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

by Robert Montgomery Bird

  CHAPTER XIX.

  The fate of Mexico approached to its consummation. The great streetsleading from the causeways, were in the power of the Spaniards. It mightbe said, indeed, that they had gained possession of the whole island,except the extreme point of the neck of Tlatelolco; for though they didnot extend their ravages any great distance from the streets, into thethree quarters to the east and south, it was because these were occupiedonly by women and children--the wounded, the sick, and the dying,--andcould be, at any moment, taken possession of. The warriors who yetremained, were concentrated upon the little peninsula, around theirmonarch, who, obstinate to the last, still resisted, even whenresistance was hopeless, refusing the offers of peace and friendship,which Cortes, rendered magnanimous by success, and softened bycompassion, now daily sent him. His obstinacy was indeed surprising; forthe point was surrounded by brigantines and piraguas, prepared tointercept his flight; and escape, unless by death, seemed evidentlyimpossible. The work of carnage therefore went on, though with mitigatedseverity; for there were but few left to suffer. The market-place ofTlatelolco was secured and occupied, and upon the day of St. Hippolytus,(the 13th of August,) the Spaniards concluded the labours of the longand bloody siege, by storming, with all their forces, the palace ofGuatimozin--the last stronghold of the Mexicans. The garden walls werebeaten down by the artillery, and soon after midday, the Spaniardsrushed, with tremendous vivas, upon the palace, to which fire had beenpreviously communicated by flaming arrows, shot into the windows by theconfederates.

  The preparations for the assault, and long before it began, weresurveyed by the Captain-General from the terrace of the palace ofAxajacatl, the famous scene of his sufferings, when besieged therein bythe Mexicans, a year before. It was in the quarter of Tlatelolco, midwaybetween the great pyramid and the market-place, and commanded, from itsturrets, not only a view of the palace of Guatimozin, but of the wholesurrounding city and lake.

  Deeply as his mind was engaged with the approaching climax of his mightyenterprise,--for now he could almost count the minutes that intervenedbetwixt his hopes and his success,--he was not without thoughts andfeelings of another character. The singular disappearance of Magdalena,of which nothing more was known, or even conjectured, than was disclosedin the midnight conversation of the hunchback and Bernal Diaz; the fateof Camarga, over which events not yet narrated, had cast a peculiarlyexciting mystery; and the situation of Juan Lerma, upon whose characterand unhappy history certain events had shed a new light, as well as whathad now become a painful interest; all, by turns, occupied his mind, andsometimes even withdrew it from the contemplation of the scene beforehim. The few cavaliers in attendance, who enjoyed their immunity fromcombat only because they were disabled by severe wounds, referred hisunusual gloom to the same cause; for he had not yet recovered from themany injuries, the penalty of his rashness on the causeway.

  "Thou knowest, Quinones," said one, in a whisper to the captain of hisbody guard, (for the conspiracy of Villafana had been made, as is usualin such catastrophes of ambition, an excuse for investing his dignitywith another engine of power;)--"Thou knowest, the renegade struck himupon the head; and it is a marvel of providence he was not slain; forLerma strikes with an arm like the wing of a windmill. These blows onthe skull, though one may seem to recover from them, have a perilousafter-effect on the brain."

  "Fy!" muttered Quinones, with a shake of the head; "there is a new wordabout Lerma, especially since Garci Holguin brought in the princess.Didst thou not hear that Alvarado, who heads the assault, called thismorning upon all soldiers who had seen Juan Lerma in the melee, andasked them a thousand questions? I tell thee, there is a new thing inthe wind. I did myself last night over-hear Cortes charge Sandoval towatch well for every piragua and canoe, that might leave Tlatelolco, andsee that no one taken be harmed.--But this we will see. Talking ofcanoes, methought I beheld one some half hour since paddling fromTezcuco?"

  "Ay," said another; "it landed in the north-eastern quarter.--No morecomplaints of Guzman now? He will never harry infidels more. Garci'ssailors say, he was taken alive!"

  "Hist!" whispered Quinones, with a warning gesture. "This thing troublesCortes. It was his anger, and Guzman's desire to recover favour, whichdrove him upon the mad feat, that brought him to the block of sacrifice.It weighs upon the general's mind.--And besides, as it is now apparentthat Camarga is alive, there is deeper cause for remorse: It was perhapshis wrongful belief in the charge of murder, rather than any othercause, that made him proceed with such rigour against Guzman."

