound, Guzman smote him over the head withhis weapon, and with such rapidly continued blows as entirely confoundedthe Mexican, so that he made scarce any use of his shield. The firststroke tore the cayman-scales from his hair, and the next clove throughhis skull.

  Guzman's victory was as complete as before, but he found that several ofthe separate blades, or teeth of obsidian, that edged his weapon, werebroken off by the blows. He beheld this with alarm, for having held upthe axe, to show its dilapidated condition, and demand another, he foundhimself answered only by the appearance of a third antagonist.

  "Dogs and jugglers that ye are!" he cried, indignantly: "ye would cheatme then to death, by leaving me weaponless! St. Dominic, knaves! but Iwill sort your wit with a better wisdom.--Now, what a spectacle might Inot make for my brother Christians on the dikes! Thou art playing quitswith me, Cortes!--Hah, dog! art thou so ready?"

  It was Guzman's determination, after killing the third assailant, whichevent he still looked forward to with unabated confidence, to possesshimself of his weapon, which, though secured in the usual manner by athong, he doubted not he could easily rend from his arm.

  But his antagonist was by no means so easily mastered as the others.Taking caution from the fate of his predecessors, he changed the mode ofattack; and though he rushed upon the block with as much resolution aseither, he betrayed no such ambition to come to close quarters. On thecontrary, taking advantage of the breadth of the Temalacatl, he confinedhimself to the very edge, now facing the Spaniard, as if about to makehis spring, now darting behind him, as if to assault him in the rear,and, all the time, vexing Guzman's ears with the most terrific screams.Then, perceiving the Spaniard's wariness, he began to run around thestone with all his speed, flourishing his axe, as if to take advantageof the least opening offered by the weariness or dizziness of his foe.Guzman at once perceived the danger to which he was reduced by a systemof attack so difficult to be guarded against. It was almost impossible,tied as he was, to preserve his face always against the pagan; twice orthrice he stumbled over the rope, and already his brain began to reelwith the rapidity of his gyrations. At each stumble, the Mexican struckat him with his axe, and one blow had taken effect, though notdangerously, upon his shoulder. This incensed the Spaniard almost tomadness, and he voluntarily exposed himself to another wound, in orderto bring his opponent within his reach. Thus, as the infidel was stillcontinuing to run round the stone, he flung himself round the other wayvery suddenly, yet not so quickly as wholly to escape the rapid attacksof his assailant. The macana inflicted another and deeper wound in hisback, while his own broken weapon struck the savage on the hip. At thesame moment he seized him by the throat, and employing a strengthgreatly superior to the Indian's, threw him under his feet, and crushedhim with hand and knee, while despatching him with blows over the faceand head. He then grasped at the macana; but before he could wrest itfrom the grasp of his dying foe, the Indian was plucked from under himby the attendant priests.