  "But is this rumour true?" demanded the other.

  "Ay, certain; and I wage ye my life, the very canoe we were lookingafter, brings the dead-alive to Mexico. Methought I could trace the cutof his sacerdotal maskings, even afar off. They say, after all, the manis a true brother of St. Dominic, under some dispensation.--Ay, faith!you may see now--Alive and shorn into the bargain! They are bringing himup the stairway.--By Santiago, it makes the general's eye flash fire!"

  The eye of Cortes, up to this moment peculiarly gloomy and troubled, didindeed flash with lustre, as soon as it fell upon the figure of Camarga;for it was he, who now made his appearance on the terrace, led forwardby Indians. He was greatly altered, and seemed indeed like the ghost ofhis former self, so wan and emaciated was his countenance, and so brokenand feeble his step; he looked as if in almost the last stage ofatrophy. He was otherwise changed; the hair was shorn from his crown, onwhich was a ghastly scar, left by the macana of the Lord of Death; hisfeet were bare; and from the cord that girded on his friar's frock, wassuspended a knotted scourge, crusted over with blood. His wholeappearance was that of some suicidal ascetic, who mourns with theseverest maceration of the body, a sin not to be expiated by merepenitence of spirit.

  "Heaven be thanked for thy resurrection!" cried Cortes, grasping him bythe hand, and leading him to the seat he had himself occupied. "There isa wolf in my bosom, and now I know that thou canst remove it!"

  "Have I come too late?" cried Camarga, eagerly, though with a voice nolonger sonorous. "_Agnus Dei, dona nobis pacem!_ The victim of ourmadness, driven among the infidels,--the poor wretch whom misery castinto the same hands--What of them, senor? what of them?"

  "Nothing," replied Cortes, "unless thou canst speak it: Nothing, atleast, except that both are still in captivity. Yet know, if it willrelieve thee, that what I could do by embassies and goodly offers, thatI have done to recover them; and I have given such orders, that, if theybe not murdered by the Indians, we may see them living this day."

  "God be thanked!" cried Camarga, dropping on his knees, and praying withsuch fervour, though in inaudible accents, as to excite no littlecuriosity among the attendant cavaliers, whom Cortes had already wavedaway. He turned upon them again, and sternly bade them descend from theterrace, which they did, followed by the Indians.

  As soon as they were alone, Cortes, scarce pausing until Camarga hadceased his devotions, exclaimed,

  "Speak, and delay not, either to mourn or to pray: Thou canst do thesethings hereafter. Enough evil has already come of thy silence. Speak mein a word--What art thou? and what is thy interest in these wretches?What is thine? and what--yes, what is _mine_?"

  The last word was uttered with vehement emphasis, that seemed to recallCamarga to his self-possession. He rolled his eyes upon Cortes with aghastly smile, and replied,

  "Thou shalt know; for thou hast a sin to answer as well as I; and answerit thou must, both to God and thy conscience. Moderate thy impatience:what I have to say, cannot be spoken in a word, but yet it shall bespoken briefly. In thy boyish days, thou hast heard of the Counts ofCastillejo--"

  The Captain-General bent upon the speaker a look that seemed designed toslay, it was so frowningly fixed and penetrating. He then smote hishands together upon his breast, as if to beat down some dreadfulthought, and immediately exclaimed,

  "What thou hast to say, speak in God's name, and without furtherpreface. Were I but a dog of the house of Cortes, instead of its son
andsole representative, the name of a Castillejo of Merida would be hatefulto my ear. Ay, by heaven! be thou layman or monk, my friend or thefriend of my enemy, yet know that my rage burns with undiminished fire,though the proud scutcheons of the Castillejos have been turned intofuneral hatchments, and the mosses of twenty years have gathered ontheir graves.--But it is enough. The first word of thy story harmonizeswith mine own conceit. A strange accident opened my eyes upon aremembrance of dishonour; which let us rake up no further.--I have heardenough. Keep thine own secret, too," he continued, with a gleaming eye;"for I would not take the life of one, upon whom heaven has itself setthe seal of vengeance."

  "Yet must thou listen, and I speak," said Camarga, disregarding themenacing words and glance; "for there is a story to be told, of whichthou and thy kindred have not dreamed--nay, nor have others, exceptone--except one! My secret will not throw thee into the frenzy thoufearest; he of whom you think, is beyond the reach of human vengeance.Listen to me, Hernan Cortes, and forbear your rage, until I havedone.--Of the Count Sebastian's three brothers; the next in age, Julian,was a slave in Barbary, yet supposed to be dead; the youngest Gregorio,was a monk of St. Dominic; and the third, Juan, was a wild and unhappyprofligate."

  "Ay, by heaven," said Cortes, with angry emotion; "may he remember hisdeeds in torment--Amen! Had not Gregorio been an inquisitor as well as amonk, I should have seen him burn at a stake, as was his due."

  "Reserve your curses for the true criminal," said Camarga, drawing thecowl over his visage, as if no longer able to endure the fierce looks ofDon Hernan: "Among others who had inflamed his wild and fieryaffections, was one whom heaven had seemingly placed beyond hisreach,--one whose name I need not pronounce to Hernan Cortes."

  "I will tell thee who she was," said the general, laying his hand uponCamarga's shoulder, and speaking with a passionate energy;--"thedaughter of a family, ancient and noble as his own, though without itswealth,--a novice about to take the vows, (for to this had the povertyof her house and her own religious fervour destined her;) and thusuplifted both by rank and profession above the aims of a seducer. Butwhat thought the young cub of Castillejo of these impediments, when hefeared not God, and saw no one left to punish his villany, save animpoverished old man and a rambling schoolboy? Dwell not on this--Speaknot her name neither: let it be forgotten. May her soul rest in peace!for her own act of distraction avenged the dishonour of her fall."

  He paused in strong emotion, and Camarga, drawing the mantle closerround his head, continued:

  "Know, (and I speak thee a truth never before divulged to mortal man,)that the sin of this act,--the abduction of a devotee, whose novitiatewas already accomplished,--belongs not to Juan, the debauchee, but toGregorio, the Dominican."

  "These are the words of a madman," said Cortes, sternly; but he wasinterrupted by Camarga hastily exclaiming,

  "Misunderstand me not. The lover and the convent-robber was indeed Juan;but it was Gregorio who provoked him to the outrage, and gave him themeans of success. The sacrilege had not been otherwise attempted, andthe fickle-minded Juan would have soon forgotten the object of a passionboth criminal and dangerous."

  "If you speak the truth," said Cortes, "you have exposed an atrocity, ofwhich, as you said, truly no man ever dreamed. On what improbable grounddo you make Gregorio a villain so monstrous?"

  "On that of _knowledge_," replied Camarga, with a voice firmer than hehad yet displayed. "Dost thou think ambition lies not as often under acowl as a corslet? or that guilt can only be meditated by a soldier?When the young monk Gregorio beheld the two sons of his brother, theCount Sebastian, taken up dead from the river, into which an evilaccident had plunged them, and knew that the Count was dying--surelydying--of a broken heart, the fiend of darkness put a thought into hisbrain, which had never before dishonoured it. Yet it slumbered again,until his evil fate showed him his brother Juan, meditating a crime,which, if attempted, must bring him under the ban of the church, andinto the dungeons of the Inquisition. Then he said, in his heart, 'IfSebastian die of grief, childless, and if Juan destroy himself by an actof impiety, where shall men look for the Count of Castillejo, except inthe cell of Gregorio?' It was this thought of darkness that brought thethunderbolt upon his house, and upon thine."

  "Ay! thou sayst it now," said Cortes with a smothered voice. "But thismonk, this devil, this Gregorio! Let me know more of the wretch, whoseflagitious ambition, not satisfied with destroying his father's houseand his brother's soul, must end by bringing to a dishonourable grave adaughter--I speak it _now_--a daughter of Martin Cortes of Medellin!"

  "It is spoken in a word; but let the iniquitous details be forgotten.The power of Gregorio, unknown even to Juan, (for the connivance wasconcealed and unsuspected,) opened the doors of the convent, and thelovers fled, were united in marriage, and then parted for ever."

  "United? married? Now by heavens, thou mockest me! Even this had beensome mitigation of our shame. But it is not true. Why dost thou say it?"

  "Thou wert deceived--all were deceived," said Camarga; "nay, even thescheming Gregorio was deceived; for before he had dreamed that such afatal blow could be given to his ambition, the knot was tied, and thechildren of Juan became the heirs of Sebastian. Behold how treacheryovershoots its mark! Gregorio opened a path, that the lovers might meet,not that they might escape. This was reserved until the time when thevows should be taken; after which the crime of abduction and flightcould not be pardoned. They fled a day too early, and it was within thepower of Sebastian to obtain both a pardon and dispensation; for Juanwas now his heir, in the place of his children."

  "Good heavens!" cried Cortes, "was this indeed possible? But no; thoudeceivest me. Had the offence been so venial, Juan Castillejo had notperished among the vaults of the Inquisition."

  "Canst thou compass thine own vindictive purposes, and attribute nosimilar power to others?" cried Camarga, with a laugh, that soundedhollow and unnatural under the mantle. "Did a venial offence, or amalignant and perfidious stratagem, drive Juan Lerma among the pagans ofMexico?--Listen:--Juan Castillejo was dragged from his hiding-place, andthat perhaps the earlier, that Gregorio knew of their marriage. Thecrime of carrying off a novice was not indeed inexpiable, but itdemanded a deep cell in the office of the Brotherhood; and such Juanobtained. Now, Cortes, ask not for reasons to explain the acts ofGregorio. The dying Sebastian exerted his powers to save his brother,and would have succeeded, had not Gregorio, visiting the dungeons, invirtue of his office, subtly attacked the prisoner's mind with the fearof torture and final condemnation; until, in a fit of distraction, helaid violent hands upon himself, and so ended a tragedy, for whichGregorio designed another catastrophe. Ay, believe me! Think not thateven Gregorio planned out a climax so cruel. He desired only to workupon Juan's terrors, in order to banish him from the land for ever; forit was his purpose to provide him with the means of escape, when thiswas accomplished. He foresaw not the consequences of the desperation hehad produced. Upon the morrow, Sebastian came with an indulgence--almosta pardon. The shock of the spectacle of Juan's dead body, broke away thelast feeble cords that bound him to life; and Gregorio, absolved fromhis vows by the papal dispensation, easily obtained, was now the Countof Castillejo."

  "And never sat in the castle-hall a fiend more truculent and diabolic!"cried Cortes, with terrific emphasis. "Hark thee, man, demon, orwhatsoever thou art--I did think thee, at first, the very wretched Juanof whom thou hast spoken, escaped by some miracle, and finding thefiercest retribution for his villany, in the misery of his children. Iremembered thy words at Tezcuco, and was thus deluded. But I know theeat last, and words cannot express how much I abhor thee."

  "We are alike worthy of detestation," said Camarga, rising and flingingback his cowl, "for we are alike villains,--with but this differencebetween us, that I have preceded thee in the path of remorse, and mustperhaps tread it more bitterly, because in all things, self-deluded andbaffled. I am what thou thinkest,--the wretched Gregorio--and yet lesswretched than when I first disco
vered the twin children of my brother inthy house at Tezcuco.--Hearken yet a moment, and I have done. Allsupposed that the unhappy Olivia had cast herself into the river, and soperished. It was not so. Pity, remorse, or some other feeling--perhaps,policy--induced me to preserve her from her distraction. She lived inconcealment, until she had given birth to twin children--these verywretches whom we have persecuted. Let me speak their fate in a word. Theboy I sent by a creature whose name he bears, to Colon's settlement inEspanola; the girl I devoted from her infancy to the altar; and in bothcases, dreamed that I had provided for their welfare, as well as againstthe possibility of discovery. When I had thus arranged everything for myown security, heaven sent me the first sting of retribution in theperson of my brother Julian, returned in safety from the dungeons ofFez, and, in right of seniority, the heir of the honours I had so vainlyusurped. It was a fitting reward, but it was not all. Dishonour, othercrimes, and awakened suspicions, followed my downfall; and I became anexile and outcast. What life I have lived, it needs not I should speak.A strange accident acquainted me with the stranger truth, that Magdalenahad followed her unknown brother to the islands. I had amassed wealth;and an impulse, combining both pity and foreboding terror, drove me topursue them. It was easy to trace out their respective fates. The wreckof the ship which carried Magdalena, with the supposed loss of all onboard, satisfied me that she was with her mother, in heaven. Anunexpected event had invested Juan with new interest. This was the deathof Julian, without heirs. It was in my power to repair, at least, thewrongs I had done him, by restoring him to his inheritance; theknowledge and proofs of his legitimacy were in my hands, and I resolvedto employ them. This I could not do in mine own person, but Idiscovered--and know, senor, it filled me with joy,--that _thou_ hadstbefriended him. I came then to Mexico, to seek the young man, and toenable thee to do justice to the memory, and to the child of thysister."

  Gregorio, for so we must now call him, paused a moment, while Cortesstrode to and fro, in great agitation. He then resumed:

  "The first thing I heard was the supposed death of Juan,--hisexpedition, and the cause of it--thine own bitter and unrelentinghatred."

  "It is true," said Cortes, with a vain effort at composed utterance. "Iconfessed my folly to thee before. I have persecuted the son of mysister almost to death, and for an imaginary crime. There were villainsabout me--I will tell thee, by and by, my delusion."

  "Senor," continued Gregorio, "I found in thy camp a villain, whosesubtle and malicious nature was in harmony with my own. This wasVillafana, whose representations of thy cruelty in the matter of Juan,stirred up my evil passions; and until the day when Juan returned, I wasvery eager to avenge his wrongs. Upon that day, I discovered thatMagdalena was living. Now," he exclaimed, with vehemence, "thou maystunderstand the cause of my seeming madness: now thou mayst know that thevengeance of heaven was punishing my old sin with lashes of horror. Thouknowest the evil slanders cast by the ribald soldiers upon thee, inrelation to Magdalena. That dreadful suspicion was soon at an end; butthere remained the other, the persuasion, supported by strongcircumstances and by the malign averments of Villafana,--the dreadful,damning belief, that a horrible and unnatural sin, the directconsequence of my own, had plunged the brother and sister into anever-ending wretchedness. Ask not my feelings, when I made thissupposed discovery. They caused me to seek the life of the unhappybrother, to attempt it with my own hands, and finally through thine; andall in a distraction, that mingled a thirst of vengeance with theprecautions of pity. Thou knowest the rest: he was snatched out of ourhands; and from Magdalena I discovered the blessed--the blissful truth,that heaven had not punished them for _my_ sin! A course ofextraordinary calamities, while it covered them with misery, yet keptthem asunder.--But why should I trifle thus? The girl also was takenfrom me, and by the pagans, who left me on the lake-side weltering inblood. When I recovered speech and sense, I besought Guzman to send foryou; nay, in my distracted impatience, being myself incapable of anyeffort beyond mere speech, I confided to him the secret of theirbirth--"

  "Villain that he was, a double-dyed villain!" exclaimed Cortes, "thisthen accounts for his attempt upon your life, of which I had somethingmore than mere suspicion to bring against him. I see it all now:exposure of a long series of malignant deceptions, must have followedthe revealment, if it found the young Lerma--the young Castillejo, shallI say?--yet living. Is it not true? did he do you violence?"

  "Not with his own hands," replied Gregorio; "nor can I say he reallydesigned my death, not being able to communicate with the Indians, whodragged me by night from Tezcuco, carried me to the mountains, andfinally took me back again, when Guzman was no longer the governor. ButI doubt not, his intentions were evil."

  "He has suffered for his crimes," said Cortes.--He strode to and fro foran instant, with hands clasped together, and a working visage. Thenreturning, and casting around a glance of suspicion, he said,

  "Hark thee, Gregorio--If we save these unhappy creatures from death,thou shalt be forgiven,--ay, man, and honoured, too. I understand themotives that made thee mine ally in wickedness: now understandmine,--the persuasions of belief that converted me into apersecutor--the base and devilish persecutor, for such I was--of mysister's son--of my own flesh and blood. By heaven! I loved him dearly;nature spoke in my heart,--the instinct of consanguinity was alivewithin me; and even the lies of Guzman could not wholly destroy it.Velasquez the governor," he went on, "has fought me with all weapons,and with all in vain. Yet did he at last fall upon one, that was made towound me to the quick, though it could not make me falter in thisemprise of conquest. My lady, Gregorio, my lady!" he continued,struggling in vain against the feelings of humiliation, with which heconfessed a weakness so unworthy;--"my lady Catalina is fair and merry,and, God wot, somewhat over fond of the gingling galliards that ruffleit at Santiago; and I,--by my conscience, I will be as honest asthou,--I have had the devil of suspicion sometimes enter my mind; but, Iswear to thee, to mine own dishonour only. Upon this ground, Velasquezhas thrust at me with hints, innuendos, sarcasms, jests, rumours,accusations, time without end. There has never a ship arrived, that ithas not brought some petard to be shot off on my bosom; and sometimes, Ithink, I have been half mad with my dreams. Know, then, that one ofthese damnable devices was made to play in the person of my adoptedson,--for such he was,--and my lady's favourite, Juan Lerma. My lady wonhim out of prison, and she harboured him during the sickness thatfollowed. Out of this was constructed a story that tormented me. Yet itwas naught, until Guzman penetrated the weakness, and wrought it, by Iknow not what means, into a fierce and fiendish jealousy. The young manwas melancholy, too--he had killed his friend Hilario: but (heaven saveme such madness again!) I deemed it the workings of his conscience, hissense of ingratitude, operating upon a temper, which, I knew, wasnaturally noble and virtuous. Thou canst not think how many littleevents were turned, by Guzman's malignant address, into proof andconfirmation of my detestable suspicion. There came for him certainhorses and arms, sent, as I quickly believed, by my wife, now bold ininfidelity--"

  "Alas!" said Gregorio; "I learned from Villafana, that these were thegifts of Magdalena, who, poor wretch, would have sent him her life,could that have been made an acceptable present."

  "Thou makest my heart still lighter," said Cortes, "for this was theonly matter I could not myself explain away, so soon as certain passageswith Guzman had opened my eyes to his baseness. His oppressions forcedme to withdraw him from Tezcuco; and, quarrelling with him upon thatsubject, as well as in regard to thine own fate, he let fall, in theheat of contention, certain unguarded expressions, which convinced methat he had made me his tool,--by heaven, Gregorio, his instrument!Suspicion once awake, my judgment once informed how much he had to gain,both of favour and revenge, by destroying my poor cornet, it needed butmine own reflections, to show me how ruthlessly I had been cajoled. Andto crown all, a new light was shot into my soul, by the recovery, froman Indian princess, now a captive in my hands, of this trinket; whichthou mayes
t know, if thou hast indeed ever looked upon the face of mysister."

  He drew from his bosom the cross and rosary which Juan had flung roundthe neck of the Indian princess.

  "I placed it," said Gregorio, "with mine own own hands upon the bosom ofthe infant Magdalena--But, good heaven, how came it on the neck of asavage, unless they have murdered her?'

  "Fear not," said Cortes: "It was given to the princess by Juan Lerma--byJuan of Castillejo; and was doubtless presented to him by Magdalena, inthe island. From this princess, I learned the first news of Magdalena,who was kindly treated by the young king, in his palace, for Juan'ssake. Thou must know how this cross wrought upon my heart and brain; forI did myself give it to my sister, when they took me, but a boy, to seeher in the convent. And as for this princess, Gregorio," continuedCortes, with an air of pride, "know that she is a daughter of Montezuma,the descendant of a thousand kings; and the Count of Castillejo willcarry with him to his castle, a bride more noble than ever entered itbefore."

  "These things are vanities," said Gregorio, gloomily. "Let my brother'schildren be first plucked from the nest of infidels, if it be not toolate."

  "Heaven will not _now_ forsake them, after protecting them through somany and greater perils," said Cortes, kissing the little cross andrestoring it to his bosom. "The best men in the army, cavaliers and all,have sworn they will fetch them from the palace, in which they are nowsurrounded. And hark thee, Gregorio: The only daughter of the Count ofCastillejo is too noble a prize for a nunnery.--We will have anotherdispensation."

  The further disclosures of these two men, both villains, and bothpenitents, after their ways, were arrested by the commencement of theattack upon the palace; and Cortes calling some of his attendants tosupport his companion's steps, they descended from the terrace.